[Captain Blondebeard]

In my never ending quest to play every point and click adventure I have settled on playing Gilbert Goodmate for the first time. While it's theme is rather childish I am enjoying it. It ever throws an occasional curse word i there which I find refreshing in a game of that sort. I also am loving all of the Monkey Island jokes that they throw in their. Did anyone notice any of them? For instance the the inventor that keeps calling Gilbert differant names says "you never want a broken compas Guybrush". Also, when I try to use a sword on people Gilbert says "I dont know enough insults".

I am rather entertained. What is everyones thoughts on this game?

[AFGNCAAP]

Bleh. A CMI-wannabe with obscure puzzles and conversations that had mistaken "long" for "funny". For more extended discussion, see here.

[Erwin_Br]

Even though I recognised many flaws, I still enjoyed playing this game a lot. It has a certain charm, or something, I guess.

--Erwin

[Kolzig]

It's good game considering how small budget it had.

[artwking4]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

Bleh. A CMI-wannabe with obscure puzzles and conversations that had mistaken "long" for "funny". For more extended discussion, see here.

Woe be to the person who says that kind of thing about Myst-clones. So to each their own. If Gilbert Goodmate is the only CMI clone out there so far, we should all be really sad. I'm surprised the CMI format wasn't copied more...

[MDMaster]

It was very close to an amateur adventure, but still managed to be entertaining enough and fun to play almost 'till the end. Since I usually like adventures I manage to finish, I can't really say I disliked gilbert goodmate. And the 'bloopers' reel at the end it's pure magic.

[SirDave]

I think Gilbert Goodmate is unfairly underrated, especially when being negatively compared with the MI games. IMO, it is a great copier of the MI template just as Myst-clones are of Myst. A lot of work obviously went into GG and there are jokes all over the place, sometimes where you least expect them. One of my favorites: You can talk to almost everything so if you click to talk to the 'biscuits' on the table so that you say 'Hi, biscuits!', GG says, 'Hey, isn't that some kind of flower?'

That type of humor is worth my playing the game by itself! BTW: GG plays beautifully on pocketpcs!

[feisar]

Hmm. This post is going to be so anti-productive.

I was given gilbert goodmate for free from its UK publisher fasttrak and I still felt ripped off. Ugh. Words can not explain the pure banality and complete rubbishness of this game. I cant be nice about it at all, even if I try.

Some of the worst designed puzzles ever. The most boring plot, made worse by overly long and embarressingly unfunny dialouge. The graphics arent even that good and it doesnt even load that quickly or work that well.

Definatly the low point of adventure gaming. A summary of everything that is wrong with the genre or even everything that can go wrong when making a videogame. Its not fun. Its not pretty. Its not compelling. Its not artistic. It has no merit. Its not even mildly good in a so bad its funny way. ARGH.

I feel like having a mental breakdown playing this game. I feel sorry for the people that had to playtest it. Perhaps no-one did and thats why no-one realised how rubbish it was.

The packaging is even ugly. Just like the deformed characters. The humour is so not funny at all in this game. I used to think it was something in the translation that went wrong.

[SirDave]

Originally Posted by feisar

Hmm. This post is going to be so anti-productive.

I was given gilbert goodmate for free from its UK publisher fasttrak and I still felt ripped off. Ugh. Words can not explain the pure banality and complete rubbishness of this game. I cant be nice about it at all, even if I try.

Some of the worst designed puzzles ever. The most boring plot, made worse by overly long and embarressingly unfunny dialouge. The graphics arent even that good and it doesnt even load that quickly or work that well.

Definatly the low point of adventure gaming. A summary of everything that is wrong with the genre or even everything that can go wrong when making a videogame. Its not fun. Its not pretty. Its not compelling. Its not artistic. It has no merit. Its not even mildly good in a so bad its funny way. ARGH.

I feel like having a mental breakdown playing this game. I feel sorry for the people that had to playtest it. Perhaps no-one did and thats why no-one realised how rubbish it was.

The packaging is even ugly. Just like the deformed characters. The humour is so not funny at all in this game. I used to think it was something in the translation that went wrong.

So, out with it; did you like it or not?

[MDMaster]

Originally Posted by feisar

Hmm. This post is going to be so anti-productive.

So, you sold it on eBay for 10£ and lived happily ever after

[Len Green]

~~ feisar ~~ ….. Hmm. This post is going to be so anti-productive.

I was given gilbert goodmate for free from its UK publisher fasttrak and I still felt ripped off. Ugh. Words can not explain the pure banality and complete rubbishness of this game. I cant be nice about it at all, even if I try.

Some of the worst designed puzzles ever. The most boring plot, made worse by overly long and embarressingly unfunny dialouge. The graphics arent even that good and it doesnt even load that quickly or work that well.

Definatly the low point of adventure gaming. A summary of everything that is wrong with the genre or even everything that can go wrong when making a videogame. Its not fun. Its not pretty. Its not compelling. Its not artistic. It has no merit. Its not even mildly good in a so bad its funny way. ARGH.

I feel like having a mental breakdown playing this game. I feel sorry for the people that had to playtest it. Perhaps no-one did and thats why no-one realised how rubbish it was.

The packaging is even ugly. Just like the deformed characters. The humour is so not funny at all in this game. I used to think it was something in the translation that went wrong.

To criticize & dislike a game is understandable & acceptable … to trash it viciously & fallaciously is not !

I feel sorry for the people that had to playtest it. Perhaps no-one did and thats why no-one realised how rubbish it was.

