I grade on a 5 point scale: polish, descriptiveness, interactivity, emotional impact, and if I would play it again.
This games passes all 5 points, but it just squeaks by on a few.
Polish: The graphics aid immensely in this area. A few things could be worded more graciously, like changing some more standard responses.
Descriptiveness: This is pretty easy to award. The game is lush in every way.
Interactivity: I struggled with verbs from time to time, and some puzzle solutions were obtuse, but some interactivity was so clever I just had to laugh. (a particular amusing example is (Spoiler - click to show)finding the silver key)
Emotional impact: Some of it was silly, but I felt a definite atmosphere throughout the game, and the villa portion was tense at times.
Play again: I see myself revisiting this in the future.
So that's my 5 star rating for you. It's a fairly simple game in structure, with some tricky puzzles. Best for fans of older style games, especially Scott Adams and Magnetic Scrolls.