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!

MONTHLY 5 - JANUARY 2022

I have an eclectic bunch of games to talk about in the first Monthly 5 of 2022. There's the family-friendly collection of activities in The 3D Adventures of Sailor Moon (1997 SNaoko Takeuchi/Kodansha, TOEI Animation) and some less-kiddy thievery in the heist adventure The Clue! (1994 NEO Software Produktions GmbH). A bunch of dragons need riding in action the role-playing fantasy Dragonriders: Chronicles of Pern (2001 Ubi Soft Entertainment) while some tripods need racing in the futuristic Killer Loop (1999 VCC Entertainment). Lastly, in memory of the recently passed Meatloaf we have the original game based on The Rocky Horror Show (1985 On-Line Entertainment & Druidcrest Ltd). Enjoy!

THE CHRISTMAS CATCHUP - DAY 3

It's no longer Halloween, but sometimes you want to play something a little spooky. Even at Christmas. The Elvira adventure RPGs were recently given a resurgence thanks to GOG so lets take a look at one even the Mistress of the Dark tends to overlook: Elvira: The Arcade Game (1990 Queen 'B' Productions and Flair Software).

MONTHLY 5 - APRIL 2021

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with April's quintet of games edging into May. At least there's loads here to sink your teeth into, including three adventure games; The Beverly Hillbillies (1993 IntraCorp), Return to Ringworld (1994 Tsunami Media) and Hollywood Monsters (1997 Pendulo Studios). The last one has been translated into English from its original Spanish, with the Manual translation created by yours truly. On top of all that, there's the cinematic platformer on the Super Nintendo called Nosferatu (1994 SETA Corporation) and a collection of games based on Total Recall (1990-1991 Ocean Software & Acclaim Entertainment). Dig in!

There's only one update this month which coincided with my Top 10 Unexpected Movie Licences. Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge (1995, Motion Picture Corporation of America Interactive) got a manual and some DOSBox love, so check that out too if you haven't already.

VIDEO COMING SOON!

** EDIT: Real life has intervened so I will combining April's video with May's. Stay tuned for that!**

Read on after the jump for more info!

MONTHLY 5 - MAY 2020

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.

SCOOBY-DOO COLLECTION

Not too long ago, the Scooby Gang turned 50 years old and it's still as much a part of the pop culture as ever. To kick off this October, let's take a look at the majority of their video game adaptations. Spread over 11 systems, there are 19 games to get through in this Scooby-Doo collection so let's get started!

5 GAMES FOR MAY 2019

For the month of May, gun down some terrorists in the PC-only light-gun shooter A.D. Cop. Take turns to solve the murder in Foul Play: Mystery at Awkward Manor based on Clue/Cluedo. Drive fast down dirt tracks and country roads in Network Q RAC Rally Championship. Destroy everything that moves in the little-known sci-fi first-person-shooter Rebel Moon. Finally, take your wrestling skills around the EU in WWF European Rampage Tour. Read on for more...

5 GAMES FOR FEBRUARY 2019

Keep your ball inflated so you can keep on bouncing in the isometric puzzle platformer known as Airball. Destroy a bunch of mutated insects in the first-person shooter Blam! Machinehead. Spray an army of clones with bullets in the Iron Maiden themed arcade shooter Ed Hunter. Uncover an intergalactic drug ring in the classic adventure Omnicron Conspiracy. Pile drive a bunch of muscled men in spandex in WWF: Wrestlemania. All are experiences you can now have this February thanks to the Collection Chamber.

DIE HARD COLLECTION

It's been thirty years since Die Hard - in my opinion the best action movie of all time - hit theatres. Since then there has been a number of game adaptations too with a good number of them bucking the movie licence curse by actually being good. Here are a number of the earliest attempts, some of which are criminally underrated.

DIZZY: 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION

Let's celebrate Easter this year by talking about the world's second most famous egg: Dizzy. Not only was he the unofficial mascot of the Commodore 64, but he's also the poster child for bedroom coders everywhere. So that begs the question: after a plethora of sequels and spinoffs why did Dizzy disappear?

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...

CHUCKIE EGG COLLECTION

With its killer chickens and a protagonist that just wants his breakfast, Chuckie Egg may sound like an odd premise for a game, but this early platformer originally for the BBC Micro holds a deeply nostalgic place in my heart. First released in 1983, it's one of my earliest memories of gaming and in revisiting it today, it's still a blast to play.

LABYRINTHS

LucasArts, formerly Lucasfilm Games, created many defining titles in the adventure genre and in my opinion some of the best games of all time. Their first foray into the world of point-and-click is somewhat little known compared to their big names like Monkey Island or Maniac Mansion. Based on the classic Jim Henson movie, Labyrinth is a very different type of game than what was to come. And I've yet to mention the film's Japanese exclusive NES adaptation.