About 40 people beta-tested it intensively for 3 months solid. I personally was one of them, but don’t feel sorry for me. I thoroughly enjoyed both the testing and the game. (My single criticism was that many of the dialog trees although extremely humorous were too long & overdone. Against that, the voice acting was superb --- all highly professional … very expensive ... and amongst the very best in ANY game with so many vocal characters!)

The humour is so not funny at all in this game. I used to think it was something in the translation that went wrong.

*** There was NO translation. All the dialog was written by an English born Canadian … his English is perfect and sense of (maybe English type) humour fantastic !
***** Unfortunately neither of these attributes apply to you. In 16 lines or so, you have managed to introduce 3 English howlers and approximately 13 minor mistakes in English (and this is NOT including the USA/UK humor/humour anomaly).

[DFish]

I thought it was a pretty good game. It has been a long time but I seem to remember my biggest complaint being the lengths you had to go to to accomplish things sometimes. You would need to get information from someone, say. But before they would give it to you, they wanted you to go get some item from somewhere. You would go try to get that item, but something would be blocking you so you would have to go somewhere else to get something to remove that obstacle. But to get the thing needed to remove the obstacle you had to go talk to someone else and subsequently run an errand for them, etc. Sometimes it seemed this would go on forever. Other than that, I remember enjoying the game pretty much.

[feisar]

I knew this response was comming yet it still typed *rolleyes*

Okay. Some people must like gilbert goodmate and consider it a good game. Perhaps it is and my judgement is way off, but still to me its the worst thing Ive ever played by a longshot. Even thinking about it sets me off on a poorly worded rant. See I'm doing it now. Im sorry if it seems rude, especially as its something you worked on. At least you can say its had an emotional impact :/

Please dont point out the mistakes in my grammar to justify your game. There is a difference between someone typing a message in a forum in a few minutes to creating a piece of commercial software. Perhaps I could get 40 people to playtest my posts in future working on them for three months

Im aware that many people worked on this and the same is true of almost anything. Not everyone will like what you did and most of the people that dont will be brutal and there isnt a lot you can do about it. It has entered the public domain and as an entertainment product people like me will be especially nasty about it as its an emotional rather than practical product.

I was a bit over the top though :S

Originally Posted by Len Green

~~ feisar ~~ ….. Hmm. This post is going to be so anti-productive.


To criticize & dislike a game is understandable & acceptable … to trash it viciously & fallaciously is not !

About 40 people beta-tested it intensively for 3 months solid. I personally was one of them, but don’t feel sorry for me. I thoroughly enjoyed both the testing and the game. (My single criticism was that many of the dialog trees although extremely humorous were too long & overdone. Against that, the voice acting was superb --- all highly professional … very expensive ... and amongst the very best in ANY game with so many vocal characters!)

*** There was NO translation. All the dialog was written by an English born Canadian … his English is perfect and sense of (maybe English type) humour fantastic !
***** Unfortunately neither of these attributes apply to you. In 16 lines or so, you have managed to introduce 3 English howlers and approximately 13 minor mistakes in English (and this is NOT including the USA/UK humor/humour anomaly).

[Len Green]

It was not MY game ! I was merely one of the 40 or so beta-testers, albeit one of the most experienced.
True, I was so impressed by the game that I wrote a very detailed 'double' walkthru.

The Developers however spit blood trying to make a good game with a very limited budget. To rip it to pieces so savagely, mentioning your personal hatreds [ e.g. "not fun", "ugly", "deformed characters" (???), etc., etc. ] without a word about its many redeeming features, is IMO a travesty !

P.S. I’ve read over a ½ dozen Reviews of GGatMoP and all except one (which was also very negative) ranged between “good” to “excellent’.

[Erwin_Br]

Feisar should apply for a job at PC Gamer!

--Erwin

[Len Green]

Feisar should apply for a job at PC Gamer! --Erwin

BUT NOT AT FASTTRAK !!

I was given gilbert goodmate for free from its UK publisher fasttrak and I still felt ripped off.

[MDMaster]

Since you beta tested Gilbert, you might found this funny!
Do you know that in the italian version of Gilbert (which of course was only subtitled in italian) the distributor, Microforum, added a major showstopping bug that prevented you from finishing the game unless you installed the patch? I suppose you have heard about it, maybe, I luuuuuuuuuuuuv those kind of things

[SirDave]

When evaluating Gilbert Goodmate, I think it is important to distinguish between the peculiarities of the game itself & things that are the parameters of quality in a game, because GG is very much in a niche that some people simply don't like. But once you've accepted the fact that it is a game that not only pays allegiance to the Monkey Island type games, but takes them one step further into absolute idiocy (in a good way mind you), you can enjoy it for what it is- nonstop crazy humor. As far as parameters of quality go, GG has beautiful graphics, some very clever dialogue, a wacky but fun plot, and a general feel that makes you want to go back for more (if you like these sorts of games). What more can one ask for?

The one criticism that is well-founded & has been repeated in more than one review is the fact that it was a little too long-winded.

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by SirDave

When evaluating Gilbert Goodmate, I think it is important to distinguish between the characteristics of the game itself & things that are the parameters of quality in a game, because GG is very much in a niche that some people simply don't like. But once you've accepted the fact that it is a game that not only pays allegiance to the Monkey Island type games, but takes them one step further into a absolute idiocy (in a good way mind you), you can enjoy it for what it is- nonstop crazy humor.

I tend to agree. However, since I, personally, found the said humour completely unfunny, there was really nothing left for me to enjoy.

[SirDave]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

I tend to agree. However, since I, personally, found the said humour completely unfunny, there was really nothing left for me to enjoy.

Then you probably don't find this funny: A horse goes into a bar and asks for a drink; the bartender says, 'Why the long face?'.

Yuk! Yuk!