Basics:

     Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator
-Case 2- The Lost Galleon of the Salton
Sea is the second installment in the well
known Ben Jordan series and was created
only a few months after the first in June of 
2004, after the huge success of the first.

Story:

     In this game, Ben Jordan is hired by
a distraught wife who’s husband went 
searching for a fabled treasure, The lost 
Galleon in the Salton Sea. It's said that
the Salton Sea was once a huge sea, and
that a large drought caused the entire area 
to dry up. The residents of the town don't 
believe the story that a sunken ship is really
buried deep down in the depths of the desert. 
But the husband did, and now he's missing.
So it's up to Ben to unravel to mystery.
But is the fabled treasure of the Salton Sea
really cursed, or is this legend just a lot of 
hoopla....

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, the desert wind howls and
the sound of a rolling sagebush both play. This adds
to the feel and coolness of the game.

Characters:

     There is a very strange blend of characters 
here. Some range from a china woman with 
a deflated balloon to a real jerk with a supposed 
treasure map. This game even comes with its own
town drunk.

Puzzles:

     The puzzles in this game are hard, because
it's hard to figure out what you are supposed
to do. You don't really get any hints, and the 
Paranormal Investigators notebook doesn't update 
in the game. Along with this and a couple of pixel 
hunts, some of the puzzles in the game can
actually be a bit annoying. But that doesn't take 
away from the game too much. Just makes it longer.

Content:

     Even though the content in the first game
was a bit....well, not for kids, the content in this 
game is not as adult. I rate this game 13+
for mild language, and a unrecognizable 
picture of a naked lady hanging in the town bar.

Replayability:

     Of all the Ben Jordan games, I consider 
this one the worst. It's like the Monkey Island 2
of the series. The replayability factor is somewhat 
low for this game. But that’s just my opinion, 
don't let it affect yours. I know a lot of people 
love this game better then the others in the series.
So you might too.

Overall:

     I would say that this game deserves a rating
of 3.5, maybe a 4, as I found that the game lacked 
in some things that I liked in the other 3 games.
For instance, the music was different. And the graphics
weren't as good either. Recommended though if you 
want to play the entire series for non cheating purposes.