| Deleted User | Gabe's adventure is split into ten days. Every day starts with a poem that gives some cryptic foreshadowing on what will happen, and sometimes on what to do; it's vital to listen carefully! Now, rejoice when I say there are absolutely NO dead ends in the game. Every day has a set series of events and tasks that must be completed. When the required tasks for the day have been completed, Gabriel will automatically return home to catch a few winks. That way, no single event can be neglected as not to miss anything important, and no inventory objects will be left lingering around only to be found missing at a critical time. Original and effective design here.
Puzzles, for the most part, are perfectly logical, though not always as obvious. Originality, once again, is found everywhere here. Very memorable and fun to solve are the puzzles involving deciphering drum codes and Voodoo messages. Also memorable are making use of an annoying mime in the park to distract a police officer, or finding the location of a hidden meeting of the Voodoo cult. Solving the puzzles mostly depends on paying close attention to the information given to Gabriel by various people, as well as a bit of close investigation.
The game's interface is your usual Sierra fare, plus a few extras. Movin the cursor to the top of the screen reveals the standard issue icon bar, with the usual commands like walking and looking; however, speaking and using have been split into several commands; the latter being split into opening, moving, operating and picking up. The inventory window also has seperate commands to examine, open or read items. The button for Gabriel's tape recorder shows the current collection of recorded conversations; clicking on one shows the topics discussed with that person for easy reference, clicking on which will repeat the discussion on that subject. Furthermore, the options screen now finally has the option to activate both speech AND text at the same time, whereas earlier Sierra titles on allowed one of the two, thereby allowing the player to catch all the information without missing out on the excellent voice acting .
It is worth mentioning, however obvious it may seem, that Gabriel's not-so-everyday happenings are not entirely without danger. Though lethal situations are not as frequent as in other Sierra games this does help raise the level of suspense as to when Gabriel will find himself in a pinch next. And suspense is another thing this game excels at, be it the fantastic plot development, the mysterious happenings every now and then, or Gabriel disturbing nightmares. However, Gabriel's presence is accompanied by a constant light-heartedness to it all, with his sarcastic comments and witty retorts, not to mention his endeavours regarding the opposite sex, which is another big plot point (as you will find out ).
Now, onto the technical details. Graphically, the game is of course somewhat dated, being an early 90's production and all. The CD-Rom version includes high-resolution SVGA closeups of Gabriel and the various other characters during interrogations, as well as certain objects during the rest of the game. However, this does stand out a lot from the low resolution backgrounds; a bit of sloppy work here. Nonetheless, the graphics, though low in resolution, have plenty of detail. Soundwise, the game is a veritable feast. Robert Holmes' fantastic score will stick with you for a long time to come; from start to finish, the music excellently adds to the atmosphere and environments. The aforementioned superb voice acting is no small feat either. Sound effects in the CD-Rom version are of a somewhat sporadic variety, but do their thing.
Are you still reading this? Well, either you're a reader with a more than averagely long attention span, or you're still not entirely convinced if this game is worth your time. Well then, allow me to quote a character from a series of books which I have come to worship and adore over the last few months, when I say that this game "is the bees knees", it is "the wasp's nipples"; this game is, I would go so far as to say, "the entire set of erogenous zones on every major flying insect of the Western world." In other words: absolutely not to be missed by anyone who even remotely loves adventure games. Truly, this game is worth your free time more than any other.
|
Frank BPrivate Detective
Posts : 449
Joined: 10 JAN 2005
Status : Online | Good review. Personally I didn't think it was such a great game, and I actually never finished it (stopped at day . It has a very small world to explore, and the way you had to go around asking every person about every new topic on your list was so boring. It was not an adventure, but a trial and error talking to lots of people until you found the right one.
Visit my [url=http://www.internetdj.com/frankb]Artist Profile[/url] at InternetDJ&&Streams: [url=http://www.internetdj.com/artists.php?op=stream&song=11044]Moonbeam[/url]; [url=http://www.internetdj.com/artists.php?op=stream&song=10163]Relax[/url]; [url=http://www.internetdj.com/artists.php?op=stream&song=19003]Journey to Nowhere[/url]; [url=http://www.internetdj.com/artists.php?op=stream&song=19564]The Land of Nowhere[/url]; [url=http://www.internetdj.com/artists.p
|
