On one hand, Cat Lady is a unique and interesting labor of love. On the other, it's dull, ugly, boring and amateurish. The whole thing feels like something a very talented moody teenager made in the late-90s. There's potential here for sure, but it's got a long way to be realized. The story is easily the strongest element. It's unique and told quite creatively, but it never really quite gets there. Sometimes it goes to painstaking lengths to develop characters and situations, others, it just drops stuff in with no explanation at all (ie, the Carpenter). It's hard to say more without spoiling, but suffice it to say, the story-telling is uneven. The acting is solid and the writing not bad. Puzzles are mostly straightforward and easy - there were only a few times I was stumped for more than a minute or 2. The bigger gameplay issue is that you'll spend far more of your time sitting and listening to dialogue than you will actually playing and problem-solving. I don't mind a game that's more interactive fiction than game, but there are many, MANY long stretches of time that have you staring at a near static image on the screen while VERY long conversations play out. Conversations in which you'll only have a minimum of interaction every once in a very great while. At the very least, change up the camera angles. Move things around. Make the visuals dynamic. Make something, ANYTHING happen on screen. The other huge problem is that what does happen visually is terrible. This is simply one of the ugliest games I've ever played. I'm very sympathetic to budget limitations, and the fact that the game is going for a depressed, muted tone, but Cat Lady is about as visually miserable as a game can get, and has some of the most laughably bad animation I've ever seen. Ultimately, this is a weak game that's not strong enough on story to justify its gameplay issues. There's a lot of ambition and potential here, but it just doesn't work.
I know this game is oddly beloved by many, but sad to say, it's really not very good, and absolutely pales in comparison with its predecessors. While the art and sound are fantastic (aside from Guybrush's awful new look), the jokes are often weak, the puzzles mostly unimpressive, and the world claustrophobically small. It's not a bad game, but it's such a catastrophic drop from the perfection of MI1 and 2 that it comes off much worse that it actually is. Worst aspect: the long, painfully boring, incredibly unfunny, un-challenging, extremely derivative section of rhyming-insult-sword-fighting. The designers took what had been a stroke of pure genius from the first game and rehashed it into an agonizingly slow exercise in insipidity. Make sure you bring a pillow with you as you snore through the repetitive animations and poor line-readings of lame rhymes that hardly qualify as jokes as you slowly build up your arsenal of comebacks and weaponry in a dumbed down combination of MI1 and Sid Meier's Pirates. The other big issue is simply the difficult transition that Adventure games struggled with at this time as they were forced to shift from the format of reading dialogue to having it voice-acted. Really, nothing did more to kill the genre than this shift, as you're left with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs as voice-actors of extremely varying quality slowly read lines that you could have read yourself far quicker (and better in your own mind. Plus no matter how good the acting, it's always hard to reconcile the way voice-actors portray characters with the way you'd been hearing them in your own head for years already. Sigh. Such a shame. Still, the game is not without its merits. There are fun bits sprinkled here and there, even a few inspired moments. And of course, there's Murray - easily the best thing about MI in its post-Gilbert era. Play it yes. But don't expect to love it.
As many have already stated, there really is scarcely any gameplay to be found within this "game." It could best be described as a console-style RPG that had virtually all the gameplay stripped out of it, leaving you with just walking, clicking through dialogue, and occasionally clicking on random objects to advance the plot. Basically, imagine someone played through FF6 and decided to make an entire game out of the part where Celes tries to kill herself. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.... But it does create another issue. Aside from Planescape: Torment, there are really very few games out there whose writing is strong enough to support the whole gameplay experience by itself. Game mechanics are tremendously useful at reinforcing narrative elements (as in Planescape) or simply helping the player elide weak spots in the writing itself. Goofy dialogue is much more readily forgiven when you're in the midst of awesome game-play. When you strip everything else away, any flaws in the writing and story-telling are laid-bare to the world. So you'd better bring it.... So does To the Moon bring it? Mainly yes. When all is said and done, this is an engaging, memorable, and touching experience. It's also a somewhat amateurish one - though that itself is a rich source of its charm. Clearly the makers poured a lot of love and themselves into the game. They also poured a lot of maudlin sap. The sense of melancholy that permeates the game can at times be oppressive, and you get the feeling that the one goal the makers had when they set out to create the game was to make the player cry at all costs. Nevertheless, if you don't mind a game almost physically reaching through the screen to consciously jerk at your tear-ducts, and don't mind the fact that there really isn't much game to actually be played, then you'll find To the Moon to be well worth the few hours and dollars it takes to experience it.
When this game came out, I tried my absolute hardest to love it. It certainly sounded amazing on paper. Unfortunately it's an exercise in mediocere tedium. The oppressively "serious" atmosphere does nothing to elevate the pretentious yet still run-of-mill story - it only serves to drain away some much needed life and humor from a game that sorely needs it. Further, the puzzles often are less than logical and require lots of backtracking. Don't get me wrong, this game is not at terrible. It simply fails to live up to its own hype, and the general reputation for excellence Lucasarts adventures had at this time,
These games - particularly the first two - are some of my all time favorites. I find myself going back to them almost every year - always intent on completing all 5, but always stymied by some kind of tech issue along the way. It will truly be an epic accomplishment if GOG has resolved all the bugs these games were littered with. The first two games are remarkably innovative and do a delightful job of balancing light-hearted adventure with more solemn and scary moments. Corey Cole's writing is top notch, and there is a palpable sense of fun that just oozes through the gameplay. Things went down-hill later on - particularly the perfunctory third game, which feels totally incomplete. The fourth was a decent return to form, though it felt a little too much like it was trying too hard to recapture the old times. The fifth was ok - a pretty solid conclusion. The real shame is there were never any further games in the series, nor any games since that have really successfully recaptured the spirit of the original 2. If you do pick this up, make sure you pick up the outstanding VGA remake of the 2nd game by AGD: http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/ Truly a labor of love that improves remarkably on the original. Anyway despite the gripes, this series is still pretty bitching
This game gets an unfairly bad rap, partly because it has so much squandered potential, and partly because it was a drop in quality for a series that had up to then prided itself on excellence. Add to that the fact that it was a significant departure in design from the last several games in the series (though if you look at Ultima overall, the series had always been about reinventing itself) and you have a game that tends to be hated by a highly vocal group of people. The fact is the game does have a lot going for it, so much so, that the real heart-break comes from seeing just how good this game could have been with just a few more months of development. The music and atmosphere are great, and the the world wonderfully intriguing. The magic systems in particular had enormous potential: the game attempted to create no less than 5 different types of magic, each of which worked in different ways. Necromancy for instance, had you creating complicated rituals to prepare your spells, rather than just simply clicking to fire it off. Unfortunately this too failed to execute as well as it might have, but the ideas are present enough to enjoy. Overall the game is frustrating. The jumping is a bit annoying, but with the patch, not even close to as bad as some would say. It is flawed but also unique, and well-worth checking out if you're a fairly patient rpg fan looking for something different.
Arguably the best RPG of all time, certainly one of the best games period. The ending still gives me chills.
Great game, loads of fun, tons of character. There are many imperfect elements, but all are overlookable when it comes to the fun this game brings.
This game is one of the greatest achievements in computer game storytelling. The relationship built between the player and his alien friend is just heartbreakingly beautiful. The game itself is fun, if often excessively difficult/bordering on unfair. Havent played the GOG version yet but looking forward to an easy mode!!!
