The Dreamerz : Review By Daniel Simpson

The Dreamerz is a point and click puzzler. The game revolves around a set of planets outside earth, one of these planets is occupied by “The dream machine” a machine that has the power to control earth’s dreams. The classic and rather strange (in a good way) art was made by Robotjam. One day the dream machine stopped working, and a hero was needed, and so one was found. In form a short astronaut who takes it upon himself to restore the dream machine. Throughout the game you will play as the short hero, as he explores the distant planets to complete his objective and restore the dream machine to its former glory. Throughout the game you will encounter beautiful and adventurous artwork, I feel if I collected all the doodles I have ever done in notebooks and in margins, it would look something like this.

What I liked

Even through the game is old there was still something particularly new about this concept, I’ve never really seen this much creativity and originality in many point and click adventures. The concept of exploring vast planets with these interesting themes just made me think about what’s really out there. There is great art to accompany this game, and all the items and points of interest all work well from the sad giant, to the massive, trumpet, to the whale (yes, there’s really a whale in space!). I love the peculiarity begins tight from when you first step foot on the strange planets, as soon as I saw that loathsome giant, my inquisitive mind set in and I had to play to the end!

The general atmosphere was really great and effective, the intentions all work well as you constantly hear peculiar background music, and the soundtrack is quite quiet so you still get that silent loneliness felling.

In navigating the planets I like the zoom out feature as it gives you a broader view of the planet you’re on and a sneak peak at other planets.

The puzzles on the planet were very well made, once you get a feel for the controls and properly “into” the game, the simple problem solving can be done with ease but it is still a joy to complete the puzzles. Some of the puzzles include, aiming and changing the colours of light beams to make a laser grid, replaying a simple five note tune, and finding an item in the game that comply to the four elements(not the scientific elements like lithium, sodium, chlorine etc but the artistic ones like earth, wind, fire, air and water). The puzzles are creative and for each puzzle completed you earn a dream ball which can be bought back to the dream machine to bring back dreams.

There are many walkthroughs for this game and for one or two puzzles I admit I did have to use the walkthrough but most of the game can be done by anyone.

What I disliked and suggested improvements

My major dislike is one that is expirenced from the start, it seems to happen with lots of point and click adventures games but the character is slow he moves at a quite slow pace, but when your computer is slow at the same time it is INCREDIBLY frustrating… a character that moves faster would be a very welcome addition to some of these games.

I would like more information on using the power orbs when you start the games, I had to look at a video walkthrough.

One particular puzzle I really found difficult was one involving a telescope and looking a star formations to try and find a co-ordinate code.

I would have liked to see some easter eggs in the game (this is hidden, bonus content) like a new planet that requires a puzzle to unlock or a set of different endings dependant on what order you put the dream balls into the machine.       

The Wrap Up

 Very well designed game, shows lots of thought, attention and care. A few minor down points here and there but overall fantastic very well made. The themes and puzzles of the planets was something very new, it was a bold choice by the developers and it really paid off, SUPERB! I’ll give it a 9 out of 10

The Future of the Dreamerz

I would definitely like another game like this one to be made but I’m just thinking about the story and plot, it will have to be different to this one but still have the same planet mechanics.

If a game is made to follow this, it will have to have the same level of creativity and have a character that can move faster!

Thank you for reading.