Passage of game xenus 2. Passage. story line in white

In White Gold, Xenus is given an even smaller role. He just appears in the name of the game, becoming a kind of identification mark of the world, where he creates chaos in the name of goodness and justice, the former soldier of the French Foreign Legion Saul Myers. And Xenus himself will not be in the game. But there will be a lot of sun, sea, girls and shooting.

So where do we start? Let's find a suitable seaplane and load it with a few bags of very specific humor. After that, having broken a fair amount of master keys, we will start the engine, take off and, cursing the awkward control, carefully sprinkle the substance from the bags on some part of the Windward Islands, which were named for the sake of South Cowumbia.

Now that this piece of paradise, where the eternal siesta reigns, has been properly processed, let's hit the road to New York and hastily we will come up with a reason that is guaranteed to make the retired legionnaire wake up, pack up and go on a trip to the aforementioned islands.

Well, it's time for jokes. Saving humanity is banal and even somewhat boring. Much more fun to stand guard over the health of drug addicts of the Big Apple. No, we won't be required to hunt down cocaine submarines, vandalize shipping depots, and sprinkle defoliant on illegal coca plantations. Judging by the ideas of the bigwigs of the drug business, cocaine is an exceptionally useful powder that makes it possible to enjoy life at a very divine price. But those who dared to poison this noble product with an unknown poison that kills respectable consumers should be rewarded according to their deserts.

Xenus, gentlemen! Full, unconditional and inevitable xenus to all poisoners who reduce the already short, but so precious life of lovers of "white gold".

I do not promise taste, but it will be hot The action role-playing subgenre is still eclectic. In fact, the recipe is quite simple: we take a hero who doesn’t really know anything, but is sent on a responsible and dangerous task. We come up with the skills necessary (but not very) for the successful completion of the mission. We are inventing a system that will allow our hero to become less and less clumsy, performing a bunch of diverse and not particularly logical tasks and distributing the meagerly dripping development points. We introduce several factions into the game, with which you can be friends or enemies, creating a certain reputation for yourself. Voila, the dish is ready.

"Boiling Point" had a not too noticeable character development system. However, she could not be denied logic. In order to shoot more accurately, it was necessary to shoot, and not to transfer grandmothers across the road. And nothing else.

In White Gold, the game developers approached the issue more canonically, but at the same time the logic suffered noticeably. The former professional soldier who caused a stir in Colombia looking for his missing daughter, now, as it turns out, is not marked by any talents. He shoots badly, is unable to combine the front sight of the weapon with the slot of the aiming bar, cannot carry a large load, does not know how to use a grenade launcher and a machine gun, he is unfamiliar with the mystery of holding his breath during an aimed shot. And in order to acquire these most useful skills, he needs to earn development points. Moreover, these points are obtained for actions that are completely unrelated to the development of a particular skill. Effective but illogical.

Black captain in white camouflage. A surreal selection of clothes for the tropics...

The role-playing component of the game still lies in the relationship with the factions, which abound in the game. And one way or another you will have to interact with them, since most of the side tasks come from representatives of the groups. The player will have to decide for himself which of the groups to join, and take into account that improving relations with one of them will necessarily affect the deterioration of relations with the other. Everything here is logical and consistent.

Making money has become noticeably easier - this is facilitated by a lot of side tasks. Moreover, a huge number of various useful items are scattered around the game world, which will brighten up the difficult life of our hero, improve his shattered health and help in armed skirmishes.

The question of motivation for finding jobs and earning money is the main storyline. She, of course, is extremely artless and ingenuous (it is felt that the scriptwriters did not strain too much with ups and downs and unexpected plot twists), but she will require a lot of money from the main character. On the other hand, no one pushes Myers, so you can enjoy exploring the vast expanses of water caribbean, learn to ride and fly, poke a curious nose where it pleases.

On a note: in "Boiling Point", as you remember, even in the most unfortunate scenarios, the hero did not die, but ended up in the hospital, talked with the doctor, paid and set off on a further journey. There is no such blessing here. Death is now final and irrevocable. The only thing that an unlucky player can console himself with is a stinging maxim on the screen and loading the last save.

Tropical weather is finicky. The sun was just shining and the sea was shining...

Externally, the game world is very impressive. The color scheme of the tropics looks just wonderful. Yes, and a slight blur and distortion of the picture to the edges of the screen gives the impression of a humid and sunny world. However, personally, in the first hours of the game, I had a noticeable feeling of discomfort from the character’s viewing angle. I don’t know if it had to be done less or more, but some dizziness and disorientation were observed during sharp turns. However, if, according to the plan of the developers, this is how the hero should see the world, suddenly finding himself in a tropical country, then the claims are removed. I would like to say special thanks to those who worked on sunrises and sunsets of amazing beauty.

The graphics engine of the game is optimized to such an extent that you simply do not notice it. It is gratifying that the developers took into account the shortcomings of the previous version of Vital Engine and drew the appropriate conclusions. Huge play spaces now function flawlessly.

Not without graphic bugs and shortcomings, however. Algae growing right out of the air, snakes that sometimes look like a hissing stick, spiders stuck in the walls of a cave, Indians escaping into the sky, a meager set of faces that constantly flicker in the game - all this does not interfere with the passage of the game, but noticeably spoils the impression of what has been done work. The fauna of the islands, by the way, has noticeably become poorer in relation to continental Colombia. The list of unpleasant fauna surprises now consists only of snakes, predatory fish and huge spiders.

As before, the action will unfold in a single game space without loadable locations. With the exception of a single scripted move to another island, everything else happens in real time. For this purpose, a large number of vehicles (land, water and air) and a network of floating gas stations have been introduced into the game.

Game NPC, unfortunately, could not particularly please. Their behavior is not distinguished by diversity and special meaningfulness. Dialogues, despite the efforts of their authors, are most often uninteresting and not even funny. And the behavior of some individuals under certain circumstances borders on insanity. For example, the destruction of all the bandits surrounding their leader does not prevent him from sitting quite calmly on the couch, surrounded by two girls in bikinis. Approximately the same fatalism is shown by one of the drug lords.

Now I have a pearl. It would be nice, black, but they will also buy white.

The voice acting of the game, to be honest, could be better. Actually, there are no special complaints about game sounds - shots, ambient noise and the like. Annoying radiograms, constantly yelling at the headquarters of the groups, thank God, you can shoot if they start to seriously poison life. The background music that accompanies the trips is so good that from time to time I stole a boat or scooter to listen to it again. But here's the choral performance of officials during the attack of a group of narquets who sat in a destroyed house, led by retired US Army Colonel Clark Jefferson, aroused an acute desire to shoot them out of purely humane motives. Yes, and later I happened to observe similar cases of group insanity, accompanied by continuous screams.

Let's briefly summarize the review part. Of course, there is a huge progress in the results of the work of Deep Shadows. If we compare "Boiling Point" and "White Gold" in general, then this comparison will be entirely in favor of the second game. The developers took into account the huge number of shortcomings of the first Colombian epic and managed to avoid all those bugs, lags and glitches that players on the forums made fun of for more than a month. However, White Gold is still very far from a flawless game. So we just have to be patient and wait for the “gold” from Deep Shadow to acquire a noble yellow color, worthy of the crown of the “Best Computer Games”.

story line in white

Tell me, are you already an adult bandit or still a larva?

The beginning of the plot of "White Gold" takes place in the introductory video. A series of mysterious deaths in New York's bohemian circles turn out to have the same cause - Colombian cocaine. Analyzes have shown that it contains a highly toxic impurity that kills quickly and is guaranteed. This sad news makes the drug lords think hard. The risk of losing such a profitable and well-established business is very high. Looks like buyers will be disappointed in their ability to supply a pure powder that kills much slower and more pleasantly, and will start looking for other suppliers.

To peacefully sleeping Saul Myers is a certain dude of Hispanic appearance, showers him with a generous handful of compliments and persuades him to take up the investigation of the causes of excessive toxicity of Colombian cocaine. Of course, Saul, as it should be according to the canons of the genre, refuses, claiming that he retired and does not want to know anything. Khlysch, in turn, demonstrates not the worst understanding of the rituals of the genre and lays out a trump card - two photographs with a dead person.

You and I know nothing about the dead man, but Saul seems to know him well. Quite unexpectedly, he agrees to work and does not even start talking about the remuneration due.

The next video takes us to a boat delivering Myers to one of the islands of the archipelago. Peaceful chatter with an old man driving a boat is interrupted by aggressive strangers who have speedboats and even a couple of helicopters. It is as if they are hinting to us that “you are not here here” and they are offering a baptism of fire.

Who exactly organized the committee to meet Saul Myers is not clear, but they were disgustingly prepared. Helicopters are completely unconvincing, and boats are not worth a good word. Our hero, as they say, solves the issues with his left hand, and then, after his grandfather, jumps from the side of the boat, which is about to threaten to explode.

As a matter of fact, this is where the prerequisites of the plot end, since both the motives for Myers' further actions and the forces to counter them are introduced into the game.

Bug diver with sniper skills

Character development is not difficult. As the game progresses, he performs various actions, each of which gives him a certain amount of experience points. Accumulating, these points raise the level of the character (known to all fans role playing level-up). Each new level gives a unit that can be spent on the study of a particular ability.

On a note: In the process of character development, the maximum level of his health will increase slightly. Starting with a legitimate 100 units, he improved noticeably under the tropical sun and made it to the final with 120 units or so. A trifle, but nice.

Capabilities

These acquired characteristics of the character in the game are called perks. Their essence is that the character, when studied, receives a certain undeveloped skill. For example, it shoots more accurately or carries more weight. Some of them do not require any conditions for study, and the rest can be studied only after the basic ones.

The grouping of abilities in the game is pretty dumb. The ability "Bugcat" is unclear why wormed its way into the line of skills related to accuracy, and "Burglar" - into the line of development of dexterity. However, understanding them is not difficult.

All abilities can be divided into several large groups.

Meet Agent Weinstein. I wonder who gave him such a tie?

In this group, the ability to carry a certain weight of equipment (initially 30 kg) is concentrated. Very useful abilities, considering that there will be a lot of trophies that can be sold to merchants. And the passage of the final mission will require a very significant load of ammunition. It is advisable to study this group in its entirety.

Table 1

Agility and survivability

The ability to jump higher, stay underwater longer, reload weapons faster - in a word, everything that may be required to complete very delicate tasks that our hero will receive in abundance. However, most of the abilities in this group provide very minor benefits that will be needed in the game just once or twice. Therefore, most of the positions you most likely will not need. Personally, I limited myself to The Will to Live.

On a note: note that Stayer increases running speed and Sprinter increases stamina. As far as I know, the reality is exactly the opposite.

table 2

Combat abilities

Of course, an action movie requires first of all combat skills. Some of them are really effective, and some can be safely ignored. For example, for accurate shooting from a rifle, it is enough to take the “Sniper” without spending development points for an additional two seconds of holding the breath. The "Cowboy" and "Rifle" abilities are very useful, but the value of increasing the range of a grenade throw is, personally, doubtful to me.

Table 3

Social abilities

This set, as they say, is not for everybody. He will not give much relief to the game, but if you do not rush to the final, go through all the side tasks in detail and build your own house on your own island, something from the list of social abilities will not hurt.

Table 4

Technical ability

Given the fact that the game is full of locked boxes containing very useful things, the group of hacking skills should be developed in every possible way at the earliest opportunity. As for the "Doctor", "Driver" and "Gunsmith", it seems to me that it makes sense to limit ourselves to the first ability. The rest are not much in demand by the game, since there are few purely transport tasks, and it is more convenient to use the services of NPCs to improve weapons.

Table 5

Friends, enemies and others

Onward to new adventures on a stolen scooter!

