Hi everyone!

I just finished this game today and thought I would write a small review of it. I have never really written a game review before, so we'll see how it goes.:) I thought of dividing the review in small chapters.

SYNOPSIS: This is an historical/paranormal game set in the 16th century. You play as Nostradamus daughter and you have to help Catherine De Medicis unravel a mystery concerning a curse on the royal entourage. You will dabble in astrology, quatrines interpretation and celtic alphabet, among other othings, to solve this mysery.


GENERAL IMPRESSION: I really liked the game but was also deeply disappointed about its length or lack thereof. This game is probably one of the shortest games I have ever played. I even think Nancy Drew games are longer...which is a pity cuz I really think the game was solid in all other aspects

GRAPHICS: The graphics are quite standard and nothing extraordinary. For examples the backgrounds are quite static, however the colours are incredibily vivid and warm, creating a very appropriate cozy atmosphere. The indoor environments are especially nice and detailed and I really enjoyed roaming around Nostradamus beautiful house.

GAMEPLAY: All the game can be played only with the mouse, which is always a delight. Straightforward commands both for movement and inventory. One a note: objects can not be combined and the notebook is a true interactive feature and not a static diary as many other games.

PUZZLES: I found all puzzles to be logical and appropriate. There are a few mechanical puzzles, notebook puzzles and fantastic recipes puzzles! It follows the same line as "The Secret of Da Vinci" game, so if you liked the puzzles in that game, you will like these.

SOUND: The music is generally ok, even though I found the vocal addition in the music a bit distracting at times. The characters voices are nicely done.

REPLAY VALUE There is no alternate ending that I know of, however you gather points throughout the whole investigation so you can always play again to garner more points.

DURATION: This is a true sore spot! I found the game to be incredibly short!! I was really disappointed to see it ending so quickly. I probably played about 1 1/2 hr a day for a 4 or 5 days and then it was over. This was a big let down for me I am afraid.

BEST FEATURE: The recipe puzzles are a delight! I could not get enough of concoctions making! The notebook puzzles were very nice too and the inventory/character page is beautifully laid out and very easy to use.

WORST FEATURE Definitely the short duration of the game

YOU WILL LIKE THIS GAME IF...If you liked "Secrets Of Da Vinci" , if you like historical games with a nice paranormal twist, if you like assembling ingredients in cauldrons and if you like the figure of Nostradamus.

MY FINAL GRADE: C. Had it been longer, probably a B+

Hi Jedi and thanks for the review.

Since you found the game short, did you use hints or a walkthrough? Or were you able to finish it on your own in under 7 hours? Have you been playing adventure games for long?

I really liked Secrets of DaVinci but I know it took me much longer to play than that. How does it compare in length to DaVinci?

Hi Jedi -- a very thorough review!

You definitely played the game much more quickly than I did.

A question -- did you have any trouble with the puzzle near the end that was timed? What did you think of playing both a male and female role?

Hey Jedi..good review

I right now playing Nostradamus, and i agree with you in some aspects of the game like the puzzles, is very easy and logical. The Graphics is very simple, nothing of incredible but good. Gameplay is very easy and pleasant. I still did not finish but i agree with your C.

Love Maria

Hi,

I used the walkthrough twice to be honest, but otherwise I found the puzzles pretty straightforward. I have been playing adventure games for many years. I totally agree with you about Secrets of Da Vinci. It took me longer to play that one too! I don't have specific data about which one was longer or shorter. I can only say SODV felt much longer than Nostradamus...whether that is because the latter was easier or actually the storyline was much shorter I can not say. If you liked SODV, you will love Nostradamus but I hope you will find it longer than I did.



The timed puzzle at the end was not fun for me as I really dislike timed events! hehe However I found it pretty straightforward once I saved a few times and tried the puzzles a couple of times. I would be pleased to tell you more in details which puzzles I found harder, but I am not sure whether review threads are supposed to be spoiler-free?

I LOVED playing as both man and woman. It was a lot of fun, especially delivering the love potion to Constance



Hi Phoebe,

right on I still hope you will find it longer than I did. I was so bummed when it finished so soon

Hi ya Jedi, you are free to tell Phoebe which puzzles you found difficult. However, you would need to put that info under a spoiler tag. You can access that from the Full Reply Screen. It's the megaphone. Click on that and then put the info between the tags.

You could also start a new thread about the puzzles in Nostradamus over in the Adventure Discussion Forum, but you would still need to use spoiler tags.

So about the puzzle near the end...I got stumped in a couple of places, namely From then on, it was pretty straightforward. What did you find most difficult in the end?

Hi jedi valius

Great review !!

I'm waiting for the boxed version of this game myself - so could be a while yet

Cheers.

Mad

I have the boxed version in english. I bought it in a local store here in Denmark. I assume it is the UK version actually, so I think it should already be out somewhere in the UK?

Nice review, jedi valius I agree that the game is way too short; didn't really like the ending as well, it was too abrupt. Also, Secrets of Da Vinci felt much longer; it also had a proper ending Both games were just beautiful to look at; the night sequence in Nostradamus was stunning I especially liked the idea of being able to play as a man and a woman, whatever suited the player's needs best, and the interface was just brilliant. The game gives you so much to do on various levels; both games do, actually. At least Secrets of Da Vinci does have some replay value with the angel/devil scales provided; for Nostradamus, I don't think there's much of a replay value in that it might have an alternate ending - I don't think it does. Replaying might just alter the points you're being awarded throughout the game for successfully completed actions

Hi jedi valius

The boxed retail version game isn't available in the UK as far as I know .... And I've tried all my regular on-line UK sites too.

But I'm hopeful it will eventually show up

[Of course there's always a chance Dave at InteractCD will eventually carry it. Been going to him for years ]

Cheers.

Mad

Hi, that is so weird as the english version is available here in different stores...hmm. I hope you find it soon, otherwise I could buy it for you and ship it over to you. Shipping is quite quick from DK to UK. The game costs about 26 GBP.

Hi jedi valius .... And thank you for that extremely kind offer

If I get very tired of waiting I might well come back to you

Thanks again.

Cheers.

Mad

Hi Jedi and thanks for the review. I finished this game a few hours ago and i agree with you. The game was short but i have some others in mind that were much sorter . I enjoyed playing this game but i didn't like that it was very much the same as Da Vinci game. Not that i didn't like Da Vinci but it had a rather unique gameplay (for my point of view) and it's really odd to meet that particular gameplay with so many similarities in another game. The puzzles were ok not very hard nor very easy and i must say this was one of the few games that i didn't search for one of Mag's walkthroughs . That was a nice review