Even though Jewels of the Oracle was one of the first puzzle games to be released following the incredible success of Myst, it stands on it's own as a worthy entry into the puzzle gaming genre. With an interesting historic perspective and motif used as a backdrop to the game and a nice 3-D environment to roam around in, the game offers a well done visual package. The story centers on the ancient peoples who populated the rich Fertile Crescent (pre-Sumerian) and pursued excellence through the deductive processes of the mind rather than physical prowess. To this end, they established a training center where anyone could hone their skills of logic and reason. Successful participants in the Oracle's domain went on to greatness while those who failed, as legend has it, were lost forever.
Amazon.com: jewels of the oracle. Skip to main content. Try Prime All. FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. Only 10 left in stock - order soon. Find great deals on eBay for jewels of the oracle. Shop with confidence. Free In-store Pickup. 4 product ratings - Jewels of the Oracle and Jewels II (PC. Jewels of the Oracle is an adventure/puzzle games from the '90s with pre-rendered 3D environments and interactive devices to play with and solve. Summary Short summary describing this game. Jewels of the Oracle is definitely not a ground breaking product that will recruit new fans into the puzzle genre of gaming. That aside, this is a puzzle game and what it does is extremely well done indeed. If you are a puzzle fan, you will enjoy this game.
There are about two dozen puzzles in Jewels of the Oracle that range from easy to very difficult. A nice feature included by the game designers is the ability to get to any of the puzzles without having to solve the one before it. This non-linear approach goes a long way toward making this game more enjoyable than those frustrating games of the genre that require each puzzle to be solved before the next one opens up. The game combines both old logic puzzles that have been around awhile with a handful of new and refreshing ones that are quite innovative. Most puzzles are single screen and revolve around logic and reasoning. The designers, to their credit, have stayed away from those irritating puzzles requiring more luck than thought to solve. There is minimal exploring in the underground chamber but you will need to visit various rooms that branch off from the initial chamber and movement, although not an integral part of the game, can be a bit choppy and slow at times. In fact, this slowness is one of the more serious flaws in the game, but fortunately the game includes the option to turn off the walking mode and rely on a 'Stills Mode' (basically turning off the video segments). The background art and 3-D environment is suitably done in ancient civilization themes and draws from Sumerian, Mesopotamian and Egyptian artifacts and culture. The music is mood-enhancing and fits well with the atmosphere of the game.
One feature that would have improved the game a great deal would have been the ability to save the game during a puzzle-solving segment. Some of the more difficult puzzles can take a couple of hours to solve and, unfortunately, making a wrong turn or an unrecoverable logic mistake will cause you to have to begin again. Having a save capability would have eased this frustration. A major gripe with the game is the absolutely terrible manual as it does nothing to explain what little action there is to do in the game (like taking a jewel back to the Oracle's room). All things considered, though, Jewels of the Oracle is a great diversion and should appeal to most puzzle fans.
Graphics: Fairly impressive. The artwork is terrific and captures the mood of the era nicely. The movement interface could use work but overall the animations and 3D effects are well done.
Sound: Music is very appropriate to the mood of the game but the sound effects and speech (of the Oracle) is nothing special.
Enjoyment: A great puzzle solver game. Non plug and play drivers. If you don't like puzzles, stay far, far away. Otherwise, Jewels of the Oracle will provide hours and hours of satisfying brain exercises. None of the puzzles is impossible but many are extremely challenging, making the easy ones are a welcome relief.
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Replay Value: Several puzzles have multiple solutions and the very nature of the game provides satisfying replay possibilities.
Jewels of the Oracle is a stationary puzzle game with no real story line or plot. A total of 24 ingenious puzzles must be solved, each independent of the others. Most of them can be played in two difficulty levels (Easy or Hard), and the Oracle provides clues to help along the way.
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The graphics for the puzzles are designed in an Egyptian or Mesopotamian style. Music plays in the background to provide atmosphere, but it can be turned off, if it gets repetitive. The basic layout is a hexagon around an Oracle's well. There are three doors on the outside of the hexagon, and the first one is where you begin the game. In each room is a puzzle you have to solve to get a jewel which must be taken back to the Oracle's well.
The puzzles in this game can be compared to those found in The 7th Guest. The Chinese Checkers puzzle in Shivers rivals many of the ones contained in Jewels of the Oracle.
Jewels Of The Oracle Windows 7How to run this game on modern Windows PC?
This game has been set up to work on modern Windows (10/8/7/Vista/XP 64/32-bit) computers without problems. Please choose Download - Easy Setup (363 MB).This game has been set up to work on modern Windows (10/8/7/Vista/XP 64/32-bit) computers without problems. Please choose Download - Easy Setup (383 MB).
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Jewels Of The Oracle Free DownloadJewels of the oracle sega saturn part 01
Jewels of the Oracle is a 1995 puzzle video game developed by ELOI Productions and published by Discis Knowledge Research Inc. It was released on Macintosh, PlayStation, SEGA Saturn, and Windows. A sequel developed by Bardworks and published by Hoffman and Associates was released in 1998 entitled Jewels II: The Ultimate Challenge.
ContentsJewels of the oracle sega saturn part 01Production
A demo was released which contained three puzzles and a movie-like trailer. In addition, a free version with a single puzzle was made available for a limited time by CompuServe and America Online.
Gameplay
The stationary puzzle game contains 24 puzzles, and lacks a storyline or plot. The design is Egyptian/Mesopotamian, and as such an Oracle provides hints to the player. New Straits Times wrote that the game mixes the gameplay concepts from Myst with the graphics of The 7th Guest. Similarly, Techtite deemed it a Myst-clone due to having the search-and-discover mechanics, while having the puzzles of The 7th Guest. The journal article Adventure games, permutations, and spreadsheets explains that both Jewels and Guest incorporate puzzles into their design. The Washington Post also made a favorable comparison between the two games.
Jewels of the Oracle
Computer Shopper deemed this game a 'sleeper hit' and described it as 'dazzling'. Michael Ryan of PC Mag said the game was a 'puzzle fan's dream come true'. Entertainment Weekly described it as 'adult', 'pretty', 'clever', 'dry' and 'claustrophobic', and likened the game to Myst. AdventureClassicGaming said that the lackluster ending ' leaves the player puzzling as to the whole point of the story that has been so elaborately created.' Interactive fiction personality Andrew Plotkin wrote that the game was 'one-third recycled standard puzzles, one-third interesting variants of standard puzzles, and one-third new puzzles.' WorldVillage praised the game for its gameplay and puzzles, but noted that it has zero replay value. Quandary Land gave it similar praise although noted that it can be a little bit frustrating. All Game Guide did not like the difficult and cumbersome interface.
Jewels II
Andrew Plotkin described the puzzles as ' generally entertaining'. AdventureClassicGaming said Jewels II: The Ultimate Challenge was more of a 'remake' than a sequel.
ReferencesJewels of the Oracle WikipediaComments are closed.
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