Richard Thorns

First things first: if you are playing the game for the first time and have read the comments about the slow walking pace, you really CAN get around this (& actually almost run once you get going) and you can get from Kate's observatory to the fork in the road at Little Tipton / Lakeside Holiday Camp in around 15-20 mins if you take the road, so it's not all bad. Also, there's a network of Public Footpaths that can connect you quickly with the zones, although it does take some getting used to. (I remember a friend of mine absolutely hating The Lost Crown because he didn't know Nigel Danvers could do anything else but shuffle, so I know how everyone feels about this - one for the configurations menu BEFORE playing this game as a matter of priority). Now, to the game itself and it's the most beautiful I have ever encountered; it encapsulates the English countryside in a way that I've never seen before and it is super magical realism in graphic terms; it's almost like a baleful version of The Archers, with a quasi-religious bent to it to boot, and the thrill is of walking around a deserted village, country or even planet (we are never really quite sure). My favourite zone was the gorgeous farmland in 'Frank', where you could almost smell the hay and manure as you tramped the earthern tracks, although in emotional terms I agree with an earlier reviewer in that the scene in the train station almost tears you apart emotionally, I'm not afraid to say that. A couple of gripes stopped me from giving it a 5: I wasn't a fan of the achievements (and frankly didn't even know about them because ready information isn't really in the remit with this game). In that vein, it needed more clarity as to what you have to do about the orbs; I think the on-screen prompts in the early stages of the game are a little misleading (you DON'T have to wiggle the mouse like they tell you to and some of the orbs can't be exploded, but they don't tell you that), Crucially, what would have been exceptionally helpful would have been if the ghost narratives were able to have been re-playable, because they only narrate once and in the early stages you haven't got to know the characters well enough by then to know who is who & to understand the speakers' relevance to each other. There's a great little helpsheet online that explains the main and supporting characters; I scribbled that down and then hastily jotted down what was being said, and to whom. But the music and the wowzer graphics make it like you can forgive it anything. Genuinely, I feel like I've been to a real place. If The Chinese Room ever decided to make a sequel, I would love to play it. So, take your time, have a stroll and enjoy your time in this beautiful place. 'The answers are in the light.'