VW's Top 1000 Games

[hpmons]

#901: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Another one I was thinking of doing, but I really couldn't decide...Oblivion sucks for a whole multitude of reasons, but Morrowind lacked the "choices and consequences" that you could get from Daggerfall - the main choice being which House to align yourself with (somehow I always ended up choosing Hlaalu, and forgetting I chose it before).  In my mind what really sets it apart is the landscape and the architecture.  Oblivion was so, so deadly boring - yes it was nice going up a mountain and seeing all the pretty things below, but Morrowind had some really unique ideas.  It's still not something I could really consider a spectacular game, but as there's so many side quests it's a fun game to eat up time.

...But let's face it, it's all about the levitation.  Wooooooooooo! Increase your intelligence to an insane amount and then fly across the whole map in a couple of minutes!

I never actually completed either expansion packs.  I quite liked what I played of Tribunal, but somehow Bloodmoon seemed a bit dull and I didnt get far.

[Garfield And Friends]

#898: DOUBLE DRAGON

Genre: 2D scrolling beat 'em up
Format: Coin-op Arcade / Mega Drive / and more
Publisher: Taito
Year: 1987
Developer: Technos Japan Corp



Not the first left-to-right scrolling beat 'em up, but one of the most famous ones. Double Dragon was insanely popular in arcades back in 1987 and spawned numerous imitators in the years to follow.

Gameplay is very simple. You have an eight-way joystick which moves your fighter up-and-down forward-and-backward around the street, and three buttons (punch, jump, kick) that perform actions. While you can try to beat the stream of bad guys with your bare fists and feet, you can also beat seven shades of shit out of them with weapons that you come across, such as baseball bats, knives, oil barrels, and dynamite sticks! Double Dragon is quite tough on your own (ignoring the notoriously overpowered back elbow move), so you can increase your chances of rescuing your girlfriend Marian from the grip of the Black Warrior gang by a second human player entering the battle.

The eponymous double dragons are the blond-haired blue-jacketed Billy Lee (player one) and his brunette-haired wine-jacketed Jimmy Lee (player two, if present). The graphics are very well designed with big (for the year 1987) distinct sprites and well-drawn cartoon-like background levels.

On the audio front, the sound effects remain some of the beefiest thumps ever. When the large enemy Abobo starts rapidly clattering you across your temples, what rings out sounds substantial and painful. So many beat 'em ups and versus fighting games that followed have had weedy impact sound effects that have paled in comparison. In terms of music, every background tune in Double Dragon is spiffing, even the title music. Hearing all that pumping out of a real coin-op cabinet is fantastic!

Another nice feature in the game is when two players have reached the end and defeated the machine gun wielding boss, the Lee brothers have to fight between themselves in order for one to take the hand of the rescued Marian. All's fair in love and war!

Most of the home computer and console versions have been horribly converted. I don't like the tinkering that the GBA version got. The only fairly decent versions (outside of the coin-op machine) are the Mega Drive, Atari Lynx, and Atari 7800 ports. The 8-bit and 16-bit microcomputer attempts are diabolical!

So really, the original smash hit arcade version is THE version to play. Finally, a nod to the artwork on the box cover, which shows Billy and Jimmy arm-to-arm below the Double Dragon logo. Ace!

Double Dragon arcade 1st mission

[TotalNightmare]

# 897 - Warioware

Genre: 2D Mini Game
Format: Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 2003
Developer: Nintendo R&D1

Wario Ware, inc. - Stage three- 9-volt

It's one of the simplest games to pick up and play... and like all great games of its ilk, its hard to master. Warioware (or Made in Wario) is a game about games. Oh it tries to have some sort of a plot, but its basically a collection of 'wacky' characters with theme based mini games.

Each game requires you to be quick with the A button or D pad to succeed in a number of very short reaction games. Some games require a little more thinking time, but by and large, you'll be on edge waiting for your next mini game to start up. As you get further through the games, the speed needed to complete this mini missions will quicken as you get deeper and deeper into the game.

