Review calaveras 3/5 · Jan 29, 2025
Finishing off my reviews of the trilogy with this one.
Three stars again, even if like I said in my Road Adventure review, this trilogy is dear to my heart. It's just that each individual game of the series finds new ways to be good and new ways to be bad. It fixes some things and becomes worse in some …
Finishing off my reviews of the trilogy with this one.
Three stars again, even if like I said in my Road Adventure review, this trilogy is dear to my heart. It's just that each individual game of the series finds new ways to be good and new ways to be bad. It fixes some things and becomes worse in some other aspect.
I was complaining about the writing of the game for Dream of the Turtle, and first of all, I have to say that this one is a massive improvement in that aspect. I love the settings, the plot, the characters (thank GOD they humbled Brian Basco on that one by making him stuck in an asylum for most of the game). We finally get to control Gina who has a more active role, which is more than welcome. The game keeps its wacky mood while also feeling more serious, also welcome. I like that the resolution lets you decide for yourself if what happened on Mala Island was all in Brian's mind or not. It's a clever fix to a plot Pendulo came up with years ago and didn't like anymore.
The graphics are also a MASSIVE improvement, but we expected as much from a game released years later. It's really cool to see it in action though and to get better cinematics for the characters. It's still kind of glitchy sometimes but I can excuse that. The art style is as charming as ever, if not more charming.
The puzzles are... alright. Better than in Road Adventure, sometimes weirdly simple or tricky in annoying ways. Ups and downs, let's say. I like that there's a bit more easter eggs to find in this game; there's quite a bit to do around the asylum for instance, conversations that don't always advance the plot but that are still funny to go through. Sadly... all these additional interactions feel like padding because the game is Painfully short. I played each game of the trilogy while already knowing most of the answers to the puzzles from memory, and Road Adventure took me 9 hours to complete. Dream of the Turtle, around 12 hours. Twist of Fate? 5 hours. That's just ridiculous.
So, the game fixes a lot of the issues the first and second one had. That's great. I'm really wondering why it ended up so short. Not enough money? Not enough ideas? Wanting to be done with the series and leave Brian and Gina behind? I don't know, but it's too bad that this sendoff to the series doesn't want to keep players around for longer.