As I think about this I guess I should clarify my position: I don't feel these two games would qualify as adventure games. I've played quite a few Hidden Object games from Big Fish, and many of them actually have intricate stories, dialogs with NPCs, and objects that you can collect to use in other locations. To me this type of Hidden Object game could definitely qualify as an adventure game. Unfortunately, neither Amazon or Titanic are like that. Granted, Amazon does have mini-games, but I still don't think that's enough to consider it a true Adventure game. Nick Chase: A Detective Story is an example of a "Hidden Object" game that I would consider more of an adventure game. Again, all my opinion. There are some "adventure game" sites that label FPS games as adventure, so who knows?
I understand completely.Thanks for the heads up on Titanic and Amazon. I don't like hidden object games if there's no story to follow.
It's just that so many reviews call a game an "adventure" game and it besmirches the memory I have of those games. "Action adventure"? What is that? People don't really know what an adventure game is, anymore. It just gets to me a little when the name is misused in places. I have no problem calling Phoenix Wright an adventure game. I didn't really know that there were deep hidden object games. Pixel-hunting is a sort of hidden-object hunt, after all, isn't it? I've always stayed clear, but maybe I should try some out.
I feel exactly the same way. I remember when "adventure" game meant another entry in the Zork or King's Quest series, not the next Doom or Diablo. I have no real proof of this, but I think what happens over time is that people start throwing labels on games just to attract potential buyers that might not be interested otherwise. Of course this assumes that the buyer won't actually look into the game more beyond reading the term "adventure", but sadly there are people like that. As for Phoenix Wright or hidden object games being adventure games, they're closer than a lot of mis-labels, but they still don't quite fill the void that we seem to be lacking in true adventure games. From what I can tell Hector is a great candidate (looking forward to trying that one), and some time soon BulkyPix will be releasing Lost King Of Africa, a game by B. Sokal (sorry, can't spell the guy's first name), who right now is pretty much the king of adventure games. When you add that to the Path Of The Dragon series and the other adventure games that Tetraedge is slowly leaking onto the iPhone, we're at least starting to get some good choices. Now when you throw "point & click" on there, that adds a whole new complexity on to the question "how picky do you get?" Technically, any of the first person adventure games are P&K, but when I think P&K I think of the brilliance that was Sierra Online in the 80s and early 90s - King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry. Basically, screen scrolling third person adventures. But, if it's got a great story, character interaction and puzzle solving, I'm not sure I really care what perspective it's in. As you can tell I don't care about this topic at all
I actually consider Phoenix Wright as an adventure game, despite what it may seem like. To me, adventure games are games where rather than having any sort of action, you control a character, no matter what perspective, who walks around using items and talking to characters, as well as searching the environment to progress in the game and the storyline, which is a big part of every adventure game. Phoenix Wright fits this description perfectly, especially the storyline and character interaction. Point and click adventure, maybe not, but it definitely is an adventure game.
When you take Telltale's Sam & Max series, it's not exactly point-and-click, but I would easily put them right along the '80s and '90s classics. So, it's not that easy. It's just the sort of game that a dedicated group of gamers can't let go of, despite the genre's decline in popularity (just take a look at the adventuregamers.com or the AGS adventure game creation community). It's hard to put into one description, but basically story, characters, exploration, dialogue, and inventory and object hunting is a good start. Then again, you could also put Myst and Riven in the same group and it would be lacking in one or two of those areas. The Journeyman Project games? All the FMV adventure games of the '90s? 7th Guest, 11th Hour? The line gets thinner, but the basic appeal is the same. Of course, I don't care for the subject at all neither. (I still have two Tex Murphy games--The Pandora Directive and Overseer-- that I some day need to finish.)
