ME GUSTA HAY QUE PENSAR MUCHO

Estamos ante una ida de olla en la que encarnamos a un menda que tiene que recuperar unos artefactos en diversos mundos de fantasía para salvar a su mundo de unos malos malosos que quieren reunir un poder inmenso. Vamos, como cualquiera de los miles de trillones de libros juveniles que van de lo mismo. Historia poco trabajada y los personajes son bastante atontaos (dan ganas de abofetearlos).
El sistema de juego es molesto (sólo nos podemos mover en la dirección en que el cursor se vuelve una flecha). Es un juego ya con canas, pero incluso cuando lo lanzaron, ya era molesto. Estamos hablando, cómo no, de un juego estilo "Myst". Con "Myst" o con "The 7th guest" era comprensible, porque eran los 90 y era la época de las hombreras, pero ya superado el efecto 2000 y con los huevos peludos, este sistema de control huele que apesta.
Los puzzles no son nada del otro mundo, pero tampoco son de lo peor que he visto. Algunos son bastante abstractos e incluso las pistas que dan lían más el asunto, y el 90% del juego consiste en ir a un sitio, activar una máquina super rara con la que obtenemos un objeto con el que ir a otro sitio y activar otra máquina super rara, que al final te preguntas qué imbecil ha diseñado todo eso. Mucha maquinita pero macho, os podríais haber ahorrado casi todas.
Los escenarios son bonitos, así que cuando te pregunten qué tal el juego "Aura: Fate os Ages", si quieres decir algo bueno, di "los escenarios son bonitos".

¿Qué dices? La historia está genial. Con 15 años es posible que te guste, pero dejará de gustarte porque... la historia es una bazofia.
En estos juegos me suelo atascar y al final me canso... Pues "Aura: Fate os Ages" es un firme candidato a ello. Algunos puzzles te dejan casi como única solución el probar todas las combinaciones hasta que des con la correcta (o le metas fuego al ordenador, lo que ocurra primero).
¿Sí? ¿En qué estaba pensando el que diseñó los puzzles? Hay pruebas contundentes que inculpan a un mono borracho de ello.

It's hard not to compare this to entries in the Myst series, specifically Myst III: Exile and Myst IV: Revelation. This is mostly due to the fact that numerous elements were borrowed from each of those games and made just different enough not to seem as though Streko Graphics had done little more than create a Myst clone.

While this is a perfectly serviceable adventure game, it's not without flaws (some major, some minor depending on how particular the player is).

(A technical aside - some bugs do exist within the game and may likely go unpatched given the age of the title, including a crash to desktop when attempting to delete a save through the in-game menu)

The age of the title means that it hasn't held up well over the years, so all the modern visual comforts and relevant settings that accompany them are absent. No true widescreen support and no option to run windowed being two prime examples. The extent of the video settings go as far as color depth options and a few standard definition resolution choices.

Going hand in hand with that, most of the 3D modeling in the game is standard fare for the time this title was originally released. Some of the characters look absolutely ridiculous at times and move in a rather wooden manner. Something that certainly allows one to appreciate the advances in that technology at present.

As to the plot, what's there is a fraction of a whole. This isn't made clear here on the store page but this is the first part of a series which means the story ends on something of a cliffhanger.

What story that is present isn't all that compelling and lacks depth, especially when it comes to the characters it introduces.

Unfortunately most of the voice acting in the game is substandard, delivered in monotone with no real inflection toward emotion (perhaps best exemplified by the blacksmith character who does nothing but shout in his brief interaction sequence yet still manages not to sound angry while doing it).

Gameplay is typical of the adventure game type - click to navigate a pre-rendered landscape and interact with points of interest. A majority of the puzzles are simple and can be solved without use of a hint system or walkthrough. Only one puzzle in the entire game is randomized, frustratingly to the point where it becomes less a traditional puzzle and more a mini-game of chance as to how many tries it takes before the correct sequence is found.

Don't be fooled entirely by the simplicity though as there are a small number of puzzles that present a challenge in how they can be solved.

The music and sound design are a mixed blessing somewhat. Most of the game's soundtrack consists of pieces of music that have utterly random ambient noises and sound effects dropped within the middle of their loops. This leads to awkward moments at certain points in the game where something like a door knock can be misinterpreted as a cue that a door nearby needs opened.

Likewise there are questionable moments of music used that betray the atmosphere of the game at certain times. Several dramatic stings are completely out of place in the likes of a small mirrored chamber or a well lit, spacious room.

The pre-rendered environments in the game are quite possibly the best done aspect of it. Seeing flecked paint on aging wood or an expanse of snow covered land watched over by a cadre of planets is nothing short of wonderful.

Taking Aura: Fate of the Ages for what it is, would I recommend it? In general, no. While it is not entirely horrible, there are better examples of the adventure game to play (be it Myst or otherwise) that accomplish exactly what this game does (if not more).

However, if you've exhausted the number of adventure games (scarce as they come these days) available to play then Aura: Fate of the Ages is (possibly) worth a few hours of your time. It likely won't climb to the top of your "best of" list but it's definitely not a total failure of the genre either.

From the fact that the movement is slow and choppy and the whole limited movement in the first place to the whole not even being able to have an inspect option on the numerous uninteractable important looking things and the poorly placed interaction points (the middle of a set of scales rather than the weight part? Seriously?) This game is a letdown in every aspect.
I'm sure some will try arguing "hey this game is ten plus years old" Guess what so are fable and postal 2, Planescape: Torment is even older and all thos games have much more complex interaction systems and more stuff actually using memory so arguing the age of the game is pointless since it could have been done much better even then.

I would argue it would have come across a lot better being made more in the style of monkey island 1 which was a lot smoother a lot older and a hell of a lot more fun to play, Crash Time II is more worthy of time and money and you've seen what people have said about it (actually the failiures of that game are actually funny and the gameplay is fun to screw around with for long enough to justify buying it).

If you're after good point and click adventure games on steam check out the catalog of games Daedalic Entertainment have, literally ever one of them is entertaining and worth putting the money towards if you can afford to.

This review is still early impressions. If I ever get the nerve to finish this then I will edit it with end game impressions.

At first glance this is a Myst clone. No doubt about that. But the differance between Aura and a good adventure game like Myst is that there is immersion and substance to what you're doing and why. Aura gives you a brief introduction then plops you into its world with no idea what you're supposed to do. It's another 360 degree panoramic adventure game like Myst III and IV and there's nothing wrong with that. Where Aura gets it wrong is that there is no logic to some of the puzzles. They're just there for the sake of a puzzle to impede your progress. There is no dialogue besides the introduction. No lore explaining anything besides the introduction. You have a desire to get the rings of destiny or some such but while in the game you really don't know why you're doing certain things becasue nothing is explained.

The game does give you hints in the form of a journal which gives you a very 'basic' understanding of how to proceed. The immersion factor is Aura's biggest weakness. The background music is just awful. It's a mixture of metal and synthesizers. For a fantasy adventure game it doesn't fit AT ALL.

For 5 bucks I guess this is worth a buy...only if you're fan of Myst. But good luck trying to get immersed in Aura's world. I didn't enjoy it at all.