I noped out of the game in the mission where you and your buddy have bats and are supposed to rough up a bunch of goons in some alleys. A list of irritating things going on in this mission: * The last save is before you enter the alley, which is before a cutscene that introduces the thugs. Every time you die you have to watch the cutscene again. * Combat with the bat involves rapidly circle straffing and spamming the attack button. Sometimes when you attack the bat doesn't swing, and sometimes it does. The hit box for when you register the hit is difficult to read. * If you are hit, it breaks your attack animation so you lose the swing. If you are facing more than one opponent, it is easy to get stunlocked. * Your buddy has to survive the mission. Your bat damages him. He likes to jump in front of you right before you swing. * I don't know why, but I am starting the mission with 60% health. I don't remember getting hurt before the save, but I must have done, and now that lower health is stuck. * Eventually there are enemies with guns and they seem to narrow in on your buddy, who by this point is very badly injured and can survive about 2 or 3 shots. I don't find much of this to be fun. A racing sequence with bad car physics. A motel shootout where npcs would occasionally headshot me as I rounded a corner killing me in 2 or 3 hits. The game has some cool elements that were novel for its time and may have elevated it. Open world's were still fresh - GTA3 was the same year, so they would have been in development at the same time. Good camera work with captivating stories had a while yet before they would be perfected. Since these elements are no longer novel, the gameplay simply doesn't hold up. It's an old game - but imo no longer a good old game. Recommendation: Play The Godfather from 2006 instead
I think this game fits in with other "artistic" games. There is a theme to everything, and the world layouts are well done, but there is no explicit story or cohesion to any of it. Yet, unlike other games in this category, such as Dear Esther, there is actual real gameplay, with zelda-style dungeons, puzzles, and explorations. This mix of aesthetics and logical gameplay sometimes seems at odds, but mostly they complement each other. Quite a fun trip overall, with some memorable (if strange) areas.
At release this game was a disappointment, but without all of the hype resting on its shoulders its a great adventure. Picking up where The Longest Journey left off, it tells a related but altogether different story. The non-puzzle elements aren't great, and the ending is quite a TERRIBLE cliffhanger, but the atmosphere is something special. It expands the world first seen in The Longest Journey considerably, and exploring it in 3d brings it to life. It lacks the challenging puzzles of the previous game, but still has more in that area than most "modern" adventure games released after it. I guess we didn't realize how dead the genre really was when this came out in 2006! They really experimented a lot here, and while it is hit or miss at times, it's really more hit in my opinion. I'm looking forward to what they can do in the sequel they are FINALLY going to attempt.
Coming off of the first game I expected something similar. Many of the reviews say phantasmagoria 2 is cheesy with bad acting. I found the acting quite believable and not too over the top in most cases. These are obviously not A-list actors, but compared to other sierra FMV games such as GK2 and the first Phantasmagoria, I was seriously impressed with the quality of the acting and direction in this game. Interesting camera shots are used, and I think the use actual sets work better than the computer generated areas of the first game. The quality of the storyline and the production values match or surpass some b-movies from the same time period. The style is similar to the Hellraiser movies, and as a movie it's probably better than most of the later sequels in that series. Well done there! As a game, be prepared to cycle through a very limited location list looking for the one hotspot you missed that progresses the story. Using the computers is kind of fun for a bit, and if you pay attention most of the few puzzles that exist wont be too annoying. But yeah, don't expect too much game here. The "weird sci-fi twist" at the end some reviewers complain about didn't bother me, it was pretty clear to me halfway through the game that it was heading in that direction. Learn to suspend your disbelief, you'll have more fun with this one if you can :)
