Hypnospace Outlaw
In writing this review and reading it back, I find myself struggling to write about it enough to get across my sheer admiration without spoiling the whole thing to prospective customers. I apologise in advance. Suffice it to be known that I recommend Hypnospace Outlaw in the fullest extent my enthusiasm can avail. At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, it is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of fiction I’ve ever consumed. I hope to explain why.
Whenever I think about this game and the experiences it gave me, there’s a dull aching sensation in my chest. I experienced something truly wonderful and moving. I was immersed completely and, ironic considering the active hours of Sleeptime Computing, often burned my candle far too low, ravenously trying to see what else the game had for me.
– Real player with 34.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best 1990's Surreal Games.
A satirical homage to 90s internet on the surface, but so much more underneath that.
Hypnospace Outlaw is a game that connected with me on a deeper level than I ever would have anticipated. While it may seem like a fairly lighthearted comedy at first (and it IS a comedy; there are several moments where I laughed out loud at the absurdity), it is so much deeper than that. Where Hypnospace Outlaw excels, in my opinion, is the world that it creates while you explore the depths of this alternate-reality version of the web.
– Real player with 27.8 hrs in game
Kathy Rain: Director’s Cut
Welcome to crazy town
Kathy Rain Director’s Cut is a re-release of the original game with slight enhancements and bonuses.
The game is great and owners of the original got a good discount but still it would’ve been nice to make this a free upgrade. There’s not enough enhancements or new content to justify the price.
Story and gameplay are things which makes this game awesome.
Kathy is a troubled young woman living with her christian roommate. Kathy’s mother is locked up in a mental institution, she smokes and has a bike. A very lovable character with amazing sense of humor and the whole story about her is just amazing. The game starts with a funeral and since then Kathy embarks on a journey to dig some stuff about her family’s past.
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best 1990's Female Protagonist Games.
Kathy Rain is a point n click adventure set in the 90s but with modernized controls over the early classics that we love.
The story, characters and dialogues are very good. The puzzles aren’t too hard but are pretty fun and creative. So if you love point N click but feel rusty over the puzzle solving this game is excellent to come back. The truth is that this game is a must play for every point N click lover or jst anyone who wants to dive into the genre.
This director’s cut edition is the definitive way to play it. Fix everything and adds new content. Also if you have played the original around four years ago like me, you’ll enjoy replaying this edition.
– Real player with 12.2 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: Martian Memorandum
The second game of the Tex Muphy series did less genre crossover and had a great strength with its LucasArts-era classic adventure design. Graphically it’s a solid retro adventure FMV mix, the only downside being missing hotspots: even when hovering the mouse over interactible objects there is no cursor feedback whatsoever which made and still makes the game terribly hasslesome on a first playthrough due to easily missing out on interacting with key items on the quite blurry screen. A walkthrough or a frustration tolerance made out of steel might be required for new players. Truth be told, the entire gamedesign is extremely oldschool due to the inherent actual age of the game and it might prove too much of a bother altogether to newer gamers.
– Real player with 78.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best 1990's Cyberpunk Games.
Loveable nostalgic experience! Game runs on DOSBOX and is like 27MB in size. Classic point-and-click adventure set in a dystopian post-WW3 era. You play as Tex Murphy, private detective. It absolutely feels like a mixture between Blade Runner and Total Recall and I love it! It borrowed heavily from these two movies but offers enough unique content to stand on it’s own.
Martian Memorandum features a very simple interface with big buttons on the bottom of the screen. Just click on either “LOOK”, “OPEN”, “USE” etc. and then on the object to interact. Unique for it’s time is the usage of some FMV sequences starring real actors. Dialogue sequences play a big role in this game. Chosing the wrong dialogue option leads to uncooperative behaviour. There are also a few “action sequences” like using a hoverboard to pass through a security area with pressure plates and lasers or traversing a ventilation shaft in full 3D!
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: Overseer
First thing first: You need the K-Lite codec and FFDSHOW to be able to play this without issues. That being said, Tex Murphy: Overseer is the 5th Tex Murphy game and probably one of the best FMV games ever released, featuring actual gameplay with lots and lots of dialogues.
