Wednesday 22 April 2015

The Year That Was… 1990

By TAG reviewers

FEATURING TRICKSTER!



1990 was NOT a year dominated by Sierra! In fact, almost no game of the Sierra main series was published this year, and even those published had something new in them. Hero’s Quest changed its name to Quest for Glory in the second game of the series, King’s Quest started the tradition of Sierra remakes and King’s Quest V turned Sierra finally into VGA point and click. We also got the beginning of Sierra’s Conquest-series with Conquest of the Camelot and Dynamix started developing games for Sierra with Rise of the Dragon.

Although we didn’t see so many Sierra games, there were few companies publishing clear Sierra clones: Interstel with Earthrise and especially Accolade with first Les Manley and Altered Destiny, none of which lived up to the original. In fact, 1990 was a year for many new adventure game publishers: notable examples are Delphine Adventure, publishing first French adventure games that were not complete trash, and Legend Entertainment, which rejuvenated the graphic text adventure genre. But the true winner of the year was once again Lucasfilm with Loom and especially Secret of the Monkey Island.

The year was also full of surprises for The Adventure Gamer. Trickster decided to step away from adventure game blogging and TAG became a community effort. Since most of the games in 1990 were still reviewed by Trickster, the TAG awards are also mostly decided by Trickster - although rest of the reviewers of this year (Aperama, Joe Pranevich, Deimar, Ilmari and TBD) have also had the opportunity to choose their favourites.

Let the award ceremonies begin!



Reader's Choice Tag - 1990

Before letting Trickster on stage, let's see what you readers had to say about the best game of 1990. The winner is - why I am not surprised? - The Secret of Monkey Island with 86 votes and 53 % of all votes!


Our astonished winner!
Our runner-ups are, in the second place, Quest for Glory 2, with 23 votes and 14 % of all votes, and in the third place, Loom, with 21 votes and 13 % of all votes.  A special commendation must go to Les Manley, which, despite all our warnings, managed to get six votes! And now for the rewards decided by Trickster!


The Charles Darwin TAG: 
For the Most Evolutionary Game of 1990



Winner: The Secret of Monkey Island

Monkey Island is evolutionary for a stack of reasons, not least of all due to it raising the bar to unprecedented heights when it comes to entertainment and professionalism. To be more specific though, the insult combat sequences showed that a bit of thought could negate the need for badly implemented action mini-games, the branching dialogue interface nailed the adventure game blueprint that still survives today, and the music set a standard in the industry that pushed other developers to increase their efforts.


If all minigames in all adventure games just were this good!


Also worth a mention:

Loom – An adventure game with no actual inventory? You betcha! Loom is nothing if not unique, and while calling it “evolutionary” is a stretch (since no-one really copied it), the overall production (that included a professionally recorded audio cassette) was extremely high, and the musical interface no doubt made a bunch of other developers think outside the square.

TBD adds: King's Quest V - The use of hand-painted and scanned backgrounds, rotoscoping for character animations and most evolutionary of all, full voice acting, all showed game developers how to better use new technology to improve their games. Though the voice acted version was actually released in 1991, King's Quest V is still the first adventure game to go this route and deserves a mention for being the first to do something that soon became a staple of the genre.



The Lament Configuration TAG: 
For the Most Ridiculous Puzzle of 1990


Winner: Les Manley

This game is basically one long advertisement for ridiculous puzzles, but rather than filling all three slots with the one game, I’ve decided to pick one puzzle that represents the level of stupidity on offer in a nutshell. Not only is the player expected to “look” at a sleeping guard’s dream to see what’s going on in his head, they’re then expected to “pick it up”. I won’t even go into the contents of said dream (that would only act to kill off more of your brain cells), but I will say that the purpose of said dream collection was to give it to the World’s Smallest Man to cheer him up. I don’t think any further justification is required.


Seriously, has anyone solved this without any hints?

Also worth a mention:

Altered Destiny – The puzzles in this sci-fi game were more strange than ridiculous, but there was one particular part that made absolutely no sense at all. After scaling a dangerous maze of cliff-edging paths, I discovered a plant that I could not pick up because I didn’t know what it was called (the game actually told me so). After discovering that it’s called a defoil plant, I could. Huh!?

Future Wars - So, you need to disguise yourself so as not to draw the attention of a couple of angry monks. What should you do? Oh, I know! Climb a tree and go to sleep until someone decides to skinny dip nearby so you can steal their clothes. Of course! Who wouldn’t think to do that? It's so obvious!

