Myths of the World 1: Chinese Healer

Myths of the World: Chinese Healer
by Eipix Entertainment - June, 2013

Series links:  Myths of the World 1: Chinese Healer, Myths of the World 2: Stolen Spring, Myths of the World 3: Spirit Wolf, Myths of the World 4: Of Fiends and Fairies, Myths of the World 5: Black Rose, Myths of the World 6: The Heart of Desolation, Myths of the World 7: The Whispering Marsh, Myths of the World 8: Born of Clay and Fire, Myths of the World 9: Island of Forgotten Evil, Myths of the World 10: Bound by the Stone, Myths of the World 11: The Black Sun, Myths of the World 12: Fire of Olympus

Available at:
Big Fish for PC as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Steam as Collector's Edition



A great myth has enduring power… no matter where the story comes from. In this first game in the exciting new Myths of the World series, your story begins as a Chinese healer who’s brought to the Imperial City to save the Emperor’s son. But you uncover a devious plot and end up having to save yourself! Throughout the game, you’ll use your herbal kit to concoct powerful potions to summon spirits and heal the people you meet. There are also collectible cranes hidden everywhere, and achievements to earn as you play.

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• Play the bonus game to track down Master Lei once and for all
  
• Use the integrated Strategy Guide
  
• Play three bonus hidden-object puzzles
  
• Replay hidden-object puzzles and mini-games from the game
  
• Download images from the game
  

For the Standard Edition

• Walkthrough
  
• Strategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

Marvellous Oriental Adventure! 
    

BASED ON COMPLETED CE GAME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Definitely a winner. The introduction is well done, excellent voiceover, deep and echoing. The game looks good, first class graphics (HD option) and good cut scenes that explain the story. The game is set in China, and is filled with excitingly exotic images and sounds. The music is a blend of Chinese and western, and is excellent. There are a number of important characters throughout the game and they are each beautifully drawn and animated, as well as being well acted.

WHAT’S HAPPENING
An evil sorcerer poisons the Emperor’s son as a first step in his plot to become emperor himself. You are Daiyu, a renowned healer, and you have been summoned to the palace to heal the boy. From the start there are problems, but nothing you can’t overcome with your magical healer’s kit and a few important ingredients. Saving the Emperor’s son soon turns out to be both easier and a lot more difficult than expected and is the beginning of an epic journey.

MAKING PROGRESS
This is a true Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure, as the three kinds of play are pretty well balanced. None of them pose a big challenge, but they are all interesting. The HO scenes are lists that are somewhat interactive and silhouettes that are not. The objects are large and clear. The puzzles are beautiful. They are fun to play because they look so good! They weren’t very original or very hard, though, and might just be too darn easy for some experts. Me, I don’t mind easy.

Getting around is helped by a portal map that tells you where there is something to do, and where you still have objectives to complete. It can be accessed through the journal, which also gives you a list of objectives and a summary of the game as you go along. In casual mode (1 of 3), the skip button filled really fast, and the game took me between 4 -5 hours.

BLING!
The healer’s kit turns special items you acquire into essences and such. It is the arcade-like game where you must time your click to match the green segment of a red bar. However, it is never too difficult.

The CE has collectibles and achievements plus the usual CE extras. The story ends conclusively in the main game.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS
The journey to fulfil your mission is a wonderful adventure, there is light and colour and variety everywhere. Fascinating characters, beautiful objects, interesting activities. The story is well blended into the game, and the gameplay is easy but fun. A very enjoyable game.

I recommend this game!

Myths of the World: Chinese Healer (IHOG)

IHOG or Mahjong-adventure!

Options include separate sliders for Music, SFX and Voices, HD Graphics, Custom Cursor and Full-screen.  Choice of Casual, Challenging or Insane Mode, which can be changed at any time.

