My Biased View of What a PC Adventure Game Is

I've never been a huge fan of adventure games, but have been playing them a bit more recently. Growing up, friends more into the genre would be chatting about the latest game with "Quest" in the name, Willy Beamish, Maniac Mansion and the like, telling each other how they got past certain puzzles. I even ventured into these games from time to time. As the years wore on, certain expectations began to solidify in my as to what an adventure game "should be".

Are the areas meticulously handcrafted set pieces? If so, that's one sign it could be an adventure game. Is there a fairly involved, well-realized story? Also a sign that it may be an adventure game, but be careful, it could also be an RPG. Are there mind-breaking, often times obnoxiously obtuse puzzles? If so, then it is most certainly an adventure game. The more I play these games now, the more I expect these ingredients to be mixed together.

The problem is that nowadays, the genre seems to have splintered in two directions: traditional point-and-click games, and what feels more like an interactive story. In recent years, we've seen the rise of Telltale Games where their games have been lumped into the adventure game category.

While I do enjoy what Telltale is doing, I have a difficult time really accepting their games as being adventure. The one strong feature that they have is the storytelling. In this regard, the games are great to experience. Good dialogue, well-paced plots, and often with a tasteful amount of humour. As far as their stories go, they're great, but after that I start really questioning whether I should look at what they're doing as adventures.

A lot of the areas don't really feel like set pieces. They're still relatively small, contained areas, but the detail isn't there. There's a certain wow-factor I feel when changing screens to a new area for the first time in point-and-click adventure games that is lacking in the Telltale universe. Going into new zones in King's Quest, The Longest Journey, or even Deponia all manage to impress me with all of the little details that are inserted and it leaves me wanting more as I progress through those games. The lack of detail in Telltale's adventures makes it so I don't feel this in their games.

Moreover, the puzzles are comparatively rudimentary in Telltale adventures. I know to a degree they're trying to appeal to the widest audience possible, so there's a degree of dumbing down at play, but I wouldn't mind if the puzzles were made at least a little bit more difficult. I'll be the first to admit that some of the more out there puzzles I've come across in adventure games have been infuriating, and I don't blame people for wanting to avoid those things. However, it feels like the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction now. Many of the puzzles that I come across in Telltale adventures can be figured out in a few minutes. It would be nice if a happier sort of medium could be found.

All of this isn't to say that I dislike Telltale's games, as I do enjoy them. The stories are usually quite well done, and it's that which keeps me playing them. It's not often that I come across a game with a story that I find as engaging as what they're doing, but this just leads me to look at their games more as interactive stories rather than adventure games. I know it's a biased viewpoint to have, but it is what it is, and I tend to still look at point-and-click as true adventure games instead.

Playing Through The Longest Journey Pt. 2 - From Arcadia to Police HQ

Warning: This post will have spoilers. If that's a problem, do not proceed.

I have to say that I'm quite pleased that I'm able to be writing this article. As was mentioned in the previous one, The Longest Journey doesn't seem to like running well on my computer. It's been the occasional stubborn freeze that forces me to reboot up until the other day. When April was visiting the Newport Police Headquarters, I hit a particularly nasty bug. This one actually caused the game to shutdown and I was having a heck of a time getting past it to the point where I was seriously wondering if I'd even be able to finish this series of articles. Thankfully at the eleventh hour I stumbled upon a patch mentioned on GOG's forums and was able to correct the issue, so hurray.

Anyway, I've managed to make it to the end of chapter three since last time. Originally, the plan was to write something at the end of each chapter, but I wound up enjoying myself so much that I just kept on truckin' after the second one and now here we are.

While the first chapter was heavy on exposition as it explained characters, the city, and the basic situation that April has found herself in, things really picked up with chapter two. For one thing, the puzzles started showing up with far more frequency. I was quite happy about this, as it is something that I closely associate with adventure games and was hungry to really start digging my teeth into some.

Good ol' Officer Minelli.

The logic behind the puzzles was pretty solid on the whole. I've started to learn to be exhaustive in examining an area and while talking to people, as it gives April ideas as to how she can go about proceeding. More importantly, I've learned to make good and sure that I look very closely at each item she has in her inventory. Somethings these things wind up having detachable parts or can be activated somehow, and it usually turns out this facet of the object is absolutely crucial to progress.

