Looks like I missed a month! Dunno where the time went (I'm blaming a rift in the space-time continuum), but here's some games for June. First up is a very adult FMV murder myster starring some recognisable Hollywood types by the name of Blue Heat: The Cover Girl Murders (1997, Orion Pictures Corporation). For something a little more family friendly there's the fun flipper follow up to that Windows pack-in game Full Tilt! 2 Pinball (1996, Maxis, Inc). Ever wanted to live the life of a lion? Then you're in luck 'cos the next game is an educational simulation simply called Lion (1995, Sanctuary Woods). If you want to race in circles in one of the most realistic car sims of the time, then give NASCAR Racing 2 (1996, Sierra On-Line) a whirl. To top it all off, we have an old remake of an ancient platformer designed to make use of those newfangled windows in Thexder for Windows '95 (1995 Sierra On-Line). Head on over by clicking the links after the jump. Enjoy!
Click on the images below to head on over to the game page.
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1997 Orion Pictures Corporation
Windows 3.1
Adventure-FMV-Mystery-Mature!
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1996 Maxis, Inc
Windows 3.1
Arcade-Pinball-Aliens!-Superheroes!
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1995 Sanctuary Woods
DOS
Edutainment-Strategy-Life Sim-Animals!
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1996-1997 Sierra On-Line
DOS
Racing-Simulation-Stock Car
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1995 Sierra On-Line
Windows + Windows '95
Platform-Action-Science Fiction
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Hey man, glad you re fine!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you back Biff.
ReplyDeleteBlue Heat! Thanks a ton!
ReplyDeleteGood to see you back, Biff. Glad you're okay.
ReplyDeleteHot. As always - i looked up at your site every day. Its my favourite !!!
ReplyDeleteThx so much.
Greg
Wow, I played Thexder on MSX, I had no idea it looked like that on Win 95! Or that it even existed!
ReplyDeleteOoooh!! new goodies, thanks Biffman
ReplyDeleteSince I have the impression that Blue Heat might belong to one of the better FMV adventures which had been released over the years, I will surely get myself into that shimmering and despicable crime scene to make LA a safer place again. Well, at least until the next adventure in the City of Angels is coming my way, something like Police Quest: Open Season maybe. :-) In any event, thanks for Blue Heat's preservation along with the cool review , Biff!
ReplyDeleteBye for now
Thomas
Are you perhaps hinting at another detective adventure with the word "Blue" in the name? Blue's Clues maybe? Gotta be that :D
DeleteNow that you mention "bluish" detective adventures, how about throwing the interestingly looking Blue Force by Tsunami Media and - even if it's so hard to imagine - an actually working English PC setup of J.B Harold: Blue Chicago Blues?
DeleteBy the way, did you already hear about the ReelMagic DosBox fork that now makes it possible to play special MPEG versions of games like Flash Traffic: City of Angels or - its maybe most prominent title - Return to Zork (to name just two), which all were especially reserved for exactly that fascinating hardware-accelerated decoder?
Here's the accompanying thread to find out more about that fork's magic. For reel. :-)
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=86635
Bye for now
Thomas
Well, it should have meant "how about throwing...into the ring.
DeleteOf course. :-)
Bye for now
Thomas
Blue Force was a decent adventure, not sure about Blue Heat. Blue Steel is an underrated thriller.
DeleteRegarding Blue Force, it's actually a "lost" Police Quest game, if you like, because it deeply breathes the spirit of ex-California Highway Patrol Officer Jim (James) Wall after he became a game designer/writer/programmer who was responsible for Police Quest 1-3, among others. Only that Blue Force wasn't developed and published by the great Sierra company but Tsunami Media whose portfolio, by the way, is also not that uninteresting for FMV fans. :-)
DeleteBye for now
Thomas
Oh my gosh, his name is Jim (James) Walls, of course. Damn stupid me. ;-)
DeleteBye for now
Thomas
You know Thomas, with time I learnt to doubt a bit about the skills of James/Jim Walls as an adventure game designer. Al Lowe dropped in some interviews that he basically had to redo PQ1 because the only existing puzzles were about police procedures, and giving the collaborative environment in Sierra I think that PQ2 and PQ3 had more input than credited from other people working there. Just a conspiracy thought of mine.
DeleteThat's interesting to hear, Carlos. Relating to this I found out that in Jim Wall's defense, Al Lowe also said that "he [Jim] had great stories to tell". So without that ability to create vivid and thrilling worlds within the listener's mind, which, on top of that, had been the real deal with its experienced-at-first-hand authenticy, the Police Quest saga wouldn't be the product we know today, thanks to Jim Wall's signature in that field.
DeleteBye for now
Thomas
By the way, I wonder if I will ever learn to properly write down his name in the first place...
DeleteIn fact, it's "...Jim Walls' signature".
Sorry for that, it wasn't intended for sure.
Bye for now
Thomas
I totally agree with you that the heart of PQ1, which is the journey of Sonny Bonds from PQ1 to the end of PQ3, comes from Walls (though I bet that some of the occult nods from the third game came from Jensen). When I think of Police Quest I actually think of the writing, a very pulpy approach that fitted the vigilantism theme present on the three games. But there is sincerity in there, something severely missing from the fourth game which is a complete disaster. I say that with my politics being quite on the other side of Walls' spectrum.
DeleteDon't worry about the spelling. My phone continuously corrects the plurals to possessives for some reason.
Well, I have still not yet played the 4th installment in the series, but I always found it to be the most appealing part to me if we're talking about the visuals. Being an FMV games aficionado, I somehow appreciate its graphics in the sense of being some kind of trailblazer for the company's technology that had been demonstrated with Phantasmagoria quite impressively (for its time) soon after.
DeleteBy the way, Jim Walls had already left Sierra, even before the writing for Police Quest 4 - Open Season began. So basically it can be claimed with a clear conscience that he at least can't be blamed for said final part's outcome of the series in any way. Which is good for him after all.
Bye for now
Thomas
NASCAR Racing 2 was my sh#t. Dang Carlos you got me wanting to play this game.
ReplyDeleteA couple of requests:
ReplyDeleteUpdate request: Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time is missing a final bit of fuctionality. When playing on post-3.1 windows, I found a new item in the Start Menu after beating the game. Could you please update it to Windows 95 if possible to enably this functionality?
Game requests: Puppet Motel and Scrutiny in the Great Round, a couple of surreal CD-ROM art games.
Somehow, I never knew about that piece of information. Probably because Complete Waste of Time is a pain in the ass to complete. I might upgrade it at a future point.
DeletePuppet Motel has been on my periphery for some time now, but I've not heard of Scrutiny in the Great Round. I'm intrigued.
Hey Biff.
ReplyDeleteI have a request. There's a lovely little point & click adventure game called Escape From Delirium
It was made in 1995 by Magicom Multimedia Corp.
It would be fantastic to see that on your site. ( :
It would! I'm surprised I've not got it yet to be honest. July's games are locked in, but I'll try and remember it for the next month. I know I have it working.
DeletePossible future request:
ReplyDeleteMidnight Nowhere (2004) - Its a point-and-click, mouse-driven game in 3rd-person perspective. The game opens up in a morgue, with the main character having no clue where he is or how he got there. It has a very interesting horror tone and atmosphere.
It would be great if this on a modern pc in some fashion!
As always, THANK YOU for your on going work!
edit: 2002!
Delete