You play April Ryan, a young artist student who lives in a boarding house in Newport. The game starts with a nightmare and once April wakes, she'll need to learn why she keeps having these dreams.
April will soon learn that she is a shifter and can go between twin worlds of science and magic. She also learns that the balance between the worlds has been disturbed. There is only one person who can affect the balance, April herself.
This game features 3-D graphics, a great storyline, wonderful puzzles and good voices. The graphics are gorgeous, 3D and beautifully constructed. The storyline is compelling, you'll want to play until late into the night just to find what happens next.
Basic game play is a simple point and click interface. This game does feature a few new ideas that I rather liked though. Inventory items flash when they are over something that they can used on. Press 'x' to see all exits in the current location (that would be *so* useful on some other games.) You can set the player at the start of the game, so more than one person can be solving the game.
As with most games of this type, the most important thing is to look at everything and talk to everyone. A few of the items you must look at are small, but that usually isn't much of a problem. You should talk to people until you've run out of conversation choices.
April keeps a diary. Whenever there is something new in the diary that you haven't read, you'll find the diary icon has a bookmark across it. It opens to the last page you read, so you can bring yourself up to date quickly. April summarizes her experiences nicely in the diary. The game also keeps a complete log of April's conversations, which means that you can always go back to listen to someone again. Video sequences are also accessible from the menu so you may replay them as well. This means that any vital clues in conversations or videos will not be missed.
There were a few times that I would have liked to break up the dialogue with a bit more action. Fortunately not often though.
This is a must have for anyone serious about adventure games. The fact that someone has developed a very serious storyline and still put in the time to give it some real puzzles. April has been well done and is quite believable as a young woman who must accept that the fate of two worlds rests on her. You want to know more about her friend Charlie and what is Cortez's fate?
There are a few items in the game that are so small they are hard to find. No critical timing puzzles or sequences that will end in April's death. The game would be difficult for younger members of the family but appropriate for anyone who wishes to play.
From Funcom and Empire Interactive
I didn't see the all of final thread, but if Funcom produces another adventure game, it will be mine. This was such a playable and fun game that I will be watching the company for further products.