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Paradise Preview

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Release Date: 4/25/2006 Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: White Birds ESRB Rating: Teen
Official Site

Ubisoft recently announced a new entry into the adventure game genre simply titled Paradise. This instantly perked my interest as I found out the game was from the creator of the award-wining, and highly acclaimed, Syberia series. You didn't hear of Syberia?!?!? We you living in a cave somewhere near Syberi, umm, nevermind. Syberia was a adventure game with an exceptional storyline and mode of play. The game immersed yours truly immediately the first time I played it back in 2002, and then the follow-up later on. Earlier this year I even popped the original back in and I fondly played it again after the GOTY version was released. Syberia was missed by most gamers in favor of the FPS flavor of gaming in those days.

Adventure games just have not had much publisher support since the days of Lucasarts famed Monkey Island series, Full Throttle, and Grim Fandango. The exception to this sad rule was always The Adventure Company, who took the initial risks on game developers like Benoit Sokal (Creator of Syberia), and made adventure gaming a reality once more in the late 90's and through today.

Now comes Ubisoft into the adventure foray once more. Although there have been some sleeper adventure game hits at Ubisoft (Beyond Good and Evil), the genre has being largely ignored until recently. Now Ubi has enlisted Benoit help in creating Paradise, Sokal’s latest adventure game masterpiece. The game is moody and set in four different worlds in the heart of darkest Africa. From the arid lands of Madargane to the dense jungle of the Maurane river, the world is both primitive and contemporary. Fraught with political turmoil, the lush landscapes are beautiful and dangerous.

You play Ann Smith, a young woman suffering from amnesia struggling to make her way home and avoid the conflict surrounding her. To discover her true identity, she must escort a strange black leopard back to the land where it was born. Follow Ann through her journey as she finds clues to her identity and unravels the truth behind her mysterious past.

This upcoming gem currently in development by Benoit Sokal and his team, Paradise, is poised to break that trend, and we got a chance to get some of the first information on the game for you from the horse's mouth. Madargane is the world in Paradise where the adventure begins. To take you on a proper tour we will have a formal introduction from Mr. Benoit Sokal himself speaking briefly about his inspiration and vision behind these worlds. We will take a look at everything from the beautiful artistry behind the game, introduce you to characters you may meet along the way, show original concept artwork, and offer fresh in-game footage of Madargane in motion. And so the first part of our tour of Paradise begins…

Notes from Benoit Sokal
Paradise World 1 - Madargane

I am Benoît Sokal, co-founder of White Birds Productions, author of video games (Amerzone, Syberia I & II) and cartoonist. On Paradise specifically, I am the author and the Art Director.

Once I decided that this game would take place in Africa, I imagined a very big country. A country with a North border still of Arabic inspiration, and one that becomes more and more “dark Africa” when going South. I also have to say that I went on holiday in Morocco, in Marrakech two years ago and that I was fascinated by the city. Besides the global atmosphere, the challenge for me was to faithfully represent those amazing mosaics, like in the Prince’s apartments or the City Gate. I think that the final result, in Madargane, is close to what a real North African city is, without all the added fantasy of course.

Madargane (World 1) is first of all the place in which you discover who you are as a player, and that is Ann Smith. It is also the world in which you meet with the one that will be your silent companion throughout the whole game: the mysterious black leopard. But there are also a lot of other characters to meet and interact with in this world, from the little Palate servant, Aicha, to the Prince of Madargane himself.

When I started working on world 1, I did not look back to my holidays pictures ?. In fact, I tried to re-create an “ideal” Moroccan/North African city from scratch, using only my imagination. I also bought a lot of Art and Travel books. And, lastly, I looked into the works of a painter from whom I learned a lot during my Art studies: Delacroix and his views from Morocco.

World 2: Baobab Village

The second world players will encounter when playing Paradise is Baobab Village. I like this world very much. I had a great fun in imagining it, and even more in taking that vision and translating it into the design. The overall presentation and feel of Baobab Village all came from the stories we were told about African tribes, and their sometimes very strange habits. In parallel, I had this idea of these strange animals, the gazelines, with a long neck allowing them to reach high leaves in the trees. I imagined that they could also be used as hordes, being ridden by warriors. And, little by little, came the picture of the Molgraves. A tribe of fierce and proud warriors, trying during all their life to never touch the ground, as it is considered as “evil” and “impure”. What an amazing way of life!

From this initial premise, the village at the top of the trees seemed almost logical. As well as a whole life entirely organised from these trees, such as water collectors, bungee ropes, hunting methods, etc. More specific details came later: the major which is a caricature of some English ex-Army members, loving wild life and Gin… Or the language spoken by the Molgraves, inspired by the way some shepherds in Corsica whistle long sentences to each other from a valley to another… Baobab Village will offer player an amazing and fascinating backdrop as they play through the second world in Paradise!

We anxiously await the finished product here at GCC, and I sincerely hope the game ends up playing and tells a story as good as it looks.

Official Paradise Site

Marty`Smaug Reinhart - April 2006

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