PC Review: The Beast Within - A Gabriel Knight Mystery (Gabriel Knight 2)

Gabriel Knight II
Sierra
Point and Click Adventure
1995

As any retro PC gamer should know the majority of games for a long time were all adventure games. Adventure games went through a number of different trends going from text games, to point and click 2d, to interactive movie games, to pre-rendered 3d, and finally ending up as 3D games. There were a number of amazingly good adventure games over the years but out of the ones I've played Gabriel Knight 2 was easily the most engaging and entertaining. Graphics If you are anything like me you think full-motion video was the stupidest game related fad of all time. The cheesy acting, lack of interactivity and lame effects overall just destroyed the games instead of helping them. Amongst point and click adventures FMV did manage some decent titles such as Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Rose Tattoo, but none of them were really made better by the use of the technology in my opinion. That was at least until I played this game. In Gabriel Knight 2 the FMV actually helps the game come to life and really adds extra definition to the characters and story. For instance one scene involves Gabriel pulling the hair off a wolf in a zoo while the zoo handler is freaking out and I found myself freaking out as well. Another thing can be said about it when you compare the other two Gabriel Knight games to this one. Gabriel Knight 1 was a 2d game similar in quality of graphics to other sierra games, but when you look at Gabriel Knight 3 with its 3d after playing Gabriel Knight 2, it's like a huge step backward. The 1999 3d just looks awful and doesn't come close to the detail you can find in Gabriel Knight 1 or the life of the video in Gabriel Knight 2. Also the voice acting in GK 1 and 3 although decent in quality is sort of cheesy when compared to GK 2. So the FMV nonsense actually makes the game stand out over the other titles in the same series and really did a huge deal to make this game overall more engaging amongst these story heavy adventure games. The only complaint I can make graphic wise is that in some places the video can be a little low in quality like the Chapter 1 opening video in particular. Aside from that everything is easily recognizable and the only things that look silly are the images of Ludwig and the 3d generated werewolves and these don't really hurt the game so much as make you chuckle a little. So really overall don't use the FMV graphics as an excuse to avoid the game like I did. Story and Gameplay The game is fairly amazing when it comes to story, it makes a brilliant mix between history and fiction and this really makes the plot pull you along. Although it is dead obvious who the main bad guy is from the moment you meet him its very hard to tell exactly how the other characters factor in and how the historical references and clues you pick up fit together until you've actually put it together yourself. For most of the game you switch back and forth between Gabriel and his assistant Grace. Gabriel as a Shadow Hunter, spends his time on the hunt for a Werewolf who has taken to murdering people in the Munich area of Germany and ultimately works his way closest to the danger. While Grace on the other hand spends her time doing research into the past and figuring out how it is connected to the present day killings. Aside from that I can't give any more details on the plot without ruining things as I found it extrememly intriguing how things fit together and drove the gameplay along. Puzzles As with any adventure game the game is centered around solving puzzles to advance the game. For most of the game you have a pretty good idea of what you need to accomplish but you usually have to figure out which of your items you need to use where to get the outcome you need. I found that all the puzzles of this game made sense as far as the story and clues you get go, but I do admit there were more than a few that stumped me. I'm pretty bad at figuring out adventure games myself and I'll admit that most older adventure games are too hard for me to enjoy properly. But with this game all the puzzles made sense even if I had to look up the answers for a few of them. I did not find myself lost and clueless as it is usually pretty clear what you have to do even if you don't know how to go about it. The only puzzle I didn't see coming was the tape splicing bit as there's really no cues on when you have to do it as the place you use it isn't ready until you've actually done the tape splice. Sound The sound and music of this game had no problems I can think of. The voice acting was obviously part of the actual acting of the video so it naturally blends with what you see and isn't an issue. I should say out of all three Gabriel Knight titles that this is the one where I found the voices the best, as I don't really care for the protrayal of Gabriel in the other 2 titles. THe other thing I liked about the voices is the approach to dealing with the game's german setting, since the characters don't know german you are stuck not knowing what they say either and it adds a nice touch of realism you tend to miss in other games where everyone everywhere speaks english. The music of the game is particularly well done. Some of the music is rather interesting to hear, but the main thing is that the music in the game plays a huge part of setting the scene. The music in the game perfectly reflects what the game wants you to feel and plays a good role in bringing the game to life. The only sound related complaint I have is that some of the sounds don't really reflect the setting you see. Like when Grace is getting in the car you can hear obvious natural reverb from indoor recording even though the scene is outside. This issue doesn't appear often, but it is pretty obvious when it does and takes a little bit of polish off the game's otherwise great audio. Conclusion Really I couldn't think of a single major complaint to make about the game, it was easily the funnest adventure game I played and I took pride in myself for actually being able to figure out most of the puzzles. There were plenty of really engaging moments that made the game exciting to play which says a lot for an adventure game, and the game's music really set the tone well for what was going on. If you like point and click adventure games in any form I think you are obligated to try this game. It was a near perfect game experience for me, which never happens. It is certainly worth any and all effort. Note: I was going to do a video of this game but I found if I did so I would be giving away much of the plot and the puzzle answers.