Heaven

I normally do not include opinion in games I review. As I said before who cares what I think. You want to know what the game is like. Does it work? Are there glitches? What is wrong, what is right, etc. But I will start with this, I hate puzzle games! Give me a good story with interesting characters not a bunch of puzzles for the sake of puzzles. I bought this game on preorder and within a short time before I finished it I put it up for sale. That certainly speaks well for the game doesn't it? Not really, because as I said I hate puzzle games and this thing is not exactly Gabriel Knight 1-2 or 3. You can tell Myst is not in my collection, there is no room on the shelf between Gabriel, Tex, April and Phoenix for this. With that out of the way and the bias kicked aside, lets look at the game. I managed to sell it a few hours before I finished it. Luckily the post office is closed on Sunday so I kept banging at it.

The Graphics are great with the game flowing easily without glitches and your grandmother looks great. This is in first person, point and click with 3d interface. You can look in any direction you want. There was no quick sudden scene changes common with first person 3d. That gets a plus, quite a few things get a plus. It is a good looking game, oh I said that. Those of you who complain about conversation will love this game. Besides God bless you or Praise Jesus there are not a lot of wasted words. There is a lot of humming though. But the burning question the one that has all the opinions flying around. Is it really short? No easy answer there, it depends upon how quickly you grasp the puzzle mechanics and what you have to do. There is some help with the compass and the guide saying, "go that way." But truthfully without it you may not ever figure out what you are trying to do. I consider that another plus. There were no mazes but walking back and forth over and over again may well be considered a maze. There are many interesting views to be had but not a lot to investigate or examine closely. This frustrated many who commented on the game.

The object of the game is quite simple, you died and went to heaven as evidenced by your grandmother looking like Barbie and now serving as your guide. If you think about it, things could be worse. You need to advance through the six levels of heaven to reach the seventh, the pearly gates. To advance you have to solve a puzzle to open that gate. What is maddening is you have no inventory. That is not so bad in regard of hauling everything you see all over the place but! It is nasty that when you pick something up to use in a puzzle you can't see it. You can in fact think you picked up said object walk some distance to find you don't really have it. Now then nobody tells you exactly what goes with what, you have to search around looking for clues to sort all of this out. Now is that an easy puzzle? Some have complained of how it was elementary. Me it took three days.

There are in all five puzzles with the added bonus of one that you don't know is a puzzle. That is until you float around and around sitting behind Barbie to discover you are going in circles. Barbie suddenly tells you "we should go there." Then you think, "Oh I gotta do something! You mean I'm driving from the back of the horse?". To answer the question is this game as short as some people have complained. Yes and No! Big help, it simply comes down to how well you anaylize puzzles. This game took me longer than several others that were of mid length. But as I said I am slow with puzzles, I don't like them. I only finished this because it infuriated me to a point I decided this thing ain't gonna win. There was no walkthrough, no hints no nothing. To get even I wrote a walk through which may be seen soon, then again?

What about the preaching we hear infuriates so many. I say it is about going to heaven and if they let you in don'tcha think some angel is going to say "praise god?" Seriously though, your grandmother says, praise God and spits out some platitudes every so often. With that said it is not a revival meeting. Come on be serious, complain about things like that when video games raise mayhem featuring blood and guts. We have vampires, axe murders and all kinds of violence. To tell the truth with that in mind Heaven does not look so bad.

Basically it is a good looking game that plays without glitches. There is no conversation tree, no mazes, no timed puzzles, no action based quick reflex stuff. There is of course the infurriating issue of only one auto. Save at closing, one that overwrites itself. When you re-engage you start where you left off, no do overs. You have one save, that's it. But I bet the creative in you have already figured out the work around, havn't you? I won't give it a grade because it is not fair since I hate puzzle games. But it is not bad, really it isn't. For me it was not short for you it depends on how you relate to puzzles. There are seven levels five with a not too easy puzzle to solve, some with a real brain teaser and a sixth that is hardly a puzzle. With that definitve answer and the fact it took me close to twenty hours because I'm slow witted I will give it a thumbs up, if you can get it on sale because the premium price is troubling.

Thanks oldmariner for an interesting & insightful review. I'm a little behind with games at the mo - I don't think it's going to be a priority!

Thanks, oldmariner..

Nice Boomer review..I also will pass on this game..

Oldmariner

It's always great to know what a game is like before one buys it.

Thank you so much Oldmariner, since I am waiting for it to arrive in my mailbox on the 15th in Ireland, I now know what to expect.

Like you I also don't like all puzzle games. Yikes the worst part of your review is no dialogue tree. I love conversations and never complain there is too much in a game. Really disappointed we don't get to explore Heaven's nook and crannies, gosh that would have been fun.

I for one would really appreciate to see your walkthrough. I love that you got even and finished the game and wrote a walkthrough. I am really impressed.

