The Collection Chamber: DISNEY'S ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE

Go Deeper Than You Ever Dared.

New dangers await you at every turn! When lava starts rising fast, you have to move even faster. If you don't, your way will be blocked - and the villainous Rourke will escape!

In the world of Atlantis, things have a way of stepping out of your nightmares and into your path. Like Gorlocks, the monstrous creatures who don't fight fair. Of course, that means you don't have to either!

Unlock the mysteries of the deep. Battle the creatures of legend. Immerse yourself in non-stop action in the 3-D game that transports you to the fantastic world of Atlantis. In single player and online multi-player mode. You'll fight to save Atlantis, solve ancient mysteries, engage in fierce tournaments and daring, aerial dogfights in an underwater, underground adventure of a lifetime!
The Ulysses is under attack! Escape from the sub before it takes on too much water... and plunges into the murky depths.
Explore the underground caves leading to Atlantis, but beware! Giant insects can be extremely nasty when they're disturbed.
Engage your foes in relentless multiplayer ship-to-ship combat and combat racing from the cockpit of exotic Atlantean vehicles.
Compete online with up to 12 people in 10 different capture the flag and tournament maps.

~ from the back of the box

If you ask me, Disney's Atlantis is one of the mouse house's most underrated movies. I remember reviewers at the time bemoaning the fact that it veered away from the traditional fairy tale musical so much that "Walt would be rolling in his grave". See any of the company's live-action adventure movies from the 50's and true Disney-philes would know this is a ridiculous statement. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is the closest the company has come to the like of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea since Kirk Douglas fought a giant rubber squid, and I'm all for it. And so too am I all for the PC game adaptation played entirely in the first-person subtitled Trial by Fire.

Released exclusively for Windows PCs in 2001, Trial by Fire differed greatly from its console cousin. The PlayStation saw a third-person action adventure in the same vain as Tomb Raider while PC got a Half-Life inspire adventure shooter, but not before a substantive demo disc was given away on cereal boxes. Called Search for the Journal, it was marketed as a prequel to both the movie and the full game. Over 5 levels, you play as Thaddeus Thatch, the grandfather of Milo, the film's protagonist, as he risks life and limb to obtain the titular book that details the location of the mythical sunken city. It's a short yet fun time the whets the whistle for the full game, and even includes an animated movie scene that didn't make the final cut. Add multiplayer with a list of pre-determined chat phrases so that kids can't curse at each other, and you have quite the package for a freebe, and its inclusion in the retail release is welcome.

The prologue includes a fully animated cutscene omitted from the movie (left).
It features a group of Vikings using the Shepherd's Journal to look for Atlantis (right).

Search for the Journal begins much like any good Half-Life clone does; with a long in-engine introduction on a slow-moving vessel. Here, you're trapped on a little boat as you sail between arctic glaciers in search of that ancient tome before running around mountain tops and underground temples. It features everything we're likely to get in full game; explorative levels with sparse action and simple puzzles as well as the odd vehicle section. As we head into Trial by Fire, our playable character has shifted from Thaddeus to Milo, opening on the Ulysee submarine vessel as its under attack by Atlantis' defensive system - the Leviathan. The second stage has you control an escape pod in search of the city entrance while defeating Leviathan spawn and protecting your shipmates.

It wouldn't be until the third stage that pure first-person-shooting takes place, but don't expect copious amounts of enemies or a thunderous spray of bullets. Milo's weapons are described as 'Tools', and play more like elemental magic spells. The Teslator is the default tool, and shoots of a red dart of what looks like fire. It's a speedy attack and was my primary choice of attack throughout most of the game. I only used other weapons to solve puzzles. The Froster, for example, may damage enemies and slow them down, but it will also slow down mechanical piston trap so you can safely pass a rope bridge in the city streets. The Squincher shrinks things, though it won't cause damage. It's necessary to defeat the otherwise too powerful giant insect creatures in one of the maze-like levels. They are added to your weapon loadout by collecting power-ups usually placed just when you need them.

There are a few vehicle sections that amongst others have you control a bi-plane (left) and an escape sub (right).
Turning speeds are fast and accurate, but its a bit too easy to crash into walls and ceilings.

While these tools don't have the traditional ammunition, they each share a pool of energy indicated by the red circles at the bottom of the screen. Some use up more than others, but it's easy to how much you have left with some of the more energy intensive projectiles. It is refilled by collecting red energy crystals floating at certain places in the game map. Once collected they will disappear, but after a short period time they will thankfully re-spawn which is useful considering how quickly the energy gauge will go down. Being primarily a kids game, this decision was likely to make it a little easier for the little'uns, but just in case energy will gradually replenish on its own. This is in contrast to your shield as represented by the blue dots just above the energy gauge. The only way to heal is to collect the glowing blue shields, but you will start at full health at the beginning of each stage.

While the levels do follow on from each other, they don't have the consistent flow of other Half-Life clones. Stages are defined with an in-point and an end-point even if the journey between the two isn't always linear. You cannot go back the way you came to a previous area, nor can you venture off into a place you're not supposed to be yet. Something tells me that the levels and weapon abilities were designed for this for the most part, but have been cut up and shrunk down to meet the May 2001 release date - just a few months before the movie's summer release - to prime it for cross-promotion. While the game is decent enough for what it is, I cannot shake the feeling that the final product has been compromised.

Press "J" to open Shepherd's Journal and get clues for your current level (left).
Collect these face stones to add a new tool to your arsenal. This one's the homing weapon called a Spinner (right).

The folks behind Ice & Fire, ZPC and Spec Ops were behind this game, and while they haven't made a classic, they were always a company that showed promise and imagination. They've created some nice levels within the Lithtech engine that are perfectly suited to the target audience, but no matter the age of the player the game isn't without flaws. While the visuals offer up some nice imagery that are congruent with the movie - the use of colour and texture give off a cartoon look without employing cell-shading techniques - it is sparsely populated and empty. Unfortunately, the game is also a little buggy and unpolished, perhaps for the same reason as the potentially compromised vision. I got stuck on some geometry during one section of Search for the Journal causing me to restart the stage from scratch, and there have been times when the game refused to let me pick up power-ups or crystals. It if happens to some of the levels, it breaks the game as the end is triggered by picking up a specific item. Enemies are few and far between, but have an aim far greater than yours. I'm ashamed to say that I saw more game-over screen in this kids game than I care to admit. But I kept playing.

Part of the reason why is down to the stages themselves. They may not flow into each other like I'd want, but they are often mildly inventive and fun to traverse with a variety that keeps them from getting stale. Even their short length keeps the game moving forward at a pleasingly fast pace. Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Trial by Fire isn't exactly the classic it could've been, but it's still a pleasant surprise for Disney fans in particular. There isn't many FPS's aimed at the younger market and even less based on a Disney film (the only other one that come to mind is Tron 2.0) so that alone makes this a worthwhile play. Recommended.

To download the PC game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses DDrawCompat to run on modern systems with with CDAEmu, for CD Audio emulation. Readme file in CHM format included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 304 Mb. Install Size: 511 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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