Adventure Gamers - Forums

p41

Vote for up to five games you’d like to see advance to the next round.

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King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

Prince Alexander is haunted and tormented by his brief memories of the beautiful Princess Cassima and sets sail for her home in the Green Isles, but is shipwrecked in a storm. Alexander washes up onshore alone with nothing but the clothes on his back and some ship wreckage. He soon learns that Cassima is being held prisoner in her castle by Abdul Alhazred, the evil Vizier of the Green Isles who has murdered the King and Queen and plans to force Cassima to marry him so that he can rule himself. Alexander must expose the Vizier’s plot, stop the wedding, and free Cassima. Alexander also discovers that the islands of the kingdom are on the verge of war. Precious artifacts from each island have been stolen, and the different leaders all blame each other. This is widely recognized as the high point of the King’s Quest series for its in-depth plot, landmark 3D graphic introduction movie, and professional voice acting. Hollywood actor Robby Benson provides the voice for Prince Alexander, the game’s protagonist.

Police Quest 2: The Vengeance

Following on the heels of the successful debut title for the series, this second game in the series had improved graphics and soundtrack but also with the horrid copy protection. While waiting in prison for a re-trial, Jesse Bains (the “Death Angel” from the first game) kidnaps a guard, escapes from jail, and goes on a rampage to seek revenge on the people who have put him behind bars. The graphics are slightly improved and the game still operates via a parser interface. The major difference between this game and the original game, however, is the revised driving system. Gone is the manual driving system. You now travel to the location you want to go to by getting into your car and typing the name of the location, after which you are automatically driven there. Developed with Sierra’s new SCI engine, it focused more on detective and forensics work than the traffic-cop beginning of the original, while keeping the same realistic setting. The proper procedures for collecting and handling evidence are the main focus of many of PQ2’s puzzles.

The Neverhood

This is a unique clay-animated adventure. Born into a Neverhood that may never exist, Klaymen explores a land of Terrifying Creatures, Extraordinary Machines, and Mysterious Artifacts. Long ago the king of this world was betrayed by his trusted assistant. You must save the Neverhood by navigating Klaymen through a twisted plot of ancient secrets, witty inventions and monstrous puzzles to outwit your nasty foe. To unearth the truth, you must find and view 20 short videodiscs that have been scattered throughout this world, while solving a variety of puzzles as you go. The puzzles are not all that difficult if you are really observant about what you see and hear on your trek, and besides, there’s a built-in hint system within the game that you discover right away. It’s located where we all do our best thinking, in the ‘John’, and there you can always find inspiration about what to do next, written on sheets of toilet paper. The brilliant and bizarre full screen graphics are, quite simply, amazing, and both the movements and the facial expressions of the endearing characters seem absolutely real. The music in the game is rhythmic, funky and warped, with totally indecipherable vocals, and yet it’s the kind of music that you find that you’re tapping your feet to. Apparently over 3 tons of clay and frame-by-frame hand positioning of the characters was required to create the world depicted in the artwork.

Return To Mysterious Island

Inspired by Jules Verne’s book The Mysterious Island, you play a young woman who is stranded on an uncharted island. Attempting to break a world record by sailing around the world by herself, Mina is washed overboard during a storm and manages to swim to a beach. She must learn to survive by finding food and shelter and will eventually find a way to explore the entire island. During her adventure, Mina stumbles upon Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. The game features a non-linear storyline and a unique inventory management system. The majority of its puzzles are inventory object related and have multiple solutions. Readers of Verne’s book will recognize the locations and characters in the game.

Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!

This game in the popular comic adult adventure series featured more fleshed-out, cartoon style graphics and full voice acting. It was the sixth installment (due to the fourth game never being completed. It was the last Larry game created by Al Lowe. After many of the Larry games had gained a reputation for not actually featuring all that much raunchy content when analysed, this installment included some much more risque elements. The formula was much the same as the previous games: the “twist” was that Larry was a passenger on a cruise ship populated by parodies of famous people. Various other pop icons were parodied in the background. The plot revolves around Larry’s attempt at winning a weekly contest held on the ship by Captain Thygh, a gorgeous blonde. The player must come up with a variety of ways to cheat in each of Larry’s assigned competitions so that he can get the highest score and win the contest.

