Take an original story, add some unique characters, throw in a splash of comic humour, and you have yourself a classic!
Enter George Stobbart. Just an average guy, on holiday in Paris, sitting outside a cafe, checking out the waitress (not without a degree of subtext).
BLAM!
Suddenly the cafe blows up. There's nothing better than the tried-and-true way of opening any story! You take control of this hapless American tourist right after, thrusting you into a game where you (first) must try to figure out who killed the man inside the cafe.
The game takes the form of a point-and-click adventure, with the mechanics revolving around your dialogue with other people and items you find. Half the fun is trying to figure out what to do with your junk.
Controls are pretty basic - you only really have to worry about the mouse. The menu could be said to be ahead of its time, cleverly hidden in the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, only appearing when you "mouse over" them.
By and far the most fun you'll have playing this game is conversing with the people you meet. Every single conversation - every person, every word, even every cough - is fully voiced. This serves two purposes - it allows you to be more absorbed into the game world, and allows for an unsurpassed level of truly epic humour, which is rare in any game.
Right from the very start of the game you can get into the fun. Proffering up a dirty handkerchief to everyone you meet can elicit some hilarious responses, perhaps made even funnier by the french accents of the locals. Even the extras that you don't see for more than five minutes (or longer if you end up stumped by a puzzle) are brimming with character, mannerisms, and attitude.
Of particular note are the rich and varied environments you find yourself going to. You start in Paris, but towards the end there are trips overseas that, although they require much disc swapping between disc 1 and 2, are visually stimulating, which helps to overcome the obvious shortcomings of the 2D maps. The characters move about on the maps, but the maps are mainly just pictures. No two areas are the same, and each have their own special camera angle that seems somehow right.
In addition to the vibrant locales, there are several cut-scenes giving the game more of an "action" feel to it. George's facial expressions really are something you have to experience for yourself!
In addition to the main plot, there is a character George is interested in romantically. Some of his inner thoughts are amusing, and their conversations make it seem he is more likely to win the lottery. As to the end result ... I'll leave it for you to discover.
Here is one of my favourite excerpts:
George: "What do you make of this red nose?"
Man: "Yes, yes. Carpets, yes?"
George: "Does this mean anything to you?" ::holds out a photo::
Man: "Lovely carpets? Yes!"
Or:
Man: "Hello, hello. You buy kebab? Most good!"
George: Does this mean anything to you?" ::holds out dirty hankie::
Man: "No, no. You buy kebab!"
George: "I'd value your opinion on this, sir." ::holds out sewer key::
Man: "You buy kebab. You buy kebab. Yum. Most good!"