It's fun and looks really nice - with all of the retro game mechanic downsides. You'll be pixel hunting and scratching your head, especially with the increased resolution compared to old games. I was determined to click on every object but still didn't find all of them.
Played a remaster - remembered absolutely nothing after so many years. Skipping dialogue is buggy and you can miss so many hints. Don't remember this happening in SCUMM/ScummVM. The good: The variety of puzzles makes this game a classic and many things can be done at once which helps to keep frustration at bay. The bad: So much walking, LucasArts' most favorite busywork mechanic. It's very discouraging when you're stuck. The ugly: Cartoonish puzzles can stump you or you'll figure them out by accident. Way sooner than needed.
This game is a vehicle for jokes. It is quite lovable with a lot of creative ideas and settings but your enjoyment will predominantly be determined by how funny the jokes are to you and how much time you have to kill. I wish I enjoyed it more because there's nothing really bad about it. I don't mind that it's not a talkie, I don't mind the silly humor, I don't mind that puzzles are simple. It just didn't feel that worthwhile to me. Maybe play it with a friend or limit yourself to a case per day. Otherwise you might start wondering about what you're doing with your life and that's where all the fun ends.
If you're a seasoned adventure player you will probably enjoy yourself. Even if the jokes were a bit hit and miss I still did enjoy the lighthearted feel with lots of references and jokes. I'm not on board with the whole story but in the context of humorous adventure it felt appropriate and somewhat intriguing. Puzzles were actually pretty good. I've found it refreshing that there were multiple game mechanics used for puzzles, not just the usual pixel hunting and inventory. Only in few places it did trip me up.
Replaying after 20 years... I was not ready for the first half of the game to be this sparse and outright annoying. Then it picks up the pace a little, it has the Broken Sword vibe but can't shake off the annoyances of 3D. Nico's segments are almost unbearable. Cameras are outright terrible, disorientating and whole 3D world is just an attempt to slow you down. Not having an option to skip dialogue is another attempt to slow you down and even discourage from exploring. Tried to play it with handheld keyboard but had to switch to real keyboard for several action scenes. It's not bad but definitely not for point and click adventure fans. Occasionally crashes on Windows 10, XP compatibility mode enabled and 4:3 resolution set.
I think the production values are quite good. I liked the Indy-movie style music and it doesn't look ugly, some humor sprinkled here and there. That said, the story was emotionally flat, it was just a backdrop to classic point and click adventure puzzles. The puzzles were pretty much okay, nothing outlandish. Game is split into several chapters and each one is appropriately bite sized. Every chapter starts with a clean inventory so it's always a great place to stop, you don't have to remember anything.
First of all, this is an engine demo for new Monkey Island, it requires Windows 10 and DirectX 12 (so a not very old PC). You can get it on Steam for Linux too but in the end I think it will require similarly not-old hardware. Second of all, I take it as a sorry for the tedious ending in Thimbleweed Park. Much more fun, thank you. Now, regarding the game itself. A few puzzles that are a bit out there and ties heavily to the Thimbleweed Park with some of them, possible spoilers. It was not bad and for the price it's a nice bonus.
Despite some high praise for second installment, I can only say that what was attempted with FMV has finally been achieved here, through 3D. While I am not a big fan of 3D at all and this world is not visually realistic it was much more immersive and I really enjoyed the gameplay. I liked the atmosphere, supplemented by ambient music, and the fact that you can move around quickly. I did want to snoop around and collect every possible evidence, make correct conversation choices and get full score. Some illogical or questionable solutions? Sure, but that always happens in adventures. Every aspect of the game is better - voice acting, many interesting characters, overall better story and humor to top it off. While I enjoy beautifully drawn low resolution adventures like first installment, I can finally see what Jane Jensen had in mind next and she finally achieved creating truly interactive detective story.
I just couldn't get over FMV. There is substance to this game but gameplay was very limited. These sequences grounded me in reality, actors were laughable and underlined shallow characters, even the main protagonists acted like a part of some soap opera. Were they directed to do that? It truly was an interactive movie and not a particularly good one. Despite using 6 CDs it seemed like there are only things which are absolutely necessary to advance the story and even then they didn't have time to do it properly. Jokes were falling flat and when I did laugh it was not intended by the game. It took my focus from what's good in this game to everything bad and ugly. It is nice that they introduced Grace as playable character which was an influencing move. It was fully fleshed out in the sequel where these characters existed in the same space and I enjoyed different commentaries on various objects.
