This is less of an adventure game and more of an evidence-gathering simulator. The story takes place over the course of 8 in-game hours, and the clock only advances when certain pre-scripted events are triggered. As time goes on, new clues and items appear, people and objects change locations, new areas become accessible, and people get murdered. Your goal is to stay alive and learn as much as humanly possible about these people and this place. Unfortunately, the people are one-dimensional stereotypes who barely want to speak with you. They'll respond concisely if you ASK or TELL them (this is a text parser, mind you) about different things, but you can't really influence them. You're an observer until the end. The gameplay is characterized by aimlessly wandering in search of the next plot point, pestering people for information, looking for secret passageways, spying on people, and thoroughly examining anything new or different when revisiting old locations. A handful of traditional "use item on object" puzzles help break up the repetition, but the puzzles tend to solve themselves the moment you discover there's even a puzzle in the first place. There are several ways to die, though all of them are completely avoidable if you're being at all attentive and careful. Otherwise, you're guaranteed to win eventually, whether you're playing as a super sleuth or a lazy slacker. The ending is impacted by how much information you've gathered; after the final cutscene, you get a useful (though terribly belated) checklist of what information actually matters, plus some hints for the next playthrough. I can recommend the game for its creepy atmosphere and unique concept, but the story and gameplay execution could've been so much better. I want more of the "interactive play" promised by the manual. The interface has a few problematic kinks, too. Sensitive players should be advised that there's a fair amount of blood (the title screen is the worst) and mild nudity.
I'm not that interested in Robin Hood or medieval England, but I do appreciate a polished adventure game with a well-told story and a subtle sense of humor. A lot of research and care went into making the experience feel authentic, from the music and graphics to the plot and dialogue. Not only is the atmosphere immersive, but the player is actively involved in shaping the direction of the story. Puzzles frequently have multiple solutions (some more favorable than others), and there are several optional actions that add depth to the narrative. Your choices determine how the ending plays out, and even dying is treated as part of the story—Robin's men gather around the campfire to lament whatever terrible or comically incompetent fate has befallen their leader. Because the narrative and gameplay are so intertwined, the puzzles end up being very intuitive and the challenges quite varied. Persuasion, tactical planning, stealth, exploration, sharpshooting, memorization, mastering a secret code, solving riddles, and dodging rocks are all part of a day's work. Although it is possible to create unwinnable scenarios that dead-end the adventure, the game usually gives ample opportunity to correct mistakes and go back for things you missed. Moreover, there's a difficulty slider for the few arcade sequences, a fast travel option to minimize unnecessary backtracking, and some obvious cues when you've made a bad decision. My only complaint is that entirely too much time is spent wandering through the forest, which is a massive mess of similar-looking screens, in search of the next plot point. If you've visited every fast travel location and still can't figure out what to do, it probably means there's an event waiting to be triggered on some screen you'll only stumble on by accident. Otherwise, this is a really solid game that's just plain fun. It's worth noting that the game contains frequent (depending on how you play) bloodless violence and a small amount of mild nudity.
The Dig is one of the finest adventure games I've played. Aesthetically, the game is gorgeous. Luscious environments, hauntingly beautiful music, and a perpetual sense of tense isolation create a deliciously immersive atmosphere. Between the good-quality voice acting, snappy dialogue (balancing seriousness with humor), fluid animations, and tight pacing of the scripted sequences, the whole game has a cinematic feel. It's easy to chalk this up to the game's high-profile contributors (Steven Spielberg, Orson Scott Card, Robert Patrick), but I'd be quick to recognize the entire team for making the game so good. With few exceptions, the puzzles are excellent. Clear goals, subtle hints, useful feedback, and reasonable solutions are hallmarks of the challenges, which constantly find fresh new ways to test the player's problem-solving skills. Gameplay includes the usual point-and-click fare (eg, exploration, item use, dialogue choices), but the scope and complexity of the challenges are impressive, requiring keen observation, proper sequencing, and piecing together solutions across multiple locations. The game is satisfyingly difficult and seldom frustrating; I was (just barely) able to finish without ever consulting a walkthrough. I appreciate the clean, intuitive interface as well as the optional time-waster minigame, which offers the player an on-demand brain break. There's no way to die or dead-end the game, though one late-game decision slightly affects the ending. I only have a few complaints. At least at first, the characters uphold some tired tropes (eg, the strong woman who needs to prove she's just as capable as the men). The cutscene art has a jarringly cartoony look that doesn't mesh with everything else. A couple moments are slightly gross, but one scene is remarkably gruesome (fortunately, it's not a surprise). The ending is a bit anticlimactic. Still, I highly recommend this to any sci-fi or adventure game fan looking for an immersive challenge.
