Ripe for Abuse

Let’s talk about an actual game for once: Abuse!

Has anyone heard of this? It was a game released on the PC in 1996 and came to us courtesy of a group called Crack dot Com. A bizarre name of a company to be sure – Abuse was their only game – but it did have some distinction by being founded by Dave Taylor, a programmer formerly of id software.

So what type of game was Abuse? Well you ran around and blew shit up! Seriously: You control a protagonist than around maze-like environment solving minor problems and blowing away a variety of enemies with a range of weapons.

One look at Abuse however and it’s quite clearly a product of the grimdark that proliferated throughout the early to mid-nineties: there is a cyberpunk theme running throughout; there are some varied backgrounds ranging from a desolate city to a truly alien environment; the weapons range from laser guns to rocket launchers; and the plot…actually no, let’s forget about the plot.

But the thing I find most striking about Abuse is that it is clearly taking inspiration from other games and trying to prove that the PC can do the same as well – or at least give something to satisfy the obvious gazes the PC gamers have towards their console-focused brethren. The most obvious clue is the player character resembles the monster from the Predator movies and the enemies resemble the monsters from the Alien movies. True it may be trying to ape Alien vs Predator but ti is funny to see (what could well be) the Predator use a range of weapons – what wasn’t his shoulder cannon good enough? Similarly it is mind-boggling to see the not-Aliens have in-built firearms (!) and, upon their demise, drop ammo to be collected (!!!).
 Gameplay wise the obvious inspiration is Metroid, with the platform action, the shooting and puzzles inviting comparisons. The difference however is that whereas Metroid thrives on mood and non-linearity, Abuse goes in the other direction with an action overload. Enemies attack frequently in swarms and it’s all too easy to get swamped by the critters.

Nevertheless, Abuse has something of a try-hard charm to it that I somehow find appealing. Yes they were trying so very hard to prove that PC games can be just as action packed as any game on the consoles and to that end they do succeed. Okay it’s nowhere near in the same league as the immortal Super Metroid but for an action game Abuse does its job of scratching an itch. The fact that Abuse has been made available in the public domain means it can keep doing its job.

Little Green Men

Not much to say for today.
However I'm still trucking through Star Control 2. And by now I've made contact with the Arilou - and boy is it a relief to encounter an alien race who is actually helpful, doesn't speak in an annoying voice and doesn't make me feel like I want to punch their faces in.

Star trekking across the universe

Recently I got my claws on a brand new monitor for my computer - and to celebrate I decided to have crack at a game that I've been longing to have a go at and have been unable to play until now:

Star Control 2!!

And not just the original - the Ur-Quan Masters revamp! After all how can you improve a game twenty years old? By giving it HD graphics. And making it available for free.

As this blog has indicated, I've played a lot of games form the early nineties but whereas I've both revisited games I've played before or played games I've had a vague idea of what it was about, Star Control 2 is a rare exception. It's one of those games I've gone into completely in the dark as to what to expect.
And so far I've been completely surprised: It is a space exploration game that offers an incredible amount of freedom. I like traveling from one of the galaxy to the other in a sandbox fashion. I like upgrading my flagship and building up a fleet of space ships. I like utilizing diplomacy and forging alliances with the alien races. And I even enjoy finding minerals to sell off. If anything, Star Control  2 seems to do the Star Trek schtick better than any Star Trek game I can think of. And, dare I say it, it's mechanics are done so well that they even outclass similar mechanics utilized in Mass Effect 2.

Of course this is just first impressions - it is only matter of time before any problems show their faces. And so far one has: I do not like the aliens in this game.
My beef? They're ANNOYING! They have annoying voices and they jabber on in such a nonsensical fashion. Maybe that is the case to convey that the only races that can assist the PC aren't really the warrior types - and thereby raising the stakes - but did they have to come across as so deplorable?!
I've seen various scifi alien species done well (ie Klingons, Borg, Cardassians, Salarians, Turians, Quarian, Krogan, Daleks, Sontarians, Go'Auld, Narn, Centuari, Minbari and Vorlons) but never have I seen such an alien species handled so badly! If anything they come across as so infuriating one would be tempted to let the Ur-Quan's destroy them - or better still join the Ur-Quans just so to wipe the annoying aliens out of existence.

Still this is only but the beginning: what happens next will indeed be something to see...

