Note: Fixed the Case 4 page link at the bottom of the reviews.
Our intrepid Paranormal Investigator is back for his 4th case. Ben Jordan Case #4: Horror at Number 50! I have to say a little bit about Case 3 though as my review wasn’t really based on me finishing that case. The music is still like the best thing (next to the story). And the author upped the ante with regards to story and character by introducing Percival Quentin Jones (sorry if I misspelled it it’s not often one has to spell Quentin or Quinton, or Quinten, or Quintan or something). Case 3’s story has a few twists that showed the developer’s growing as a writer. Now fresh after his visit to London to do some boring paperwork for “Percy”, Ben Jordan is contacted by someone who owns number 50 in Berkley Square in London. I guess it’s a house or an apartment (flat for all you UK folks) or some such thing. In any case there were rumors of hauntings that lead to eventual death. So it’s not your typical ghost story. This time around, Ben has 4 other investigators to help him solve the case. So if you’re as into the Ben Jordan series as I am, then read on!
On! – I still haven’t ran out of these jokes yet. I’m sure you’re getting tired of them by now but I will keep on until I can no longer. And then I will quit. That is with the lame jokes, not the reviews.
Okay so one of the only major changes that I noticed in this case is the inclusion of separate talk and ask icons. The only problem is the talk icon doesn’t really add much to the game. It’s supposed to be small talk and add some character, but I find myself not using that in favor of the ask icon which allows you to get information for your investigation. Sometimes there is trouble with the interface. If you go into your inventory and use the arrow (object pointer or whatever it is) and then exit the inventory the icon will stay and you have to actually go back up to the icon bar and manually choose the icon. Not a big deal really but it’s worth noting so you don’t think the game isn’t working at all.
The four other characters are Madame Tilly who’s supposed to be a psychic, Alice Wilkins from California who is fresh out of college, Simon Booth from London is a ghost hunter (or something like, I guess I should mention I’m writing what they do out of memory as I was away for about a week), and Otto Schneider, some sort of German research scientist, he’s all about facts and doesn’t say much about himself. The developer basically kicked the story up a notch by introducing these other interesting characters who are helping Ben (or vice versa). It’s funny I actually looked forward to playing this because it got right into it, the other three stories were good but didn’t give me the anticipation this one did at the start.
The graphics for the most part is like the others, they could use some work, although the portrait of Alice is actually quite good. The sound effects are nice, although not every sound is accounted for (such as foot steps and what not), I think this is ok though because since there’s no dialog it’s sort of like silent and the sounds are more like ambient effects. The music is superb as always. I seriously think that if the developer hired some artists and professional voice actors that he could charge money for these games. I guess it’s good he doesn’t though because we would have to pay for it!
A notice about questionable material. Some of the scenes in this game are slightly violent, nothing too bad though. In this one was the first instance of a real swearing by the Simon Booth character. He gets mad and drops the F-bomb. While most people (and probably the developer) think it’s necessary to swear, I don’t really think it adds anything to it, other than making me think that the writer didn’t know how to express the character’s anger better. Of course I am probably the only person to be concerned about this. A lot of people don’t have respect for anyone else anymore and just say whatever they feel like saying and it concerns me. In any case other than that I haven’t really noticed anything objectionable in the game.
What I think of it: Okay sorry I didn’t post it in the front like I have been with the past few reviews. I think it’s a great addition to the cases of Ben Jordan. I would put it at the top of my list so far, with case 2 in second place, case 1 in third, and case 3 in last place. There’s an actual hint that two of the characters will be collaborating with Ben in the future, so I’m looking forward to that.
Name: Ben Jordan case 4: Horror at number 50!
Developer: Grundislav Games
Price: Free
Where you can get it: Here!
Tags: Adventure, ags, Ben Jordan, free, Freeware, fun, game, games, independent, Indie, point'n'click, review, reviews