Alter Ego gets murdered on GameSpot

This is perhaps not a surprise, given the slant against our beloved genre. Still, it hurts just to read it...

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/alterego2009/review.html

Yikes!

Yikes, indeed. I realize it's just one person's experience, but this review combined with no English language Demo being made available makes me think that once again, I will pass on another new release this year. Disappointing.

SIGH I wish that Gamespot would stop trying to review adventure games. It's so obvious that they don't like or even understand the genre. My vote is that they stick to action games unless and until they can judge an adventure game fairly.



Tracy

Gamespot usually does that, murders adventuregames.

Here's another opinion:

http://www.gameindustry.com/review/item.asp?id=1226

GameBoomer Reviews are the only ones I trust to be fair and honest with their comments and I've never been dissapointed.

Like Kaki's Sister, I only trust Gameboomer reviews, so I'll wait one of ours to come out. I agree most sites don't know a thing about adventure gaming.

Generally speaking, Gamespot applies as i call it "The Butcher Effect" on adventure games. You might have the best game but because it's an adventure game it will almost certainly get a low score. Take for example Still Life. It's probably one of the best adventure games out there but GS gave it a mere 6.7. They should change their name to: TheReviewersHateAdventureGamesAndWouldPreferActionMMORPGAndShootThemUpAndFPSGamesSpot.

I only use GS for news, it's reliable on that department, but as far as reviews are concerned, and especially Adventure Games i simply look elsewhere (e.g here).

I don't see it. I think it's a fair review, although the score is very low.
The reviewer compares the game to other adventure games, and though I did not play the game, his critique is about the game being bad as a game, not because it's an adventure.

He says the story is slow - but not because there's no action.
He says the puzzles are easy - but wants better puzzles, not the removal of said puzzles.

My point is why should I have to be a member of a forum created by people who love the adventure game genre to have information on new releases?
Why shouldn't I be able to have unbiased information readily available on ALL new adventure releases when they are released.
It's not one sites issue that adventure games aren't being represented fairly.
IMHO it's a glaring defect of the Publishers & Developers and the Sellers.
They make these grand expensive games and offer no PR or Marketing or Support,
never mind releasing detailed System Requirements or a playable Demo or Game Info on first/third person or mouse vs. keyboard or provide a forum for Technical Support.
It was the same with Black Mirror 2 and Darkness Within 2.
This is the main reason I have not spent money on a new release this year.
Word of mouth and anticipation is not good enough!!!
Why would I choose to throw good money after bad???

Even GameBoomers has little info on their Latest & Upcoming Adventure Game page on this title.
It links to Future Games Future Games , a very poor outdated website circa 2007. No info at all really, this website has the game still being In Development.

bitComposer Games has a short description with no specs, demo or purchase info.

Viva Media has same bare bones info with a link to Amazon to purchase.

Even the Gaming selling site have anorexic information, but at least Steam lists the System Requirements for the first time
albeit they are different from the ones shown at The Adventure Shop , along with a huge pricing difference.
And Interact! only has coming soon with nothing but price.
None of any of the above links have Game Info or Technical Support.
And forget about trying to walk into a store to purchase it, stores haven't even heard of it.

MaG already has a walkthrough posted, yet I don't use walkthroughs because I don't like being spoiled.
Also, I feel I shouldn't have to resort to one for a well done game.

Google says somewhere there is a German and Russian demo,
but the only link I found that wasn't Warez came right back to GameBoomers with a direct link.
Guess what, my computer installs the DE demo fine.
But Windows 7 won't let it play. I get a RunDev.exe error and the program closes itself, although my computer meets and surpasses the system requirements dug up on the 2 selling sites.
Where is the Technical Support.
Not on any of the websites listed above.

So don't hate a website for slamming a product.
At least they recognize it existence and offer concise information, and for that I am grateful.
I feel awful hoping somebody here on GameBoomers wastes money and time on a shoddy product for me to hear their experience before making a decision (like I did with the Darkness Within 2 demo).
Plus even adventure game lovers have fiercely different opinions on every game. For every 10 people that loved Still Life, there are still 10 people who hated it.
I just want to know what I am getting for my money, IMHO that's what makes a fair unbiased review.

Adventures games are killing the genre just fine themselves, nuff said. And they are definitely not getting my hard earned dollars anymore until they start representing themselves in the proper manner!

Lily.Bart,

Don't completely blame the developers or publishers or the game itself. The cost of making the games, the publishing or getting them published and the time to make them are the major problems right now. The one that impacts most is piracy.

