As you all must have seen by the Burnout Paradise review that has suffered some smothering layout changes and bit more descriptive information included, I would be trying out some more changes with the group of reviews upcoming to check the best of it. So, for this review I was initially trying to make a special award giving various game titles with specific titles or a piece of my recommendation,but unfortunately,taking my current conditions on hand free time is in short supply, upon that it would take a lot of time experimenting various games and reviews so that can be one of the salient features to try out, But I guess not now. There is also gonna be, for sure... a special star suggesting that it's my pick of the month; similar to the one tried out by dmac in one of his reviews... have to say neat idea . Honestly I had been thinking of it for while since giving a start to my reviews. *_* NOTE *_* Since this game has highly indebted some key terms and signs of storyline being the reason I have explained the features of The Longest Journey. So, guys remember this review can't be applicable to both the games. Also the star suggests that the game is my pick of the month, I am goin' to give this to only two of such games reviewed myself. Enjoy reading the review and hope you get provoked enough to buy these games. Vincent-V's PICK OF MONTH( It feels a bit cartoonish......) [PC] – Dreamfall: The Longest Journey clockwise from top: Zoë, April, Kian Developer(s) – Funcom Publisher(s) - Aspyr Media Micro Application Empire Interactive Designer(s) - Ragnar Tørnquist Composer(s) - Leon Willett Series - The Longest Journey Engine - Shark 3D Platform(s) - Microsoft Windows, Xbox Release date(s) - PC NA April 17, 2006 EU May 26, 2006 Genre(s) – Adventure Rating(s) - ESRB: Mature (17+) System requirements for PC [Minimal] Windows XP (SP2) Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz, AMD Sempron 2800+, or better processor 256 MB RAM 7 GB free disk space DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card 128 MB 3D hardware accelerator card, DirectX 9.0c compatible with latest drivers 8x speed CD-ROM or 2x DVD-ROM drive [Recommended] Intel Pentium 4 2.5 GHz, AMD Athlon XP 3500+ 1 GB RAM 256 MB 3D hardware accelerator card Creative Audigy series sound card I have been dying out, to just write out a review for this game. Personally, I feel I have played a lot of games in my life since I started playing video games and there are quite a few popular games that I haven't yet tried out. One such game is Dreamfall : The Longest Journey that includes a mind boggling plot that really gets you anxious to know every sight of it. It's really very complex and confusing at some times only because it's of more sanctity to the game maybe also coz' it has inherited a lot of key terms of the story... just take 'The Collapse' for example , that I still never understand from its previous game in the series that is simply named The Longest Journey... Someone on one of the The Longest Journey fansites told me that The Collapse has some co-herent similarity to the real life happening known as the 'Great Depression'. There are many such complex and twisty terms as well that I got in dealt with a booklet that I received along with the game. So for whom ever opting to buy this game it is highly recommended that you play its previous game The Longest Journey. The Dreamfall series is an adventure genred set of games, honestly I hadn't played any adventure games till then and there are in fact very few games made on this genre. It has more likely a cinematic setting and can make an endearing piece of science fiction art if ever put on the golden screen. The Longest Journey the first part itself made a good name in the gaming world as it's considered one of the best if not that the best adventure game. The game has terrific presentation to detail. The game not only allows room for one of those prolix series to be continued but can make some of the most unique game titles as well. The gameplay is quite intriguing but is not often used in the game that I would say is one of its huge backdrop and has lost it some very precious scores, but still the Developers can improve it in upcoming titles. Actually whatever that has been tried out in the game has been used to excel the story. As impressive, the story is it ends too quickly leaving you provoked and confused to the sadistic cliffhanger ending. Before just introducing you to macrocosm of the Dreamfall series. Here's a brief yet useful description of the game The Longest Journey ( That is the previous game due Dreamfall ). The game is quite more of like an item of remembrance of the main protagonist of it, April Ryan. She is really one of the most memorable game heroines that not much people know about, of course one of my favorite before Lara Croft. April Processes special powers of shifting between worlds which she losses in Dreamfall after she adopts Arcadia ( The Magical World ) as her home, parallel to our own the world of technology or Stark as they say in the game. But as April explores her powers and potency of strange changes occurring around her, She becomes out of touch of the happenings in her real world. Stark and Arcadia both start to shake off their bases and are followed by stupefying occurrences. The following events get you to Dreamfall, where you follow up with events that you left unstoned. Dreamfall is really better off being an adventure game, which has got together some of the very suave characters and an impressive story. Since, Dreamfall I have played a couple of more adventure games namely Syberia and Indigo Prophecy, comparatively Dreamfall is a very simple game not involving any difficult puzzles which I think never pose any threat of getting in between the storyline. You are most of the time, up with conversations deciding various decisions... Also, right now Zoe in this image is confronting Alvin Peats, the main antagonist of the game .... who isn't visible. It's not hard to get inquisitive about Dreamfall's story. The storytelling mainly was brought out ensued only because of it's magnificent cast of characters. With over 3 main protagonists, Zoe Castillo to start with is the character that you are more likely gonna focus on, she is attractive, embracing and smart at times. April Ryan also returns and for those who have played The Longest Journey she might seem a bit more reckless and foolhardy than being understanding and sensical. Lastly, you deal with Kian, an Azadi soilder, who is trying to dish out all the rebels from Marcuria. Azadi's are some ethical people hailing from a country named Sadir who follow the principles of 6 Goddesses, who also control Sadir indirectly. Other than this you are not given as much pivotal information about Sadir and the Azadi's. Back to Kian, he's an apostle who is spiritual and is the most trusted person of the Goddesses sent to Marcuria to eliminate The Scorpion that is surprisingly April Ryan who is heading a secret poteen rebel organization who has sworn to destroy the snobbish gap between the magicals and humans in Marcuria imposed on them by the Azadi's, she is also aimed to stop their religious propagation. You start with Zoe in her futuristic home wearing one of her raunchy outfits ;D that you'll see much often through the game. She lives with her dad who is off to a business trip to Bombay.... and there he goes; it's only one of the two instances he appears *Umph*. While Zoe, she doesn't even know what is she going to make of her life practically living a life that has no aim... she has dropped off her school and has broken up with her boyfriend who is still fondled close to her; he is also one of the cause that provokes Zoe to start her journey in search of truth ( It's deep and salvative, better keep it a secret.... ). Zoe fits into the depths of the story really well whether being in moment of sympathy or being joyous at times. As you flourish through the game you meet up an exciting bunch of characters from which only a faction of them are new while the remaining are from The Longest Journey. The script is really well-written backed up by some of the soaring voice acts. Notably Dreamfall keeps originality and in-game socialism close to our real life conversations. Dialogues are incredible as they are but are kept inbuilt by cool 3D characters. Normal conversations in the game are long and would considerably limit 5-6 minutes. The conversions sometime also allow you to participate in them by giving out plenty of important decisions yourself. The game has an M rating coz' of some matured humor, sexual references that are mostly verbal. Also some talks and conversations have indirect intentions. Strong language is also to be noted by some sociable characters. The game is able to take you off in the great Fantasy world set, again subjectively being close to our real life situations. Hey, what's up with the costume and all that hi-tech thingie.... As I would have screwed in your minds by now that the game's story is really emotionally soaking and is one great piece of work .You go through an optimistic start, get haunted by some strange encounters, deal with chauvinist beliefs, shift through worlds, explore some of the most exotic places and then suddenly you end up fastening up for a loosened end that leaves many questions unanswered. The end leaves you mesmerized and shocked as well. The game has tied all the three characters to fit into the story very well especially at crossroads when two of the three characters meet each other and we have to hover over suitable decisions. But it's still a sort of pain in the head not being able to believe some implausible ends subjectively leaving space for a sequel. No one has any clue what happened to both the worlds after the game as for me I think neither the designer of the game Ragnar Tornquist has any clue what'd happen next. To