The Longest Journey

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Graphics
Review: The storyline and graphics for this game are outstanding. Unfortunately, great games are not built entirely around just graphics and storyline. I found the game fun and entertaining but could only give it 3 stars due to the difficulty and lack of logic needed to solve some of the puzzles. The game seems to move a bit too slow and the characters tend to be very long-winded. Sometimes it can take up to 15 minutes just to listen to one monologue. Very fun at first but tedious after a while. Trying too hard to make a novel out of a game

Rating:
Summary: The Most Boring Journey
Review: If you like adventure games that 1) have unchallenging puzzles 2) are long on dialog but short on gameplay 3) are sappy and silly, this is the game for you.

I couldn't wait to zip through this dull chore, having been forced to endure endless chatter from birds, priests and aliens. And I mean ENDLESS. If I wanted an adventure game to be the pc equivalent of a book-on-tape, this is what I would buy.

Rating:
Summary: So Far So Good - But...
Review: I do not consider my self a gamer..and I have not played that many games (King's Quest, Thief II, ..) but I have mixed feelings about TLJ.

The scenery and characters are pretty realistic..the conversations are good between the characters..but my biggest complaint are the puzzles. The puzzles are overly complex and sometimes do not make sense.

For example:

In one scene there is a key attached to some electrical fuse box on a subway rail that she needs to get.

Insted of April jumping down on the tracks..using a glove to shield herself from the current and grabbing the key I have to

1. Find Rope 2. Find a rubber inflatable duck with a band-aid on it. 3. and get a clamp.

Then .combine the rope with clamp...blow up the rubber ducky. Take the band-aid off the rubber ducky..combine the rubber ducky with the clamp and rope and the use the whole thing lower it to the rail to get the key. (Thank god for hints!!)

Now...thats..ridiculous. There are some other weird puzzles as well.

Oh well I'll continue playing it though cause it's fun.

Rating:
Summary: A different adventure game - "interactive movie"
Review: Overall, I would say this is a good game. I enjoyed playing it and it kept my attention. The story is complex and imaginative and the graphics/sound are well done.

It is a different type of game. It reminded me more of an interactive movie than the normal adventure game. There is a lot of dialouge and a good bit of time when you are simply listening to others talk. It does get tedious at times.

The puzzles seem to take a backseat to the storyline which is definately the most important part of this game. Some puzzles seemed to be solved too quickly and two puzzles were simply too long to complete (trial & error solutions). Many of the puzzles, however, required thought about what other characters told you and further learning about the story to solve the puzzle.

There is also a lot of walking back and forth between places which can also become tedious.

Overall, I enjoyed the game, characters, and the look of everything. It ends too quickly - they seem to be clearly setting up for the next game. I would only buy this game if you are willing to become involved in a story and willing to do a lot more listening and a lot less playing than usual. If you are, this will be a great game. If not, I would look for a different game.

Rating:
Summary: Awsome
Review: This is the best game I have ever played. I loved it! The characters are great. The graphics are amazing. The plot was so intresting and well thought out. The only thing is it could have been longer having the title the longest journey.

Rating:
Summary: Eye candy but bad game design
Review: No one will argue that the graphics and sound of this game are excellent, even barring the limited resolution of 640x480. But even great graphics can't help a game that's been designed poorly. One of the first problems is the contrived puzzles, as mentioned in the editorial review. For instance, in the level "The Chaos Storm" (also available for those users wishing to try out the demo), after examining some hard candy in your inventory, the dialog tells you to not eat it. But, the puzzle relies on you not only eating the candy, but then using the sticky part you spit out to catch a worm (?) in a bag of flour (??). Since there is nothing in the game to make you think to try this, many players will get frustrated not knowing how to proceed.

Personally, I also didn't care for all of the voice acting. Quite a bit seemed over the top and, in some cases, completely out of place. Also, in many parts of the game you are given choices in things to say that don't make sense. Meaning, you're given the choice to speak about things that haven't yet occurred or that your character has yet to find out about. This is a definite no-no in an adventure game - it's a shame so many games have this problem.

On a final note, I must add to everyone's complain about the speed of the game. Between the dialog that can't be stopped/skipped and the constant *walking* of all the other characters in the game, I just kick someone! For instance, if someone said to you "I must get downstairs as quickly as possible to save the blah blah blah", and then they walked away...? What am I supposed to think?

So, if you look past these design issues and get into the story, you'll probably have a good time with this game. But for those of you that are sick of half-as* titles that *could* be so much better, save your money.

