I know what you mean diego! The games are very formulaic & really don't stand up against more polished titles. But they usually try to present an interesting story with an assortment of puzzles & many of the earlier games had an educational angle - they've got to be a comfortable diversion for me!
They seem to be targeted at teenage girls but do seem to appeal to a wider audience.
The trouble is that the Gabriel Knight series has 3 titles, the original Monkey Island has 3 titles followed later by a 4th as opposed to 25 Nancy Drew games since 1999? with a 26th on the horizon. Yes, there was/is so much potential to improve these games in terms of story, character, graphics, movement etc but would the series have been able to maintain the same output which seems to have contributed to it's continuing popularity & survival?
