Appearances can be deceptive. Never judge a book by its cover. Beauty is only skin deep.

These are all good proverbs that we would have done well to keep in mind when we first came into contact with The Whispered World. Wowing us with its masterfully painted screenshots, this German adventure game immediately slid into the same part of our conscious that’s occupied by attractive and inventive point-and-clicks like A Vampyre Story and Machinarium – a place where beauty and brains deservedly walk hand in hand.

After a couple of hours in the company of The Whispered World, however, a cerebral reshuffle might be in order. This is certainly an astoundingly good-looking adventure game, but there are few indications, at this stage that it will eventually play like one.

But let’s focus on the good points first. The Whispered World really is an attractive game, a point that shouldn’t be understated. Every screen features a detailed, exquisitely painted backdrop that clearly shows how much time and effort has gone into development. The amount of detail in every scene helps create a real sense of place and history that immerses you in the game’s unique world and leaves you with a warm and welcome feeling, particularly in the first few minutes, thanks to some evocative lighting and colouring.

Well-painted backgrounds are quite common in the adventure genre, of course, but are often undermined by low-resolution character models and poor animations. No such problems occur here though. The cel animation used to bring the characters to life is packed with frame after frame, each one tailored to unique, context sensitive actions, the cartoon quality of their movements enhancing the feeling of immersion and creating a real sense that you’re playing a world class 2D production.

Sadly, the filmic quality of the animation is barely matched by the script and dialogue at all. Maybe it’s an issue with the English translation, rather than the original game, but the writing is surprisingly dull for the genre. Unlikeable characters ramble on far longer than necessary and demonstrate none of the humour we’ve come to expect from this style of adventure game.

The story too, at least in the opening chapter, does little to peak our interest. Daedelic would do well to take notes from LucasArts’ classic works, here. We knew that Guybrush Threepwood was on a quest to become a pirate within seconds of starting The Secret Of Monkey Island, for example, but the outset of The Whispered World left us confused and underwhelmed. Helping a clown work through his list of chores is hardly the most intriguing or auspicious openings.

… continued