Dreamfall: The Longest Journey review

Dreamfall's hook is its story, a fanciful journey that picks up 10 years after the first game ended. You play primarily as Zoe, an aimless twentysomething, who suddenly starts receiving strange messages on video screens a la creepy horror flick The Ring. Before long, she becomes wrapped up in a corporate thriller that is somehow connected to a magical parallel world called Arcadia - now home to April Ryan, the heroine of the first game. Besides Zoe, you'll control April and a third character, a spiritual warrior named Kian, during various points of the game.

The compelling storyline slams to a halt, though, whenever the game veers off-course into a completely unnecessary fight sequence. It's not that we're pacifists; these "fights" are just slow-moving and deadly dull. (For instance, there's about a two-second gap between pressing the kick button and the resulting kick, during which time your opponent will likely have hit you in the ribs while your guard is down.) The underlying mystery of the game is how these bits made it through beta testing unscathed.