I remember this one from PC Gamer, but never had a chance to play until it came to GOG. Something just didn't seem like I was going to like it, but man, I really missed the mark on this one. Maps are pretty straight forward and fun, but they can quickly cross the line to uncharted, never play tested maps that will zap all the fun out of the game. Some of the harder maps have only 1 way to win and it's pretty much a spell expoit that allows you to destroy buildings quickly. If you use and, and don't run out of cash, you wan win. otherwise, you'll get rolled over and over again. Still a nice game that I never got to enjoy from 2000, so that was nice.
I found Railroad Tycoon in a discount bin in '94 and it was a pixelated mess, but it was so much fun that I played it for years. When this game came out in '98 I picked it up soon after it was out and I keep coming back to it even after 27 years; it just holds up. The graphics hold up so well and don't feel horribly dated like RT3. Less really is more. Even after all these years I've barely even scratched the surface of the scenarios as I always just end up playing a sandbox mode in North America. There are literally endless variables for some of the larger maps, so many that it would take you 27 years to even want to start playing one of the other maps, or to run through the campaign mode. Like I've said, there's just so much that you can do, or so many different ways to play that it's well worth the purchase. The only complaint is that if you buy out your competition via a merger it would be great to have bulk update option as it is very tedious going through each station and train making updates. It's time consuming enough rebuilding track routes of larger mergers, but having to go through each station and making sure they have water/sanding towers can really zap some fun out of the game. I've found it's easier to just retire all their trains and bulldoze their routes versus sorting it out, but again there are a lot of ways to play this game. As a whole, this is still a highly recommended train simulation, if not the best train simulation out there to this day.
Pirates! Gold for the Sega Genisis was the Holy Grail of video games back in the day. Blockbuster Video was the only place where I could rent it and man those were a great 5 days filled with hours of sailing, looting, and trying to find your lost family members/burried treasure. This PC version is a very close proximity to the Sega version, but you really miss out on the refinement that came with a console version. This version is a little clunky on movement as it just feels like the interface lags across the board. Trying to turn your ship real quick and avoid cannon fire? You're probably not going to make that turn. Trying to thread the needle with your ship to avoid the coral to disembark? Odds are you're going to lose a couple of ships. Don't get me wrong, you would hit coral all the time in the Sega version, but here it's mainly do to the sluggish keyboard and mouse controls and not because you're trying to push your luck. The town interface is pretty basic in this version. You move your mouse to the building, click, and bam, you're at the merchant's, the bar, or the mayor's house. It's not bad, and in fact it's quicker than the Sega version, but there was just something really cool about walking around town in the Sega version and hearing your captain's shoes clicking on the streets of the town. The music in this version is also not as refined and robust as the Sega version which is really disappointing as the music in the bar was easily one of my favorite bits of music in a game. It was just the music to Drunken' Sailor, but damn, I would leave that playing sometimes while doing my homework it was that good. Again, if you're expecting this to be the refined console version that was an epic adventure game you might be a little disappointed. But, if you're looking for a stripped down version for the PC, give it a go. I would suggest maybe you just skip this one just go emulate the Sega version and complete the Ten Great Pirate Quests!
I'm storming through puzzle games lately and stumbled on this gem from 1992 mainly because there was a sale on Indiana Jones games, lucky me! I played Lucas Arts games growing up and this is a great intro to the series of games if you've not played many, or any at all. The puzzles so far are enjoyable and not too difficult. Sure you have to use mayonaise to slide some things around, but with only a few things to interact with in each area you quickly find out what needs to happen. The graphics are what they are, but what you lose in realism you gain with a really good storyline equal to that of an Indiana Jones movie. You'll meet a bunch of characters, fly across the Atlantic Ocean in search of artifacts, and roam the desert on camelback in search of hidden locations, what's not to love? The only grievences are with the action interface, which is a little cumbersome. There's an option for 9+ things depending on where you're at in the game and while there are keyboard shortcuts it can still be tough to navigate at times. The biggest gripe I have is there are commands for Push and one for Pull which will really drive you crazy sometimes. A simple combination of these two would have been super, but hey it was 1992 and they loved their action interfaces. All and all though, this is really enjoyable and worth the purchase. I've been how suprised that you don't even notice the graphics or the action interface because it's just a fun game. Thanks for the time-killer!