I've burnt up SO many hours playing with this game (almost as much as Tetris) and what i like most about it is that it has a very particular charm, identity and sense of fun that really makes it stand out from other copy cat mini game titles out there (Rabbids!). Its very ... odd. At times it seems to be almost cynically odd, as though it knows exactly what weird shit makes people sit up and pay attention... you could almost argue its deliberately there to take the piss out of that japanese humour we Westerner adore (Katamari, you cheeky tinker!)!

Its glorious too that Wario, once a rubbish bit player in other Mario titles, has now become king of Nintendo's Mini Game Empire. Although, he's been given a bit of a Pooche the Dog make over in translation from platform villain to kooky freakjob. However, the transistion has given him an empire built on fucking weird garlic jokes, ZZ Top lovin and games so random, the game should have been called BAMLEM!LOLZ!11.

The humour ranges from cute to 'oh grow up' but youcouldn't have one without the other. If nothing else, this games feels like a love letter to Nintendo, but with a tongue lodged so far into its cheek, it looks like its got a cock in its mouth. One of my favourite levels is the 9 Volt section, where you play through a selection of mini games based on classic NES titles (and even Virtual Boy - cheeky bastards!). Getting to play through Metroid, Donkey Kong, Zelda and Mario Bros in 30 seconds is a secret joy i go back to over and over.

With the Wii on the way, Warioware was also the point when Nintendo took the concept and dropped the weird/odd approach and dropped it infront of the 'Casual Gamers' gathering on the horizon. However, they repackaged it and called it Wii Play or Wii Sports... And then every one was making respectable mini games to appeal to the 'ah fuck it, just five more minutes' crowd. All the while Warioware continued to shuffle on doing its own weird thing for the hardcore (a casual game for the hardcore crowd, what!?). It delivered variations on the theme. Wario Twisted was a vesion of the game what had a gyroscope in the cart so that by titlting the GBA, you could play the games. Wario Touched was the DS 'touch my screen' approach and Wario on the Wii was the natuaral wand waving progression. There was Warioware Inc on the Gamecube, but that was just a fluffed up version of the original GBA original. They are all brilliant (in my opinion) but none of them had the wow factor, the charm or the damned addictivness of the GBA original. Its an instant and worthy classic in my book... It also had a brilliant toy box too, where certain levels could open up a daft toy on your menu screen - sometimes it was a rubbish clacker or somesuch, but in other cases, it was a fully working version of Doctor Mario - BIG WIN for me!

I've lost countless hours to this, it never gets old, always likes to mix things up, offers a cheap giggle everyonce and a while and stands up to constant replay value...

I once gave it to a friend to play for 'just five minutes'... i couldnt get it off the bastard 2 hours later! And he hates video games... Phhht Casual Gamers... what do they know, eh?

[Consignia]

Good call on Warioware. I love those games. I wish I actually had a copy of the GBA version. I've got the Gamecube title, but the experience is nothing like the GBA version, despite having the same mini games. I wish they'd do a pure Warioware again like the original, without relying on a controller gimmick as they have done in every version since.

[Geraint]

the gamecube version does have absolutely superb multiplayer though, more so than the wii version where it was more of a selling point.

[AsparagusTrevor]

The Wii version made you unlock the multiplayer mode and games one by one, which was really annoying when you wanted to take the game round to a mate's house to play Darts or Bungee Buddies.

[Gulftastic]

#898: DOUBLE DRAGON

Now we're talking! Classic two player game.

And one of the cheapest of cheap thrills, as you get a 'Princess' style knicker flash at the start.

[biggytitbo]

Double Dragon wasn't as good as Final Fight. That is all.

