Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

Pros: Best story to come out since The Longest Journey itself: emotional, provocative, unforgettable, enlightening; extremely memorable characters; stellar voice acting; beautiful soundtrack; yes, there's going to be a sequel! Cons: Simple combat; not much challenge in puzzles; story leaves you wanting more; oh I'd be tormented having to wait for the sequel! Above all else Dreamfall delivers a story that's like no other, something that's highly uncommon to gaming these days.

Look at all the games currently out there, they're all pushing more polygons and piling up features, like adding more explosions into a movie. Granted, these games are fun to play, but when it all ends, there's this lack of meaning. Wouldn't be nice if not only if games deliver an experience that's eye-opening, virtually life-changing experience and turning the game player's world upside down? That's just what Dreamfall and its predecessor (The Longest Journey) are about. It's a thrilling journey filled with deep and profound sense of meaning.

If you enjoyed The Longest Journey, you can't go wrong by buying Dreamfall. However, if you played either game, then there's no point in me trying to win you over. You would already be a fan. That's what these games do, they win you over and you become a real fan of the story and creators. You wait anxiously for the next part of the story. Give The Longest Journey and Dreamfall a try. If you love good stories and deep characters, these games are for you. This game was made by real story tellers and artists. The voice acting is professional and they give really moving performances. The artistic direction is what you would expect from such creative and imaginative minds.

I had great expectations when I heard that there would be a sequel to The Longest Journey, which is my all-time favourite adventure game of all time. Never before have there been a game that has gotten me hooked to the extent that The Longest Journey did.

Dreamfall, though I'm not finished playing it yet, has not disappointed me so far. It is one of the few games that I've played that has a truly engaging story, and that makes up for the fact that the controls are a bit difficult to get used to, particularly those in battle-mode.

Dreamfall is a game well-worth playing, and in my opinion one of the best adventure games in a long time

To begin with, this game started from excellent material, that of the setup provided by The Longest Journey. On top of that, it benefited from one of the businesses best writer/directors, Ragnar Tornquist. If that isn't excellent pedigree, i don't know what is. In any even, the story revolves around Zoe Castillo, and her quest for answers that winds up bringing her face to face with April Ryan, the first games heroine. The graphics are spectacular, frankly, they are smooth, crisp, and beautiful, more so than any other engine could do, the shark engine powering dreamfall's graphics truly gives one a sense of the wonder that is both stark and arcadia. Other engines would be lost trying to represent the pre-rendered backgrounds, and that is why i am glad the shark was chosen. Gameplay could use a bit of work, the camera can suck, and fighting does suck, but i've found it much easier to play the game solely with the keyboard. doing so gives the gamer a very good camera, and for those moments when it's necessary, you can manipulate the camera to see what you want to see. Audio, is, well, it's hard to describe. The audio would make and audiophile such as myself weep tears of joy. It's spectacular. A full orchestra with some excellently composed music works wonders on a game's audio. When the soundtrack is released, i for one, am snapping it up. All in all, this game is well worth the purchase. The presentation, both of the audio and visual well make up for the horrid controls, and the story just is in a category of it's own. It's like playing a novel.

Dreamfall was extremely anticipated by adventure gamers as it was the sequel to one of the best game in this genre: The Longest Journey. I was one of those who couldn't wait to get my hands on it and in the end, I was not disappointed. The game is actually a bit different from the first one because it's not a "point and click" adventure. It feels very natural because you explore the world in full 3D and still have the depth and content of old adventure games. The core gameplay consists of interacting with the wonderful characters. This can look limiting but it stays interesting through the whole game thanks to the excellent writing and voice acting. All the characters are well developed and contribute very well to the emotional roller coaster that is Dreamfall. There are some very minor stealth and combat gameplay elements but those are not the focus of the game.

While the technical aspect of the game isn't exactly top notch, the art design makes up for it very much. The sound is especially good; voice acting is probably the best ever and music is always very fitting and well composed. The story is amazing and very inspiring; this is number one reason to get into this game. My only grippe is that it's way too easy. There are few puzzles and they are very straightforward. Also, the ending raises a lot of questions which is both good and bad. It's good because it leaves you thinking about it and you feel like you have to go through the game a second time. But at the same time, you don't get the same kind of resolution you would get from your typical movie, which is a little bit less satisfying.

In the end, I would recommend this game to anyone interested in a good story and very well done dialogs coupled with good production values. 9/10 !