Temujin: The Capricorn Collection (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.6 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Stephen Poole
• Reviewed on: 11/17/1997
• Updated on: 05/02/2000
• Released on: 09/30/1997
• Originally published on GameSpot: Temujin: The Capricorn Collection (PC) Review

When SouthPeak Interactive first started publicizing Temujin last spring, the company made it clear that it wanted to prove a game could be based on full motion video (FMV) and still provide the level of interaction demanded by serious gamers. How successful was SouthPeak? Well, as far as upping the level of interaction in FMV games goes, I'd have to say the effort was pretty much a wash.

Using a proprietary technology called Video Reality, Temujin gives you the greatest freedom of movement I've seen in an FMV-based game. Playing from a first-person perspective, you're able to move through a video-rendered environment - you can change directions on the fly, look around, pick up objects, and examine them in detail. Sounds OK, but the truth is that the Video Reality engine still has plenty of shortcomings: You have a limited number of directions you can take, you can only look up or down in special circumstances, you can't talk to the characters you encounter, and the quality of the graphics (except for expository video clips where there's no option for interaction) is best likened to what things would look like if you were in the early stages of glaucoma.

And what exactly are you looking at through that mild haze? Temujin revolves around a collection of Mongolian artifacts found in Genghis Khan's burial chamber (Temujin was Khan's real name) and being displayed at the Stevenson Museum, location unknown. When the game opens, you're standing in the lobby of the museum - with no clue as to your identity or what you should do next. The people you meet aren't much help, either: Their behavior ranges from mildly curious to downright hostile, and it doesn't help that for some reason you aren't able to speak. Even so, you'll quickly suss out that something fishy is going on at the museum - and at its center is an evil force locked away in one of the artifacts. Over the course of seven "episodes," you've got to discover your true identity and, much more importantly, find a way to thwart that evil.

Truth be told, it's a really great plot - as good or better than a lot of movies I've rented - and with only a few exceptions the acting is very good. And there's the rub: Due to the problems of the Video Reality engine, Temujin would work much better as a movie than it does as a game.

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