"Hard to find now, but destined to be a cult classic..."

There is a huge gulf between temporary gaming diversions and truly memorable games. While everyone gets to play a lot of different games, very few ever sink into the mind. ''The Longest Journey'' is one of those games. While it will probably never be popular for gamers weaned on ''twitch'' games, ''The Longest Journey'' provides a novel-quality story in an extremely immersive world.

The basic concept is fairly straightforward. You are April Ryan, an arts student living in the city to get away from her previous life. You'll encounter all the personalities one can expect to find in a crowded city, and you'll also come up against strange new technology (the game is set in the future). I don't want to reveal anymore, since you're supposed to be seeing the game world through April's eyes. Suffice it to say that there is a shady plot going on in this city, and there are many twists and turns before the credits roll.

First released in Europe, ''The Longest Journey'' (TLJ, for short) finally made it to American stores. While it follows the standard point-and-click adventure formula of other games of its genre, TLJ is exceptional in that the main character, April, is so remarkably detailed. Her innermost thoughts and feelings are related via compelling diary entries (that double as gameplay logs to help remind you of goals) and through the voice of April herself. Getting responses from an idiosyncratic main character is nothing new (just play ''Grim Fandango''), but it is executed brilliantly here.

Another feature that TLJ sports is the ''M'' rating on the box. Yes, there is some swearing, though not just for shock effect; people throw around four-letter words because they feel like it, and not just because some designer felt like adding it in to increase the game's marketability. While there is never any explicit sex, adult themes, such as child abuse and homosexuality, are explored in a natural, unobtrusive way. Saying too much would definitely ruin the story, so I'll stop there.

The puzzles of the adventure genre are here, but they are seldom difficult (except for one that involves a rubber ducky, and one part where you have to keep talking to various people scattered around a city). The focus is far more on storytelling - there is one cool section where you learn different stories from different people to pass a trial (absolutely riveting). The interface is simple and the inventory is large, so no frustrating dropping of items to save space. There is very little in the terms of gameplay innovation, but what is there is solid and entertaining.

Presentation-wise, the game is very polished. The game employs polygonal characters on prerendered backgrounds (a la ''Resident Evil'' or ''Final Fantasy VII'') and is gifted with an incredible soundtrack that goes from fast techno to worldbeat tribal to haunting orchestral without missing a beat. After you finish, you unlock ''The Book of Secrets'' - a collection of cool DVD-like extras to peruse, including voice-acting outtakes, artwork, and new music. The menus are vibrant (consisting of April's artwork when she was a little girl), and that same attention is given to every object in the game.

While TLJ isn't perfect, it is a landmark adventure game and one of the best to come since the aforementioned ''Grim Fandango''. In a quickly dying genre, TLJ is going to go down as one of the last great adventure games ever.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/02, Updated 05/10/02