Anachronox

I have played a LOT of games since I discovered my first game in 1980 - a text only game called Adventure. I played Anachronox when it was first released, and it is one of the few that sticks out in my memory - a great memory, with some of the best humor and wonderful characters I've ever seen in games. I am SO happy that GOG released this game to run on modern systems. My only complaint from before was the padding during scene transitions and battles, but with the addition of the key to speed up the padding, I now have NO complaints - this is one of the best games I've had the pleasure to play, and even the outdated graphics have a certain charm - this game still manages to convey character expressions and emotions - the important things. For those who have never played Anachronox, I heartedly recommend it - you will NOT regret playing it. And for those who played it when it was first released, I still heartedly recommend it, for your enjoyment will not be any less - at least that is what I'm experiencing as I relive my youth during my play.

First the good : - story (Nothing groundbreaking but its told very good and you want to know more about the main character and his backstory as well as whats going on with the world) - characters ( Don't want to spoil so ill just say there are some strange companions in this game and one very creative way of using in game mouse cursor as a plot device) - humor (Mostly in form of cut scenes and written dialogue but its good) - world (Some of it at least like the first planet) - puzzles (There are many and not all are easy. There is quite a bit of thinking and memorizing stuff in this game so be warned) The bad : - rpg elements are there but very poorly explained (What do the stats do? How do you allocate energy to your shield/magic? What is throughput?) - combat (Camera is moving erratically after every single action performed by you or the enemies and the game has to wait for it to return to its original position, which makes every encounter a drag and a headache) - no quick party selection in a game that requires most of your party members to interact with the world so get ready to backtrack and switch em often. - status effects and magic descriptions are vague (e.g. bane magic says its non elemental attack but it does not say it also heals allies or whats the difference between psy and nuts? - elementor system (custom spells) is barely explained in the game. I bet if someone plays without a walkthrough they would never know that spells can hit multiple foes/allies. - there are a lot of minigames that are required for the best items in the game and they can get tedious The ugly: -Anachronox wasn't a good looking game when it came out so naturally it didn't survive the test of time when it comes to graphics (there are some resolution and widescreen mods on modDB if you care for that stuff) Overall I would say play it for the story and humor on normal mode and skip all the boring stuff like getting all upgrades.

Loved this game. Started playing it thinking it was a 3rd-person shooter but turns out this game is one-of-a-kind and the game play, game world, and story all drew me into it's super long 40+ hours of game time. Started getting a little "tired" of it by the end but that's probably just my gaming endurance. It reminded me of Deus Ex at times but it's definitely it's own beast. SEMI-SPOILER below (warning about the final battle) Make sure you're leveling up ALL your characters, and good. I focused on maxing out my three favorites at the expense of the others, which made the end "boss" VERY difficult!

An RPG in the same engine as Quake 2 (with some modifications) is an interesting mechanic, and for the most part works well enough. The game has a well-developed story and a believable world that's easy to become immersed in. When the game works as it should, it's quite an exceptional experience. The mix of serious topics with humor and satire is well-balanced. Despite using an engine designed for skill-based action combat, this game uses a turn-based system -- a turn-based system that often interrupts the flow of the story and pulls the player out of the immersive experience. It just feels out-of-place. Movement is occasionally a bit awkward, albeit it's tolerable with some practice. I highly recommend this game for anyone who enjoys unique stories, well-crafted worlds, and RPGs in general. It's just a bit too clunky on the gameplay side to give it the 5th star.

I will admit, I enjoyed the characters. The individualism the devs gave each character is wonderful, and the interaction between the different characters is enjoyable. Unfortunately, almost none of the game is enjoyable for me. From the constant barrage of absurdly over-the-top "humor" (seriously, just how many bad puns can you stuff into a game?), the mind numbing dungeon crawls (find switch A to unlock door B and activate thing C, repeat), to the boringly repetitive combat (Attack, fireball, heal, use potion, repeat). Eventually, I just reached a point where I could not drum up enough interest to continue playing this game.