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Tuesday 10 May 2016

Game 69: Cruise for a Corpse - Introduction (1991)

Written by Joe Pranevich


The butler did it!
Ahoy, adventure gamers! We have reached the third and final adventure game from Delphine Studios, one of the great European game development houses of the 1990s. While most of their games are outside the scope of this blog, the two that we have played, Future Wars (43 points on the PISSED scale) and Operation: Stealth (44 points), have been disappointing. So why am I still excited to play this game? Because in 1991, Delphine Studios also released one of the most cinematic platform games of the era, Another World (also known as Out of this World in the US). That game topped sales charts, won numerous awards, and was one of the first computer games exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was also a favorite of mine as a kid and well worth your time. With Cruise for a Corpse under development at the same time, did any of that genius rub off? Is this a lost classic? It’s time to find out!

 
I admit that this is not my only reason for picking up this game. When this blog changed to a multi-author format, I played Operation: Stealth as one of our first fan-reviewed games. I still look back on that first game with some embarrassment. At the time, I knew almost nothing about Delphine or the history of our genre; I even asked Ilmari to write the introductory post for me! I also played the “wrong” version of the game: the original edition was a licensed James Bond tie-in, while I played a watered-down version with a generic spy. I would have enjoyed researching Bond and I wonder now if that would have changed my feelings on the game. I have learned a great deal since starting to review games for this blog and this will be my last chance to do right by Delphine Studios.

Of course, I still will be unable to play the original version of this game. Even though Duolingo insists that I know nearly 500 French words, I am still far from being able to enjoy Croisière pour un cadavre, the original French version of the game. All indications are that the English version is the same game, but I remember that Delphine had some very strange translation issues last time. Will they do better now?


Cruise for a consistent logo treatment?

We’re already familiar with two of the three designers on this game: Paul Cuisset and Philippe Chastel. Mr. Cuisset was a designer on Future Wars, while Mr. Chastel was one of the scriptwriters for Operation: Stealth. They also each pulled double-duty as programmers on both games. The third member of the team was Dennis Mercier, but this will be his only story credit on an adventure game. This is also Delphine’s last attempt at a point-and-click adventure game, but I don’t think we can draw any conclusions from that just yet. I am a bit dismayed to discover that none of our three designers had anything to do with Another World, but I suppose they were busy at the time. Let’s hope that game’s quality osmosed onto this one in some other way.

The manual is nothing special, a very basic description of the controls and some advice for novice adventurers. Unlike a number of recent games, Delphine doesn’t seem to see the manual as more than a utilitarian document. The game control appears to be similar to their previous outings: left-click to manipulate items using a verb list, right-click to use inventory items. I recall that Operation: Stealth had far too much pixel-hunting for my tastes (remember that rubber band puzzle?), but we’ll just have to see if they learned any lessons from that.

Introduction


Arr! Be this a pirate mystery, mateys?

The game opens in Paris, April 1927. Raoul Dusentier, a police inspector, receives a mysterious invitation in the mail: a relaxing cruise sponsored by the “wealthy Niklos Karaboudjan”. Raoul accepts the invitation, but before long tragedy strikes: Niklos has been murdered. Good thing someone thought to invite a police inspector, right? Raoul is led by Niklos’s personal butler to his office to see the body. Before we can even start our investigation, Raoul is attacked from behind and knocked out. When we awake the following day, the body is missing and it’s time to play the game!


Look how tall we are!

Since I did so poorly on predictions last time, I should make some more:
  • Niklos isn’t really dead; we’re just meant to think that. No body means no murder, right?
  • We will discover who invited Raoul to the cruise… and it won’t be Niklos!
  • I will find a way to make a pirate joke every post.
  • I will discover why this is Delphine Studios’ final adventure game. 
  • The butler did it!

Time to look for clues… next week!

Tune in next time for the first play post!

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There's a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no CAPs will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. As this is an introduction post, it's an opportunity for readers to bet 10 CAPs (only if they already have them) that I won't be able to solve a puzzle without putting in an official Request for Assistance: remember to use ROT13 for betting. If you get it right, you will be rewarded with 50 CAPs in return. It's also your chance to predict what the final rating will be for the game. Voters can predict whatever score they want, regardless of whether someone else has already chosen it. All correct (or nearest) votes will go into a draw.

49 comments:

  1. I don't mean to imply the game doesn't look like great fun to play, but I'm going to guess it's worth 39... and that it is much more fun to read about than it is to play.