be rather frank, there's a baffling little hidden cutscene which is I think present only in the latter versions of Dreamfall. The cutscene stars our very own Brian Westhouse and a hidden character, Cortex ,who is most likely going to be the protagonist of the next game... the cutscene ends when Brian falls of a stone and Cortex gives him a hand and ends with an ineluctable phrase ' The better is still to come, it ain't over yet '. Dreamfall is an adventure game, allowing you to freely control your character through conventional controls. Dreamfall though being a full-fledged adventure genred, it doesn't feel one so taking the old-school point-click adventure games in account, successfully keeping formal originality alive. The aweful rendition of the detailed 3D landscape keeps exploration around them pretty amazing. The combat system is dilapidated, feels really basic and immature. There are just a handful battles that you encounter in the game and you swing around the same bits of swings and moves over and over again. Variety of combat moves are lax, actually there aren't any moves other than the swings, kicks and punches of the characters that are inherited originally and from the start. There are bunch of small puzzles that most likely have you occupied in hacking and lockpicking activities. Puzzles are so simple compared to stingy and unbearably difficult puzzles you encounter in games such as Syberia and Indigo Prophecy ( also adventure genred ), you'll more likely solve them in a curve. As you progress, There are various stealth sequences as well that are well fitted to the present progression of the story. The gameplay without hassle has laid out a smooth setting for the story whilst being terribly simple and basic. Vincent : Hey, Zoe what's up with those shiny pants. Zoe : Duh, the year is 2219, and this is totally the in-thing I am talking about. Vincent : Why was I even born...... The game controls are quite good and are easily tractable. The camera can get hampering in some areas, which often causes the camera to cut-through the objects present before you. But this a problem that occurs not too frequently, so the camera keeps a marginal distance between the characters and the surrounding environment... most of the time. Visual representation is highly detailed giving you not only an experience of seeing them but also allows you to know about the character's perspective using the focus field. You visit a lot of places and character's descriptive and sometimes a bit inane information allows you to know more about the engaging storyline. The game is also present in Xbox, since I don't own a Xbox it's difficult to do a suitable comparison, if you are too curious enough you can inquire from many of the gaming sites. Personally, checking out on some of the Dreamfall reviews I checked out on the net, they don't admit much enthralling differences. The PC version, on graphics, as any other game can substantially be better than its console brethren, Dreamfall looks better on PC than the Xbox version by comparing screenshots of both. The characters have been rendered quite nicely; pondering similarly to the way the characters have been rendered the environment feels equally thrilling and exciting. Characters are able to express the emotion and poignance not only through expressive facial expressions but also through divulging body gestures. Sound is really well-adaptable to the environmental conditions, being one of the main aspects in overly allowing the story to cut into your flesh. The game's soundtrack is really adorable and reclining, consisting various audio backdrops and a couple of poignant songs, that are often placed as a backbone to the sopping and heartbreaking situations that you come across much often. Something's fishy.............. As the The Longest Journey hangs on the verge of senility, The Dreamfall series was dependent on Dreamfall to save the famed legacy of its predecessors. Although Dreamfall wasn't able to fit into the shoes of The Longest Journey, it's still ain't a pretty bad game, according to me it falls a little above decent. Taking in the strong suit of the game, the story and it's liability to excel it, which also contributes a bit more than 3 quarters of its total score makes it a game that is mainly story-driven with simple and basic gameplay that doesn't stand even close to the almost ineffable storyline. Although even the story is really good, it ends too quickly; Dreamfall can likely be beaten in 12 hours or so. Delivering variety has been a total failure, with the combat system and a bit unskilled gameplay. But, the game has that urge-to-play effect that really brings you snatching up to it. Hope I haven't given a heck lot of criticism. After playing this game you'll truly be left waiting for a sequel.... Now, for the scores - Presentation – 8/10 – The game firstly lifts you to its excellent story, Secondly it really mesmerizes you with its