Basics:

Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator -Case 3- The Sorceress of Smailholm is the third installment in the now famous Ben Jordan series and was created in October of 2004 by Grundislav after the rousing success of his first two games, wot wot. This game won 3 ags awards for best player character, best story and best documentation.

Story:

The story begins with Ben Jordan being called to the Scottish town of Smailholm to investigate the mysterious and brutal murder of two children who were found in the woods by the townsfolk. The surrounding people believe it was the work witches, as the children were murdered in a very evil witchlike way. Believing that an old woman in the woods, a wicken, killed the children, they imprison a girl who lives near the old woman to make her confess to the crimes. Ben sets out to find the real witches and save an innocent woman. Along with the help of a British detective Quentin P. Jones, unravel the mystery behind the
witches of Smailholm. But beware, the town of Smailholm is not all it seems....

Game play:

The Game play in this game is exactly the same as the Sierra games from the 90's. The author didn't bother to change the GUI, so you will see the same GUI as in most Space Quest games. Also, the pointage system is back, that's right, when you learn something of importance, you receive a certain amount of points. This adds to the interesting factor of the
game, as you will probably compete with yourself to see if you can get a score of 100. Also, when you get some points, a witch cackles, adding to the strangeness and uniqueness of the game.

Characters:

The neat characters in the game are portrayed exactly how they are supposed to be, and act how they should according to their respective personalities. All of the characters in the game are British or Scottish, which is neat because it adds the famous dry Brit humor to the game. Characters range from an old Wicken to a Andy Griffith style constable. P.S. Ben Jordan is not British.

Puzzles:

The puzzles in this game are quite challenging and will take even the most experienced adventure gamers a while to figure out. One of the puzzles requires you to use the P.I. Handbook to crack a witch code, and save a mans life. Another puzzle requires you to act quickly or die, and one even chooses which ending you get by how you solve it.

Content:

The content in this game is like the first in the series, only suitable for ages 15 and up for graphic violence, strong language, and thematic elements.

Replayability:

The replayability factor in this game is high, as you will not only want to do your best to get 100 points, but you will also want to search the game to find both endings. It's a game you will want to play again and again.

Overall:

This is a very good game, and it has a good story and good characters. It has many plot twists and will keep you coming back for more. Pick this game up as soon as possible and play it. You will love this gem, and might even find it to be one of the best adventure games you've ever played.

Note: Currently the download location for Ben Jordan 3 at the author's homepage is corrupted, the download link will redirect you to bigcupgames where you should click "download from mirror 1" to get the complete game without corruption.