Joffrey’s Death TAG – 
For the Most Memorable Moment of 1990



Winner: The Conquests of Camelot

I can’t say that this game held too many memorable moments, but Fatima more than made up for it. I certainly didn’t expect to be seduced by a minimally-clad, gyrating brunette, especially one offering her “body and soul and sensual delights beyond imagining”, when I started up this family adventure game. I wonder if there has been a single male player in history that didn’t take her up on her offer at least once just to see if they could get laid.


Enticing, but deadly!

Also worth a mention:

Loom - I really was a bit shocked and disturbed to find that one of my spells, which made me appear like a young boy and he appear as me, resulted in the poor little guy being eaten by a dragon. Consequences as tragic as that don’t normally occur in LucasArts games!

The Secret of Monkey Island - The whole thing is highly memorable, but if I had to choose one scene that captures the spirit of the game, it would be Stan the Salesman giving me one last post-sales pitch for the Sea Monkey, only for its front mast to collapse into the sea moments later. A perfectly timed, laugh out loud moment!


The Needle’s Eye TAG – 
For the Most Unsolvable Puzzle of 1990



Winner: Les Manley

Once again I could have picked any of a bunch of puzzles in this game, but I’ve gone for the one that required I “touch” Madame Zarmooska for no particular reason. Finding the resurrection card relies upon the player trying this at random, but even once this action inexplicably causes her to disappear, they then have to touch the lizard statue on the table to get the resurrection card that they couldn’t possibly know exists (unless the parser has mistakenly told them so). Enough said.


We all hope this game would have been a bad dream!

Also worth a mention:

Hugo’s House of Horrors - Puzzles requiring specific knowledge that can only be acquired outside of the game proper are in my opinion not fair game. Yes, it’s true; it’s easy to solve the Roy Rogers puzzle by looking up the answer elsewhere, but that goes against the spirit of adventure games in my opinion.

Earthrise – Earthrise wasn’t a terrible game, but the parser sure gave me some trouble. The worst case of this was in the inner security office, where I was expected to shoot a hole in the door and then fire my laser at a panel through it. Not hard in theory, but with the game’s parser, well let’s just say a lot of luck and/or inhuman perseverance was required.


The Golden Mop TAG – 
For the Best New Character of 1990




Winner: The whole Monkey Island gang

I know I’m cheating here, but the truth is that the top ten characters of the year would all come from this game. Guybrush Threepwood might be a wuss, but that’s what makes him so perfectly suited to Monkey Island shenanigans. LeChuck is a fantastic villain and Elaine an admirably capable heroine, but the real quality comes in the way of the supporting cast. Stan the Salesman, The Fettuccini Brothers, the vegetarian cannibals, all of these characters are distinct and utterly hilarious in their own ways. I can’t separate them, so the whole lot of them win.

Who could resist all these fine personalities?

Also worth a mention:

Bobbin Threadbare – I haven’t chosen Bobbin because he’s a particularly strong character. The truth is that he lacks any sort of charisma. Despite this, the weaver is a fascinating character to play with a particularly cool ability.

Nawar the Prostitute - I realise Nawar only appeared in Quest for Glory II for a very short period of time, but it was enough for me to ask Corey whether she would ever make another appearance. Brutally honest, crass, and extremely witty, Nawar’s awesome!

TBD regretfully adds: Cedric - he's not the best character, but he's definitely one of the most memorable. Though his personality is less defined than Stan the Salesman, and he doesn't help Graham solve any puzzle, he's our constant companion. He'll stay with King Graham through any dangers... as long as those dangers don't involve bandits, dogs, inns, bakers, forests, labyrinths, witches, gypsies, deserts, towns, castles, yetis, wolves or harpies. He's possibly the most made-fun-of character in adventure game history so deserves his place in this list.

The Severed Head TAG – 
For the Worst Game of 1990




Winner: Hugo’s House of Horrors

As much as I would have liked to give this award to Les Manley, the truth is that Hugo’s House of Horrors is so badly made that it’s hard to believe the thing was actually reasonably popular. Stupidly simple puzzles, dodgy parser, appalling graphics, non-existent sound, the only good things to say about it are that it was free, and can be completed in one session.


And then there's this...

