[AudioSoldier]

I thought I'd post this here since many people want to know whether or not Bone is worth getting.

Well, this is my review. It'll be going up on www.ampedigo.com come Monday. This is by no means the finished article. Comments and suggestions are welcome by all. I have not decided a score either. If there are points you think I should mention, please point them out, too. The review currently stands at about 1 800 words. I'm surprised I found so much to write about, to be honest.
__________________________________________________ ____________
Bone: Out Of Boneville PC Review
Written By: Edward Love
Date: 17 September 2005

Despite the ordinary name, Jeff Smith must be an interesting fellow. That is, considering he’s behind Bone, a series of comic books detailing the lives of the three Bone cousins, Fone, Phoney and Smiley. This motley crew of blood-relatives have traversed the weirdest, wackiest locales known to man and met some exceedingly different characters in the series of nine graphic novels. Developer Telltale, comprised of former LucasArts employees, has created the PC rendition of Bone: Out of Boneville, Smith’s very first foray into comic book-don. Despite the endearing characters and the light-hearted, laugh-inducing dialogue, Bone: Out of Boneville could be viewed as a disappointing episodic adventure due to its short nature. We’re bearing the words “episodic” in mind too. Indeed, many will find the $20 price tag too much, which is a shame for Telltale’s efforts are admirable.

Out of Boneville completely and utterly adheres to the comic book. You’ll wish there were instances when Telltale took a step back and said: “Wait, we’re going to add our own bits too.” It’s not that Out of Boneville lacks imagination either, rather that it plays itself for the most part. Moments when you’re forced into a modicum of lateral thinking are few and far between. Moments when you’re forced into a great deal of thought are non-existent, which is a pity.

If anything, Bone serves as a testament to Jeff Smith’s inspired, humorous work and on this front the game succeeds. But, with the words “game” stressed, Bone works none too well and the aforementioned price tag is too steep considering.

Out of Boneville begins with Fone, Phoney and Smiley engaged in an argument. It seems the cousins have been kicked from Boneville. Rather, Phoney has. You’ll gather that the Boneville inhabitants could not stand his stingy, sour nature and that sanity prevailed with the grouchy Phoney being disbanded from the land. Fone and Smiley followed in the footsteps of their cousin, for reasons unknown. We assume the inhabitants of Boneville wanted absolutely no trace of Phoney left and chucked Smiley and Fone from their midst too. There’s little backstory presented as the game begins, but this doesn’t really matter, as you’ll quickly pick up tidbits of information that the characters drop during their conversations. At any rate, Out of Bonneville’s plot is not particularly deep and there’s more emphasis placed on introducing the several unique, bizarre characters than telling an intricate tale. Ironically so, considering Telltale’s name.

Soon enough, Fone, Phoney and Smiley are split up. As Fone, you enter a valley filled with a mixture of odd animals and humans and it’s your job to reunite the cousins and seek safe harbor. This valley has the effect of overwhelming Fone and Phoney – who you’ll play as later on in proceedings – and you get the impression that the Bone’s are experiencing a huge climate change. Speaking of weather, the valley in Jeff Smith’s comic book was home to a splattering of snow in places. The valley in the game is devoid of any snow, which was a decision made by Telltale for easiness sake, we’re guessing. At any rate, Out of Boneville is no great looker, although everything is rendered in 3D and the character models are charming. More on the visuals later.

For an adventure game to succeed it certainly doesn’t need to rely on razor-sharp textures and the somewhat sparse-looking locales in Bone would have been more acceptable had the actual gameplay been better. You’ll quickly realize that the point and click format doesn’t work well within a 3D engine. The major problem is the annoyance factor, which can reach levels of magnitude if you have the uncanny ability of clicking in the wrong spots. For instance, you may wish to guide Fone out through a bush, but click the mouse cursor too high and you’ll watch him jauntily walk to the precisely wrong spot. What with Out of Boneville being as short as it is, you’ll inevitably bear the control system for the duration of its short existence, and if you’ve grown up on LucasArts adventures, it will be familiar territory. And if we’re sounding overly harsh, it’s simply the skewer of criticism we spear at games that come our way. In all honesty, Bone doesn’t control awfully; it’s just not a control system that is conducive to precision.

Instead of presenting the player with a series of puzzles, Telltale has looked to vary the experience with both arcade-esque mini-games and puzzles that fall under the traditional “adventure” header (most notably, inventory conundrums). You’ll find yourself steering a fleeing Fone from all kinds of monstrosities a couple of times during the game, doing so solely with the mouse. It’s a rather jarring experience for anyone who is accustomed to traditional forays through adventure territory, but not wholly bad. At another point, you’ll try and have Fone slink away from a pair of arguing rat creatures, watching to see if they’re not looking your way. Initially frustrating, this sequence becomes manageable by learning to look for certain signs, and to the game’s credit, it’s immensely rewarding to escape the clutches of the Rat Creatures.

