Gilbert Goodmate is a 2D point&click adventure in the tradition of Monkey Island. The game features no 3D technology and no flashy animations, but relies on hand-drawn cartoon graphics instead. Like every other game, Gilbert Goodmate and the mushroom of Phungoria has a story, though it's pretty crazy story. Gilbert Goodmate lives with his grandfather in the small town of Phungoria. The centerpiece of the town square is a gigantic mushroom that was once wielded to defeat an evil wizard bent on world destruction. There is also one citizen chosen to guard the Pride and Joy of the city for the whole year, with his life if necessary. Last year, that honour has been given to Gilbert's grandfather (senile 72-year-old man), but unfortunately, a week before the traditional city festivities, the mushroom is stolen. The villagers demand that he must pay for his neglect with his life. You must save your grandfather by finding the mushroom and catching the thief...
Gilbert Goodmate began development four years ago as an Amiga project, probably that's why the game looks incredibly outdated. The locations and characters are all hand-drawn, and look very cartoon-like. Although the 2D backgrounds are beautifully well drawn and detailed, the characters are not up to this standard (they are well-drawn, but they're not at all detailed and seems to be quite separate from the background). Also the animation is slightly suspect in places - there are times when too few frames of animation have been used. Well, just one person (though extremely talented) did all the character animations, so there simply aren't enough frames. In other words the low budget is unfortunately visible throughout. However the game requires only P166 with 32MB and 2MB video card, so you can play it on an older computer. The sound in the game is well done, there are more than 15 000 humour-laced lines, and professional actors (probably 5-6 actors) read them. The dialogue is well written, although it's not up to the standard of the old LucasArts adventures. The background music is very pleasant, while not being intrusive. A simple point-and-click interface is used throughout the game, you just left click to tell Gilbert where to go and double click to make him jump to the next screen. Tapping the right mouse button allows you to access your inventory, while holding the right mouse button down over an object brings up the interface. The puzzles in Gilbert Goodmate are quite logical (except one in which you must create a fake dog) and fun,   for the most part, your standard keep trying an inventory item until it works and if all else fails combine items in your inventory. Easy isn't it?  Hehe try until you will die :P
Gilbert Goodmate is not technically innovative or genre-bending and it's not particularly original. But it's great to see the traditional graphic adventure game make a comeback with this title., I'm sure fans of the genre will definitely want this nonpsychedelic appetizer :P For more details visit official website and download playable demo (42MB).