Samarkand

Year - 2009
Length - Short
Engine - AGS
Suitability Factors - N/A

Samarkand, created by Babar Ahmed Kemal, was the winner of the October 2009 MAGS competition. The topic of 'Steampunk' was perhaps taken to it's most distant limits, but this short Arabian Loom-like title was still more than worthy of it's victory.

Story

As an unnamed traveller in the city of Samarkand, the protagonist has travelled a great distance to hear the song of a particularly talented songstress. However, with her beauty not going unnoticed by the King, she is captured for his court before the song is finished. The protagonist fears that he must find and rescue the songstress if he is to ever hear her song again.

The underlying premise of the story is based on whether the reason for saving another life affects the value and importance of the act. This seems a thoroughly interesting idea, but unfortunately the issue doesn't appear to be explored as deeply as the beginning of the game suggests it might be.

Nevertheless, the story is still entertaining enough. The thoughts of the main character are conveyed well, while the game's dialogue is well written and feels authentic to the gameworld. And that gameworld is an interesting one. The city of Samarkand is unlike any other city - for the power of music has been harnessed by one of it's residents, and it is now stringed instruments that are the primary provider of energy.




Atmosphere

Talking of music, the piece that accompanies the game's introduction is perfect for drawing the player into the Arabian setting of Samarkand. This musical style is employed throughout the game, however the main tune is a little more dull in comparison.

Visually the game is simple but effective. The city's architecture looks genuine, and along with the well drawn and attired character sprites, does a good job of immersing the player in the gameworld. Despite also utilising a minimalistic style, the cut-scenes look great too.

Perhaps just as big a draw into the world of Samarkand is the aforementioned writing. It seems as though genuine thought has gone into making the dialogue original, and the game's ability to hold firmly onto the players interest increases greatly as a result.




Gameplay

There are only a small number of puzzles in Samarkand. The few that do exist are of a very low difficulty level, requiring the player to make use of a system similar to that seen in the LucasArts classic, Loom. For this, the player needs to pluck the strings of instruments in a certain order to set off whatever action that combination corresponds to.

Now, I'm a firm believer that while innovation can be great, it is not the only solution for improving the current crop of games in the adventure genre. Instead, looking back upon adventures from the past and utilising what made them so great can be just as effective. These things have to be used in the right context and in an appropriate setting, and this is exactly where many games go wrong. Yes, Monkey Island was great. It's inventory puzzles were great too. But that gameplay isn't suitable for all adventure's. And here's my point - it is great to play an adventure game where the gameplay, no matter how little of it there is, fits into the story and gameworld. So what if it is similar, albeit less complex, than a game from twenty years ago? It works, and feels plausible within the context of the game. I would personally like to see more gameplay design take this approach as I genuinely believe better games would be produced as a result.

As already mentioned however, the unfortunate thing about Samarkand's gameplay is that there isn't much of it. In fact, this is true of the game as a whole. It is very short. As a MAGS games this is to be expected, but you can't help but feel that the game has more potential than it's length will allow it to demonstrate. I would love to have been able to explore the strange string-powered city a whole lot more than I was able to.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning that it's possible to die in this game.



Summary

Much to it's credit, Samarkand takes an interesting premise and combines it with relevant gameplay - it's just too bad that the short length of the game prevents it from building on it's promise. Despite this, Samarkand is a MAGS game made in the space of only one month, and it is only fair to judge it as such. On this basis, it is very good indeed and well deserving of your attention. Just prepare yourself to wonder what the game might have been like had the developer had more time at his disposal.

Pros
- Interesting and appropriate puzzles system
- Thought provoking story concept
- Well written
- Simple visual style works well

Cons
- Length of game prevents full potential from being realised in terms of both story and gameplay

Download for free;

Samarkand (Scroll down to last post on page to find download link)

What's This About?

With the realisation that my previous 'What's This About' post was a little abrupt and not entirely useful, I have decided to write a new, slightly more structured piece.

If you are a first time visitor, then welcome. I would recommend you read this post to get a feel for what the blog is about. If you're an old-timer, then thanks for your continued support. Hopefully you'll still find this post mildly interesting and informative.

First things first, given the very positive nature of the content on here, it seems necessary to explain why this is the case. My aim for the blog is as follows;

To inform adventure gamers about freeware games that I feel they may enjoy.

