Our May Movie celebration comes to a close with a quintet of licenced games. Aid the caped crusader through the events of Batman Returns (1992 Konami) in this relatively unknown point-and-click adventure. Take to the skies and defeat alien invaders in Independence Day: The Game (1997 Fox Interactive). Sometimes, all you need is a menagerie of talking animals to save the world - and Michael Jordan. Gather a team of Looney Tunes to play basketball against some aliens in Space Jam (1996 Warner Bros). Get back down to earth in a compilation of Lethal Weapon games. Lethal Weapon Collection (1992-1993 Ocean) features 5 unique games over 6 platforms. Finally, future earth has been flooded, so do your best to survive the real-time strategy in Waterworld: The Quest for Dry Land (1997 Interplay).
Watch our video roundup below or check them out yourself after the jump.
Click on the images below to head on over to the game page.
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1992 Konami
DOS
Adventure-Point & Click-Comic Book-Movies
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1997 Fox Interactive
Windows '95
Action-Simulation-Sci Fi-Movies
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1992-1993 Ocean
DOS/Amiga/NES/SNES/GameBoy/Commodore 64
Compilation-Action-Platform-Movies
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1996 Warner Bros
DOS
Sport-Basketball-Cartoon-Movies
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1997 Interplay Productions
DOS
Strategy-Real Time-Sci Fi-Post Apocalyptic-Movies
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The adventuregamers site is looking for contributors to provide walkthroughs or video playthroughs, in case anyone in interested.
ReplyDeletehttps://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/40530
James, thanks for that info. (:
DeleteI have a bunch of Walkthroughs that I made for various games.
I wrote them for myself, but I'm happy to share them with Adventures Gamers, for public use.
I'll start going through them.
Frodo
Hey, thanks for sharing walkthroughs, Frodo! They're incredibly useful for thick people who get stuck, as happens to me too often! I look forward to seeing yours on the site. I don't know if they demand people use their real names, but if so, I think you should take the credit. Also write at the top or bottom that if people reproduce it, they should reproduce the credits too.
DeleteHey James.
DeleteI've been sending Walkthroughs to the Adventure Gamers site under the name 'Freaky Hobbit', since I wasn't able to register with 'Frodo'. ( :
As the longtime fan of the widely known original Lethal Weapon film quadrology that I am, where Gibson meets Glover (who then again both meet Pesci in Part 2, 3 & 4), I always also had a soft spot for the appealing Amiga and PC screenshots of its game adaption since I first encountered them in my favourite game magazines at the time of release back in 1992. So, how does it come to be then that I had never put my own hands to said Lethal Weapon game-ification? At least not until supposedly hardly resting Biff decided to garnish his Collection Chamber with it (thanks!), and thus gives me the tempting chance to finally slip into the imaginary shoes of one Sergeant Martin Riggs and his congenial partner Roger Murtaugh, respectively, to rough up countless of bad guys by beating and shooting them off the screen and sending them into virtual Nirvana, for the time being at least. With my XBox 360 Controller as my preferred lethal weapon of choice, they'll be in for a real digital treat, that's for sure. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBye for now,
Thomas
I hope you enjoy them Thomas. For the most part, they're not bad movie licences, the SNES and Amiga ones in particular.
DeleteI'll download them right away. By the way, I'm particularly excited about the Amiga music of which I've only heard good things. :-)
DeleteBye for now,
Thomas
It came as a little surprise to me that the Lethal Weapon Collection had been materialised on the initiative of HeroOfAvalon, whose review - where he intelligently compares the pros (less) and cons (more) of the respective Lethal Weapon versions - I can easily subscribe to after having checked on the collection myself. A subtle praise for the Amiga music, though.
DeleteBye for now,
Thomas
The Naked Gun films are more my style, together with the theme tune from Beverly Hills Cop.
ReplyDeleteI prefer my 80s action films to have a heavy dose of sci-fi or fantasy, so I'll always pick The Terminator, Aliens or Big Trouble in Little China over Lethal Weapon or Beverly Hills Cop if given the choice. Not that they're bad films, but I've always gravitated towards the unreal.
DeleteThat being said, I'd totally play a Naked Gun game if there ever was one.