This is a fun concept with a few interesting twists on your standard point and click puzzle game. This game came out seven years after Myst and four years after Riven, and it really leans on those giants for the foundation of the game, but falls short of the high bar both games set. The puzzles can be a little challenging, but it's not because they require a lot of information, it's because they tie into the cutscenes frequently. Some cutscenes you can replay, like those on tablets, but others, like the random encounters, you cannot. The acting and the dialog from the cutscenes are also pretty shaky and can really cause more confusion than you were expecting from a random encounter. However, burried in the bad acting are very important clues to solving the puzzle and you'll need the information to progress. If you missed them, you'll need to load a previous point and try to get all the clues again. My suggestion is to pause the game via the space bar as soon as you see an encounter and record the everything on your phone to watch as needed. It's a pain for sure, but it's better than finding a game walkthrough. The true issue you'll run into is the movement between points. There are so many great details to this game, but you don't get to seem them all because the movement points decide what where you go and where you stop. While cool at first the 360 rotation just adds another level of trouble when trying to find the correct area to click to travel. Nothing worse than wondering around for hours because you couldn't access the elevator because you didn't rotate 90 degrees counter-clockwise and see that the curtain is the way to travel to get on the elevator. The game needed some better way to show movement paths as the little pointers didn't help. I'm still trucking on this game though as there's a good story buried underneath the issues with navigation, interaction with objects, and the acting, or at least I hope there is. Thanks for the time-killer
PC games, like Blue Max, were difficult to play for a couple different reasons: 1.) you had to be lucky enough to have a system that could even play these crazy 3.5" software disks that were all the rage since 5.25" were becoming less popular, 2.) You had to have the hardware to run these games as there were many times something within your system didn't meet the criteria, so you couldn't play and 3.) you had to be in a location that even had a computer store that sold games to make the purchase. IF you were fortunate enough you might even have had a friend whose parents bought them all the games, which meant that purchasing $10 bucks worth of blank disks would score you at least a couple hundred dollars worth of games as there was no security measures in place for copying games. IT was pretty great. Blue Max just happened to be one of the first games that came in via the free pipeline (took 3 disks for the entire game) and it never disappointed to be enjoyable. There were some cool enough variations between the planes, and missisions to perform, so there was always hours of gameplay. I still have the game somewhere on the 3.5" disks and this made my day knowing I wouldn't need to spend hours trying to get the old game to work and instead just download this version and let the memories come pooring back in.
I picked out this game back when it came on a 3.5" floppy disk and have purchased it two additional times (CD and now digital) because it's just that much fun. For me the game is so enjoyable because of it's simlicity in controls while having a great story and depth. Sure, you'll wonder around in circles sometimes trying to figure out why you can't open a door. Then you'll forget to save the game before getting whaled on by a frost giant, or fall down a pit and lose your only healer, but that's part of the lure of this type of game. It's the basic logic puzzles and clicking that will keep you coming back year after year because you will have invested some time in the story and you will want to see it through to the end. I think the only item I find a little difficult at times is finding all the secret paths and navigating the false walls. Sometimes the secret paths are the only way you're getting out of certain areas, but once you know what you're looking for you will be able to pick them out while moving down the hallways and sewers of Waterdeep. The false walls are rare, and there is always a clue to be found somewhere on the really tricky parts. My recommendation is to start on Part II: The Legend of Darkmoon as it is the better of the three titles included, but you can't go wrong with starting on Part I and carrying your party over to Part II. If I recall correctly Part I is much shorter than The Legend of Darkmoon, so there's not as much of a commitment to beating the game as there is for Part II. Assault on Myth Drannor doesn't have the same feel of the first two, so don't start there, and don't let it take away from series as a whole. I have tried a few times to play Part III and it's really only for die hard fans of the series and has a much more open feel, which takes away from the claustrophobic feel that make Part I and II enjoyable and immersive.
