CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN COLLATED

The end of 2023 has arrived like a flash, so before I get to my annual rundown of modern movies and games I've been playing this past year I thought I'd rundown those fourteen old games I revisited in the past month. As hectic as is it, I do enjoy putting together 12 days of retro PC gaming for the Christmas Countdown. Read on after the jump for the full list and see if you may have missed any. 

See you next year!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - THE FESTIVE FINALE

At this point, Lemmings and Christmas go hand in hand. This is the fourth year in a row where I've celebrated those green-haired rapscallions on Christmas Day, so I'm continuing that tradition with Lemmings Revolution (2000 Psygnosis Ltd). It's one of the lesser known entries, only ever being released on Windows PCs, but it is one of the better ones. After the experimentation of Lemmings 3D and Paintball, it's nice to come back to a more traditional approach. Cosy even. In my eyes, it's the perfect gift for Christmas!

I'll be back in the New Year with my annual retrospectives on the one just passed. It's been a good year for both movies and games, so check out my Top 10s whenever it is I get around to posting them. Beyond that, the Monthly 5 games will return on the last day January as normal but I'm sure you've got enough to be playing with until then.

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 11

Gothic fantasy is at the heart of Christmas Eve's entrance to the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown. Dark Vengeance (1998 Reality Bytes, Inc) is a criminally underrated action-adventure with three distinct characters battling their way through their own unique storylines and levels. Something of a must-play in my opinion. Read on for my full thoughts.

There's only one more sleep to go, so I'm gonna plug my socials once more before we can all chill with a mince pie and a pint. Follow me on Instagram and X/Twitter (screw those Facebook hackers) and if you're feeling really generous this season, consider joining my Patreon or making a one-off PayPal donation. It'll help me continue this crazy project (8-years and counting) I've become so fond of.

I'll see you again on Christmas Day for the festive finale, and until then I'll leave you guessing what it could be. Long-time followers with an eagle-eye could probably have a good idea what it could be...

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 10

Day 10 of the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown teases you with a mini-game-filled multiplayer party game. Teazle (1997 Global Star Software) has you playing a weird version of tic-tac-toe as you complete a myriad of mini-games to create a line before the others do. What more could you want for the season?

There's only two more days left until the big day and the best is yet to come! Make sure to keep up-to-date on my social medias at Instagram and X/ Twitter (Facebook is still being a pain). I'm actually surprising myself with how well I'm keeping on top of it!

Until this time tomorrow, have fun!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 9

We can't have a Christmas Countdown without the traditional Disney Triple. For Day 9 of this festive foretaste, we have three educational titles hailing from the vaults of Disney. Their 100th anniversary celebration may have been lacklustre (Wish was awash), but check out Atlantis: The Lost Empire - The Lost Games ( 2001 Disney Interactive), Piglet's Big Game (2003 Disney Interactive) and The Lion King: Operation Pridelands (2004 Disney Interactive) for some of that patented magic.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 8

Twitter followers got a sneak peak for today's featured game thanks to a mis-scheduled post, but now that it's Day 8 of the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown, you can finally play it! The days have crept up quickly, so hide away from the stresses of the season by entering the World Wide Wed... literally. Or, to be more accurate, virtually. Unravel a conspiracy with NET:Zone (1996 Compro Games) an internet savvy FMV adventure. The rabbit hole goes deep with this one!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 7

It's time to explore the midnight lands in the seventh game of the great Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown. Mike Singleton's Lords of Midnight III: The Citadel (1995 Maelstrom Games & Domark) is an ambitious open-world RPG with a generous helping of Dragons. Read my full thoughts after the jump.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 6

We're halfway through our Christmas Countdown, and we return to all that is pink with Pink Panther in Hokus Pokus Pink (1998 Wanderlust Entertainment), the sequel to Passport to Peril from a few days ago. The first one was a surprisingly hilarious time, so how does this slightly spooky follow up fare? Head on after the jump to find out - and stay tuned for more festive festivities in the days to come!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 5

There's only ONE WEEK left until the big day, so I hope you've all got your presents sorted. If not, I gotcha with Day 5 of the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown! Today we have a futuristic racer that was the big thing for the genre years after WipEout released. This time, Take2 Interactive took a stab at publishing Thrust, Twist + Turn (1999 Carts Entertainment Oy, Ltd) for our little ol' PCs and there sure is a lot of each of those verbs to be found.

