What does many years of marital bliss and working together get you? If you're Helga and Helmut Van der Doom, it gets you the achievement of a lifetime—the creation of a singing mandrake—a magical and biological breakthrough of epic proportions. It gets you fame and glory. It also, apparently, gets you sudden marital strife topped with breakage and defenestration. Welcome to Mandrake 1, a little point-and-click adventure set in a magical and mystical world that never was. Created by 3dpi Games, makers of the Tortuga series, Mandrake 1 begins a new series on the foibles of the Van der Dooms and their increasingly bitter dispute.
After a quick little intro cut-scene you wake up in a room, dizzy and disoriented. Point and click your way through the space, to discover what is going on and even who you are. Navigation around the rooms is accomplished with a strange, spinning 360 degree rotational system triggered by bringing the mouse pointer to the left or right of the screen. The cursor changes into a hand when it passes over things that can be manipulated, examined, or places that you can go.
The artwork has a nice, stylish hand drawn look done up in shades of black, white, and gray with just a hint of color here and there to liven things up. There's lots of things to find and lots of use of found objects, with some cute tricky little puzzles thrown in as well. Eerie music and sound effects round out this fun casual gameplay experience, which can be shut off with the help of a handy little button in the upper right of the game screen.
Mind you, there are a few drawbacks. One of the major puzzles is a color puzzle, which makes the game difficult for those with color blindness. The story is a little confusing as well. Perhaps later installments will shed more light on what is going on and what the ultimate goal is. Some of the use and combining of found objects is not necessarily the most intuitive. The odd 360 degree navigation is fast and a little nausea inducing at first as well.
Still, point-and-click adventurers should still find this quite a fun little game with a quirky sense of humor. How often do you end up drinking buddies with an animated skeleton, after all? What we have here is a promising beginning to a new series. Spooky, atmospheric, humorous, challenging, and fun, Mandrake 1 is a great start. Here's looking forward to more magic!
Walkthrough Guide
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Mandrake 1 Walkthrough
General Information
There's a handy changing cursor to point out the hotspots.
When navigating the 360 degree spin, bring your cursor to the left or right to scroll, then drop the cursor to the bottom of the screen to stay in that position.
Try to combine everything, you never know what will come in handy.
I've never found a use for the toilet paper. If you do, please let me know.
Attic
You will notice a spiral staircase going up. Go up the staircase.
Scroll to the right and you will notice two planks of wood underneath a picture with a dragon. Take the wood.
Scroll left. Behind the chair on the floor is another plank of wood. Take it.
In the window above the chair is another plank of wood. Take it. You should now have 4 planks.
Click on the telescope to look. Pan around and you will notice a funky looking bird carrying a scroll in its talons.
Back up and go back down the stairs to the ground floor.
Ground Floor
To the left of the staircase is a lab table. Click on it for a close up.
Take the broken wand lying on top of the table.
Open the upper right drawer and take the cup.
Back up and scroll left until you see a staircase going down with a window above it.
Click on the window for a close up. Gee, a dragon. Take the bone on the windowsill.
Back up and scroll left until you see an end table with teeth. Click on the table for a close up.
Nice end table! Take the sprayer of poison from the table top and back up.
Scroll left until you see a wooden chair. Click on the chair for a close up and take the screwdriver.
Back up and scroll left until you see a crossbow set-up in the window. Click on it for a close up.
Okay, no ammo for the crossbow yet. Back up.
Scroll left until you see the down staircase again. Go down the stairs.
Basement 1
Left of the stairs is a doorway. Click on it to go through.
Aww, the dragon looks unhappy. Back up.
Scroll left again to see another doorway. Go through the doorway, it leads to a gap and what looks like the rock that the crossbow is aiming at. Back up.
Scroll left past the pit with the rope and you will see an outhouse door. Click on the door.
Take the plunger from the outhouse (and the toilet paper, if you want). Back up.
Scroll right to the pit with the rope. Click on the pit to go down.
Basement 2
To the left of the rope is a lovely axe in a display case. We can't get that right now.
To the right of the rope are two windows with some sort of wall thing below them. Click on the round thing just below the window. You should now have rope.
Further to the left is a doorway. Click on the doorway to go through.
