Hi there.

I’ve been RPG-ing (and Star-Wars-ing) again.

With possibly too many references to Mass Effect and an unwitting segue into the merits or otherwise of recent Star Wars films, here’s a look at Knights of the Old Republic.

Cricket games were once released so infrequently that I used to end up buying pretty much each and every one, at some point. If there was one that I thought might be good, I’d get it on release, but even those that I was fairly sure would be disappointing, I’d look out for in sales or second hand.

Codemasters’ 00s Brian Lara games were the last time I was reasonably invested, though, and they were a while ago now. To be fair, it has been fairly slim pickings since then, with the 2009 Ashes effort a fairly desperate and stodgy effort, preceding a 2010 follow-up that was released on console only. And then we had a rushed (and botched) release for the 2013 Ashes that was so bugged it was ultimately withdrawn from sale.

At which point, Australian developers Big Ant Studios stepped into the picture, with a new series of games first bearing name of one of the greats of the 30s and 40s, Don Bradman (generally acknowledged as the best batsman of all time, although hardly a name to dispel the notion of cricket as a dusty and uncool sport). These were received well enough, especially in the absence of any competition, to later earn Big Ant official licenses and Ashes tie-ins.

In general, I preferred the days when it was possible for lots of different developers to release sports games, but in the case of cricket one game every couple of years was pretty much the most you could hope for anyway, and at least Big Ant have the opportunity to commit to the game and build upon previous efforts rather than it being a case of new developers jumping in here and there to reluctantly churn out a tie-in.

I played the first Don Bradman game, Don Bradman Cricket 14, fairly solidly for a couple of weekends and enjoyed it, but left it alone completely since. From memory, I was plugging away at a four or five day match and sort of getting the hang of things until I suddenly discovered that, at the fairly low difficulty level I had selected, going absolutely bananas aggressive while batting was a little too successful. Having patiently tinkered and nudged – and also made terrible misjudgements – with my main batters, my tailenders then had a great time smashing the ball to all parts.

England in some trouble again.

This time, I cranked the difficulty up a bit and decided to jump straight into an away Ashes series, reasoning that I probably couldn’t do much worse than the real England team. (It used to be a compulsory feature of 90s cricket game reviews to say something along these lines, and I hate to do it too, particularly as being away from home and losing cricket matches under strict COVID protocols must have been very tough, but the 21-22 series was pretty depressing viewing at times).

In the old days I would spend a lot of time messing around with the teams and making sure I was happy with the squads and their stats, but this time I couldn’t really be bothered: the game doesn’t have real teams anyway but a feature to download the efforts of those who could be bothered seems to be relatively well-integrated. I did have to abort and change the kits a little bit – the St George’s Cross on the England shirt looked particularly cheap and amateurish – but stopped myself again when fiddling with individual players’ bat labels and pads.

As I’ve probably mentioned here before plenty of times, bowling in cricket games is pretty boring because what is a physical act requiring a certain level of guile and concentration is often reduced to just moving a marker on the pitch and watching your fella run up and do the business. Putting a ball on a good line and length isn’t that simple.

Here, though, with pace bowlers, you do need to think about your approach angle and the type of delivery as well as keeping a close eye on two meters that help you time a leap into your bowling action and then delivery of the ball. (You do need a gamepad of some sort, because – well, you just do, the game won’t work without one – and most of the control revolves around the two analogue sticks). Spin bowling, meanwhile, involves a slightly frenetic but rhythmical rotation of one of the sticks while you deliver with the other.

Stokes keeps at it.

It remains fairly hard going because bowling against competent opposition is pretty hard work – however much fun it was to blast out a succession of tailenders in BLIC 05 with a succession of Waqar-style inswinging yorkers. But by keeping you engaged with the action, you remain fairly committed to sticking with it, rotating bowlers and trying different things in search of a wicket. On the downside, you spend a lot of time looking at two dials rather than the actual action itself, and it does seem to be a case of keeping things tight and waiting for a mistake, which usually comes in the form of opposition batters getting bowled or hitting it in the air: genuine outside edges to the wicketkeeper or slips are pretty rare.

