
"AGON, The Mysterious Codex" (2006) is a problem and puzzle solving game. It's pretty tough, and for most a walkthrough will probably be needed at certain points. If you can manage it without having to consult a walkthrough, my hat is off to you. Perhaps I am too impatient, but I used a walkthrough, because of a number of reasons. Not the least of which, is that I prefer to work my way through a game in a number of days, not months.
I don't want to sound too negative about this game, because besides its shortcomings, it is a pretty good game nonetheless. However, I will list the things about the game that drove me to use a walkthrough anyway.
1- Some of the things you need to find for your inventory are not obvious, and are very easy to miss. The game allows you to leave things you need in a room or other areas, and move on to where it is impossible to progress without the thing you skipped over, and you have no idea what you might have missed, or where it was.
2- You will find all sorts of books, letters, documents, etc., that are often pages long. Most of what you have to read is just there to embellish the story, and has nothing to do with solving the game. However, you can't skip all of this stuff, because some of it does provide important clues.
3- Moving between locations often involves a lot of unnecessary clicking through screens that are there for no good reason, where you waste time in areas that have nothing to find or do.
4- Maneuvering with the mouse is not fluid, and sometimes is a little bit frustrating. (It's not terrible though.)
5- Many times what you need to do to progress is total guesswork. You have no idea what to do, and there are a million possible guesses that might be the way to go.
Without a walkthrough to help you get on the right track from time to time, most of you will give up on this game in frustration fairly quickly.
With a walkthrough to help you at certain points this is a darn good game. Though I am only a little beyond a forth of the game, I and my walkthrough plan to play it to the finish.
The game loads to and plays on Windows 7 with no problem, and I'm sure that it will play on Windows XP just as well, if not better.
p.s. To load the game you MUST enter the 16 character registration code, that is stuck to the inside of the jewel case that the CD comes in. When entering the registration code, you have to include the dashes that separate each of the four number sequences. Once the game is installed, it will play off your hard drive, and you do
not have to have the game CD in a CD drive for the game to work
p.p.s. Now that I have told you all of the bad stuff about this game, I say, give it a try. I think you will actually like it.
.............. "Hello, CLOUDY says to try this game."
Here's a link to the trailer of the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCfpNdgEbwsp.p.p.s. I think here is a sequel to this game called "Agon,The Lost Sword of Toledo", which I guess I will have to get.
(Belated edit. I'm still playing the game. I'm into Madagascar now. I was stumped for a very long time, because the pot of rice refused to cook to feed the starving man in the treehouse, until I went back up into the treehouse, and offered him the bottle of wine from my inventory. I have made it through the bewildering maze of the jungle to the grave with the nine small posts to organize in proper order, but I think I have stupidly plucked one of them out of the ground, and only have eight. I'm not giving up, and will try my best to figure out how to correct this mistake to progress.)(Another belated edit: I solved the problem of the missing grave post, and have gone on to finish the game.)