We are lucky to even have games being released.

It is also depressing with our knowledge of the inner workings of adventure gaming problems to hear that even the adventure gamers are not backing the genre as they used to do so.
If that continues - then there really no reason for the good developers to fight the economics (no monetary gains) to make games - - - pirates and lost loyalty of the gamers - why make games anymore or even have an adventure games forum.

Let us not stray from the topic of this thread. Just my frustration is showing from the trend of the postings. Sorry.

MaG Respectfully
Why should I not blame what I blamed? According to your logic (trust that I find it upsetting too),
I should spend $40 USD on a game without even knowing if it is 1st or 3rd person or point&click or keyboard driven or even my cup of tea for gameplay and without certainty it will even install and/or play on my brand new computer or if I'm required to install propriety 3rd party software or not ensured that patches and technical support will be provided for the life of the game...
just to prove my loyalty to the genre and fight the good fight against piracy?
I don't feel "lucky" to have a game released, I feel like a gullible mark who is being taken advantage of and is being told I should suck up the empty promises and shoddiness and like it.
And yes, I'd rather have no game released than Darkness Within 2. I loved loved the first, mostly because of the support offered by the developer and the all over superior quality of the game.
Piracy has been around for awhile, and in the past (2006-2008 especially) I could purchase a game with certitude that my current complaints were well thought of and ensured. It is too easy to make a scapegoat out of piracy.
I refuse to think it is too much to ask for Gameplay Info, System Requirements, a Demo, and Technical Support to be a given when being asked to purchase. I would gladly support a game and spend $40 USD if this was the case. Gladly!!!
And that is me venting my frustration at the current state of adventure games as I see it.
I am sorry if I moved off topic... but I assumed the topic was a bad review.
And I can't even get to the game to see if I agree or disagree with the topic, the review.

lily.bart, (I love the description of you as a "shy" boomer <g>)

You make some good points and very articulately. IMO, these things need to be discussed, depressing or not.

Gil.

The system requirements on the box/sleeve are pretty low end:

OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP
Processor: 1.5 GHz
Memory: 512 MB RAM
4 GB free hard drive space
Video card: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 64 MB video RAM

It's point-and-click, as can be seen from some of the German gameplay videos on Youtube, like ***this one***.

One of the people who commented at Youtube noted that he had to play the game as Administrator. So you might try playing the demo that way, if you're still interested.

Lily.bart -- my sense of what's happening out there is that PR budgets at many publishers have been cut to the bone (or even into the bone). I don't know if that's true of tech support also, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Shelf space in the US for PC games is narrowing. Every time I'm in my local Gamestop there are fewer shelves of PC games and more shelves of used games. I'm seeing less shelf space for PC games at Walmart also. You can still buy PC games at Best Buy and Target, but the situation now is a lot different than just a few years ago, at least in my area, when I could guy games at my local CompUSA (now out of business) and Circuit City (now out of business) plus a nice selection (then) at local Gamestops.

I'm not sure how this trend is effecting publisher's bottom lines, but it can't be good. There is also the sense out there that adventure developers are making little to nothing on games that are published here in the US, which is massively discouraging. That (I think) is why we're seeing adventures published in Europe more than in the US these days.

That said, when a publisher agrees to publish a game, they should market it more than we are seeing, and they should provide tech support. When they don't, we all lose. I don't have an answer as to why they don't always do a better job.

Piracy is particularly frustrating for PC game developers because they are trying to stay in business, but they see many, many more pirated copies than purchased copies. It's so frustrating a situation, that some developers decide to stop making higher budget PC games. They switch over to higher budget console games or (perhaps) casual, downloadable PC games.

As to why the developers themselves don't have complete information and updates on their websites -- that has always been a mystery to me too. Sometimes developers have a deal with their publishers where the publisher is supposed to update and maintain the website, and the publisher doesn't and the developer can't do anything about it. Other times, the developer gets so caught up with the urgency to get the game done that they (apparently) neglect the website because they don't see the website the same way we gamers do -- as a lifeline for info and news about the progress of the game.

Sierra Online, Where are you when we need you?

