This is my first review post, so I hope I'll learn from it. Bear with me.

I just finished "Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy," and would rate it as Good-But-Not-Great. It is sort of like Blade Runner in style: dark, futuristic, story line driven by a conspiracy, etc. It is a standard adventure format game, with the character given a mission that he accomplishes by running around, collecting information and inventory, and catching the Bad Guy. It was a bit short by my standards, or maybe I was enjoying it and didn't want it to end?

Loading, Saving, Playing: The game is simple Plug-and-Play as far as installation. No big hardware vampire. No glitches, bugs or other troubles. The only pain with the game is that you have to insert CD 1 every time you start up the game, regardless of what CD you are currently using in the game play. Game designers should know better than to issue games like that. There is a limited number of Save Game slots available, but the game is not so difficult that you need lots anyway. I never got trapped or killed or anything like that.

Plot: The plot is peripheral, although it gives the character his reason to be active. You never get involved with the plot directly. The game ends when you have solved the who-what-where.

Character Movement: Mouse-driven and clean. Once you have been somewhere, you can click on that direction and quickly shift there, without having to walk the slow way off-screen.

Inventory: The usual enormous capacity to carry things. Some very creative, unique and ingenious combinations are required to solve various puzzles. This tickled me. You have to use your head and think outside the box!

Other characters and interaction: Not too much character interaction, and when it occurs, most of it is via cut scenes. Only one "conversation tree" and apparently, you can't screw it up. Basically, you are alone. There are some cut scenes with characters, and some are a bit long and talky. This can be a bit weird because the speech does not synch with the characters' mouth movements (the game was translated into English for the US market).

Camera: No fussy stuff here. Your third-person view is always the same, although you do zoom in on things. Some "hot spots" are very small, however, and if you overlook one, it can stall you completely.

Puzzle Rating: Excellent as far as "puzzling out" what to do, how to solve problems, how to use inventory. Some delightfully quirky things (the rubber-gloves-gas-dental-floss-syringe, and trying to get across the subway tracks are two that stand out) and a deviously clever final puzzle involving numbers and symbols.

Ending: The ending was a bit disappointing, as with so many games. It was one big long cut scene, all conversation, and didn't fill in any unknowns.

Rating: 6 on a scale of 10

Thanks for the review Reenie..

Nightlong was a game I enjoyed - but I have to admit it didn't have the same replay value as say Broken Sword, Tex games or others.

I agree about the uniqueness of the puzzles. There were also some that were refreshingly straight forward - kind of a "Doh" moment after you figured out what to do. I happen to like games a bit on the dark side - but there was less character interaction than other games. I think I didn't notice that fact til I tried a replay and realized how much of the game I still remembered - because there were so many cut scenes. Still it's a game worth a look - Another nice point is that unlike so many other games from the past this one is still easy to get from Dreamcatcher as well as others and is very cheap right now.

PS... Had to edit this when I realized how badly I mangled your name, Reenie Sorry about that - but I guarantee I'll never forget it now.

Laura

Hi.

I played Nightlong quite a while ago and enjoyed it.
I thoroughly back your review, Reenie

Not the very best but DEFINITELY not the very worst

Cheers.

Mad

Good review, Reenie. This is a game I think alot of people might pass up because of the box art (I know I did for the longest time, but when I finally caved I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was nothing like I expected). Good game, good graphics and yeah, I thought the end was kind of disappointing too.

I thought the maze in this one was quite clever,especially since you could save your spot and go back to it later. Most pleasurable maze I've ever gone through.

Reenie, your review was right on the spot.
Nightlong is, IMO, one of those games that seem to get unanimous opinions.
I, too, agree, that is not a GREAT game, but it's pretty good (and I doubt that I can find anyone who doesn't like the game) with almost no negative points.

This is one of my all - time favourite games its just so easy to get into and was just so refreshingly diffirent.
I just loved the sci-fi Cyper punk Atmosphere.

I was a little disapointed when I was in the Virtual reality world although this was one of the best bits of the game I thought they could have had a better finish to the level.

Bring on NightLong 2