As expected from a Spiderweb title, GF5 merges not-so-stellar graphics and sound with a truly stellar plot and character development. The graphics themselves, as limited as they are, are a welcome improvement over past Spiderweb games - the engine now supports widescreen resolutions, which is a long-overdue feature. The morally ambiguous progression of both the PC and the plot are still here, which may leave people crossing over from Spiderweb's Avernum series (like myself) a little frustrated. There's plenty to see, do, and kill, though the combat may prove too overwhelming in some areas for the less-hardcore crowd.

Overall, I highly recommend it - the immersivity of the plot and gameworld, not to mention the depth of the characters and the choices they are faced with more than outweighs the graphics and sound deficiencies. At least this means that this game is still quite playable on older hardware, and is great for MacBook or Mac mini users with Intel GMA graphics.

At the very least, it's worth trying out the demo, which for a demo is huge and gives you a very good feel for the game's tone and playing style.

Notably, I would have given this game five stars but for a rather pesky bug which on my system limits sounds to one channel (other users have reported no problems with the sound, but others have on the Spiderweb forums).