Reviewed by Brandy Shaul
Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air is the fourth entry in PlayFirst’s Dream Chronicles franchise, and it marks the beginning of a new trilogy of games that see the story’s focus shift from Faye to her half-fairy daughter Lyra, who is turning 18.
The game starts with Lyra mysteriously vanishing and emerging through as-of-then unknown means in the town of Wish, where Lyra spent her childhood. Her grandfather, Tangle, has learned of her disappearance and is able to communicate with her from the present – this is achieved through notes that are scattered throughout the landscape, offering helpful hints and clues as to what has happened to cause Lyra to be swept into this alternate dimension.
You quickly learn that the only way to return to your own time is to seek out the one known as the Clockmaker, who can restore time to its proper form. Doing so is easier said than done, however, and launches you on your way through another point-and-click adventure like those of games past.
For those familiar with the games’ setup, the Book of Air strays little. You’ll navigate around the stationary landscapes, clicking on items that you’d like to investigate, which often open up puzzles or tasks that must be solved and/or completed before you can move on. There is very little animation in the game other than these instances, but complete voice acting keeps the experience from becoming mundane.
Scattered throughout all of the environments are items called Dream Jewels, and accumulating these jewels in specific numbers unlocks special powers that you can use to help yourself, should you find yourself at a loss of what to do next. One power is the magnifying glass, which instantly reveals any interesting item that you should have clicked on (for example, if you’re looking for the missing pieces to a broken machine, you can click on the magnifying glass to have a missing piece highlighted for you). Another power allows you to translate foreign text and symbols into English, so that you can solve more puzzles or just learn more about Lyra’s story.
The Book of Air is a great game for both beginners and experts, as it can be played on two different difficulty settings – Casual and Challenge. In casual mode, the puzzles are less difficult (perhaps containing less steps, or less symbols, as examples), and in fact can be skipped entirely should you spend enough time on them and not be able to solve them. Challenge mode, then, is the exact opposite – puzzles are harder and they can’t be skipped.
In this Collector’s Edition of the game, a built-in strategy guide makes the game even easier, and in fact, downright perfect for someone without a lot of time to spend on the game. You can play the game for five or ten minutes at a time, solving puzzles you understand and using the strategy guide to help you through ones you don’t, and still come out with the satisfaction of figuring out how to help Lyra make her way safely back home.
The graphics are lovely, for what they are, but they’re nothing fancy – the series isn’t known for such a thing, and this fits in well with its predecessors. For those who like the stationary images, included wallpapers with this Collector’s Edition will allow you to experience the look of the game whenever you sit down to the computer.
All told, Dream Chronicles: The Book of Air is a rather short installment in the series, and can arguably be a bit too simple on Casual mode, requiring a switch to Challenge mode to make the game more… well, challenging, and by default longer (as it would, in theory, take you longer to finish these harder puzzles). That being said, however, the game’s story is well told, and the lack of a learning curve opens the game up to be played by any and all form of gamer, whether casual or hardcore, with tons of skill or none at all.
Special thanks to Dana Whitney and PlayFirst for providing a copy of this title.