CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

Hornado - a fantastic freeware oldschool shoot-'em-up

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Someone (who shall remain nameless, but they knows who they are!) expressed the view quite recently that freeware was a waste of time, and that if anyone came up with a good game they'd charge money for it. I can understand why people might think that, but having been interested in the freeware scene for a decade or more, I knew that it wasn't true. So, in thinking about what games might conclusively prove to doubters that there really are some fantastic freeware games available, I remembered Hornado, a horizontally- scrolling shooter, remeniscent of R-Type and others that can be viewed as the best of the genre.

Don't take my word for it though - check out the offical website and start downloading! I think you'll be surprised at just how good it is - if you're not surprised, you'll probably be astonished...

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

Fifty Thousand Page Views!

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Today this blog reached 50,000 page views - seemed like a notable enough milestone to do a blog post about. :-D

Haven't had too much time to blog here recently, but look out for more news / reviews on Star Wars: Republic Commando and retro indie game BoH soon...

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

PC Game Review - Tales of Monkey Island Episode 5 - Rise of the Pirate God

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:09:00 +0000

The final act in Season One of TellTale Games' Tales of Monkey Island has a lot of references to the very first Monkey Island Game (Secret of Monkey Island), which fans of the series will definitely enjoy. In terms of the plot, Guybrush Threepwood has come to a sticky end at the hands of LeChuck, who is now invested with awesome voodoo power (again - but even more than before). Of course, being an indomitable sort of fellow who refuses to give up, Guybrush decides that being dead isn't really all that much of a problem. At the crossroads where pirates choose their final piratey destiny, he must somehow find a way back into the world of the living.

There are lots of twists and turns in the plot; like the rest of the series, the story is very well written and has its own unique style, while throwing a knowing nod to the original Monkey Island games at regular intervals. The graphics are very good, the music good (though perhaps not quite as good as previous episodes - there seems to be a little too much repetition), and once again the voice acting is superb. There is lots of humour as always and quite a few of the puzzles are noticeably trickier than the last couple of episodes.

However despite this final episode being slightly longer and more challenging then episodes 3 and 4, it is also less enjoyable. It's not only the music that is a bit too repetitious - some of the puzzles rely overmuch on repeatedly revisiting locations and this, along with the end sequence (very reminiscent of the last part of SoMI) gets rather annoying.

Still, Rise of the Pirate God is, by and large, still the enjoyable piratey adventure gaming fun that we've come to expect; to me it just lacks something that episodes 1,3 and 4 had. I for one will certainly be happy to see another season (or two ... or three or more) of Tales of Monkey Island in the future.

Rating: 7/10

Overall Season Rating: 8/10 (total ratings 40/50)

Tales of Monkey Island Episode 1: Launch of the Secret Narwal - 9/10
Tales of Monkey Island Episode 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay - 7/10
Tales of Monkey Island Episode 3: The Lair of the Leviathan - 9/10
Tales of Monkey Island Episode 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood - 8/10

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

Press Release from Koonsolo Games - Games With Big Machines! (?!?)

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:15:00 +0000

December 7, 2009 - Koonsolo Games announces that their new lineup of games will put you in control of bulldozers, dump trucks, excavators and other heavy equipment. They will call it Big Machine Games, and the first game in the series is already in development.

Toy cranes, dump trucks and other machines are very popular among young boys. Even adults have fond memories of them. But strangely enough there aren't many video games that feature them. The few that do, are realistic simulations lacking any form of gameplay. Koonsolo Games is therefore going to put some fun and refreshing gameplay elements into their Big Machine Games. It will be the perfect excuse to relive the fun you had as a kid, but this time packaged in a challenging game.

Big Machine Games will be available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The first game that is scheduled for this series will be called 'Big Bulldozer Game'.

More info can be found on the official website http://www.bigmachinegames.com and http://www.bigbulldozer.com

About Koonsolo

Koonsolo is a small independent game development studio committed to create games that are original, amazing, and most of all, games that provide pure carefree fun.

