I agree about the dead ends, I never encountered any and the controls were quite easy if you are used to WASD. Once you get the hang of it, the controls become second nature and you are left with a pretty darned good adventure game. In fact, I think it's one of the better games to have come out last last year.

Am still playing the game and enjoying it.
You yust have to adjust some keys, and than you have no
trouble at all. I use the E, R, T keyes for action, looking
and so on, and that works fine with me.
The only trouble I had was with combining items,
that took me a while to find out. But the graphics are fine,
although mabye a bit to gray. But, all in all, I am pleased with the game (and the music is very nice too ..)
And Johnny Depp! am definitly a fan!

Hi chrissie,
To answer your question about why I didn't like the graphics, to me they were sort of boring. I can't get excited about rooms and hallways in any game, especially if I get stuck and have to do things over. Which I did before I went to MaG's walkthrough which I tried to follow as much as I could to try to get somewhere in the game but then that lost key (even if it was in my inventory I didn't know how to reach it) just completely frustrated me. I like more color in my graphics which is why I prefer the old 2D cartoony games. I was late in discovering the early Broken Sword 1 and 2 games which I played in January and February last year but they had the graphics I like the best. They were just about the best games I played last year, along with the 2 Blackwell games, which also had the old-style (very old, in fact) type of graphics, but easy to see where you were, not lost in a hallway like in Dead Reefs, and the storylines in these games were more entertaining to me. I thought the Dead Reef character was sort of stiff-upper lipped and not the fun that George and Joey were. I'm not a Johnny Depp fan (I'm one of Harrison Ford's big time fans!) so I didn't have this going for the character which might have made him more appealing. I'm thinking maybe my age has me more tuned to the old style gaming interfaces and therefore I don't appreciate the new 3D more realistic type of interface. Sorry about that. But you are lucky, you know, chrissie, because more games that you like will be made than those games that I like.

Hi sierramindy, thank you for taking the time to answer me! I can completely see why Dead Reefs & a lot of the more modern games don't appeal to you - & I don't think Harrison Ford instead of Johnny Depp would have helped much! (either would do it for me, I'm not fussy! but neither would help if I just didn't like the game)

I AM lucky in that I do like a variety of games but I'm sure that there must be a lot of gamers (including myself) who enjoy the old style cartoony graphics as well as the more realistic type of interface so it does seems a pity that less of these are being made! Hope sierramindy that you find some more undiscovered gems like the 1st two Broken Sword games to while away the hours! Have you played the Monkey Island & Discworld games? Also, if you haven't already looked, there may be some games in Free Games Galore with the graphics/interface you like.

Hey Sierramindy -- have you played the Ankh games and the Runaway games? Also, you might want to check out Super Jazz Man (an Indie game I think you might like). Super Jazz Man Trailer and the Super Jazz Man website.

Gilbert Goodmate and Tony Tough are good ones too!

Ana

I'm going bonkers, I absentmindedly clicked Submit before I wrote my post. Sheesh!
Hi chrissie,
Yes, I've played Monkey Island and liked the first 3 games very much but couldn't finish the fourth one! Never tried Discworld and I think it is too late now. I have played 3 Free Games Galore and they were great: 5 Magical Amulets, The Flight of the Amazon Queen, and Other Worlds (I may have the only copy of a printed walkthrough in the world, got it before Alkis knew there was one!)
Hi Becky,
I've seen the screenshots for Ankh and just can't get interested in it. The character just doesn't appeal to me for some reason or other. As for Super Jazz Man, that's a possibility that I'm thinking about. I went to the website and enjoyed checking it out, even the forum where someone was upset because there wasn't a spoiler -- now get this: in the walkthrough! Duh!
Hi BrownEyedTigre,
Not particularly interested in Tony Tough. I seem to recall the name Gilbert Goodmate from forum postings and thinking it might be a game I would like, but never found it anywhere.
At present I'm looking forward to So Blonde, The Vampyre Story, and The Blackwell Convergence, also maybe Jack Keane.

sierramindy - Your comments about 3D are interesting. Last week I spent the day over at my mothers house and loaded up Safe Cracker (the newer one) for her. It was an interesting experience to say the least! While not really 3D, it did have 360 degree movement which she REALLY struggled with. The simple act of rotating around to see the room was painful as she would be moving the mouse like crazy and end up staring at the floor or shooting it up to the ceiling. Forget going from one node to the other!

To make a long story short, I had to take over the mouse and get her to where she wanted to go then she could work on the puzzles. She enjoyed the game a lot but, as she mentioned to me, had I not been there she would have been completely lost and given up on it within minutes. So yes, I can easily see how there are people like yourself who prefer being shown a single screen at a time to explore without it moving around on you.

