Anachronox

Have you enjoyed KOTOR? Loved Mass Effect? Are you a reader of Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy? A fan of Farscape? Then buy this and play it now! A great sci-fi plot (no spoilers, but it has to do with the origin and end of the universe itself), an amazing cast of characters (one of your party members will be a shrinked planet), an interesting JRPG-style combat system (turn-based with fun combat scenes), lots of minigames, and an incredibly varied set of quests (follow an informant; snap pictures of thingies; etc. in addition to the usual quest types) makes this one of the best RPGs you can play. And one of the top 3 sci fi cRPGs ever, along with KOTOR and Mass Effect. The only downside? The story ends hanging - the sequel was never made... :(

Anachonrox is a very unique experience - there's nothing else really quite like it. It takes JRPG combat mechanics, and combines them with a very Western story with some of the best art direction you'll see in a PC game. The comedy (this is one of the funniest games out there) is so sharp and well-done that the dramatic moments have a very real and potent effect on the player. The voice acting (except maybe the woman who plays the Stiletto character) is top-notch, and the "camera work" is amazing. All that combines to result in a very cinematic universe. I docked the game one star for the somewhat-repetitive combat (it's not THAT bad, but it does get a bit old), the difficulty of switching party members (you can "cheat" with some console commands, but doing so will often corrupt your save game files) and the the bugginess (again, not TOO bad, but the game will crash so save often). You can really feel the passion that went into the making of this game, and it's a real shame there was never a sequel. I'd love the opportunity to revisit this world and these characters. I've read that Tom Hall wants to make another Anchronox game, but won't do so until he can secure sole ownership of the IP. Hopefully he can somehow make that happen. 4 1/2 out of 5.

If you want a RPG with a good sense of humour try it out. The combat system: - Is developed around Active Time Battle, where each character's action bar fills up at a different rate depending on it's attack speed and can be effected by spells such as Slow or Freeze. - Positioning plays a large role as attacks are affected by line of sight and distance. - The game doesn't pause the combat timer while doing certain actions (selecting an item, selecting who to activate the item on) which does make some battles needlessly difficult because your characters might die due to another attack being launched before you can manage to click on the target character you wanted the potion to be activated on. Outside of combat you go around using World Skills (each character has a unique World Skill) such as lock picking, hacking, yammering, throwing coins and more. Active party is limited to 3 members. Pros: - Story is okay, if a bit convoluted - Characters are well written - Dialogue is good - Decent amount of weapon upgrades overall - Custom MysTech creation system (MysTech = basically spells) Cons: - You have to click multiple times on characters untill their dialogue repeats to get all the information from them, otherwise you might miss vital information and be unable to continue - Cutscenes are not skippable (and some are quite long) - issue somewhat alleviated by the fact that you can use '' key to speed up the game - Long attack animations (Cool the first time you see them, but after a while you start wishing the animations didn't take so long) - Moderate backtracking (especially if you want to complete side quests and gather all collectables) - No autosave (make sure to save often and in different slots) - MysTech creation system is accessible only towards the end of the game - Limited character customization options Despite all of the cons, it is quite an enjoyable game that was made with passion for this form of art.

Wonderful game, always glad to see that it remains supported and available.

Anachronox is one of the best RPGs ever made, a hidden gem. It's got a fairly unique take on the genre, with heavy JRPG influences. The cast of characters are fun and memorable and there's a good deal of humour in the game. Exploring the different planets on your quest will remind you of Mass Effect, but of course this game came long before before Mass Effect! However, I didn't gel with the turn-based combat and the game is definitely showing its age. If you can get past all that, then this is a game definitely worth checking out.