Summary
I'm impressed and confused
The Good
Unlike its predecessor
The Longest Journey, which was more like a sleeper hit at its time, the release of "Dreamfall" was surrounded by big hype. It's obvious that the developers of this game came under much more pressure than when they were making "The Longest Journey". The latter's success put "Dreamfall" into a difficult position. It had very large shoes to fill, it had to deliver a story that would match in quality its predecessor, and it had to do something about the dead end adventure games found themselves in. Did it succeed? It's hard to say. "Dreamfall" is definitely far from perfection, but at its best, it also displays a lot of genuine creativity.
I want to refer to the gameplay first. It is considered the weakest aspect of "Dreamfall" by most critics. It is indeed flawed, and many aspects of it could have been done much better. But there is one good thing about this gameplay, and this is the absence of complex, illogical puzzles. I find puzzles generally incompatible with the genre of serious adventure. Usually, there are two types of puzzles in adventure games: inventory-based tasks, and actual "puzzles", in the original meaning of the word, where you are presented with a screen that contains a puzzle that must be solved by thinking, and not by combining different objects with each other, hoping to get the right result. The first kind of puzzles goes way back to the past, to the days of classic comedy adventure. Such puzzles usually feel awfully out of place in more serious games. Even great games like
Gabriel Knight 3 were plagued by inventory-based objectives, such as the infamous cat mustache puzzle. "The Longest Journey" also suffered from conservative inventory-based gameplay, which only weakened the player's immersion in the game. The second kind of puzzles was mostly found in monotonous first-person
Myst clones, which I really don't want to talk about.
"Dreamfall" actually contains both types of puzzles, but they are so easy and logical that they don't interrupt the flow of the game. All of them make perfect sense and are simply the most logical action you would undertake if you were in the protagonist's place. You have to avoid being scanned by a security bot? Hide in a place where the scanner's lasers can't reach. You want to climb on a ledge? Push the nearby cart and first climb on it. All the puzzles in the game follow this logic. On several occasion, you'll have to hack and lock-pick electronic devices, which leads to puzzle "mini-games". I found both of them quite easy and fun. I was never stuck in the game, and could always concentrate on the story line.
In such an intensely story-driven game like "Dreamfall", why should I care about solving puzzles which have nothing to do with the game's content? I want to be in the game's world, I want to talk to people, visit interesting locations, and enjoy the story. So I applaud the developers for their decision to make a "puzzle-less" adventure. I only wish they would expand the game world and allow more interaction in the sequel, because the real problem of the gameplay wasn't the lack of puzzles, but the limited exploration possibilities.
The strongest part of "Dreamfall" is obviously the story. And while it has its own problem, it is still great. What makes it great is not the architecture of the plot, and even not its themes (which aren't very original), but the way it focuses on the characters. Without resorting to melodramatic effects, the story is told in such a way that you feel a strong connection to its protagonists. Everything is seen through their perspective. In "The Longest Journey" the story worked so well because it was not so much about the two worlds, the Balance, and all the other stuff, but mostly about April. We played this game and enjoyed its story because it made it possible to see the inner world of its heroine. And in "Dreamfall", the story works even better because instead of one protagonist we have three.
It's true that most of the game is played from Zoe's perspective. But the little time you spend as April and Kian will belong to the most precious moments of the game. It is particularly true in Kian's case. You barely get to control this character, but during this short time with him you witness a whole life story. I don't think that Kian's "revelation" was too rushed. On the contrary, I found it amazing that they made it so credible in such a short while. There was nothing artificial about this process, and if you listen carefully to Kian's comments, you can see how he
gradually changes his opinion. That's the strength of "Dreamfall": it can magically create a complete, believable character without the need of long introductions, background stories, and so on.
There are some really great scenes that were made possible by the inclusion of different protagonists. The scenes between Kian and April are truly dramatic. One of the best parts of the game was running through the same town while controlling first April, and then Kian. Those two characters are enemies. They come from totally different cultures and have totally different opinions. And this is reflected in the comments they give if you look at objects and people. It's those small details that enrich a game. You just want to look at everything with every character, because their comments are never boring, and sometimes truly meaningful.
Some people complained about April being annoying and unlike herself. But that is one of the main themes of her story. She was deliberately made like that, it was necessary to show her in the middle of a big crisis. Actually, all the three characters are experiences great changes in their lives in the game, and that's what makes the story so fascinating. The certainly not very original "evil empire" and "evil corporation" story lines are still powerfully presented in this game, mainly because it concentrates on the influence those motives have on the characters, and not the other way around.
