Brunilda and the Dark Crystal Game Review by Matt Bird
Game Rating = 2/5
You should buy this game if:
- You adore point and click adventures
- You like puzzles
- You like mini-games
You should not buy this game if:
- You’re bored of fantasy tales
- You dislike generic games
- You want to preserve your eyesight
Fantasy stories are legion. Point and click adventure games are legion. Stick the two together and what do you get? Aside from something so common you’ve seen its kind a billion times before, you get Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal.
There is, apparently, a fantasy world that exists beyond our own, known as the Faerie Realm – and, for reasons most dire, the magic of the place is seeping away, which will result in some nasty implications. A demon has been sent out to look for the only one who can save the realm, a girl named Brunhilda, whose aunt is knee-deep in magical lore.
Accompanied by the vexatious demon Brunhilda must travel through a variety of locations, trying to discover the mystery behind the loss of magic – entombed within an artifact known as the Dark Crystal – and save the Faerie Realm. Sounds rather generic, yes, and it is: there’s little innovative substance behind this story, if you’ve read even one fantasy novel, and though the overall setting has some neat aspects there’s almost nothing new here.
But enough story. On to the game play. What makes Brunhilda tick? Unfortunately, it’s a mechanic that’s familiar to the extreme, as Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal relies almost entirely on point-and-click mechanics to get the job done. As she travels Brunhilda is propositioned by all manner of creatures to do something or other for them, from finding cheese to matchsticks to spider webs, and this requires the tried-and-true method of hunting through static environments and clicking until you find what you’re seeking.
And, unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot more to this game. There are some mini-games, true, but they’re not boisterous or inventive enough to save Brunhilda. It’s too simple. If you like these kinds of games you’ll probably have fun regardless, but for the rest of us…
Nor does the presentation help much. Brunhilda isn’t UGLY, per se, but there’s something off about this game’s aesthetics. Everything looks blurry, which doesn’t help when you’re trying to identify items of importance. Your eyes will probably start to hurt when you strain to pick out important details.
This is all rather unfortunate, because Brunhilda’s programmers tried to be ambitious by including full voice acting. This would have been awesome had the writing not turned out rather poor: some of the storytelling is downright awkward, and even the spunky demon is boring as a sidekick. Add in the fact that most of the voice actors are bad (Brunhilda has no emotion at all) and, well, there you have it.
Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal is par for the course. It’s the same as anything and everything else you’ve ever seen in a point and click adventure. It’s not really worth the money unless you’ve never played a point and click before, and even then there are better titles.
Download Free Game Trial
Buy The Game $9.99
