MONTHLY 5 - January 2025

The first month of 2025 is at an end, and boy has it been an eventful one. To distract you from those January woes, why not try one of these five resurrected gems from the past.

In the case of B.C. Racers (1994-5 Core Design Inc), that's the distant past. Pre-history even. A mascot kart racer with some nice sprite-scaled visuals playable on DOS, SEGA CD, SEGA 32X and 3DO! Next, board the Black Pearl in the late 17th century and flip off some balls in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball (2005 Disney Interactive). 

Head over to war-torn Europe of the 1930s and beyond and platform through some of Tintin's most famous escapades in Tintin: Destination Adventure (2001 Infogrames). From World War II to Woodstock, peruse the pages of the famous weekly periodical in The Face of Life (1994 Time Inc & Creative Multimedia), a fascinating educational multimedia CD-ROM.

Finally, head on to the cyberpunk future of 2095 and take on the role of a Neo Hunter (1996 Virgin Interactive Entertainment Inc). From the imagination of Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) and developed by ex-LucasArts employees who took the cancelled project with them, it's an epic gallery shooter with a heavy dose of adventure.

Still to come in February is my rundown on the TV shows of 2024 but more gaming goodness will arrive on the last day of the month. I'll see you then!

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2024

 

 

This site frequently harps on about old-school games, but this is the time of year where I get to give my thoughts on new ones. If you ask me, 2024 hasn't been as great a year as last years. There were less  depth in the larger games and less invention in the smaller ones. And my most anticipated games - Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Spider-Man 2 are locked out for me and other PC-users until the end of January (soon!). But that's not to say I didn't have fun with interactive media these past twelve months. Read on to find out what I think was the best of it.

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2024

 

 

2024 has been a funny year for entertainment. Unlike many previous years, I cannot speak of one cinematic event that truly stood out. There's no Barbenheimer counter programming despite Glicked trying too hard to be a thing (maybe if they chose Wadiator it would be different?). No teenagers in tuxes turned out for Despicable Me 4 like they did with the pandemic-delayed Minions 2. And more to the point, there were a notable lack of comic book movies whirling through projectors. It is also the year that, after the success of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Poor Things (which was a 2024 movie in the UK), the uber-weird became the new critical darling. Watch The Substance, Love Lies Bleeding or Better Man and you'll get an idea what I mean. But that doesn't mean this year wasn't a memorable one. Far from it. Read on to read my movie reviews of the year and catch my Top 10 while you're at it...

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - THE FESTIVE FINALE

It's Christmas y'all! And if you've followed the site for the past five years, you know that means one thing - Lemmings! It's become such a tradition now that I think I'll truly be sad when I've run out of games in the series to mark the occasion. But not yet! This Christmas we have The Adventures of Lomax (Psygnosis, Inc), a side-scrolling platformer that's quite the departure from the logic puzzles those blue-clothed rodents have been known for. But it's still a good one, so if you can step away from the eggnog and Christmas pudding, give it a go by heading on over after the jump.

Stick with me into the New Year where I'll be giving you the run down of the movies, TV shows and game that have been hogging my screens this past year before we get back into retro PC gaming proper. And if you can, show some festive appreciation by joining my Patreon, offering a PayPal donation or sharing the word by following me on my social medias including Instagram and BlueSky which I recently joined. It'll help me keep doing what I do.

I'm off for some mince pie and mulled wine. Merry Christmas!!!!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 11

It's Christmas Eve, and we have a doozy of a game for the penultimate Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown 2024. In case you're wondering about the clue from yesterday, Major Boobage refers to an season 12 episode of South Park. Kenny gets high and goes on an acid trip massively inspired by the 1981 animated movie Heavy Metal. That leads us directly to its interactive spiritual sequel to that movie's sequel called Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2 (2000 MetalMammoth Inc & Gathering of Developers Inc), a rather awesome third-person action adventure that yes, has very major boobage.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day, and the final game for this epic countdown. More adventures await!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 10

 
There's a cash prize for today's game. One Million Dollars! Or at least there would be had you solved the insanely cryptic riddles of Treasure Quest (1996 Sirius Publishing, Inc) back when it released. Starring Terry Farrell of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame, it has quite the fascinating history for a weird multimedia CD-ROM adventure.

Only two days to go, so come Christmas Eve, expect major boobage.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 9

As is now something of a tradition within a tradition, Day 9 of the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown (4C for short?) is reserved for Disney. As a kid, the VHS of latest Disney classic from the renaissance era was almost guaranteed to be under the tree. So, here's 3 Disney games to unwrap.

We 're moving away from educational titles, instead moving into first-person action, arcade pinball  and even survival horror! Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Trial by Fire (2001 Disney Interactive) is a decent first-person outing for the little'uns developed by the folks behind an earlier Christmas Countdown 2024 outing Ice & Fire. Disney's The Little Mermaid Pinball (2005 Disney Interactive) is a quick and fun ball-flipper firmly taking place where it's wetter. Lastly, we have a surprisingly unnerving foray into survival horror with the console version of Disney's Piglet's Big Game (2003 Disney Interactive). You may have seen some of the Silent Hill comparisons online, and believe me, it's warranted.

But if Disney ain't your thing, come back tomorrow. I promise it'll be worth a million bucks!