Its been one week since you looked at me

So it's been a week since I made a return to Azeroth. So how do I feel about it?

Well I think the time away has done me well. When I left last year, I wasn't really enthused about playing World of Warcraft and, despite the myriad of things that can be done in it, somehow doing any of them felt hollow and dull. This time however I'm enthusiastic about doing the many activities again. Oh sure the professions have a degree of tedium attached to them but this time I know what I'm doing and as a result I don't find the profession duties at all prosaic. Subsequently I've made rapid progression in getting my skills up.

When I first left WoW I had three characters entering Outlands (plus there's my Death Knight who was/isn't too far away from there). And at that point I realized I'd be treading over the same ground thrice over. Again the threat of tedium reared it's head and was a good excuse as any not to progress further. This time around however, I've sent Beldrath into Tekkohar Forests and whilst Rithendal may have already been there, this time I'm finding the quests fun to do and have made some considerable progress (of course having the benefits from a level-1-guild-turned-level-9 has helped).

And there was my Hall of Shame. Since giving up World of Warcraft last year I've since struck numerous titles from my Hall of Shame - and thus built up enough karma points to justify a return to Azeroth. Only this time I (insofar) haven't allowed WoW to completely dominate my allotted gaming time - Why, I've recently been trying out Cave Story and Eversion (two games that couldn't be more worlds part).

I've heard of some people leaving World of Warcraft only to return some time later with fresh eyes and, having experienced it myself, there is indeed a lot of truth in that statement. Where once I was tired with WoW I'm now finding a renewed freshness. Of course, at my peak last year, I was playing WoW pretty much exclusively - which in retrospect is probably not the best way to go about playing WoW. Now, having spent some time away  and a reassment of the time allocated to WoW, another journey through Azeroth is looking pretty good at the moment.

We live again

 Yep it happened - after a four month absence I decided to make a return to World of Warcraft - I suppose that once you've signed up you can never really leave.

Somehow I find this music appropiate enough:

People say we monkey around!

Well if you’ve completed the first two Monkey Island games, you may as well take the leap and complete the third one. And that’s exactly what I did: Yep Curse of Monkey Island has now been cast down from the Hall of Shame.

Going into Curse of Monkey Island presents a challenge a half: I was aware that opinions are divided about this game. Some said this was the best of the series and a highpoint in the entire Point-and-Click-Adventure game genre. Others said it was a bastardization of the series and the absence of Ron Gilbert was painfully obvious. So what do I think of it?

Well strangely enough I can see both sides of argument. On one hand, Curse of Monkey Island succeeds on many levels: The animation is extraordinary to behold and it’s certainly welcome to see animation of Disney level being put to good use in a computer game. The voice acting is great – particularly the contributions from Alan Young and Earl Boen. The backdrops are beautiful to behold (but then again, I’ve been saying that a lot for many of the adventure games I’ve been playing lately). The jokes are great and laugh out-loud funny. And even if Rob Gilbert isn’t on board, the people behind Curse of Monkey Island are obviously putting in a lot of effort to say something of their own.

But on the other hand, many of the problems are really repeating themselves. The insults are still there and whilst it’s a nice idea to put a different twist on them it’s odd to see one of the memorable aspects of the original replicated. The plot is compelling enough but it’s still following the same structure as the first Monkey Island game.  The ship battles are an unusual inclusion – almost as if the game suddenly decided it would rather be Sid Meier’s Pirates instead. Also annoying is how little Elaine Marley contributes to the game itself – she’s shown to be a smart and capable woman so it is disappointing that she’s been shut out of the game for 95% of it. I did say it was clear that the makers of Curse of Monkey Island wanted to say something of their own but it is an off-putting thought that the makers may have been spending too much time than necessary looking at Curse of Monkey Island’s predecessors.

And then there’s the ending: Again, much like Monkey Island 2, it led from a bizarre final act that seemed to be completely disconnected from the rest of the game only to arrive at a conclusion that could be best described as abrupt. Personally, considering the abrupt nature of the ending to Monkey Island 2, I would've preferred it if the makers swept it under the rug and concentrated on saying something of their own - bu no, they seemed awfully intent on going out of their way to explain Monkey Island 2's ending and thus it comes across as being somewhat unwelcome.
But if following the motions that Monkey Island 2 set up (to the letter!) seemed a bit suspicious, worse still was the series of vignettes based on previous Monkey Island locations. Thus one gets the feeling that maybe somehow the love for Money Island 1+2 may have had a far greater influence on the makers of Curse of Monkey Island then first assumed.
At least this time though the game got a proper ending. Not a good one but it was somewhat satisfying to see Guybrush and Elaine sail off into the sunset.  

