Yes, Thimbleweed Park is a great game and certainly one every point-and-click-adventure fan should play. But the hype elevates the game a little too much in my opinion. The style and graphics look like something you might remember with rose-tinted glasses from 1987 - and that is awesome. The verb-controls are somewhat nice but in truth, you're mainly using the right mouse-button and lot's of verbs usually don't do anything (or the same thing) when used: For example, you can't look at people, it's always talk. The humor is great - when it stays in universe. But sadly, a lot of humor is created by breaking the forth wall. A lot of people might like this, I find it distracting and it pulls me out of the zone. Also, why all the hate-jokes against Sierra and other adventure designers? Is this kindergarten? There are a lot of cool puzzles but there are also a lot that have been recycled from Maniac Mansion, which style Thimble Weed Park most closely tries to emulate. In fact, there are so many Maniac Mansion references there, that it almost feels like a Maniac-Mansion-fan-adventure. But it's probably set in the same universe. For the first half of the game, there isn't much of a narrative and the plot is mainly told through playable cut-scenes. Later in the game, however, the plot starts to gain momentum and becomes rather interesting. The game isn't perfekt, no, but it's a great retro-adventure none the less.
Don't look at the game es a continuation of the main Ultima series. Instead, look at it like for example a Final Fantasy game, where there are certain motives and game mechanics are used but the story is self contained. And what a story it is! It's Lost Valley scenario is fresh, the setting is very detailed and a lot of fun. The world is a little smaller than Britannia but that minimizes backtracking to a certain extend. The basic interface of Ultima VI has been slightly improved - including a sort-of questlog: Your companion Jimmy keeps track of everything you need to do without being too detailed. And, of course, being an Ultima game you have all the freedom you want - including really great crafting mechanics and interaction with your surroundings. Add interesting characters, an open quest structure where you are free to solve most of the quests in any order, a solid combat system with underused enemy-types, and a pretty presentation (with detailed VGA graphics and a beautiful Roland-soundtrack) and you get an awesome RPG! Just don't look at it as a main game of the main Ultima series.
