Nightlong Review

I wasn't expecting too much from this game. Judging by peoples' past postings in newsgroups and forums, some people seem to like it, others not. I'd heard it was short. I expected it to be rather mediocre. Instead it was a delightful surprise. It's a nice old-fashioned point-and-click game with no action sequences.

Nightlong is a third person game. You walk your character, Joshua, around the screen either by clicking on the area you want him to go or by clicking on an exit area. When you place your cursor over an item you can interact with, a brief text description pops up. If you left-click the item, Joshua will make some comment about it. Some of Joshua's comments have a wry humor about them, which can be enjoyable at times. To use an item, you right-click it. Your inventory appears at the bottom of the screen. You left-click items in your inventory for information or right-click them to use them the same way you do on the game screen.

The interface is very intuitive and reminded me a lot of the interface in "The Longest Journey" in the way you can get your character to comment on objects." Another similarity is that you don't seem to be able to die in the game. The futuristic world of Union City even reminded me of TLJ's Stark. Also the "Go to..." exit places at the side of the screen would fill in after you went to the place, just like in TLJ. For example "Go to..." becomes "Go to Corridor" or "Go to castle." Unlike TLJ, there is not a lot of dialog in "Nightlong."

The graphics look very good and there is no jarring difference in quality between the movies and the rest of the game. Voice acting was good, though lip synching sometimes matched up and sometimes didn't and sometimes really really didn't. Nightlong was made by the Italian company Trecision and some of the dialog was apparently lost in translation. Some scenes had music and some had background sounds. Technically it was very well done and polished-looking. I should also mention that you see text when the characters speak. Even without the text speech was easy to understand. There may have been a game option to turn off the text, but "text on" was the default so I left it.

Nightlong is essentially a detective game that takes place in the future. Joshua is asked by an old army buddy for his help in exposing some terrorists. But Joshua's objectives shift as he uncovers more information about the situation.

Nightlong would probably be a little on the short side for an experienced adventure gamer. It was sort of medium-short for me. But I found it very refreshing to play a traditional adventure game which isn't too old. Dreamcatcher is currently selling it for only $9.99 in their online store, though I'm not sure what their postage charges are these days.

Trecision is the company that is making "The Watchmaker." Information about both "Nightlong" and "Watchmaker" can be found at
http://www.trecision.com/
They have a flash website though, so it may not load right unless your browser can handle it.

Thanks Jenny for reviewing Nightlong.

I got this game out of Britain - before DC picked it up. I thought it was such a great gaming ride. The main character is very believable.

I also enjoyed the way the challenges/puzzles were well integrated into the plot. I thought the ending was well done and had the proverbial twist (though there were hints along the way)

One of the reason's I have followed the development of The Watchmaker is based upon the strength of Nightlong. I hope that based on your excellently rendered review - others will give this game a try.

With the price now down to under $10 sounds like a no brainer.

Laura

Thanks for the review , Jenny! I'm playing Nightlong now. I too had heard about it, but didn't expect too much. I'm enjoying it a lot, and I'm currently in the 3rd of 3 CD's.

From what I can tell so far, there's not a lot of swaping CD's, you pretty much move from one to the next as you progress through the game, and I havn't had to go back to an earlier CD. (unless of course I wanted to restore a saved game). Speaking of 'saved games' there is a limited number of 'save slots', but it's around a dozen or so, and I havn't had a problem with it.

Hi Jenny...
After reading your review, I decided this was a game I'd like to get. And I, too...am pleasantly surprised at how much I am enjoying it.

The locale reminded you of Stark in TLJ...for me, the futuristic city brought back memories of Tex Murphy-OVERSEER. Especially the air-cars.

Thanks for introducing me to this fun game.
Cynch

I've considered playing NightLong many times, but I was uncertain because of the mixed reviews I found on the Web. But since so many people seem to enjoy the game, I may give it a try. But before I do, I have one question.

I've read in some reviews elsewhere that NightLong has some foul language (or as Spock calls it "colorful metaphors"). Does NightLong contain any foul language? If so, what words are used, and how often does it occur?

Thanks!!

I can't remember any specific bad language. I think Joshua says "[blip]!" a few times. Maybe one of the other characters does too. But there wasn't anything really bad.

I'm playing Nightlong now. I too was very hesitant about this game. I didn't like the looks of the box or the character and that gun made me nervous. But a gamer friend I trust (same guy who recommended BS and GK and Grim so how could I NOT listen to his recommendation?) and the price (I got mine at Amazon) was unbeatable.

The graphics are excellent and the main character in the game looks nothing like he does on the box. It's not futuristic and not at all Cyberpunk although the box illustration gives that impression.

A word of warning: I found the first portion of the game to be kind of dull/plodding, alot of door-opening and get this device to work kind of puzzles with very little plot progression and interaction with other characters, but now it's really starting to pick up and become interesting. So, my warning is: don't give up on this game too soon because it does get better & now I can't wait to do some gaming tonight.

PS At this price it's worth getting just for the graphics alone. I wish they could re-do GK1 for Sierra cause Nightlong's graphics with GK1's story, characters and puzzles would make advent. game of the century.

Last but not least: Great review! If I hadn't of already broken down and purchased this game, this review would have convinced me that I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.

PPSS - So far I haven't noticed any "colorful" or offensive language or that this is a particularly "adult" game (although I have to admit to being alittle disturbed about the main character's reaction to the kid at the zoo.) And the use of any "firearms" is not what you might expect so don't worry about being quick and agile and a good shot. Or having to defend yourself. This does not seem to be a violent game either.

It's unfortunate that the gamebox is so misleading. I bet a lot of potential BAAGERS are turned off by the impression the box illustration gives.

Great review Jenny. This is one of my favorite games. This is really a perfect adventure game. I think the flying cars make it a little futuristic, but nothing extreme.
All in all its great fun.

Doreen

This was an early game of mine before I had heard of Walkthrus or Gameboomers. I therefore had to get thru the game on my own. I think that is one of the reasons I have such fond memories of it. But mainly it is because it was so darned logical. None of this feeling that no normal logical person would ever get that. It followed logic and I felt very smug when I did it "all by myself." And some things were just downright clever (finding the hook to facilitate getting over the tracks?) I loved that. Making the bullet? Delicious!I have been searching ever since for games equally logical and Nightlong is my touchstone for that. Doris

I just thought I'd add that when you finish the game, take a good look at the images on the screen during the closing credits. I noticed they didn't seem to be from any part of Nightlong, but they seemed a bit familiar.
Then I went to the developers website (trecision), and sure enough, they are from the upcoming title, "The Watchmaker". I guess they must have been working on that for a while now to be able to include screen shots in the closing credits of their last game!

I think I was mixing Nightlong up with "Nocturne". Gotta start getting my games straight here.

just got through playing nightlong a few days ago.
jenny i agree, the graphics were similar to tlj - in stark. it was like a combo with tlj and gab. knight. at least to me.
i loved the game, but i wish it had been longer. the graphics and acting were great, as was the sounds.
it was mouse - point and click,and the inventory items wre esy to get to as well. only thing you had to useon the keyboard was the 'escape' to load, save, or quit. highly recommend to lovers of the games tlj and g.k.
rainbow


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i am not perfect, but i am perfectly human.

Hi,
Good to see some others have now played this game. I was always a little surprised that Broken Sword was always rated very highly, whilst this game was nowhere to be seen. I agree with the assessment of Broken Sword, but in my opinion this has been a much under rated game.
Well done Jenny.

flotsam