It’s a game ten years in the making, and follows 16 years after the cancellation of the original Space Quest series. And out of the dozens of Sierra fan-games made over the years, it’s the first actual full-length sequel (TSL doesn’t count because episode 5 isn’t finished yet. So we win!)
In this game, you help space janitor Roger Wilco sort out another bad case of his girlfriend, the planet, and the galaxy needing saving. Along the way, he learns some very important life lessons, escapes death-defying situations and makes some hairy new friends. It’s loaded with clever puzzles, tons of original characters, over a hundred beautifully-painted backgrounds, awesome music, hilarious dialogue, and lots of half-assed Flash animation from myself. Also: monkeys.
In the following weeks, expect to hear a lot more Space Quest-related news from me. In the last six years, this has been one of the top three things to eat up all my time and it’s FINALLY DONE. I’m in a self-promoting mood right now, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for any positive reviews or mentions on popular sites. Not to mention VSB is just the beginning when I consider what’s around the corner…
It took me a week after it came out before I realized it was finished, it took me another week to actually play it, and another couple weeks before I got around to updating my site with it. VSB and SQInc have been keeping me rather busy.
This new episode is about as puzzle-filled and drama-ridden as Episode 3. Probably more-so since it contains two of the most aggravating puzzles since “King’s Quest 3.” Otherwise, it’s of decent length (took me about 8 hours to finish) and you finally get to explore all the islands. But I must persist – if you plan on playing this, choose “EASY” over “NORMAL” when the dreaded box puzzle comes.
Some of my larger animated cut-scenes are featured in this episode. The acid trip sequence at the end? Totally my baby. And I do quite a terrible job voicing Pan.
You can download it HERE or just watch the trailer right here.
Truth be told, I haven’t even started writing “Ducktalez 7″ yet. But in the meantime, here’s a guy who wrote lyrics for the moon theme in the Ducktales Nintendo game. It’s pretty awesome.
So what is it with February and King’s Quest games?
A couple weeks back, Episode 3 of “The Silver Lining” was released, and on the same day, Telltale Games buys up the rights to the “King’s Quest” franchise with plans to reboot the series in episodic format. So there’s two instances of KQ news right there.
Then on the 23rd, another independent fan community called AGD Interactive (responsible for creating the fan-remakes of KQ1, KQ2, and Quest for Glory 2) out and released their VGA remake of “King’s Quest 3.” For a game series that was otherwise considered dead back in 1995, we’re seeing a lot of life getting pumped into it this month.
I just playing the new KQ3 remake, and it’s pretty darn amazing. Back in the day, I remember this game driving me insane for having the most notorious opening puzzle ever, and it’s still as maddening as ever. The idea is that you’re a slave to a wizard, and that whenever he’s home, you have to do your chores and stay inconspicuous. But as soon as he goes on a trip, you have to escape the house, run around collecting ingredients, and use them to cast a spell to defeat him with. And you always had 20 minutes before he came home, in which time you’d have to hurry home and hide all your stuff. Then you’d have to wait for him to leave before continuing. It’s the same in the remake, except now you have about ten minutes, and the timer flashes yellow and red, adding to the panic of the situation. It’s pretty awesome. Not for the faint of heart or beginner adventure gamers.
On top of that, they’ve added several new puzzles, locations, and characters. So just when you think you know the original game well-enough to beat it, this one finds new ways to throw you for a loop.
It’s also very beautifully animated with a great soundtrack and semi-professional voice acting. Josh Mandel even returns to voice King Graham. And I can’t help but notice how the death music sounds suspiciously a lot like the theme to “Inspector Gadget.” Maybe it’s a coincidence, but either way it works.
I really have to hand it to AGDI – they know how to make games, and more importantly, they know how to finish them. I have to wonder what it is with the “King’s Quest” series and how KQ fan-games actually seem to get completed. Over the years, dozens of “Space Quest” projects started up, and they’re either all canceled or still in development. In any case, this is a good reminder to get my butt in gear.
Actually I just finished this last night, and for an episode where I thought I already knew all the puzzle solutions (thanks to the original build) I was surprised to find myself wandering the islands for six hours solving puzzles. It’s actually a really well done episode. The puzzles are tough and challenging, but not completely impossible since there’s always a clue somewhere to give me the hints I need. And to top things off, they’ve added this incredible action sequence/mini-game which wasn’t even in the build three months ago. I still call black magic on how they managed to put this together so fast considering how even a simple collision mesh used to provide them with months of technical bugs to iron out.
The story is still on par with the last two episodes, so expect the usual drama and lengthy conversations. Some love it, some hate it. Take it as you will. I ignored it after finding myself too preoccupied with the puzzle-solving.
