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Terrific

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 32 / 34
Date: April 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Note: I own the PC version of the game, but I would own the Xbox version would it be Xbox 360 compatible. Using the controller works best for this game. The resolution isn't as good on the Xbox version and there's more aliasing problems. However, don't pass this game up. It is absolutely terrific. I can't recommend it high enough. Also, for $10, I'd recommend checking out The Longest Journey on PC as a starter if you have a PC.

Six years. Quite a long time to be waiting for a sequel to an adventure game. It is also quite a long time for graphics, hardware and gameplay to change. When the Longest Journey came out, it was heralded by critics as being one of the best adventure games a person could buy. It incorporated a terrific story, wonderful voice work and, at the time, good graphics that helped bring depth to the genre. Now, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is out, a direct sequel to the events of the first game. Is it everything we could hope for? Well, that depends on what you're looking for.

A lot of reviews out there, including here on amazon.com, have talked about various aspects of the game. The negative points discussed were the easiness of the gameplay, the bulkiness of the controls and the horrible combat. The positives have been over-whelming the terrific, complex and utterly addictive story and plot. So, depending on what you are looking for, you will either really love this game or really dislike it.

AS far as the gameplay is concerned, I tried playing it with a mouse and keyboard but the controls felt wonky to me. I am a console player mostly and because of my lack of affinity with the mouse and keyboard for third person controlled games I spend a good deal of time walking into things and the walls. However, plugging in a controller, all of my complaints went away. I'd recommend trying a controller if you have any problems, as the game seems better suited to it (probably due to the fact it is also an Xbox game).

The difficulty has been lessened from The Longest Journey. One one hand, this is definitely a valid complaint. However, my complaint with the first game was that there were times where the puzzles seemed utterly illogical and were very order-specific. I would spend a long time trying to get something accomplished simply because I didn't do it exactly how the game wanted me to. In that aspect, Dreamfall lessens any frustrations to allow you to enjoy the story more fully. That said, the puzzles do lack the depth of The Longest Journey and adventure games in general. I wish they were a bit more difficult or took a little more brain power to figure out what to do.

The combat is a bit clunky. It is comprised of block, light hit and strong hit. A rock, paper, scissors type gameplay ensues where a strong hit will break through a block, a block defends against a light punch and a light punch can break someone from doing a strong attack. However, the controls are a bit wonky as well, making battles easy but unintuitive. You can also slide to the side, forward and back while blocking. While it's not up to par with fighting games like Dead or Alive, what do you want from an adventure game?

Actually, calling it a game might be stretching it a little. And I don't mean this in a bad way. Playing this game reminds me of another fantastic adventure game called Indigo Prophecy, but without the simon says style gameplay. Here, you will move from place to place, work on puzzles, do some stealth and some clunky fighting. But the gameplay is there to pull you in and create an interactive story. A cinematic story that has you at the center. I like this approach.

Graphically, I think the game is stellar. There've been complaints in this department as well, but I think the game is pretty stunning. While there's no way it could live up to the powerhouse of, say, Oblivion, what is here is terrific. The colors are vibrant and lush, the settings are absolutely beautiful. Casablanca, the starting city, feels like a mix of futuristic landscapes with a traditional Spanish-style living. Add to this the vibrant color scheme and terrific art direction, and I think the game is stunning.

One department no one seems to be complaining about is the sound. From the beautiful music to the very competent voice staff, everything runs well. Some characters are a little lacking, not necessarily in their voices but in the direction. Sometimes it seems as if the voice actors don't know the context of what they are saying and stress words wrongly or don't have the excitement or fear that one would have in their situations. As an example, in the beginning someone is afraid of something (I'm being purposefully vague) and cries "No! No!" but it's almost as if the threat is a mere bother as opposed to a possibly life-altering event. Other times, though, the voice actors are terrific in conveying the emotion.