Sorry, James, but in this case our both tastes are thousands of miles away from each other, because you couldn't throw a worse movie series into the ring than The Naked Gun in my humble opinion, haha. Police Academy comes close, though. Very. Nonetheless, I'm allowing you to ask the question what actually is wrong with me for not appreciating something that was highly popular with at least every second young German citizen during these mentioned movies' heyday - at least that's what my gut feeling tells me.
DeleteWell, I hope that my answer doesn't unduly disappoint you, but all I can say about my very subjective dislike about those two movie series is that I couldn't get warm with them in almost every respect. Maybe with the exception of a couple of songs of their respective Soundtracks, but that's it then.
Which leads me right to Harold Faltermeyer and his Beverly Hills Cop anthem Axel F that you like - and hence the circle harmonically closes again, because who could ever turn down such a brilliant composition like that. Not me and you, so much should be said.
By the way, if you were to ask for my most beloved synthesizer based gem that finds its roots within a movie Soundtrack, I'd vote for The Dead Walk by John Harrison from George A. Romero's Day Of The Dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L5SHL2NkdM
Do you already feel them comin', James, the undead brood as they're walkin' to the hypnotic rhythm in their post-apocalyptical world, gettin' closer and reachin' out for you with every beat of the drum machine and the ominously spreading synths? :-)
Bye for now,
Thomas
80s sci-fi is the best! As well as the ones Biffman mentioned, I also loved Blade Runner (obviously), and The Thing, and Tron, and They Live, and Back to the Future, and Innerspace, and, yes, The Abyss. And even the campness of Flash Gordon.
Delete80s sci-fi can't be beaten, can it? Well, except for Dune, which can and WILL be improved soon, and I won't hear otherwise!
I think the difference between us is that you like cop movies, while I don't care for them much, so a spoof of the genre appeals more to me than to you. (The spoof has to be done well, of course, and Police Academy wasn't.) I mean, I did enjoy the procedurals in Police Quest 2 to an extent, but I had much more fun with the other three big Sierra series.
ReplyDeleteI had watched Day of the Dead but I hadn't noticed the music before, so thank you for bringing it to my attention. Yes, I did also love good synth pop. A good example would be... Kraftwerk, I suppose.
The actual truth is that I can be baited by any film genre, as long as the particular movie is moving me by its story, character drawing and dramaturgy. Although I have a special fondness for horror flicks, if they aren't too shabby, because I like a good fright every now and then. At the same time I'd almost die to see Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey in a Romantic Comedy again. In my opinion - and I'm sure I'm not alone in my view - they have great chemistry. :-)
DeleteThe post-apocalyptical and burdened-with-doom Score of Day Of The Dead is worth mentioning, indeed, with The Dead Walk as the track that truly steals the show. I'm glad that you seem to like (or even love) it! Apart from that, I don't listen to Electro or Techno music that much anymore; instead, 1980s Hard- and Melodic Rock à la Van Halen, Whitesnake and company come to the table with me these days. But yeah, if you wanna pick up a good slice of electronic music, you actually can't go wrong with Kraftwerk, the Godfathers in their field.
Godfathers of a completely different nature are SIERRA that you mentioned. Creators of Larry Laffer and King's Quest. But forever in my heart they will remain because of Gabriel Knight 2 and Phantasmagoria (the one with "Demon-Don" in it). Best. Overall. Adventure. Experiences. Ever. Objections won't be tolerated! ;-)
Bye for now,
Thomas
I had to look up that rom-com, and I saw that it was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I've missed that, so you've added another one to my to-see list. I did like Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, which she made just before that.
ReplyDeleteGabriel Knight 2 is great, of course (and Munich/Munchen and Bavaria/Bayern are beautiful places that I have visited too), but I'm afraid I had to look up Demon Don. I see he was in the first Phantasmagoria. Embarrassingly, I haven't played that through to the end. It does have a slow start, with a woman exploring a big, nearly empty house. Well, that's a must-play for me now!
Not only did you miss How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, but also the 2nd well worth seeing Hudson-McConaughey collaboration named Fool's Gold. I guess, they didn't manage to make a 3rd movie together, but I need to check this at IMDB first to be absolutely sure about it.
DeleteI have no idea if Demon-Don circulates among the inclined Phantasmagoria connoisseurs as the official nickname for protagonist Adrienne's caring husband before he more and more turns into a sinister presence. In fact, I've first read of Dämonen-Don in a German magazine reviewing Phantasmagoria a very long time ago, and up to this day I like the moniker so much that I simply translated it into English for the sake of a better understanding.
