The Longest Journey

"So its FINALLY hit our shores, was it worth the wait?"

Sometimes, when I write a review, I am not ashamed to admit that I am horribly biased. Despite this, I have always tried to write a good review, and tell you waether you're hard earned money should be spent on is worthwhile.

So I was searching online for a game I havent played yet, to buy and occupy my free time with. I saw an ad for the Longest Journey on an adventure website. Curious, I shoped around to various local stores to see if they had it. In the area i live in, i am sad to say that we only have to decent stores to get games, One is an UNDERSIZED Electronic Botique, the other is a pitifully bad store called Software Ect. (Lawyers from both places can call 1-800-GET-BENT to get ahold of me) These are MY experiences, so if you had differnt ones, you're lucky.

Back to the story at hand though. I went to EB to look for the game, and found that a) They didnt have it, b) They never heard of it, and c) according to thier computer, they have it in stock (???). they did offer me a nice $10 discount on Deus Ex though. I already HAVE the darn thing, so i just left. I found that the game hasnt got (and still dosent) an American distributer, because for some reason Adventures games over here arent selling very well. (go figure)

Undetered, I proceded to order it from across the seas (PC games from england work here in the states). A few days later in an off chance, I found on the EB website, the Longest Journey for sale. After various explecative curses (which will probably get me banned from most decent places). I calmed down. So for all those who wonder where this game is, ORDER IT ONLINE. Its here in the States, I assure you. If youre too lazy to do that, just go to you're local PC games store, and tell them to get it from thier storehouse for you.

Couple this with the fact that I had a truly MISERABLE time with the company (Software First, who by the way can ALSO call 1-800-GET-BENT) who I ordered it from. (Which i wont recount, lets just say i paid for it 2 times, and shipped more than once) I prayed this game was worth all of the damn hassle I went thru for it.

And boy was it ever!

This, gentle readers is what a GREAT adventure game plays like. Using a simple point and click interface, combined with GREAT grafics, and a GREAT story, is what gaming is all about! I wont spoil much, but lets sum it up for you:

You are April Ryan, a simple struggling artist in the world of the future. Her's is the world of flying cars, Space travel, ext. ect. In you're dreams, however, all is not so well. You constantly dream about Dragons, Talking trees, and other such fantasy staples, that you begin to question you're own sanity. Thats when a strange man named Cortez proves to you, that you are not insane, oh and by the way, that other world you keep dreaming of REALLY exists.

Thats is the gist of the start of the game. While it may seem like a simple plot, the game quickly becomes far more involved and detailed than any you have seen before. in fact, it becomes so much fun to play you forget that you are playing an adventure game!

There are some warnings though. this game is NOT aimed at kids. There is foul language (From one of the funnier characters, who I think is supposed to be a bad Bruce Campbell rip-off), some brief nudity (in the intro, unnecessary, really), and a lot of scary imagery to deal with, so make sure 10-year olds dont get ahold of it. In fact, one of the first people you talk to is a sex obsessed lesbian landlord!

There is more to it though. The great voice acting actually helps draw you into the world. You actually begin to like and even care about the people you are talking to. Each of them has thier own personality, motivations, and goals to talk about. You cant help but like or hate the people in the game. They truly come alive as if they had lives of thier own.

And the grafics are great! While some spots could have used a bit more animation (any place by the shore for example, doesnt water move?) others are filled to the brim with details and inside jokes (one part of the futuistic city has a cameo by no less than 3 diffrent Star Trek characters). it has to be said that in some cases (mostly on disc 2), there are minor grafics errors. Sometimes a line will appear down the middle of the screen, but its not enough to dectact from the overall experience. Also, some characters (Adrian, is one HUGE example), walk like they are stick figures, though April, the hero, looks motion captured.

Controls are simple: point, click, and thats it. Sounds tough right? I do have some gripes, though. Sometimes, you can go from the world map to a location, then have to run thru 3 or 4 diffrent locations just to go back to the world map! This could have easily been delt with, but again, its a minor gripe.

Like all adventure games, this suffers from one undenyable problem: Lack of replayability. Sure once you beat the game you unlock some nice secrets, but do you REALLY want to go back thru over 30+ hours of gameplay? What for? Still, for us adventure gamers, thats not a problem. We love this stuff.

Grafics-9.
+ Really nice looking, lots of detail.
- Minor glitches, stiff animation

Sound-10.
+ Metal Gear Solid quality voice acting. Great music.
- No way to steal it from the game! No music CD!

Controls-9
+ Point-Click... the end.
- That annoying 'look for the right spot on the screen to click' horsepucky that Grim Fandango eliminated.

Camera-10.

Playility-10.
+ Easy for anyone to pick up and play. Keeps you hooked.

Replayablity-NA
Its an adventure game, this score doesnt count.

Lastability-9
The box says 50+ hours, but i beat it in 30. of course, i dont have a life, and i play a lot of adventure games. The simpler puzzles will attract the casual adventure gamer, but may turn off die hards.

Overall-9
Buy this now!

Amakusa needs to get to Alais as soon as possible, and Jaal be damned about the Chaos Storm!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/00, Updated 08/12/00