This is a review of the first game of this bundle: Ben There, Dan That.

Ben There, Dan That! is an adventure game in the purest tradition of the genre. If you’ve played LucasArts adventures in the 90’s, you are in familiar territory (and also, lucky). Same if you played 90’s Sierra titles (except you weren’t so lucky). Indeed, you’ll find again every emblematic ingredient: look/use/talk/walk commands, inventory management, branching dialogs, humour…

The story begins with our two heroes, Ben and Dan (who happen to be digital incarnations of the game designers) coming home from a jungle expedition, just in time for watching Magnum P.I. on the TV. Unfortunately, the aerial is broken and you must help our heroes fix it. It very soon happens that Ben and Dan get abducted by aliens in the process. They (and you) must therefore navigate through alternative dimensions if you want to go back home.


There are three areas in which Ben There, Dan That! shine. The first is its humour. It is plentiful and very funny. It touches on many topics and doesn’t avoid controversy (positive discrimination of handicapped workers gets laughed at, for instance). It’s neither politically correct nor polite. Ben and Dan are not above “penis” and “♥♥♥♥♥♥” jokes. So it may not be to everyone’s taste. Most of the humour, however, consists of meta-jokes, aimed at adventure game mechanisms themselves. Those are equally funny, although by the end of the game, that theme will have overstayed its welcome. It also means you probably won’t enjoy the game that much if you’re not an adventure game veteran.

The second remarkable feature is the puzzles themselves. Despite the completely bonkers story, the puzzles remain logical and avoid frustration for the player, without feeling childish like the recent horde of “casual” adventure games. I didn’t need a walkthrough in order to beat this adventure and I never stayed stuck for long. Despite the relative easiness, my intelligence never felt insulted. It was therefore the perfect balance for me.

Polish is the last award-deserving area. In other adventure games, when you are bumping against a particularly devious (or illogical) puzzle, it is common to start trying everything, using every inventory item on every element in the room. Here, because the puzzles are not very difficult, it is rarely necessary to do so. But I encourage you to adopt that behaviour nonetheless. Because almost all combinations, stupid or smart, have been thought of by the developers and there is almost always a funny line of dialog to reward any desperate action. It’s really remarkable, as other games too often punish you with something bland, along the lines of “I can’t do that” whenever you try something original/stupid.

There are weaker aspects to the game though. The story is unimpressive. And despite their individual qualities, the environments (or “rooms”) lack coherence. The game universe feels disjointed and the “parallel dimensions” premise doesn't really excuse that.

I'm not a big fan of the technical aspects either. The art style is primitive and something of an acquired taste. The backgrounds are made to look goofy but mostly they are bordering on the ugly. I got used to it in the end, but it means I didn't get a very good first impression. The animations are very basic, and frankly idiotic. I know some will defend them, but to me it looked stupid without looking funny. The best that can be said about the music is that it is unobtrusive. It must also be said that there is no voice acting, but that can hardly be held against the game.

If you can live with the graphics, and if you've played enough adventure games to appreciate the meta-humour, then by all means, I recommend you purchase the game. It's funny and it's designed with care and attention to details. It's enough to pleasantly fill the better part of a lazy Sunday afternoon.

If you like British humour, you're going to love this. The writing is clever and it's one of those rare things - a FUN point and click game. It's not something only Telltale can do, I know, I'm just as surprised as you, dear reader!

Anyway, it's a couple of currecies, and totally worth the tiny price. I enjoyed it so much that I even went to their site and gave them MORE money because honestly, I feel like they're selling it way cheaper than it's worth.

Ben and Dan are a pair of seasoned point-and-click adventurers who also happen to be your average British smartasses – though their jokes tend to be noticeably dumber (in a good way) and dirtier (again, in a good way). While trying to fix their TV in time for a relaxing episode of Magnum, P.I. they set off a chain of events which leads to the universe-hopping and time-jumping plots of Ben There, Dan That! and its sequel, Time Gentlemen, Please! The places and times they visit get sillier and sillier, but who really needs a deep plot when you've got good jokes?

Heavily influenced by classic point-and-click adventure games, both of the Ben and Dan games take their sense of humor and game feel from those old titles. Every line is a bad joke, an embarrassing pun, or an eye-rolling bit of meta-humor, and it's all a blast to read. The writing hits that perfect tone of "smart in the dumbest way" and keeps the energy high with line after line of funny, stupid goodness. It's hard not to be impressed with the writers when the necessary evil of attempted item combinations yields lines that are just as funny as the main dialogue. There must be thousands of lines across both of these games, and I can't think of even one that I didn't enjoy. The art style works into this, too, with a rough look that is nevertheless very charming, colorful, and quite cohesive across every level.

Of course, while old adventure games were remembered for their writing and aesthetics, their gameplay isn't remembered quite so fondly. Unfortunately, Ben and Dan sometimes dive headfirst into those nasty pitfalls. For every few puzzles that goes along smoothly and logically, there will be a puzzle that will absolutely stump you, leading to far too much time mucking about in an overflowing inventory or with the finicky interface. The later puzzles of both games tend to throw logic out the window and require solutions that, while amusing once you know about them, are basically impossible to find without a walkthrough. Still, despite taking the bad with the good of the classic adventure genre, I'd say that the good is easily good enough to outweigh some awkwardness in design. Worthy new entries into a near-forgotten genre.

Not the greatest point-and-click adventures I've played. Granted, I paid maybe a dollar or two, but most of my time spent with them was disappointing. The humor and writing is pretty decent, but the puzzles are nonsensical and the gameplay is irritating (it's one of those games that has about six or seven actions you have to scroll through to find the thing you're supposed to be doing). The art is awful but I suppose deliberately so, and I got used to it. Still, not a ton of fun, unless you're hardcore into this sort of game.

Time Gentlemen, Please! and Ben There, Dan That! are two separate games in that follow our heroes Dan and Ben as they attempt to simply watch a marathon of their favorite TV show Magnum P.I. While rigging up a makeshift television antenna, our heroes transported to an alien ship, to different eras and to different dimensions. As they try to solve their way back to their own home and return to a much needed television break. (Alice in Wonderland type traveling)

Gameplay is like standard point and clicks. You interact with objects, sometimes bring them along or use them on other objects or NPCs. There are puzzles but not too difficult to solve which jokes and riddles. Some may be a bit tough, but in hindsight it's "why didn't i see that or get that joke". The story is easy to follow and easy to pick up.

These games are filled with humor and quick quips about the events around them. Dan Marshall and Ben Ward do a marvelous job integrating humor into their game. The game may not be for everyone but for people who like jokes and like point and click adventures, this game is worth buying and worth your time trying. It's light on your wallet and can give you a few laugh in the few hours you play through this game.

Only issue may be if you don't really get the humor that can be off-putting. Some humor may be seen more mature. But simply you will recognize in time, it is a lot Dan and Ben taking shots at the environment, npcs, and each other.

Definite must play. Especially at the price.

Also, there is a rumored third game coming soon. - You can follow Dan Marshall @danthat - and see what he has in store for the future adventures of Dan and Ben.