[biggytitbo]

Hunter
Year: 1991
Genre: Sandbox
Format: Amiga

Its full 3D, the gameplay is open ended, you can hijack cars, vans, bikes, boats, helicopters. Grand Theft Auto 3? No, Hunter on the Amiga, the game that did GTA3 10 years before GTA3 did! OK, it wasn't exactly the same, it had some tedious military backdrop more like Far Cry, but it was an amazing achievement on the Amiga in the early 90s - a full 3d, open ended world were you could do virtually anything you wanted. I remember playing this back in the day and recognizing what a different experience it was from everything else out there, but didn't have the vocabulary to describe it, precisely because it was so different. It looks incredibly crude now, but at the time it was something amazing.
Hunter Amiga

[Garfield And Friends]

#895: BENEFACTOR

Genre: 2D puzzle platformer
Format: Amiga
Publisher: Psygnosis
Year: 1994
Developer: Digital Illusions



Who likes puzzle-solving? Who likes platforming? Who likes zoomed-out 2D views? I do! You are the hero Benjamin E. Factor and your mission is to save a bunch of kidnapped alien folk who are trapped in various locations on the six moons of Minniat.

This involves avoiding contact with all manner of ne'er-do-well non-player-characters, climbing up and down ladders, flipping switches, avoiding traps like runaway boulders and much more before returning to the start doors to complete each level.

While reaching a kidnapped alien is not exactly straightforward, often getting back to the start involves enlisting the little guy's help to do so. Further on into the game you'll encounter monochrome kidnapped guys, who are not helpful like their coloured brethren, and need to have coloured paint poured over 'em before they can be rescued.

As alluded to earlier, the tiny graphics are excellent (with well done animations) and the puzzles are engrossing. Long, hard, and fun!

Amiga Longplay [384] Benefactor (part 1 of 2)

[Garfield And Friends]

#894: THE KARATE TOURNAMENT

Genre: 2D versus fighting
Format: Coin-op Arcade
Publisher: Mitchell Corporation
Year: 1992
Developer: Mitchell Corporation



Released by Mitchell Corporation in 1992, The Karate Tournament takes a distinct direction away from the then-prevalent trend for fantasy versus fighting games like Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. Whereas SF2, MK and rest had very many attack buttons, convoluted special move motions, outrageous character designs with superhuman agility, endurance and magical powers, The Karate Tournament does away with all that and opts for a very grounded approach to hand-to-hand combat.

You play as a nameless ponytail-sporting karateka who has entered a mystical fighting tournament back in the land of the rising sun. The graphics are quite realistic (colour palette aside), with nice Japanese garden backgrounds featuring prominently.

There are three difficultly levels that you can choose from: white belt, brown belt, black belt. White is the easiest and black is the hardest path to take. Bouts are structured around points, and it takes six points (successful hits) to win the match. A match lasts 60 seconds, but usually finishes long before the timer expires.

The controls are very simple (eight-way joystick and two buttons), but the attack and defense strategies are based on timing and positioning. You can defend high, mid, and low, and your attacks are based on the context of your character's stance as well as your control inputs. Attacks can either be regular or high-impact, with positives and negatives for both.

Beating the white belt path is quite easy, but man... the brown and black belt paths are hard as nails! Sound isn't a whole lot to write home about (except for one particular effect that makes your fighter sound like the most apologectic person in the world!). Both you and your CPU opponents (wearing helmets) are dressed in karate gis, with the fight judge in the background in traditional japanese garb too. Animation is excellent throughout, with an interesting 'blur' style to the fighters' movements and strikes.

The Karate Tournament (Mitchell Corp) Arcade game

[Garfield And Friends]

#893: TURN AND BURN NO-FLY ZONE

Genre: 2D arcade first-person flight shooter
Format: SNES
Publisher: Absolute Entertainment
Year: 1994
Developer: Imagineering



The SNES was known for its hardware-based background/sprite rotating and zooming capabilities. This was put to good use in a number of games, of which Turn And Burn is one. You're an American jet fighter pilot based on an aircraft carrier, and must complete mission after mission of hostile aircraft takedowns and island bombing raids.

The graphics are very nice (if a little sparse in terms of landmarks), with the cockpit being one of the best-looking ones from a '90s videogame. This stems from the game being a very arcadey affair, with no real 3D to speak of, just a mixture of MODE7 graphical effects and 2D sprites. Further graphical niceties are the look-behind view (to check on chasing enemies) and the pretty sunset and night-time settings (depending on the mission). The music is tense and low-key, which suits the game very well.

