Okay so by now you already know the drill. It doesn’t appear that there’s any major changes in the rest of the Ben Jordan games. Obviously it’s going to be a good story. The graphics seem similar to the rest, but I haven’t played it yet. I will get to it in a moment. I will probably like the music. Okay so why am I writing a review when I haven’t actually played it yet. Well I’m late and I’m running out of things to talk about in the first paragraph of these BJ cases. I’m going to be playing it and giving you the review as I play it. How’s them apples.
Here’s the dust cover description (ie the blurb on the Grundislav games website): “After the events in London, Ben Jordan returns home for a much needed rest. One day, he receives a conference call from his friends Simon Booth and Alice Wilkins. Simon has heard of a series of murders in Osaka, Japan, and thinks there is some sort of paranormal activity involved. Ben, Simon, and Alice travel to Japan, but soon find there is much more to the story than they first thought…” Sound interesting? Good, read more next!
Okay well, it’s got a good start. You and your new friend Simon head over to Japan, and are caught up by Alice later. This has the same sort of thing you got in the first four cases. The puzzles aren’t too ridiculous to solve, and in fact flow quite nicely. You meet interesting people do interesting things. Ben and gang go and try to solve a bunch of murders nicknamed the “Ghost murders” however the interesting part about it, is it seems to be zombie-related. I know I know, BRAAAAAINS, nope not this time. Apparently real zombies are people that seem to be dead but are doing their masters bidding. In the case of Ben Jordan they may really be dead (in the game). In any case it appears to have something to do with the businessmen in Osaka. I won’t ruin anymore of the game than that, hopefully people won’t get too mad at me.
The controls are like the others, point and click. You can right click your mouse button to switch between different actions in the form of icons. You can walk, use, talk, or question. You also have an inventory and a notebook you can access from a menu bar at the top of the screen. The interface hasn’t changed all that much in over 4 cases. The only thing that irks me about the interface though is the fact that you don’t know how far on screen you can walk, or whether or not you’re walking the correct way you came. I usually have to keep clicking the edge to see if there’s something I missed. Mr. Gonzalez, if you read these, please, please, for Ben Jordan’s last case (or possible future cases if you so choose), make sure that the exits are clearly marked and that you also clearly mark where you can walk if you can walk off screen. It’s kind of annoying to accidentally click outside the window (as I have to play windowed to write these reviews and play at the same time). Also if you can clearly mark where the hotspot on the cursor is. That’s just annoying too. Other than that, the interface is fine.
The graphics look pretty much the same although the character portraits are getting better and better. More shading, proper perspective and proportion. The music as always, shines like the sun. I can’t help but gush about the music because it sounds very professional, however I also have to cloud the sun a bit. Non-stop music is a bit annoying. It would be nice if the music faded in and out. There aren’t many sound effects, and those that are in sort of feel out of place, as though they’re sound effects… which they are.
I haven’t actually finished this case yet, but believe me, they are all worth playing. You have a decent story and characters, questionable art that gets better over time, and great music. I suggest you check it out as soon as you can. And why not? They are free, as in beer.
Okay I have now finished the case, and it’s pretty cool. I only had to use a walkthrough three times.
Go play it now!
Name: Ben Jordan case 5: Land of the Rising Dead!
Developer: Grundislav Games
Price: Free
Where you can get it: Here!
Tags: Adventure, ags, Ben Jordan, Casual, free, Freeware, fun, game, games, Grundislav Games, independent, Indie, point'n'click, retro styled, review, reviews, Uhfgood, windows