...but I never thought it'd be by two PC Gamer staff members. (Read from post 155 onwards.)
It could have more to do with the fact that Grim Fandango and The Longest Journey were great games, and that Moment of Silence is a pile of shit [edit: no, that's not fair. It's better than that. It's just not a great game]. It's either that, or some elaborate editorial conspiracy... Hmmm, which could it be? Moment of Silence was so poorly constructed they didn't even bother to have exit indicators. It was as if someone had distilled all cliche into one pure block of tedium. Aliens?! In the future?! A conspiracy?! Missing people?! Corrupt police?! How did they think of it all! The writing was horrible. "Look at my Future-Telescreen! I'd better hop on my space-jet and go to the Mega-Newspaper stand. Gosh, everything's very futuristic today." The voice acting was hopeless, the story dreadful, the whole thing dated and bugged to crap.
Gab Knight 3 was also hideous. "Use the syrup on the hole and squirt the cat with the plant spray stolen from the priest to get the fur to make the moustache to make a disguise to match a passport to hire a motorbike." But not in a fun, LucasArts way, oh no. In a deathly serious, when do the bloody vampires start appearing, way.
As someone pointed out, Syberia gets good mentions in both the US and UK mag. Dreamfall has been getting lots of attention. Why? Because they're good games. Not bad ones. (Unlike the worthless Syberia 2).
Sparsity does not make the games better. That adventure games are few and far between is not a reason to deny reality and pretend to like the drivel that pours out. A Moment of Silence is an embarrassing heap when put alongside any of the genre classics. And the genre averages.
I cannot speak for Gamer US, but as the regular adventure reviewer for Gamer UK I can speak with some conviction that claims made in this thread are untrue. I adore adventure games. They are the reason I'm a gamer. But I am not prepared, and never will be, to pretend that the awful rubbish that dominates the genre today is any good, just because it's thin on the ground.
There is no conspiracy, or jaded attitude. Just critical faculties.
John Walker
PC Gamer UK
Well, he still thinks that Syberia was good, but this is an improvement. I feel strangely refreshened and righteous.