Pick up the planks and place them on the rope bridge to complete it.
Click on the spooky doorway to go across.
You are now in a circular room. Just to the right of the doorway is a hole in the wall. At the bottom of the hole is a crust of bread. Take it.
Back up and scroll to the right. What a lovely picture of the couple in happier times. Keep scrolling right until you see a doorway.
Nice doorway with lots of symbols on it. Nothing we can do yet, so keep scrolling right.
Nice skeleton! Click on the skeleton for a close up.
Nice demanding skeleton. Since he is asking so nicely give the bone to the skeleton.
Aww, now he wants to share a drink.
Pick up the cup from your inventory and click it on the bottle that the skeleton is holding.
Enjoy the drink! Also notice that color washes into the scene and that there are four colored gems on the bottom of the bottle. This color combination changes every time you play the game.
Back up.
Go back across the rope bridge to the basement.
Go up the rope to basement 1, then go up the stairs to the Ground Floor.
Ground Floor
Scroll to the right of the up staircase and you will see a door. Click on the door for a close up.
Use the broken wand on the door. Wanton destruction!
Go out the door. Yikes, what is that?
You are now facing a doorway that looks like a face (and yes, it is looking at you).
Underneath the eyes are a row of six buttons. Randomly push the buttons until the door knocks you out.
Look closely! When you regain consciousness for a moment the door (and the buttons) will be in color. Quickly note the color and position of the buttons. If you have to, get yourself knocked out again to make sure you have them right.
Now you need to push the buttons in the order of the colored gems on the skeleton's bottle. This color code changes every time you play, so I can't give you the exact order.
If you do this correctly the "mouth" will spit out a code. Write down the code, this also changes every time you play the game.
Back up to the Ground Floor.
Scroll to the down staircase and head down to basement 1. Once there, go down the rope to basement 2.
Basement 2
Go back across the rope bridge to the room with the happy skeleton.
Scroll around until you see the doorway with all the symbols. Click on the door for a close up.
Click on the symbols to match the note you got from the punching door. Click quickly or you will have to start over.
If you put in the code correctly the door will open. Go through.
Scroll slowly to the right. Between two plants you will notice a closet with a broken door. Click on the closet for a close up and take the ladder. Back up.
Keep scrolling to the right and you will see a bin with a glass top. Click on the bin for a close up.
Nice, snapping, angry plants!
Get the poison out of your inventory and spray the plants.
Once the plants are unconscious (or dead) look at the plant on the right. Just above its head are two things that look like chili peppers. Take the chili pepper things and back up.
Scroll until you reach the doorway you came in. Go out the doorway back to the happy skeleton.
Head back out across the rope bridge to basement 2.
Climb up the rope to basement 1.
Basement 1
Scroll to the right to the doorway that leads to the gap. Go through the doorway.
Put the ladder across the gap. Cross the ladder.
Due to the presence of feathers and...other things, let's presume this is where that funky looking bird lives. Place the crust of bread on the shelf.
Back up to the basement and go up the stairs.
Combine the rope and the plunger in your inventory.
Gee, that looks like something we could use in the crossbow.
Click on the crossbow for a close up. Put the combined plunger/rope into the crossbow.
Click on the crossbow sight and look for the bird. Once you have him in your sights shoot!
Back up from the crossbow and go back down the stairs.
Go back out through the doorway to the gap and cross the ladder.
Look, a scroll!
Take the scroll and go back to basement 1.
Endgame
Go down the rope to basement 2.
Click on the display case for a close up.
Hmmm, four screws and a button at the bottom.
Pull up the scroll from your inventory.
Hey, that looks like a plan for setting the screws!
But, if you look closely, the button on the scroll is on the left, not on the bottom.
To get the solution for setting the screws you have to imagine the scroll rotated 90 degrees to the left, so that the button is on the bottom.
Again, this solution changes every time you play, so I can't give you the precise answer.
Use the screwdriver to set the corner screws to the correct position.
Put the screwdriver back into your inventory and push the button. If the screws are in the right place the force field will shut off.
Take the axe.
Back up and go up the rope to basement 1.
Let's go visit the depressed dragon, shall we?
Go through the doorway just to the left of the stairs.
Click on the dragon for a close up.
Aww, he wants loose!