So in the end I enjoyed playing the first three Monkey island games. But now I think, having completed Curse of Monkey Island, now may be a good time to stop. At time of writing, I have no interest in pursuing Escape to Monkey Island or the Tales of Monkey Island – as is my understanding, if I was bothered by the various allusions to the first two games in Curse of Monkey Island then the next two game aren’t going to much better.
So in a way, maybe this is the cue to stop waffling about Adventure games in this blog. I’ve been playing a lot of adventure games over the past month so now perhaps now is a good time as any to cease and explore new horizons. And is there something I already have in my sights?

Oooooooooooooooh yeah….

Hey hey! We're the Monkeys!

 Well if you beat Secret of Monkey Island you may has well beat Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

Once again, this was a game I was previously aware of but never got around to playing. But even from an outsider's perspective I could see the game itself seemed a lot more darker than it's predecessor. Screenshots revealed a very different character sprite for the protagonist Guybrush and even the box art took a more sinister direction, far removed from the more colorful Monkey Island 1:

I recognized the voodoo doll being made in the likeness of Monkey Island 1 Guybrush but it took me awhile before I realized that that is indeed Monkey Island 2 Guybrush in the background. Obviously from the word go, Monkey Island 2 isn't game that's fucking around. 

So I picked up Monkey Island 2 through a sale on Steam (yes I'm on Steam - more on that in a future post) in the form of the Special Edition. I booted it up for the first time, took one look at the revamped graphics and immediately switched it to the classic version.
So what did I think of Monkey Island 2? Well I'm impressed: the game certainly feels bigger and there's a lot of gorgeous environments to explore. The puzzles weren't frustrating - or at least alleviated through the autosave feature. The voice acting (for special edition) is very well done - I particularly enjoyed the very evil voice of LeChuck provided by Earl Boen. The references to Star Wars were also fun too. All in all, Monkey Island 2 certainly looks and acts like a true sequel in taking the original and expanding upon it in various ways.

And there is the ending. Controversial in it's day, that is until the arrival of Monkey Island 3, I'm absolutely perplexed by it. Okay, the effect is softened with the knowledge that Monkey Island 3 exists but, from the perspective of someone who came twenty years too late to the party, the ending itself is abrupt, anticlimactic and downright puzzling. I do indeed feel cheated out of my victory and the thought that it was intended all along doesn't sit well with me.

Grumbling aside, I certainly found a lot to enjoy with Monkey Island 2. Yes I've been playing the best that the Adventure game genre has on offer but I think Monkey Island 2 may be the best of the lot.
So where to next? Monkey Island 3 one would think....

Want to know a Secret?

Guess what? Another game has been cast down from my Hall of Shame! Yep, Secret of Monkey Island has taken sail!

Seeing as I’ve been playing a lot of point and click adventure games over the past few weeks, playing Secret of Monkey Island was almost inevitable. And how can I avoid it? It’s consistently regarded as one of the kings of the genre and more or less inescapable. Thus it places me in a rather curious position: I’d heard of the Secret of Monkey Island games back in the early nineties but it is only now that I’ve finally gotten around to playing them. Thus I play as a complete newbie and don’t have twenty years of nostalgia to blind me.

So what did I think of it?

Well, my experience playing Secret of Monkey Island can be summed up in the word: fresh. Now I understand humor isn’t easy to pull off in games as the jokes can get old rather quickly but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Twenty three years on and this game is still funny with some laugh-out louds moments. In fact I’m really astonished: It’s not just the great writing but how well it’s lasted through the years since. The absurdity of the games is always razor sharp and never once becomes stale. I particularly enjoyed the climax and, being a newbie, I can see some connections that may have emerged within the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (of course both that and Secret of Monkey Island were inspired by the ride at Disneyland). In fact I’m kinda surprised that considering the humor in this game that they’ve all managed to escape been run into the ground through internet memes (looking at you Portal!).

Indeed, it’s fun to come across something that many of my gaming comrades discovered years before. And having played Secret of Monkey Island, I can see the adoration is justified.
Not much else to say except that I certainly look forward to checking more of this series….

