The score was a bit of a coin toss for me. Rosewater is a great point and click adventure, no doubt about it. If you are like alternative history settings and wild west themed stories, then picking Rosewater up is well recommended. It has a great story, solid puzzles with alternative methods of solving them, it's lengthy, but not too long and the voice acting and music are very well done. There are some minor blemishes here and there, which made made me juggle in between 4 and 5, but all said and done, those blemishes are just so minor nitpicks, that 5 it is. There's nothing game breaking or unfair puzzles and there's even some rather rare replay value for a point and click game, considering puzzles with multiple solutions. Also, the story is quite well written and the setting is stellar, so those help as well.
If Blade Runner the movie is considered to one of the best sci-fi movies of all time, the same can be said about the Blade Runner the game. In many ways, it is one of the best adventure games ever made, not only capturing the atmosphere of rain-soaked LA but also expanding upon it. Unlike many other games in this genre, Blade Runner also is a title that doesn't suffer on multiple playthroughs, as some elements, mainly who is and is not a replicant, are randomized. It also has several different endings depending on how you fare in the game. Do yourself a favour, and buy this. Even if you aren't a fan of the gene, buy this. And thank me later.
I had my doubts with the GK remake after I had played both Cognition and Moebius and ended up not liking them. Moebius especially, the previous collaboration between Jane Jensen, the creator of Gabriel Knight, and POS was disappointing in every way possible, so my expections were very low. So color me surprised, when I ended up liking GK 20th quite a bit. Not as much as the original, but for its own merits it is very well done remake with a couple of issues, which will most likely not bother anyone not familiar with the series or the original game. Issue one: The voice actors. While mostly competent I couldn't help but to wish that the original records had been available. Such a strong voices like Mark Hamil, Tim Curry, Leah Remini and Efram Zimbalist overshadow the new voices. Issue two: art direction. Again, mostly very competent, but not nearly as bold as the original VGA art with very strong style and use of colors. Some of the high resolution backgrounds look very stunning, but at the same time some are relatively poor. Issue three: simplification and linearity. In the original you could visit many locations when ever you wanted. In the remake you can visit them only after the plot allowes you. For an example Napoleon House and grandmothers house were open right from the bat in the original. Some changes and additions are good, some feel odd. A couple of new puzzles feel a bit out of place, but all in all the remake wasn't the travesty I feared it would be. Special mention from the new cut scenes, which are very well done.
Best way to describe LSL:MCL is, that it's a series of repetetive minigames laced with lowbrow humor, which more than often cross the border towards annoying and insulting rather than clever or funny. If you can stomach an avalanche of genital and fart jokes and don't mind of doing repetetice reaction tasks for a couple of hours, perhaps you can get something out of MCL, otherwise I'd steer away, as it really doesn't share much in common with the old, classic adventure series that Leisure Suit Larry is.
Anvil of Dawn is a grid based RPG in the vein of Lands of Lore or Eye of Beholder. You rummage dungeons, kill monsters and solve puzzles, but unlike many other in the genre you can also move realtively free from place to place in an open world environment. Anvil of Dawn is not the most difficult or the longest game on the genre, but for what it is, it's pretty enjoyable distraction.
Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded is a solid remake of an old classic. Unlike the first 1991 remake, Reloaded mixes up the puzzles, adds new content, has removed dead ends, so while the game has the same plot, it also feels more fresh. If you like the old Larry, you'll propably enjoy Reloaded as well, as it really brings Larry back from the depths Magna Cum Laude and Boxoffice Bust dragged the series in.
As far as gameplay goes poor design choices in navigation, interaction and feedback kills what could have been pretty decent adventure game. Most of the time you solve puzzles by accident, as the game doesn't give that many pointers of what you should be doing. This also leads into situations, where you need to run from one place to an another, which is annoying especially because navigating from location to an another is rather clunky, thanks to bad hotspot system. This is only for harcore adventurers, I can't see other people enjoying this because of the bad design it has.
Deadalic Entertainments adventure games are a bit uneven experience, but with Deponia they have managed to find the right sweet spot of adventure gaming. Great graphics, fun humour and some pretty nicely designed puzzles really make the game shine. Well worth a try for any adventure fan.
The Whispered World is an old school adventure in all good and bad. And unfortunetaly the bad manages to overshadow what is good about it. The biggest issues I got with the game is, that the puzzles need a logic that is not meant for human beigns. Many times I was roling my eyes, when progressing the game needed very absurd solutions. The game is pretty and it sounds good, despite the voice acting leaves a bit to be desired. In all, I found the game to be a disappointing experience.
Assassin's Creed is a game, that promises a lot with its settings, plot and game play but ends up delivering very little in the end. The best aspect of the game are the graphics. The game looks good and the medieaval towns are well made. But the game itself manages to be borinf trial of running through four different types of missions several times until you get to the end. Assassin's Creed 2 is much better game, but this first part of the series is more of a miss fire.
