Amazonia
Good puzzle game marred by terrible broken English.
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Amazonia
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this otherwise be a fun, entertaining puzzle game is brought down by comically bad broken English. Kids could definitely handle the gameplay, but they may be confused by some of the instructions and utterly baffled by the narration -- all because of mispellings and grammatical errors. At best kids could laugh at the terrible writing, at worst they could absorb the errors as proper English.
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What’s It About?
The story of AMAZONIA seems to be something about finding a lost kingdom. While it is called Amazonia, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Amazon (the setting is sometimes an arid desert, sometimes a snowy mountainside). The plot is almost impossible to follow as it is conveyed through ridiculously bad English. Here is an example: \"Noise of water falling in enormous waterfalls pawns your ears. Tons of water drive fray in a flour thousand-year stones. It only a time barrier on your way for seal of the guard of water.\" Really, Amazonia is a puzzle game in which you match up sets of three or more similar gems.
Is It Any Good?
Amazonia is a pretty good, if not entirely original puzzle game. Shifting around gems to match sets of three or more has been done before in Jewel Master, Puzzle Quest, Cradle of Rome and other games. But there are some new innovations to Amazonia, like snowflake tiles that freeze all the gems around them until they are destroyed. Amazonia, however, also has one of the most glaring cases of a lack of proofreading ever seen in computer games. In the narration, it can be comical. In the instructions, it can be problematic, as when the game tells you how to get rid of those freezing tiles: "Break ice by making combinations with amulets adjusted to it." They mean "adjacent," not "adjusted."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the importance of proper grammar and spelling. Though it is absolutely not the intention of the game developers, Amazonia provides a perfect negative example of what can happen when people don't learn how to write in proper English.
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For kids who love puzzles
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