The Adventures of Willy Beamish

The Good
Graphic adventure games were one of the favorite type of video games, although they tended to be more common on computers then home consoles. One of the giants within this genre was fine folks of Sierra.

Taking advantage of the CD-ROM format, this great computer adventure game is made ever cooler with an, amazingly, talented crew of voice actors (especially the narrator) and a few other good changes (i.e. the ability to actually play the game in Willy's bedroom and to save your progress).

The Bad
Two of the major problems are mostly the fault of Sega itself for failing to make the Sega CD into a proper, or even halfway decent, upgrade.

First, the cartoon quality artwork and animation had to be cut down from the PC's 256 colors to the Sega CD's 64. Second, the Sega CD edition of the game also suffers from very slow loading times (hence the ability to manipulate Laser Balls while you wait).

Minor problems: It would have be nice if an option existed to get text and or voice.

The Bottom Line
The Adventures of Willy Bemish is a great graphic adventure game and I truely wish it was redesigned for Windows XP or one of the modern video game systems.

Yet, adventure games mean solving, often, complex puzzles, which may seem dull if you simply want to blast your way out of any given situation.

You need to be willing, even eager, to interact with an assortment of interesting people (often with a bit of innuendo and satire) and simply experiment and explore the environment.