Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 1 - In Search of the Skunk-Ape

The Good
Well, you don't ignore that I'm also a contributor on others sites than Mobygames. Well, I was intrigued by a title: Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator. I clicked and I was disappointed to see an almost-empty profile apart for a FAQ. I decided to just add some information. And I discovered something: Ben Jordan was a free game, downloadable and an old-school adventure game. Suddenly, I saw myself playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis or Woodruff. And I decided to give a try to Ben Jordan.

Well, I downloaded the game. Only 6,4 Mb for the normal game. The Deluxe edition has its own entry here, so, I will not speak about it here. The game is zipped, so, you have to extract it and creating a directory for it if necessary.

The synopsis is simple: Ben Jordan is a young man, graduated in International Relations but more interested by doing something in his life than working at the local grocery, as he puts it. His first case leads him in Everglades Florida (CSI: Miami must be not for away...). There is a local "monster", the Skunk-Ape, called like that because of his smell. It's like Bigfoot. But a problem happened. Several bodies, mostly rangers's, are found in the woods, with so much evidences leading to the Skunk-Ape as the culprit. Well, Ben isn't Horatio Caine but he wants to do his best for finding the truth.

As you can see, it's not the great complex story like in some universes, but it's enough for a game who doesn't pretend to be the best for the year.

Gameplay is similar to old-school adventure games. You use your mouse for clicking on a banner with different actions (or right-click on the screen for reaching the action you want to do): talk, walk, take, observe. You can load, save and quit the game easily.

You can also chose the file winsetup for running the game with your settings. You can play in a small window or full screen. Well, I prefer the small window because you don't have to see the pixelised background.

Graphics aren't in 3D, it's in 2D, like the old-school adventure game with few details but it's largely enough for running it on old computers.

Soundtrack is also great. Well, you don't have voice acting but you have ongoing music or ambient sounds and a roar for indicating that you're winning points.

Yep, if you want a perfect score, you have to reach 100 points. You can have them with learning new information, taking objects or doing a specific action.

The Bad
If I wasn't so open-minded about graphics, I think that I'd never played this game. If I didn't remember that my first adventure experience was Indy Jones, I wouldn't have played it. You can guess where I'm heading. Yep, graphics can make some players running from this game. But you can't ask this little game to be the new Dreamfall or the new Runaway.

It's short. So short that I'm seeing this game as something to do when you're doing a break. I'll say that this first case take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete.

Another thing who can confuse the players is the fact that you can't walk without having the icon walk selected. I admit that I'd prefer to walk without having to choose the option.

The Bottom Line
Ben Jordan: In Search of the Skunk-Ape is a little relaxing game, free, downloadable, doing 6,4 Mb and a reminder from the origins of the adventure game. If I will recommend it? Yes, if you're bored and looking to some distraction. No, if you want to play a great adventure game with a lot of things.