I’m not calling this an English “patch” for “Collapse: Devastated World” (2008) because that would be misleading. Instead, it’s a collection of “English Translation Materials” that English-speaking gamers can use in varying ways to access the narrative of the game.
A link to these “Materials” are at the end of this epic post (apologies for the length), but I suggest you read this first because using these files may be more work than you bargained for. NOTE: ON-SCREEN MENUS ARE STILL IN RUSSIAN--SO IF THIS IS A DEALBREAKER FOR YOU, THEN DON'T BOTHER WITH THESE MATERIALS (although a pdf of translated screenshots of menus is included here for reference purposes—better than nothing).
What is included:
1. Ten in-game cutscenes will have English subtitles.
2. Over 30 animated dialogue sequences will have English subtitles.
3. Six other cutscenes will unfortunately still play in-game WITHOUT English subs, but these are included in a separate folder WITH English subs to be watched outside the game in any media player at the appropriate time.
4. The English translated pdf game manual, worth checking out.
5. A pdf showing screenshots of 32 main game menus (and pop-up tutorial screens) in English (since I couldn't provide on-screen translations—not ideal, but it suffices for those of you who REALLY want to play this in English and can’t figure out the menus on your own).
6. Save files to unlock all checkpoints in the game.
7. Some artwork (standard DVD case and disc face).
8. There’s an extensive Readme explaining what to do with these materials. You really should pay attention to it to get the most out of this stuff.
EDITORIAL: While doing all this took 2.5 months, I’m glad to have played the game in (mostly) English. While far from perfect, it’s a carefully crafted, quite beautiful third-person “hack-n-slash-n-shooter hybrid” with a lot of attention to detail and a fun, although clichéd, apocalyptic sci-fi story (which I am a sucker for everytime). Why this wasn’t released domestically in the west is a total mystery to me. (Anybody shed light on that?) I don’t read or speak a lick of Russian; this was completed character-by-character with an online Cyrillic keyboard and Google Translator Kit. In other words, anyone could’ve done it. If you are a programmer (unlike me) with the chops to make the on-screen menus into English, feel free to add to this work here, and advertise it. ENJOY.
Review of “Collapse: Devastated World” on my blog:
http://wkduffy.wordpress.com/2011/05/02 ... -sinkhole/
See a sample cutscene with subs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4zemcxKxDY
English Translation “Materials” (with bonus artwork and saveGame files). It's a 38-part rar file, 3.6Gb in all, so make sure you get all of it. (The file is large because many of the altered wmv files with English subs are bigger than the original game files). If you have a premium (pay) account at 4shared, you can download the entire folder, all files, at once.; if you don't, then you have to dl the 38 rar files individually, of course. Enjoy.
http://www.4shared.com/folder/pqtoKXWx/ ... rials.html