Others say...

"The absolute best adventure game I've ever played!!!"
If you have not played this one, you must! Jonathan Boakes is a master at his craft. This game is very long and well worth the money. It is very detailed, and easy to manuever in the game, easy to access and use inventory items. I was so into the story line and could not wait to get some answers at the ending. I was slightly disappointed with how it ended. But the enjoyment I received from playing it outweighed that. A must have for any adventure game lovers.

"Best addictive ghost hunting game ever!"
I got this game in January, and was instantly addicted to it. It is almost like a good book or movie, it draws you into it as if you were there, it is that good.

I played it every night for hours and still it took nearly 3 weeks to complete it. The puzzles in it are not bad at all, everything you need is intuitive and somewhere within reach of the particular scene you are in. If you haven't found everything you needed, Nigel will say, "I am not yet finished here." or something like that. He will not go where he doesn't need to be so you won't be running about wasting your time in the wrong places. Places open up as you progress through the game.

This game has it all I think. You have the ghost hunting equipment like a tape recorder, a hand video camera, and a remote video setup for the haunted house Nigel lives in. There are many scenes to explore, with all the best elements besides the ghosts, caves, swamps, a seance, crystal ball, lonely railway walk in the night, dark walk through a tomb and a graveyard.

I really liked the black and white scenes with a few objects in full color thoughout the scenes. It gave it a 50's style haunted movie sense to it. Some scenes are in near full color, like the visits to the old lady, but in a faded color sort of way.

I highly recommend this game. I plan play it again after the memory of the details fade a bit so it will be like viewing a favorite movie or a good book again. It is so hard to find a good haunted ghost game out there. This is the best I have played since Phantasmagoria I.

Another note about this game, just when you thought it was over, there was still more! Just like a good horror movie, there is more when you thought you were done with it. This game is the type you won't mind playing again.


The Lost Crown: A Ghosthunting Adventure

"Like experiencing a good book"
This game was fun to play, in the way that reading a fun mystery book is. There is little necessary reading in the game; but the imagery and pacing lends to a sense of being absorbed in the story and pictures.

The pacing can seem slow; but I felt this was both intentional and maintained the "vibe" of the story. You can double-click to speed through things but you risk missing some clues occasionally as you go. The game is good though about clueing you in before you wander far off-course.

As an artist and musician, I especially enjoyed the graphics and sound. It's basically grayscale much like old printing-press/lithographic work, in many places. Color is used subtly but in an interesting way. The haunting effects are pulled off pretty well; I mean, it's a game, not a film, but still fun and sort of creepy when played late at night. :) The sound was fun and not too overbearing (although repeated phrases can get slightly annoying).

Sometimes you want a challenging game; but sometimes it's nice to have something absorbing that doesn't demand a lot of shooting or otherwise knocking yourself out. You want to play a game, but to also kick back and relax. I thought this was great for that kind of mood. The puzzles flow organically and aren't overly craze-making; most stuff you'll need is handily nearby. A couple of the puzzles were a tad obscure, but nothing really bad. In a sense, it's like watching a film or having someone read you a story and showing you the pictures in the book as you go; but of course with interactivity.

The overall storyline was fun; however I felt let down at the end. There were suggestions throughout that some really interesting things might happen that didn't. The story actually makes sense in a "real-world" way but I would have enjoyed a little more punch in the climatic segment.

Still, I think this game offers a great alternative play option for times when you aren't in the mood to shoot-em-up etc.

"Scary enough for me!"
Just to respond to the negative reviews which generally speaking find two main flaws - the game isn't very frightening and its too slow going.

On the scary factor, this is going to be very subjective because different people have different reactions to supposedly supernatural events. Maybe I am very easily frightened but playing this game in a darkened room there were several moments that made my heart race. One was when you are using the camera in Northfield church and the wandering spirit of Thomas Ager pauses to stare straight at you while doing his 'rounds'.(Those eyes!). Another was in the museum where the silence in the butterfly collection room gets shattered for just a couple of seconds by some shadowy figure clumping from one room to another. Just finding out how many of the 'people' you interact with are actually dead caused me to freak out a little too. On the other hand,the spirits that you need to ward off with a special charm on the railway track weren't particularly frightening, as it didn't appear that they could harm you at all.

So we've established that I am a scaredy cat, what about the pace of the game? Once you have mapped out the game in your head (the actual maps provided don't let you teleport to anywhere) it doesn't really take long to get from one location to another and I didn't find any of the conversations to be too long winded or irrelevant, certainly compared to other games in this genre. The voice acting it has to be said, is generally abysmal, you can tell there isn't a single trained actor doing any of the voices and Mr Boakes himself is appalling as the main character. Not since fifth grade high school have I heard such misplaced emphasis on unimportant phrases,lack of inflection and badly timed pauses in the reading of a script.

My main gripe with the game is that there so many unanswered questions at the end. Yes, you find what you were supposed to be looking for and yes, you clear up a few supernatural mysteries related to the lost souls that inhabit Saxton, but nothing explains why Danvers ended up there in the first place or who the mysterious Mr Haddon and his corporation are and why he is so concerned that the lost crown should be found.

I only gave it 3 stars for 'FUN' because it wasn't fun listening to the dialogues and I genuinely found some parts of the game disturbing. 4 stars overall though because it looks great, is easy to play, lasts a long time and has a story with numerous sub-plots that draws you along until the rather disappointing ending.



"Hugely intriguing and immersive"
A masterpiece for those who enjoy pure adventure (shooter lovers need not stop here). Most of the puzzles are quite reasonable, although the subplot has had me pondering for several weeks now. The atmosphere is simply marvelous, made even better by Boake's masterful use of ambient sound. He builds up anticipation until I was frankly terrified at several points in the game. The greyscale mixes with splashes of color set up that atmosphere perfectly.

Stuffed with imagination and an intriguing plot that builds into several layers. For those who enjoy classic, intelligent adventure, you can't do better than this. Those looking for blast and smash won't like it at all.