Wrath of the Gods Download (1994 Educational Game)

Imagine yourself living back in ancient days when Greek gods and goddesses ruled the world and that world was filled with monsters and monstrous characters we only read about in mythology today. Wrath of the Gods puts you right in the middle of that era and through clever use of logic puzzles and detection, introduces you to many of the characters and myths of that long ago period. The opening scenes of the game establish your character as an abandoned baby that the king takes in for personal reasons (an oracle proclaimed you'd attain the throne during his lifetime) and it's not good to threaten the King, baby or not. Fortunately, when the king takes you out and abandons you for dead, a friendly centaur discovers you and raises you to young manhood. At this point, your quest that ultimately ends with your ascendance to the throne begins as you try and discover your father's identity and rescue your mother from evil King Minos.

As well as the solid story is told through the use of live animation sequences and an unobtrusive icon-driven interface, Wrath of the Gods is not without its flaws. Nothing so serious that it renders the game unplayable, but enough to detract a bit from a fluid gaming experience. Extremely long load times for some scenes is very annoying and some of the animation sequences are choppy and negatively influence the synchronization of the sound track. The loading problem is exacerbated by the structure of the game. For example, near the end you find yourself revisiting old scenes to pick up needed information or equipment and there is no facility for selecting a spot on the map and transporting via a mouse click. You'll have to suffer the tedium of retracing your steps repeatedly through many of the same screens. It's a fairly large game world that is broken up into four major sections, each with more than fifteen screens and featuring some arcade-like moves. More of an esthetic gripe (though one that would require artwork instead of photo-realism to fix) is the fact that the excellent photography of old Greek ruins is used in the game and tends to displace belief that you're in ancient times when the structures would be intact.

There is plenty to like about Wrath of the Gods and the plus points far outweigh the negatives. The story is rich in mythology and the cast of characters, gods, goddesses and creatures you meet is terrific. Acting and voices for the most part are excellent and the game is delightfully full of period-humor and some simply hilarious bizarre encounters. The puzzle solving is not mind-blowingly difficult but can be tough in spots. An on-line hint feature is handy but detracts from your overall score if used but is perfect for novice gamers. While not overly long, Wrath of the Gods contains a detailed story that will require a sizable time investment. Costumes, myths, location and style combine to make this one fit for a, well, king.

Graphics: Flawed by long load times and choppy presentation at times. The photo-realism and art is sufficiently attractive although the unstable cinematic sequences occasionally bump the sound track out of whack.

Sound: The music and voice acting is quite well done. Serious characters sound serious and the comic relief characters play their parts at professional quality level. An occasional glitch caused in part by the game engine.

Enjoyment: As much as I enjoyed Wrath of the Gods, the game seemed to drag at times mostly due to the tedium of retracing footsteps to visit screens already encountered time after time. A quick-move map feature would have been greatly appreciated. The story is good and the references to Greek mythology are handled with worthy respect.

Replay Value: You'll have to ferret out nearly all surprises, clues, objects and basically visit all pertinent corners of the game world on the first run through. Not much left for a replay.

A centaur found a baby abandoned on a mountainside, took him, and raise him as his own. When the baby becomes a young man, the centaur reveals to him that there was a ring and a few gems in his baby blanket. This can only mean that he is of no ordinary origin, and is probably connected to the gods. The young man leaves the centaur's house, determined to find his real parents, and learn about his heroic destiny.

Wrath of the Gods is a puzzle-solving adventure game revolving around popular Greek myths. Many of the puzzles can be solved by applying knowledge of Greek mythology. To further emphasize the educational element, the game includes an database of Greek mythology, which can be used as a hint system to solving the puzzles, or purely for learning purposes. The game utilizes digitized photographs for characters and backgrounds, with third-person navigation.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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