Aura 2: The Sacred Rings

I Must Have sat through Aura 2s unskippable, geological epoch-spanning intro twenty times now, yet I'm positively none the wiser as to what it's all about. My theory is that between the four flickering frames of sub-Lord of the Rings imagery and its near-rhythmic warblings about 'artifacts', it's a cunning ploy by The Adventure Company to make buyers more suggestible by entrancing them in an hypnotic fugue.

"Pleeaseee", the voice offers. "Don't take our game back to the shops. OK, so this kind of first-person point-and-clicker is as in fashion as Gary Glitter these days. And we're really sorry about the offensively bad voice acting, but hey, budgets are a terrible mistress, right?

"Hold up, bub", comes the reply. "There aren't enough swinging watches in the world to make this turkey look like a peacock. Take the charade you're playing on our readers: for instance, the 3D environments might look good in pictures, but that's because that's all they are static pictures. Movement, therefore, is morbidly confusing and not helped by an unresponsive cursor that only highlights interactive items (of which there are few) when you're pressing your face into it."

"Ulp.

And even if we could remember the intro, it's doubtful it would help the game make sense. It's just a dull succession of (il)logic puzzles, stuck on an ugly, incomprehensible hub. For this interminable Myst knock-off, it's no sale.