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 bya 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.

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.