There is one single burning question which has plagued the industry, ever since the release and subsequent popularity of Doom and Mortal Kombat: are violent videogames to blame for society’s inherent evil? Is Harvester – the most shocking FMV adventure game, for real? Thinking about it a couple of seconds, the answer should be obvious:…
Everyone had a favorite videogame shop as a kid, where plenty of happy – or perhaps, not-so-happy – memories took place. Maybe it was EG or a Game, if one is UK based, or perhaps a Gamestop, Blockbuster or a mom-and-pop shop even. As for me, well, most of my games, as a child, I…
What do Zombies ate My Neighbors and Herc’s Adventures have in common? Well, not very much one would say. Zeus and Zombies do share the letter Z, but one is the Greek god of everything, the other is a smelly undead being usually hungry for meat/brains. Still Lucasarts would beg to differ, especially Mike Ebert…
Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo, created by Stan Sakai as an homage to japanese culture and cinema, it sits among the cult comic books of the 80s. Still being published today, the episodic comics revolve around the adventures of an antromoporphic samurai rabbit, with a mature and serious approach to japanese folk legends…
Pac-man 2: The New Adventures makes it pretty clear from the start that it is a sequel. But how does on go about making a sequel to one of the most famous arcade maze games ever? Also, weren’t there already several sequels to the original game? Well… apparently not as such. Ms. Pac-man was considered…
Since I’ve recently written at length about Will Wright’s crazy helicopter sim that managed to save Maxis from bankruptcy (at least for a while), I’d say it makes sense to take a look at Raid on Bungeling Bay, not only his first game but another one of the designer’s helicopter titles. Why all these games…
While the overall narrative on the importance of the release of SimCity 2000 might be a bit less impactful nowadays, it was a gamechanger, perhaps even more so than the original title, SimCopter? Well definitely less so. After the resounding success of its city builder, Maxis seemed to be struggling to find a market for…
Combining elements from different genres is – arguably – the basis for many modern indie gaming titles, especially ones with a social message or a complex narrative that consistently accompanies the gameplay. Going back to the early eighties, there was no overall definitions of genres, except for broad strokes such as “arcade” or “adventure”. Somehow,…
During all my childhood years I could never get into Japanese RPGs, no matter how hard I tried. I remember saying to myself and others how I couldn’t stand the genre. The more people talked about it, the more that reinforced my intentions of never playing a Final Fantasy title or anything similar. Yes, I…
Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths is a 1999 2D adventure game, one of the few non-racing games developed in Italy that managed to find an audience even outside of its original homemarket. A point’n’click wearing its influences on its sleeves: Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island and the classic Lucasarts titles. Set…