I downloaded and played a bit of the demo today and thought it was good. Good, but not great. I haven't fully experienced the game yet to give my final verdict, nor did I finish the demo all the way through.

I'm undecided and have mixed feelings about the cutscenes, characters do animate mechanically, the character's faces look a bit robotic when talking, there aren't many hotspots to interact with, the music is very good but short and reloops too much; and I'm not sure where I sit with Samantha's voice. However, I didn't fully play with her character, so I haven't had much chance to warm up to her.

The guy who does David's voice is good, though, and I like the backgrounds/artwork and the little animations for trees/bushes blowing in the wind etc.

The demo hasn't quite convinced me that the game is 'classic' material, but I'll just have to see what my opinion is once I've bought and played the full version.

Really? Lace mamba confuses me to no end. I cant imagine why they are waiting till february when the game is already out there in all these languages.

Is there a way to save in the demo?

Check out the newly published review on Adventure Classic Gaming:

"An obvious question about the game that may be posed is this: is Gray Matter Jensen's magnum opus? I submit that this is not the correct question to ask. Rather, the correct question about the game that needs to be posed is this: is Gray Matter a great game? The answer to this question is, of course, a resounding and an irrefutable yes! It is inevitable that a few gamers will be compelled to dismiss this game because it has not matched up against some misguided expectations of what it must be after years of hype and anticipation. However, for the rest of gamers who opt to evaluate this game on its own merits, Gray Matter is a game that can easily measure up against the best of what the genre can offer. This claim is not an empty endorsement. Gray Matter succeeds not because of its pedigree but because of what it can deliver."

http://www.adventureclassicgaming.co...e/reviews/620/

Yes. I also don't understand the reason of the delay. The fact is that I didn't expect to find it so soon.

Agree 100%. I said this in the other thread before.

Don't think so, sorry.

I admit that I have not played the game yet. Will not play a pirated version. And, I find the exchange rate a little steep for purchasing an imported version of the game. So I am patiently waiting for a North America release.

That said, I have been following this thread closely, as I did the other GM thread, and I find the above quote to be misguided. While the game itself may be "loved" by many, I don't recall it being called "great" by many. Great implies taking story, graphics, music et al to a whole new level. This game, while being extraordinarily entertaing, does not seem to have done any of these things.

As for there being misguided expectations after (many, many) years of hype....Well, Uh....Yeah! Of course there were expectations. Given the amount of time the game was in development, albeit in several different iterations, and given the quality we "expect" from Jane Jensen, there were expectations that a superior product would be delivered. From most comments, a thoroughly acceptable product has been delivered. But nothing great.

Don't think that anyone would deny that, despite the excellent story, the 3D graphics in GK3 were borderline horrible. Comments suggest that there hasn't been substantial improvement.

I will play the game when it becomes legitimately available to me, and at a price I want to pay. Whether the publisher discovers the folly of its ways and makes that happen remains to be seen.

Finally, and I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but the fans of Jane Jensen and the adventure media have all but portrayed Jane Jensen as the "idiot savant" of adventure game design. That is unfair to her.

She has apparently delivered an acceptable game, loved by many. Great, it is not! But still a victory of sorts.

JJ portrayed by media and fans as an idiot savant?
What, why, who, where, when... please explain.

the bad news is... there is no planned north american release.

My enthusiasm for this game has been completely derailed. I want to play it, but I'll conjure up some of the patience waiting for this game has forced me to exercise and continue to wait until it is available in North America. No rush. It'll be years before there's another episode (if at all) anyway, so I intend to savor the game and let the experience last. That is, if anybody cares to release it in this part of the world.

I thought the release date Feb 2011 was worldwide? I don't know if I want to play the game, the story doesn't look too impressive to me but I'll probably give the game the chance to prove me wrong. (Isn't that sweet of me?)

well its been described as a EU release, with a bunch of language packs. Its being sold through amazon.uk, but not amazon.com, and last i heard on their forums they were still thinking a US release over.

Gray Matter at this point should already be available worldwide in services like Steam, Impulse, etc. Thats the way to go when you dont have a worldwide publisher. It's like they want GM to bomb... i mean even super niche independent games know how to do this.

On a side note:Yes I would.

(I've never had an issue with them. They weren't great, but they weren't that bad either. Mediocre perhaps, but I'd never call them even borderline horrible)

"I'd never call them even borderline horrible."


Well, I would. The 3D graphics in GK3 were wretched.

I just finished it and the ending was so childish!! It was horrible! The rest of the game was ok, but nothing special... Gabriel Knight 2 and 3 was so more mature games..

If I didn't know GM is a Jane Jansen's adventure I would never suspect that just by playing the game.

I simply can't understand how someone who made Gabriel Knight series can make something like Gray Matter.

I am really disapointed because I consider Gray Matter not above adventures like Art of Murder series or even Alter Ego.

I did wait for a long time to play Gray Matter imagining that it could be something like Gabriel Knight IV would have been...

I completely agree pizzo...

Ouch, no wonder you were disappointed then. Haven't played the game yet (not that it matters here), but it's not a very fair comparison from the start - to expect GK4 from GM.

here are my thoughts after reading some of the posts and having completed the game.

