The twelfth game I’m playing for the blog is little known French game Mortville Manor (at least it seems to be little known outside of France). Created in 1987 by Lankhor, a fusion of two other companies called Kyil Khor Creation and Béatrice & Jean-Luc Langlois, the game was originally developed for the Atari ST before being ported to Amstrad, Amiga and PC in various languages. It’s the first of two games to put the player in the shoes of private investigator Jérôme Lange, with the sequel being 1990’s Maupiti Island, which was based on a tropical island and seems to have had a much more widespread release. Mortville Manor is based in 1951, where Jérôme is called in to solve a murder mystery in a grand manor. I know little more than that, other than the standard “all is not as it seems” style marketing that accompanies all games of this type. The game seems to be most well known for being the first to utilise speech synthesis, which is another way of saying artificial human speech (think Stephen Hawking).
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Game 12: Mortville Manor - Introduction
The twelfth game I’m playing for the blog is little known French game Mortville Manor (at least it seems to be little known outside of France). Created in 1987 by Lankhor, a fusion of two other companies called Kyil Khor Creation and Béatrice & Jean-Luc Langlois, the game was originally developed for the Atari ST before being ported to Amstrad, Amiga and PC in various languages. It’s the first of two games to put the player in the shoes of private investigator Jérôme Lange, with the sequel being 1990’s Maupiti Island, which was based on a tropical island and seems to have had a much more widespread release. Mortville Manor is based in 1951, where Jérôme is called in to solve a murder mystery in a grand manor. I know little more than that, other than the standard “all is not as it seems” style marketing that accompanies all games of this type. The game seems to be most well known for being the first to utilise speech synthesis, which is another way of saying artificial human speech (think Stephen Hawking).
11 comments:
Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There's a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of the reviewer requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game...unless they really obviously need the help...or they specifically request assistance.
If this is a game introduction post: This is your opportunity for readers to bet 10 CAPs (only if they already have them) that the reviewer won't be able to solve a puzzle without putting in an official Request for Assistance: remember to use ROT13 for betting. If you get it right, you will be rewarded with 50 CAPs in return.
It's also your chance to predict what the final rating will be for the game. Voters can predict whatever score they want, regardless of whether someone else has already chosen it. All score votes and puzzle bets must be placed before the next gameplay post appears. The winner will be awarded 10 CAPs.
As one of the two proud french-speaking representative following your blog (with Daubeur, it seems), I have to tell you I'm really glad you're trying this one!
ReplyDeleteI think my fond memories of it are a bit blurred, and I'm afraid I liked it a lot more because it was effectively in french (by the time, it was really rare to stumble upon a french-written game), so I'm looking forward to see if the game is actually good or not...
Jérôme Lange rules!
Ouch, I intended to play along but apparently the game does not include subtitles. I'm having a hard time making out the digitized English speech (with a heavy French accent I think?) so I´m afraid I´ll have to pass on this one. :-(
ReplyDeleteAlso, the room description (?) in that last screenshot makes me fear for the translation :-)
ReplyDeleteI prefer the DOS graphics.
ReplyDelete@Charles: yes, the translation and the lack of subtitles is going to make it challenging. I think you can replay sentences before moving on though, so I'll keep listening until I get it.
ReplyDeleteNative English speakers have it easy. :-)
DeleteBeing a Canadian Anglophile who disagrees with Quebec's language politics let me say GNAR! Stupid French. Should have played the German version. (German is the original language of chemistry, greatest of the sciences.)
ReplyDeleteThe handbook translation is terrible indeed, I hope it's not that bad with the in-game text, the riddles are pretty smart and the various hints quite subtile, but they're all text-based.
ReplyDeleteIf the experience proves too much of a hassle, it could be an opportunity for opening a French subsidiary of this blog (featuring Alfred n the Fettuc, who knows).
On another topic, I was wondering whether it would make sense for you to review "Zombi" (it's more or less based on "Dawn of the dead"). It has quite some "historical" value as it was the first title published by Ubisoft. I think it was also quite a precursor for the point-and-click system when it came out in 1986 (on the Amstrad CPC, an 8-bit computer you might never have heard of if you weren't living in France or in Spain during the 80's).
On the other hand, the PC version was released in 1990, and at that time the game looked really dated...
Hmmm...I've never heard of that game. Moby Games seems to suggest all versions of the game came out in 1990 (even the Amstrad CPC one), but then Wikipedia confirms your 1986 statement.
DeleteReaons Not to Play It:
* It seems to be labelled action adventure or arcade adventure everywhere. I'm trying to stay away from games that are not purely adventure games, otherwise the list will be filled with games that really have nothing to do with the genre.
* I'd prefer not to go back to past years if I can help it. As far as I'm concerned, 1986 is done.
* It doesn't seem to be very notable, given that it has only 2 ratings on Moby Games for the DOS version and is not on the Wikipedia Notable Adventure Games list.
Reasons to Play It:
Dawn of the Dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(this reason may just overrule all of the above)
I see you've added an image to your profile. I almost didn't recognise you! ;)
It's of course your choice, whether you'll play Zombi, but it's these more obscure games that create a lot of charm in your blog, at least for some of your readers (or at least for me). After all, you can find a lot of stuff for Leisure Suit Larry, Maniac Mansion and other renowned games all over the internet, but for the curiosities like Zombi and Mortville Manor your blog might be the most comprehensive source of information - even if you just note after few hours that the game is full of cow dung. Well, that's just my 0.02 Euros.
DeleteWell, you gave me my 15 minutes of fame in your post, I couldn't remain without an avatar :).
DeleteI guess the reason why it's labelled "arcade-adventure" is because the melee resolution system is "decathlon-like" (you know, destroying your joystick and covering your palm with humongous blisters...). But it's definitely an adventure game (and melee should be avoided anyway, you've seen what happened to Roger...).