Friday 30 September 2016

The Year That Was… 1991

By The TAG Team




1991... the year of quality entertainment and quality games!

After a more quiet year, Sierra came back with a vengeance. Space Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Conquest -series all got new sequels, Space Quest 1 and Larry 1 were remade with better graphics, and completely new games, like Castle of Dr. Brain and EcoQuest were published. If you also count the games Dynamix made (Heart of China and Willy Beamish), the total rises to ten games, which is almost half of the adventure games that made it to our official gaming list. Of course, not all of these games were flawless, but even at their worst (Larry 5 and Police Quest 3) Sierra games had their moments and at their best (Space Quest 4 and Conquests of Longbow) they were unforgettable classics. Compared to Sierra, Lucasfilm again published only one game (Lechuck’s Revenge), but as could be expected, it was almost pure gold.
Sierra and Lucasfilm were getting more and more competition, but many of these attempts had great flaws and deserve to be forgotten (Les Manley 2 and Free D.C.! being good examples). The major exceptions were already established game developers: Access Software with Martian Memorandum, ICOM Simulations with Consulting Detective and Legend Entertainment with Timequest and Spellcasting 201. Interestingly, these three companies had somewhat different agendas. Access Software and ICOM Simulations pointed out the way for the future with the use of real actors and digitized speech, while Legend Entertainment was invigorating a thing of the past by doing text games in an era, when almost everyone else was doing pure point and click (another exception to this trend is Hugo II, but as a shareware game it doesn’t really count).

Another interesting trend was the rise of detective games.There were three pure detective adventures (Maupiti Island, Cruise for Corpse and Sherlock Holmes: The Consulting Detective), and if you count in also one hardboiled adventure (Martian Memorandum), one police adventure (Police Quest 3) and one shareware game with murder mystery elements (Hugo II), you get a total of six games dealing with criminal investigation.

Since it’s the end of the year, we will pick some examples of games we've played for special awards. But first, let's cash out the prizes for the Full House Awards.

Full House



No one figured out the exact order of Top 5 games of 1991, so half the prize (5 CAPs) will go to both Joe Pranevich and Corey Cole, who were clever enough to have the closest guess.

Similarly, no one knew the exact order of Bottom 5 games of 1991, but Ilmari, Reiko and Laukku were close enough to get half the prize (5 CAPs).

Finally, no one managed to guess the exact order of all the games of 1991, but the closest guess for Full House came from Ilmari. And since it wouldn't be fun to have admin get all the CAPs, half the prize of Full House award (21 CAPs) will also be awarded to the second best guesser, that is, Reiko.

In addition to CAPs, we have a selection of Zojoi games to hand over as rewards - three Steam keys for Macventures Retro Bundle containing  the classic versions of Deja Vu, Deja Vu II, Shadowgate, and The Uninvited, four keys for the 2014 remake of Shadowgate and three keys for the first Consulting Detective. The winners of Top 5, Bottom 5 or Full House, please indicate one of these keys as your prize in the comments.

Now, it’s again time to award the games with the best and the worst qualities. Majority of the awards have been decided by our group of reviewers, but readers have also had a chance of voting for their favourite. Let’s begin with that…

Reader's Choices



The readers have had their say about the best game of 1991. The result could not have been more expected - the winner was Lechuck's Revenge with 96 votes (64 % of the total).


I am sure no one is surprised

The best Missed Classic so far according to our readers is Cinemaware’s It Came From the Desert, an appreciation of all the B-class monster movies.


"On behalf of the Cinemaware Fan Club, I heartily accept this award."

Let's move on to the awards chosen by our regular reviewers!

Charles Darwin Award 
For the Most Evolutionary Game of 1991


Instead of  revealing the winner at first, like Trickster did, we'll begin  each category with successful candidates and end with the final winner.

5th place - Martian Memorandum: While other companies were happy to earn money with hint lines and guide books, Access Software was bold enough to introduce an in-game hint system. Martian Memorandum was also one of the first games to use full motion video.

4th place - LeChuck’s Revenge: The second Monkey Island had beautiful graphics and a good dialogue system, but these can hardly be called novelties since VGA graphics and branching dialogues had been used by earlier games. Truly radical in LeChuck’s Revenge was its innovative use of background music with the new iMuse system, which allowed seamless transition from one piece of music to another.

3rd place - Space Quest 4: Technically the voice narrated version of SQ4 didn’t appear until 1992, but it is still the best of its kind. We will especially remember the talent of recently deceased Gary Owens.

2nd place - Dr. Brain: While not really a traditional adventure game, Castle of Dr. Brain was an early example of a completely different genre, namely, that of pure puzzle adventure games. This would be almost a cause for awarding the game, if we wouldn't have played an even more evolutionary game.