Let's talk about groups. Nothing much has changed since the days of "Boiling Point". As before, civilians sympathize with the officials, and the bandits are ready to come to the aid of the drug mafia. Representatives of the CIA, as before, are distinguished by absolutely phenomenal stupidity, and the ideological level of the partisans reaches such values ​​that it is quite possible to export it to countries with a lack of revolutionary upsurge.

As expected, initially the relationship with the groups is neutral (except for the cretins from the paramilitares, but this is already built into the plot). That is, they don't shoot at us until we shoot. Along the way, we will inevitably have to enter into relationships with one group or another. You understand that the tasks that will be given to us will not benefit some other groups. Thus, we will not have time to blink an eye, as we will acquire loyal friends and sworn enemies.

The benefits of friends, frankly, are few. They will not disentangle the porridge brewed in distant New York, but will confine themselves to welcoming exclamations at a meeting. But the enemies are much more proactive and active. As soon as they see you on the horizon, they will immediately open fire, begin to surround, throw explosive objects and, quite likely, even kill you.

The principle of forming relationships is quite simple. Killing a faction member spoils relations only with this faction, and improves them with factions that are hostile to this one.

On a note: in the game it is impossible to kill the NPC associated with the passage of the main storyline. When you try to aim at such a character, the crosshairs of the sight are replaced by a prohibitory red icon.

So, let's get acquainted with the list of groupings.

Officials

Warriors are warriors. NATO weapons in stock, jeeps and boats with machine guns, self-propelled air defense units, combat helicopters, a powerful material base. In general, officials are not suitable as enemies, and therefore it is necessary to quarrel with them only when absolutely necessary and extremely carefully. Otherwise, they will not give life later.

The civilians sympathize with the officials, but the partisans, bandits and drug dealers do not digest them.

drug mafia

These guys are also serious, because their business does not have jokes. There is equipment and decent weapons, and you can get hold of profitable tasks here.

As already mentioned, the drug mafia and bandits are brothers forever. The guerrillas, as expected, do not like them, considering them a burp of the hydra of imperialism, and the officials and civilians are in full solidarity with the guerrillas, but for other reasons. bandits

This stupid gang of Caribbean gopniks, armed with Kalashnikovs, sawn-off shotguns and UZI, is literally created in order to immediately quarrel with them. Moreover, they themselves constantly run into a plop. Especially on their assignments you can’t get hold of, so you don’t even have to get involved.

The murder of each bandit is eagerly applauded by civilians, officials and partisans. Nobody seems to like the declassed element even in tropical countries.

Indians

This grouping is rather insignificant, and the relationship with it has little effect on the passage of the game. However, along the way there will be one key task related to the Indians, so if you meet an Indian - do not offend him.

The relationship of this group with others is completely neutral, so a quarrel with the Indians will not bring you either glory or shame.

It is difficult to call a miserable bunch of idiots representing American intelligence on the islands a group. Before the incident on the ship, you have to contact only with the crazy resident Weinstein, and if you really want to, talk with three CIA agents who were thrown here by mistake. Well, the attitude towards you on the ship is unlikely to depend on previous merits.

In general, what is called, the grouping "for furniture". However, the drug dealers of the CIA do not like, as expected.

Civil

Perhaps the most common grouping. A quarrel with them will not give any decisive advantages, since the rest of the groups are neutral towards civilians. The civilian population of the islands willingly gives out small orders that are quite easy to complete and earn some money. There will be a couple of more voluminous tasks. There you can already get hold of trophies.

In case of unintentional damage to relations with some groups (anything happens), there are characters with whom you can talk about restoring mutual sympathy. They will tell you where to go, who to talk to and how much to pay if the conflict has not gone too far.

The densely populated islands have merchants, gunsmiths, and doctors. Moreover, there are gunsmiths in some bases of groups. As you progress through the game and gain experience, the available range of gunsmiths becomes wider. Both the list of available weapons and the level of upgrade packages for them are increasing.

Traders, in fact, are not too necessary. Unless the night type from the first island that Sol falls on can be useful. Lockpicks are a hot commodity.

The doctor, as he is supposed to, treats alcohol and drug addiction, and also eliminates reduced sensitivity to painkillers.

Transport of the three elements

The most popular show on local television. Familiar plot though.

Most of the trips are about moving between the islands. The islands are small, so within them you can move around on your own two feet. In principle, it is also easy to swim to another island, but it will take an absolutely unimaginable amount of time.

Thus, we will have land technology purely for pleasure. Well, and in those rare cases when we carry out assignments related to it.

There are two ways to get transport. The first - law-abiding - get the key on the quest and ride, swim or fly for your pleasure. The second - criminal - is elementary to steal by breaking one or more master keys. As expected, there are few law-abiding situations. Therefore, we will not deny ourselves anything, especially since the owners look at the theft through their fingers and are not at all indignant.

Actually, the range of vehicles is not so great. These are indefinite tattered torpedoes that look great like the Soviet "Victory" of the 50s, jeeps with machine gun turrets and occasionally quad bikes. Apparently, the fleet on the islands is replenished exclusively by the military.

With water transport a little richer. Scooters, Zodiac rubber boats, motorized fishing boats, militarized boats with machine gun turrets. There are even a couple of luxury pleasure boats that are a little short of yachts. As practice has shown, military boats turned out to be the most practical. Having such a boat, it is absolutely not necessary to inflate the drama and portray Omaha Beach when landing on an enemy shore. A few circles around the island - and you can safely land, loot and go in search of a few survivors. But in general, all options are acceptable, if you do not especially quarrel with the local people who have military boats and helicopters.

Algae growing out of the air is no longer algae. It's already aerosli.

And finally - about aviation. In principle, there is no particular need for it, and the abundance of air defense on the islands is somewhat depressing. But if you prefer to fly rather than swim, then you will find something for yourself.

With regard to the seaplane, I can only say one thing - do not mess with it. Terribly inconvenient controls and escheat flight physics make this car extremely unpredictable in the air. A seaplane is good only to quickly get where you need to on the water, trying not to take off.

But the helicopter is much more efficient and reliable. There are two types of helicopters in the game - transport-passenger and military. The former can be used for flights to places where there will be no unpleasant surprises. The latter are quite combat-ready until the missiles run out. Airguns on helicopters are absolutely useless. More precisely, they are only suitable for wasting ammunition. So don't be too embarrassed.

By the way, about the ammunition. Unfortunately, it is not replenished. Thus, military equipment with fired ammunition automatically turns into civilian equipment.

In addition to homing missiles and air cannons, helicopters are equipped with a system for firing off heat traps, which are quite good at distracting enemy air defense missiles.

There is no smell of a fuel crisis in the Caribbean. The abundance of floating gas stations and the low price of fuel make the life of our hero almost carefree. Moreover, at the same gas stations they will fill the full tank of your helicopter, as well as repair what you sailed or arrived on. Here, for the losers who got here by swimming, a boat is also sold at a reasonable price.

Weapons and armor

Suicide. But not in the way you think. Curiosity.

There will not be such a variety of trunks, sometimes reaching the point of absurdity, as in "Boiling Point". The range of barrels is much more concise, but more than covers all the needs of Saul Myers. Anaconda revolver, UZI submachine gun, horizontal double-barreled shotgun, Remington combat automatic shotgun, two world-famous assault rifles - AK-47 and M16A1, SVD rifle, M249 light machine gun, M79 single-shot grenade launcher - in my opinion, this The list will satisfy the most demanding taste.

Somewhat upsetting is the lack of a silent firearms, but for lovers of the exotic, the developers have in store a four-barreled underwater pistol that shoots almost silently, and almost the same silent crossbow. Well, of course, the good old combat knife is not forgotten.

Rocket weapons are represented by the same list as in the "Boiling Point" - rocket-propelled grenade "Fly" and MANPADS "Igla". It is strange, of course, that AT-4 and Stinger are not found in South Cowumbia and its environs, but here, as they say, the will of the creators.

There are two types of grenades in the game. The first, judging by the picture in the inventory, is the classic F-1 (or its analogue Mk2A1). But if you take a grenade in your hand, you will find a certain monster of a cylindrical shape, completely unrecognizable by appearance. The damaging properties of this grenade are ridiculously low. The radius of destruction can be estimated at ten meters, no more. In principle, this is quite normal for offensive grenades, but the appearance of a defensive grenade may well be misleading.

Local meteorology is distinguished by a truly ingenious simplicity.

The second grenade is anti-vehicle. It comes across infrequently, and there is no particular need for it. Having tested it in practice, I, with a clear conscience, drove the remaining four pieces to the merchant and forgot to think about these nonsense.

Ammunition, I must say, also lost a certain amount of delusion. The mysterious cartridges "with a displaced center of gravity" and the no less mysterious "noiseless" cartridges completely disappeared from sight. Admittedly, there was some curiosity here. As far as I know, under caliber 5.56 no one has ever fired explosive bullets. Yes, and Soviet intermediate cartridges of 7.62 caliber were also not equipped with such bullets. It seems that Cowumbian gunsmiths are capable of miracles.

Ammunition for the vast majority of rifled small arms come across three types - regular, armor-piercing and explosive. Oddly enough, I did not notice much difference between them - both for armored and unarmored targets. Crowds of Indians in the final mission were supposed to simply scatter to shreds from an explosive machine gun burst. And they behaved as if they were being bombarded with peas from a straw.

For the M-79 grenade launcher, there are still two types of grenades - detonating on impact and with a three-second delay. Both of them can be useful in different situations. But note that now the distance at which the grenade launcher fires has become much shorter (even with the level 3 upgrade pack).

This is what a bungalow built by two hired boobies looks like. View outside.

There are special ammunition for silent weapons (cartridges for an underwater pistol and crossbow bolts). However, the opportunity to acquire them does not appear immediately.

The weapon upgrade system is directly carried over from Boiling Point. By using the three tier upgrade packs, you can increase the rate of fire, accuracy, and magazine capacity. There is also an optics installation package for assault rifles.

In principle, it is enough to improve one favorite trunk - and you can completely go through the whole game with it from start to finish. There is no need to carry around an impressive arsenal weighing three dozen kilograms and spend fabulous sums on upgrade packages for all this stuff. Moreover, the wear of weapons is relatively small and begins to be felt only from ten percent.

As a matter of fact, there is nothing special to tell here. As in the predecessor game, there are three types of body armor. Light provides 50 units of protection with a mass of 3 kg, medium gives 75 units with a mass of 7 kg, and heavy - 100 units with a mass of 12 kg. It is easy to see that the light one is the most effective, because with an equal mass, four light body armor will give twice as much protection as one heavy one. The inconvenience of the lung lies only in the fact that with critical wear during a tight battle, you need to look for a secluded place to change it to a new one.

The weapon, which this moment is in the hero's asset (that is, placed in a fast cell), marked with a yellow arrow in the inventory. There are also three sockets under the character's puppet, which show which weapon is currently in the hands and the type of ammunition selected. The third slot tells if armor is worn and what type it is.

... and Turgenev eight volumes

What the hero finds in various boxes, collects from corpses, picks up from the ground, receives from quests and purchases from merchants gets into the inventory. With weapons, ammunition, medicines, it’s understandable - without them, there’s simply nowhere and nothing. However, in the course of gathering, you will come across a completely Homeric pile of all sorts of rubbish, most of which even a merchant will accept only as a gift. Playing cards, matches, lighters, carpal expanders, condoms, empty bottles... Even an enema came across. I'm even afraid to imagine why the diehard Saul Myers might need it.

And this is a view of the same bungalow from the inside. They're not that dumb, it turns out...

Separate hemorrhoids are tropical fruits and other, so to speak, food. There are an awful lot of them. There is a benefit from them, although scanty - each fruit eaten by Myers restores his health by several units (the most effective food restores about the same amount as the minimum dose of painkiller). Unlike syringes, fruits do not induce pharmacological tolerance. So it turns out that sometimes these microdoses of “pure health” have to be carried around several kilograms in order to save the effects of drugs in case it gets really hot.

