Kathy Rain

I have a lot of praise for this game, its strongest area being the overall atmosphere. It does not try to be forcefully funny or cute, with is the trap many modern adventure games fall into. It also does not present dozens of silly puzzles where you have to pick up every plank, nail and shoestring and construct stupid contraptions out of them. Instead, the game focuses on telling the story, on portraying the characters and on dialogue, similar to the excellent Blackwell games. It allows you to act naturally - to pursue leads and to think what to do next, and to piece together the mystery presented in the story. It contains just the right touch of surreal and scary, at times even resembling the Silent Hill style of how fear and suspense is built slowly by carefully divulging information. I subtract one star for the ending which seemed too much cliche to me, and it resulted in an inevitable disappointment. I guess endings are hard, and very few games and movies do them right. However, the first 4/5 of the game are absolutely marvelous. If you like games like the Blackwell series, this one is definitely recommended.

I found this a very enjoyable adventure game, firmly in the mould of the first Gabriel Knight game- even down to the 90s setting, and cruising around town on a motorcycle! The sense of atmosphere and place was pretty great in this game, I really felt like I was in weird, small-town, 90s America- or at least, America as we perceive it from across the Atlantic, through the lens of TV and film. The fantastic background artwork was a big factor of this, as was the fitting (and often creepy) music. The puzzles were generally pretty intuitive, though they were sometimes signposted a little too heavily- a bit less hand-holding would be appreciated in the next game. Definitely worth playing if you're a fan of classic adventure games, and I very much look forward to the next installment!

It's not your typical, serious detective game. The snark, the dark humor and the affinity for ingesting toxic substances are the genre's standards -- but instead of a gritty, worn-out fifty-something in a thiry-year-old raincoat you play as a big-haired biker girl with no sense of moderation (or good taste) as far as eye shadow is concerned. And there's the crazy, greeky, hyperactive, bespectacled roomie. So what you get is a fun mix of darkness and humor, balancing between old noir pulp and Scooby Doo. And, to be honest, it was Kathy's sarcastic style that first drew me in at first. But it gets real serious real quick, and you discover that the there's more to the girl's outlandish style than a mere fashion choice. She's not all about sharp tongue and mean quips. There's a heart there, and one tormented soul, and the darkness runs deep in her. And not just her, either. The plot thickens quickly, and what you'd expect to be a plain detective story turns into something deeper and darker. Another facet of the game that I really enjoyed were the nods to popular culture - including movies and games. The most obvious one I'll leave up to you. Then there's the bike - the creators' homage to Full Throttle. I also found a few themes in common with The Longest Journey - but that might just be me. Speaking of TLJ... Kathy Rain, by comparison, it's not a really long game, I finished in it two sitting's, a total of 9 hours or so -- but almost pulled an all-nighter in the process, so excited I was. The puzzles are mostly pretty easy -- not offensively so, just intuitive enough for you to have an idea what to do next. I hardly ever got stuck on a task or wandered cluelessly for more than a couple minutes. That, in turn, translates into smooth plot progression -- and very often you get two or more leads at a time that you can't wait to follow. The ending might seem anti-climactic -- but to me it made sense, quiet and intimate as it was, with a lot left to figure out by yourself.

Fairly decent adventure; graphics and voice acting are very good. Characterization could be better but the main character and some minor characters (e.g. Kathy's friend Eileen) are interesting and likable, and the dialogue is mostly well-written. On the negative side the puzzles aren't bad, but mostly aren't anything special either and solutions are often too obvious...in this Kathy Rain compares unfavorably to some of the more complex Wadjeteye's games like Resonance or Technobabylon. Number of locations is also rather limited. Weakest point for me was the story which is some weird mystery nonsense that seemed rather uninspired to me and didn't make much sense in my opinion. Still, if you like adventure games, this is a worthy effort and I'd recommend it. Would be nice if there was a sequel, I'd like to see more of Kathy Rain.