Game Classification

Dread Mac Farlane is a freeware AGS adventure game based on the French comic book series of the same name published by Clair de Lune. This game is an adaptation of the first album in the series, La Carte d'Estrechez and curiously it was fully turned into a game by the original author herself, Marion Poinsot. This title is her second take on the game. Two years before she already released an AGS game with the same name based on the same story, but quite different in gameplay. The developer takes advantage of the interactive medium to split up the linear subject matter into different chapters, with flashbacks detailing the past leading to the events that progress the story.

This game tells the tale of Dread Mac Farlane, a girl who wants to become a pirate in a male-dominated environment. She is able to board the ship Jolly Roger of captain Crochet but only because she promises to lead him to treasure hidden on an island. The prologue explains how the treasure was hidden and Dread's history is further explored through smaller chapters that take place during her childhood. These introduce her mother and her father Vincente Estrechez. Also interwoven is an adapted version of the fairy tale of Peter Pan, as Dread ends up joining the Lost Children and needs the help of Tinn-Tamm (Tinkerbell) and her pixie dust during some puzzles.

The journey takes the players through many locations and stages in Dread's life. All graphics are hand-drawn, and as to be expected from a comic book artist, rich on details in a style that compares somewhat to The Curse of Monkey Island, but thematically more mature with less comedy. Gameplay is typically point-and-click, with a focus on inventory-based puzzles. The cursor only shows a single icon, left clicking is used for examining and right click performs an action. It is possible to die, but only during a few instances. Unlike her earlier reworking of the game, no panels from the original comic book are used, as all images have been drawn completely from scratch and the music is now wholly original. The game does borrow some puzzles from the earlier game however.

Initially, the game was only available in French, but an English translated version was released afterwards. [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : PC (Windows)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/dread-mac-farlane/