As if in an effort to appeal to the children demographic – and to adhere to the Jeff Smith comic – both Fone and Phoney will need to play hide and seek with a set of wonderfully voiced possum children at different junctures in the game. This acts as another little mini-game as you listen to the possum’s cries of “hot!” and “cold!” in an effort to uncover their hiding places.

Switching control between Phoney and Fone is commonplace during Bone and the experience differs appropriately. Fone is well mannered and soft-spoken and he gets on well with the denizens of the valley. On the other hand, Phoney’s rash, hard demeanor and his penchant for insults will land him in trouble more than once. There’s a satisfying line drawn between the two characters, and that of Smiley Bone too.

Mini-games aside, the beef of an adventure game should lie in the puzzles, and Out of Boneville is lacking here. What with a hint system – which does alleviate the possibility of begging the question: “what do I do next?” – you should have no trouble with Bone’s puzzles, no matter your age, or experience with titles of this ilk. Puzzles never veer into the realms of punishing, and thankfully so, but it’s undeniable that added challenge would have helped. It would have helped lengthen the experience too, which stands at two hours or so.

To be fair though, the length of Out of Boneville really depends on how long you take to savor the rich characters present. The latter certainly acts as one of the game’s best facets and we look forward to new faces appearing in future episodes. But to return to the point about the difficulty, simply talking to the denizens of the valley can attain much progression. There’s nothing wrong with dialogue-based puzzles if they’re in moderation. With Out of Boneville, they’re easily the majority.

The actual dialogue is top-notch stuff, however, and the voice-work for Ted The Bug is truly side-achingly funny. Remarkably enough, the credits attest that many of the vocal actors performed more than one part, and when you factor in the diversity of the voices, you begin to appreciate the talent. Furthermore, Jeff Smith handpicked the voice-actors, so those who mumble: “they don’t sound right”, are contesting the creator himself.

Finishing off with the puzzle motif, there are a couple of inventory-based enigmas, but these are fairly straightforward. The inventory is handled in a simple, clever way: by means of the Bones’ backpack, which opens stylishly when clicked upon. Objects will be highlighted in green when they can be used in tandem with an object in the gameworld. Sadly, much of the 3D vistas act as window dressing and the point and click interface is devoid of a “look” option for the surroundings, although it is possible to look at objects in your inventory.

The actual Bone world is too small for our liking (or at least, it is not fleshed out enough in this episode) and the experience would have been a more satisfying one had there been a map present. Even after completing the game, it’s hard to garner an idea of what the valley looks like in geographic terms. The visuals also lack a bit of polish and we did encounter a disconcerting bug (in the technical sense, pun fans) during our testing.

Audio is Out of Boneville’s strong point, with the aforementioned voice-acting acting as its main draw. The music is homage to the LucasArts days too. Bone simply exudes a quirky ambience in its artistic and audio direction.

In terms of target audience, Out of Boneville is neither violent nor vulgar and in this respect it could appeal to children. Those who don’t speak English with any semblance of fluidity will certainly find Telltale’s adventure a taxing experience since only English subtitles are on offer. It’s a shame that Telltale are alienating a large portion of the adventure-playing world then, and you feel they will need as much exposure as they can get considering the $20 price.

[AudioSoldier]

...Review continued....


Thankfully, it’s easy to have Bone on your harddrive in a jiffy. The download is a meager 50 odd megabytes and once you’ve procured a copy of Bone, you’re immediately sent your activation key. Essentially, it works like this. You visit Telltale’s site and download the free trial. Once the download is complete you start the game and a screen pops up, reminding you to buy the game. If you’ve done as such you’ll have your key and be able to enter it by clicking on a link that accompanies the pop up screen. It’s an easy-to-use service and is great for those who usually have to wait months before their country has a particular game. Some might be irked by the lack of a CD, but it’s perfectly possible do burn your copy of the game onto a CD. Sure, it might lack snazzy packaging, but if you’re unconcerned about these matters, you’ll find the method of acquiring the game a satisfying one.

As for future installments in the Bone series, we’d like to see Telltale combining some of the stories together so that the end experience is longer. At about two hours, Out of Boneville is hardly an offer you can’t refuse. Still, its closeness to the comics will make it a mandatory purchase for Bone lovers. Anyone looking to dabble in a lighthearted adventure might find this an equally stimulating experience; just don’t expect to be playing for months.

