Longest Journey, The (PC) (1999)
Developer: Funcom

Review by Faididi and Co.

And an amazing one, too

Story: Excellent

April is a kindhearted young woman supporting herself through college, but she has little idea that she'll undertake a grand quest spanning two realms. One is the sci-fi future where our heroine begins, and the other is a wondrous magic-fantasy land. Although the story tells of a secret war against interdimensional villains, the best part about it is the level of detail found in its dual worlds. The sci-fi side contains more than just hovercars and towering metropolises. As April observes various parts of her city, her comments will reveal its many complexities, from a history dotted with bloody civil unrest to marketing ploys created by desperate businesses. The magic-fantasy side is equally realized, except the inhabitants there grumble over unpredictable wizardry while wishing for reliable advanced technology. One of the most impressive scenes is the Alatien village, where April can spend the day sitting down and listening to the storytellers sharing entire folktales and other parts of their mythology, and that's just damn awesome.

Gameplay: Excellent

Funcom's The Longest Journey is a lenient third person graphic adventure whose emphasis rests squarely on story and atmosphere. With you moving a cursor and clicking on different parts of the screen, April will explore the areas, make observations, talk with other characters, and manipulate objects. She can never fall into any real danger or become stuck, and the game even clearly indicates whether she can use a specific item on another object or not. Her progress may be saved at any time.

Despite their easy nature, the puzzles stick to sensible solutions and neatly fit into the story. For example, if April has to sneak past a guard, she can drug his beverage when he is looking away, instead of relying on a silly diversion. Or, if she needs to overcome a monster chasing her, she can lure it under falling boulders. The puzzles avoid being overly contrived, and even the most abstract ones (like the dial machine in the underwater cave) can be solved with logic and educated guesses, not with random experimentation.

Keeping things fun is the sheer variety of places that April visits. Her explorations in one world will take her through apartment buildings, parks, campus grounds, slums, trendy shopping districts, and orbital stations. Her travels in the other realm will cover sprawling marketplaces, pubs, forests, swamps, exotic islands, ancient ruins, and even the convoluted tower of a mad sorceror. From deep underground caverns to the far reaches of outer space, April's journey is never a dull one.

Controls: Excellent

April walks and runs with a few simple mouse clicks. Interacting with characters and objects are all easy to do, thanks to the neatly organized menus.

Graphics: Excellent

The Longest Journey looks gorgeous. The highly detailed characters are fluidly animated, and April's many outfits are a nice touch. The environments show off painstaking levels of detail, from the garbage-littered streets of the city slums to the beautiful mosaics and sculptures covering the walls of the massive cathedrals, and from the dazzling rainbow flowers of the forests to the cozy candle-lit rooms of the nighttime cabins and taverns.

Audio: Excellent

The game sounds great, too. The impressive ambience effects help bring every area to life, be they the noise of distant traffic echoing across the urban back streets, the crying of seagulls over the sunny harbor full of creaking wooden ships, or the quiet humming inside the space station's cooly lit corridors. With the sole exception of one awful-sounding antagonist, the voice acting is beautifully done. The game is also notable for featuring nonhuman characters who don't talk with cheesy accents. (For example, the Alatien storytellers speak as eloquently as their human counterparts do.) Completing the atmosphere with enthralling effect is the music, whether it's the dark, brooding main theme or the festive jingles heard at the bazaars.

Overall: Excellent

The Longest Journey tells its captivating story through its sensible puzzles, flawless controls, breathtaking visuals, strong voice acting, and sublime music. With its meticulously crafted world, this exceptional graphic adventure is an ideal choice for those who love both science fiction and magic fantasy.

OST: Excellent

Published by Funcom, The Longest Journey soundtrack contains all the music from the graphic adventure, including the four deep house tunes from the jukebox at the cafe. It also comes with a bonus track, which is a twelve-minute suite that strings together various pieces from the score. This is the only part of the soundtrack where the marketplace song can be heard. That's somewhat unfortunate, because the song is retouched here, losing some of the delightfully simple tone that marks the original in-game version.