Overseer is basically a remake of Mean Streets without the ridiculous flight simulator and it ends with a cliffhanger which was resolved 15 years later with Tesla Effect.
A sci-fi noir adventure of old at its best.
– Real player with 37.2 hrs in game
I think i reached my limit in this game. I keep getting error messages as i am at Gideons house using the poles to try and get across the pressure sensitive floor. As a kid i played this game and would get stuck all the time because we didnt have a strategy guide online to follow like i do now. Makes it a lot easier but it is also a clear MUST if your going to play this game. Anyone thats says its cheating and they never used it is a liar OR they spent YEARS trying to beat this game. If they can fix the game i will finish it. As of now i am S.O.L. !
– Real player with 34.4 hrs in game
Police Quest™ Collection
Just as a preface, so people don’t think I’m some unappreciative punk. Back in the 80s and 90s I adored Sierra On-Line and all their games. The Space Quest and especially the Quest for Glory series are still some of my favorite adventure games of all time. But the Police Quest series just can’t hang with any of their other games.
So far, I’ve only played VGA version of Police Quest I. But it’s pretty awful. The VGA era for Sierra On-Line was like an awkward stage in puberty. Gone were the colorful graphics of the first two generations of EGA, and in their place was an absolutely hideous attempt at “realism” rather than stylization and attractive appearance. Additionally, the first generation of point-and-click interface is clunky and difficult to use, mainly because this is a remake of the EGA version, and they’ve attempted to shoehorn in a lot of the original parser actions into the very limited set of icon actions. So in some places, you can click with the hand icon to use things, like a door, but in others, you have to use the walking icon to use things, like the shower. Because, you see, in the original, you couldn’t type “use shower”, you had to walk to it. Dur. And the modified driving interface for the VGA version is an utter pain in the ass to use.
– Real player with 60.4 hrs in game
Gamer’s Discression is Advised.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEnibPvgfZo
A Collection of 4 Police Quest titles released from 1987-1993. It’s Another great Inventory Adventure series that Sierra On-Line created back when MS-DOS & Windows 3.1/95/98 was still by popular demand. The first three games were produced by former police officer Jim Walls and follow the adventures of Sonny Bonds, a character whose name and appearance was loosely based off his own son, Sonny Walls while the remainder Police Quest games were produced by former L.A. Chief Daryl Gates, in a different style in both atmosphere, and later even in genre.
– Real player with 30.1 hrs in game
Gabriel Knight® 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned
Outstanding game! Outstanding series! If you enjoy the classic point-n-click, give this one a shot. If you like it, try the other two games. If not, move on.
Rather than writing separate reviews for each game, I’m going to briefly cover the entire series in a few paragraphs.
With their love/hate, yin/yang, brain vs. brawn relationship, Gabriel and Grace steal the show! I can tell series' creator Jane Jensen really enjoyed using this to spruce up the character cohesion and back-n-forth banter. In my opinion, this is by far the most enjoyable aspect of the series.
– Real player with 57.1 hrs in game
Cozy, atmosphere rich and intriguing. Gabriel Knight 3 is set in a small village in France where you as Gabriel and Grace are investigating the abduction of an infant child. With an interface not seen in any other major point-n-click adventure (to my knowledge) where you hover around like a drone camera you can really immerse yourself in the environments of the game while investigating with great accuracy, As far as adventure games go, this game has it all, the plot is like any good Agatha Christie novel mixed with occult and religious elements. Add to this, extremely well done voice acting which made me laugh so many times, and great puzzles and a gallery of memorable characters, this game will make you want to check in to a hotel in rural France asap and start looking for clues and interrogating hotel guests. And yes, the music is amazing and superbly fits the game world. This game is one of my all time favorites, but you will probably need a open mind, if you start playing it in 2020. Please do.
– Real player with 41.8 hrs in game
Virginia
Worst outcome from the entire affair is the more I look into them and play them, less tolerance I have for walking simulators as such. Which is a shame because Virginia is honestly quite a good one. High production values all-around and obvious effort went into this project. It’s also a walking simulator seemingly hellbent on setting your pace and putting its intentionally jumbled narrative ahead of everything else it may have had to offer.
