Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 3 - The Sorceress of Smailholm

The Good
I wanna be a paranormal investigator... Well, after being a rookie in CSI now, I'm not tired to do this job playing Ben Jordan. In real life, I don't believe in such stories but I don't mind playing investigators instead of tortured heroes like or silent ones like Gordon Freeman. Being a FPS geek since a long time, I can't really forget that my first games were Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda or Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. So, that's why I've still a soft spot for adventure games. I was afraid to going back to old-school games, fearing to loose the fact that I was playing by instinct. Having play again Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth and Colonization, I had the feeling that despite having pleasure, something was missing.

That's why I don't want to play Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (never finished the game by the way, being stuck in the desert). That's why I was reluctant to play Ben Jordan. But submitting information on another gaming website, I was curious about it. I didn't resist. I played Ben Jordan. And suddenly, I was back in my childhood, without feeling something missing. That's why I love Ben Jordan. The game, even being short, just unlock the door or the wall preventing me to play old-school adventure games.

Done with me and my stupid fears. But I needed to recognize this quality - the fact that the game can help to link back with the magic touch felt during the end of '80 and beginning of '90.

Storyline is interesting, even if it started with shocking murders. Ben Jordan is called in Scotland, in a small village called Smailholm, following the murders of two little girls. Villagers think that witches are behind this. They found a young woman, Mary Blaine, sleeping next to the bodies and was taken into custody. She's claiming her innocence. Ben will try to prove it but seems that the only one who agreed to help is an old lady, considered like a witch. Even the other investigator, Percival Quentin Jones, doesn't want to help. Well, he doesn't believe in paranormal, so, you can guess that he doesn't carry Ben in his heart... or the villagers, believing into witchcraft. Will Ben solve the mystery or will he be the next victim?

BJ: Sorceress of Smailholm is the third case for our favorite paranormal investigator. And as stated by the main developer, this case will throwing Ben in the main plot written for the rest of the series. Storyline is coherent and I wasn't really expecting the truth behind Smailholm.

Another good sign concerns the lifetime of the game. It's longer because you have two endings. You have a choice to make at the end of Day Two. The result is a longer game with more puzzles if you choose to resist one of the villagers, leading to the "canon" ending or if you choose not to resist, the game will be shorter with a non-canon ending. Ben Jordan is improving on this point but despite complaining about two hours maximum for lifetime, I wouldn't want it otherwise. Ben Jordan can lose its magic touch if it becomes a long game of five hours. Yes, I'm used to play long games - Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 for example - but as a player, I need some short games for clearing ideas (I mean, I play violent games with dark plots, I need a game without so many violence and with a lighter plot). Ben Jordan is one of these.

Gameplay doesn't change a bit. It's still the old school one: use your mouse to select an action like "observe", "take", "talk" or "walk". About this latter, you can't walk if you don't select walk; that's a bit disappointing for people used to walking with just clicking on a place with the mouse. You can pick objects with the finger icon ("take"). For using them, you need to go into your inventory, select the one you want to use and click on the character or object you want to interact with. With the eye icon ("observe") you can observe your environment. Ben will always say something that you read in a box as the game isn't voiced at all. Note that you have to decipher a coded message thanks to a page in your inventory and the handbook provided by the creator in the package. And it introduced the "typing" gameplay: write the message for progressing. Still, it happens only once (and in the canon path) but it's refreshing. Seeing such new features can only make you hope to a real use in the next game.

Graphics are correct for a game without great expectations, just wanting to entertain players. But contrary to the first case, you can enjoy more the graphic engine with Smailholm. And, well, soundtrack is really something that Grundislav Games doesn't want to neglect. You're immersed into a medieval tune, fitting to the story. Even in the graveyard, the soundtrack played a major part for setting the ambiance.

The Bad
Well, if you read carefully the good points, you'll find two "negatives" ones: the walk action and the lifetime. As they are already explained, I will not complain about them in the "What I didn't like" part of my review. Well, don't think that I don't have nothing to add... because I've three little negative points to explain.

First is the annoying witch's laugh when you're gaining points. Well, it's not the Skunk-Ape's roar like in the first case but I prefer smaller sounds or relaxing ones like in the second case, involving a lost galleon in a sea in the middle of the desert. Witch's laugh got on my nerve. I even jumped out of my seat at a moment I wasn't expecting it.... and usually, I did that only when a enemy is taking me by surprise (even after having played the game).

Second concerns the new feature I named the "typing gameplay". The keyboard configuration is QWERTY and being in Europe, where AZERTY is the standard, so, it was frustrating to find the right keys, watching your tool because you can't write instinctively.

Third and final one is the new addition to the game. Despite being a good thing to add recurring characters, sometimes, it can lead the player to bang his head on the keyboard. You have a new friend: Percival Quentin Jones, from Oxford. Criminologist in the old fashion way, not a paranormal geek. You can guess that Ben will not really like him and each encounter is really electric. Even if Percy will be more friendly at the end, he got on my nerves. Being such a close-minded and arrogant makes him a character you want to kill but you can't do it. Reminds me of Jar-Jar Binks, annoying thing - well, he didn't bother me but I can understand that his behaviour can be annoying - from Star Wars. You want him to be killed but you know that would never happen. It's the same here. You know that Percy will not be killed.

The Bottom Line
Your trustful heart will hurt you someday. Mary Blaine to Ben Jordan, Day One.

Ben Jordan is an adventure game series, where you control a young paranormal investigator, based on the AGS engine, setting the game in the old-school adventure, like Sierra or LucasArt used to do back in the nineties. It's free, available through download and a small file.

In conclusion, this third case is really a great surprise with the introduction of the typing gameplay and its two endings. I knew what happened in the case before playing it but I wasn't aware of all the truth and it was shocking for me to see that indeed, his trustful heart will hurt Ben (in the two endings). Even if Percy is a annoying character, he is needed for showing how Ben is a caring person... and a naive one. I recommend strongly this game.