The Adventure Company has a knack for taking high concepts and making them into terrible games.  Take for example "The Mystery of the Mummy", a Sherlock Holmes mystery game that made the world's most famous detective seem insipid.  As lousy as some of their attempts have been in the past, high concepts keep players coming back to The Adventure Company.  "Jack the Ripper" has a concept so ideal it seems impossible to ruin, and yet the game is phenomenally atrocious.

The game is set in New York City in 1901.  A couple of poverty-stricken showgirls have been murdered in a fashion similar to the Jack the Ripper killings of 1888.  Jimmy Palmer, a na've young reporter, is assigned by his editor to write a series of newspaper articles on the killings.  As Jimmy looks into the murders, he discovers that the same serial killer might be responsible for both the 1888 and 1901 murders.  There's the high concept.  The game play is from the first-person perspective of Jimmy from beginning to end.  It consists of returning to the same locations and talking to the same people repeatedly, using dialogue options that aren't really all that optional.  Occasionally, Jimmy can collect items such as keys and money to appease stubborn suspects.  There are only one or two actual puzzles in the entire game.

  The game parades many characters based loosely on actual suspects in the real-life Jack the Ripper murders, but Jimmy never seems to come any closer to solving the mystery.  A game called "Jack the Ripper" should at least guarantee a creepy ambience, and the game seems to succeed in that area initially, but it soon becomes apparent that ambience isn't enough.  Menacing footsteps when no one is following you, whispered dialogue that is unintelligible and unimportant to the storyline, and shady characters that can't be interacted with and don't contribute anything to the plot become annoying after a short while.  In one room, a hushed, secretive whisper resembling "I can sell you the most beautiful radishes" can be heard repeatedly.  Dark, blood-stained alleys lose their creepiness after a while.  The score is beautiful and unnerving, but it only adds to the misleading feeling that something frightening is going to happen, and it hardly ever does.  There are also several moments in the game where Jimmy appears to have a psychic connection with a raven, leading to trippy graphic sequence with no pay-off.

Many critics have noted the series of Irish folk tunes performed by one of the game's characters as a bright spot.  The songs themselves are beautiful and haunting, like the game's score, but the animated performances that accompany them are less varied and more mechanical than a floorshow at Chuck E. Cheese's.  Also, be warned that there isn't a twist ending, just an anticlimactic one.  Maybe someday still The Adventure Company will redeem itself.  In the meantime, avoid this game.
The Adventure Company has a knack for taking high concepts and making them into terrible games. Take for example "The Mystery of the Mummy", a Sherlock Holmes mystery game that made the world's most famous detective seem insipid. As lousy as some of their attempts have been in the past, high concepts keep players coming back to The Adventure Company. "Jack the Ripper" has a concept so ideal it seems impossible to ruin, and yet the game is phenomenally atrocious. The game is set in New York City in 1901. A couple of poverty-stricken showgirls have been murdered in a fashion similar to the Jack the Ripper killings of 1888. Jimmy Palmer, a na've young reporter, is assigned by his editor to write a series of newspaper articles on the killings. As Jimmy looks into the murders, he discovers that the same serial killer might be responsible for both the 1888 and 1901 murders. There's the high concept. The game play is from the first-person perspective of Jimmy from beginning to end. It consists of returning to the same locations and talking to the same people repeatedly, using dialogue options that aren't really all that optional. Occasionally, Jimmy can collect items such as keys and money to appease stubborn suspects. There are only one or two actual puzzles in the entire game. The game parades many characters based loosely on actual suspects in the real-life Jack the Ripper murders, but Jimmy never seems to come any closer to solving the mystery. A game called "Jack the Ripper" should at least guarantee a creepy ambience, and the game seems to succeed in that area initially, but it soon becomes apparent that ambience isn't enough. Menacing footsteps when no one is following you, whispered dialogue that is unintelligible and unimportant to the storyline, and shady characters that can't be interacted with and don't contribute anything to the plot become annoying after a short while. In one room, a hushed, secretive whisper resembling "I can sell you the most beautiful radishes" can be heard repeatedly. Dark, blood-stained alleys lose their creepiness after a while. The score is beautiful and unnerving, but it only adds to the misleading feeling that something frightening is going to happen, and it hardly ever does. There are also several moments in the game where Jimmy appears to have a psychic connection with a raven, leading to trippy graphic sequence with no pay-off. Many critics have noted the series of Irish folk tunes performed by one of the game's characters as a bright spot. The songs themselves are beautiful and haunting, like the game's score, but the animated performances that accompany them are less varied and more mechanical than a floorshow at Chuck E. Cheese's. Also, be warned that there isn't a twist ending, just an anticlimactic one. Maybe someday still The Adventure Company will redeem itself. In the meantime, avoid this game.