Dreamfall: the Longest Journey
This title definitely has me in two minds. The moment I finished it, I felt compelled to play it through again and drink in the ambience of Stark and Arcadia. I was willing to overlook the fairly minimal gameplay and occasionally stilted animation, as the overall presentation knocked me for a six and I found the story meaningful and slightly melancholy.
The major problem with that story is, the game fails to finish it. There is a distinct lack of closure quite different to the rather enchanting ending of Funcom's seminal Longest Journey game. This is frustrating! I wait with baited breath for the conclusion to this story.
As I said, the presentation is beautiful, if a little dated. I played it a couple of years after it was released; still, the art design is fantastic, and the music score and voice acting are phenomenal. Dreamfall's production values really help to carry the story along.
That said, Dreamfall suffers greatly from its lofty ambitions to present an 'interactive movie' of sorts. It strips back a little too much in the way of gameplay. One of the great virtues (and at times frustrations) of Funcom's previous titles was its puzzles. There are unfortunately no difficult puzzles in Dreamfall; these seem to have been traded in for lacklustre combat and stealth mechanics which are a little too easy (even for me, a fairly casual gamer).
Dreamfall is great at what it sets out to do - convey a meaningful story. However, as a video game, I have a slightly different set of expectations than I would for more conventional storytelling. It leaves much to be desired and improved upon, but by the same token it leaves a strong mark. I highly recommend giving it a try (there's a free trial available) if you're looking for something story-driven but perhaps a little less intense than Bioshock or Mass Effect.
