On reflection, the Neverhood falls into what Yahtzee would refer to as "For all its flaws, get it anyway for you'll never have an experience like it." Playing through it in my late teens I could see what I probably wouldn't have had I played it as a kid.
To start off, as a puzzle/point-and-click adventure game there is only one way to complete it (like most puzzle games), which makes replay value dissapointingly small. The game length also only scratches around three...maybe four hours, tops, if you have no idea what you're doing. The game involves alot of walking back and forth between puzzles, and with Klaymen's slow trudging steps that does get pretty irritating after a while. There is a speed-up cheat, but I didn't know of it till after playing, which would have helped with the infamous Hall of Records section. Also a pad and pen must be at hand to jot down some clues, which does break the immersion quite a bit.
What makes this a great game, however, is simply the presentation. The settings, the characters, the story and the style makes this game worth the £50 you'll inevitably have to pay for it these days. Doug TenNapel's quirky style makes this game a joy to play and never fails to raise a smile. Despite all the negative things I just said about it, The Neverhood is a wonderful game and I would drop whatever I was doing if the chance to play it again cropped up. For all The Neverhood's flaws, the charm and the style makes it a masterpiece.
