I’m happy to report that we now have nearly all of the Lucasarts adventures covered. Given that the favourites were so well loved, and even 2nd-tier stuff like The Dig is very enjoyable, I do think comprehensive coverage is a worthy goal for a site like ours. All that’s left now are Zak McCracken and Grim Fandango – games from the start and the end of their adventure days respectively.
After that we could turn our attention more to the Sierra adventures. Even though they invented the genre they always seemed somehwat outmached to us – lacking the wit, style or imagination of Lucasarts games. Certainly we’d like to expand our range somewhat, but right now I’d say it’s very unlikely that more than about half their pantheon will be covered. Feel free to let us know if there are any particular that deserve a look.
I do think we should have a King’s quest at least – this is where the Graphical Adventure began after all. Unfortunately my last attempt was to try the remake of the original, and for the record: it’s really dull. There’s no story to speak of, and the world consists of just a castle in a forest surrounded by wolves and fairies and other fairytale cliches. I might give number six a go instead.
Looking at other series, we already have reviews of the VGA remakes of the originals from Police Quest, Space Quest and Quest for Glory. The first of those three series is the most likely candidate for further investigation. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Leisure Suit Larry.
There’s always Gabriel Knight – although from what I remember of the FMV-laden second game in the series, that was pretty dull too.
There was a bit where you got engaged in a stand-off with a woman at a meat counter in Bavaria, Gabriel pronouncing "I think she only wants to talk about white sausage". Interesting…
August 20, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
PQ3 was the best of the series. PQ4 would be easy (and fun) to pick apart.
August 20, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
Yup.. I’ve got Gabrial Knight – The Beast Within just waiting to be played… All six cd’s of it… I never took to the Sierra games much. Maybe because you die, and they monitor your progress by point scoring (eg – you’ve scored 5 out of 6482). Boo Sierra, boo…
August 25, 2008 @ 2:32 am
The Beast Within in surely worth reviewing, even though it’s extremely lineair, the story and the not-so-bad acting made me feel like I was playing in a movie.
Then there’s also my all time favorite: Quest for Glory V. I must say, even though I’m an extremely nostalgic guy, QFG5 was the best game of the whole series.
King’s Quest 5 to 7 were nice too, the older ones are probably only fun to play if they have sentimental value for you.
I’m looking forward to a couple of Sierra reviews of you guys 🙂
August 26, 2008 @ 9:07 am
The deaths in Sierra games do feel kind of unwelcome, compared to the more relaxed pace of Lucasarts titles.
I wouldn’t mind looking at another QFG. And I WILL finish KQ6 one of these days; for various reasons i’ve had about 3 aborted attempts at it.
Hadn’t thought of GK!
August 26, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
Yeah I’ve got KQ7 knocking about somewhere, might give that a going over at some point.
Didn’t Sierra kind of go off on a ‘Oooh let’s put all kinds of video footage in our games’ spree at one point? Phantasmagoria anyone?
August 30, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
I’m pretty sure that game featured some poor woman being fed raw offal through a funnel.
[checks Wikipedia] – I was right! We don’t want that kind of filth on this site…
August 31, 2008 @ 11:06 pm