The inventory contains four bookmarks that allow you to somehow systematize the nightmare that reigns there. You can view the whole nightmare as a whole, admire selectively at the weapons nightmare, explore the motley nightmare under the brand name "other" and relax your soul on the "Scenery" tab.

The list of scenario items is small. Initially, it includes a powerful walkie-talkie, through which Myers receives various instructions from his mentors, a camera and a "soft wing" parachute. The latter, by the way, is very convenient in some cases, since it works automatically and manages to open up even when jumping from a cliff of medium height. Sometimes it's faster to get somewhere by jumping off a cliff with a parachute than to drive or paddle on foot on the winding asphalt of mountainous islands. When jumping from an airplane or helicopter, the parachute, of course, also does not remain idle.

To clear the inventory from the accumulated trash, which is not worth delivering to the merchant, a "trash can" is provided in the lower left corner of the screen. However, the object that got into it does not disappear without a trace, but falls next to the ground, packed in a neat wooden box. If, without leaving the place, you continue to throw out objects, they will fall into the same box. And from the box, if anything, they are very easy to pick up. As from any other wooden box.

Interface Features

And here, in fact, are the boobies themselves, who are not boobies. They were scared by the paramilitares.

The game interface is quite simple and ascetic. In the lower left corner of the screen are the indicator of health and stamina. Health is the degree to which the figurine is green. Nearby, for greater accuracy, the numerical value of health is given. The red segment of the circle is the stamina that is spent on sprinting while holding down the SHIFT key.

Nearby is a weapon status indicator. Here you can see the firing mode (single or automatic), the type of ammunition selected, the number of rounds in the magazine or drum, and their total number in the inventory.

In the upper right corner is a mini-map that can work in two modes. The standard mode shows the nearest terrain in detail. In this mode, red marks of enemies are applied to the map, which are within the map and can be seen by the hero.

The second mode allows you to view more space. It is convenient for orientation relative to the coastline, landforms and buildings. Switching modes - TAB key.

In both modes, the azimuth indicators of the targets of the next tasks function (green - plot, red - side). Below are the distances to them and the difference in heights in relation to the location of the hero.

You shouldn't go to prison with the paramilitares. I am telling you this as an eyewitness.

There is also a full-size map of the game world. In addition to orientation tasks, it performs another important function. By clicking the right mouse button, you can put one mark, which will later be marked on the mini-map with a blue azimuth pointer.

Hotkeys 1-9 are responsible for selecting weapons in the corresponding inventory cell. The 0 key removes the weapon from view. If a weapon is selected and equipped, the Grenade Quick Throw key is activated. This is very convenient, since you do not have to waste time selecting a grenade in a quick slot.

There is also a key for selecting special actions F. By pressing it, we get the opportunity to turn on or turn off the flashlight (it is not in the inventory), skip the time of day that is inconvenient for actions, provided that the hero is in a safe area, turn on or turn off the stealth mode. From here you can also control the mini-map mode, but this is much less convenient than switching it with a key.

A little more about stealth mode. When activated, the hero only moves at a step, but all enemies are applied to the map, even if they are out of sight. The beat of the heart allows you to react in time to the danger and shoot first (if the hero can be detected, the beat of the heart becomes more frequent).

When driving ground transport, the F key allows you to turn on or off the headlights, and pressing the space bar applies the handbrake. In case of emergency to leave the vehicle on the move, there is a key E. After leaving the ground or surface transport, it stops with a stalled engine, and the plane or helicopter, of course, crashes. Climbing and descent of aircraft are carried out with the Q and Z keys, respectively.

Walkthrough

I want to emphasize right away that all quests in the game are divided into two large groups. The first is the progression of the story, to the final solution of the mysterious deaths. The second is to earn money, experience and reputation. When a new side task is received, it is automatically activated and the azimuth indicator indicates the direction to the target of this task. Such a solution is far from always convenient, so be careful and check which task is currently selected.

The task of passing in this article is to describe the main storyline, since there are a lot of side quests in the game and they will not fit into one article.

From behind the island to the core ...

Somehow this episode reminded me of Soldier of Fortune 2. Which is "Double Helix".

The end of the introductory video makes us understand that there is no time for inspection and the first acquaintance with peaceful life. The boat, on which the old Huatinho delivers Myers to the scene, is attacked by several boats and two helicopters. Saul has no choice but to stand up to the machine gun and methodically destroy unknown ill-wishers. After the last attacker is destroyed, we will be treated to another video cut-in - and we will find ourselves on the island.

After a short radio conversation with Jameson about the latest achievements of science and technology, we go to listen to old Huatinho, who as a result was left without a boat and without a home.

The conversation with Huatinho ends with a mention of some Diego and an indication to find Huatinho's godfather named Jose and nicknamed Pogon.

On a note: I advise you to immediately take up questions of all kinds of people hanging around near the pier. Much can be gleaned from conversations. useful information. And Jose Pogon is not going anywhere from us.

The meeting with José will be accompanied by a small Zarnitsa with three unknowns. What they actually need is still unknown, but one thing is clear - these guys shoot badly. Having collected the trophies and found the key to the handcuffs, we release Jose from the captivity of the headboard and talk.

Here is the way to the last point. It remains to start climbing the ziggurat.

It turns out that these unknowns were not interested in anyone, namely Saul Myers. And none of them are unknown, but life-size paramilitares. That's it.

As it turns out, Jose Pogon knows the peculiarities of the local society to the subtleties, and in addition he is also a radio amateur with a powerful station. And in gratitude for the rescue, he offers Myers the services of a special guide. Now we have not one radio prompter, but two. True, most of the time they litter the air with "flood", "flame" and mutual jokes, but sometimes they say sensible things.

The location of Diego, who supposedly should agree to deliver Myers to his destination, is now known for certain. And at the same time we found out where you can get hold of at least some kind of jalopy, so as not to run around the island on foot.

On a note: do not delude yourself, because you will have to run on foot. The tunnel connecting the two parts of the island is littered, so a detour by car will be a complete hassle. The wolf, as you know, legs feed.

Having found Diego, we agree on the conditions under which he is ready to provide transport services. The old curmudgeon charges seven thousand pesos. Even if you sell this entire island to the last nail on the London Stock Exchange at retail prices, it seems that such an amount will not be typed. But Diego has an alternative offer - to get him a black pearl. He even knows exactly where to get it. Our task is to come to the owner and achieve in order to get this very pearl.

Scuba divers are not a game!

Either the owner overestimated the purchased island, or underestimated the zeal of the architect.

The owner of the black pearl is one of three scuba divers who collect pearls on the island. The owner's name is Javier. But here's the hitch - Javier is not there. But there are two other scuba divers, one of whom tells us a long story, from which it follows that Javier is now in an underwater cave with an empty oxygen tank in his arms. And the pearl is always with him.

The first step is to organize the balloon. To do this, we go somewhere to hell on the horns, to the other end of the island, where some grandfather-cylinder owner lives. We buy a balloon from our grandfather (empty, of course), drag it back, fill it with air and set off to save pinniped Javier.

You will have to swim for a long time and as in a crossword puzzle - first horizontally, then vertically. By the way, part of the horizontal path will have to swim under water, since paramilitary boats are patrolling around.

Having reached the dive site, we dive and go to the bottom with the maximum possible speed. Having found the entrance to the underground grotto, we swim in there. There will be one subtlety here. To swim to Javier in one go, there is definitely not enough air and health. But under the arch of some caves there are air lenses from which you can sip a little life-giving. Finding them is not difficult, because from the water they are visible as dark spots under the ceiling.

The cave system is quite intricate. Our task is to turn right into the second passage, swim through two halls, and at the far end of the third, Javier will be bored, having lost hope of seeing the sun.

We give Javier the balloon, we return to the shore.

On a note: you can take your time with the return, because at the bottom of the caves there are shells, and in the shells there are pearls. Pearls are from the word "money", and there is never a lot of money. Is the logic clear? The main thing is not to get lost in the halls and passages, otherwise you will remain instead of Javier.

On the shore we accept congratulations, thanks and a pearl.

Debt good turn deserves another

This is the reason why I avoid flying in this area.

Returning to Diego, we brag about the pearl, we get an order to hit the road to the old man's granddaughter and give the pearl to her. Whatever, as they say, the child was not amused ... The granddaughter languidly reacts to the gift, thanks and wishes good luck. We are returning to leave this hospitable island forever. But the island, as it turns out, is so hospitable that it does not want to let go of its dear guest.

Diego is not in place, but there is some kind of shaggy little boy, as much as one and a half meters tall, but in a black T-shirt and sunglasses. Bandit in general. He informs us that Diego is locked up with a local godfather, because he owes money, but does not want to give it back.

Like it or not, but you need to help out the old bastard. From a conversation with the main gopnik, it turns out that for five thousand Diego will be released on all four sides.

I wonder where they get such sums in their heads?

It seemed to me that from an economic point of view, it was most profitable to shoot the bandits, pick up the key and set my grandfather free. But if you want, try to raise the required amount. In any case, Juarez will turn out to be an honest bandit and will give the key.

Another video tie-in - and we are on the island where Weinstein, widely known in narrow circles of fools, lives. I wonder if the CIA sent him here as an insult to the whole island?

On the island of officials there is a tower in which there are many interesting things. And expensive.

A conversation with Weinstein frays the remnants of the nerves, but enriches us with the knowledge of the name and location of the informant. Someone Eudes. We find the aforementioned Eudes in a local eatery. Bah, familiar faces! Isn't it him we saw just now on the Diego pier? Well, just a twin brother, only the T-shirt is different.

It doesn't get any easier from time to time. Now we need ten thousand pesos or a handful precious stones. I wonder if the local scammer thinks Myers has a money-printing machine?

However, it will be easier to collect what you are looking for on this island, since there are many employers here, and you can swim somewhere where the ruble ... that is, the peso is more authentic. One way or another, the amount is collected, Eudes perks up and, crouching from subservience, leads Myers somewhere to meet with an unknown machetero. Oh, some of it is too sugary ... This is not good.

And there is. Eudes lured Myers into a trap. Closed yard, six unidentified men in spetsnaz uniforms and with good weapons. First of all, we run away under the stairs, and from there, carefully looking out, we shoot black figures in helmets. We find an explosive device on one of the corpses, destroy the door and go to Weinstein to find out how many times he was dropped on the ground in infancy and whether he has any idea about the selection of agents.

Weinstein, in a hasty excuse, calls another name - Juan Pereira, a real estate dealer.

We are looking for Pereira and suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we find out that we have to buy the island of Espiga de Muerte. Yes, yes, a whole island with a beach, palm trees and other tropical personalities. And only for eight thousand pesos. We have never bought islands so cheaply. It remains only to get these same pesos. Well, let's go where the red arrows on the mini-map point.

Robinson Myers
Having collected the due amount, we sign the documents and set off to get acquainted with the possessions, put things in order there and look for Judas Eudes. Choose a boat to your taste - and go. However, as shown further developments, a combat helicopter is much more appropriate here, since the island has a concrete fence.

As you probably already guessed, the island is busy. And its inhabitants do not want to know anything about the new owner. So they're going to have to hand in a lead eviction notice.

After finishing work on cleaning up the territory, we find Eudes, we talk with him, we get another green mark on the map. What to do next with this insignificance, decide for yourself. You can let go, or you can shoot. No one will say "oh".

On a note: if there is a desire, you can mess around with the island for a long time. The construction of a house, a heliport, a pier will fly into such an amount that all other costs will seem like a trifle. But how it will all look... Dream!

