I do so love games of contrast. In one corner, we have Runaway, a series of Spanish adventures games which look gorgeous but have really questionable writing, and in the other corner, we have Ben There, Dan That! / Time Gentlemen, Please!, two independently developed games by a couple of British blokes that look decidedly low rent yet has some of funniest writing I've seen in a long time. It should be obvious to which one is better (and you can them off Steam for $5) and I can't recommend them enough. As for Runaway? Eh. It gets good reviews on adventure game sites but they are also way, way too forgiving.
Other adventure game articles include Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist, Sierra's sorta tribute to Blazing Saddles, Feeble Files, a comedic sci-fi take on George Orwell, and Sanitarium, a well regarded horror title. We also have two hybrid games: Superhero League of Hoboken, a humorous game developed by Legend that weaves in some RPG elements, and Realm of the Haunting, a first person shooter with lots of exploration and tons of (relatively decent) FMV cutscenes.
The Data East Collection for the Wii should have been out this past week, although as if thsi writing I haven't seen it in any stores. In preparation, I wrote a bit about Joe & Mac - Caveman Ninja, an OK arcade title that happened to spawn like three sequels I didn't previously know about. Peeking back into Data East's library, I found The Cliffhanger - Edward Randy, a very cinematic arcade game that unfortunately didn't make the collection. And on a completely unrelated note, we have a review of Sword of Vermillion, an ambitious early RPG for the Genesis that has a lot going for it, even though it didn't turn out too well in the end.
Wow. I watch the forums to see what articles will eventually go into a main page update, but I had forgotten just how many hadn't been put up there!
ReplyDeleteGreat work, especially the Joe & Mac article. I had forgotten how much I loved those games.
I think I'm one of the few people who enjoyed Sword of Vermilion. Then again, I first played it back when the Sega Channel was in its prime.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of better games than Vermilion, of course, but as long as the game entertains someone, well...