If you play adventure games for the gameplay, this is one to skip. Almost every area is a maze of empty, recycled screens with only a couple points of interest. The majority of "puzzles" are pure trial and error, because there are no hints or clues of any kind (other than the occasional NPC telling you exactly what to do). Feedback in response to your actions is often vague, if you receive any feedback at all. Limited inventory space exacerbates the problem: without clearly defined goals, it's impossible to know what's important to carry. So much blind guesswork, backtracking, and reloading to undo failed solutions. The interface is fine, with only a couple rough edges; the game automatically determines what action to take when clicking on something, and there's a concise text description of each screen and inventory object. It's usually obvious enough when something will lead to death or dead-ending the game, but saving early and often is a must. The story (most of which is given in the instruction manual) is thoroughly standard fantasy fare; the humor is sporadic and anemic. Detailed graphics, pleasant music, and competent voice acting improve the experience, but not enough to recommend the game.
As a fan of Westerns, comedy, and Sierra games, this game should've been a sure-fire hit with me. There's a lot I like about it—good atmosphere, decent story, memorable characters, solid programming, unique responses for everything you can click on, and plenty of laughs (puns, references, absurdity, innuendo, and irony). Granted, there's some adult and potty humor that may not be for everyone, and a few of the characters (eg, Hopalong Singh, the Chinese cook) straddle the line between satirical and offensive. What brings the game down is the puzzle presentation. The puzzles themselves are fine—the usual fare of inventory manipulation, doing things in sequence or at the right time, and a couple (optional) arcade sequences. However, the game is very light on in-game hints (which is surprising, given the sheer amount of flavor text) and requires the player to refer to the instruction manual (included in the GOG purchase) for multiple puzzle solutions early on. A little copy protection is one thing, but this breaks the immersion and sets false expectations about the medicine recipes in the manual being at the core of the gameplay. In fact, the game almost completely ignores the hero's laboratory in the second half, wasting some of the potential of the "frontier pharmacist" premise in the process. There's also an overabundance of timed challenges (usually with no sense of how much time you actually have) and items that are easily missed if you don't click on exactly the right spot. The entire game takes place in the same town, with practically every area accessible from the get-go, so the puzzle solution possibilities are simultaneously too broad (with so many screens to explore) and too narrow (with so many screens you've already explored thoroughly). The GOG purchase includes the original floppy and enhanced CD versions; the latter has voice acting (some of Sierra's best) instead of text boxes. If you want text AND speech, there's an imperfect workaround using ScummVM.
Poor execution of a good game. The English localization is largely to blame; the dialogue is awkward and unnatural. At best, it's worth a giggle; at worst, it interferes with the story and puzzle-solving (eg, I consulted a walkthrough because I didn't understand that "filter" actually meant "lens"). Typos are common, and the onscreen text often differs from what the voice actors are saying—sometimes because they're correcting egregious grammatical errors, and sometimes because the text is in German or Russian. The voice acting is extremely flat. A handful of characters are dynamic and convincing, but the rest sound like they've been given no direction. Consequently, several dramatic moments come across as dull or silly—though that's also because many of these moments are inherently absurd. For instance, one character suddenly conducts a perfectly normal conversation after being interrupted in the middle of a mad dash to the restroom. The last 10 minutes of the game are truly inane, with some decisions and revelations that destroy all narrative credibility. The characters are fine enough. There's a good mix of personalities and (despite the localization and voice acting) some decent chemistry; however, the villains are over the top, and the abusive relationship between one of the male characters and the lead female character is utterly appalling. What saves the game is the gameplay. Yes, the interface is a little clunky; no, the tutorial doesn't bother to tell you to hold SPACEBAR to view all the hotspots. But the puzzles are generally solid, varied, and interesting—just don't think too hard about whether the solutions would be plausible in real life. You can skip the most complicated ones, and there's almost always sufficient guidance. Graphics are clean and professional. Too much of the game is silent, but when there is music or ambient noise, it fits well. There's no fear of dying or dead-ending the game, but a glitch kept me from viewing the full credits.
