The voice work in the game is for the most part really good. The characters all sound very much like you would expect them to from their portraits, and although some of them are rather blatantly stereotypical, they are all good for a laugh at some point in the game. Perhaps most notable are the narrator, who has a perfect air of pomposity for the job, and a frontier teenage geek who is obsessed with telegraphs and cryptography. With that being said, however, another polarizing aspect of the game is going to be the voice of Al himself. While the voice fits the visual caricature, spending the entire game listening to his high-pitched, nasal whining will likely lead some people to stop playing entirely, or at least turn off the sound, missing out on the other great characters in the process. After a bit of time spent with the game, though, the voice didn't really bother me as much, and by the end of the game I really didn't notice it at all. So keep that in mind if you've played through the demo and feel discouraged from purchasing the full game based on that limited experience.

On the music front, there's not much to be said. I found the score fairly negligible, consisting mostly of variations on old west themes that we've heard in pretty much every western game that's come out before this one. On top of that, there are quite a few areas where there is no music at all, or areas where I had to turn my speakers up all the way to hear that there was music playing.

But we're gamers, and in the end that's what matters most, and this is where Al Emmo really comes out and shines. Maybe it's all the time spent working on the King's Quest remakes, but Himalaya definitely knows how to pull off an old school adventure game. Navigation is handled through a standard point-and-click interface in which left clicking moves Al while right clicking cycles the cursor through look, touch, and speak actions, plus the active inventory item. Various menus and options are accessed by moving the mouse into the corners of the screen, including a map of locations that you've visited. If you click on a location, you'll be instantly transported there. This is a helpful feature, especially later in the game when you'll be revisiting many of the locations that you've been to before.

Puzzles are, with a few exceptions, all inventory-based, although there are a few light action sequences. There are a few clunkers in the bunch, but most of the puzzles that I came up against maintained the right balance between challenging and frustrating. Even in cases where they did not push the story along, they were always humorous and engaging. One thing to keep in mind is that many of the items you'll need to pick up blend into the backgrounds, so there are some instances where you'll be going screen to screen clicking on everything to make sure you haven't missed anything. Compounding this issue is the fact that, unlike most current games, there's no smart cursor revealing hotspots and items, so absolutely everything visible is a potential interaction. But just like the older adventures it emulates, Himalaya has added humorous responses to what seems like everything in the game, with either Al or the narrator commenting on your every action. This sense of interactivity and humor does a great job of keeping you in the game, rewarding careful exploration. There are also people that you'll need to converse with multiple times before you get the information you need. One puzzle in particular had me scratching me head until I went back one more time to talk to a character, who finally presented me with a solution.

While I was quite impressed with the content of the game, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine is probably one of the tougher games to recommend, as much will depend on what people expect. For those seeking a complete throwback to the classic adventures of old, Al Emmo certainly delivers in many respects. But those hoping for any kind of contemporary presentation to complement its nostalgic gameplay will be sorely disappointed. Even overlooking the low technical aspects, I wonder if people will be able to get past the protagonist's voice and the poor character design and movement in order to enjoy it fully. If you do decide to take on Al's grand quest, you'll be treated to a highly interactive, classic-styled comic adventure that should take around eight hours or so your first time through. The asking price of $29.99 at the Himalaya online store is a little steep for the length of the game, but if you have any fondness at all for the genre's glory years, I think you'll find it's ultimately worth it.