Master of Dimension - (Die fünfte Dimension)
Merlins grandchild
Eidos‘ new Israel-label Mad Engine tells an adventurestory about Merlin in another "dimension“.
The sorcerer Merlin is not only involved in mystical but also in physical things and journeys to other dimensions. One bad day he met the wizard of the fairyland. Since the two didn't particularly like each other, it finally came to a conflict ending with the fragmentation of Merlin's magic wand. The single parts were hidden in different dimensions - and Merlin's power was lost. Rather a millenium later a boy coincidentally finds a dimension machine on the attic of his Grandpa: The hunt for the parts of the magic wand can begin.
Master of Dimension (german title: The Fifth Dimension) is an adventure, using different elements of the genre: beside the classic point'n'click, movie passages (in the private eye dimension) à la Snatcher are offered, while switching to big screens is borrowed from French or Japanese productions. The latters take place when important conversations are lead or viewing special items. Gamers realize in a "dramatic" way - that this is the point, you have to turn your attention to.
Our hero now visits the dimensions, meets scurrile characters, like e.g. the TV-bored alien. He is teleported into an ongoing Sitcom, causes the laughter machine to work through his actions and after that receives the first part of the magic wand from the inspired alien as sign of his thanks. Other stations are the fable world, the private eye dimension, the spaceship, shabby Harlem and old Egypt. One should take the objects that are hidden everywhere and use them to solve the tricky puzzles, as for example in the Casino, with the fortune teller or the bard. A good German voice output (among others the German dubbing voice of Don Johnson), fine drawings, logical puzzles suitable for beginners and good sound however opposes a game control you have to get accustomed to. Nevertheless: For the first try "Master of Dimension" gets high marks!
To dimension - means to determine the characteristics of an object. With this Mad-Engine-production from Israel one can say that different well-known adventure elements were mixed to an outstanding cocktail. A nice feature is also that one can return to a place already visited with the dimension machine at every time. Although the adventure is not necessarily user-friendly, it nevertheless has something special. And it's bringing fun for a long time.
What attracts our attention:
+ interesting story
+ humorous atmosphere
- unprecise game controls
Ratings:
- Graphics: 3 of 5
- Sound: 4 of 5
- Comfort: 2 of 5
- Total: 3 of 5
System requirements:
486/66, 8 MB RAM, SVGA, Windows 95, 2x CDROM-drive
Developer: Mad Engine/Eidos
M.K.
PC-Spiel, © 12/96