The 7th Guest

In the dawn of the CD-ROM era, a little known company named Trilobyte set off to develop a software that aimed to harness the capacity of the CD-ROM to deliver the multimedia capability of the home computer. The end result was the market hit called The 7th Guest. With its incredible graphics and sound effects, it has been considered by many to be the “killer app” that set off the CD-ROM market. Countless CD-ROM drives have been sold bundled with this software to show off the capability of the device. The story occurs seventy years ago, where an enigmatic drifter named Henry Stauf created a toy making empire by seemingly crafting incredible toys from his dreams. This reclusive, wealthy but twisted toy maker invited six guests to a party at his hilltop estate, promising to fulfill their desires for great wealth or power only to have them all disappear. Seventy years later, while visiting the now deserted mansion, you are suddenly transported back in time as an entity known as Ego only to witness their cold-blooded murders which revolve around a mysterious “7th Guest.” The identity of this guest is finally revealed when the evil Stauf and his sinister puzzles are defeated. High resolution SVGA graphics detail the mansion’s 22 rooms, along with fully pre-rendered transition Full Motion Video (FMV) clips between locales (first time ever used in a game). Soundtrack is scored by the reputable George Alistair Sanger, also known as The Fat Man around the MIDI circle. A new type of adventure at the time, the game lacked an inventory, dialogue options, or even a visible player character; its gameplay was entirely comprised of standalone logic puzzles, brainteasers, chessboards, and mazes. Its ground-breaking use of live actors, at a time when few adventure games even had voice acting, also opened the floodgates for a torrent of FMV adventure games in the years that followed.

Discworld

One of the most underrated adventure games ever, Discworld is based on Terry Pratchett’s pun-filled fantasy Discworld series, in which the whole world is carried through space by a turtle, and idioms and puns do have a life of their own. As bumbling wizard Rincewind, prevent the Dragon from destroying the world. The game has great humor (although dialogues drag on at times), and some of the most devious but logical puzzles ever designed. Famed Monty Python veteran Eric Idle’s performance as the voice of Rincewind is flawless, although some dialogues are very long-winded to the point of frustrating. Clever puzzles and hilarious animations, however, more than make up for it. Highly recommended for Pratchett fans and fans of zany adventure games in general.

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse

Paris in the spring. Shots ring out from a gallery. A robbery – a murder – and the beginning of another epic, original Broken Sword adventure. An adventure that will hurl intrepid lawyer George Stobbart and sassy journalist Nico Collard onto the trail of a murderous conspiracy forged in the cauldron of war-torn Europe. A conspiracy whose roots lie in mysteries older than the written word. Armed only with logic, integrity and a wry sense of humour - can George and Nico outwit evil forces both ancient and modern and save mankind from disaster? From a Curse forged by the Devil himself? The game is unashamedly 2D employing classical layout artists from studios such as Disney, Aardman, Universal and many others to create sumptuous, classically drawn backgrounds. You will burst out from Paris and London, going on to stunning locations throughout Spanish Catalonia and to deepest Iraq, the birthplace of civilisation.

7 - discworld
5 - kings quest 6

The Neverhood - 7
Larry 7 - 5
BS5 - 3
Return to Mysterious Island - 2

7 - KQ6
5 - PQ2

7 - Return to Mysterious Island
5 - Broken Sword 5
3 - The Neverhood
2 - King’s Quest VI
1 - The 7th Guest

This is definitely the hardest category out of any. It’s the first time I’ve wanted to award a lot of points to all games but one!

7 - Discworld (I wonder if the recent AGCP will increse it’s votes…)
5 - The Naverhood
3 - Return to Mysterious Island (Haven’t played it, but from what I’ve seen it is a must play for me)
2 - Leisure Suit Larry VII: Love for Sail
1 - The 7th Guest

1) Discworld
2) King’s Quest VI
3) Broken Sword 5

7 - Kings Quest 6
5 - The Neverhood
3 - Discworld
2 - Police Quest 2
1 - 7th Guest

7 - King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
5 - Discworld
3 - Police Quest II: The Vengeance
2 - Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail

7 - Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail
5 - Police Quest 2
3 - King’s Quest VI
2 - Broken Sword 5