EXCLUSIVE TO GGG, THE DOUBLE WHAMMY! Challenging & Exciting 
BASED ON COMPLETED GAME I had just completed Chapter 4 of 9, which had taken me almost 3 hours on EASY, despite EXCESSIVE use of HINT, SKIP and the STRATEGY GUIDE, when I first sat down to write this review. Unusual for me, I forgot to submit it, so I get to comment on the full version after all. Which is a good thing, because the game actually changes in character at the halfway mark.
Unusual story. It is portrayed very dramatically from the start, strange shamanesque figures, Aztec (forgive me if it’s another culture) rituals and sacrifices.
Your boss is attacked by his client shortly after retrieving a map for him. John is convinced the map is cursed, and there certainly are some queer things happening. Even the dog is behaving strangely. And the fridge, well, the fridge has developed a life of its own and has to be chained down.
The freakish storm overhead adds lightning, thunder and ominous portents to the atmosphere, and you gotta be feeling pretty spooked.
The atmosphere is foreboding, and the GRAPHICS complement that, being somewhat heavy handed. Music portentous as well.
NB. The end of the demo is worth the hassle of downloading in itself. It really gives you an insight into whole game in a way no other demo has.
So, you must find and piece the map together to discover your destination in the jungle. Halfway through the game, I had just managed to locate the map and enter the jungle. The CUT-SCENE for this is SPECTACULAR and actually scary. All the cut-scenes are very dramatic, as are the AMBIENT SOUNDS & VISUALS, creating a very threatening atmosphere.
The GAMEPLAY is MOSTLY ADVENTURE, with some very CHALLENGING PUZZLES. There are only a few HOS, and they are static, straightforward LISTS. Not interactive. In the JUNGLE part of the game, the PUZZLES get EASIER, there are MORE HOS, and even the ADVENTURE became MORE LINEAR.
The PUZZLES include PUZZLE BOARDS (unskippable even on easy) that require interaction with a number of items to retrieve your inventory item. However, the TWO in the DEMO, were the ONLY ONES in the whole game. The OTHER PUZZLES include traditional ones altered to make them more difficult, and SOME NEW ones. SKIP is VERY SLOW.
There is a lot of to and fro, and the MAP tells you only WHERE YOU’VE BEEN and where you haven’t, with no jump feature to reduce the footwork. HINT, though is VERY GOOD, only one click is required to get the directional arrows all the way to the next action.
I enjoyed this game a lot, the jungle more than the first half, because I’m not much good with puzzles, but at first I pegged this as A GAME FOR EXPERTS, but IT ISN’T. It appears that way only in the DEMO and I consider that offensively DECEPTIVE.
In the CE there are COLLECTIBLE scorpions, which appear right out there as part of the scene and are therefore actually easier to miss. There’s also a TROPHY ROOM & ACHIEVEMENTS. And the usual CE extras.
NB: If you’re thinking about buying the CE version, my advice is FORGET IT. The altered ending is LAME, as is the BONUS CHAPTER, which has few new scenes and is a HO GAME, with almost NO PUZZLES, and HOS visited twice each.
However, it can’t be denied that this SE VERSION is a GREAT game with DRAMA and ORIGINALITY on its side.
I Recommend This Game!