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  2. > I am a bit dismayed to discover that none of our three designers had anything to do with Another World, but I suppose they were busy at the time.

    Another World was pretty much a personal project of Éric Chahi, nobody else at Delphine had anything to do with it (and it was almost published elsewhere). After AW, Delphine released Flashback, a project from Paul Cuisset which was heavily "inspired" by the former (to say it in a polite way) and the partnership between Chahi and Delphine Software wasn't very good at that time because of this.

    > I also played the "wrong" version of [Operation Stealth]: the original edition was a licensed James Bond tie-in, while I played a watered-down version with a generic spy.

    It's the opposite, in fact: it was originaly designed as a generic spy story, a spoof on the James Bond adventures. It's only when publishing the game overseas (USA at least, not sure about other countries) that Delphine acquired the rights to the James Bond licence and modified it.

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    1. Thank you, anonymous friend! You may want to consider coming in with a username because this is exactly the kind of valuable contributions that we'd love to have and would score you some CAPs.

      I appreciate the correction on "Operation: Stealth". My research had not turned up that nugget and now I feel less guilt about playing the "lesser" game.

      But boy, the art style for Cruise reminds me so much of "Another World". I really need to play it again soon...


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    2. Wasn't Flashback even considered / marketed as a sequel of sorts to Another World?

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    3. A 'spiritual successor' iirc.

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  3. Based on what the previous games got, let's say 45.

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  4. Looks interesting!! I've never heard of it before, so let's go with a (generous?) 48.

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  5. Karaboudjan, that must be a reference to the name of Haddocks ship in Tintin and the Golden Crab Claws. And one could make a guess they based Nikolai on Rastapopulous and as a final deduction he's probably involved in some opium smuggling activities. Oh, and the dice says 56.

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    1. I wondered where I had heard the name Karaboudjan! The protagonist looks more like one of the Dupondt brothers, though.

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    2. I have heard that there are a lot of Tintin references hidden throughout the game, but as I've never been a fan I have no idea. (I'm not European enough to like either Tintin or Donald Duck comics...)

      I saw the Tintin movie a few years back though. If you have any recommendations that I read while I play/write, I appreciate it.

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    3. Never one to turn down a challenge, I have purchased a volume of Tintin... in French! Let's see if I can improve my vocabulary and use it to find hidden references in this game. (There are a LOT of Tintin comics so I doubt reading one will help really...)

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    4. Never one to turn down a challenge, I have purchased a volume of Tintin... in French! Let's see if I can improve my vocabulary and use it to find hidden references in this game. (There are a LOT of Tintin comics so I doubt reading one will help really...)

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    5. Since there are only 24 Tintin albums, you might want consider reading them in publication order - or you might want to skip the first three, where Herge still has a colonialist attitude and the plot is meandering. That way you'll see how all the plot elements, characters etc. developed over time.

      You won't see the development in drawing style, since Herge essentially remade almost all his earlier albums many times over (exception is the first one, which was never remade, because of the blatant political message). Seeing the development in the drawing style would require reading through all the different versions of Tintin albums, which is just a fool's errand (come to think of it, it was a project I once begun and which I should get into again)... well, let's say that would take too much commitment. Just read the latest versions of all the albums in the publication order and you'll be fine.

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    6. I know I got a bit carried away, but I made you a small historical guideline for all Tintin albums, so whatever album you'll read, you can better understand its place in Herge's development. The classification into eras is just my own invention, but I think it makes perfect sense.

      Le Petit Vingtieme era (1-8)

      So named, because Tintin series was published in Le Petit Vingtieme, which was a separate weekly children's section of newspaper Le Vingtieme Siecle. The newspaper itself was catholic and very conservative, and lot of that attitude can be seen especially in the first four Tintin comics. All that would change radically, when Herge met the Chinese artist Chang Chong-jen (or Zhang Chongren), which gives a natural break for two sub-eras.

      Pre-Chang era (1-4)

      In addition to the conservative tone, these early albums have also in common that in them Herge clearly had still no idea how to tell a story. The adventures were published one page a week, often with no general plot – or if there was one, Herge was clearly making it up as he went along. Silly adventures with even sillier stereotypes.

      1 Tintin au pays des Soviets

      The title says it all. Tintin is a reporter going to Soviet Union with his dog Milou. Apparently it's a horrible country and everyone is oppressed by the communists, who also try to liquidate Tintin in almost every page so that he won't be able to ”tell the truth” to the Western countries. Very blatant propaganda and almost no plot at all.

