Keepsake

The Good
I enjoyed the characters most in this game. Voiceovers and dialogs were so well done that you really come to like or hate characters very easily. Zak will have you laughing and rolling your eyes throughout the game, while you'll cringe when you hear the merchant. And having an animal following you around makes things quite interesting... especially once you brew a potion to change his shape. The characters have true depth to them and that really helps in an adventure game since there is little to no action is such games to make up for lack of story or characters.

I also really enjoyed the story. You start out on your way to a school of magic. What you find there shocks you... no one is there. Now what? The game takes you through trying to find out what happened to everyone, while giving breathtaking views and incredible graphics and animations. The story takes some twists and turns as you go along and it keeps you interested.

Another thing I liked was at one point in the game where Lydia goes through a portal and says "Whoa!" when you reach the other side. Guess what I said at the same time... Heh. Walking sideways around the outside of a tower is worth saying "Whoa!" over.

Finally, the game allows even the worst adventure game player to complete the game. Every puzzle has hints... from a simple explanation of how it works to doing the puzzle for you. If you just can't get past something, use the hints and you can continue. Or, if you don't know where to go next, use the hints to give you a visual display of where you should go and what to do there. No need for walkthroughs in this game.

The Bad
I suppose it's normal in adventure games, but I really don't like walking around a huge map and getting to new places and puzzles, only to find out that I can't complete the puzzles until I do something else first. I also don't really like having to walk back and forth across the same area over and over to complete different tasks. That is normal in these games, but perhaps that is why I don't usually play them.

The Bottom Line
If you like adventure games, you'll love this one. If not, you still might. Magic, adventure, puzzles, interesting characters, great story, great graphics and animations... what more could you ask for in a game? Go try it out. I think you will find in quite enjoyable.