Articles

Last year
at this time, JA presented exactly one award from the E3 – Microid’s
Syberia as Best Adventure Game.  Even though Syberia later
went on to be recognized as best adventure game of the year by
many other magazines and webzines, to be honest, it won because there
was simply no competition!  Not that I am insinuating that Syberia
is not a great game – for it is – but the adventure landscape was
as barren as Anna Nicole Smith’s noggin.

Now the
genre is flourishing as adventure games are on the rebound!  Besides
over a dozen new games in development, this year’s convention also
saw the announcement of a new Jane Jensen project and sneak trailers
of The Longest Journey 2 and Sam ‘n Max 2.  Just as
promising is that we also learned of a few adventure games that were
at the E3 but have yet to be officially announced.  It don’t get no
better than this!

And the
adventure game developers!  They were out in force and we met with
them all:  Charles Cecil, Ragnar Tournquist, Rand Miller, Jane Jensen
and a host of others.  Rumor has it that even another ex-Sierra developer
besides Jane Jensen was spotted wandering the halls of E3 promoting
their new project.  Ah, but our lips our sealed as to their identity. 
I was kissed by French women, hugged by Jane Jensen and faced-off
against Omega Stone developer Jeff Tobler in a mano-a-mano
cell phone deathmatch.

But as
always, the real stars were the games.  My personal favorite – Jack
the Ripper – had me enthralled for over an hour as the developer
guided me through the shadowy and bloody back alleys of turn-of the-century
New York.  Yet, I still had ample time to savor Forever Worlds,
Cypher, Uru: Ages of Myst, Mysterious Journey 2,
Silent Hill 3, Deus Ex 2, The Haunted Carousel…..well,
I could go on forever.

So sit
back and enjoy as we present the 2003 E3 Just Adventure Awards and
let’s hope that next year brings another bountiful harvest.

Click
here to find out what game won the award for ‘Best Non-Traditional
Adventure Game’