Case 6: Scourge of the Sea People
After the Ben Jordan Case 1 Deluxe interlude, the long awaited sixth case in the series was finally released on August 30th 2007. It turned out to be a rather playful game, with the customary high production values, an unusually relaxed mood and plenty allusions to Greek mythology and Grundislav’s own Greece vacation. Moreover, BJ6 started to bring various previously unrelated story threads together, in preparation for the final two cases. Case 6 is currently the highest rated Ben Jordan game in the AGS database, and while I don’t quite agree with that notion, this case is certainly a winner.
Story/Characters
BJ6 sees paranormal investigators Ben, Simon and Alice going on a vacation to Greece together. This time, the trio wants no paranormal threat to disturb their quality time, but quite predictably things turn out differently than planned. At the airport Ben learns of new mysterious happenings and on short notice he decides to change the travel destination to Agia Anna, a small idllyic village on the Greek coast. There, a sinister water-bound folk called the sea people seems to kill innocent people and it is Ben’s task to stop them. The story this time is less dark and serious than in the last few cases, in fact the central threat feels like a throwback to the more quirky challenges of the first two games. Next to Ben’s investigation, the vacation subplot gets quite some room too, and it’s likely that Grundislav draws on some of his own experiences from the Mittens 2005 event that took place in the real Agia Anna, Greece. Furthermore the game was clearly inspired by Greek mythology, and so we visit the Minotaurus labyrinth, retrieve a Siren’s scale and meet a cryptic Oracle. We also get some indications where the series plot might be heading when Ben discovers that a recently stolen artefact might be related to the supernatural happenings in Agia Anna. Late in the game there’s a welcome twist and in the end once again everything turns out fine, though the hints grow stronger that bad times are imminent. Let’s discuss characters next. Ben’s relationships with both Simon and Alice grow more complex during this case. You see, Ben omitted to tell his friends his real reason for going to Agia Anna, and Simon is quite mad when he finds out that Ben is working on a case there. The quarrel doesn’t last long however and eventually Simon decides to help Ben. As for Alice, Ben becomes more aware of his feelings for her, not least because of Simon’s constant allusions, but jealousy abounds when Alice has a vacation dalliance with the local womanizer. This all culminates with Ben finally kissing Alice. Other than the core trio, there are a lot of new characters to meet in and around Agia Anna, but series veteran Percival Quentin Jones is strikingly missing for the second game in a row. Interestingly enough, Ben’s conversation with Sir-Richard-Attenborough-lookalike Quincy Sanbourne, the author of the famous paranormal investigator handbook, raises some doubts about Jone’s integrity. It’s a pity that we have to wait for the next game for the follow-up.
Gameplay/Puzzles
Ben Jordan’s sixth case is one of his longest yet. It’s arguably even more expansive than Case 5, spanning locations at the Athens Airport, in the village Agia Anna and on several small islands in the Aegean Sea. This time there’s no map system that connects the various locations, which means some running around in Agia Anna, but luckily the town isn’t too big and most of the time it’s obvious where you need to go next. When Ben goes on an island trip you need to charter a boat where you can then decide on your next destination. The interface and control in BJ6 are equivalent to the predecessors and the puzzles also follow the typical Ben Jordan fashion. They are all very logical and although there are plenty of them, no real brain teasers can be found. The ouzo drinking match with Ben and Simon vs. the native Greeks is definitely a highlight though. In this game it’s agin possible for Ben to die. This usually happens on the rare occasions when he encounters some mythological beast, so it’s a good idea to safe in those instances.
