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Platform: PC Review by: Paul Franzen I don't know if you, the reader, have noticed this or not, but there haven't been any good adventure games released since the Y2K bug was something people legitimately feared. A few hundred World War 2 shooters have been released (a day) since then, and I'm pretty sure at least 18 versions of Madden Football are released annually; but the only "bone" we adventure gamers are thrown action-oriented games with a few puzzles thrown in. Which is, of course, entirely what we don't want. Enter Telltale Games. They've got this idea—it's crazy, but hear me out on this—to actually make quality adventure games. Something no one has the rocks to do anymore.
The series is called Bone, and it's based on the graphic novels of the same name by one Jeff Smith. Telltale is releasing one "chapter" of the game every six months or so (sort of like what Bandai did with .hack), so with each new purchase you're not really getting a full story. I actually started the series on this, the second chapter, and I found it (try to follow me on this) to be roughly like starting a book on the second chapter. The story itself follows the further adventures of Fone Bone, a cardboard character who's only defining trait is that he appears, on first glance and upon further glances, to be an actual bone. He and his cousins Phony Bone and Smiley Bone (no, seriously, I can't make names like that up) were kicked out of their home town of Boneville (yes, that's really what it's called) in the last chapter, and in this chapter, Phony's trying to swindle the local-yokels out of their hard-earned eggs while Fone's trying to win the heart of a fair non-bone maiden. Got all that? OK, so the story's a little goofy, but since it's licensed material, we can't reeeeally hold that against the developers. And once you get passed all the boning (or if you can just cast it aside all together), you'll find a cute lil' story held together well by quality puzzles. Like in Day of the Tentacle, you actually play as three different characters in The Great Cow Race, switching off among the bones at your leisure. It gives you something else to do if you're stuck on one character's puzzle, though many puzzles require one bone to do something before another bone can do his thing. And if you have trouble figuring that out, The Great Cow Race features what is quite possibly the greatest thing I've ever seen in adventure game: a built-in hint file. It gives successive hints, each revealing more than the one before until it flat-out tells you what you need to do, and after having played this game, I'm not sure how I could live without it.
Major, major props go out to the good folks at Telltale for not giving in to the peer pressure of their dim-witted adventure game contemporaries—your control scheme is point-and-click, rather than the keyboard scheme many nuevo (a Spanish word meaning "inane") adventure developers have been forcing upon their gamers. It works great, as it always has. The only time you'll even touch your keyboard is if you're pressing the space bar to skip dialogue or a cutscene, and I couldn't be much happier. Telltale also left action/stealth elements completely out of their game, because apparently they're total geniuses. I can't believe it's taken us this many bad adventure games to realize action shouldn't be anywhere near it, but I'm glad we're finally over that hurdle. They did throw in a few minigames, which sent up a huge red flag for me. Minigames in adventure games typical fall into at least one of three categories: too hard, too dumb, and too far removed from the pointing and the clicking. The minigames in The Great Cow Race lean towards the dumb side, though I was happy to put my custodial background to some use in what I believe is the first ever mopping minigame. Still, I could do without them. The game's style and sense of humor oftentimes seems more suited for wee younglings than us super sophisticated 20-somethings, but it's not like there's a lot else out there you can play. Truth be told, if this game was released in the 90s it wouldn't be getting such a high fun rating as I'm giving it, as it would've had actual competition then, and to beat that competition it would need to ditch the Bone story entirely and either find a new license or create it's own IP. But in 2006, I'm willing to put up with bad jokes if i get a good adventure game. I will say this, though: I'm not at all sold on the 3D graphics. As far as 3D graphics go they're fine (if not totally super keen awesome), but I've always preferred Monkey Island 3's 2D cartoony look. As this game's based on a freakin' comic book you'd think that would be a lock, but maybe that's just me. Also, a few of the voices got on my nerves, but maybe the kiddies prefer a lack of realism. After all, this IS a group of people that considers Amanda Bynes to be a top-notch actress.
Bone left me wanting more, which, and stop me if I'm wrong here, is probably what Telltale was going for. So, kudos! The next chapter won't be released until the end of this year or so, so now's the time to at least check out the first two games and catch up on what you've been missing. Plus, you can Try Before You Buy—right here, at Telltale's official Web site. You can also buy the game right there and install it directly onto your computer. Actually, that's the only way you can buy the game; you're not gonna find this baby in stores. Technically, Bone: The Great Cow
Race is a step back for the adventure genre as a whole—which means
it's a step in the right direction. We're finally getting away from
what adventure games weren't meant to be, and we're getting back to
what made them fun in the first place. While I can't completely recommend
a purchase of Bone: The Great Cow race (even its lowered price of
$12.99 per chapter seems a little steep for around five hours of
gameplay), if you like this style of games you should check it out.
-- Paul Franzen {04-15-2006} |
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Past Reviews by Paul Franzen: Action
Video Monopoly (GBO) |
