Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 29
 Great adventure game March 4, 2008
Marie E. Tibble (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This game is a great adventure game. Nice graphics, and it plays well on my xbox 360 system. I added it to my collection of games. It is hard to find, and worth the price.
An Interactive Story That Really Means Something May 9, 2006
Andrew B. Snyder (Madison, WI USA)
If you've perused any online reviews of this game, you'll know the following about Dreamfall: the visuals are lush, the music and voice-acting are gorgeous, the gameplay is...well, not so great. And while many have commented on the engrossing story, I think what is really most remarkable is that it is *about something*. It's a work of interactive fiction that subtly tries to get the player to think about not just the fates of the twin worlds of Stark and Arcadia, but about the world we're in right now. It is an audacious attempt to stretch the boundaries of the medium of videogames, and I think it succeeds spectacularly.
The first game in the series, The Longest Journey, came out in 1999. The end of the 20th century, the "end of history," we were told. And in TLJ, although it was set in the year 2209, the story was literally about the end of time -- the end of a 13,000-year-old divide between science and magic, between order and chaos. But we pulled through -- as April Ryan did -- we made what we thought were the right choices, and we thought the good guys carried the day into the new millenium.
And here we are in 2006. Enter Dreamfall, which looks at its twin worlds through the same eyes that we're looking at ours. We thought we won. We thought we had the bad guys licked, and saved the world. But it didn't turn out that way. Sure, April saved the world, but things went downhill from there. Just as our "post-historical" world is facing new threats and old fears, Stark and Arcadia are facing powerful interests, fear of the unknown, and rage at what they cannot control.
Don't worry; the game isn't hamfisted or preachy. Its story is deftly told, with characters and dialogue that pull you in, and keep you there. As you lead the characters through the story, they will have you in turn angry, joyful, wondering, and choked up. I took 2 days off of work to play it through, and never once was I bored.
About gameplay: sure, it's pretty easy, and not the smoothest on the block. In attempting to stretch the boundaries of video games, it does seem as though the creators occasionally lost sight of what the medium is currently capable of. However, I think the Xbox version really lends itself to approaching Dreamfall more as a piece of interactive fiction: I could relax on my couch, settle in comfortably, and let the story unfold around me.
Bottom line: Dreamfall will pull you in, and leave you wanting more. It will make you feel, and involve you in the lives of compelling characters and their worlds. And it will make you think, and not just about fantasy worlds. And that is an impressive achievement for any work of fiction, and especially so for a video game. If that's something that you'd like to experience, buy this game. You won't regret it.
 This is not a game.... but it was still very entertaining. May 14, 2006
Martha Mullins (Selma, Alabama USA)
I bought this because I played the first one and loved it. The gamplay was superb, if extremly difficult at times. The story one of the best in a game ever. The sequal though I cant call a game, it is a c.g. movie with game elements added in just so they could call it a game. In all this product was about 10-15 hours but you actually only have at most 2 hours of gameplay, and that was poor at best. The story however was deep and engrossing, much like a good fantasy/sci-fi book. My only complaint with the story was the ending left every story thread unresolved. All of which were obviously meant to be continued in a sequal. Would I recommend it for purchase? Yes, but only if you want a good story and dont care about playing a game.
Suddenly an adventure game convert June 15, 2006
Madison (U.S.)
I loved this game. Frankly, I've never had much use for video games before, because I thought all video games were basically carpal-tunnel inducing fighting games (Nintendo, etc.) or filled with tedious, pointless puzzles (Myst, etc.). My husband bought Dreamfall for me and it completely changed my mind. This game is first and foremost about the story, which is complex and deeply engaging. I felt like I was really immersed in a different world (well, worlds, actually--you'll see when you play it). The graphics are absolutely beautiful. The voice actors were actually good, and since the dialogue is a key part of this game that's important! The fighting is minimal, fortunately, and the puzzles are relatively simple. I'm now going back and buying the first installment of this series. So, if there are any other 30ish women out there who thought video gaming was just for kids, well, I very strongly recommend you check out this game.
Fantastic! July 3, 2006
C. L. Hauri (Tallahassee, FL USA)
Even though I'm about to turn 30 and I'm a girl, I absolutely love video games. My husband and I got our Xbox360 a week ago and I just happened to have randomly selected Dreamfall for my first game. I was so hooked I couldn't put it down. My husband and I don't typically like the same types of games, but he was even playing this game! It was fantastic! The music, graphics, storyline and everything was great! The game really draws you in. My only issue was that I had rented the game, so I didn't have the instruction book and there was no way for me to find out what my controls were besides just experimenting (I probably could have looked online). I finished the game in a week by playing a little each day. I'm sad it's over. I never played the original PC game, but I hope they make similar games for Xbox in the near future.
|