Graphics/Music
Graphics are as good as ever in BJ6, with lush islands, quaint villages and dark labyrinths. As a special gag, the user interface, the menus and even the Grundislav logo were all graphically updated to a Greek style for this game, and the comic-panel cutscenes from BJ1 Deluxe make a welcome return too, illustrating the legend of the eponymous sea people. After Ben and Simon got a new dialog portrait in BJ5, it’s Alice turn now to have her portrait updated. The other portraits are again very nice looking, with the new one for Zortherus (who appears in a flashback this time) being a much needed improvement over the original one. I still don’t really dig Zortherus’ overall design though. Fitting to the game’s location, the soundtrack has some mediterranean influences this time and its scope ranks from happy tunes appropriate for a vacation trip to rather creepy mythological chants. In general, there seem to be fewer melodic tracks this time, and more of an effort to integrate ambient noises or create moods through the specific use of certain instruments. It’s a somewhat different approach from what we are used to from other Ben Jordan games but it’s by no means bad – on the contrary, it works really well in my opinion. By the way, the sixth case is the introduction of Peter Gresser as the series second main composer, after Andreas Slotte bowed out for time reasons. As for sound effects, of course we get another unique sound that is played upon earning points, this time it’s the waves of the sea. Neat! Lastly, in contrast to its direct predecessor, BJ1 Deluxe, Ben Jordan 6 doesn’t feature voice work. That’s excusable, seeing as BJ6 is a much longer game with a lot more characters and dialogs.
Final Verdict
Another year, another Ben Jordan. So was the extended waiting time worth it? Sure, BJ6 is a blast and arguably the most fun game in the series. It has a nice happy atmosphere, stars most of our beloved characters, is quite long for a Ben Jordan game and the art doesn’t get much better. On the downside, the game follows a very similar structure as case 5 (what with the paranormal investigator trio going to a foreign country and solving a new case there) and the actual case seems rather silly compared to the more serious previous games. After waiting for the next part of the story quite a long time, and after the repeated foreshadowing in both BJ5 and BJ1 Deluxe, my only real complaint upon my initial playthrough was that not a lot of consequence seems to happen here. Sure there are again a lot of allusions to things to come, but the overarching story is only mildly touched upon, and a lot of pressing questions (Who stole the artefact and why? What’s up with Percy Q. Jones? How will the Oracle’s prophecy play out?) are left unanswered for the next game in the series to deal with. In retrospect, BJ6 acts as the calm before the storm and in that sense it works perfectly. And although it seems more like teasing here, this game makes indeed some substantial contributions to the main story arc, what with Quincy Sanbourne’s appearance, Ben’s budding relationship with Alice and the first emergence of the relic plotline. All in all it’s a really good game, a highlight in Ben Jordan’s career so to say. I give it 4.5/5 points.
Story/Characters
BJ6 sees paranormal investigators Ben, Simon and Alice going on a vacation to Greece together. This time, the trio wants no paranormal threat to disturb their quality time, but quite predictably things turn out differently than planned. At the airport Ben learns of new mysterious happenings and on short notice he decides to change the travel destination to Agia Anna, a small idllyic village on the Greek coast. There, a sinister water-bound folk called the sea people seems to kill innocent people and it is Ben’s task to stop them. The story this time is less dark and serious than in the last few cases, in fact the central threat feels like a throwback to the more quirky challenges of the first two games. Next to Ben’s investigation, the vacation subplot gets quite some room too, and it’s likely that Grundislav draws on some of his own experiences from the Mittens 2005 event that took place in the real Agia Anna, Greece. Furthermore the game was clearly inspired by Greek mythology, and so we visit the Minotaurus labyrinth, retrieve a Siren’s scale and meet a cryptic Oracle. We also get some indications where the series plot might be heading when Ben discovers that a recently stolen artefact might be related to the supernatural happenings in Agia Anna. Late in the game there’s a welcome twist and in the end once again everything turns out fine, though the hints grow stronger that bad times are imminent. Let’s discuss characters next. Ben’s relationships with both Simon and Alice grow more complex during this case. You see, Ben omitted to tell his friends his real reason for going to Agia Anna, and Simon is quite mad when he finds out that Ben is working on a case there. The quarrel doesn’t last long however and eventually Simon decides to help Ben. As for Alice, Ben becomes more aware of his feelings for her, not least because of Simon’s constant allusions, but jealousy abounds when Alice has a vacation dalliance with the local womanizer. This all culminates with Ben finally kissing Alice. Other than the core trio, there are a lot of new characters to meet in and around Agia Anna, but series veteran Percival Quentin Jones is strikingly missing for the second game in a row. Interestingly enough, Ben’s conversation with Sir-Richard-Attenborough-lookalike Quincy Sanbourne, the author of the famous paranormal investigator handbook, raises some doubts about Jone’s integrity. It’s a pity that we have to wait for the next game for the follow-up.
