This game takes gaming in a direction that I've never seen before.
Graphics - 10/10
Plot - 10/10
Gameplay/controls - 7/10
Length - Less than 2 hours.
This game is not a traditional videogame. There is no fighting, action, sports, killing, or pretty much anything other than raw story.
The whole premise of the game is very cryptic, and the plot is as well. The plot follows the story of a man who writes about the time he spends on this Island, and the mental issues he dealt with.
This game is more suited for those with English degrees than anything else, period. Yet, those with an interest in literature and some literary understanding may be able to glean some of the serious metaphors that play constantly through this game.
If you enjoy picking apart stories then this is the game for you. There are so many parallelisms and metaphors that if this book had been written, though, it couldn't have been, it would instantly be a classic, rivaling any classic writer.
This game brings a whole new meaning to gaming as a visual art, and offers the player a world to explore, and a story to experience. The game devastates Robert Ebert's mantra that "video games can never be art" by creating a true masterpiece that should, forever, stand as a pinnacle of video gaming, art, and literature.
That said, many of you reading my review will not like this game. Period. If you have no interest in literature, and love to death your FPS games and even some Jrpg fans may take issue with this game. The truth is, this game is not for those who come into it unprepared, but even if you do, you will find yourself gasping at the beautiful graphics.
Now, there are, sadly, a few problems with the game. Slowly walking around can get a bit tedious in the first chapter, as there is substantially more walking there than anything else, mostly because the player wishes to see EVERYTHING. This is good and bad, because the controls, and walking speed are a bit lackluster and sometimes you can't quite find your way around some rocks. You can also get trapped underwater if you don't manually put in the "swim up button" in the options menu, and once I glitched into the water and had to ctrl+alt+delete the game to get back out.
The ending of the game also just cuts out, so I found it difficult to know when it ended, or (this is unlikely, but I'd even be happy if it were true) my copy of the game has a bug and when I get to what seems like an end it crashes and then I miss out, but I doubt that. So the ending just turns to black, and you don't really have any indication of an end, especially when you hope for more.
The game is also very brief, which means it takes about 1-2 hours to play through it the first time. That said, there are some advantages to that as well. This game almost requires multiple playthroughs to understand, and the brevity of the game makes it less of a chore and more of an enjoyable experience to replay the game.
I have also heard that revisiting areas can result in additional dialogue, but I have only played it a few times and haven't really noticed much, especially because I'm discovering new facets of the story each time, so I could be finding new tidbits, or just getting deeper into old ones. Regardless, multiple playthroughs are a must!
This game is a fantastic story that, coupled with it's perfectly cued audio and wonderfully executed graphics, will make you wonder, "why aren't more games like this?"