CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - THE FESTIVE FINALE

It's finally Christmas Day, and with that comes the final entry in the Christmas Countdown. And it wouldn't be Christmas without some Lemmings, would it? Lemmings Paintball (1996 Psygnosis) is one of those spin off games that completely changes the formula, yet somehow still manages to feel like a natural progression of its predecessors. There are no Xmas-themed add-ons this time round, by many levels have that unmistakable snow-covered landscape of a winter wonderland.

Whatever you celebrate this time of year, I hope you have a good one. I'll be back in the new year with my annual rundown of the modern stuff I've been playing and watching this past year so keep an eye out for that.

Until then... Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 11

It's Christmas Eve! Let's get a little medieval with the classic high-fantasy adventure Heretic II (1998 Raven Software Corporation & id Software). For annoying legal reason, it's not available to buy anywhere being the only game in the Heretic/Hexen series to be stranded like this. Well, stranded no more for arguably the best of the lot is here, just in time for the big day. Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 10

On this eve of Christmas Eve, I posit to you a question to ponder over... Could a trout run for public office?

While that thought is percolating around your brain, take a gander at Mind-Gym (1997 Melrose Interactive & NOHO Digital) where such thoughtful quandries and more will expand one's understanding of one's self. Or you could just discover how a cucumber can save the world, it's all good in this comedic send up of self-help books. Or is it?

Stop scratching your brain and click on the links after the jump to find out!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 9

   

With every Christmas in my youth, I would be almost certain that either me or one of my siblings would get a Disney VHS or SNES cart under the tree. I cannot separate the festive season from many Disney classics, they're so intwined. Around this time last year, I gave you three educational Disney games so let's do it again. Yet another Yuletime Disney Triple.

We have three edutainment titles to suit your fancy; Disney's Adventures in Typing with Timon & Pumbaa (1998 Disney Interactive), Disney's Lilo & Stitch: Hawaiian Adventure (2002 Disney Interactive) and the MacDonald's promotional tie-in called Disney's Treasure Planet: Training Academy (2002 Disney Interactive). They vary wildly in quality (though I suspect you can all figure out which one's the worst) but I'm sure there's something in each that'll please kids and Disneyphiles alike. Head on after the jump to find out more.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 8

The force is strong with this 8th day of the Christmas Countdown! Star Wars: Yoda Stories (1997 LucasArts) is the second entry in the Desktop Adventures after Indiana Jones took a stab the year before. It's like a super simple and randomised Zelda clone designed to compete with the likes of Solitaire and Chip's Challenge on your work computer. In that context, it's quite a fun little game. Still makes me pine for full-on Star Wars game in the vein of A Link to the Past though. Force blast your way past the jump to find out more.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 7

Snuggle up to an anthropomorphic feline on Day 7 of our Christmas Countdown. Lionheart (1992 Thalion Software) may look like He-Man crossed with Thundercats' Lion-O - and you'd be right - but his stunning platform game is much better than either of their efforts. It was once exclusive to the Amiga, but thanks to some fans, a reimagined Windows remake (2022 Byron 3D Games Studio) has been doing the rounds too. If, like me, you're as curious as a cat, explore after the jump to explore onwards.

Also on another note, the recent download issue has been solved apart from the offending game file (bye bye Need for Speed SE). Unsure what triggered it as opposed to anything else, but that's life I suppose. 

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 6

Six days gone! Six days to go! We're halfway through out Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown, and today's pick is an underrated and unique puzzler by the name of Wetrix (1999 Zed Two Limited & Infogrames). I was gonna make a pun of how wet and drizzly Christmas usually is on our island, but as I write there's snow glistening on the ground and a robin chirping on the fence so it's becoming unusually festive (Note: Since writing, this has drasitically changed. Back to the grey skies of Britain...).

For more traditional Christmas weather in a abstract puzzle form, follow the link after the jump to head on over to my review and give it a go yourself!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 5

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Dr. Drago's Madcap Chase (1995 Blue Byte Software)! It's a board game unique to PCs taking advantage of all (read: some) of the pixelated whizbangery the mother board will allow. It's like if It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World took place in Europe and everyone took their turns on their way to the end. Read on after the jump to see where you'll place.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 4

The tree is up, presents are wrapped and now the pitchforks are out. We've got Beasts and Bumpkins (1997 Electronic Arts) on the plate for Day 4 of the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown, and if you like a real-time-strategy with a bit of hanky panky, then you're in luck. Build your village, breed peasants and kill all those who oppose you. Pretty standard stuff, then. Read on to view my thoughts.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 3

