Rite of Passage 2: Child of the Forest (IHOG)
The forest is alive... and deadly.
Options include separate sliders for Music, Ambients, SFX and Voices, Full-screen, Aspect Ratio and Custom Cursor. Choice of three preset difficulties, or you can go with Custom mode.
Glitch alert: Late in the game, you have to light a lantern with your amulet. Click ABOVE and to the LEFT of the lantern with your amulet, not directly on it.
Story:
Willow Ridge exists in a constant state of darkness; a pervasive gloom that would destroy everything if not for the lighthouse. Only light can keep the menacing trees away from your little town, and now your husband, the keeper of the Great Lighthouse, has taken off alone in hopes of removing the eternal darkness for good.
Because of a couple of movies that this reminded me of, the early part of the game less enjoyable for me than it should have been... Not through any fault of its own, it's just that I didn't like those movies and kept thinking about them. Learning the full scope of the story really helped me overcome those early feelings I was having.
The story progresses through a combination of cutscenes, papers we find and the interactive stories that I love so much. Our
Journal has "tabs" for Story, Task List and Achievements. Sometimes clues go directly into the journal without us seeing them, and there's a lot of extra story in there.
Gameplay:
Be on the lookout for
collectible acorns and "
forest fruit" during the main game. The acorn to the left of your toolbar will be golden if you've found one at your current location. The fruit is hidden behind other things and scattered across the game.
Our
MAP is interactive, and has the teleport function. There is a separate map for each section of the game, but they are easily clicked through if you want to see a different area.
HINTS used during the adventure portion of the game will either pinpoint something nearby or give you a directional arrow.
Hidden Object Scene types vary between list, silhouette, finding fragments, riddles and more. Something I really enjoyed about the fragmented object scenes is that afterwards you can zoom in on the pieces and put them together like a puzzle. Inventory items can be interactive, as indicated by a
+ sign. HOS do not repeat.
The
Mini-games were similar in type to the ones we had in the first game,
Rite of Passage, although the devs always find ways to present them in new and interesting ways. Once again we have battles in the game, but rather than dexterity, what you really need is the ability to recognize patterns.
Sights and Sounds:
I really enjoyed the graphics in this one. Such a gorgeous variety of locations and colors, yet still completely feeling like they belong in the same game.
The music was perfectly mood-setting, and one song in particular was hauntingly beautiful. The voice overs are all very good (I especially love the voice of the narrator during the mini-shows), and I enjoyed most of the sound work (get rid of the annoying clicking noises, devs!)
CE Content:
- Integrated Strategy Guide
- Bonus Chapter
- Collectibles: 34 Acorns (one at each location in the main game), 5 Forest Fruit, 11 Morphing Items (Bonus Chapter)
- In-game Achievments
- Unlockable Diary*
- 21 Replayable HOS with scoring system
- 5 Replayable Mini-games
- 5 Replayable "Mini-shows" (interactive stories)
- 8 Wallpapers
- 8 Concept Art, which shows scene progression, as well as blurbs about how the concepts came about
- 8 Posters (puzzles which will give you background info on the characters who are pictured once put together)
- 10 Music Tracks(can be saved)
- The Old Lady - you MUST find every acorn to access this part of the CE content, but I missed two. *sad*
*You have to collect the fireflies from the Main Menu to unlock the
diary in the bonus content, but no matter how I click, the one at the top left can't be selected. *shrugs* Wish I could tell you what's in there!
There are 3 pages of
achievements, and if you'd like to know what you're shooting for, take a look at the Achievements tab in the Strategy guide.
Bonus Chapter:
The main game ended at a very good stopping point, but the extra chapter continues the story from just after where you left off. It's a very nice addition to the story, and the gameplay was just as good as the rest of the game.
Be sure to keep an eye out for morphing items whilst you play the bonus. The orb indication to the left of your toolbar will be blue if you've found the one at your current location. I'm pretty sure that the last forest fruit is found during this chapter, as well.
Verdict:
This is a great game, but one where you MUST pay attention to the story and read all of the tidbits you are offered, lest you miss out on big chunks of what's going on. Beautiful music and graphics, great voice overs, fun gameplay with a nice variety of HOS... Recommended to fans of the genre, but perhaps not those who don't like to read in their games. There's not an overwhelming amount, but I guarantee that you'll feel lost if you try to play without it.
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