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- Montezuma's Return!
Montezuma's Return!
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
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In development for four years, Montezuma's Return! is the sequel to Montezuma's Revenge!, the classic 1983 platformer. Raise your hand if you've played that one (no worries if you haven't; it's included free on the disc). By taking a crisp, even beautiful 3D landscape viewed from a first-person perspective and combining it with classic platform-style gameplay, Montezuma's Return! is instantly unique.
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Released under GT Interactive's WizardWorks label (the same folks who brought us Deer Hunter), the $20 Return is not your typical budget game. It can stand neck-and-neck with Quake II and even Unreal for visual panache, its sound effects are impeccably done, and its music is often phenomenal. The game's 3D engine has physics and effects that are perfect for its gameplay. You'll see rippling bridges, trampoline surfaces, crushing blocks, powerful wind gusts, cool rope-climbing and swinging, excellent colored lighting, detailed realistic textures, pendulums, translucent blue water, even stun effects when you fall too far. The game uses different textures, sounds, and music for not just each of its nine levels, but often also for each individual room, making every new location seem truly fresh.
You play Max Montezuma-treasure-hunter and descendent of the legendary Aztec King Montezuma-who has come to the land of his ancestors to find untold riches within his forefather's old hunting grounds. Traps are laid everywhere, mysterious creatures abound, and obstacles are placed at every corner to make sure no one gets through alive. There are humorous death scenes and cut-scenes throughout, though the game itself is hardly concerned with storyline.
Everything about Return is bent on diversity, fun, and challenge. There are no guns: you can only punch or kick the smoothly animated, sharp-looking enemies, which include Aztec warriors, witch doctors, mad monkeys, rats, jaguars, and, of course, the large boss monsters. But combat isn't the focus. This is a game that revels in giving you a new challenge around every corner, and its variety of platform-style jumping and dexterity puzzles is virtually unmatched in the realm of first-person action games.
There are, of course, a few notable weak points. Mouse-control's one of them: it felt too loose, and the mouse "speed" adjustment did little to compensate. Also, combat can be very annoying at times-you can't always attack when you need to (there's an energy bar associated with hitting). And, even worse, you can usually attack only when looking forward; looking at steeper angles stifles Max's ability to even punch. Swimming could've been more user-friendly, too, as Max has an unfortunate propensity for drowning. The game can be stunningly hard at times, especially since you can't save during a level. Finally, it only supports 3Dfx accelerator cards out of the box. However, it has a wide variety of software-resolution choices, and there should be a Direct3D patch available for download by the time you read this.
These flaws aside, Montezuma's Return! is one of the most entertainingly distinctive single-player games in a long while, especially for fans of run-and-jump gameplay. Great looks, awesome sound, incredible diversity-it's an instant classic.
