Ankh - First Impressions
Gorath, 2005-11-20

It´s no longer a secret that the adventure genre is prospering in the German speaking countries, in contrast to its rather unenviable situation in other important markets. Since the surprise hit "Runaway" started an adventure revival a few years ago, several small and medium-sized publishers have been remarkably successful with clearly defined adventures made by enthusiastic teams which overcame their skin-tight budgets with creativity and pragmatism.

Thus bhv Software´s new game "Ankh" stands out from the crowd: no classic adventure since "Runaway" has so much positive buzz, and none has received such invariably positive reviews. The publisher was kind enough to provide us with a beta version and a review copy - I´m about 4 hours into the game and my thoughts about the beginning can be found below.

Ankh is as "classic" as can be: it´s a pure point & click adventure without action or stealth sequences. Most quests are inventory or dialog based - artificial puzzles have been avoided, as well as other time wasters like excessive walking. The game plays smoothly. During the first hour, the quest solutions are rather obvious because the crucial items can be found nearby, and they´re crying out to be used. Then the quests spread over a larger area and the game gets slightly more difficult.

One look at the screenshots is enough to realize that Ankh is more focused on comedy and scurrilous characters than on suspense, even though the storyline would have allowed for both. The protagonist, Assil, wanted to party with his friends - unfortunately he chose the wrong place for it: a pyramid. One desecration later, a mummy has cast a deadly curse on him and now it´s the player´s task to get rid of it.

The humorous atmosphere is kept on a healthy level - enough to make you smile about the subtle references to movies, other adventures or everyday, while only seldomly using more brutal comedy.

Technically it´s a mixed bag, as it was to be expected. The graphics are pleasing to the eye, although they could be a bit more detailed. The running animations on the other hand look like Assil is using a skateboard.

The camera and interface are pretty good and neither disturbs the gameplay. Assil and Thara - the female character you control later in the game - do what they´re supposed to do. This is a relief because otherwise good adventures like "The Moment of Silence" and "Broken Sword 3" weren´t always as cooperative - to their own disadvantage.

The music by Dynamedion (SpellForce, this year´s Superbowl theme) is solid as usual, but rather low-key, apart from the wacky intro song. In contrast, the voice acting is nothing less than stellar: bhv and Deck 13 hired a great cast of voice actors, from Ben Stiller´s German voice to the actor who lends his voice to John Cleese since Monthy Pythons´ times. And even better, the actors seemed to have fun speaking the slightly over the top characters.

Ankh´s first few hours are very enjoyable. The game is harmless fun in a fresh, interesting setting - a mainstream product that successfully avoids common mistakes, which are a source for frustration. I hope the rest of the game is equally good.

The publisher, bhv, sent us more than 100 screenshots and artworks - some of them exclusive. Of course we could only use a few of them in this article. Feel free to follow the links below into our gallery.

Links:

gallery screenshots

gallery artworks

Ankh homepage