Before embarking on The Longest Journey, check your preconceived notions of reality at the door. While this may play like a traditional adventure game, the story is anything but conventional. As art student April Ryan you'll soon discover you have the ability to bridge two worlds--the 23rd-century, science-oriented Earth that you live in, and its counterpart, Arcadia, where magic is reality and technology is the stuff of legends. Telling you more than that would spoil the story, but suffice it to say that your ability to cross between the two worlds must be used to save both. The game spans four CDs and needs all that space to hold both the gorgeous graphics and hours of high-quality speech. Everyone you meet has plenty to say, and you'll want to listen to everything because the game contains some of the most brilliant voice acting ever recorded. Each character has such a distinct and engaging voice that you could play this game with your eyes closed and it would maintain much of its beauty, although you likely won't want to blink after your first glimpse of the game's detailed environments. The graphics run at a feeble maximum resolution of 640 x 480 but are packed with enough atmosphere and animation that they look great even on a large monitor. The Longest Journey obviously excels from a technical standpoint, but it's the writing that really makes it memorable. April maintains a diary that can be read to give players further insight into the game's strange events, and into April's mind as well. Lengthy conversations that seem tedious at first later serve to really make you care about the game's characters. They become more than simply people who exist to dispense items or tell you where to go next, and it's fascinating to watch April develop as she slowly absorbs the gravity of the situation into which she's been thrust. This game may seem like the longest--and most boring--journey at the beginning, but after a few hours adventure fans and anyone else who likes a good story will probably wish it would never end. (Note to readers: this game has an ESRB rating of Mature, and contains a lot of adult language.) --T. Byrl Baker Pros:

• Outstanding production values
• Terrific writing
• Should run well on practically any computer

• Many of the puzzles are too contrived
• Game gets off to a slow start

The Longest Journey- Adventure Game of the Year Edition is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 9.99USD.