Dragon’s Lair
The 1980s. Ronald Reagan, Rubik’s Cube, MTV, and in the arcades, games like Pac-Man, Centipede, Space Invaders, Defender and others are eating up the quarters of America. Jump ahead in time a little and a new technology, the laser disc player, is brought into the arcade in the form of a game/animated movie called ‘Dragon’s Lair’. In this game, the player ‘plays’ the movie, that is, at certain points in the game the player is given the option to choose how the character moves. Choose the right option and the story continues, choose wrong, and the character faces a gruesome demise.
– Real player with 19.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best FMV Classic Games.
Back in ‘83 when this game first came out, we had a single arcade in our small city (that’s not so small now) that had Dragon’s Lair. Many of us fell in love with the game and a new challenge was present in our community arcade… to beat the dragon and save the princess. I dumped way too many quarter’s into this game and came back late from lunch on more than one occassion. The owner of the arcade had installed a monitor above the machine so others could watch while you played. In time I had developed quite a few followers that I think figured I was most likely to complete the game. Some would even let me play ahead of them even though they had their quarters lined up. A couple of times other people even paid for me to play the game. One afternoon, it finally happened. Amidst a small crowd of people surrounding the machine I reached the Dragon’s Lair. Of course I didn’t beat it the first time, but I played again and much to the enjoyment of the crowd, I defeated the dragon and we all saw the end of the game. I was very proud to have been the first person in our city to have defeated the game.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
I have been a fan of Tex Murphy since Under a Killing Moon – nearly twenty years! That said, I will not do this game or the community a disservice by writing anything less than a fully honest review. The game succeeds far more often than it fails, but is far from perfect, so I will not score it 10 out of nostalgia, or 0 out of disappointment.
First, let me give this game a score out of ten. In my opinion, it falls somewhere around 7.5. I think this game will please Tex fans and newcomers alike, even if it isn’t perfect. If you like a good story or adventure games, then check this one out. If you like it, I highly recommend trying out Tex’s past adventures.
– Real player with 31.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best FMV Cinematic Games.
As a Tex Murphy fan, I was stoked after hearing about the newest installment, and boy was I eager to play! But after playing half-way through, I found myself questioning whether I should even bother finishing the game. It was only through sheer force of will and a weird, nostalgic obligation, that I managed to see it through to the end. sigh So where to begin?
Let’s first talk about the things it did well:
Revisiting Chandler Avenue and reuniting with the old cast was a treat for old Tex Murphy fans like myself. And honestly, I didn’t mind the mediocre graphics, as it felt reminiscent of the old Tex Murphy games. The FMV sequences were well-done for the most part, and I enjoyed exploring areas without running into loading screens or having to change discs. (I know I’m throwing a bone here, but it’s the little things that count, right?) Unfortunately, that’s where the good ends. Now on to my personal gripes:
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
Riven: The Sequel to MYST
Riven is a sequel to Myst, an old school click adventure game that revolves solving intricate puzzles and exploring surreal worlds created from linking books.
First off let me tell you that Riven is not revised for modern hardware, as such, some feature set is very archaic. The save menu operates like a word document save menu. The resolution is stuck at a piddly 640x480 resolution, this makes playing the game on modern monitors an absolutely awful visual experience. To makes matter worst, the game cannot be set to windowed mode without some major .exe hex coding voodoo. That set aside, the game is still worth playing. After all with the limitation of Riven’s game engine, which is essentially one huge powerpoint slide, it’s not too strange that the game is limited in resolution. The game is a little over 3 gigabytes and it’s 33% of 1080p. Keep in mind that this game was created in 1997, which equates to a 5 CD game. Had this game release at 1080p, it would’ve been around 15 CD’s. Have fun switching and keeping track of that many disk while playing!
– Real player with 105.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best FMV Classic Games.
First of all, I recommend you beat this game WITHOUT looking up a walkthough, I will explain later in the review.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. This is one of the best (and one of the only) examples of a puzzle game done right. sure there are other puzzle games out there that are great like The Witness and… uh… well The Witness doesn’t even count because that is a more logic puzzle game and I consider that a different sub-genre. I honestly can’t find a good comparison to this game other than Myst 1 (and even that has major differences).
– Real player with 32.5 hrs in game
The 7th Guest: 25th Anniversary Edition
Take this game for what it is… a snapshot in time from the early days of CD-ROM gaming. 7th Guest came out at a time when graphic realism and full motion video were cutting edge. Go into it acknowledging its place in the annals of video game history, and there is a good time to be had, for a short while at least. There are some clever puzzles scattered about.