The flip side of this is that I have no desire or intention to try and discourage players from playing games I haven't enjoyed. As such, you will notice that there isn't one negative review on here - if I haven't enjoyed a game, then I won't review it. This doesn't mean I don't attempt to point out a game's flaws and constructively nitpick about how it could have been improved, it just means that the overall tone of each review will be positive in nature. To a certain degree, I will have enjoyed that game. How much so, will hopefully be conveyed in the review.

My reasoning for this outlook is that this blog is about freeware - games that are legally downloadable for no cost. Who am I to try and put down the hard work of the people that slave over these labours of love for no financial gain? Providing that criticism is constructive, I have no problem with dishing it out, however if there are not enough positives to offset that criticism, I feel it unfair to give a review of that game. Now if I were paying for these games, then that would be a different story!

Moving on, the key characteristics of an adventure game are often discussed by fans of the genre. My personal opinion is that the most important elements are; Story, Atmosphere, and Gameplay. Other aspects of importance can likely be classed under one of these three areas. For example, exploration is part of the gameplay, characters part of the story, visuals part of the atmosphere. Of course this isn't a science and there are ambiguities in some areas, e.g. I often find characters have an affect on a game's atmosphere too, but as a basic starting point, I feel this model is nice to work from.

A great story makes the player anxious to find out what will happen next, it's conclusion is anticipated and dreaded in equal measure. The other areas of a game can undoubtedly add to an interesting plot, however it is very unlikely they will make up for the lack of one. As with any other medium, a story written for an adventure game needs to be intriguing, intelligent, well paced, and well written.

A game with a great atmosphere makes the player feel as though they are being drawn into the gameworld. If the atmosphere is unable to immerse the player, he/she will feel disconnected from the game, no matter how enthralling the story is. It is also vitally important that the atmosphere fits the tone of the story. This doesn't just refer to the game's setting, it applies to the characters' actions and dialogue too. Humour is great when used correctly, however when used in the wrong situation it can completely destroy any atmosphere that has been built up to that point.

Finally, great gameplay makes the player feel as though they are not just in the gameworld, but actually affecting it. Ideally, the majority of puzzles will be a part of the story - not merely an artificial challenge with no relevance to the plot. The player should be forced to make important connections using their own mind and the information they have at their disposal. Logical deduction is far more rewarding than the 'try everything on everything' approach. Exploration can also be a key gameplay element, helping to add to the immersion set by the story and atmosphere. This is difficult to achieve in a freeware game however because of the time and monetary constraints the developers are under.

There are of course exceptions, games that are enjoyed despite not following all of my own personal guidelines. As a rule however, I would argue that most of the top adventure games contain these elements.

Here are a few examples of games I perceive as excelling in the three key areas.

Story
Commercial

- Discworld Noir
- Dreamfall
- Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
- Longest Journey, The
- Moment of Silence, The

Freeware

- Anna
- Ben Jordan Series
- Love and War Act 1
- White Chamber, The

Atmosphere
Commercial

- Black Dahlia
- Discworld Noir
- Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
- Monkey Island 1-3
- Longest Journey, The
- Scratches

Freeware

- A Second Face: The Eye of Geltz
- Anna
- Ben There, Dan That
- Heed
- La Croix Pan
- McCarthy Chronicles, The
- White Chamber, The

Gameplay
Commercial

- Day of the Tentacle
- Discworld Noir
- Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
- Quest for Glory 1

Freeware

- ! (Exclamation)
- Nanobots
- Quest for Glory 2 (VGA Remake)

So, that's it. I hope this post hasn't made you drowsy.

Thanks for reading,

JD

Brain Hotel

Year - 2004

Length - Medium
Engine - Flash Based
Suitability Factors - N/A

It would be fair to say that Brain Hotel, a game that can be played either online in your web browser or downloaded and played from your hard-drive (as I did), took me by surprise. Written and directed by Ron 'Aalgar' Watt, and programmed by Mark Darin, Brain Hotel pretty much blew away my preconceptions about flash-based adventure games, although I doubt there are many that live up to the standards of this one.

The game is based on the developer's comic book 'Tales of the Odd', while the programmer is the man responsible for the Nick Bounty series, and the forthcoming (and very promising looking) Nearly Departed.

