AURA: Fate of The Ages
Aura appeared on the gaming scene without much prior
notice. Though the Streko-graphics site provided a wealth of early
information about the look and plot line of the game, where did Aura
come from? To answer that question, there is a great story at the
site. Imagine a group of friends and colleagues sitting around a
fire. One person begins to spin a tale, others chime in and then
someone begins to sketch. Things carry on from there and the next
thing you know they had a serious game proposal. The end result was
Aura: Fate of the Ages. I really liked this bit of history. This is
creativity at its best. A story told that picks up heart and new
substance as one after the other adds their piece. It is a pleasant
image. So how did this collaborative effort work out? Very well
actually and here’s why…
A puzzling
place…
Many
recently published games have lacked what some would call a healthy
dose of puzzling. OK… now is where all you gamers who have been
languishing for such gaming moments can perk up and take notice.
Aura has puzzles galore, yep that’s right... it is a puzzlers
delight. Those gamers who have complained about the glut of
story/character driven tales with just a smattering of in game
challenges should feel pretty happy to hear this.
Similar to
many puzzle laden games, Aura’s challenges center around machines
that you must operate, get running or intricate lock mechanisms to
avail your self of a doorway or access a new environment. There are
a few inventory based puzzles, but these are few and far between. No
fears here, about a heavy bag to carry around on your quest. Oh and
no mazes, not even a hint of one. There are a few sound based
challenges, but there are enough alternative references, that most
gamers should be able to work their way through them.
Now, I haven’t played a game that was puzzle driven
in a while. So, I enjoyed this aspect of Aura as I worked my way
through the game. More times than not, if I thought a puzzle was a
tad obscure, I would quickly realize it was deceptively obvious. I
just hadn’t looked at it in quite the right way. There are also
liberal clues in the game to most of the puzzles. One valuable
in-game feature is a sort of hints sketchpad. Clues are
automatically drawn into this notebook, as various characters or
related documents tell you things of interest about upcoming
puzzles. Now, this game is not the brain cruncher that some other
classic puzzler games have been. But, there were a few challenges
that required special effort, note taking and applied thought. It is
a good mix and one that will not throw a novice gamer off their
stride for too long. Even better, there are enough acceptable
challenges to make Aura a good value for even an experienced gamer.
Wandering
Afar…
This is a
classic quest based tale. We have all seen them before. Find the
rings, save the world. You are “the chosen one”. Hand selected to
carry out a mission of grave importance. All that “hero saves the
day” kind of stuff. Aura is well nestled in this classic
structure. And naturally, no quest would be complete, unless the
hero gets to wander through strange new places and meet unusual
people. One of the more interesting aspects to this game is that
each place you travel to has its own identity and unique look. There is a certain
commonality of how characters and puzzles are graphically rendered,
but each environment has its own distinctive music, ambiance and
style. More importantly, with all these varied places to travel to
and explore, the sense of being on a grand trek was always there.
The game of
Aura takes place in a world where individuals travel between the
four primary worlds of magic, science and the fantastic. The Ademika
Valley is the gateway to all that awaits in Aura. It is also the
world of secret research and sacred rituals. It is depicted in jewel
tones and cloaked in twilight. It is a place of meandering pathways
and dark secrets.
Then there
is Dragast, a mechanical world nestled in the tops of snow capped
mountains. This world was largely neglected until a senior and quite
secretive clan leader, Armagast, settled here. He and a few select
followers built elaborate laboratories and machinery high in this
remote compound. Because of the harsh conditions only they remain.
Na-Tiexu, is
a domain built upon esoteric knowledge. This is a place of astronomy
and magic. It is a place of the unknown, the unseen and the
unexplained. It is divided into four sub-areas. These regions are;
the spirit world, the children’s place, one of magic and another
dedicated to the lost art of alchemy and astronomy. This was the
largest section of the game and offered the most diverse mix of
puzzles, places to go and the more interesting characters in the
game.
And finally,
there is the island of Unity. A desolate area where all intrigue,
betrayal and exploration come to an end. But are all questions truly
answered here? All I will say is, this is your quest to pursue and
of course your answers to find…
And those
unusual characters?
The
characters were something of a mixed lot. Oddly, as with another
game I reviewed recently, I found myself least attracted to the
primary character. The supporting cast was just more credible to me.
