though a lot is said about WWII, the gulf war and even our recent wars, not many games or movies on WWI or the "Great War" as it was called in WWI time! This game goes well into it, it is primarily a "subplot" to use an analogy in that war. though the game deals mainly with a single soldier trapped in a bazaar circumstance, it does give you sa bit of insite into tte actual Great War of the early 1900's. the bulk fo the game is a side quest of dealing with strange supernatural occurances in underground labrinthes. you have the traditional mundaine wheapons at your disposal which makes it all the more cool you rely on conventional means and your wit to survive and progress rather than laser guns and BFGs or what not. they didn't have those in 1916, by the way! The only thing lacking is flying a WWI fighter plane in addtion to being a footman! now THAT would be cool! The game or at least its engine is older than I thought but it is a trusty old steed so it works well in this game. the action is tense and at times difficult to gage what is going on, as in a real fight in a war situation! I highly recommend you get the entire series incuding the prequal, "Lost Company"!
this game is one I wanted to like and sort of... do, and sort of find some things mildy annoying. as for the pure RPG aspects of your characters abilities it is excellent! very reminescent of the Quest for Glory Series, particularly #3. you USE your various abilities in different ways(or sometimes learn new ones) rather than going and killing trolls and "leveling up" or in an even more inferior way some other games do, "mile stones" instead you practice and do tasks as in real life. as for mile stones they are purely for scocial interactions and improving relationships because reputation is as important as raw abilites! and those people are not going to be there for you if you aren't for them. now I will say what is annoying about that. some characters are actually likeable but why is it that in every game made in the last few years females always role as strong and downtrodden and physical and males as snowflakes in high positions the two girls are both fighter types and have hot tempors the boys(except for the rich one are quite bookish types and the rich one is pompous. actually he is interesting as the protag's only competitor in this. the rest just there to dump on. that said, if you wan tot get by you still have to get in good. Now the silly thing is if you are a smart ass you are "bad" so the problem with this is their is a "right or wrong" answer so the role in conversttion is virtually useless, since it gets mark downs and also lowers rep. so WHY PUT THE SNARKY ANSWER THERE AT ALL IF IT DOES NOT LEAD TO SOME GOOD AT LEAST! this game was written by two over aged hippies but was writen for a much younger audience than most QFG fans. the dialouge is good at times though and others annoying. the time factor is horrible and I hope Lori and Cori cole patch that!
this game has some good points, the graphics and three dimensional backdrops are very nicely done, the need for preparing before camping, and the complicated character development in the way of gameplay, However, not the cast! The characters, quite frankly, stink! Yes, you are going to say that the original Baldur's Gate had silly characters. But at least they were UNIQUELY silly! They were original and had issues that were interesting. But here, it is the same old argument of feminists, and social "justice" prevails yet again and mostly unduly in the form of getting the bellicose responses to innocent questions and the like. Telling the same old story about, "weak ego-centric men" and women who are so insecure of their own womanhood as to become overbearing and who hate to be called beautiful. these characters are totally unoriginal, Every other game, movie, and storybook made and written in the last 3 or 4 years uses the tired "formula". Instead of unique offbeat(as in the popular beaten path) we, instead have the speeches about men and women and prejudice and preaching throughout! The men are mostly weak willed whiners, a male dwarvan cleric who acts like a sissie, a male sorcerer who brags but is weak, a barbarian woman who wants to attack party members and is in need of a Prozac, and a ex paladin woman who has a complex and is much the same, bellicose, when you speak and give her an honest(lawfull good) compliment about her beauty, What in Hell is the harm in that! Obviosly she is a borderline personality! to offset this game I made my play character protag, a male Aasimar fighter/paladin of strong will in dialogue with heavy emphasis on combat out of it to at least balance the scales back to some kind of reasoning) honestly, I asked everyone in my party who ended up there to leave in the Dwarvan trading post.my -99 words is coming to an end, But I can say this game could have been good but instead is mediocre and the characters are unrelatable!
