Recommended Sci-Fi adventure games.

[genci88]

A while ago I finished The Longest journey and was absolutely absorbed into it. Really great game.

I also played Still life last week and really liked it. Planning to play Syberia 1 next week also.

Can you guys recommend some other games to a newcomer to the genre? Newer games (1998- ...) would be great. Also I prefer games with some Sci-fi touch but that's not a must. :)

I should mention that I did NOT like Myst games and Lukasarts games (Sam&Max, G. Fandango, Monkey Island). I started some of them but they simply did not attract me. I guess I want to play serious games. ;)

And I like games with logical puzzles (AKA "Still life/Longest Journey" type of puzzles and not the "Sam&Max/Myst" type of puzzles). Thanks.

Cheers :)

[Mimus]

I quite liked 'The Moment of Silence', although it's a bit rough around the edges compared to the others you've mentioned.

Blade Runner's also worth a look.

[mosquito]

I agree about Blade Runner. It is deeply engrossing, utterly Sci Fi and a great game to play!

I would have said Beneath a Steel Sky but it might be too Lucas Art-y for you?

[hengst2404]

Although nowhere near as good as Still Life or other games, Buka's dark Midnight Nowhere is cheap enough these days to be fun enough to play through. It features many of the problems we expect these days in AG games, but its a nice enough escape.

[Ariel Type]

Gateway 1-2
Mission Critical
The Dig
Chronomaster

[Sage]

Sidebar- I haven't played "Sam & Max", but in what way were Myst's puzzles not logical? I've heard other people make reference to this, but I haven't heard this opinion explained in a way that I could understand.
I thought all the backtracking to the tower that was necessary to obtain clues for various puzzles was a bit tedious but it didn't put me off the game, and I'd much rather do that than have to listen to a bunch of characters blather on for half an hour and then sift their mindless prattlings for something of value.

ScottMate

[Reflection]

Nightlong Union City Conspriacy

If you played and liked Blade Runner, you'll love this game. Even though it crashes on XP when you're at this screen. http://www.svatopluk.com/images/nightlong.jpg

Other screenshots.
http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Nightlong/nightlong_03.jpg
http://www.bomul.com/data_img/pds/screenshot/4320_1517.jpg
http://www.cdaccess.com/gifs/screen/nightlng5.jpg

[hengst2404]

Wow I feel silly given my chosen avatar, check out any and all of the Tex Murphy games you can find:

Martian Memorandum
Under a Killing Moon
Pandora Directive
Overseer

[tabacco]

I've never seen anyone place Sam & Max and Myst's puzzles in the same category together.

[DFish]

That was a good call on Nightlong. An excellent game. Also, Dark Side of the Moon is one of my all time favorites.

[Bruno_Malta]

Wing Commander.....LOL...Just Kidding!!!

Blade Runner as said already is pretty cool!!!
I would say The Moment of Silence.....it has a very good story and imo has the feeling i had when playing TLJ for the first time. Altought i should warn that navegation can be a pain the ass sometimes.

[Reflection]

That was a good call on Nightlong. An excellent game.

You ever complete the game on XP without it crashing? It crashes at the Sphinx screen every time.
:r

[DFish]

You ever complete the game on XP without it crashing? It crashes at the Sphinx screen every time.
:r

I have only played it on Win98, never tried on XP.

[Brian]

When I think Sci Fi and Adventure games the first title that comes to my mind is The Ward which I liked a lot despite it getting mixed reviews.

[Curt]

I concur with Blade Runner, The Moment of Silence, Tex Murphy series (but Pandora Directive in particular.

It's a game from 1995 but you might also want to give Zork Nemesis a go. Even though it was widely considered a Myst-type game, it's far from being a Myst game imho. I wasn't keen on Myst. I loved Zork Nemesis - great story, great locations and wonderful puzzles (and plenty of them too).

[wildcat]

There are a couple of point and click star trek games if you want to go really sci-fi. They are 25th Anniversary and Judgement Rites. Quite old and run in DOS though.

[Erwin_Br]

You say you don't like LucasArts games because they make lighthearted comedy games, but there is one exception: The DIG! It's a serious scifi game and I highly reccommend it, even though the graphics may be a little dated. (1995).

--Erwin

[NemelChelovek]

Lucasarts made one other serious adventure game besides The Dig: Loom, a fantasy game from the early '90s. The graphics are quite dated, though, so I doubt you'd enjoy it.

[Zack]

I got the impression that this new poster, genci, doesn't want to play any Sci-Fi games that are from LucasArts, so I guess The Dig is out of the question.

I recommend Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time. It has a really cool Sci-Fi Story, and the abilty to assume the identity of the characters you interact with in your Time-Travel suit is a neat gimmick. Plus, it's got lots of FMV sequences, and the acting was quite decent, in my opinion.

Try Beyond Good and Evil, too. It's more of an action game than adventure, but it's got a great story, and a very attractive heroine. PLus, there's some cool characters in the game, including a talking pig who is the heroine's uncle. The combat and stealth sequences may scare you away, though, but I thought it was a very entertaining and fun game. Ubi Soft Entertainment publishes the game.

An adventure series you must try is THe Tex Murphy series. Very fun games, and very Sci-F, and they have great storiesi. Under A Killing Moon, Pandora Directive, are DOS-Only games, but the third game Tex Murphy Overseer is Windows 98 and above.

