Escape from Frankenstein's Castle

Hardly anyone can imagine that his vocations in Vienna might end up at the Frankenstein's Castle. So couldn't do Hannah. A young woman was riding a motorcycle with her boyfriend as suddenly somebody crossed their road causing an accident. When Hanna woke up she found herself in an old castle not remembering anything even her own name. If that was a Brazilian soap-opera the only task for the player would be to recall the heroine's life story and the names of her relatives. But here things are a little bit more complicated.

Besides recalling who she is and how she got to the place Hanna needs to find her missing boyfriend and get out of a castle that turned out to be a real trap. The first thing that burst upon the eye is that Hannah's clothes differs from the interior of the room she woke up and the looks of the guy she met first called Dorian. It was Dorian to tell the young lady that she needs some recovery and calm her down. But when you think that Hannah is actually safe and Dorian is a friend that will help you while you play, the ghost appears. Being rather surprised than scared you get to know that the friendly and lovely ghost Isabella will be your real helper or in other words the analogue of the hint button in this game. This is the first twist of a tangled gameplot of the game, but not the last.

This is a great adventure game seasoned with ingenious puzzles. For those of you who love HOG-scenes it might be a disappointment. As a player you're supposed to seek for the items during your walking round the castle. There will be no lists and time-limits. All the inventory will be used during the game except the collectable items. Their role is to entertain you providing you with an extra story-line. Isabella's story intrigues from the very beginning but the ghost doesn't tell it herself. She wants you to experience her memories which are called with the help of the things that belonged to her. These belongings are the collectible items. Finding them gives you an opportunity of a new recalling session. Personally I enjoyed them mainly because of the artwork. All the memory shifts were done with the help of more red colors. It is hard to describe but it was charming.

This is a great adventure game seasoned with ingenious puzzles.

Talking about the graphics in general it is really good. It is a nice mixture of 3D effects and 2D graphics presented in warm colors. The only thing that spoiled the impression was lack of animation. It looked a bit poor when the static pictures were moved across the screen to provide the viewer with the feeling of motion... But this drawback was smoothed with an unusual solution. Except the main story-line and the Isabella's story you could learn more about the mysterious inhabitants of the castle through the books. Having opened the book you can see some pictures presented as the pencil drawings that looked more then just cute.

The interesting thing about the books was that they had voiceovering. The paradox of the game is that you can hear the story from the book, but cannot hear the dialogues of the heroes. But this is not the peculiarity of this particular game. It is a typical oddity of the majority of modern games. Fortunately the music fitted the atmosphere and was not at all annoying. Sometimes you have to be thankful either for that or for the mute-function. So this time you were not at least forced to play in the complete silence.

Though the puzzles in the game are repeatable, there is one mini-game that was a total surprise for me. It's pretty rare to find the card games in the adventures. But it is the case. The card game is not widely known but you're provided with the instructions. If you're not a fan you may just skip all that.

Skipping is a nice way out when you become bored or tired. And there are several things that may make you feel that. The developers must have decided that the absence of the HOG-scenes might be compensated by the means of searching through the inventory panel. Some of the things you may find can be absolutely strange to you and no labels will mark them. So you'll have to look for the needed items by yourself without any hints. Anyway the hints are not always helpful. Sometimes Isabella just repeats you the task. And there is no use in that as all the tasks are indicated in your left bottom of the screen.

To complete the story I should say that it is an original interpretation of the old Frankenstein story. Only a lazy one hasn't exploited it yet. And this is not the worst variant. Take your time and compare!