Batting I found quite challenging, mainly because I couldn’t settle on a camera angle I liked and was confused by all the visual aids that are meant to tell you where the ball is going. Which are included on the basis that, again, unlike in most cricket games, you don’t spend your time as the bowler runs up here looking at a marker showing you exactly where the ball is going to land and planning what shot to play. You have to react to the ball as it’s bowled.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like the default view from behind the batsman or the first person camera either, and both the circle surrounding the ball telling you the length and line and the ball trail I found to be a case of information overload. So, on the basis that all I really want from a cricket game is just to replicate the TV coverage, but with me in charge of the players, I stuck the broadcast camera on and turned all the aids off.

Not seeing where the ball is going to pitch is definitely a good thing, and adds the adrenaline rush element of facing fast bowlers in particular. Unfortunately, it does mean your reflexes have to be up to it, first to see where the ball is going and judge line and length, then to get your brain to talk to your hands sufficiently quickly to select the front or back foot and the appropriate shot. At times, I felt I was doing about as well as I would do playing in a real match, and spent most of my time staring intently at the middle of the pitch and concentrating as hard as I could manage.

Not sure what I was trying here.

Early batting totals were fairly puny: I could make twenties and thirties with individual batters but would then get out if ever I tried to play more expansively. And after failing to score too many runs off the fast bowlers, particularly Mitchell Johnson (here recreated in his terrifying 2014 pomp, a musclebound colossus reminiscent of a beat ’em up boss character), runs came more easily against the spinner Nathan Lyon, although the temptation to play more attacking shots mean that he ended up as the top wicket taker in the series.

There are lots of stats relating to the players but they remain largely hidden from view outside of the editing suite, which means that you can’t easily look up what the strengths and weaknesses of your team, or your opponents, are. When batting it soon became obvious that trying to drive the ball on the off side was fraught with danger, although whether that was universal or simply down to the stats of the particular batters I was trying it with, I’m not sure.

Anyway, I realised that playing a full range of shots was going to be beyond me, and success would involve batting in a limited and fairly attritional manner. (I must also admit to rage-quitting occasionally when losing a wicket legitimately caused me to go slogging madly with the next couple of batters, precipitating a collapse: in general, I never felt confident enough to play aggressively and use the slog buttons as I had remembered doing first time around).

What seemed a bit frustrating was that as my batters played themselves in they never seemed to time the ball better, with boundaries rare and runs coming from an accumulation of thunked ones and twos. Accepting that at face value meant fairly slow scoring, taking up a lot of deliveries and limiting my batters to a few shots, leaving almost everything outside off stump and clipping off the legs against pace, and taking a few calculated risks against spin.

Another familiar sight.

I managed to pass team totals of 200 a few times and, once, 300 (unlike England) but like them I also got bowled out for embarrassingly low totals far too often. In a weird piece of symmetry, I also lost the series 4-0, narrowly saving the fourth match with a hundred from Jonny Bairstow, which was quite satisfying, and almost easier to accomplish in the fourth innings, with a set target number of overs to bat through.

It was hard work though, and I looked at the number of hours spent on the game in Steam and calculated that I could have probably completed two or three other games from my backlog in that time. All I did was play a single test series, and much of the main focus of the game is actually on the development of the career of an individual player, which I sort of can’t really be bothered with. It’s probably why I won’t get around to reviewing it properly either. (Uncle Dave from JGR put down his thoughts here a few years ago, though).

Anyway, my curiosity, and appetite for virtual test cricket, is satisfied for the time being. I’d have a few niggles, some of which I’ve already mentioned, and there are aspects of the presentation which are a bit woolly, although I’m sure there have been improvements made in subsequent editions. Still, from what I can tell, Don Bradman Cricket 14 appears to be a fairly decent cricket game, something I once thought might never be possible.

