Some people think "it is free so it can't be good". If this were a bad game, would GOG host it? It was the 100th game GOG did so maybe that's why it is free. Like somebody said: "they hand it to you for free, on a silver platter and still people complain". Yes the first part with the captain is hard. I had to use a walk-through a few times. But it is not stranger than other adventures from that time. Sometimes there are hints in what our hero says. I like the humour, and I can understand it is not everybody's taste. I think it is a cute, lovely game. The animations really got me. The ones with the squirrel and the hedgehog were fantastic! Thank you GOG for hosting this, when it came out originally I misssed it.
Nice graphics, nice music, voice did not work, great atmoshpere and that's very important. But the game does not work for me. There is a lot of pixel hunting, in case you don't know: you have to move the cursor over a tiny spot on the screen to discover something. This is even true for exits, I had to click one pixel to find an exit. Also: the cursor does not change when the mouse hovers over an object or over an exit. Plus the objects blend in to the rest on screen. I'm not going to say "Hey, good one Sierra! I am so glad you give me the chance to find this out! We are good friends huh? I love what you did there!" No, Sierra: you just annoy me on this one. Plus timed puzzles where you don't know what to do? Come on. I don't mind trying and spending a lot of time solving a puzzle. It gives such a rush when it is finally solved. But no rush comes when I m spending my time pixel hunting and trying to exit to another screen. Plus, there is no fast way to go from walking to talking or other actions. You have to right click and cycle through all or use the interface at the top. No. I am not playing a game to get annoyed. A pity, really. The game itself is a gold one.
Still one of my favorites, I played it first right when it came out. I like the atmosphere of hate throughout the game. I only do single player. Running around in the same map all the time with only other marines without monsters is not my thing. The monsters are good, here and in the add-ons. The all have their strengths and weaknesses, just like in Doom and Quake I. Take the mighty Gladiator: from a distance he will rail you with his railgun. If you get close he will hit you with his claw arm. If you get close but at the right distance he will miss you with his arm, and cannot shoot you. That makes it extra fun, because it is tricky to keep the right distance. AI is not that bad, I find myself trying out different strategies in tight spots. It is possible to trigger in-fighting: try to make the monsters shoot each other. Always fun to watch, and it saves a lot of ammo. One reviewer said "monsters duck right in a spacious area". The don't duck to hide, they bend over because of the pain! They can't move for a short while when being shot. Just like in Quake and Doom. Sounds in the game are very good. The Add-ons have some interesting new weapons and annoying new enemies. Some say the weapons are standard, but before Quake 2 I never saw a railgun in a game. Love the hate, get Quake 2.
Great game. Characters are well done, even the main guy that you play. Beautiful scenes, good conversations, whacky humor. The German sound pack is het best! The first part is fantastic. Later on the puzzles and goals you have get very incoherent. I found myself wandering around town, with no clue as to what my goal was, no clue even of what puzzle to solve next. A few times I had to look up hints on the net. After that it got frustrating. You solve one part of a puzzle. That's good. Then the next part, that's fien too. Then you are ready to finish the complete puzzle, and it gets you nowhere! Every time! Every time you think "ha, solving this will get me further to my goal, whatever goal that is". But no. So you end up completing 10 puzzles which do exectly nothing to get you further in the game. After blundering my way to the part where you contact a guy from Elysium, this game broke me. You would think it would get you somewhere but no, the game suddenly changes everything and you are back to nowhere, feeling completely clueless. I'm no adventure hero. I played Sam and Max Hit The Road, and I really enjoyed it. Because solving puzzles really gets you somewhere, even if those puzzles are more weird than Deponia's. The feeling of "Hey, I finally got this gizmo to work, now I can see if i can enter the fortress" is completely absent here. It's more like "You're almost there, almost there... haha got ya, sucker!". Every time.