Let's try breaking the chain with the axe.
Ooops!
Looks like all that's left is the handle.
But wait, there's an axe right here!
We can't take it, though.
Maybe the dragon can help?
Stick the chili peppers in the dragon's nose.
Now that the dragon has incinerated the other axe, all that's left is the axe head.
Pick up the handle, pick up the axe head, and then combine the two.
Use the new axe to break the chain.
Oh happy day!
Wait a minute, all that just to get custody of the family pet?
To be continued...
Thanks to GrinnyP for writing up this walkthrough \o/ WOOTY TOOTY!
Posted by: Kero
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December 1, 2009 4:37 AM
Mandrake 1 walkthrough (SonicLover style)
Ow! Damn, the missus packs a punch when she wants to. Where am I...? Oh, right. There's the desk in front of me. I'll just grab my broken wand here, and my drinking cup from the drawer. Now, up the spiral staircase to the right...
Ah, the good times I had with that dragon. He always loved chili. I guess I'll grab those two loose boards on the floor beneath the painting, wrench one loose from the window, and take that one next to the telescope. Speaking of the telescope... hey, it looks like that crow's holding something! And what's my wife up to?
But I digress. Back downstairs, and I'll turn to the right once again. The gate's shut? Nothing my broken wand can't take care of. But I don't quite remember the door's combination... let me enter something at random... OUCH! Talk about security. That's odd, I thought I saw color for a moment there...
Onwards and rightwards. I'll just ignore that gun for the moment, it's not really loaded. That chair has a useful-looking screwdriver that I'll take. I'll also take the poison spray from the dresser (did Helga forget to feed it today or what?), and the bone from the windowsill. Now to check out what's downstairs.
As per usual, I'll turn right. Pew, that bathroom smells awful, but the plunger and toilet paper may be useful. I'll go down the rope... hm, I can turn those knobs around the axe with the screwdriver, but I do wish I could remember the combination... oh well, I'll come back to that. And at least I've got a nice rope from the right wall now. Through the door to the left, then!
Bridge out? No problem, those planks I found upstairs will bridge the gap. There's another painting here... aw, I remember gardening with Helga that day. The poor skeleton's missing a piece of his arm, but this bone makes an adequate replacement. Now, a toast to the unity of living and dead! I'll just grab my cup and... hm, is that a sequence of colors I just saw at the bottom of his bottle? Intriguing... and I guess I'll grab that scrap of bread in the little hole on the way out...
Back up the stairs to the room I started out in! Let's try that door that punched me again... I enter the combination of colors on the buttons and... ta-da, a sequence of symbols! Odd how I only see color when I can't see properly... oh well, this sequence looks like it'll go to that door in the room with the skeleton. First symbol... second, third, fourth, and... bingo! It opened!
Ah, the greenhouse. I'll take that ladder from the broken closet... and boy, do those plants in the planter box look aggressive. A little poison spray should calm them down, and I'll pluck those two chili peppers and be on my way. Back up the rope and through the doorway just to the right of it.
Drats! The bridge to that little island must've broken... the ladder will do as a replacement for now. I guess I'll leave this little piece of bread next to that feather. It will do as bait, but that crow isn't coming down here as long as I'm around. I'll have to hit it from afar. What of that gun in the room I started in?
Aha! Tie the rope to the plunger and install it, and I've got myself a plunger-gun! Now let me just snipe that rascal... grr, he's slippery. Got him! He dropped the note... I'll just grab it from the floating island. Looks like the combination for the axe. Let me try it... huh? Why doesn't it work... oh, right. I'm holding it sideways. Let me adjust it... ta-da! Worked perfectly! And I've got the axe!
There was one door I hadn't tried just left of the staircase, wasn't there? Awe, Helga locked up the dragon again. I'd better free him... this axe should do away with the chain... whoops, it's older than I thought. At least the handle's in good condition, so I'll take it back. I guess I'll also give the dragon these peppers while I'm here... wow, they must've been extra-spicy. At least I've got that axe blade free now, so I'll combine it with the handle to make a new axe.
Chop! Chop! The dragon's free! But where did that lightning cloud come from, and what did it... do?
Posted by: SonicLover
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December 2, 2009 9:24 AM