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Beyond Atlantis 2

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: February 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

XP Users beware !

Even though "Beyond Atlantis 2" is XP compatible
according to the product box, it does not seem to work with XP.

The game crashes to the desktop at the first cut scene. The error can be reproduced every time the game is run therefore making it unplayable.
I am very disappointed as the graphics of the introductionary video are truely beautiful and breathtaking.

After contacting techsupport at the Dreamcatcher website and following all their suggestion and troubleshooting, the game is still crashing.

While surfing the Dreamcatcher support forum, I learned that many users with XP have this exact same issue and that Dreamcatcher does not appear concerned enough about it, to write a patch even though it affects so many customers.

My computer is less than two month old, pentium 4, 2.5 Ghz
with all the latest drivers and newest DirectX version.

Myst Exile and all my other games run flawlessy by the way.

Impossible to Install

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: November 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Received game yesterday. Went into loop when disc 1 inserted.
Could only stop by powering down. Tried disabling auto
insertion notification on CD drive and running setup.exe.
System (Win98SE) said "setup.exe not a valid win32 app."
Tried naked boot of win98 (run msconfig and eliminate running
autoexec.bat, config.sys and all the startup group items).
Still says "setup.exe not a valid win32 app."
Noted that the date on this setup.exe is 10/2/98 while the
date on the earlier Beyond Atlantis is 1/13/99. Why use an
older setup.exe? Dreamcatcher customer service no help
and no call back.

Sheer disappoinment

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

After the brilliance of Beyond Atlantis (Atlantis 2), I fought hard to get a copy of BA2...... Whoa, what a disappointment! From the wooden voice over delivery of the principal (I am an Acting and Voice coach so have a little experience here) to the uninspired plot, worlds, and game in general. Additionally, the game ran very roughly on my computers (new one, well within the min. req)and failed to keep my interest. Did finish it, though-- in only a few hours. If you must play this game, wait until it hits your local electronics discount store in the $4.99 bin.

Fun Game but too SHORT!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I really liked this game- great graphics and storyline- sort of ties in with Beyond Atlantis 1. But the game is short- Beyond Atlantis 1 took MUCH longer, and I loved that about it. This game is great, but I couldn't believe it ended so fast. Needed to be longer- definitely.

Install problems, game made no sense

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I agree with others who had install problems. I also could not get the first CD to be recognised or install the game on my machine. I luckily have two computers and tried the install on the other (Windows ME instead of Windows 98SE) and it worked.

Then I had to try and figure out the stupid puzzles. I did not find them intuitive at all. Some were easy, others made no sense. I agree that the graphics were stunning, but I play games to PLAY, not look at pretty pictures. If you want to rate that way, 5 stars for looks, 1 star for substance.

Don't Buy if you have XP

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Okay I bought this game and I have some pros and a really big con. The pros are that the graphics are very good. The 360 degree pan feature is awesome and the puzzles and music are great. Now for the really big con. It will absolutely not work with Windows XP. I cannot get past the sarcophagus scene in the beginning. I have tried everything. Cleaning my registry, reinstalling, uninstalling, not installing direct X, using a saved game, lowering the acceleration rate of my sound and graphics, nothing works. It is a shame too because the graphics are really good.

Dreamcatcher should have quit while they were ahead.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Beyond Atlantis (AKA Atlantis II) was a slightly flawed gem. (Pun intended for those who have played it.) Interesting, beautiful, difficult, reasonably well-plotted, internally logical, and fun. The only part THIS installment of the series got right was "beautiful."

I will say that the graphics in this game are wondrous. From the Arabian Nights courtyard to the Pink Floyd-esque "Membrane" (which seemingly represents the heroine's brain...or maybe Jung's collective unconcious...or maybe God as visualized by dolphins) the rendering is absolutely gorgeous.

But graphics alone do not make a good game. There is no logic to BA2...neither externally nor internally. The "plot" has you discovering an artifact that can imbue you with a superhuman wisdom by transporting you to a series of different realms and times and letting you experience those places through the eyes of one of its inhabitants. This scheme fails on a variety of levels. Sometimes, you appear in these realms as yourself, while in others, you are a completely unrecognizable character. There is no logic to WHY these worlds are chosen, nor to what you are supposed to "learn" in each. In fact, given that you are supposedly striving to achieve some sort of enlightenment that you can then pass on to the rest of humanity, it seems odd that the focus of the "Scheherazade" world is to lie, steal and seduce women. Eventually the sequence of realms seems completely arbitrary. It is similar to Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man:" a series of unconnected short stories woven together by a loose and incomprehensible over-story. Except Bradbury wrote GOOD short stories. The chapters of BA2 are weak and silly, each and every one. Even the few good puzzles (and there are a couple) are mired down in a morass of confusion and pretentiousness.

Beyond Atlantis was a quality game...one that made you think, feel, and examine your character's motives. (Plus, the "White Horse" cutscene in BA may be the single best cutscene in any adventure game ever.) It is an injustice to THAT game that this one shares the same title. Avoid this game at all costs unless you are desperate for some eye candy.

Beautiful, but not hugely satisfying

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: April 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

While I found Beyond Atlantis II to be very pretty, the plot was somewhat unsatisfying because it didn't seem fully developed.

I really enjoyed several of the worlds presented here, and some of the contraptions are simply stunning; however, some of the puzzles are very frustrating. Many of them initially difficult, but once attacked from the right angle, they become clear. There are others, though, that I just couldn't figure out without the assistance of a walkthrough. Perhaps I'm a complete moron, but they just weren't intuitive to me.

The animation is very pretty, and the cutscenes of good quality. I wouldn't say the graphics approach Myst Exile, but they're close to Riven. This game does suffer from the usual Dreamcatcher navigational shortcomings, though - one is not allowed free movement; rather, there are only certain areas to click on, and then the game "walks" you to them automatically. I prefer being able to freely navigate the environments, but this does result in a lot more overhead on the game. Further, there was one area of the game that was nigh-impossible to navigate at all - it was intentionally disorienting, but I feel they went overboard and made it too frustrating. This is a pity, because this world (an underwater one that largely resembles a giant jellyfish) is very lovely.

As I mentioned previously, the plot had some interesting ideas that just didn't get fleshed out too well; the overall storyline could have been made much more interesting and exciting, and the characters could have been better developed. Still, despite its shortcomings, it's an enjoyable game that really doesn't take too long to play at all; even with the difficulties I had with a few of the puzzles, I'd imagine it took me less than 12 hours to play, start to finish.

XP Issues

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: February 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I thought this game very enjoyable with fun puzzles and good graphics. the heroine makes the game much more interesting as well, because of her casual yet cocky attitude. but i must agree with previous reviewers that although it says XP compatible on the box, there were a number of glitches i had to deal with, such as slow scene play, and difficulty with the charators speech. i'm not sure why this happens, but it seems only with XP computers, it is deffinatly something to watch out for, even if your computer is new and up-to-date. other than those problems, this games could be very enjoyable.

I've played better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a hard core gamer, but even I realized that this game is just above average. It was far too short, the main character's voice acting was horrible, and the story had no depth. I found myself wondering what the big deal with the skull was, and it ended right where it should have begun. The graphics were wonderful and the puzzles were fun, but it only kept me occupied for 2 days. If you want a true gaming experience, go for the "Myst" series; those games are a true treat.

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