Product Description

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is an incredible saga in a fully interactive world. Venture through a thrilling and emotional storyline, using various tactics, such as stealth, deception, and brawn, to solve different challenges. Three playable characters will each see the story unfold from a different perspective. Dreamfall features beautiful music, stunning graphics, fascinating characters and unparalleled gameplay. Prepare for a spiritual, fantastic and powerful gaming experience. New focus-field tool lets you see the physical envrionment around each character, as though you seeing it through their eyes Mature and compelling storyline that mixes the futuristic, fantastic and spiritual with a tale of murder, deceit and a conspiracy threatening our very existence

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12163 in Video Games
• Brand: Aspyr
• Model: 11268
• Released on: 2006-09-08
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platform: Xbox

Features

• Unparalleled variety - Use your brains or your brawn; sneak, fight or talk your way through the many challenges the game offers
• You never quite know what to expect next - Be polite or rude, threaten or sweet talk; in Dreamfall you make the choice
• Experience the story from three separate perspectives -- each character has unique abilities and world views & learn how their destinies blend together in an epic finale
• Dreamfall spans three beautifully realized worlds, multiple chapters and a stunning amount of detailed locations
• Combination of point and click strategy and action-adventure

Customer Reviews

Terrific
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
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.

Short, rushed, and unsatisfying
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.