After 4.5 hours, I'm just not feeling engaged. My biggest problem is that the english translation is awkward and confusing - either that, or the characters were *intended* to be bipolar, and I'm not sure which is worse. I've also had a lot of problems with textures. To name some - Aria's high heels don't render, making it appear as though she is standing on her toes at all times. The button input icons are blank white squares. And the ocean during the Ankora boss fight was a flat pink plane.
Overall, I enjoyed this game. But I feel compelled to warn anyone who watched the cartoon trailer and thought this would be a lighthearted experience - it's actually pretty dark. Colorful and stylish, but still... dark.
This is a novelty among adventure games, for two reasons: 1. You're following a person's life. It's not just an adventure of some kind in the life of a snarky, comedic, and or terror-struck protagonist in an tight situation - this game is all about Alfred Banks, a man who helped make Coral Gables, Florida, the city it is. His rise, his fall, and his struggles throughout give this game a more personal focus than you usually see in adventure games. 2. You're in a real place at a real time when real things are happening. You can actually meet William Jennings Bryan, Fatty Walsh, and other historical figures, interacting with them and solving puzzles involving them, and seeing how the city of Miami grew in its early years. The puzzles and gameplay aren't really anything to write home about, but the writing is quite good, and well-worth experiencing if you're into this genre.
Short, quick assessment: STORY - Pretty well-written, felt rushed towards the end with a lot of stuff being resolved in cutscenes instead of gameplay and some plot threads being dropped entirely. This was my first and only experience with Jane Jensen, and I left the game thinking she's "pretty good, maybe ovrehyped". GAMEPLAY - Standard adventure fare, most of it not too hard. Interesting use of the "magic trick" puzzles, wherein you use Sam's skills at sleight of hand and deception to advance the plot. Good implementation of a "scoring" system, which mostly serves to show you which areas still have things to discover in them. Sometimes it can be difficult to find things you need to click on to trigger plot flags, and that can hold the game up. SOUND & VISUALS: Good voice-acting, great background art. Cutscenes not always consistent with in-game art. OVERALL: Good game, would recommend to other people, but I probably won't remember it in 5-10 years.
