Story and presentation are two very important aspects for any title in the adventure game genre. Not delivering on either often spells mediocrity and eventual doom for a franchise, especially those that are making their debut. Thankfully, The Longest Journey does not fail here.
One of the main themes of the story concerns the existence of parallel realities. However, unlike some stories (especially comic books) that often use such a theme as a convenient deux ex machina to justify otherwise improbable and inexplicable happenings, The Longest Journey uses it as the crux, as well as to support another major theme of the game: the significant contrast between the qualities of the two worlds that existed side-by-side yet are virtually ignorant of each other's existence.
To illustrate the second main theme, one of the two worlds happens to be a sci-fi futuristic extrapolation of our own, with very materialistic leanings; the other is a fantasy world with more spiritual (and of course magical) tendencies. The inhabitants of either world have very, very contrasting personalities and habits. The main protagonist of the game, an unassuming girl reaching adulthood named April, points this out clearly at one point in the game herself.
With such an antipodean theme, it would be easy for the game-makers to make mistakes in the presentation of the game, namely jarring transitions from one world to the next, or resort to cookie-cutter fetch-and-carry solutions that merely makes use of the protagonist's ability to move from world-to-world to disguise the tedium. Fortunately, the game did not turn out this way.
The game-makers have smartly reserved alternating chapters in the game's story to either world, thus bringing some much needed focus to each phase of the progression of the story. Speaking of which, each phase has the protagonists learning more about either world, even about the one that they used to live in before their otherworldly ordeals (pun intended). April, in particular, eventually develops an appreciation for the circumstances and laws that governed the existence of both worlds. (This reviewer finds her fascination at learning such new knowledge quite convincing and endearing.)
Puzzles in the game can be mostly solved by bringing the right item to the right place at the right time. Most of them appear to be quite logical, and more importantly, April will have been informed of what she needs through clues, hints or outright requests. Considering that either world that she has to traverse to are grounded in next-to-pure fiction, such puzzle designs are wise. There are very, very few moments in the game where a puzzle solution is frustratingly obscured, which is good as the core of the game involves the progression of the intriguing story.
It is also a bonus that the effort spent on solving puzzles in the game also involves witty or at least worthwhile dialogue, which serves to elaborate on the personal leanings of each character in the game (even the seemingly inconsequential ones). Some of the dialogues, such as the back-and-forth between April and a security guard, can be surprisingly entertaining.
Perhaps the greatest strength of the game is the one that the player gets to see almost right from the start, which is the artwork that went into the environments. They are not fully 3D, but are hand-drawn canvasses draped onto virtual frames, much like the environments in games that used the Infinity Engine like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. It is from this artwork that the theme of contrasting qualities can be seen. The sci-fi futuristic world of Stark reflects the disparity in its development and its hustle and bustle: slums, tenements and homely sub-urbs sit next to towering skyscrapers and industrial facilities, all the while having flying vehicles zipping around them. In contrast, the fantastic and magical world of Arcadia looks idyllic and serene, but when war arrives the horizon fills with smoke and sorcerous storms.
There are also many other locales in the game, some of which are not even located on the two worlds. The artwork that went into them has its own special flavour, though to describe them is to include too many spoilers in this review.
While not strictly necessary, having voiced-over dialogues, monologues and narration is very expedient if an adventure game needs to have the player making sense of its theme and story. The voice-over in this game is generally above average, with some being particularly top-notch. April's voice-over would seem like it is the biggest let-down in the game, but for the most part (to this reviewer), the voice actress does a good job at portraying an otherwise ordinary girl who had been unwillingly thrown into a crisis that threatens the existence of two worlds.
The voice-over for Crow, her talkative companion, however, may seem to many as the foil for April's; Crow is first-and-foremost an animal, so many happenings that would seem terrifyingly critical to April would appear inconsequential to him personally, and his voice-over does a very good job of bringing forth his often-nonchalant attitude. (On the other hand, Crow's personality can also fray the nerves of many players.)
Every scene in the game appears to have ambient sound effects: what there is to be heard includes incoherently jumbled bartering in scenes involving bazaars, the muffled hum of machinery in sci-fi complexes, the soft twinkling of magic in the air in a wizard's lab-cum-library, among others. These serve to improve the immersion of the game.
For scenarios that have a dramatic conclusion to them, the developers resort to using pre-rendered CGI cutscenes. The CGI cutscenes are nothing short of superb and likely breath-taking to many players, though the transition from cutscene to in-game graphics can be sometimes jarring (especially for the woefully shorter cutscenes).
Perhaps the biggest drawback that this game has is the in-game 3D models used for the characters. They look relatively lackluster when compared to the rest of the graphics in the game (namely the stunning artwork). This is especially the case when characters give each other items, where the animation merely consists of bringing what seem to be hands closer together; no item appears to have been exchanged. Some interesting animations do help to distract the player from the fact that most models are relatively unimpressive, however.
Particle effects that are supposed to emanate from characters during in-game cutscenes are also poor to look at, and the game shows this very early on in the game in an incident involving a laser-happy corporate goon. Furthermore, sound effects that accompany these moments are often very underwhelming, if there are any at all, especially when compared to the audio in CGI cutscenes.
To summarize this review, The Longest Journey is one of the best adventure games that this reviewer had the chance to experience. It has its flaws, but its more well-done aspects far more than distracts any marring that it has.