Check it out by clicking on the links after the jump!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 4

With Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon recently hitting Netflix, and the fact that I've already reviewed both unrelated Rebel Moon games some time ago, I thought I'd bring in a slightly different touch or rebellion for the fourth day of the Collection Chamber Christmas Countdown. Rebel Runner: Operation Digital Code (1996 Microforum) is a tough action side-scroller from a little-known South Korean developer named Family Production. Check it out after the jump to see if it's as explosive as Netflix's most recent and expensive streaming blockbuster.

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 3

Day 3 and we have a doozy! Created by a bunch of talented modders around the world before being picked up, funded and expanded at the behest of Sierra On-Line, Gunman Chronicles (2000 Rewolf Entertainment & Sierra On-Line) is perhaps one of the best total conversions of Half-Life there ever was. A classic FPS with cowboys AND dinosaurs! What more could you want?

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 2

Day 2 of the Chamber Christmas Countdown and we're travelling around the world with fuchsia feline in Pink Panther's Passport to Peril (1996 Wanderlust Interactive, Inc). It's a surprisingly chucklesome point-and-click adventure for kids with some mean jokes and even meaner stereotypes. Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - DAY 1

The Christmas Season is here! And with it comes a slew of old games thanks to the Collection Chamber. We begin with something creepy... and crawly. It's also Christmassy too with Creepers + Christmas Creepers (1993 Psygnosis). If you take Lemmings and mix it up with The Incredible Machine, this is what you'll get. A fun puzzler with some bonus festive levels too!

On another note, there is one update to rattle on about. Most likely the only one in December. Disney's Hercules: Hades Challenge has now gone back to using DOSBox emulating Windows '95. This is instead of ScummVM which - unbeknownst to me - hasn't fully implemented a lot of the mini-games. Perhaps this is the better way to play!

Bon Noël everybody!

MONTHLY 5 - NOVEMBER 2023

December is nearly upon us, but before we commence our countdown to the festive season, let's gander at an eclectic quintet of PC gaming perfection* from the past.

First up for November is Beyond Time (1997 DreamCatcher Interactive, Inc), a time-travelling ancient Egypt-set first-person adventure that dabbles in everyone's favourite* presentation style; FMV. For more trips throughout history, why not try Excalibur 2555 A.D. (1997 Telstar Electronic Studios), that sees Merlin's granddaughter travel to the future to do some exciting* actioning along with that adventuring. If you want some full-on guns-blasting action, take a look at Machine Hunter (1997 Eurocom Developments), a fantastically* frenetic top-down shooter that rises up to become my pick of the month. If all the bloodshed is not to your liking, try the ever-tranquil* SimSafari: Step into the African Savannah! (1996 Maxis, Inc), that takes the tried and true SimNoun template into a safari park. Lastly, navigate a cute little tank across vast landscapes in Wild Metal Country (1999 DMA Design / Rockstar Games), an overlooked gem* from the folks behind Grand Theft Auto. Despite my tongue-in-cheek asterisks, all of them are worth a try so check out my reviews to find out more.

Sadly, no updates I'm afraid, but I did catch up on some of the missing written reviews from the last couple of months. Check out my thoughts on Weird and SimIsle and let me know yours in the comments. I'm currently neck deep in preparing for the annual Christmas Countdown that will commence 14th December - that's 12 days straight of gaming goodness just for you lovely folk! On that note, I must crack on with it. Until then, head on after the jump and enjoy!

* Your definition of what's considered this may vary drastically...

MONTHLY 5 - OCTOBER 2023

Tales of the spooky kind are in store should you choose to unleash the five releases from the Collection Chamber! October's games feature some horrifying gems perfect for the Halloween season, including the Blair Witch Trilogy (2000 Artisan Pictures & Gathering of Developers), three games that are not only based on the legend spoken about in the classic 1999 found footage feature film, but are also sequels to the highly underrated Nocturne. The first volume, Rustin Parr, is the best of the three rising to my pick of the month.

As well as these three classic survival horrors, I've also compiled a compilation called the Gremlins Collection (1984-2011 Various). While it might be a littly Christmassy in places, the PG-13 frights of Joe Dante's classic movie are very much in keeping of the season. Not all of them are classics, but with 25 games (including ports) and a plethora of extras there's some interesting stuff in there. Lastly, learn about spooky legends and myth from around the world in Weird: Truth is Stranger than Fiction (1996 TwoPointZero Ltd). You're bound to find the basis for many an X-Files episode in there.

Alas, no updates this month. Real life has won out more than usual the past few months, but I hope to catch up with missing reviews in the next few weeks. I still can't access Facebook so keep up to date with new posts on Instagram or Twitter (X). I add new games here at 8pm GMT on the last day of every month regardless.

