Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

"A gripping and suspense-filled game with a compelling plot - like a good book, but interactive !! Check it out :)"

FOREWORD

Good adventure games are like good books - once you've gotten stuck into one it's like stepping into a whole new world. Traditionally, adventure games are renowned for creating a desire to see them through to the end, which is the signal of a strong plot and enjoyable gameplay ... does Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers uphold these traditions ? Or does it bring them crashing down ?? Read on ...

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

You play Gabriel Knight - the owner of a bookstore in New Orleans. Gabriel is a SERIOUSLY chilled-out (to the point of being bone idle) womanising layabout, ably assisted by his colleague and employee, Grace - an Asian girl that kinda looks after him (somebody has to run the shop whilst he's out and about with the laydees after all).

Gabriel has been researching a set of Voodoo-style murders for a book he is in
the process of writing, and becomes unwittingly embroiled with a very dark and unsavoury crime syndicate that could easily cost him his life !!

GRAPHICS - 7/10

The graphics are RATHER dated by today's standards, looking quite blocky in places - however you have to remember that this game was designed to play in a low resolution, so concessions should be made. When you play it in high detail, it becomes slightly easier to see which items you can and cannot interact with in any given room or area (which could be considered cheating, but hey).

The quality of the animations is very good, however - all the characters have little quirks (Gabriel is often seen playing with his giant mop of hair, for example), and they all walk realistically, stoop to pick items up, and so on.

In your inventory you have the ability to interact with items and examine them more closely, which is good as it makes you feel like you are more in control of the overall detective-style experience.

There is another graphical area which this game EXCELS at, and that is dialogue. When you speak with somebody, the screen changes so that you see your face, their face, and a number of dialogue options that you can choose from. The DETAIL that the developers have taken in ensuring that the faces are not only life-like, but that their mouths move very very closely to approximate the words they are saying (to the point of being almost freaky) is VERY, VERY impressive indeed. Easily the best I've seen in a video game. Additionally, there is a lot of emotion in the character's faces, so you can see when you're touching a nerve or just plain irritating them, which helps you to learn more about them - it's VERY good work for a dated release.

SOUND - 9/10

The voice-acting in this game is fantastic - Gabriel Knight is voiced by one of my all-time favourite actors, Tim Curry, with Mark Hamill of Luke Skywalker fame doing the voice of Detective Mosely, and Michael Dorn supplying the voice of Doctor John, and Leah Remini as Grace.

The actors are ALL very good quality performers, and really get into their characters, making them believable, informative, and fun to listen to (there is a LOT of dialogue - this IS an adventure game, after all !!).

The music is extremely atmospheric, from your Gran's House and the little homely ditty that plays there over to the bookshop with its upbeat and peppy rhythm. The use of Rada Drums is also very noticeable when you are travelling around, and keeps the Voodoo theme at the back of your mind the whole time.

The sound-effects are also VERY highly detailed, from leafing through books to activate dusty levers, twisting hands on clocks to getting bumped on the head with blackjacks, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers has been lovingly attended to by an obviously skilled set of sound technicians. Top notch stuff !!

CONTROLS - 7/10

The controls are perfectly workable, but there are a couple of minor issues that do rear their heads periodically - specifically that, from time to time, you will have a REALLY tough time finding what objects you want to interact with, and the reticle for targeting the item/s you want to interact with can make it a bit fiddly to select specifically what item you want. For example, where a group of items are placed on a table, you might pick up the wrong thing by being a bit too quick with the clicking, and that can lead to mild frustration.

Aside from that, the other issue with the controls is when you are trying to get Gabriel to walk to a specific area of the screen as, again, sometimes he will kinda ignore you and go to another area.

Ordinarily this would not pose a problem, but there are a couple of areas in the game where timing is absolutely critical or you WILL be killed immediately, and you can wind up ripping hair out of your head with frustration at those points. HOWEVER, none of this detracts from what is effectively a simplistic and usable control method that you will get used to.

PLOT - 10/10

Fair play, Jane Jensen REALLY knows how to write a story. The plot lets you join it gently (which is IMPERATIVE for the first title in any series), bring you up to speed, and then projects you into a WORLD of fun, drama, suspense and danger.

The plot is SO comprehensive and compelling that you really do feel yourself bonding with the characters as the game progresses, so much so that you WILL wind up trying to skip work or school to get back early and get stuck into the game again.

There are a set number of things you need to do before you are able to complete each chapter in the game (you could consider them levels, but they are called chapters as they would be in a regular book), and so quite often you will wind up playing into the wee small hours of the morning just to try and round-off a chapter so that you can have that sense of completeness when you hit the sack.

VERY compelling, and VERY well-thought out plotlines.

GAMEPLAY - 9/10

Were it not for the occasionally irritating moment when you really do need to get things done really quickly, and Gabriel moves to the wrong area of the screen, or picks up the wrong item, this game is VERY very enjoyable to play. The characters, their development and your interaction with them comes on in leaps and bounds during the course of the chapters that make up the game, and the plot unfolds just as well as a good book should.

Even though this game was released 14 years ago (in 1993), I STILL find the time to go back and play it again when I get the chance. The music adds a great angle to the gameplay, and the witty dialogue never gets old (just watch the mime aggravate the police officer in the square - it's great) :)

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

Even though it's an adventure game (and so its IMMEDIATE replay value takes a dent), once you have forgotten how some of the puzzles are solved, you will probably come back and want to play through it again. Just in the same way you might re-read a good book some years later.

Consequently, the longer-term replay value of this title is high.

VALUE FOR MONEY - 10/10

Considering what you actually get for the pittance it should cost you these days, this title represents STUNNING value for money. I wholeheartedly recommend you get a copy, and sink your teeth into it (not LITERALLY you understand, but hey !!)

OVERALL - 9/10 (This is NOT an average)

When you take into account that this game is 14 years old now, and then look to the quality of the voice-acting, the speech animations, the HUGE depth and intrigue that the plot holds, and the MANY many hours it will you to complete it (even if you do so with a full walkthrough !!), you have in this game a title that will serve you proud for MANY many years to come.

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* MANY many hours of gameplay.
* Extremely good, and oftentimes very funny, voice-acting.
* A gripping and involving plot that you WON'T want to put down.
* Good long-term replay value.
* Great animation on the dialogue sections (which are plentiful).

MAIN BAD POINTS

* Graphics in general are a bit dated by today's standards (but the game is now 14 years old, so what do you expect ?) :)

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

Yep, I would seriously recommend this title. For the first in the series, it's a great opener, with a really involving and suspense-filled plot - it introduces a set of characters, many of whom are going to be recurring throughout the series, in a way in which you actually WANT to see them again, and will make for a very enjoyable chapter of your video games playing life :)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/07