La Abadia Del Crimen

Copyright : OperaSoft | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Set rather uniquely in a monastery, La Abadia Del Crimen casts you in the role of a monk who must solve a series of murders with the abbey whilst following his day to day duties and the strict rules of the monastery while the complex plot unravels around you.

Never released in the UK this 3D isometric adventure, based on the Umberto Eco novel ?The Name of the Rose?, is often cited as one of the best games ever developed in Spain.

Graphics

Marrying a good choice of palette with a great attention to detail, La Abadia Del Crimen is a graphically striking game that at the time of release would be some of the best visuals contained in any CPC game up to that point and they still stand up well to scrutiny today.

The characters are all individually designed and are easily recognisable from each other with the minimum of fuss.

Animation is fluid and the game moves quickly inside a busy window, the bottom of which has a scrolling info bar and other information for ease of reference.

The choice of flick screen rather than scrolling is a wise one otherwise there would doubtless be a noticeable lag when playing the game. Having said that, it is within this choice that the only major fault with the graphics can be found. It can become very easy to lose your way as each time the screen flicks, your perspective changes and you find yourself moving in a different direction: this is to stop the character from disappearing behind structures etc but there is no compass to show what direction you are heading in and until you are familiar with the map of the game, it can be disorientating and ultimately frustrating.

From the impressively colourful title screen to the mock parchment opening that explains the setting of the game, La Abadia del Crimen is a truly beautiful work to look at and it?s incredible to think that a game of this striking quality was never released outside of its native Spain.

Sound

Some sparse sound effects in the shape of footsteps, ringing bells and a kind of vidiprinter noise that accompanies the dialogue displayed at the bottom of the screen.

The parchment scenes at the beginning of the game are accompanied by a good tune but unfortunately this does not extend into the game itself. Functional if unimpressive, at least they didn?t decide to code the game with a ?vow of silence?? I?m sorry? I just couldn?t resist?

Gameplay

First of all a confession (it seems only right considering the religious nature of the game?) while I have played the CPC version, the majority of my time has been spent playing an MSX version. The reason? The game is unavailable in English on the Amstrad and while in most games of this nature you can muddle along, it?s nigh on impossible in ?La Abadia Del Crimen?.

From my limited experience, the games play virtually identically although I cannot be 100% sure when it comes to the translation of the text, the general vibe of your task is the same.

And what a task! To put the game in a nutshell - there have been unexplained deaths occurring in the abbey and it is up to you to solve them while abiding by the laws of the monastery - you are, after all, a servant of God, first and foremost! The story slowly unfolds while you carry out your daily duties around the abbey and each time you play you begin to chip a little more off the complex plot.

Almost incomparable with any other game on the CPC, only ?The Great Escape? can claim to have a similar scope, La Abadia Del Crimen?s one problem comes in the aforementioned complexity. Spanish games by tradition tend to be more difficult than their European and American counterparts and its fair to say that the difficulty that non-native speakers will have playing this game extends further than the language barrier! The game is extremely difficult and owing to the nature of the game it is not immediately obvious when a mistake is made - following the routine can in itself be difficult and it will take a few frustrated and aborted attempts before you work out where you are supposed to go at the very beginning of the game let alone when the investigations start proper!

As an isometric adventure, La Abadia Del Crimen looks a cut above the rest and plays it also. For those who are fluent in Spanish, I cannot recommend it enough (although I am not alone - the game is universally accepted as the greatest Spanish game of all time). However, those of us who are not able to understand the text will undoubtedly struggle (even with copious reference to the MSX version) and the game is almost wickedly difficult to get a foothold in. Stick with it though because the game is a sumptuous treat - just don?t expect to have the case wrapped up in a week!