Machinarium - Review (PC and Mobile game)

It was love at first sight. From the moment I first saw ‘Machinarium’ sitting in the list of recommended games I knew it was to be mine. For a price so meager it was almost an insult I downloaded an exceptionally tiny game of around 200MB and proceeded to be astounded by a puzzle game that was bursting with personality, story and beautifully hand drawn artwork. 

Developer: Amanita Design
Genre: Adventure, puzzle, point and click
Release date: 16th October 2009 
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, OS X, iPad 2, Windows Phone
PEGI: 7+ (some violence)

'Machinarium' is a point and click puzzle game where you take control of a small, unassuming robot in a robotic society that’s victim to a gang of antisocial thugs. What pulls this game aside from the competition is most certainly its art style, just look at those screenshots, it’s a beautiful game that perfectly portrays a crumbling, rusting city and citizens living on the brink of existence. There’s so much detail and so many little touches to the environments and animations that you can only truly appreciate it by playing it yourself as the screenshots alone don’t do it justice. Your nameless, noiseless robot protagonist is quite obviously a character who’s lived under the thumb of others his entire life and in the first ten minutes you see him discarded in a rubbish tip, turned away by the authorities and then plummet into a grotesque sewer system. His somewhat bullied ‘childhood’ is hinted at in the same primary communication that all other characters utilize; soft, inoffensive thought bubbles that either reflect on past events or communicate what they want from you. Even without words it’s easy to empathize with your humble robot character as he totters about, helping others and trying to do some good in a corrupt and rundown city where crime is king and the mechanical officials are about as helpful as a robot bathhouse. 

Yet it’s not just its unending charm that’s there to impress, graphical style and personality can only carry you so far after all, ‘Machinarium’ thankfully manages to bring in a solid compilation of puzzles, smooth and thoughtful storyline additions and overall a fair bit of bang for your buck. The game’s by no means long but there will be times you’ll be held up trying to advance as the puzzles usually require some thought and not everything is immediately obvious. Whilst the puzzles generally rely on some good old item combination then using items in the world environment there’s a decent spattering of originality in the form of its unique ‘stretching and shortening’ feature of your robot friend.

In a traditional ‘Bender’ fashion you can lengthen your robots legs to the point where he can access previously out of reach areas or shorten him to a hobbling, squashed up little robot that can do all sorts of things in this new, skirting board level territory. It’s different and its interesting and what strangely appealed to me is the influence of retro gaming that makes its appearance in old, disused arcade machines and the in-game walkthrough that can only be accessed by playing through increasingly difficult levels of a spaceship game. I liked this allusion to how everything is old and past its time and I also liked the option to use a walkthrough in-game but by earning it through a rather difficult mini-game that didn’t feel out of place at all in the overall scheme of things.

With ‘Machinarium’ there’s just this feel that everything slots together and everything’s very well thought out and crafted from tiny animations like the slurping up of a coil of string when you pick some up to the slow, measured teetering movements when you’re tall. Everything you do has a special animation that will make you squeal with excitement, well maybe not squeal, I do get a little overexcited with indie games, but you get my point, it’s cool stuff. The game is incredibly cheap for what you get and quite honestly I can’t think of a game quite like this one from its design to the way it plays out it’s most definitely an experience and one I applaud for both its squeal-inducing ability and its confidence at portraying a silent hero in a rusted world. All in all, I loved it, even if I am five years late to the party. 

The Good:

• Very well animated, lots of attention to detail
• Beautiful, hand drawn graphics that constantly impress
• Interesting areas to explore
• Full of personality
• The lack of dialogue surprisingly pleasant
• Pretty decent storyline with room for a sequel
• Challenging puzzles that will keep you guessing
• Extremely atmospheric

The Bad: 

• A little slow in places
• Some puzzles are extremely difficult

The Score: 9/10 

Final thoughts: "I genuinely struggled during this game as the puzzles are pretty damn hard, and frankly the walkthrough mini-game is no walk in the park either. Regardless, the game is well worth playing as its beautiful, full of personality and presenting quite a unique experience and premise."

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The Cat Lady - Halloween Special Review (PC game)

Susan is no longer with us; she’s gone to the world and, even before her suicide, she’s been gone a long time from society’s apathetic eye. But even after taking copious amount of sleeping pills Susan is still unable to escape her miserable existence as she awakens in a field, unsure of whether this is life, death, or somewhere in between you take control of her life and guide her staggering footsteps through the world, searching for a way out; of where, neither you nor Susan truly knows. Whereas death is supposed to be the end of a story for Susan Ashworth, it’s the beginning.
Developer: Harvester Games
Genre: Adventure/Horror/Point and Click
Release date: December 1st 2012
Platforms: Microsoft Windows
ESRB: M - Mature

‘The Cat Lady’ follows Susan’s journey back to life after she meets an old woman who wants to strike a deal with Susan to allow her the peace she longs for. Susan is instructed to seek out and destroy several monsters that lurk in the world of the living on behalf of the old woman. Despite Susan’s misgivings she finds herself powerless to resist and, after a brutal and bloody way of sealing the deal, finds herself transported back to ‘life’ but with a catch; she’s now temporarily immortal. For many, this would be a wondrous gift but for an exhausted, suicidal woman it’s an ironic curse that points and laughs in Susan’s face as she treks on with her journey and seeks to complete her task just so she can rest her weary soul and finally be allowed to die. 