Gameplay/Puzzles
Ben Jordan’s sixth case is one of his longest yet. It’s arguably even more expansive than Case 5, spanning locations at the Athens Airport, in the village Agia Anna and on several small islands in the Aegean Sea. This time there’s no map system that connects the various locations, which means some running around in Agia Anna, but luckily the town isn’t too big and most of the time it’s obvious where you need to go next. When Ben goes on an island trip you need to charter a boat where you can then decide on your next destination. The interface and control in BJ6 are equivalent to the predecessors and the puzzles also follow the typical Ben Jordan fashion. They are all very logical and although there are plenty of them, no real brain teasers can be found. The ouzo drinking match with Ben and Simon vs. the native Greeks is definitely a highlight though. In this game it’s agin possible for Ben to die. This usually happens on the rare occasions when he encounters some mythological beast, so it’s a good idea to safe in those instances.
Graphics/Music
Graphics are as good as ever in BJ6, with lush islands, quaint villages and dark labyrinths. As a special gag, the user interface, the menus and even the Grundislav logo were all graphically updated to a Greek style for this game, and the comic-panel cutscenes from BJ1 Deluxe make a welcome return too, illustrating the legend of the eponymous sea people. After Ben and Simon got a new dialog portrait in BJ5, it’s Alice turn now to have her portrait updated. The other portraits are again very nice looking, with the new one for Zortherus (who appears in a flashback this time) being a much needed improvement over the original one. I still don’t really dig Zortherus’ overall design though. Fitting to the game’s location, the soundtrack has some mediterranean influences this time and its scope ranks from happy tunes appropriate for a vacation trip to rather creepy mythological chants. In general, there seem to be fewer melodic tracks this time, and more of an effort to integrate ambient noises or create moods through the specific use of certain instruments. It’s a somewhat different approach from what we are used to from other Ben Jordan games but it’s by no means bad – on the contrary, it works really well in my opinion. By the way, the sixth case is the introduction of Peter Gresser as the series second main composer, after Andreas Slotte bowed out for time reasons. As for sound effects, of course we get another unique sound that is played upon earning points, this time it’s the waves of the sea. Neat! Lastly, in contrast to its direct predecessor, BJ1 Deluxe, Ben Jordan 6 doesn’t feature voice work. That’s excusable, seeing as BJ6 is a much longer game with a lot more characters and dialogs.
Final Verdict
Another year, another Ben Jordan. So was the extended waiting time worth it? Sure, BJ6 is a blast and arguably the most fun game in the series. It has a nice happy atmosphere, stars most of our beloved characters, is quite long for a Ben Jordan game and the art doesn’t get much better. On the downside, the game follows a very similar structure as case 5 (what with the paranormal investigator trio going to a foreign country and solving a new case there) and the actual case seems rather silly compared to the more serious previous games. After waiting for the next part of the story quite a long time, and after the repeated foreshadowing in both BJ5 and BJ1 Deluxe, my only real complaint upon my initial playthrough was that not a lot of consequence seems to happen here. Sure there are again a lot of allusions to things to come, but the overarching story is only mildly touched upon, and a lot of pressing questions (Who stole the artefact and why? What’s up with Percy Q. Jones? How will the Oracle’s prophecy play out?) are left unanswered for the next game in the series to deal with. In retrospect, BJ6 acts as the calm before the storm and in that sense it works perfectly. And although it seems more like teasing here, this game makes indeed some substantial contributions to the main story arc, what with Quincy Sanbourne’s appearance, Ben’s budding relationship with Alice and the first emergence of the relic plotline. All in all it’s a really good game, a highlight in Ben Jordan’s career so to say. I give it 4.5/5 points.