There might be stiff animations,ok but the rest is really good.this is an adventure game you dont need fancy graphics or anything.maybe it would have been better if it had animations like Syberia,again ok.but apart from that you dont need anything else.
pre rendered graphics are fine.also this is a reason we get to see all those beautiful backgrounds.

the game was really good.after playing a little i was into it and didn't want to stop.that's what matters in an adventure game.

about the way sam runs,so what like it's any different from every other adventure game.and in the end you shouldn't have to run all the time.it's an adventure game there is no sense of time unless you do the required actions-triggers to proceed(excluding the points in games where you actually have a clock and have to act fast but those are few and not in every game).

and to repeat it once more it's an adventure.you have to remember what key characteristics this genre has otherwise you are bound to whine.those are what define a great adventure game.every thing else its just personal opinion and pros for a review.

To start, I really wanted this to be a hit title, as I love Jane Jenson and adventure games, but I downloaded the demo, and I have had nothing but problems, and have never been able to start the game! I get exception errors in the game.exe, I get exception errors in TSR's I have, if I set the game to something other than my desktop and it crashed I was stuck in that resolution and needed to restart after I changed it to what I had it!

Finally, I ended up with a game.exe that was now not seen as a Windows Application! It's a 1.6gb download, so after an hours wait I was not happy that I was not able to play this demo!

If he game has half these problems it will get reviews in the 30%'s and will bomb - and that will be such a shame!

I had no tecnical problem with Gray Matter.

I also dont complain about bad animations or graphics. It is not so bad.

What makes the game not so good is the story (in my opinion, of course). I think the story is uninteresting and so the characters. The script of the game is childish and predictable. Jane Jensen is a proffessional writer, so I would expect more about the game's story.

Ok, that's only my personal opinion. And I may be wrong. But the fact is this: I did not have any fun playing the game.

I re-downloaded and reinstalled the demo and still had problems. First time I asked your character to go to the rabbit clean crash to desktop with no error message. I try again and this time I get a clean crash to desktop just clicking on the backpack after I got the rabbit. Now, when I try to start the demo I get a Microsoft error reporting box! At no point did I change any options on my PC or in-game and yet each time I got it to start I got an error in a different place!

Have you tried the basic thing, that is, update drivers, DirectX, etc? Those are the most common causes of issues.

My PC runs Win 7 64 bits. Everything works fine.

Or, maibe, in your case, it coud be a problem with the demo version itself.

The demo includes a DirectX install, so I know I have the latest DirectX drivers! I have the latest 10.10 ATI drivers alrady,and when you get memory exceptions in the game.exe and that causes memory errors in task manager,you know you have code that is barley working! If it is the demo, then who the heck is going to buy the game? I won;t because in the UK you cannot bring the game back for a refund after the seal is broken!

I am running XP Pro SP3and that is a general system that many will be playing Gray Matter on!

I played through the whole game without experiensing a single krasch. Extremly stable code I would say. Also, it seems like most people had no issues with the demo so you probably have some computer issues alternatively the demo got corrupted in the download.

Yeah same here, in terms of stability it was top notch. No bugs,no freezes,nothing,...:) Running Windows 7 Ultimate edition 64 bit.

Maybe it coded for Window 7? And it's XP it doesn't like. I did re-download and re-install it again, even making sure I downloaded it from another site!

And don't tell me it's my PC when this demo if giving memory errors, which is always specific to the code! The problem is, for every person like me who comes here and tells you the problem, there's 100 that will try it, have the same problems and will then just uninstall and move on, never bothering to tell anyone. this is especially true of smaller games from smaller companies.

So if I can run every other game I have install fine, if all my drivers are up to date, and given this game dos not push any hardware like when I play Crysis or Oblivion, means it should be fairly simple fairly stable code. It isn't.

There are problems with this game and Avira/Antivir if XP is involved.
Perhaps you have this programm on your computer?
The Avira team is trying to resolve the problem.

Yeah, that is indeed possible. I have already had problems with a game once wich was caused by my firewall (with Norton). Turning off the protection during the game can be a good idea.

I am using Avira, so I will check into that - thanks a lot!

I uninstalled Avira and the demo worked. Shame it wasn't easier to find that info out! In any event I have played the demo for about an hour and it's quite dry. My problem now is no save! The demo is at least 2 hours long, given I am only half way though it feels. It seems to much that you are expected to play for at least 2 hours without saving! In any event, I had to go and do something, so had to quit, and now I have to start again!

Doesn't bode to well.

Sorry i didn't read your post before, UK_John.
I had the same problem.
It was discussed on german sides.

You have to understand, I am more upset because this is a Jane Jenson adventure that is being slaughtered!

I fully understand. :)
But on the other hand your problem with the game had nothing to to with the game itself - it is a problem of a improper software.
I love the game - but you should not compare it to Gabriel Knight. Totally different.

I think the main difference between Gabriel Knight and Gray Matter is not about the theme or the story. It's about quality. I mean: for Jane jensen's level, Gray Matter is poor. She can do much, much better than this.

Playing using WinXP without any problems whatsoever.

The cutscenes are very, very crude, which is a bit sad, but ok in the grande scheme of things.

I feel like I'm playing a Jane Jensen-game, but beacuse of the near zero budget compared to her earlier attempts, it becomes another experience. I would recommended it, without a doubt, to adventure lovers. But I still hope that Jane will once again be able to show her talents, unrestricted. GN2 is still a milestone in adventuring, imho.

The quality of the story is pretty good, it's well written, researched and developed. She's not a programmer or a graphic artist, she only worked on the narrative and on that aspect GM is FAR from being poor, IMO of course.

Why is everybody so against the cutscenes? I love them. They have a special touch that adds to the atmosphere.