Challenge of the Ancient Empires!
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- For the mobile phone game, see Ancient Empires (mobile game).
| Challenge of the Ancient Empires! | |
|---|---|
 A screenshot from the DOS version. |
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| Developer(s) | The Learning Company |
| Publisher(s) | The Learning Company |
| Platform(s) | PC (Windows, Macintosh) |
| Release date | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Educational/Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
Challenge of the Ancient Empires! is a 1991 educational computer game for DOS by The Learning Company designed to teach children history and problem solving. The player must navigate through twenty cavern chambers, recovering pieces of artifacts to advance to the next level.
Contents |
[edit] Caverns
The game is divided into four caverns, each consisting of four levels, referred to as chambers. Each cavern represents a different ancient culture or group of cultures. The cavern decorations and background music are loosely based on each culture. The artifacts collected in each level are real historical items such as a vase, mask or statue. Some artifacts are structures such as a Chinese pagoda, the Roman Colosseum or the Greek Parthenon.
The four cultures represented in the game are:
In addition to the difference in appearance between the caverns, the gameplay also differs. Each cavern has a different main type of puzzle. In the Near East section, the player must hit switches to move panels that block the way. The Egyptian section consists mainly of triangular reflectors that the player must orient correctly to direct a light beam to trigger a switch. The Greece and Rome cavern has panels with Greek letters listed on them which correspond to "gongs" that the player must touch in the order shown on the panel. In the India and China section, the player must negotiate conveyor belts, the direction of which can be changed by hitting switches.
The four main caverns can be played in any order. Once the player completes all four chambers in each of the four caverns, a new cavern opens. This cavern is referred to as the "Ancient World" and is composed of four new chambers. Each chamber is in the style of one of the four cultures. The Ancient World cavern is more difficult than the others and consists of a combination of all the puzzles in the main caverns.
[edit] Gameplay
The player has three items to help him advance through the levels. The first is the miner's hat which shines a beam of light flips switches and temporarily stuns any cave animals that can cause the player damage, although in some early versions it has no effect on flying creatures. Numerous prisms and mirrors deflect the light, and several challenges involve properly rotating the reflectors to direct the beam to a specific sensor. The second item is the jump boots called "turbo tennies", which hoist the player much higher than a normal jump. Finally, the player has four force fields that prevent all damage for a few seconds.
The player's health bar has four segments. If the player comes into contact with a cave animal or a projectile from an animal, one segment is depleted. If all four segments are lost, the player must begin the chamber over again. Health can be restored either by picking up apples in the caverns or by correctly solving a logic puzzle at the end of a chamber on the first attempt.
Upon collecting six pieces of the artifact, the player must solve a puzzle by orienting and placing the pieces in the proper configuration to reveal a picture of the artifact. Afterwards, he must find the exit door and solve a logic puzzle to advance.
There are two difficulty levels: Explorer and Expert. The levels of the four main caverns are very similar between the two levels, though some extra rooms may exist on the Expert difficulty. The main difference is the number and speed of the enemies and the number of health power-ups. Additionally, the Expert difficulty contains an entirely different set of artifacts to piece together and more difficult logic puzzles at the end of each chamber. The Expert artifact pieces are not all correctly oriented when the player begins the puzzle; some must be rotated, adding to the difficulty of solving the puzzle. The Ancient World levels are completely different between difficulties.
[edit] Cave Animals
Cave animals can cause damage to the player, though sometimes can help. (For example, a bat may periodically touch a gong that's not reachable by the player.)
- Ant
- Ant Lion (uses projectiles)
- Bat
- Caterpiller (uses projectiles)
- Hanging Spider
- Ladybug
- Pegasus Frog
- Praying Mantis (uses projectiles)
- Scorpion (uses projectiles)
- Snake
- Wolf Spider
[edit] Trivia
The background music consists of arrangements of pieces by a number of famous composers including Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Erik Satie. A theme from the fourth movement of Brahms' Symphony No. 1 is used in the Greece and Rome cavern, and Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is used in the Egypt cavern. The Slavonic March must have evoked images of Egypt to the game's producers, though the melodies of the piece are based on Serbian folk songs. Satie's Gnossiennes are used in the Near East cavern.