Day 3 of the Christmas Countdown and we have a sequel! I recently reviewed Sherlock Holmes' first Lost Files, but now it's time for my take on The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo (1996 Mythos Software & Electronic Arts). It's another classic point-and-click adventure with digitised sprites and decent voice work. Give it a go by checking out the link after the jump.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 2

On this second day of the Christmas frivolity, I give you a game I touched upon a few years ago. It's a game that bears none of the cheer or pleasantries of the season, but some dank despair of a dystopian future. Otherwise known as Boxing Day. Pył (1998-1999 Optimus Nexus), or Dust as it's translated into English, is a tough first-person-shooter from the land of poles known as Poland. Read on after the jump to check my thoughts on it and give it a go for yourself.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 1

   

So, in the spirit of this Yuletide season, I though I'd do what I did last year; a 12-day blast of games counting down 'til the big day. I have a lot prepared but we'll start with a trio of oft-requested special editions of games already featured on the site. 3D Ultra Mini-Golf: Deluxe (1998 Sierra On-Line) adds 9 extra holes that are just as inventive as the original 18. A.D. Cop Overseas Mission (1997 Electronic Music and Animated Graphics Co. Ltd) is more of a stand-alone mission pack but there are some nice if minor quality-of-life improvements. Lastly, Need for Speed: Special Edition (1996 Electronic Arts) not only adds two new race tracks, but adds the ability to play all of them at different times of the day as well as new in-game music.

Head on after the jump to see how they compare.

MONTHLY 5 - November 2022

This year has flown by. You blink, and it's the end of November! I've mostly been engrossed in God of War: Ragnarok since it came out, but the rest of my free time has been dedicated to The Collection Chamber. There are 5 great games featured this month so check out the obscure movie licenced FMV adventure (with too many arcade bits) Eraser Turnabout (1996 Imagination Pilots & Warner Bros.), the many versions of the underrated action platformer Fur Fighters (2000 Bizarre Creations Ltd), the Norse-themed role-playing sequel Heimdall 2: Into the Hall of Worlds (1994 Core Design), a classic point-and-click adventure starring everone's favourite sleuth The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel (1992 Mythos Software & Electronic Arts) and Bill Plympton's Take Your Best Shot (1995 7th Level Inc) a desktop toy based on his award-winning 1991 short Push Comes to Shove.

There are a couple of revisions too. Kiss: Psycho Circus - The Nightmare Child now uses a Windows 10 patch instead of dxWnd granting it better compatibility. I've also added a scan of the manual too. The Neverhood has also been revised updating ScummVM and fixing some save-game and screenshot annoyances. If you've not played either before, give them a go. They're pretty good.

To try the others, head on past the jump and dive in.

MONTHLY 5 - October 2022

The frights are frequent in the fearful five for Halloween. I tried to focus on Stephen King adaptations but there are remarkably few of them out there. The Running Man is game based on a movie that's barely based on a book by his pseudonym (not to mention its not a horror story) and The Lawnmower Man is pants all round. I also didn't fancy a text adventure, even if it was based on The Mist. The only two that are left are a Capstone-published adventure game called The Dark Half (1992 Orion Pictures Corporation & IntraCorp Inc) and a desktop time-waster called Stephen King's F12 (1999 Blue Byte Software). Read on to see how well they fare.

To fill in the gaps, there's the obscure and underrated Amiga FPS called Fears (1995 Manyk Ltd & Attic Entertainment Software) which is more like Doom than the other Amiga Doom-clone called Gloom. I've also jumped for joy when an English translation patch arrived for Mizzurna Falls (1998 Human Entertainment) the Japanese-only Twin Peaks-inspired open-world action-adventure on Sony's PlayStation. Finally, I got to exploring the ancient Egyptian curses of The Mummy: Tomb of the Pharaoh (1996 Amazing Media & Interplay), a first-person adventure game from the people behing Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of thr Monster.

That's not all! I've also added a small patch for the Enemy Infestation package. Unzip the small configuration files in the game's install directory to prevent conflict with the game's keyboard shortcuts and the DOSBox hotkeys.

Head on after the jump to find out more... if you dare!

MONTHLY 5 - September 2022

It's a Viking invasion!!!

