At heart, Al Emmo is about the noble quest for a date. This wouldn't be quite so epic if your character (Al) wasn't short, bald, pudgy, myopically sporting some huge glasses, and overly sheltered from living with his parents. As daunting as that makes the task, it becomes more challenging when your desires focus on the most eligible bachelorette this side of the Sippimissis - I mean Mississippi ... sorry, Al's game uses a lot of anagrams. Heightening the degree of difficulty that last, critical bit is the presence of Spanish royalty! The object of Al's affection is also being pursued by a tall, dark, handsome prince with a knack for showing up right when Al's trying to get his mojo on. Luckily, Al is willing to talk to the town's odd denizens and enlist their help, while the royalty looks down on uninteresting commoners - so a little elbow grease combined with a set of hot tips should see Al through the adventure!

No more on the storyline - that thar be spoiler country! So instead, a brief view on the mechanics.

So the world is pretty simple, that's great. What about what you're DOING in the world? On to the puzzles!

I confess; no matter my love for them, I am bad at adventure games. Countless are the games that fell by the wayside, with a confused Oz unable to figure out that using a slingshot to shoot a banana peel would cause a guard to fall into a barrel of water, at which point you could take his boots and use them to ride the guardsman's steed into the enemy fort. My interest in the game's plot would inevitably be foiled by some puzzle I just didn't get, and eventually I cared more for my sanity than finding out what happened. Al Emmo does an excellent job of avoiding this phenomenon by centralizing your main clue factories, and providing a few colorful characters that are always hanging around to answer Al's questions. Not sure what a particular flower does? Hand it to the mayor, who is a wellspring of information on random items of all kinds! Not sure how to go about winning someone over? Go chat with the saloon's bartender, who hears everyone's secrets and knows everyone's likes and dislikes. Hit a point where you're not quite sure what you should be doing? Take a lap around the town, as there's usually something to guide you on the streets or in one of the common buildings. I can say with some conviction that I was rarely confused during Al Emmo's adventures, and I think this is largely due to some savvy choices by the game's design team. They deftly created a scenario where your tasks will have you ranging across much of Anoriza, but your inspirations and your "idea men" are largely localized in an easy to travel area.

And now for a fistful of chuckles, or, the mood of the game!

OK, this is a hard section to write because it's so highly personal - but it needs mentioning because the story is the heart of an adventure game, and Al's story is one that lives or dies based on whether you find it funny. I found it hit-or-miss, mostly based on how central to Al the humor was. See, it's fun to play the underdog - but Al goes far beyond underdog and well into downright pathetic. It's clear that the game designers don't WANT Al to be a mere underdog, but I'd have preferred it if they'd reigned in the "bust on Al" jokes a bit earlier. The side characters tend to far outstrip Al in terms of humor value, and players may even find some of their schticks familiar. Examples include "Pammy Sanderson" (the busty lifeguard recently retired from the local hospitality house) and "Lou Heifer" (the charming and wealthy owner of said hospitality house who dates blonde triplets ... what a Playboy) along with less familiar characters like Koko (the general store owner who's marketing scheme is to avoid stocking costs by carrying as little as possible!). Setting aside Al himself, the ensemble cast is often quite funny, and their humor combined with some of the tasks that they assign you really carry the day. While I didn't think Al Emmo was a nonstop comedic riot, I did get some great laughs out of the game and imagine that most people will find the game amusing.

The “Ooooo, purty!” of the game, better know as the audio/visual of Al Emmo

The good: This game has a fantastically unique appearance. The world looks hand-illustrated, and the scenery is colorful and imaginative. Searching for clues is a joy simply because it draws your eye to the unique desert landscapes that surround you while you wander. Equally fun is the background music. It fits well into the theme of the game and never got repetitive enough for me to want to turn it off. On the contrary, a few times I found myself hanging out and listening to the piano in the bar. The comic-book style cut scenes are also a great touch, and fantastically executed. They're just plain different than the same old fodder you get in tons of games, and that's positively refreshing. I'd have loved to see more of those comic-cuts for certain scenes and challenges. Finally, this game almost runs on a toaster. OK, not quite - but the system requirements are very low, so just about everyone should have the box they need to visit Anozira and play Al.

The bad: The voice acting was up and down, but one thing I'm certain of is that Al's voice HAS to go. That plaintive, high-pitched, whiny, nasal timbre may be trying to tell me something about Al, but whatever it is I just don't want to hear it. Additionally, the 3-d animated cutscenes were poor enough to actually detract from the story. I'd MUCH rather have seen more of the comic-style cutscenes, and it seemed to me like these movies were included just for the sake of having something 3-d.

All in all, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine was a fun experience. It was also something of a milestone, as it was the first adventure game I ever completed without any temptation to check the walkthroughs. I loved the setup and scenery, the puzzles weren't too hard but stayed interesting, and I laughed out loud several times. You can't really ask for more from a game that - at its heart - is there to tell you a story.