Now, roll on November.

MONTHLY 5 - SEPTEMBER 2023

So, it appears my Facebook (Meta?) has been hacked so if you are used to visiting my humble corner of the internet from there, that's why I haven't posted an update. So far, it looks like they've changed nothing beyond my admin status, username and password but it's probably wise not to trust links from there for a while until I claw back control from some arsehole in Dehli, India. I should probably take this as a sign to keep on top of my other social media accounts like Twitter (X?) and Instagram (Instagram?) which I've very much neglected over the years.

By technical troubles coming from Dehli, India haven't stopped me from putting forth five newly added games to the chamber (although, as is unfortunately becomming the norm, some of the reviews aren't up yet). Pick of the month is the sequel to Magic & Mayhem called The Art of Magic (2001 Virgin Interactive Entertainment). It continues the same strategy/RPG gameplay as the first but instead of the charming claymation graphics were introduced to some new-fangled 3D polygons. Dark Angael (1997 Vicarious Visions) is a cool Metroidvania-style platformer which has the same under-used mouse and keyboard controls as Abuse. L'Affaire Morlov (1995-1996 CPIO Multimedia & Titus) is a French-produced, English-language FMV detective adventure. SimIsle: Missions in the Rainforest (1996 Maxis Inc) is yet another SimNoun title, this time asking you to balance commerse and conservation on a series of island rainforests. Lastly, guest reviewer Austin tackles a surprisingly emotional freeware adventure called Mourir en Mer (2002 Digital Mind Studios).

As for updates, the big one is that of a compilation featuring Sierra's Hi-Res Adventures. ScummVM has been updated so it would accept a larger variety of Apple II disk images allowing all 7 games in the series to run via that program. Cranston Manor is now playable this way instead of using the more cumbersome AppleWin emulator. I've also tweaked the DxWnd configuration in Space Hulk 2: Vengeance of the Blood Angels which would hopefully help with random crashes.

That's it!

MONTHLY 5 - AUGUST 2023

Summer's over, but more forgotten games are abound! I've been quite busy over the past month, so I doubt all of the reviews will be complete by the time I first post this, but the packages and art are up so that's something! Expect them in the coming weeks.

First on the docket to see us into Autumn is Celtica (1998 I Hoffmann + associates Inc & Artech Studios), a blatant Myst clone loosely based on Celtic mythology with a touch of mysticism and astrology thrown in. Then there's the video game adaptation of Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1998 Gaumont Multimedia) in slightly wonky action-adventure form. Despite bad first impressions, it somehow grew on me to become my pick on the month. Psygnosis returns with a solid first-person-shooter called Lifeforce Tenka (1997 Psygnosis) known as Codename Tenka in some regions. Quarky and Quaysoo's Turbo Science (1992-3 Sierra On-Line) is a super fun edutainment entry to Sierra's Discovery series (like EcoQuest and Dr Brain before it). Lastly, it's time to simulate some golf in SimGolf: Compete on Courses You Create (1996 Maxis, Inc). Unlike the game with Sid Meier's name as a prefix, this one is more of a straight-up Golf sim (boo) with a robust course create option (yay).

Only one doozy of an update for this month, as well as a small patch. The Terminator Collection, which collates all of the classic first-person-shooters from Bethesda and hasn't been updated since I first uploaded it in 2015, has been given a complete overhaul. Basic DOSBox has been replaced with a newer version of DOSBox-X, every game now has a manual, input has been tweaked and modernised (particularly for Future Shock and SkyNET) and the custom menus have been re-built from scratch! And that's just the beginning of it! Took a while to do too, which is perhaps another reason why some of these current reviews are late. Anyway, check out the game page or the Updates page for more info on what's changed and read the ChamberNotes.txt within the install folder for a full technical rundown.
I've also added a small patch for Nocturne which includes a DDrawCompat .ini file that will limit the framerate so the flappiness of the wind physics isn't so flappy. Saw RagnaRox's excellent video on the subject and after being totally surprised by the shout-out, I thought I'd better include it. Just unzip to the install folder and you're done!

Click on!

