Amaranthine Voyage 2: The Living Mountain

Amaranthine Voyage: The Living Mountain
by Eipix Entertainment - January, 2014

Series links: Amaranthine Voyage 1: The Tree of Life, Amaranthine Voyage 2: The Living Mountain, Amaranthine Voyage 3: The Shadow of Torment, Amaranthine Voyage 4: The Obsidian Book, Amaranthine Voyage 5: The Orb of Purity, Amaranthine Voyage 6: Winter Neverending, Amaranthine Voyage 7: Legacy of the Guardians, Amaranthine Voyage 8: The Burning Sky

Available at:
Big Fish as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
GameHouse as Platinum Edition /
iWin as Collector's Edition / Standard Edition
Steam as Collector's Edition



A brilliant but misunderstood professor, you've been to the Tree of Life, and lived to tell about it. Only no one will believe you. Your students have even begun to make fun of you… Until an elderly gentleman shows up at your door, and your whole life changes once again.

Are the Three Stones really a portal to another world? Find that out and more as you follow your colleague's trail to track down the truth of his strange disappearance. Explore beautiful, strange worlds, and watch out for surprising twists that will leave you wondering. If the tiara fits…

The Collector’s Edition includes:

• Play the bonus game to bring back the Sun Diamond!
  
• Find collectible dog biscuits and flitting fairies!
  
• Get soundtracks, wallpapers, screensavers, and concept art
  
• Read more in the Lore Book
  
• Use the available Strategy Guide
  

For the Standard Edition

• Walkthrough
  
• Stategy Guide (Big Fish)
  

Click images to enlarge
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Voyage Between The Worlds!
    

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The first Amaranthine Voyage blew me away, and this one is even better yet. From the opening to the credits you are kept involved and intrigued by this delightful fantasy adventure.

SIGHTS & SOUNDS
This developer makes brilliant games with excellent graphics, which is why I can’t understand why the cut-scenes are so pixelated and blurry. The rest of the game is a visual delight. Much of it is light and airy, as befits a world that floats among the clouds. There is a delicacy to the scenes that make them feel as though they have been created out of gossamer. Lovely.

Early on, the music bothered me a bit, it left me feeling a little on edge, but as I progressed it was replaced by some wonderfully ethereal tunes. Loved the ambient sounds! Voices are very good, and I love the way the speakers are given a close up window with lip synch, while there is still the main scene where the lips are not moving. A word here too for the actors. Both professional and amateurs achieve a high level of realism and believability.

WHAT’S HAPPENING?
A student of yours has found a way of operating a portal that leads to the world of The Tree Of Life, from the first game of this series. His father is concerned and has asked you to return there and bring him back. Well, the world you arrive at isn’t like anywhere you’ve ever seen, floating dreamily through clouds, with 4 satellites in the sky, and some really defective gravity. It turns out, there’s a really defective king as well, and lucky you, you will wed him this very day and fulfil prophecy! Oh joy! Guy’s old enough to be your father! (Apart from that, he’s a bit of alright, with a wonderful voice!)

GAMEPLAY
This game has a nice variety of (15) mini-games and puzzles. Although some of the puzzles are familiar in concept, they are presented in a new and interesting form. There are 3 levels of difficulty as well as a custom level. And you have a interactive jump map and a hint that allows you to travel to the next actionable area. So getting around is not a problem. The map is unusual to look at, 3D, with some of the locations being under the ground of others. Interesting.

The 16 HOPs come in many varieties. The standard interactive word lists come with a riddle for the final (inventory) item, and you can choose to play a lightweight bubble popper game (not the same as others in the Eipix stable). There are also some silhouette HOPs, and a few one-offs of the related pairs and identical pairs category, and 1 that is purely riddles. One addition I love is making the HOP scenes scroll. So a list of 6 silhouettes, you find them, the scene scrolls down, with another 6 silhouettes in the neighbouring area. Beautiful to play!

Other features include a dog companion and helper, and a bow and arrow for reaching difficult faraway objects. I also like that skip shows you how the solution is achieved, where it can.

COMBINED IMPACT
Wonderful! I couldn’t bring myself to stop to eat! Enjoyed every minute of this game, right through to its satisfying ending, and its hilarious credits. I love this game!

I Recommend This Game!

Bonus Content Review
    

BASED ON COMPLETED GAME

STRATEGY GUIDE
I really like where the SG can be found in this game. It is a right hand tab on the inventory bar. No trouble finding it when you want it! The screenshots are much clearer than most SGs, and the instructions are precise.

BONUS CHAPTER
This took me roughly an hour. It is all new locations and puzzles etc. A different HOP is used. This one has 3 silhouetted ‘types’, e.g. birds, and you must find a certain number of birds in general (not looking like the silhouette). Then you get an interactive word list without leaving the scene.

The story follows as an adjunct to the main game. It is not necessary to it, and uses the same characters but a different plot. It was not a bad little mini-story, and the gameplay was as enjoyable as in the main game.

PICTURES: WALLPAPERS (14), loads of CONCEPT ART, shots from the PHOTO shoots (12) + MOVIES (16) + MUSIC (11)

REPLAYABLES
20 HOPs with awards (golden feathers) for 3 categories, time, hints, accuracy.
20 Mini-Games/Puzzles

ACHIEVEMENTS
These have their own location, and are part of a lovely stained glass window. They are for the usual performance-based awards – x puzzles without skip, 3 objects in 3 seconds, that sort of thing. Including awards for collectibles, and for golden feathers earned in the replayable games.

COLLECTIBLES
48 Dog biscuits – these are in every location and can be indicated on the map if you want. They are easy to find for the most part.
20 Fairies – only in selected locations. They hide, and then move, so you must click them twice. They are harder to find than the dog biscuits, but not excessively so. They are not tracked by the map – gotta have some challenge! *silly grin*

BISCUIT HUNT
This is of 2 parts. The first is finding the rest of the dog biscuits you failed to find in the game proper, by clicking on empty sockets and travelling to each scene where you can find one. Once you have them all, you can play a little maze mini-game with them. Not overly exciting, if like me you found all the biscuits within the game.

SOUVENIR ROOM
I do like this game type. You get to transport back to the locations in the game and find one more object, which becomes part of your collection in the Souvenir Room. There is an achievement for getting them all, and you can only unlock it on completion of the bonus chapter.

LORE BOOK
This is an attractively illustrated book giving the history, legends and politics of Sun City. Although it fails to mention the prophecy that almost had me married off to a tyrant.

BUBBLE POPPER GAME
The alternative game to the HOPs, this is a fun game in its own right, nowhere near as hard as standalone bubble poppers, so we of the geriatric society can enjoy it!

VERDICT
This is an excellent choice for CE, with the extras offering a little spice, and many more hours of entertainment before you could hope to get all the achievements. *wink*