It was actually not long ago when I still thought that I would keep myself at safe distance from any games published as a series of episodes. On the one hand, games such as new Sam and Max or Bone have the requirements that make my head sore, especially when I start counting the cash that would be needed for a proper upgrading of my PC. On the other hand, The Exchange Student works great on my hardware, but its plot is dangerously close to the kind of humour I straightforwardly hate - represented by the worthless movies with a pie in the title. But, all in all, who said that one's views should not be subject to change? Especially when you get your hands on a game that makes you wait for the next episodes as if you were a puppy-eyed kid waiting for Santa Claus during Christmas.

The Blackwell Legacy is a mini-series talking about two permanently intertwined characters. Rosangela is an unfulfilled writer, a journalist and - what she realizes with terror - a medium. Joey is a ghost connected to the Blackwell family since two generations, not knowing exactly why and how. This extraordinary duo helps the restless souls striding the Earth leave our world and go for their next journey. Every episode is supposed to be a stand-alone wholeness, so theoretically you do not have to play all of them. Those who decide to do so, however, will discover a second plotline in the background of the main events - the story of Blackwell family. An important role in the episodes was also given to various urban legends, most of them probably originating in New York, although one of the episodes is said to take place in China - so, who knows, maybe we will see the famous black Volga somewhere.

We meet Rose in a very sad moment of her life - standing on the Brooklyn Bridge and scattering the ashes of her aunt on the wind. They were very close, because the aunt was taking care of little Rose since her parents died in an accident. And this is only the beginning of a truly bad day. Some kid substituting the janitor does not want to let her into her apartment and when she finally gets there, her boss tells her to write an article about some girl who committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the dorm belonging to a local university. The more and more intense headaches, together with the evening visit of the family ghost in her apartment only add to her worsening mental state. It also turns out that JoAnna is not the only student who made a suicide attempt during the previous few days and, additionally, dogs in the park started to behave strangely at that time. Willingly or not, Rose, being a medium, will have to take a closer look at that matter, much closer than a typical reporter's job in low circulation newspaper would require (on Joey's irrefusable request, obviously).

This is the plot of the first episode in a nutshell. Seems like it is nothing new - we have investigated weird murders and suicides many times. But how many of such games included the figure of a ghost, following us and commenting on our every move, often quite sarcastically? Besides, Joey's role goes beyond that - he is also responsible for informing other ghosts that they are no longer alive and have to leave this world. Being a ghost, he also possesses some special skills - he can hurt other ghosts, cause a small gust of wind or disrupt radio waves with his presence. Those skills will be indispensable for completing the game, but there are more. His tie is also a tie between the netherworld and the world of living and Rose uses it to send ghosts where they belong. Joey's role in the game is actually quite comical, also due to the fact that he is only perceived by Rose and animals, including her neighbour's dog - Moti. It was a lot of fun for me (and I bet that Abe Goldfarb, who voiced Joey, felt the same) to observe how Joey scares the hell out of the poor pooch. Unfortunately, this is also connected with a slight glitch that I noticed - the fact that most people cannot see Joey makes it impossible for Rose to talk with him freely in the dorm or park, because someone may hear her and consider her a nutcase. It is possible, however, in the psychiatric ward hall, where the guard sitting in the next room somehow does not regard talking to a wall as strange. I understand that the plot demanded such order of things, but surely it could be done in a more convenient way.

As for the dialogues, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with them. Not that they are dull or soap-operish, not at all. They are funny and interesting enough to keep you involved. But the problem is their somewhat wasted potential. Sure, Rose can reply in different tones, but that does not change anything in the end. The way of conversation during, for example, the talk with JoAnna's roommate or with the doctor who took care of Rose's aunt is not important. Whatever option you choose, you will end up in the same place, getting the needed information. What is more, there is a situation when the choice of refusal seems meaningful, but if you choose it, you will receive the same list of possible responses, with the option of refusal excluded. I guess it was supposed to make the gameplay easier, but it actually got me annoyed.

Obviously, during the course of the game we will do other things than just chatting about the weather or exchanging more or less polite opinions about oneself with the other characters (there are 10 of them, without counting Joey, dog and Rose's boss). First of all we are supposed to lead the investigation using Rose's notebook, where she keeps all the gathered information written. It also enables you to find the links between the found clues. It works very simple - you choose two clues and Rose tries to find a connection between them. If there is any, the two clues will be merged into one. It is actually impossible to finish the game without using this option. You must use it, for example, in case of JoAnna's roommate, who will avoid answering your questions honestly until you prove her that she is lying, thanks to connecting the two clues. There is more of such situations in the game. Additionally, because she is a modern-day detective, Rose will use her notebook while surfing the Internet for information. Nevertheless, this will require stating some more precise query, since searching on the basis of the name or surname alone will end in failure.

