Rune of Fate::
Introduction and Installation:
Today’s game is one that would have appealed to me a lot 20 years ago as I was really into such things. After playing the demo through to the end the game really didn’t grab me as much as I would have liked it to. :(
Today’s download is around 10Mb in size and the installed game is 17.2Mb in size, though on the Elefun web site it says the game is over 19Mb in size? If you don’t want the Elefun home page link to be installed onto your desktop, watch out when you’re installing the game. During the set up you can uncheck the box that stops the Elefun link being installed, though if you miss it, the shortcut is easily disposed of via the recycle bin. At this point you can choose to have a quick start shortcut installed if you wish, though it is off by default. There is one automatically installed into the start menu which includes a link to the home site as well as an uninstall link.
The following is the introduction to the game taken from Elefuns site:
Quote:
<Blockquote>“Rune of Fate is a new game by EleFun Games Company. People say that the runes know everything. They say that the runes know the past, the present and the future. And their predictions always come true. What if these runes are not just ordinary runes? What if you happen to have Odin Runes in your hands? They can kill by sending disasters and suffering to their possessor. However, they can also show the way. The way to the secret hidden high in the mountains. You will have only to throw them to the bottom of the box and then collect the deal fallen. Only in such a way, step by step, you will be able to get closer to your aim.”
Ref: Elefun Games http://www.elefun-games.com/html/products/elefun-games-runes-of-fate-game.html 9th March 2008
The Game:
I started this game with a feeling of anticipation after checking the story out over on the Elefun site. The name and images I saw were interesting enough together with the name to give me a feeling that this could be an original and interesting game to play. On starting the game for the first time I was impressed by the menu, graphic and introductory pages to the game, though the absence of a help menu was noticed immediately. I searched the games folder for a help menu hoping to find one; as more often than not you can usually find a read me here but apart from an uninstall file and a couple of other files and icons there was no help menu which was disappointing. (As it turned out one wasn’t needed)
Anyway on starting the game properly, with no idea what I was doing I managed to finished the first level in around 40 seconds, which made me think this wasn’t going to be as good a game as I’d hoped. I then continued to fly through twelve more levels in around 15 minutes. (With lots of stops while I took screen captures, which always closes the game down) The game is based around the solitaire version of mahjong, but with rune like tiles instead of the usual Chinese imagery and using a lot fewer pairs within the game. I was disappointed but decided to continue as I do like playing solitaire mahjong when the mood takes me, so despite the lack of a challenge I went to the 13th level and within 20 seconds came to a grinding halt because there were finally no matches. All the previous levels had been played on auto pilot with no thinking required. I was taken into what I think is described as a mini game where I had to choose a tile out of a choice of five, with the hope of my level being resolved for me so that I could continue to level fourteen. I lost, so was then asked whether I wanted to replay the same level either with a reshuffle of the tiles or to return to the same tile set I’d previously lost. This happened again on level 2-7, and it took me ten attempts to finally win at the mini game. If you win, the game is resolved for you and you continue onto the next level, if you lose you get the mini game appearing which gives you another chance to pass the level. If you do win you are automatically taken to the next level with no option of retrying the level you got stuck on.
There’s 90 levels to this game with 5 different sets of runes that change at each stage, though ‘I’ personally didn’t notice much difference to be honest. That’s basically the game. When you’ve completed a stage you are taken to the map which shows you very little apart from a series of dots that represents each level you’ve played. You can’t return to previous levels, which would have made this game a little better in my opinion. There also needs to be a couple of different modes. The game isn’t timed, though you do get an end of level message telling you how long it took you and how many tiles there were. I did find that the later levels were a little harder, but there really was no challenge, as even though the patterns became more complex, there were never more than around 15 tiles showing at any one time, which made it rather easy to find matches. The game needs an arcade level that is timed. At least then you’d feel like there was a challenge. I’d also add some more mini games to break up the monotony of the game.
The game is fully mouse controlled apart from inputting your profile name, and you can play this game in windowed mode if you wish. The game has a very limited number of screen resolutions, most of which are hardly used these days that is 640x480 and 800x600; then there’s 1024x768. You’ll also find sliders to control the music and sound effects. The music is pleasant classical music that fits in with the game play. Check out the images by following either of the links below. There’s a range of levels showing the different level layouts as well as the menus and introductory story (that seemed to be missing a page as the way it finished I thought it was going to continue.
Images – All on one page:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Runes%20of%20Fate/?start=all
Images - Slideshow:
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Runes%20of%20Fate/?albumview=slideshow
System Requirements:
CPU……………………………………………… 1Ghz or better
System Memory …………………………………128 RAM
Sound Card
Graphics memory………………………………..32Mb
Conclusion:
Overall I found this a disappointing game, though if you like Mahjong you may like this version of that classic game. I will keep it just to see what the later levels are like as I’m hoping that the challenge does get harder. There is definitely very little challenge to the earlier levels though once into the second stage I did find it a little more difficult to pass, especially on level 2-7, though I was purposely losing after the second attempt (ten in all for this level) so that I could see what would happen if I won the mini game, which took me another ten attempts. All that accomplished was to allow me to pass the level I was stuck on. Because I was only playing the demo I had to stop after level 2-8 so cannot say if there is any change in the game play
I give it 6 out of 10 for game play. If you have children they will probably find this an easy game to complete.
