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Looking
for a simple but fun family computer game? Heaven Quest is one
that will fit the bill quite nicely. While the gameplay is
simplistic, the people at Top Meadow have put together something of
a minor jewel here.
There's enough in it to entertain
everyone, children and adult. Up
to four different people can play the game. Each player can
set a different level of difficulty so Mom and Dad can play with
their nine year old and everyone can feel they have a chance to win.
Gameplay
is straight forward. You roll the virtual dice and then
move your character forward. Then you must answer a Bible trivia
question. If you can't answer the question then you lose some
"grace" which is represented by a stack of gold
coins. If your level of grace isn't full then the next time
you roll you have a chance to lose half your movement points.
Fortunately, you can spend one turn praying and refill the pool of
grace. Thus, you don't have to answer a question to move
forward, but it helps you move much faster.
You
follow a path that winds its way around 3D scenes illustrating key
moments out of the Bible. There are a few surprises along the way
if you manage to land on the right square. For instance you can pick up a
"Bible Buddy." This is a character from the Bible
who helps you move faster by doubling your die rolls. Other
unique things can happen while you have a "Bible
Buddy." Guess what Moses does if you happen to land on the
right spot?
At
certain points along the path, you are forced to stop and witness
particularly important events from the Bible, such as the birth of
Christ. The game ends when the first person gets to Jesus'
empty tomb. At this point you get to see your character
lifted up and fly through heaven's gate.
All in
all, this is a quality game. There's nothing spectacular about
it but it does a lot of things right and almost nothing wrong.
The difficulty levels work very well to even out games and the questions are intelligent
without being overly obscure. The game rules are easy enough
for a first grader to understand and yet contain some simple strategy
that adults can appreciate. The intuitive interface will have
you playing this game almost immediately
after installing it.
There's
almost no strategy to this game but that's not surprising. In a tight race
choosing to risk throwing the dice when your grace pool's not full
can give you a win, but aside from that the winner is usually the
one who answered the most trivia questions. While this is a very
important part of the game, the one who correctly answers the most trivia
questions isn't always going to be the winner since you can
still move forward even after missing a question.
The
graphics in the game are well done. The 3D screens are
beautiful and relate directly to the gameplay. Since the background scenes
are pre-rendered, you can't rotate your view. When you get to
the the edge of a screen you are switched to another screen with a
new background and path to follow.
All four characters are nicely animated, have their own unique
personalities and speak in different voices. The sound effects
are adequate though nothing spectacular. The soundtrack gets
annoying after a while but it can be turned off easily. It
would have been nice if the game had a wider variety of background
music.
Heaven
Quest comes with red/blue "3D" glasses. You use them when
you get to certain stopping points in the game. A 3D scene is
displayed and if you have the glasses on they make the scene look something like a
hologram. It's not in color and the effect is less than
satisfactory, but it's interesting to try out the first time
through. Except for these special points in the game, the
glasses are not used.
Heaven
Quest is rather simplistic and isn't going to offer a great deal of
replay value, especially for adults. However, for what it
offers, it's a winner. Indeed it's a "fun family
Bible game" just as their promo claims. In fact if you want
to buy a Bible trivia game, this is a reasonable candidate. If you are looking for something you can play
with the entire family and has Christian content, Heaven Quest is a
good choice.
Final
Score
Highlights: Well
done graphics and fun for the whole family.
Lowlights:
Not enough content to keep an adult or teen interested for more than
a few games.
Hints:
You don't need to stop and pray every time you miss a
question. But after a second miss, consider passing your turn
to pray.
Recommendation:
If you want a Christian family game on the computer that kids and
adults can play together, this is a great choice. It's also
would make a great gift.
Age Appropriateness:
Children to Adults (if the Adult wants a game they can play with a
child).
Christian
Sense (CS): 3.5
(basic but presented well and works very nicely as a family game)
Game
Engine (GE): 3.5
(solid but unexciting engine with some very nice graphics)
Game
Play (GP): 3.5
(as a family game and for kids)
Overall:
3.5 |
