Armchair Diplomat

Machinarium: A Robot Love Story

I like point and click adventures. They’re the kind of game I enjoyed when I was younger and continue to be the kind of game I feel most comfortable playing. I think what I like about them is the idea that everything on the screen is what you need to complete the task. If not, there are clues to get you through. You’re in safe territory, able to move through the game and enjoy the plot or the scenery, or both.

What a shame Machinarium, visually impressive as it is, doesn’t tick all of those boxes.

The game was developed by Czech company Amanita Designs, who put their own time and savings into making it. That alone impressed me when I first came across it. The beautiful thing about Machinarium is obviously the world they created. In a lovely sepia tone, Amanita has set up a junk planet populated by cute little robots. They frolick in oil, play music and go out their funny little lives. But there are some bad guys too, notably three bullies who are the reason for this adventure. They’ve separated two lovebots and the … well, I assume it’s the boy robot, is left in pieces on a junk heap.

From there it’s a matter of getting your bot back together and getting back into the city. In creating such a rich backdrop for the story, Amanita have decided to make only the useable items on the screen clickable and this makes sense in the first screen. It seems intuitive, with finding the pieces of the little bot easy. Read more

Pirates with the Pox of LeChuck just love to do Bishop impressions

Just a quick update (I’m damagingly hungover) to remind everyone that Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood is out today, ready for download.  The execution part obviously can’t end up being too permanent, given Guybrush’s unkillable nature and the fact that there’s still another episode to go after this one.

A few more classic characters have obviously been re-introduced, including boat/coffin/life-insurance salesman Stan who’s been featured in one of the game’s teaser screenshots.

We’ll have a full write-up some time in the coming week (there’s quite a backlog around here all of a sudden).

Head on over to the Telltale Games website to get your copy, and if you haven’t yet taken a look, be sure to check out Magnus’ “I Wonder What Happens In…” animation for the most recent episode.  Always pure gold!

OH, THE HUGE-MANATEE

With less than a fortnight until the next Tales of Monkey Island episode, Lair of the Leviathan, Telltale Games has posted up three screenshots to tease the title.

At the end of the last episode, Guybrush had managed to get himself eaten by a gigantic sea cow while on the search for Esponge Grande. Lair of the Leviathan would appear to place Guybrush, at least temporarily, trapped inside the creature.

I suppose it’s not the first time he’s found himself trapped in a giant animal.

We’ve all got our fingers crossed for the next ToMI episode, as the last one ended up a little short and unchallenging. Head on over and take a look at teaser screens. They’ve also posted up some concept art to ogle. Why aren’t you ogling yet?

And of course, as the new tradition dictates, you can also check out Flash artist Majus’ thoughts on what’s going to happen in the upcoming episode.

"I'm selling these fine leather space jackets"

You’ll have to excuse me while I restrain my wife and one of my friends over this one, they probably couldn’t be more excited … even if Jeff Goldbum was involved.

So an intrepid programmer called Stacy Davidson has begun a fan project called Han Solo Adventures. We’re talking all the classic 2D adventure action of a SCUMM adventure game, blended with the antics of everyone’s favourite nerf-herder Han Solo. Here’s a snippet from the game’s FAQ section:

If you enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and you are at heart a Star Wars fan, then do I have a treat for you. This game was born out of my frustration that LucasArts seemed to throw everything but the kitchen sink into their adventure game lineup, with the exception of their flagship property: Star Wars. As awesome as Fate of Atlantis was, it always rubbed salt into the wound for me. I felt like, “OK, Indy’s awesome… now where’s Han?!?” For me, that’s what it’s all about, so if I am going to properly bring one of my life dreams into reality, I want it to look and feel as authentic as possible. The idea is, you just suspend disbelief and play the game as if it’s that one, long lost LucasArts adventure title you never got around to playing.