I don't think piracy is the problem, it is just an excuse. I think the problem is that adventure games are not the great fun they used to be. Graphics are dull with no imagination, but very good if you like technology, I guess. Sierra had not only Roberta Williams, but many other talented people on board making great games with their support. Of course, there was piracy back then too, I know that personally since I played a few of the pirated games. But only a few because once hooked on a game (Leisure Suit Larry, for one) we bought the rest of the series, and more. On the other hand, there was very little competition, except for the pirates!, when Sierra ruled. I think back then the games were made by gamers because the money guys went looking elsewhere.
One other point not so far mentioned by anyone are the FREE games out there being made by dedicated, talented people. Why can't they get jobs making commercial games? Or are they so independent in spirit that they don't want to work with anyone? Anyway, these are my own feelings of frustratiom making their way here.

Just to join the discussion abit:

I thought that the digital distribution of adventure games were actually saving the adventure game genre. I've seen many adventure games in the past two-three years only be released via Gamers Gate, Steam, or Direct 2 Drive or through some other digital distribution channel.

As for the making of adventure games, I think that both in Poland and in Germany they're still making great adventure games.

However, I do also fear (or think?) that maybe we as adventure gamers are sort of a conservative mind. We don't necessarily want things to change e.g. we don't want (full) 3D in our adventure games, there's a lot of features in the games we're used to having - so we feel unsure about it when something is to change.

One of the nicer things I like in the newer Sherlock Holmes games are the ability to pan around all the way, and to highlight the hotspots via pressing the spacebar.

It also seems to me that when a developer tries to experiment even a little, some people complain. Such was the case for Still Life 2, where the developer thought of a nice way to get rid of the sillyness that you can have a ladder in your pocket e.g. inventory at the same time as you're having a mattres in in your inventory.

The big problem here is that we apparently don't know just how many adventure games are downloaded legally today through the various digital distributions channels or network.

Many developers/publishers of adventure games don't have a lot of money, so they'll upload public demos for it on youtube or have a youtube channel for the game. And I know (from following rpgs over the years) that even releasing a demo do cost a bit of money - and probably also a lot of time.

As for marketing the genre, I do think, publishers market it more - sadly, I find they'll market is mostly in Germany since it seems to be the biggest market for the adventure game genre seems to be - as of right now.

And yes, normally the publisher will do the tech support. However, many publishers such as Jowood or Koch Media do have game forums where people can help people with their varius tech issues they're having with their adventure games (or other games).

Poor little me...is a Sherlock Holmes game really an adventure? Case in point: Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper. No, I haven't played this game and I don't want to play it since I'm really not ready to go on an adventure with a serial killer in it! I'm squeamish, I want fun, not horror. I did try to play The Awakened but got lost and couldn't find where to go even with the walkthrough. So I gave up, but then the game wasn't all that interesting anyway.

I did read an article/interview where a developer was unhappy with some publishers because he had to spend time taking them to court, time he needed to spend on the game, so maybe the publishers are the problem. Even a bigger problem if they go bankrupt?

It's personal preference, sierramindy.

I played and enjoyed both the Sherlock Holmes games you mention and found both interesting.

And how can you condemn a game you haven't even played ??

You hit the nail on the head, The company isn't being honest about what the system requirements really are.
I tried all my tricks too with the demo (albeit in a strange foreign language!!!) with the same result. Black screen, then crash.
Who knows what the System Requirements really are???
STEAM
Minimum:
OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP SP 2
Processor: 2.5 GHz Single Core
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 128 MB 3D Video Card (Geforce 6600/Radeon 9600 or better)
DirectX®: 9.0c or higher
Hard Drive: 3 GB free hard drive space
Sound: DirectX sound card

The Adventure Shop
OS: 2K/XP/Vista
CPU: Pentium IV
Memory: 512
Video memory: 256
HD: 5
Audio: 16 bit stereo

This is a huge difference from 3 sources.
By confirming my fears, You saved me $30 bucks if it's any consolation.

Thank you. Actually it is some consolation if I saved someone else the hassle of what I went through.

Trying out the German demo seems to be a good predictor of whether the game will work or not.

Sounds like my old Dell PC would meet these system requirements. My Dell's processor is a Pentium 4 @ 1.7 GHz.


Thanks again, Jenny - you saved me 30 bucks, also, so now I can spend that $30 on different game!

I had to make some changes to get the game to play for me. Move shader level to 2, antialising to 0, shadows none and run as administor and game plays fine. I am really enjoying the game, sorry it is causing problems for some. I am playing on Vista 32 bit with Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS.

I had a problem getting it to run when installed in the usual Programm Files folder(have Win 7). The opening title played but after clicking on new game etc., the game produced a black screen.
I reinstalled in another folder and the game runs fine. Am enjoying it so far, story is a bit slow but the environments are nice to look at.
-----------------
I also only read reviews here on GB's. Get lots of people's opinions in one place.