The game scales really well. While I'm playing it above the recommended specs, there's nary a fault or bug that I've come across. There's no slowdown from what I've seen. It also scales terrifically well to fit your monitor. I've played it on a regular 19" all the way up to a widescreen monitor and it is terrific. The game was made to be played in 16:9 widescreen. Like I said earlier the controllers work terrifically with the game. I am using an Xbox 360 controller and I haven't had a single problem, save that the trigger buttons don't register.

All of this is simply the mechanics, though. What lies at the heart of this game, much like The Longest Journey, is a story. A story that is exciting, mysterious and emotional all at the same time. The Longest Journey was, at the time, probably one of the best stories I had seen in a video game. Dreamfall has, in my opinion, blown that story out of the water. People will probably argue this with me, but I think Dreamfall's story is definitely a bit better. It seems more urgent this time around. Partly, this is because of the fact its more of an "action adventure" game as opposed to a point and click game. Whereas in The Longest Journey there were instances where you were chased, you couldn't die. Here, things seem a bit more dire and urgent. The pacing of Dreamfall is also excellent and helps keep you moving from point to point. Ragnar Tornquist has a much better control of the story and spins a yarn fitting of a novel. I don't want to talk about the story at all in order to allow everyone a chance to view it with virgin eyes. To get the story across, there is a ton of dialogue. Much like the first game, Dreamfall allows its characters to talk and talk about their lives, what's going on in the world and the plot. While playing The Longest Journey isn't necessary per se, characters from it will show up in surprising ways, starting off from the very beginning. A small caveat about the story. Yes, the story doesn't end so much as set up events for a third game. However, if you look back at The Longest Journey, you would also find a game that doesn't end. It, too, basically explains what would happen in the second game and leaves so many threads open. Here's hoping the game sells well enough to merit a third game.

So here lies the crux. The reviews here and your enjoyment of the game will come to this: do you want a game that puts gameplay above story or a game that places story above gameplay. If you choose the former, you probably won't like this game as much. However, if you are like me and enjoy the latter, I can't recommend any other game higher than this one right now. I can normally overlook most flaws or gameplay issues in a game, if it keeps me enthralled with a terrific story. I enjoy story-centered games a ton. So I feel confident rating this game as a five star simply because I never had a dull moment. I compare both The Longest Journey and Dreamfall to novels. Very dense and filled with backstory, characters and plot, Dreamfall isn't a typical video game. You have to really want to get to know everything and everyone in it to get the most out of the game. If you want to really sink your teeth into a story and know everything there is to know about a fantastical world, there's no better place than Dreamfall.

Maybe It was Just a Dream... A Long Beautiful Dream

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: April 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is the sequel to a game entitled "The Longest Journey" for the PC. I'm ashamed to say I've yet to play this remarkable game, but when the sequel came around, I couldn't say no to it. In fact, because of its sequel I want the first one even more. This game has deep, interesting and convincing characters, along with a fantastic storyline. The game is, overall, a fantastic experience.

Zoe is a beautiful attractive woman who can't decide what she wants to do with her life anymore. She's dropped out of high school, she's broken up with her longtime boyfriend, and now she seems completely and utterly lost. Her ex boyfriend, however, is interested in doing a story, and he needs Zoe's help. This begins what is undeniably a fantastic game, full of fantastic story elements. It seems simple, but the story grows into something remarkably complex. It becomes somewhat of a fantastic journey the player never wants to end. There are moments, however, where the story throws a lot at you, and the game isn't long enough to bring every subplot to a satisfactory conclusion. This shouldn't suggest the storyline is bad. You'll just expect the game to be longer.

The story is played out through cinematic cutscenes. Most of the story is told in this fashion. However, unlike most games, the voice acting is top notch. It never losses hold. The dialogue is also fantastic, and flows smoothly. Put simple, these characters actually seem human as opposed to one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs. Not only does this help the characters seem human, but also helps them become instantly likeable. You'll also be given choices to make in some dialogue sequences. Your choice makes the outcome of some dialogue a little different, but you'll still end up in the same place regardless of your choice.

