i've been checking out some amiga titles recently, and old PC games in general, as it's a scene i was just too young ( read: not alive ) to really experience during its hayday. there's a lot of cool stuff, honestly, and return to atlantis is definitely among some of the most notable i've seen so far.

it plays like utter garbage, first & foremost. not sure if this was an emulation issue or not, but the framerate nearly makes this unplayable; as well, it's one of those games that necessitates the player having a copy of the manual on hand during gameplay, further complicating playability & comprehension if you don't have access to it. the game also features a text-to-speech system ( that will read your custom input name out loud!!! ) that sounds ... just ... so awful. super garbled & borderline imparsable. fortunately there's subtitles for everything, but it's another additional layer of absurdity that makes return to atlantis somewhat impenetrable to play, especially for the Modern Gamer.

but if you can overcome those obstacles, i do think this is kind of an interesting game ... it feels rather ambitious for the era, although i admit i'm still learning a lot about the kinds of games we could make for computers around this time. the gameflow is predictable & simple, which helps keep you engaged, but is also cool enough that it doesn't get boring. the atmosphere is great, really setting a slick tone & doing the work to try & immerse you in the life of your special secret agent scuba diver player character. and i like the sprite work too, at least for the NPC portraits ... things become imparsable again as you get into gameplay, though, made further confusing by the 2D-sprites-3D-world the game throws you into once you're done chatting with your informants.

it's a cute game though. i just adore how simple it is, but how much love & thought went into its presentation, even if the end result is kind of difficult to get into. i got through a few missions before putting it down, but ... i dare say i like it. i don't think i'll be rating it too highly though, just because the downsides REALLY make enjoying this project challenging for all but the most stalwart of players.