The Journey Down is a very good game. The first chapter serves more or less as a demo while chapters 2 and 3 are the "real deal". None of the chapters is strong enough to stand alone on its own, the three chapters together should be considered as one entity. As a whole, it gets four stars because of its great atmosphere, because of captivating story, and background music. The package holds well together, the game is quite easy and thus remains interesting throughout it course, also at the same time it doesn't contain too much pixel hunting and isn't too much focused on inventory and the protagonists carrying every possible object with them. It does not get the fifth star because a great deal of the style is indirectly stolen from Grim Fandango (which does not bother too much, but demonstrates lack of originality to certain extent that makes the outcome non-5-star material). Also some puzzles are too straight-forward, here and there I get the feeling that the solution is overly simple given the complexity of the problem. This applies also to dialogue puzzles, to my taste even more could have been achieved in that area. However, four stars is already a good grade and this is where the game stands. For those looking for good, not best point and click adventure (perhaps you are already familiar with the creme de la creme), The Journey Down, in all 3 chapters, is recommended.
Flight of the Amazon Queen has "B" stamped all over. Dinosaurs, lasers, Amazon women...and what's there not to like about that? The plot is interesting enough and at the same time linear enough. The characters are credible, and also at the same time the characters are "linear" enough, to fit in the B-class world convincingly. The dialogue is the best asset of this game, there are some really excellent jokes and plenty of interesting options to choose from, and some puzzles can be solved through dialogue only. There is voice acting and it seems convincing enough, at least to me. The other puzzles are mainly quite straight-forward, with a couple of trickier ones on the side. I am under the impression that the protagonist cannot die in this game, which I think also fits the B class style. One thing that could have taken further development is the user interface. In other ScummVM games using the inventory items takes fewer clicks, and also choosing between different verbs does so. I wouldn't have personally minded if the user interface was a direct copy from some other ScummVM game. Then again, someone else might have minded... In my books Flight of the Amazon Queen is equally good compared to Sam & Max Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle and maybe Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade. It is big statement which I am not at all hesitant to make. Highly recommended.
I quite enjoyed the remake of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. In the big picture it is the same lovely game. "What can you tell me about voodoo?" It is the same captivating story that takes place in the same locations, but some events have been divided more evenly over the 10 days. There is a handful of new scenes and puzzles, also the dialogue has been renewed to some extent, but most of it is still as it was in the 1993 version. I think the renewed police station scene is an improvement, while the new puzzle at Moonbeam residence doesn't enhance the experience that much. One welcome improvement, even correction, is that it doesn't snow in Germany in June. Gabriel's user interface is a simplified version from the original - not all verbs are available at all time, only the ones relevant to a particular hotspot. This undoubtedly makes the otherwise quite hard game easier, but at the same time it doesn't straighten some wrinkles, and maybe sometimes gives a bit too linear feel to the outcome. The biggest success in this remake is done with the background music. What we hear at the back are new arrangements and orchestrations (which of course involves new mixing and mastering)... of the same old tunes, without touching the compositions. Especially the Dixieland Drug Store theme gives me the chills. On the voice acting side, we hear the 2nd best Gabriel Knight after Tim Curry in my opinion. For me Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - 20th Anniversary Edition has turned out worth the purchase, even of some replay value even though I have the original CD version. Would I recommend this remake to someone who already knows the original 1993 version? Absolutely. Would I recommend this remake to someone who doesn't? I would, but I would recommend the original even more.
