[small dickie]

I was looking on the Miami Law review and when i read "so-called "adventure" gameplay mainly consists of timed mini-games" i remembered something witch i find a bit weird. Why is that the best adventure games site doesnt have reviews for little big adventure 1 and 2? Sure, they are not youre classical point and click adventures but they are widely seen as part of the genre and one of the best also.

[Terramax]

I guess they're more action adventure games. That being the case though, that wouldn't explain why Portal or even Dreamfall was reviewed.

Yes, indeed this site has a very strange system for what adventure games they do and don't review.

[MikeLXXXVIII]

Well they are as much adventure games like the Legend of Zelda series (but far from text/dialogue optional adventure games)

I miss the games so much !! I heard there is an interest in making a sequel.

[stepurhan]

It's not really that weird. Fighting, platform hopping and dexteity are a major part of both Little Big Adventure games. Whilst there are many good puzzles in both these are more secondary parts to the gameplay. The same goes for the Legend of Zelda games.

By contrast, in Portal, you have a gun that doesn't actually allow you to fight. "Shooting" therefore involves wits rather than brains (though a certain amount of dexterity is also required on ocassion as highlighted in the review)

Dreamfall is a continuation of The Longest Journey. I haven't played it so I can't comment on how dominant the action themes are in Dreamfall but, unless they are excessive, it merits a place as a continuation of an adventure game.

[Marduk]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

By contrast, in Portal, you have a gun that doesn't actually allow you to fight. "Shooting" therefore involves wits rather than brains (though a certain amount of dexterity is also required on ocassion as highlighted in the review)

This is a controversial one, as I'm sure most people would admit.

Sadly I can't even judge for myself properly because playing First Person action games for just a few minutes makes me nauseous (if the FPS is particularly high I get a full on migraine).

But does non violence and an abundance of puzzles make a game an adventure? (I mean the story might be adventurous and I'm sure I'd have some kind of adventure if I had a portal gun, but you know what I'm saying, here). Doesn't an adventure game require a certain amount of puzzles? Because even platform games have puzzles but nothing like what you'd expect from an AG. (I'm thinking of more modern ones, such as lego games, but I do remember having to push a giant brick onto a button to raise a trap door (a really heavy 'trapdoor' with spikes on the under side) on Sonic the Hedgehog 1 for the Sega MegaDrive. It was probably the only 'puzzle' in the game, and not even that one was taxing).

Shouldn't the puzzles of an AG be offered from items organic to the environment?

To me Portal sounds like a first person platform game. I suspect Mirror's Edge would also fall under that heading.

[Shany]

Portal always seemed to me like a puzzle platformer. Having a strong story doesn't make it an adventure (you can actually ignore quite a bit of the story and still finish the game).

[Jackal]

Regardless of whether the LBA games should be considered adventures, they're over ten years old. Lots of games from back then haven't been reviewed, including many classic adventures. We review all new games we think are deserving, and get to the older games if and when we can. Those older ones are low priority, for what I assume are obvious reasons.

[thejobloshow]

If you consider LBA an adventure game, you must include Alone in the Dark and start contemplate adding Tomb Raider. You can see where the point-and-click purists can see the subversion.

[small dickie]

Originally Posted by Jackal

Those older ones are low priority, for what I assume are obvious reasons.

I dont know how obvious they are. I always apreciated this sites promptitude and and its complete coverage of whats new in adventure gaming but i see this site also as a large and comprehensive database of not so new adventure games and i hope that trend continues.

thejobloshow - I dont think a comparison between Tomb Raider and LBA is suitable. Tomb Raider is a genuine action game with some elements of platforming. I cant quite put the "action" in LBA because of its innocent and (altough i dont like this word) childish approach. Also Lba is very much oriented on story, talking with a lot of characters and puzzles. Thats why for me LBA will always be more of an adventure game than anything else.

[Jackal]

I said the priority of newer games over older is obvious. There aren't thousands of people out there waiting on a review of a 14-year old game before deciding to buy it, so naturally the new stuff is what we focus on. But we do get to the older games when we can. Bearing in mind, no review copies of older games are made available, so we're on our own there, too.

As for LBA, no idea if those will ever be reviewed. But it's not because we've already decided to exclude them for some reason.