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This Danish (but multilingual - 10 languages!) CD is an advent calendar that is date-sensitive on the computer. The content of the game opens gradually, day by day, starting on December 1, and becomes fully available on the eve of the holiday. However, for example, in the summer everything is open initially, but due to a plot failure, it will not be possible to see all the videos and complete the game as the authors intended. So when meeting SantaZia, we recommend either waiting for the beginning of winter, or changing the date in the system. The disc itself came out in a large box complete with a paper advent calendar, where there were clippings, stickers, a set of felt-tip pens and other gifts. On the eve of winter, the player will receive a virtual letter from Santa Claus with an offer to come to his castle Santazia and become his assistant. So far (until November 30 inclusive) it is empty here, and Santa sleeps in his bedroom. This part of the game is implemented as a three-dimensional quest from the first person (!) - the player is free to wander through the beautiful halls and rooms of the castle, go up and down the spiral staircase, go into the kitchen and into a special room where there is a huge file cabinet with letters from children. True, you can't take anything with you into your inventory, as well as perform typical point'n'click tasks that simply don't exist. The movement is discrete with the possibility of a panoramic view on most screens. Starting from the first day of winter, one object appears in the castle every day, and Santa gives the task to find it. The player goes in search of these things, including a toy snowman, cubes with letters, a clockwork mouse, a drum, jars of salt and sugar, an alarm clock, a music box and others - all these are gifts for children. When you find each item, you can watch a funny animated scene in which they all come to life and perform various actions. But the most important thing is that a mini-game or, rather, a puzzle becomes available. There are seven types of such problems, 3-4 for each. All, except for paired cards, use magnificent and very rich in small details Christmas illustrations: winter, children, snow, sledges, an ice rink, gifts ... All of them are made in the traditional "postcard" style, and what is happening on them dates back to the 19th century ( judging by the clothes of the characters). What should be done with these pictures? For example, collect in puzzle mode. The fragments are square and initially already arranged, but scattered. Due to the peculiarities of drawing and the fact that everything is mixed up, it is difficult to assemble, but the program tells you when the puzzle is put in the right place with a special bell. There will be a search for differences, and a search for extra items in the pictures (all sorts of things from the present), and tasks for returning cut fragments to illustrations. An extremely interesting mnemonic task: the player carefully looks at the drawing for one minute, carefully memorizing every small detail (of which there are a lot), after which the drawing disappears and five of its fragments appear, each in five different versions, and only one was in the original picture. The goal is to find all five correct fragments. Finally, a sound game! It is necessary to correlate the sounds with the elements of the illustration. For example, the voices of animals. Since the game was released in 1996, it's not surprising that the 3D quest is enclosed in a wide frame that takes up most of the screen. Moreover, this frame is not only beautiful, but also functional - there is located (and for those who have just started playing - will be located in the future) a collection of found items. By clicking on any of them, you can move to the location where it is located, and immediately see the animation and play the game. Attentive explorers of the castle will surely pay attention to the book lying on the table in the kitchen. This is a cookbook that contains twelve recipes for Christmas dishes from different European countries. An amazing combination of a quest and a collection of colorful mini-games is permeated with festive magic and the expectation of a Christmas miracle, and impeccable technical implementation does not allow the impression of the game to be spoiled. There is even an option to create multiple profiles so that each child (or adult - why not?) goes through SantaZia on their own. Well, there is nothing to say about the support of ten (!) Languages with voice acting: English, Danish, Italian, Finnish. |
