For those lucky people who have played The Longest Journey, they already know how amazing Dreamfall is going to be. Well, I can reassure any worried fans or bemused newcomers that, as with the original, Dreamfall is revolutionising the way RPGs are made. This, however, is not a game for those just wanting a quick, uneventful story and a never changing line of shoot 'em up games (see Wolfenstein 3D and then see any new one you can think of; they're the same), but for those who are sick of samey and completely underdeveloped plots, you are going to be in ecstasy playing Dreamfall.

The story starts in a seemingly unusual place, with Brian Westhouse in a Tibetan monastery writing a tome. Those who played the original know that Brian Westhouse was the man who helped April Ryan when stuck in Arcadia, and they may remember him mentioning that he wasn't a Shifter; this is the beginning of how he got across the divide between worlds. At that time he was an older man and he looked like he'd come fresh from the Wild West era, but this time it's the start of his journey to reach Arcadia, a journey that took him years, although from the outside it was near three centuries.

The head monk calls on him and takes him to where they're performing a ceremony; you're then given some time to get acquainted with the controls before being shoved onto the dais to be transported, although not by a shift. Brian then stumbles out on top of a giant glacier, with someone babbling that he's not supposed to be there, that they're coming, and all the usual crazy talk that you expect from the opening to a cheesy science fiction movie, except for once this isn't crazy talk - they're actually coming. As though someone punctured the sky, black starts seeping over the blue like an oil slick on water; it's The Undreaming and the place isn't Arcadia at all.

After Brian is grabbed by tendrils of black, the scene changes and we're now with our new heroine, Zoë Castillo, a twenty-year-old college dropout living her life on her bed watching TV, as she tries to figure out her place in the world. She lives with her dad in post-collapse Casablanca and is performing her daily ritual of avoiding the gym by holding her bed down, when the TV goes weird and shows a small girl, oddly reminiscent of the girl in The Ring, saying, "Find her. Save her." The TV goes back to normal and she dismisses it as a viral ad or static on the Wire, before her phone starts ringing, reminding her that she's got to go to the gym. Either thinking she's gone crazy from too much TV, or bored by never seeing anyone, she decides to go.

You then go downstairs and talk to Gabriel, Zoë's father, and find out that he's going away on a business trip and won't be back for a week or more. On your way to the gym you run into Olivia, one of Zoë's best friends, and go into her store to talk with her. While she's out of the room, for a second you'll see the girl again on the screen, saying, "Find April. Save April." Olivia didn't see it and Zoë starts doubting that it's just a viral; you get a chance to talk with Olivia about life and the usual stuff before she remembers that she has something to show you. It's a program that blocks your connection to the Wire, which is essentially like having everything tagged to a police state broadband service, allowing them to track your movements and everything you do.

Once you decide to stop procrastinating, it's onto the gym. You meet your instructor Jama and get your first taste of combat; this is lightly used in the game, which is rather thankful, but nevertheless it is a useful tool in the story, and as it's only a training session you can repeat this as long as you want, until you get good enough to win. On your way out (very quick gym, I want that kind of a gym) you pass a screen on the wall and you see the little girl again who says, "Find April Ryan. Save her." At this point, anyone who has played The Longest Journey might want to remember back to the trials April went on when she was trying to get to the tower of the balance; those who haven't played the original really should.

You get a call from Reza, Zoë's ex-boyfriend, who needs to talk to her, so the two meet up at a coffee shop and begin discussing Reza's work. He's an undercover reporter who works for an underground newspaper that breaks news stories that people are willing to kill to keep out of the public eye. Reza reveals that he's working on a big story and asks you to collect a package for him, using his undercover name, Jericho, from the scientist Helena Chang in the Seshadri corporate building.