Dreamfall plays like an Action/Adventure game. Battling foes is pretty simple. It's not hard at all. The game is not much of a challenge, and even some puzzles are pretty simplistic. Despite how little of a challenge the game is, that shouldn't suggest the gameplay doesn't have its merits. There are some puzzles that really will boggle your mind. It's even better because there is no one basic solution to a puzzle. Several of the games puzzles are, in fact, open ended. Put simple, there's more than one way to solve various puzzles in the game. This works for replay value as well. If a puzzle is easy the first time, try to solve it in a more challenging and intellectual way the next time. It makes doing many of the games puzzles rather fun and interesting as opposed to being stale and repetative like some games out there. The only real problem with the gameplay is that there's not a whole lot of it. Most of the game consists of dialogue and exploring. So you won't fight that many enemies, or solve nearly as many puzzles as you might think. Rather, you'll be watching more of the game than actually playing it, and this is something that has plagued video games for a while now.

It's fun to explore many of the games areas. Especially considering it looks visually stunning. You won't just play as Zoe either, and each character has different reactions to certain things. So you might also want to go and explore the same area as another character. The game also isn't so huge that you'll get lost while exploring, which helps the game in more ways than one. And because the game is so beautiful, you can easily get lost in it. It really does look like a fantastic world. Especially because the characters also seem so real. They've got facial expressions and everything, making them seem a lot less like stone statues.

Even better is the audio. Video Games rarely sound as good as Dreamfall. The music is, in and of itself, dreamlike because it's so good. If the graphics don't absorb you into the world, the soundtrack sure as hell will. It's expertly composed, almost movielike in when the music starts as well. And, as I've noted, the voice acting is astonishing. Also close to being movie like. Perhaps some of the best voice talent in the entire video game industry, and I'm not overexaggerating.

The game is a little short, though, despite its long cutscenes. The game can easily be completed in less than ten hours if you try. However, with such an absorbing storyline (that does, I'm sorry to say, end too soon), it'll fly by. You'll have the game completed befre you know it. I really wish the game could've been longer.

You'll love Dreamfall. So many elements and themes woven into one game can't be bad. It's a fantastic gaming experience, one that so rarely comes about in the gaming world. Nearly everything about this game shines.

On the Positive Side
+Fantastic Graphics
+Some of the best music in gaming history
+A very involving and interesting storyline
+Lots of exploration to be done
+Great voice acting and dialogue
+Loveable characters

But on the bad side...
-There are a lot of subplots, not all of which, conclude in a satisfactory way
-The game is short
-Many moments of watching rather than playing
-The game isn't that challenging

Despite some of the cons, the game is fantastic and engaging experience.

A novel posing as a game - it depends on your gaming style

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Dreamfall - The Longest Journey is the sequel to the original adventure game named The Longest Journey. This game is more like participating in a 10 hour movie than playing a game, and your primary goal is to watch cut-scenes, solve a puzzle or two, and run on gathering quests.

I'm not saying at all that this is not FUN. The graphics are really immersive and push the XBox to its limits. Each world is fully developed and integrated, with the textures, atmosphere, sounds and visions all merging in together nicely.

The sound is equally well done. The dialogue and voices are simply stellar, Sure, there are one or two exceptions, but in general this game provides a standard that others games could be held against. You really believe these are individual people who have a history and personality.

Like any good novel, there are a TON of characters, each with their own wants, desires, aims and goals. Refreshingly in the gaming world, most of the main characters are female. You start with Zoe, a smart college drop-out who is trying to find a new goal in her life. Her best friend is a savvy computer wiz - a female - who is able to help with all sorts of issues. Another character you play is also female, the leader of her group. It's really great to see so many powerful female characters in one game.

