Ceville

Ceville is an adventure which had high goals and for the most part, it achieved them.

Ceville is a traditional point 'n click adventure with an evil twist – Ceville himself. Its strongest point are the main characters, especially the evil little tyrant Ceville, reminiscent of the great Iznogould. The puzzles are well-made, as is the voice acting. Graphics, use of colour and the music all add to the nice faery-tale-like feeling. On the con side there are still some bugs to be fixed and sometimes the dialogue isn't witty at all, even though it tries hard to be. Overall Ceville is an enjoyable game and adventure gamers shouldn't miss it. [May 2009]

A well crafted game with a good sense of humor, excellent (German) voice acting and nifty puzzle design. Despite its weak presentation and insignificant story Ceville stands out as one of the better traditional adventure games in years.

Despite a few awkward moments and the scarcity of thigh-slapping comedy, Ceville is nevertheless one of the better recent comic adventures, with excellent cartoony graphics and delightful music combining with the irreverent humor to add much to the whimsical nature of the game.

Despite initial reservations, Ceville charmed me more than I usually like to admit. It is the obvious result of a team who truly love what they are doing and who are determined to make new and interesting gaming content for us. The witty and eloquent writing style and the consistently top-notch humour turn this little title into a gaming gem.

Can drag its heels, but provides a great interactive story.

Ceville isn't a masterpiece, but worth a recommendation for genre fans - despite technical flaws and too simple puzzles.

The best part of this adventure is the characters, with Ceville, Ambrosius, the undead pirate and the lisping demon all possessing the potential for further development. I would welcome them back in a slightly more humourus and random comedic sequel.

It's just not as 'hilarious' as perhaps it seems in its native land and, although it's sometimes a pleasing adventure, at 30 quid, I'd struggle to recommend it. [June 2009, p.101]

It's not a game to rush out right now and buy, but you can definitely do worse. [July 2009, p.79]

With all the technical stuff aside, how you feel about this game will be heavily dependent on your own tastes because it is such a niche game – heavy dialog, comedy, and a cartoon. Within that category of adventure games, I think Ceville will rank pretty high on gamers lists.

Even if you turn a blind eye to simplistic puzzles and short gameplay, or squint at the scenes lifted from classic LucasArts adventures, you will still have a hard time enjoying Ceville.

Ceville is a pleasant enough game that doesn't demand to be played (and, let's be honest, is too expensive), but adventure fanatics should get enough joy out of it to warrant a purchase. [May 2009, p.65]

A very entertaining adventure à la Monkey Island is approaching you. Because of the nice graphics and lots of good humor this game makes a lot of fun.

Sadly, it’s just not a massively compelling adventure, and most certainly won’t be ripe for revisiting like the classics are yet years down the line, but to understate Ceville’s role would be a misstep.