Here's a question. People keep saying "you can't compare Al Emmo to what Sierra did back in the 80's/90's". I disagree with that in itself (since it's supposed to be made in the same vein as those games), but why do people keep talking about Al Emmo having bad graphics in its' own right? I've only seen screenshots, but they look lush and detailed to me.
I also don't think many modern games have very lush graphics! Most console games look polygon-ish and pretty ugly to me, whereas Al Emmo looks like it'll be gorgeous, nicely rounded art, not all square and box-y (if that makes sense- music's my thing, not art). (Though, reasonably old adventure games like Myst were pretty incredible looking.)
Also, we're talking a graphic/plot tradeoff here. If you want incredible graphics, go somewhere else, but you're looking at an inferior plot, however if you want a slight dent in graphics but an overwhelingly more enjoyable game in other areas, buy this one.
Looks to me like Al Emmo will be excellent. I do think it'll be hard to see sales beyond the niche market of Sierra fans, though- the marketing doesn't seem to have been exactly brilliant. Though, most gamers play games like "Grand Theft Auto", so Al Emmo's hardly going to be commercial and crass enough for those sorts of gamer.
Anyway, I'll stop ranting now.
- Spike
