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This will be my first review of the game Wolf Quest, and I am sure I will make more as the expansions are released.
Wolf Quest!
Index (use ctrl+f to search):
1. Introduction
1.1 Mechanics
1.2 Online Mechanics
2. Graphics and settings
3. Comments
3.1 Critique
4. Ratings
5. Overall
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1. Introduction
Wolf Quest is a game made by Minnesota Zoo in association with Eduweb. It is highly based on the life of the real wolves, their lives, struggles, etc., and is meant mainly to be an educational game. When you enter the world of Wolf Quest, you take on the role as a stray wolf who's struggle to survive becomes a part of the gameplay.
You can hunt elk, rabbits, bother coyotes, and similar. You can even join a, or start your own, pack. You can have, and raise cubs, and see to their survival. In short, the possibilities of this game is only limited to that of a wolf. It is hours of fun gameplay, once you get the hang of it.
More on this in the Comments-Critique part.
1.1 Mechanics
The mechanics in the game are simple. You steer around using your arrow keys and your mouse. Your mouse is used for turning. Whenever you come close to a prey, the game sets your wolf on autopilot, at which you will only have to keep the wolf running with your arrow up and arrow down keys, and click the left mouse button when the prey gets a wolf head mark on itself (it should be red).
To track down prey, other wolves or coyotes, press V and you will open your scent vision mode. What the different lines on the screen means is up to you for discovery.
By pressing E, you will toggle between running and trotting.
1.2 Online Mechanics
The online mechanics are pretty similar to Mechanics, however they are still slightly different. When you start a pack online, your computer turns into a server "shard" (which means the players who joins it, will also use a small part of your internet connection to stay in the "pack"). Depending on your connection, the game may lag or not.
(This is not official information, nor has it been confirmed or dismissed)
Also, you can open the chat by pressing G (or enter; G works for me), but what you can say in it is limited. There are only a few words which are not filtered away, but this is to create room for enough basic communication for online gameplay. Other than that, you need to act like a wolf in order to survive.
2. Graphics and settings
The settings of the game should be on default when you first run the game, after which you will need to adjust it to suit your computer, or else the game may lag to such a degree you will need to restrat the computer in order to get out.
Anyhow; the graphics are quite impressive, for a non-commercial, low-budget game. A lot of work has been put into it, and the results are very statisfying.
In order to enjoy the game to its fullest, however, you will need these specifications:
Mac OS X:
* OSX 10.3.9 or higher
* 1.5 GHz G4 or higher, any Intel processor
* 250 MB hard drive space
* Millions of colors
Minimum to run Fastest Graphics Quality Setting (Recommended for Good Quality Setting)
* 800x600 screen resolution (1024x768 recommended)
* 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
* Minimum graphics cards:
o Intel GMA 950 or higher integrated graphics (GMA 3000 may be marginal)
o NVIDIA GeForce 2
o ATI Radeon 9200
o NVIDIA GeForce 6 series or later
o ATI Radeon 9600 or later
* Recommended graphics cards:
o NVIDIA GeForce 6 series or later
o ATI Radeon 9600 or later
Windows:
* Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher (DirectX 9.0c or higher must be installed). Vista is supported but may exhibit video driver issues.
* 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 or higher
* 235 MB hard drive space
* Millions of colors
Minimum to run Fastest Graphics Quality Setting (Recommended to run Good Quality Graphics Setting)
* 800x600 screen resolution (1024x768 recommended)
* 512 MB RAM Windows XP / 1 GB RAM Vista (1 GB RAM Windows XP / 2 GB RAM Vista recommended)
* Minimum Graphics Cards:
o Intel 865G integrated graphics or higher (may require driver update)
o NVIDIA GeForce 2
o ATI Radeon 7500
* Recommended graphics cards:
o NVIDIA GeForce 6 series or later
o ATI Radeon 9500 or later
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3. Comments
The game is based on the wildlife, specifically on the wolves. The actual immersion of the game is astonishing; the perfect recreation of the wolves' lives and struggles are simply awestriking.
A lot of work and love has been put into the game, and wolf lovers worldwide are already, or will soon play the game. It is a great source of education, fun and immersion-based impressions of the life to a wolf.
3.1 Critique
As with all games, though, Wolf Quest is afflicted by many bugs. These will be fixed in future releases. The most disturbing bug, however, is the one which makes your wolf freeze and sit down. It is often caused by doing a howl (H-button), and needs to be fixed.
As well as that, the game also requires a lot of capacity, despite the low-resolution graphics you can adjust the game to. These are the things that the game fails especially in.
Also, the gameplay is rather hard to grasp at first; the learning curve is quite steep. It takes a while to master, which also pulls down the rating a bit. These are the things in the game which needs most improvement, however. Otherwise, the game is worth gold.
4. Ratings
Graphics: 9.2/10 (Near-perfect replica, but world graphics cause the game to lag, even at lowest resolution, on the weaker computers)
Sound: 10/10 (Very believable.)
Gameplay: 6/10 (Very hard to play online because of lack of communication. Also very hard to learn, and rather hard to master.)
Mechanics: 8/10 (Not completely bug-free, but the mechanics are wonderfully implemented.)
Immersion: 10/10 (Full immersion, which keeps it going until you hit the exit button.)
Education: 10/10 (It is very educational, and has taught me a lot about wolves.)
Overall rating: 9.1/10 (Very good game, highly recommended.)
5. Overall
Very good game, good mechanics, based on a great idea, very educational and fun. Low-spec computers may have problems running it, but this will hopefully be fixed soon.
Otherwise, the graphics are incredible (though lacks a certain realism), and causes a little lag.
The gameplay is hard to begin with, but after a bit of a steep learning curve, you'll get the hang of it.
Great game, highly recommended.
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