It’s a cryptic, surreal and often disturbing journey that encourages you to lose yourself in the darkness of depression before guiding you out of it again. This is a game where the monsters are not aliens with guns or gloomy figures lurking down the other end of a corridor, this is a game where you are the monster in the dark as Susan is flung between anger, doubt, regret, fear and anxiety as she longing for death yet craves revenge. The creatures you encounter are reflective of the demons of Susan’s soul that, as anybody who has suffered from depression will tell you, are not easily vanquished. There will be a blood, and not just a little bit, the game is unashamedly macabre and Susan is forced to undergo several brutal deaths only to be cruelly resurrected again. The imagery of the game is morbid as well and at least every single chapter has a way in which the player may allow, or actively encourage, Susan to kill herself. There’s plenty of black humour in the game as well which I found appealing as, though this game touches on very serious subjects, it’s easy to become jaded to the horrific nature of things when you’ve lived with them for so long. Whilst the game has some extreme scenes of gore these tend to be offset by slower, storyline focused cutscenes so it’s not just a blood-fest, it’s a very well written and intelligently explored blood-fest. If anything, I would describe this as a game that is beautifully horrific. 

Whilst the narrative is by far its strongest point the puzzles are actually fairly good, though not extremely difficult, if anything they are there to provide you with a means to an end rather than as something to frustrate you and slow your progression. Since the game is mostly about atmosphere and storyline I didn’t mind that the puzzles were a little easy but, saying that, they were no walk in the park either and I had several moments of backtracking and getting confused as to what I had to do next. Importantly, the puzzles didn’t feel repetitive and the constant switching of environments helped in this aspect as nothing ever felt like a chore to proceed and it was all very much necessary and interesting. Some puzzles feature some obscure clues about how to complete them that are not just restricted to visual ones, there’s a fair few aural cues which are great for the atmosphere of the game. Generally, I found the audio very good even though the voice acting came across as a little stiff now and then and there’s a very irritating sort of static noise that’s quite loud and intrusive yet entirely intentional. I would have preferred that to have been either non-existent or with the option of turning it off as it was distracting and often made the characters hard to hear. The musical score is brilliant and I have no complaints there and, whilst I said the voice acting could be a little wooden at times, it occasionally did suit the atmosphere and I get the feeling that the developers wanted everything to be very drab and unemotional. Unfortunately at times this style did not suit the on-screen events. 

The beautiful horror of this game is wrapped up in its storyline but enhanced by the unique art style that is a cross between animated newspaper cuttings and old Polaroid photographs giving the entire game a gloomy yet striking appearance. Just like Susan’s life, everything feels a little pasted together but despite this the animations are smooth, the facial expressions are detailed and everything just flows so perfectly. Visually, the game feels very much like a 1990s game which for a point and click puzzle game is just the perfect era for me, especially with it being a horror game as it reminds me strongly of much beloved games such as ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’, ‘Sanitarium’ and ‘Phantasmagoria’. Amusingly, the game also feels quite 1990s due to the very low resolution that it plays in but this doesn’t bother me so much. There are a couple more problems with ‘The Cat Lady’ though that does tend to spoil the experience a little; the controls for instance are fairly unresponsive, especially during dialogue when you’re trying to skip lines you’ve already read. Susan also does walk incredibly slowly and at one point I was quite sure I had time to go make a cup of coffee in the time she walked from one side of the screen to the other. When you’re lost and backtracking to find things, this is extremely irritating though it may just be my own impatience. Simply, a ‘double clicking to skip to the next screen you clicked on’ feature may be good as I recall several point and clicks doing this in the past. 

Complaints aside, I was utterly entranced by this game and it’s by far one of my favourite point and click adventure games, even with the huge spattering of horror and gore that’s been slapped all over the place. It’s a brilliant example of mature themes that have been done right in a way which is thoughtful, sensitive and intelligently where it doesn’t shy away from controversial issues yet doesn’t make a mockery of them either. If themes such as suicide, mental illness, depression and death offend you then this is not a game you’re going to get on well with as it is utterly unashamed in its approach to the reality of how some people want to die and will go to any length to do so. Whilst the gore side of things can be sometimes a little over the top I found it shocking yet, oddly, refreshing as there have been plenty of these sorts of games that never go too far and tend to pull back before things go too far. ‘The Cat Lady’ never pulls back, it’s in it to win it and I love that about it. The story is fantastic, full of emotion, suspense and drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat and second guessing yourself the entire way through. Susan herself is a brilliant character with genuine character development as you see her go from shy, meek and weary to a woman with a purpose, confidence and strength and quite simply it’s a pleasure to guide her through these changes. If there’s one game you play this Halloweeen, make it ‘The Cat Lady’, you won’t regret it.

The Good: 

• Strong character development
• Interesting, captivating storyline that keeps you guessing
• Mature themes done right
• Striking yet low-key appearance is very appealing
• Decent inventory/dialogue puzzles that challenge but don't frustrate
• Very surreal and disturbing atmosphere

The Bad:

• Some audio issues such as hit and miss voice acting/distracting static
• Some may find the use of gore over the top
• Controls can sometimes be unresponsive, Susan walks too slowly

The Score: 9/10 

Final thoughts: "This has definitely become one of my most beloved point and click games, everything about it feels a bit 90s adventure game which I love and frankly it's been too long since I played something this surreal and this creepy."

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5 Unusual But Memorable Escape Games (Free browser games)

There are quite literally hundreds of room escape games out there on the internetz but many of them are nothing but bland, unoriginal pixel hunts through plain, 3D rendered rooms with no semblance of story or purpose. Now, after a while of trekking through the same sort of scenario; you’re in a room for some unknown reason, find a way out of it, I had completely fallen out of love with the genre so decided to look for something a bit different. As it turns out you can still find that addictive escape centered gameplay but without the constraints limiting it to just one or two rooms. Here I’ve compiled 5 escape games, rooms or otherwise, that set themselves apart from that ocean of key hunting, door handle wrestling and keycode hunting so you can experience something that’s a bit different, creepy, funny or just downright weird. 
 