Hi all.

Not that I usually pay attention to such things anymore, but if our records are correct, then this is my 250th review on FFG.

And upon which legendary title do I bestow this lofty honour? Why, a daft shareware racer from the mid-90s, of course!

Here’s a review of a game called Road Hog!

Hello everyone.

The rusty birthday train has been running a bit late, but finally makes its last stop with this look back at Indiana Jones’ 00s action-adventures.

First up, a retrospective consideration of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, first released in 1999 and reviewed here in 2002 (!) …

Plus a new review of the sequel, Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb, released in 2003. Just under 20 years to get around to that one, then.

Right, I think that’s definitely it for anniversary features – hope you’ve enjoyed reading.

We’ll be back to our usual stuff, at its usual rate, until further notice!

Hi everyone. Roleplaying games were once supposed to be my area of expertise at this site. I’d like to think that, while I was never exactly prolific, I covered a decent range within the genre, from first-person shooter hybrids to proper old-school beardy examples. However, it’s been a long time since I contributed a review to that section. There are a few reasons for my absence, one of which being simply how time consuming they can be. Let’s… not discuss how long ago I started Might and Magic 6.

Meanwhile Rik has been broadening his horizons, doing some great work reviewing Oblivion and the entire Mass Effect series. Thus I passed him the special hat marked “official RPG guy” (it confers a +2 bonus to wisdom and agility).

However, I thought it was time I made a renewed effort. I don’t get the hat back until I finish MM6 but for now here’s the action-RPG, Dungeon Siege 2.

Hi everyone.

It’s the Winter Olympics! In real life! Right now! Which is all the incentive I need to dust off some old tie-in game in search of some virtual glory.

Here’s a look at Vancouver 2010.

Hello again, and welcome to our latest instalment of Discussion: [indie game] (spoilers!), a series which usually involves a moderately lively back-and-forth on the topic of a relatively modern indie title.

Having covered one particular type of game pretty much exclusively so far, we’ve drawn a line under walking sims for now, capping things off with a spoiler-free round-up last time around.

Today’s subject for discussion is Neo Cab, a visual novel developed by Chance Agency and published by Fellow Traveller in 2019.

You play Lina, a human cab driver in a near future dominated by automated transport. Over the course of her first week in a new city, Lina has to juggle the need to track down an errant friend with doing the day job of ferrying a variety of passengers around the city.

Here’s a trailer!

As any regular readers may know, we don’t like to say too much more here, but this is another relatively short game (around 4-5 hours) that we both really enjoyed, and would recommend. If the trailer makes it look like it might be of interest, then go no further, if you want to avoid spoilers.

Otherwise, here’s the ***FINAL SPOILER WARNING*** for the discussion below!

Discussion: Neo Cab (spoilers!) continued »

Hello everyone. Last year was the 20th anniversary for this humble site, and to commemorate the occasion we were revisiting old reviews, and pairing those articles up with new reviews of related games.

Such is the leisurely pace at which we create content, that one more of these pairings has spilled over into the new year. So firstly Rik and myself have teamed up to for Dark Forces, the 1995 Star Wars themed first person shooter which I first wrote about waaaay back in 2001.

Then you can go read about, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the second sequel.

That’s probably it for anniversary content. We hope that you’ve enjoyed it, and will join us for our next decade of ambling through PC games of yesteryear.

Inside The Big Cardboard Box is where we delve into the history of the largely defunct world of boxed PC games, with a particular emphasis on all the ones I used to own, but later gave away or sold.

This series seems to have encapsulated a descent into middle age, in that where my preparation for a FFG piece would once have involved spending far too much time searching for downloads and second hand copies of games that I remembered, I’m now reduced to searching my own memory for details of those that I’ve forgotten.