Koonsolo was founded in 2006 by Koen Witters, who has been creating games for fun as long as he can remember. It first started out by inventing board games, and after playing Commodore 64 and those early arcade games, he was completely sold on this new form of entertainment. At the age of 14 he learned how to program, with only one goal in mind: to create computer games.

After receiving his Master's degree in Computer Science, he started working as a professional game programmer. This was extremely fun, but the passion of creating his own original and exciting games never went away. So in 2006 he finally started up his own company, Koonsolo. After finishing some contracted game projects, Koonsolo is now committed to create innovative indie games, available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Contact us at
koen@koonsolo.com
http://www.koonsolo.com

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

First Thoughts on Tales of Monkey Island Episode 5: The Rise of the Pirate God

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:31:00 +0000

Got my review copy today (the official launch is 8th December) - can't say too much because of the press embargo but I think it's safe to say that the season finale has a few twists and turns that you probably weren't expecting. A nice twist on the classic insult sword fighting concept too.

Full review coming on Tuesday!

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

PC Game Review - Stronghold 2 Deluxe

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:22:00 +0000

I really like the RTS genre and everything about this game had looked good - I thought it even might be a logical successor to Defender of the Crown with its promises of a full simulation of caste life including holding feasts, jousting etc. Unfortunately a few key design flaws prevented me from really enjoying it.

To start off with all looks goo - nice cut scenes and a plethora of options. The game also has two main game modes - peaceful and battle. Depending which of these missions you go for at the beginning of the main campaign, the game will focus more on building your castle facilities up or bashing the enemy. A nice idea and at first it seemed to be well implemented.

However there are a couple of massive problems. The first is that the graphics, though okay in terms of detail and zoomability, have incredibly bright colours all over the place - a very strange effect that doesn't affect the cut scenes at all - which render the screen quite unpleasant to look at, even with my monitor's brightness levels turned right down. I really can't understand this unless perhaps it's an issue with particular graphic chipsets, and mine just happens to be one of the ones affected (it's a GeForce 9800GT btw - if anyone has had the same experiences / knows more please leave a comment).

The graphics otherwise are quite good, though the game map very quickly begins to look cluttered - the view angle seems just a little odd - though this would of course promote neatly planned building projects from the player, which isn't necessarily a bad thing! The music / sound effects are good and the voice acting is quite comical - I assume this was intentional, and most of the peasants sound like Brummies! - it's quite a nice change having a game that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Other than the whacked-out visuals though, the learning curve is very odd - in both peaceful and aggressive campaigns, missions 1 and 2 are almost too easy even for the introduction to the campaign, mission 3 was challenging and then mission 4 seems initially almost impossible. Coupled with controls that seemed rather awkward and the aforementioned blinding colours onscreen, and it ended up with a game that had all the right ingredients for me - medieval real time strategy and mission-based storyline - yet I didn't get very far with it and I really didn't feel inclined to play it for long.

If the graphical oddities aren't a problem for you and you get into the game, I really have the feeling that it would be very rewarding - but for me, it just didn't work out at all. A real shame and a great opportunity wasted (installing every patch in sight still didn't help unfortunately.)

Somewhat reluctantly, I'm going to give this a rating of 4/10.

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

Hard Disk Drive Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:29:00 +0000

Thanks to my guest writer rgathright, I've just posted a number of hard disk drive reviews on this blog. For convenience I've listed them all here:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog

Western Digital Caviar® SE WD1200JD 120 GB SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:28:00 +0000

In the end not even 7200 RPM or an 8mb of onboard buffer memory cache could make this storage product attractive enough for me to use. Due to the archaic speed of the Western Digital hard drive, I strongly recommend avoiding the purchase of this product. After waiting over 12 hours to copy all my POV-Ray animation TGA files, I decided to disconnect the drive and be thankful for what little was actually copied over.

Instead you should consider a Patriot 32Gb SSD SATA hard drive or a 2Tb Seagate Barracuda LP hard drive. These drives not only feature quiet operation but also can reduce you energy consumption through reduced spindle speeds or no moving parts at all! Finally, regifting or selling the Western Digital WD1200JD SATA hard drive to a friend will only result in failure because of the poor performance this product exhibited during my testing. Hence, my review title still applies… recycling and hoping for a core refund would be the best thing to do with this hard drive in the year 2009.