The Uncanny Xcom

Another game I had a go at over my Christmas break was Xcom: UFO Defense. Not the recent remake (although I've heard a lot of good things said about it), but the original from way back in 1994.
I recall my high school years, 1994-1997, to be something of a golden age for strategy games. Everyone I knew played Civilization 2, Warcraft, Command and Conquer, Dune 2 and, eventually, Starcraft. Even Syndicate and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 had it's fans. But strangely, I can't recall anyone ever playing Xcom or, as it was known in Europe and Australia, UFO: Enemy Unknown (incidentally now that I think of it I'm not sure if this game was ever released in Australia).
I was only aware of it through being an Amiga owner and even then I thought it had a really bizarre  image for the box art:

Still, with absolutely no idea what to expect, I took the plunge and played Xcom: UFO Defense.
And to be honest I was really surprised: This was completely different from the strategy games I'd grown up with. The flow of time could be altered, resources weren't in easy reach and required proper management, solider deaths actually mattered and something was always happening - even if the player wasn't aware of it. It wasn't enough buying soldiers: I had to provide guns and amour as well as engineers to build it and scientists to discover it.
And the combat sections were indeed tense affairs with the aliens suddenly appearing, dreading that every shot might miss and the loss felt when a soldier died (for the record: I kept an Xcom tradition with naming all my soldiers after people I know).

One thing I found tricky was the handling of the income: As I found out, it takes a lot of money to establish a base and fit it out with the necessities required. But, of course, you're expected to have an eye on every location on the glove and if one nation isn't getting the necessary attention - most likely because you're trying get a base going to deal with potential aliens - they will cut their funding. And this will make the task of organizing the defense even more tougher. Indeed, far too often I would find myself sitting on my thumbs wondering what to do and even advancing the time to get to the monthly payout - only to find that something else was already happening beyond my notice.

Still this is indeed game that grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go. Sure it may have had it's slow moments but somehow, the accolades of the 'Greatest PC game EVAH' somehow seem justified.
Needless to say, I do feel excited to one day tackle the remake but, I suspect, it won't be for a while yet. Why? Because I'm far too busy playing the original!

Gotta take a miracle

In recent weeks I've been busy with working on my Hall of Shame. So much so, I felt I'd worked up enough karma points to justfy buying another game.

So what did I get?

And they say there's no such thing as miracles.

On the Road Again

Recently I had the pleasure of striking another game from my Hall of Shame (they're falling like bowling pins!). This time it was Sam and Max Hit the Road.

Those who've been following my progress on my Hall of Shame would note that I've been playing a lot of adventure games. Nothing wrong with that: Point and Click adventue games is something that has eluded me in the past so it's great to sit down and play through some of them. Now normally, the genre I play the most (at least according to Raptr) are RPGs - and adventure games really come across as something of an antithesis: Whereas RPGs are serious, PaCAs are fun and witty; whereas RPGs are loaded with action, PaCAs don't; whereas RPGs are mostly confined to fantasy/scifi settings, PaCAs are a lot more inventive with their settings. And whereas RPGs demand a lot of hours on the player PaCAs take a much lesser amount of time investment. 
And ultimately after playing so many RPG's, playing a PaCA comes across as a breath of fresh air - and it makes me enthusiastic again to play games and jabber on and on about them.  

Anywho, about Sam and Max. If anything this game surprised me - but not for the reasons one would think so. You see, looking at the box art of the game, one will notice a Parental Advisory sticker that has been incorporated into the artwork:

Recognizing the image I went in expecting to see crude humour - the likes one would find on South Park - but with Sam and Max this was not the case. (of course now I look more closely at the 'sticker' and find it is indeed a parody).
Of course it would've been obvious to have some crude/offensive humor in a game featuring some goofy looking critters in some bizarre juxtaposition (looking at you Conker's Bad Fur Day!) but again, this was not the case.

What I did get was indeed one of the funniest games I've ever played. There are some real laugh out-loud moments (with particular favorites being the Dinosaur park and the Frog rock) that are egenuinely funny. Now humour is a very tricky aspect to handle in gaming as it can trip and fall on it;s face very easily but that doe snot seem the case with Sam and Max: The humor is genuine and natural and never once feels forced - which in gaming doesn't come as often as one would think. Indeed it could've gone all so wrong, as indicated by the previous paragraph, but it didn't. It sounds like an impossibility but here it worked a treat.

