[phankiejankie]

Here we go again, the usual "the game is not an adventure" argument. Aren't people bored of proclaiming a game an adventure or not based only on their subjective preferences. After the no game is an adventure game if it is not p&c now we are in the puzzles are not hard enough so it is not an adventure phase (see Dreamfall, now Sam n’ Max).

Anyway by me the difficulty is just right in the new Sam n’ Max series. I played the first two episodes being relaxed that I would not stuck anywhere, loosing interest on the game. The easy puzzles are a great tool in order not to break the pace which is very-very important if you want the fantastic writing to shine through.

So the core adventure gamers base needs to make up its minds of what exactly an adventure is. One day we talk about how adventures differ from other genres due to their deeper stories and dialogue based interaction and sharp writing etc. and the other day something is not an adventure not because of the story or the writing or the presentation but because of the easy puzzles. Well that makes for an easy adventure game, not a non-adventure game. Please see the new Sam n' Max series for what it is, a nice 4 hours relaxed joy ride with plenty of laughs on the way.

Combining various -irrelevant or relevant doesn’t matter- inventory items in order to solve a puzzle is not considered in my book a quality way of extending a game's life. Put more scenes, put more dialogues, put more puzzles but not that way. It’s boring and it’s an ancient practice… Kinda like cheating on the player. You know we just do not have the time or money to give you some quality gameplay so how about picking up every little thing that comes in your way (this is considered interactivity by many) and then randomly start combine items till you figure it out. We provide a nicely “clattered” inventory and you do the hard work of finding what fits with what. What do you mean you have 23 items which make up for hundred of combinations. This is a proper adventure game. Chop chop start combining…