In all, I give the Western Digital WD1200JD 120GB Hard Drive two thumbs down.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Seagate Barracuda LP (ST32000542AS) 2 TB SATA II Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:27:00 +0000

You will enjoy the high capacity of the Seagate Barracuda 2Tb but the real story is the high performance which gives you the ability to transfer files at relatively high speeds. The high performance and eco-friendly features really do set this drive ahead of the pack. The low spin speed, 5900 RPM, of the drive also means that you will experience reduced power consumption and heat production than traditional hard drives on the market today. The only problem you face is ensuring that your motherboard or raid card supports 48bit LBA. A quick check of the manufacturer’s website should verify this for you.

In all, I give the Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB ST32000542AS Hard Drive two thumbs up.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Seagate DiamondMax® 10 160 GB SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:25:00 +0000

First, if you are just going to use this drive to store files as a secondary hard drive, go for it! The drive runs reasonably cool and is quiet so it will not interfere with the daily operation of your home computer.

However, I learned a lot writing this review. We now know that there is a lot going on beneath the cover of a SATA hard drive. A hard drive causing Super PI to crash is never a good thing. The slow performance of this drive in my Windows XP SP2 benchmarks was alarming to me. Until now, I never realized that using this hard drive as a replacement in my computers could affect my ability to multi-task in Windows but it clearly does. For this reason, I strongly recommend considering a newer SSD hard drive like the Patriot 32Gb if you are upgrading an older SATA I specification based computer for faster performance.

In all, I give the Maxtor 6B160M0 160GB Hard Drive a split decision, one thumb up and one thumb down.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 160GB HDD, 3.5, SATAII, 7200rpm, 8MB Cache (ST3160318AS) 160 GB SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:22:00 +0000

The Seagate 160Gb SATA drive is by far the fastest that I own in the 160Gb to 80Gb capacity range. As seen by the benchmark results above, this drive can outperform your expectations in both SATA I (1.5Gb/s) and SATA II (3.0Gb/s) file system interfaces. I recommend that the drive can be used in a backup role, primary boot partition and as drive for a portable hard drive enclosure.

I paid just $40 for my first hard drive. In all, I give the Seagate Barracuda ST3160318AS 160GB Hard Drive a solid two thumbs up if used for the purposes outlined in this review.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

PDP Systems Patriot Warp 32GB Solid State - SATA-300, 2.5 32 GB SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Almost everyone will agree that the Patriot Warp 32Gb SSD is one of the fastest SATA drives on the planet today. However there are two main detractors: cost and capacity. First, unless you have the fiscal budget of NASA, you will never be able to afford 250 Gb of SSD capacity on a typical American budget today. The only option will be to buy multiple drives and span them as a RAID 0. The tough 2.5” form factor is nice though and should lead to some interesting solid state computer systems in the coming years as prices inevitably drop.

I paid $130 for my 32Gb SSD. In all, I give the Patriot Warp 32Gb SSD SATA Hard Drive two thumbs up.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB External USB 2.0 Portable - Black Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:20:00 +0000

The WD Elements WDBAAA3200ABK is a solid drive that has an impressive 298Gb NTFS formatted capacity. You are going to find that the drive operates differently from one computer to another as various file system bottlenecks arise but the most important fact is that this drive can get the job done quickly on the right computer.

If you want to purchase this product, I suggest shopping around first. First, check out the online retailers listed at the bottom of this review. Second consider shopping for a used WD Elements drive on Ebay since the auctions are usually offering the product for half the price of retail editions.

In all, I would give the Western Digital Elements 320Gb USB drive two thumbs up.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Transcend 32GB SSD, 2.5- Inch, SATA, MLC SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:19:00 +0000

Ignore all the claims by Transcend that the V Series is a good drive. Transcend V Series SSD drives have disappointed me with cheap construction and subpar performance numbers. Luckily, I bought a Patriot Warp 32Gb SSD earlier this year and was able to realize that there is a difference in build quality in these drives.

