The final installment of the Runaway series is definitely the best one out of the trilogy. The story picks up where the second game left off, although filling some of the events between the two games with retrospections. Still, the story is told in a much more engaging way now. You interchangeably control Gina and Brian, trying to piece together what exactly is going on. The game's interface reaches out a helping hand, with nicely crafted "map" of chapters that you can look up whenever you want, as well as a nice hint system built into the game. All these systems should be enough to help you out when you're stuck and don't know what to do, but there were two or three instances where the hints were more puzzling than the puzzles themselves. Still, a nice addition. While the cast of annoying characters didn't shrink, most of the really cringe-inducing ones get very little screen-time, so the whole cast is much more bearable than in the previous entry. It's a really solid adventure game, but the fact that you have to play the previous two installments to enjoy it may be too daunting to some.
If you want to really enjoy Assassin's Creed, you have to do two things: 1. Turn off all HUD elements 2. Throw your completionist attitude out of the window There, you're now ready for a great experience. The way the game is structured makes the last-minute additions (additional missions, flag collecting, etc. which were supposedly added very late in the development after the CEO's kid complained that the game is boring... look it up) pointless and they actually hurt the game instead of making it more interesting. Cut out all the bloat, and you're suddenly presented with a cohesive, extremely gratifying experience. With no mini map (and no looking at the big map either!) you suddenly have to immerse yourself fully into the world, becoming the titular assassin. You observe your surroundings to find clues that will push your investigation forward, you're keeping notes in your head of the city's layout, landmarks and anything that can help you when running away from guards. You suddenly realize that you know the cities like your own backyard and you can easily navigate through them without having to look at the map even once. Great stuff, more games should be designed this way.
Jack Orlando is not the best adventure game to pull an all-nighter over. While the setting of the story, the soundtrack and graphics are superb, the rest is not. The story starts out really well, and there are some strong points throughout it, but it's difficult to enjoy it with the looming danger of locking yourself out from progressing because you didn't pick up an item from a screen you're no longer able to return to (it is possible). When it comes to inventory, the game turns into a garbage collector simulator - it's not even a joke, you're litteraly (;P) picking up trash most of the time, like cigarette butts (you never know what you'll need, so you'll be taking everything out of fear of getting stuck completely). If you want to try this game, I suggest doing so with a walkthrough - the puzzles are not the best the adventure genre has to offer, so you won't miss much, and you'll be able to enjoy the great atmosphere without stressing over the game's numerous flaws.
I remember seeing Far Cry for the first time not long after its release. It was magnificent. I can hardly remember any other game that showed us such a big leap in terms of graphics compared to what we were used to (well, Crysis, obviously, and surprise, it's the same company). Back then I could barely pass the few first levels (disadvantages of being a kid), and I've decided to finally do something about it. Being a more seasoned gamer nowadays, I didn't fool around and chose the hardest difficulty right away. OH BOY, was it painful at first. It's a damn difficult challenge, but a fair one nonetheless. After a few quick deaths I finally adapted and managed to push through, learning the subtleties of the game mechanics and understanding how the enemy AI works. It still was hard as hell, but every time I died I knew I died because I screwed up, not because the game screwed me over. The plot is your regular FPS story with a Ramboesque showoff named Jack Carver as your main character. Still, going in Rambo at the hardest difficulty will humble you quickly. You need to sneak around and pick the enemies off one by one, or even better - wreak some havoc in one area to draw the bad guys to the noise, then silently circle around them and avoid them altogether to get to your objective. The levels offer a nice variety as well - you'll see tropical beaches with the best looking water a video game could offer in 2004, beached aircraft carriers, thick jungle with amazingly thick and detailed foliage for its time, marshes, bunkers, volcanoes - you won't be bored by the scenery. Far Cry is all around one of the most solid FPS games you can find - there's hardly anything to moan about. Still extremely enjoyable and satisfying over 15 years after release.
If you're looking for a solid adventure game that will keep you entertained for a bit inbetween bigger, more demanding releases - Runaway is a very good choice. If you're expecting a must-play classic that will stay in your memories long after you finish playing it - look elsewhere. There's not much that makes Runaway stand out from other games in the genre, and whatever good the game does (great graphics for the time, solid interface and soundtrack) is overshadowed by what it doesn't do right (horrible characters, overused jokes, poorly written plot and puzzles). Add 1 or 2 more stars if Runaway is your game equivalent of comfort food, but newcomers should not set their expectations too high. Still, it may be worthwile to play through the decent first game and slog through the horrible sequel just to be able to enjoy the third game in the series, which is the best out of the three.
Horrible dialogues, horribly written characters, horrible plot... the game has barely anything going for it other than the visuals (and even then the art style is really specific and may not fit everyone's tastes). You'll constantly be wishing you could play Broken Sword instead, as this game is basically trying to imitate that one at every corner at fails all the time. The overall design of the game is really flawed - you'll do the same stuff over and over again, or hear the same jokes over and over (e.g. Lokelani's boyfriends), and the payoff will be boring and frustrating. Not to mention frequent crashes and other technical problems, don't bother.