EDIT: Mark is now a lead writer\designer for Telltale Games, and has been heavily involved in the development of the 'Tales of Monkey Island', and 'Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People' series of games. He has also worked on some of the Sam and Max episodes.

Story

The game had me in it's clutches right from the very start, partly because of the unique comic book introduction to the story's protagonist, but mainly because of the excellent and entertaining writing that accompanied it. I immediately had an interest in the main character and the city he lives in and was eager to learn more.

That city is Fort Burr, and the aforementioned protagonist is Ed Arnold, a down on his luck deliveryman who arrives at the Brain Hotel as it prepares to commence it's annual supervillian convention. While his initial goal is simply to deliver a parcel, Ed soon learns of one of the early arrivals evil schemes, and with minimal help from the villain's artfully rebellious robot, must set about stopping it.

The story's premise is simple, however it is clear that the gameworld is capable of producing something more involving should the developers have wanted it to. Nevertheless, the story presented is still enjoyable enough to prevent these thoughts from occurring until the game is completed.



Atmosphere

While playing, the story's simplicity is masked by the game's overwhelming strength, it's atmosphere. I felt genuinely immersed in the gameworld, all the more surprising given the very bland and unattractive backgrounds that awkwardly contrast the style of the characters. Indeed, while the character sprites themselves look far more stylish and certainly contribute to the vibe the game gives off, it is certainly not the visuals that take responsibility for the atmosphere evoked.

Instead it is the already discussed writing of the game that does the trick. Dialogue is well written and able to maintain a style of it's own throughout the duration - although perhaps the price the player pays for this is the sometimes offbeat and random nature of it. Despite this, the game's sense of humour doesn't feel out of place with the gameworld, and only by playing the game will one know whether the humour is to their liking. It may or may not be an acquired taste, but in places I would venture to say that it at least verges on being so.

Sound plays a role in setting the atmosphere too, with excellent voice-acting and appropriate music. The speech bubbles accompanying dialog also look right at home in the comic-book universe.



Gameplay

The game's puzzles are mostly inventory based, and while some are clever within the gameworld, there are others for which the solution is likely to be stumbled upon rather than discovered through logical thinking (at least that's how it turned out for me). If you do get stuck, the game's writer has taken the time to draw up a progressive hints page which is similar to that used by UHS.

A lack of interactable objects certainly has a negative affect on gameplay, with certain rooms having a decidedly uninteresting array of items available to manipulate.

As for the game's length, you'll probably finish it in one go, although you may get a couple of sittings out of it depending on how quickly you're able to solve the less obvious puzzles.



Summary

A longer game based in Fort Burr with a more engrossing story would have great potential, particularly with livelier and more stylised backgrounds. Nevertheless, as it stands, Brain Hotel is still a fun game in it's own right. The bizarre comic book atmosphere is responsible for that, as is the offbeat humour. Add in some great voice-acting and you have a very enjoyable flash-based adventure game that is well worth playing. Now I wasn't sure that I'd ever be saying that!

Pros
- Great comic-book atmosphere
- Excellent voice-acting
- Strangely funny and interesting world

Cons
- Background objects sometimes sparse
- Backgrounds are bland and contrast awkwardly with character sprites
- More information about wider scope of universe would have been nice

Download for free;

Brain Hotel

Paper Aeroplanes

Will have a new review up shortly, however in the meantime I thought I'd briefly post something non adventure-game related.

I haven't previously posted anything music related on here, mostly because I doubt anyone is interested - this is an adventure game blog after all. So why now?

Well, last night I went to see a band called 'Paper Aeroplanes', and this is the best outlet for me to tell a reasonable number of people how amazing this band are. If you like your music catchy and easy on the ear, you owe it to yourself to check this guy and girl duo out. Beautiful melodies, goosebump inducing voice, and basically just pure and utter awesomeness. Are surely destined for big things.

Paper Aeroplanes Myspace

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Towel Day

Year - 2009
Length - Short
Engine - AGS
Suitability Factors - N/A

Towel Day is the work of James 'Dualnames' Spanos, the man also responsible for the full Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy remake which is currently in development.

Having read the books, I found them brilliant in places, yet drab in others. As for Towel Day...I found it to be rather good throughout, even if there is some room for improvement.

