MONTHLY 5 - July 2024

Politically speaking, July has been quite the wild month. France narrowly missed out on a sharp veer to the far right before the many Olympics snafus took over headlines, and the too-close-for-comfort Biden v Trump race took a swing to the Democrats as Biden stepped down in favour of his Vice President Kamala Harris. Better yet, 14 years of Tory rule has finally ended in the UK with Labour winning in a landslide (or more accurately the Tories lost rather than Labour won; the unfairly vilified Jeremy Corbin earned more votes in each of his previous elections). Time will tell on how our new P.M. fares, but surely it can't be worse than the Conservative chaos we've endured.

To commemorate such turmoil, I thought I'd go back to the mid-90s and see how other countries viewed our world leaders. South Korea to be precise, and I did so by playing a satirical one-on-one fighter that came out of their gaming industry called Hello, Mr. President! (1994 Open Planning Co., Ltd). I promise I won't talk about elections too much in the review, though no promises about Bill Clinton's wrestling undies.

Brighter times may be ahead right here on Earth, but until then let's leave it behind for some space-faring excitement starting with the on-rails shooter called Zeitgeist: Laser Fighter (1995-1996 Taito Corp), also called Jupiter Strike when it later hit the PlayStation (also included). With gameplay that has more than a hint of StarFox in its DNA, it's quite the hidden gem in my humble opinion.

Beyond that, I've been hankering more of my favourite genre; the point-and-click adventure. The oft-requested Ring: The Legend of the Nibelungen (1998 Cryo Interactive, Arxel Tribe & Carrière Multimédia) is a poorly designed yet artistically impressive take on Wagner's infamous opera. Except in space. And that's where we'll be going in The Mystery of Greveholm 2: Journey to Planutus (1999 Young Genius), a the sequel to last month's surprise pick of the month though with the drastic change in gameplay it won't hold that title this time round. That would go to yet another space adventure; Earthrise (1990 Matt Gruson). It's a neatly-designed independent take Sierra's early graphic adventure game design complete with the familiar cursor-based character controls and a slightly wobbly text parser.

Enjoy!

MONTHLY 5 - NOVEMBER 2020

Okay, so a massive workload this month scuppered my plans for November. Essentially, there was to be some ranting diatribes about American politics as an excuse to review some thematically political computer games. You can still see a little of that in some of November's monthly five - most notably in two strategic simulations called Shadow President (1993 D.C. True Ltd) and CyberJudas (1996 D.C. True Ltd). 

 

If you're just about done with all that, there's some light-hearted fare too. Check out 3D Ultra Radio Control Racers (1999 Sierra On-Line) for a fun jaunt in a back yard-cum-race track. Or perhaps the kid-friendly point-and-click adventuring of Once Upon a Forest (1995 Sanctuary Woods) will suffice. If you just wanna shoot stuff, Radix: Beyond the Void (1995 Epic MegaGames) has you covered.

There's one update this month - Race Mania (1995 Flair Software). I've fixed a few glitches relating to audio and gameplay speed. It makes my main gripe when I reviewed it in 2015 disappear - I can actually win a race now! My gaming cred has returned :) Read the full review and list of changes by heading over to the game page.

 

 

What a selection! Check them all out after the jump.

MONTHLY 5 - FEBRUARY 2020

There's a whole world to visit in February's quintet of games. Travel the globe hunting for treasure in the edutainment hidden gem Bush Buck: Global Treasure Hunter (1990, PC Globe Inc). Then take a post-apocalyptic jaunt through Miami in the unofficial sequel to Wasteland that is Fountain of Dreams (1990 Electronic Arts). If you want a more violent foray into the future, check out Quarantine II: Road Warrior (1995 GameTek), an action-driving sequel that's just as gory as the first. If you suffer some wounds on your whirlwind trip, seek the advice of SimHealth: The National Health Care Simulation (1994 Thinking Tools Inc), an obscure entry into Maxis' Sim series. On your way back, stop off at a very romantic location (it is February after all) with William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: An Interactive Trip to Verona Beach (1996 Fox Interactive). Read on to find out more.

KRONOLOG: THE NAZI PARADOX (AKA RED HELL)

You don't need a president to tell you Nazis are bad, but the big 'what if...?' has haunted many an author, historian or citizen of Planet Earth. What would our world be like had Nazi Germany won the war? Kronolog: The Nazi Paradox, a graphic adventure released in 1993 by Castleworks Gameware, attempts to do just that.

PRESIDENT ELECT: 1988 EDITION

It's been a week now since the presidential election, and surprisingly the world still stands. If you dig a little deeper into American history, you'll find that this isn't the first election fraught with controversy. Being an ignorant Brit, I found most of this out while playing President Elect: 1988 Edition, an update to SSI's 1981 game originally for the Apple II.

POWER POLITICS

Instead of spending my free time periodically checking to see if the world is burning (like I've been doing since the US election), I thought a cathartic game of politics might help. Power Politics is one such a game that simulates the 1992 presidential election with a wealth of options that makes you question what a politician's priorities actually are.

SPITTING IMAGE

While Yes, Prime Minister was tickling the more intellectual funny bone, Spitting Image was an anarchic assault of satire for our screens. Throughout the 80s and early 90s, no public figure was safe from their rubbery lampooning. Right off the heels of the 1987 general elections - a time rife for spoofing - this little-known fighting game brought the caricatures to the Commodore Amiga.

YES, PRIME MINISTER

British television is well known for its biting political satire. From the early newspaper cartoons to modern shows like The Thick of It, Brass Eye or Spitting Image it's done a great job of keeping our political elite in check (that none of them take any heed of apparently). Yes, Prime Minister began in the mid Thatcherite era of the 80s and is considered a classic to us Brits. And with any form of entertainment that was popular during the UK's micro-computer boom, a game was made out of it...

FLOOR 13

In case you haven't seen the news at all recently, my home country of Great Britain no longer appears to be great anymore (I could go on, but for your sake, I won't). I can imagine the higher ups have controlled the whole EU situation in a similar way to what happens in Floor 13, a strategy simulation game that sees you underhandedly manipulate the British public for the sake of the Prime Minister.