I am with you when it comes to the games you mentioned I love games with characters who have personalities.

One of the reasons I bought the game is because the graphics are eye candy, so very beautiful. Glad to hear there are no glitches in the game.

I like puzzle games - and I'm still passing :-)
Thanks.

Many thanks for your review, oldmariner

I have the game - although I've yet not started it - but from what you say in your review, it seems I will very likely be searching out your walkthrough once I do start it

So please tell .... Where is your walkthrough ??

For what it's worth, here's a review of Heaven from The Christian Developers Network Forum:

http://talk.christiandevs.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2330

Mad, you'll have to come back and give us your opinion when you play it.

MrLipid, an interesting read

looney4labs,

Glad you found it interesting.

Thought it might be worth hearing from someone who is part of the game's target demographic.

Me too, Mad. I'd like your opinion of it.


Thanks, MrLipid. Interesting find, and not a bad review.

Could be a while before I get to it. folks
I already have three adventures and an RPG on the go

Ok ..MaD

I will wait....I always love the GameBoomers Members review of a game...

MrLipid

I can't disagree with anything the review link offered. The game is not a total loss but will disappoint many Adventure gamers. Though it shows potential. For me it has nothing to do with the theme. The theme is a legitimate avenue to explore though it seems many are offended by religious offerings. I don't quite understand that considering some questionable issues portrayed in some games get a pass. My difficulty was the presentation where they incorporated puzzles demanding exact order of multiple objects. Rather than straight forward puzzle presentation found in games they used subtle clues and then led you through them. In addition to that there was zero character development and no story.

Story for me means absolutely nothing...Game play is everything...Graphics I can do without all the Hoopla...Years ago with many games Graphics were not that good...I always loved the games...

If a Game has no Substance...Like Inventory & Adventure searching...Then Its just a puzzle game with alot of "EYE CANDY"...

Here's what I tacked onto the end of a thread by Mordack on the Discussion Board yesterday :

Well about 30 minutes ago I started Heaven - just to get a taste, really - and find it to absolutely be one of the most weird games I've ever come across !!

I've made significant progress already, in just 30 minutes, but only because I've been led around by the nose .... .... NOT because I have much idea about what I'm actually doing

Maybe by the next time I report back I will be more "au fait" with things. Who knows

________________________


Now is my "report back" time and I'm just about to uninstall the game after which I will take it over to the Trading Post.
Nowhere near finished but I've had enough

For me this is not an adventure game, it is more a guided tour through some (admittedly) beautiful scenery - with evangelistic style speeches delivered to me by my guide at strategic points.

[I'm quite sure plenty of people will enjoy the experience but I'm afraid I'm not one of them ]

Thank You , Mad

That's why I always would like a developer to give us the opportunity to play a Demo first.

It would certainly save us a lot of aggravation & money.

How many people would have bought it if they'd played a demo?


Maybe you shouldn't insult puzzle games by considering this as one of them.


I don't consider something like that to be a puzzle game. You're not using your mind to find solutions. Where's the puzzle?

Not Many !!!

Puzzle games are "Wonderful" But developers should state that...This game was perceived to be an "Adventure Game" Very deceiving...

It's no more a puzzle game than it is an adventure game. As a game, it's incomplete. There's more to any kind of game than graphics and listening to someone tell you what to do.

From what I can tell, the "story" consists of this guy dying when his spaceship wrecks and having his grandmother (who for some reason wants to look like a Barbie doll in front of her grandson) walk him through maybe 4 or 5 "puzzles" he has to solve to get into Heaven. Something about that plotline just strikes me as profoundly silly.

Jenny, since you brought it up I suppose I have to clarify my meaning.

"Originally Posted By: oldmariner
Rather than straight forward puzzle presentation found in games they used subtle clues and then led you through them."

You have to consider this a puzzle game if you accept it as game at all. You have to solve puzzles to get to the next level. The issue here is the object may be clear, raise sunken island, though you may not know it is a sunken island, you may think it is a bridge. But how to do it is far from clear.

What I was trying to illustrate is the puzzles are not straight forward they are not clear in either their intent and even the parts required to solve it. Therefore they were required to include hints and a guide to lead you through them.

I find it very interesting..That on their website it clearly states "This is an Adventure Game"

But gives no description of game play at all..

I agree , Jenny...The plotline is silly..

But, Then again I really don't pay to much mind to story..As much as I do the gameplay.

How can you have an adventure game without a story ??

The whole point of an adventure game for me is to unravel the story via the puzzles

What I meant , Mad was...

I can take any kind of story...BUT...The game play is most important...

Every game has to have an objective or some kind of ending, but without the adventure & substance & interaction with people, & Inventory...The game to me is worthless

Darleen03 ....

I've gone over to the Discussions Board to participate in your new thread, now