Belief and Betrayal Review (PC)

Belief and Betrayal is an adventure game that was previously released in Europe in 2006 and 2007. Lighthouse Interactive is releasing a North American version for 2008.

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the world is going down for mad man

The game opens in Manhattan, New York City. Jonathan Danter is a journalist based in New York after the mysterious death of his uncle gets involved in a dangerous church conspiracy, which has its roots through the centuries in the time when Judas got 30 silver coins for his betrayal of Jesus Christ. The game is 3rd person, point & click adventure with 3D character models.

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Belief and Betrayal

What follows is a tale of moderate interest as relics like the Shroud of Turin, the Holy Grail, and the Philosopher's Stone are brought up in conversation, though more seemingly to distract the player from some of the game's more mundane and frustrating aspects. Some of them do actually tie into the plot, but it feels like Artematica was name dropping Christian relics to serve as fireworks rather than bothering to work them into the story and characters' motivations more meaningfully.

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Belief and Betrayal

Danter just doesn't work as a lead character. Aside from the fact you'll likely want to punch him in the face immediately after being introduced to his instantly irritating voice and juvenile cockiness, he's easily the weakest link of the bunch. It's not a good sign when players are inclined to throttle the main character within seconds of booting up the game.

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Belief and Betrayal screenshot

The initial game-play is set by Danter’s editor outlining his current assignment over the phone. When this conversation is finished, Danter is supposed to pick up a few necessary items and be on his way. As this is a point-and-click adventure, players will move Danter around the screen and click on various interesting items that show as “hotspots.” The interface is pretty basic, and consists of right-clicking to choose an action, then left-clicking to accomplish that action. Hotspots that are only for viewing will produce statements on the lines of “I don’t think that is wise,” which I became very tired of hearing. It would have been nice if these comments had been more varied

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Belief and Betrayal puzzles

The puzzles are fairly interesting and are a good mixture of manipulative and inventory based types. They are mostly pretty easy, though, and don’t require a lot of thought. They are still interesting, though, and fit the story line nicely. in one instance you have to solve a puzzle to get a drunkard to move out of your way. In another you have hunt around to get a guard to move out of your way. In yet another you have to get a cleaning lady to move out of your way. The pattern continues in another when you have to get a librarian to move out of your way and in another when you screw up a researcher's tools to get her to move out of your way. Much of the game is spent watching cut scenes after each major puzzle is solved, so this game ends up being a short gaming experience. There are actually three characters the players will be using from time to time, but the main character is Danter.

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Belief and Betrayal pc game screenshot

The worst part is you often won't be able to pick up or otherwise interact with a particular item until you've inspected it twice. There's no real way to tell exactly when this is required. Players are forced to re-investigate almost every hotspot in the game, if they want to trigger the appropriate circumstances to receive crucial equipment necessary to proceed.

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Trying to find some clues from underground

Overlaying the adventuring is a serviceable soundtrack, meant to evoke a sense of ancient mystery with string plucks, piano plinks, and soaring strings. Voice acting is mixed. Danter, for instance, is played with enthusiasm, whether he's insulting the French World Cup team, cracking condom jokes, or expressing his love of pencils, you have to admire his attitude considering the surrounding circumstances.

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Bring the pain back to French, who lost in the world cup final

It's usually a pleasant surprise to stumble upon new PC games that are actually playable on older machines without installing the latest graphics cards and other expensive upgrades.It doesn't take much of a PC setup to run Artematica's Belief & Betrayal, but mustering the saint-like level of patience required to put up with the game's painful shortcomings is far more taxing than the meager system requirements.

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Features

• Play as 3 different characters throughout the game to solve the mystery
• Find lost ancient manuscripts and decipher mind-boggling codes and symbols
• Explore stunning environments and incredibly re-created historic locations
• Strong action/adventure storyline creates a compelling gameplay experience
• Use the memories and thoughts of the intriguing cast of characters to solve puzzles and expose dark mysteries
• Game based on historical events though the story is pure fiction
• Easy to navigate 3rd person point & click interface using the Virtools® engine

Hardware Requirements

• Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista®
• 1 Ghz Intel® Pentium® or AMD® Athlon™ processor - 256 MB RAM
• 4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
• Approx. 1 GB free hard disk space
• 64 MB DirectX-compatible graphic card
• Dirext X 9.0c
• Dirext Sound Compatible Soundcard