MONTHLY 5 - JULY 2023

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny may have come out at the end of last month, but I didn't see it until the beginning of this one. I like it fine enough. It was generally level in quality making me prefer it to the mess that was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but I must say that Spielberg's misfire is the more memorable movie. The highs are much higher there but its the depths of its lows that make me like this new one a little more. I'll hand over my full thoughts at the end-of-year movie rundown, but until then I've collated a bunch of Indiana Jones games no-one seems to remember anymore. It took me a hell of a long while to do, so I'll have to give Indiana Jones: The Action Games (1982-1994 Various) my pick of the month, even if most of its content is more fascinating than fantastic. It include the original Atari 2600 game based on the original movie, the Temple of Doom arcade game and its many ports, almost all platform iterations of The Last Crusade and the action side of The Fate of Atlantis. Including ports, variations and a number of other oddities, that's nearly 40 games!

My real pick would probably be Magic & Mayhem (1998 Virgin Interactive Ent & Mythos Games Ltd), a fantasy-set strategy game from the folks behind the original X-COM trilogy. Ark of Time (1997 International Computer Entertainment Ltd) is a decent point-and-click adventure that sees a journalist stumbles upon an Atlantean conspiracy. CyberBykes: Shadow Racer VR (1995 Artificial Software, LLC) is an early attempt at consumer VR, but more interesting than that is Charlie Brooker's (of Black Mirror fame) bizarre PC Zone review. To cap off the month, I've returned to the world of the Sims with SimTown: The Town You Build Yourself (1995 Maxis Inc). It's a more kid friendly version of SimCity that must've been installed on school PCs the world over.

I only have two updates this month, and both are revisions of games from last month. A lot of people have been having issues with Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion. I suspect their systems are missing one of the Microsoft Visual C++ packages (link in the FAQ) which I recommend every retro PC gamer install. Version 2 of the game's installer now launches using the offical .exe instead of one modified with the NoCD patch. It will also use Image Drive Portable to automatically manage virtual CD mounting. I've also put a limit on the framerate for The Reap which makes the game much more playable.

That's it for this month! Until next time...

MONTHLY 5 - June 2023

Summer is here, and after a scorching hot June, it's time get out of the sun, stay indoors and play some ancient PC Games! Pick of the month is Synnergist (1996 Vicarious Visions), an adventure game with a history as fascinating as its neo-noir plotline. If you haven't had enough of last month's Bug!, how about it's sequel Bug Too! (1996-1997 SEGA). Both now also include the Saturn originals ready to play for you SEGA-loving entomologists out there. Next up, play the classic board game with some nifty graphics and computer-animated FMV sequences in Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion (1998 Hasbro Interactive) or Cluedo: Murder at Blackwell Grange as its known for us Brits. For something a little more high octane, play Hi-Octane (1995 Bullfrog Productions), a futuristic racing game for PC-DOS, PlayStation and Saturn. Is it a WipEout beater? Lastly, The Reap (1997 Housemarque Games) is a great-looking early shoot-em-up from the folks who gave us Super Stardust and Returnal.

There's also a few updates to talk about. Ripley's Believe it Not: The Riddle of Master Lu has not only had its DOSBox updated and tweaked to fix a bug, but now also includes a manual and mini player's guide. Dust: A Tale of the Wired West also adds a maual while utilising the upgraded features of DOSBox-X. Finally, in addition to last month's Bug! for PC, Bug! for Saturn is now available. See their game pages or the Game Updates section for full information.

Head on past the jump and click on those links to read my full thoughts and make up your own mind by giving them a play them yourselves.

MONTHLY 5 - May 2023

A lot has happened in blighty this past month. Not only have we regained our rightful place as almost last in Eurovision, but we've only gone and crowned ourselves a new King! To commemorate this fact, I've been playing a game where one such monarch pillages his kingdom and sends his subjects to their deaths by fighting each other. That game is King's Bounty, and I've collated most of its ports and revisions in a compilation I call the King's Bounty Classic Collection (1990-1994 New World Computing).

That being said, my personal pick of the month is a blatant yet highly enjoyable Myst clone called Alida: The Enigmatic Giant (2004 Dejavu Worlds). Also available is one of the earliest stabs at a 3D platformer in the unfairly forgotten Bug! for PC (1996 SEGA). For the more adventurous among you, the hack-n-slash RPG NightStone (2001 New Horizons Studios) is worth a play and to cap out the month, we enter an educational fantasy land with beautiful art in Woodspell: The Enchanted Forest of Learning and Fun (1996 Mediola SRL).

As for the updates, we have three. Disney's Hercules: Hades Challenge and Chewy: ESC from F5 have been given the ScummVM treatment while Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace has had some tweaks for those with AMD cards. Head on over to their game pages for full details.

For this month's games, head on over past the jump. Enjoy!