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This innovative adventure starts on an old, dilapidated ship that's grounded
ashore. A woman, Professor Lea Nichols, awakens in one of the cabins with intravenous
tubes in her arms, she
is clearly ill. You'll watch her discover a letter and then begin a desperate attempt
to escape her locked room. Helpless but clearly NOT alone, she needs your assistance
to escape her floating prison. And so begins a shared adventure that you experience
through her, while personally remaining in your detached position. You'll need to
employ equipment on screen strategically to overcome the many environmental and human
challenges facing the woman. Unfortunately, you have no ability to communicate
verbally with her, so your influence must be asserted through more subtle measures.
At times this will involve simple tasks like opening and closing doors or steam
valves, flicking light switches on and off, or ringing a phone. Other times, her
safety will require you to take a more direct role by controlling survival systems
like water, air, temperature, and electricity, or by distracting enemies that she may
not even know exist. As Lea's extended eyes and ears, you'll constantly need to be
scouting the path ahead for dangers. The camera system allows you either multiple
views of the same place, such as seeing both sides of a closed door, or the ability
to watch several places at once. These cameras come with full 3D rotation and zoom
capabilities, enabling you to thoroughly search each area, even to the point of
reading lips. But you will also need to use light intensifiers, heat detection,
thermal vision, and even mobile cameras on remote controlled vehicles in order to
fully explore and analyze the environment. Adding yet another layer of challenge to
the game is Lea's independence. Although reliant on you to guide her, she does not
know who you are, and since she has her own notions, attitudes, and fears, she will
not blindly follow your lead. So you'll need to note her reactions, anticipate her
decisions, and most importantly, earn and maintain her trust. Your own identity is
unknown both to yourself and to Lea at first, but as the game progresses, it will
start to become evident through periodic flashbacks. The ship's Intranet comes
heavily into play, as you'll gain access to classified files, emails, video logs
and other documents dating back to the 1970s that give you clues to understanding
your current situation. As an added bonus, the game will offer optional secondary
missions through these files. English version is due in January 2008. |