As for yours truly, I left the team several months ago to work on my own games, but there’s still a lot of my lead animation in this chapter. And to top things off, I voice Stick-in-the-Mud (but they left out my musical number!)
Throughout the year, I’ve started many reviews of random games I’ve played. Many of those reviews got side-tracked by my projects, so I’ve decided to consolidate as many of them as I can into one post. This isn’t a complete list – just random games I can remember off the top of my head in no particular order.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (PS3)
Got this one for Christmas last year. Really fun. Although I remember one of the opening levels sucked a lot. We spent most of Christmas morning just running around stuck in a hotel and chasing Slimer. But once I got the game home and continued playing the rest of it, it got so much better and a lot more fun. Otherwise, it’s a great game. All the original cast reprises their voices, the dialogue is written by Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis themselves, and there’s some really epic battles later on in the game (you get to fight in the Civil War and then defeat a Giant Slor.)
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
Here’s one that had great word-of-mouth, but when I played it, I was disappointed. I did like how they were trying to give it an authentic movie feel, but all of it was lost on me since 90% of the game is still nothing but endless gunfights. And the AI drove me crazy since these guys kept moving out of my sights before I could finish lining up my shots. Seriously, who brings hundreds of enemy mercenaries to a dig-site anyway? This isn’t WW2, and this isn’t the Third Reich I’m fighting. There’s logically no way to organize all these henchmen throughout the jungle.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
This one was a huge improvement for three reasons. 1) When I aim my gun, he always points it in the right general direction, making the gunfights a lot easier. 2) The number of enemies are now more realistic and the gunfights aren’t as tedious, and 3) the action sequences in this one are freakin’ sweet. It’s a lot more fun to play this time around.
Assassin’s Creed (X-Box 360)
I only played the first three missions. They were all the same. Climb tower. Find vantage points. Pick pockets. Fight guards. Kill man. Run away. By mission four, I asked my brother if the rest of the game was like this, and he said yes. So I switched over to “Kung Fu Panda.”
Kung Fu Panda (X-Box 360)
Hurray! Licensed game from Activision! Pretty standard movie-based platformer. Nice in-game fur effects. About halfway through, Activision shut down our King’s Quest project, so I quit playing this game in protest (that’ll show ‘em!) I finished it later after they re-instated our commercial license.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (PS3)
BATMAN: “I’m Baman!”
SCORPION: “I’m Scowpian!”
BATMAN: “I come over the house!”
SCORPION: “We’re best fwiends!”
Only three people in the world really know the meaning behind that.
Katamari Damacy (PS2)
I think the whole point of this game is to unlock the last level and roll up the whole world. Before that, there’s just no point. All you’re doing is running over cheese and buttons. Screw that. I want to run over a giant octopus and a rainbow!
Dark Forces (PC)
I used to be so pro at this game when I was a kid. I could describe an exact walk-through to someone with my eyes closed. Then I pick it up again after all these years and get stumped. Everywhere. Some things just don’t come back as easily.
The Hobbit (PC)
Finally got around to finishing this. Good game. Follows the book well. Turns Bilbo into freaking Kratos but it’s all in good fun. I like the last level where they turn the Battle of Five Armies into a ridiculous Rube Goldberg puzzle.
Mass Effect 2 (PC)
Ah, the big one. I had to finish this one twice because I had both my Paragon and Renegade saved over from the first game. This time around, the whole game’s about putting together a team so you can fly into a suicide mission. It also features the first time in years where a mainstream game can land you in an un-winnable state. If you forget to do certain things before going to a certain place, you stand the chance of losing team members to random accidents during the end-game. It’s pretty awesome like that, actually. I still like how my entire crew will justify every evil decision I make.
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (PC) Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner: Fun episode. Decent opener for the season. Episode 2: Strongbadia the Free: Awesome episode. All the characters turn their houses into different countries and you have to go around invading them. I love it. Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands: Epic episode. Features cameos by Limozeen! Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: Cool episode. The whole game is shot in the style of a home movie where all the props are cardboard and the bloopers are left in. Episode 5: 8-Bit is Enough: TROGDOOOORRRRRRR!!!!!!!
Back to the Future; Episode 1 (PC)
My first impressions of the new BTTF game are pretty positive. It has the feel of the movies, lots of great dialogue, some excellent remixed music, and has lots of fan-service (but with twists.) Marty’s voice is spot-on, and Christopher Lloyd still delivers. My only quirks: the animation can be a little blocky, and the puzzles are way too freaking easy. What gets me is that they actually put several hint systems inside the game – as if anyone would ever need them. But back on the plus side, this is probably the best season-opener of any Telltale series. And since the season-openers are almost always the weakest episodes, I can’t wait to see how the rest of the season turns out.
