[Idrisguitar]

cant wait to hear some opinions.

[diego]

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.

[Ashok]

Hi diego,

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

[diego]

http://www.adventure-treff.de/artikel/tests.php?id=244

[Majsan]

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

[Idrisguitar]

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.

[teme]

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.

[shezcrafti]

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

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?

[Neptin]

Originally Posted by shezcrafti

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

There is no download shop from Amazon in Germany

Another review:

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

PC/Xbox: 80%

[Tiocfaidh]

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)

[teme]

Originally Posted by Tiocfaidh

AdventureTreff review:
...

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.

[rayvio]

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 )

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

[Lupin The Third]

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.

[Roper Klacks]

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!

[Idrisguitar]

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

[atyinbox]

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.

[Ashok]

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!!!!!

[Roper Klacks]

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.

[shezcrafti]

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

[Idrisguitar]

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.