good point and click games?

[Cornelius]

I agree with most of the games you've listed, but I found Scratches to be one of the most mediocre adventure games I've ever played. I have no idea why it was named game of the year by one publication, I assumed it was released at a time when there was no decent competition against it.

It took me 10-20 minutes just to get inside the house, I thought it was a puzzle where I needed to find a key, but it turned out to be a bug where the hotspot for the door knob was on the opposite side of the door for some reason. After playing though the game I put on the patch which supposedly fixes this problem and played through again, instead of moving the hotspot they just moved the graphic for the doorknob, yet the door opening animation remained the same so now the doorknob and hinges are on the same side of the door. It looks stupid, and this is the first thing you encounter in the game.

Combine those types of sloppy bugs with easy uninspired puzzles, uninspired voice acting, a poor story with a mediocre jump scare ending, and short game length, it's really not something worth buying. It's worth a playthrough if you get it for free but that's about it. It feels about the same quality as a poorly made freeware title.

Have you typed this up before? I swear you have or I'm going crazy. Never played the game myself, but distinctly remember the whole doorknob fiasco.

[Gameguy]

Have you typed this up before? I swear you have or I'm going crazy. Never played the game myself, but distinctly remember the whole doorknob fiasco.

I'm pretty sure I did at some point, it probably was awhile ago. Usually I'm pretty forgiving with adventure games though my standards were set mostly by playing LucasArts games first.

It's just that this problem is literally the first thing that you'd encounter in the game, it feels like sloppy playtesting. Just an example for the puzzles, one problem is with a locked door, your character explains that the key is still in the lock on the other side. Luckily a page of newspaper is close by the door, along with something long a narrow. Just slide the paper under the door and poke out the key, as if no games have ever done this before. Basically all of the puzzles are like this, with most of them having everything you need right beside the puzzles or close by, and pretty obvious like needing lamp fuel for the lamp.

I don't get bothered by games too often but this one got to me for some reason. I think I got the game somehow for free, it still felt like a ripoff.


Another thing I dislike, it has almost all positive reviews. I'll post one below.
http://betax1.justadventure.com/arti.../Number_8.shtm

The thing is, the reviewer still manages to screw up what little story the game gives you.

You are invited by a friend, Jerry, to stay in an old abandoned house known as The Blackwood Manor. You happily accept the invitation as this would allow you to rest and work in a completely silent environment.

What I remember from the game is that sort-of-friend Jerry is your real estate agent, he bought this creepy property for you as you like these types of places as they inspire your writing. You move into this broken down house previously unseen by you. Later on it turns out that Jerry stole your money instead of paying for the house, and you're asked to leave(over the phone) as it doesn't belong to you as it's not paid for.

That sounds a bit different doesn't it? The reviewer makes it sound like you were invited to stay at a friends' house. Though that review seems to be written by a friend or co-worker of the games' creator so no surprise with the high review there.

For horror adventure games I should have played Darkseed or Sanitarium instead, they're still in my to do pile but I've liked what I could see online.

[Daltone]

There's also the Tex Murphy games, I believe I have them all but I haven't personally played them yet. I really have to check what PC games I own, I have boxes full of them that are awaiting a playthrough.

The Tex series is bleedin excellent! Well - UAKM, Pandora and Overseer at least. Martian Memorandum is ok and Overseer is basically Mean Streets. They are three of the best point and click adventure games out there. Unlike rubbish like Myst they use a full 3d environment that you can wander around like an fps. Considering what else was out at the time they are incredibly good looking games. The puzzles are good, the scripts are excellent. Pandora may well be my favourite of all the adventure games I've ever played.

/ fanboy

If you like Tex you may like Gremlin's Realms of the Haunting. The plot starts off a bit naff (haunted house) but gets better. It's actually got fps shooting in it though so it's not exactly a pure point and click.

Broken Sword I & II or Gabriel Knight (certainly the first one) should be worth considering. Darkseed got a mention somewhere in the thread. It's got art by HR Geiger (the chap who designed the titular alien in Alien). It can be frustrating but it's got a good 'small town with dark secrets' vibe about it. Blade Runner (again mentioned here somewhere) is fantastic. The game has some randomly generated elements and a load of different endings, so it's worth going through a few times.

