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.

Happy New Year to you all.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m never quite sure whether to keep doing these annual round-ups or not. The first one coincided with an extremely productive year, which seemed to be the primary justification for its existence (although looking at it now, it’s an extremely half-hearted retrospective considering the number of games covered) and since then our reviewing capacity has settled to a level that doesn’t perhaps quite merit an end-of-year summary. Plus, we’ve spent quite a lot of time this year looking back at things already.

But, what the hell: here goes.

It was our birthday! (Yes, you’d have thought we’d have mentioned it, wouldn’t you?) And to celebrate, we dug out some of our oldest reviews, played the games in question again, and scrawled out some thoughts while setting them alongside all-new coverage of a related game. [You mean, ‘played one of the sequels’, right? – FFG reader].

To start, Stoo and I both took a look at Sin, which was tied to a review of the first instalment of its cancelled episodic sequel. And I finally got around to playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, while developing a slightly better understanding of the 1997 original.

Rocket blasting some foes in The Enlightened Adventures of John R. Blade.

In between, there were racing games new and old. And as a result, we now have the Need for Speed series pretty much covered all the way up to 2011. It’s a genre I continue to enjoy, although your standard track-based caper of the late 00s certainly requires a greater investment of time than might be ideal, to apparently no greater end than filling the middle of the game with #content that ultimately becomes rather hard to digest.

Anyway, the anniversary stuff isn’t quite over yet: there’s at least one and possibly two more pairs of reviews and retrospectives to come. (We decided to buy ourselves a bit of time by declaring the Sin discussion the start of our celebrations: hence, any further articles published before April 2022 are definitely still on time and relevant and not delayed at all).

In terms of other reviews from 2021, I guess a personal highlight was being able to finally get my teeth into the full Mass Effect trilogy. Like everyone has been saying for the past 10 years or so: it’s great! Although I was aided in this endeavour by the knowledge that I would have a chunk of time available to devote to three epic space RPGs, for once I actually used that time as intended rather than being distracted by four or five football games from the 90s.

Peroxide Man-Shep makes a run for it.

With Mass Effect, the Lost tie-in, Beijing 2008 and Burnout: Paradise joining the late-00s iterations of TOCA and Need for Speed, it’s been a slightly Xbox 360-era year, I guess. Call the retro police! Fortunately Stoo was on hand to review the Apogee platformer, Realms of Chaos.

And I belatedly caught up with, and enjoyed, Origin’s 90s blaster Crusader: No Remorse. Which I had to re-buy on GOG, seeing as I apparently got rid of my old CD copy some time ago (but bizarrely kept that of the sequel, No Regret).

Poking around in dim and dusty memories of games bought and sold is the theme of Inside The Big Cardboard Box, a series which continued throughout 2021 (and will hopefully conclude shortly). If you’ve missed it, and like the sound of a 40-year-old man reminiscing about various UK budget ranges and compilations while trying to remember what he did with some CDs he can’t find, then you’re in for a treat.

Causing havoc with the red tin man in Crusader: No Remorse.

And Jo and I continued our spoiler-tastic indie discussions, ticking off most of the major modern so-called ‘walking sims’ and deciding that putting the ones we’d covered into some kind of ranked order would be a worthwhile endeavour.

We’re planning to keep going with that series in 2022. While I joke about being a retro heretic, most of my gaming time is (by choice) focused on older games that fall within the usual scope of this site, and I figure that there’s a difference between not being able to keep up with modern gaming and deliberately shunning it. The short narrative adventures we’ve played thus far tick a lot of my boxes anyway, and have allowed me to at least feel partly in touch with what’s been going on in the relatively recent past. And I enjoy the discussions, too.

As for what else this year holds: who knows? I do make plans: CD wallets have been flipped through, boxes freed of their cellophane, digital libraries scanned, and solutions for awkward Windows 98 games considered and re-considered. For me, things don’t really get done without a plan. But, all the obstacles that life throws in the way notwithstanding, plans can also change, and there’s something to be said for being suddenly inspired to dive into a game you’d not thought about for a while rather than grinding through a list in a proscribed order.

So, I can end only by saying that we hope to bring you roughly the same amount of the kind of thing that we usually do in the year ahead, while offering you our thanks – as always – for giving us your time and attention, and wishing you all the best for 2022.

Hello there!

Hope you all had a good Christmas.

We’re sneaking in one final review for 2021: racing around the city of Paradise in Criterion’s racer, Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box.

(Hey, wasn’t there a late-80s rock song that was about some kind of ‘paradise city’? It was quite a big hit, I think).

Sending best wishes to all our readers for 2022!

Hello everyone.

As you may have noticed, the majority of games under consideration in our discussion series (with spoilers) have been so-called ‘walking simulators’, the arguably pejorative and dismissive term coined for first-person narrative adventures.

That wasn’t necessarily always the intention, although after a certain point the prospect of catching up with a selection of significant games within the genre all at once started to appeal, particularly as we were both enjoying the exercise, and it made sense to be able to compare and contrast as we went along.

But we’re probably now at the point where we might broaden things out a little more, and so thought it might be worth having a little re-cap of our thoughts on the games we’ve covered.

This piece comes without spoilers (unless you click on the links to the original discussions, of course). And in case you thought the absence of scores in this series was a sign of FFG embracing a more mature attitude with regard to the evaluation of computer and video game entertainment, let us now disappoint you with the revelation that this is a listicle.

Yes, we’re doing rankings! Because video games must always be ranked and/or scored, from now until the end of time. (Also, it’s good for a bit of fun).

This is likely to be the last post we’ll make before the 25th, although we might be back again before New Year. Anyway, I’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas – hope you have a good one.

And now, since there’s no need to brace yourself for a spoiler warning, you can just go straight ahead and enjoy the discussion below.

Discussion: A Top 10 of Walking Sims (no spoilers!) continued »