The Whispered World was Not for Me

In the interest of recommending a fun, exciting game to my readers; I am going to be completely honest about my experience with The Whispered World. I am not out to sell downloads or make a profit from the sale of the game, I'm just looking to share my true opinion of this newly released game.

Apparently the game is award-winning and has been very popular since it's European release. Now it is available in the United States. To give credit where credit is due, the scenery and the drawing are quite exquisite. The screenshots of the game alone drew me in with a desire to play.

I eagerly downloaded The Whispered World. I was ready to play. The beautiful graphics and the promise of a puzzle solving adventure had me anticipating the end of the install. Ever since I got a taste of Myst, I have been a fan of this type of game.

Unfortunately, I found myself dreading the time I would need to spend to find out how good the game was. The main character of the game, Sadwick, is indeed a very depressed, pessimistic and downright depressing fellow. He certainly wasn't living up to the image of the traditional circus clown. As part of a traveling circus troupe that includes his grandfather and brother; he seems to hate his job, hate his family and lives in fear of everything around him. And he is very vocal about it.

I had to turn the sound down to keep playing after the first five minutes. The whiny sound of his voice was like nails on a chalkboard to me. Even more annoying was the slow pace that the game was moving at. It took forever to figure out how to get away from camp and get on with the adventure.

The long, drawn-out cut scenes were testing my patience, as was the lengthy dialogue that seemed to become redundant. Perhaps with some patience I could work my way though enough of the first part of the game to take an interest in the storyline and game play, but getting there seems like it would be slow and excruciating. No game is for everyone; so, if you want to download the demo and see for yourself, then I say go for it and see if it doesn't strike up something in you that I just wasn't getting. However, this reviewer finds herself wishing The Whispered World had remained silent.

Resources
Wikipedia - The Whispered World

The Whispered WorldGame Site

Adventure Gamers - The Whispered World