First review for Alter Ego: 9.0/10

[Trashcantoy]

http://www.gameindustry.com/review/item.asp?id=1226

Story is supposed to be awesome, but i find the price a little high, and someone on these forums stated that it was an 8 hour game.. guess ill hold off till a decent sale.

[gijas04]

Yeah, 8 hours isn't long enough to warrent that price. I dont care how good the story is... why did they raise the price anyway since most adventure games usually are under $20 or am I still living in the past?

[MattMock]

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/adventure/alterego2009/review.html
Gamespot just gave it a 3.5/10, a toxic score. That is a pretty big difference and makes me a bit curious. I wish there was a demo to check out.

[Culgan]

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/alterego

Here's 4 reviews of the game so far.

35% GameSpot
70% GameStar
72% Gamers.at
82% GamingXP

Average rating of 61%

[wingers17]

Gamespot is the last place That I trust reviews from. Especially since they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Kane and Lynch

[MattMock]

Gamespot is the last place That I trust reviews from. Especially since they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Kane and Lynch

That stuff bugged me too, but they are the only major site that does a good job on PC reviews. Other sites seem to just copy/paste their console reviews, but Gamespot at least adds a paragraph or two on bugs, controls and performance issues.
Places like rockpapershotgun are dedicated PC but their reviews are slow coming out and they cover far fewer games.

[maul_inc01]

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/alterego

Here's 4 reviews of the game so far.

35% GameSpot
70% GameStar
72% Gamers.at
82% GamingXP

Average rating of 61%

Metacritic?? Why? taking the average of several reviews is a pretty shallow way of determine the quality of a game (or movie/book).
If you really want some informative review, you should stick to those whose focus is on the Review itself. Like Bit-tech who always make reviews that spans a couple of pages of text, that Imho gives a much clearer picture of the quality.

In short, it pays to actually do some reading now and then ;)

[gijas04]

I'll add to the above and say Adventure Gamers and Just Adventure have more detailed reviews for the adventure genre which as the title of the sites suggest they are dedicated to the genre as well. Most reviewers on these sites have played more adventure games in a month than players have played in a lifetime. So, its your call but GS is a bit critical on games that don't pay them off if you know what I mean... Gene.

[Culgan]

Metacritic?? Why? taking the average of several reviews is a pretty shallow way of determine the quality of a game (or movie/book).
If you really want some informative review, you should stick to those whose focus is on the Review itself. Like Bit-tech who always make reviews that spans a couple of pages of text, that Imho gives a much clearer picture of the quality.

In short, it pays to actually do some reading now and then ;)

I did read them, I just posted the scores.

[Robrecht]

I hate to say it, but ultimately the Gamespot review is mostly accurate (though the final score might be a bit higher).

The fact that Alter Ego is easy isn't really a problem, for instance, since the two goals of an Adventure game are puzzles and telling a story.

And story is ultimately Alter Ego's problem: all throughout the game it seems to be building up suspense and as the story progresses it raises loads and loads of questions that you desperately want to see answered...

Then the game ends, suddenly and of those developments you were following that were pulling you into it, a full three quarters never get resolved and the remaining quarter gets resolved very poorly (and fully half of those get explained away in fifteen seconds of dialogue).

Worse yet right before the end, the story seems to be building up to an 'epic' final confrontation... Which never happens... Instead you end up with a very, very crappy ending that seems be setting up a sequel, but over all still gives you the feeling that you didn't accomplish anything.

If they wanted to have a GOOD sequel hook, they should've ended the game about a minute earlier, right before the final cutscene.

[Ryla_Grey]

I also have to agree that Gamespot's review is probably the most accurate. I live for these kind of adventure games, but after winning this one, I just felt disappointed. There are not really any good logic puzzles- A lot of time is spent either backtracking, trying out figure out which item goes with which hotspot, or re-visiting people to find a new dialogue line in order to progress the game forward.

The story was slightly compelling, but so many plot parts are never pursued or explained. The ending is unexpected, but also very unfulfilling. I spent a while trying to figure out if there were alternate endings, but nope, that's it. In all likelihood, they're trying to setup a sequel. However, if you're going to go that route, you want the player to feel like they're a part of a story and have them eager to play the sequel. Alter Ego fails at that.

[Joe Molotov]

I have to agree with Ryla and Robrecht. I don't trust Gamespot's adventure game scores any more than anyone else, but in this case a 3.5 is probably deserved. The game is easy, short, the story goes nowhere, and the ending blows.

[CliffRacer]

I'm thinking 3.5 is a little low unless you factor in the price, and by that I mean make it the most important factor. Thing is, I'm enjoying this every bit as much as the newest season of Sam And Max, and while it's easy, that's not always a bad thing when you just wanna relax and adventure.

But um, yeah, color me shocked when I ran into my first 'truly stuck' moment. With only 5 hours of play time I had to scroll down more than 3/4 of the way to find my spot in the walk-though. Yikes!

It's funny because immediately after that I had this sinking feeling, as with how much momentum the story has going for it at that moment theirs simply no way it would all get tied up that quickly in any satisfying way.

But other than that I've had a grand old time. Coming off of Monkey Island 2 I love how most puzzles don't require me to deal with more than a few areas at a time. I think the environments and sound design are fantastic, and apart from most characters being unlikeable twats, find the plot quite enjoyable.

I guess I'm just an 'Old Codger' and can remember when Nintendo carts would set ya back 60 bucks and you had no idea what you were gonna get. Yeah it's short, but considering what we used to pay for, it's not that bad to me.

[bobsbarricades]

hrnmm.... well that's sad. any of you guys play dracula:origins? I just finished it and LOVED it. Looking for more like it. suggestions?

[sorry, don't mean to hijack!]

[toukonstuart]

Does anyone else find the price of this game ridiculous after it has been out so long? It's not too far off the price of upcoming new releases like Dragon Age 2 and The Witcher 2, at least in my territory (UK). I'd love to play it but even a 50% sale would have me on the fence at this price.