Putting your map to use is essential in order to quickly intercept enemies, as you've got to manage your fuel and ammunition levels while you fight and fly. You can refuel on-the-move (nice touch), but eventually you have to fly back to your aircraft carrier in order to reload your limited supply of missiles. Taking off is a doddle, but landing is less so.

Turn and Burn - no fly zone SNES

[Garfield And Friends]

#892: CAMELTRY

Genre: 2D maze racer
Format: Coin-op Arcade
Publisher: Taito
Year: 1989
Developer: Taito



Remember those mercury-blob mazes that were popular with kids in the 1950s and '60s? You know, a bit of liquid mercury sealed in a pocket-sized see-through plastic maze, where to object was to tilt the maze until you've navigated the metallic puddle to the end line? Ahhhhh, the days before poisoning concerns!

Cameltry is a lot like that, but instead you must guide a marble towards a goal by rotating the two dimensional maze around it, all against the clock. Simple, and very moreish!

Points and time extensions can be collected, and speed is best maintained by avoiding collisions with the course walls. The arcade machine had an analogue spinner control, which is very much preferred to really play the game as it should be played.

Cameltry - Beginner Course

[Garfield And Friends]

#891: COVERT ACTION

Genre: 2D puzzle action adventure
Format: MS-DOS / Amiga
Publisher: MicroProse
Year: 1990
Developer: Sid Meier / MicroProse



This game covers a multitude! A complex mix of role-playing, investigation, puzzle-solving, overhead action, and strategy. You're a CIA spy operative (Max Remington - either female or male) who must uncover a conspiracy, and all the while carrying out the sub-missions assigned to you by your boss. It is fairly open-ended how you tackle these missions and arrest enemy agents, and as you progress through them you find more information surrounding the wider conspiracy plot.

The graphics are good but not spectacular, but still they're clear and functional. Of the gameplay styles featured, the break-ins, cryptography, and electronics ones are good fun, though the driving sections are a bit of fluff (your car viewpoint is a tiny part of the screen while the overhead map takes up the rest) really.

There's quite a lot going on in Covert Action (the big manual that came with the game kind of hints to that), and the ambitious scope of the game works very well indeed.

Covert Action - The Angry Video Game Nerd

[Garfield And Friends]

#890: TOY BIZARRE

Genre: 2D platforming
Format: C64 / Spectrum
Publisher: Activision
Year: 1984
Developer: Mark Turmell



Back when Activision rarely put a foot wrong, they released Toy Bizarre. You're Merton, a toy factory worker, and on this particular shift the toys have gone berzerk with a life of their own! Stop the toys' bouncy botherings to bring order to the assembly line.

The way Merton goes about beating each level is to turn off the helium valves around the platforms. Left unchecked, the valves will fill balloons which rise to the top only to release their naughty cargo of wind-up toys. You can pop the balloons before they reach the ceiling, but beware of the large wind-up robot Hefty Hilda, who will send you packing if she touches you.

One of the ways you can best the toys is via the twinned pistons on the platforms. While one of the toys (including Hilda) is on a piston, you can jump on its twin on another platform to stun them, then it is only a matter of running over them to eliminate their troublesome presence.

On the audio front, the little jingle that plays before each hour's shift is neato! Every few rounds there's a 'safety check' bonus round, where Merton must turn off all the valves while Hilda and her crew do their utmost to turn them on again.

A peachy little game!

C64 Longplay - Toy Bizarre

[Garfield And Friends]

#889: JUDGE DREDD I AM THE LAW

Genre: 2D shooting platformer
Format: C64 / Amstrad CPC / Amiga / and more
Publisher: Virgin Games
Year: 1990
Developer: Random Access



Joe is a surly bloke charged with policing areas of Mega City One. Committing crime in his presence is not to be recommended. As it happens, there's a plethora of wrong-doing going on, and this particular future cop has to stomp out the troublemakers pronto, before ultimately confronting the Dark Judges.

To aid you in this quest, you've got your Lawgiver pistol (which in this game can take three kinds of ammo) and can call upon your Lawmaster motorbike to travel the levels at a higher lick (though at the expense of not being able to shoot while doing so).