-Stacy, we love you (but of course, “you know”)

Has anyone ever heard of nobler sentiments? I know I haven’t in a long while. Now while I’m actually really excited to see where this project could be leading, you’ve got to be wary with things like this (especially when they begin gaining publicity!). LucasArts as a whole has never looked too favourably on people touching their stuff, even if it’s for free distribution (or maybe even because it’s for free distribution!). I remember back when I used to cover the Half-Life/Quake modding community, there were bundles and bundles of Star Wars mods that used to have cease-and-desist notices served to them.

With any luck, hopefully Uncle George will view this little project favourably, and we can all look forward to giving it a go. Maybe given that Ron Gilbert seems to have given the project some love, Stacy can look forward to a little leniency from the legal departments.

Either way, head on over to the game’s home page and show a little support. There’s even a video showing Han shooting first … this time in SCUMM format!

Wait no longer, adventure enthusiasts!

Has it really been six weeks since we got our hands on Launch of the Screaming Narwhal? It seems like the time has positively flown by. It was just a short month and a half ago that we were wandering around Flotsam Island, desperately attempting to figure out how to change the winds, and what the hell was happening to our hand.

Well the new installment is here. Episode 2 of Tales of Monkey Island, titled The Siege of Spinner Cay, continues Guybrush’s adventures in the Gulf of Melange as he attempts to reunite with his wife. We rejoin Guybrush where we left him in the last episode: about to get his head chopped off by an unknown female assailant.

The sinister sword-swinging assassin turns out to be Morgan LeFlay, one of the Carribean’s top pirate hunters, who has been retained by the Marquis DeSinge to return Guybrush to Flotsam Island for scientific experiments on his poxed hand. Settling for simply chopping off his hand instead, Guybrush is left to singlehandedly (badumching) defeat LeFlay and reclaim his ship.

This leaves Guybrush to replace his lost hand with a hook, something which he (as a pirate) has no problems with, and sail on to the Jerkbait Islands to find Elaine. Read more

Have a nice trip!

Those of you Monkey Island fans who are eagerly anticipating the release of The Siege of Spinner Cay, wait no more!

True to their promise, Episode 2 of the new Tales of Monkey Island series is now available for download from the Telltale Games site.

What mysterious character holds Guybrush at swordpoint?  Is the Pox of LeChuck still floating around the Carribean?  What are the newly human LeChuck’s intentions?

Be damned if I know, I’m in the capped period of my broadband month, so I’m going to have to leave my computer on overnight to download it.  I suggest everyone else do the same (only much quicker!).

Do you remember all your swordfighting insults? You might need them

Great news out of Telltale Games today, who’ve announced that the second episode of Tales of Monkey Island, “The Siege of Spinner Cay”, will be available for download on the 20th of August.

Apparently the decision was reached after completing work on the Wallace and Gromit series, and several letters with “disarming emoticons and well-intentioned threats” (oh, they got my letter!).

If you haven’t had a chance to avail yourself of the new series, you should really check out the website.  Until then, for everyone like me who bought the series, it’s just a matter of waiting out the thirteen days.

You can also check out our review of the first episode, “Launch Of The Screaming Narwhal”, just in case you missed it!

Details on the next episode are a hard to find, but Telltale have also posted up a brilliant little flash movie made by one of their fans, Majus, with a few ideas of just what might happen.  I had a hearty chuckle, and it’s a nice piece of animation, so I suggest taking a look.

If anyone is still in doubt that adventure game producers read my site and hang on my every word (and they do, we all know it), Steam has announced that Activision (who now own all of Sierra’s old IPs) is bringing out both King’s Quest and Space Quest game packs.

This is great news for US gamers.

And I don’t mean US as in “all of us” I mean US as in United States.  Imagine my surprise when I went to take a look at the details and found this message:

An error was encountered while processing your request:

This item is currently unavailable in your region.

So apparently, when they say that Activision has added these games to it’s online catalogue, they forgot to add “and only in America, fuck everyone else”.  So you know, if you’re Australian or European, just ignore this post completely.

And if you’re a lucky American who loves old school adventure, check out Steam!