Summary
Perfect in every aspect. An achievement that wasn't surpassed even by its sequels
The Good
It is hard to review a game like "Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers". It is so good I don't know what I should talk about first. Let me open my review with this statement: "Sins of the Fathers" is one of my absolute top favorites, and, quite objectively said, it is perhaps the highest achievement of the entire adventure genre. Yes, it is
that good.
When we say "adventure", we often think "comic adventure", and the reason for that is simple: the greatest classic adventures are comedies. "Serious" adventure games have always been much less popular. "Sins of the Fathers" is not the first attempt on this field, but it is the first serious classic adventure that takes hardcore puzzle-solving gameplay and charming humor that made comedy adventures so great, and uses it to create an amazingly intense, atmospheric experience with a touch of horror, featuring an intricate story-line and an unpreceeded level of realism.
As banal as it sounds: "Sins of the Fathers" succeeds where others fail. How to make an adventure with puzzles that are hard enough, yet that do not distract from the realistic setting of the game? How to combine humor with horror? How to write a story that is supernatural and yet so natural at the same time? How to create lovable characters that resemble real people in everything they do, without becoming dull? Or rather: how to create a
perfect serious adventure? Play this game and see yourself.
There aren't many locations in the world of video games that are as appealing as New Orleans, the home town of Gabriel Knight. The unique atmosphere of the city fascinates the player from the very beginning. Add to this the dark, "gothic" side of the game's story, its connection to the world of mystery and supernatural horror, and you'll get a city you won't forget. Every corner of New Orleans oozes mystery, yet at the same time the city is so realistic. You'll meet typical inhabitants, old French catholics, Haitian voodoo specialists, blacks who talk with such a wonderful accent, and many others. And of course, the heroes of the game - Gabriel Knight and his assistant Grace. Gabriel is easily the most charismatic game character you'll ever control - you simply can't help liking him. Grace is absolutely charming, and her witty dialogues with Gabriel provide the necessary comic relief and give the game a wonderfully light personality, despite all the horrors that occur in it. Other characters are also very deep and realistic - such as detective Mosely, the mysterious Malia Gedde, and others. By the way, be sure to get the CD ROM version of the game - the voice-overs are fantastic.
A deeply involving story develops in New Orleans - a brilliant story written by Jane Jensen, the master storyteller. Detective mystery, educational trip into the realm of occult sciences, realistic tale about New Orleans and its inhabitants, religious fable of sin and redemption - it is hard to say to what style this story belongs, but one thing is sure: it is brilliant in everything it tries to tell. The outlines of the plot follow a classic detective/mystery pattern: a crime takes place in the beginning of the game, and you have to find out who committed it and why. But of course, this is not just a regular crime, and soon you'll plunge into the world of ancient cults, superstitions, and magic. What is so great about this story and about Jane Jensen's style in general is not the abundance of supernatural effects to stun the player; it is rather the extremely natural approach to everything that happens, which makes it so credible, no matter how incredible it actually is. All the supernatural things grow out of a realistic setting, so that the player never feels they are forced. One of the techniques Jane Jensen uses to reach this high level of credibility is the correctness of the cultural material used in the game. She gathers historical details to meticulously reconstruct the picture of voodoo cult, and because of this scientific approach, the player is convinced the whole thing is real.
This is the background for a game that was developed by a company that already had years of experience in making quality adventure games. But even for Sierra, the actual gameplay of "Sins of the Fathers" was a rare achievement. The biggest problem that creators of serious adventure games have to face is the fact tricky puzzles aren't realistic and usually don't fit an involving story. Either you fill your game with hilarious item combinations and get a comedy, or you fill it with mind-breaking puzzles, stop the action and make it a dull
Myst clone. Lucas Arts managed to create the outstanding
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, that had traditional inventory-based puzzles yet wasn't a comedy. There was another alternative: to reduce puzzle-solving to minimum, and get a shallow "interactive movie". Sierra chose a different solution. I believe their early games like
Colonel's Bequest employed the method of "detective simulation" - and probably there were text adventures that did it even much earlier. In any case, this is the path "Sins of the Fathers" followed. It is based mainly on investigation and dialogues: you talk to people to find out more about the topics you are interested in, then ask other people about the new topics you learn in process, etc. But at the same time, the game is full of hardcore puzzles that are very creative and that are equally far from boring Myst-stile riddles and insane inventory orgies of comic adventures. In "Fate of Atlantis", you still felt you were in a game. "Sins of the Father" never evoked in me this feeling. One of the greatest achievements of its gameplay is the fact it is a challenging game with real puzzles and serious detective work, yet it is not a collection of brilliant puzzles that are there just for their own sake.
"Sins of the Fathers" is also one of the last masterpieces of hand-painted graphic style - interactive movies with live actors were already beginning to get into fashion at the time. If you want to see how beautiful a 2D game can look without resembling a cartoon, take a look at this game. That was the "serious" graphics style that matched the game perfectly. There are a lot of dark colors, especially brown, to make the game world look more mysterious and sinister, yet very cosy at the same time. Character portraits that appear during the dialogues are excellent. In addition to that, the game is accompanied by one of the best MIDI music scores I have ever heard. In short, we have here a game that is everything a serious adventure is supposed to me, and even much more that that.
The Bad
The only thing I can think of is the rather high difficulty level. Some people might dislike the "trigger" system: you could evoke certain events only by performing actions somewhere else, which lead to a considerable amount of running around.
The Bottom Line
This is one of the most perfectly crafted and creative games I have ever played. Gameplay, story, graphics and music - everything in this game is of rare quality. "Sins of the Fathers" is gaming at its very best. It is even better than
The Beast Within and
Blood of the Sacred. And that is a
lot to say.