The notebook itself in a way makes up for the total lack of logic riddles (unless you count getting the neighbour's interest as a riddle) and only one (!!) riddle involving operating on the things in Rose's pocket. Sadly, the game is quite short and since it is also quite easy (at least I did not have a slowdown longer than a couple of minutes), completing it took me not more than 6 hours (including supper-break and writing a walkthrough while playing). All right, I understand that this is caused by the episodic nature of this series, but was it really impossible to make the game a bit longer?

Controlling is very easy and intuitive, as in most of the games based on point and click interface. Left mouse button is used to pick the objects, talk with people and move, while the right one is used to look around. The pocket of the protagonist is an interesting novelty, although it is hard to say whether it is positive or negative. We can use the objects only inside of it, since any tries to move them out of the pocket area ends in failure. Instead of that, using the objects is done through the dialogue - i.e. if we have a dog biscuit in the pocket and we wont to feed it to Moti, we must click on the dog with LMB and choose the proper option from the talk menu. It works quite well, but may be hard to get used to.

The commentary mode requires a separate paragraph. It can be turned on in the menu and offers us a guide to the game's world in the person of Dave Gilbert himself. He appears from time to time (when entering a new location or meeting a new character) and talks about places we see, people who voiced the game characters or some stories about how the game was being created. I think it is a really nice idea, but it should be checked only after completing the game (as a matter of fact, Dave suggests that himself after you turn on the commentary). Interestingly enough, it is not the only situation in which he appears in any way, since he also voices one of the characters, but I am not going to tell you which one.

As for the voices, they go perfectly with the characters, despite The Blackwell Legacy being a low-budget production. Dr Quentin's voice is adequately calm and relaxed, Kelly's voice is slightly rude and Alli's voice is gentle. The latter two are voiced by Chen-Yung Hsu, who did an excellent job. So excellent that only after seeing the ending titles did I realize that she voiced both these characters. Rose's voice was also a great choice, although I must admit that I had a different idea of what her voice should be like and therefore I had mixed feelings in the beginning, but then I came to see it as perfectly fitting and I could not imagine her having a different voice.

Unfortunately, there is also a little glitch here - it happened a few times that the words uttered by the actors were different from the subtitles and some fragments were missing. I did not really change the sense of the sentence, but it is definitely an error on the part of the editor. Music in the game also deserves some applause, starting with the pleasant tune playing on the menu screen and maintaining a steady high level throughout the whole game. Peter Gresser, the man responsible for it, did a great job with choosing the best possible music for every location.

The graphics will surely not satisfy those who need to see the characters' hair move on the wind or count the smallest blades of grass. The game was created with Adventure Game Studio and that alone suggests the oldschool touch to the visual part of the game. It doesn't mean, however, that it is messy or looks as if it was done in a hurry. On the contrary, it is quite pretty and the portraits of the characters can fend off any possible criticism. They appear during conversations and their look changes with the emotions accompanying any given topic.

I must confess that I simply fell in love with Rose's smile. Her smiling face is definitely the most beautiful visual art in the game, even better than the skilfully done photos, appearing during the game. But again, we have a glitch in this aspect of the game, a quite hilarious one to be honest. Joey, being a ghost, can theoretically phase through walls (he mentions that as one of his powers). It seems however, that doors are somehow too big a problem for him, since Rose always waits with closing the door until Joey also enters the place. There were also a few times when the pointer froze for no apparent reason and only the intervention by using the "Esc" key helped. Taking into account that the game has been already fixed twice due to various bugs, it is strange that such an obvious one was omitted.

So, is The Blackwell Legacy worth the 15 $ (or 45 zł, suit yourself) that you have to pay for it? Well, it is definitely quite a lot for such a short game. It is somewhat justified, however, by the imaginative plot and very intriguing way of showing how a bond of mutual sympathy begins to appear between the two main characters. It will surely develop in the coming episodes and we will also learn more about the history of Joey and women from Blackwell family. Personally, I got really interested and, as I mentioned before, I am looking forward to laying my hands upon the next episode. For Gilbert, according to what he says in the commentary, the game will be a success if the player feels the atmosphere of New York, no matter what part of the world he comes from. And he seems to be very serious in that matter. All things considered, the game gets the fully earned 4-star note :)