The down side is, for being a "game", there is not a lot of "playing" here. There are a few puzzles worked in. There are an awful lot of "find item X and bring it to place Y" missions. There is combat - but the combat system drove me completely insane. You could block, hit hard or hit soft - and the controls were sluggish and difficult to work with. I think I've played most combat games that are out there, and this rates down near the bottom. Sure, combat isn't a main part of the game, but if you die repeatedly due to a really silly interface, it makes the game not fun.

Another part of the game that gets tedious really quickly is the fact that you somehow don't know where anything is, even in places you apparently live in. You have to search all over to find your best friend's apartment? I can understand when you get into new towns that you have to track down the bar or whatever, but hunting in your own hometown for places you really should know how to find is nonsensical.

The maps in general are very unwieldy. I know they mean to add to the adventure to cause you to search for a half hour to find place X, but it doesn't make the game more fun to do that. It seems like a way for them to claim the game took more than 10 hours to solve, because half the time you're roaming aimlessly on a map looking for something. The other half of the time you're trying to click on the exact right spot to open a door or to perform an action. Aim slightly off, and you could find yourself climbing down a ladder you didn't mean to get on, or heading off into another loading screen.

Again, it's not to say the game is bad. For people who love "playing a novel", and who have a lot of time and patience, this is a really great game. But for gamers who are only alloted 2 hours after homework is done to play something enjoyable - and who then waste 2 hours roaming around a rainy map trying to track down one specific doorway - it can lose its shine very quickly.

Finally, while the game boasts super-long cut scenes and interactive dialogue (where you can be, say, pushy or docile in response to a question), it became a bit excessive. Many choices seemed unreasonable, and in many cases when I chose one option, it ended up doing things I didn't want it to do at all. For example in one situation I tried to be uncooperative and not divulge private information - and the next thing I know, Zoe is blabbing every last detail. It makes for a bit of frustration.

There's going to be a sequel to this, so we'll see if they find the right balance between longer gameplay that involves actual gameplay, instead of adding in even more super-long cut scenes and maps you have to wend your way around for hours on end.

Excellent game, despite the mediocre game play.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you're looking for a game that has great character control, game play, and game choice, this isn't the game for you. However, even though it seems as if it were a game made in the 90's as far as game play goes, the storyline, graphics and music MORE than make up for it. I was so drawn into the story that I was willing to play through the simple game play. It had great scenery, great voice acting, and seriously, this has excellent music. Overall, even with its faults, I'd give this a ten for its strengths.

Short, rushed, and unsatisfying

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: May 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is short, unsatisfying, and feels rushed. I rented the game from Blockbusters - it's a 1 week rental that I rented yesterday and just beat - the ending credits are scrolling as I write this review.

First, let's start with my biggest complaint - the story. A story has thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. This game lacks synthesis. It has thesis up the wazoo. I just spent about the last half hour watching the game beat itself, repetitively stating "This had better not be the ending". The main plot does not conclude. The side plots do not conclude. Ultimately, the main characters fail at everything they attempt to accomplish. The game is obviously rushed. The last three chapters are a bad joke. Chapters 12 and 13 literally consist of "Move from point A to point B and watch the level's ending cutscene." Chapter 13, to be more precise, is "Move forward until cutscene". Chapter 14 isn't a chapter - It's just cutscenes. The way the game was ended was enough to send me straight here to write this review. I wasn't satisfied; I was angered. It's that bad.

Now, on to the gameplay. First of all, the traditional adventure game puzzles - problem solving through item collection, item use, and dialogue - are not challenging in the least and usually does not advance the plot in any way. In most cases, dialogue is irrelevant - no matter what you choose to say or do, the avatar makes your choices for you and you are left as an observer to their poor decision making abilities.

