Full Moon in San Francisco

The Good
Several new companies have emerged recently and are producing adventure games that others are calling "garage games." A "garage game" is produced on a lower budget by a group of virtually unknown designers and programmers using alternate engines and compilers. The emphasis is not on beauty, but on gameplay and story. Full Moon in San Francisco fits nicely into this category because its strongest points have nothing to do with its graphics.

The very best thing about the game is the comedy. The jokes are new and original and will keep you laughing from start to finish. You get a hint of what's in store for you in the "Character Generation" screen when you first start. Pick a pet from 6 choices and give it a name! Your pet will pop in every once in awhile to tell you if it is sleepy or hungry or just to say something funny. The jokes are different depending upon whether you are playing as a male or female character and the conversation paths you choose during the game, so it has a good replay value.

Cartoon-like graphics encompass the whole game, hand-drawn in 2D. Each scene is rich with color and nice on the eyes. The characters are crudely drawn, but are depicted to reflect their personalities. Lip-sync was attempted and pulled off rather well considering the limits of the graphics.

The main gameplay area is centered on your screen with a multi-color border around it. (See the screenshots) Pointing to the edges of the border reveals narrow windows containing the inventory (from which items can be viewed or selected for use), an options bar for Save/Load, player stats, notebook (where you can type in your own notes), etc.

The music in the game reflects the humor and is entirely original and delightful to listen to. Different melodies play during various parts of the game and I never got tired of listening. There are some sound effects, but not all actions have them. You won't hear your footsteps or the opening and closing of each door, but you will hear the effect of a specific action you take. Most were added in for emphasis, or just for laughs (the flushing of a toilet, for instance!).

Full Moon's story is not only entertaining but interesting as well. The case of the missing painting is not as simple as it seems and becomes more intriguing as you go along. There are some excitingly tense moments as you get deeper into it.

The adventure puzzles are neatly woven into the plot and consist mostly of character interaction and using inventory items. There are several "true" puzzles to solve - riddles, cryptograms, jigsaws, concentration etc. Using computers in the game is crucial for progressing in the game, so part of your questing involves finding passwords for those computers.

The Bad
I liked almost everything about this game - even the amateurish character graphics.

I enjoyed playing as a male P.I. more than a female mainly because of the voice of my character. The majority of the other voices were attuned to each character fairly well, although some of them were irritating to listen to at times. Also, there was a variation in the volume from character to character, so turning the volume up and down frequently to compensate was necessary.

The Bottom Line
Is Full Moon in San Francisco fun? Absolutely. I loved it.

If you're an adventure game fan and like exploration, puzzle-solving and interactivity with other characters, you're in for a treat. Once you get past the lack of "eye candy" and settle in to playing the game, you'll find an adventure full of everything that makes a game entertaining.

Other adventure "garage" games in MobyGames' database that you might enjoy include Passage: Path of Betrayal and Eye of the Kraken.