[Annoymous Broccoli]

yeah Dreamweb? Its gotta be, if it isn't it sure as hell could be! man that was an excellent cyberpunk Amiga (and later PC) game. I loved it when I was a kid, very adult, dark, depressing, violent and bladerunner-esque and with a superb music score. So different from all other adventure games at the time. And yeah you could pick up anything which did make it very very easy to get stuck (and hugely frustrating at times) but did add immersion to it as well.

[Oscar]

Ah yes, I think you're right - the rain bit makes sense now. That was a great game too, though I've never finished it.

[TerminusEst]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

I haven't actually played it, but being able to take everything sounds like that old game with the huge GUI and the protagonist's ugly face taking up half of the screen. What was it called? Dreamweb, or something like that?

Bingo!

Originally Posted by Annoymous Broccoli

yeah Dreamweb? Its gotta be, if it isn't it sure as hell could be! man that was an excellent cyberpunk Amiga (and later PC) game. I loved it when I was a kid, very adult, dark, depressing, violent and bladerunner-esque and with a superb music score. So different from all other adventure games at the time. And yeah you could pick up anything which did make it very very easy to get stuck (and hugely frustrating at times) but did add immersion to it as well.

We have almost exactly the same opinion of the game then It's one of the first adventures I played and one of the reasons I embraced the genre.

[Kurufinwe]

I'm not sure how guessable this is, but that review made me laugh hard so I just have to post it:

I was just about to buy this game. Overall the reviews have been pretty good but they I watched a game review video on google video and.. my God! The main actor speaks some kind of disgusting primitive British english. I normally don't mind normal British but she sounds like some kind of primitive street person. What is that all about?
There is no way that I will every play that game and I highly recommend that you watch an actual game video before you buy it.
Otherwise it looks very nice but the gameplay seems to be very minimal.

[TerminusEst]

Is that a reference to Zoe Castillo's accent in Dreamfall? This also meshes with the "minimal gameplay" part

[Kurufinwe]

It is. OK, I guess that's two people in the world who think that Zoe sounds like a disgusting primitive street person.

(Seriously, what's wrong with her accent?)

[TerminusEst]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

Seriously, what's wrong with her accent?

Nothing at all as far as I am concerned! I loved Zoe (and her voice)! (Her ennui/malaise/depression at the beginning of the game resonated with me at the time. And then she turns into this great counterpoint to April's cynicism.) More generally, Dreamfall is one of the (if not the) best-voiced game ever in my book, which is all the more remarkable given the gobs of dialogue. The only reason I thought of Zoe is because I remembered being a bit jarred to hear someone named "Castillo" speak with a British accent in Casablanca...

Here is the new review (from Moby Games as the Amazon reviews are too revealing):

The Good
I liked quite a bit, really. The graphics, while nothing spectacular in today's terms, were cool back then, since the characters looked more "real". Also, the humor in this game is up there with the best around, and kept a smile on my face the whole time. The puzzles, while not overtly hard, are tough enough to make you think for a while. I suppose the best part about this game is its "spirit"...that is, I got a feeling from this game that was wholly unique and enjoyable. It wasn't a "LucasArts game" or a "Sierra game", it stood on its own. This game had it all, and still stands on my top 5 of all time.

The Bad
Well, like any good game, you don't want it to end. There are also some "lonely" segments of the game, where you don't really interact with any other characters. But this doesn't detract from the whole experience in any way.

The Bottom Line
An adventure game for the ages. Up there with the best LucasArts, Sierra, and Access have to offer. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and play it over and over. An underrated classic if there ever was one.

[tsa]

I think it's Grim Fandango.

[TimovieMan]

Flight of the Amazon Queen?

[zobraks]

Originally Posted by tsa

I think it's Grim Fandango.

Hehe, someone is not paying attention :

Originally Posted by a reviewer

It wasn't a "LucasArts game"

[tsa]

Grim Fandango, although made by Lucasarts, was different than the other games they made IMO. And besides, the reviewer wrote "Lucasarts game" between parenthesis so my idea was that (s)he thought the same as me.

[TerminusEst]

It's neither Grim Fandango (tsa, check the last paragraph again - there the reviewer is more explicit about the game not being from LucasArts), nor Flight of the Amazon Queen.

I understand that the review I posted wasn't much to go on: a funny game with some "lonely" segments that was not made by LA, Sierra, or Access (i.e. not Tex Murphy). Here is a fragment of a different review:

Now as a story that's pretty much run-of-the-mill, but as I mentioned early this is a humorous game, so the story is merely an excuse to set up the gags and main direction of the jokes in this game. And you have to admit that when you take [protagonist] and pit him against a group of [antagonists] the results are, even if expected, quite hilarious. The sense of humor in this game is certainly politically incorrect and very edgy, the game focuses on cartoony reactions of life-like characters, scatological escapades, and general juvenilia. You won't find smart and sarcastic remarks or witty verbal sparrings in this game, and there's simply nothing wrong with that. This isn't "Monthy Python" or "Spinal Tap", this is "There's Something about Mary" and as long as you understand that then you are going to find out that [game] is a riot to play. It is wacky enough and immature enough to capitalize on all its potential and has a lot of hilarious moments and situations that add a lot of charm.

The gameplay uses a typical Scumm-ish engine to allow you to explore the gameworld and solve the various puzzles in the game, which are to be fair rather easy but clever and very well laid out.

Technically speaking the game was also a major achievement, with crudely digitized characters (that were nonetheless a wonder to behold) beautiful, detailed graphics and smooth animation, heck the game even boasted digitized speech for some sequences and 3D rendered animations!

[Oscar]

Toonstruck?

[CoyoteAG]

Runaway?

[TerminusEst]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Toonstruck?

Nope.

Here is more from the same review:

Take two parts Leisure Suit Larry, one part Space Quest and then make everything far more raunchy and politically incorrect than Sierra would ever dare to and there you have [game], a humorous point-and-click adventure game by [developer].

In this game you get casted in the shoes of [protagonist], a [...] dork who goes around the [...] picking out odd-jobs and trying to make ends meet. Essentially a dorkish Han Solo sans Chewy, but far closer to Larry than to Roger Wilco. As the game starts you get commissioned by a [...] magnate to find some sort of [MacGuffin] in a lost [place], [...] and soon find out that the [place] is populated only by [...]...

[...]

There is pretty much nothing to hate about [game] other than [game] itself . I mean, if you don't like the type of crude, in-your-face, politically incorrect humor this game has then you are screwed. If you only find funny the wacky cutesy cartoony or the smartly sarcastic then you are not gonna get much out of this game since the story itself is not too exciting and there are pretty much no interesting characters other than [protagonist] himself.

This should be easy to guess now.

Edit: Not Runaway either.

[tsa]

Is it Al Emmo?

[TerminusEst]

Originally Posted by tsa

Is it Al Emmo?

No, not Al Emmo either.

[diego]

Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender ?

[TerminusEst]

Originally Posted by diego

Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender ?

And we have a winner!

[diego]

Yay! Played it just recently... I was also thinking of Jack T. Ladd in Innocent Until Caught.

Try this funny review:

It was only when I got about half-way through the game an odd thing happened. Someone uttered the word "Mysterious Ancient Cult", Pandora's Box opened. Forcing all subtlety to exit via the nearest window and as such the story soils itself inside-out. All atmosphere disappeared when **** changes from the scared and frightened little boy we all knew to being some kind of Neo-esc "Chosen One" to which breaking the laws of physics comes as naturally as blinking...

So in short, play the first half, as soon as someone mentions an evil mystical cult, burn it. You really don't want to know how it ends. Trust me.