I love Wadjet Eye games (especially the Blackwell series) and got this in one of the winter sales at a good deal. First, the good: I like the main character and the setting - the new city of Miami at the start of the 1900's is interesting, especially when they use real historical people, places, and events as backdrop and story elements. That's really cool and well-thought out. And it utilizes a time and place in history not many people think much about, despite it being one of great social and technological change. But, that said, few of the puzzles are stumpers in any significant way (there may be three interactive things in a room, with one the blatantly obvious solution to another in that same room). It has times when you can approach puzzles in several different ways or orders, but I didn't get the impression than approaching it from one way or the other would actually lead to potential failure--just different solutions to the same problem. A few times it isn't entirely clear what you need to do, but usually that's not with the puzzles themselves, but when the game makes you do something suddenly different than you do at any other point in the game (like chase someone through an alley). Overall, I'd aim to get this one on sale, but if you do, it's worth the play-through (shouldn't take you more than ten to fifteen hours or so, so it isn't a huge time sink). And it is worth it to explore a little, oft-ignored corner of history in an interesting, if sometimes a little too linear, way.
I had and loved this game as a kid. It was very inventive at the time, the style of animation over live action, the well-developed script, the mystery plot that used "real time" that allowed you to miss semi-crucial plot points, the works. It was great. The only problem was that it was a one-time play (or maybe once every other year, after you'd forgotten where everything was hidden or how it played out).