The main character seemed a bit wooden in expression and voice
delivery. He also had this odd look to his facial expressions that
wasn’t present on the other characters. I am not sure why, but it is
as if less time and care was spent on him than the rest. It wasn’t
sufficient to significantly impact my overall view of the build. But
it was a flaw, in what was otherwise a very well crafted game. The
other characters seemed to have a bit more personality and
individual style. There were a few that stood out more than others,
but I also have to say none really grabbed my empathy or thoughts. I
think that as a puzzle driven game, characterization was probably
not a focal point of the development process. But, the potential
existed for quite a few of these characters to really be memorable,
with a just bit of tweaking. Would have been nice to see what they
might have been like.
The Sense of
the place…
The graphics
in Aura are very sweet indeed. There were some areas where the
graphics were a bit flat or perhaps under-texturized, as in stone
facades and the like. But, overall this is one very pretty game.
Mini cut-scenes where you are in motion are well crafted. You
encounter these when getting smaller devices to function or
traveling on any of the lesser transport devices through out the
game. The cinematic cut scenes follow suit and are spectacular in
some instances. As mentioned earlier, many areas within the game had
a distinctive look, so you will get the full force of the graphics
in a wide range of settings. I give high marks to Streko for this
aspect of Aura.
The sound
effects used in the game were well done and added to the ambiance.
In general, I enjoyed this aspect of the game very much.
Unfortunately, the musical overlays were not equally consistent. In
some areas the music did much to pull me into the gameplay. A few of
the pieces from the Dragast area were similar to Stuart Copeland’s
music and I enjoyed these very much. I just wish the music was this
well done throughout. None of the selected pieces were badly done,
some just sounded out of place. A few other times, the music felt
heavy handed and contrived. I enjoyed the music samples I had heard
at the “official site before playing Aura and was glad that they
appeared in the game. These pieces were all very good. But, they
may have also raised my expectations, perhaps a bit too high, for
this aspect of the overall game.
Our Quest…
I will say
right now that the comparisons to Myst will spring up, if they
haven’t already. But, the similarities are largely superficial. Yes,
there is talk about the creation of other worlds and such things –
but that is about as far as it goes.
In Aura, the
known world is ruled by clans. Among these groups is the clan of
“keepers”. Their charge is to keep safe certain rings of power,
known as the “sacred rings of the world” and also two sacred
tetrahedrons. With these rings and ancient knowledge, these keepers
are able to travel to and even create parallel worlds. But a wrinkle
appears in their lives. Legend has it that should someone manage to
unite the rings with certain artifacts from the parallel worlds then
they would achieve great power and immortality. To further protect
the items in their charge, the keepers have hidden the two
tetrahedrons in Dragast and Na-Tiexu. Normally, none but those with
the knowledge and power of the rings may reach these worlds.
However, there is another means of access aside from using the rings
themselves. A “journey ship” long dormant lies hidden in Ademika,
where Griffit, a clan elder and teacher to the most promising
students, resides.
Despite this
rich beginning, much more of the story is obtainable from the
“official site” and release materials than from within the game
itself. In fact, at the end of the game, I would not have known even
half of these facts. I do realize that with so much stress on
challenges, graphics and the magical environments – that some things
may fall short. I just think that with such a great potential story,
it would have been nice to have uncovered at least this much and a
bit more during the gameplay. This might have been accomplished as
easily as adding some reading materials or a few more lines of
dialogue. There did in fact appear to be a lot more to this place
than is evident from your travels and hints were here and there
about the nature of the larger conspiracy. I think a game can have
a great story and challenges, it just might require a little extra
tweaking here and there. Aura seemed rich in opportunity to meet
such a development challenge and succeed. I just would have enjoyed
seeing this challenge met.
The End of our
Travels…
Regardless
of how much you can discuss the graphics, the plot, the ambiance and
more. The bottom line on any game is – will the gamer enjoy
themselves and is the game a good value? Regarding Aura, the answer
to both is… yes!
Did I long
for a bit more of that story, hinted at so well at the game site, to
materialize? Well… yes, I did. Did I wince at some of the
appearances of our alter ego and wish I got a better look into a few
of the other game characters? Yes, on this as well. But, it hardly
matters, when you consider the overall game. In the end, Aura proved
itself to be a well crafted game, free from glitches or overt flaws,
containing some grand puzzles, lovely graphics and charm to spare.
Grade: B+
The game was
played on the following system:
Pent 4 - 2.6 GHz
XP home edition
512 RAM
Nvidia
Ge Force 5200
128 Mb video
SB Live sound card
design copyright ©
2004
GameBoomers
Group