      2 Tintin au Congo

      The original was horribly colonialist. Belgian Congo was actually one of the worst examples of European imperialism and the comic was basically just another piece of propaganda telling how cool Congo was. The later version does remove the most blatant colonialism (like the scene where Tintin teaches African children that Belgium is the name of their fatherland), but there's still enough stereotypes of Africans that it is kind of nauseating read today.

      A novelty is that there's an overarching plot element – an American gangster is trying to set up a diamond smuggling operation, thus foreshadowing the next album – but that plot line is resolved well before the end and the rest of the album just meanders.

      3. Tintin en Amérique

      Al Capone, cowboys and indians... another round of stereotypes. Then again, Herge's description of the fate of the Native Americans is a bit touching. There's even a kind of a plot – gangsters of USA try to kill Tintin – but it's mostly just running from one set piece to another.

      4. Les Cigares du pharaon

      The first one where we can speak of a real plot. Unfortunately, it mostly makes no sense. It's something about drug smuggling and perhaps also about arms smuggling, with a bit of a good old Egyptian curse thrown in and some Indian mysteries and strange poisons that make you mad – you know, the usual Oriental stuff of bad stories. The original was even worse – characters were introduced, with no idea what their motivations were – whether they were in league with baddies or just innocent bystanders. The revamped version tries to make sense of it all, but I am not really sure whether it manages to do that.

      Then again, a lot of recurring and semi-recurring characters are introduced, notably Dupondt characters and also the primary villain of Tintin series (although he is not revealed to be a villain yet, so I won't reveal his name). And the story continues in the next album, so this is kind of a must read, even if it is difficult one.

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    7. Post-Chang era (5-8)

      When Herge announced that Tintin was next going to China, he was introduced to Chang, who told him what real China was like. Gone were the stereotypes, in comes well-crafted plotting, appreciation of local culture, understanding of politics... all the things I love in Tintin. Dupondts become regulars, often showing the absurdity of stereotypes with their attempts to blend with the locals.

      5. Le Lotus bleu

      It feels like reading a well researched historical story set in China between World Wars – lot of references to Japanese imperialism, division of China to regions by the Western countries etc. There's plot also, continuing the drug dealer story of the previous album, but now things actually make sense – and the primary villain is revealed. And Chang is embodied as one character in the story. The start of true Tintin.

      6 L'Oreille cassée

      A pretty good mystery plot, set mostly in South America, with another round of semi-recurring characters introduced (especially the generals Alcatraz and Tapioca) and also the first use of a fictional country (San Salvador). The description of South American states with their on-going revolutions might be a bit stereotypical, but there are again some references to real historical events, although this time not so explicit (e.g. a gun salesman providing weapons to both sides).

      7 L'Île Noire

      Another mystery plot, although one I for some reason didn't appreciate so much. Maybe it's that the setting was originally supposed to be Great Britain in 30s, but then in later editions the place was modernised, so that the album feels a bit out of place in comparison with the rest of the Tintins of this era. Still, a second best recurring villain is introduced.

      8. Le Sceptre d'Ottokar

      Very political mystery story, with another well-crafted plot. The album is supposedly set in a fictional Balkan state Syldavie, which its neigbouring country Bordurie is trying to annex. Well, the latter country apparently has a high official with the name that sounds like an amalgam of Mussolini and Hitler, so you might see where Herge got his inspiration for this story. Also, plenty of semi-recurring characters are introduced, most noteworthy being the famous singer Bianca Castaphiore.

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    8. Le Soir era or the war era (9-14)

      Le Vingtieme Siecle stopped being published, when Belgium was conquered by Germany, and Herge had to move to another newspaper. At first he had another separate children's section to use, but soon that had to be cancelled and Herge was forced to publish just one strip at a time within Le Soir itself. The political overtones had to be dropped, which make the stories simple adventure - but plots are still well-crafted. The colours were introduced in this era and the number of recurring characters grows - in a sense, this is the birth of classic Tintin.

      9. Le Crabe aux pinces d'or

      Very notable for the introduction of Captain Haddock, although he is a really sad personality and hopeless drunk in his first appearance. The plot is quite satisfying, and in a sense, what Les Cigares du pharaon should have really been like. Also, an important minor villain is introduced.