As I’ve long since accepted, the full details of what used to be in my 90s and early 00s collection of boxed games are going to remain forever out of reach. But I think we’re at the point now where nearly every memory-jogging angle has been exhausted, so it’s probably time to type up a quick packing note before we seal up this big box for good.

First, though, a random mind dump of memories and games not shared thus far, many of which have come to me at moments where I really should have been thinking about, or doing, something else. (You’d think that the matter of which particular boxed version of an old DOS game someone once used to own would be something that helped them get to sleep, rather than keep them awake, but there you go).

Some games that we haven’t mentioned in this series have already been reviewed. Including: Quarantine and Quarantine II: Road Warrior (both original big box versions, one possibly acquired second hand, the other from a bargain bin), Iron Assault (sold, boxless, for cheap in either Dixons or Currys), NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (some budget label never seen before or since, and – possibly – bought in a newsagents?!) and the dreaded Zone Raiders (big box, bargain bin again, purchased either from the long-defunct Future Zone or its successor Electronics Boutique).

To which we can add, with no particular link between them, except that they were also original big box releases, rather than budget or compilation re-releases:

Tunnel B1, a PlayStation port that looked very nice on the box, but was pretty slow and dull.

FX Fighter, a 3D beat ’em up, which got good reviews, but I remember as being a bit crap.

Track Attack, an arcade racer which started life as something else (and I’m sure claimed some link – even if only as a ‘spiritual successor’ – to Geoff Crammond’s Stunt Car Racer) but ended up as a blocky neon-future spectacle undermined by a bad frame rate.

Terminator: Future Shock, which was quite good, but also pretty hard, as I recall. (My main memory is of watching Stoo start a campaign with the callsign ‘Antisocial’, which was then repeated endlessly throughout quite serious briefing sequences. And possibly was the inspiration for this childish but snigger-worthy feature).

For reasons of preserving my sanity, and that of the site’s 7 readers, I’m not going to attempt to recount or catalogue here the millions of football games that have passed through my hands over the years. From memory, like most others, I generally participated in the process of selling or part-exchanging older versions of FIFA to fund the purchase of the newest one. I certainly had, at some stage, every version of FIFA released on PC during the 90s. (And pretty much every cricket game that you could think of, too).

But, let’s throw in a few lesser-known ones here. Such as the non-FIFA EA game, The F.A. Premier League STARS, as well as World League Soccer ’98 from Eidos, and Microsoft International Soccer 2000. Oh, and Kick Off 3: European Challenge: another one that I’ve actually gone back to.

And so now to the recap of previous posts, which increasingly felt more like a look back at the different ways of getting cheap games in the 90s and 00s than helping me get a grip on what might have been in my own collection (although the former is probably of more interest to you, dear reader, so it was probably for the best).

Here we go!
Inside The Big Cardboard Box: Sealed and Sent continued »

Recently our good friend the J-Man posted something on twitter that echoed a very familiar sentiment for me:

I’m sure a fourth device is just what I need to get me into playing retro console games regularly 👍🏼

— Johnny Bomb Squad (@BurningStickMan) December 31, 2021

We retro gamers often find we’re not spending as much time as we’d like on our hobby. Myself, I have a toddler to care for which I suppose is a bit more important (hello dear wife, I mean MUCH more important of course and I will definitely read more books to her today). Even those without children, though, find themselves accumulating responsibilities and commitments as they get older. Saturdays are spent mowing the lawn and shopping for curtains; devoting most of the day gaming is a luxury for the under-30s.

I won’t pretend I have zero free time but when some does come along might be tempted away by (whisper the heresy) new games. Well not very new because I’m cheap and my main PC is a decade old, but still too recent to be considered retro (or relevant to this site). Also by about 10pm, I’m frequently just too worn out for gaming. Especially something complex like strategy or RPGs. Slumping in front of netflix seems like the easier option.