For the improvement of the island, we have to meet with a local architect, who is also a designer, manager and foreman. This miracle of nature is called Carlos. Carlos will introduce us to the local guest workers, and they will build us a tropical residence.

Do not make a cult out of the plate!

Now we need to go to the distant island of Siniestra de Craneo, where another mystery awaits us. In the case of poisoning, as it turns out, some Indian tribe is involved, completely obsessed with some local cult.

Arriving on the island, we act decisively and quickly. We moor the boat, having previously deployed it with its bow into the sea. We get out to the coast. Approaching the closed gate leading to who knows where, we quickly pick up a heavy plate inserted into the recess to the left of the gate, and just as quickly retreat to the boat. The whole point is that this slab is under some kind of Indian signaling, so if you steal it, the Indians will immediately run in with peaks and fuzes and send Myers straight to meet Manitou.

We return to Ballena Island, where Weinstein lives. Two collectors live in the same house, one of whom is educated enough to read the inscription on the stone. It turns out that it is necessary to collect six figurines, which, being placed in the hands of six idols in front of a locked gate, will force this gate to open. Well, just Indiana Jones, by golly.

Through cities and towns Fate scattered six figurines very meticulously. All of them belong to different groups. And for each, the owners will want either money or something else. If there is no desire to pay, you can take away the figurines by brute force, simply killing their owner and everyone who will be dissatisfied with this. On the other hand, quarreling with everyone in a row is somehow inconvenient, so you can get creative and decide in the process who to execute and who to pardon. The only owner, with whom you definitely won’t be able to talk, is the paramilitares. Yes, it is for the better, finances are not rubber.

Having collected the figurines, we return to Sinestra de Craneo, perform a simple ritual of placing figurines in certain idols. The heavy stone gates open.

There will be Indians and spiders. Spiders and Indians. Lots of spiders and even more Indians. The main danger is arrows armed with fuses. Three hits from this antique - guaranteed death. Warriors with shields are almost invulnerable to bullets. You can only kill them accurate shot in the head or by throwing a grenade.

Our task is to break through to the lever that opens another gate. Further - dungeons that will lead us to the prison, where the CIA agent dutifully awaits his fate. We do not have time to release the agent, because some mysterious forces once again interfere in the chain of events. However, the agent manages to tell us a lot of interesting things that indicate the further direction of the search.

Reluctant Passenger

We come to ourselves, we look around. As it turns out, we're locked in the cabin of a container ship. The task is to get out of it, and preferably alive and healthy. For this purpose, we were graciously left with all our equipment. But not here, but in the next cabin, in the bedside table. Having collected our property, we systematically destroy the ship's crew, collect the keys to the doors, make our way to the boat, launch it into the water, and get away from this dead place.

Keep in mind that the opponents are in bulletproof vests, shoot as accurately as possible in the head. Grenades don't hurt either. last mile

The ultimate goal of our investigation has been determined. But it's too early to go there without proper preparation. First you need to buy more ammo and armor sets, improve the selected weapon to the maximum. Don't forget about medications.

Technology for every taste. Come, hack, no one will say a word.

Now you can hit the road. But no helicopters or hydroplanes. Any aviation in the zone of the Indian island is inevitably in distress. So any of the boats is your choice.

Having reached the island, we begin to advance along the chain of stairs, ruined temples and ziggurats. Two tactics are possible here: either a thorough shooting of all the enemies that can be found, or quick runs from one shelter to another with their instant cleaning. Especially dangerous are open fired spaces, which will be enough. You can't stop here even for a second.

On a note: in an unpatched game, it is possible to freeze when loading the final video. I was not able to get around this problem without a patch.

OK it's all over Now. We watched the final video. It seems that all the villains are punished, all mysteries are revealed, all debts are paid in full. However, somehow sadly in the soul of our hero, who left behind mountains of bronze-skinned corpses in loincloths. In the depths of his soul, he certainly understands that the dark, downtrodden and ignorant Indians are just a tool in the hands of those who have not been punished. Those who manipulate the world according to the principle of "divide and conquer". Those who willingly send others to death, skillfully covering themselves with them.

The game has been played. And you and I have to wait for the next adventures of Saul Myers, if its creators have not cooled off towards sunny Colombia. I mean, sorry, Cowumbia.

Good luck, friends, and many good games. Be happy at the slightest opportunity.

It is here that you need to bring six figurines. And get into a lot of trouble.

Genre: first person action/RPG
release date: November 2008
Developer: Deep Shadows
Publisher in Russia: "Russobit-M"

Introduction

System requirements

Processor: Athlon 3000 or equivalent
RAM: 1 GB
Video Card: GeForce 6600GS with 128 MB RAM or equivalent

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Video Card: GeForce 8800 with 512 MB RAM or equivalent
Operating system Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Description

Abilities and development of the main character

Force group:

Porter: Increases the character's carrying capacity by 10 kg.
Tourist: Increases the character's carrying capacity by 15 kg.
Strongman: Increases the load capacity by 20 kg.
firm hand: Blur disappears when reloading.
Grenade: the character has the ability to throw a grenade further.
Machine gunner: Gives the character the ability to fire a machine gun.
grenade launcher: allows you to shoot from a grenade launcher and MANPADS.


Group "Accuracy":

Cowboy: Allows the character to aim through the front sight.
shooter: Decreases bullet spread when firing firearms.
Instructor: Hold your breath for 3 seconds when firing a sniper rifle.
Sniper: Hold your breath for 5 seconds when firing a sniper rifle.
cat eye: Allows the character to see in the dark while in stealth mode.
Achilles' heel: In 3% of cases, hitting any part of the enemy's body becomes lethal for him.
bear cub: Maximum probability of successful lock picking.


Agility group:

Jumper: Allows the character to jump higher by double-tapping the jump key.
Stuntman: falling from a height of 10 meters, the character does not receive damage.
Dodgy: The character takes 10% less damage from any type of weapon.
Dodger: Allows you to reload weapons faster.
Stayer: Character's running speed is increased by 50%.
Swimmer: Increases the character's swimming speed by 35%.
cracker: A significant increase in the chances of a successful hack.


Endurance group:

Will to live: When health drops below 25 points, damage is reduced by 50%.
Diver: The character can spend 30 seconds more underwater.
Sprinter: Increases the player's stamina by 30%.
Diver: The character can spend 60 seconds more underwater.
marathon runner: Increases the player's vitality by 50%.
Botanist: The character takes less damage from snake and fish bites.
Strong body: increases resistance to the negative effects of alcohol, drugs, drugs and stimulants.


Mastery group:

screwdriver: Increases the chance of successfully picking a lock.
Driver: The character's vehicle takes 50% less damage on impact.
Doctor: Syringes restore 20% more health.
Gunsmith: The chance of successful weapon modification is increased to 40%.
Charisma: The level of deterioration of relations with factions is reduced by 25%.
Briber: The amount of money required to bribe an opponent is halved.
deceiver: The chance to deceive the enemy is increased to 30%.
Dealer: trading becomes more profitable.

Gameplay and universe of Xenus 2

Be sure to download and install the latest patch (link).

Save often. Do not delete or overwrite recent saves. Leave 7-8, and ten is better last saves in separate files. Save before each helicopter landing, before each approach to a key point, etc.

Get ready for "bugs" and not obvious things. For example, to "glitches" and abnormal operation of the marker indicating the location of the current key point. Get ready to replay some sub-missions because you missed something somewhere or did not complete it, or perhaps the trigger did not work. For all questions with the passage, try to ask questions or look for answers in this forum thread.

Don't go on an unknown mission without a good supply of ammo and provisions (or medical supplies). On the last mission - after receiving 6 figurines - take as much ammo and medical supplies as you can carry.

Try to spoil the relationship with only one faction in the game. The easiest option is to spoil relations with bandits. Thanks to their destruction, you will improve the attitude towards you from the side of three factions at once: official authorities, civilians and partisans.

First of all, upgrade the perks "Porter", "Tourist", "Strongman", "Screwdriver", "Cowboy", "Diver", "Charisma". After that, you will already gain enough experience and choose for yourself what to pump further. The above perks will come in handy in any case.

Do not hesitate to master the technique - the easiest way is to steal a combat helicopter from the drug mafia airfield (opened with a master key) and fly it until the end of the game.

The helicopter has a switch from a machine gun to rockets and heat traps - use the mouse scroll for this. After launching the rocket, keep the enemy in sight, otherwise you will miss.

conclusions

Ratings

Graphic arts: 78%
Sound: 72%
Game process: 75%

General impression: 75%

If my readers have forgotten, let me remind you that Xenus is such an ancient Aztec talisman-key from the doors under the waterfall. Actually, the role of these very doors in the plot of "Boiling Point" was very insignificant, but the intrigue around the six nondescript pieces unfolded notable. One way or another, this talisman fulfilled its role in the excitement of the first passage.

In White Gold, Xenus is given an even smaller role. He just appears in the name of the game, becoming a kind of identification mark of the world, where he creates chaos in the name of goodness and justice, the former soldier of the French Foreign Legion Saul Myers. And Xenus himself will not be in the game. But there will be a lot of sun, sea, girls and shooting.

So where do we start? Let's find a suitable seaplane and load it with a few bags of very specific humor. After that, having broken a fair amount of master keys, we will start the engine, take off and, cursing the awkward control, carefully sprinkle the substance from the bags on some part of the Windward Islands, which were named for the sake of South Cowumbia.

Now that this paradise, where the eternal siesta reigns, has been properly processed, we will hit the road to New York and quickly come up with a reason that is guaranteed to make the retired legionnaire wake up, pack up and go on a trip to the aforementioned islands.

Well, it's time for jokes. Saving humanity is banal and even somewhat boring. Much more fun to stand guard over the health of drug addicts of the Big Apple. No, we won't be required to hunt down cocaine submarines, vandalize shipping depots, and sprinkle defoliant on illegal coca plantations. Judging by the ideas of the bigwigs of the drug business, cocaine is an exceptionally useful powder that makes it possible to enjoy life at a completely divine price. But those who dared to poison this noble product with an unknown poison that kills respectable consumers should be rewarded according to their deserts.

Xenus, gentlemen! Full, unconditional and inevitable xenus to all poisoners who reduce the already short, but so precious life of lovers of "white gold".

I do not promise taste, but it will be hot

The action role-playing subgenre is still eclectic. In fact, the recipe is quite simple: we take a hero who doesn’t really know anything, but is sent on a responsible and dangerous task. We come up with the skills necessary (but not very) for the successful completion of the mission. We are inventing a system that will allow our hero to become less and less clumsy, performing a bunch of diverse and not particularly logical tasks and distributing the meagerly dripping development points. We introduce several factions into the game, with which you can be friends or enemies, creating a certain reputation for yourself. Voila, the dish is ready.

"Boiling Point" had a not too noticeable character development system. However, she could not be denied logic. In order to shoot more accurately, it was necessary to shoot, and not to transfer grandmothers across the road. And nothing else.

This is the reason why I avoid flying in this area.

In White Gold, the game developers approached the issue more canonically, but at the same time the logic suffered noticeably. The former professional soldier who caused a stir in Colombia looking for his missing daughter, now, as it turns out, is not marked by any talents. He shoots badly, is unable to combine the front sight of the weapon with the slot of the aiming bar, cannot carry a large load, does not know how to use a grenade launcher and a machine gun, he is unfamiliar with the mystery of holding his breath during an aimed shot. And in order to acquire these most useful skills, he needs to earn development points. Moreover, these points are obtained for actions that are completely unrelated to the development of a particular skill. Effective but illogical.

The role-playing component of the game still lies in the relationship with the factions, which abound in the game. And one way or another you will have to interact with them, since most of the side tasks come from representatives of the groups. The player will have to decide for himself which of the groups to join, and take into account that improving relations with one of them will necessarily affect the deterioration of relations with the other. Everything here is logical and consistent.