      10. L'Étoile mystérieuse

      There’s some controversy whether Herge was trying to suck up to the Nazis with his description of his villains - clearly American businessmen with stereotypical Jewish features. In any case, this isn’t one of the best Tintin albums, I’d say. The plot has a semi-scifi tone, but I am never really convinced, when Herge tries to do scifi.

      11. -12. Le Secret de La Licorne and Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge

      The first real double album adventure. I won’t say anything more about the plot, but that it’s about pirates and hidden treasures - classic adventure stuff. Especially the first part is simply gold, introducing us to the character of Haddock, making him the real hero of the story. Also, plenty of other important elements of Tintin universe are introduced. The second part isn’t as exciting, but still quite good, especially as we are introduced to Professor Tournesol.

      13.-14. Les Sept Boules de cristal and Le Temple du Soleil

      Another classic double adventure, and although the latter part is actually part of the post-war era, I’ve included it here, since it’s a seamless continuation of the first part. Herge is now trying his hand with an occult mystery and does it pretty well. Again, the latter part is not as good as the first part, and especially the final solution with Westerners showing their wisdom to dumb natives is so cliched. Still, an entertaining story.

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    9. Tintin Magazine era (15-24)

      After the end of the war, Herge got his very own magazine to run. Paradoxically, it meant that Tintin albums were taking longer and longer to produce. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, since the artwork became more detailed.

      Classic era (15-18)

      I am not trying to say that these are the ultimately best Tintin albums. I am more trying to imply that Herge was finally able to put together the two different strands of his previous eras - the political overtones of the pre-war era and the character interaction of the war era.

      15. Tintin au pays de l'or noir

      This story began actually already before the war, but Herge had to discontinue it when le Vingtieme Siecle stopped appearing. When Herge then picked up the story after the war, he had to make explanations why all the new characters wouldn’t be appearing in the central parts of the story - and it becomes a running joke, when Captain Haddock later appears in the story and tries to explain how he got there.

      The original had very explicit references to politics of the Near East and to the occupation of Arab countries by Europian powers. These references were later removed, but it’s still very political - it’s all about oil.

      16.-17. Objectif Lune and On a marché sur la Lune

      The weakest of the double adventures, mostly because Herge just couldn’t get scifi things right. It’s well researched and the spaceship looks quite credible, but you know… it’s just like James Bond in Moonraker, something feels off. At least the story lets Tournesol shine and makes him more than a silly professor type. And Syldavie and Bordurie are again introduced, this time as metaphors for Cold War.

      18. L'Affaire Tournesol

      The best Tintin story. The characters are spot-on, the plot works at every level. Even the scifi element (the sonic weapon) fits in (of course, it’s just a metaphor for A-bomb). The Cold War feel comes out very strongly. Bordurie is now an obvious reference to Stalinist Soviet Union, but there’s even a bit of Herge’s later cynicism in the final solution (you know, Ameri… I mean Syldavie isn’t that rosy either).

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    10. The experimental era (19-24)

      In his last years, Herge clearly tried to break out of the classic Tintin adventure style. Some of the experiments were about the form of the series, but especially in the final few albums there’s a growing feel of cynicism and pessimism.

      19. Coke en stock

      I might have included this one in the classic era also, but in a sense it’s almost too classical. Herge keeps introducing us to minor characters from albums of the previous years, plot is as complex as it gets (I still have no clear sense how all the pieces of the plot fit together). Just because it has so many elements, the album doesn’t feel as coherent as the albums of previous eras, although it literally has everything that a Tintin story should have.

      20. Tintin au Tibet

      An exact opposite of the previous album. The story was born at time, when Herge was suffering from depression and saw constant dreams about whiteness. While his psychiatrist taught this was a sign to take a break from Tintin, Herge instead created this very minimalist album, set in snowy Himalaya and almost devoid of any characters, except Tintin, Milou, Haddock and Chang. Basically, it’s a very touching tale of friendship.

      21. Les Bijoux de la Castafiore

      In a sense, again a very minimalist story, but of a completely different sort than the previous one. Explaining what I mean would ruin the story, but let’s just say this is more about character interaction than grand adventures. I like it very much, but some people might find it a bit boring.

      22. Vol 714 pour Sydney

      Herge’s cynicism starts to show in a story with more shades of grey than ever. Villains become butts of jokes and supposedly good guys include people who are really mean and heartless. The ending is kind of a cheap trick, but at least it ties in with the zeitgeist.