Each level is filled with the guilty and the innocent, and you must reduce the crime rate in the city by killing the baddies and leaving the goodies alone. If the crime rate reaches its maximum then that's the end of your game. While dealing out insta-justice, each level has certain items that must be deactivated/activated before that area can be completed.

I'm most familiar with the C64 version which has well-designed chunky graphics. The Judge Dredd sprite is nicely drawn, as are many others, including objects like his bike. The six levels are nicely varied, and feature themes based on some of the more prominent stories from the 2000AD comic strips.

[Garfield And Friends]

#888: SHOWDOWN

Genre: 2D gambling and shooting
Format: Coin-op Arcade
Publisher: Exidy
Year: 1988
Developer: Larry Hutcherson / Exidy



Welcome to Showdown, a 5-card draw poker game (and a little bit of shooting too), but this time your opponents are animated with a Wild West theme. You're the stranger in town, and Dolly, Rawhide, and Doc are having a few hands with you in the local saloon.

Since you can see your opponents across the table, their facial expressions change with each card they receive from the dealer. Bear that in mind! The modicum of animation brings a nice touch to the game, as does the clear sampled speech fragments.

Your goal is clear: increase your chips and eventually take all from your opponents, including Dolly's diamond ring, Rawhide's 6-shooter pistol, and Doc's pocket watch.

"Step outside, you sidewinder!"

Succeed in doing so and you'll be called out by the disgruntled threesome. Now, it's up to you to shoot these varmints before they quickdraw you into an early grave! Do this right, and you'll play a harder game of poker. Do this wrong, and it's game over!

[Garfield And Friends]

#887: OUT RUN

Genre: 2D driving
Format: Coin-op Arcade / NEC PC Engine / Mega Drive / and more
Publisher: Sega
Year: 1986
Developer: Sega



This wonderful game reminds me of care-free summers in the late '80s. Dispensing with the rose-tinted spectacles, OutRun is a blast to play! Wide roads, blue skies, and not a traffic jam in sight! The graphics are still good (albeit in a bitmap-y fake-3D kind of way), and the tunes are utterly brilliant. Really cool music (you can choose from three tunes) for a really cool game.

OutRun is arcade in origin and in spirit. It's basically about steering left or right, and occasionally changing from high gear into low gear (there's only two on this particular roofless red Ferrari Testarossa). That's all the developers at Sega needed to make this game a challenge: avoid crashing into roadside structures and other vehicles, whilst maintaing high speed in order to reach the next checkpoint before the timer expires. Beating the game takes only a few minutes (once you're experienced), but they're quality minutes with such beautiful scenery passing by at a consistently fast framerate.

A novel aspect of this racer is that you get to choose between two routes at the end of each section (each section lasts roughly 65 seconds). Choosing to drive the left route makes the game a bit easier (less treacherous turns), while choosing the right route makes it harder. Ultimately, there's five possible end points, and five possible ending animations (which are all entertaining and definitely worth the effort of beating the game).

If I won the lottery, I would buy the deluxe sitdown arcade cabinet version with the hydrolic movement effects. Very tasty indeed. Even the mellow high-score music is fabulous. Outstanding!

OutRun (Arcade) Full Completion

[Garfield And Friends]

#886: KAMIKAZE

Genre: 2D side-scrolling shooter
Format: C64
Publisher: Codemasters
Year: 1990
Developer: Ashley Routledge and David Saunders



Though the game is called Kamikaze, ditching your plane downward is not necessarily the end for your hero. This little side-on arcade game on 8-bit home microcomputers is set in World War 2, and sees you flying your plane, careful to avoid or destroy oncoming enemy fighters.

On each level the first part of your mission is to collect some explosives, and the second part is to fly your aircraft into the gates of a prison, thereby freeing your captured comrades. Hurrah!

The scrolling (on the Commodore 64 version) is smooth, the plane moves to your commands promptly, and the little sprites are well animated. Apparently programmed by 'demo scene' experts Ash+Dave, don't you know!

