Ring Review

8.5

Format PC

Developer Cryo Interactive

Publisher Cryo Interactive

Genre Unknown

The game of the... opera? Paul Presley dons a penguin suit, settles down in the cheap seats and gets ready for a singalong

Cryo's latest adventure must be applauded for its subject matter, if nothing else. Do you remember ever having come across a game based around a piece of classical opera? No. And for that reason alone - for daring to try to drag some maturity and intellect into the PC games industry - Ring should be applauded. Why haven't more games been based on classic literature? Surely the plays of William Shakespeare would make for some truly great adventures? Alternatively, can you imagine taking on the role of Gulliver, striding through your travels? Or acting out Mr Christian on the deck of the Bounty?

Dum da dum da daaa...

Anyway, Ring, being based on Wagner's operatic meisterwork Der Ring Des Nibelungen, is an understandably daunting affair. Dealing with a (truly) epic tale of giants, dwarves, magic, greed, temptation and fate, Cryo have made a surprisingly good job of translating it into game form. You play the part of a character called Ish, a sort of explorer from a far-off future race, looking to piece together the knowledge of The Ring by living out the four main acts of the opera.

In game terms this means you get to jump into any of the four 'acts' at will, controlling in turns Alberich the tyrannical dwarf, Loge the fire spirit, Siegmund the son of a god, and Brunnhilde the Valkyrie. This gives you quite a good sense of freedom, and keeps boredom at bay.

Being 'based on the opera' seems to have meant more to Cryo than just including some of the music. All the while you're playing it, you get the feeling of really being caught up in some kind of lavish production. And the music helps, of course. Recorded by Sir Georg Solti just before his untimely death, it blends in well with the inherent drama on-screen. There are times when it cuts rather too jarringly from one piece to another - it would have been nice if Cryo could have found a way to have pieces merge into one another a la LucasArts - but on the whole it holds up well.

It falters slightly again in the actual adventure part. It's not too bad, to be honest, and in some areas is very nicely worked out and always seems to be a part of the story. It's just that at times it's also a bit too much like Myst (PCZ #15, 67%), even with the now seemingly obligatory 360-degree view control. It's a bit too vague and loose to really sit well. Plus the third section, Siegmund, is, frankly, a little dull.

Dum da dum DAAAAA!

Essentially, this is a really nice effort at transferring something with class, style and intellectualism to your computer screen. It's not perfect, but at least it makes a welcome change to just wading, guns blazing, through the latest in a long line of blood and gore shooting fests. Go on, give Ring a try. You never know, your brain may even thank you for it.