Corto Maltese - Secrets of Venice

This is a fair warning to all Corto Maltese and point-and-click genre fans rather than a review of this game. Why? The game simply won't work. What you get for a full game price is a Corto Maltese screensaver because it gets stuck on a loading screen and refuses to go any further than that. It's been at least one full week since the issue has been known and except for two humble "we're aware and working on it" replies on Steam forums there is no clarification on what could possibly be the problem. There is no official warning (in a form of a stickied discussion or a news post) and the Steam store page won't let you know of this unless you go into game's Community hub to investigate on your own. I feel bad for everyone who bought this for a full price since the Steam Winter sale is right around the corner and there are chances of this game being discounted at least for the sake of selling more copies of this unreasonably priced Corto Maltese screensaver. Some might say "have some patience for god's sake, don't be a crybaby, they will fix it!", well, I am patient but I feel it's also my duty to let other people know that they will be buying a game that most likely won't run. I like Corto Maltese and I like crime solving games so I had high hopes when I got this, but now I know for sure that I will enjoy this game way less than I could because of this unpleasant experience. Wasn't the game tested before it's release? I couldn't come up with a single excuse or an argument in developer's defense even if I really wanted to. In addition, I wouldn't be writing this for everyone to see if there was an official statement from developer/publisher. Again, a stickied discussion or a news post saying something like "yes, we screwed up, we are sorry, have a pretty concept art picture to look at while we fix it" because that's what I saw other developers do when they are delaying game's release or working on patches. It's called common courtesy in my book. I suppose with all these ways to communicate directly with your audience we have nowadays, a simple seller-consumer communication is too much to ask for.

If you are a fan of the Corto Maltese comic series you should enjoy this game and it's worth checking out. Well-written, great atmosphere and puzzles that actually make you think, some of which require study outside of the game which is a nice touch and makes you feel a bit like a real detective. :] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKwuS77aHco

In spite of the *many* things I like about this game, there enough deal-breaking bugs for me not to recommend this -- at least not in English. (More details below.) [u]The Good[/u]: Truly exceptional world-building! It's a fun mix of Dan Brown, Assassin's Creed, and Tintin. There's a nice balance of occult history, Venice travelogue, Judeo-Christian mysticism, and political thriller elements. The narrative hits all the right notes for me. I don't even mind that the present-day sequences don't use the art style from the original comics, because I wasn't very familiar with Corto Maltese before playing this game (other than a few tangential references in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen). Many of the puzzles are genuinely fun, even if they seem a bit ridiculous in the context of the story. In fact, I wish I had thought of the explorer/Age of Discovery puzzle myself. (I run a brainteaser-oriented game night in Manila.) I like how the Compass mechanic works, in general. It's a neat way to bridge the story and gameplay elements. Bonus points for the puzzles that make use of real-world outside resources: Google Maps, Wikipedia, even TripAdivsor [spoiler](one puzzle involves searching for a review posted by an NPC)[/spoiler] It's quite a bold risk because it involves user-generated content that might end up getting deleted, later on. But for now, it feels inspired. [u]The Bad[/u]: The over-reliance on AGS-style connect-the-squares mini-games. Gets hella repetetive, especially in the late game. There's some occassional wooden voice acting, which I can forgive. The stuff that makes this game unplayable at times comes from sloppy QA, rather than poor creative decisions by the devs. So it falls under... [u]The Ugly[/u]: At least four of the expert-level/hard-mode puzzles are basically unsolvable because of poor implementation. I can't go into detail without spoiling it, but have a look at the discussion for this game, if you want to get an idea. The most obvious example are the hints for a mid-game puzzle involving book titles. The in-game tips make reference to books that aren't even mentioned in the puzzle! Also, the Achievements seem to be completely bugged. NOBODY has been able to get them, so far. Based on other people's feedback, I get the impression that the original Italian version may have better quality control. It's a shame -- I *really* wanted to like this game. The premise and gameplay have SO MUCH appeal to me. But the actual execution is unacceptably sloppy.

Recommended with remarks. I've changed my first analysis. Game's atmosphere is nice and, if you are a lover of Corto Maltese comics, it seems appealing enough. The aim of the game is to quest by yourself, outside the game (Internet), to answer the riddles that the game offers to you. This makes this game unique and, enhances the detectivesque feeling, since you are yourself who should investigate outside the game, browsing wikipedia or google maps or whatever other source of info that could help you to get the answer. This is one of the hardest click & point adventure games I've ever played (and, played a bunch). Sometimes, the tips or clues aren't that clear and can lead you to absurd paths. The bad thing is that there is NO guide or walkthrough anywhere (there is just a single one covering the very first steps), by today. I was really stuck for several days with just one riddle and, I was going to give up the game, until a forum mate was giving me the last piece of the puzzle to get the answer. After suffering lot of frustation, I've finally ended it and now, I feel more satisfied than with other easier point & click adventures. So, you've been warned. If you love HARD point & click adventure games, try this one, even if the character of Corto Maltese isn't appealing to you. It worth the effort.

Game won't load. I bought this game today, and it turns out the game wont load. I am not the only one with this problem. I don't know why it wont load, but I would not recomend bying the game until the problem is fixed.

