Master Lu's riddle

The riddle of Master Lu , in the original English version of Ripley's Believe It or Not! The Riddle of Master Lu , is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Sanctuary Woods in 1995 . It is based on the comic and radio series Ripley's Believe It or Not! by the US comic artist and world traveler Robert Ripley .

action

New York , 1936. While Nazi Germany is almost at the height of its power in Europe , the gentleman adventurer Robert Ripley travels the world in search of abnormal relics for his cabinet of curiosities in the Big Apple .

Through a chain of coincidences and the family relationships of his Chinese partner Mei Chen, Ripley comes into possession of clues about the mysterious Master Lu. Lu was the highly intelligent scholar of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi , a monarch driven by gigantomania, and traveled the world for his liege for years in search of knowledge, instruments of power and foreign cultures. Among other things, Lu researched for several years the elixir of life, a tincture which is supposed to give immortality to a person - in this case the emperor who is gripped by the will to survive. This is said to be hidden in Qin Shihuangdi's secret mausoleum - together with the imperial seal in the form of a huge gemstone, which has great symbolic power for the Middle Kingdom.

Ripley sets out with Mei Chen because Lu has firstly encrypted his writings, which show the way to the tomb, and secondly has hidden them all over the world. So Ripley travels in search of the scriptures, etc. a. via Egypt , the Peruvian Andes , Beijing and the Himalayas to Easter Island . In between he also looks for curiosities for his museum - u. a. with the German jet setter Baron von Seltsam in Danzig - and gets into dangerous situations with the quick-witted Asian henchmen of a still unknown enemy.

Finally, Ripley and Mei Chen actually find the mausoleum in central China: an imposing domed structure with a miniature version of the empire, criss-crossed by lakes and rivers made of mercury and full of figures of soldiers, subjects and animals made of terracotta . After he managed to outsmart all the death traps, Ripley actually comes into possession of the seal - the elixir is just a myth. But he triggers one last safety measure, which floods the grave with mercury and thus destroys it. On the run from the collapsing walls, Ripley finally meets his mysterious opponent: it is the son of Baron von Seltsam who wants to use the seal to unite the peoples in the Far East and thus have his own armed force in the upcoming world war. He succeeds in eliminating the baron's son and at the same time escaping with Mei Chen.

Ripley returns home with his girlfriend when their zeppelin is attacked by fighter planes. The next adventure begins ...

Characters

character	Video cast	English speaker	German speaker	role
Robert Ripley	Phil Banton	Garry Chalk	Lutz Mackensy	Player character
Mei Chen	Karen Yip	Karen Yip	Gabriele Libbach	Ripley's partner
Baron von Strange	Graham Croft	John Payne	Thomas Lang (actor)	antagonist
Shen Guo	Gerald Wong	Michael Donovan	Veedee Papiri
Feng Li	Tony Eng	Michael Donovan	Peter Weiß (actor)
wolf	Ted Gaskell	Michael Donovan	Robert Missler
Samantha Twelvetrees	Tara Moss	Saffron Henderson	Marlies Dostal
Emilio Menendez	Robbie Sheffman	Driesschen brand	Peter White
Kuang	Matthew Landers	Driesschen brand	Matthias Möbius

Production notes

The game is of a similar design to some of the adventures from the Wanadoo company (e.g. Vikings or Crusader - Kreuzzüge ), with real actors' movements and facial expressions being captured by video camera and projected onto the drawn game surface. The script is from Hollywood screenwriter Lee Sheldon . Many elements of the game are based on facts:

Robert Ripley actually existed. He was a globetrotter and had a well-known and popular radio show called Believe it or not on radio in the United States in the 1930s . As in the game, he also ran a cabinet of curiosities.
Qin Shihuangdi is a historical figure and was the first emperor of China since he united the peoples of the empire.
The vast Qin Shihuangdis Imperial Mausoleum was discovered in 1974 near the ancient imperial city of Xi'an . It is home to a huge terracotta army that is widely regarded as the eighth wonder of the world. There were also a number of traps in the grave, including a. by mercury.

The so-called elixir of life is (similar to the philosopher's stone ) a mythological element whose existence has not been proven. The search for the elixir of life and for the (at that time still undiscovered) imperial tomb was also the core theme of the Chinese adventure film The Emperor's Warrior .

reception

Frank Heukemes from Power Play awarded 87% for the English version of the game and particularly praised the presentation in SVGA optics and with the help of high-quality videos, but criticized the controls. Petra Maueröder from PC Games gave a rating of 90% for fun:

“Anyone who has played it will agree with me when I say without exaggeration: There has not been such a good adventure since Fate of Atlantis . Belongs in every well-sorted household! "

Roland Austinat from PC Player awarded a total of 80%:

“Once under the spell of this game, you can't put the mouse down again anytime soon. In addition to the exciting story, the high-resolution graphics and the successful representation of the people are convincing. But Master Lu is also impressive in terms of puzzles: crisp puzzles let all adventure veterans grasp the mouse and Robert Ripley's control is easy despite the apparent limitation to only three icons. "

Jeffery Adam Young from GameSpot was less convinced, awarding only 5.7 out of 10 points:

"All said, Master Lu is a giant game with good intentions and a number of the ingredients that make a successful adventure, but its unforgiving interface ultimately led me to frustration, not recommendation."

“In summary, Master Lu is a gigantic game with good intentions and a number of ingredients that make a successful adventure game; but its relentless user interface ultimately led to frustration for me, not to recommendation. "

Further ratings:

The trade magazine Adventure Gamers ranked Das Rätsel des Master Lu 2011 in its list of Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games at number 95.

Web links

The puzzle of Master Lu at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

^ AdventureGamers.com: The Riddle of Master Lu. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b PCGames.de: The riddle of Master Lu in the classic test. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .
^ ^A ^b Frank Heukemes: The Riddle of Master Lu . In: Power Play . January 1996, p. 144.
↑ PC Player 01/1996, p. 158: Riddle of Master Lu. Retrieved January 19, 2016 .
^ Gamespot.com: The Riddle of Master Lu Review. Retrieved January 19, 2016 .
↑ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,299458,00.html
↑ http://www.pcgamer.com/reviews_r.html ( Memento from December 23, 1996 in the Internet Archive )
↑ AdventureGamers.com: Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games. Retrieved January 4, 2016 .

[AG-1] AdventureGamers.com: The Riddle of Master Lu. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .

[PCG-2] PCGames.de: The riddle of Master Lu in the classic test. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .

[PP-3] A ^b Frank Heukemes: The Riddle of Master Lu . In: Power Play . January 1996, p. 144.

[4] PC Player 01/1996, p. 158: Riddle of Master Lu. Retrieved January 19, 2016 .

[5] Gamespot.com: The Riddle of Master Lu Review. Retrieved January 19, 2016 .

[6] ttp://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,299458,00.html

[7] ttp://www.pcgamer.com/reviews_r.html ( Memento from December 23, 1996 in the Internet Archive )

[8] AdventureGamers.com: Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games. Retrieved January 4, 2016 .