Rating: 
Summary: Great for adults
Review: "The Longest Journey" has a wonderfully engaging story, and characters you care a great deal about. I did almost nothing but play this game for weeks. However, there were times when I really needed to look up hints, because some puzzles were either too complex or obtuse to figure out. Also, the language can be quite strong at times. Still, I am looking forward to the sequel, whenever that comes out.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: I have mixed feelings about TLJ. On one hand, I totally enjoyed the game's atmosphere, world, and characters. The game was beautiful, wordly, surreal, intelligant, cynical, profoundly thought-provoking and introspective all at once. I thought the dialogue and voice acting were excellent, and I could see myelf in the protagonist and some of her friends. At first I felt like I was playing a game about myself. Then, the game's mediocrity crept in as I went to Arcadia. Interesting place, but I was much more fascinated with the details of Stark and April's friends. I wanted to know more about them instead. What really disappointed me is the fact that there is so much potential, so much set up in this game, and little pay-off to where you think it might go. All the characters you're introduced to in the first chapter are interesting and I would have wanted the story to involve them more, but none of them turn out to be important in any way, and the story focuses more exclusively on the mundane quests of Arcadia instead. Worse still, there was no sense of suspense in the gameplay. Unlike the King's Quest series (which is equally puzzle-laden, but has some atrocious dialogue) there aren't multiple solutions to problems, no time limits, and you can't make the wrong decisions, do stupid things, get yourself killed, or even lose the game. You can only get stuck while you try to figure out how to solve whatever puzzle you're stuck on that serves as nothing more than a bridge to the next narrative sequence. Plus, the game's ending was disappointingly vague and kind of depressing, so by the end I was feeling kind of detatched, while at the beginning I was completely immersed. In short, I felt like I was playing someone else's story. TLJ feels like a story that wanted to be a movie or a novel, but not a game.
Rating: 
Summary: Wish It Would've Been Even Longer!
Review: I truly have never played a more enjoyable and interesting adventure game than "The Longest Journey". Right from the start, I was totally entranced by the graphics, sound, and story, which continued to improve as the game progressed. The character of April Ryan is very likeable, and her dialogue is very real and appropriate for every interaction. I went through a variety of emotions while playing this game, and found myself staring at the screen endlessly into the night. About five hours later, I realized I'd only left my dest once, and it was about time to get some sleep!
This game allows the user to pick and choose questions and answers, which I liked very much, because this means I can play the game more than once to see the other reactions and answers that characters might offer.
The only difficulty I had when trying to play this excellent adventure game was in the beginning movie. I had help from the troubleshooting guide in the "read me" text though, and my problem (thankfully) was fixed very easily. If you have a slow computer it's a good idea to disable 3D acceleration and high quality video.
I am so glad that this outstanding game won the title of adventure game of the year. It truly deserves it. I hope every person who plays this game is filled with amazement during this journey of discovery, and recognizes it for what a well-written and thoughtful PC game it is.
Rating:
Summary: very good game with way too much dialogue
Review: This is an excellent game, which contrary to another reviewers comments, runs very well on Win XP, but does require a video card with 3D ability. The graphics were excellent, the story interesting and it was very long so you get a lot for your money. The only problem was the neverending blah, blah, blah from every character you meet. I like interaction in a game, but this was way too yacky. Overall, if you like adventure games you will like this game a lot but just prepare for many long discussions with assorted characters about things you don't care about.
Rating: 
Summary: This game..
Review: ....doesn't run with WindowsXP. Folks should know this if they have that OS and are thinking of buying this game. I learned this the hard way. In lieu of zero stars, I'm forced to give it one star, as one cannot post a review without stars.
Rating:
Summary: Mature means [swearing] alot!!
Review: I love good story adventures and this one was ok, but to just throw in FU every few minutes didn't appear very mature. The movement thru the plot usually just meant you had to have the character move back and forth to listen to different characters until you got them to say something, that when you returned to the first character would allow for the prompt so you could ask them what you wanted to the first time. Characters that you talk to die later and there is a gal talking about her lesbian lover, so I guess that qualifies under mature, but none of that is necessary to the plot and appears obvious that it was just thrown in to allow for those that wouldn't buy the magic of two worlds without thinking it was a kiddy game unless they could label it "mature".