Also worth a mention:

Les Manley - Oh man, out of all the games I played for the blog, this is the one I despised the most. The puzzles were shamefully nonsensical, and were made that much harder by the repulsive parser technology. Whatever you do, stay away from this game!

Déjà Vu II – It’s a shame that this game ended up falling to these depths, as I recall enjoying it for the first few sessions. The interface really was a pain to use though, especially after experiencing the leaps and bounds made by competitors. The whole thing collapsed into a heap by its close.

Aperama warns: B.A.T. - France has struck again! The terror of Emmanuelle lived on here in a game with a poor interface, virtually no puzzles and difficulty based purely around what can only be considered chance. There really is nothing redeeming about this French ‘adventure’ game.


The Atlantean Medallion TAG – 
For the Best Game of 1990




Winner: The Secret of Monkey Island

There was only going to be one winner this year. The Secret of Monkey Island isn’t just the best adventure game of 1990. It’s arguably the best adventure game ever made. LucasArts had already made some groundbreaking and highly entertaining games by the time Gilbert, Schafer and Grossman sat down to design it, but with Monkey Island they perfected the formula. Challenging without being frustrating, hilarious without lacking drama, the game is beautifully balanced. The fantastic visuals and stupendously enjoyable soundtrack are just the cherry on the top.


And it comes with memorable lines to quote!

Also worth a mention:

Quest for Glory II - The sequel to 1989’s Hero’s Quest is a very ambitious game, and it delivers for the most part. There are very few games that so completely capture the spirit of the game world within every facet.

Loom - Loom deserves praise for its uniqueness alone, but it’s also a very engaging experience. Its puzzle solving mechanic may make reaching the climax just a matter of time, but the journey is one you’re unlikely to forget.

Ilmari recommends: Rise of the Dragon - Certainly not as magical game as the three greats above, but it offered a competent and interesting ride in a Blade Runner -inspired future, with a dynamic environment where your actions really made a difference. Add to the equation hand-painted graphics with a comic book look, alternative solutions to puzzles and the possibility to skip minigames and you have ingredients for a entertaining, if short experience.

***

Those were the TAG awards for 1990! But before we begin 1991, we’ll announce a whole new contest. Someone (I think it was Laertes) suggested a competition for guessing the game which gets the highest score in 1991. This might be a bit too easy, since there’s a certain sequel coming up that will certainly wipe out all the competition (I am of course speaking of the second Les Manley).

Instead, you’ll have a chance to guess the TOP 5. If you can state which 5 games will be the best games of 1991, you’ll get 10 CAPs. You won’t have to know the exact ratings the games will get, but you do have to get the exact order of the top five games.

You’ll also get to guess the BOTTOM 5. The rules and the prizes are same as in the TOP 5, but you’ll have to guess the five worst games of 1991, in the exact order.

And to top it all, you’ll also have a chance to compete for the FULL HOUSE. Guess the exact order of all the games of 1991. If you get them right, you’ll get the TOP 5 and BOTTOM 5 awards, but also 2 CAPs for each game not in TOP or BOTTOM 5. This year getting FULL HOUSE will thus mean a prize of 42 CAPs. For ease of reference, here are the games we’ll be playing in 1991:

Hugo II: Whodunit?
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Timequest
Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
Police Quest III: The Kindred
The Adventures of Willy Beamish
Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
Martian Memorandum
Castle of Dr. Brain
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
Free D.C!
Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
Maupiti Island
Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
Cruise for a Corpse
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Heart of China
EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective

Please make your guesses for TOP 5, BOTTOM 5 and FULL HOUSE in the comments for this post. The guesses should be made before the first two final ratings of the year 1991 will be published. The prizes for the potential winners will be handed at the end of the year 1991.

So, the next games to be played will be Hugo II and Space Quest IV. But before that, we have something special in store, involving a movie that is coming up quite soon. Stay tuned!

23 comments:

  1. OMG TRICKSTER WELCOME BACK WE MISSED YOU

    (Well, even if it's only for a The Year That Was post :-P)

    My guess for 1991 top 5:

    1. Monkey Island 2
    2. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood

    ...and then, uhh, maybe...

    3. Space Quest 4
    4. Castle of Dr. Brain
    5. The Adventures of Willy Beamish

    And bottom five:

    5. Cruise for a Corpse
    4. Free D.C!
    3. Maupiti Island
    2. Les Manley 2
    1. Hugo II

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wonder if Les Manley 2 will be able to sweep up the worst puzzles categories next year too? I can only think it might get competition from Hugo 2, but there are a few others on the list I've never played so perhaps those might feature.