So yeah I really enjoyed Sam and Max - they were lots of fun and bursting with both personality and hilarity (I'm still trying to common-parlance the fact the Sam has the same voice actor who does Disney's Goofy). The world they inhabited was kooky, bizarre and great to get around.

So all in all, this game is another winner for LucasArts. Yes I've been saying that lot with the Adventure games I've been playing but with games boasting quality like this, why would I bother with the rubbish?

Fit for a King

Another post, another game struck down from my Hall of Shame. Once again, it was something I played over my Christmas break: Kings Quest 6.

Once upon a time, Sierra had a substantial reputation for their Adventure games. They had several series that featured over numerous installments and enjoyed much success during their heyday. I myself never really bothered much with them. Yes I played about two installments of the Leisure Suit Larry (keep in mind I was ten/eleven at the time), and I had seen the first Police Quest being played but was largely unfamiliar with the Sierra adventure games.
In the years since, time has not been kind to the Sierra adventure games with most of them being dismissed for obnoxious difficulty, game-killing puzzles (one slightest slip up and it's game over), cheap deaths and solutions to problems that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. Still I was interested to take a look so I may as well try one of the best: King's Quest 6.

Now coming into Kings Quest 6 I had absolutely zero knowledge about the series beforehand - thus leaving me with little idea as to what to expect. And the first thing that struck me about this game was that it was genuine attempt to build a fairy tale within game - something that doesn't happen very often. Okay so the Super Mario and Zelda games may have taken their inspiration from fairy tales whilst Braid and Shadow the Colossus seek to deconstruct them, but for me King's Quest 6 feels genuine in it's attempt to present a prince going around a fantasy world to rescue a princess.
But at the same time, one feels this was trying to deconstruct the fairy tale genre whilst celebrating it. Thus the prince, Alexander, comes across as committed to his quest to the point of tunnel-vision that one starts questioning his mental state. Likewise the princess, Cassima, is revealed to be practical and hardly the type to sit around waiting to be rescued.

In fact a lot has to said for the writing: The characters are well written and likeable, there are some interesting allusions to other fairy tales, the puzzles actually make sense, the humor is well handled (ie the Chess Piece queens) and the climax is actually really exciting.Okay the amount of deaths were stupid but the setting and characters that inhabited it were compelling enough to see me through.
Also, I particularly enjoyed the voice acting - I'm still trying to wrap my head around Alexander being voiced by the same guy with did the Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. And special mention must go to that guy who voices Saladin - He's great!
But I'm not quite sure what to make of the ending theme though ("Girl in the ToWAAAAHHH!!!").

Now considering Sierra's reputation this game didn't cause an epiphany to inspire me to check out more Sierra games. Still, I enjoyed it a lot and its fun to see a genuine fairy tale in gaming - I mean you can't keep shooting zombies forever....

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... >:(

Join the DotTs

Hey: 12/12/12

Anyway, Simon the Sorcerer wasn't the only game I beat last weekend: Another game has been struck down from my Hall of Shame in the form of the adventuring classic Day of the Tentacle.

I mentioned earlier this week in that the graphic adventuring games have always been something that has constantly eluded me: In particular, the LucasArts games that have been held in constantly high regard during the nineties (and still do). So, in the name of tracking things down that may have escaped my notice first time around, I was fortunate enough to pick up several titles for a really cheap price. These titles were The Dig, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Grim Fandango and Curse of Monkey Island. As these titles are hard to track down nowadays you wouldn't think that I got these games, in 2006 may I add, for a really good price. And you certainly wouldn't think that I got these games at my local Post Office.
Yet it is only now that I've been able to finally get them working. Needless to say, as this is my first time encountering these games (with the exception of The Dig) it would be interesting to see how these games hold up. Plus, it is always reassuring to know that LucasArts made something that didn't have the Star Wars brand attached to it.

So about Day of the Tentacle. I was fortunate to pick this up online based around the understanding that it was one of, if not THE, finest game of it's genre. Looking back I feel compelled to agree: There is certainly a lot going for Day of the Tentacle: The graphics are nice to look at, the animation is great, there's a lot of hilarious jokes and some real inventive solutions to the many puzzles throughout this game. The time travel element is used to great effect and the voice acting, the first of it's kind may I add, is remarkably stellar. Throw in a surprisingly threatening villain and

All in all, there's not a lot I can add about Day of the Tentacle that hasn't already been said before. The game has endured the passage of time remarkably well and still looks great nineteen years on.
Guess it goes to show that, once again, if it's well regarded it's often for good reason.