Since I never heard of Corto Maltese before I played this Game I cannot judge if this Game is a decent representation of the Character or the Atmosphere and the like. Some other reviews and posts in the Forums suggest that it is not, though. What I CAN do is to warn everyone away who HASN`T heard of Corto Maltese before. The story MIGHT make some sense for those who know Corto but for those who don`t, it is a very confusing and downright frustrating Experience. It doesn`t help that the Translation (into English at the least) is horrid mostly. You are able to puzzle out what the Characters want to say but it is a truly cringe-worthy Effort to do so. I give the game points for trying to be creative in some of the puzzles and always offering easy and hard puzzle-paths but that is the only positive thing about it. TL; DR: Do NOT buy this unless you are either someone who wants to own everything Corto Maltese or are intrigued by Puzzles that need Research outside of the Game. For everyone else you should stay far, far away.

[h1][FR] Notes liminaires :[/h1] N'étant pas moi-même un amateur de bandes dessinées, j'aurais vraiment aimé lire l'avis d'un connaisseur. Mais bon, pas besoin d'être amateur de BD pour quand même connaître Hugo Pratt et même plus précisément Corto Maltese. À en juger par le début de l'aventure, l'univers énigmatique est bien mis en scène, on sent très vite les volutes de mystère s'élever. Une BD interactive ? Non je ne dirais pas ça, on est plus proche d'un point 'n' click ou encore d'un “Hidden Object Game”. Cela dit, des parcelles de planches viennent en renfort de la narration entre les phases de jeu. Personnellement j'apprécie jusqu'ici le dessin, l'atmosphère générale, la bande sonore. Je n'ai pas encore pu entendre les voix (problème sous OSX ?). Quant aux puristes pour lesquels l'utilisation de la couleur est un véritable blasphème... Corto Maltese sont des traits, des contours noirs sur fond blanc. Cela serait fort austère une fois en jeu... D'autant que même si des jeux vidéo existent effectivement en noir et blanc (L.A. Noir, LIMBO) on parlerait plutôt pour eux de jeux « en nuances de gris ». Une recette qui serait encore plus sacrilège pour Corto Maltese. Bref, la couleur est très bien même si cet avis n'engage que moi. Je mettrai très bientôt cet avis à jour après quelques sessions de jeu supplémentaires. [i]Petit édito par rapport au prix. Je ne doute pas que la valeur réelle du travail fournit vaille de le vendre 10€, j'aurai même tendance à penser que pour être vraiment rentable le prix devrait être encore plus élevé. Cela étant, oui, en un sens le prix n'est pas totalement adapté face aux Indés. et au “Sales” à tout va. Au delà cette remarque mineure, j'ai été fort déçus de constater l'invariance du prix par rapport à la devise. En effet, vous pouvez récupérer le même Corto Maltese avec une clé Steam sur Indie Game Stand à $10. IGS n'étant pas une plateforme aussi évoluée que Steam, ne modifie pas la devise en géolocalisant votre IP. Vous pouvez donc l'obtenir pour $9.99 au lieu de 9,99€. J'aurai espéré un effort surtout vu que le jeu est produit en France si j'en juge par les crédits. (France télé., CNL Casterman*). *En passant, c'est d'ailleurs chez Casterman qu'était paru le formidable Artbook, avec les travaux préparatoires de Syberia.[/i]

Un gioco alquanto pasticciato in cui si mescolano, senza alcun criterio e logica, riferimenti, citazioni, falshback della vita di CM; una giungla in cui un profano (come me) non ha speranza di orientarsi. Ad una superificiale occhiata si direbbe il titolo tipico che si regge solo sul citazionismo di un grosso nome sperando di racimolare soldi facili dalla comunità dei fan, già da tempo consolidata. In parte è così, difficile negarlo. Eppure, tornando alla confusione di cui parlavo pocanzi, è mascherata molto bene dietro le atmosfere nebbiose, oniriche e metafisiche condite con una ottima colonna sonora che quasi quasi ha il gusto di Inception, famoso titolo di pari tono di Nolan. I lexisnumerique d'altronde sono molto bravi in questo e in CM si notano subito i ferri del mestiere già visti per esempio in Red Johnson's Chronicle, molto bravi nel creare atmosfere accattivanti con sinergia tra fondali e colonna sonora, meno convincenti nel gameplay scelto che riduce a brandelli la naturalezza e la plausibilità della vicenda; insomma, quanto può essere realistica un indagine di gussto poliziesco basata solo su puzzle e rompicapi spesso slegati completamente dal contesto ?! Tuttavia, credo il lavoro "artistico" basti a consigliare almeno di provare questo titolo che presenta molti tratti sperimentali nello stile grafico, che mescola fumetto, fondali pre-renderizzati e foto realistiche, come nelle modalità di narrazione. Quindi, buona esplorazione nei meandri più reconditi di Venezia !

When I play a game, I expect an immersive experience. Having to leave the game to do research on the web is very disruptive. I did not enjoy this game.

Looks like they bait and switched us and released Corto Maltese Secrets of Venice from the Hunter's Trophy 2 America Greeenlight submission.