It Came From An Alternate Time Continuum!

It seems like over the past few months a I’ve managed to grab myself a great number of adventure games published by Telltale Games.  Part of this is nostaglia for the franchises that Telltale has continued, and part of this is from my enthusiasm to see the adventure genre as a whole resurface.  But most of all, it’s because Telltale (even in their weaker chapters) haven’t yet failed to deliver a quality game to me.

Now Season 2 of Telltale’s Sam and Max series (renamed to Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space for XBLA) has actually been available since the later part of 2007, but after seeing what an enjoyable port Season 1 had made, I’d basically decided to hold off buying the second season for PC and wait for the Xbox port instead.  Also, waiting for the Xbox port would give me another 200 achievement points.  Yes, my brain does operate that way some days.

Anyhow, Beyond Time and Space hit XBLA mid-October this year, and after playing it through I’m confident in saying that this is probably Telltale’s strongest adventure game season yet.

Beyond Time and Space basically picks up where Save the World left off, which might prove a bit of a problem to those of you who haven’t played the first season.  Much of the game’s plot relies on previous knowledge.  Max’s presidency, the detatched statue head of Abe Lincoln dating professional careerist Sybil, the obsolete computers running an auto shop … all of these things will make little sense unless you’ve played through Sam and Max: Save the World.  In this regard, it’s probably best to think of the two seasons as one large game, and be sure to play it from the beginning.

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Apparently you'll be getting your wife back

A couple of new screens of the upcoming Tales of Monkey Island episode, The Siege of Spinner Cay, have been uploaded on Telltale Games’ community blog.

As one might have predicted, the preview shots seem to suggest that Guybrush doesn’t get his head chopped off by the climax at the end of Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. It makes sense, since on top of being a family-friendly series, it’d be a bit difficult to pull off a full collection of episodes with a dead protaganist (although if anyone would be to try it, it’d be these guys).

Head over the blog to take a look. The Siege of Spinner Cay is set to be released August 20th.

They didn't even lose the spirit of the original box art

LucasArts have been in overdrive lately attempting to get an adventure genre revival happening.  It’s a much loved genre that has been sadly missed during it’s long, though some may say necessary, absence.  But now, with the re-release of so many LucasArts classics like Loom and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis on Steam, furthered by the old IPs getting new life from the crew over at Telltale, you could say that adventure is really re-emerging on the gaming market.

No better time then to make everyone nostalgia as hard as they can with the re-release of what most people would agree was the greatest adventure title of all time: The Secret of Monkey Island.

Ron Gilbert’s original masterpiece was truly a milestone in computer entertainment.  A game full of challenge, humour, memorable PC speaker music (now there’s a feat you don’t see often) and just a fantastic experience for gamers everywhere.  I feel a little bit sorry for those people who will be discovering the game for the first time with the release of the Special Edition, simply because they have missed out on discovering this game with the rest of the world.

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Guybrush approves of your online purchase

“Ballsy” is a word that could be used when announcing to the world that you’re making a new sequel for one of the gaming community’s all time favourite games.  “Smart buisness sense” is also an applicable phrase.  Whichever way you look at it, the amount of excitement that has surrounded this title since it’s announcement has been palpable, and the game itself hasn’t disappointed.

In Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, players take control of Guybrush Threepwood once again.  It’s nice to see that not that much has changed.  We join Guybrush as he catches up to the dread pirate LeChuck, who has kidnapped Elaine and plans to sacrifice thirteen monkeys in a voodoo ritual.  After some voodoo that you do (that you do do so well), the boat explodes and sends Guybrush drifting alone to Flotsam Island.  Flotsam Island’s peculiar weather means that the wind is always blowing toward the centre of the island, meaning that no-one can sail away.  In Launch of the Screaming Narwhal you have to work out a way to get off the island.

Oh, and you’ll also discover that due to a little voodoo mis-cue, your hand is now possessed by the Pox of LeChuck, and has a mind of it’s own. (more…)

After announcing their announcement to be announced today a couple of days back, LucasArts has come good on their promise and announced (just love using this word over and over) that the majority of their back catalogue will be finding it’s way onto Steam. When? Oh, say, by Wednesday? Wednesday good with you?

Apparently at least someone has been listening to my rambling wishes.

In a press release issued today, LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez had this to say:

“This effort is going to make it possible to introduce a whole new generation of gamers to LucasArts’ classic games. It also gives more people a chance to play our games by making them available long after they’ve disappeared from store shelves. We hope our fans are as excited as we are about our plans and we can’t wait to share what’s coming next. This is just the beginning.”