The game with buying SSD drives is trying to find one that can deliver true high speed file system transactions that are on par with disk based drives. At this time, some hard drives are still faster than SSD’s with the 2Tb Seagate Barracuda ST32000542AS leading the pack with burst speeds of 233.3 Mb/s according to my own testing.

I paid $145 for my Transcend 32Gb SSD from Amazon. In all, I give the Transcend V Series 32Gb SSD SATA Hard Drive two thumbs down with a Bud Adams wave for good measure.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Western Digital Scorpio Black 250Gb SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Even though you will have some problems mounting this drive due to its high vibration, I really enjoy the speed it offers me. The 16Mb of cache and 7200 RPM rotational speed mean that very few 2.5” drives are going to be able to compete. I paid just $75 for this drive at Amazon.com and will likely order more soon. Just remember to buy the Black edition of this drive if you want to see these same performance numbers.

In all, I give the Western Digital 250Gb Scorpio Black WD2500BEKT SATA drive two thumbs up.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Hitachi Travelstar 5K320 HTS543216L9A30 160 GB SATA Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:17:00 +0000

The blazing fast performance of the file system chipset within my ASUS 1005HA netbook leaves me to believe that the Hitachi 160Gb SATA hard drive is holding me back. The poor access speeds in the benchmarks tell most of the tale for us. Yet, the slow transfer speeds from the SDHC card to the drive should fully convince you that this product is not anywhere near the best in the world. As a result, I would strongly recommend anyone owning this hard drive to consider replacing it with a Western Digital Scorpio Black 250Gb hard drive to increase your overall system speed today. The Scorpio Black boasts access times of 14.3 Ms and has burst speeds as high as 237.7 Mb/s.

However, if you are in the market for a replacement drive, I am happy to report no stability problems with this Hitachi product so far. In all I give the Hitachi 160Gb SATA drive two thumbs down.

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500 GB SATA II Hard Drive Review

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:15:00 +0000

You can find faster drives on the market today but at the current price of just $60 at most online retailers this drive is extremely hard to beat at its current Transfer Speed and Capacity ability. Some drives gain more speed by spinning at 10,000 RPM and others utilize solid state memory technology to achieve the elusive high throughputs, yet for all of this comes the high cost of acquiring the materials to build and manufacture the products.

The Samsung HD501LJ stands on its own in a market flooded with posers. I have finally found the drive that suits my budget and speed needs the only remaining problem is finding it. You should be prepared to wait at least a month after ordering since this product is backordered at several stores on the internet.

In all, I give the Samsung Spinpoint HD501LJ 500Gb Hard Drive two thumbs up!

Read the full review here.

This was a guest post for CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog by rgathright.

nVidia Drivers - update time

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Just a quick message for anyone with an nVidia card who hasn't updated their drivers in the last month or so - head over to the nVidia drivers page, it's time for you to get up to date!

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

Guybrush lives!

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Well you knew that rumours of the demise of our favourite pirate were greatly exaggerated, surely?!

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

Tales of Monkey Island - The Story So Far

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:45:00 +0000

For those who've been asleep and missed the fun, TellTale Games have put together a short video detailing the events of Tales of Monkey Island episodes 1-4. Episode 5, Rise of the Pirate God, is the season finale and out soon...

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

PC Game Review - Awesome Soccer

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Two things about Awesome Soccer instantly appealed to me - firstly it's a fully-featured soccer game that only uses one fire button (a real novelty these days but a feature that makes it instantly accessible and reminiscent of so many 8 and 16-bit classics), and playing it put me in mind of Kick Off straight away. That's not to say that this is a Kick Off clone, but much of what made that such a great game is present here.

In terms of presentation and features, Awesome Soccer rather reminded me of the earlier FIFA games. There are quite a few different league and cup competitions to choose from, or you can create your own - simple and quick to do. While not all team names are quite right and player choices can be a little odd (i.e "Mersey Reds" for Liverpool including Mark Gonzales on the right wing), there is a team editor program included to change all that if you want. All the normal tweaks you'd want such as match length and difficulty level are there - some things missing at the moment such as referee temperament and playing surface are absent, but I didn't miss them that much.

