584th played so far
Genre: Adventure
Platform: PC/XBox
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Funcom
Publisher: Aspyr/Empire Interactive
After starting The Longest Journey for the blog a few years ago, I kept playing it on and off to truely get through the game. One of the big reasons for it was that I enjoyed the game a lot and didn’t want to spoil the story by jumping ahead to the sequel before I had to play it here.
So that’s what I’m doing here. I’m starting this sequel a few weeks after finishing the predecessory – where does the story go after this before I look at the Kickstarted sequel?
Our Thoughts
So from being a point and click adventure, this game goes to being a 3D one with a few action elements. You have a camera you controll and then camera-relative controls, which makes for an awkward way of controlling at times, one you need to adjust to. It’s not as bad as the tank controls of Grim Fandango, but to be honest, there were times when it felt awkward.
The action elements, while integrated well enough in the story, aren’t really my cup of tea either (I’m too sluggish and don’t quite get in line with all the rhythm elements), which didn’t make for the best of starts.
Add to that that although this game is set in the same world as The Longest Journey, and the story is linked, we start off with a new protagonist in a new location that is decidedly less grubby (and steampunky) than Stark. It’s a definite, and intended, shift, and although plenty of things start to overlap and the evil authority groups sneak in early enough, it felt a bit unexpected. It works, though, and the world building soon takes hold and enhances the game brilliantly.
Final Thoughts
So far, despite some oddities in the controls, this game has lived up to my expectations and fits in the magic created in the first game of the series. The difficulty isn’t an issue yet, it’s all well enough thought through, and I really want to immerse myself further.