Earning money has become much easier - this is facilitated by a lot of side tasks. Moreover, a huge number of various useful items are scattered around the game world, which will brighten up the difficult life of our hero, improve his shattered health and help in armed skirmishes.

The question of motivation for finding jobs and earning money is the main storyline. She, of course, is extremely artless and ingenuous (it is felt that the scriptwriters did not strain too much with ups and downs and unexpected plot twists), but she will require a lot of money from the main character. On the other hand, no one is pushing Myers, so you can explore the vast expanses of water in the Caribbean for your own pleasure, learn to ride and fly, stick your curious nose where you please.

On a note: in "Boiling Point", as you remember, even in the most unfortunate scenarios, the hero did not die, but ended up in the hospital, talked with the doctor, paid and set off on a further journey. There is no such blessing here. Death is now final and irrevocable. The only thing that an unlucky player can console himself with is a stinging maxim on the screen and loading the last save.

Sunsets on the sea are something breathtakingly beautiful.

Algae growing out of the air is no longer algae. It's already aerosli.

Externally, the game world is very impressive. The color scheme of the tropics looks just wonderful. Yes, and a slight blur and distortion of the picture to the edges of the screen gives the impression of a humid and sunny world. However, personally, in the first hours of the game, I had a noticeable feeling of discomfort from the character’s viewing angle. I don’t know if it had to be done less or more, but some dizziness and disorientation were observed during sharp turns. However, if, according to the plan of the developers, this is how the hero should see the world, suddenly finding himself in a tropical country, then the claims are removed. I would like to say special thanks to those who worked on sunrises and sunsets of amazing beauty.

The graphics engine of the game is optimized to such an extent that you simply do not notice it. It is gratifying that the developers took into account the shortcomings of the previous version of Vital Engine and drew the appropriate conclusions. Huge play spaces now function flawlessly.

Not without graphic bugs and shortcomings, however. Algae growing right out of the air, snakes that at times look like a hissing stick, spiders stuck in the walls of a cave, Indians escaping into the sky, a meager set of faces constantly flashing in the game - all this does not interfere with the passage of the game, but noticeably spoils the impression of what has been done work.

The fauna of the islands, by the way, is noticeably impoverished in relation to continental Colombia. The list of unpleasant fauna surprises now consists only of snakes, predatory fish and huge spiders.

As before, the action will unfold in a single game space without loadable locations. With the exception of a single scripted move to another island, everything else happens in real time. For this purpose, a large number of vehicles (land, water and air) and a network of floating gas stations have been introduced into the game.

Game NPC, unfortunately, could not particularly please. Their behavior is not distinguished by diversity and special meaningfulness. Dialogues, despite the efforts of their authors, are most often uninteresting and not even funny. And the behavior of some individuals under certain circumstances borders on insanity. For example, the destruction of all the bandits surrounding their leader does not prevent him from sitting quite calmly on the couch, surrounded by two girls in bikinis. Approximately the same fatalism is shown by one of the drug lords.

Local meteorology is distinguished by a truly ingenious simplicity.

On a note: There are several “Easter eggs” in the game that seem to be of a humorous nature, but only one of them seemed successful to me - the shield “Autonomous Meteorological Forecasting System”. The rest, like the stylized Wasserman on a José Pogon T-shirt or the hysterical "Not a single tear!!!" in the handset, they look very artificial and do not even cause a smile.

The voice acting of the game, to be honest, could be better. Actually, there are no special complaints about game sounds - shots, ambient noise, and the like. Annoying radiograms, constantly yelling at the headquarters of the groups, thank God, you can shoot if they start to seriously poison life. The background music that accompanies the trips is so good that from time to time I stole a boat or scooter to listen to it again. But here's the choral performance of officials during the attack of a group of narquets who sat in a destroyed house, led by retired US Army Colonel Clark Jefferson, aroused an acute desire to shoot them out of purely humane motives. Yes, and later I happened to observe similar cases of group insanity, accompanied by continuous screams.

Let's briefly summarize the review part. Of course, there is a huge progress in the results of the work of Deep Shadows. If we compare "Boiling Point" and "White Gold" in general, then this comparison will be entirely in favor of the second game. The developers took into account the huge number of shortcomings of the first Colombian epic and managed to avoid all those bugs, lags and glitches that players on the forums made fun of for more than a month. However, White Gold is still very far from a flawless game. So we just have to be patient and wait for the “gold” from Deep Shadow to acquire a noble yellow color, worthy of the crown of the “Best Computer Games”.

story line in white

The beginning of the plot of "White Gold" takes place in the introductory video. A series of mysterious deaths in New York's bohemian circles turn out to have the same cause - Colombian cocaine. Analyzes have shown that it contains a highly toxic impurity that kills quickly and is guaranteed. This sad news makes the drug lords think hard. The risk of losing such a profitable and well-established business is very high. Looks like buyers will be disappointed in their ability to supply a pure powder that kills much slower and more pleasantly, and will start looking for other suppliers.

This bush is the cause of all the local troubles and problems. Erythroxylum coca.

To peacefully sleeping Saul Myers is a certain dude of Hispanic appearance, showers him with a generous handful of compliments and persuades him to take up the investigation of the causes of excessive toxicity of Colombian cocaine. Of course, Saul, as it should be according to the canons of the genre, refuses, claiming that he retired and does not want to know anything. Khlysch, in turn, demonstrates no worse understanding of the rituals of the genre and lays out a trump card - two photographs with a dead person.

You and I know nothing about the dead man, but Saul seems to know him well. Quite unexpectedly, he agrees to work and does not even start talking about the remuneration due.

The next video takes us to a boat delivering Myers to one of the islands of the archipelago. Peaceful chatter with an old man driving a boat is interrupted by aggressive strangers who have speedboats and even a couple of helicopters. It is as if they are hinting to us that “you are not here here” and they are offering a baptism of fire.

Who exactly organized the committee to meet Saul Myers is not clear, but they were disgustingly prepared. Helicopters are completely unconvincing, and boats are not worth a good word. Our hero, as they say, solves the questions that have arisen with his left hand, and then, after his grandfather, jumps from the side of the boat, which is about to explode.

As a matter of fact, this is where the prerequisites of the plot end, since both the motives for Myers' further actions and the forces to counter them are introduced into the game.

Bug diver with sniper skills

Character development is not difficult. As the game progresses, he performs various actions, each of which gives him a certain amount of experience points. When accumulated, these points raise the level of the character (known to all fans of role-playing games level-up). Each new level gives a unit that can be spent on learning a particular ability.

On a note: In the process of character development, the maximum level of his health will increase slightly. Starting with a legitimate 100 units, he improved noticeably under the tropical sun and made it to the final with 120 units or so. A trifle, but nice.

Capabilities

These acquired characteristics of the character in the game are called perks. Their essence is that the character, when studied, receives a certain undeveloped skill. For example, it shoots more accurately or carries more weight. Some of them do not require any conditions for study, and the rest can be studied only after the basic ones.

The grouping of abilities in the game is pretty dumb. The ability "Bugcat" is unclear why wormed its way into the line of skills related to accuracy, and "Burglar" - into the line of development of dexterity. However, understanding them is not difficult.

All abilities can be divided into several large groups.

Physical strength

In this group, the ability to carry a certain weight of equipment (initially 30 kg) is concentrated. Very useful abilities, considering that there will be a lot of trophies that can be sold to merchants. And the passage of the final mission will require a very significant load of ammunition. It is advisable to study this group in its entirety.

Agility and survivability

The ability to jump higher, stay underwater longer, reload weapons faster - in a word, everything that may be required to complete very delicate tasks that our hero will receive in abundance. However, most of the abilities in this group provide very minor benefits that will be needed in the game just once or twice. Therefore, most of the positions you most likely will not need. Personally, I limited myself to The Will to Live.

On a note: note that Stayer increases running speed and Sprinter increases stamina. As far as I know, the reality is exactly the opposite.

Combat abilities

Of course, an action movie requires first of all combat skills. Some of them are really effective, and some can be safely ignored. For example, for accurate shooting from a rifle, it is enough to take the “Sniper” without spending development points for an additional two seconds of holding your breath. The "Cowboy" and "Rifle" abilities are very useful, but the value of increasing the range of a grenade throw is, personally, doubtful to me.

Social abilities

This set, as they say, is not for everybody. He will not give much relief to the game, but if you do not rush to the final, go through all the side tasks in detail and build your own house on your own island, something from the list of social abilities will not hurt.

Technical ability

Given the fact that the game is full of locked boxes containing very useful things, the group of hacking skills should be developed in every possible way at the earliest opportunity. As for the "Doctor", "Driver" and "Gunsmith", it seems to me that it makes sense to limit ourselves to the first ability. The rest are not much in demand by the game, since there are few purely transport tasks, and it is more convenient to use the services of NPCs to improve weapons.

Friends, enemies and others

Let's talk about groups. Nothing much has changed since the days of "Boiling Point". As before, civilians sympathize with the officials, and the bandits are ready to come to the aid of the drug mafia. Representatives of the CIA, as before, are distinguished by absolutely phenomenal stupidity, and the ideological level of the partisans reaches such values ​​that it is quite possible to export it to countries with a lack of revolutionary upsurge.

As expected, initially the relationship with the groups is neutral (except for the cretins from the paramilitares, but this is already built into the plot). That is, they don't shoot at us until we shoot. Along the way, we will inevitably have to enter into relationships with one group or another. You understand that the tasks that will be given to us will not benefit some other groups. Thus, we will not have time to blink an eye, as we will acquire loyal friends and sworn enemies.

The benefits of friends, frankly, are few. They will not disentangle the porridge brewed in distant New York, but will confine themselves to welcoming exclamations at a meeting. But the enemies are much more proactive and active. As soon as they see you on the horizon, they will immediately open fire, begin to surround, throw explosive objects and, quite likely, even kill you.

The principle of forming relationships is quite simple. Killing a faction member spoils relations only with this faction, and improves them with factions that are hostile to this one.

On a note: in the game it is impossible to kill the NPC associated with the passage of the main storyline. When you try to aim at such a character, the crosshairs of the sight are replaced by a prohibitory red icon.

So, let's get acquainted with the list of groupings.

Officials

Warriors are warriors. NATO weapons in stock, jeeps and boats with machine guns, self-propelled air defense units, combat helicopters, a powerful material base. In general, officials are not suitable as enemies, and therefore it is necessary to quarrel with them only when absolutely necessary and extremely carefully. Otherwise, they will not give life later.

The civilians sympathize with the officials, but the partisans, bandits and drug dealers do not digest them.

drug mafia

These guys are also serious, because their business does not have jokes. There is equipment and decent weapons, and you can get hold of profitable tasks here.

As already mentioned, the drug mafia and bandits are brothers forever. The guerrillas, as expected, do not like them, considering them a burp of the hydra of imperialism, and the officials and civilians are in full solidarity with the guerrillas, but for other reasons.

On the island of officials there is a tower in which there are many interesting things. And expensive.

My army foreman would have rotted in the toilet for this. No discipline in the troops.

bandits

This stupid gang of Caribbean gopniks, armed with Kalashnikovs, sawn-off shotguns and UZI, is literally created in order to immediately quarrel with them. Moreover, they themselves constantly run into a plop. Especially on their assignments you can’t get hold of, so you don’t even have to get involved.

The murder of each bandit is eagerly applauded by civilians, officials and partisans. Nobody seems to like the declassed element even in tropical countries.

Indians

This grouping is rather insignificant, and the relationship with it has little effect on the passage of the game. However, along the way there will be one key task related to the Indians, so if you meet an Indian - do not offend him.

The relationship of this group with others is completely neutral, so a quarrel with the Indians will not bring you either glory or shame.

