Recipe for this game: 1kg of Fable, 300g of Dreamfall: The Longest Journey and 200g of Tomb Raider. A Good GAME!!!!!
Now lets explain my Review Deck.
There's much of Fable in this game. Combat is a bit random and with lack of strategy, you just hit and roll to avoid enemy attacks. Some times is frustrating because a huge number of enemies hit you for a long time without even giving you a chance to parry or dodge... and you die... fortunately you can "resurrect" several times and continue the fight. Like Fable, Venetica shows a fantasy world full of magic and color, the difference is there's a lot of cultural references along the way. The Venetians, the Turks, the Africans, and even a little reference to Portuguese nation (my homeland :D). Still all those faction/nations are introduced in a world of fantasy. This is not a new idea but it's kinda cool. Yes I admit most of the world, interface and textures are Fable like.
Talking about the main character, she was not a warrior, but strange accidents in her life made her change and start this journey. She's a cute main character with strong personality, and the player will eventually create a bond with her. That's why I mentioned Tomb Raider. A strong female character not only for her looks but for what she represents - may that be revenge, good soul, peace, power. She digs for treasures to.
When I refer to Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, I'm talking about the magic within the world, the cultural organization and the fact there's in both games a city called Venice xD
About the quest system, well sometimes the quests are not much clear, quest helper lacks more info. Sometimes only guessing you'll reach the objectives.
About cutscenes and voice acting: last one is very good: characters feel the situations. About cutscenes... well I saw the scene of hugging between Scarlet and his dead boyfriend like ten times with same musical score everytime I completed a statue.
About the bad guys. They all represent their culture, unfortunately every boss fight has the same sequence and ends with a dialog with Father Death. The last boss is a guy called Victor that reminds me of Roy Batty from Blade Runner movie xD
Venetica is a game you want to play once, I don't think it would differ drastically with replay. Still give it a try and if you liked Fable this may be a good replacement for the absence of Fable 2 and the delay of Fable 3 for the PC.