Following Freeware: October 2010 releases

Palacin

If you’re an adventurer seeking a quest to make your name, the royal palace seems a good place to start. Such is the thinking of our protagonist as he arrives at the palace steps. Dubbed “Palacin” due to a misunderstanding over his desire to enter, his first problem is actually getting inside. From there, the direction of his quest may just depend on how adventurous he is.

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Set over five chapters and boasting four different endings, this is an ambitious first game from Mythicto. Good use of shading with light-reflecting surfaces gives a fully three-dimensional look to both the locations and the characters. This impressive presentation is slightly let down by a stiff walking animation that does not fit well with the character’s actual progress. The background music is pleasantly simple and unobtrusive. Whilst the method of getting into the palace is the same for all endings, some of the decisions you make after this determine which one you end up with. Conversations will usually point you in the right direction, though some hunting for inventory and lateral thinking is required to actually achieve your goals.

Palacin can be downloaded from Mythicto’s website.

SW: The Mary Reed Chronicles

As a member of the Algorian resistance, Mary Reed is travelling to the rebel stronghold Camp Patterson. There she hopes to rendezvous with her childhood friend and the Algorian princess, Anna. When news reaches her that the camp has been destroyed and the princess captured, she sets out on a daring rescue mission. Aided by her war robot, Rusty, can she free the captives from the forces of Demo’s evil empire?

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This is Hero Interactive’s first foray into point-and-click adventure, set in the steampunk world of their Stormwinds shooting defence games. The graphics are a moderately simple cartoon style, with decent animation of both characters and machinery. In keeping with the combative nature of its forebears, a certain amount of violence is depicted throughout the game. The sound is mostly limited to appropriate effects, though there is a stirring anthem at the game’s end. A couple of the puzzles require quick-clicking for success, though death simply restarts the current scene. More often you will be trying to avoid direct confrontation by distracting guards and engineering sneak approaches. There is a side quest to collect seven letters scattered throughout the game, and successfully achieving this is said to open up a “more violent and awesome” alternate ending.

SW: The Mary Reed Chronicles can be played online at Armor Games.

Gretel and Hansel 2

Sad Gretel and her jollier brother Hansel are lost in the woods. With a myriad of mundane and fairytale hazards all around them, their chances of ever seeing their home again look bleak. Can you find a path through these perils to the safety that lies beyond?

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