The Collection Chamber: THE CRYSTAL SKULL

A mysterious relic. A perilous quest. An unlikely hero.

The place is ancient Mexico and the fate of the Aztec empire rests with you. Your quest is to find the magical crystal skull which holds the key to the future of the empire. But beware - the journey is long and treacherous and unknown dangers lie in wait. Survive the threat of mythic monsters, evil spirits and deadly traps and you may live to discover the secret of the crystal skull.
Three CD's filled with hundreds of live action scenes, dozens of interactive puzzles, and 50 unique characters based on Aztec and Mayan mythology.
Edward James Olmos, star of Miami Vice, Blade Runner and Stand and Deliver, is your Shaman, a spirit guide who offers you help throughout your quest.
Extensive information about Aztec and Mayan culture available at the touch of a button.
Your quest takes you through a rich and colorful environment of jungles, deserts and islands.
Discover ancient temples and dazzling palaces.
Talk to a variety of characters with the unique talkbox interface.
Consult your Shaman guide for hints and clues.
Encounter strange and mysterious creatures on your quest.
Gather in-depth information on ancient cultures.

~ from the back of the box

In the years since The Crystal Skull graced the market in 1996, several other games and media have used the moniker. I remember it being a fairly big deal back in the day when FMV adventure games were all the rage. Nowadays, a google search will bring up Indiana Jones, Nancy Drew or a multitude of crappy hidden object games before this forgotten gem crops up. I never got to play it until now, but if I had, I would've eaten it up.

Set in an ancient Aztec city, you control a young aviary attendant named Quetzal (a half-naked Kevin Castro of Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad and Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills) who has been summoned by the Emperor to find the mythical crystal skull. The great leader had a dream - a bad one - that white men with beards will arrive and conquer the land and only the undefined power of the skull can save it, and only the birder Quetzal can get it. What follows is a rather surreal and fantastical adventure that's filled with memorable moments, even if the gameplay itself is inconsistent and uneven.

You have the option to have access to a fully featured hint system,
though turning it off will mean less Edward James Olmos.

Originally spanning 3 CD's, the game can be roughly split into three chapters. The first is centred around the Aztec city, with temples, shops and guarded palaces that's rather confusing to navigate at first. The second ventures outside the city walls into the countryside, while the third zaps you into alternative timelines and dimension. While not the prettiest of locations, the capital city is where most of the game takes place. This section is more about sneaking about finding items and selective trading at the market with no real tangible puzzles. Quetzel will walk at a casual pace throughout the locations, using an insane amount of animation frames as he accurately turns each corner and climb stairs with seemingly few repeated sequences. I know this because there's no way to skip these walking scenes, and while some screens mercifully cut the walk short (like how you'd find in Gabriel Knight 2), a lot will make you watch 'til the very end. Dialogue and movie cutscenes - the one you actually want to see - are skippable with a click of the mouse though it's easy to accidentally trigger.

We begin in the zoo, and before long a Shaman will appear in front of you. Played by Edward James Olmos whose recognisable face can be seen in many a film and TV show, he will act as your guide. Quite literally. The first thing he gives you is a hint system which gets added next you the inventory and options icons that appear when your mouse cursor enters the bottom of the screen. At the beginning of the game, you can opt-out of receiving this, but there's no harm in having it. It's a little clunky to use and very spoilery so I rarely used it. His later gifts will prove far more useful...

Use the map to fast travel to places you've already been (left).
If you've turned on auto-resurrection, you can quickly come back from a death like this (right).

A couple of hours in, the Shaman will give you a magical map. It's not the greatest way to navigate your surroundings, but it's primary use is quick-travel. Some sections require you to use this feature as a means to solve a puzzle, such as escaping a prison cell or avoiding a deadly scenario. Be warned; some areas can never be returned to and although I never found a soft-lock thanks to the multiple paths the game takes, it does mean that some items and abilities can be missed. I found a fresco piece that was never used and, according to a walkthrough, missed out on a morph ability.

That's the Shaman's third gift; shapeshifting. Perhaps as a result of the limited technology, this super power can only be accessed at designated areas signalling that it's needed to solve a puzzle. Once clicked, you will be given a selection of three forms that you've previously encountered, whether it be a beetle, a snake or the bad guy's mum, and one or more of them will get you through. The wrong ones, however, will lead to death. You can die in this game, and not one of them are signalled. Thankfully, along with the optional help system, you can also turn on an option to automatically revive yourself to the screen before you died in. I highly recommend this, as there's nothing worse in an adventure game than randomly dying only to find out your last save was an hour back. Turning this on makes you actively want to search out the deaths scenes, and a lot of them are rather entertaining.

The in-game encyclopedia is highly informative and entertainingly presented.
It's even context sensitive, bringing up the most relevant page to the game screen you're currently on.

The latter half of the game feature less exploratory gameplay, actually having tangible puzzles and mini-games which test the old noggin. While the game does have an inventory, there are very few puzzles that focus around it. You will get most of your items in one cupboard, and most are just traded back and forth in the marketplace in a convoluted means to earn cocoa beans that act as currency. The puzzle design is all over the place. The best involve inputting symbols in the correct order (which may or may not be explained to you via talking monkey depending on whether you find him or not), while the worst requires quick reflexes, dexterous mouse movements and unlimited tries. Even so, it's not an entirely difficult game if you pay attention to all of the information given to you.

Being an entirely fictional tale, the story of The Crystal Skull is only tenuously based in fact. You have access to a comprehensive and entertaining information resource that puts a lot of other digital encyclopedias to shame, but the info found within rarely translates to the often insane imagery found in the game screens. From a three-headed fortune teller, a guard dressed in a chicken suit and Mesoamerican gods dressed to look like low-budget villains of a Power Rangers knockoff (which the lead actor has plenty of experience of), the unexpected places the game goes down is truly entertaining urging me to give it nothing less than a high recommendation.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox running Microsoft Windows 3.1 to get the game working on modern systems. Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 1.19 Gb. Install Size: 1.92 Gb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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