I've gone nutty for all things Nordic thanks to a memorable but all-too-brief trip to Norway earlier this month. And I couldn't let it slide without playing some games featuring the history and mythology of that spectacular country. The Norse god Thor is on a quest to defeat the evil goddess Hel in the difficult Amiga platformer Fire and Brimstone (1990 Vectordean Ltd & Firebird). In other news, a nameless hero is on his own quest to steal that god's magical mallet in the action-heavy shareware RPG Thor's Hammer Trilogy (1995 Escape Programming). I'm sure the same gaggle of gods will crop up in another RPG; Heimdall (1992 Core Design) playable on almost all systems it released on. On a less mythical note, Vikings: Adventure out of Time (1998 Index+) educades about the real lives of berserkers from the North in an entertaining fashion. Alternatively, Vikings: The Strategy of Ultimate Conquest (1996 1996 Random Games, Inc) attempts the same but as a strategy game complete with a healthy dose of Michael Dorn.

You may have noticed a little sidebar on the right-hand side detailing the most recently updated games. I thought it would be a good thing to keep a track of it here. Two games have been updated since last time. For those having trouble running Disney's The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride - GameBreak and The Museum of Anything Goes, these new packages may help with that. Make sure to read the included ChamberNotes text file included with each install for more information.

If you ever get a chance to visit Bergen, I can't recommend it enough. If you don't, travel on past the jump to discover it in gaming form.

MONTHLY 5 - August 2022

Summer is coming to a close, but what better way to distract from the boredom of the office job/school work/financial crisis than a nostalgic trip to the 90s with a quintet of lesser known gems of the era. My good pal Austin is back with a review of SpaceKids (1995 MicroProse) , a strange supposedly educational title that plays like a wordless multi-path adventure. One adventure game I've always been meaning to play is Escape from Delirium (1995 Virtual X-Perience), a shareware title who wears its LucasArts inspiration on its sleeves. For a more Myst-like adventure, try Titanic: A Mysterious Undersea Adventure (1998 Dosch Design GmbH) which has more to do with an Atlantis-like sunken city than a sunken passenger ship. If you want a little more action, the mech shooter Iron Assault (1995 Graffiti) may be more up your alley or, if you want to drive fast through the British countryside, give Mobil 1 Rally Championship (1999 Actualize Ltd & Magnetic Scrolls Ltd) a go.

That's not all! I've updated a couple of packages too! Azrael's Tear now uses a different fork of DOSBox to help even out its speed (though like the original game, it is still prone to the odd slowdown). I've also updated both the DOS and PlayStation version of Silverload. Among the plethora of changes, the DOS original now includes a scan of the manual while the PlayStation remake now supports mouse control. Head on over to their game pages to download and find out more.

And while your at it, check out August's games by clicking on the links after the jump...

MONTHLY 5 - July 2022

After nearly 2 years of missing it, my luck finally ran out and I caught Covid this month. On the hottest day ever recorded no less. I think a trip to London Film & Comic Con did it to me and you know what? It was worth it. The promised gaming section was a bit of a disappointment (the highlight being a Lady Dimitrescu cosplayer) but everything else was pretty damn cool. Met a few talented artists, got a Gremlins comic signed by Zach Galligan and spent way too much money on memorabilia.

Despite all of this going on, and my usual real-world distractions, I still managed to get some content up for this site (though making time for the YouTube side of things is unfortunately still an issue). For the month of July we have Backpacker: The Lost Florence Gold Mine (1997 Animagination) a long forgotten point-and-click adventure, Get Medieval (1998 Microïds & Monolith Productions Inc) a humurous Gauntlet clone, Jewels II: The Ultimate Challenge (1998 Hoffmann + Associates Inc) a highly atmospheric puzzle adventure, One Must Fall 2097 (1994 Epic MegaGames) which is still one of the best PC-exclusive fighters and Sanity: Aiken's Artifact (2000 Monolith Productions Inc) an interesting action RPG with unique mechanics. Check them out by clicking the links after the jump.

I've also updated Blazing Dragons to run on ScummVM. You can now play this PlayStation adventure game with a mouse making for a much better user experience.

MONTHLY 5 - June 2022

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!

MONTHLY 5 - APRIL 2022

'Tis April, and it's time to go back to a Monthly quintet of oldschool PC gaming. Fancy some action? Check out the futuristic shooter Eliminator (1998, Psygnosis). How about a visit to a spooky old mansion? Try Escape from the Haunted House (1997, New Media Generation).  A puzzle-heavy action RPG? We got you covered with Power Sokoban (1999, Nintendo, Thinking Rabbit). Want a movie instead? Watch the interactive kind that is Quantum Gate II: The Vortex (1994 HyperBole Studios). If none of that tempts you, why not abduct some sheep to build tanks in the strangest of real-time strategies, Tankics (1999, Gremlin Interactive, DMA Design). Read on to find out more!