I agree with you 100%. I probably should not have thrown Phoenix Wright in there, because I haven't actually played that one so I'm not familiar with the structure. Besides, I'm trying to respond to this thread in the midst of doing several other things I think the key ingredients to an adventure are: 1. Story 2. Character(s) - technically you only need one, but they aren't nearly as interesting 3. Objects to interact with, and ultimately to use to solve puzzles 4. Multiple locations to visit Sadly, when you lay it out like that an FPS could fall into the category of adventure. However, I think the fact that most FPS games rely on shooting as the primary method of handling things makes me comfortable to not consider them adventure games.
I wondered when Myst and Riven would come up. Personally, I don't like those games at all. It's true there's a story, but to me the game play was sacrificed by being primarily puzzle driven. If I'm not mistaken the games didn't even have an inventory, did they? Maybe having some characters to interact with would have helped, but I just never got into them. As for Sam & Max, they technically are a 90s classic: Sam & Max Hit The Road. I don't think I ever got very far in that game, but it was still a lot of fun from what I remember.
Seems like (with some slight variations), everyone here is on the same page of what we like for "adventure." This is refreshing. Prior to my iPad, searching for "adventure" games on windows mobile or Blackberry, or even Gamepro/Gamespot turned up action and RPG games only (with the exception of ScummVM on WM). And now, with Apple's lousy search (what? No sub-categories?), threads like this are critical.
I never liked puzzle games (and still really don't) until I played the Professor Layton games on the DS since they were as close as I was going to get to "adventure" from Nintendo. Still hate the puzzles, but the story, characters, artwork, and town explorations are classic adventure, and ultimately make them fun to play. But still hate those puzzles.
I don't despise the puzzles as much as you do, but this is exactly my point. At least games like Professor Layton have character interaction and town exploration to balance out the puzzles. That to me was what really lacked in Myst, which is why I didn't care for it. I thought the DS had some true adventure games, though. Don't they make Broken Sword for the DS?
I always thought Myst had a story. Thanks for the warning. And Honestly, I just downloaded Broken Sword last night for the iPad. Up until a month ago, I never heard of the game. Don't know how I missed it. But I was really a Sierra kid growing up. I still Google Ken and Roberta Williams just to see how they're doing.
Hopefully some of these DS games will be ported to the iPhone http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?site=ds&cat=251&year=0&numrev=3&sort=0&letter=&search= Myst does have a story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myst_(series)
I'm not saying that Myst doesn't have a story. I just don't like the way the game presents it. It's not the typical adventure style format. I think this list completely proves our point about the problems trying to classify adventure. I would not consider a good portion of that list to be adventure. It would be kind of cool to see Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk ported, though I probably wouldn't get them since I already have the DS versions. Last King Of Africa is being ported.
As mind-blowingly amazingly awesome as that game was, I wouldn't classify it as strictly "adventure", but rather "action adventure". While it meets the conditions for an adventure game, it contains many other elements, like stealth, action, and many elements of an adventure game. Therefore, I'm going to go ahead and classify it as an "action-adventure" game.
As much as I like Sierra adventures, particularly the Police Quest series, they come in 3rd for major adventure game companies. My list is: 1.) LucasArts with their best game being The Curse of Monkey Island (and I've played through almost every LucasArts game that I could get on ScummVM) 2.) Revolution, with their best being Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars 3.) Sierra, with my personal favorite from them being Police Quest.
I used Point & Click because, as others noted, adventure games don't imply this genre. Point & Click, though too specific, wouldn't be misunderstood as another genre.
Me neither, although the environments are simply awesome to behold (especially in Myst IV). I think it could be argued that these games are at least related to adventure games, but they are widely seen as adventures. There are also a slew of other very good 360 degrees panoramic view adventure games (Journeyman Project series, Black Dahlia, Return to Mysterious Island, Zork: Nemesis/Grand Inquisitor) that probably have more in common with adventure games (adding to the confusion). And then you have games like Neverhood that really look nothing like traditional point-and-click adventures, but I'm sure most adventure game loving people could appreciate. That game has more in common with a room escape game, but it has been so exceedingly well done and with such great character, it can be called an adventure game in my book. I hope you don't mind me using this discussion to go on a trip down memory lane.
