Adventure games, you say? I know some of you will perk up your ears at the sound of those words, but you may find yourself even more intrigued when you read this. Focus Home Interactive and White Birds will be working together to publish and distribute Last King of Africa, which is Benoît Sokal’s first adventure title for the DS. If you played Syberia or Syberia 2, you know what to expect from Sokal, and you also know why I’m excited right now.
Last King of Africa is based on the PC game Paradise, which was released in 2006. The details from the press release explain the rest:
Last King of Africa on Nintendo DS invites you on a fantastic journey deep into an imaginary Africa where you will play the role of young Ann Smith, daughter of the last king of Maurania. Ann is on her way to assist her dying father on his deathbed when her plane crashes near a city held by a rebel faction, on the north side of the country. Ann lives through this terrible accident and wakes up with amnesia in a prince’s palace. That is how her extraordinary journey begins.
The game has undergone some major changes in its adaption for the DS: most notably, tightening the story for a more coherent presentation, but also making full use of the stylus and microphone for puzzle solving. The 3D action sequences have also been removed, so what you have left is a true point-and-click experience. I actually just salivated while I typed that phrase.
Check out the gallery for a few screens from the title, which you can expect to be released this fall. You can also expect me to update you every time I hear anything new about it, as this has vaulted its way to the top of my most wanted DS list in a single bound.
Focus and White Birds Announce Last King of Africa for the Nintendo DS™
We are pleased to announce that Focus Home Interactive has settled on an agreement with White Birds to publish and distribute Last King of Africa, Benoît Sokal’s first adventure game for the Nintendo DS™. The game will be available in Q4 2008.
Download the images of Last King of Africa (321 KB)
http://www.focus-home.com/focus/lkoa/LKOA-screenshots .rar Last King of Africa on Nintendo DS invites you on a fantastic journey deep into an imaginary Africa where you will play the role of young Ann Smith, daughter of the last king of Maurania. Ann is on her way to assist her dying father on his deathbed when her plane crashes near a city held by a rebel faction, on the north side of the country. Ann lives through this terrible accident and wakes up with amnesia in a prince’s palace. That is how her extraordinary journey begins.
In order to develop the game on the Nintendo DS, this amazing adventure created by Benoit Sokal had to be totally rethought with regard to Paradise on the PC. The numerous puzzles and mind-teasers throughout the game have been completely reworked and now offer an original and intuitive gameplay that takes advantage of the Nintendo DS functions. The use of the stylus, microphone and your own logic will be of capital importance in solving the puzzles and mind-teasers.
The story itself has undergone some refreshing changes and is now much more coherent and surprising. These modifications are notable in the radical change in the relationships between the principal characters and in the combination and simplification of the dialogues that retain only the essential information needed to understand the story line without artificially prolonging the game. Still with the same intention of facilitating comprehension, Nintendo DS’s dialogue interface offers a more expressive identification of the characters. The characters are now displayed with a close up shot on the DS’ upper screen. Also, 3D action phases have been eliminated to make Last King of Africa a true, pure and traditional point & click adventure game.
Finally, Last King of Africa on Nintendo DS has equipped itself with a clear and detailed layout of the game’s zones for increased ease of orientation during the course of the adventure. The game has also equipped itself with a help system to lend a hand to players during exploration phases and to avoid fastidious ” pixel hunting “. Thanks to its magnificent 2D scenes in which detailed 3D characters evolve, perplexing mind-teasers and exciting alternative stories, Last King of Africa has all the necessary qualities to make this a great Nintendo DS adventure.
Last King of Africa will be released on Nintendo DS end of the year 2008.
About Focus Home Interactive
Founded in 1996, Focus Home Interactive is a French publishing and distribution company based near Paris, France. Known for the diversity, quality and originality of its catalogue, Focus now publishes and distributes many of its titles throughout Europe and also world-wide in both boxed retail and digital distribution formats. The last five years have been very successful for Focus in France, with many of its PC licenses becoming top-sellers. Focus has also published several original titles, including the adventure game Runaway, the renowned Cycling Manager and the much-loved TrackMania. The coming months will be exciting and full of surprises with the release of high-quality games such as Blood Bowl, TrackMania DS, Runaway: A Twist of Fate, Sherlock Holmes and sport games dedicated to major events such as the America’s Cup and the Tour de France.