Loom Dawn

You begin this game in a completely dark room and your main objective is to illuminate this space, piece by piece, uncovering more and more of your surroundings as you advance. For much of the game you’re unable to see where exactly you’re trapped and this element of the unknown adds a slightly spooky atmosphere to the game as you find another little light source here, uncover a small area there, and the absolute silence generated by a lack of music is all the more unnerving. As you light up pieces of the room you’ll uncover puzzles and these are most definitely not easy ones to the point where you may find that you spend a good hour or so fumbling about in the dark though, thankfully, you can save your game should you want to come back to it later. Loom Dawn’s challenging nature borders on the frustrating but it really is an exceptionally well crafted game that offers up a very satisfying feeling as you solve each little puzzle and get a little closer to finding out its intriguing secrets. If you fancy a challenge and something that’s more like your traditional ‘room escape’ game then Loom Dawn, part of a large series of ‘Loom’ escape games, is something you certainly cannot go wrong with. Just remember to settle down with some kind of caffeinated drink and sustenance as you’ll be stuck here in the dark for quite a while. Try playing the game on its original website here.
 

Samsara Room

Samsara Room is Eastern in its philosophy as Samsara tends to refer to the endless cycle of reincarnation and, with this in mind, Samsara Room is about breaking this cycle, escaping the room and achieving enlightenment. What this translates into is a very surreal and disorientating game where you must travel through the same room but in different perspectives, solving a puzzle here and there in the form of collecting things and using them in the appropriate ways. The game is not particularly challenging once you understand the logic of the game but it may start out being rather confusing as everything is just so unusual. There are some very unexpected moments and you’ll find the whole experience rather dreamlike but with a definite, logical pattern to the way in which you do things so it’s not unapproachable. Overall I loved the stylish simplicity of this unusual game and as room escapes go this is definitely a memorable one. Try it out by following this link here.
 

You Find Yourself In A Room

The title may sound simple but this is anything but, to begin with you interact with the game by typing in the commands you want to perform similar to the old text parser games from the 80s. Unlike most other room escape games this one has no graphics and instead everything is done through text on an otherwise blank black screen. This may sound boring but the draw of this game is that the game itself is self-aware and doesn’t really like you. What starts out as the passive-aggressive chiding of a game descends into a full scale aggressive onslaught on your feeble puzzle solving abilities and generally inferior existence as a human being. It’s absolutely hilarious and most definitely not for minors but this is a rather unforgettable, utterly unique game that will change your outlook on the genres of not just text games but room escape games too. The game takes not much longer than 5 minutes but it’s a 5 minutes well spent and can happily be played by following this link here. 

Mystery of Time and Space

Fondly known as MOTAS this is the room escape that will truly challenge your puzzle solving abilities and is, for those unfamiliar with room escape games, supposedly the original in this genre. What sets this game apart from the others is not only its function as a blueprint for future generations but for its intelligent, logical puzzle system that doesn’t degenerate into a pixel hunt where you click in every conceivable portion of the screen. There are over 20 levels with a variety of different puzzles that pleasantly follow an intriguing story about parallel universes and unlocking the mysteries of time and space. Whilst the ‘storyline’ of a room escape game tends to focus around some sort of hazy back story MOTAS’ story evolves as you play and keeps you wanting more. The puzzles all vary in their style and difficulty level so whilst in some cases you’ll be using lateral thinking to advance you’ll find that, in later levels, you must travel back in time to earlier levels to acquire the items needed to continue in the present. The game boasts quite a few features you don’t normally see in flash games; you can save your game, which is a brilliant feature as the game is so long and difficult, switch to full screen mode and chat to others in the online forum it supports. MOTAS is possibly my favourite of all the room escape games and is a definite recommendation for those new to point and click escape games and hardcore puzzling veterans alike. You can play it here via the developer’s website. 

Daymare Town

Daymare Town actually consists of a series of four ‘room escape’ type games with three spin-off titles and rather than escaping a room you’re trying to escape from Daymare Town, a place that’s both haunting and fascinating. Daymare Town appears to be deserted and you’ll go through the usual motions of finding items, piecing together puzzles and clicking around the place in an effort to escape this eerie, black and white sketched town. The atmosphere is perhaps its most notable feature and there were a few times where I was genuinely creeped out and jumped a few times which I found to be unusual, in a good way, for this genre. Whilst room escapes tend to have a subtle ‘how did you get here’ vibe there’s usually nothing creepier than a pool of blood or a bit of knocking on a door but Daymare Town ranks it up a notch and there were several times I was genuinely convinced I could die if I lingered too long. The puzzles are, in my opinion, pretty damn difficult especially when compared to the creator’s, also excellent, Submachine series and I struggled to get through it without a walkthrough. Everything tends to be very well hidden with very specific locations you must click on that can be easily missed especially considering the art style of the game. Whilst the Daymare Town series is no pixel hunt there’s still a definite need to scour every area thoroughly before moving on. As an added bonus, you can pay a small fee and get any of the Daymare Town games in fullscreen mode with HD graphics, enhanced sound effects and a sneaky hidden extra. Of course you can always play any of the free versions online by following this link. 
 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post of my 5 top escape games, be sure to +1 and comment if you did, feedback is always appreciated! Happy gaming and watch this space for more of my Top 5 lists :)

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Five Nights At Freddy's - Quick Review (PC and Android game)

If there’s one thing that’s going to effectively terrify me it’s those things that are supposed to be innocent, but aren’t. You know what I’m talking about; clowns, dummies, children’s toys, giant humanoid animal costumes, the horror genre has been drawing on the things from our childhoods and turning them into our greatest nightmares long before the arrival of ‘Child's Play’ or ‘Killer Clowns from Outer Space’ so it’s no great surprise to see them in horror games as well. ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ is set during the hours of midnight and 6am as you, the new night watchman at Freddy's pizza place, must attempt to survive with limited defences against some horrifyingly deadly mascots. This is a game where your own paranoia and attempt at protecting yourself will push you closer to sealing your own twisted fate as each and every nervous twitch lowers your resources and, ultimately, your chances of survival.

