Been there done that

Regular readers would note that I’ve been paying a lot of point and click adventure games over the past few months. Well, another one has been cast down from my Hall of Shame. Who’s out on their arse this time around? Ben There Dan That!

As is often the case, I’d become aware of this game largely through word of mouth: As was my understanding, it was a more recent point and click adventure game which was really funny. Ho Hum right? After all is there ever a point and click adventure game without humor? And isn’t The Dig?
But wait! Ben There Dan That boasts an animation quality on par with South Park! And shares the same demented sense of humor too! And it’s made by British people! Well, I’m all for that. Now as far as I’m concerned the point and click adventure games made by the British are in the minority and the few I have played (Beneath a Steel Sky and Simon the Sorcerer) are of high quality so what the hell? I’m curious.

So I found the game on Steam, played it all the way through and at the end of it? Well to begin with, this is more or less a love letter to the various point and click adventure games from the early nineties. There are various references, in both the visuals and dialogue that call back to this era – but whilst that may sound like a bad thing it never once bogs down the game itself. Yes in an age where people seem intent on celebrating the games they enjoyed as a youth, Ben There Dan That never once gets blinded by nostalgia – no it has something of its own to say and won’t stop in getting its message across.
Holy shit! I can’t believe I just typed that! Yes unlike a lot of other modern point and click adventure games Ben There Dan That seems to have been made by people who have a clear idea of what they want to convey and avoiding pioneer reverence like the plague. I guess stranger things have happened…

Okay, cynicism aside, I found a lot to admire about Ben There Dan That. The puzzles are well thought out and there is a lot of hilarity in the humor and the crude nature of the graphics. The South Park comparisons are inescapable but it’s nice to think of Ben There Dan That as a visitor from a parallel dimension where Trey Parker and Matt Stone were from the UK. Now whilst there are some signs of being a first time game (the limited locations being one such example), this is still an impressive feat for game bashed out by two guys.
And apparently, someone else thought so too for apparently, there does exist a sequel….

Bass in the Place

And we're back.
Welcome to 2013 everybody. The world didn't come to an end (in your face nay-sayers!) and a whole new year has opened up before us all. So lets not muck around - time to go back to work.

So what did I do during my Christmas holidays? Well I took the time to work on my Hall of Shame and had the pleasure of striking another game from it: Goodbye Beneath a Steel Sky.

During the nineties, whereas other kids had a Nintendo or a Sega (or eventually a PlayStation), I however had an Amiga. It was through being an Amiga user that I became aware of Beneath a Steel Sky. I saw some screenshots and it getting excellent reviews from critics who were acting like they'd just found a gold mine underneath their house. Of course I had little access to Amiga games at the time so I never got to play it - until recently, of course, through my good friend Good Old Games where it was available for free. Yeah, a game you wanted to play being made for free - such an endpoint for a journey begun eighteen years ago.....

Anyway, with high expectations behind this game how did it turn out?
Well quite good actually.

From my early impressions with the game, stemming form my Amiga days, I gathered a sense that Beneath a Steel Sky was set in a scifi universe ruled by a totalitarian dictatorship - at the time I'd never heard such a scenario in a game before and I was keen to see how it would play out. Very well as it turned out: I liked the setting of this world and how the oppressive nature of the setting is gradually established as the game progresses (note the message accompanying the game over screen). Like all adventure games I've been playing, the backgrounds were beautiful to behold and, impressively, were drawn by comic artist extraordinaire Dave Gibbons.
But what I found particularly puzzling is the setting being located in Australia. Now I'm all for Australia being a setting for a game - and a sci-fi setting at that - but it is strange to see an Australian setting where everyone speaks in British accents. But the Australian setting does have moments of hilarity to the Australian resident with the totalitarian government and having a revolutionary group operating out of Hobart (!!!!!).
Another aspect that left me scratching my head is the humorous moments. Now with the setting described above, one would think the game would be grim and dour. Not so: there are a lot of nutty characters and witty dialogue. Its an odd choice but  there are times when it seems like the humorous moments seem strained and seem to have got lost whilst on the way to a completely different game (the courtroom scene springs to mind). Granted such moments may add to the idea that everyone's gone insane but to make the humorous moments come across as off-putting. Indeed, it makes me wonder how much Adventure games rely on humor - if anything the inclusion of humor sweetens the deal of having to solve baffling problems whilst the absence of it could prove to be fatal to the game itself (The Dig anyone?).

Still, I enjoyed playing Beneath a Steel Sky. I enjoyed the setting and exploring the world before me and it did lead to some memorable moments (the scene in the cathedral being one). I liked this game and am glad to have (finally!) played it. It's just a shame it ended when it did because I would've liked to have seen more of the world presented in this game.
And sequels have been granted to less deserving games... >:(

Old Time Rock and Roll

This past week I've been paying a few visits to Good Old Games. I've known about this site for a while and, for me, hearing about so many classic games readily available seems like a damn good deal to me. After all, I'm all for game preservation - and the opportunity to play games that may have slipped past first time around is more so the better.

So being able to finally play Beneath a Steel Sky? Hell yes. Sim City 2000 and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 finally being able to work on my computer? Just try and stop me. Editions of Baldur's Gate 1+2 that ACTUALLY WORK?