Story:

You are Daiyu, China's greatest healer, and you have been called to the Imperial City to try and cure the Emperor's ailing son.  You soon discover that foul play is at hand, and it will take all of your wits and your great knowledge to save the Crown Prince... and the Empire itself.

Our Journal (scroll) has three tabs: Journal (Story), Objectives and Map.  There's a little bit of extra story in there, and I didn't spot any spoilers.

Gameplay:

Be on the lookout for collectible cranes as you play.  We have a separate map for each chapter, so be sure to look for those cranes before you complete any major tasks.

The MAP is accessible via the journal, but you can also click on the compass for direct access.  The map can be interactive, but does not indicate where you might have missed collectibles.  We do have instant-transport.

Using HINTS during the adventure portion will do one of three things: Pinpoint something on the current screen, give you a directional arrow, or - if the location you need to go to is further away than one screen - will give you the option to insta-teleport to where you need to be.

There are two types of Hidden Object Scenes.  Most of them are lightly-interactive find-by-list scenes, but there are also mini-HOS which are find-by-silhouette.  These are super-easy and take maybe 20 seconds to complete.  If you don't feel like finding objects on the standard to-find lists, you can switch to Mahjong, instead.  Each time you match up gold tiles, an item will be removed from your list.

In this tale healers are also magicians, and can summon spirits and prepare powerful potions.  We will need to use our Healer's Kit on a semi-frequent basis.  This involves taking an item from our inventory (indicated by a gold box) and placing it in the kit.  Once there, a mini-game will start.  There is a ball moving back and forth on a red bar, and you have to click when the ball is in the green area three separate times (for three different instruments that you're using.)  Clicking when you're in the red will cause you to lose progress on the mini, so be patient... Although the ball never moved so fast that I was unable to click at the right time.

Sights and Sounds:

The graphics are lovely, but I never felt like I was in China... There were too many other design influences, which really threw me off.  Then again, I've been a fan of Asian art and architecture since I was very young, so maybe it's just me. ;)  The character design was sometimes appropriate, but most of the faces seemed way too Caucasian to me.


They really put some effort into the soundtrack, and the voices were well done (although most of them didn't even try to sound Chinese, that's better than doing a really bad accent!)

CE Content:

• Integrated Strategy Guide
  
• 41 Collectible Cranes (one at almost all locations in the main game)
  
• 26 in-game Achievements (ONLY accessible via the trophy button on your toolbar in the MAIN game)
  
• Bonus Chapter
  
• 8 Wallpapers, choice of 4 resolutions, from 1024x768 up to 1920x1080
  
• 9 Concept Art
  
• 20 Cutscenes
  
• 16 Music Tracks (can be saved)
  
• 20 Hidden Object Puzzles
  
• 3 "Bonus HOP's" (from the bonus chapter, I think)
  
• 20 Replayable Mini-games
  
• "Making of" Video (very cute, and made me want to eat Chinese food!)
  

Bonus Chapter:

The extra chapter not only gives us some additional closure RE: the antagonist, but we also get answers to questions from the very beginning of the main game.  This chapter's artwork is the most evocative in the whole game - I wish that the rest of the game had been like this!


Verdict:

The game took me about four hours to finish, and seemed like a very zen experience to me.  Recommended to IHOG fans, and to those who would like to try a Mahjong-adventure!

Wow genki!!

You are really ripping through these games lately! Making me feel positively guilty.  
All those games I've bought, and not even the trial played yet!

And your reviews are so detailed and coherent, I feel I should be helping out. 

Thank you for the forum and the reviews. I hope to rejoin you soon.   me! 

Awesome, Justie!  It would be great to see you posting again

I'm on my 72nd game for the year (mostly casual), but only because my youngest doesn't allow me to sleep at night, so it comes with a price.  I stay tired most of the time :p

EDIT: And the detailed reviews are because I take 50 screens or more during gameplay to help me remember things.  My memory is not THAT good!   Taking all those screens are why I prefer to play on Steam - because taking shots is (usually) so easy!