The Whispered World: Special Edition

Distinctly average; probably overpriced on GOG. I've played TWW as part of another (now unavailable) bundle. Make no mistake - the graphics and sound are fantastic. Unfortunately it's plagued by pixel hunting and hidden objects, illogical puzzles and annoying voice acting. The plot isn't terribly well put together, even allowing for the ending - frankly I see it as a cop out. For your money, there are several better, cheaper adventures to play first.

The game is gorgeous. The sound is wonderful. The main character is as un-sympathetic as they come (which turns out to be...well...you'll see if you buy it). The puzzles start off ok, but turn into game logic puzzles (find a walkthrough) that rely on pixel hunting through some beautifully dense scenery. If you don't mind playing through a game with a walkthrough in your lap, it's a nice story. But if you are head down in a walkthrough, you'll miss the wonderful scenery and all the good color commentary.

From the beautiful handdrawn backgrounds to the great and expressive characters (also handdrawn!) this game is a treat to look at. I only played the German version, though if the English version also received the same amount of care and love regarding voice acting and script you can expect a at times funny and at times melancholic journey through The Whispered World. And it's a great adventure game dammit! It features a cute you can change the form of at will to solve puzzles and it's used well if not sometimes unconventially (as in you have to embrace the games logic - it's never obscure and unfair though). You'll learn to love the depressive clown and you'll wish to spend more time with the great characters even after the the credits roll!

I like the game in principle. The graphics look beautiful, story seems great, and I could even put up with Sadwick's voice (annoying or just bad voice-acting is, unfortunately, sort of an adventure staple). I enjoyed much of the commentary from the characters and really felt immersed in the atmosphere of the game and each scene. The puzzles, however, are... not great. Some are of the "makes-no-sense-whatsoever" variety, and a glib comment from the character doesn't really make that any better or funny. The rest is too often overly intricate. Not complex (I could figure out what to do), but requiring too many small steps that make you wonder why they didn't just make half of them automatic/implied, and requiring far too much walking back and forth (and navigation isn't always easy in this game to begin with. Furthermore, while Sadwick can auto-travel to a new area by double-clicking, that won't make him travel any faster within an area). The idea of the transforming Spot is also nice, and I've seen many good uses for it, but it also seemed like they had to put it in the game a certain number of times or something and a lot of them seem redundant and illogical as well.