Alternativa

I've written about a number of games by now on this blog, many of them being either nostalgic fun, a new shiny adventure, or a Top 10 list no one agrees with.  So it's with great pleasure that I'm able to talk about a pretty mediocre adventure game: Alternativa.  Warning: spoilers are present for this game you probably won't play.

Guide to Survival Horrors

No games lately, but I'm in a typing mood, so I present:

Manda's Guide to Playing a Survival Horror game:

1. Look for an adventure game.  Find you've played them all.  Out of sheer boredom pick up the one other game you have that requires a gun.
2. Turn out all the lights for atmosphere.
3. Go to menu screen.  Immediately get intimidated by just the screen.
4. Start game.  Spend as much time as possible in the beginning level where you can look at the pretty village/training grounds/abandoned city and be content with this existence.
5. Do this until the game grows weary of your wimpy ways and almost physically push your controller hands to just freakin' get a move on already.
6. Turn back on the lights.
7. Pick up weapon.  Button mash your way to figure out how on earth it works.  Then try to figure out which button mash combination actually made it shoot.
8. Shout in joy when you make it shoot.  Feel somewhat like a caveman discovering fire.  Shoot the wall in glee before you realize that bullets are a finite resource.  Oops.
9. Tell stupid scary music to stop playing.  Realize that music cannot hear you over it's own scariness.
10. Physically jump off the couch when something grumbles and roars in the distance.  Hope no one saw. 
11. Prepare yourself to walk around the corner, guns blazing, and be the totally most badass crazy zombie killer there ever was.
12. Scream instead. Flail your arms even though that doesn't make the controls work better.  Shoot the wall.  Shoot the ceiling.  Shoot your own blood stains.  Never ever hit the zombie.
13. Watch yourself die in a bloody bloody mess.
14. Quit game.  Call your survival horror gaming friend.  Have him play it while you cower in a corner and give "advice" mostly consisting of "DON'T GO IN THAT ROOM!"
15. Go to bed.  Never sleep.

Back to the Future- The Game

I always see and hear a lot of talk that point and click adventures are dead.  But really, they’ve been clinging on for years and in the last couple of years they’ve actually been making a bit of a comeback, finding a way to survive in the modern gaming world.  There are a number of factors in this, a couple of which are the Wii’s contributions and the emergence of casual gaming which give a watered down adventure game feel. 


The other popular form that’s emerging though is the episodic adventure game. One of the more recent is Back to the Future Season 1, which I got the chance to download thanks to some sales on Steam.  It’s certainly not the first of its kind.  It comes from Telltale games, makers of other great episodic franchises such as Sam and Max and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.

Top 5 Adventure Game Villains

Well, I haven't had much time to devote to games lately what with life stuff going on and despite feeling nostalgic, I haven't had a chance to replay any of my favourite games in the hopes of talking about them.  So for now...another list!  Lists are awesome and you know it.

Ghostbusters

Normally this is where the obligatory "Who you gonna call" joke would be made, but I am better than that even though just mentioning the joke is kind of the same as making the joke itself.  Oh well.  Ghostbusters marks another incomplete game for me.  It's the risk you run with rentals, there is sometimes not nearly enough time to finish it all.  But it's not for lack of wanting.

I freakin' love Ghostbusters.  I loved them as a kid.  I love them now.  I had the crazy toys that morphed into weird things, i watched the cartoons, I have the special edition DVD's, and a lot of my comedic inspiration comes from that movie.  So when I saw that not only was there a new Ghostbusters video game, but that it was written and voiced by the original creators and cast, I was pretty stoked.

Portal 2

HEEEEEEEEE hehehehehehe.  WHEATLY!

Okay, so I will be joining the multitudes of people wanting to talk about Portal 2.  Yes, many people will talk about and it and post videos and do playthroughs and throwing my two cents in about the game seems kind of redundant but dammit!  The game is finished and I want to talk!  Now, I don't normally announce my biases when it comes to reviews but...wait...yes I do.  All the time.

CSI: Fatal Conspiracy

YEESS, I still watch this show on occasion.  And YES, I have played more than one of these games.  I don't know what it is, I just like mysteries, cheesy mysteries with one-liners that no one in their right mind would say in real life.  Especially ones involving some of the most inaccurate portrayals of crime scene investigation the world has ever seen.  It's pretty much like eating McDonald's.  You know it's bad, but you can't help but order the supersize fries when you see them.

Morpheus' retirement