Simon Says

On the weekend I had the satisfaction of striking another game from my Hall of Shame. Goodbye Simon the Sorcerer.

Looking back at my previous post about Simon the Sorcerer, there's not really much more I can add: The writing's great, the voice acting is all top-notch and there are moments of hilarity abound (the Woodworm scene had me rolling). And special mention must go to the gorgeous backgrounds  which, in all honesty, are the kind that makes me want to frame them and put them up on my wall.

Having lived through the supposed 'Golden Era of Gaming' - that would be the early to mid-nineties - I did recall Adventure games being something of a big deal. I knew little of this as I was a Commodore 64 user and my experience with adventure games were those of the text base variety (Zork anyone?). Yet I knew that people who regarded the likes of Kings Quest and Monkey Island with a sense of awe. Having grown accustomed to the aforementioned text games, I was puzzled how actual gaming graphics could work within an adventure game context but I did manage to play the Leisure Suit Larry games and was surprised how it worked so well.
Other than that, my experience with graphic Adventure Games has been minimal to say the least. I've played through the Dig and found it a fascinating gem - even if the Dig is the least regarded of the LucasArts canon. Yet it is only recently I've manged to finally play some forgotten classics - both through collecting and GOG.

Needless to say, Simon the Sorcerer is only the beginning - seems there's a whole lot more Adventure games waiting to be explored......

Signing up

During my travels on the net i came across this: A petition to remake Panzer Dragoon Saga in HD.

I have little faith in web-petitions. I'm am uncertain whether or not they get heeded and make a difference - unless of course they're signed by Star Wars fans. Still this is a cause I'm all for so I signed it. It may not make a difference but at least I get my voice heard.

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.

Blessed are the Peace Makers

Last week I heard about a game called Peace Maker - a project done by a bunch of univeristy students that made it's way into a fully-fledged game. But what got my attention was it was billed as a strategy game where peace solutions were the only way to win. Now I like my strategy games having played both Starcraft and Civilization to death so hearing someone propose a new entrant to the genre where actual conflict is the quickest way to lose? That sound downright awful on paper but hey, if someone has the balls (or stupidity) to go against the grain than that's fine by me.
Another selling point is the fact this is a 'serious' game and working to convey a genuine point: The game itself is set in the Gaza Strip and aimed at bringing the Israelis and the Palestinians to a peaceful resolution. 'Inspired by real events' the game blurb proclaims. Well I'm all for games actually working to say something worthwhile (not to mention looking for ammunition to use against the anti-gaming crusaders) so my curiosity was piqued: I went to the Peace maker homepage and downloaded the game for myself.

Needless to say, I was not sure what to expect out of the final product.
To begin with, unlike other strategy games, the player does not assume the role of an army commander - no, instead the player's role is more akin to that of a politician. There are no armies to build up - instead it's a simple matter of making decisions and seeing how they play out. Again, it sure sounds like a concept that shouldn't work - but somehow it does. With each player turn, a decision needs to be made in order to progress - decisions such as construction projects and negotiations with the other factions. But what is interesting is just how these decisions work: The outcome of each decision is indeed unpredictable and there's no guarantee they will yield the desired result. More often than not, good new (e.g educational programs being implemented) walks hand in hand with bad news (e.g. people being killed by a suicide bomber). And if that isn't enough, each decision results in a reaction from the opposition and the world so maintaining a balance is trickier than it sounds.
 
I played the Palestinian campaign for my first play-through and achieved victory within the space of an evening. And I was impressed by how such a simple game can have such an effect on me as the player: Often I found myself bearing witness to some setbacks and thinking 'What Do I Do now?'. And the unpredictable nature of the decision outcomes often left me in a state of nervous anticipation/dread in seeing how they'd play out. And such was this effect that each small step of progression felt like a victory and winning was an ultimate triumph.
The game is billed as being inspired by real-life events and it shows with use of real-life footage and images. Indeed, I felt like I had learned a lot about the Middle East conflicts from the exeprience - perhaps more than any news program could ever hope to. And having played Peace Maker, it really seems that a peaceful resolution between the Israelis and the Palestinians can be possible - now if only the right people will listen....
Mind you, one thing Peace Maker makes clear is just how difficult being a Politician is when you have to please everyone and the rest of the world is watching. And for a gem to do that is indeed something.