aweful graphics, Lastly you are left waiting for some variety of good material. Still it ably presents you with a mercurial aspect though its demerits, still is a sweet and presentable game that binds up together moments of joy and sorrow together featuring very suave characters. It's really more deserving than an 8, I think...., still to not give it a hype, its been given an 8. Graphics – 9/10 – The graphical representation is have to admit, really meritorious. Nicely rendered 3D characters and of the surrounding environment make it an amazing experience to explore around them. Thank God! It doesn't feature those three sided human faces, like the ones in The Longest Journey, which at that time were considered superior but really makes it difficult to come across any differences between them. Gameplay – 6/10 – There isn't much gameplay other than just manually exploring places as the combat system feels as much dilapidated as possible. It has unbearably failed to give variety, such as some extra moves or just a little more combat sequences could have been added. So, the gameplay is more likely deserving of the score alloted to it. Sound – 8/10 – The sound has done a commendable job in delivering some very soothing songs and some brilliant sound effects. Replayabilty - 7/10 – It's, been given an 7, only because it's really hard to understand the whole plot the first time, so it's more likely that you'll feel to play the game only for the sake of its story. Total Score – 38/50 – The game has tried pretty new different features and stands alone on its own polity, although there are many things that it couldn't deliver in the best way. But, if you want to try something different than any other game, always Dreamfall couldn't fail to amaze you with its impressive and simply ineffable storyline presented in very nice way.... ........ Glad its finally over, my hands ache. Closing comments - I really want to bring out a lot of inner feeling writing this, but I should try out to to make it as small as possible. The review, as presented is the result of a week's hard work with over a dozen of times edited. I should also admit that it's been my most detailed review to date, most of the time I am a brief-talker and I am not that wordy, maybe, influenced by 9breakernine's wall of text, hypocrisy is not the word I'd recommend to say that had me surged to write this review.... seriously . Also, in case I am feeling wrong, hasn't the review been a bit prolonged if it's just me thinking then I suppose it's no probs. The star, I'd like to say is googled, I think it wouldn't be termed as a plagiarized material... If so, let me be known, Please let'nt it be.... Please.... In case, anyone's needing a separate copy of the review, you can get them from those links, (It's only because one of the members asked if they could get a personal copy of the reviews). I have not only uploaded them on Megaupload alone but on other hosting sites as well as Megaupload can be quite a problem at times. Megaupload Rapidshare Mediafire References - Screenshots courtesy - IGN.com Box Art and System Info. courtesy - Wikipedia.net Possible next review - Tycoon City : New York Also, I'd like to give some credible credit to grimsim for reporting the thread back to the review submission sec. for modifying.... Thanks a lot, mate.. ;D
You say that the storyline is really good but does the low gameplay score make it worthwhile? I find most action games not having too much variety in their battle systems. No cool spin moves, no timed hits, no killer combos, or finishers. The inclusion of more battles would make this more action-adventure than just strictly adventure, but in this case, with the limited moves, that might be a blessing, not a curse. I like that this game has a realistic, mature take, and judging from the screenshots, the graphics are pretty good too. This game seems to hit a niche that no other game really touches on. I've never come across an adventure game (although there are tons of action-adventure ones) that has a realistic, mature theme like I said. It seems to me like this is a digital novel, more than a game, stressing on the elaborate, compelling storyline. If I have enough time, I'll give this one a try. Good job on the review, although it's a little wordy for me, not in the sense of it being lengthwise, but the actual vocabulary.
I did like your level of detail in the review, but some parts had me really confused. The first 2 paragraphs kind of lost me, but much of the review is good.
Great review. Honestly, I have never heard of this game and I generally keep up to date with PC releases. Then again, this did come out in 2006. It sounds interesting. Apart from Tomb Raider I don't think I have played much adventure titles and the story in this sounds pretty interesting. Good work.
at first. i thought oo another version of fable? but you said combat wasn't good (what i got from it atleast) so it changed my mind...