    Plenty of good ones to play along with too, I'm really looking forward to 1991, it should be a very good year. (Although perhaps this guessing might take up rather a large space in the comments?)

    TOP 5
    1. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (possibly my favourite adventure game of all time)
    2. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    3. Martian Memorandum
    4. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers (a personal favourite, full of sci-fi references)
    5. Leisure Suit Larry V: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work.

    There's my Sierra bias again, no idea if they'll actually score that highly though. I shall enjoy finding out!

    MIDDLE ONES (for FULL HOUSE, so I don't need to reprint some and waste space)
    6. Police Quest III: The Kindred (can't actually remember if this is any good, played it so long ago)
    7. Cruise for a Corpse
    8. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    9. EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    10. Heart of China
    11. Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    12. The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    13. Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    14. Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    15. Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    16. Castle of Dr. Brain

    BOTTOM 5

    17. Maupiti Island
    18. Free D.C!
    19. Timequest
    20. Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    21. Hugo II: Whodunit?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, you think Timequest is that bad? That's some serious hate, there, ordering it just above Les Manley 2. I can't imagine it could be any worse than Spellcasting 201, seriously.

      Delete
    2. I guess it's more ignorance than hate - it is one of the lesser known Legend games (undeservedly, I'd say).

      Delete
    3. Yeah, I've never played Timequest so I just guessed a spot for it, plus I figured it might not score that highly because it's more of an IF game than a graphical adventure (although I could have also put Spellcasting lower, but I had spent far too long re-arranging these already!)

      Delete
  3. Ah! Good ole' Trix! I thought he'd be playing his brains out with those RPGs that he was itching to play ever since taking on this blog. Anyway, my take one this:

    Top 5
    1 Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    2 Heart of China
    3 Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    4 EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    5 Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance

    Meh 11
    6 Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    7 Police Quest III: The Kindred
    8 Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    9 Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    10 Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    11 Timequest
    12 Martian Memorandum
    13 Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    14 Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    15 Cruise for a Corpse
    16 Free D.C!

    Bottom 5
    17 Maupiti Island
    18 The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    19 Castle of Dr. Brain
    20 Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    21 Hugo II: Whodunit?

    I can't believe I actually played more than half of those games more than 20 years ago. Man, I feel old.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Top 5
    1. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    2. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    3. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    4. Ecoquest: The Search for Cetus
    5. Martian Memorandum

    Middle 11:
    6. Heart of China
    7. Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    8. Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective
    9. Police Quest III: The Kindred
    10. Castle of Dr. Brain
    11. Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    12. Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    13. Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    14. The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    15. Cruise for a Corpse
    16. Maupiti Island

    Bottom 5:
    17. Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    18. Timequest
    19. Free D.C.!
    20. Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    21. Hugo II: Whodunit?

    It's all guesswork, of course, but some of these have a reason. Martian Memorandum took the SPA award that year, so it probably wasn't *terrible*. Longbow is a lush, beautiful game with great writing and some clever puzzles. Dr. Brain will probably lose points on the objective rating system, since it is only marginally an adventure game - It's a puzzle game with an adventure setting.

    I seem to recall that Heart of China was very well reviewed at the time. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective was a *fabulous* tabletop game, but translated poorly to the computer. It could have been great if done right.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow. I have not played most of these games, so if I win it will be only slightly less impressive than if I did a March Madness bracket. I just don't know anything about competitive tennis... So picking randomly for the games I know nothing about (and am too lazy to read Wikipedia right now...), and assigning an obvious bias to games that I've played or know people that have played...

    TOP 5

    Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    Heart of China

    MIDDLE DECK

    Martian Memorandum
    Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    Cruise for a Corpse
    Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    Police Quest III: The Kindred
    Free D.C!
    Maupiti Island
    Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter

    BOTTOM 5

    Castle of Dr. Brain (only because of the weak adventure credentials will lower the score)
    Timequest
    Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    Hugo II: Whodunit?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've only actually played one of these games (Monkey Island 2), so this is mostly guesswork.

    Top

    Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    Martian Memorandum
    Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter

    Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    Castle of Dr. Brain
    Cruise for a Corpse
    EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    Free D.C!
    Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    Timequest

    Police Quest III: The Kindred
    Heart of China
    Maupiti Island
    Hugo II: Whodunit?
    Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.