CIA

It is difficult to call a miserable bunch of idiots representing American intelligence on the islands a group. Before the incident on the ship, you have to contact only with the crazy resident Weinstein, and if you really want to, talk with three CIA agents who were thrown here by mistake. Well, the attitude towards you on the ship is unlikely to depend on previous merits.

In general, what is called, the grouping "for furniture". However, the drug dealers of the CIA do not like, as expected.

Civil

Such a tattoo looks very exotic on an exotic chest.

Perhaps the most common grouping. A quarrel with them will not give any decisive advantages, since the rest of the groups are neutral towards civilians. The civilian population of the islands willingly gives out small orders that are quite easy to complete and earn some money. There will be a couple of more voluminous tasks. There you can already get hold of trophies.

In case of unintentional damage to relations with some groups (anything happens), there are characters with whom you can talk about restoring mutual sympathy. They will tell you where to go, who to talk to and how much to pay if the conflict has not gone too far.

The densely populated islands have merchants, gunsmiths, and doctors. Moreover, there are gunsmiths in some bases of groups. As you progress through the game and gain experience, the available range of gunsmiths becomes wider. Both the list of available weapons and the level of upgrade packages for them are increasing.

Traders, in fact, are not too necessary. Unless the night type from the first island that Sol falls on can be useful. Lockpicks are a hot commodity.

The doctor, as he is supposed to, treats alcohol and drug addiction, and also eliminates reduced sensitivity to painkillers.

Transport of the three elements

Most of the trips are about moving between the islands. The islands are small, so within them you can move around on your own two feet. In principle, it is also easy to swim to another island, but it will take an absolutely unimaginable amount of time.

Thus, we will have land technology purely for pleasure. Well, and in those rare cases when we carry out assignments related to it.

Well, this is necessary - no one's jeep with a machine gun. Phenomenal mismanagement.

There are two ways to get transport. The first - law-abiding - get the key on the quest and ride, swim or fly for your pleasure. The second - criminal - is elementary to steal by breaking one or more master keys. As expected, there are few law-abiding situations. Therefore, we will not deny ourselves anything, especially since the owners look at the theft through their fingers and are not at all indignant.

Actually, the range of vehicles is not so great. These are indefinite tattered torpedoes that look great like the Soviet "Victory" of the 50s, jeeps with machine gun turrets and occasionally quad bikes. Apparently, the fleet on the islands is replenished exclusively by the military.

With water transport a little richer. Scooters, Zodiac rubber boats, motorized fishing boats, militarized boats with machine gun turrets. There are even a couple of luxury pleasure boats that are a little short of yachts. As practice has shown, military boats turned out to be the most practical. Having such a boat, it is absolutely not necessary to inflate the drama and portray Omaha Beach when landing on an enemy shore. A few circles around the island - and you can safely land, loot and go in search of a few survivors. But in general, all options are acceptable, if you do not especially quarrel with the local people who have military boats and helicopters.

Onward to new adventures on a stolen scooter!

And finally, about aviation. In principle, there is no particular need for it, and the abundance of air defense on the islands is somewhat depressing. But if you prefer to fly rather than swim, then you will find something for yourself.

With regard to the hydroplane, I can only say one thing - do not mess with it. Terribly inconvenient controls and escheat flight physics make this car extremely unpredictable in the air. A seaplane is good only to quickly get where you need to on the water, trying not to take off.

But the helicopter is much more efficient and reliable. There are two types of helicopters in the game - transport-passenger and military. The former can be used for flights to places where there will be no unpleasant surprises. The latter are quite combat-ready until the missiles run out. Airguns on helicopters are absolutely useless. More precisely, they are only suitable for wasting ammunition. So don't be too embarrassed.

By the way, about the ammunition. Unfortunately, it is not replenished. Thus, military equipment with fired ammunition automatically turns into civilian equipment.

In addition to homing missiles and air cannons, helicopters are equipped with a system for firing off heat traps, which are quite good at distracting enemy air defense missiles.

There is no smell of a fuel crisis in the Caribbean. The abundance of floating gas stations and the low price of fuel make the life of our hero almost carefree. Moreover, at the same gas stations they will fill the full tank of your helicopter, as well as repair what you sailed or arrived on. Here, for the losers who got here by swimming, a boat is also sold at a reasonable price.

Weapons and armor

There will not be such a variety of trunks, sometimes reaching the point of absurdity, as in "Boiling Point". The range of barrels is much more concise, but more than covers all the needs of Saul Myers. Anaconda revolver, UZI submachine gun, double-barreled horizontal shotgun, Remington combat automatic shotgun, two world-famous assault rifles - AK-47 and M16A1, SVD rifle, M249 light machine gun, M79 single-shot grenade launcher - in my opinion, this The list will satisfy the most demanding taste.

The absence of silent firearms is somewhat disappointing, but for lovers of the exotic, the developers have in store a four-barreled underwater pistol that shoots almost silently, and almost the same silent crossbow. Well, of course, the good old combat knife is not forgotten.

Rocket weapons are represented by the same list as in the "Boiling Point" - rocket-propelled grenade "Fly" and MANPADS "Igla". It is strange, of course, that AT-4 and Stinger are not found in South Cowumbia and its environs, but here, as they say, the will of the creators.

There are two types of grenades in the game. The first, judging by the picture in the inventory, is the classic F-1 (or its analogue Mk2A1). But if you take a grenade in your hand, you will find a certain monster of a cylindrical shape, completely unrecognizable by appearance. The damaging properties of this grenade are ridiculously low. The radius of destruction can be estimated at ten meters, no more. In principle, this is quite normal for offensive grenades, but the appearance of a defensive grenade may well be misleading.

The second grenade is anti-vehicle. It comes across infrequently, and there is no particular need for it. Having tested it in practice, I, with a clear conscience, drove the remaining four pieces to the merchant and forgot to think about these nonsense.

Ammunition, I must say, also lost a certain amount of delusion. The mysterious cartridges "with a displaced center of gravity" and the no less mysterious "noiseless" cartridges completely disappeared from sight. Admittedly, there was some curiosity here. As far as I know, under caliber 5.56 no one has ever fired explosive bullets. Yes, and Soviet intermediate cartridges of 7.62 caliber were also not equipped with such bullets. It seems that Cowumbian gunsmiths are capable of miracles.

Ammunition for the vast majority of rifled small arms comes across three types - conventional, armor-piercing and explosive. Oddly enough, I did not notice much difference between them - both for armored and unarmored targets. Crowds of Indians in the final mission were supposed to simply scatter to shreds from an explosive machine gun burst. And they behaved as if they were being bombarded with peas from a straw.

For the M-79 grenade launcher, there are still two types of grenades - detonating on impact and with a three-second delay. Both of them can be useful in different situations. But note that now the distance at which the grenade launcher fires has become much shorter (even with the level 3 upgrade pack).

Looks like RKG-3. But it does not explode at all, and the parachute does not fly out when thrown.

There are special ammunition for silent weapons (cartridges for an underwater pistol and crossbow bolts). However, the opportunity to acquire them does not appear immediately.

The weapon upgrade system is directly carried over from Boiling Point. By using the three tier upgrade packs, you can increase the rate of fire, accuracy, and magazine capacity. There is also a package for installing optics on assault rifles.

In principle, it is enough to improve one favorite barrel - and you can completely go through the whole game with it from start to finish. There is no need to carry around an impressive arsenal weighing three dozen kilograms and spend fabulous sums on upgrade packages for all this stuff. Moreover, the wear of weapons is relatively small and begins to be felt only from ten percent.

As a matter of fact, there is nothing special to tell here. As in the predecessor game, there are three types of body armor. Light provides 50 units of protection with a mass of 3 kg, medium gives 75 units with a mass of 7 kg, and heavy - 100 units with a mass of 12 kg. It is easy to see that the light one is the most effective, because with an equal mass, four light body armor will give twice as much protection as one heavy one. The inconvenience of the lung lies only in the fact that with critical wear during a tight battle, you need to look for a secluded place to change it to a new one.

The weapon that is currently in the hero's asset (that is, placed in the quick slot) is marked with a yellow arrow in the inventory. There are also three sockets under the character's puppet, which show which weapon is currently in the hands and the type of ammunition selected. The third slot tells if armor is worn and what type it is.

... and Turgenev eight volumes

What the hero finds in various boxes, collects from corpses, picks up from the ground, receives from quests and purchases from merchants gets into the inventory. With weapons, ammunition, medicines, it’s understandable - without them, there’s simply nowhere and nothing. However, in the course of gathering, you will come across a completely Homeric pile of all sorts of rubbish, most of which even a merchant will accept only as a gift. Playing cards, matches, lighters, hand expanders, condoms, empty bottles... I even came across an enema. I'm even afraid to imagine why the diehard Saul Myers might need it.

Technology for every taste. Come, hack, no one will say a word.

Separate hemorrhoids are tropical fruits and other, so to speak, food. There are an awful lot of them. There is a benefit from them, albeit a meager one - each fruit eaten by Myers restores his health by several units (the most effective food restores about the same amount as the minimum dose of painkiller). Unlike syringes, fruits do not induce pharmacological tolerance. So it turns out that sometimes these microdoses of “pure health” have to be carried around several kilograms in order to save the effects of drugs in case it gets really hot.

The inventory contains four bookmarks that allow you to somehow systematize the nightmare that reigns there. You can view the whole nightmare as a whole, admire selectively at the weapons nightmare, explore the motley nightmare under the brand name "other" and relax your soul on the "Scenery" tab.

The list of scenario items is small. Initially, it includes a powerful walkie-talkie, through which Myers receives various instructions from his mentors, a camera and a "soft wing" parachute. The latter, by the way, is very convenient in some cases, since it works automatically and manages to open up even when jumping from a cliff of medium height. Sometimes it's faster to get somewhere by jumping off a cliff with a parachute than to drive or paddle on foot on the winding asphalt of mountainous islands. When jumping from an airplane or helicopter, the parachute, of course, also does not remain idle.

To clear the inventory from the accumulated trash, which is not worth delivering to the merchant, a "trash can" is provided in the lower left corner of the screen. However, the object that got into it does not disappear without a trace, but falls next to the ground, packed in a neat wooden box. If, without leaving the place, you continue to throw out objects, they will fall into the same box. And from the box, if anything, they are very easy to pick up. As from any other wooden box.

Interface Features

The game interface is quite simple and ascetic. In the lower left corner of the screen are the indicator of health and stamina. Health is the degree to which the figurine is green. Nearby, for greater accuracy, the numerical value of health is given. The red segment of the circle is the stamina that is spent on sprinting while holding down the SHIFT key.

Nearby is a weapon status indicator. Here you can see the firing mode (single or automatic), the type of ammunition selected, the number of rounds in the magazine or drum, and their total number in the inventory.

In the upper right corner is a mini-map that can work in two modes. The standard mode shows the nearest terrain in detail. In this mode, red marks of enemies are applied to the map, which are within the map and can be seen by the hero.

Black captain in white camouflage. A surreal selection of clothes for the tropics...

The second mode allows you to view more space. It is convenient for orientation relative to the coastline, landforms and buildings. Switching modes - TAB key.

In both modes, the azimuth indicators of the goals of the next tasks function (green - plot, red - side). Below are the distances to them and the difference in heights in relation to the location of the hero.

There is also a full-size map of the game world. In addition to orientation tasks, it performs another important function. By clicking the right mouse button, you can put one mark, which will later be marked on the mini-map with a blue azimuth pointer.

Hotkeys 1-9 are responsible for selecting weapons in the corresponding inventory cell. The 0 key removes the weapon from view. If a weapon is selected and equipped, the Grenade Quick Throw key is activated. This is very convenient, since you do not have to waste time selecting a grenade in a quick slot.