So to wrap this up, I enjoyed Peace Maker and for a game to reach me to some degree of an emotional level is indeed an impressive feat. I have wondered in the past if peaceful solutions could work in a strategy genre, where guns and blood dominate, and it would now seem possible.
Needless to say, I've always wanted games to be able to convey ideas and possibilities beyond shooting people in the head so Peace Maker is indeed a step in the right direction.
Now if only more people would put down that  sniper rifle long enough to play it....

I Need a Hero!

Thanks to my new best friend Good Old Games, not only have I've been able to play games I've enjoyed in the past but have discovered some titles that I missed out on previously. One such title was Heroes of Might and Magic 3.

I've a soft spot in my cold jaded heart for Heroes of Might and Magic 2. I played it for hours during my college years and it never got dull once. I never got around to playing it's successor so to finally have it within easy reach is an open invitation to do some exploring of unfamiliar territory. So I handed over the dosh, downloaded the game and then....?

To be honest, I'm not sure.

To begin with, this game is up against some stiff competition: I wasted countless hours on it's predecessor and thus HoMM3 has got to pull off something incredible to grab my attention. Still i was willing to give it a chance and see whether or not it could step out of the shadow of it's older brother.
First there's the graphics: whereas everything previously looked bright and colorful, everything now looks unwelcome and drab. Sure the sprites look well designed and animated but definitely looks a world apart from HoMM2.
And then there's the cities themselves: No longer are there hero-centric castles - now, they're all based on regions. It makes for some variety true but somehow the change is rather puzzling and disarming to say the least - once soldiers in opposition are now working alongside each other which certainly brings up a great big WTF,
The resource system is also puzzling as I'm not entirely clear how much I'm getting and where it's coming from. Thus I have often been left drained and helpless as some git storms in and claims my castles.

Ultimately though, this is the first impressions - There is still the possibility that HoMM3 may win me over yet. And whilst I may have come with from HoMM2 with a 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' perception, that is not going to do me any good - HoMM3 needs to stand on it's own two feet and I really should give it a chance.

So where do we go from here? Stay tuned...

Something Fishy

Last weekend I went to a LAN - whilst I was there, I was able to play, for the very first time, Call of Duty no.4.
I personally have no love for these modern shooters. Most of them due to the following reasons:
1) They all the seem the same. There are so many of them available and so many of them have similar sounding names and it's no increasingly difficult to tell them apart.
2) Pretensions of realism. So many games claim how they are well-researched and so forth that it's something that, for me, is somewhat tiresome. Personally if I were to do a realistic-shooter, I would incorporate elements like soldiers being panicked and frightened under fire and the cost of lives that goes into fighting a war (can you say Cannon Fodder?). Or better still, ditch the realism and concentrate on the bizarre and unreal and see how many LAN-tales it inspires. But I digress...
3) The people who play these games. I've never been a big fan of these types of shooters and have been especially reluctant to play them with anyone else. Reason being, more often than not, you find yourself playing against someone who KNOWS what they're doing. As such, you get shot down repeatedly by someone who relishes in shooting the unfamiliar simply because it's the only way the ace player can get it up. And they take it so seriously too! Therefore, as a golden rule, if a computer/video game stops being fun then then would be a good time to quit.

Grumbling aside, it did take a lot of coaxing for the other LAN participants to get me to try CoD4. And after the initial awkwardness and stupid learning curve (ie kill them before they kill you!) I did find some enjoyment out of CoD4. Sure it was stupid that I got killed so easily but I played it enough times (and shoot so many dudes) to make to the rank of Lance Corporal no.1.
Indeed, once I unlocked the class of Sniper I really went to town through being able to claim a high possie and take out anyone in sight. And it was that point that I went from 'hopeless' to being 'a pain in the arse'. A true advancement and it's funny how a game becomes more enjoyable once you make some degree of headway in it.

So yeah, after some skepticism, I tried CoD4 and found it quite enjoyable. It hasn't changed my distaste for the modern shooter but hey, I can certainly the appeal of that this game has had over many a LAN.