Click…click…whir…click…whir. That's the extent of gameplay you get in Maxis' The Crystal Skull. Like many other video-intensive adventure games around nowadays, most of the game requires you to sit patiently as the game's characters go through their motions on screen. Fortunately, the premise of the game is interesting enough that the miles of video you watch won't leave you with your eyes glazed over. And unlike many other games similar to this one (Under a Killing Moon, Wrath of the Gods, Daedelus Encounter), the acting is actually well done, with Edward James Olmos from Miami Vice leading up the cast.
Set in ancient Central America, the game explores the mystic world of the Aztec empire. Shamen, High Priests, and Aztec warriors interact with and assist or attack you as you click around, looking for the crystal skull. While the game itself is sparse on true Aztec culture, a separate section acts as a multimedia textbook, providing a light Aztec education - a nice touch. Breaking away from most of the other cookie-cutter video adventure games, The Crystal Skull is not completely linear. While you usually end up in the same place, there are a few different ways to get there. And believe it or not, what you say to characters actually does make a difference, and affects your progress.
Even with the extras, though, unless you're fascinated by Aztec and Mayan culture, you're likely to get bored quickly. You can waste hours simply watching your character saunter from one end of a scene to the next - the mindless video clips can't be skipped. And the puzzles that usually spice up this type of game are nowhere to be found; here, the puzzle lies purely in where you go and what you collect. The game does provide a refreshing change, however, in the role of the Shaman, who gives you hints when you ask for them, keeping you from wandering around aimlessly for hours, clicking on everything, and waiting to see what happens. But be careful: Text-based clues from the Shaman are all clumped together, so many of the hints you'll see will be for tasks you won't yet have come up against, and reading the questions may spoil it for you.
When you get into certain areas of the game, you'll be thankful if you have a multi-disc CD-ROM player. The three-disc switch gets tedious in particular areas of the game. Also, make sure you have plenty of video RAM and a kickin' processor. Even on a Pentium 120 with 16MB of RAM and a 4x CD-ROM drive, we suffered from some serious lag time for video clips to start, and some video frames dropped out from time to time.
If you liked The Crystal Skull's predecessors, you're going to love this game. The video quality is great, offering a lot more than just talking heads. But if you're not patient, or aren't particularly interested in the Aztecs, you may quickly lose interest.