I found the story line novel and don't regret buying it, but I could have done without the "mature" added parts.
Rating:
Summary: Yak, Yak, Yak!
Review: I bought this game because of the high rating in PC Gamer. I love to play PC games! Most of the time you spend 'playing' The Longest Journey is spent reading (if you have sub-titles turned on)or listening to the long-winded characters describing the plot. You get to choose from multiple questions to ask, and if you don't ask the right question you can't continue the game; therefore, you have to ask all the questions and listen to the ever-long responses. Yak, Yak, Yak! The other time is spent watching April getting from here to there. The graphic scenery is incredibly beautiful and the voice-acting was the best I've heard. The plot was interesting and so were the characters. "Crow" was my favorite. But I wanted a game to PLAY and something to do - not listen to or watch. Some of the long video-scenes began after the long-winded commentary and you just sat there and watched for what seemes like an eternity. It drove me bonkers! Buy a good book to read or rent a good movie to watch - but for a game with some play value, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful in EVERY way
Review: I have played this game 3 times, and i am in the middle of my 4th. The only problem with it is that there isn't a sequal to it...yet. The graphics were incredable, and the music was enchanting. There was a lot of talk, which at times could get boring, especially if you have heard it 3 times before, but each word was important. The two worlds are so different, one is dark and depressing, and the other is bright and happy! Each character is unique. I bet that after playing this game once, a month or two later you will yurn to play it again.
Rating:
Summary: the graphics make the game
Review: when i first started this, i was confronted with a dream scene which was absolutely stupefying. fortunately, the rest of the game lived up to the quality of the initial visuals, and the main reason for my progressing with the game was to see what landscape came next. graphics were my sole reason for rating this four stars. one of my favorites was the drunks house on the cliff overhanging the ocean, but just about every landscape associated with arcadia was excellent. the seediness of the street levels of the city was in "stark" contrast to the luxury of the upper ones. very effective. as for characters, april was kind of a turkey, but with a touch of nastiness. as mentioned in many prior reviews, everyone was a severe blabbermouth, but i found that this didnt detract from the atmosphere provided by the visuals. crow was especially obnoxious, but you must never forget to call him when things get sticky. with respect to puzzles, this game was quite easy. the hardest past was at the beginning, the rigamarole associated with getting into the mercury theater. the logic here was quite loose, but easy enough to do without any assistance. for inadvertant clues, look carefully at the pictures in the instruction book. the only other semi-difficult puzzle was a bunch of underwater stones that had to be oriented properly. trial and error was best. the story was nice, but not particularly original. stark and arcadia reminded me of arthur clarkes diaspar and lys. it served well as a framework for the spectacular graphics, but as others have said, this was a well illustrated story, a movie, rather than a puzzle game. one thing unusual that i really appreciated about this game was that, once loaded onto the hard disc, no cd had to be in the drive, and several people could play separate games simultaneously. no need to play musical CDs (as in riven), which saves wear and tear on the drive during this long game. so, in the end, i bought three copies of this game, one for myself and two for friends. the price is right, and the visuals alone are worth the money. im sure you wont be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Blah-blah-blah
Review: Blah-blah-blah....what we need here is a little more action and a lot less talk. Even though The Longest Journey is an enoyable game, at times I screamed at the computer to just shut up. If you click on the "wrong" response be prepared to be bored to tears with mindless, non-informative dialog. Also the game is a very slow starter. I almost threw in the towel a couple of times out of sheer boredom. Also several of the characters were very unlikable, and the language unneccsarily crude. However after the first few chapters it did become more interesting and somewhat of a challenge, and several of the chapters were fun and charming with intriguing puzzles. It runs the gamut to futuristic to fairy tale like sets so almost everyone will find something to like. This game had lots of potential, but just fell a bit short in my opinion.
|