Developer: Scott Cawthon
Genre: Survival Horror, Point and Click
Release date: August 8th 2014 (August 27th for Android)
Platforms: PC and Android
ESRB: M - Mature

‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ works its way deep into my own insecurities and draws out of me a fear I didn’t even know I had until this game. The enemies you’ll encounter are anamatronic animals that sing and dance for children during the day, annnnd attempt to stuff the new night guard into a suit filled with cross beams and metal bits during the night. Needless to say, this action would kill you so it’s your new priority to survive five nights as the new security guard because presumably he really, really needs the money and values his life less than this. It sounds crazy but who am I to judge, finding work is difficult these days and the fact that you’d have to physically nail me to the chair to get me to stay there is no bearing on what this guy would do, apparently.  As an added extra you can define the AI of each individual enemy for two additional nights where, upon completing all five nights, you'll notice a night six is suddenly available. The reward for completing the seventh night is not just bragging rights at your own stubborn survival but in valuable storyline explanations where you finally learn the dark secrets behind the deadly mascots.

In order to survive five nights at this disturbing pizza place you must carefully manage your power supply whilst monitoring a bunch of CCTV cameras to watch where those dastardly murdering critters are going. They only move when you’re not watching them, reminiscent of the Weeping Angles from ‘Doctor Who’ which can only spell trouble, so by ignoring the cameras they’ll just walk on over to where you’re sitting and tear your face off. The building’s power percentage is tracked in a corner and every time you use a camera, flicker the light just outside either of the two doors to your security room or close the doors to protect yourself it’ll drop how much power is left, significantly so. There’s quite a few cameras and unfortunately a couple of them only have audio feeds so you can only listen to the ominous grinding of their motors as they shuffle down a corridor, worse still, there are plenty of blind spots. Cruelly, those blind spots are mostly right outside the two doors that lead to your little security room so you won’t know they’re in there until they’re either grinning at you around the doorframe or if you manage to hear their, fairly stealthy, movements. 

 
Whilst a lot of survival horror games utilize a player’s fear of being helpless, ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ cranks it up another notch by adding in the complete inability to move. So basically you’re stuck in a tiny room, unable to move and quite possibly nailed to that chair I mentioned now that I think about it, maybe the owners had to resort to brute force with their staff, who knows. Your only line of defence is closing the doors and even then, there are two of them on opposite sides from one another and they use up a lot of power so you can only close them very briefly. You have to survive from midnight to 6am in the morning which takes just less than 10 minutes of your life but at least three years off your life due to the stress it causes. Every night is harder than the last and whilst you’ll quickly adjust to the manner in which you must organize yourself the difficulty intensifies dramatically for the final two nights. The AI of the creatures can vary and they’re fairly unpredictable but generally they’re a lot faster and a lot more intelligent as you progress through the nights. Initially they’ll stay still backstage for the start of the night but, come Night 5, they’ll have mysteriously vanished from their usual spot as soon as your shift starts leaving you to switch between cameras manically, trying to pin point their location. 

What makes this game so effective at terrifying the living daylights out of you is how well it plays on your paranoia and nervous twitch reaction to check a camera or check the doorway, reducing your power in the progress. Whilst you need to constantly check where everyone has shuffled off to it’s difficult to reign this in and not flicker constantly, dooming yourself in the progress, and the feeling that it’s your own increasing OCD checking of everything that’s narrowing your chances of survival is very unsettling. What's particularly likeable about this game is it’s an extremely simple yet imaginative concept that breaks away from the current trend of ‘Slenderman’ or ‘Amnesia’ trend of snooping about houses, collecting up notes and newspaper clippings that many horror games are copying. Overall I found this game to be an imaginative addition to the survival horror genre and whilst the overall style and concept is extremely simple it's still a creepy venture into a nightmarish world of grinning, killer mascots and a gruesome story that you're gradually rewarded with.

The Good: 

• Simple, original and very effective concept
• You become your own worst enemy as you double check, triple check everything
• Decent jump scares keep you on your toes
• Disturbing character design
• Very atmospheric, feelings of isolation and helplessness predominant
• Looks and sounds great with very good voice acting
• Final two 'bonus levels' add in an element of freeplay
• Quite a brutal difficulty curve but the challenge is welcomed

The Bad:

• Although Night 2/3 offers up whole new gameplay feature, more variation would still be good.
• Tends to degenerate into careful time management which some may find boring.
  

The Score: 8/10

Final thoughts: “Some more variation in gameplay would have gone a long way, but this had me constantly jumping out of my skin as the AI are so unpredictable and it’s got such a disturbing atmosphere.”

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Broken Age, Act 1 - Full Review (PC/Linux/Mac, Android and iOS Game)

'Broken Age' seemed like the perfect game for me to play but, upon completing Act 1 in its entirety, I was left with a confused, almost guilty, feeling of disappointment and frustration. What made it worse was that reputable, professional websites had glazed the game with sickly sweet praise and admiration, hailing it as a fantastic example of point and click adventure games. I rather strongly disagree, as you’re about to find out, and though I admit the storyline is fantastic there are far too many basic elements missed out for this game to be considered as ‘one of the greats’. That said, this game is certainly a steal at its low price and overall the game is very good value. 
 

Developer: Double Fine Productions 
Genre: Point and click adventure 
Release date: 26th January 2014
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS
ESRB: Not rated (some mild threat, no blood/gore)

The backstory behind the development of this game is far from ordinary. To begin with, 'Broken Age' is one of the most crowdfunded video game projects as it acquired a whopping $3.45 million from more than 87,000 backers. The project began in 2012 and the game marked Tim Schafer’s return to the point and click genre after his fantastic game, Grim Fandango which is being re-released for PS4 and Xbox One and which was originally released in 1998. Despite its extreme backing though it appeared that this may have actually lessened the quality of the game. The end result is, whilst visually polished, wrongly suited to the originally intentioned audience and, quite simply, an inadequate addition to Schafer’s portfolio. As a standalone indie game this would be fantastic but unfortunately it failed to live up to the hype.

