The series is "slightly" improving, but the games are still lacking major fun factors.
The atmosphere in the games are one of the higher points, and Cards of Destiny takes you to some interesting places. It's just once you get there, you wish you could do more. For example, a Chamber of Horrors ride at an abandoned amusement park could have been lots of fun to explore around, with some startling moments. Instead, all the work goes into getting the ride to work, and we just get to see a short movie of Nicole's ride through it. Other interesting places include Louisiana swamplands and the Maine coast.
The inventory system is a little improved, with the ability to look at all sides of the objects.
But that's the end of where I can say nice things about the game. I'm a completionist, so I made myself load up the game every couple of days to progress in it. It just wasn't much fun. The characters are still uninteresting, the dialogue is still weird, and the game mechanics are still frustrating.
If I could have City Interactive take one lesson from this review, it would be to have a fluent English speaker edit the script. There is no such phrase as "nothing doing" which we have to hear Nicole say every fourth time we try to use the inventory in the wrong way. Every time I heard it my ears hurt.