I think they tried to make up for the lack of challenge with the addition of stealth, combat, and timed matching games - all are poorly implemented. Thankfully, there is hardly any combat in the game. Kian, the "apostle", sees the most combat, which is no challenge since his weak attack damages enemies even when they are blocking. He's glitched. The enemy, for the most part, stands there and fails to block his attacks, with one or two swings in retaliation. Most stealth situations involve one or two patrolling enemies with small fields of vision, slow movement speed, and predictable patrols. A few situations result in instant death if you are seen. I've been shot through solid walls and somehow electricuted by the floor. I hid in plain sight while heading down a stairway because the pathing blockers on the edges of the downward staircase also, unrealistically, block line of sight. The matching puzzles were frustrating, though they were the most fun part of the end of the game. That's a bad thing.

Now, on to glitches and evidence that the game was either rushed, or done half-hearted. First, between several of the level maps, you can see into part of the next map as you approach the link. However, this lacks consistency. Several of the links show this as a flat plane with a low resolution texture that looks a bit like the next area, while others show this in 3D. Walking into a snowbank, I discovered a glitch where the player's avatar bounces from the ground to the top of the snowbank and back. Also, I managed to walk inside a pathing blocker and was unable to move from the position. I had to reload my last saved game to continue. Finally, although all three main characters have a journal that is used to guide the player to their current objective. The problem is that only one of the three main characters uses the journal.

To summarize - I've played a lot of adventure games, but this is the worst adventure game I've ever played. Adventure games rely heavily on story and puzzles to entertain. Dreamfall fails to entertain.

Exceptional

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Dreamfall is the exquisite "sequel" to The Longest Journey. I say "sequel" because the events that take place in Dreamfall aren't directly related to what happened in The Longest Journey. There is a considerable benefit in knowing the back-story, but it's not strictly necessary. Dreamfall is set in a futuristic world, though not a cliche Hollywood way, where you mainly play as a young woman named Zoe. At points in the game you also play as April Ryan, the main character from TLJ, and Kian, but their parts are not as prominent as Zoe's. Without giving anything away about the plot suffice it to say that it involves dreams, corporate greed, the fate of two worlds, and a mysterious girl begging you to save April.

The Dreamfall's story is absolutely engrossing. Not only does Dreamfall have an incredible story and writing, but it's also incredibly cinematic. I have played very few games that have even come close to this level of story-telling. What's more, unlike most games there's actually meaning beyond the events that take place. Dreamfall is, at its heart, a story about three people's journey of faith and finding purpose for their lives. The character development of the characters in Dreamfall is largely unparalleled in other games today, though you do miss out on some of the character arcs if you haven't played TLJ.

Technically Dreamfall is also well above average, especially when it comes to voices and music. All of Dreamfall's voices just fit. There wasn't an annoying or unbearable one in the lot, which is something even giants like Grim Fandango can't claim. The main character's, Zoe, voice is particularly pleasing to listen to with its distinct British accent. The music is nothing short of amazing. It fits the game to the letter, and is hard to imagine it any other way. Finally, the graphics. Dreamfall is not as technically advanced as games like Oblivion, but it's still beautiful. Dare I say more beautiful then some higher poly-count games? Yes. That is not to say that the graphics are dated, by any means, but rather that the combination of stellar art direction and great (but not top of the line) graphics has incredible results.

The last stop is gameplay. Gameplay is without question Dreamfall's weakest link. Funcom, the developer, has wisely avoided the traditional non-sensical obstacles that exist in adventure games for no reason other than to prolong the game in favor of more organic puzzles. The problem is that that there aren't enough of these puzzles and the ones that are there are fairly simple. Funcom also broke tradition again by adding sneaking elements as well was limited fighting. The fighting is not hard and neither adds nor detracts from the game. The sneaking, on the other hand, is handled quite well, and it is definitely one of the more fun aspects of the game.

Overall, Dreamfall is nothing short of incredible. You should play this game for its beauty and its gripping story rather than challenging gameplay or mind-binding puzzles. Finally, a word of warning. Dreamfall is the middle part of a trilogy, the first part being The Longest Journey. While The Longest Journey wrapped up most of its lose ends by the end and only led indirectly into Dreamfall, Dreamfall is another story. The central story involving Zoe, April, and Kian comes to a conclusion, but there are several major questions left unanswered. This is a result of Dreamfall leading directly into the final chapter of the trilogy. It seems frustrating at first, but rest assured it'll be well worth it in the end. In conclusion: Buy this game if you love a good story.

