Gray Matter Reactions
 

cant wait to hear some opinions.

Based on some first german reviews - the game is on pair with such titles such as Still Life or The Moment of Silence for example.

Now, they mention somewhat little challenging puzzles, which is the only thing i have doubts about because i'm certain when it comes to Jensen that story is rich and detailed.

On the other way, we can discuss about general "easy" puzzles in nowaday adventure games, especially if we are to compare them to classics, so i think everyone will have different opinion on this.

The important thing is that Jane Jensen hitted with obviously above average title.

Hi diego,

Do you have any links to any German reviews? Thanks!

What is the difference between the version that is avaiable to buy for download now, and the one to be released in feruary 2011?

this one is natively german with english option.

the one in feb is natively english

sp basically nothing of importance if you want to order it now.

Does the Xbox 360 version include booklet or some other printed stuff? I'm just wondering whether to order from Amazon.de or to wait few months for english release. If there's some nice booklet with background stories etc, I might want to get that in english language.

Gray Matter Reactions
 

Had to get the download from Amazon.de. I totally couldn't wait. :P

I posted my first impressions of Gray Matter on my blog, along with videos of the intro and my first few minutes of gameplay. (No spoilers, promise.)

Perhaps someone should start a separate thread for posting reviews & reactions during play-through?

There is no download shop from Amazon in Germany :P

Another review:

http://www.gamingxp.com/bericht-4180...ray_matter.htm

PC/Xbox: 80%

AdventureTreff review:


pros:

+story, charcters & dialogues
+well researched & cleverly integrated facts concering locations & relevant story details
+approximately 15 hours playtime
+good synchronisation (English & German)
+optional challenges, not necessary to complete game
+very good soundtrack (more "Scarlet Furies" than Robert Holmes though)
+artful, atmospheric cutscenes
+3D charecter models, solid basic animations
+nice graphic effects (shadows, mirror, sky animation ...)
+100+ locations (indluding close-ups)

cons:

-some obscure, irreproducible triggers lead to ...
-... delayed hotspots
-some cutscenes incosistent with in game graphics depiction of locations/characters
-few noteworthy character model mimics & gestures
-max 20 save slots
-lip-synch is sometimes off (only German version)
-change of scenery - loading screen (ca. 2 seconds)


final conclusion:

it was worth the wait !
pc version superior to console versions (graphics & controls)

Really nice to hear that they didn't have any major issues to critisize, it seems that production values are good. Hopefully it will be successful despite the endless delays and release date confusion.

it has it's good and bad points, but overall it's one of the better recent adventure games
my main criticism is the overly simplified UI. oh how I miss the days when you had multiple options of what to do with items (eg: look at, push/pull, pick up, use, talk to, etc) but now it's usually simplified to "left click use, right click examine". sadly Grey Matter takes it a step further by even eliminating the "right click examine". granted you usually either have to examine it first before it becomes usable or you get what would otherwise be an examine dialogue at the same time as using it, but still, it really feels like you're very limited

also, something else which has become distressingly common in games (not just in the adventure genre) is the inability to name your own saved games. in yee olde days you always had the option to type a brief description, but most games (GM being no exception) just give you a thumbnail screenshot, chapter number and a timestamp, given how often you have to visit the same locations, especially in adventure games, it can make it very tricky remembering exactly where in the game each save is

the magic trick interface is a nice idea though, but the tricks are (so far at least) practically impossible to screw up since you're given very precise and clear instructions on exactly what to do, which almost makes it feel like following a walk-through. thankfully though you do have the option of closing the instruction book and using good old fashioned common sense (or failing that, trial and error. or opening the book again :P)

apart from that my only complaint so far is a minor glitch on some hotspots that make them difficult to locate, even with the "highlight hotspots" option enabled. considering how bug-ridden most recent games are though, that's pretty impressive

overall, you have no excuse not to get this game. once it's available in your area of course

Good to see the reviews are solid. I do have to agree with the sentiment that not getting this game out worldwide (digitally at least) is a mistake. The hodge-podge, it's out here-it's out there next month-it's out in the US maybe next year- approach is just going to encourage piracy. Hopefully enough people do appreciate the need to buy this game when they finally can. It's just bizarre that the game is in English but not available through Steam, the Adventure Shop, worldwide digitally through Amazon, etc. And it's bizarre to ponder how long it'll be before the PC and 360 versions are actually available in a store here in the US....oh well...DTP really dropped the ball on distribution for GM. Which is a real shame when you consider how important this game potentially is for the genre. But at least it's out now and so far it appears that the extreme fears about the game's quality didn't hold true.

