Largo Winch Empire Under Threat
Sold Out		(Win95/98/2000/Me/XP) (DVD Case) (LARGOWINPR)

Publisher: Dupuis / Ubi Soft

Ratings:

B from Just Adventure

73 from Action Trip

from Four Fat Chicks

The Billionaire in Blue Jeans

Become Largo Winch, the billionaire in blue jeans, and discover the dangerous and intriguing world of business in this adventure without limits!

A unique, action packed scenario.

Adventure, suspense, action and glamour.

• Piracy cases & a murder shake up the W Group.
• Manage the W Group.
• Travel to Mexico, New York, Sardinia, Sarajevo and Russia on the trail of your enemies.
• Explore, infiltrate and solve enigmas to uncover the plot against you.
• Confront your enemies using all your combat skills

Requirements:

Windows 95/98/2000/Me/XP: Pentium II 300 Mhz, 64 MB of RAM, 3D accelerated video card, 4X CD-Rom drive, DirectSound-compatible sound card, keyboard, joypad compatible.

Recommended configuration: Pentium III, 128 MB of Ram, 3D accelerated video card, TnL based (like GeForce), 4X CD-Rom drive, DirectSound-compatible sound card, keyboard, joypad compatible.

DirectX version 8.0A is required under Windows95. DirectX Version 8.1 is required for other supported versions of Windows. (Both supplied on disk)

Reviews:

Quandary Review by Gordon Alpin

"Based on a comic book character and television show largely unknown outside of Europe, Largo Winch is a young billionaire (I remember when being a simple millionaire was enough!) who inherited a multinational corporation known as Group W from his father. It is Largo’s business empire that is under threat. Largo has established himself not only by his business acumen but also by his support for humanitarian programs. At a reception promoting one such cause he receives disturbing news from his company’s lab in Mexico where two security guards have been murdered and a scientist has gone missing. It is believed that the scientist was working on Genetically Modified Organisms against the directives of the Winch Empire. This potentially embarrassing news is swiftly followed by a bomb threat at the reception and sensitive documents are stolen during the confusion.

"Largo needs to find out who is attacking his company and flies off to Mexico to begin his investigations that will eventually have him traversing the globe in pursuit of shadowy infiltrators.

"When I began the game my feelings were lukewarm. For a start it is keyboard controlled when I much prefer point and click, but more than this the female characters at the reception are stereotypically custom made (for those afflicted with teenage male hormones) with short skirts and plunging necklines. On top of that Largo’s best friend, Simon, comes across as deliberately sleazy, though Largo is much more personable. As I played through this early part of the game the puzzles were easily solved and I was having some misgivings about it, especially as I was nervously anticipating the inevitable action scenes to come. However, I am pleased to report that my first impression couldn’t have been more wrong as this is an enjoyable and substantial adventure game with only seven combat interludes. And the combat shouldn’t deter too many adventurers as it is turn-based and only occurs in set-piece sequences. No reflexes whatsoever are necessary and you can take your time to plan your strategy to defeat the ‘baddies’, but more on this later."

"Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat is a surprisingly entertaining adventure game that touches on some topical issues. Sure there are a few plot holes that can be put down to its comic book origins but overall I had a lot of fun with it. As it has a story driven, movie style plot with puzzles that start off gently before progressively increasing in complexity it is especially suitable for those new to adventuring. Hopefully, it will even convince some action fans to seek out more adventure games. Experienced adventurers too may find much to challenge and delight as once the game gets underway there are lots of locations to explore and plenty of things to do to keep the story moving along."

Action Trip by Dejan "Dex" Grbavcic

"Largo Winch is in all aspects a modern adventure game. The control system is very simple; the game uses the standard introduced by Lucas Arts’ Grim Fandango, later perfected in Escape from Monkey Island. This basically means that you use the cursor keys to move and rotate your hero, and that you have two possible ways to interact with your surroundings (“use/talk” to and “examine”). This concept influenced the game difficulty, but it was also far from crucial in this aspect (Escape from Monkey Island used the same interface, and it was far from an easy game). The inventory will usually contain one to three items, and you will never carry more than six at a time. There are few locations altogether. When you are in your offices you only have four rooms to visit, and when you get to your Mexican branch, the number will rise to six or seven. This means that even if you are the most clueless man on Earth you should be able to solve the game in a relatively short period of time. This is also thanks to the fact that this is a fairly realistic game, so you can forget about having to inflate a helium balloon and have it carry a tooth you found so that you can pass through a door with a special tooth detector (Ah, good-ole’ Monkey Island – ed). If you happen to have any doubts, just look at your PDA which contains all relevant data and you will have no trouble in guessing what you have to do next."

