a|A
14-02-2006, 10:48 AM
I've had a hankerin' for some decent games with a great plot recently, so I've turned to the classic adventure games - Recently completing "The Dig", might review that one some other time - but I thought I'd play one of my personal favourates in the sierra adventure game series - "Gabriel Knight".
Like the "Laura Bow" series, I started playing this series in the middle, being given "The Beast Within" (#2 - The 6 CD FMV Epic ) First as a christmas present, and going back and playing the others in the correct order.
The series follows the path of "Gabriel Knight", last in the line of the Ritter Family, Legendary "Schattenjagers" ( Shadow Hunters ) in his quest to come to terms with his new responsbilities.
The first episode in this series doesnt really touch on this much, as that is only a latter plot development, the 2nd game focuses HEAVILY on it, and the third is an extension of the same idea.
The game focuses on the city of new orleans, and a string of murders that have been tied to voodoo activity in the region. Gabriel, a budding author is keen to write a book based on the murders, and so tries to get more information - he soon finds he's in over his head.
Gabriel Knight #1 is a classic sierra point-n-click adenture game, with the classic 'walk, talk, look, touch, etc' icon system - which, for the style of the game works perfectly and there are absolutely no problems for a sierra adventure game veteran. Although, I think a system more like the Quest for glory 4 'talk' icon would be a little better. Having two speech bubbles, one for general chat, and one for questioning is a bit redundant.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk01.jpg
The conversation system is also similar to previous sierra games, with topics listed in order. You can ask the same question numerous amounts of time, receiving slightly different answers each time - in order to probe deeper into a particular topic. The character portraits are beautfully animated, and the lips are synched nicely to the audio
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk02.jpg
Speaking of the audio, The voice acting is fantastic, with the amazing "Tim Curry" playing Gabriel knight, and believe it or not, "Mark Hammil" ( yes , from star wars ) playing Detective Mosley. The music is also extremely atmospheric and well composed ( even for midi ;) ), the themesong is nice and funky too, go gabriel!
Throughout the game are some nice cutscenes that are sewn together using a graphic novel style -
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk04.jpg
Which are really quite nice!
And the in-game graphics show the same care that sierra used in most of its pixel-based work with true attention to detail. A few of the walking animations could have been changed a bit (zombies in the snake?) But pixel animation is hard damnnit!
Although some of the puzzles are a bit mundane ( stupid snake tunnels ), for the most part the game is extremely logical and theres no weird and unusual puzzles to spend hours on figuring out. The plot is fantastic, and keeps you interested the whole way through, And it is by far one of the best '90's adventure games around. The graphical art is beautiful as well, and some of the scenes are fantastically drawn in all thier grizzly detail!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk03.jpg
I highly recommend the series to anyone wanting a great game to play, you'll have to dosbox it though. Also, try to get a hold of the CD version for tim curry!
It's just such a pity I've lost my GK2 cds, I'd love to play the 2nd one again, it's set in germany and involves werewolves and wagner! but I havn't seen it in years. Instead, I can finally complete the 3rd one. My copy has been missing the 3rd cd since I got it - so Im very exctied. I shall begin to play it tonight. the 3rd one was released relatively more recently, and is fully 3d - so it will be a change.
Like the "Laura Bow" series, I started playing this series in the middle, being given "The Beast Within" (#2 - The 6 CD FMV Epic ) First as a christmas present, and going back and playing the others in the correct order.
The series follows the path of "Gabriel Knight", last in the line of the Ritter Family, Legendary "Schattenjagers" ( Shadow Hunters ) in his quest to come to terms with his new responsbilities.
The first episode in this series doesnt really touch on this much, as that is only a latter plot development, the 2nd game focuses HEAVILY on it, and the third is an extension of the same idea.
The game focuses on the city of new orleans, and a string of murders that have been tied to voodoo activity in the region. Gabriel, a budding author is keen to write a book based on the murders, and so tries to get more information - he soon finds he's in over his head.
Gabriel Knight #1 is a classic sierra point-n-click adenture game, with the classic 'walk, talk, look, touch, etc' icon system - which, for the style of the game works perfectly and there are absolutely no problems for a sierra adventure game veteran. Although, I think a system more like the Quest for glory 4 'talk' icon would be a little better. Having two speech bubbles, one for general chat, and one for questioning is a bit redundant.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk01.jpg
The conversation system is also similar to previous sierra games, with topics listed in order. You can ask the same question numerous amounts of time, receiving slightly different answers each time - in order to probe deeper into a particular topic. The character portraits are beautfully animated, and the lips are synched nicely to the audio
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk02.jpg
Speaking of the audio, The voice acting is fantastic, with the amazing "Tim Curry" playing Gabriel knight, and believe it or not, "Mark Hammil" ( yes , from star wars ) playing Detective Mosley. The music is also extremely atmospheric and well composed ( even for midi ;) ), the themesong is nice and funky too, go gabriel!
Throughout the game are some nice cutscenes that are sewn together using a graphic novel style -
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk04.jpg
Which are really quite nice!
And the in-game graphics show the same care that sierra used in most of its pixel-based work with true attention to detail. A few of the walking animations could have been changed a bit (zombies in the snake?) But pixel animation is hard damnnit!
Although some of the puzzles are a bit mundane ( stupid snake tunnels ), for the most part the game is extremely logical and theres no weird and unusual puzzles to spend hours on figuring out. The plot is fantastic, and keeps you interested the whole way through, And it is by far one of the best '90's adventure games around. The graphical art is beautiful as well, and some of the scenes are fantastically drawn in all thier grizzly detail!
http://members.optusnet.com.au/gmassingham/games/gk01/gk03.jpg
I highly recommend the series to anyone wanting a great game to play, you'll have to dosbox it though. Also, try to get a hold of the CD version for tim curry!
It's just such a pity I've lost my GK2 cds, I'd love to play the 2nd one again, it's set in germany and involves werewolves and wagner! but I havn't seen it in years. Instead, I can finally complete the 3rd one. My copy has been missing the 3rd cd since I got it - so Im very exctied. I shall begin to play it tonight. the 3rd one was released relatively more recently, and is fully 3d - so it will be a change.