Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius

Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius, also known as TimeScape: Journey to Pompeii in North America and Pompéi: La Colère du volcan in France, is a 2000 historical adventure game. The game was developed by Arxel Tribe and Réunion des Musées Nationaux, and published by Cryo Interactive. It is followed by a sequel, Jerusalem: The Three Roads to the Holy Land.

Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius
European cover art
Developer(s)Arxel Tribe
Publisher(s)
EngineCINview
Platform(s)Windows, Macintosh
Release
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

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When an explorer and world famous cartographer by the name of Adrien Blake returns from an expedition he discovers that his fiancée, Sophia has disappeared. Wrought with grief Adrian immerses himself in his manuscripts and reveals an ancient curse placed on him by the goddess Ishtar. Blake must go to 79 AD Pompeii, where a volcano will erupt in four days time, destroying the city, and find Sophia.

Development

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Pompei used the CINview engine, which also appeared in Faust.[3]

Reception

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According to Cryo Interactive's marketing manager, Mattieu Saint-Dennis, Pompei sold 90,000 units in Europe alone by December 2000. Of this number, France accounted for 30,000 copies.[5]

Tom Houston of Just Adventure praised its story, graphics, and puzzles while deeming it on par with Egypt 1156 B.C., China, and Aztec.[6] Meanwhile, the site's Ray Ivey gave the game a D, commenting that the experience left him "grumpy for days".[7] Gamespy's Tamara Schembri positively compared it to Beyond Atlantis due to the former seamlessly blending its education and entertainment.[8] Michael Lafferty of GameZone thought the title had a wide appeal as a family adventure game with a rich story.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "TimeScape - Release". 2001-03-05. Archived from the original on 2001-03-05. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  2. ^ "Pompei: Colere du Volcan sur PC". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  3. ^ Bye, John (January 5, 2000). "Article; Pompeii". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 30, 2001.
  4. ^ "GameSpy.com - Reviews: Timescape". www.gamespy.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  5. ^ Silva, Beatriz Vieira da (October 2001). "Interviews". Culturtainment - a New Interactive Entertainment Genre (PDF) (MSc). Faculty of Social and Human Sciences. pp. A 20–A 27. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 17, 2018.
  6. ^ "Review: Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius". 2001-07-20. Archived from the original on 2001-07-20. Retrieved 2017-02-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ "Review: Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius". 2002-06-17. Archived from the original on 2002-06-17. Retrieved 2017-02-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "GameSpy.com - Reviews: Timescape". 2004-09-13. Archived from the original on 2004-09-13. Retrieved 2017-02-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ^ "Timescape: Journey to Pompeii Review - PC". 2008-12-31. Archived from the original on 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2017-02-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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