A lot of people seem to be complaining that this is a walking sim, which it is, but that's not actually a bad thing. Walking sims can have great plots and characters. This game has neither. Here's your spoiler alert. The prologue is spelled out in a series of text boxes, which is kind of cheap in itself, but what really bugs me is that it tells you, "You fall in love and get married, okay? But then your wife gets a mental illness and you leave her, so now you're sad," in the course of a minute or two. It's really cheap that they build you up and let you down so quickly. The rest of the game is about you hiding from your problems by being a forest ranger fire watch guy, whose only contact with civilization is a walkie-talkie that you use to talk to some woman I forget the name of. The game heavily pushes you towards making you start a relationship with this woman, whether you want to or not. Whether or not you enjoy this game probably hinges on how annoying you find this walkie-talkie woman. I personally could not stand her. There is a sub-plot to this game involving some strange happenings going on in the park, but spoiler alert again: It turns out to just be some guy. Bit of a letdown there, too.
I really liked the story and characters, and the creature designs were pretty cool, too. I played it for a few hours when I first got it, and eventually I got stuck. I picked the game up a couple years later and, within a few more hours, I beat it. It's not a terribly long game, nor does it have high production value, but it was fun and I enjoyed it, although it seems that I need a break every few hours of playing it.
This game is easily the worst of the Lucasarts point-and-click-ventures. That said, it's still a Lucasarts point-and-click-venture, so it still is enjoyable. I played this game a TON as a kid but never beat it until I played it again as an adult. The puzzles are mostly good, with one or two that are pretty tough. I did end up looking up a guide a few times when I got totally stumped. The thing that really brings this game down, however, are the freaking MAZES. There are, like, 5 mazes in this game that have you wandering around, sometimes in total darkness, for what can add up to HOURS. It really is like they were trying to pad the game's length out. Even without the frustration of the mazes, though, the story and puzzles aren't as good as Maniac Mansion or even Loom. Still a decent game though.
This game is even more fun than the trailer makes it look, the combat, story, characters, puzzles, etc. are all freaking amazing and more people need to know about this game. The universe this game takes place in is just... so... COOL, and I love Lea, the main character! The combat is very fast paced and intuitive, but also very deep. The controls take some getting used to with the mouse, but you can switch to a controller if you want. The puzzles are fun, but can sometimes get insane--often I'll be stuck for a while and then realize... "Oh crap, they want me to do WHAT?!" ...and then I'll have to shoot an energy ball, switch to ice and quickly freeze a column of water so that it can bounce the energy, then switch to fire and light a fuse before the ball gets there, and there'll be a couple more steps before the puzzle is complete--but it's SO SATISFYING when you finally get it! Oh my gosh, sorry, I just love this game so much. I'll just spend hours exploring the same maps over and over again trying to figure out how the game developers want you to get on top of THAT ROOF OVER THERE to get the treasure chest stashed on top of it. LOVE IT! Graphics and music? Good grief, it looks and sounds like a science fiction Secret of Mana, I can't sing its praises enough!
This game starts off strong, and reminds me a lot of "Out of this World" aka "Another World" (also on this website. The plot is also very interesting at first--you, as a scientist swear to bring your beloved wife back from the dead using science, and your adventures soon take you to another world. However, both the plot and gameplay go downhill soon and the game just feels very mediocre for a while until by the end it's a frustrating mess. ...Also, there are two endings, and they both suck.
