Thank you Iceberg Interactive for sending us this game to review!

Adam’s Venture 3 picks up where their previous episode left off.  If you're not familiar with the Adam's Venture series, think of it as an Indiana Jones game with Biblical overtones.  Adam and his partner Evelyn were exploring the newly discovered ruins of Solomon’s temple when it collapsed on them.  Adam got knocked on the head pretty good and is going in and out of consciousnesses. This game begins in Adam’s memories of his father and how he first met Evelyn.  

After a series of flashbacks, this episode goes back to the present where Adam must rescue his father and Evelyn from an evil warlord who wants to blow up Solomon's temple.  By destroying Solomon's temple he wishes to cause an uproar in the middle east, for the sole purpose of becoming rich by selling weapons to both sides.  

I like how this episode introduces Adam’s father and gives some insight on their relationship.  It was also nice to see how Adam got acquainted with Evelyn.  (Their squabbles are always fun to listen to.)  If you’re looking to be told a story, you might be disappointed, since the majority of the game revolves around solving puzzles.  

There are twenty five riddles ranging from mazes, disarming explosives, and repairing cars and windmills.  You’ll be spinning letter wheels in opposing directions to spell out words, crossing wires, and tripping fuses.  The puzzles vary in difficulty, and if you get stuck, there are user created walkthroughs available online. 

If you mess up you can easily reload from the last checkpoint.  Unfortunately, you cannot save whenever you like, but there are a lot of save points.  The controls are not customizable either.  The controls consist of using the arrow keys for movement, the space bar to jump, and the ctrl key to crouch.  There are caves to crawl into, ladders to climb, and plenty of ropes and bridges to cross. 

The environments are nicely detailed and range from tombs and caves to the rooftops in the French town of Luz.  The shadows, smoke, fire, and rain look believable and the sound effects add to the realism.  In the few moments where you control Adam, the game will be in a third person perspective.  The puzzles are done in first person.  I enjoyed the dialogue and voice acting.  The background music composed by Jonathan van den Wijngaarde set the mood nicely and was pleasant to listen to.  

While there was some confrontation and threats being made, no violent scenes come to mind.  I typically dock games for having females wearing tight clothing, but I might subtract a little for Adam’s pants.  You have no camera control whatsoever in this game, and you are forced to look at Adam’s atomic wedgie as he’s crawling through air ducts and caves.  Other than that, I’d say this game is family friendly, though I don’t think kids will enjoy the complex puzzles.

If you’ve played the first two Adam’s Venture games I would recommend this game to fill in some gaps in the story.  The only drawback is that you’ll only get a couple of hours of gameplay with little replay value.  Everything is scripted and you have limited freedom or opportunities to explore.  On the other hand, if you love puzzles, this game will be right up your alley.