MONTHLY 5 - October 2024

Rise from the grave and party with the undead thanks to a whole bunch of horrifically spooky games brought back from the great beyond. 

Your mortal soul may not be in danger, but a bunch of video game characters are in my two highest recommendations of the month. Gast: The Greatest Little Ghost (2002 Mindscape & Idol FX AB) is a macabre adventure for all ages that has the titular ghost collect souls from those who have taken over an amusement park. The highly underrated survival horror Gregory Horror Show (2003 Capcom) has you do the same to the effed-up residents of a spooky hotel. Based on an equally weird and under-seen animated show of the same name, I'd say it pips Gast to the top spot by a wide margin. 

Beyond these soul stealers we have Dracula's Secret (1996 Corel Corporation), an entertaining adventure game for kids and Isle of the Dead (1993 Rainmaker Software, Inc) an under-loved if slightly wonky first-person-shooter with classic adventure elements that makes it utterly unique for its time. Finally, you can find out your own future in the fortune-telling application called Rosemary West's House of Fortunes (1993 Villa Crespo, Inc). No serial killers included, promise.

On another note, a lot more time has been spent away from the site than normal thanks to some real life events taking up much of my time. I've decided to not do a Monthly-5 for November, instead putting my focus on completing missing reviews, updating some of the older packages that most need it and preparing for December's Christmas Countdown. No idea how much I'm able to get done, but I'll update you all at the end of the month to let you know.

Until then, keep gaming!

MONTHLY 5 - August 2024

The month of August was the month of the Olympics, and outside of an enthusiastically happy blue man in drag, I didn't watch a single second of it. I did celebrate it in my own way by uncovering some officially licenced DOS games based on the 1996 event held in Atlanta. Atlanta 1996: Olympic Games + Olympic Soccer (1996 U.S. Gold Ltd & The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG)) bundles the first 3D game based on the event with a rather standard football game which began a yearly series that would later take on the UEFA moniker. 

If you're not much or a sporty person, I've gathered some other games to keep your limbs from moving excessively. Continuing on from last month is the final mystery at Greveholm. The Mystery at Greveholm 3: The Old Legend (2000 Young Genius) returns to the first-person adventuring roots of the first game and is all the better for it. Ring II: Twilight of the Gods (2002 The Arxel Guild) on the other hand foregoes this style that defined its janky forebear to become a tank-controlled action adventure. At least the absolute weirdness of it all is still intact.

For something a little less fantastical, try the movie tie-in for Fantastic 4 (2005 Activision Publishing Inc, Marvel & Twentieth Century Fox), a flippantly entertaining beat-'em-up for a flippantly entertaining blockbuster. And if flippant doesn't cut it, check out Rising Lands (1997 Microïds), a real-time-strategy game that surprisingly crept up to become my personal pick of the month.

Enjoy!

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 - June 2024

So, the end of June is here, meaning that half of 2024 has passed by! And with that, the Collection Chamber has set free a further five prisoners  filled with fun times.

My pick of the bunch hails from Sweden; The Mystery at Greveholm (1997 Young Genius) a spooky first-person adventure for all ages based on a TV show beloved by all Swedes of a certain age. Beyond this, we have the next entry in Don Bluth's edutainment series with All Dogs Go to Heaven 2: Animated MovieBook (1996 MGM Animation, Inc & Sound Source Interactive). Instead of watching the fourth movie in cinemas, reenact the second in Bad Boys II; Miami Takedown (2004 Blitz Games Ltd, Empire Interactive Europe Ltd & Columbia Pictures). Join the rebel force against a conquering alien race in the FMV-heavy action-packed The Raven Project (1995 Cryo Interactive) before heading back down to earth with the high-speed XCar: Experimental Racing (1997 Bethesda Softworks).

That's all for now! I'll see you next time for some more retro goodness.

TOP 10 TV SHOWS OF 2023

 

 

I'm doing something new! A separate rundown of my TV-watching year. Like with the movies, I kept up with what I've been watching in far greater detail than I ever have before, and because I've been reviewing them as I went along - for the most part - I thought it deserved its own post more than I deserve a good night's sleep. I'll be rating seasons of shows that concluded in 2023, not begun so those that I'm currently in the middle of will not be here. I've seen a surprising amount, which has freaked me out a little, but most has been pretty darn good. Again, I'll be adding my newly-appreciated star system which consists of an inconsistent mix of extreme bias and perceived objectivity but feel free to give your take in the comments. Carry on to find out more...