I suspect that nostalgia is an important factor in enjoying this game, because there are several issues I would've overlooked if I had played it when I was younger. The tone is wildly inconsistent. Is it a serious fantasy adventure? Is it a pun-filled slapstick comedy? It's jarring to keep shifting between these two extremes. The puzzle design is also inconsistent—sometimes it's the traditional Sierra style of exploring your surroundings and finding creative solutions to your problems, but other times it reaches Myst levels of abstract thinking. There's a good variety of puzzles, but not always enough guidance to get you thinking about how you should approach them. Earlier Sierra games let you touch, taste, or look at everything around you, but Torin's Passage only lets you click on very specific objects. The type of interaction (eg, talk, operate) is predetermined, so if you need more information about your surroundings to solve a puzzle (or figure out what the puzzle is in the first place), you're out of luck. Fortunately, there's a built-in hint system that works well. I found myself using it rather often—when there's only a handful of things I can click on, I run out of patience pretty quickly. Most of the time, the hints told me to click on things I tried unsuccessfully to interact with before, because I didn't click on exactly the right spot. That's just irritating. The game offers some unique mechanics, such as being able to scroll your view when in a large area, and having an animal companion who can transform into various objects, but these mechanics (particularly the latter one) are grossly underutilized. I'm not a big fan of the art style, the soundtrack doesn't stand out to me, the humor is really hit-or-miss, and most of the characters annoy me, but your mileage may vary. It's also worth nothing that color-blind players may have trouble with one or two puzzles. If you like King's Quest VII, you might like this; otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.
Although I'm not a big fan of mystery or horror, the first Gabriel Knight tells a satisfyingly complex story and develops a richly detailed world of voodoo, shadow hunters, mystics, and beignets. The graphics are clean and on par with other Sierra titles of the time. The varied soundtrack creates an appropriate sense of peacefulness, tension, mystery, or danger on every screen. The game takes place over a series of days, and you spend most of the game revisiting the same dozen places each day. There are mandatory tasks to accomplish before each day will end (so, no unwinnable scenarios), but it's often unclear what needs to be solved today when you won't see the significance until tomorrow. Feedback on specific actions is good; general guidance is poor. Constant backtracking is bad enough without being unsure what you're looking for, but a couple puzzles (eg, the clock) require MAJOR leaps of logic that can hold up the game. There are also too many interaction icons (pick up, move, operate, AND open?) that are inconsistently interchangeable, making some obvious solutions confusingly precise. The voice acting adds to the experience (though I did turn off the voiced narration immediately—good voice, but not for a narrator), but some of the characterizations are questionable. Gabriel continually sexually harasses Grace, but we're meant to excuse it as funny banter. Her deep concern for him later on seemingly comes out of nowhere, as does the romance between Gabriel and another character. Of all the corpses Gabriel encounters and reacts to, the person he knew best affects him the least. As good as the rest of the writing is, these are serious turn-offs. If you're looking for a more forgiving Police Quest with Cajun flavor and a supernatural twist, give Gabriel Knight a try. Just take the critical acclaim with a grain of salt. NOTE: GOG download doesn't offer the graphic novel that came with the game. The game contains adult language, some nudity, and graphic gore.
The trouble with Beneath a Steel Sky is that it feels like a patchwork of fragments from different good adventure games, which fit together poorly to make a playable but inconsistently enjoyable game. You've got death sequences...but not enough of them for there to be any reliable sense of consequence to your actions. The overall feel of the game is generally fairly serious, with some especially dark moments, yet there are out-of-the-blue moments of goofball comedy that are completely incongruous with the rest of the game. The challenge factor of the puzzles fluctuates wildly; sometimes the puzzles are intuitive and downright easy, while other times it won't even be apparent that there's a puzzle at all. If you're up for an adventure game featuring a dystopian cyberpunk society with a complex storyline, BASS is at least worth a look. It's just difficult to recommend the game with any real enthusiasm because of how disruptive the inconsistencies are.