"This game is somewhat different from a classical adventure, as it includes two action mini-games. The first mini-game is hacking computer terminals, and it will appear whenever you have to get hold of important data. It is basically a relatively simple logical game that can best be described as a turn-based pac-man. The other action mini-game covers the fighting sequences which is also turn-based...."

"The graphics are entirely in 3D, which makes Largo Winch the first classical adventure that dared take this step – and it succeeded. At first I really resented the use of 3D graphics in adventure games, and here, I dare say it is one of the best things in the game. In spite of the fact that the 3D engine definitely doesn’t belong to the best engines there are (as I am writing this text I am catching glimpse of Mafia and Hitman 2 with all effects set to max on nearby computers), the game looks very good. Camera moves perfectly, the animation is a treat, and the game features fantastic real-time shadowing. On the other hand, the textures and models aren’t exactly too rich in detail. This is obviously due to the fact that the game has originally been developed for consoles (the official site only mentions the PS2 version), but the developer still tried to adapt the game as much as possible, making it one of the best game ports I have ever seen."

Just Adventure by Michal Necasek

"When I first saw Largo Winch, it didn't look much like an adventure game to me. A 3D game with combat sequences, ported from a console on top of it. But the more I played Largo Winch, the more it was beginning to feel like a real adventure game."

"I hinted that there are combat sequences. I also said that Largo Winch was an adventure game. How is that possible? For one thing, in the entire game there are fewer than ten combat scenes - and it is a fairly long game. Moreover the combat is turn based - there is no timed action in the entire game (it doesn't look that way at first sight, but it's true). Winning the battles is thus a matter of strategy, not quick reflexes..."

"Apart from inventory puzzles there are also other, "puzzle" puzzles: a poker game, a slider puzzle (which took me inordinately long to solve because I was not looking at the tiles closely enough), a Towers of Hanoi type puzzle and a number of hacking "mini games"..."

"...Because the puzzles are relatively easy and Largo often travels from one location to another, the gameplay never gets repetitive or boring. That is despite the fact that the game is fairly long - don't expect to finish it in an afternoon. Okay, the story isn't groundbreaking, but we're talking about entertainment after all."

Four Fat Chicks by Jen

"I'll just say right at the outset that Largo Winch is a game that, while ultra-cheesy, is a lot of fun to play. Okay, now with that out of the way, let me get straight to the nitpicking.

"First and foremost, the typos! Oh, the typos! I realize that English is an evolving language, but the accessibility of the World Wide Web to anyone with a second-grade education and the wherewithal to post a home page has rather devolved the language into a veritable patois. I daresay the language has changed more in the past decade due solely to the influence of the internet (okay, maybe rap music is partly responsible too) than in the half-millennium since ye Olde English days..."

"The fighting ... oh yes, the fighting ... Scared you, didn't I? Seriously, it's simplified, scripted, turn-based battling right out of the console RPG design manual, only easier. Largo and his cohort(s) (if any) always get to go first, and there's always some tricky attack available that will disable one or more enemies right off the bat. There are about 12 or 13 fights in the game. I lost nary a one up until the final two, and then in both of those cases it was a matter of losing once to figure out what to do given the available options and reloading armed with a full can of whoop-ass, or rather a viable strategy for success."

"The graphics are surprisingly pleasant for what is so obviously a B title, albeit a lovingly crafted one. Apart from the weird lip-synching discussed earlier, the scenes are quite well-rendered with plenty of polygons. And the cutscenes are very pretty, almost blurry-photorealistic if that makes sense."

"I guess that's about it, so I'll wrap this up now. Basically, all of the goofy and not-so-goofy things in Largo Winch blend quite nicely to make it fun, easy, light fare for the adventure gamer looking for a change from the more somber Dreamcatcher Experience."

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