      23. Tintin et les Picaros

      Superficially taken, it’s very comical story with lot of humour in it. Seen from a more deeper level, it’s actually very sad story about how the revolutions even with best intentions get really nowhere. An interesting ending to the South American story that began back in Tintin #6.

      24. Tintin et l'Alph-Art

      I have to admit I still haven’t got round to reading this (saving it for some special occasion), but it is an unfinished story, with only minimal sketches of the artwork.

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    11. Wow, hats off to you, thoroughly researched.
      I myself have almost all Tintin comics in my home library, in German ("Tim und Struppi"). A great read.

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    12. Your descriptions are fascinating (and appreciated!) and I'll have to get into it farther to understand the appeal. I bought #7 right now because it looked good and perhaps somewhat easier on my poor French, but I'll look for a collection of the others in English at the library.

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    13. I would also recommend the 90's animated series that adapts all but the first two (and unfinished last album, which I sadly haven't read either) rather faithfully in my opinion (with a great soundtrack), but I don't know if it's easy to get an english version since I've only watched the Swedish dub. If you want something completely off the wall you can always watch the 60's animated series, but I have a harder time recommend it since it takes huge liberties with plots and settings and the only reason I watched some of the episodes is due to my parents recording the L'Étoile mystérieuse and first part of the two-parter L'Île Noire on VHS. If you gonna watch something from that era I would say the stand-alone movie Tintin et le Lac aux requins since it isn't adapted from an Hergé album.

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    14. Wow!

      If you count the comments, this Introduction Post has more information on the tangentially relevant Tintin than the actual Cruise For A Corpse game itself!

      I have no personal interest in Tintin, but I have to applaud the effort! Well done to you all (especially Ilmari!)

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    15. Maybe I should add a Tintin report to the bottom of each of my play posts... to cover how I'm learning about Tintin...

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    16. Joe, that would be great! Soon, we might find ourselves the number one Internet source for all things Tintin (then again, I am not sure if we really want to do that, since we would just start to get lot of weird comments meant for Boucherie Sanzot - and yes, that was an obscure Tintin reference).

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    17. Ilmari, it could be worse, could be Séraphin Lampion :)

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  6. 43. Will be playing along.

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  7. Clues on a Cruise? There's surely clues on the corpse, but unless the body walked away (no zombies here I'm sure), there's more afoot. Will the cadaver turn up? or is it fish food? Find out next episode!

    I've never played this one, but from the box art alone I always thought it was something similar to "Death on the Nile" by Agatha Cristie. But perhaps all they have in common is death and a boat...

    49 points I think.

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    1. The thing I am most impressed with is the way the box art bears no resemblance to the game title in the game itself. The former is a bit "Miami Vice" and the latter is more "Inspector Clouseau". It's a strange mismatch.

      The French box art (http://cdn-static.gamekult.com/gamekult-com/images/photos/00/01/11/91/ME0001119136_2.jpg) is more consistent with the in-game art, at least.

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    2. I like the way they have to have the Delphine Software logo twice on the French cover. And that they don't have a French version on the Delphine logo when they're a French company...

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    3. The box art you're showing is from a reissue in a budget collection (Kixx). The original french box art was that one: http://www.abandonware-utopia.com/pages/telechargement/capture_id/499_1.jpg

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    4. Thanks for tracking this down! This is one of those things that we'd give CAPs for so if you sign up for a real account we'll probably give you some assist points when the final review comes around...

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  8. I got halfway or so ( I guess) through this back in the day, but I was thwarted by a faulty floppy disc, so maybe I'll play along and see if I can make it through this time
    Also, I'll pick 57. It could very well be a decent game

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  9. I'll guess 44, just to have a number on record. I haven't played this game, but read another playthrough of it. It sounds interesting, but perhaps more "canned" than an adventure gamer would prefer.

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  10. The game is French, and an adventure game. About 6-8 in graphics and sound, 1-3 in everything else. 30.

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  11. I know I have played this, however probing my memory for further info only yields a vague sense of infuriation and frustration. Thus I will guess 35.

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  12. This is a pretty hard game. I can remember my last try (about 15 years ago). Thumping walls and smashing keyboard stuff...fasten your seatbelt and stay CALM.....whatever happens.

    I guess a straightforward 50

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  13. I'll go with 52. Even further, I'll bet that lbh qba'g thrff gur zheqrere ba lbhe svefg gel. I won't win the bet, but someone had to do it :p

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  14. Put me down for a 47. I'll try playing along as well.

