Heart of China
(1991 Dynamix)


Heart of China is an excellent and most cinematic of the adventure game 
trio designed by Dynamix' Jeff Tunnell. Set in the exotic Orient in 
1940's, you are pilot/mercenary/wannabe romancer Jake Master who are 
hired by beautiful nurse Kate's father to rescue her from the clutches 
of a powerful Chinese warlord.

What makes this game so riveting and revolutionary (though sadly almost 
no one noticed it) is the true replayability that was often mere 
lip-service in other games: while the game is linear in a sense that you 
must do A before B and so on, Jake has a... escape sequence, using a 3D 
engine that was obviously taken directly from Damon Slye's simulations. 
The dexterity-impaired adventurers (like this reviewer) will be relieved 
to hear that the game, like its predecessor Rise of the Dragon, mercifully 
awards you a win of the sequence after a number of failures, so you can 
get on with the game and Jake's future escapades. Two thumbs up!