Well i'm playing it. I think i never expirienced the same emotion in a videogame like i had when i entered GM for the first time. So many years waiting for it... its almost unreal.

From what i've seen the animations are, as expected, terrible. The story is interesting, Sam voice acting is a bit of a letdown (seems like shes reading instead of acting), but god! David voice is amazing, so good! Its like a young Anthony Hopkins!

a young anthony hopkins voice is the same as the old anthony jopkins voice isn;t it?

unless you saw him in films before he hit puberty :D

I just played the first couple of minutes and wanted to send my first impression. So far everything is looking ugly, but I guess it'll grow on me once I get used to the poor graphics and terrible animations. It's gonna be a difficult task though, the animations are unbelievable. Even the 8 years old Syberia looks and animates ten times better. Here the character is even unable to watch something without first doing a series of movements like a malfunctioning robot, then walking awkwardly to that object, and then finally saying the comment. And then you have to watch her ugly face in the lower left corner of the screen while she's talking, every time she talks... Anyways, I hope the story and setting will be enough to make me forget about these things. But my first impressions weren't good, and the excitement is 100% gone. Here's hoping for Syberia 3.

While I have to admit Syberia looked better than Gray Matter, I don't think Gray Matter looks THAT bad.

The textures could be a bit higher resolution, but I think Gabriel Knight 3 was even LESS polished (and I still liked that game). GM isn't perfect but it certainly looks 100x better than GK3 with its stupid 3D engine. And Tim Curry didn't do any voice acting in this one, hallelujah!!!!!

Visually there's nothing wrong with GM. The backgrounds are gorgeous and both protagonists are very well modeled and rendered (although the supporting characters are not that good). The only serious problem is just the animations really.

I think some of you guys are being way too hard on it. Just IMO.

im a character animator. and from the videos the walk cycle looks like something i did as a first attempt at uni, not very impressive.

either they couldn't afford to hire a specialised character animator, or they have terrible HR but yeah id have to say its not up to proffessional standards.

but even i wouldnt; let it spoil the game, somethign like that is trivial when compared to the story/soundtrack/puzzle design/ etc.

Omg, the leaked version is in full english, native english version maybe, because even the installation is in english.... Months before official english release uk/us, and this is already floating around the net. I can't even imagine how this will have an effect on sales...

Ok, I'm waiting for you to play it and get to the sequence where she tries to eat and drink. You'll laugh out loud.

Is sad to read only complaind about the animations. I really don't care, this is the Jane Jensen game we (or some of us) wait for 11 years! Fortunetly I readed 2 great novel from her in the meantime. We can look at other more important aspects of the game such as puzzles and story and tor that we need to FINISH the game! .
For better animations I can continue playing Mass Effect 2, Gears of War, etc, and other great games, this adventure is about other elements.

The sad thing is the "adventure gamers" only can see the bad animations.

AND PLEASE, don´t spoil parts of the game, may of US are still waiting to play it!

The worst in that is not even the animation but the awful eating sounds she makes, and she makes them while talking :D

I've just finished chapter three and I'm really loving the story now. you can tell it's from the same mind as Gabriel Knight
not going to give any spoilers though, but I am most definitely not disappointed. graphics be damned (and they're really not that bad), the gameplay and story are there in spades
now, should I get some sleep or go back to playing? stupid question, playing it is :P

The animations are TERRIBLE. Sam walks like a robot and NOT in a feminine way (:crazy:). I have a great difficulty with hotspots. The background graphics look wonderful. I can't tell for the story it's too soon for me.

Looks like everyone is playing the pirate copy :crazy:

I'm sorry to be a pest, but to clarify this once and for all!