[AudioSoldier]

Sorry for another post, but the original review contained italicized words. That might make for easier reading. For instance, the words "Bone" were in italics to signify that I was using it as the name of the game.

Also, there's a mistake in my review. The hide and seek was not in the comic book.

[Jackal]

It's usually a good idea to get the game's title right.

[jp-30]

For what it's worth I find the point-and-click within a 3D world in Out From Boneville highly intuitive. In fact my 4 year old daughter had no problem negotiating Fone through the landscapes with the mouse.

One small note, "Furthermore, Jeff Smith handpicked the voice-actors, so those who mumble: “they don’t sound right”, are contesting the creator himself." isn't quite correct.

He did approve all the voices, and before they were picked he gave indicators to Telltale, such as "The Dragon should sound like Johnny Cash", but to say Smith hand-picked the cast is a stretch.

The line can easily be rectified by replacing it with "Furthermore, Jeff Smith approved the voice-acting, so those who mumble: “they don’t sound right”, are contesting the creator himself."

[AudioSoldier]

Originally Posted by jp-30

For what it's worth I find the point-and-click within a 3D world in Out From Boneville highly intuitive. In fact my 4 year old daughter had no problem negotiating Fone through the landscapes with the mouse.

One small note, "Furthermore, Jeff Smith handpicked the voice-actors, so those who mumble: “they don’t sound right”, are contesting the creator himself." isn't quite correct.

He did approve all the voices, and before they were picked he gave indicators to Telltale, such as "The Dragon should sound like Johnny Cash", but to say Smith hand-picked the cast is a stretch.

The line can easily be rectified by replacing it with "Furthermore, Jeff Smith approved the voice-acting, so those who mumble: “they don’t sound right”, are contesting the creator himself."

Thanks. And I spelt the title incorrectly and on purpose to see if anyone would actually pick it up. Good job.

[AudioSoldier]

Well, the "real" thing is going up tomorrow. I've edited it, had people go over. It's been spruced up. Lot better than this trash, lol..

[cy007]

Audiosoldier, how much do you get payed writing these reviews? Just wondering.

[eriq]

Originally Posted by cy007

Audiosoldier, how much do you get payed writing these reviews? Just wondering.

LOL. That's what I was thinking...

[AudioSoldier]

Originally Posted by eriq

LOL. That's what I was thinking...

Million dollars a year.

www.ampedigo.com has the full review.

http://igo.ampednews.com/gamehub/1401/reviews/530/

That's a link to the spruced review.

[The Seed]

A score of 7.2 sounds fair to me.

[avatar_58]

I'm avoiding the game until I get a straight answer from telltale about the hardware fingerprinting. After the HL2 requiring steam fiasco....I can't be too careful. I happen to like playing games for a long time and I don't want a timebomb on my game's lifespan.

[stinkey diver]

Worst game ever! Sure it looks nice, but its far from fun. Its boreing and there are no puzzels. 3/10.

[bigjko]

Originally Posted by stinkey diver

Worst game ever! ...there are no puzzels.

Factual error. Your review stinks.

[Maquisard]

Originally Posted by AudioSoldier

Review

I found it quite entertaing how you like using the word "we" when refering to yourself.

[AudioSoldier]

Originally Posted by Mares

I found it quite entertaing how you like using the word "we" when refering to yourself.

I thought I had touched on this before: It's not Amped IGO's policy to use the first person.

[Darth_Vader]

Does anyone know where can i get key generator for this game?

[Dale Baldwin]

If you've purchased it, contact telltale if things aren't working.

Otherwise, you've come to the wrong place.

[spaceship789]

Bought bone.

Played it. Tried to like it. But I don't. Sadly theres not even a spark of magnetism in me that wants to play it again. Infact, I would go as far to say that it would be a relief not to play it again.

But its not the games fault.

Its mine. I don't think talkies are my type of game. I've sort of known this from about 1995 when I preferred the non talkie version of Day of the Tentacle to the talkie version. Ditto with Fate of Atlantis. I prefer reading. It engages the brain. And I liek to be able to set the text speed to very fast.

I've tried to make myself enjoy it, it with games like Full Throttle and CMI. But alas, truthfully I am irrelevant.

In other good news, I have been working in the games industry since 1998, and am now making my own games. yay.

But I miss the days when adventure games were a cerebral experience.

[jjacob]

Nice, fair review AS. As for 'talkies' not engaging the brain, there are people who actually studied this (a friend of mine was one of the participants in a 6 hour long test) and came with the conclusion that gaming, with all its audiovisual splendor, is actually filled with stimuli that engage the brain, whereas reading is devoid of stimuli. Not saying that reading (books for example) is bad for you, but as far as the brain goes, gaming appears to be more stimulating. I know, it sounds counter-intuitive.