Neon Hearts City feels like a student project. It's a short game that can be played in an hour or two. But most of the puzzles are very simple, if not trivial, and a couple of "quests" are nonsensical and annoying after you figure out a solution by trial and error. If you're looking for an authentic atmosphere and a compelling story, try Beneath the Steel Sky, which is also completely free and available at GOG.
I played these games in the early 90s and loved them from the first sight because of very beautiful graphics and open world exploration. These games have a special place in my heart, however, looking at them now, I must admit that most of the new players most likely will find the Ishar series quirky, if not frustrating. First, there is no much information about the game mechanics, classes, spells, and etc. Information provided in the manual is extremely generic and limited. So players should figure everything out by themselves and in some situations just guess and hope for the best. For example, in later games not all spell casting characters gain new spells after leveling up. And it is unknown beforehand who gains new spell and who doesn’t. In the mid- and late game magic is very helpful and sometimes essential for finishing your mission, so you will be forced to dismiss “lazy” learners and recruit someone new and spend time on training and gaining experience all over again. Second, there are very interesting ideas in the game about character alignment and team interaction. However, implementation is inadequate and may leave a player with frustration over party composition and even stall game progression. Specifically, each time you want to recruit or dismiss a character, each team member votes. As result, you may not be able to add a character you need or dismiss a useless character. You can always kill one of the characters, but this can trigger vendetta from his friendly teammates and you will end up with several dead characters. Or if you keep one character, who doesn’t go well with the rest of the party, he/she can leave the team during your stay at a tavern taking equipment and money with him/her. This mechanics can be very annoying because you need to add some special characters to your team to finish the game. Finally, the plot is pretty simple and linear and there are not many conversations in the game that enrich playing experience and help your immersion into the game world. You generally know what to do and perhaps even why, but there is no information about the world, places, characters, etc. So, in spite of its visual beauty, the world of Ishar is quite empty. There are some technical nuances each of the games has: Ishar 1: Each save cost you 1,000 coins and it is quite expensive, especially at the beginning of the game when your party is weak and poor. In one of the dungeons there is a lever that shuts down the exit portcullis and after that this lever gets stuck and you can’t use it anymore. By the time you get to the locked gates and figure out what happened, it is too late and you need to restore a save (if you have it), as there is no other way to leave the dungeon. Ishar 2: In general the most balanced game of the series, but there are moments when you need to use different animals to get something done and if you don’t know in advance which animal to use and where, you can get stuck as there is no way back at this point. Ishar 3: The most beautiful game of the series. Because of its rich graphics it can be quite difficult to navigate in the forest or mountains, especially if you don’t map on paper (yes, there is no automap). As I mentioned, not all spellcasters gain new spells with level up and I don’t think you can finish the game without using magic, as enemies at the end are very strong and the final battle with the dragon is a suicide mission in hand to hand combat. Special note about Ishar 3 available on GOG. The game you download is a CD version. It doesn’t have any issues with translation and password provided in the manual work. However, the CD version has a very ugly 3D intro, in the style of the early 90s, and has no people on the streets of the city. The floppy version has a stunning animated intro and has people all over the streets of the city who share some information about the city and give some hints. So if you have a chance, get a floppy version of Ishar 3. In sum, the Ishar series is visually beautiful, but not as enjoyable as it could be. Most likely these games are not for new players who look for easy and frustration free experience. However, anyone who is into hard-core old school rpg will fine them attractive enough.
I was looking for some easy and relaxing adventure/quest like game with Si-Fi setting and this is how I found Tales from the Borderlands. The game has an intriguing story, some decision making branching, and very good graphics and sound/music. Characters are cool and memorable. The story is shown from different angles and played (at different times) by different characters. Five starts here. However, the game game terrible controls. You can't change them. Mouse cursor is slow because of animation that makes gameplay terribly difficult especially during occasional moments when you need to click at some fast moving object or die. Dialog options you have to choose from in only a few given seconds you can choose only using mouse. Why not to let you to press quickly a numeric key for that? But this all is fine in comparison with [Q] key. [Q] key in this game is the worst experience I ever had in my 25 years of playing various games. You have to press [Q] quickly many-many-many-many times pretty often in this game. And this is extremely annoying to tap [Q] like a monkey to make you character to push something or apply force. This is just retarded. Anyway. One start for controls. So, overall rating is 3 starts. Beautiful and interesting story and simple and relaxing game with awful and annoying controls.
I was curios to play Resonance after I read many positive reviews. Unfortunately the game did not work for me at all. Perhaps I played too much into "classic" games from Sierra, Lucas Arts, and Revolution, so call me biased. The interface is weird and I did not find it friendly and easy to use. Puzzles are too mechanical, plain boring, or just stupid. Can't say anything about the plot because I gave up playing pretty quickly. The entire perception of the game I can describe in one word - retarded.
