Traitor's Gate for Windows

I think I'm the only person I know who has ever heard of this game. I just can't believe that, it's so great! It even makes me thankful that some store clerks are jerks!

While browsing through a Radio-Shack one boring summer, I asked if they carried any murder mystery video games. They showed me a nice few, bust most of them were recommended for little children. Then they showed me one called Traitors Gate. It looked like a pretty good game, but I wasn't sure if I should buy it or not. But the clerk, she INSISTED. After 10 minutes of trying to convince me, I decided to buy the game, just so she would shut-up.

I took the game home, popped the first of the four disks into my CD Tray, and started to play. The beginning was so boring, and then to make things worse, my PC crashed. I took out the game, threw it in it's box, and shoved it in my desk drawer. It wasn't until a year or so later that I decided to retry the game, it was then when I realized how much of a wonderful game it was......

STORYLINE/PLOT

One of the Pentagon's directors is planning to steal Top Secret blueprints of the Tower of London to get his hands on the World Famous British Crown Jewels. It's up to you, Special Agent Raven, to stop him. To do this, you must infiltrate the one of the most heavily guarded complexes in the world, the Tower of London, and find and replace the Jewels with exact replicas fitted with tracking devices, so the CIA can track him down.

GAMEPLAY

You play the game in 1st person view, as the CIA's Special Agent Raven. You start off in the "White Tower" portion of the Tower of London, make your way through the sewer systems, and onto several buildings in the complex. On your way you'll find tools, codes, and many other things that can help you get to the Jewels. I don't really like the way you control your character, though it is very simple to do so. To move, you click on the screen when the cursor arrow turns green. To turn left or right, you use the directional buttons on your keyboard, and to inspect an object you simply click it. To fire a weapon/use a tool, you select the item you wish to use, and click/drag-and-drop where you want to use it.

MENUS

The menus in the game are great. They are found at the bottom of your screen.
In the center, your "handheld" computer. This is where you load/save your game, get/send messages to/from the Pentagon, access surveillance/audio systems throughout the complex that you have hacked in to, etc.
The left and right sides show your tools and items. The left, tools/items that you have found on your journey. The right, tools/items given to you by the CIA.
Unlike many other stealth games, you do not carry any weapons in this game, except some knock out gas, and a dart gun, with ice-tipped knock out darts for ammunition. The reason they are ice-tipped is because they will melt, and leave no evidence of you being there. (They are only knock out darts, because the guards are not your enemy, you do not want to permanently harm them.

EQUIPMENT

The equipment you use in Traitor's Gate is simply amazing. You use items such as Video Scramblers, Audio Transmitters, Key Code Decoders, GPS systems, tracking devices, Ice-Dart Guns, and just about any gadget you can think of besides of an invisible car! I really like the way your Video Scramblers work. You find a surveillance room, and basically hack into the camera systems, so that whenever you need to see what's on any camera controlled by a certain surveillance room, you simply click on the Video link in your handheld computer!

THE TOWER OF LONDON

This probably the most amazing part of the game. The complex is so realistic! In fact, if you find a map of the real Tower of London, it is identical to the one in the game. In fact, I bet that if you take the walkthrough of the game, you could infiltrate the actual Tower. Ha, just kidding. But that's how real it is!

INTERESTING GAME STATS FROM THE BACK OF THE CD CASE

(NOTE: QUOTED FROM THE BACK OF THE TRAITORS GATE CD CASE)

"-Nonlinear adventure with more than 1200 different paths.

-Cinematic views with 360 degree movement.

-More than 100 puzzles and 100 hours of game play.

-Exact recreation of the Tower of London and security systems.

-Four CD-ROMS"

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GRAPHICS, SOUNDS, MUSIC, DIFFICULTY, TIME
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GRAPHICS

The graphics in this game are great, especially the FMV sequences. They are very detailed and realistic, but you cannot see your own face very well during the FMV's, but that's OK because the game is in 1st Person View anyway. The graphics are fairly good during gameplay as well, specifically when you are standing still. While standing still, the graphics are better. Objects appear to be clearer. While walking, the graphics and visible objects blur slightly, but are still fairly detailed. The only really think I don't like when when you use an object. For an example, I'll use a pair of wire cutters. Early in the game, you use a large pair of wire cutters to snip a lock to get through a gate. When you select the cutters, and drag and drop them to the lock, the cutters "magically" float to the lock and cut it open. You do not see it controlled by your character (using his hands/arms or whatever). All other tools and item you use are like this as well.

SOUNDS

The sounds in this game are very detailed. Whether it be footsteps of your character, an ice-dart being fired from a gun, or a British guard accidentally stepping in a puddle, you hear everything that you should. The only problem I found with the sound, is that your character, Raven, does not talk once. Besides that, the sounds are perfect. The few actors who portray certain characters, fit them perfectly. Although lip movement and voices are not perfectly synchronized, I still think the sound is great.

MUSIC

When I play a video game, I only think it has great music when you do not hear it. The music fits so well with the times in the game that it's played, it's barely even recognisable. (Slow, soft music while creeping slowly through the tower, fast loud music when spotted by a guard, etc.)

DIFFICULTY

I think that this is one of the hardest games I have ever played. I mean that in a good way. I don't mean its hard like you get killed to easily, or get too many "Mission Failed"s. I mean it's hard like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Like going through a maze. I mean, you have to find the passwords to retrieve some of the most priceless possessions in the world! You have to hack into surveillance systems, sneak past guards, etc! I would definitely give this game a "HARD" rating, but it can EASILY be beaten with the help of a walkthrough.

TIME

You have a time limit of 12 hours to beat the game, but this is definitely possible, if you save your game like 50 times. It takes more than 100 hours to beat this game without a walkthrough, which I like, because I love long games. For instance, in the sewers, it is practically impossible to find the security gate in less then 5 minutes. The sewer system is basically a maze. Once you enter the sewers, most people save their game, and walk all across the sewers and make a map. This could take hours. They then load their file at the beginning of the sewers, and follow their map to the need point. Although this only takes ten minutes off your 12 hour limit, it took maybe 2 hours to draw the map. It's little puzzles like this that make the game so long.

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RATINGS

STORYLINE------10/10
GAMEPLAY------7.5/10
MENUS----------10/10
EQUIPMENT-----10/10
REALISM--------10/10
GRAPHICS--------8/10
SOUNDS----------9/10
MUSIC----------10/10
DIFFICULTY------HARD
TIME------------LONG

OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10

WHICH I WILL ROUND TO A 9/10 or 4.5/5

BUY THIS GAME!
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Written by Tony Jones