[Garfield And Friends]

#885: INTERSTATE 76

Genre: 3D driving shooter
Format: Windows
Publisher: Activision
Year: 1997
Developer: Activision



I love 1970s vehicle-focused movies set in desertified parts of the USA. Desolation, chance encounters with lawless strangers, and only your iron horse or carriage to take you from dying of thirst in the harsh midday sun. And the closest thing to a mobile phone if you're lucky is a CB radio.

Which brings me to Interstate '76. Primitive 3D graphics abound, but they're by-and-large used right. The characters are stylised around the sparse polygons, rather than fighting against the technology. Anyway, you don't see them much beyond the cutscenes. It's really all about the cars and wastelands, and the visuals are decent enough for a mid '90s effort on that front (draw distances could be a bit better, but it's not a deal-breaker as it stands).

The story has you battling to stop a auto-bandit leader from detonating a bomb which will wipe out oil supplies in the region. Since fuel is already a scarce commodity there, this is a grave matter that needs fixin' mighty quick!

The action comprises many gun battles (guns on the vehicles, that is) interspersed with races and chases. There's story cutscenes connecting these missions, and even has CB radio conversations between the characters during missions too. The audio is top stuff (great music) and the game as a whole oozes '70s funkiness.

Interstate 76 mission 1

[rudi]

I'm beginning to get concerned by your otherwise excellent posts, GaF. Are you just postoing games you have/played or do you honestly feel they deserve a place in this list? Only (for example, though not the only example) you have included that Dredd game, often named (in my mind) as an example of terrible gaming, and your review does little to suggest received opinion is incorrect.

Sooth my furrowed brow, Garf; do it NOW.

[HappyTree]

#884 Beyond Good & Evil

Publisher: Ubisoft
Writer: Michel Ancel
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube
Release date: November 11, 2003
Genre: Action-adventure game



I absolutely loved this game. It had fun platform bits, cool speedboat races, a few puzzles, amazing artwork and engaging characters. You just felt that you really inhabited this new world. Wikipedia says:

• Beyond Good & Evil takes place in the year 2435  on the mining planet of Hillys, where a mix of human and anthropomorphic animal species coexist with the native wildlife. The once-peaceful planet is under siege by the insect-like DomZ; these aliens abduct beings and either drain their life force for power, or implant them with spores to convert them into slaves. A military dictatorship called the Alpha Sections emerges to defend the populace. However, the Alpha Sections seem unable to stop the DomZ despite their public assurances

It also says that this game was a commercial flop! That's a great shame, it's a wonderful story, well-told, and has now gained the status of a "cult hit".

I'm not a very demanding gamer as far as wanting a challenge is concerned. This game is pretty easy, but I found it at just the right difficulty for me never to get bored or stuck.

What struck me about it was the amazing variety of game styles this one game contained. I really felt like I was exploring a magical land with different and always fun distractions coming up ahead.

Flying, platforming, puzzling, boat racing, finding all the different  species of animals. And the best thing is it's been long enough since the first time I played it so I shall enjoy playing it again soon!

Beyond Good And Evil Walkthrough PC 28/33

[Garfield And Friends]

Are you just posting games you have/played or do you honestly feel they deserve a place in this list?

I've played thousands of games across all hardware. Only completed a fraction, mind.

The way I see it, a top 1000 list is a spacious thing and is going to include both 'only good' games as well as 'outstandingly great' ones, if such terms could be objectively agreed on. And speaking for my choices, if I really do like 'em as they pop into my head, I'll include 'em. That's it. I've not fancied some games others have posted either, and I'm not surprised if not all my choices hit the spot with others too.


rudi, maybe biggytitbo's idea of people voting for a shortlist from this longlist (once it's done) is worth doing. Should be easy. I think we've a better chance of producing an interesting read rather than the banal top ten-ish near-inevitability of zelda/mario/tetris/finFant/halo* found in so many of "Greatest Games Ever" lists within unimaginative print magazines and other games-dedicated online fora.












_{* though of course if these turn up as the most popular picks, then so be it.}

[Phil_A]

#883: Photopia

Developer: Adam Cadre
Format: Windows/Mac/Anything else that Z-machine runs on
Genre: Interactive Fiction
Year: 1998
URL: http://adamcadre.ac/if.html



You are on The Forum.

