Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta

Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta
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Developer(s)	Semaphore
Publisher(s)	Semanoor International
Director(s)	Ahmad Jadallah
Artist(s)	Mohammad Khaleel
Writer(s)	Ahmad Jadallah
Engine	Unity
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, PlayStation 3, Ouya, Android
Release date(s)	Episode 1 PlayStation 3, iOS EU 20130529May 29, 2013 Episode 1 - Gold Edition Microsoft Windows, OS X WW 20140103January 3, 2014 Android WW 20140528May 28, 2014 PlayStation 4, Vita WW TBA
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta (Arabic: الركاز: في أثر ابن بطوطة‎‎) is an episodic action-adventure video game developed by Saudi Arabian game developer Semaphore, and published by parent company Semanoor International. The game's episodes are planned to be available on the PlayStation 3 (via PSN), Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X (both via Steam, and the latter also via Mac App Store), as well as iOS, and Android devices.

The game was originally planned to be also available on Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare, but Semaphore had since silently delisted those platforms. A different version of the game was also planned as a Facebook app. It has been announced for a PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita release.

Plot

When Arab fortune hunter Faris Jawad and his archaeologist sister Dania receive a call to visit Morocco they embark on an exotic adventure throughout the Middle East on the trail of the famous Muslim explorer Ibn Battuta. The trail would not be clear however as Faris will have to overcome an unholy alliance of a militia leader, a weapons dealer and a wealthy antiquities smuggler who are after the same goal.

Development

Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta is one of the first games for the PlayStation 3 featuring Unity game engine. Episode 1 was released on May 29, 2013 for the PlayStation 3 (PAL version only), and iOS. The PC and Android versions were also originally announced for that date, but both failed to launch on the respective platforms; in the former's case, it was mainly due for not being approved by Steam's Greenlight community before suggested date. On January 3, 2014, the game was eventually released worldwide for the PC platforms under the title Episode 1 - Gold Edition, in which the developer claims this new edition has addressed and improved some of the game's technical issues. The previous releases on PlayStation 3 and iOS received the Gold Edition version as a free update. The newer version later became available for Android platforms by May 28, 2014. Despite the initial updates, the Gold Edition has been patched multiple times.

Reception

The first episode of Unearthed: Trail on Ibn Battuta has been panned by critics and players alike. Main criticisms towards the game were directed at broken gameplay mechanics, graphics, clunky animations and its unoriginality with most critics comparing the game unfavourably to the Uncharted series. It currently holds a score of 11 out of 100 on Metacritic.

IGN Middle East gave the game a 3.0 out of 10; "With its clunky controls, poor level design, and horrible writing, Unearthed: The Trail of Ibn Battuta Episode 1 is an awful mess. The game did get a bit of negative attention for being a blatant Uncharted ripoff, however somewhere deep down I had hoped that it would force us to reject those prejudices, and stand high in its own right. Unearthed, unfortunately, does none of that and fails resoundingly." The Sixth Axis gave the game a 1 out of 10; "It’s all just laughably bad, so much so that there were a few times I couldn't help but explode with laughter at how terrible the animations, gameplay or everything else was."

External links

• Official website
• Unearthed on the PlayStation Network
• Unearthed on Steam Store

• 2014-09-30, Unearthed: Trail Of Ibn Battuta Episode One Is Coming To PS4 & Vita, The Sixth Axis