Introduction
Dreamfall is the sequel to the 1999 game The Longest Journey, considered to be one of the best adventure games ever made. TLJ introduced the story of April Ryan and the Twin Worlds of Stark (basically a near furture Earth) and Arcadia a world of magic. In TLJ the "Balance" that kept the two worlds separated was coming apart, and through her (for lack of a better word) adventure, April succeeded in keeping the Balance from unraveling. Fast forward 10 years. The world has changed a lot since the end of The Longest Journey. The Wire connects all electronic devices and the world is watched over by the megacorporation The Syndicate and its paramilitary EYE. Zoë Castillo is a 20 year old living with her father in Casablanca. Her life has become aimless. She's dropped out of university, and she's become bored and complacent. Then one day she starts receiving bizarre messages on video screens around her...
Gameplay
Dreamfall is a graphical adventure, unlike the point and clicks most people associate with adventure games. You control your character much like you do in Grim Fandango or the Knights of the Old Republic series. You move your character around their environment and interact with people and objects. Of course, since it isn't an action-oriented RPG, the whole game feels more relaxed. Most of the game is spent exploring your surroundings and following the fairly linear path to the next event. The puzzles in the game are generally easy, and will be extremely easy for most adventure game aficionados (such as people who somehow managed for beat Myst). However, in my opinion, this makes the game easier for everyone to get into. The biggest problem with adventure games is that the puzzles are way too difficult and frustrating. Most of the time, there's no real way to figure out what the hell you're really supposed to be doing or how to overcome an obstacle. Dreamfall is different because of its linear paths and the comparatively simple puzzles. The end effect for most people will be a game that won't frustrate the hell of you. I played maybe 30 minutes of Myst before quitting in order to avoid smashing my computer and cursing its makers in frustration. Even Grim Fandango required me to rely pretty heavily on walkthroughs to figure out how to finish. However, Dreamfall was made so that most people can play beginning to end without needing any kind of guide. I find this to be a much more satisfying approach. On the flip side, hardcore adventure gamers will be left feeling bored and insipid. There is also a combat system added in, which is probably one of the biggest weaknesses of the game.
If you're playing Dreamfall on the PC, one thing you will want to get is a dual analog gamepad to really enjoy this game. The keyboard and mouse setup just feels clunky. Once you plug in your gamepad though, the controls feel much better. It's evident that the game was probably designed for gamepads.
Dreamfall is a game all about the story. Everything serves to further the plot. You'll spend a lot of time listening to conversations, even up to a few minutes at a time without interaction. If you hate listening to people talk and don't care about the story, do not play this game. You'll only be wasting your money. If you do enjoy a good story, and have the patience to sit through hours of (very well voiced) dialog, then you should definitely play Dreamfall.
Sights and Sounds
Graphically Dreamfall is a mixed bag, mostly great. Technically, the game is pretty competent. It takes advantage of a lot of effects that are consistent with its development, such as bloom (not full HDR) and excellent particle effects. The main drag is the many low-resolution textures that are all over the game. Particularly, some people's faces can be downright ugly as shit because of the texturing. Artistically, Dreamfall is a feast. The design of the game is simply beautiful. The different environments you travel through include some of the most strikingly beautiful expanses you've ever seen in a game. Both Stark and Arcadia feel like real places.
The audio is probably one of the best parts of the game. First, the voice acting is easily one of the best in a game I've ever heard. It's every bit as good as a large-budget animated film from Pixar, and easily on-par with or better than the superb voice acting in Half-Life 2. Everyone sounds very convincing, and if it weren't for the nasty textures on a lot of people's faces you could get sucked into the world very easily. Even the bystanders who are just standing around sound convincing. Even though there are subtitles in the game, turning them on takes away from the excellent voice acting, and should be left off. The sounds of the cities in Dreamfall are also excellent. Merchants hawk their wares and the background noise fits perfectly. The soundtrack is beautifully composed and suits the game extremely well.
Stuff that sucks
To be blunt, the combat system is one of the worst I have had to use. it's simple enough, with just light and heavy attacks, as well as a block, but the problem is that it is too cumbersome and unresponsive. You'll curse your character as they do not block when you tell them to, resulting in a lot of damage that you wouldn't take if the combat was more responsive and twitch based. Still, even the combat isn't too hard. In fact, for me the hardest combat was the initial training you get at the start of the game at the gym. The rest of the time your enemies will be giant pushovers, negating a lot of the frustration from the clunky fighting controls. Also, you only have a health meter for each combat encounter. Once you defeat a(n) opponent/group of opponents, your health bar disappears until the next time, were it's full again.
The other drawbacks I've already mentioned: the ugly textures, and for some the long dialogs.
Conclusion
Dreamfall is one of the best stories in gaming. If you're like me, drawn into an amazing story, You'll be compelled to keep on playing the game to unveil the next part of the story. If you don't mind the long bits of uninterrupted conversation and can bear through the horrid combat, you'll be awed by this masterful story. The characters are easy to connect with, the environments are beautiful, and you won't gouge your eyes out trying to figure out WTF the makers were thinking with a particular puzzle. If you hate dialog or you're a hardcore adventure games (i.e.: Myst fan), you should probably stay away. Everyone else should at least play the demo to see if the story is worth playing. As for me, I feel that Dreamfall is a flawed game, but its flaws insignificant compared to all that is good about it.
Score : 8/10
side notes: The game is available on Steam ($29.95), and the Xbox version is compatible with the Xbox360. Also, this is one of the few 100% bug free games I've ever played. There are no patches for the game, and everything works the way it should. No item bugs, no missed conversations, everything just works. I haven't played a game in years that didn't require a patch, and I was pleasantly shocked when I couldn't find any for Dreamfall. I wish more games were like this.
) would mean i beat the opponent about 50% of the time, depending on who got the first hit in. Also, im not sure I would say that there are no hard puzzles. Im quite the puzzle game fan, and although most of it is a piece of piss, there were a couple (one of particluar note involving a musical wall, and another needing you to run about like a tit in some underground caverns. That one wasnt so much difficult as stupidly long winded). Finally, there are some seriously, seriously long speeches in there. Im all for storylines in games, and cant fault the actual story itself, or the script, or indeed the people acting it (which is, as deject rightly says, fucking amazingly good for a computer game). But in an interactive media there is no place for epicly long story expositions. If I wanted to just sit there and watch people acting, I would watch a damn film.
