[Spikey]

Let me clarify with regards to GTA- GTA is more those things *in comparison* to the pretty tame situations that go on in Sierra games.

As for the rest, I'm talking more places than just this forum, your post seems to indicate my opinion is based on the context of this one thread, which it isn't.

- Spike

[Jackal]

Well, you asked a question without examples, and it's hard to account for opinions we haven't seen. That said, my observations also go outside this forum, and I really haven't seen anything along the lines of what you're saying. I've seen very favourable comparisons with Sierra's games, and the complaints about the graphics are that they look too dated, which is a resolution issue, not an artistic one.

As for GTA, I knew what you were saying. I was just making a joke. But the cheap shot at "commercial and crass" games or the people who play them was completely unwarranted.

[Mordalles]

i mostly agreed with the review. (though, i haven't heard the music, so can't comment on that. nor the story).

i thought it was an honest review for a change, since some of the other reviews seemed a bit excessive. adventurelantern rated it higher than broken sword and all three gabriel knights. (although, they might just have like it more .)

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by Scoville

A review of a review?

Why not?

[Squinky]

Originally Posted by Mordalles

That made me larf. Thank you.

[Scoville]

Originally Posted by rtrooney

Why not?

It's just a bit... silly, I guess. The purpose of a review is usually to state an opinion and information on a game so the public can have a bit more knowledge on the subject to help them decide whether or not they should purchase the game in question. Games cost money and take anywhere from a couple hours to dozens of hours to complete, so there is good reason to want to avoid buying a bad game. Reviews are free and take little to no time to read. There's no need for them to be reviewed in turn. If one contained misinformation, corrections would certainly be neccessary, but not a review. Plus, the whole thing is laughable. If we write reviews of reviews, then others will write reviews of our reviews which were already about different reviews. That could continue on endlessly. What would be the point?

Or maybe you weren't being serious and I need to grow a sense of humor. If so, ignore the above.


Mordalles - Why the hate for Nash?

[Mordalles]

hate?

[Spikey]

As for GTA, I knew what you were saying. I was just making a joke. But the cheap shot at "commercial and crass" games or the people who play them was completely unwarranted.

I think you're reading far too much into it, and seem unnecessarily defensive to me.

Plus, I think it's a perfectly valid statement to make, that Al Emmo is not commercial and crass and thus it has a potential for a niche market. Altenratively, it can be argued that because of this its' market may limited to a niche one.

However, if you take such offence to my GTA comments, then I apologise to you for that. <extends hand> Shake on it?

- Spike

[Jackal]

Shaken, well-met, and all other good things.

Sure, my response was unnecessary, but not unjustified. There's a lot of elitism towards other genres or games in the adventure community, and I wanted to make sure that wasn't happening here. If you say it wasn't, it's all good!

I quite agree with you that AE's design choices all target a niche audience. I just don't think being crass (or not being crass) is a defining characteristic of anything.

Originally Posted by Mordalles

i thought it was an honest review for a change, since some of the other reviews seemed a bit excessive.

I really don't think "honest" is the right word, as I'm sure other reviews were completely genuine in their praise. But certainly Rob was trying to be somewhat objective (as do all AG reviewers, of course. )

[Hiro Protagonist]

first off, i love the fact that someone reviewed my review...i don't think anyone's done that before, and it gave me a good giggle. but c'mon, you couldn't give me a 3.5?

so here's my recap, and i'll explain if anyone has questions...

Graphics: loved the background graphics and didn't care for the characters. it may have seemed like I was being a little harsh on them, but i was a lightwave animator for a while, and the character sprites were simplisticly designed, badly animated, and moved waaaaaay too slow for me.

Music: barely registered with me. i don't think it's bad, i don't think it's good, i think it's negligible - hence me using the word. i know what it means, and i used it for that reason. it didn't register with me at all, and most of the time i didn't realize it was even there.

Characters and Voices: i thought there were some great characters in the game, the voices were well done - even the narrator - and didn't mind al after i had played for a bit.

Gameplay: great stuff. i had a blast playing through the game. the puzzles were just the right difficulty, and my main issue was that there were no hotspots to tell you if there was something on the screen.

the main thing that i "bagged on" - i think that's the term the kids are using nowadays - was the opening cutscene and the character animation. the later cutscenes were great and should have been used in place of the opening, and the character animation is really a personal choice. i liked the game despite some issues, but i had to mention them because some people are not going to dig the game w/ al's voice, and some people are going to quit playing the game as soon as they watch the opening. i grew up on older games and believe in gameplay over graphics so it's not an issue for me, but it is for some people. not you? congrats, but i had to review for everyone.

i honestly hope the game does amazingly well because i can't wait to see what himalaya comes up with next...this was a great start, and i have a feeling that it's only going to get better from here.

(rob)

[SirDave]

I find the choice (or as indicated above, maybe they had no choice) of a 640x480 resolution for Al Emmo interesting. It would seem to me that, theoretically, that would be a problem for most modern systems these days: Either your video card doesn't have a 640x480 option (I don't mean you can't run 640x480, I just mean there's no selection for it in Graphics Properties) and you will be running under at least 800x600 (hence a window) and/or your monitor, most likely nowadays a flat-screen, will both not have a 640x480 setting and it certainly won't be the native setting of the monitor (thus the image will be in a pixelated window). I'm aware that some monitors will scale a 640x480 upwards to full-screen, but you still get a pixelated image!

