Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator
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| Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator | |
|---|---|
 The series' logo. |
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| Developer(s) | Francisco Gonzalez |
| Publisher(s) | Grundislav Games |
| Designer(s) | Francisco Gonzalez |
| Engine | Adventure Game Studio |
| Release date(s) | May 27, 2004 (game 1) |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS, Linux |
| Media | None (online download) |
| Input | Mouse |
Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator is the main title of a planned series of 8 games made in AGS by Francisco "Grundislav" Gonzalez. To date, there have been 5 games released in the series, each game being a separate "case" investigated by Ben Jordan, the protagonist and player character. Each game features the main title and a subtitle, usually relating to the plot of the case. The series distinguishes itself from other games about paranormal investigating in that many of the paranormal phenomena are taken from real-life legends and folklore.
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[edit] Plot
While each case in the series features a self-contained plot relating to the current investigation, the author has hinted that there is an overall story arc linking all the games together. Observant players may be able to pick out plot elements which play key roles in later games from the cases currently available.
The games released in the series as of December, 2006 are:
Case 1 - In Search of the Skunk-Ape
Case 2 - The Lost Galleon of the Salton Sea
Case 3 - The Sorceress of Smailholm
Case 4 - Horror at Number 50
Case 5 - Land Of The Rising Dead
Upcoming games in the series:
Case 6 - Scourge Of The Sea People
[edit] Characters
The Ben Jordan games have been praised for having strong character development, even in the earlier, shorter episodes. As of the third and fourth games, there have been several characters who have become important to the series.
The Ben Jordan series is one of the relatively few AGS games that uses Sierra-style speech (speech includes close-up portraits of the characters faces), compared to the majority of AGS games that use LucasArts-style speech (text above characters). Most of the characters portraits used for dialog were redrawn in Case 5 to have a more serious disposition and will presumably be used in all games following it.
[edit] Ben Jordan
Ben Jordan is the main character of the series, a young man from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in his early twenties who has recently graduated college with a degree in International Relations. However, his dream is to be a paranormal investigator. Ben is curious, brave, and altogether likeable, but unfortunately for him, seems to suffer from the bad luck of losing people he becomes close to. As a result, he has become wary of getting too attached to people, and becomes angry more easily than before.
[edit] Percival Quentin Jones
A professor of Criminology at Oxford, Percival Quentin Jones met Ben Jordan in Smailholm, where he was investigating the murder of the two children there. At the time he was rude and condescending towards Ben, but his attitude quickly changed after the case was solved, and he was quite helpful during Ben's investigation of the Horror at Number 50. Not much is known about Percy, but his final comment at the end of Case 4 would suggest that there is more to him than he lets on...
[edit] Mary Blaine
A young Scottish lady, living in the village of Smailholm. Ben met her while she was in jail on the accusation of being a witch and having murdered the two McBee children. In reality, this was all an elaborate setup by the entire village who were witches, and wanted to lure Ben in to be their sacrifice. Following the "good" ending of Case 3 as canon, Mary found herself falling in love with Ben because of the kindness and compassion he showed her, and Ben fell for her as well. Unfortunately, she was killed by Zortherus, which upset Ben greatly.
[edit] Simon Booth
An English ghost hunter from Birmingham, Simon is an outgoing, likeable guy. He and Ben met outside Number 50, Berkeley Square, and the two quickly became friends.
[edit] Alice Wilkins
A young lady from Sacramento, California, studying parapsychology at Harvard. Oddly, her name also appears on a tombstone in Ben Jordan 3. Alice was also present at Number 50, and took a liking to both Ben and Simon. Although she and Ben share much in common, Ben seems reluctant to become romantically attached to her. Whether or not this will change in future episodes remains to be seen...
[edit] Trivia
- Certain aspects of Simon Booth and Otto Schneider are in part based on the author's former roommates.
- As of Case 4, the technique known as rotoscoping used in many of the early '90s Sierra games has been used in the series.
- Case 3 contains several Easter Eggs. One involves the gnarled old tree outside the village, and the other requires your computer's date to be set to a particularly "silly" day of the year.
- All the Ben Jordan games take place on 2004, even the unreleased games.
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Cases 3 and 4 have won AGS Awards
- Ben Jordan 1 review at justadventure.com
- Ben Jordan runner up in adventuregamers.com 2004 underground awards
- Case 1 review at Adventure Lantern
- Case 2 review at Adventure Lantern
- Case 4 review at adventuregamers.com
- Case 1 review at adventuregamers.com
- Case 5 review at adventuregamers.com
- Interview with author at justadventure.com
- AGS wiki link
