Adventure Forums - View Single Post - Look back at Adventuregamers rate in 2006

Kurufinwe · 12-29-2006, 07:03 AM

Well, I reviewed 3 new games this year (Paradise, Secrets of Da Vinci, Tunguska), and played several more, and never felt I was playing something worth 4.5 or 5 stars. There have been a lot of reasonably good games this year, more than in recent years, but nothing especially great. In many cases, I had to force myself to get back to them, because they just were not fun to play (bad puzzles, interface design flaws, etc.) or quickly stopped being interesting (I'm fed up with all those plots I feel I've already seen a million times; and I'm even more fed up with bland writing, especially when the designers decide to put 30-minutes-long conversations every time you meet a character*). Lots of games this year had lots of good things, and quite a few showed potential, but I always felt there was also a big something that went wrong.

(I'll also point out that scoring is a delicate matter, and not meant either as placing games on an absolute scale or as saying how much the reviewer enjoyed the game. Something odd I was thinking about recently is that the adventure game I had the most fun with this year was probably Destination: Treasure Island, and yet I'd probably only give it a 3.5, because it has some huge flaws which must be taken into account, even though they didn't prevent me from enjoying the game and playing through it in one sitting (something I hadn't done in a long time).)

And as far as 2007 is concerned, I'm not sure what to expect. The disappointment I felt with Dreamfall will prevent me from getting excited again about a game for a very long time, but there are some things that might prove interesting. Especially Overclocked and Experience 112. I usually have a very bad feeling about games whose biggest reason to get excited about is just the designer's name (cf. Paradise, Gray Matter, A Vampyre Story, Dreamfall...), or games which put the emphasis on arguments such as pretty graphics and 100%-traditional-point-and-click-like-in-the-old-days gameplay (Tunguska, Runaway 2...). But Overclocked and Experience 112 drew my attention because of what was said of their gameplay and plot --- and that's usually a very good sign.

* actually, even many games with rather good writing could do with cutting half of the dialogue (Culture Shock, for instance)

12-29-2006, 07:03 AM	#2
Kurufinwe Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Santa Barbara, CA Posts: 3,038	Well, I reviewed 3 new games this year (Paradise, Secrets of Da Vinci, Tunguska), and played several more, and never felt I was playing something worth 4.5 or 5 stars. There have been a lot of reasonably good games this year, more than in recent years, but nothing especially great. In many cases, I had to force myself to get back to them, because they just were not fun to play (bad puzzles, interface design flaws, etc.) or quickly stopped being interesting (I'm fed up with all those plots I feel I've already seen a million times; and I'm even more fed up with bland writing, especially when the designers decide to put 30-minutes-long conversations every time you meet a character). Lots of games this year had lots of good things, and quite a few showed potential, but I always felt there was also a big something that went wrong. (I'll also point out that scoring is a delicate matter, and not meant either as placing games on an absolute scale or as saying how much the reviewer enjoyed the game. Something odd I was thinking about recently is that the adventure game I had the most fun with this year was probably Destination: Treasure Island, and yet I'd probably only give it a 3.5, because it has some huge flaws which must be taken into account, even though they didn't prevent me from enjoying the game and playing through it in one sitting (something I hadn't done in a long time).) And as far as 2007 is concerned, I'm not sure what to expect. The disappointment I felt with Dreamfall will prevent me from getting excited again about a game for a very long time, but there are some things that might prove interesting. Especially Overclocked and Experience 112. I usually have a very bad feeling about games whose biggest reason to get excited about is just the designer's name (cf. Paradise, Gray Matter, A Vampyre Story, Dreamfall...), or games which put the emphasis on arguments such as pretty graphics and 100%-traditional-point-and-click-like-in-the-old-days gameplay (Tunguska, Runaway 2...). But Overclocked and Experience 112 drew my attention because of what was said of their gameplay and plot --- and that's usually a very good sign. actually, even many games with rather good writing could do with cutting half of the dialogue (Culture Shock, for instance) __________________ Currently reading: Dune (F. Herbert) Recently finished: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J. K. Rowling) [++], La Nuit des Temps (R. Barjavel) [+++] Currently playing: Skyrim Recently finished: MCF: Escape from Ravenhearst [+], The Walking Dead, ep. 1 [+++], Gray Matter [++] Last edited by Kurufinwe; 12-29-2006 at 07:11 AM.