Cythera 1.0.2
Author: Ambrosia
Shareware: $25
http://www.ambrosiasw.com
Mike: Every game that Ambrosia Software releases is met with great anticipation and expectation, and their latest offering is no different. This time, Ambrosia breaks from their usual mold of fast-paced arcade games to give Mac users a complex, elaborate role-playing game called Cythera.
Adam: I’ll be the first to admit that Cythera was not what I was expecting… and while I’m a bit disappointed with the role playing-oriented game, it does show the polish that we have come to expect from Ambrosia.
Mike: I’m not a big role-playing aficiondo either, so Cythera did have a tough time keeping my interest. The pace of the game is slow and meticulous, but so are most RPGs, and fans of the genre should find plenty to like with Cythera. In terms of quality, it is everything we’ve come to expect from Ambrosia.
Adam: In the game, you have been transported away from your home by Cythera’s inhabitants, and your job now is to save the land. In order to do that, you must explore the city while solving challenging puzzles and battling enemies along the way.
Mike: The graphics aren’t flashy, but are well-done. The three-quarters aerial view is similar to that of games like Diablo. In fact, the entire game can be compared to Diablo, but with a bigger story, more talking and interaction among characters, and less hack-and-slash fighting.
Adam: The music is also pleasant, and the controls are fairly intuitive. But then again, we’ve come to expect nothing less from Ambrosia.
Mike: Cythera does a good job of holding your hand early in the game, requiring you to get the hang of basic commands and actions before you can advance too far. The puzzles start out fairly simple and get increasingly harder. Overall, the learning curve is nearly perfect, and the difficulty level will keep even the most seasoned RPG veterans coming back for more.
Adam: But what makes Cythera really shine is the way it captivates even the fiercest arcade gamers around. Whether or not you like role playing games, you’ll like Cythera because it doesn’t immediately seem like one, and before you even call it a role playing game you’re already way too immersed in it to stop.
Mike: Agreed. The storyline is rich and full of twists‹you’ve been presented with a possible double-cross by one of the major characters before you’re even five minutes into the game. Cythera’s plot is as good as most mystery novels, and even if you’re not a RPG fan, you find yourself playing just to find out who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy.
Adam: Cythera is also very interactive‹decisions you make early in the game can effect who characters treat you and what help you receive later in the game!
Mike: Cythera was written using a versatile game engine named Delver, and if Cythera turns out to be the rousing success that it should be, you can expect other role-playing-games based on the Delver engine to start appearing soon.
Requirements/Availability
Cythera requires a 68040 or better processor, 12 megabytes of hard disk space, and 12 megabytes of free RAM. It can be downloaded directly from Ambrosia’s website, http://www.ambrosiasw.com, or from any other Internet software library, such as CNET’s Download.com http://www.download.com.
The Summary
Mike: Cythera is a very rich, immersive role-playing game that fans of the genre will love. Personally, I tend to like my battles in real-time and my action a little more twitch-oriented, but I still liked Cythera nonetheless. It’s another good game from the pros at Ambrosia that deserves a look.
Adam: Immersing fans of arcade games into a totally different genre is never easy, but Ambrosia has taken that task head-on and succeeded. It’s for this reason that The Game Guys RECOMMEND Cythera for Macintosh gamers near and far.
Mike Wallinga
mikew@mymac.com
Adam Karneboge
webmaster@mymac.com
Websites mentioned:
http://www.ambrosiasw.com
http://www.download.com
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