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Boring!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: February 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Decent graphics. Great story. Annoying, repetitive characters. Slow story progression. Very annoying puzzles that require you to perform the perfect action at the perfect time in the perfect spot. If you want action, look elsewhere. If you've got time to wander around the same rooms over and over trying to figure out what you missed or whether you did everything in the right order, you've hit the jackpot. There are certainly worse games out there, but there are better ones as well.

Good story, great puzzles

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: January 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I finally got around to playing the entire Gabriel Knight series. For the rest of you who haven't, you're missing out. These are positively the best 3rd person adventure games ever made.

It's hard to review GK3 on its own merits without comparing it to GK1 and GK2. First off, going directly from GK2 to GK3 was a shock, as the former is done entirely in FMV and the latter used 3-d CG technology. When GK3 was made, this was fairly new and not as polished as it is today. The environments are well done, but I had a hard time with the characters. They didn't look quite right, and a lot of their movements were stylized and unrealistic. I got used to this as the game progressed. However, I still find that I relate better to 2-D characters (as in _The Longest Journey_ or GK1) than I do to 3-D representations that are trying so hard to be human and not quite making it.

The script and voice acting were often not quite what I had come to expect. I particularly was not fond of Tim Curry's portrayal of the title character, a fact which struck me as odd, as I loved his work as Gabriel in GK1. But in GK3 I thought he had a little too much tendancy to go over the top, particularly with Gabriel's wisecracks, which sometimes seemed more suited to Beavis and Butthead. Gabriel as a character grows and changes a lot over the course of the games, and I don't think Curry's portrayal was true to that fact. I was also puzzled and irritated at Gabriel's sudden inability to pronounce French. He had a beautiful accent when French terms came up in GK1; what happened to it? Whether this was due to the actor or the director, it was a poor choice and it bothered me.

However, Gabriel Knight 3 is still a great game. Like the others in the series, it is quite long and takes a lot of thought and a lot of close attention to detail. I liked that the NPC's had lives of their own and moved through the game in ways that were unpredictable. By keeping close track of them, sometimes stumbling on interactions and conversations, you can get a much larger picture of what's going on. I thought this added a lot to the realism of the game. You don't have to see everything to complete the game, but attempting to do so both makes the game last longer and makes it very replayable.

Every Gabriel Knight game pushes the limits of the genre by utilizing special interfaces. In Gabriel Knight 3 the special interface is a computer within the game. In addition to being vital to solving one of the main puzzles, this internal computer offers a wealth of information on a variety of subjects. You can spend hours just searching the database and reading the entires. I thought this was very cool.

The puzzles in GK3 are generally a mix of standard inventory-based, timed activity, and arcade. Often you have to wander around a lot to figure out what you need to do next. One particular puzzle stands out as one of the best thought-out and most complex puzzles I've ever come across in gaming. In it you must solve a riddle by analyzing and linking various inventory items. It's a very long puzzle and some people might find it frustrating, but it was the thing that really caught and held my interest. If all I have to do is talk to people and find inventory items, I don't feel like I've really done anything. There's plenty of that in GK3, but you also have to stretch your brain.

I really enjoyed John DeLancie's performance as the villain. I also enjoyed the depth of interaction between the main characters, and I am very impressed with the amount of research into esoterica that Jane Jensen put into this and the other games in the series. If you are at all of a mystic bent, or have any interest in what might be termed the occult, you will like this game.

You can play GK3 without playing the other games in the series, but I think it wouldn't be as enjoyable, as the background information gives so much insight into the characters and their relationships. Still, if you're looking for a great story and challenging puzzles, don't pass up Gabriel Knight 3!

Great story but annoying interface and graphics

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: November 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have to admit, though I am a big fan of GK and am an avid adventure gamer, I didn't buy Gabriel Knight 3 right off the shelf when it came out because... man, the graphics are terrible. Come on, face it. This series has never used a single engine more than once.. the first one was plain old tradiational good 2D art (which definitely works, though not fancy). The second one used full video, but it worked surprisingly well. This third one, however... it really really interfered with my gameplay.

First, there is the ugly 3D graphics. I guess they can't expect everyone to own super machines so they can't soup it up, but it does not compare at all with anything already out there.

Second, what's up with the camera? Is this a 1st person game or a 3rd person game? I can leave my character at home while I (the camera) do all the exploring and still the character's voice is telling me what I am seeing. That just doesn't work, it completely takes the "immersiveness" away from what could be a great game.

The lesson is, you don't have to go 3D if it doesn't HELP YOU. Some of the best selling games aren't fully 3D: Diablo 2, Baldur's Gate, Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey... I can go on.

Other than that, Jane Jensan pulls it off again with a great story and character development. Too bad the technology side got in the way, if not this could be one stellar game. Buy it now for its price, and then sell it to someone else. The experience is great but it's not worth keeping.

Anticipation turns to disappointment...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: January 09, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I couldn't wait for this game to come out. Then, as I began to play, I found myself really annoyed by the extreme slowness of the gameplay -- especially when Gabriel has to, for instance, walk back to his motorcycle -- and by the absolute poisonousness of his character as portrayed in this game. When did Gabriel get to be such a lunk? I was overjoyed whenever I got to a Grace section so that I didn't have to listen to Gabriel's obnoxious banter any longer. The game is only marginally entertaining, and the graphics are downright ugly.

