The following game was posted by FreewareFan about four days ago as part of his one a day freeware extravaganza. So far, apart from the first one we ave been treated t a very diverse array of freewre games, and today's offering is no exception. You can see the post and the download link for this game on FreewareFans original post, just follow the link below and check out the first post in the thread for the download link:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2413#post-15305
Tempo: A third person adventure game: A Review:
Tempo (Juego) is a post apocalyptic third person adventure that once in game loosely reminded me of the Laura Croft Tomb Raider series (you’ll see what I mean once you change mode and go spectral) and was developed by Jesus Garcia who lives in Spain. The game has a very impressive introduction, (IMO), especially for a freeware game which certainly caught my attention right from starting the game; with it’s stirring and hauntingly beautiful music and opening menu screen that utilizes some basic animations and a screenshot of that well known ( by long time giveaway enthusiast) ‘Mechanical Clock’ screensaver (that was given away over on the giveaway project several months ag)o. The music further strengthened my resolve to get this game working as I couldn’t at first. I even wrote to the developer asking for help because I was impressed just by the main menu, lol; who kindly replied very quickly with information about the key bindings for this game which you can see below.
I’ve never seen such a dramatic and obviously well thought out introduction (for a freeware game at least), that would not be out of place amongst even the best of some $50 to $70 game introductions. (That’s maybe a slight exaggeration, but still) It’s well worth the 127Mb download just to see this well scripted piece. (That’s if you’re not on dial up) The installed game weighs in at ‘over’ a quarter of a gigabyte, that is 270Mb, so you would expect something reasonable from the graphics at least. Once installed, you can go to the options menu by using the A and D keys to scroll through the simple menu to the control menu. When the cursor is next to the Start button, starting the game is accomplished via the Q key:
Images:
These were quite difficult to capture, hence there’s only ten of them. I would have like to have taken more in game images as I have only taken a few in the first room. Every time I captured an image I would have to turn the game off via the task manager as it would crash to the task bar, but wouldn’t maximize when I clicked on the games icon; it was a tedious job at first; though I later discovered the versatility of the Q key, which enabled me to skip the introduction. I may add more images later:
All on one page:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/FREEWARE/Tempo/
As a slideshow:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/FREEWARE/Tempo/?albumview=slideshow
During the initial opening images of which there were several there was also a narrative which I laboriously jotted down after re-running the introduction several times. Here’s how it goes:
This is my World.
Engulfed from it’s ‘sadness’.In the darkness of neverending conflict and struggle.
My peoples ‘limit’ is shed into crimson rivers of blood. Our powers sink into oblivion.
As the sole survivor of this massacre I shall claim vengeance in the name of my noble race.
To be only wounded and crippled by pain, my will led me to the desolate mountains, where the tower of time stands………
.it continues, but the Spanish inflections made it hard for me to transcribe the rest of it. There are possibly two mistakes above, sadness and limit don’t fit the narrative, but that’s the closest I could come . :)
The following are the control keys, hot off the press via the developer himself, who responded to my query about being unable to get the game to work. He also said that a game pad would work in the place of a mouse, which this game unfortunately doesn’t support.
Menu keys:
a - Left
d - Right
q - Accept
In Game key bindings:
awsd - To move the player
arrows - Move the camera
z - Change to spectre.
q - If you are in the wheelchair, hold it to use the power (just works in front of some objects). When you are using the power, press "awsd" to move the objects. If you are the spectre, use q to jump.
Conclusion:
If you like third person adventures this is definitely one for you. The quality is about the same as one of the tomb raider games from about 4 - 5 years ago, perhaps a little better, but the whole package is ‘much’ better because the introduction really sets the scene for you in a memorable way. This is a good looking and playable game, with very simple controls, so there’s no chance of wondering which key to press while your playing the game; which I find happens with simulation games like Silent Hunter 3 & 4, or first person shooters such as Ghost Recon I & II and Full Spectrum Warrior, because there’s a bewildering array of key bindings to learn if you want the full gaming experience.
I’ve not said much about the actual game play because I think you should try it for yourselves. Saying it’s a third person adventure game together with a quick view at the images I captured via the link above should be enough to conjure up some idea as to what this game entails. You do need to go into spectral mode (using the z key) to be able to move about because the main character is in a wheelchair that is trapped in the main room when you first start the game.