It was regrettable that FMV didn't seem to play any part in Sierra's business plans anymore when they decided to create Part III of the Gabriel Knight series. If only its fine story would have been presented via FMV - instead of 1999 3D Graphics that your eyes had to get used to first -, another real masterpiece had probably been born. Therefore, I'd wish the Gabriel Knight franchise would take the same crowdfunding road that Tesla Effect went, by trying to finance exactly that kind of successor which ardent FMV fans of The Beast Within have always wished for.
Bye for now,
Thomas
Nice idea, but I can't see that Sierra series being revived. They did have a recent Leisure Suit Larry sequel and a King's Quest reboot with action elements which I missed. It wasn't profitable, from what I heard. I've also been hearing about a Space Quest reboot called SpaceVenture for a long time, but they still haven't given a release date, so I expect it to be postponed further. I doubt a Gabriel Knight 3 remake will happen, although there was a remake of the first game with enhanced graphics. Anyway, I quite like it that the three entries each have a very different graphical style. Meanwhile Jane Jensen has moved on to other things, so sadly a sequel is unlikely, too.
ReplyDeleteIn this matter, I'm rather with your famous fellow countryman Oscar Wilde than with you, who once took the view that "to expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect". So, even if Jane Jensen, as you've noted, has moved on to other things in the meantime, I strongly believe that her inner flame for the probable crown of all the creations she's done so far will never cease to exist. So, with one or more proper investor(s), a passionate crew staff who does justice to the series, and a willing-to-buy fanbase, a project like this could be built on solid ground as soon as all of the responsible parties would be ready. And no matter if it would take half of a lifetime - me and many companions will be there if Gabriel Knight should hit the shelves again.
DeleteYou know, I ain't friend of the message that this or that never comes again, once it had its time. Therefore: Never say never, James B(ond)! Franchises, they may come and go as time flies, we all know that. But sometimes, at the appropriate time, who knows, they might return. Like a former long-buried and now revitalized phoenix who's rising from the ashes afresh. :-)
Bye for now,
Thomas
I wish I had all these Oscar Wilde quotes to hand, but I don't. Coincidentally, Stephen Fry once played Wilde in a film, so we've established, once and for all, that you're much more like Stephen Fry than I am!
ReplyDeleteWell, you may be right that Gabriel Knight will rise from the ashes. Other franchises have, so why not this one? I hope it happens. Meanwhile, if anyone has an itch for a Paranormal Investigator adventure series, they could try the Ben Jordan series from the freeware AGS (Adventure Game Studio) site. Obviously these retro games are not polished and professional, but they can still be good fun.
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ReplyDeleteThank you very much Biffman! That Space Jam game brought some memories! Could you by any chance upload the Pink Panther's Hokus Pokus Pink and Passport to Peril games? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThey're on my radar. ScummVM are working on adding them, so I've been putting them off. It's taking a whilw though.
DeleteNice! Thanks! I've found them on archive.org and tried to run in compatibility mode, but the sound doesn't work. I could try to run in DOSBOX with Windows 3.1 like you do, but it doesn't seem like an easy task xD
DeleteIIRC I believe they're Windows 95 games. I'm interested in playing them, so if ScummVM take too much longer, I might try to get them working some other way.
DeleteIndeed they are Windows 95 games, but it says on the games' readme that they can also be played on Windows 3.1. I'm not sure if this means the games will run with less quality than with Windows 95, but if not, I think DOSBOX with Windows 3.1 should be easier to configure, I don't know haha
DeleteI've played some of Passport to Peril and it is good fun, especially with its tuneful songs with educational lyrics. I second Leo's request. I looked up "upcoming SCUMMVM games" on Google, and all I found was that they are working on the Ultima series.
ReplyDeleteNice! Thanks for your support in encouraging Biff with me James haha
DeleteThey have a long list of games they're working on. It was a few years ago when it was announced. It's the 'Pink' engine
Deletehttps://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Engines#In-Progress_Engines
What a long list! I predict it will be several more years before those "in-progress engines" are done. Looking at the "complete but unstable engines" section, it seems I was right that the Ultima series are all they have coming up in the near future. The SCUMMVM front page simply says that that they now want to begin testing the Ultima games.
ReplyDelete