Gameplay and storyline

'Broken Age' Act 1 is made up of two different stories, that of a girl named Vella and of a boy named Shay and each story has vastly different settings. Regardless of which character you start with you’ll likely find that the game comes across as very cutesy and perhaps even a little too sickly sweet but this is simply a façade. Without going too far into the storylines the characters have in common a desire to break traditions in their lives that have, up until now, gone unquestioned. The gruesome realities of what is actually occurring strips away that initial sweet demeanour and instead the cheerful nature of the characters and environments take on a whole new form, one that is much darker and much, much more unnerving. 
 

It’s here where 'Broken Age' truly excels as the storyline is quite fascinating and will draw you in with its twisting story and cheerfully disturbing atmosphere. The ever present, in your face, indication that something is wrong but nobody else seeming to notice it is a constant source of fascination and you will desperately want to find out what’s going in in the two strange realms that you’ll inhabit. The characters too are likeable though, admittedly, quite unemotional and rather bland despite the famous voice actors. Whilst the storyline is interesting enough and with brilliant twists there are some key issues with the game that are very difficult to ignore. To begin with, it feels as though it’s being aimed at a much younger audience and not at those who would have previously enjoyed classic graphic adventures such as Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, both of which Tim wrote for previously. The complex puzzles, standard ‘pick up everything you can find’ mentality, vast environments and wry sense of humour that typically lift a standard point and click to a successful one have all been stripped away leaving something quite superficial in its wake.

Overall there’s a genuine lack of content and substance as characters have very few dialogue options and the environments are very limiting so there’s simply not much to discover in what could have been sprawling worlds of characters, places and puzzles. The few characters that are present are quirky and interesting but you can never just chat to them and waste away a couple of hours getting to know their unique personalities so, in this sense, the game feels a little sparse. There’s this strange, unfinished feel about the game that’s reflected in not only the lack of character development but the small, limited environments. These rather simplistic environments quickly become a problem when you’re faced with one of the many puzzles in the game. Often, a point and click adventure game would have you picking up random bits of, seemingly pointless, tack with plenty of red herrings thrown in there just to screw you up. Large locations or, in the very least, a broad variety of areas where the solution to your puzzle may lurk is key to making a puzzle difficult as often you’ll be searching doggedly for more items, racking your brains to figure out what kind of obscure combination you need to come up with. Broken Age lacks this, entirely so. At one point I had to find a particular, very important, item that had been lost but I found it sitting out in plain sight on just the next screen. Another puzzle simply consisted of getting to end of a conversation. It’s almost as though the developers didn’t trust their players to continue playing if they found the puzzles too challenging and this lack of faith in players is evident in the huge amount of hand-holding that takes place

  
When important plot elements have been stripped away of challenge it’s not just frustrating, it’s disappointing. I find it hard to imagine this game ever becoming ‘one of the greats’ and instead it sits as something which is nice, different, but nothing special. The lack of puzzles and choices meant that the length of play was disastrously short and far too easy for seasoned graphic adventure gamers and, whilst some hail this as a return to the 'nostalgic' era of point and clicks, it feels painfully modern with a strong focus on visuals and not enough on actual, substantial, gameplay.

Graphics and audio

The artwork of the game may not be to everybody’s taste but it truly is quite beautiful with a strong hand painted, fantasy appeal. The style and design of the worlds and its inhabitants does nothing for its childish feel however and overall it’s all a little bit too cute and quaint. Despite this, the worlds are gorgeous with a stunning array of colours and details that make each and every area feel bursting with life. The contrast between the two storylines is very apparent, not only in its gameplay content but in the design of the environments. The differences between the smokey oranges and dreamy pinks of Vella’s world to the moody blues and vibrant preschool colours of Shay’s world simply add layers onto the, already distinctive, atmosphere. A curious feature present within the game is its ability to be played in a ‘retro’ graphical mode which makes the game appear in an slightly pixelated, pre-renovated 'Monkey Island' 1 and 2 type design. Whilst usually I would have been extremely interested in this it’s clear that the game was not designed to be played in this format so it comes across as a very low quality conversion. If anything, it looks as though you’re just squinting at the HD version. 

The audio is, overall, very good and I liked almost all of the voice acting except for several occasions where I found the protagonists to have a lack of emotion. Despite pushing the budget out and employing the talents of very talented actors including Elijah Wood as Shay I felt as though Shay’s emotion was completely out of context with what was occurring in the scene. When his dialogue was supposed to indicate frustration the voice came across as depressed, when he was supposed to be confused he sounded passive. Though this is partily intentional as Shay is fairly a depressed character this uninterested tone persists even in moments of great peril where what he is saying suggests he's feeling emotion. The voice of Vella too had some inconsistencies between script and the voice acting and overall I felt there to be a lack of emotion when faced with action packed, highly distressing scenes and this tended to ruin the scene’s atmosphere. Aside from this, the game sounded as good as it looked and there was plenty of general chit-chatter in the background and little comments from the protagonist which gave you a better insight into their character.

Overall

It would be easy to simply look at the game, its history and its origin and stamp it with the mark of ‘fantastic’, ‘ushering in a new era’ and things of the such but upon closer examination, Broken Age does none of these things. It’s boringly simplistic, painfully unemotional and with very, very little build up to anything that happens. I found the storyline enjoyable, gripping even. My attention was constantly drawn to what was going on on the screen and Shay's story in particular was a mixture of fascinating and hilarious. My desire to find out more about the strange world I’d been dropped into was what primarily kept me going however as the gameplay was rather simplistic and, generally, the more I progressed the more let down I felt. 