Those are the games I recommend to you, and I hope you can find them. I don't know if you can find any of Tex Murphy Games anymore. But try shopping on-line at Amazon.com. They might have them.

Oh, and welcome to the forum, genci. I hope you like it here. :)

[Hammerite]

Definetely download 7 Days A Skeptic (it's free!!) from www.fullyramblomatic.com. Also, when people say Myst's puzzles are not logical I think they're talking about those bits where you have to turn two wheels a certain amount of times.
I HATE RIVEN

[insane_cobra]

There are a couple of point and click star trek games if you want to go really sci-fi. They are 25th Anniversary and Judgement Rites. Quite old and run in DOS though. There's also A Final Unity, probably the best Star Trek game to date (well, Elite Forces games were neat too, but they're not adventures).

[genci88]

Thanks for all the replies guys. :D

Well, this is the list of games I'm planning to get, sorted by priority:

The Moment of Silence
The Ward
Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time
Blade Runner
Dark Side of the Moon
Nightlong


I should get some of them next week. I cant wait now :9~

As Zack mentioned I really dont want to play any Lucasarts games. The Dig looks too cartoonish from the screenshots. :(

Thanks again,
Genc

[Sage]

When people say Myst's puzzles are not logical I think they're talking about those bits where you have to turn two wheels a certain amount of times.
I HATE RIVEN
Ah...the "clock" puzzle. I forget that most of the people here are much younger than I am (and Myst's designers are), and have probably never had anything but digital clocks. With old-style mechanical clocks, you turned one wheel on the back to adjust or change the time displayed on the clock's face, using many turns to adjust the time by more than an hour. I thought having one wheel for the hour hand and another for the minute hand was a nice concession to expediency in gameplay, but I do see how this might frustrate someone not familiar with that sort of mechanism.
Back to the topic at hand: "Morpheus" has a distinct Sci-Fi feel to it, and there's little or no humor or sillyness in it's gameplay, but it does have it's share of mechanical puzzles. It can be had on ebay for relatively little money, but it's not for everyone.

ScottMate

[mosquito]

I agree about Nightlong. It sounds like exactly the sort of thing you are looking for and it's a lot like a slightly older version of The Longest Journey. Great game!

[Fop]

Whoah, I gotta try that Nightlong myself.

[Fop]

Beneath a Steel Sky!!!
It's free! www.scummvm.org

[NemelChelovek]

Definetely download 7 Days A Skeptic (it's free!!) from www.fullyramblomatic.com.

I don't know...5 Days a Stranger was infinitely superior. I may be alone, but 7 Days felt like a slightly more creative retelling of the movie Jason X. The first game was character driven, with a suspenseful storyline and a villain who remained in the shadows until the very end. 7 Days was just a slight step above a slasher flick in the quality of its plot. A few people trapped on a spaceship ravaged by a knife-wielding supernatural killer. Great. Don't get me wrong, 5 Days is perhaps the best amateur adventure I've ever played, but 7 Days took too many of its influences from B-grade horror films.

I do give Yahtzee a whole lot of credit for doing a completely different plot from his first game, though. Here's one man who will never be accused of repeating himself. He didn't just try to make the same game twice; he made sure to change it around as much as possible. Despite the game's flaws, I admire him for what he was trying to do with it.

[Shodan]

Beneath a Steel Sky! It may look a bit dated and 'cartoonish' by your standards, but I'm sure you'll love it once you get into it. This was the game that got me into science-fiction.

And as someone said above, it's free, so you have no excuse not to give it a try. ;) Make sure you download the largest version - the voicework is excellent.

[mor]

I cant belive I juts read all these messanges to a newcomer and not even one of the mentiond "Gabriel Knight".
Yeah its not from the years he is asking but its definitly one of the best ad. game of all times!
When I started playing adventures GK3 was the first one I played, and after that I just kept on falling (and TLJ can also have the same effects).
I mean, GK3 (as well as 2 & 1) has everithing you would want in an ad. game,
So what I say is before you continue playing any other game, this game dude is THE myth, nothing like it (exapt maybe TLJ).
After you've played this one, you have Grim Fandango, and I dont know if I should offer you sequals (yeah I know too late), but most sequals can be played without their formers.
Well enjoy it all, and nice to know we have a new fan ;)

[Claire]

The X-Files Game is a solid sci-fi detective game which you might enjoy :) The only problem is that it can be quite difficult to get hold of.

[Brian]

I cant belive I juts read all these messanges to a newcomer and not even one of the mentiond "Gabriel Knight".
Yeah its not from the years he is asking but its definitly one of the best ad. game of all times!
When I started playing adventures GK3 was the first one I played, and after that I just kept on falling (and TLJ can also have the same effects).
I mean, GK3 (as well as 2 & 1) has everithing you would want in an ad. game,
So what I say is before you continue playing any other game, this game dude is THE myth, nothing like it (exapt maybe TLJ).
After you've played this one, you have Grim Fandango, and I dont know if I should offer you sequals (yeah I know too late), but most sequals can be played without their formers.
Well enjoy it all, and nice to know we have a new fan ;)
I wouldn't classify GK as Sci Fi, though it definately ranks as the best series of games in the genre.