The Last Express, whilst it doesn't look so good these days, takes place in real time (sort of). There's a lot to explore, things you can miss the first time around and a lot of different endings. The animation hasn't aged too well, but if you can get past that it really is worth your while.

I'm playing through Gemini Rue at the moment and finding that pretty enjoyable. I'm not sure if it is quite as good as some reviewers make out but it certainly seems worthy of a quick look.

[Guyra]

I agree with most of the games you've listed, but I found Scratches to be one of the most mediocre adventure games I've ever played. I have no idea why it was named game of the year by one publication, I assumed it was released at a time when there was no decent competition against it.

I have no idea about its release or such, so I'm not going to say anything on that matter. I played the Director's Cut version, so it might've had bug fixes included, because I didn't experience any such problems.

But I must say that while I didn't find it directly scary, I experienced it as a game with a genuinely creepy atmosphere. It's also the most I've enjoyed the gameplay of a first person adventure game.

There is an extra game that comes with the Director's Cut, though. A prequel, if memory serves me right. That one I would just tell people to avoid, because it was horrible.

[Gameguy]

It was the Director's Cut that I played, which kind of makes the problems worse. That extra part you mentioned is actually a sequel to what happened in the game, a reporter heard about something relating to the house(I forget what exactly) so he comes to the house to examine it. It's about 10 minutes long and you just travel through the house again(on rails) which is in even worse shape, and you discover the "monster" who lives there, and someone fights him off as you escape(I forget who showed up, maybe the doctor?). Of course the look of the monster changes from the original game so this sequel doesn't feel right, not that these points looked right the first time anyway. A lot of these fully 3D games look pretty terrible just a few years later.

No offense if you really did enjoy the game, I just couldn't get into it including the atmosphere, and I played it after midnight as that's about the only time I really have to play long games. At least the Director's Cut included an alternate ending for the first game, one that is pretty much better than the original.

I know of another mediocre game, Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy. I played the DS port but everything about it is terrible. The puzzles feel out of place, like the developers tried to think up good puzzles first and just wrapped the game around them. Several of the puzzles are pretty stupid too. And the story makes no sense, almost like a Scooby Doo mystery but meant to be taken seriously. There are playthroughs on youtube if you just want to experience it.

I'm glad someone mentioned the Broken Sword games, I've played the first one and enjoyed it. I have most of the later ones too but haven't got around to them yet. There's also Toonstruck, it's a title I haven't seen mentioned yet in this thread. And the Discworld games, most Simon the Sorcerer games, and The Neverhood. These are just PC games, several good adventure games were released on the Nintendo DS as well. Trace Memory/Another Code, Hotel Dusk, Ghost Trick, etc.

[Player_01]

Guyra and Daria already named a lot of good ones but some others would be

The Dig
Shivers
Phantasmagoria
7th Guest
11th Hour

and surprisingly there was a series of Nickelodeon are you Afraid of the Dark games that were pretty good if my memories hold.

[Edmond Dantes]

Someone mentioned Dark Seed. I found that to be "great premise, sloppy execution" as basically the puzzles don't make sense from a character-perspective viewpoint (and in a lot of cases, simply plain don't make sense at all). Kinda wish it had worked out, because it was a game I really wanted to like.

Shivers was a game I had good experiences with, except for that stupid Chinese Checkers puzzle... unless you're good at those things IRL, you WILL need a walkthru. There's also a puzzle with marbles and pinball flippers which irritated me, but I actually solved that myself by working it out on paper.

I'm a major Sierra On-Line fanboy. I'll likely say any of their King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest etc. games are good, and that in fact was why I picked up Shivers (and later, Phantasmagoria II... although I wound up not liking that one, sadly). In fact... yeah. Look for any game that's by Sierra On-Line (their earlier games--from the Apple II days--might be labeled as "On-Line Systems")

[CRTGAMER]

Grim Fandango was posted twice and I'm confused. I have this game, you control the character with the arrow keys or joystick and not a mouse.

Though not quite Point and Click games, how about the Broderbund Living Books and Microsoft Encyclopedia series such as Dinosaurs and Musical Instruments?

[mailman187666]

my favorite point and click games have always been the later space quest and kings quest games on PC. I also liked Rise of the Dragon and Willy Beamish on Sega CD.

[StoneAgeGamer]

The Neverhood

[Hudson]

The Neverhood

Yes! Yes! YES!