Case in point: The inflatable ducky and the keys on the subway track. In general, this puzzle was tricky, as I needed to find a way to get an iron key off of the tracks without coming into contact with the live wire right next to it. Sitting in the inventory was a rope and a clamp, which I figured could be cobbled together to make some sort of fishing reel to grab the thing. I even attached the ducky because I figured there'd be some sort of logic about using rubber as an insulator so as not to get shocked by the electricity (I assumed the rope was still wet from dredging it out of the canal). What I didn't realize was that the clamp needed to slowly close around the key as it descended. It took me a while to figure out how this was supposed to work and for a time I thought that I might need something mechanized to make this happen. Not so. After much fiddling around and head scratching I discovered that there was a bandage on the ducky keeping the air in and pulling it off would cause the thing to slowly deflate. So, I pulled the bandage, re-inflated the duck, and slowly lowered it down to the tracks so that I could retrieve the key. Mission accomplished. This really drove home the importance of taking a close look at everything. It also boggled me as it didn't strike me as the most intuitive puzzle at the time, but looking back on it I can see the logic.

The other puzzles that I came across weren't nearly as perplexing, but did require some observation skills. Better still, some of them were actually kind of funny. Both run-ins I've had thus far with Officer Minelli have resulted in some satisfying hijinx, and I can't help but wonder if I'm going to inadvertently ruin the guy by the end of the game. Dealing with the two door repair guys at the police station made me smirk a couple of times as well.

Getting the lowdown on the Balance.

When not doing puzzles, there's still been a lot of narrative to take in. Cortez is as mysterious as ever, and I'm pretty sure he's immortal, or at least cannot die of natural means. What really peaked my interest is finally travelling to Arcadia, the magical fantasy realm of the game. This was actually handled very well, as the world is presented almost subtly. Yes, it has magic and strange creatures, but this wasn't shoved down my throat. While exploring Marcuria, the most noticeable thing about the place was the exotic architecture. Otherworldly stuff was kept to a minimum. There was a peculiar beast in the main square, a talking bird, and some blue fire as far as things that scream Magical Land of Wonder go, but on the whole it was the buildings themselves that drove home the fact that April had passed through a rift into this new land. I really appreciate this too because a lot of games might be tempted to go over the top with dragons flying everywhere, some crazy wizards' duels, and maybe an army of orcs marching by. Instead of going for something so in your face and vulgar, TLJ actually feels tasteful when April takes her first tentative steps into Arcadia.

At the archives at police HQ.

The trip didn't last long, but it was enough to peak my curiosity. Chapter three returned to the futuristic world of Stark, trying to find the Guardian and save the Balance from being destroyed. Still, the world doesn't feel massively over the top with how it presents this high tech realm. There are some sliding doors, the occasional hover vehicle whirring by, and hints of a much more technologically advanced segment of the city cordoned off for the wealthy, but on the whole the game is continuing that surprisingly contemporary motif that I mentioned last time.

Most interesting about the third chapter was getting an understanding as to who the Vanguard are and why they're such a threat to both Stark and Arcadia. The game has only just begun to scratch the surface with these guys, but already I'm getting the sense that they are really nasty with their whole Trans Dimensional Cult Masquerading as a Corporation / Major Religion shtick.

However, with that chapter completed and the fourth about to get underway, it's time to return to Arcadia once more. Things are starting to get very interesting now. We have an idea of who the bad guys are, a lot of events are in motion, and things feel like they're about to pick up.

The Longest Journey Playthrough Index:

Part One - Talking Dragons and Burned Out Hippies
Part Two - From Arcadia to Police HQ

Review: Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse - Episode 1 (PC)

The Broken Sword adventure game series was always riding somewhere in the middle of my "To Be Played" pile. As long-time fan of adventure games, leaping in now with The Serpent's Curse, the fifth game in the series (well, the first part of it anyway), there's this definite undertone that someone with experience of the previous titles is going to get more out of this game. I didn't feel lost, but there are definitely some characters from previous games that have returned.

What starts out as a "run of the mill" art theft, which includes the killing of the gallery owner, spirals into something deeper involving the Gnostics, a weird painting, hidden symbols, and the best kick to the head of Gabriel Knight III's horrible cat fur moustache puzzle ever. The adventure pairs George Stobbard (American insurance man) and Nico Collard (French reporter) to unravel the mystery surrounding the theft that kicks off the game.