Sunday, October 25, 2015

Point and Click Adventure Review: Dream Machine Chapter 3

The third chapter of The Dream Machine follows the second with a bang, as Victor explores the dreams of the person he cares for the most.

This chapter starts right where the second left off, with Victor inside the dreams of his wife, Alicia. In her dream, she is the captain of a boat named the S.S. Albatross. The crew is quite unnerving because every person Victor meets in his wife's dream is an identical copy of himself, albeit with different jobs to perform. 

The artwork in this episode is the best yet. I continue to be awed by the fantastic backgrounds, especially considering everything is made by hand out of physical material such as cardboard. The walls of the ship and the metal stairs are really impressive, as they have a well-worn quality to them, with spots made to look like dust and faded paint. The strung-up lights adorning the ship are super impressive, considering that these rooms were created with real-world materials. I've worked on animation projects with clay, and it is very hard to get the lighting right. With the addition of lights, I'm really impressed that they were able to maintain lighting consistency in every area explored on the catwalk outside the ship's quarters.

The music continues to be pleasingly macabre. It's not anything I'd call memorable, but the haunting melodies work well with the atmosphere of the game.

The puzzles in chapter three also continue to live up to the standards of the episodes before them. They are challenging but fun and interesting. They are one of the best parts of this chapter.

Dream Machine chapter three continues to live up to the high bar set in the previous episodes. The creepy story, chilling vibe, and fantastic handmade artwork make this game a pleasure to explore. Chapter three doesn't set the stakes up with its finale the way the previous episodes did, but it's still a wonderful episode.

Final Verdict:

No comments: