I admit I haven't tried The Breakout yet, but I'm most of the way through the English version of Harvey's New Eyes, and I'm having a great time. I will say that the deviance factor is a little off-putting for a while, but it gets funnier as you go along. And the puzzles make sense. The difficulty seems just right, where I don't need to go to a walkthrough every 10 minutes, but I do have to think about what to do next - and 99% of the time I can figure it out. The translation is pretty good, with a few clunky spots. Nothing game-breaking. Some of the names of objects seem slightly foreign (winegums? - a candy apparently), but hey, what's a little more weirdness? The voice acting is also good, over-the-top at times, which seems appropriate. This is in my top 5 list of adventure games at this point, along with Mechanarium and the Gabriel Knight games. Just be aware that it isn't for children (unless they are very, very naughty ;).
I hate to be the lone dissenting voice here, but I wasn't blown away by these. Don't get me wrong, the writing and voice acting is very good, and I DID finish the series. I just got sort of bored after a while. The problem is that these are more interactive stories than adventure games. There aren't a lot of puzzles, and some of the puzzles that do occur don't make a lot of sense. There's a whole lot of clicking on dialog and listening to responses, especially in the first 3 games, and not a whole lot else. It is a matter of taste of course, but I'm not rushing out to get another game like this. So, while these are very good for what they are, if you are fond of actual puzzles, you may be disappointed.
I've been playing computer games ever since I could afford one (VIC 20) and this game stands out as one of my all-time favorites, both for its quirky sense of humor and its design. For each level, you start out with an empty building, and add rooms, furniture, even potted plants (helps the doctors feel important). You hire staff: receptionists, doctors, specialists, nurses, handymen, etc. which are paid according to their strengths or lack thereof. The game starts out simply, and each level adds more diseases, cures, types of room (research, surgery), etc. - and more difficulty. Eventually you have to deal with epidemics, vomit storms, and earthquakes, all while trying to make a profit. Like many games of its era, there is no "build while paused' option; you can slow the game down, but that's it. I personally have never managed to beat this game, but have had many, many hours of enjoyment from it. Also, this game has personality and real humor, things that seem to be missing from many games of the last decade. Maybe that's because developers are rushing to get things out quickly for profit and have no time to add that particular magic anymore. Highly recommended.
...maybe even the most fun I've had on my PC. There is something about the design of this game, and even the design of the artwork, that makes it the best RPG experience I've ever had. There is no level-balancing in this game, which means that there are areas that you just can't safely enter until you reach a certain experience level. This required a lot of extra effort for the developers, as they had to design the plot(s) to coincide with the level of the monsters in different areas. In my opinion this is a far superior design to that of Oblivion: when you finally are able to conquer an area you really feel like you accomplished something. This type of design does make the game slightly more linear, but you really don't notice - you're far too busy having fun. The graphics, although dated, are beautiful. I remember when I first played the game, just raving to friends about the gorgeous countryside I was exploring. The artists made the most of the technology they had at the time. It's been a while since I played, but as I recall most of the game is played from an over-the-shoulder perspective. The combat is pretty much real-time hack-and-slash, with magic and ranged weapons as well. There are 3 different paths you can take, each one plays out differently with different areas and quests available depending on your choice. This allows for at least 3 playthroughs, which is a lot of great entertainment. Anyway, I highly recommend this game. Just be patient and persistant through the first areas - it's worth it in the end.
Okay, this is just my opinion, but even though I usually like this type of game I found this boring and frustrating. I started playing the main quest-based game and got through a few levels before quitting. Part of the problem, I think, is not really understanding the cause and effect of my actions in the game. I'm told to decrease the quality of my food (along with my prices) to please my less demanding tightwad customers, but then get complaints about the poor quality. I install a dumbwaiter to speed up delivery to my second floor, but in spite of hiring extra servers, still have problems getting my food to the customers on time because my chef can't keep up, apparently. The pathfinding is also pretty horrendous - after installing said dumbwaiter and the extra 'porter' to man it, my chef can't get into the kitchen until the first upstairs customer is served because said porter is dawdling in the middle of the kitchen blocking his way to the stove and there is no way to shove him out of the way. I receive complaints about my nasty employees, but there is no way to discipline them other than firing them and trying a new one (and they ALL seem to be extremely anti-social). Even with all these complaints and problems, I always completed the levels the first time through, so perhaps the standards in Paris just aren't that high. Another disappointment came with the chef contests that occassionally are available to compete in. Your chef goes up against 2 others in a cooking contest, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason behind the selection of the winner. During the contest, you can 'help' your chef by playing 3 monotonous and non-food-related mini-games (not even fun, thank you, just click in the right place as fast as you can) in order to help the score. So, anyway, I just feel this game was poorly designed. I find it frustrating because my input is limited to actions that much of the time seem to have little effect. And it could have been so much better.
I wasted hundreds of hours (probably) in the 1990s playing this game, but had gone on to Heroes 3, 4, and 5 and had made the mistake of giving my discs to an equally-addicted friend. Thanks to GoG I can play this again, and I have to say that this game not only holds up gameplay-wise to anything on the market today, but it also has reinstated itself as my all-time favorite HOMM game. I am once again finding myself up till 2 am and having to wrench myself away so I can function in RL the next day. You have been warned: this game will grab hold of your brain like a boa constrictor (okay a gentle, colorful boa constrictor that makes pretty noises). I won't go into the gameplay mechanics (others have done a brilliant job of that). The only thing I have to add to any of the other reviews is that I love the map editor for this game. Unlike subsequent editors for HOMM games, the creations from this one are truly random. You can create a map and there may only be one ore mine on the entire map. Or, you may be given 7 gold mines in the vacinity of your starting castle (or your enemy's!). The editor for HOMM3 was done using a small variety of templates in order to insure balance, but I found that it got old quickly. Anyway, this is well worth $9.99. It is a true classic.