Of course, there is the possibility that a lot of people are running old systems with 640x480-capable video cards & good ole CRTs that run 640x480 or, like me, have a selection of older laptops that will do the job.

So, what kind of image are people getting when they run Al Emmo? Normal? A window? Pixelated full-screen?

[Hiro Protagonist]

Originally Posted by SirDave

I find the choice (or as indicated above, maybe they had no choice) of a 640x480 resolution for Al Emmo interesting. It would seem to me that, theoretically, that would be a problem for most modern systems these days: Either your video card doesn't have a 640x480 option (I don't mean you can't run 640x480, I just mean there's no selection for it in Graphics Properties) and you will be running under at least 800x600 (hence a window) and/or your monitor, most likely nowadays a flat-screen, will both not have a 640x480 setting and it certainly won't be the native setting of the monitor (thus the image will be in a pixelated window). I'm aware that some monitors will scale a 640x480 upwards to full-screen, but you still get a pixelated image!

Of course, there is the possibility that a lot of people are running old systems with 640x480-capable video cards & good ole CRTs that run 640x480 or, like me, have a selection of older laptops that will do the job.

So, what kind of image are people getting when they run Al Emmo? Normal? A window? Pixelated full-screen?

i ran the game on a 19" flat screen and while it was a little pixelated from going full screen, it wasn't as bad as i would have thought...

[Scoville]

Originally Posted by Mordalles

hate?

Well, you took a picture of Nash and made him all... evil and creepy. Very cool looking, but I don't get it.

[Mordalles]

yes, i meant objective when i said "honest", thanks jackal.
evil and creepy is how i look and feel at the moment. and so im using an avatar to portray that.

[eriq]

Originally Posted by skurken

Any thoughts?

about what?

[skurken]

Umm....

The Adventure Gamers Al Emmo review

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by Hiro Protagonist

first off, i love the fact that someone reviewed my review...i don't think anyone's done that before, and it gave me a good giggle. but c'mon, you couldn't give me a 3.5? (rob)

If it makes you happy, add .5 to my assessment.

[eriq]

Originally Posted by skurken

Umm....

The Adventure Gamers Al Emmo review

oh. LOL. duh.

I am in the wrong thread.

[Toefur]

You're never in the wrong thread, my man.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

My thoughts? Great production values, but with mixed efforts. All dragged down with a weak story line. Throw in a mixed quality of characters, and you've got Al Emmo.

For story, it pretty much was 'Help Al get the girl'. Yes, there was that background story about the mine, but it played so little into the game that you could've replaced the mine with a lost Taco stand & nobody would've noticed.

Worse still, the only thing they left hanging for the sequel was the fact that

Spoiler:

Al still didn't get the girl. So, after an entire game's worth of trying to get said girl, you're still completely unsuccessful.

As for characters, I pretty much hated Al. I know they were going with nerdy, but they went overboard. No redeeming characteristics, and a shrill screechy voice. Most of the other characters were Meh. Except, I did find the triplets entertaining, but I didn't much care for the Hospitality House owner.

Voices... Well, I pretty much think they got what they were going for, but I can't say they always went in a direction I'd go. The Narrator however, that's a great find. Aside from Al being overly nerdified, I'd complain about the bartender, as its apparent that his mike was of lower quality. If said character makes a return, that really needs to be fixed.

As for the mixed production levels? Part of that is the mixed quality of sound recordings, but it'd also be the CGI scenes. While Al looked faily decent in them, other characters looked just awful. Also, the opening credits could have gone without the pixelated crud around the text. However, on the flip side, the hand drawn artwork was top-notch, I thought the music & sound effects were great, & aside for one minor thing at the end, the game was practically glitch-free. (I don't know if anyone else has encountered it, but its when you're chasing Antonio out of the mine & you encounter the flipped mine cart. I ended up walking towards the ceiling briefly).

For the future? Well if they really intend to make a sequel,

Spoiler:

I strongly suggest they get Al & Rita together in the first scene as a couple. You should only be expected to go through courtship so many times.

I'd also recommend that Al get a bit de-nerdified. He can retain most elements, but it wouldn't hurt to get a easier to handle voice (maybe his VA just using his regular voice). It might not hurt to play with his look a little, trim him out a little & make his comb-over cover just a bit more of his head. Maybe even a different style of glasses & clothing.

As for the storyline? Well that's a toughie. They didn't leave much of anything for themselves to work with.

Spoiler:

I suppose Antonio could come back, ala LeChuck, under the influence of the Aztec curse. The whole 'Selfless Wealth' criteria wasn't that well explained, so it is possible that Al didn't fufill it completely. There is the question of whether Al was poisoned by the Black liquorish, since I can't see Antonio putting it there for no apparent reason. Maybe having Rita be the active character searching for a cure to Al?

SWB