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.

THE SACRED MIRROR OF KOFUN

by HeroOfAvalon

With each generation, there is a successful new type of game that spawns many a copycat clone as gaming companies chase the financial success of that title. This current generation we have the model of games as service, the last generation Call of Duty spawned many copycats. A fair amount of generations before these, first-person point-and-click puzzle games were the genre-du-jour thank to the inspiration and popularity of Myst. Let's look at one such clone from 1996; The Sacred Mirror of Kofun.

BYZANTINE: THE BETRAYAL

Istanbul, a city steeped in history and intrigue; that is the setting for Stormfront Studio's 1997 game Byzantine: The Betrayal. With the Discovery Channel heavily involved in its production, the exceptional conspiracy thriller at the heart of the story also doubles as an impressive travelogue of the Turkish capital that'll make anyone want to visit.

MONTHLY 5 - JANUARY 2020

We've got something for everyone in the first collection of mini-reviews of the new decade. Survive an alien game show in the 2D platformer Hunter Hunted (1996, Sierra On-Line). Mourn the loss of Terry Jones by playing the action platformer Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Computer Game (1991, Virgin Mastertronic). Spill blood in the ultra-gory fantasy action-RPG Moonstone: A Hard Day's Knight (1992, Mindscape). Want more blood? Then play Quarantine (1994, GameTek), an ultra-violent action/driving game. Lastly, save your planet in the sci-fi puzzle game Syyrah: The Warp Hunter (1997 Sunsoft). Enjoy!

TOUCHE: THE ADVENTURES OF THE FIFTH MUSKETEER

A man stumbles into a town at night on his way to a lively tavern. With his pithy one-liners and over-confident swagger, he's travelled a great distance with one ambition; to be a mighty pirate... I mean musketeer! Touche: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer (1995, Clipper Software & U.S.Gold) wears its inspiration on its sleeve but the change of location and overall plot does just enough to give it its own identity, and not be a shameless ripoff of The Secret of Monkey Island.

Y2K: THE GAME

The year is 1999. A new century is upon us and the new story to scare the masses is the Millennium Bug. Computers will stop working. Electricity will shut down. Mass hysteria! Someone had to capitalise on all of this. Step in Interplay with their prescient point-and-click adventure Y2K: The Game.

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2019

So, after my massive movie breakdown a few days ago, we finally get to the games. I actually got to sample a larger number of releases this year compared to previous years, though I can't say I've completed a great many of them. Read on to find out my thoughts.