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: June 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I loved this game. I thought it was so funny. You clicked on anything and gabriel had something funny and obnoxious to say. One of my favorites is when you click on Lady howard and Estelle and he says "Now theres a couple of beautous dames, okay I'm feeling generous". I also liked it when he was teasing wilkes about his "worm thumper". I liked the whole game. The characters didn't have as much depth as Gabriel Knight 2, but this game was still above and beyond the call of enjoyment. Another thing I liked was how realistic it was. Everything Gabriel and Grace did made sense. I loved it that they change their clothes every day as well. It annoys me to see computer game characters wearing the same outfit every day. The inventory was also realistic. When you go digging, Gabriel and Grace have to go back to the bike and get the shovel. You put Mosely's yellow sweater in your inventory and gabriel sticks it in his pants and they bulge out. I thought Gabriel and Mosely were so funny together too. They were all good characters and the story line was excellent. The graphics weren't that great, but 3-d is still new and maybe they'll remake the game later. I think they should redo Gabriel Knight 1 as well, they could give the story a lot more depth with the new technology. I love these games, I think that they are among the best games that I have ever played. You could read the story by itself and still be entertained and amused. I thought Gabriel and Grace's relationship struck very close to home in a lot of ways as well. I also like the conflict between some of the characters, it made the story a lot more interesting. I have very few complaints about this game.

Engrossing story and challenging game makes this a must buy!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The third in the mystery-solving series, GKIII not only improves on the series but on the genre itself!

For those who enjoy games that involve more thinking and amazing storylines, this game is definate buy. It was the first Gabriel Knight game I had ever played, and when I was finished I wanted more. The plot alone is so deep and enriching that you'll want to play just to see what happens next.

My only problem involved the difficulty of some of the puzzles. It's not that they were too hard, but that they seemed a little ridiculous. Some seemed to beg for the purchase of a walkthrough, and I admit I did some "walkthrough" searches on the net, but it was worth it to see the ending.

I thought the graphics were great, especially the detailed scenery which is an almost exact duplicate of the real French town of Rennes-Les-Chateau. One of the high points in the game was Robert Holmes soundtrack, which relied mostly on creepy, atmospheric piano pieces. It really added to the experiance.

Anyone who enjoys puzzle-based suspense games should give this one a try... ... it's more than worth it.

Jenson Has Done It Again

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ms. Jenson has again kept me enthralled in the next sequel to Gabriel Knight. Ms.Jenson has a wonderful way of working true historical fact into emersive fiction.

I must admit that I wasn't thrilled with the graphics, even though that didn't put me off the game at all. I would really have liked to see the actors from the Beast Within return as I thought the represented the characters in Sins of the Father perfectly.

The game itself is hard but you do have a difficulty level you can adjust. Some of the puzzles were a tad hard - especially the SIDNEY sequence. However, once you get them, you feel a great sense of accomplishment.

The story itself revolves around a kidnapping of a Stewart heir, the mysterious, real-life village of Rennes Le Chateau, Vampires, the Crusades and the bloodline of Jesus. A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting plot!

I hope Sierra will continue on to make Part IV. Kudos to Ms.Jenson!

A fantastic game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

While the third installment of the Gabriel Knigh series takes third place in the series(in my opinion, mainly due to the ending where I think Jane Jensen overstep a few boundries she shouldn't have), it is still a fantastic gaming experience that is EXTREMELY rare today and when the game was release. Part of what makes this game great is that it is a TRUE Adventure. Since the game industry which had once spurred with creativity had changed direction for the worst when greedy capitalists took absolute control and decided their new customers won't want to bother trying something new or understanding games and genres the selection of games and quality have declined to a unprecedented low. This genre, Adventure, as it is presented in this game and the entire series embodies what games used and are SUPPOSED to be like! Normally I never write review but one review I spotted for this game was so very ignorant and misleading that somebody needs to point out the numerous errors. It seems that Mr. Jason Moore does not want to put effort into learning anything about the series that he purchased a game from. First of all, NO game from the Gabriel Knight series is based on ANY book! Jane Jensen wrote the Gabriel Knight series as GAMES and afterwards wrote the books which are based on the games. You cannot get a very good understanding of the characters from the books as much as you can from the games. The main character is of higher quality to a person who played the earlier games from the series but still well crafted and has an interesting personality(And yeah, Jason Moore, he IS southern! He's from New Orleans!). The graphics engine displays very good graphics which would be pleasing to anyone but it is very heavy on the CPU and would seem buggy on a slow machine. Calling graphics outdate is a clear sign of ignorance of games. Graphics can NEVER be outdated, just poor. And GK3's graphics are neither. Graphics must fit the presentation of the game.Calling graphics outdated would be like calling using paragraphs in a book outdated. As far as Jason Moore's comment on story: This is an adventure game! It's all about the story! The story is the single most important part of an adventure game! The story in every Gabriel Knight are incredibly well written and intriguing. Jane Jensen is a fantastic writer who is few can come even dare to match both in game design and in books. You never have to read the books to play the game. In fact it is impossible to read the book to understand the game because the books are written after the games and the GK3 book has never even been written as far as I know. Gamers like the one previously mentioned are exactly the kind who caused the game industry to rot. Most game players do not even know what an adventure game is any more(RPGs and Adventure games are very different genres, contrary to miscategorization on many sites, including Amazon.com).

What happened?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 19
Date: March 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought the GK2 and was blown away.Felt as if I knew the characters and cheered for them.In this I didn't like them at all. Snappy, sarcastic, horrendous voice jobs. I waited on this one but won't on the next. Slow moving, no mystery since the characters are not as developed. Will never buy a game again untill the price is reduced. WHAT Happened?

One of the Best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

If you like real mystery and a game with a real story line this is the game for you. If you have played the previous Gabriel Knight stories it is easier to get some of the jokes and little things in the plotline mean more but it is not necessary to play the previous games. If you liked the Di Vinci Code you must play this game. The way the game merges reality with fantasy is amazing and the secrets keep you entralled. Buy this game! You will not regret it.

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