Good puzzle game where you take the "guy in the chair" role, supporting FDI field agents investigating a number of crimes. Story and voice acting are good, and there's a nice variety of puzzles. What I didn't like about the game are the cut scenes (if you can call them that). In retrospect they kinda make sense, but they still made me feel like I was missing half of the game. And I hated that we only get a bad ending (no, the after-credit scene doesn't make up for it).
The game follows the formula established by the previous games of the series. However, this time the developer made a couple decisions that IMO detract from the otherwise enjoyable experience. For one thing, they fell into the open world trap. Increasing the map area doesn't make your game better unless you fill that area with meaningful things to do. Otherwise it just makes the game more tedious. Same goes for the lamentable industry trend to make interactions "press and hold key" where a simple keypress would suffice. Because "player engagement." Or something. And the ghost chases from the second game appear again. Only this time they're even more obnoxious, since the ghost can pop up right next to you. If the developer wanted to improve or expand the game, adding a mechanic for combining clues (e.g. like in the "Sherlock Holmes" games) would have been far more desirable.
I bought this game because a steampunk-style story centered around Jules Verne and Captain Nemo looked pretty interesting. Unfortunately the writing and dialogue is so bad that it would've ruined the entire experience for me. The QTEs (although skippable) don't help either. Refunded.
The characters are unlikable. The dialogue is awkward. The combat is clunky. And don't even get me started on how the game pretends like cancelling or bullying people is all right if done to "bad people" (which in this case means people the "protagonists" disagree with). "Dreamfall Chapters" (much as I dislike that game) is nothing like this game. Not even close. But at least its characters weren't completely unlikable. "Road 96" does the oppressive government theme far better. "Gone Home" or "Caravan SandWitch" do LGBT themes far better. Steam still has the demo for this game, if you want to see with your own eyes just how bad it is. Don't waste your money.
Another short casual murder mystery, like the first 2 games of the series.
Even more straightforward than the first one, but still a nice little murder mystery.
I doubt that swinging around a light saber will ever get old, but other than that this game has not much going for it unfortunately. I won't hold the graphics against it, since the game is from 2003, but the writing is just bad, and the level design isn't much better. Some missions like the speeder chase are downright terrible. Not to mention that many of the missions (and particularly the long ones) are just endless corridors where you fight the same enemies over and over and over again.
The UI takes some getting used to, the movement is pretty janky, and combat is barely passable, but man do I love this game regardless. The story is fun, the puzzles are decent, and the blend of point & click adventure and ARPG elements feels just great.
Overall this is a pretty good game, but it does have some room for improvement in basically every aspect. For example, I like that in this game you're an undercover cop instead of being a straight up "gangsta" (like in Mafia, GTA or Yakuza). However, I would've liked it even more if the game had let me choose whether I want to side with the cops or the "family" (leading to different endings). Better yet, if decisions during missions had steered the player towards one or the other. Another example would be that melee combat feels a little button-mash-y. Yes, there are combos, but most of them are different sequences of pressing the same button. Vehicle variety is nice, and driving around the city is fun (that other cars make way for you when you're in a police car with the siren turned on was a nice touch, too), but being able to customize the cars would've been even better. Fast travel at least between your houses also would've been nice, since driving from one side of the city to the other gets a little tedious after a while. Still, all of these points are just things that would make an already good game even better.
The developers should decide if they want to make a side-scroller or a 3rd person action adventure. Both at the same time doesn't work. Button-mash-y combat and lack of clear indication of the current objective don't help either.
