The Beast Within - A Gabriel Knight Mystery
Positives:
+ Another fantastic, engrossing and well written mystery story that's been thoroughly researched by Jane Jenson. This story grabbed me from the get-go when I first played it. Werewolves appeal to me more than a Voodoo cult anyway.
That, and the fact it's sort of an interactive movie, immersed me that much more. But the mystery, and how it's tied in to the Werewolf plot, of King Ludwig II made/makes the story even more deeper and interesting to follow. Another great example of a story that mixes fact and fiction seamlessly together to great effect.
+ Great, interesting, memorable, likeable (and sometimes even
unlikeable) characters. Each have their own background, personality and inner struggles/demons to overcome. The main characters develop further as the game progresses.
+ Acting is generally well done considering the game stars a lot of 'unknown' actors/actresses. Peter Lucas in particular gives the most memorable performance as the mysterious Von Glower.
+ The game is accompanied with a fantastic, gothic, haunting, memorable and beautiful music score, which again, is masterfully composed by Robert Holmes. If not for the soundtrack, this game's atmosphere would surely be lacking.
+ Although the graphics are pixelated and dated, I liked when I first played the game (and still like) how photographs of places in Germany are used in the game. This was also the first FMV game I played, and again, although the quality is dated, I still like how the green screen the actors performed in front of were filled in with these photographic images and props. The FMV, photographic images and music give this game an appropriate 'retro' feeling that gives me a cozy feeling.
+ All the puzzles are pretty logical with only the exception of a few minor ones.
+ Gameplay is solid and fun. As already mentioned, thanks to it being an FMV game it's almost like an interactive movie. Each action you take progresses the 'movie' and story further. And on the one hand, you'll be investigating, collecting clues/evidence, interrogating characters/suspects... and on the other, you'll be conducting a lot of research.
Negatives:
- The acting can be pretty weak at times and can occasionally be overdone or underdone. And with the exception of some actors/actresses, the German accents tend to be stereotypical and poorly done.
- Due to technology limitations, the quality of the FMV sequences can be poor. This is mainly thanks to compression. Some sequences are either plagued with artefacts, or the audio quality has problems. This can either be things like actor's lines sounding quieter than usual, lines sounding a bit garbled, or even worse, loud hissing noises when actors say any words with an 's'.
- The 'one click' interface tends to make gameplay a bit too simplistic.
Overall:
