Do you love Chess’s analog nature? Chess by mail? A chessmaster playing 25 people all at once, rotating around tables? What about the board sitting on the living room table that has a move made on it by your opponent only once or twice a day? How about leaving the game for as long as you want, having as much time as you want to ponder a move, or simply being told when it’s your turn while you do something, anything else in between? A game like this would still be competitive, while exacting no demands on your time and done at the pace you want.
PC
In the Back to the Future‘s fourth episode, Double Visions, it’s clear that we’re getting to the end. The small plot segments in previous installments are finally being tied in, action is reaching a fever pitch, and conveniently all the minor characters’ stories are being wrapped up so they’re out o the way for the grand finale.
(As with the rest of our episodic reviews, we’ll avoid spoilers for this episode but have no problems spoiling the previous ones. We’re also not talking about the engine or character designs, since they’re not new from episode to episode. They’re meant to play in order, and you can look at our reviews of the first, second and third episodes for information on those.)
It seems the series likes kicking off episodes with action sequences and crazy plot developments. Most would have these scenes be the ends of the previous parts, and that would even make sense from a narrative standpoint, so to have the wrap-up of the 1985-Edna setting at the beginning of this part (that’s largely about 1931 again) seems a bit strange. It’s possible that Telltale wanted the variety that having both settings in the game brings.
In a design decision that is just starting to bore us, everything centers around a laundry list of objectives for one specific goal. (Last episode, it was the demerits.) What’s most frustrating, we think, is that these goals just aren’t the interesting parts of the world. We know it can work; thinking through it, the first Back to the Future movie was structured in a way that there were multiple goals to getting Marty’s parents to fall in love. The third installment, Citizen Brown, had many alternate-timeline references, and those were great. The beginning piece of Double Visions makes some nice movie references, but the latter arc relies too much on original ideas to really capture that nostalgia.
To try to crank up the sense of urgency (or just possibly to try to make recycled environments look different), Double Visions uses more tight shots and dynamic camera angles. This creates a bit of an old-Sierra feeling, where you enter largely static views where items have carefully-curated places on the screen. If they went all the way with this, it’d be great! As it is, it’s just a bit off, as Marty himself blocks your view or gets stuck trying to navigate these tight, cramped environments.
All that said, the story’s hanging in there, and after playing Double Visions, we’re still excited about the season finale. We’re hoping it’s the best yet, and with the frantic pitch an end can reach, it has a chance.
Din’s Curse: Demon War from Soldak Entertainment is all about atoning for your characters’ past sins; unfortunately it has a few sins of its own as well. An overhead action RPG in the vein of Diablo and Dungeon Siege, Din’s Curse does not bring much new to the table with one notable exception: almost everything is randomly generated. Demon War is a new expansion for the game that brings a new character class and enemy types to the game, but the core is largely unchanged. There is almost no story to speak of, and the presentation and graphics are right out of the late nineties. If you enjoyed Diablo and its dungeon crawling ilk, however, Din’s Curse: Demon War may be a nice way to bide the time until Diablo III is released.
Basically, the story of Din’s Curse revolved around your character being recalled from the dead by the god of honor Din to fight endless waves of undead and demon monsters in order to make things right for your past misdeeds (what they are, I can only guess). You will only figure out the premise of the game by talking to NPCs in town, if you are so inclined. Even the very first time you play the game, you are plopped into the world with almost no direction beyond a terrible hint system, in the midst of a dozen NPCs and the oversized, deep-voiced god Din himself. You will need to figure out on your own that you need to pick up quests from these characters—and you will need to figure out on your own that failure to do these quests in a timely manner can have dire consequences; most of them are time-sensitive.
One of my first experiences with the game was having my entire town’s population destroyed by invaders within the first half-hour, and I had no idea why. The good news is that failure is not a huge deal: you just generate a new world and start the dungeon diving anew. If you are anything like me, you won’t really know why you are in these dungeons in the first place and you will feel very little attachment to the world and its inhabitants. The only real reason to fight onward is to strengthen your character. When you get down to it, self-improvement is the driving force behind most RPGs, but it is a bit jarring to have any presupposition of a story thrown to the wayside.
The only thing that remains constant throughout the game’s ‘campaign’ (I use the term lightly) is your nameless character and his stats and skills. Every time you fail to succeed in defending your home town, you can start again with the same character in a new world that will look remarkably similar, but different from the old one. All of the RPG archetypes are available for leveling, including but not limited to: Mage, Warrior, Rogue, Ranger, and as of the new Demon War expansion, Demon Hunter. That last one is particularly fun to mess around with. Each class plays differently, and you can even create your own hybrid class, but doing so will sacrifice one of the character’s skill trees. Leveling up and gaining new skills is compelling, and like Diablo you can save up your skill points to invest in the more powerful spells and abilities, foregoing the more basic ones, if you should so choose. There is no doubt that Din’s Curse is all about the gameplay; killing countless enemies, fulfilling quests, and investing skill points in your character are all satisfying to do, and there is definitely fun to be had down underground. The sheer variety of abilities and enemy types provided by the game is undoubtedly enough to keep some people playing for quite some time.