So what’s on my slate these days? What’s keeping me from going out and leading a healthy social life? What’s quickly sapping me of my sanity? What’s gluing my butt to a chair and causing my legs to fall asleep on a nightly basis? The answer: both of these. Neither are anywhere near finished, but enjoy the trailers nonetheless.
On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to follow-up that Katy Perry post I made a while ago by posting a sketch recently done on “The Simpsons.” Youtube’s pretty strict about showing the clip unless it’s backwards or in bad quality, and they’ve disabled embedding, so here’s a link if you want to see the Simpson family as Muppets. I enjoyed it.
I’ve seen plenty of videos where one person will compose an entire song by editing together several videos of themselves playing each instrument. But this marks the first time I’ve ever seen the same thing done with them playing multiple video games. The difficulty in creating this has to rank right up there with firing rockets into space.
So the other day, we were browsing around Google’s image search, checking out random things out of curiosity (random things being homemade video game weapons and hot chicks dressing up like Metroid) when the subject of Final Fantasy came up. Someone who had never played the games before asked “if I only ever play one, which one should it be?” And to my embarrassment, I found this was one of those odd subjects I can’t shut up about.
I haven’t actually played all the games, but if I have any say, the most relevant games in the series are probably parts 6 through 10. So if you’re only ever going to play one, just pick from the following list to see which one better suits you.
Final Fantasy VI: The Critics’ Choice Where it stands: Well-received by fans and critics alike; is often considered the best of the series; has a great story; is very challenging; tons of playable characters; has set the standard for most modern RPGs Drawbacks: 8-bit graphics; one of the harder games
Final Fantasy VII: The Fan-Favorite Where it stands: Probably THE game to play if you only ever play one of these; is the most popular of the series; has the most iconic characters; the most memorable weapons; another great story – heck, they even made a movie out of this one. A movie, I might add, that makes no sense unless you play this game first. This one really needs a PS3 remake already. Drawbacks: Early 3D graphics look like crap; also, I’m pretty sure the main character gets molested by a group of men while wearing a dress in one scene. Should be noted that the die-hard fan-base for this game can be completely insane at times, and this game may cause you to join them.
Final Fantasy VIII: The Guilty Pleasure Where it stands: My personal favorite (maybe because it was the first one I played;) boasts some of the best-looking cut-scenes; is very well-paced with lots of missions Drawbacks: Has an annoying level-up system; emotional scenes are too drawn out; also, if you’re one of those people who is easily offended by plot-holes and retarded characters, you might want to avoid this one. On the other hand, if you enjoy plot-holes and retarded characters, welcome to the best game ever!
Final Fantasy IX: The Underdog Where it stands: Often called the most underrated of the series; has a great story; lots of humor; awesome cut-scenes; lots of missions; creative gameplay – could probably be the best of the series if not for… Drawbacks: Every character looks like a creepy baby doll. Seriously – how did they spend 4 years making this game without thinking “maybe we should revise the character design?”
Final Fantasy X: May Contain Nuts Where it stands: Probably the easiest in the series; the fights are well-scripted; the PS2 graphics are pretty good; is very cinematic Drawbacks: Much like FF8, can be very retarded, if not more-so. You really have to be in a cheesy mood to enjoy it (as well as stomach the horrible “laughing scene.”) Bonus: Can be played in tandem with FFX-2, which is basically the “Charlie’s Angels” version, and is ten times more retarded (or more fun.) FFX-2 is the only one in the series that lets you gang up on your enemies. Either way, these are the most “popcorn movie” games of the series.
Beyond that, I’m not a fan of FF12 (the 10000-Mile Jog) or FF13 (the one that caused my brain to explode after one hour.) And FF11 is just a multi-player thing that nobody got into.
Or alternatively, forget Final Fantasy and go pick up a copy of Chrono Trigger for the DS. I have nothing bad to say about that game.
Actually I just finished this last night, and for an episode where I thought I already knew all the puzzle solutions (thanks to the original build) I was surprised to find myself wandering the islands for six hours solving puzzles. It’s actually a really well done episode. The puzzles are tough and challenging, but not completely impossible since there’s always a clue somewhere to give me the hints I need. And to top things off, they’ve added this incredible action sequence/mini-game which wasn’t even in the build three months ago. I still call black magic on how they managed to put this together so fast considering how even a simple collision mesh used to provide them with months of technical bugs to iron out.