Retro Holiday Gaming, Part II: The Dig

After playing Death Gate it was time to change the setting from fantasy to science fiction. The Dig is an incredible science fiction story based on an idea Steven Spielberg had (yes THAT Steven Spielberg). Originally he wanted to make a tv episode and later a movie about it but it was deemed too expensive. Fortunately instead of staying unproduced it became a 1995 adventure game by Lucas Arts.

When a radio telescope detects an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, an expedition is sent to save the planet. The plan is to place two nuclear devices on the surface of the asteroid (named Atilla) to change it's course and put it in a stready orbit around Earth (making Attila Earth's second moon). As you can imagine things don't go exactly as planned and three of the five team members end up stranded on an alien planet.

Houston we have a problem!

You play the role of Boston Low, commander of the mission (voiced by T-1000 himself, Robert Patrick). With you, are Maggie Robins, a reporter and expert in linguistics and Dr. Brink Ludger, a noted geologist and archaeologist. Together you have to fight to survive on a deserted alien world and try to find a way back to Earth if there even is one. I don't want to say too much about the story because it would spoil it for you. I will just say that it is one of the best science fiction stories ever told in any medium that explores some great philosophical thoughts. But of course that is the case will all good science fiction.

The dialog system

The interface couldn't be simpler. When you see something of interest, you left click to interact with it. There is only one button to the bottom left side of the screen that brings up the inventory (right click does the same thing). When you talk to someone you don't choose exact phrases but rather ask a question, make a comment and talk about various topics represented by appropriate images. Pretty simple stuff. Most of the puzzles are quite easy but there are some that will leave you scratching your head.

Strange encounters

Any science fiction fan should play this game and if you're reading this blog odds are that you love science fiction. So head over to Steam and buy the game for an ultra low price of 1.99 euros (50% off). A great game on a great price. I really hope that one day it will also make a great movie.

Loom: a magical adventure

Welcome to the age of the great guilds! we hear the narrator say and our magical journey begins. 20 years ago Loom was released by Lucas Arts and after all this time it still manages to lead us in its mystic world. This is one of the most enchanting games (adventure games for that matter) that i have ever played. Swans, music, art guilds, magic all blend together in a way to offer us a unique experience.

You are Bobbin Threadbare, the Loom child, a young man of the guild of weavers, off to find answers to your questions and possibly save the world. I will not go into the details of the story 'cause I don't want to ruin it for anyone. When the game came out in retail 20 years ago in the box there was a cassette containing an audio drama that helps the player get into the game world and story. I strongly suggest you hear it. You will thoroughly enjoy it and it is only 30 minutes. You can find it on youtube in three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Having just finished the game again after so many years I still find it refreshing, unique and immersing. I simply did not want it to end. Being an adventure game you solve puzzles in order to progress into the story. In Loom though the puzzles are not you usual inventory based, slider or mechanical puzzles in other games, but rather, a unique use of musical notes. You wave your stuff to play music and according to the melody something happens. So basically, you have melodies that perform certain actions and you use them when you want something done. You hear this melodies when something is happening and then you play them again to perform an action. This works very well and its use blends wonderfully into the game world. There are many ways to use a melody. For example if you play the melody of 'open' backwards, you close something!

The game is rather easy and short. An experienced adventure gamer will finish it probably in an afternoon and that is the game's biggest drawback. In order to extend its length you can play it in a higher level of difficulty. The different levels of difficulty do not have to do with the puzzles themselves, but instead with, how the notes are presented to the player. In the easiest mode the game shows you the notes of the melodies that you hear in order to play them again. In the highest difficulty mode you play the game by ear alone. In any difficulty level though, it is essential to note down the melodies and what they do, which is fun on its own.

The game's finalle clearly suggest that there will be a sequel, but 20 years have passed and nothing. I would have really loved to play the next Loom game but unfortunately Lucas Arts probably is not going to give us one. You can get this game from steam for a very low price, or try your luck in Ebay. If you encounter any old disks of any version(PC disks, Amiga CD, FM Towns, etc) it will play wonderfully with ScummVM. I strongly suggest this game to anyone that likes a good story and an immersing experience in a magical world.

Telltale website down, new Monkey Island almost here!

Ok, I just got back from going out for drinks and checked to see if the new Monkey Island is out in order to buy and download the first episode from the telltale website. The site appears to be down. This can mean one of two things. Their servers could not manage the traffic 'cause tens of thousands of people are trying to do the same thing as me, or they took the site down for maintenance to upload the new game. At either case I initally got a maintenance screen and after a few minutes I could not even connect which meant the their server was down.

This is what telltale website is showning at the time of writing

At any rate the new Monkey island is almost here. This with the Lucas making their old loved adventures, such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Loom, available for purchase from Steam tommorow feels excellent. Adventures have just come back to mainstream and are making headlines again...Hoorey!!!

UPDATE:
The game is out and available for purchase from both telltale website and Steam.

Nostalgia: The games we loved (...some of them)

A couple of nights ago we were out for drinks with friends and after the usual alcoholic beverages, while relaxed, we started talking about games that we loved. After some time into the discussion I realized that not one of the games mentioned was not among the ones that you find into today's shelves. We got nostalgic about games that offered pure fun when games was not a multi-billion dollar industry. These games where about atmosphere, gameplay, story and challenge, without requiring a 5-hundred-dollar graphics card and the game boxes were made out of paper and were coming with much more than a 4 pages manual. I will try to mention as many as I can remember from the ones we mentioned without any particular order:

Daggerfall (1996)
The biggest, baddest, hardest RPG ever made. A friend spend two years playing itwithout following the main story and he has still not finished. A gem coming to us from 1996. The second game on the elder scrolls series, before Oblivion, before morrowind. Let me just say that in its world morrowind was but a small island on the map.Yea...that big.


Loom (1990)
One of the first Lucas Arts advenure games. A fairytale were riddles are solved with music and fantasy has no limits. It was rather small compared to games of its age but yet it was extremely enjoyable. Highly recommended.


Gabriel Knight Series(1993,1995,1999)
My personal favorite sierra adventure series. Mystery, supernatural and horror coming from the Jane Jensen's mind. Carefully woven stories mixing historical facts with myths ensure of excellent atmosphere and challenging riddles. Gabriel Knight, the shadow hunter, is solving mysteries keeps the worlds safe from evils. Me favorite is the second one, The Beast Within, were he hunts werewolves in old castles in Germany.


Albion (1995)
This 1995 RPG managed to combine technology with magic to create a unique atmosphere and gameplay. It was played, both, in 3rd and 1st person perspective. It had a big extra terestrial game world full of dungeons and puzzles featuring a deep storyline.


Defender of the crown (1986)
My favourite strategy game on my 8086 computer. When it first came out for the amiga everyone was looking at its gorgeous graphics with the mouth open, drooling. Create your army, save damsels, take part in sword fights and sieges to save England from the evil Normands. I must admit that I still play this game with the same enthusiasm as I did when I was a kid.


Lords of Midnight (1984)
In my opinion the best game Sectrum ZX had to offer. A mix of adventure strategy and RPG in the biggest world 48 Kilobytes of memory could hold. Fantastic atmosphere and challenging game play ensure hours of fun. The original game box included a book containing the manual, a
small story to get you into the game and the map of the world which was essential in order to plan your campaign. If you want to enjoy this you can still can using the fatastic and faithful port Icemark did for Dos using dosbox. I still have not managed to beat the game...but I will some day.