Sinkha
Review by Orb
Where Oh Where Has Mojave Gone ...
Sinkha is a very creative and unusual fiction title brought
to us by the folks at Mojave, who produced this and the extremely
playable Secrets
of the Luxor, which when mentioned, leads to a scavenger-huntish
search to find. Sinkha is a similar sort of title, differing
completely from Secrets in execution but nevertheless very
cutting-edge for having been made in the middle of the nineties.
It has a style so timeless that it will most assuredly never go
out of fashion, but rather become a rare and valued piece sought
out and paid top dollar for by collectors. After giving us these
titles, Mojave inexplicably and unfortunately dropped off the
face of the earth, thus making these ever so much more rare and
causing some serious extracurricular surfing by those looking
for an unusual and wonderful gaming or multimedia pick-me-up.
Sinkha, not your usual gaming experience, is explained
by its creators as being simply a multimedia project. Okay, it's
actually a comic book. Now before I get the raspberries from those
that don't want their reading mixed with their exploration and
puzzle-solving, let me just say in Sinkha's defense that
this is the fruition of why multimedia titles were initially created.
This is a seriously cool item.
Produced in five languages, all of them contained on the disk,
Sinkha is a creation realized by artist Marco Patrito,
a science fiction illustrator, who began work on this project
in 1991. His idea was to create a complete graphic novel using
3D computer graphics. It then was transformed into a CD-ROM multimedia
project in 1994. The degree of depth and clarity of the images
created is absolutely nothing short of amazing. It is possible
to zoom in on the image of the main spacecraft in the tale without
losing any of the definition. The rendering of this spacecraft
also became the splashscreen for Studio Pro 1.5.
The story is of a girl named Hyleyn, who lives with her grandfather
on Thalissar, a "desolate city of stricken buildings"
on the planet Ogon in an oppressed society, and her driving ambition
to escape the joyless existence there. It is written as timeless
science fiction, and the story moves as well as any classic science
fiction short storyit is actually reminiscent of a number
of Bradbury tales; "Invisible Boy" from The Golden
Apples of the Sun came to mind.
Sinkha is played out in 23 chapters that are very smooth
transition-wise, with nothing more than opening and closing animation
and a small tab at the bottom of the screen to signify the end
of one and the beginning of another. The title simply has jaw-dropping
graphics, both static prerendered pictures and animations. You
are moved through the environment by the novel, which only gives
up control to the player when there is text to read. To my surprise,
despite being a point-and-click fan, I quite enjoyed this. The
animations are as clever as any of Lucas's, and if it hasn't already
been done, this designer should be snapped up by the film community.
Some serious work went into this, and despite its increasing
age, it does not look dated in the slightest. The images are quite
simply serene, for lack of a better word. It is not an excessively
long piece; rather it is like reading a comic book (to use again
an unfavorable analogy) or watching a full-length feature film,
which for this is just about the right amount of time.
The music was composed and performed by Fancyfruit, which is
made up of musicians Sandro Bruni and Fabrizio Goria. The disk
also provides an added songlist and play feature, and it is a
very listenable score. The music is very unearthly and ethereal,
and the sound effects are entirely appropriate.
There is a sequel mentioned at the end of the story, promised
as an "interactive adventure" titled Escape from
Thalissar; this has not been released. However, if you go
to http://www.sinkha.com/,
you'll find quite a few more screenshots and a larger portion
of the story, as well as the promise of Sinkha being the
first in a series of stories, with the next release, Meltdown,
currently under production. This also looks as though it is
being produced to be more of an interactive adventure title than
Sinkha. The site is kept fairly up to date, so future releases
appear likely.
With stunning animations and awe-inspiring prerendered shots,
along with sci-fi design that is truly elevated from the run-of-the-mill,
my biggest problem with Sinkha became choosing which of
the gorgeous shots I took to include with this review. This title
is a must-have for any completist. 
|
The Verdict
The Lowdown
Developer: Virtual Views
Publisher: Mojave
Release Date: 1995
Available for:

Four Fat Chicks Links
Player
Feedback
Screenshots


System Requirements
Mac:
68K or Power PC
256 colors
2X CD-ROM drive
System 7
8 MB RAM
PC:
Win 3.1 or 95, 486 or higher
2X CD-ROM drive
8 MB RAM
8-bit sound
256 colors
Where to Find It

|