Atlantis set to rise again

After excursions into the action and platform genres with games like From Dusk Till Dawn, Devil Inside and Gift, French purveyors of the bizarre Cryo are returning to their familiar stomping grounds in the adventure game genre next month with the release of Atlantis III : The New World. As the title suggests this is the third installment in the popular series, and will feature the traditional mixture of mind-bending puzzles, gorgeous pre-rendered scenery, scantily clad blue women and atmospheric world music, this time produced by Peter Gabriel's guitarist David Rhodes.

Another "star" adding to the game's appeal is European actress Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. The story centers around an Egyptian archaeologist in search of the legendary lost city of Atlantis, and not only does Chiara provide the voice of the lead character in English, French and Italian, but her body has also been fully digitized into the game. And very nice it looks too. Settings which she will be visiting include icy paleolithic plains as well as deserts and palaces inspired by the legends of Egypt and Arabia, not to mention Atlantis itself.

The game is due out in the UK from Friday October 12th, with both CD-Rom and DVD editions available, and a PlayStation 2 version of the game will follow on December 7th. Americans should be able to get hold of the game through Dreamcatcher some time before Christmas, although bizarrely they have decided to change the title to Beyond Atlantis II. In the meantime you can find out more about the game and view a trailer on the newly launched official website.