Anyone who played Grim Fandango or Alone in The Dark serial will know what I'm talking about. The Longest Journey, on the other hand, has the best combination of 2D and 3D graphics I have seen - the quality of the models is nothing worse than the quality of backgrounds. All the objects are highly detailed with superb texturing. Each character consists of about 1000 polygons, and when you take into account that there are about 50 characters of any importance to the game and even more stunts, you may get a picture about how impressive the scenes look. Even the hard-core antagonists of 3D graphics in adventures will have to admit that this game looks great because it managed to solve all the problems that 3D graphics caused in former attempts.
All character animation is great, all of their movements fluid and realistic.
The shadows are not volumetric, but they still look good. The level design is beautiful and the same goes for the frequently appearing movie sequences. Suddenly, the life of April Ryan turns to the other extremity and becomes very, VERY unusual. This story may seem simple, yet that is far from being true. It is extremely complex and it requires a lot of concentration.