I thought it has elements from Monkey Island 1, Simon the Sorcerer 1, Loom and games from that era, while still managing to maintain an own style without quoting too much. I liked the characters, the storytelling, the verb interface (which in some games just makes perfect sense) and the overall lovely retro visuals. Also the music is worth mentioning. But what I liked most was the atmosphere and the story driven puzzles. It felt just like playing one of those Lucas-Arts Games for the first time and hit exactly the sweet spot for me. When I got stuck, I kept thinking - what did I miss, how can I solve this - and I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It´s always clear what you have to do (like - I wanna be a pirate…) and when stuck, you will find all the clues when you pay more attention to the NPCs and surroundings. Solving the next step of a puzzle always felt very rewarding to me. I think this game is tribute and love letter to those old games and shows a deep understanding how they worked and why some of them still hold up so well. The only thing I would criticize maybe: Personally I would have preferred a little more Monkey Island 2 or Day of the tentacle style visuals. But maybe for a sequel?There is another game from the developer (which seems to be basically one guy) that is an homage to the first Maniac Mansion. Haven´t tried it yet, but I will. And there will be another one soon, which seems to be more of an Indiana Jones game. Anyways - The Legend of Skye is an easy recommendation. Best Point and Click adventure I played in a long time.
Charming mix between Indiana Jones, Flight of the Amazon Queen and Broken Sword. While still managing to keep an own style. The story of course is full of clichés, but still good and fleshed out. Good characters, objects, atmosphere, puzzles and lots of fun, quirky but somehow still logic ideas. Didn't expect much, got it on sale and found it to bee surprisingly good. Especially at the second half of the game. Will have a look at the other games of the devs too.
Consider it 3,5 Stars. I used to play Comanche 3/Gold (1998) a lot, so I finally tried this one (only Singelplayer). On the upside: Graphics and the flight feeling are really good - gotta tweak the controls to your liking though. I endet up playing with mouse and keybord. About the graphics: There are a lot of rocks … everywhere. And like a lot of modern games they tend to have this „plastic“ look because engines are relying on shaders today. In some levels it looks great, but often it looks like they glued the same rock formation all over the place. The 7 mission campaign isn´t long but with the latest Patch came another 11 Mission campaign called „Conflicts“ which I found to be better anyways. There is more variety to it, also the graphics look more balanced, scaled (some things seemed way to big) and more detailed. You will have to play some of this missions again to unlock achievements and further levels – Challenge but also tideous. The Drone-feature gets annoying eventually, but in some missions it feels better implemented. On the downside I gotta say there is a lot wasted potential. No Wingmen to command. No airstrikes. Explosions are nice, but you only can shoot things you are meant to. Also: if you differ from the flight path, mission fails. No D-tour or exploring terrain from a different angle. No proper briefings with a map, where you could get familiar with the terrain. No weapons loadout. You can´t target one specific vehicle you want – it always targets the nearest enemy next to your cursor (kind of chaotic). Sometimes for a mission you just get another version of the Comanche, for instance the Stealth version (yeah, i know…) where you hit the button and Voila - you are hidden. I mean, where is the fun in that? Don´t get me wrong - it´s a good game. I am only complaining because this could have been more. Just don´t expect another Comanche 3/Gold. By the way: There is a proper HD-Mod for the old classic. Hope this helped. Cheers.
Hands of Necromancy is a loveletter to Hexen and Heretic in specific, and to games of that era in general. It quotes much of design, gameplay, combat, weapons, enemies, but still manages to obtain a style on its own. Combat feels good and the transformation spells ad some variety. Only some later weapons I thought felt a little too weak against hordes. Leveldesign is challenging and good. You will have to use the map a lot and backtrack your way through hubs and big levels for all the keys and spells you need. Just like back in the day. This might be annoying for newcomers, so be aware you need a little patience for those kind of games. But that’s what I like about it. There is a locked door? Find the key. Got stuck? Well look again – its part of the journey. There is an option called “Easy hubs”. I think it´s supposed to play more straight forward, but I didn´t try it. For Difficulty I took the easy skill (maybe I am a wimp). The fourth episode is already included and altogether there are about 30 levels. Much content at a totally fair price. The Necromancer himself is quite a character btw. When he breaks out in hilarious laughter, finding a weapon or stuff (even cooler underwater) - reminds me of Caleb. To the Devs: I would have loved to see this game in the Unreal 1 Engine (from 1998, not the new crap), thinking of Levels like “Nali Catle” or “Bluff eversmoking” where you could explore both interior and exterior of structures and not only the expression or stage (of a castle or village for example). Don’t get me wrong – what they have accomplished with the GZDoom Engine is great and part of the charm – but also has its limits at a certain point. Some of that material, I think, would have been even greater in a next step of virtual environment. But still Retro - I am thinking of Wheel of time, Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah, Thief or Unreal 1. Maybe for a sequel? Anyways, I hope this game gets a little more attention – it certainly deserves it.
I already bought it before, cause I just couldn´t wait to finally play it. Glad to see it on gog now. My opinion: best Monkey Island in years and also one of the best point & click adventures I played in a long time too. Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman have proven that they know their material. You can tell that it is very well written. Humour, dialog, story and characters are funny, intelligent and plausible and just wonderful to follow. Also some nice new faces are involved and it is neat that a lot of the old ones are spoken by the usual voice talents. I had my doubts about the new art style though. But I gotta say, most of the time it works pretty well. Only some areas where it looks too much like flash-animation I thought were maybe a little over the top. But that’s a question of taste, I guess. Music as always - just superb. I almost had to cry when after the prologue the iconic Monkey Screen first appeared. I mean, ok – nostalgia is involved and does it s thing - in a good way. Me personally: I didn’t like Telltales attempt too much, although there were good ideas and I couldn’t get warm with Monkey 4 so I waited desperately for this one. Only thing I missed: A proper interface, maybe a simple one like Monkey 3 with mouth, hands, eyes, cause here you more or less click your way through and the lines are gonna tell you what will happen if you do so. But nevertheless the riddles were fun and still challenging and again - well written in its weird but somehow logic and charming Guybrush way of thinking. Oh I missed it. I hope Ron, Dave and the team will keep up some work like this. I certainly loved it. Thank you guys!!! Imagine what maybe a sequel to Day of the Tentacle could look like. Or team up with Tim Schafer and Steve Purcell to get some lost Monkey, or GrimFandango sequels done. Anyways, do yourself a favour buy this one - easy recommendation. Cheers.