You might give Ankh a chance anyway. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic after seeing the screenshots either, but the game turned out to be fun -- a lot better than Tony Tough (IMO).

Hi Ivinia,
Seems your mother and I have something in common as I spend a lot of time looking at ceilings and floors and I have absolutely no idea where the nodes are, or even what they are, for that matter. I don't like it but I can put up with it if the game is holding my interest. Actually, I put up with almost anything in a game as long as I feel I am making some progress in getting to the end, even if it takes me a long time. It is when I stop making progress even using a walkthrough (and in action parts I might even start getting worse) I throw in the towel and quit.

Hi,
I don't know if this will work for those finding the controls awkward, but I found by sliding over and using the little finger on the shift I seemed have better control. Not thinking wasd but right left up and down. The arrow keys the same. I think I started doing this in BS3. Any way it works for me. The key problem you have to use the hand twice to get it. If possible listen for the sound it gives when it works. I like the game not finished yet. By the way I keep hearing a phone ringing, it's happened 3 times so far. Has anyone else heard this? On the boat was once.
Charllotte

I'm having a really tough time with the controls. I have a funny for you. I began game, talked with first person and decided to save. I must have touched some arrows that I shouldn't have and I guess changed time, and when I reloaded my character was standing waist deep in water. Needless to say, I'm starting all over again. I had to laugh at what I created. Teddo

I managed to get Finvinerro into some tight spots -- but I don't remember him standing waist deep in water. I wonder if that's an Easter Egg?

I doubt it, Becky. I think I just messed with controls I shouldn't have. I had to laugh. It was at the bottom of the "save". I'll just have to keep experimenting and learning.

I'll keep you posted. Teddo

Hi All. I haven't even installed this game and I am getting butterflies in my stomach. If this has any action in it, I am in big trouble. I am definitely a point and click kind of player. The controls, WASD and arrow keys sound as though they might be a tad difficult for me to handle in this game. Any more input as how to have better control over this game would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Terri

I don't think there are timed sequences until right near the end. I was pretty clumsy with the controls at first, but it didn't matter so much because I could take my time. If you find that just dealing with the interface takes up a lot of mental energy, there's an excellent walkthrough by MaG for times you may get stuck on a puzzle.

Thanks Becky. I'm concerned about making it to a puzzle in order to try to solve it. I remember poor Zoe in Dreamfall ended up all bruised and in traction by the time I got through running her into the walls and IP was a nightmare! I'll give it a whirl.

Terri

So THAT's why Zoe was in that hospital bed. It was US did that to her!

Becky. I don't feel quite so bad knowing that it was US and not me alone. I hope Zoe makes a full recovery and soon.

Terri

I've tried to get into this game. Oh Lord how I've tried! I personally love the fact that its not point and click and more like the old Alone in the Dark games. But the camera and movement are just so awkward I find myself playing for 15 or 20 minutes then giving up in frustration. Gad, if I just try to turn, my char spins around 5 or six times before he stops. Makes me dizzy. The controls don't even work for me half the time. There will be a 3 or 4 second delay before the char moves. Could this be something I've done wrong in the setup or something?

Anyway it's really to bad because I love the idea of the game, it looks great and the story seems good as well. If you could use FPS type controls, I would be in love with it, but as it is, it's more an exorcize in frustration than anything else.

Oh and BTW; Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this or not but I got this game with the Adventure CO.'s Adventure Collection which includes this game along with 4 others for 20 bucks so for 4 bucks a game you can't beat it.

I did those dizzy spins too, until I changed the character's run to walk. It was mostly a breeze after that, a couple areas required some adjustment.

The timed scene on the boat got me for a while but all in all I strugled through .Bumping in walls etc

Olgeezer -- I didn't have the problems you describe while playing the game. You might want to play around with the setup, or perhaps post in the Glitches forum about the problems.


I'd forgotten the timed scene on the boat. That comes earlier than the end timed sequence.

I had exactly the same problems, olgeezer. I finally ditched the game too. It was just too frustrating. By the time I would get him pointed in the right direction, sometimes it took so long that I would forget why I wanted him to go there in the first place. At one point, I actually broke my D key by tapping it too much trying to get him to turn. (I was probably pounding it, actually )

Gee whiz, I am not happy with all these comments. LOL I've not had the problem of spinning yet, I guess it's something to look forward to. I however, am having problems remembering what key makes him do what. (Actually, I'm not sure that I ever knew.) I haven't found anything to pick up yet, how will I know when I find something? I believe that I would like this game if it were point and click. Don't know if I am going to be able to stay with it but will try a bit longer.