Would anyone of you who has actually bought the original German release and is playing it please confirm this:

The ORIGINAL, official release includes the following:

+ German text/ German voice acting
+ English text/ English voice acting

+ German manual
+ German box art
?

Thanks a lot in advance

Will someone from Adventuregamers be reviewing the dtp release? Or will we have to wait for the mamba release?

About 30 mins into the game I can't get all the whines at all. The game looks and feels great. Yes,the animation isn't superb but seriously it doesn't even bother me. I like the characters and the surroundings, the plot hasn't opened up really yet but looking forward to it.

Yeah I agree with the above poster, if I wanted to play a game with great GFX I'd just go play Mass Effect 2 or Crysis. But Ms. Jensen's games are all about the story, and after just beginning Chapter 4, I'm really enjoying the plot thus far.

Ya, an adventure game with Mass Effect 2 gfx would be IDEAL, but that would require a massive budget. And then again, Gabriel Knight 3's 3D engine looked pretty craptastic too from what I recall, and it wasn't the end of the world.

I agree - i won't say no to a good graphics but if that means no story, and especially, in course of the lately events - no puzzles, well then, no thanx, give me AGS style children graphics anytime.

Heavy Rain graphics are incredible, and in it's own term - it's not a bad game at all. But i wouldn't like if the whole adventure gaming would come to this. Back in 90's adventure games were mainstream which meant good graphics AND good puzzles/story. Now, fast internet and "casuality" happened and things are looking slightly different, but i think the story and puzzles are somewhat more important than graphics in AG recognition in these "troubled times".

Just got the game german version where is the map?
 

I need to find a map in the game to get progress.

Thanks for helping.

I'm really loving the cutscenes, they are very well made. As a matter of fact i would have prefered that the actual game had that kind of graphic novel look than the realistic it has.

Despite the technical limitations, i'm really enjoying it. The story is classic Jane Jensen, it really picks up after the third chapter, and i love how she mixes the supernatural with facts (like all GK games).

Its a pitty the developers were so afraid to do close up's on the character faces during dialogues. They are well modeled and i think it it would give a more dinamic and cinematic look to it. Lost Horizon wasn't a technical wonder and did that pretty well.

I'm only a third in on the 3rd chapter and this is clear 5/5 so far. Anything that might be wrong or bad is so minor that I don't even pay attention to it. I just like everything about the game so far. Totally worth waiting.

About the map, you should get it automatically when you enter a point where you can leave. Then you can access it by pressing M, clicking the star icon on the top left or just exiting an area.

It's quite depressing to see so many people commenting who are clearly playing a downloaded pirated copy of the game...

Depressing, yes. Surprising, no. It's obvious that after years of waiting people want to play the game as soon as it's available. The only way it's available in most countries is by downloading a pirated copy. That's such a shame, I think almost all people in this topic would have already bought their official version if it was available in stores or some official download service. Releasing the game in different areas at different times is a huge mistake nowadays (especially when there's nothing to localize).

I can't believe people are playing this game. It's out. Wow. Never thought I'd see the day.

I can't imagine how hard Jane Jensen has worked to fight for this game's release. I hope everyone downloading it will buy the game as well.

well I've already paid for my pre-order (I was rather annoyed at the time to be charged in advance, something unusual for a pre-order) through mamba-games so once the game is released it'll be in my mailbox anyway. in the meantime I'd rather avoid a repeat of what happened to me with GK3 when it was so talked about that it was almost impossible to avoid spoilers that ruined some of the surprises later in the game for me

and incidentally, I'd say Gray Matter is a game well worth the price tag

Not a good game so far 6/10:
 

No atmosphire no ppl around in the start you can walk 20-30 minutes without doing anything untill the lady is coming out the kitchen.
The animation is very bad graphics is old dosent fit for 2010 and yes adventure games in 2010 should have a great graphics. Even king quest 7 have a better graphics.


I suggest everyone play book of unwritten tales or perry rhodan my top best games.
Graphics animation smooth dialoges make the games.

Book of unwritten talesi s a very long game the best ever game.
And perry rhodan is alos a very long game and one of the best ever games.


This is how a good adventure game should be like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9ecibU9G6c