What do you get when you take a wickedly-sharp sense of humor, an adventure game-making graphics engine, and a series of appealing cartoon-like graphics of the Amazon…among other things? You get Jessica Plunkenstein and the Düsseldorf Conspiracy. This independent game made by greGAMES! is a mixture of wit, sarcasm, and silliness, all spun around the backdrop of an airport mix-up---one with hilarious consequences for its passengers. Our heroine Jessica, a modern young girl, is sent to Miss Pernilla’s Institute for Unwifely Women by her beleaguered parents. Unfortunately for all concerned, her ticket is switched with that of an Indiana-Jones style adventurer. From there, the resulting chaos takes over; moving Jessica through Llama Land, the rainforest, and the Norwegian Alps as she solves a series of quests that will ultimately (we hope) bring her back home.

What really makes this game shine is its wry dialogue-some of which is laugh-out-loud funny. There are offbeat quips, innuendos, and in-jokes sprinkled throughout the game and these give the Jessica’s journey a neat twist. When playing most adventure games, you are the outsider coming into the game world; you don’t really “belong” there, so to speak. But with this game you are drawn in immediately by the nature of the dialogue between the characters, and that gives the player the feeling that they are part of this strange, amusing world. For me that was a special added bonus that really made “Jessica Plunkenstein” special.

As far as the graphics, they are what you’d expect with an Adventure Game System game. They are a bit cartoonish, but that’s not a bad thing. The graphics seem to suit the game; giving us just enough to paint the game world for us, but not so vivid that they take away from the story and game play. In this game it really is the journey that makes it special, and so anything more in the graphics department would have been too much.

Voice acting can sometimes be iffy in adventure games, especially independent ones, but in “Jessica’s” case, they did a very good job. Jessica sounds like the perfect teenaged girl; well, the perfect, not-so perfect teenaged girl in this case. Her voice really suited her character as did the minor characters. Nothing was too “over the top” or overdone….well, except in the case of the Baron. In that case, an over-done German accent was just what was needed and it was hilarious in its execution, so it worked for me.

Sometimes a reviewer will give away the entire storyline (complete with ending) to their readers in an eager effort to share a game that they enjoyed. In my case, I’d rather share only the important points and then let you guys discover things for yourself as you play the game. There are so many fun surprises and silly storylines in this game that they wouldn’t be half as fun if I were to go over them in detail. So I’ll just say this: “Jessica Plunkenstein” is one of the must unusual games I’ve ever played in my 15+ years of gaming and the sheer frivolity of it will keep me smiling for a long time to come.

When you get right down to it, the big question is this: Is “Jessica Plunkenstein and the Düsseldorf Conspiracy” worth downloading? The answer for me is a resounding “yes!” This game is lighthearted, funny, and silly in the extreme and will quite possibly addict you the moment you see it appear on your screen. This truly is one of the best independent games I’ve played and I urge you to give it a try.

Hey, why not? After all, it’s free!

Final Grade: A
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