The game had a lack of depth, a lack of real challenge and, also, a lack of something else, something I can’t put my finger on, it’s as if it very much lacked the heart, soul and dedication you’d have expected from a game with so many backers, so much time poured into it and so many people working with it. I don’t know what happened to render this game so disappointing and it’s a great shame to say that about what could have been one of the greatest modern age point and clicks. I hope wherever Tim Schafer is now that he looks on this game and thinks to himself, ‘I could have done better’ because if he doesn’t then I’m not sure what happened to his creativity in that sixteen year hiatus. Whilst my disappointment is evident I’d like to finish by saying that I will play the upcoming Act 2 to 'Broken Age' but, truly, it’s only to find out what happens in the end. I can only hope it presents something more appealing to lovers of classic point and click adventure games.

The Good: 

• Different, original storyline
• Attention grabbing with its odd premise
• Beautiful, hand painted graphics
• Lovely animations
• Nice variation of environments
• Likeable, personality filled characters
• Great cliff hanger

The Bad:

• Far too easy, a lot of hand-holding
• Not enough puzzles
• Voice acting can be off in places
• Limited, small environments
• Not much to explore or discover
• Very little to no item combination
• Feels superficial and focused on its graphics

The Score: 6/10

Final thoughts: "I'm looking forward to playing the next part of this but only because of its storyline. The game is far too easy with limited environments and, generally, it just doesn't feel like a traditional point and click."

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5 Days A Stranger - Full walkthrough

5 Days a Stranger is a horror/mystery point and click adventure game and the first in the John DeFoe game series. The series was created by Ben 'Yahtzee' Crowshaw and can all be downloaded for free from the developer’s website, accessible here. In 5 Days a Stranger we follow gentlemen cat burglar Trilby as he breaks into a supposedly abandoned manor house with the intention of looting it for all its worth. However, upon entry Trilby finds himself not only unable to leave again but trapped in with four other people. As people begin to be murdered Trilby must solve the mysteries the DeFoe manor house and, most importantly, stop the killer before he himself is killed.

For this walkthrough I will be giving very limited information about what is happening in the plot so as to avoid you reading any unwanted spoilers. Items you can pick up will be highlighted in orange. I hope you enjoy this brilliant little point and click game and, don't forget, there's plenty more in the series if you did enjoy it. If you'd like you can also read my full review of '5 Days a Stranger' by clicking here. 

This game is primarily controlled by using the mouse and there's generally very little keyboard input except for saving the game and the hotkeys. You select the actions you want to perform by utilisizing the bar at the bottom of the screen which consists of four icons; footsteps, used for moving about, an eyeball, used for examining things more closely, a hand, used to pick up or use objects and finally a speech bubble, used for talking to people. You can further switch between these actions by using F1, F2, F3 and F4 as hotkeys. Lastly, whenever you move your cursor over an object the name of that object will be displayed.

Day 1 

After the cutscene, open the window. 
Use the door 
Walk along the corridor and go down the stairs. 
Walk all the way to the right and through all the doors. 
After the cutscene go back upstairs to the hallway. 
Walk to the right and talk to the woman beside the door. 
Go back downstairs and this time through the doors on the left until you are outside. 
Use the tree beside the wall. 
Talk to the tree. 
Go back through the house, all the way to the right until reaching the lounge. 
Talk to everybody about everything 
Once you’ve thoroughly interrogated everybody the game will move onto Day 2.

Day 2

Walk to the left until you find Jim.
Talk to Jim about everything then head outside into the garden.
Walk all the way to the right, beyond the pipeline, until you see Phillip.
Talk to Phillip, ask him 'Was it you who...', 'What are you doing with that...', 'How do you know the...' then finally, 'Can I borrow..,'
Go back to the house and go upstairs.
Open the nearest door, it has a broken lock, to enter the library.
Talk to Simone about everything
Locate the third shelf of the lefthand bookcase and take the yellow book to receive a plan of the DeFoe Manor.
Examine the plan then return to the garden.
Give the plan to Phillip to receive the metal detector.
Walk to the left and use the metal detector with the pipeline
Follow the pipline and use the pile of dirt it leads you to.
Use the newlt exposed panel.
Walk left to where the swimming pool is.
Climb down the ladder.

Day 3

Read the article that Phil gave you earlier
Enter the downstairs foyer and pick up the newspaper that's near the front door.
Read the newspaper.
Head outside for a surprise
Use your car to obtain lockpicks
Use the lockpicks with the shed door 
Open the door and enter the shed 
Pick up the saw and pickaxe
Head out of the shed then go to the library 
Pick up the blue book on the bottom-left shelf to obtain the Defoe Family History book.
Talk to Jim, ask him what he’s doing then invite him along Go back outside and use the saw on the tree 
Jim will help Trilby, once finished, go inside the house. 
Go upstairs and use the lockpicks on the door that’s second from the right. 
Open the wardrobe and pick up the green diary, read it.
Open the window and climb outside 
Use your grolly (umbrella) on the loose tile overhead. 
Use the window. 
Pick up the teddy bear. 
Open the nightstand and pick up the diary. 
Exit the room via the door and go back to the library.
Pick up a black occult book from the right shelf and read it. 
Go back downstairs and into the lounge 
Pick up the television cord.
Go back outside and pick up the stick. 
Go into the kitchen and open the middle cupboard 
Pick up the salt. 
Combine the television cord with the teddy bear, then this combination with the stick. 
Use the bear/stick with the salt. 
Go back upstairs and open the third door from the right. 
Use the salty bear/stick with the bed before looking at it. 
Go to the kitchen and look at the plan. 
Use the pickaxe on the wall to the very left of the room. 
Go through the hole. 
Look at the salty bear/stick and follow the directions until it points downwards. 
Use the area it’s pointing at. 
Go upstairs and walk all the way to the right. 
Pick up the idol on the floor. 

