Next Life may not be the next step in adventure games, but it can still provide a great story and a unique journey.
On the other hand, if you are an experienced adventurer, you might find that "Next Life" holds a certain innocent charm.
That been said - on to the review.
What happens after you die? Is there an "After-Life"? What about a "Next Life"? If you've been asking yourself these questions, then "Next Life" might be the game for you.
Adam just woke up on a strange island, with no recollection on how he got there, or even where "There" is. The last thing he can remember is a big truck smashing into his car. He soon finds out that he isn't alone on the island; other people, all of them recently suffered from a "near death experience", inhabit a small colony (10 cabins) along the coast line. The strange thing (well, strange-est) is that none of them can agree on what date it is.
You play as Adam, the "new guy" on the island, as you explore, chat, and collect sticks and stones (mostly sticks and stones) in an attempt to piece together the big mystery – what the hell is going on.
The story arch is definitely the game's strong point. But there is more than just a nice story. "Next Life" looks great for an adventure game, especially the characters. Every single one of them (including Adam) is unique in looks and behavior, and even has its own expressions and gestures.
The backgrounds are detailed and diverse, and the cut-scenes are beautiful.
Story and graphics are all fine and dandy, but what about the gameplay? Well, here is where the game fumbles a bit. The gameplay is slow, even for an adventure game. Adam will take his sweet time doing just about anything, be it walking, picking an object or climbing a ladder. Sure, you can make him run by double tapping your mouse, but even when running, Adam is incredibly slow.
Another very annoying aspect is the constant pixel-hunting. Every time you walk into a new level, your best action is to scan it top to bottom with your mouse, in order to find all the hot spots on the screen. None of the hot spots are obvious, or even highlighted. Most of the times I got stuck in the game were because I missed a certain object along the way, and this can be a real pain.
The background music is pretty standard, when present, and does a good job at creating the mood for every scene. The voices, on the other hand, are less than acceptable. Whoever wrote the dialog is clearly not fluent in English, and there were times the subtitles and the spoken dialog did not match, which can be confusing. Every character was a different voice, but a lot of the accents sound alike; the only one that stood out was the Scottish accent of one of the characters, but not because it sounded Scottish.
I'd recommend "Next Life" to anyone who played a lot of other adventure games before, and can be forgiving towards the flaws this genre tends to suffer from.
If you've never played any adventure games in your life, or just plain hate them, keep your distance.