Adventure Time!

Wanting to try something new, I reconnected with my friend Good Old Games and downloaded some Adventure games! I will admit i had something off a soft spot for Adventure games when I was a kid. Whilst most of the ones I played were text adventures on the Commodore 64, I did appreciate the fact that these games were something else from the action games I enjoyed: Adventure games were built around problems that required imaginative thinking, they told awesome stories and they required patience to a point where a lot of thought was placed within the setting and they could build worlds unseen in other other gaming genre.

So here's what I downloaded recently:

Kings Quest VI
I remember the Sierra graphic adventures when I was a kid. At the time I was used to text adventures so seeing the same thing being transplanted into a genuine graphical environment was mind-blowing to say the least. Although I recall the Leisure Suit Larry series (I doubt few who have played it have ever forgotten it), I never played the Kings Quest series so this is a new experience for me.
Needless to say, I had no idea what to expect: I knew no.6 was the best of the lot but that was it. And so far I'm liking what I've seen. Sure some of the puzzles may be a bit absurd and some of the character animations looking wonky now but on all other fronts, this is game that has aged quite well. The voice acting is pretty good (I'm still astonished that the voice actor of Alexander is the same one who did the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast) and I LOVE the backgrounds. Seriously, some of these are a work of art and proof that sometimes hand-drawn graphics can trump anything more recent.
So in summary, Kings Quest no.6 is turning out rather well and certainly a game that warrants further playing.

Simon the Sorcerer
I recall this game from my days as an Amiga owner. Sure I never played it but I was aware of it and it certainly looked interesting. So what do I think of it eighteen years later?
It's brilliant. And I think it's down to three factors: Firstly, the writing is hilarious and I really enjoy the various fairy-tale/fantasy tropes that this game is messing around with. Simon is a great character and whilst a sarcastic git would make for a dis-likeable character, here it works.
Secondly, the voice acting is fantastic. Simon is voiced by Chris Barrie (Rimmer from Red Dwarf) and it helps considerably. I love the one-liners and fourth wall breaking Simon does. And the other voice acting is pretty good too - special mention must go to the scene involving the tree stump.
And thirdly, the backgrounds are gorgeous to behold. Above I mentioned the beauty of hand-drawn graphics - it certainly applies here and many of the backgrounds still hold up nearly two decades later. It really adds so much to the world and proves that, for many years, when to came to world building adventure games were miles ahead of everyone else.

So yeah, I've played these games and enjoyed them insofar. Say what you like about the Adventure game genre but when it got it all right, the results were nothing short of magnificent.