Entomorph's story takes place in the same dark period called Darkfall in which the world of Aden has been plunged with shades of darkness spreading over the land like a plague. As you start the game, you control the young Squire Warrick, a fistfighter also able to cast spells, who is determined to retrieve his sister. This episode is set on the islands at the South of Aden's coast where farmers from the land of Kyan established settlements. The Kyanite society where they come from is based around insects, and the inhabitants of these islands also use giant insects called collectively "Jagtera", for various purposes.
When the cataclysm occured on Aden, the Jagtera suddenly disappeared and left the population with only a few resources. Today, ten years after the appearance of the Darkfall, there are rumours about the return of the Jagtera, and on the main island Phoros the citizens are celebrating what they think is the end of their awaiting.
Entomorph is designed for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 with the autoplay installing the game automatically if you own Windows 95. The SVGA resolution adds realism to the game, and both the surrounding environment and the different characters use state-of-the-art graphics. The jungle in Phoros island mixes exotic trees, bushes and flowers with a very detailed attention which largely contributes to the beauty of the different sceneries. You will visit many other locations throughout the islands such as the villages, caves, underground bases, hive, etc.
The interface of Entomorph is mouse-driven. You move your character by holding the right button and moving the mouse in the direction you want to go. To enter in the buildings, just click on the door to open it and move your character inside. The roof will disappear to let you see what lies inside the house. You will find many jars, barrels, furniture and parchments which are important for you to read in order to understand what is going on Phoros.
Whenever you want to interact with objects or characters, you only have to left-click on it. This way you can pick up, push or pull objects and levers, talk to characters and fight with enemies. When talking with people or insects, you will be given the choice of several replies in the dialogues. If you missed something during the conversation, you can usually go back and repeat it or explore all the other possibilities. During fights, you will only use your fists as weapons. With combat experience, it will take you less time to kill your enemies but even though, you will still need spells to kill all your enemies. The spells will be discovered along the game in various places, with some of them given by characters you will meet. The strenght of each spell can be adjusted with the mana level you use to cast it, knowing that the more mana you use, the longer the spell will last and be powerful. Two bars on the screen show the state of your mana level and your strength. There are different potions you will discover that regenerate both of them, but sometimes you may search for a long time before getting your hands on one. A faster way to quickly recover is the spell of Aid and later, the spell of Healing. However, as they both require mana to cast, you won't be able to count on these too often as mana is not inexhaustible. With time though, your mana will slowly increase which allows you to regain some power if you don't use your spells too frequently. Entomorph includes a total of 22 spells with most of them dedicated to the attack.
Islands are divided in several areas and when you want to go from one area to another, the game will ask you if you want to leave the area you are currently exploring. It is sometimes annoying when you go back and forth, but loading times are generally short.
Your backpack can contain as many objects as you like with no limits for the overall weight. If you want to use a specific object, click on the backpack icon to open your inventory then select which item you require. Many times you won't have to select the objects as they will automatically be used where they are required. However, this is not always the case, and as in other games, you will have to make decisions about where to use some special objects.
The different enemies you will encounter on the islands are giant insects, half-transformed humans and other traditional evil creatures like the zombies and wraith. A great variety of insects are featured with giant bees (Panorpids), huge spiders (T'Urthrax), enormous ants (Thelyds) and other species. The bestiary contains 18 different enemies to fight with and some of them will really give you a hard time. Fortunately, you can save up to 30 games (if you have enough space on your hard disk as each savegame takes about 300Kb) and thus avoid finishing the game too quickly. Like Thunderscape each savegame comes with a screenshot showing the place where you saved the game.
The audio track of Entomorph is the best I have heard recently for a game of this style with a melodious music that never bored me an instant. My favorite tracks are the ones that come with the introduction and the main menu because this music inspired my imagination! On the other hand, the sounds are not very present in Entomorph. You will hear some chickens when you get close to the city, the sounds of your fights with other creatures, and when you break things around like barrels or jars. There are of course other sounds in the game, but they are not as good as the music.
As you progress in the game, the storyteller you met in the first village will write the tale of your adventure. You will see him telling the story to your younger brother who stayed in the village and hear what he has to say.
Overall, Entomorph is a very good adventure game in which you will spend much time exploring the various locations and talking with characters. Many puzzles await you in there as you will have to find out what lies behind this pretended return of the Jagtera.
486 DX2-66 MHz or higher,
Min 8Mb memory,
Windows 3.1, Windows NT or Windows 95,
Hard drive required with 25Mb free,
Double speed CD-ROM drive or faster,
SVGA video graphic card with 1Mb (Local Bus or PCI recommended),
Microsoft mouse and 100% compatibles.
Windows compatible sound card supported.
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