You can see:
Photopia

>EXAMINE PHOTOPIA

You'd have to be holding the Photopia to be able to do that.

>GET PHOTOPIA

The Photopia resists all attempts at movement.

>EAT PHOTOPIA

Don't be so bloody stupid.

>REVIEW PHOTOPIA

Ah, now we're talking. Interactive Fiction is a genre that has long since given up for dead by commercial publishers, and it's not too hard to understand why. Attempting to convince today's graphic-obsessed games demographic to play a game that's just a load of words on a screen would be a bit like to trying to convince a Ferrari owner to exchange their choice of vehicle for a nice sturdy horse and cart. But despite the lack of interest by professional games publishers, the genre has been quietly developing in the hands of amateurs and enthusiasts for many years, to a point far beyond the stereotypical "THROW KNIFE AT TROLL" days of yore.

[more]

And here's where Photopia comes in. Originally submitted by Adam Cadre for entry into the 1998 IF Competition, Photopia is Interactive Fiction that fully exploits the possiblities of the genre. You are effectively a participant in a short story, and while you have some control over your actions, the eventual outcomes appear to be pre-determined, and this ties into the larger ideas of free will that Cadre explores within the format of the game.

To give away too many plot elements would really spoil it, as Photopia really has to experienced "blind" with no prior knowledge of the story. But suffice to say, the plot involves non-linear storytelling, parallel worlds, astronomy and tragedy, and the result is an experience that is both satisfyingly intelligent and profoundly moving.

Purists might say that Photopia doesn't count as "proper" IF at all, as it has no real challenge or difficult puzzles, but this is actually where the game's brilliance lies. Throughout the story, Cadre is exploiting the player's familiarity with the genre to completely subvert your expectations in a way which will(hopefully) take you completely by surprise.

Although it won't take more than an hour to play all the way through, the experience will stay with you for much, much longer.

I wasn't planning on resorting to hyperbole, but do you know what? It's a masterpiece.

>GO EAST

You cannot do that.

A maurading pirate has entered the room!

"Har har!" says the pirate.

>KILL PIRATE

The Pirate guts you with his cutlass!

You are dead. Play again(Y/N)?

>_

[The Boston Crab]

Great review, tempted me to give it a whirl.

[biggytitbo]

You can play the previously mentioned personal nightmare online here - http://dosdose.com/game/678/personal_nightmare/

There's a ton of other old dos PC games playable online there too.

[rudi]

Great review, tempted me to give it a whirl.

It drove me insane after ten minutes.

"This is not a verb you need to use"

"This is not something I understand"

and so on.

That's why graphics are popular - I can just point at or move myself to where I want to go rather than trying to discover the exact words necessary.

[Phil_A]

It drove me insane after ten minutes.

"This is not a verb you need to use"

"This is not something I understand"

and so on.

That's why graphics are popular - I can just point at or move myself to where I want to go rather than trying to discover the exact words necessary.

Dude, it's really not that hard. They even give you a basic rundown of useful commands at the beginning. Just try everything, it's not like you can actually fail.

[rudi]

Maybe I'll get back to it when the football's not stimulating my impatience gland.

[hpmons]

#883: Photopia

Developer: Adam Cadre
Format: Windows/Mac/Anything else that Z-machine runs on
Genre: Interactive Fiction
Year: 1998
URL: http://adamcadre.ac/if.html

I did like this, but I'm always hesitant to call such things a game...There's no real variation in the way you can play it, and from what I remember, there's little in the way of puzzles, its much more of an "interactive story" than most IFs.

Maybe we should have an IF thread.

It drove me insane after ten minutes.

"This is not a verb you need to use"

"This is not something I understand"

and so on.

Then you'll just love this game.

Actually I'm quite tempted to put that in the list actually, it is just SO AWESOME, it made me giggle.  I don't think I ever completed it, but I think I got close.  It's one of my favourite IF games, its just so, so good.  SO GOOD.