Can someone post a link to the German demo? I'd like to try it out

Thanks!

Hi Jean,

Check HERE.

Thanks! Somehow I missed it before.

Ok, I loaded the German demo and have been playing it, in German, even though I don't speak a work of German, lol. I'm on the very first part of the demo and so far so good. The graphics are beautiful! I can't say much about the speech since I don't understand what they're saying, but I'm following Mag's walkthrough.

I don't know how much of the demo I'll do since it's not in English, but from what I've seem so far I think I'd give the game a go.

I've also tried a bit of the demo, and it looks interesting so far. Of course, I couldn't understand a word anyone was saying, but I was still able to make some progress anyway.

I'm sure I am going to get this one. I loved Next Life/Reprobates, which doesn't seem to be well received in general, so I usually trust my own instinct with these things. I do hope that there are no spinning light or other arcade type sequences in this one, though.

I read the game spot review. Having sworn off reading the horrible reviews on that site years ago I expected a biased adventure bashing. I agree the reviewer hammered the game. To be fair not having seen the game I cannot comment as to the reviewer's opinions. Surprisingly I did not find the usual "I hate adventure games," tone.

The reviewer made legitimate complaints that one would expect to hear of a bad game. He was specific in what he found fault with. These were all things adventure gamers complain about. With that said, he may have been one who does not like adventure games and his opinion is colored. But as his faults are common to many adventure games it could be that bad. It is just that he made it sound like this game had every fault. Before I can say he was unfair I would have to see the game.

I read the review linked to by Smulan which made it sound like a different game. It sounded fairly good and much better than game spot. I tend to think Game Spot was overly critical and game industry was overly kind. The truth is likely somewhere in between. Neither review raised my curiosity enough to buy this game. I guess we need to wait for someone here to review it or perhaps Ray Ivy over at JA. I find his reviews fairly accurate and fair. As a fan of bashing game spot based upon the specific objections made by Mr. VanOrd I must cut him some slack as he might have been right. I have run into some adventure games as bad as he claims this one is.

I think maybe the 1.5 GHz is for a dual core? computer? And the 2.4 or 2.5 Ghz? is for a single core processor?

And the general rule of thumb is that more GB is better...and a decent videocard is also good to have. A 128 MB card 6600 Geforce or better is OK, as it will run the game. A better videocard will display the game better, of course.

Also, there could be a difference between the minimum system requirements and the recommeded system requirements. The minimum requirements only guarantees that the game will run, however, it isn't any garantee that it run very well.

Steam's requirements seems to be closest to the other requirements for the other (newer) adventure games, I have seen.

The minimum requirements may be for running the game windowed.


Steam may actually have tested the game to see how well it ran. I don't know why else there would be three sets of specs.

Well, I decided to bite the bullet and ordered it from Amazon. I had giftcards so it's not costing me anything. Now if I get it and have problems I'll die!

I'll keep you all updated once I start playing. Wish me luck!

I just read on Just Adventure this game uses SecuROM 7.42.0001 without warning you. This is the second game, (Whispered World) that viva media loaded with that drm. Forget the reviews I will pass on this thing.

Hmnmm. Well, too late, I ordered it. What's SecuROM? Guess I could google it. Hopefully the game will be worth it.

Jeank

It is a nasty DRM that can cause problems with your system. It does not uninstall when you uninstall the game. It stays behind and may or may not create issues. You can get rid of it but it is a complicated process. There are programs you can use to remove it. I don't recall the names but those on the glitches forum here would know. Just post there is you have problems they usually can help.

It was created by those nice people at Sony. The same outfit that damaged thousands of pc drives when they loaded another ugly program that would install without telling you when you simply played a sony/bmg music cd on your computer. It cost sony big money in damages but it seems they did not learn. However, since then I refuse to buy any sony product, not that they care.

I heard that some of the problems that stop it playing in a PC that is supposed to have the right stats is because of SecuROM, mentioned above by oldmariner. I will pass this game also since I had a really bad experience with Sacred because the kind of "security" it had, at the end I could never play it even when I had a more that appropriate PC for it.
When I buy an Action Game I know it has certain protection, if available, I buy the PS3 version and if not I avoid getting it altogether.

I'll let you all know when I get it how it goes. It's supposed to be delivered the 18th. I read several of the customer reviews on Amazon. One person had a lot of trouble with it and couldn't get it to play; the second person had some problems but the games tech people helped him clear it up, and he played the game without a problem from there on and enjoyed it. The third person had no problems and enjoyed it.

