The experience of playing Dreamfall is so pleasant and user-friendly that I think it has the potential to be a “gateway” game, a game like Myst or The Sims, which brings new players to computer and video games.
Where Dreamfall excels is in telling a story. The imaginative characters and locations are truly memorable and create a unique experience that makes the ride more enjoyable than the destination.
It’s incredibly engrossing and offers more of an experience and a fantastic storyline than most adventure (or even usual) games do, along with some (very simple, but unique) puzzles.
Dreamfall is relatively short, about ten hours, but chances are you'll play through it a second time to get some of the references you missed. Quite simply, if you like an excellent story in your games, go out and pick up a copy of Dreamfall for the PC or Xbox.
<i>Dreamfall</i> is worth the effort but could've done without the fighting; those scenes aren't essential to the plot, add nothing to the gameplay, and will only turn off die-hard fans of <i>The Longest Journey</i>. [July 2006, p.98]
Dreamfall never taxes the brain, and progression is more often than not a case of running to the next location and having a bit of a chat. [July 2006, p.75]
Although the game holds an intriguing and extremely likable protagonist in the plucky slacker Zoe Castillo, the rest of the game in the gritty parlance of the streets, blows enormous monkey chunks. [Jun 2006, p.49]
По правде говоря, то, что получилось в итоге, больше напоминает интерактивный фильм, чем адвентюрку в привычном для игрока варианте. Причем внешнему виду всего этого счастья до фильма далековато... Да, полное 3D, возможность крутить камеру во всех направлениях, яркие краски и более-менее приличное качество оформления - это невероятно круто. Круто для адвенчур, но ужасно для игр в целом. Тем более если шпиля претендует на звание интерактивного фильма, можно было бы и постараться. Ну да ладно, не так уж всё и плохо, ведь всё познается в сравнении. Если сравнивать с похожими играми, то Dreamfall может похвастать высоким качеством самой игры. Постановка сцен, подбор персонажей, игра актеров в озвучке, декорации сцен - всё это сделано в лучших традициях кинематографа. Особенно это хорошо проявляется в видеороликах, которые нам преподносят сюжет игры.
Загадки и головоломки не очень сложные, часто правильное решение лежит на поверхности. Но из-за большой свободы действий вам не всегда будет легко выбрать верное направление пути и решение определенной задачи.
Сюжет закручен так, что даже к концу игры нельзя понять, чем всё закончилось и как трое главных персонажей связаны друг с другом. По сравнению с оригинальным «Бесконечным путешествием» 1999 года сценарий слишком запутан и придется по вкусу не каждому.
9/10 за атмосферность, 7/10 за геймплей и общее впечатление.
As someone who absolutely loved the first I had to give this a go. While the story, characters and setting are all still amazing the game has just aged poorly. Mechanics aren't enjoyable and it's tough playing it in 2016 but still worth a go if you're playing through them.
This is not a game. It is a slightly interactive movie. It's maybe one or two steps more advanced than clicking a "Next" button to watch the next cutscene. Most of the input from the player-- I mean, viewer, consists of running through towns to the next cutscene. There are a handful of symbol puzzles. There are also a number of interactive "world" puzzles, but all of these have either painfully obvious solutions, or are clunky and tiresome. The story takes a long, long time to get good (I was bored witless for about 80% of it). But it does get good, very good, eventually. Right when it gets good, however, it ends. None of the plot's major elements come to a conclusion and this immediately sours and frustrates what little enjoyment I recieved from this gam-... movie. Don't pay more for this than you would for a night at the movies, popcorn included.
I consider myself a fan of the original title, The Longest Journey - it had a unique atmosphere, captivating storytelling, likable characters and much more. It was a rewarding experience to play this game and that time was definitely not wasted for me. This title also has a replay value, although of course, it doesn't offer any new content or new ways of solving puzzles, but it's the kind of game that I like to play again from time to time (time being measured in years) and still enjoy myself while doing so. It's a very good relaxant. I am sure though, that this kind of title generally has more appeal to female audience than to a male one. / I was looking forward to the sequel, but that was probably because I hadn't been seeking any gameplay-related information in advance. If only I had known... / The game was fine at first, only to gradually get worse and worse. Fighting in TLJ? Really? And of course, also a pretty lame one. Why put that there? So the console users would feel satisfied about having at least some action and wouldn't run away to let off their steam elsewhere? The biggest problem though - at certain point, the game stopped being a game and turned into an interactive movie. Also, the storyline... I can't comment about the inconsistencies with the prequel because it has been quite a long time since I played both games (and when I was playing Dreamfall, I didn't remember all the nuances of the original title to be able to compare the storylines perfectly). But I must say, seeing April again was dissatisfying and her character was only a shell of her old self (which is understandable, given the circumstances, but still... a letdown) and the ending was depressing and clearly prepared for a next installment. / What bothers me about this (apart from what I already mentioned), is that some imagination was clearly still present here - e.g. nice and interesting environments, but for some reason, it's full potential was not unleashed. It's always sad to see there WAS some idea, but the team failed in delivering what they were supposed to deliver in terms of gameplay. / I am definitely not looking forward to another TLJ title (if any will be produced), because I don't believe that anything is going to change here, even though a lot of criticism has been voiced towards the creators. Seems to me like the authors are just milking the fame of the original game and they want to happily continue doing so. /
I am giving this game a 4 (I considered giving it a 5) - the main reason for it being a lack of gameplay. I don't want to support a trend of movies posing as adventure games. And of course, the re-playability I mentioned in the beginning drops to zero for me with this title.
SummaryDreamfall continues the story of "The Longest Journey," one of the most critically acclaimed adventure games ever made, and brings adventure gaming into a new era. Focusing on story and characters, Dreamfall features unparalleled 3D visuals, advanced character animations, stunning audio, and innovative gameplay - wrapped in a unique and ...