Spreaddreamfall's Dreamfall review
Graphics
The graphics, while not of the same level as the latest bleeding edge games, are nevertheless georgeous. What really stands out is the art direction: every location, every camera angle, every light source is perfectly placed. What also impressed me is the excellent object modelling, the detailed textures, the surface reflections, and the lighting.
The movement animations (walking, running, etc.) and facial expressions of the characters are generally very convincing and life-like, with a few exceptions where the characters in the scene tend to 'over-act'. This is as much praise as it is criticism, however, since without such good animations and detail, it would not even have been possible to notice this. The locations in both worlds are believable, detailed and… well, very pretty.
What is unfortunate, is that between every location that has to be loaded, there is a loading screen, and usually it's only a 20-second run between locations, which means you'll be staring at the loading screen quite a lot. Instead of showing a black loading screen, perhaps an improvement would have been to show a transparent loading screen and/or showing a transitional cutscene showing the character walking to the new location.
I was lucky enough to be able to play this game at 1920*1400 pixels, with all settings on maximum. A nvidia 6600GT (or the ATI equivalent) graphics card is recommended, as are cards with 256MB of RAM: even though older, less powerful cards will be able to run the game, I expect some of its shine will be lost and I feel that it does pay to play this game on the highest possible level of detail.
In summary, here and there you can find a couple of rough edges (textures for some of the plants), but in general, this game is a feast for the eye.
Score: 9/10
Technical note: if you have an nvidia card with the latest drivers installed, you might end up seeing only garbage after starting a new game. Until Funcom releases a patch for this, the solution is to downgrade to the older 81.98 drivers; you can download those from nvidia's website.
Music
The music in the game is excellent, although the well-trained ear (if you're a musician) will notice that it is electronically generated. Personally I prefer a soundtrack with a live orchestra, but that did not stop me from enjoying Dreamfall's music. Dreamfall has a lot of variety in its music selection so it never gets boring or repetitive. What I did miss was some "memorable" tunes, like the summit of the music you hear at the startup screen (the same music that was used in some of the Dreamfall trailers). The music is very original and fits with the locations and mood. In a couple of places, a couple of pop songs are used, but they fit the mood well and are not annoying as at first I feared they might be. Especially the instrumental song from Magnet, used for one particularly rainy location in the game, struck a chord with me.
There is not much more I can add, except that the music is solid, beautiful, appropriate, and in tune with the locations and events. The only thing I miss, like I already said, are some more 'memorable', 'epic' pieces of music.
Score: 8.5/10
Sound
Sound is sort of an underdog in most games: you never really notice it's there until you find a flaw. I am pleased to say though, that I did not notice a single sound that sounded strange, or out of tune. Whether it was the sound of footsteps on wood or iron, the sound of an object dropping, or the sound of the cell phone ringing, everything was rock-solid. Therefore this part gets the maximum score.
Score: 10/10
Story
Dreamfall's story had a though challenge going for it: bringing us a story as good as, or better than the original The Longest Journey. In my opinion, the Dreamfall story is even better than the story in The Longest Journey, although this can also be explained because the story is brought better than The Longest Journey, thanks to the many storytelling techniques used in Dreamfall: flashbacks, using different character perspectives, etcetera. Dreamfall really is an emotional rollercoaster and whether you are someone who likes the ending or hates it, you will be hard pressed to remain indifferent.
While the story by itself is great, it did manage to dissappoint a lot of people by providing too little closure and raising too many new questions at the end. While this is probably intentional, I cannot disregard the people who felt unsatisfied with the ending, which is why I cannot give it a solid 10.
Score: 9.5/10
Gameplay
This is where I discuss the things you can actually do in the game: the exploration, the puzzles (or the problem-solving, whichever term you prefer), the combat, the stealth.
Exploration
Dreamfall has a lot of variety in its locations. You will get to see many different views, diverse buildings and environments, and travel around quite a bit. Once in a while, the locations can feel a little artificial though, and confined, like in one occasion where a door to a building opens but you cannot actually enter that door.
Thanks to the excellent graphics though, exploring usually is a joy. The only true disappointment I had was with The Winter, somehow I expected more of it.
Puzzles
In general, the puzzles were pretty good, although too few and too simple. I think the puzzle designers wanted to help you, but overdid it and the game ends up holding your hand too much. Some of the dialogue and diary entries provide blatant hints as to what to do or where to go next. Which is a shame, since the puzzles already are pretty easy without this. The good thing about the puzzles is that they fit into the environment well: for example you won't get a Chinese sliding puzzle presented when you have to open a modern lock.
Combat
Arguably the weakest part of the game. Many adventure gamers do not like the idea of combat to begin with, and the awkward implementation of the combat in Dreamfall makes this worse. Personally, I found the combat fun a couple of times, especially playing as Kian. Unfortunately for Funcom, I seem to be in the minority. One problem is the absence of good enemy AI during combat. Another problem is the big learning curve for the combat system, coupled with the fact that there are only a couple of places where you have to use/apply it. If there is one thing in the game that definitely needs improvement, this is it. Either that or just leave it out entirely (which might be difficult, Kian being an assassin and all).
Stealth
In general, these are stealth-puzzles: using your environment to overcome the obstacle. The implementation of these is pretty good, although they only scratch the basics of stealth gameplay: don't expect advanced sneaking like in the stealth games Thief or Splinter Cell. A welcome addition, if only for variety's sake, although I realize not everyone will agree with me on this.
Score: 7/10
Summary and final score
Dreamfall is a thoroughly enjoyable game. Its story, which is excellently told, sucks you in from the first minute and everything that is happening around you brings you from one emotion into the other.
Dreamfall is certainly not without flaws, but what is there stands firmly on its own. This is a game you can own and, like a good book, pick up from the stack of boxes of games you own, replay it and still enjoy it as much as the first couple of times you played it through.
Although its ending might not appeal to everyone, and will leave you craving for more (which might be intentional), you will be hard pressed to remain indifferent and you will be hard pressed to find an adventure game of this quality. Highly recommended, if only because there is no other game like it.
And I'm not just saying that because we are on the SpreadDreamfall website. ;)
Final Score: 8.8/10
review by Darkelve