The conversations are yet another strength of "Dreamfall". Boring and cheesy dialogues are kept to the minimum in the game. Most of the conversations are cleverly written, and you'll find some genuine pearls even among dialogues with unimportant characters. Their comments are almost always interesting, and as I mentioned above, the comments your protagonists give if you look at things really bring the whole environment to life. People have opinions in this game, and they express them. That's why it's always interesting to listen to them. You feel as if you are discussing important matters with people. The events of the story are not just thrown at you, they are reflected in the minds of people. This is especially evident in the Arcadia part. The Stark part was significantly less interesting story-wise, but had much more gameplay instead.
There's a good deal of humor in "Dreamfall". Be sure to deplete every conversation option with the Crow, because some of the things he says are downright hilarious. My favorite part was the non-obligatory conversation on the airship, during which the Crow told Zoe about his "spiritual travel". It was not just funny, but also very cleverly written. The conversations with the "theoretically blind" Bob and the former evil wizard were quite amusing as well. Unfortunately, none of the Stark characters could reach this level. The Arcadia part of the game beat it once again.
I liked the fact the story handled important matters, especially some that allowed us to draw parallels to the events of our time. I don't agree with those who saw in the Azadi invasion a disguised account of the second Iraq war. Everyone are free to draw conclusions, but interpreting this story on such a narrow level does nothing but damage it. Personally, I didn't feel any anti-American propaganda or anything of the kind when I was playing the game. I know nothing about the creators' personal political views, and frankly, I don't care. I just wanted the story to be thought-provoking and meaningful without resorting to cheap effects such as copying and interpreting our reality, and that's what I got. The story-telling has other problems, but that was not one of them. Whoever says the Azadi are a parallel to the United States should note that their culture and ideology are much more similar to the Islamic rulers of the Middle Ages, while the conquered lands are not unlike old Europe in some ways. Does that mean that the writers wanted to draw a parallel to the Arab invasion of Spain in 8th century? Not at all. They just tried to portray religious intolerance and invasion without calling any names. Those things happened too frequently during the human history, and it's ridiculous to assume that the whole theme boiled down to the recent Iraq war and nothing else.
"Dreamfall" is very addictive. It's once of those stories that doesn't let you go until you finish it. You'll
want to play the game until the end. Some of its parts annoyed me, yet it always kept pressing me forward. There are no parts without story development, at any given moment there is mystery and suspense. If you compare "Dreamfall" to a book, it would be one in which you keep turning the pages feverishly, trying to swallow the whole story in one gulp. Really, if you want an example of
perfect story-telling tempo, here it is. It's neither too quick nor too slow, it makes you greedy and impatient, and leaves you hungry for more when you complete the game. Maybe
too hungry, but that's a different issue.
I already praised "The Longest Journey" for its locations. Unlike so many other adventure games, there were lots of locations in that game, and there was always change. No back-tracking, no boring re-visiting. I really love this kind of variety. That's one of the essential ingredients for a truly epic story.
Grim Fandango also had this, and that was one of the chief reasons for its "epic-ness". It's the
journey that matters, and "The Longest Journey" really felt like one. And "Dreamfall" doesn't disappoint here, either. The short gameplay time is compensated by the variety of locations. There are sharp contrasts between Stark and Arcadia, and also between different parts of them. The switch between the sunny Casablanca and the depressing Newport in the initial part of the game is just the beginning of location-jumping that will accompany you till the end. "Dreamfall"
still feels like a long journey.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention graphics and music, which are both well above average. Almost all the locations are colorful and are beautifully designed. And the voice acting was surprisingly good. All the three main protagonists did a good job, and the supporting cast didn't disappoint, either. Even the most unimportant characters were voiced well.
The Bad
I hope you enjoyed reading all this good stuff above, because now we're heading into "The Bad" section. And yes, there's a lot to say here, since "Dreamfall" has glaring flaws, some of which are so painfully obvious that I'm surprised the developers allowed them to slip into the final product.
So let's start with the obvious, shall we? Everything you've heard about the thin gameplay of "Dreamfall" is unfortunately true. And the real problem here is not the lack of puzzles. Let those puzzles stay where they belong - in wacky old-school comedy adventure games. I don't need puzzles in a philosophical tale. No, what bothered me wasn't the absence of puzzles, but the serious restrictions to interaction and exploration this game imposes on you.
Why couldn't "Dreamfall" be more like
Shenmue? In those games, they have already found a perfect model for future interactive movies. Throw puzzles to hell, but let the player explore. Let him run around a virtual city. Let him enter any place he wishes to enter. Let him talk to dozens and hundreds of characters. That's how it was done in Shenmue games, and that's why they worked so fabulously, although in all honesty their story was much less interesting than that of "Dreamfall".
