In a time where first-person-shooters like Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament, or Role-Playing-Games like Planescape Torment reign over today’s gaming world; emerges an innocent 3D Mystery Adventure called Gabriel Knight 3 "Blood of the Sacred – Blood of the Damned". The name Gabriel Knight probably brings back nostalgic memories to a large number of gamers. First came GK1 – Sins of the Father, which among other things, dealt with voodoo dolls, then came GK2 – The Beast within, this time it was about werewolves, and now comes GK3…. "Blood drinking vampires anyone?"

The story goes something like this: Prince James of Albany has asked Gabriel to watch over his baby son due to his fear of some unknown night-visitors that threaten him. Seemingly Gabriel fails in protecting the child, leading to its kidnapping. Gabriel arrives in a village called Rennes-le-Château in southern France by train, after he has been hit on the head by the kidnappers as a result of chasing them. The game begins in the village’s hotel where Gabriel will be staying for the next three days during which the game takes place. All you have to do is find the Prince’s child and get him home safely. Sounds easy right? Wait and see….

The drastic change from the Full Motion Video used in GK2 to this amazing rendered 3D world in GK3 is, in my opinion, a great thing. Not only are you free to explore anything and everything in the game but also you are not stuck to one way of doing things. In GK2 there weren’t a lot of possibilities that you could have taken to accomplish a certain objective, this isn’t the case in GK3. In GK3, using preferably your mouse to move the camera, you will be able to view objects at all angles. This at times is crucial to solving a puzzle or two where you have to look carefully for a particular button to press. An important thing I liked about this new 3D camera interface is that it saves you time. What I mean by that is, instead of waiting for your character to walk from one side of a hill to another by repeatedly clicking on the ground, you can just "fly" to your desired location with the camera and click once, this will bring your character there instantaneously. Neat eh? The bottom line is that 3D in this game plays an integral part and can’t be neglected.

In GK3 you play both as Gabriel and as Grace Nakimura, his work partner, lover, friend, however you might interpret her relationship with Gabe. As I said, the game is played during three days and each day is divided usually into two-hour time blocks. During these two hours, Gabriel or Grace must tackle different tasks, solve puzzles; indulge in particularly interesting and enriching conversations with other characters and what not. What I really like about this game is that it is not like any other adventure game I have ever played in the way that things occur just like they do in real life. You can diverge from your regular activities and make Gabriel drive his Harley to a pub. Not that Gabriel has any inclination to go drinking but you might find a couple of your hotel-resident-fellows and ask them a few questions. This will not help you in any special way to finish the game or gain some major points but you can do it just for the hell of it! You are free, and aren’t obliged to anything.

The puzzles in GK3 aren’t that hard as some people have complained to me. I believe that with a bit of thought and logic anyone can figure out how to solve any puzzle in the game. In a game where Gabriel does most of the smart back talking with Moseley (yes, the funny looking detective from New Orleans is back) and the physical work, Grace is left to read all the books and solve all the tough puzzles. To her aid comes a program she has been working on called SIDNEY. This program is a very helpful utility in the game. Here you will be able to view the current suspects, analyze and translate material, scan fingerprints you have obtained using your fingerprint-kit, search for information and more.

The soundtrack in the game is excellent. Music changes accordingly to the atmosphere. When you’re chasing someone on your motorcycle the music will be of the adrenaline-pumping sort (but not overdoing it). Same holds true when you’re trying to analyze something using SIDNEY, a peaceful piano melody will be playing in the background. The character’s speech is also done beautifully (except when Gabriel starts to suddenly sound like some Texas Cowboy for one reason or another), and the lip’s motion is synchronized very well to my surprise.

The game deals with a lot of very interesting issues and one can actually learn a lot from it because it does present a massive amount of facts and figures about the Rennes-le-Château history. Of course there are also a lot of fiction including theories concerning the Holy Grail, mythology, a buried treasure, Christianity, the Knights Templars and more. As the game develops the player becomes more and more immersed into the game (at least I was).

In conclusion this is one of the best games I have played in quiet a while. The ending is simply spectacular and is worth working hard to get to. When it comes to storylines, I have to take off my hat and congratulate Jane Jenson to be the Agatha Christy of Mystery Adventure games. I hope there would be a fourth Gabriel Knight in the near future (rumor has it Gabriel will be taking a trip to Scotland to investigate something to do with ghosts).