izigame.me

A worthy new remaster of the 90s point-and-click classic that sends one of the most likable sociopaths in all of gaming history on a globetrotting adventure to stop a worldwide conspiracy.
The new version keeps closely to the 1996 original script instead of the changes and additions of the 2009 remastered edition. While I personally never minded the 2009 additions as much as many seemed to do, it is mostly in restoring some of the remasters' changes to the original (like the opening speech) that Reforged greatly improves on the remaster. At the same time, some of the visual and UI updates do work rather well, and it offers the option to switch between the Reforged and the original graphics (though UI elements remain in the updated form). All this makes Reforged, in my opinion, the best currently available version of the game.
Pros:
- Great characters with (in the German dub) some of my favorite voice work. The main character is - in best adventure game fashion - a cheerfully unrepentant criminal with lots of charm, personality, and witty dialogue. He is joined by a large cast of often eccentric characters. His main antagonist, an international costumed serial killer/assassin, while only sparingly encountered, is often referenced in descriptions of his exploits by other characters. As he seeks out and procures information and disguises himself, it always seemed to me that he was in his own point-and-click adventure, doing as many shady or downright illegal things as our protagonist. The relationship between the leads generally worked really well, though I always thought that the romantic aspects were ramped up a bit too fast towards the end.
- A truly fun adventure story with a fascinating historical subject matter presented in a way that really stokes your interest and curiosity. Strangely enough, my personal favorite part of the story was always one that went a bit further astray off the main story's path - uncovering the rather melancholic history of the Vasconcellos with their last living descendant. The writing is full of charm and humor.
- The game brings you to varied and memorable locations with great character art and background designs. I also generally really like the graphical updates, especially for the characters, though it sometimes seemed like some designs of minor characters became a little less grotesque, a little less distinctive. Similarly, I mostly liked the new background art with few exceptions. Most changes in the environments will likely come down to a matter of taste. The one area that I felt was a clear downgrade was the Villa de Vasconcellos and its gardens, which seemed much cleaner and orderly in the Reforged version, which, to me, took some of the charm away. Though this may just be because of how much I liked this location and its atmosphere back in the day. Still, especially with the ability to seamlessly switch between old and new graphics, it was a delight to see the old story and characters in a faithful new look.
- It is hard to rate the difficulty and intuitiveness of puzzles when one remembers at least the more memorable ones from years ago. By and large they are more grounded and seemed more or less logical to me. The difficulty overall tends towards the lower end - so it mostly keeps the story moving. There is a story mode option and a hint system available, though I cannot rate their usefulness.
- The UI is generally kept simple and decently intuitive; my biggest problem in the Reforged edition was with a few of the "come hither" movements in bigger scenes. The dialogue interface, which offers some preselected topics (that may need to be unlocked through other actions) and inventory items, keeps the storyline running without getting too bogged down in a myriad of options.
- Together with some wonderful music, all these points create a wonderfully engrossing atmosphere and a fun gameplay experience.
Cons:
- There are some parts of the story that do not flow quite as nicely as they could. Especially the Neo-Templars as the final antagonists could have been more developed. I also think that if you seem to outpace them at every clue that leads towards the endgame location, then there should be a better explanation for why they actually beat our hero to that place.
- As great as music, envionmental sounds and voice work are, there were some clear audio quality and mixing issues.
- At the time of my playthrough, there were still a few minor bugs in the Reforged edition, like the ability to enter the boarded-up café, which led to George changing size as he walked inside the shuttered windows. These problems may have been patched out since then.