Furthermore there’s a sort of paralysis that can set in when confronted with too many choices. I have both a huge gog backlog, and massive lists of console ROMs. I pour through lists of games, wonder if I’ll be able to commit, think of reasons why each choice might be a bad use of time…. then end up not playing anything at all.

So what can bust people like me out of this rut? It’s easy to think what’s needed, to finally focus my mind and devote time to the classics, is another device to play them on. Something that’s more convenient to use, or enhances the experience somehow. Something specfically tailored for retro-gaming. After all, there are so many options now.

We could start with the various mini consoles, each devoted to emulation of a particular system such as the SNES or Amiga 500. They come pre-loaded with games so pretty much all you have to do is plug into your TV and switch them on. Downside is, it’s difficult to add more games unless you start hacking them.

Then there are more advanced options if you want a general-purpose device capable of emulating multiple systems, and are willing to do a bit of tinkering. The Rasberry Pi, the tiny and versatile little linux PC, is a popular choice. There’s also something I recently encountered called miSTer which uses FPGAs, eg it’s hardware emulation instead of software, so should be faster and more accurate.

In his tweet the J-Man was here referring to one the plethora of emulation handhelds that have sprung up in the past decade or so. They tend to have fairly humble specs but are handy for 8 and 16 bit systems, maybe N64 an PS1 in some cases. Just like any other portable device, I could take one with me a train journey or play on them without even getting out of bed (lazy git).

Yet through years of experience, I’ve learned the hard way that new toys don’t help all that much. I had one of those handhelds, a JXD 8700. It gathered dust in a drawer for years. This was way before covid hit but even back then I had virtually no commute so didn’t actually spend any time on trains. Also if I try playing anything in bed i just fall asleep. Plus it was kind of big and clunky. So it went back from whence it came. (ebay).

Meanwhile I spent a week setting up RetroPie on my pi. Most of the installation is straightforward but I still had to tinker with settings, copy roms over and then deal with a reluctant usb speaker. Linux seems so modern and plug-and-play these days until something goes wrong, then you’re deep into the forbidden realms of esoteric technical secrets. After hours of pouring over forum posts and not understanding the mystic incantations to evoke sound drivers, I gave up and dug out some headphones. After all that I spent less than an hour playing anything. It’s sat on my desk right now, filling me with shame.

Well here’s proof I got it up and running, at least. (that’s the official touchscreen)

My mini NES and SNES have seen some genuine use at least, but a lot of that is fairly casual. Just goofing around for a few levels before dinner, or playing my wife at Mario Kart (yes dear, I mean losing to you at Mario Kart). I don’t see myself ever tackling something that requires lengthy time commitments such as Chrono Trigger; I rarely fire the minis up for more than 30 minutes at a time.

Ultimately all the hardware I need for retro gaming is the hardware I’ve always used: PCs running emulators. A big whirring old tower in the study and a Surface Go I can use from the comfort of the living room. If I’m not retro-gaming on those, I won’t do so on any other gadget. All the other duties, and time constraints apply. The fatigue and malaise is still there. The novelty of another device is only a temporary relief from these problems; it doesn’t fundamentally alter anything about my approach to gaming.

So then this is not a hardware problem, but one of time management and motivation. If I want to play old games more, I need to set aside blocks of time and carry out household chores more efficiently to maximise that time. I’ve also got to push myself little harder and say ultimately, this will be more rewarding than watching TV. Finally though, I need to make peace with the fact that I’ll never have as much time as I did in my youth, and make gaming decisions with some appropriate wisdom. For example, no more than one RPG on the go at a time.

So anyway with a new mindset I may end up gaming more, and writing here more. Or I may not. Either way I’ve told myself I don’t need another try at emulation handhelds, even if they look perfect for retro-platformers and old apogee games. Also I’m giving the build-your-own approach a rest for a while, miSTer doesn’t offer anything I need and I’m not going to go buy a fourth generation pi until I get more use out my pi3.  I’m resolved to resist any further temptation: there will be no more devices.