There is also a key for selecting special actions F. By pressing it, we get the opportunity to turn on or turn off the flashlight (it is not in the inventory), skip the time of day that is inconvenient for actions, provided that the hero is in a safe area, turn on or turn off the stealth mode. From here you can also control the mini-map mode, but this is much less convenient than switching it with a key.

A little more about stealth mode. When activated, the hero only moves at a step, but all enemies are applied to the map, even if they are out of sight. The beat of the heart allows you to react in time to the danger and shoot first (if the hero can be detected, the beat of the heart becomes more frequent).

When driving ground transport, the F key allows you to turn on or off the headlights, and pressing the space bar applies the handbrake. In case of emergency to leave the vehicle on the move, there is a key E. After leaving the ground or surface transport, it stops with a stalled engine, and the plane or helicopter, of course, crashes. Climbing and descent of aircraft are carried out with the Q and Z keys, respectively.

Walkthrough

I want to emphasize right away that all quests in the game are divided into two large groups. The first is the progression of the plot, to the final solution of the mysterious deaths. The second is to earn money, experience and reputation. When a new side task is received, it is automatically activated and the azimuth indicator indicates the direction to the target of this task. Such a solution is far from always convenient, so be careful and check which task is currently selected.

The task of passing in this article is to describe the main storyline, since there are a lot of side quests in the game and they will not fit into one article.

From behind the island to the core ...

The end of the introductory video makes us understand that there is no time for inspection and the first acquaintance with peaceful life. The boat, on which the old Huatinho delivers Myers to the scene, is attacked by several boats and two helicopters. Saul has no choice but to stand up to the machine gun and methodically destroy unknown ill-wishers. After the last attacker is destroyed, we will be treated to another cut-in video - and we will find ourselves on the island.

After a short radio conversation with Jameson about the latest achievements of science and technology, we go to listen to old Huatinho, who as a result was left without a boat and without a home.

The conversation with Huatinho ends with a mention of some Diego and an indication to find Huatinho's godfather named Jose and nicknamed Pogon.

On a note: I advise you to immediately take up questions of all kinds of people hanging around near the pier. A lot of useful information can be gleaned from conversations. And Jose Pogon is not going anywhere from us.

Tropical weather is finicky. The sun was just shining and the sea was shining...

The meeting with José will be accompanied by a small Zarnitsa with three unknowns. What they actually need is still unknown, but one thing is clear - these guys shoot badly. Having collected the trophies and found the key to the handcuffs, we release Jose from the captivity of the headboard and talk.

It turns out that these unknowns were not interested in anyone, namely Saul Myers. And none of them are unknown, but life-size paramilitares. That's it.

As it turns out, Jose Pogon knows the peculiarities of the local society to the subtleties, and in addition he is also a radio amateur with a powerful station. And in gratitude for the rescue, he offers Myers the services of a special guide. Now we have not one radio prompter, but two. True, most of the time they litter the air with "flood", "flame" and mutual jokes, but sometimes they say sensible things.

The location of Diego, who supposedly should agree to deliver Myers to his destination, is now known for certain. And at the same time we found out where you can get hold of at least some kind of jalopy, so as not to run around the island on foot.

On a note: do not delude yourself, because you will have to run on foot. The tunnel connecting the two parts of the island is littered, so a detour by car will be a complete hassle. The wolf, as you know, legs feed.

Having found Diego, we agree on the conditions under which he is ready to provide transport services. The old curmudgeon charges seven thousand pesos. Even if you sell this entire island to the last nail on the London Stock Exchange at retail prices, it seems that such an amount will not be typed. But Diego has an alternative offer - to get him a black pearl. He even knows exactly where to get it. Our task is to come to the owner and achieve in order to get this very pearl.

Scuba divers are not a game!

The owner of the black pearl is one of three scuba divers who collect pearls on the island. The owner's name is Javier. But here's the hitch - Javier is not in place. But there are two other scuba divers, one of whom tells us a long story, from which it follows that Javier is now in an underwater cave with an empty oxygen tank in his arms. And the pearl is always with him.

The first step is to organize the balloon. To do this, we go somewhere to hell on the horns, to the other end of the island, where some grandfather-cylinder owner lives. We buy a balloon from our grandfather (empty, of course), drag it back, fill it with air and set off to save pinniped Javier.

Now I have a pearl. It would be nice, black, but they will also buy white.

You will have to swim for a long time and like in a crossword puzzle - first horizontally, then vertically. By the way, part of the horizontal path will have to swim under water, since paramilitary boats are patrolling around.

Having reached the dive site, we dive and go to the bottom with the maximum possible speed. Having found the entrance to the underground grotto, we swim in there. There will be one subtlety here. To swim to Javier in one go, there is definitely not enough air and health. But under the arch of some caves there are air lenses from which you can sip a little life-giving. Finding them is not difficult, because from the water they are visible as dark spots under the ceiling.

The cave system is quite intricate. Our task is to turn right into the second passage, swim through two halls, and at the far end of the third, Javier will be bored, having lost hope of seeing the sun.

We give Javier the balloon, we return to the shore.

On a note: you can take your time with the return, because at the bottom of the caves there are shells, and in the shells there are pearls. Pearls are from the word "money", and there is never a lot of money. Is the logic clear? The main thing is not to get lost in the halls and passages, otherwise you will remain instead of Javier.

On the shore we accept congratulations, thanks and a pearl.

Debt good turn deserves another

Tell me, are you already an adult bandit or still a larva?

Returning to Diego, we brag about the pearl, we get an order to hit the road to the old man's granddaughter and give the pearl to her. Whatever, as they say, the child was not amused ... The granddaughter languidly reacts to the gift, thanks and wishes good luck. We are returning to leave this hospitable island forever. But the island, as it turns out, is so hospitable that it does not want to let go of its dear guest.

Diego is not in place, but there is some kind of shaggy little boy, as much as one and a half meters tall, but in a black T-shirt and sunglasses. Bandit in general. He informs us that Diego is locked up with a local godfather, because he owes money, but does not want to give it back.

Like it or not, but you need to help out the old bastard. From a conversation with the main gopnik, it turns out that for five thousand Diego will be released on all four sides.

I wonder where they get such sums in their heads?

It seemed to me that from an economic point of view, it was most profitable to shoot the bandits, pick up the key and set my grandfather free. But if you want, try to raise the required amount. In any case, Juarez will turn out to be an honest bandit and will give the key.

The farther into the forest, the thicker the partisans

Another video tie-in - and we are on the island where Weinstein, widely known in narrow circles of fools, lives. I wonder if the CIA sent him here as an insult to the whole island?

A conversation with Weinstein frays the remnants of the nerves, but enriches us with the knowledge of the name and location of the informant. Someone Eudes. We find the aforementioned Eudes in a local eatery. Bah, familiar faces! Isn't it him we saw just now on the Diego pier? Well, just a twin brother, only the T-shirt is different.

Meet Agent Weinstein. I wonder who gave him such a tie?

It doesn't get any easier from time to time. Now ten thousand pesos or a handful of precious stones are required from us. I wonder if the local scammer thinks Myers has a money-printing machine?

However, it will be easier to collect what you are looking for on this island, since there are many employers here, and you can swim somewhere where the ruble ... that is, the peso is more authentic. One way or another, the amount is collected, Eudes perks up and, crouching from subservience, leads Myers somewhere to meet with an unknown machetero. Oh, some of it is too sugary ... This is not good.

And there is. Eudes lured Myers into a trap. Closed yard, six unidentified men in spetsnaz uniforms and with good weapons. First of all, we run away under the stairs, and from there, carefully looking out, we shoot black figures in helmets. We find an explosive device on one of the corpses, destroy the door and go to Weinstein to find out how many times he was dropped on the ground in infancy and whether he has any idea about the selection of agents.

Weinstein, in a hasty excuse, calls another name - Juan Pereira, a real estate dealer.

We are looking for Pereira and suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we find out that we have to buy the island of Espiga de Muerte. Yes, yes, a whole island with a beach, palm trees and other tropical personalities. And only for eight thousand pesos. We have never bought islands so cheaply. It remains only to get these same pesos. Well, let's go where the red arrows on the mini-map point.

Robinson Myers

Either the owner overestimated the purchased island, or underestimated the zeal of the architect.

Having collected the due amount, we sign the documents and set off to get acquainted with the possessions, put things in order there and look for Judas Eudes. Choose a boat to your taste - and go. However, as subsequent events showed, a combat helicopter is much more appropriate here, since there is a concrete fence on the island.

As you probably already guessed, the island is busy. And its inhabitants do not want to know anything about the new owner. So they're going to have to hand in a lead eviction notice.

After finishing work on cleaning up the territory, we find Eudes, we talk with him, we get another green mark on the map. What to do next with this insignificance, decide for yourself. You can let go, or you can shoot. No one will say "oh".

On a note: if there is a desire, you can mess around with the island for a long time. The construction of a house, a heliport, a pier will fly into such an amount that all other costs will seem like a trifle. But how it will all look... Dream!

For the improvement of the island, we have to meet with a local architect, who is also a designer, manager and foreman. This miracle of nature is called Carlos. Carlos will introduce us to the local guest workers, and they will build us a tropical residence.

Do not make a cult out of the plate!

Now we need to go to the distant island of Siniestra de Craneo, where another mystery awaits us. In the case of poisoning, as it turns out, some Indian tribe is involved, completely obsessed with some local cult.

Arriving on the island, we act decisively and quickly. We moor the boat, having previously deployed it with its bow into the sea. We get out to the coast. Approaching the closed gate leading to who knows where, we quickly pick up a heavy plate inserted into the recess to the left of the gate, and just as quickly retreat to the boat. The whole point is that this slab is under some kind of Indian signaling, so if you steal it, the Indians will immediately run in with peaks and fuzes and send Myers straight to meet Manitou.

We return to Ballena Island, where Weinstein lives. Two collectors live in the same house, one of whom is educated enough to read the inscription on the stone. It turns out that it is necessary to collect six figurines, which, being placed in the hands of six idols in front of a locked gate, will force this gate to open. Well, just Indiana Jones, by golly.

Through cities and towns

It is here that you need to bring six figurines. And get into a lot of trouble.

You shouldn't go to prison with the paramilitares. I am telling you this as an eyewitness.

Fate scattered six figurines very meticulously. All of them belong to different groups. And for each, the owners will want either money or something else. If there is no desire to pay, you can take away the figurines by brute force, simply killing their owner and everyone who will be dissatisfied with this. On the other hand, quarreling with everyone in a row is somehow inconvenient, so you can get creative and decide in the process who to execute and who to pardon. The only owner with whom you definitely won’t be able to talk is the paramilitares. Yes, it is for the better, finances are not rubber.

Having collected the figurines, we return to Sinestra de Craneo, perform a simple ritual of placing figurines in certain idols. The heavy stone gates open.

There will be Indians and spiders. Spiders and Indians. Lots of spiders and even more Indians. The main danger is arrows armed with fuses. Three hits from this antique is a guaranteed death. Warriors with shields are almost invulnerable to bullets. They can only be killed with an accurate headshot or a grenade throw.

Our task is to break through to the lever that opens another gate. Further - dungeons that will lead us to the prison, where a CIA agent dutifully awaits his fate. We do not have time to release the agent, because some mysterious forces once again interfere in the chain of events. However, the agent manages to tell us a lot of interesting things that indicate the further direction of the search.

Reluctant Passenger

We come to ourselves, we look around. As it turns out, we're locked in the cabin of a container ship. The task is to get out of it, and preferably alive and healthy. For this purpose, we were graciously left with all our equipment. But not here, but in the next cabin, in the bedside table. Having collected our property, we systematically destroy the ship's crew, collect the keys to the doors, make our way to the boat, launch it into the water, and get away from this dead place.

Keep in mind that the opponents are in bulletproof vests, shoot as accurately as possible in the head. Grenades don't hurt either.

