tomexplodes: I'm torn between Anachronox, Omikron: The Nomad Soul, Beyond Good and Evil and Giants: Citizen Kabuto. I've never played any of them but they all look good. I can't make up my mind. I'd appreciate some help! Thanks.
- Tom
Like P1na said, those are very different games, even if they look similar on the outside.
Anachronox is a JRPG, which means it's about story and exploration, running around and talking to people, occasionally solving puzzles, and all combat is turn-based and somewhat tactical. You can switch between your group's characters in the exploration parts and they have different abilities to solve puzzles and sometimes dialogues are a bit different depending on your leading character, but they're not very interactive (actually more like monologues), just fun to read. There are some rare action sequences like racing, but it's more of a gimmick. Personally I really like the story and exploration elements but find the combat somewhat boring.
Omikron: The Nomad Soul is an adventure game with action elements. It has an interesting concept, good atmosphere and David Bowie to speak for it, but I myself wasn't convinced by the execution of the adventure elements nor the action sequences. The adventure parts don't pay close attention to your dialogue choices, so sometimes the game assumes you know or said things even though you don't and didn't, making your choices somewhat irrelevant or even immersion-breaking. The fighting and shooting I found rather awkward with clumsy controls, and from what I recall the savegame system can be annoying, too.
Beyond Good and Evil is an action adventure including real-time brawling, shooting, some platforming, some stealth, some easy puzzles, also some racing and minigames, collectibles, particularly through photographing all kinds of alien species, and all of that is solid and fun. Story and setting are simple, but nice enough, art design and soundtrack are great. As you can tell, I like this game.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third person shooter with a weird sense of humor. The special thing about it is that you get to play three different races involved in a conflict over the course of the campaign, and each one plays a little differently. You don't get to choose between them though, you have to play these parts in chronological order. The game is divided not only into these three parts but also into shorter missions. They vary in length and objectives, and my experience is that some of those levels are fun, some levels are frustrating, and IIRC there are no checkpoints within a level, but I might be wrong (I seem to recall that the game is saved when you enter and leave a store, but not every mission has one). Personally I never got to the parts where you play another race, because I gave up on one frustrating level in the first third.
So my personal recommendation would be Beyond Good & Evil, but it also depends on what you're looking for. Anachronox is a good game, too, and Giants might be if you're into that kind of thing and enjoy the humor. With Omikron I'd advise some caution, it's got its fan cult but also its share of problems that might turn you off, if you're not that open to experiments (at the risk of finding that it's failed).
P1na: Or you can just get Deus Ex. Problem solved.
Randalator: No, he should already own Deus Ex. EVERYBODY should already own Deus Ex.
I don't really enjoy playing Deus Ex, but at least I own it! Am I excused? ;)
