Be sure to read my last post for one method of creating this type of game in 3DGS. What you mentioned is the easy part. The "walk behind" areas are the tedious part. It's all covered in the thread I linked to above.
Back to Wintermute...
You don't have to ctrl-alt-del to exit. If that is what you had to do, then that's the fault of the developer of the games you tried and not the engine. Most games require you to press Esc which is the standard and pick the Exit button. Like any engine, the user demos vary from garbage to stellar. The engine has a scripting language, so if you can think it up, you can probably pull it off via scripting. However, the templates that come with it are already setup and mimic you typical traditional adv UI. There's not much you really need to do beyond personalizing it for your title.
Check out Project Joe. It's a canceled project, and full 2D, but it's the "flagship" title made with WME. It's a stellar title and showcases the engine nicely.
Here's a link to the demo of Project Joe:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_7287.shtmlAlso, I think the documentation is top notch, and the engine has a solid gold reputation in the adv. development field. If you have any technical questions, the developer will answer them personally on or off the forum. Also, the editors are going to be overhauled eventually to make them a bit more modern, however I think they're more than adequate as is. At least the package includes editors...a lot of the adv engines don't.
Here are a few more WME games or tech demos to check out:
01. Until I'm Gone:
http://www.farawaystudios.com/One of the best looking 2.5D games made with it. It's not finished, but the screenshots speak for themselves. This is AAA+ quality.
02. Restless:
http://www.restlessgame.com/Another 2.5D game. What's scary is that those prerendered looking backgrounds are actually hand drawn/painted.
03. Fairy tales about Toshechka and Boshechka:
http://www.dtf.ru/project/gallery.php?id=595This is 2D and Russian and beautiful
04. Chess-Worlds:
http://www.schach-welten.de/My personal favorite. It will also be 2.5D, but there is no info on characters, yet. Check out the section discussing how they do the backgrounds. The site takes a bit to figure out but it isn't too much trouble. Be sure to download at least the first two tech demos available in their news section. There's no interaction beyond clicking some menu options, but it showcases the awesome lighting effects they're using. The 3rd one is a bit different and a daytime exterior, but those first two are great. Here are the direct d/l links to them:
Demo 1:
http://www.schach-welten.de/download/techdemo_1.zipDemo 2:
http://www.schach-welten.de/download/techdemo_2.zip
