Back
with a vengeance is the best way to describe the third (and last?)
installment in the Blackwell Chronicles!

It may sound negative to
say the quality of the games in this series has not improved with
each successive release. In fact the series has been solid since its
inception.

Dave Gilbert knows how
to create believable characters we can relate to and sympathize with.
We genuinely care about Rosangela and Joey, a “ghost whisperer”
and her spirit guide. The dialog flows and never gets old. The actors
are all experienced, and it shows. The inflection is just right to
convey the intended emotion. With several actors voicing more than
one character, kudos to them for managing not only to act the part,
but to create distinctive voices. The most important aspect of this,
however, is Gilbert’s natural ability to write dialog that is natural
and believable.

This
is a standalone adventure but players of the previous titles will
be the big winners as it nicely ties the other two, seemingly only
tangentially related, stories into a wonderful conclusion that feels
well thought out and as though the events were meant to culminate
at this point.

The interface is wonderful
and pretty much identical to that in the previous games. Once again,
players swap between Joey and Rosangela – each has strengths
that must be used in order to solve the challenges. The game has full
subtitling which can be turned on or off. The interface menu is intuitive
and easily accessible at the top of the screen. This same menu makes
changing characters a breeze. The “TAB” key can be used
to change character, also – another strength of this game is
the inclusion of shortcuts just like in the “old days”
of gaming when keyboard was the key tool in adventure gaming! Items
can be examined with a right-mouse click. Interaction is with the
left-mouse button.

Puzzles
are definitely on the easy side Experienced gamers won’t be leaping
for a walkthrough too quickly. The reason why the puzzles are relatively
easy is because they make sense and are well-integrated into the game.
A game with puzzles that make sense always trumps the “pulling
out my hair until I look at a walkthrough only to find I never would
have done THAT in a million years” type puzzles that seem to
be becoming the standard adventure game fare on newer adventures.

The
graphics are a little pixelated, which harks back to the “classic”
days of Sierra adventure gaming. The game uses the AGS game engine
so this is to be expected. Having said that, this is the only video-related
weakness. The characters are well-defined and backgrounds are colorful
and easy to recognize.

As a bonus extra, there
is the option to turn on commentary mode, resulting in a voice-over
by Dave at key points in the game. Just like in previous titles, Dave
proffers information about the making of the game and the significance
of aspects of the game. Anyone doubting that this series is a labor
of love for Dave need only listen to the commentary for a few moments
to have any doubts dispersed.

Dave welcomes “questions,
comments, or scornful accusations” according to the game’s manual.
He can be contacted on dave @ wadjeteyegames.com.

This
is a great game in its own right. It ties up the loose ends nicely
from the two prequels and makes for a very satisfactory conclusion.
It has a consistency of strength across the board – any weaknesses
are relative. In fact, there are aspects such as the commentary that
go beyond the usual call of game development. In a nutshell, this
is the best game in the series and one of the best adventure games
I’ve played in years.

The game deserves a solid
A.

System Requirements:

• Windows Vista, XP, 2000,
  ME, 98
• 800 MHz Pentium or faster
  processor
• 64 MB RAM
• DirectX-compatible sound
  and video cards
• DirectX 5.0 or later