Hello.

Just a quick one today – a review of the futuristic racer Trickstyle.

Hey. It’s been a while. I’d like to pretend I’ve been on holiday, but that would be a lie.

Here’s something good for you all – or at least a review of something good, anyway – we’ve finally managed to cover the much-loved Grim Fandango.

It’s so good it makes me feel bad about all of the other dross we reviewed ahead of it. For fans of the dross: don’t worry, there’s more to come. And soon.

I recently came across the blog of the RAM Raider.

It’s basically the thoughts and rantings of a seasoned UK-based gaming journalist who seems quite angry about the way things are in ‘the industry’. None of the stuff is a massive surprise – PRs are dickheads, getting an ‘exclusive’ means promising a high review score, magazines aren’t selling as much as they used to – and so on, but it’s still worth a read.

‘Rammy’ likes to slag off reviews and those who write them (who then post angry replies in his ‘comments’ section), which always has a certain voyeuristic entertainment value, but in between the copious amounts of bitchiness and coarse language, there are a few more thought-provoking pieces and interesting tidbits.

Such as why most of the staff of PC Zone suddenly disappeared from their pages a short while ago. Or how New Games Journalism (NGJ) is a load of self-indulgent wank.

Not that I agree with everything he says but, speaking mainly as someone who buys, and is increasingly disappointed by, games magazines (rather than someone who thinks his own collection of amateurish ramblings qualifies him as a ‘writer’) he’s certainly got a few good points about the state of games journalism at the moment. The main one being – things aren’t as good as they used to be.

EDIT: Plus, he hates Edge magazine. Which is always a good thing.

So I’ve been playing the Monkey Island special edition a bit. It’s a very close remake – puzzles, dialogue and location all exactly the same. In fact even it’s even closer than that; it feels like the original game re-skinned, matching the animation frame-for-frame. You can even flick between the old and new versions of the graphics on the fly.

This approach does lead to some oddities though. Like, Guybrush has about four frames to his walking animation. Also no-one’s facial expression ever changes, and people bob their heads around while talking in that way that conveyed liveliness in 1991 but would look really weird in real life.

Maybe i’m being picky here – it was probably necessary for the graphics switching. And the new artwork is itself great, moonlit melee island is as atmospheric as ever in high-def. It just feels a bit disappointing in motion – I think i had just been hoping for the fluid style of Monkey 3, The Dig, Broken Sword etc.

As a cheapskate with an interest in older games and a massive pile of untried titles sitting in a cupboard under the stairs, I don’t tend to buy too many new releases these days.

Sports games are an exception, however. More specifically, a new cricket game will more or less represent an essential purchase on the day of release.

Unlike football fans, who can count on a new FIFA and Pro Evo per year, followers of cricket normally have to wait a couple of years for a new title. Which means that almost as soon as a new title is announced, a dedicated hardcore of fans begin speculating what the game might be like, and as details start to trickle through, speculation begins to grow about whether this one might turn out to be quite decent.

By the time the game is released, there’s feverish excitement and a great clamour for a verdict on whether this game is indeed ‘the one’. Cricket games aren’t really a priority for ‘the professionals’ and magazine reviews are normally brief and ill-informed, so you’re left with a choice of either finding out for yourself or trusting the word of forum dwellers.

So, Ashes Cricket 2009 is the latest, released tomorrow. Already people are on Planet Cricket sharing initial thoughts based on relatively little gameplay time.

I’ll wait until I’ve played it myself, but it already sounds like it’ll be the usual mixed bag of half-decent ideas on the one hand, and bugs and oversights on the other. (Sigh).

From something relatively shiny, new and complicated, to something old, ugly and simple: it’s Micro Machines 2.

Hi all. Another game at the more recent end our our coverage – Haegemonia: The Legions of Iron. In which big starships rumble around bombing planets and blowing each other to bits.

Don’t worry oldskool fans, I’ll go play something in good old VGA next.

We were vaguely worried about Lucasarts overpricing their classic adventures on Steam. However, it turns out Last Crusade, Fate of Atlantis, LOOM and The Dig are going for £3 each! Which is just fantastic value for money – there’s hours of engaging adventure gaming there.

If anyone wants me i’ll be off playing the Dig.

Lucas Arts is Coming to Steam

This is great news, and something we’ve been waiting for since the coming of online-distribution.

Here’s the selection so far

Armed and Dangerous™
Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
LEGO® Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
LOOM™
Star Wars Battlefront® II
Star Wars Republic Commando®
Star Wars Starfighter™
The Dig®
Thrillville®: Off the Rails™

Reggarding their classic adventures it’s far from the full back catelogue, but a decent start. I’m especially keen to give The Dig a try, even if it is regarded as sub-par, as I missed it the first time around. Meanwhile Fate of Atlantis is a classic and Loom is, while rather short, enchanting.

The Monkey family is conspicuous in its absence, but the remake of the original will be appearing on steam a week or so later. Hopefully the sequels will follow.

As for the Star Wars stuff I’ve not followed it at all in recent years, but I’d hope Tie Fighter turns up there eventually.

[edit]the dos games will all have new executables for windows, no scummvm or dosbox required.

So Rockstar are working on a new Max Payne game. Not to doubt their pedigree, but I’m slightly troubled by some of the tidbits of news about the game that have emerged so far. There’s a picture of Max that makes him look like a Ukrainian boxer, which is troubling enough, but now they’ve announced that they’ve ditched James McCaffrey as the voice of Max.

I’m sure he’s not the only actor who can do a gravelly voice, but he really did a good job on the first two games, and it seems a little odd to replace him.

Still, as long as it’s not Marky Mark…