Adventure Games!

Of ye olde pointe ande clicke varietye.

Back in the steam Christmas sale heyday I bought a whole bunch of stuff, most of which I still haven't played once.

One of those was Jolly Rover, which I played on a lark yesterday; an old style point and click adventure game (note - I'm not sure if it is the old style, because I don't remember ever playing an adventure game before this one) about a dog who becomes a pirate.

Definitely on the comedy side, and I've put about an hour in so far. So far it hasn't been frustrating and the humor has been mildly amusing or better.

I plan on going back to it soon, anyways.

Anyways, what are the favorite adventure games of other people here? Any recent well made adventure games I should try?

CR

Curse of Monkey Island?

Ah, yes. I recall hearing about remakes of those games. Have you played them?

CR

I'm a big fan of the point-and-click adventure genre; some of my best memories of early childhood involve sitting down with my mother, playing Secret of Monkey Island and asking her why she was laughing so much because I didn't understand the humour! xD

Anyways, my recommendations;

The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, The Curse of Monkey Island
Probably the most recognisable games in the genre and arguably the jewel in Lucasarts' crown; there's plenty of humour, the games all look fantastic now that the first two have been remastered to match the art of the third game and there's scope to replay the game for it's 'hard mode'.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
This is probably my favourite point-and-click game ever; the general storyline is that Indiana Jones finds out about a Nazi plot to harness the power of orichalcum to destroy enemy armoured vehicles and artillery, rendering them defenseless against their quest to unite Europe under their banner.

It's typical crazy Indy stuff, but the storyline is pretty good, works well alongside the gameplay and the fact that there's three different ways to approach the game (using your wits to overcome more puzzles, your fists to overcome more fights or taking your friend Sophia along for the trip and working as a twosome) brings some longevity to the game as you try to gather all 1000 I.Q points.

Sam & Max Hit The Road, Day of the Tentacle
I lumped these two together because they're both more slapstick comedy than the rest of Lucasarts' catalogue; the first is about a canine-lagomorph detective team searching for Big Foot, the second about a trio of misfits trying to stop a rogue tentacle from taking over the world.

Of the two, the latter is probably the more fun game due to the usage of all three characters, the use of time travel and so on, but they're both worth a look-in.

Full Throttle, The Dig
And I lumped these two together because they're more serious games which focus less on humour. Full Throttle is about a man who's framed for the assassination of a major motorcycle manufacturer and involves quite alot of puzzles in addition to some action sequences where you have to fight on your 'bike. It's a good game, a little tough at first but you get used to it.

The Dig is a sci-fi orientated game, there's some very complex puzzles that will have you referring to a guide at some point because they're so darn vague! The storyline is great, the voice acting is fitting (Robert Patrick is excellent) and you'll want to replay it (or just save at certain points, I guess!) just to see different outcomes for your companions.

Simon The Sorceror
Ranks in my top three games in the genre; looks amazing, fantastic voice acting (Chris Barrie!) and the storyline's great, t'is about a young lad who finds a spellbook and ends up transported into a magical world that seems to parody just about every fantasy novel going. I actually want to replay this soon

Toonstruck
I'm not sure how many people got around to playing this, and getting it working on modern computers is a royal pain in the neck, but it's totally worth it; the artwork is great, the fusion of the real-life Christopher Lloyd with the cartoony characters and world he's sucked into was amazing at the time and the storyline, while typical for the genre, still holds up.

Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars, Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
These are probably the most recent additions on the list, with both of them having been released for various home and handheld consoles in addition to PC/Mac; both well-drawn/animated and well-written.

The first game is probably the third to round out my top three, alongside Indy and Simon; it's a fantastic story about an American tourist caught in an explosion in France that leads to a globe-spanning conspiracy of pretty epic proportions.

The sequel was a good game, story was about releasing a Mayan deity from his prison or some such, I forget the ins-and-outs of it, I found that it wasn't as interesting as the first but the gameplay was a little better, more refined in some senses.

Try the space quest pack or the kings quest pack. I have seen them both on gog.com. Adventure game but you type your whims instead of point and click. Same premise though. Fun games. I have seen the police quest pack on Amazon. Same premise, different series, by the same company though. I have the space quest pack, harder than I remember it though!

Well I went back to Jolly Rover.

Apparently I have to cook this pirate captain dinner before I can join his crew - and someone has stolen the cookbook - so I go find the chef who wrote the cookbook - but he's hiding behind cannons for fear of bounty hunters - so I have to find some way past those - and however much else more before I can actually just cook some food and get on the crew.

It all seems so trivial, or at least dragged out. I'll give it another go I suppose, and try to be more in the mindset of just going along for the ride and enjoying the humor.

Are most adventure games like this - do they require lots of pointing and clicking just to accomplish seemingly straightforward and easy goals?

CR

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

Are most adventure games like this - do they require lots of pointing and clicking just to accomplish seemingly straightforward and easy goals?

CR

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Yes.


It's been more than a decade, but I had some good fun playing Indiana Jones and Sam and Max. Both were already showing their age a bit, and were a bit long in the tooth I thought. I never finished Sam and Max, only Indy. I loved both games, had a great time with the humor of 'em both. I even picked them up again recently, but couldn't get into them anymore. Prehistoric.

I played King's Quest I, II, III, IV, and V; Loom; Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis; Grim Fandango; and the entire Monkey Island series. Oh, and a couple of the Space Quest games, though I never finished any of them. Of those, the Monkey Island games are far and away the best. The third game in particular, The Curse of Monkey Island, still has some of the best atmosphere and art in any game I have every played. The music from the intro is probably one of the greatest pieces of gaming music ever created. I'll find a clip of it when I get home, can't access youtube from work. Grim Fandango deserves a special mention though, it's near Monkey Island quality.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazed Rabbit

Are most adventure games like this - do they require lots of pointing and clicking just to accomplish seemingly straightforward and easy goals?

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Generally, yes. Adventure games I think are mis-named. They are puzzle games with a plotline. There is generally only one solution to a problem, and you have to figure out what it is to advance the story. You cannot change the story, nor can you skip the puzzles if you can't figure them out. Thus, the key to a good adventure game is to make the interactions themselves interesting and amusing so that the act of completing them is itself rewarding. It's something of a bygone gaming system, and I'm not sad they're no longer being made, but that doesn't mean there weren't great stories told in that format.

If you want brain-melting "fun", I suggest Gabriel Knight 3.

The first and second monkey islands were classics...

Played Day of the Tentacle, Sam Max and the 3rd monkey island a few months ago - all very good - with the aid of scummvm.

http://www.scummvm.org/downloads/

(you still need to own the games)

The monkey island remakes (1 and 2) are also available in the Apple App store. I bought them for the iPhone, but I don't really recommend it because the point and click system is too cluttered for such a small screen. They'd be great on the iPad though.