Thanks for this thread. I was thinking to post one myself, but it didn’t feel right to do so.
You see, I treated this game opposite to Toonstruck – I knew I would not have had much time to play it, so I just used a walkthrough to quickly run through. It also wasn’t the original walkthrough included in the hintbook, but something printed from the internet by the previous owner of the boxed copy I purchased. Turned out to be accurate enough, and the few parts that it missed were easy enough to figure out.
I agree with almost every sentiment you shared – despite the undoubtedly cool atmosphere and colorful graphics – most other adventure games I’ve played – I’ve been more captivated by.
Having read the First Impressions thread I had been expecting the interface to be somewhat cumbersome, and so I’ve read the manual in advance and figured out things would be much simpler if I use the keyboard shortcuts whenever possible, which I did.
SPOILERS BELOW…
I agree about the hot tub and the binoculars being confusing. Probably if the walkthrough didn’t tell me that I need to go to the hot tub, I wouldn’t even know it’s an option. As for the binoculars, the fact that you need to PICK UP the wires, instead of USE them kept me stumped for a good few minutes.
I am not sure I would have figured out that I’m supposed to put the UV bulb in the flashlight and move it around randomly inside the dark ride before I can use it on something.
I found the concept of mini-games inside the main game refreshing. They are not very interesting in themselves, but it’s a nice bonus, specifically for the younger audience that might enjoy coloring, dress-up and battleships. But, yes, if one hadn’t read the manual, I can see how one might pull hairs trying to find use for the optional mini-games that aren’t part of the storyline.
