Games - Reviewed by: Herr M. (50 result(s))

Where to begin with this game? By stating the fact, I never owned a NES and therefore know almost all of the characters in this game (a definitive tribute to just that system) only by hearsay? Or that as a general rule I despise flash-games, because they are often rather half-baked concepts in an uninspired endless loop? How much I normally hate mindless violence used for mindless violence sake? That I wonder yet again why the baddies even bother with kidnapping someone instead of finally accepting that this will always end in blood and tears? Impatient people will surely already be glancing at the rating and might start to be wondering by now…

This is the summary of an analysis of Alleyway. The goal of the survey was to determine if this Game Boy launch title stands the test of time. The review process was the following: After an initial online research the game was tested thoroughly in its original environment and a simulation. Additionally a series of interviews and discussions was conducted with contemporary players. The collected data was examined which lead to a conclusion on the game’s merits and shortcomings.

At first glance Arcanum looks like a role playing game full of great ideas: Its main attraction is its fantasy world, which is set at the time of an industrial revolution, that is about to turn it into a science fiction setting. It is a refreshingly unique place, full of whimsical magic and technical marvels, that has great potential for interesting twists to age-old cliches: How does an ageless being, like an elf, react to the rise of science, which is about to make the magic, that has kept him alive so far, obsolete? Is there a cheaper workforce than orcs, which can be exploited at will, for they are obviously evil and therefore deserve no less? Or what about safety: Should a wizard, whose magical power has an unpredictable effect on machines, be allowed to get close to steam engines or trains? There are so many new stories that could be told…

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ERR0R! : Intelligibility < 2.56%

William Rieder describes his creation Bananoid quite fittingly as a ‘wall-block-paddle-pill game’ with which he wanted to demonstrate that MCGA graphics work on DOS machines. And that is exactly what you get, nothing more and nothing less: A nice looking Breakout clone – or as the name already implies rather one of Arkanoid. To some this might be actual proof that back in the late 80ies the capabilities of PC graphics were underused and underestimated (most DOS games of that era where still stuck in EGA or even CGA mode), to others it plays like one of the hardest games of its kind.

+++ Warning! Nostalgia Alert! The following review may contain – more than the usual – traces of idealisation and glorification. +++

Everything begins somewhere… This text started about three sentences ago, your current session in front of your computer right at the moment when you felt like diving into this brave new networked world. The idea to assemble some silicon, gold and other more or less common elements into circuitry, allowing them to busily move some 0s and 1s through virtual places, so the screen in front of you does not just gather some dust or mirror your friendly face, well this idea comes from somewhere around the middle of the last century. Of course the actual origins go back even further, but let us stay in the 20th century and with computers, or rather to be more precisely with first contacts thereof. From a strictly technical point of view, the game I am going to review today even qualifies as such: It is the first implementation of a Columns clone on an IBM Personal Computer.

[Herr M.] Interactive movies… you might say that if you have played one of them, you have played them all. From the humble beginnings with pixelated miniature slide shows up to the fullscreen full motion video titles, all of them have one thing in common: A shallow plot combined with bad acting, interspersed by obscure and out of nowhere puzzles. The game we are going to discuss today, Black Dahlia, tried its best to leave this reputation behind by turning things up to eleven, with really high production values and an even somewhat creative story.

[Wandrell] Infocom takes us back to the times of Cold War, in a classic tale of spies the two blocks collide, and only you can stop an evil plot before time runs out.

[Herr M.] That is, the authors throw you in the role of three of the said spies, who find themselves in a small imaginary country near the west-east border, where a high ranking ambassador is going to be assassinated.

[Mr Creosote] Captain Verdeterre's Plunder is a humorous, very short game. The player takes over the role of the first mate on a sinking pirate ship. It is his task to save the most valuable treasures which are spread all over the ship.

A beginning is a very delicate time. So, how to start? With some dunes, which shall be stabilised by planting grass on them? With megalomaniacal visions for a cinematic realisation of a highly sophisticated science fiction novel? At the source of a flood of real time strategy games, or one step further at the archetype, which got copied ad nauseam? All of this led, on more or less direct ways, to Dune 2000, a remake of its predecessor Dune II: Battle for Arrakis, with an updated interface, strongly inspired by Command & Conquer, and aesthetics that look like taken right out of Lynch‘s take on the space opera. A melange of many great examples, but does it live up to them? Does it dare to step out of its source’s shadows? Does it offer anything new? Or is it just an unoriginal rehash, simple cash cow cosmetics for a classic game? Let’s take a look!