Of course the key thing to this game is the match engine itself, and it's a lot of fun. Though this reverts to the old "magnetic ball" (or should that be "magnetic feet"?!?) technique, the game is pretty fast (speed is adjustable) and fluid, and the style of gameplay is rather reminiscent of the hectic atmosphere of Kick Off. The controls feel very similar too. The computer AI isn't too realistic but still offers a challenge at high difficulty levels. There are some nice touches such as reasons given for bookings or red cards and some good goal celebrations (though Peter Crouch fans may be saddened by the lack of a "robot" celebration!). It all plays very nicely, personally I found the ball stuck to the pitch a little too much - it didn't roll on enough - which can break up the play a little bit, but mostly its uninterrupted action and a lot of fun.

Aftertouch is very important in Awesome Soccer, and the way it's implemented allows for you to bend the ball both ways if you're quick enough. The aftertouch is perhaps not even completely necessary to win matches, but it adds an extra dimension to gameplay and certainly takes a lot of skill to master.

Graphically the game's quite good - diving headers in particular look great (though collision detection can be slightly iffy, it errs in favour of the player so it's not actually frustrating when it happens in the game). The music is good and there are appropriate in-game sound effects. All in all a solid aesthetic package, nothing spectacular but it all suits the game very well.

To keep the players' interest even after maybe winning the world cup and guiding Liverpool to a league and European Cup double (oh if only real life was like this...), there are 33 "golden balls" to be attained. You get these for match or tournament achievements, and while getting the first 15 or so doesn't really take long, getting all of them is quite a challenge. In particular the "win on penalties" trophy may well be something I never manage to win!

Replays, celebratory photos and match highlights finish off the features list. Overall Awesome Soccer is a simple but very enjoyable game - maybe it could have a few more features but the vital fun factor is definitely there and the game's charm mainly lies in its complete accessibility right from the first time you play it. Don't be fooled though - while it's simple to play, mastering it completely is going to take you quite some time. For the quality of game and length of gameplay you can expect from it, the price of $14.95 is very reasonable - and at the moment it's on special offer at $9.95, even better.

Rating: 7/10

Want to buy it? Visit this link: Awesome Soccer by Red27 Studios

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

CaptainD Interviews Ben Chandler (designer / artist of many games including Awakener and Feather Weight)

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:10:00 +0000

Thanks to the joy of private messaging on the AGS Forums, I caught up with Ben Chandler whose recent games Awakener and Feather Weight both impressed me. I asked him about making games, playing adventure games, etc...

1/ What made you start making your own games?

I used to play a lot of games (mostly demos) as a kid, and also loved reading about games in computer magazines and so by the time I got to high school games were something I felt quite passionately about. I would always come up with (bad) ideas for games when walking to the bus stop, but didn't really know how to start building games. When I got my hands on my first graphics calculator I taught myself how to build basic programs and starting building a few very simple games on that. From there I read about AGS and so moved to trying to build games on my PC.

2/ You've also done a lot of work on other peoples' games - how many have you worked on so far in one way or another?

I honestly could not say, especially as I've worked on a couple of non AGS games as well. A lot of projects (both my own and other people's) have been abandoned to never see the light of day, and there are others that are planned for eventual release but won't see the light of day for some time yet. If the number of projects I've contributed something to over the years at some was significantly less than 50 I'd be most surprised.

3/ Why do you focus on short adventure games in particular?

There are a number of reasons. These are the ones I can remember at the moment:

- I am still quite new to making games. New writers should start with short stories, inexperienced illustrators should start with little sketches and beginner musicians should start with simple chord progressions. This is the crawl before the walk.

- I like playing short games that other people have made, often more than long games. As a game designer, one generally tends to try and producing that suits their tastes as a player - therefore my games are short in length.

- The stories I think of are short and concise. I don't come up with enormous backstories or huge stumbling blocks between the beginning and then end of a story. I like to keep my stories concise and focused at the moment, and I try to avoid extending games by putting heaps of filler content that doesn't really fit (though am guilty of it here and there, of course). This means the games are short.

