I played this last year, it had been a free gift from a magazine some years prior. It had been sitting in the "to be played some time in the future" pile of games. It had been ditting there for years, because I was put off, not so much from the dated graphics, but from the minor sci-fi elements. I decided to give it a second chance after the rave reviews I'd been reading all over the internet, old and new. I was on my Xmas holidays and I said to myself "I'll give it 1-2 days of playing, if I'm not hooked by then, it's uninstall time" The thing that initially kept me playing was the frequent level-ups on the early stage of the game (they get less frequent as you gain, more levels, and rightfully so). With six characters on the team (they later become eight) you has a level up every 45min or so. After that, I'd become accustomed to the gameplay mechanics, my eyes got used to the graphics, and it was sheer joy to play for days on end! Never did I get bored, or lost any enthusiasm until the end. What a delight!
No point goin on and on about THIS game: If you enjoyed the golden age of adventures, especially the LucasArt ones, PLAY it! Plain and simple, one of the mos innovayive games, at least at the time. "like nothing you've ever seen (or done) before ... a work of storytelling art" Orson Scott Card Minus one star for the absence of goodies (audio drama, alternative editions, etc)
Samorost 3 is a thoroughly enjoyable game, with exellent atmosphere/gameplay, eyecandy graphics, and deliciously quirky sound/music design. In other words, everything one expects from an Amanita game. If you, like me, are a fan of Amanita's style of games, you're gonna enjoy this. I had a fuzzy, warm feeling while playing this, and I really enjoyed the fact that the "achievements" (the musical samples you earn) actually give you something extra: a chance to fool around as an alternative/quirky DJ, lots of fun! I still think anything over 10$ for a non-physical copy of a game is too much, especially for this particular game's length, but other than that, if you find it on a good price, by all means buy it.
Most puzzles where a bit too much on the easy side (the solution was telegraphed through the dialogue), but everything else was top notch! Superb music, very nice acting, excellent atmosphere, and an epic, adventurous tale. The whole team was loving what they were doing, and it is apparent on the finished product. Maybe the 35 euros is a bit much for its duration, but I got it on a discount, and I didn't regret it. As a matter of fact, I loved it!
Do not miss this game, I would recommend it even if it wasn't free (for a reasonable price, of course) This is truly a labour of love, from a handful of people (2 or 3 I think) who were gamers themselves and wanted to create something like those games they really liked to play. It could have easily been a Monkey Island - Indiana Jones hybrid from back in the day! Memorable stereotypical characters, deliciously one-dimensional, along with wise-crack humor, fun riddles, and exotic locations, it has a "LucasArts" feeling written all over it. Even the opening sequence reminded me of "Sam'n'Max Hit the Road". What are you waiting for? It's free! You should be playing it already!
This has to stop. Do not support games broken down to various parts. You saw what happened here, and I hope Tim has learned from the experience. The game is gorgeous in its true form, as a WHOLE adventure game, with a nice, ascending difficulty curve, and progressively unraveling plot. With its modern aesthetic and yet old-school feeling, capturing the essence of classic-era adventures (without resorting to cheap tricks like pixelated graphics or interface rip-offs), and bringing them to today. By all means, buy it, especially if it is anywhere below 10-15 $ (I'm sorry, an old timer like me won't give 20 bucks for any game that has no physical box and goodies)
Although the atmosphere and the good intentions are there, the stern control system and poor game design did not leave me much to enjoy. Top that with the fact that the game does not run smoothly no matter what settings I made in-game and on DOS-box, and it is easy to understand the low score. I never managed to synchronize the spoken with the written dialogue. The character's speed (which is customizable from the in-game menu) also affects the text speed, and the cinematics animation speed, so you either play with a character that walks like a snail, or you see the cinematic/animations on some silent-movie like speed (if not faster), which REALLY kills the suspense/atmosphere. The death scenes suffer from the lack of a decent auto-save system, raising the frustration rather than the horror levels. I found myself playing with only the keyboard, as the character has to stand in front of an object to examine it (think original "Grim Fandango"), and you cannot simply click on the spot you want your sprite to go to, but rather keep the left mouse-button pressed and guiding him around paths with mouse movements, but only up-down-left-right, no diagonal. Or resort to keyboard movement, which is a little less frustrating, although still no diagonal movement (no way is this point & click!) I would recommend playing this game only for historical or nostalgia reasons, especially if you find it in a bundle with its successor, "Prisoner of Ice" for under 5$, which I was relieved to see had none of the above problems, and the return of a couple of this games characters was a pleasant surprise, as it has a complete different tone.
I found myself enjoying this game much more than the first Call of Cthulu (Shadow of the Comet). It has far better controls/interaction/interface (true point & click), well-timed auto-save feature (really tones down the frustration when you die), and more linear progression, which I prefer. Also, no pseudo-mazes, and no need to keep notes. The option to keep the written dialogue on screen until you click was a very pleasant addition to a non-native english speaker like me. Considering its age, I fount it to have good graphics, atmospheric soundtrack, nice voice acting (I chose to play the US edition first, maybe I'll update when I decide to play the UK version too), and it run very smoothly on a Windows XP system. Minus half a star for the small duration (finished it it within a weekend), and another half star for some minor pixel hunting (only two times did I use a walkthrough, both of which were pixel-hunting related) All in all, a value-for-money purchase (especially for anything under 5$, as I bought it on sale)
