MONTHLY 5 - January 2025

The first month of 2025 is at an end, and boy has it been an eventful one. To distract you from those January woes, why not try one of these five resurrected gems from the past.

In the case of B.C. Racers (1994-5 Core Design Inc), that's the distant past. Pre-history even. A mascot kart racer with some nice sprite-scaled visuals playable on DOS, SEGA CD, SEGA 32X and 3DO! Next, board the Black Pearl in the late 17th century and flip off some balls in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball (2005 Disney Interactive). 

Head over to war-torn Europe of the 1930s and beyond and platform through some of Tintin's most famous escapades in Tintin: Destination Adventure (2001 Infogrames). From World War II to Woodstock, peruse the pages of the famous weekly periodical in The Face of Life (1994 Time Inc & Creative Multimedia), a fascinating educational multimedia CD-ROM.

Finally, head on to the cyberpunk future of 2095 and take on the role of a Neo Hunter (1996 Virgin Interactive Entertainment Inc). From the imagination of Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) and developed by ex-LucasArts employees who took the cancelled project with them, it's an epic gallery shooter with a heavy dose of adventure.

Still to come in February is my rundown on the TV shows of 2024 but more gaming goodness will arrive on the last day of the month. I'll see you then!

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 - AUGUST 2021

It's the August Bank Holiday Weekend and that means music! Whether you're slumming it at Reading Festival or tripping around one of the many smaller events, the sounds of Summer is here. So, I've dedicated this month's quintet of quality games to top tunes. Accompany MTV's resident music video commentators on their trip to university in Beavis & Butt-Head Do U (1998 MTV Networks & GT Interactive), their second point-and-click adventure. Defy the devil with a magic guitar in the tough as leather 2D platformer Johnny Bazookatone (1995 Arc Developments & U.S. Gold). Destroy the overlords with a little help from Aerosmith in Revolution X (1994-1996 Midway), their classic light-gun shooter and some no-so-classic ports. Play as the frontman  of a metal band as he plays another game within a game in the third-person-shooter Virtuoso (1994 Motivetime Ltd). Finally, rock out with the Rolling Stones in their Voodoo Lounge CD-ROM (1995 Virgin Benelux) dedicated to the late Charlie Watts. Enjoy!

I also want to plug an app a good friend of mind is developing for players of Dungeons & Dragons. The Goblin's Notebook is a single-pane view of your tabletop RPG campaign notes for pre-session planning, in-session note taking and post-session recapping, all direct from a web browser! I've been using it as a DM in my recent campaign and it's become an incredibly invaluable tool. Check out The Goblin's Notebook for free by visiting this link now!

Before I forget, there are a few updates too! Last month, I forgot to tell you all that Bermuda Syndrome got a new version that works natively on Windows. It looks better too! Also, the underrated futuristic racer, Scorcher, got an update. Head on over to their game pages to find out more.

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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...

DIE HARD TRILOGY

If there's one Die Hard game that everybody remembers, it's Die Hard Trilogy. Released in 1996 by Fox Interactive for the PlayStation (and later Windows and Saturn), it's actually three games in one; an action game, an arcade lightgun game and a racing game. That could be a warning sign as to the game's quality right there, but Die Hard Trilogy is actually regarded as one of the better movie tie-ins out there, and the huge number of sales reflect that.

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.

VIRTUA COP 1+2

   

SEGA are the king of the arcade, and they were on a high in the golden era of the 90s. Virtua Cop (or Virtua Squad in some territories) was their magnum opus for the on-rails light-gun shooter. Arguably the best home conversion at the time was not on the SEGA Saturn - their own console hardware - but the impressive 1997 PC ports.

CARNEVIL

October is upon us so get ready for a hoard of frothing gaming goodness escaping from the darkest depths of the Chamber. The first to maul its way out is Midway's 1998 arcade gem, CarnEvil, a horror-themed light gun shooter that's sadly never had an official home conversion.

SILENT HILL: THE ARCADE

For 15 years, Silent Hill has proudly remained on the creepier end of the survival horror spectrum. It is also one of the most successful, despite what Konami's woeful cancellation of the highly promising Silent Hills may tell you (did you get the Playable Teaser on PS4 before they took it down?). In 2007, they brought the series to the arcades with this light gun shooter.

ROBOCOP VS THE TERMINATOR

In the hope that Terminator Genisys will prove my doubts wrong and be an action movie worthy of the franchise (something that's not been achieved since Judgement Day), I've collected a plethora of games from the franchise. It's closely linked to that other robot movie - RoboCop - so I've added his games too. There are over 50 games here so let's have a look at them...

JURASSIC PARK COLLECTION: VOLUME 2

I still have a soft spot for Steven Spielberg's sequel to Jurassic Park. Released in the summer of 1997, The Lost World may have it's detractors but it's filled with memorable and iconic directorial touches that still leaves me in awe. Much like the first movie, there were many games based on the blockbuster. Are they as varied and vibrant as those that came before? Let's find out...

JURASSIC PARK COLLECTION: VOLUME 1

Jurassic Park is awesome. Anyone who says otherwise has only seen the third movie. With Jurassic Park being released in the UK today, I'd thought we'd take a look at some of the games inspired on the franchise. There's a ton based on the first movie alone so let's dig in...