- I like trying out new things, and by keeping each game short in length I can effectively see how well these new things work without having to invest too much time and effort into something that may be completely bland or frustrating. I try to make sure the games are long enough to satisfactorily explore the concepts, but short enough to ensure that I haven't wasted months of effort if an idea is no good.

- I have a short attention span, and this is my hobby. It's what I do for fun. Making short games is more fun, so I do what I enjoy the most.

4/ Out of all the games you've made, which one are you proudest of?

Shifter's Box - Outside In. A game is a relationship between a number of elements - the visual, audio, story and interactivity elements all have to work together well in order to create a satisfying experience. Shifter's Box is one of the rare occasions where I feel I actually succeeded in getting the interactivity element (ie, how 'fun' it is) to a point where I'm actually satisfied with it.

5/ You have a very distinctive graphical style - did that develop because of being involved in game creation, or had you developed it before that?

I'd been drawing fairly odd pictures for several years before working with AGS, but the style has definitely changed drastically over the years. Being involved in games has led me to steer my graphics towards a more functional and atmospheric style - I have learned to use low resolution as it enables me to animate and draw much quicker, and creating an atmospheric environment is essential in order to immerse the player in one's game world.

6/ What are your favourite commercial adventure games?

They've changed over the years as my tastes have changed, but I'll try to focus on the few that really stick in my mind:

Sam & Max Hit the Road - As a kid who was brand new to games, this was like a magically playable version of a cartoon. I'll never forget how much enjoyment I got out of walking around seeing the silly animations and laughing at the jokes.

Monkey Island series - I remember trying Sierra adventure games after hearing how wonderful these things were and getting frustrated and giving up very quickly; and then all of a sudden there was Monkey Island. No stupid deaths, more enjoyable graphics and music (for me, anyway) and they appealed to me as a kid because they genuinely made me laugh.

Simon the Sorcerer - I only got around to playing this a couple of years ago. The puzzles drove me insane (I'm still working my way slowly through the sequel). The graphics, however, drove me to try and draw a lot better.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - The original The Longest Journey started out nicely, but the slow pace and tedious puzzles quickly eventually defeated me and I gave up. The sequel, however, was much more how I prefer my games - a story where you get to be some of the characters.

Indigo Prophecy: Again, a lack of the tedious walking around using items and verbs on hotspots that is so common to adventure games meant I really enjoyed this one. Some people hated the action sequences and cheesy story developments. I loved them.

Full Throttle: I only actually got around to playing this one a few months ago, and it now stands as my current favourite adventure game. Great story and graphics, rockin' music and interesting and not annoying gameplay. This is how adventure games should be!

7/ What are your favourite freeware adventure games?

Again, I'll try to not go on too long and only list the ones that stick in my mind.

The Apprentice series - This is how I found AGS, so there is no way I am not going to love them forever. What helps is that they are actually really nice games as well!

Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! - You cannot love this game. I dare you to try to not love it!

Reactor 09/Cedric and the Revolution - Bernie's games gave me a clear goal to aspire towards. I admire his many talents very much.

Ace Starkiller in: Hillbilly Burger Bastards - I'm not really supposed to mention this one, and it's not actually available for download. Still, some of the ideas in this really made me think "Hey, there's so much unexplored potential in adventure games still!"

Life of D.Duck series - Let's face it, if you're going to make something with children's drawing you're asking for people to ignore your game as a silly beginner's game. Sadly, this has meant that these games have been sorely under appreciated. I vowed to put more effort into animations and start using sound effects in my games after playing as that manic texta scribble.

Death Wore Endless Feathers: Disk 1 - It's very rare that the world created by a freeware game really grabs me, and yet this is exactly what happened in DWEF. It's remarkable how much more enjoyable a game can be when the setting is so intriguing.

8/ Has anyone particular in the gaming industry influenced the way you make your own games?

Tons of people, but not many that I can actually single out.

Obviously guys like Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer have design philosophies that appeal to me both as a player and a designer. Other guys - like Chris Avellone and Warren Spector - are inspirational because they tried new things and did them well (specifically in this case, Planescape: Torment and Deus Ex respectively).

There are a couple of others who I consider very inspirational, however they are not in the gaming industry, so I'll refrain from mentioning them.