If you are a lover of dungeon crawlers, and wish to be teleported back in time a decade or so, Din’s Curse: Demon War is right up your alley. The game looks and feels like something from that era; the graphics are basic at best, when compared to most games released today—and the same can be said of the game’s UI and presentation. The gameplay is fun when you get into it, but whether or not it is fulfilling is something you will have to figure out on your own. This game, like most RPGs, can be a timesink, and without much in the way of motivating factors such as an engaging story or even a persistent world, you might find yourself wanting to spend your time on something more meaningful. The game does give you the option of increasing the amount of experience you gain, thus quickening the pace of the game, but progress still takes time, as it should. If all you want to do is level up a character by fighting hordes of undead and demons with the click of your mouse, Din’s Curse: Demon War might just do the trick.
Pros: Variety of skills and enemies
Cons: Graphics and presentation are from 1998, lack of story and persistent world may lead to apathy
I have fond memories of playing Sierra adventure games as a kid. I helped Rosella save the land of Tamriel in King’s Quest IV, I nearly peed my pants playing Shivers 2, and I laughed myself silly playing all of the Space Quest games over and over again. And after my brother and I went to bed, I would listen to my parents playing Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. Once I knew it existed I had to play it, and I was hooked. Adventure games were great by themselves, but LSL was fun, funny, and it felt a little naughty. Hector: Badge of Carnage feels much the same with one key exception – I understand all of the jokes now.
The titular Detective Inspector Hector is a rude and lewd excuse for a detective. He would rather do the bare minimum to continue drawing a paycheck than put in a long day’s work to get the job done right, and when the town of Clappers Wreake is taken hostage, it falls to Hector to negotiate with them. Since Badge of Carnage is an adventure game, Hector doesn’t negotiate so much as he takes every demand the terrorists make (strange as they are) and fulfills them. Throughout your “negotiations” you will fix up the town clock tower, start up the town’s renovation campaign, and do your best to knock the Clappers Wreake porn industry down a few pegs.
Badge of Carnage is going to be both familiar and foreign to fans of Telltale. The visuals are cartoony without looking juvenile, the dialogue is great, the voice work is fun (it sounds like about five guys are giving their all and voicing every character – even the female ones), and the puzzles make sense once you take a step back and turn off your sense of disgust. You will have to scoop a paperclip out of a toilet using an old shoelace and a used condom. All of the adventure game staples are there. You need the paperclip, you have both the lace and the condom in your inventory, the two items need to be combined, and after solving the puzzle you can move on.
I am looking forward to episodes two and three of Badge of Carnage, and that is really the highest praise one can give an episodic adventure game because it did its job. I played part 1 and am now chomping at the bit to play parts 2 and 3.
Pros: Great writing, fun raunchy humor
Cons: The game occasionally stutters after a scene plays.
The Next Big Thing is an adventure game in the classic sense. These days, the genre is almost entirely dominated by Telltale, with its similar-feeling and playing titles. If you’re familiar, though, with the design of days past, you’ll feel at home with Pendulo’s latest. You have mostly-static screens and menus, and click-to-navigate is your only option.
The Next Big Thing is also very, very weird.
The story follows reporters Liz and Dan, as they go around an area that’s sort of like Hollywood but also with monsters and other ridiculous things. Liz is the go-getter, and Dan doesn’t care so much. Liz is constantly referred to as strange by other characters, as they make fun of her speaking style as awkward and full of non-sequiturs. It’s clearly meant to give the game some character while explaining the weird dialogue choices you’re given, but here’s the problem: everyone says awkward things and blurts out non-sequiturs. It’s an acquired taste, but those who really get into it will probably love it. It just adds one more barrier to a game with a small target demographic.
Adventure games are never without their frustrations in puzzle solving; after all, without challenge there isn’t much reward. Unfortunately, The Next Big Thing‘s difficulty seems just a bit too artificial. Despite being able to wander around and see items and talk about subjects that will be relevant in the near future, you can only really act on one immediate task. See that person holding that thing and know you need it? You can try to talk to them about it now, but only later will that help, and it’s not because what you did in the interim would affect that. It’s sad, but genre purists can get over a lot of the pitfalls.
I’ll say this, though: the game looks great. The characters have a lot of personality, and there’s lots of imagination in the worlds and situations. (Maybe a bit too much sometimes. Did we mention the game’s weird? Because it’s quite weird.) Regardless, while in the gameplay itself the game feels dated, the engine’s a nice one, and we’d imagine it’d be a fun passive experience when watching others play. (Especially notable is the game’s almost-seamless use of static backgrounds with polygonal characters. That’s hard to pull off.)
Those who have spent maybe a bit too much time with episodic adventures will be surprised by the game’s length, as it isn’t a short experience. (Unless you click through everything crazy-fast, I guess.) The puzzles in the game don’t exactly ramp up in difficulty like any standard game, but they stay relatively consistent, at least.
The Next Big Thing is one of those games that should develop a cult following: those who enjoy it will be talking about it years and decades later, like Grim Fandango or Sam & Max Hit The Road. For everyone else, it may not hit the spot now. It’s worth checking out, though, so give the demo a taste and, if you like that, you’ll enjoy the meatier full course.
