Out There Chronicles (Completed)

You may recall that I once reviewed Mi-Clos Studio's Out There and gave it quite a wrap.  The game had two notable features - it was very hard, and it was very well-written. It's fitting then that Mi-Clos' next outing for Out There is a visual novel - very well-written, and far easier due to …

B(ack)logging in WordPress

Hello WordPress! I have been a Blogger blogger for about a year, but recently decided to jump across to WordPress for two very good reasons: Blogger is awful with pictures.  It take freaking ages and seems utterly incapable of putting two pictures next to each other without me swearing at it for an hour first; …

One man’s quest against his spending habits

I buy video games. I mean, I buy a lot.  Worse, I have completionist tendencies; I hate that feeling of putting a game away that I haven't finished, and I (generally) hate moving on to a new game unless I think I'm going to finish it at some time in the foreseeable future. That means …

My favourite game from each year I’ve been alive

  The ever-energetic Well-Red Mage had this great idea about selecting your favourite game from each you've been alive.  A capital idea! So here's my list, with one key important rule:  I will try, wherever possible, to avoid the bleedingly obvious.  So no mention of Mario, Zelda, Doom, Tetris etc where I can help it. …

X-Com 2 (Completed)

I needed a break from Wizardry 8.  Something snappier, something shorter.  It was time for X-Com 2.  I was a fan of the original X-Com and the re-boot, so I was keen to see X-Com 2. I understand that sequels tread, or should tread, a fine line between keeping enough of the old material to …

Out There (Completed)

I need a break from Wizardry 8, the game has turned into a very slow grind.  An awful lot like Wizardry VI and VII, now I think about it. So it's time for something a bit different, and that something is Out There, another iOS game that bucks the trend of iOS games being "free …

Game design – what makes a good point-and-click?

There's so much I'd like to blog about right now.  I've started playing Wizardry 8, and I've been playing a few mindless "progression quest" games (Diablo 3, and some iPhone endless running games) which I'm enjoying despite myself. But I'm still thinking about Simon the Sorcerer 2 and the "point and click" style of games …

Simon the Sorcerer 2 (completed)

Work - the curse of the gaming classes. After a short interlude caused by the necessity of earning a living, I have returned to my comfy gaming chair with my next game - Simon the Sorcerer 2! I avoided playing this in the 90s because I heard it fell into the "unfairly hard" end of …

Bloodnet – Part 2 (completed)

Last time I talked about how BloodNet is a combination of the clever, the inefficient, the effective and the ridiculous.  I talked about how it fit the first three descriptions, now it's time to turn to... The ridiculous - combat Last time I talked in glowing terms about BloodNet's adventure game elements, particularly its world …

BloodNet – Part 1

It's 1996.  I'm wearing a T-shirt that says "The Crow", listening to Metallica and playing a lot of White Wolf.  It's lucky that the local shops didn't sell trenchcoats, because I would have bought one, worn it and dropped dead from heat exhaustion (I lived in the tropics at the time). And then I came …