Does the game hold up after all these years? In short, no. It’s a relic from a long forgotten and much maligned era. The visuals were certainly impressive for their time, but we’ve been spoiled heartily since then. What’s left at its core is a series of puzzles which are tame by today’s standards. The difficulty ranges from absurdly easy to absurdly difficult. However, the difficulty is mostly caused by a lack of context, particularly with the Skyscraper puzzle. Most of the puzzles have zero replay value once you’ve figured them out. The cut-scenes are poorly acted, which is on par for the early 90s. The point and click controls are a touch wonky, and there is a severe shortage of items you can actually interact with. The “action” is continually interrupted by voice overs, for some reason you must politely wait for Stauf to mock you (or move over and click the skip button) before you can click anything. The story feels arbitrary, which used to be forgivable because “WOW FMV”, but don’t go in expecting to be entertained it.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game
Yet another game I wish there was a neutral recommendation for. I’m giving this a thumbs up for the sheer fact that the original game itself was clearly a quality product and for this reason I feel I cannot give it a thumbs down. I can’t help but cynically view this edition, as a cash grab on what was originally a successful game. A way to remove the original from stores and jack the price up after labelling it as “remastered” while cashing in on the loyalty of fans to the title . You know, there’s this saying about ducks…if it walks and talks like one…
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game
realMyst: Masterpiece Edition
realMyst is a very simple yet sometimes complex puzzle game that was made back when home computers were just starting to find their way into households. In other words, don’t expect there to be a huge amount amount of gameplay here. If you buckle down, you can beat this game in one sitting. That’s not to say that there’s no challenge to it as there certainly can be at times.
For the most part, you’re playing to find out about the unfolding story. This game used to be a point and click adventure. It seems to have upgraded to being a free roam First-Person which can ultimately betray any new comers to the game leading you to believe there’s more to the puzzle than what there really is. You can now roam in unchecked corners and behind bookshelves which you could never do in the first place so if you’re stumped on a puzzle, it’s best not to start checking every nook and cranny. To be safe, they’ve added a feature so that you can use the point and click system which at times can be pretty difficult to use since there’s multiple things to click on so you have to be pretty precise about what you want to inspect.
– Real player with 17.4 hrs in game
“I know my apprehensions might never be allayed, and so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written.” - Atrus
And thank the great Guildmasters of The Art because this series went on to produce many other excellent games, Riven being the height of exceptionalism.
In a time before the internet I played this game and I remember being so frustrated at points. Rather than Google, we had friends who would hang out together and connect their brain processing power to try and find solutions to the puzzles. There really was nothing like this in the history of computers. This hypercard, photoreal, puzzle game with live action cutscenes and fully immersive worlds. It was jawdropping back then. If you are new to the game it may lack the punch it had from 30 years ago but it is still an incredible game today and while I understand the graphics weren’t up to a lot of people’s expectations in this remastered edition, I found the game to be very much at home as a first person free roamer on the Unity Engine. If you are a puzzle lover you will soon understand why the game is referenced so much and you will see how modern puzzle games have adapted the levels, environments, puzzles etc for use today in games like The Witness, Quern, The Room and ASA.
– Real player with 14.7 hrs in game
Tragedy of Prince Rupert
I love this game. I like the look of it, and the soothing music, and the difficulty curve…everything is fantastic. I already bought it for one friend, and I’ll probably buy it a few more times in the near future to give to other friends as gifts. Go get Tragedy of Prince Rupert, for yourself; you won’t regret it.
– Real player with 25.3 hrs in game
EDIT: I said that the extra crew members were just cosmetic. Well, after reading a post from developer, those actually have an impact on the gameplay (they give you more HP, slow enemy bullets, etc.). But them again how can you blame me for thinking those were just cosmetic, if the game doesn’t give you ANY information?
When you first start up this game, it feels like just another Twin Stick shooter with unique art style. But actually it’s got more depth than most Twin Sticks I’ve played. You play as Prince Rupert, who’s flying a Montgolfière, that has the fastest shooting cannon in the world. You’re on your quest to prove yourself to be worthy groom for some princess and everybody else who wants to marry her is after you. And your balloon is capable of flying into space and dive 20 000 leagues under the sea. That in itself is the most awesome concept for a game I’ve seen in a while.
– Real player with 19.4 hrs in game