Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within

I played this game back in 1997 and loved it. I fell in love with the cast and story. Like many others, I really wanted to visit Germany to see some of the historical sites referenced in the game. Back then there were no guides or videos to check for clues. After a while I grew to hate the song 'When the saints come marching in'. LOL! If you enjoy a good mystery, puzzles and a bit of the super natural this game will not disappoint.

GK2 is a truly a masterpiece. It is a fine example that FMV game doesn't need to be overly cheesy interactive experience just combining the worst aspects of a cheap movie and bad computer game. GK2 really shines on two areas, which both are in my opinion the strong points of all the games in GK-series. First, plot is incredibly detailed and clearly a lot of attention and love has been put in the script. Secondly, characters are really likeable and actors do really terrific job in front of the green screen to support them. GK2 isn't without its flaws, though. Puzzles are easy as FMV concept limits the gameplay significantly in this one. Also, in few cases it is not clearly obvious what player should do next and you may also get stuck if you just miss some hot spot with a small piece of information. This causes you to go through the same places several times before you find the missing information and next scripted event or dialogue opens in the game. Still, GK2 is a beautiful game. FMV was an interesting concept from the short period of time, where the large capacity of CD-ROM offered new possibilities for the developers and proper 3D acceleration was still far from being mature technology. FMV games have been a dead and often a ridiculed genre for a long time. Most of the FMV titles were simply bad, but GK2 shows that FMV adventure can also be highly entertaining. If you like adventure games with mature plot and like to have a proper nostalgia trip to 90's, get GK2!

Let me open by saying-- I did not like the first Gabriel Knight game. I don't really understand the high regard it holds in the memories of my fellow adventurers. And yet I bought it together with this sequel, so I figured I may as well play it if I have it. Good thing too. This game was great! Gabriel was a much more relatable character in this game (while still having his flaws). In fact, most of the characters in this game were either likeable, or intriguing, a sharp contrast from the first game. The one exception is Grace, who suddenly became annoyingly snooty this game. The FMV took some getting used to. But once I did, it was used very effectively in this game. I can see why this gaming approach was quickly abandoned, but at the same time, it works well here. The story had some pros and cons. The main con being that it was rather predictable, and it was really frustrating watching Gabriel not figuring out things that were obvious 3 chapters ago. This comes to a head about 2/3rds of the way through the game, when everyone and their dog (literally) is telling you to shoot the bad guy, and the game/Gabriel won't let you. The biggest pro was the immersion this game gives you in Bavarian history. I thought I was researching a bunch of fictional people and stories during the game, but it turns out, about 90% of everything you learn in this game is actual real history, which I thought was fantastic. The game has a handful of Sierra head-scratchers, but nothing that made me think, "OMG, that's ridiculous." Overall, a very well done game that I enjoyed playing with an exciting story and mostly good puzzles. If I had played this game in 1995 when it was released, I may have given it a resounding 5 stars, but the FMV approach kind of threw off my ability to judge the game based on its release year, instead of comparing it to more modern technology/offerings.

I loved the characters in this game, both the "heroes" and the "villains" though I'll say that I don't think the game is quite black and white on that. Friedrich von Glower is one of the best villains ever and to me is very reminiscent of David Xanatos the lead villain of the '90s animated series Gargoyles. The other members of the hunting club are similarly interesting and even likable. I even felt a certain amount of respect for the fearsome Baron Von Zell. While I feel Grace's adventures can seem tamer than Gabriel's and a tad boring, one can start to adjust to playing a character who is more scholar than fighter. I like that there is a lot of real history in the game (as there is in the first game). The game is very linear I admit and most of the obstacles fairly easy to overcome, but I'm not particularly bothered by this as most of the time I just wanted to get to the next movie scene. Dean Erickson is a much less sleazy Gabriel Knight than Tim Curry's from the first game. Frankly Dean is almost a "nice guy", quite softly spoken and reasonably polite to people around him. He's a smartass at times and kinda meets his match in Baron von Zell's cruel sarcasm which I thought was slightly amusing.

In the 2nd "Gabriel Knight" game, Gabriel is now living in Germany where his ancestors lived for centuries. The people of Rittersburg come to his door asking him to work on a case involving werewolves, which he reluctantly accepts. Along the way, he learns a lot about wolves, werewolves, Munich, and Ludwig II. This game uses FMV graphics, which means that the game is essentially like a movie, only you can interact with that. I LOVE this setup, it makes the game feels so realistic and it really does feel like a movie. It wouldn't work for all games but it works great for "Gabriel Knight." If you don't like FMV games because they are often too easy, don't let that stop you from buying this one. This game has some puzzles that you need to solve. Some of the puzzles are some of the best puzzles I have ever seen in an adventure game. The game also requires you to explore everywhere all the time, since there are quite a few points in the game where doing one thing in one location triggers something seemingly unrelated in another location. Some people don't like this, but I think it's a good thing because it prevents the game from becoming too easy. It is easier than the other "Gabriel Knight" games, but harder than most FMV games. The story, music, and acting are all awesome! Tim Curry and Leah Remini are gone, but their replacements Dean Erickson and Joanne Takahashi are even better IMO. The only thing about the first game that I prefer over the 2nd game is the music. GK2's soundtrack pales in comparison to GK1. However, almost every video game soundtrack in history pales in comparison to the GK1 soundtrack, so that is not a bad thing. Overall, as great as the first "Gabriel Knight" game is, "Gabriel Knight 2" is even better.