So, what’s cooking? We step into the shoes of one Anne Tarver, fresh FBI graduate who just got her first case assignment. Paired up with a more experienced partner the two embark to a fictional town of Kingdom where they are to investigate a missing child case. Twist is Anne’s superior instructs her to keep a close eye on her new partner, Maria Halperin. She may have some secrets of her own. That’s the premise and what we have to work with for a while, but as the game itself quickly reveals, there’s more underway and you can’t tell WHEN a lot of it is happening. So don’t let anyone tell you there’s no story in Virginia because there sure is. It’s simply told in this fragmented fashion where everything will only click towards the finale as you get context for game’s multiple events.
– Real player with 4.2 hrs in game
As much as I’m an old school action, adventure and RPG gamer from ‘85 onward, I got heavily into point n’ click/investigative mystery games as time went on. Even in more mixed offerings from the genre like The Suicide of Rachel Foster or the pretty ho-hum Call of Cthulhu redux I can usually find enough mystery elements to stay engaged.
Virginia is a detective game where I didn’t feel like a detective the entire playthrough. I didn’t even feel like I was the janitor on hire to clean out the department’s bathrooms. The Twin Peaks' vibes are strong with this one, there’s a touch of Kubrick happening as well but juvenile, thuddingly heavy-handed cliches and plot twists so insulting the ending may as well be the main character f*rting in your face, absolutely destroy any momentum that the game might have worked up.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Internet Court
I have to admit I found Internet Court really funny. It does have a lot of silly moments that make you go what but I loved it from beginning to end. You can beat this within 2 hours but it is really fun to get through. I love the acting being silly but worth it to make a good comedy. The Judge always makes me laugh at every turn. I love the silly ending that connects all 4 cases and my favourite case was the first one. I may not be a fan of the music in the game but love the credits song at the end.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Great writing, including fun dialogue when you make bad decisions (intentionally or otherwise). Clear video and audio with acting by Gamecola staff emeritus.
The judge once said, “I’m going to let you try again, but first I’m going to give you a strike!” giving me my third strike and ejecting me from the courtroom. I might have gotten carried away exploring dialogue options.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive
Tex Murphy is one of those things you either had to grow up with or which you’ll probably never get.
That being said, it remains one of the least worst FMV series in existence. Some would even go as far as to call all of them a masterpiece. Personally, I won’t but there’s definitely historical merit to them and the story is indeed actually quite cool.
The acting is not as cringeworthy as the old C&C in between mission movies and has its moments, but all things considered this age pretty terrible.
– Real player with 126.2 hrs in game
Truely awesome game. Had this back in the day but forgot how good it really was. The story line is great and the puzzles are devious but not un-doable with a little logic. All in all, it took me 38 hours to complete. ( although that includes time spent going off to make a cup of tea while I thought about where to go next) . Some of you may find that the initial scenes, discussions and traveling a little tedious at first but the game does become more exciting as it goes on.
The Tex Murphey games are the leaders in this genre. IMO.
– Real player with 71.4 hrs in game
Broken Minds
Truly a hidden gem :)
The store page makes it look a bit bland and cheap, but it’s actually a quality VN.
It’s not just a “Click Next”-VN, but you have to focus on what’s happening.
The story is pretty good and I would recommend to play it on “Master Detective”-Mode to get all the interesting mini-games wich are well done :)
The VN also has multiple endings, depending on your choices and after unlocking them you can get the true ending(s?).
Unfortunately I have to say that I felt that the VN could have been better with less endings, since you are forced to do them to unlock the final ones. Even with the skip function it takes a bit of time for a playthrough since you still have to navigate through the rooms, etc. So it felt kind of tedious after a while and it didn’t feel like the endings offered something surprisingly new for me.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
Note: not for all! It’s not an easy reading nextnextskipskip VN, you should have a sense of logic, pay attention to details and words.
I’m not sure about a genre, but it’s mostly Visual Novel. But you should pay attention for all (that’s what for 3 big arrows on the screen — for a little bit exploring and for deeper immersion); otherwise you’ll get stuck with logic minigames, delete the game in frustration and will never know how great the game is. So, the phrase “the gameplay consists of logic and reading comprehension puzzles” is completely true, and you can’t go on to the next part by pressing “skip”.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game