-Darrell Rodriguez, man after my heart

The full list of games to be released on the 8th is as follows:

• Armed and Dangerous
• LOOM
• Lego Indiana Jones
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• The Dig
• Thrillville: Off The Rails
• Star Wars BattleFront 2
• Star Wars Republic Commando
• Star Wars Starfighter

Don’t forget to imagine a smattering of trademark symbols on nearly every second word of the list above, by the way. Given that more is yet to come, we may yet see the wishes of many die-hard Star Wars fans come true with a re-release of Star Wars: X-Wing Vs Tie Fighter.

The older games are also the updated CD-ROM versions too, which means full voice acting in most of the titles. In an ultra-nostalgic move, the games will all come with digital equivalents of their original copyright protection (like the code generating “Dial-A-Pirate” that accompanied the original Monkey Island).

No word on pricing yet, we’ll just have to wait and see. Great news however, another little boost to an adventure revival!

Prepare for a waffling!

WARNING: This post contains Matt rabbiting on, some pixelated pretty pictures and not much else! Hope you didn’t get enough waffle at breakfast!

Once the staple of home PC entertainment, adventure games have seen a steady decline ever since the second half of the 90′s. This, perhaps, is one of the few bad points ever to come out of our increasing fascination with multiplayer gaming. It probably also suffers from the immediate 24 hour support line that we know and love as the internet. Gone are the days that if you hit a block with a game you’d just have to wrestle your brain around it (or worse, BUY A HINT BOOK). These days, and I’ll admit to this myself, if a puzzle takes more than half an hour to figure out, it’s off to plunder the internet for solutions!

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Saving the world ... for very reasonable prices!

It’s been absent for a long time now, but the adventure game is clawing it’s way back into your gaming field of vision.  Sam and Max: Save the World delivers in one package the first six episodes of Telltale Games’ continuation of the Sam and Max franchise.  To clarify however, these games aren’t new, they were originally released online in the bygone yesteryear of 2006.  Sam and Max: Save the World is simply a new port to make the first six games available for the 360.  Hopefully, with enough interest, we’ll also be getting the next six!

Even though I knew of their existence, I hadn’t actually tried the new games yet, because I’m not really into playing my games in short segments (as witnessed by the fact I sat down and finished this game whilst forsaking all others).  So when this package was announced, I immediately vowed to get on board: it compiles several episodes for sustained gameplay, it’s nostalgic off the charts, combines classic adventure gaming and also nurtures the achievement whore deep inside too.

And I was not disappointed, on any of these scores.  If you haven’t played the original Sam and Max: Hit the Road, well a lot of gamers (me included) will tell you of your deficient gaming lineage.  It’s one of the all time classics of computer gaming, which is why it was an obvious choice to update for the new generation. (more…)

So admit it, you're singing the theme music out loud to yourself

The wife woke me up this morning to give me this news, and it was worth the interruption of my slumber.  Two bits of news, in fact:

1. They’re remaking The Secret of Monkey Island
2. They’re creating NEW Monkey Island episodes

I can’t actually remember the last NEW adventure game I played, it was probably one of the “use random impractical solution 87″ Gabriel Knight series.  Never-the-less, adventure games were one of those genres that never seemed to make it past the early 90′s.  I think in the new millenium the only genre releases of note would be the new episodes of the brilliant Sam and Max series (which I’m yet to play, scolding reminder to self).

I’m happy to see that the genre hasn’t been forgotten, because for a long time it was the bastion of good writing in games.  Action games stuck to their guns and explosions, racing games to wheel-spin and big jumps, and adventure had the storylines and the jokes.  These days, of course, a game can’t (or sometimes really shouldn’t) leave the studio without having some epic nine-part storyline, take Cooking Mama 6: Death Throes of Time for example (coming this fall!).  But in the massive effort to cover every single base, a lot of games can actually miss the mark completely.

So it’s good to see that adventure hasn’t completely disappeared off the developer’s repetoire, because more often than not it’s the best genre to mix storyline, puzzles and humour.

What’s also nice to see is that the remake of The Secret of Monkey Island is stay true to it’s roots.  The updated version features handpainted backgrounds, full voice acting and a simplified menu/inventory system for those playing along on the consoles.  What sold it for me, however, is that with a push of a button you can revert the game back to it’s original state, in all it’s 8-bit pixelled glory.  It’s a nostagic touch, and a welcome one at that for those of us who grew up with the game.  You can see the trailer and promo video here.

So I’ll be buying the remake, because I know it’s a quality game and well worth playing through again.  As far as the new episodes go, well, those I might wait on the reviews for, but I’m certain they’re in good hands given that it’s under production by the original creators.