Story

It's important to mention first of all, that although certain references will pass you by if you are unfamiliar with the material, it is not absolutely imperative that you have read the books in order to get a kick out of this game. Whether you like it or not will far more likely depend on your sense of humour. For those who are familiar with the Hitchhikers Guide, well, you will feel right at home.

Another point it may be relevant to briefly discuss is whether this game is suitable for those who plan to read the books in the future. You don't want to ruin that experience right? As the game is based on the last four chapters of the original book, there is always the chance that you might retain some of the information from the game, however, in my opinion, the game is more likely to make you read the book a little sooner than it is to spoil things for you.

The game is setup with the player having the option to play as both of arguably the two most loved characters from the series, Arthur Dent, and Marvin, the paranoid android. The two characters are in separate areas and the player can switch between them at any point. Arthur is attempting to evade capture along with three of his 'pals', while Marvin is trying to speak to a spacecraft. The story does come across as slightly incoherent, perhaps because of the game's short length, although it is unlikely you will be primarily playing this game for it's story.




Atmosphere

Instead, it is the game's humour that makes Towel Day an enjoyable experience. The description, dialogue, and narration, are a mixture of new material written by the developer, and lines taken from the book. The 'old' material is well placed (and as I understand it, used minimally), while the new stuff is funny and almost always manages to capture the Douglas Adams style and charm. There are some spelling and grammar mistakes, however surprisingly this doesn't too badly affect the immersion (and I'm really quite fussy on this issue). That said, there are some lines that appear lost in translation, and getting the text grammatically correct is still something I would recommend for the full length offering.

The visuals supplement the game's atmosphere just fine, although the outside location does look somewhat muddled. Character sprites appear a little squashed, and while this isn't a big problem, I can't help but feel it wouldn't require much work to greatly improve their look.

Music is slightly hit and miss. Marvin's background theme fits nicely enough and reminds me somewhat of music from 'Beneath a Steel Sky'. The music accompanying Arthur however seems too mellow and therefore fails to match the drama of the scene.


Gameplay

Gameplay is on the very easy side, with the few puzzles on offer solved mainly through conversing with other characters or by manipulating objects, all done using a simple verb-coin interface. Make sure to try every possible interaction, as failure to do so will mean you are missing out on dialog and text which are the best part of the game.

From the options menu it is possible to choose between two narrators, Slartibartfast, and Great Green Arklseizure. This makes only an aesthetic difference however, and it would have added a great replay value to the game if the comments given by each narrator were different. Perhaps if one showed a greater disdain for the characters than the other? This is perhaps a slight opportunity missed, especially with the game being so short.

Not attempting to solve the first puzzle straight away will prolong Towel Day a little, as the game is cleverly scripted to fire new dialogue at you during the first scene if you do not immediately find the solution. If you wait too long you will be killed, but experiencing the extra conversation is definitely worth the small possible inconvenience of restarting your game at the end of it.



Summary

Despite the game's short length, Towel Day is still very worthy of your time. The problems I have mentioned throughout the review are only minor nuances that really wouldn't take alot of fixing for the full remake. The visuals only need tweaking, the gameplay perhaps a little extra depth, and the spelling and grammar some extra proofing. The coherence of the story may require more thought although this is naturally a challenge because of the material it comes from being somewhat incoherent at times anyway. It would however be advantageous to be able to follow the plot more clearly.

So, with a full-length game in production, it will be interesting to see how Towel Day is built upon as the potential is undoubtedly there, even if this effort is a little rough around the edges. Furthermore, and rather importantly, the game provides what feels like an authentic journey into the world of Arthur Dent and his comrades. Therefore, if you have any fondness (real or potential) for the humour of the Hitchhiker's Guide, then you should certainly give Towel Day a chance. Doing so has certainly persuaded me to keep a much keener eye on the progress of the full-length offering.

Pros

- Great humour
- Feels like an authentic 'Hitchhiker's Guide' experience
- Very well presented

Cons

- Very short
- Story is arguably a little incoherent
- Some spelling and grammar issues

If you like this, try;

- Breakdown

Download for free,

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Towel Day

Danny Dread is on Call

Year - 2009

Length - Short
Engine - AGS
Suitability Factors - Occasional mild language, Alcohol & Cigarette use

So, I promised I would soon have a review up, and here it is. 'Danny Dread is on Call' is a short comedic title from AGS forum member Green Boy.

