HEART OF CHINA

 One would think that Dynamix, as a member of the Sierra On-Line family would
have a built-in user support base for its adventure products. But Dynamix's
last release, RISE OF THE DRAGON, was apparently overlooked by many loyal
Sierra fans. Even though HEART OF CHINA (HOC), their new 1920's so-called
romance has only been out for a few weeks, it looks as if HOC might suffer
the same fate as its predecessor, as it has been slow to find its place on
stores' shelves. However, adventure game players should be warned that they
will be missing a lot by not picking up this very enjoyable game. (This
review is based on the IBM-PC version.)

 In HOC, you play not one, but three different characters. At the beginning
of the game, you are "Lucky" Jake Masters, a World War I pilot who has seen
his better days. He is forced by financial giant E. A. Lomax to rescue
Lomax's kidnapped daughter, Kate. But Jake cannot complete his quest alone,
so he will have to enlist the help of Zhao Chi, the world's only Chinese
ninja. Once Chi has agreed to join your party, you can switch between the
two characters with no more than the click of a mouse button. After
travelling to rescue Kate from Chengdu in the heart of China, you will
travel to other foreign locations, such as Katmandu, Nepal, and Istanbul.
You will also have the opportunity to play as Kate towards the end of the
game.

 Those who have played RISE OF THE DRAGON will recognize HOC's interface (the
Dynamix Game Development System, or GDS for short). The GDS is a no-typing
interface that supports mouse, joystick, or keyboard entry (although a mouse
is preferable). Unlike many other animated graphics adventures, the game
is seen from a first-person point of view; your character hardly ever
appears on the screen. There are also non-interactive "Meanwhile" scenes
that allow you to follow the action in other parts of the game.

 There is no reverse parser or icon bar; commands are "entered" simply by
dragging items across the screen and clicking. To pick something up, just
click on it and drag it to your character's inventory. To use that item,
drag the item from your inventory to the place where you want to use it. The
cursor changes if there is an exit or person who will talk to you, and all
that is required to start a dialog or leave a location is a left click. To
examine something, simply click with the right mouse button. (You can also
find out where an exit leads with the right button.) The GDS's simplicity
makes it, without a doubt, the best point-and-click interface in the
adventure game market; more designers should follow Dynamix's example.

 Dialogs play a very important part in developing HEART OF CHINA's plot. As
in RISE OF THE DRAGON, you will have to talk other characters into giving
you what you need. Unfortunately, you sometimes will have to resort to trial
and error to find the solution. You should save the game before going into a
conversation, although there is no provision to save once the conversation
has started. However, there are a few occasions where you will have to back
up considerably in the story line to find a place where you are allowed to
save. Since you will eventually find the solution, although rarely on the
first try, I wish Dynamix had provided a "try again" option for dialogs to
speed along this repetitive process, especially for the situations where
saving is not possible.

 There are two arcade sequences in HOC, although you are given the option of
skipping the sequences as a winner if arcade games are not your strong
suit. You can also change the difficulty of the sequences through the VCR
(control panel). The first sequence, a tank simulation, is the only arcade
part of any adventure game that I have not wanted to skip over. The tank
simulation uses a combination of bit-mapped and polygon graphics, which are
often found in flight and driving simulators, and is a very nice change from
the typical fighting or obstacle-dodging sequences so common to games of
this type. The second sequence is an unfortunate fighting game.

 The graphics and animation in HOC are very well-done. Dynamix digitized
live actors and hand-painted backgrounds for almost all of the graphics. The
choice of background scenes helps to emphasize the serious but romantic mood
of the story, and each city has its own local flavor that helps to give the
game a worldly flavor.

 There are multiple solutions to many of the puzzles, and as in RISE OF THE
DRAGON, there are "plot branches" in the story lines. Some of these plot
branches are only extended multiple solutions that lead to the same game
ending. Other plot branches lead to completely different endings. There is a
plot branch alert screen that appears whenever you have chosen one half of a
particular branch. Almost all of the puzzles in HOC are realistic; they rely
on real-world logic, and not some altered kind of adventure logic. This
real-world logic, although it keeps you from complaining about unfairness,
also makes most of the puzzles rather easy. I only had a slight bit of
trouble on one of them, and I managed to finish the game within a matter of
hours. Fortunately, the plot branches extend the playing time, if you do
not mind restoring old game saves to play them.

 HOC is fairly typical in its system requirements among newer games. It
comes in both a 16-color version for EGA, CGA, Tandy, MCGA, and monochrome
users. There is also a 256-color version that supports VGA only. Both
versions require a hard drive and support Roland, AdLib and SoundBlaster
cards. The VGA version comes in either seven 5-1/2" high-density (1.2 MB)
or six 3-1/2" high-density (1.44 MB) disks. (The 16-color version had not
been released as of this writing.) To install the game, you must use the
included "Smart Start" program to properly configure sound and graphics
options. Smart Start will only let you select graphics modes or sound
devices that are currently hooked up to your system, and allows easy
reconfiguration without the need for the original program disks. There is
no copy-protection of any kind.

 HEART OF CHINA may not be able to provide a lengthy story or difficult
puzzles. But, at the same time, the graphics, sound, and interface more than
make up for any of its shortcomings. After only a mere two adventures, Dynamix
is setting standards for the rest of the industry. Only time can tell what
their next releases will bring, but they will certainly continue to be
nothing short of amazing. This is one game that should not be missed.

 HEART OF CHINA is published by Dynamix and distributed by Sierra On-Line.