“Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat” was developed by Dupuis and released on September 2002 by Ubisoft Entertainment. It is based on a comic book character, Largo Winch, which is from a 2001-2002 TV series (mostly known in Europe).
You play the role of Largo Winch, the son of billionaire Nerio Winch. Nerio has died under mysterious circumstances, leaving you as the heir of “GROUP W”, a multinational corporation based in New York City. You've just announced the launch of a humanitarian operation for Drinavia, a small country in Eastern Europe. At the reception that follows you learn from one of your communication officers that a scandal is about to break out involving your company. You must take control of the situation and journey all-over the globe to uncover the plot that is hatching.
This is a third-person perspective adventure game, with some mini-games and combat sequences. I enjoyed the simplicity of these sequences and the way they were incorporated in the story as it progressed. The game is keyboard-based, not point-and-click, but it is very easy to control your hero and interact with other characters and items. The developers incorporated a hint system which helps you in the beginning stages of the game to understand how the interface works. During the first few parts of the game, a little help box appears every time you approach someone or something that you can interact with. It tells you what you can do and how you can do it using the interface. This is a very helpful feature for beginners. Experienced gamers can turn this feature off.
The game progresses every time you uncover a clue or a situation. There are moments in the game where you have to make business decisions for your company, involving investment opportunities and stocks. I thought that this was a great addition to the game. It gives you a break from the plot and even though the decisions are not difficult to make, you will have to research in order to make the correct decision.
The graphics of the game are 3D and reminded me a lot of the graphics in “Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon”. The graphics are very good throughout the game including the cut-scenes. Although, one area that needed improvement was the facial expressions of the characters. You should not be smiling when you are tied to a chair with two big Russian dudes beating you!
There are cut-scenes throughout the game, including the introduction. A couple of them involve some spicy/erotic scenes. They are not long and many times have clues that will help you later in the game. After you watch a cut-scene, you can replay it from the “Options”.
The majority of the puzzles are easy. Mostly you use items in the proximity to solve them. The combat sequences impressed me. They are turn-based, meaning that you and the enemy have to take turns trying to hit each other and take-off health points. You have to develop a strategy during the combat sequences in order to kill an enemy. This makes the combat sequence a puzzle too! Sometimes you (Largo) and one of your associates/friends combat against 3-4 enemies. This makes it even more interesting and sometimes hard to beat if you do not develop the right strategy.
The game is long. In long games it is very difficult to make the player pay attention and keep up with the plot without getting bored. The developers succeeded in this by incorporating the mini-games and combat sequences. Also, they avoided repeating actions and scenes during the game.
The voices are crisp and clear. You can determine each character’s background through their accent. In the game, you talk with Russians, Mexicans and Italians. Let me tell you, as soon as you hear the accent you know the background of the character.
Overall, “Largo Winch: Empire Under Threat” is a very good action/adventure game. Even though it is long and has very easy puzzles. I recommend that every adventure gamer play this game. It is a nice experience. It keeps your attention with an intriguing plot, has nice 3D graphics, and has a good interface. The game was released for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, so it's easy to play it!
