I know a lot of people are complaining about the game's length, and rightfully so. I also know lots of other people have been comparing this game to Psychonauts, and that seems to upset even more people. I'm not here to dismiss the game's shortcomings on the account that it's an "indie game", since indie games tend to be more and more polished, these days. Mind you, the game does have its flaws, just like any other game does, and the thing is: is this your kind of game? For me, it is. I assume the game seems, sometimes, to be more style than substance, but that was to be expected, since one of the 6 people behind it is an underground comic artist, and I have nothing against spending 2 to 3 hours in a world this beautiful and appealing. The soundtrack is amazing, even by big studio standards, by the way, and collecting tapes is fun and refreshing. Plus, while the game itself is, indeed, quite short, there's no denying the sheer amount of FUN you'll have just exploring this world the guys at Black Pants created for us to play in -- cutting rocks, rocketing stuff away, pushing and pulling with your latch-on cable is incredibly amusing, and that, plus the comic style and the superb soundtrack should make any indie game fan buy this cult gem of a game -- especially since this is the GOG version, and not the Steam one, thus being cheaper, DRM-free and with a whole LOT of extras to boot.
My PC gaming life started out late, and Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars was one of the first PC games I've ever played, back when computers came with vendor-installed games. Just like the original The Legend of Zelda got me hooked on console games, the Broken Sword saga did the same for me with PC titles. While the first one was amazing when I first saw it, the second one was prettier, seemed larger, fixed a few minor issues regarding gameplay, and had quite more "talking to people" puzzles, which was something I felt the first one was lacking. What's good about this edition is that, while you can play the remastered title, requiring more of your computer, you can also stick to the original game if you have a really old machine, like I do, and play it all the same (plus, the improvements the remastered game brings to the table are nothing worth writing home about, basically being an inventory design overhaul and character animations every time you engage in conversation, with some minor graphical improvements overall, albeit barely noticeable). For fans of the adventure genre, believe me, it doesn't get any better than this. But, then again, if you're an adventure game kind of gamer, you already know this. If you only played more recent adventure games and think of yourself as an adventure fan, then, by all means, do yourself a favor and buy this gem of a game, completely DRM free, with lots of extras to boost and dirt cheap, GOG-style.
Wadjeteye exceeded themselves again with Resonance, and this is truly an(other) homage to the point and click adventure games of old by those guys. The story is stellar, the puzzles are never too easy and never get unforgivably hard, the characters actually *resonate* with you, emotionally. The one thing I found frustrating is the new "Short Term Memory" system, in which you drag scenery items in order to have conversations about them... while this sounds cool at first, most STMs are red herrings, and I could have gone without it, since most things you put in STM won't even help you progress -- the obvious two or three that are required aside. Plus, if it's true that some point and click adventure gamers have this "try everything on everything, everywhere", the STM system becomes a huge waste of time. Still, a minor flaw in an otherwise stellar game, by a team that is determined to show everyone the point and click adventure game is far from dead. If you like classic adventure games, you owe yourself this one, so just pick it up, already.