There's precious little interaction in "Dreamfall", and I can't help feeling angry when I think how enormously it would enrich the game if the developer's added more optional locations. In Marcuria, there are three or four taverns, but you can only enter one. There are plenty of houses, but you can enter none. When you arrive to the Dark People country, all you can do is run in a straight line from the ship to the library. You can't do
anything on your way. Mind you, the location is beautiful; you
want to explore it, but you
can't. Even as Zoe, you can't explore much; so what is left to say about Kian? The most charismatic of the three game protagonists barely gets game time anyway. But when he is finally on stage, he is confined to tiny areas and can't do much more than running to his next objective. How exciting would it be for the player to explore the Azadi capital as Kian! But all you can do is enter one building, exit it, and pass the ball to the other protagonists.
If the gameplay of Shenmue felt natural, the one of "Dreamfall" is often artificial. You can see the developers' intentions behind many actions you must take in the game, and that's a bad sign. They might have discarded the typical complexity and lack of logic found in adventure game puzzles, but they haven't got rid of their artificial nature. And it became only more obvious since the tasks you have to perform in the game are now stripped of challenge to obfuscate their true nature.
Instead of enlarging its world, "Dreamfall" attempts to bring some variety into the gameplay with its fighting sequences. I think you've heard enough about those. But you must see them to believe how bad they really are. They make absolutely no sense. If you can win a fight, you
will win it. Just press the "strong attack" button several times. If you aren't supposed to win a fight, you won't, no matter how hard you try. The opponents' behavior is idiotic beyond belief. If, for example, you fight two people, one of them will patiently stand and wait till you hack his friend to death before he attacks you. You can't move normally during fights, and the awful camera doesn't help much, either. And yet, the fights you are supposed to win are still pitifully easy.
Which brings me to the next point: why let the player choose if all the choices lead to the same result anyway? You'll be often given several dialogue options, but they are merely cosmetic. No matter what you choose, the result will be the same. Only on one or two occasions, you'll have a "wrong" dialogue choice that will lead to a fight you won't be able to win. Which is just a fancy way of saying "Game Over". I was really angry when I saw how blatantly unimportant those choices were. I could've accepted it if "Dreamfall" was honest in its linearity, but why to deceive the players like that? The most infuriating "dialogue choice" came near the end of the game. You must decide whether to kill a certain character or to spare his life. Out of understandable curiosity, I selected the "kill" option. The protagonist said something like: "Yes, I'll have to kill you", and after a short break: "No, I can't do that!". Really, I'm not joking. And this is supposed to be a
choice?! It was like in some Japanese RPGs, where you can select "No" as much as you want, but will still be forced to accept every quest you're given.
Now to the less obvious flaw. Yes, the story of "Dreamfall" is great. But the way it was told was not perfect. Many times I felt that
Ragnar Tornquist was suffering from a
"Hideo Kojima syndrome". You know what I mean? When the writer can't resist the temptation of using his story as a receptacle for his ideas. Sometimes this inclusion is too obvious, and then the quality of the story suffers. This has happened many times in literature, just think of Tolstoy's works, how he prevents the reader from enjoying the stories just because he couldn't control his flat and boring moralizing. What happens in "Dreamfall" is that its message is
too obvious. The writer makes a common mistake by spelling out things for you instead of just indicating them. Basically, he tries very hard to make you believe that religious intolerance is bad, and that you shouldn't trust big corporations. It's great that he tries to get those messages across, but it would've been much better if he let the players come to conclusions instead of reaching them by himself.
I was playing
Final Fantasy XII at the same time as "Dreamfall"; both games handle similar topics (war, invasion, etc.). But I found the Archadian rulers of "Final Fantasy XII" much more interesting than the Azadi of "Dreamfall". What do we learn about the Six? Nothing. We just realize that they are obviously evil. But what is their motivation? We don't know. I hope this will be addressed in the sequel, because "Dreamfall" is
blatantly unfinished. It's true that Zoe's story is more or less resolved in the end, but we are left with so many unanswered questions that you want to scream "Where is the second part?!" after you finish the game. Be warned: if you have low tolerance to unfinished stories, don't even begin playing "Dreamfall". Because you'll begin doubting whether they sold you all the game discs when you finish it.
The Bottom Line
+ Thought-provoking story
+ Deep characters
+ Addictive and suspenseful plot development
+ Great variety of locations
+ Clever conversations
- The story can get annoying and ends with an enormous cliffhanger
- Cosmetic choices
- Thin gameplay
- Awful fighting sequences
The bottom line? I'm seriously telling you this: it took me two days to decide what I was going to write in the damn review. The task was made particularly difficult because "Dreamfall" feels more like the first episode of a series than a complete story. So I'll have to wait until the sequel comes to pass the final judgment on this game. Until then, all I can say is that no matter its flaws, "Dreamfall" is still an interesting title. It is clever and thought-provoking, and even though the way its story is told annoyed the hell out of me sometimes, it still stands out among other video game stories today. So let's cross fingers and hope they release a sequel. Because if they don't, I'm going to destroy Funcom's headquarters. And we'll see if they dare call me terrorist and not a freedom fighter afterwards.
