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Genre: Adventure/Puzzle

Format: 4 CDs

Developer: Omni Adventures

Publisher: The Adventure Company

Minimum System Requirements: 600MHz G3, Mac OS X v10.2.6, 128MB RAM, 1GB free hard disk space, NVidia GeForce or ATI Radeon 7500 video card

Review Computer: 867MHz G4, 640MB RAM, ATI RADEON 8500, Mac OS X v10.3.3

Network Feature: No

Price: $29.99

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone (mild violence)

Availability: Now

Official Website: [url=http://www.theomegastone.com]http://www.theomegastone.com[/url]

I'm going to make two comparisons between Riddle of the Sphinx II: The Omega Stone (TOS) and the Godzilla movie Destroy All Monsters. Bear with me on this. Here's the first:

Destroy All Monsters is really not a very good movie, even as far as 60s and 70s Godzilla movies go. However, there are Godzilla fans out there who claim it's the best because of the series simply because it has so many monsters in it and they get so much screen time. Nevermind that it's a big mess, the producers threw everything at us and let us have fun with it. That's kind of the thinking behind TOS...except that it's not really a big mess. Anyway, comparison two:

Like with Destroy All Monsters, there's really no point in reviewing TOS. It has its target audience, and that audience will love it. The charms of such a game are completely lost on most others. Me? I'm somewhere in between all of this. I'm the Godzilla fan who doesn't really care for Destroy All Monsters, and I'm the adventure gamer who enjoyed Myst and loathed each of it sequels.

Riddle of the Sphinx II: The Omega Stone is, I'm happy to report, above all of that.

I'd say it picks up where Riddle of the Sphinx (ROTS) left off, but I'm hard pressed to remember with ROTS left off. That's probably for the best, as there are those who may not have played it yet. The opening movie in TOS explains what happened and why you were unconscious at the beginning of this one, then the adventuring begins. In my review of ROTS, I complained about the acting, which was performed by the game's developers (never, ever a good idea). They're back, but a couple years between projects have given them time to hone their craft a bit. Or, maybe I've just grown soft in my old age. Either way, the acting didn't grate on my nerves this time around...although the accents did. A word of advice: if you want to pretend you can act in a computer game, that's fine, but don't also pretend you're Scottish...or Irish...or whatever that accent was supposed to be. And anyway, why should we worry about whether the acting is wooden? After all, these characters are supposed to be scientists. They're not supposed to be dynamic...or interesting.

Anyway, you start off under the Sphinx, having solved the riddle of game one and been presented with the bigger riddle ahead of you. This one's a bit more dire in that, if you don't solve it, the world will end. Heavy handed, yes, but that's okay. The people who are going to play this game aren't in it for the story, they're in it for the puzzles, and there are certainly plenty of those. I'll get to them in a minute, but I first want to crystalize one of the Godzilla comparisons made above.

Just as most Godzilla movie will consist of one or two enemy monsters, so will most adventure games consist of one or two ancient locations or civilizations. Some take place in that Sphinx, some at Easter Island, some at Stonehenge, some at Atlantis, and so on. Destroy All Monsters features no less than ten monsters, and TOS takes place at...well, the Sphinx and Easter Island and Stonehenge and Atlantis and Chichen Itza and the Devil's Triangle and probably even your back yard should you happen to find an old pot or two back there. In other words, it's an adventurer's dream and a gamer's nightmare. There's so much to see, so much to read, so much to take in, that casual adventurers are going to grow quite frustrated quite quickly.

Consider that many of the puzzles in certain locations require you to uncover clues or items at other locations in order to be solved. Because the areas aren't self-contained, there's a feeling throughout that you're just wasting your time on puzzles because they can't yet be solved. You explore other areas to find those clues, thereby stumbling across their puzzles, which tremendously confuses the issue. However, after transversing a few times (who's financing all these helicopter rides, anyway?), pieces do start to fall into place. The puzzles are difficult, yes, but solvable; just be prepared to spend plenty of time reading and rereading your notebooks and exploring the same areas multiple times.

As with ROTS, you see, this game is all about detail. Detailed graphics, detailed environments, detailed history...oh, those detailed histories. There's so much to read about and learn about here that the game should ship with an accredited degree in ancient cultures. Some may find that a bit off-putting, but again, this game is targeted towards adventurers. Adventurers like to learn, remember. That's how puzzles are solved. Said puzzles flow comfortably into the game, meaning they don't just seem to be lumped on as an after thought. Yes, some of them are inexplicably complex just to get a door open, for example, but...actually, that begs a thought. Ancient civilizations are certainly confusing, as they were apparently inhabited by people smart enough to solve ridiculously difficult puzzles in order to open doors, but apparently not smart enough to invent the lock and key.

Graphically, the game gives you plenty of eye-candy as you explore the various locations. Each screen is a work of art, and it was a bit of a thrill when first whisking off to a new location to have a look around. At about the point when the novelty of the graphics wore off, that's when the intensity of the puzzles would kick in. It was a nice balance.

It has to be balanced, though, because TOS is a long game. There are so many locations and puzzles crammed here, and so much travelling between them, that even the most seasoned adventure gamer may find himself passing out from exhaustion in front of the monitor. You'll need to allow yourself a couple hours a night in order to get through this one before the seasons change.

I enjoyed Riddle of the Sphinx II: The Omega Stone despite having to refer to a walkthrough more often than I care to admit. It's obvious it was made by a group of developers with a love for the subject, and made for a group of gamers with a love for the genre. That connection is what makes TOS work. That and, quite honestly, a complete and total lack of competition. Very few adventure games are made anymore, so it's great that, when they are, they're made with such enthusiasm for and understanding of the genre.

Which brings me back once more Godzilla. Due for release on December 11th of this year is Godzilla: Final Wars, which the producers boast will contain no less than ten monsters. No word yet on whether any of them will fight near the Sphinx, Easter Island, Stonehenge or Atlantis, but I'll be there with my notebook ready to let them in, should they get stuck.