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  15. I loved this game, I had it on the Amiga from the Delphine Cinematic Collection (which I still have somewhere, which also had Another World, Operation Stealth, Flashback and Future Wars). I never completed it, but it was so slow-paced (in addition to loading times) it was slightly unbearable.

    I remember the Delphine games being unusual because you could die - which is rare in point & clicks of the day (Where Monkey Island was the archetype of the generation)

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  16. Also, only just found this site - I'll be coming here often :)

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    1. Welcome! Always glad to have a new face. Will it be as unbearable as you suggest? Guess we'll find out...

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  17. So... let's talk about Tintin!

    Ilmari has inspired me that as I play this (partially) Tintin-inspired game (or at least, one that plays homage to many French creations, including Tintin), I need to learn more about it. As an uncultured American slob, I have only the tiniest of knowledge of this character-- I saw the 2011 film and thought it was okay.

    So, I'm going to start reading all of Tintin starting with the first four volumes that Ilmari has defined above. I have them all on order with my library. (My local library has quite a bit of Tintin actually, but not any of the first books. In fact, the "Congo" book is a closed-stacks book in the system meaning that I can request it but that they don't keep it out where children can find it...)

    Now, this isn't "RetroSmack", this is the "Adventure Gamer" and so I don't think my reporting on it is that interesting to the general audience, BUT I'll write it up if anyone wants to read it. I think our post calendar here is too tight to swallow five posts (divided as Ilmari has done it) or more, so I'm leaning towards just posting them to my own largely-abandoned blog and linking to there as something of an "Adventurer's Appendix". You can cross over if you like, or you can ignore it.

    Any thoughts? Does anyone specifically like or dislike this approach? (Other than my imagination that I can cover all of a global phenomenon in five posts...)

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    1. I for one would definitely want to read your take on Tintin, whichever the blog where you decide to publish it. Knowing how thorough you are in researching things, I have a feeling there will be more than five posts, but I have no objection to that either (and if you need more background info, I've heard Michael Farr's Complete Companion is a good start).

      It's interesting that "Congo" book could be found only in closed stacks. There have been discussions in some European countries, whether that album should be removed from public consumption or censured, but as far as I know, this hasn't been done yet.

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    2. The "closed stack" issue is probably just up to the local libraries to decide. I interpret it as a book that is in the system and can be borrowed, but will not be sitting out in the kid's sections. Considering the large "banned books" section my library puts up every year, I see that as less a censorship issue and more about recognizing that it's a product of its time.

      Old Loony Tunes and and Disney cartoons are similarly available to collectors, but with some notes beforehand that the company doesn't condone the racist caricatures today. Hell, even old episodes of "Sesame Street" are now considered "not for kids" by Sesame Workshop, though I have no idea what they did wrong...

      In the US, there is one prominent movie that everyone knows about but can never watch: Song of the South, an old Disney film where the "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" song came from. Because it is so blatantly racist, Disney refuses to air it or sell it in the US, even with warning labels.

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    3. I have no personal interest in Tintin, so likely wouldn't read it immediately, but rarely say no to extra content and do have a habit of occasionally reading old posts on things I don't have a major interest in (I do that with CRPG Addict, actually)

      Seeing as it's not really adventure game related, I think a link in these posts to articles in your Kniggit.net blog would be most appropriate

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    4. I gotta say the approach is probably for the best since, as you stated, maybe not everyone would appreciate it, even though me personally will probably read it just to see someone new to the series reaction. And now I begin to wonder why no one made an adventure game with Tintin?

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  18. That in-game screenshot feels like a bad version of the Willy Beamish art style. I have low expectations for this one, I'm going to guess 40, worse than the two predecessors.

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Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There's a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of the reviewer requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game...unless they really obviously need the help...or they specifically request assistance.

If this is a game introduction post: This is your opportunity for readers to bet 10 CAPs (only if they already have them) that the reviewer won't be able to solve a puzzle without putting in an official Request for Assistance: remember to use ROT13 for betting. If you get it right, you will be rewarded with 50 CAPs in return.
It's also your chance to predict what the final rating will be for the game. Voters can predict whatever score they want, regardless of whether someone else has already chosen it. All score votes and puzzle bets must be placed before the next gameplay post appears. The winner will be awarded 10 CAPs.