Adventure Games for Kids Computer Game Hints Computer Game Cheats Computer Game Walkthroughs

Lora's Reviews: Fun Adventure Games For Busy People

Welcome to Adventure Game Reviews, the new spinoff of my Computer Game Reviews site specifically covering adventure games. "All right," I can hear some of you asking, "so what makes a computer game an adventure game, as opposed to some other kind of game?" What, you think I have time to write a dissertation on this? (-:

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Computer games aren't exactly a well-defined art form, and there's a lot of overlap between genres, but adventure games in general strive to offer distilled puzzle-solving and plot-unfolding with no elements of chance or strategy involved. (Unfortunately, most also tend to lack elements of player choice or control, but this is a design flaw born of laziness, not a meaningful trait; adventure games that have made exceptions to that tendency, like The Longest Journey and Grim Fandango, are among the best on the market.) Unlike computer role-playing games, adventure games do not emphasize tactical combat or the gradual development of a character or team of characters as major gameplay components. Though a CRPG, stategy wargame, or action adventure game can sometimes get away with dooming you to failure if you lose a challenge, prepare badly, or even just have a run of bad luck, a well-written adventure game does not. In some ways that makes them the purest form of computer game, constantly engaging your brain without wasting your time. It also makes it comparatively uninteresting to play adventure games through more than once, even years later. More so than computer games of any other genre, adventure games are completely ruined if you already know the puzzle solutions (it's surprising how many Infocom solutions my brain has apparently stored away forever,) so do yourself a big favor and don't look at a traditional walkthrough for one of these games! If you're stuck on a puzzle, I have "low-spoiler" walkthroughs available for some of them (see below), or else I recommend the Ultimate Hint System pages, which are uniquely set up to reveal only one hint at a time.

If you're new to this site, I am a computer RPG/adventure game aficianado who has found my gaming time cut drastically short over the past few years by the arrival of my two children. Consequently, I find myself losing patience with a game more and more often these days. I just don't have hours to waste trying every item in my inventory on a mysterious statue anymore, nor is the tedium of that really what I buy games for. Basically, I like plot, I like character development, and I like interactivity and role-playing, to the extent that an adventure game can deliver such things; I like puzzles with satisfying rather than random or contrived solutions, and I like a rich gameworld full of interesting discoveries to be made. I don't like repetitive and unrewarding tasks like inventory management or walking back and forth across large empty screens, I don't like having to make a daybook about which NPCs are in which building at 2 PM on a weekday, and I don't like mapping out frustrating 3D mazes by hand. I'm indifferent to fancy graphics, and realtime play is a huge pain in the ass anymore.

There really are not any PC adventure games out there targeting that particular mix of desires at this point in time, but there are several that come wonderfully close. So here, for my game-playing friends and anyone else who might be interested, is my personal greatest hits list of the best adventure games I've played, complete with game reviews, hints, how to get around any bugs and inconveniences, and, in some cases, low-spoiler walkthrough guides. I've found that a good compendium of subtle hints and tips can really turn a game that's partially what I'm looking for into a fun experience, but most walkthroughs out there ruin the experience by giving away unwanted plot and puzzle spoilers. My own walkthroughs are written around that problem, letting you know whether you've missed any nifty details or fun things to do in any of the game areas without revealing what happens when you try them. The review pages are completely spoiler-free, so if you haven't played a game yet at all, start with these.

Computer Adventure Games for Busy People

Anything with a rating of 5 or higher is worth playing, anything with a rating of 7 or more is worth a special trip to the software store. (-: You can find my general gaming philosophy and review criteria at the Backseat Game Designer, if you're curious. Happy gaming!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 (Outstanding)

The Longest Journey (Release Date: 2000)

The Longest Journey is the best graphical adventure game I've ever played, an absorbing fantasy epic featuring little action but plenty of interesting characters, a rich plot, a highly evocative game world, and more interactivity than most adventure games provide.

Full Longest Journey Review