Bleak Horizons

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: November 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a perplexing game. I'm torn between giving it a high ranking or a low one. It's not easy for me to explain the why's of that either. But sit down. We have some time and I have a story to tell you...

Once there was an adventure game called The Longest Journey. It was an intricate tale of approaching doom. Once there was a woman named April Ryan who could live in two worlds. The Longest Day was that unusual thing in games of the time - it was thoughtful, with a rich plot and any number of interesting characters. Long after I have forgotten what happened, I still remember scenes from the game and the pleasure of playing it. That was in 2000, and I had yet to consider adding a game console to the household entertainment.

Now, it's 2007 and my PS2 and XBOX are faithful companions. I was surprised to discover that, miracle of miracles, a sequel had been made, this game - Dreamfall. Dreamfall recaps the style of the original, in terms of a complicated plot that ranges over two worlds and many cities but with some definite differences. We have a new heroine, Zoë Costanza, who lives in Casablanca in the 23rd Century. While there is a great deal of technology about, society has a carefully studied not quite technical style. This helps minimize the contrast between the world that is Zoë's home (called Stark) and the more medieval world where a good bit of the game takes place - Arcadia.

When Zoë volunteers to help her ex-boyfriend out by picking up a package she little expects that this will catapult her out of a state of self-pitying numbness and into an adventure that will turn her life upside down. Soon we are shifting back and forth between Stark and Arcadia. In the former Zoë struggles to stop a corporation from taking over the world by making us all dreamers. In Arcadia April is trying to stop the Azadis from completing their own conquest of the world and the magic in it.

Gameplay is a bit awkward, but bearably so, but fighting control is inadequate. However, fighting isn't really what the game is about. Like a classic adventure game puzzles are the order of the day. Most are interesting, if surmountable, but there is one and only one way to pick locks and it happens way too often. But once again, it is a pretty game, with strong characters and it's easy to forgive any number of sins. Except for one.

At best, this is a bleak game with an endless supply of dark moments. Hope, of course, is an important factor in the playability of the game. Unfortunately, Dreamfall leaves you very little of that, and ends in a truly depressing cliffhanger. In fact, there's no indication from the game that there is any hope of a continuation. It took a desperate search of the Funcom site to discover that the Norwegian Film Fund, of all things, was going to pay for some number of continuation episodes that might, if we are all very good, appear as a collection some day. And that irritated the heck out of me. After all, who, in this world, needs depressing cliffhangers with only a faint hope of relief?

Well, there you have it. After a great deal of hanky twisting I've decided to recognize the game's artistic merits and give it four stars. But be warned. Also be warned that there are some moments of gratuitous profanity that add nothing to the story or atmosphere and one wind up giving the game an unnecessary Mature rating.

An Interactive Novel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Good though somewhat flawed gameplay is quickly forgotten as you become wrapped up in the staggeringly amazing story!

More like watching a movie than playing a game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was really excited about this game coming out, and 20 hours of game play later I have to say I'm disappointed. The game has beautiful scenery and an interesting storyline, and is really easy to control. However, the game is at least 60% cut scenes, where there's no actual game play going on. Sometimes, the only involvement you have is making the character run up some stairs from one cut scene to the next. When you are playing the game, there's never any question of what you should do, because you can only interact with objects and people that are key to your mission/current objective. The fighting is clunky and slow, you can't explore the worlds on your own, and you have no freedom to make your own decisions.

All that said, I had fun playing the game, but was really disappointed in the ending. Plus, there's virtually no reason to replay this game, since nothing in it would be different.

I would recommend renting this game and playing it over the course of a week. It's easy and kind of a fun way to pass the time. But there's no reason to buy it.

I th

An Interactive Story That Really Means Something

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

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