After losing contact with Reza, escaping police custody, getting assaulted, breaking and entering, assaulting someone, and a multitude of other criminal offences, Zoë ends up hooked up to what appears to be a new form of drug - well you can't say it wasn't coming to her. She wakes up in her underwear in the image she'd first seen of the little girl, on a big white snowfield, with the little girl telling her once more to find April. This place is one of the fragments left from the action of dividing Stark (the technological Earth, our Earth) and Arcadia (the magical Earth), which was either overlooked as insignificant or was unable to be removed. It also shows a striking similarity to where Brian emerged, and as he wasn't a shifter, it is more than likely how he journeyed through the divide; the only question is, why are you here?

Don't expect to stay long, as before you get anywhere you fall through the ice and wake up in a subterranean city, with two trolls standing sentry. Welcome to Arcadia - the game has just got weird, folks. You find your way out of the city and into Benrime's inn, which has changed little over the past ten years, but now houses an underground movement. The city wasn't destroyed at the end of the last game, but 'rescued' by the more technologically advanced Azadi, who have since outlawed magic, and you can quite easily guess how that's going down in the world.

While there you'll find yourself in search of April, now turned freedom fighter and head of a full-blown rebellion. She leads terrorist strikes against the Azadi, and when they hear you making a bit too much noise while looking for April, they capture you on suspicions of being a spy. When they find out you're from Stark, one of April's magical accomplices tries to force your mind to open a shift, but you simply vanish, leaving a pile of clothes behind - make sure to say hello to old Ben Kenobi!

Now we can all take a breather. That much of the game should take you a good few hours to play through, and with most modern games it seems like this would be over a half of the actual game, but like I said before, as with its predecessor, Dreamfall is revolutionary. The gameplay should be measured in days not hours; the best way to describe it is as an interactive video-novel, because the game just has so much story and depth to it, as well as many excellent twists. The original had over fifty hours of gameplay and I would say that this game has the same, if not more. I recommend making some sick calls to work, because one way or another, you're going to be out of commission for well over half a week. It's now your job to stop the collapse from happening again, to find out how you're supposed to save April Ryan and what the mysterious Azadi assassin Kian has to do with all of this.

The graphics in Dreamfall aren't on par with the most recent first person shooters, but the rather depressing thing is that they can put up an extremely good fight, whilst still having about a bajazillion (new number; bajazillion means a bajillion zillion, both made up numbers) times better storyline. Music and sound, while not having heavy influence in the game, do compliment the locations very well. Anyone who played The Longest Journey will notice a subtle difference in the music around Marcuria, thanks to the arrival of the Azadi, and it's touches like this that really help make a soundtrack great, rather than just plastering music in because they thought people might get bored during the quiet bits.

The gameplay is just indescribably great; I normally wholeheartedly detest mini-games that are forced into the actual progress of gameplay, but the mini-games for lock picking and the electronic security hack that you receive from Olivia are just great, very reminiscent of the mini-games in Anachronox. The electronic security hack that you use to break locks reminds me of PAL-18's own electronic security hack, which is in itself a delightful treat in any game.

The controls are simple; anyone who can't use them really should have a ban keeping them at least five miles away from any technology for risk of destroying the world with a logic paradox. They really don't need any explaining; anyone with an IQ higher than a gopher that tried to take on a bus, which technically includes any living creature and quite possibly some plants, should be able to figure them out within the space of time it takes to pick up the controller or sit down at the keyboard.

Once you're in Dreamfall, you're in for the full ride, and this isn't some sissy kids' ride; expect the story to make grown men cry. The emotions in it are sure to build up to a boiling pot like its predecessor, The Longest Journey; expect it to pull your heartstrings more than when Crow found out the meaning of his name in the first game, and threatened to abandon April. I really have no bad word to say about Dreamfall and I can find something to complain about anything - it's deeply disturbed me that my ability to complain has been stolen.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey has the most engrossing storyline ever and without a doubt it will hold the title as my favourite game ever, until a sequel appears. People, pack your lunches for the next week, because Order has remained for far too long and it's now time for Chaos to take the helm - so just dive in, start falling and let yourself go.

Reviewed by Nik Gregory for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).