Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Before this game I mostly played LucasArts Adventures, also some Larry episodes and some classics like Future Wars. This was a whole new experience, a much more mature kind of storytelling. The plot could have easily made it into a movie as well. It has not the best guidance system, sometimes it's hard to find that last thing to do before the next day can start. But apart from that it's as classic as they come. The brilliand voice acting of Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Leah Remini and Michael Dorn guides the player through a story of curses, german castles, family history and of course love. Gabriel turns oud to be the last descendent of a family once called "Ritter", who's destiny is to fight evil wherever they find it. As several murders are commited in New Orleans by what seems to be a Voodoo cult, destiny calls out to Gabriel who has no knowledge of his family history, guiding him on a path to become the next Shadow Hunter or - as they were called in Germany - Schattenjäger. Jane Jensseen also released the book as a novel, which sadly is very badly written and reads like a walkthrough for the game.

"What can you tell me about... Voodoo?" You just read it in Gabriel's voice, am I right? ;) If not, play this and you most certainly will. Tim Curry's voice performance was totally awesome. And the first part of the series is the best. A must have. Have fun with the drum code.

I'm glad I bought this - it's excellent! Graphically, it's good considering it's age. It's mature and gory in places, it isn't aimed at kids, and the sprites move well. There's attention paid to the locations, they're small, detailed and full of the vibe of Louisiana. The music is great, most P&C (and similar) games have repetitive music and voices but here it suits the scene. The voice acting is top-notch. A great thing about this game is how it deals with repetition - in this game, I can just click the mouse and skip it. Less annoying. The commentary is great and the game is peppered with funny moments and bits that make you want to search them out. Puzzle-wise, most are logical and easy once you get into the groove. Some can be a nightmare and there are points where the game is happy to let you head toward certain death because you forgot to get something. The story is easily the best part and it is superb. The characters are fleshed out, the histories build a believable story and it all comes together seamlessly to create a compelling tale. You'll keep playing the tougher puzzles not just to finish another game, but because you want to know what happens to the characters next. You start to care about them. They are human and flawed. Buy this is you want a well-written point and click game with a hefty dose of horror on the side, which oozes atmosphere and character.

Gabriel Knight is a triumph in the adventure genre. The detailed depictions of real world Voodoo mythology helps bring to life to the creative characters and engaging storyline that is found in Jane Jensen's masterpiece. Being a lengthy 16 hours, the designers were sure to make the gameplay varied. As well as the classic item use/combine puzzles, during the course of the game the player will also have to: translate German poetry, communicate via drum beat, and decipher a Voodoo Code. Unfortunately a couple of the puzzles are poorly designed - standing out clearly when stood next to the rest of the intuitive puzzles that the game offers. Interactive dialogue also plays a large role in this game, in quality and depth falling second only to Planescape.

The first Gabriel Knight game is really worthy of the label 'classic' because it's so well written and executed. The setting is also pretty unique, since it revolves around voodoo in New Orleans. The characters are great, voice acting is great and it really draws you into the story. Not to mention the adorable pixellated art, and the opening theme will be haunting me in my head for weeks. Gameplay-wise, it has a good balance of active gameplay vs. storytelling, just enough not to feel like you're just passively watching a movie, even though most of the clues come from interviews with people rather than objects you pick up. I liked the fact you always had 'global topics' available to ask everyone, even if they weren't relevant but all the characters had at least one response to every topic. It really added a feeling of authenticity to the game when you had to figure out how to ask the 'right question'. Most of the other puzzles are quite logical, though you can easily miss important details, and sometimes things that seem just 'background noise' are actually important for advancing the story. Fortunately you can never get completely stuck because you have to complete certain tasks to end each day, so it can't happen that you find out on day 7 that on day 2 you forgot to do something important and now you gotta redo the whole game. You can get away without obtaining certain clues, but only those that are not vital in solving the task at hand. However, saving often is useful because you can actually die on multiple occasions throughout the game. Overall, definitely a title worth playing at least once.