9/ What advice would you give to anyone thinking of trying to make their own game?

Stop thinking about trying to make your own game and start making it. Stop making excuses about why you can't do something - treat your weaknesses as things you are actively trying to improve instead of reasons why you can't make a game. Don't be too ambitious at first. Don't expect a lot of people to sit up and take notice when you make your first few games. Make sure you always have fun when you're making your game.

10/ Do you think that episodic games (such as TellTale Games' Tales of Monkey Island, Wallace & Gromit, Strong Bad and Sam & Max) are the future when it comes to adventure games?

I have no idea. Episodes work for television, so I see no reason why they cannot work for games. However, we still have many, many movies being produced, so I have my doubts that the current mainstream approach to games will ever be truly outmoded. Personally, as long as games are getting released, I really don't see a problem with any method of delivery, provided that it is relatively accessible to the majority of potential players.

Thanks Ben for the interview and your interesting answers!

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

First Thoughts - Stronghold 2 Deluxe

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:10:00 +0000

Lots of variety in this game - two main campaigns, peacetime (pretty much a city builder sim) and a conquest mode where you not only build castle but knock them down too (not your own, of course). There are multi-player and free play modes as well - a massive game and well put together. It's an RTS based around controlling your castle community and surrounding estates.

Had a couple of problems running it under 64-bit Vista until I got all the latest patches installed - UIC was probably the problem there - and the graphics, though not bad, used extremely bright colours in the game to the point that it made seeing anything difficult. You could of course change the brightness level on your monitor, but weirdly the cut-scenes are fine - just the in-game graphics that are painful on the eyes. Music's good and voice acting is fun - quite comical and every peasant seems to have something to say for himself!

Will play through both major campaigns before reviewing (probably - controls sometimes seem a little fiddly right now, but I'm confident they won't render the game uncompletable!). Looking good so far apart from the strange colour scheme.

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

Too Competitive?!?

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:57:00 +0000

It occurred to me to wonder just why I'm so competitive when it comes to computer games - two games in particular recently, New Star Soccer 2010 and X-Kings, have hundreds or thousands of players and I'm ranked around 20 in the world for both of them. But am I satisfied with that? Hell no... I should be number 1!

Just when does this sort of obsession become unhealthy? :-D Come on admit it, I'm not the only one whose twisted mind works like this... right?

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog

PC Game Review - New Star Soccer 2010

noreply@blogger.com (CaptainD) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

If you want more basic information on the gameplay etc, please see my review of this game's predecessor, New Star Soccer 4. This review focuses mainly on the updates from that version.

Simon Read of New Star Software has already taken us into the world of being a professional footballer 4 times before this, with two text-based games and two graphical games. New Star Soccer 4 was a phenomenally addictive and detailed game which was very challenging but also very rewarding. NSS2010 follows this same pattern - if you want to be a fantastic player straight away, forget it (well for most people this will be the case anyway) - but if you want a game that will continue to challenge you for weeks, months and quite possibly years to come, New Star Soccer 2010 is it.

The major enhancements over NSS4 are:

Quicker team / fixture / result generation - the waits could be a bit of a killer before, they're now much shorter.
The match engine has been improved, it's much less predictable and thus more realistic now (which can make the game more challenging than NSS4), and there is an extra view option which enables you to see much more of the pitch than previously.
A few major bugs from before like international team selection and interacting with your children
The teams are much more dynamic - I even managed to win the league with Liverpool and the FA Cup with Reading! I don't think either of those would have ever happened in NSS4, where winning anything at all seemed virtually impossible if you weren't at a Big 4 club [and frankly, Liverpool were never going to win the league... much like real life then really1! :-( ]
On-line rankings

There are a few other tweaks and updates, but those were the ones that stood out to me. Otherwise it's much the same game as before - very challenging, extremely addictive, but the steep learning curve and long period before you can get some of your stats up to a useful level will still make it somewhat inaccessible to some game players.

Overall, thoroughly recommended to all footie fans!

Rating: 8/10

See also:
- New Star Soccer 2010 - "What's New" Video
- Interview with Simon Read of New Star Games

CaptainD - PC Gaming Blog