Enjoyed the game pretty much and was surprised to learn that it was developed by a small team and funded via Kikstarter. Good job! The game has an intriguing plot, extremely good voices and charming graphics. I very liked that you can choose one of the three professions so I finished the game three times by playing for Brigand, Rogue, and Sorcerer. It was really cool to be able to handle the same situation very differently. However, I award only four stars for several reasons. First, the combat is rather unbalanced and quickly becomes a nuisance rather than a challenge. The character quickly becomes too strong and I never used healing potions even when I played for sorcerer. Even more, I ended up just running all the time to avoid combat and to concentrate on the main quest. Second, the same is with the economy - money are plentiful and are not an issue as rewards for quests are substantial. If you play for rogue and rob the bank, you will get even more money than you can spend (50,000 if you are asking). Third, there is some overall incompleteness in the game as many characters stop providing you with new information and interaction opportunities after the first few days. The Act II is short and Act III even shorter and I had a feeling that the developers were running low on funds and just wanted to finish the game. Overall, still a very good and entertaining game. Hope to see more games from the same team.
Memoria is an excellent game with stunning graphics, pleasant music, good voices, and an intriguing story that twists unexpectedly as it unfolds. As a matter of fact, the game has two separate stories intertwined through the time. The game has a balanced and engaging approach in its storytelling; it was difficult to stop playing until I finished the game. The puzzles are not mind-bending, but still enjoyable, with an exception of a few silly and/or boring ones. It looks like the developers have learnt from mistakes made in the first part, Chains of Satinav, (which I rated as 3 stars) and improved everything significantly. I truly enjoyed Memoria.
The game has visually appealing scenes, charming music, and an interesting story. Unfortunately, the plot is quite linear, puzzles in most cases are simple, and characters, or character interactions, miss some depth. The ending is quite short and rather abrupt. I really enjoyed excellent drawing of locations and background animation. Music is enjoyable and helps to immerse into the world. The story is interesting and is developing throughout the game. However, the plot overall is linear and whatever you do, you will have the same ending. There are multiple occasions where you can have different dialog responses that I hoped would result in brunching of the story. Unfortunately, this is is not the case. Puzzles in most cases are very simple and I knew exactly what I supposed to do and only needed to follow steps predetermined buy the game. The only exception is the fairy world that defies common logic. I also was disappointed in how relationship development between main characters was shown. It is a touchy love story of sacrifice and the authors could use it much better by adding more depth and more facets. Finally, even though by the end you already know the ending and what would happen, still the ending was rather abrupt with only 10-15 minutes of animation. On a subjective note, as a big fan the Realms of Arkania trilogy I was excited to get back to Aventuria and play into DSA (Das Schwarze Auge or The Dark Eye). However, the only reference to DSA in the game are the names of the twelve gods and a single mentioning of thorwalians. So, the game could have used any generic dark-age / medieval Europe environment. In sum, The Dark Eye - Chains of Satinav is a good game with beautiful scenes, but it is relatively easy and lacks sophistication. P.S. The easter egg in the game is ... inappropriate.
Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse is a beautiful and visually appealing interactive story and just a shadow of what Broken Sword games used to be. The plot is too linear and unsophisticated, puzzles are either simple or meaningless and boring, and the game is full of clichés and stereotypes about different nations. I played BS 1 and 2 back in the times and liked them a lot; never played BS 3 and 4 because of ugly 3D graphics. So I had high expectations for BS 5 when I found it. Unfortunately, the game was just too plain and boring and I finished it only for the sake of finishing. Perhaps, BS 5 can be an enjoyable game for someone who is transitioning from Angry Birds or Candy Crush Saga type games. For players who are looking for an intriguing story and challenging puzzles, there are much better games available. For example, Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers (1993 original version) is a great game if you like mysteries, and Beneath the Steel Sky if you are more into Si-Fi.
Perhaps it was a great game in 1995, but 20 years later it looks just ok. Somehow I missed the game when it was published and decided to try it when GOG made it available. I finished it over a weekend and was a little bit disappointed. The plot is ok, but has more fiction than science and the game gets very cheese by the end. Some puzzles were very annoying and unnecessary tedious (e.g. the repairment of the power plant using a service drone, putting together a carcass of a dead "turtle", figuring out the purpose of the alien device, etc). There is an element of pixel hunting, for example when an item is given to you but was put not into your inventory but on the floor of the same colour and it was very easy to miss it. And there is a lot of digging in the game, so be ready to use your shovel often (the name of the game is "The Dig" for a reason). Overall the game is ok, but nothing impressive impressive. Though, picturesque locations and good voices make the game more enjoyable. It is difficult to find a direct comparison for "The Dig", but if you want something futuristic, I would recommend "Beneath a Steel Sky" as a better alternative.
