Being a big fan of Frogwares' mostly excellent Sherlock Holmes series, I decided to give this a try. Fans of their Sherlock Holmes games will find the gameplay here pretty similar, especially entries in the series released around a similar time. The game is a good mix of puzzles, hidden object hunts, and dialogues to solve the mysteries and advance. The concept is also pretty cool, with a globe-trotting experience that takes you on the trail of Dracula throughout Europe and North Africa. That being said there a couple of flaws. First, while the locales and set pieces are pretty cool, the actual writing as far as the story goes is just decent, nothing special to be honest. I also felt the concept of the game - exploring the origins of Dracula and vampirism, was not fulfilled as much as it should have been in terms of writing. Additionally, the atmosphere is perhaps not as creepy and ominous as the Dracula Trilogy adventure games (specifically Dracula 1 and 2, which combined worked as a retelling of Bram Stoker's original tale). However, these flaws don't prevent it from still being a pretty good game. Definitely worth a look for adventure fans, vampire fans, and those who enjoyed the Sherlock games.
WWII shooters are among my favorite games, I've played pretty much all of them. That being said, there are very few of them that deal with the Pacific Theatre of War. Basically you have a portion of Call of Duty World at War, which was pretty good; Medal of Honor Rising Sun, which was not so good; and then there's Pacific Assault. I have to say of the three, Pacific Assault is best. It does have some flaws. Despite being released a year after the original Call of Duty, the control scheme here is a little clunky, I had to remap the aim down the sights function to my right mouse button to make it easier. Also, sometimes the hitboxes don't register perfectly. Squad AI, particularly the corpsman, doesn't always work well. Still, the gameplay is pretty fun. Graphics for the time are good, and you really feel like you are in the jungle - the atmosphere is very well done. The story is solid too - you will experience Pearl Harbor, the Makin Raid, Guadalcanal, and Tarawa. If you've watched HBO's the Pacific - you will feel like they did a good job of capturing the feel of the war here, it felt very much like that show. Overall, while flawed and not as good as Allied Assault, this is very fun WWII shooter and on sale is well worth the price of admission. If you enjoyed Allied Assault, and old school Call of Duty 1 + 2, you should give this a try.
This is a classic worth playing. It might not have the story depth of its sequels or later classics of the genre, but it is incredibly fun. The core gameplay of clicking everything still works, and the RPG mechanics are solid and will allow for different playstyles using an array of different gear for the character classes. It's also a very easy game to drop in and out of for a quick session, and overall it is not terribly long, so there is a lot replayability with the randomness of level design, assigned quests, and the character classes. It's nice for when you want to take a break from a more "hands on" type of game and just mindlessly click some things to death!
Having played the original Tex Murphy games, I had pretty high hopes for this one to be a solid follow up. It exceeded all of my expectations. Even the opening credits scene blew me away... the music, writing, and performance of Chris Jones as Tex in that opening cutscene got me hyped to get into the game like few others have. Getting into the gameplay itself, it was pretty amazing to see some classic locales from earlier Tex games rendered in modern graphics that are pretty great. Considering the low budget and crowdfunding that went into making this, I find this game to be highly polished. The in game atmosphere and music really give it an amazing ambience I haven't seen in a detective game since LA Noire a few years back. The puzzles are well done, the acting is on point, and the story is really well executed. Perhaps even compared to previous Tex games, I felt the "mystery" aspect was really well done and motivated me to keep playing to find out what would happen next. This game also does a great job of making you feel emotionally invested in the characters and outcome. With Chris Jones having aged alongside the character he plays, it gives it such an authentic feel as we catch up with Tex decades after his last appearance. That, coupled with the very personal nature of the story, meant that I was with Tex every step of the way. Like earlier games in the series, we also get multiple endings, but in this one also a dash of moral choices and even some alternate romance options. If you ever loved the earlier Tex games, you owe it to yourself to pick this gem up. For those new to the series but who enjoy detective games or point and click adventure series, you will be right at home here. For all others, if you are new to this genre, this is a wonderfully accessible yet also challenging starting point. I simply can't say enough good about this game.