Rating:
Summary: This truly IS the longest journey
Review: As April Ryan, you will meet a variety of characters in this game. The graphics are great (though a little jerky and pixilated on my machine), the scenery is magnificent, and the story is interesting. The problem: the conversations that April has with the many people and creatures she meets in this story go on, and on, and on, and well, you get the point. I read Leo's review of the game (after I quit playing it) and agree one hundred percent. I didn't try the time skipping strategy, though, because the instructions in the game book cautioned against it. What a sucker! Overall, the game was good, IF you have the time and interest to sit in front of the computer for several hours at a stretch. My wife was often upset with me because you can't stop in the middle of one of the dialog sessions to save the game and turn off the computer. People rave about this game, but I found an even better one called Sanitarium (I'm not sure you can still get it though). If you can get your hands on it, buy it, it is the best.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Journey
Review: the longest journey is a great game. it has everything in it: it's funny, intriguing, sad and scary. the plot develops smoothly, and sometimes you feel you watch a movie rather than play a game. the graphics are top-notch, although an improvement in the characters would not do any harm, and the SFX and music are second to none. the actors role their characters very well. the longest journey is one of those special games that truly take you into the atmosphere. you can play it 5 hours and feel that only 5 minutes passed. it's quite easy to solve, you only have to think logically in some places rather than do the obvious. the only thing that disappointed me was the ending; you can't tell what happens to almost nobody. i'm waiting impatiently for the sequel, and so should you. i would give it a 6 star rating, only the problem is there is only 5. go get it!

Rating:
Summary: Great graphic and sound, kind of dull otherwise
Review: The game has nice graphics and sound effects and this is about it.

Puzzles are dumb, the plot is overcomplicated. Most puzzles consist of exhausting dialogs with numerous game characters. You just talk and talk without any change of the scenery, until there's nothing else to say, then go to another character, talk more. After speaking out several more pages of dialogs, the previous character, of course, has more to say to you, so you go back to him or her, for more talking. And, boy, are those dialogs lengthy! After awhile, I developed a strategy, that eventually let me enjoy the game. In the game settings, enable "time skip". Then start conversation and continuously hit escape until it's over, then select another branch and keep doing it until the person has nothing to say or start repeating herself. Don't worry about the order of the phrases (it doesn't matter) or that you miss some important information (all relevant facts will be summarized in April's diary). That's the only reasonable way to play. My wife tried to listen to all that was said. I got bored, and eventually went out to do some chores. Half hour later I checked on her - she was dozing in front of the computer, the game at the same scene at which I left it, few branches of conversations still not tried.

Believe me, skipping conversations IS the only way to complete the game, or it WILL be "The Longest Journey" (that is, if you manage to complete the game at all, with all dialogs spoken out without interruption, which I have strong doubts about).

Another thing about the game that slowed me down initially - many scenes are so dark, that you cannot see some objects around you. So I was stuck couple of times and had to go look at the hint pages on the internet. Finally it got me, and I interrupted the game, to find out how to change my video settings to brighten up a screen. Remarkably, that this was the first time I ever had to do it. My display settings were adequate for all the software I ran on this PC so far. Learning how to increase the brightness was the last challenge of this game. I still kind of enjoyed completing it. On the other hand, if I hadn't paid for this game, I could have very well switched to something more interesting.

This is the review I have ever written, and the reason I did it - all the reviews I read before I bought the game was misleading (IMHO). I hope this one will help others.

Rating:
Summary: Still the best game I have ever played to date
Review: The setting: a 23rd century Chicago type city. You are April Ryan, a young, struggling artist in a little bohemian township known as "Venice". The game starts with you having a nightmare, a sort of prophetic dream. Then you get out of bed and begin your day not realizing that eventually you will begin a series of events and discover things and people who lead you to believe that you are a "savior" for two worlds that have been split in half...your own world and another world of magic. for over 2000 years these worlds have been kept apart and now it's up to you to keep them that way. You, April Ryan travel as a "shifter" between the two worlds meeting and greeting different people and creatures and have many separate adventures. Some adventures include puzzles...hard but always intriguing....they rival that of Myst. The graphics are like no other game and the characters are intense and unforgettable. It's been two months since I've played the game but I still pine for it every day. I find myself missing April Ryan and her friends. Sounds silly, but to get through the game you have to ask lot's of questions to each new face ( I say "face" because well, not eveybody is human) and over time you feel as if you know them intimately. I only gave this game 4 stars because once you've completed the journey you feel a great loss! It has to end sometime. The replay factor is questionable. You could replay it just for fun over and over (I surely did) but the path will always be the same and you will have to ask all those questions over and over. I sold my version after I played it non-stop for weeks. I am seriously thinking of buying it again. Really, I'm not kidding