Day 4

Talk to the window 
Ask ‘what makes you think…’, ‘I was possessed…’ ‘It possessed me just like…’ then ‘I’m delirious with…’ 
Pick up your tie 
Use the lockpick on the door 
Go into the house and upstairs to the hallway 
Save your game 
Enter the bathroom at the end of the corridor on the far right 
Wait until the killer is on the bathroom mat then use it, quickly 
If you die just reload your game 

Day 5 

Enter the room behind you and talk to Jim to receive an apron, mask and machete 
Enter the library and pick up another black occult book 
Go downstairs and into the lounge 
Pick up the scissors from the dresser 
Use the scissors with the apron 
Use the strip on the mask 
Use the mask/strip on the machete 
Go back to the kitchen and dip the mask/machete in salt 
Enter the basement and use this salty mask/machete with the manacles on the wall 
Exit the basement and go back to the bathroom 
Examine the salty mask/machete and follow its directions until reaching a specific point 
Use the scissors with the salty mask/machete to free up the machete 
Use the machete with the tiles 
Pick up the remains.
Go downstairs and into the hunting room, use the remains on the floor 
Use either the mask or apron on the remains 
Talk to Simone (in the lounge) and Jim (upstairs in Matthew’s room) and ask them both to meet you in the hunting room 
Head to the hunting room as well 
Give the teddy to Jim 
Pick up the rifle from above the fireplace and give it to Simone 
Use the occult book on yourself 
Enjoy the ending!

I hope you enjoyed this walkthrough for 5 Days a Stranger, for more walkthroughs you can check out the page here listing the ones I have written so far. Don't forget to +1, comment or share this guide if you found it helpful, happy gaming!

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The Adventures of Maddog Williams in the Dungeons of Duridian - Quick Review (MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari-ST game)

‘The Adventures of Maddog Williams in the Dungeons of Duridian’ was slightly behind the times at its time of release but is now a fantastic example of a text parser adventure game with a sly sense of humour and some really challenging gameplay. 

Developer: Game Crafters
Genre: Graphic adventure
Release date: 1992
Platforms: MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari-ST
ESRB: E - Everyone.  

The game was released in 1992 though it looks to be from a much earlier time due to not embracing the movement into a point and click interface that Sierra had started using. The game has been re-released as freeware so the original copy protection at the start of the game is now just for show, anybody can play the game for free. If you want to play it, you can pick it up from the developers web site here.

 

The story of ‘Maddog Williams’ is fairly standard of an adventure game; Maddog is an inventor and an antique’s shop owner who goes on a quest to rid the land of an evil wizard called Serik after stumbling along a kidnapped princess and saving her. If you’ve ever played any of the old 'King’s Quest' games by Sierra then you will feel right at home with this one and there are also plenty of humorous references to these older Sierra graphic adventure games.

The controls of the game take a little to get used to, especially the controls during combat as sword fighting is in real-time rather than being turn based. Maddog himself is moved about using the arrow keys and combat is dealt with by Maddog continually swinging his sword whilst you advance, retreat, spin and swipe by moving him about. Aside from this ‘Maddog Williams’ plays very much like a text adventure but with VGA graphics and the game revolves around the use of its text parser to interact with the game world. For those unfamiliar with these a text parser means that the player must type in commands in order to interact with things such as typing in ‘Look at drawers’ or ‘open drawers’ to see what’s inside them. Items that you pick up in the game can be used and combined together to form new ones and this is what constitutes a lot of the in-game puzzles.

There’s an instant charm with ‘Maddog Williams’ due to its vibrant appearance and interesting surroundings, the storyline is very easy to pick up and your surroundings feel open, flexible and detailed. There’s so many opportunities to die that it’s a little ridiculous and I remember, upon stumbling into some kind of cavern with a girl tied up on the table surrounded by hooded figures, that it would be a good idea to march on over to them. Unsurprisingly I didn’t live through that experience and I was treated to, in graphic detail, what happened to Maddog in text descriptions. I later realized there was a hidden passage within the wall that I was supposed to climb through. The complete lack of hand-holding is actually a breath of fresh air compared to many modern games however and it’s fairly standard to do a lot of saving and reloading with these early 90s games. 'Maddog Williams' felt very much like a point and click but with keyboard support and the puzzles, storyline and overall gameplay experience are all very enjoyable. It’s a shame the same cannot be said for the combat which is clunky, difficult to control and extremely deadly when you’re actually trying to face down an opponent. A very convenient ‘training’ option is available for you at all times to hone your sword fighting skills but I would have preferred turn based combat rather than awkwardly walking around backwards, swinging my sword. 
 

Another problem is that usually, in games that utilize text parsers typing, the game would be paused when you type. Unfortunately, in 'Maddog Williams' this is not the case so often you must type commands very quickly in certain situations where time is about to run out. It’s not unusual to have to reload the game multiple times so you already know what you’re supposed to be typing in unless you are extremely good at thinking, and typing, on your feet. The difficulty level of the game is very much set by your own personal skill in not just typing but controlling Maddog and solving puzzles but, with enough practice, these are problems that you can adjust to. Whilst the game’s graphics were by no means top-end at the time I found them pleasant, fairly detailed and very reflective of the overall feel and atmosphere of the game. The audio can be a little rough in places but the music is really quite lovely and, whilst the sound effects are in no way realistic, effort has been taken to make the game world come alive with many sights and sounds. Overall, you’ll get several hours of play out of this game depending on how versed you are with item combination focused puzzles so for hard-core point and click or retro Sierra game players this should be just the right level of challenging. 

The Good:

• Fairly challenging but not too frustrating
• MIDI music nicely ties in with the theme of the game 
• Alternate endings makes for a little replay value 
• Great humour, very likeable characters 
• Some very good puzzles

The Bad:

• Combat far too clunky with weird logic
• Quite a short game with not a lot of depth 
• Save game function can stop working, multiple saves recommended
• Lack of pausing when typing causes problems

The Score: 6/10

Last thoughts: It's a shame they never brought out a sequel, as a free game this is a really fun way of spending an evening and the humour and style is very likeable.  