I enjoyed the SNES version thoroughly for its environmental music track both inside and out. This is laid out quite similar but not the same and the soundtrack is lackluster in comparison to the Japanese artist tracks in the SNES version. Those tracks were done by the same man who did Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and such games. anyway, this game is about a half-breed race of dragon people who are quarrling with one another a tale of "War of Roses" for dragon people. you are a group of 4 selectable RPG style chraacters the die roll is bad, you can come up with 3 cream of the crop and one dog, much like a bad credit ratging with the one lame guy and the other tall strong ones. then you have to re role the WHOLE PARTY over again. I liked the SNES version I would probbaly even buy this version it isn't a bad game it just isnt' that good either. I saw it on Demo in a local Software Ect. in a mall in 1989 when I was in highsschool and was blow away then(as that was a time of EGA graphics) this has VGA. the free 3d roaming was a thing of a dream in 1989 but there are certainly better ones, like most everythign else in the 1990's including Ultima Underworld, Arena Elderscrolls and Daggerfall. if GOG coudl some how include a DOSbox fix for the SNES version I'd definitely be a happy Drakkheneer though!(hint hint DRAKKHEN!!!) :)
but alas, no. I have not finished the game, but I feel I have enough insight to give a proper reveiw on its lackluster polish. the story is good, the characters(some of them) are likeable. but the camera controls are in the toilet. often times, you spend too much time wondeirng around town finding "cutscene" triggers. I hate event-triggered games. and dthe "oh I almost forgot" syndrome is retarded. as in you spend waisted effort running or wondering around to find the "mayor" desides to acost you about sometihng to trigger a movie or a lead. this, and the game has no real challenge. no leads, and if you are good or bad at playing these games it matters not, pure luck is responsibel for "tripping" over these "easter eggs" to "event openings" the puzzles are semilogical or totally stupid. most have little to nothing to do with the nature of the story and certainly not representing Syberia's trilogy at all. for instance you play med nurse to "steinburg" when he had "heart failure" Dammit jim, I'm a reporter, not a pharmisist! what puzzles do relate in a steampunkj fashion are dumed down cog wheel assemblies. for instance finding the damned thigns hidden often wonky camera angels put up more of a "challenge" that meaning the makers of this game MADE the controls difficult to "make it more challenging" when really it just makes it stupid. instead of makking it thought provoking they made a mess and it is more a cat/mouse camera chase and mouse cursor poke than a point and click. speaking of this, mouse cursors often disappear unwnatedly when trying to back out of a puzzle. fortunately this game has one(and only one) redeaming quality the original voice actor of Kate Walke. instaed of hiring a cheap immature silly girl the used the original actor, Sharon Mann, a mature sounding woman with the voice of a songbird, as I awlays remembered in Siberia 1 &2. the others aren't too bad, for example, Mike Pollock is an excellent actor as Captain Obothough.
the character and story are great but the controlls are, quite frankly in need of overhaul. espeically driving which is abysmal without a steering/brake/cluctch sim wheel which nobody can afford who plays these games. other than odd controls and "mexican mafia" style car shooting combat(which could be made to work with the right configuration but is not-even with key remapping) this game is pretty good. just be certain you read the map on a printed hard copy and get a steering wheel. WASD is in the Abyss! GTA controls wouild be better, as in Part 2!
the characters and story is great, the controls are well done, not awkward like Mafia1's weird clutch system and illogical mapping or III's abysmal character movement and combat controls. the story is less depressing than Mafia 3 and More interesting than the first game, but I think gameplay should come first and this game has it. great weathering effects and phsics when driving, great combat both hand-hand and auto the story and attitude very 1950's ganster with a kind of 1970's/early 80's flim style but in the 1950s. very remniscent of that time when ganster movies were growing in popularity. Lots of action and great sound track that even a modernist would love. turned me into a 40s/50's music "oldies" buff. I love this game, the main character is very authentic and the actor excellent, and the interactions of others especailly Joe! All characters are real, not put on "realality moodiness to be a bitch/asshole" like in III. voice acting is supurb!
yet another "kickstarter" attempt to make money. a game about making games? cmon! I wouldn't pay the asking price, no more than 5 bux wait until the bargin bin, people!
and wondering "when gog would release it" of all the watered down "indie" "retro" classic pretenders very few TRUE classic good OLD games get released these days, since roughly 2014. I can review this game as I played the CD-ROM edition long ago. I am guessing 1996. it is an odd combination of time travel and Titanic tour adventure. a point and click about a hasbeen agent who gets a second chance to go back to his youthful hayday aboard the famed Titanic, and must solve events that occurred on the titanic after a WWII explosion hits his apartment(and he gets out of paying rent long over due). now back in 1911, you explore and tour on a "day-to-day" basis, the ship, and all its areas and converse with passengers about odd occurrences. The ship has an open tour that is non interactice or you can play the story and those areas open up and you can explore the many areas, from 1st class, engine room, "Scottland Row" I think that is "3rd class" and so forth for clues and the residences who speak of them to you. I never completed this, only played the first few stages of the story so it will DEFINITELY be going on my "Wish list" for a buy in the near future! for its day: awesome!
