I just finished this game. I really want to compliment it highly.
- Graphics and sounds are beautiful. A lot of attention to detail. The smooth animations at the bottom of the screen give the game a really nice polish.
- The game is well-paced with the story. I could not stop playing because of this. I just wanted to see what happens next as I complete tasks and solve puzzles.
- The puzzles! Well-designed. Well-planned. Great combination of puzzles of different variety. I never found them too easy or too difficult. This is another reason I just could not put the game down.
I want to point out that the inventory is quite unique. Most games you have to actually use the items in inventory whereas in this game merely possessing the inventory item "uses" itself for you. I am not saying this is a problem. I have to admit that I never found myself in a good old "use everything on everything" scenario.
As beautiful as the backgrounds are, it was sometimes hard to figure out where a room exit is. Sometimes it seemed to have been just plopped in middle of the screen somewhere.
I also found it a bit different that there is little in-game animation. Characters just appear where they are going without walking. Items are received by the character saying "I received the item". I felt it might be more polished to show a bit of animation.
Lastly, I found myself stuck twice (I did need one hint) because despite having what I THOUGHT would be the items necessary for a task and thinking that I SHOULD be able to proceed, I wasn't actually ready but there was no indication as to why. Considering the size of the game it's hard to predict what the player will expect to happen and when but perhaps a bit more pre-release playtesting would have refined this aspect.
My overall rating for this game is that it's a MUST PLAY for users of all experience levels. More advanced gamers will find the puzzles easier but the graphics and story make the experience a complete delight.
Tres bien!!