Story

The player takes control of Danny Dread, whose boss has the impudence to call him into work on his day off. All Danny wants to do is spend time with his girlfriend, however his boss is probably not a man to be brushed off. This is on the basis that he is, as the developer describes him, 'an egomaniacal mad scientist'.

When Danny arrives at work, he is asked to find an animal sample for the 'splice-o-matic'. Reluctantly, Danny accepts his task, thus beginning the player's journey. As is to be expected, the story is simple. It does however have a couple of fun twists that prolong the game after you think it may be over. Overall, the story provides a fun backdrop for the game.

A really nice touch is the way the story actually begins on the main menu screen. It's only brief, but does do a good job of hooking the player from the start.

The game's non playing characters are also worth a mention, with two in particular showing traits of well loved members of the LucasArts back catalogue. I wouldn't always consider this a positive, but in the context of this game it works very well.



Atmosphere

No matter the quality of the story, a game attempting to be funny will always live and die by it's humour. Danny Dread certainly lives. The game perhaps isn't always riotously funny, however there are more than enough quips to keep the player smiling throughout, and there are certainly moments where players will be hard pressed to suppress a chuckle.

The visuals are good, although arguably they would have benefited from some extra sharpness in places and perhaps a less faded colour palette. Animations on the other hand are excellent, and really add considerably to the game's charm.

The game's soundtrack has very cleverly been put together by Mark 'Mods' Lovegrove, with the use of some classic LucasArts sound clips that seamlessly supplement the game's original music. The timing of these interludes really does make them work brilliantly.

One thing that did spoil the atmosphere a little was that I couldn't get the game to run full-screen. This may be a problem that only I have experienced however, and in truth the game-screen I did get was big enough not to ruin things.



Gameplay

Successfully balancing the use of inventory puzzles it seems is a hard skill to master. Such puzzles are often too easy, too obscure, or just used in completely the wrong situations. Thus it's a pleasure to be able to say that Danny Dread seemed to strike perhaps as good a balance as I've seen in a freeware title.

As the game doesn't take itself seriously, the use of inventory puzzles fits in fine with the tone of the game, plus in general the puzzles are neither too easy nor too obscure.

Danny Dread is by no means the Mecca of adventure game puzzles, but from a personal point of view, it does seem to provide a very good example of how and when LucasArts style inventory puzzles should be used.

Furthermore, the custom user interface looks very good and is well implemented also. Verbs can be selected from the bottom left of the screen while the right mouse button can be clicked to cycle through them. Some players will prefer one method, while some will prefer the other, so it's nice to have a choice of both.



Summary

Danny Dread is a great game in terms of pick-up and play value. It's uncomplicated, funny, and will easily stir up memories of the LucasArts heydays. It's short length is a shame, however the game certainly does enough to cement it's developer as one to watch. Only time will tell if I'm correct, however the little things matter and the developer it would seem is aware of this. What I expected to be a run-of-the-mill game has actually surprised me by displaying bags of invention and potential, even if it does unashamedly owe plenty to the LucasArts titles of the past.

Pros

- Funny
- Inventive
- Great audio
- Well implemented SCUMM-like interface

Cons

- Too short
- Story is no more than a backdrop for the game

If you like this, try;

- Awakener
- Ben There, Dan That!

Download for free,

Danny Dread is on Call

It Starts...

Happy New Year all!

Hopefully 2010 will bring plenty of adventure gaming goodness to us all...and preferably free of charge too ;)

One of my New Year resolutions is to keep this blog updated regularly with new reviews. At least two a month is the aim.

In the time since I last posted here, a similar website has popped up reviewing games made in Adventure Game Studio, The Blue Cup Critic. I have no idea who the Blue Cup Critic is, however the site has five reviews up so far and the content and quality of writing are excellent, so if you haven't already, head over there and check it out.

While I haven't posted anything on my own blog since the start of December, I have been busy reviewing elsewhere, with my review of commercial title 'Daemonica' being published on Mr Bill's Adventureland. If you haven't visited this site before, I would very much recommend you do so. It is a family friendly site run by the very nice Bill and Lela, and has quite a comprehensive list of adventure reviews - even going back as far as the original Zork. There are some freeware reviews over there too, such as 'Night of The Hermit', 'Larry Vales', and they have just reviewed a newly released title, 'Island'.

That's all for now - but expect a review shortly.

Cheers,

JD