So, it seems (don't I sound like Sherlock Holmes? lol -- just playing Nemesis) there are a variety of things that can happen, and I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The only retail games so far as I'm aware that ship without DRM are those from GOG (The old classics).

I've never been a fan of DRM, mostly because it's a worthless effort and only causes issues for legitimate owners. Hackers typically have a crack available before the game hits the shelves. Unfortunately we’re stuck with it because the publishers have convinced themselves they’re losing revenue (from folks that would never have purchased the product to begin with). It’s odd reasoning that will eventually cost them in the long run (but they’ll never figure that part out).

Do a Google search for remove securom. Scroll down a bit and you will find a listing that will take you to the Securom web site where you will be able to download a program to remove it from your computer. Keep the installed removal program for later use.

Needless to say, do not remove Securom until after you have uninstalled the game.

I was thinking of getting this one but now I have read this I will hang on a little.Thanks for all the info

Well, I'm in Gamespot's corner and I'm nowhere near done. I won't be, either. After playing both the thief and the detective, I realized that I was bored to tears with this tedious game and both these really unlikeable characters and had lost any desire to find out what happens next.

Considering how badly the game plays on my computer where far better ones play flawlessly, the decision to uninstall and go replay an old freebie that's challenging and fun was easy.

Gil.

Thanks for the warning Re:Whispered World, oldmariner

I will be heading over there to secure that removal tool,
Gobobby!

While we are at it, are there any more we should be aware of???

Just saw where "Mass Effect" also includes Securom,
eldest g'son just played that on my desktop.

If you wish to discuss security removals or difficulty in getting the game to run, etc. Please discuss in Glitches. This forum is for discussing the game itself meaning the story line etc.

Ana

Does SecuROM get installed even from downloaded games?

Steam has Alter Ego on offer at $14.99 until November 1st.

Alter Ego is 14.99 at The Adventure Shop also, link is above the forum.

Possibly. There is a download version of SecuROM.

Thank you !

I already bought the game before I read all of this. That was my fault I didn't check here first, which I usually

always do .I hope I will have no problems when I get around to playing the game.

Also I hope I will like the plot and story line, and the rest of the game .

As for gamestop I do not like the store . I have one near me.

Its adventure section has gotten smaller and smaller every time I go in there .

What is left of it is mostly action adventure if any adventure at all .

They need to have someone that truly plays adventure games and loves doing so , to work for them, writing reviews.

Then and only then will we ever get honest reviews from gamestop .

I choose to find all the info like reviews, glitches, hints, specs, whats new, and where to buy,

I find it here on gameboomers and they have never let me down

AS for Alter Ego, like I said if I have problems I can always find someone here to advise me what to do.

Trinny3, I don't know if you are talking of GameStop instead of GameSpot, since it is very easy to get these two confused.

GameStop makes its big profit from pre-owned games and these are Console. They have very few customers that ask for PC games that are sold new.

GameSpot for some reason doesn't like Adventure , I guess because most reviewers, used to play Action, find Adventure very slow.

I've read through the whole thread with interest, noted the technical issues but has anyone here actually played the game yet?

"...has anyone here actually played the game yet?"

Sort of. I bought it, played enough to be both the thief and the detective, and hated it so much I doubt I got through a quarter of the game before I quit.

Gil.

There is a very good 52-part playthrough of the game on ***Youtube***. It's almost like playing the game yourself because the uploader is playing it for the first time himself and isn't trying to play at light speed and doesn't click through all the conversations before you have a chance to read them.

So anyone who is avoiding the game because of SecuROM (or, like me, who couldn't get it to play on their computers because of the SecuROM) can watch the Youtube playthrough and see what the game is about and form their own opinion of the story.

My opinion is that they made both characters very unlikeable so
(mild spoiler)
At least what it looked like to me was that
(big time spoiler)
I don't think the strategy of using unlikeable characters worked very well. Many people were put off of the game because of the unpleasant characters, and it didn't diminish the disappointment at the end of the game.

"I don't think the strategy of using unlikeable characters worked very well."

It was a terrible idea and I can't imagine how anyone could enjoy making a game like that or be proud of it once it was done. I play adventure games to enjoy myself; that game was about as enjoyable as banging your head repeatedly on the monitor.

The publisher and developers can congratulate themselves for being directly responsible for my new resolution to be a lot more careful about buying a new game before I have a darned good idea what I'm getting.

Gil.