Somehow this episode reminded me of Soldier of Fortune 2. Which is "Double Helix".

last mile

The ultimate goal of our investigation has been determined. But it's too early to go there without proper preparation. First you need to buy more ammo and armor sets, improve the selected weapon to the maximum. Don't forget about medications.

Now you can hit the road. But no helicopters or hydroplanes. Any aviation in the zone of the Indian island is inevitably in distress. So any of the boats is your choice.

Here is the way to the last point. It remains to start climbing the ziggurat.

Having reached the island, we begin to advance along the chain of stairs, ruined temples and ziggurats. Two tactics are possible here: either a thorough shooting of all the enemies that can be found, or quick runs from one shelter to another with their instant cleaning. Especially dangerous are open fired spaces, which will be enough. You can't stop here even for a second.

On a note: in an unpatched game, it is possible to freeze when loading the final video. I was not able to get around this problem without a patch.

OK it's all over Now. We watched the final video. It seems that all the villains are punished, all mysteries are revealed, all debts are paid in full. However, somehow sadly in the soul of our hero, who left behind mountains of bronze-skinned corpses in loincloths. In the depths of his soul, he certainly understands that the dark, downtrodden and ignorant Indians are just a tool in the hands of those who have not been punished. Those who manipulate the world according to the principle of "divide and conquer". Those who willingly send others to death, skillfully covering themselves with them.

The game has been played. And you and I have to wait for the next adventures of Saul Myers, if its creators have not cooled off towards sunny Colombia. I mean, sorry, Cowumbia.

Good luck, friends, and many good games. Be happy at the slightest opportunity.

If my readers have forgotten, let me remind you that Xenus is such an ancient Aztec talisman-key from the doors under the waterfall. Actually, the role of these very doors in the plot of "Boiling Point" was very insignificant, but the intrigue around the six nondescript pieces unfolded notable. One way or another, this talisman fulfilled its role in the excitement of the first passage.

In White Gold, Xenus is given an even smaller role. He just appears in the name of the game, becoming a kind of identification mark of the world, where he creates chaos in the name of goodness and justice, the former soldier of the French Foreign Legion Saul Myers. And Xenus himself will not be in the game. But there will be a lot of sun, sea, girls and shooting.

So where do we start? Let's find a suitable seaplane and load it with a few bags of very specific humor. After that, having broken a fair amount of master keys, we will start the engine, take off and, cursing the awkward control, carefully sprinkle the substance from the bags on some part of the Windward Islands, which were named for the sake of South Cowumbia.

Now that this paradise, where the eternal siesta reigns, has been properly processed, we will hit the road to New York and quickly come up with a reason that is guaranteed to make the retired legionnaire wake up, pack up and go on a trip to the aforementioned islands.

Well, it's time for jokes. Saving humanity is banal and even somewhat boring. Much more fun to stand guard over the health of drug addicts of the Big Apple. No, we won't be required to hunt down cocaine submarines, vandalize shipping depots, and sprinkle defoliant on illegal coca plantations. Judging by the ideas of the bigwigs of the drug business, cocaine is an exceptionally useful powder that makes it possible to enjoy life at a very divine price. But those who dared to poison this noble product with an unknown poison that kills respectable consumers should be rewarded according to their deserts.

Xenus, gentlemen! Full, unconditional and inevitable xenus to all poisoners who reduce the already short, but so precious life of lovers of "white gold".

I do not promise taste, but it will be hot

Don't be shy, girls, everyone's here. Say: "Sy-s-s-s-s-yr."

The action role-playing subgenre is still eclectic. In fact, the recipe is quite simple: we take a hero who doesn’t really know anything, but is sent on a responsible and dangerous task. We come up with the skills necessary (but not very) for the successful completion of the mission. We are inventing a system that will allow our hero to become less and less clumsy, performing a bunch of diverse and not particularly logical tasks and distributing the meagerly dripping development points. We introduce several factions into the game, with which you can be friends or enemies, creating a certain reputation for yourself. Voila, the dish is ready.

"Boiling Point" had a not too noticeable character development system. However, she could not be denied logic. In order to shoot more accurately, it was necessary to shoot, and not to transfer grandmothers across the road. And nothing else.

In White Gold, the game developers approached the issue more canonically, but at the same time the logic suffered noticeably. The former professional soldier who caused a stir in Colombia looking for his missing daughter, now, as it turns out, is not marked by any talents. He shoots badly, is unable to combine the front sight of the weapon with the slot of the aiming bar, cannot carry a large load, does not know how to use a grenade launcher and a machine gun, he is unfamiliar with the mystery of holding his breath during an aimed shot. And in order to acquire these most useful skills, he needs to earn development points. Moreover, these points are obtained for actions that are completely unrelated to the development of a particular skill. Effective but illogical.

Black captain in white camouflage. A surreal selection of clothes for the tropics…

The role-playing component of the game still lies in the relationship with the factions, which abound in the game. And one way or another you will have to interact with them, since most of the side tasks come from representatives of the groups. The player will have to decide for himself which of the groups to join, and take into account that improving relations with one of them will necessarily affect the deterioration of relations with the other. Everything here is logical and consistent.

Making money has become noticeably easier - this is facilitated by a lot of side tasks. Moreover, a huge number of various useful items are scattered around the game world, which will brighten up the difficult life of our hero, improve his shattered health and help in armed skirmishes.

The question of motivation for finding jobs and earning money is the main storyline. She, of course, is extremely artless and ingenuous (it is felt that the scriptwriters did not strain too much with ups and downs and unexpected plot twists), but she will require a lot of money from the main character. On the other hand, no one is pushing Myers, so you can explore the vast expanses of water in the Caribbean for your own pleasure, learn to ride and fly, stick your curious nose where you please.

On a note: in "Boiling Point", as you remember, even in the most unfortunate scenarios, the hero did not die, but ended up in the hospital, talked with the doctor, paid and set off on a further journey. There is no such blessing here. Death is now final and irrevocable. The only thing that an unlucky player can console himself with is a stinging maxim on the screen and loading the last save.

Tropical weather is finicky. The sun was just shining and the sea was shining…

Externally, the game world is very impressive. The color scheme of the tropics looks just wonderful. Yes, and a slight blur and distortion of the picture to the edges of the screen gives the impression of a humid and sunny world. However, personally, in the first hours of the game, I had a noticeable feeling of discomfort from the character’s viewing angle. I don’t know if it had to be done less or more, but some dizziness and disorientation were observed during sharp turns. However, if, according to the plan of the developers, this is how the hero should see the world, suddenly finding himself in a tropical country, then the claims are removed. I would like to say special thanks to those who worked on sunrises and sunsets of amazing beauty.

The graphics engine of the game is optimized to such an extent that you simply do not notice it. It is gratifying that the developers took into account the shortcomings of the previous version of Vital Engine and drew the appropriate conclusions. Huge play spaces now function flawlessly.

Not without graphic bugs and shortcomings, however. Algae growing right out of the air, snakes that sometimes look like a hissing stick, spiders stuck in the walls of a cave, Indians escaping into the sky, a meager set of faces that constantly flicker in the game - all this does not interfere with the passage of the game, but noticeably spoils the impression of what has been done work.

This misunderstanding here plays the role of a shooting gallery. One joy - inexpensive.

The fauna of the islands, by the way, is noticeably impoverished in relation to continental Colombia. The list of unpleasant fauna surprises now consists only of snakes, predatory fish and huge spiders.

As before, the action will unfold in a single game space without loadable locations. With the exception of a single scripted move to another island, everything else happens in real time. For this purpose, a large number of vehicles (land, water and air) and a network of floating gas stations have been introduced into the game.

Game NPC, unfortunately, could not particularly please. Their behavior is not distinguished by diversity and special meaningfulness. Dialogues, despite the efforts of their authors, are most often uninteresting and not even funny. And the behavior of some individuals under certain circumstances borders on insanity. For example, the destruction of all the bandits surrounding their leader does not prevent him from sitting quite calmly on the couch, surrounded by two girls in bikinis. Approximately the same fatalism is shown by one of the drug lords.

Now I have a pearl. It would be nice, black, but they will also buy white.

On a note: there are several “easter eggs” in the game that seem to be of a humorous nature, but only one of them seemed successful to me - the shield “Autonomous Meteorological Forecasting System”. The rest, like the stylized Wasserman on a José Pogon T-shirt or the hysterical "Not a single tear!!!" in the handset, they look very artificial and do not even cause a smile.

The voice acting of the game, to be honest, could be better. Actually, there are no special complaints about game sounds - shots, ambient noise and the like. Annoying radiograms, constantly yelling at the headquarters of the groups, thank God, you can shoot if they start to seriously poison life. The background music that accompanies the trips is so good that from time to time I stole a boat or scooter to listen to it again. But here's the choral performance of officials during the attack of a group of narquets who sat in a destroyed house, led by retired US Army Colonel Clark Jefferson, aroused an acute desire to shoot them out of purely humane motives. Yes, and later I happened to observe similar cases of group insanity, accompanied by continuous screams.

Let's briefly summarize the review part. Of course, there is a huge progress in the results of the work of Deep Shadows. If we compare "Boiling Point" and "White Gold" in general, then this comparison will be entirely in favor of the second game. The developers took into account the huge number of shortcomings of the first Colombian epic and managed to avoid all those bugs, lags and glitches that players on the forums made fun of for more than a month. However, White Gold is still very far from a flawless game. So we just have to be patient and wait for the “gold” from Deep Shadow to acquire a noble yellow color, worthy of the crown of the “Best Computer Games”.

story line in white

Tell me, are you already an adult bandit or still a larva?

The beginning of the plot of "White Gold" takes place in the introductory video. A series of mysterious deaths in New York's bohemian circles turn out to have the same cause - Colombian cocaine. Analyzes have shown that it contains a highly toxic impurity that kills quickly and is guaranteed. This sad news makes the drug lords think hard. The risk of losing such a profitable and well-established business is very high. Looks like buyers will be disappointed in their ability to supply a pure powder that kills much slower and more pleasantly, and will start looking for other suppliers.

To peacefully sleeping Saul Myers is a certain dude of Hispanic appearance, showers him with a generous handful of compliments and persuades him to take up the investigation of the causes of excessive toxicity of Colombian cocaine. Of course, Saul, as it should be according to the canons of the genre, refuses, claiming that he retired and does not want to know anything. Khlysch, in turn, demonstrates not the worst understanding of the rituals of the genre and lays out a trump card - two photographs with a dead person.

You and I know nothing about the dead man, but Saul seems to know him well. Quite unexpectedly, he agrees to work and does not even start talking about the remuneration due.

The next video takes us to a boat delivering Myers to one of the islands of the archipelago. Peaceful chatter with an old man driving a boat is interrupted by aggressive strangers who have speedboats and even a couple of helicopters. It is as if they are hinting to us that “you are not here here” and they are offering a baptism of fire.

Who exactly organized the committee to meet Saul Myers is not clear, but they were disgustingly prepared. Helicopters are completely unconvincing, and boats are not worth a good word. Our hero, as they say, solves the issues with his left hand, and then, after his grandfather, jumps from the side of the boat, which is about to threaten to explode.

As a matter of fact, this is where the prerequisites of the plot end, since both the motives for Myers' further actions and the forces to counter them are introduced into the game.

Bug diver with sniper skills

Character development is not difficult. As the game progresses, he performs various actions, each of which gives him a certain amount of experience points. When accumulated, these points raise the level of the character (known to all fans of role-playing games level-up). Each new level gives a unit that can be spent on learning a particular ability.

On a note: In the process of character development, the maximum level of his health will increase slightly. Starting with a legitimate 100 units, he improved noticeably under the tropical sun and made it to the final with 120 units or so. A trifle, but nice.