Dragonsphere – Final Rating

Written by Vetinari

Our friend Douglas Kaufman put forth some very strong words in the design notes for Dragonsphere, saying that “we've got the best product” and “we like to think we have the competition beat in every category”.

“And I stand by what I said!” – Doug Kaufman, probably.

I cannot deny that this game is much better than the two previous MPS Labs adventures, but will it be enough for a high PISSED rating? Let's see with the breakdown categories below.

Alone in the Dark 2 - Final Rating

Written by Andy Panthro

I started this game knowing that the first one is a classic of the genre, and helped define what we would later call “survival horror”. A sequel, especially with quite a short development time, was always going to be a challenge. There was definitely more of an action focus this time, with a desire to make something a bit more exciting and cinematic than the first game.

I think it’s fair to say if you’ve played this, or read my posts, it doesn’t quite live up to either the expectations generated from the first game nor does it provide the action-packed experience that seemed to be the goal.

Unfortunately this is in part due to the nature of the game itself, the design of the game gives you quite limited movement options and doesn’t lend itself to quick movement or combat. There were too many sections of this game that became quite frustrating as you can become very easily stun-locked by enemies, as their attack cycles were too fast. As for attacking yourself, the fixed camera angles and tank controls mean aiming is a tricky procedure and it can often be difficult to get the right angle to attack.

At times this really does stretch the limits of what you might consider an “adventure game”, but there are items to use, puzzles to solve and places to search. Certainly as the series progresses, future games will continue to move towards action rather than adventure, and outside of the remit of this blog.

Dragonsphere – Won!

Written by Vetinari

Buckle up for the last part of this Dragonsphere playthrough, where we are going back into the castle of Gran Callahach to return to King Callash his soul.

As soon as we arrive, we are greeted by the captain of the Queen Mother's guards, who tries to arrest us under her boss's orders. Here we have another one of this game dialogue navigation puzzles, where we have to avoid answers which will anger the captain and instead try to sway her to our side.

Yeah, tell me about it.

The actual winner here is to offer something to her, because that turns out not to actually be a bribe, you know. In fact, the captain says cryptically “the only thing in the world I truly want, you cannot give me”.

Missed Classic: Dracula Hakushaku (ドラキュラ伯爵) - Lost (And Final Rating)

Written by Morpheus Kitami

Just what I've been doing for the past few months, getting chased by the Pope.

It's that time of year again where I play a horror game based off a movie and wonder why someone took something infamously horrific and turned it into something that is not. Well, kind of, since we've come back to Count Dracula, which so far has been far more horrific than any adaptation of Dracula I've ever heard of. Hopefully this time, we can put the good count to rest.

To recap since you've probably forgotten, Dracula has risen from the dead and has been spending time wandering around and remembering the old horrible things he's done in the past. Which is basically every sort of thing you'd hear on a black metal album except someone screaming Slayer while not wearing pants. More specifically, he saved a woman from being sacrificed for some reason. The woman is named Sistine, which is an odd name to have, because it means pertaining to Pope Sixtus. She apparently foresaw something which I glossed over, and Dracula is talking about a mysterious man he keeps seeing in his memories.

Incidentally, this time around I'm using automatic translations of the text, simply because I haven't got the motivation to translate massive amounts of what's probably the Japanese equivalent of Middle English. Yes, this is a terrible violation of all good principles, loses considerable nuance, but I don't think that's much of a loss at this point.

Discussion Point: Costumes

Written by The TAG Team

Halloween is nearly upon us, for those of us who celebrate it.  In many places, including the United States, it’s a holiday that celebrates people dressing up in disguises, and begging strangers for candy.

Because really, what could be better than free candy?

But the costume part isn’t just for children in autumn.  It’s also a puzzle source for adventure games!

So, in honor of the holiday, let’s talk about your favorite costumes donned by our game protagonists in order to solve a puzzle, trick a foe, and win the game.

For example, an early Sierra example might be Police Quest 1, where Detective Sonny Bonds goes undercover as a pimp named Whitey to infiltrate a drug ring.

Another early example, Zak McKracken, needed glasses to look like the aliens making us all dumber.  This is, of course, before the internet.  We now do it to ourselves.

In a recent game played for the blog, bookseller Gabriel Knight dressed as a priest to extract information from a voodoo practitioner, and then as a wild animal to crash a ritual.

And there are many others.  So, which ones are your favorites?