THE SIMPSONS: VIRTUAL SPRINGFIELD

The Simpsons were everywhere back in the 90s and for a show that wouldn't air on UK terrestrial TV until its seventh year, that was something. Those kids whose parents were rich enough to have SkyTV were the kings of the playground. When BBC started broadcasting it in 1996, I was hooked and happily a year later Fox Interactive gave us a virtual tour of all that I missed out on. That game was The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield.

THE CRYSTAL MAZE

To anyone of a certain age living in Britain during the early 90s, The Crystal Maze needs no introduction. It garnered the highest viewing figures Channel 4 had at the time and was (and still is in my opinion) the zenith of all game shows. Everyone and their mother wanted to be a contestant, but after its cancellation in 1995, only a few would ever have that honour. At least now anyone can experience its awesomeness. At least you would hope.

DUCKMAN: LEGEND OF THE FALL

Who remembers Duckman? Anyone? Well, if you haven't seen this adult animated show from the same people behind Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys then your truly missing out. Even if you're a fan of the show (and if you've seen it, you definitely are), you may not have realised that in 1997 there was an adventure game based on the lewd private dick/family man...

X-FILES: SEASON 1 - PART 6

I've finally got to the end of the first season of The X-Files! Sorry if it's a bit late, but I assure you I was not abducted by aliens. The first year definitely ended on a high, leading into a second season premier with almost double the viewing figures. Does it still hold up or has the many imitators diminished its appeal? Read on to find out! Also if you haven't seen this 20 year old cultural phenomenon: SPOILERS...

X-FILES: SEASON 1 - PART 5

There's more spiritual hoo-hah in the next batch of X-Files episodes along with some werewolves and killer insects. There's also some alien shenanigans for good measure...

X-FILES: SEASON 1 - PART 4

Disc four of season one (or tape four if you go back far enough) was what I would call the 'Sp ritual Disc'. The episodes here dealt with the meaning of life, death and religion and as such fascinate me more than when I was younger, They were also incredibly personal stories for our two agents and would define their characters

X-FILES: SEASON 1 - PART 3

Episode 9 was where I began my X-Files journey. "Space" may not have been the best the show has to offer, and it is often considered amongst the worst, but I have a soft spot for it. It proved to that this wasn't just another American detective show but something that incorporates horror and science-fiction in an intelligent and exciting way - something that the advert was not so successful at.

X-FILES: SEASON 1 - PART 2

Season 1's second disc on the DVD set continues to expand the show beyond it's initial alien premise. It even contains one of the best and well loved episodes of the entire series that is scarily plausible.

X-FILES: SEASON 1 - PART 1

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X-FILES:RESIST OR SERVE

The X-Files was a phenomenon back in the 90s and you couldn't step into any shop without some item of merchandise being sold. There was even an average FMV adventure game in 1998 which has some trouble running on most modern machines. In 2004, two years after the show ended, and after a lot of the hype had past, a survival horror interpretation of the series was rushed to market on the PlayStation 2...

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC & OTHER STUFF

Terry Pratchett's words and worlds have inspired generations of film-makers, game designers and more. There is not enough time to delve into all that I want to talk about in depth in my week-long tribute to the great man, so here is a little primer into other things Discworld from the ZX Spectrum to our tabletops...

GOING POSTAL

In 2010, Sky1 broadcast their third and last Terry Pratchett adaptation; Going Postal. It may not have starred the familiar faces casual fans have grown to love from the series such as Rincewind or Death, but it is perhaps the most entertaining of the three.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC

After the great success that was The Hogfather, Sky1 commissioned another Pratchett adaptation. Broadcast during the 2008 Easter holidays, it would this time be based on the very first novel (and its sequel) in the Discworld the universe; The Colour of Magic...

THE HOGFATHER

In the second of our week-long tribute to Terry Pratchett, we take a look at the first live-action adaptation of Pratchett's work. The Hogfather...