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The Last Door - Chapter 4 Walkthrough

The Last Door, Chapter 4, Ancient Shadows is a point and click horror game from The Game Kitchen, an indie company who brought this game to life through donations and kickstarter, and what a game it is. Ancient Shadows follows on from Chapter 3, the Four Witnesses, after the drama-tic (hah) events of the last chapter we find Devitt travelling to visit his old friend Alexandre in his home in the countryside. What could go wrong.

Before we begin, if you're interested you can also check out my full review of The Last Door here. 
Or... 

If you've come too far then you can find your way back to the walkthroughs for Chapter 3 here, Chapter 2 here, or Chapter 1 here.

Now that that's out the way, let's get on with the final segment of The Last Door, Season 1.

Chapter 4, Ancient Shadows

Hints without spoilers:

I don't know how to develop the envelope: There are instructions in the room on what order to do things, you'll also need a red bulb and cannot do it in darkness or white light. You'll need a way of tinting the pre-existing one, not fixing the shards on the floor.

I don't know how to work out the clock puzzles: Read the notes around the house that relate to the clock and make sure to work out the time difference between the upstairs and downstairs clock. The upstairs one needs to read the time mentioned in the notes but only the grandfather clock can be changed.

I have a blue crystal thing, now what: Look around the house, inside and out, until you notice something different in somewhere you've been before. Follow the signs from there.

What do I do with the telescope: Have a good look through it and check in your inventory to see what the view may resemble then, looking through the telescope again, click the areas that are highlighted in the item you have.

What are the strange symbols for: The three important ones unlock a puzzle in the same room you're in, look around the room then match up the symbols with the positioning of the locks.

Full walkthrough for Chapter 4

Prologue:

Click on Devitt.
Click on the table.
Click on Devitt again.
Click through the dialogue and scenes.

Chapter 4:

Click through the conversations and go through all of the dialogue options.
When you regain control of Devitt, walk all the way left to the next screen.
Walk all the way left again before entering the house.
This is the foyer, go upstairs to begin with and enter the first room.
Talk to Alexandre and exhaust all dialogue options.
Leave the room and walk to the right into the next part of the corridor.
Open the chest and pick up a hook.
Go back downstairs and into the foyer.
Exit the room via the back archway to enter the parlor.
Cross the parlor and exit via the door on the far left.
Pick up the oil lamp on the table.
Walk to the far left of the room and read the note.
Go through the door on the far right to exit out into the back garden.
Pick up the rope beside the well.
Use the hook with the rope to get a grappling hook.
Use the grappling hook with the well to receive a brass bird.
Examine the grave then head to the gate at the back, unlock it and head through.
Walk to the far right and note the door to the greenhouse with the bar across it.
Remove the bar then open the door and head inside.
Walk to the far right until you see the statues, a bottle of Vitriol is between them. Pick it up.
Leave the greenhouse and head back into the house then upstairs again.
Walk down the corridor to the right, into the next part where the chest is, then enter the room on at the far end.
In the study examine the note and invoice on the table.
Examine the fireplace then pick up the black envelope from inside it.
Leave the room and enter the final door on the back wall.
This is a photographer's developing room, pick up the Cyanide on the back table and read the note on the floor.
Examine the light hanging from the ceiling then pick it up to receive a lightbulb.
Leave and go back downstairs then out the front door.
Walk to where the greenhouse is then look to the back where you'll see the exit to the forest.
Leave through these gates into the forest.
Walk along to the right until coming across a deer.
Use the lightbulb with the deer to get a red tinted lightbulb.
Go back to the house then the photographer's room.
Use the red tinted lightbulb in the hanging light.
Put the envelope in the sink, pour the Vitriol on it then the Cyanide, finally use the tap to rinse it off.
Click through the scene then leave the room and go into Alexandre's room.
Talk to him then pick up what he drops to receive a a clock hand.
Put the bird in the clock near Alexandre before examining the clock face.
Leave the room and go back downstairs to the foyer.
Use the clock hand in the grandfather clock.
Turn the hands of the grandfather clock until they read 3:00 (hold down mouse button)
Once the clock reads 3:00 click the switch beside the clock face.
Go back upstairs to Alexandre's room.
Pick up the blue object on the floor to receive the bird again.
Examine it then open it to get a key.
Go downstairs and out into the back garden.
Use the key with the trapdoor to the cellar.
Enter the cellar and move a little to the left to examine a set of drawers.
Open the drawers and take out the shovel.
Exit the cellar and use the shovel with the grave outside.
Use the Vitriol with the lock.
Pick up the blue object to receive a canvas.
Exit out of the screen then examine the canvas.
Walk back, via the front garden, to Alexandre's room.
Read the note on the wheelchair,
Exit out onto the balcony and pick up the object in the statue's hands to pick up a cristal.
Walk all the way back to the cellar only this time walk through to the far left.
In the laboratory, read the note then walk to the right until you see an opening in the wall.
Head inside into a makeshift observatory.
Use the telescope then use the canvas to note the positioning of the constallations. 
You need to click the stars that match up with the ones highlighted in the canvas.
Check out the image below if you're having trouble.

After the puzzle, put the cristal in the telescope then look through it again.
Note the symbols that match up with the three stars you just selected.
Open the cabinet in the room and enter the three symbols making sure the Altair symbol is at the bottom. (Far right is a U shape, bottom one is a sort of trident and the far left one is a vertical line with two wavy lines through it)
Examine then pick up a syringe from the desk.
Go down into the pit and use the syringe with Alexandre.
Sit in the chair.
Give the syringe to Alexandre.
Click through the dialogue and scenes.
Walk continually to the right.

End of Chapter 4.

And there we have it... the end of The Last Door and consequentially this walkthrough. Luckily, it's only the end of Season 1 as Season 2 is currently being developed; provided they get enough backers for it to be released of course! I hope you enjoyed the game and the ultimate cliffhanger it's left us all on again, if you also enjoyed this walkthrough don't forget to comment and +1 and so on and so forth :) I hope to see you all here next time when Season 2 makes its debut! Happy gaming!

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