Gemini Rue

Gemini Rue ist ein Spiel, das mehr sein will, als es am Ende ist. Die dystopische Story ist an sich ganz nett, wenn auch unkreativ, aber die Charaktere sind flach und man fiebert nicht wirklich mit. Das Voice-Acting ist sehr wechselhaft, mal gut, mal heftig schlecht. Die Puzzle sind nicht anspruchsvoll, aber immerhin auch nicht entsetzlich unlogisch. Was ich absolut hasse, sind Quicktime-Events, und hier gibt's mit (nicht überspringbaren) Schießeinlagen und nicht wenigen Stellen, an denen man extrem schnell reagieren muss, ziemlich viele. Sie machen keinen Spaß, sind offenbar nur dazu da, das Spiel zu verlängern, und machen dabei das Spiel deutlich schlechter. (Ganz davon zu schweigen, dass solche Einlagen für Menschen mit motorischen Einschränkungen echt hohe Hürden darstellen.) Die umständliche Bedienung arbeitet gegen einen, verlangt unheimlich viele Klicks für simpelste Aktionen und verbündet sich mit den manchmal zu kleinen Klickbereichen zu einem wiederkehrenden Quell der Frustration. Die Pixelgrafik wirkt gelegentlich sehr verwaschen, gerade auch bei einigen Spielcharakteren, bei denen ein Anti-Aliasing-Filter Amok zu laufen scheint. Ab und zu gibt es Bugs, bei denen ein Teil des Hintergrunds schwarz wird. Nun ist das Spiel fast zehn Jahre alt, es sollte da eigentlich keine Bugs mehr geben. Im Endeffekt: keine Glanzleistung von Wadjet Eye Games. Da ist man mit anderen ihrer Adventures wie der Blackwell-Reihe oder Unavowed wesentlich besser bedient.

I liked the story and characters. At no point felt bored. I like thats graphics style, the music is great and plays exactly when it should and leaves you in the silence or pouring rain when appropriate. I didn't liked the shooting minigame, but it doesn't happen often and you always get an autosave before one. If you hesitate - then stop and give it a try.

Gemini Rue has a great storyline, awesome retro-style graphics, fantastic sounds. Yet there is one thing to mention - if you're more of a relaxed adventure gamer, this might not be your game. It mixes classic adventure gameplay with fast-paced action scences. Very often you have only a few seconds to do the right thing - otherwise your character will die. And YOU WILL DIE a lot in this game. Now there is a solid auto-save function in place, however, it will often require you to replay the last 10-20 seconds over and over again if you can't figure out what to do. That can be VERY frustrating and indeed, if it just wouldn't be such a great game, I wouldn't force me to go through these action scences. (albeit somebody else might feel the shooting sequences etc. add to the thrill ...)

I've put quite a few hours into Gemini Rue so far. My opinion of the game seems to differ significantly from those from people I see around the web. People are divided about the graphics - which is silly. The graphics are great. I have no problem with pixelated or "old-school" graphics done right, and these are really amazing. My main complaint is that the game seems to exist mostly on nostalgia. It seems like it wants to remind me of games past, and impress me with its modern take. But that's completely different than actually giving me an atmosphere that sucks me in on its own. The game is by no means offensively bad - but I found many of the puzzles and the main story to be mostly predictable and tedious. The voice acting goes for cliche Alec Baldwin impressions over originality. Going through doors is tedious and inconsistent - sometimes you have to open and then awkwardly find the right place "beyond" the door to click to leave, and sometimes opening the door just lets you leave. Sometimes the door just opens for you. It seems like a small thing, but there are oh-so-many doors and it becomes an annoying design problem. I don't enjoy the apartment building settings, which all look the same, just tedious amounts of walking up and down stairs, etc. Many of the puzzles in the "rehab center" became tedious. I have no desire to learn some intricate system of pipes etc. There's lots of tedium - and honestly, I'm not that driven to complete the story. I don't feel like I'm exploring a new place - at first, I got that exploratory buzz - but then you've seen the whole setting, and spend the next couple hours of gamplay revisiting the same places.... grey brown rooms after rooms... The inventory can only be looked at by awkwardly right clicking ON an action object in the world... this seems weird, and no button to bring up inventory, at least that I can find in the menu. These kinds of design problems... seems like GR exists on nostalgia mostly.

Maybe the best Wadjet Eye game i've played so far! Some annoying little things and some poor gameplay mechanics. I got stuck a bit since i couldn't open the menu. It's not possible to open the menu unless you are interacting with something. As long as you're aware of that you'll be fine and won't get stuck in the way i did, unable to read a note, not sure if you are even supposed to read it. With the exception of a few small annoying things like that, the game is really good and progresses smoothly. It looks a lot blander on the screen shots than it does while playing. Graphics are actually kind of good. Great story and atmosphere. 4/5 but do yourself a favor and just check a guide for which dialogue options to choose while phoning the pilot. It will save you going through the same dialogue tree for - worst case scenario - up to fifteen times or so.