    Bottom

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am pretty sure about TOP 2 and also about BOTTOM 2, but otherwise I have no idea. I guess I should think not just how good I think the games are, but also who's going to review each game and what are their preferences...as it is, this is just a wild guess:

    TOP 5

    Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    Heart of China
    Martian Memorandum

    MIDDLE DECK

    Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    Timequest
    Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    Castle of Dr. Brain
    Cruise for a Corpse

    BOTTOM 5

    Police Quest III: The Kindred
    Maupiti Island
    Free D.C!
    Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    Hugo II: Whodunit?

    ReplyDelete
  8. * * TOP 5 * *
    1) Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    2) Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    3) Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    4) Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    5) Martian Memorandum

    * * FULL HOUSE * *
    6) The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    7) Heart of China
    8) EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    9) Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    10) Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    11) Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    12) Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    13) Timequest
    14) Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Applaince
    15) Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    16) Castle of Dr. Brain

    * * BOTTOM 5 * *
    17) Police Quest III: The Kindred
    18) Free D.C.!
    19) Cruise for a Corpse
    20) Maupiti Island
    21) Hugo II: Whodunit?

    I think all of you are stuck on this idea that Les Manley 2 is terrible. (I'm reviewing it, and I can promise to give it all of the vitriol it deserves.) Problem is, it's just inoffensive. It's just about literally LSL 2 with cardboard cutouts of a different guy in a geeky shirt on the front. Some of you guys put a French game over it. That's low, guys. That's low.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know, PC Gamer thinks Les Manley 2 is worse than the first one, after bashing the resurrection card puzzle. http://www.pcgamer.com/the-10-worst-and-most-wtf-puzzles-in-adventure-gaming/

      Delete
  9. Wow... "Les Manley in: Lost in L.A." & "Hugo II: Whodunit?" being bashed much?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mostly guesswork here, as I've only played maybe three of these, but I figure I'll give it a stab. This is probably more like "what order would I put them in given what I know of the group's ratings" rather than "what order do I think they'll actually end up in" but I can't really predict the latter, so this is the best I can do. My biases probably show a bit here as well.

    TOP 5

    Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    Martian Memorandum
    Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    Heart of China

    MIDDLE DECK

    EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    Timequest
    The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    Police Quest III: The Kindred
    Castle of Dr. Brain
    Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    Cruise for a Corpse

    BOTTOM 5

    Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    Free D.C!
    Maupiti Island
    Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    Hugo II: Whodunit?

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TOP 5:
      1. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
      2. Heart of China
      3. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
      4. Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
      5. Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter

      BOTTOM 5:
      5. Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
      4. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
      3. Free D.C!
      2. Maupiti Island
      1. Hugo II: Whodunit?

      No way I can guess what goes in the middle :-/

      Delete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think I have played only 6 of these games and only one at the time of publication (Monkey Island 2) but I have to bet, after all I proposed the game.

    TOP 5:
    1. Monkey Island 2
    2. Space Quest IV
    3. Heart of China
    4. Leisure Suit Larry 5
    5. Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood

    BOTTOM 5
    17. Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus (just for having more RPG elements than the first part, I don't think it is a bad game)
    18. Les Manley in: Lost in L.A
    19.Castle of Dr. Brain
    20.Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    21.Hugo II: Whodunit?

    ReplyDelete
  14. By the way, not suprisingly it seems no one is willing to risk the top game.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Top 5:
    Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    Martian Memorandum
    Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    Police Quest III: The Kindred

    Middle tier:
    Cruise for a Corpse
    Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
    Heart of China
    EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus
    Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter
    Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
    Free D.C!
    The Adventures of Willy Beamish
    Timequest
    Castle of Dr. Brain
    Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus

    Bottom 5:
    Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
    Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    Maupiti Island
    Hugo II: Whodunit?

    I can say I've played about 12, so the order is mostly an educated guess...

    ReplyDelete
  16. TOP FIVE:
    1. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
    2. Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
    3. Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
    4. Police Quest III: The Kindred
    5. Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective


    BOTTOM FIVE:
    17. Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus
    18. Free D.C!
    19. Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
    20. Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.
    21. Hugo II: Whodunit?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Damn, this sounds like a fun contest. Sad to have missed it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it would be pretty unfair let you join the contest now, when you already can see relative positions of four games.

      Delete