Winner - Consulting Detective: And the title of the most evolutionary game goes to a computerised version of a board game that we had difficulties deciding what to call it - was it an adventure game or something else? In addition to defying genres, Consulting Detective  was also technically innovative. The move to a solid FMV interface presages a lot of the games that will come in the 90s, as integrating video clips in games will become vogue for a while.

"Remember guys, we are doing history right now!"


Lament Configuration Award 
For the Most Ridiculous Puzzle of 1991



6th place - Killing the Dalek (Hugo 2): In a section completely unrelated to the rest of the game, you use a phone box to end up in an alien planet, shoot a Dalek and receive a sonic screwdriver from the Doctor. Talk about copyright infringement!

5th and 4th places (tied):

Saving Marie’s life (Police Quest 3): Every puzzle in the game was a meticulously designed paragon of logic triumphing over a chaotic and seemingly random world. In Police Quest III, the designers made a game that was almost TOO REAL in depicting how police detectives investigate and solve crimes. To qualify something like Police Quest III as a "game" is in and of itself slightly offensive, as Police Quest III is more of a reality simulator masquerading as computer-based entertainment. Still, it’s good that Jim Walls became a police officer and not a doctor. Not kissing Marie on the first day apparently condemns her to life in an incurable vegetative state.

Solving the mystery of the unfaithful wife (Timequest): The most ridiculous puzzle in the game was the one where the colors of the harem women matched the colors of the vizier's outfit, and somehow the player has to intuit that the woman matching his gloves is the guilty one. This puzzle can be bypassed by luck or brute force anyway (there are only six women in the harem), so its inclusion in the game was somewhat pointless.

3rd and 2nd places (tied):

Getting rid of a vampire (Elvira 2): Killing the pure-breed vampire makes no sense. You have to use a tuning fork to break a window to let sunlight in and kill the vampire. The only problem is that it is a moonless night, and there is no other way to kill the vampire.

Getting into a pawn shop (Les Manley 2): Wax casing for acidic Alien? Learning of a criminal plot, accusing someone of it and then being allowed into their movie studio? No, no. The most ridiculous puzzle in the game is definitely the first one. You need to impress 'The Boyz', a wannabe rap group out the front of a pawn shop. To do so, you speak to a computer hacker reminiscent of Jonny Lee Miller's character in 'Hackers' (given that he's apparently not allowed near a phone) who says that you 'need (gang) colors' to scare them off. You go to the beach, read a magazine headline to cause a solar eclipse and steal a lifeguard's bandana. No, this will not happen anyway, and it will literally not allow you to continue until you have stolen the bandana. Ridiculous, you say? You haven't seen the best.

Winner - Finding a firefly (Spellcasting 201): The entire sewer section was somewhat difficult in Spellcasting 201, never quite explaining itself well enough. The fact that there are 'locator goggles' that disappeared every time you went down there was bad enough, and the 'active nodes' to make the maze in it more difficult for no real reason other than copy protection? Bad enough. However, you need a light. Instead of giving you Magic Light or a torch, you have to go to the cafeteria, which the last game had set as a completely useless area with nothing going on in it, take a freely offered casserole during lunch hours (which the game all but tells you is useless), LOOK at it.. and then a firefly larva pops out of it. No clues offered. No 'there's a firefly in my soup!' gag. No 'firefly casserole and buffalo wings on menu'. Just 'why wouldn't they examine an object we tell them is a red herring?' AAAAARGH!


As a reward for their efforts, the good people in Legend will get a piece of their infamous casserole


Death of Han Solo Award
For the Most Memorable Moment of 1991



3rd place - Saved by a frog! (Willy Beamish): Most memorable moment is when you are "killed" (for the nth time) by Leona and Louis at her mansion. Just as the death animation plays and Willy is drowning in their oversized aquarium, Turbofrog swims down and rescues you (with Horny and Gigi in tow, depending on how you solved earlier puzzles). That immediately followed Gordon's surprising reveal to the press of the grand plot, underlining that the story and character threads were coming together in the end of the game.

2nd place - Intimate moment (Conquests of Longbow): Getting it on with Marian in the grove was handled in a very romantic manner--great dialogue. The game was filled with other memorable moments: Robin "blessing" the Sheriff, the entire Saturday Fair scene/archery contest, rescuing the knight from the fens monastery and escaping down the tower, freeing Fulk, and rescuing the boys. Hell, this whole game is a memorable moment. But not as memorable as the next one.

Winner - Back to square 1 (Space Quest 4): Wow, we are back in SQ1! Although the Kerona setting itself felt so empty, no true fan of the Space Quest series will fail to love this moment. And to top it all, it's drawn in a style reminiscent of the old EGA graphics.


Still, you can't beat monochrome!

Needle's Eye Award 
For the Most Unsolvable Puzzle of 1991



3rd place - Finding new things (Cruise for Corpse): The searching puzzles were awful. You could easily brute force them, but with dozens of items to interact with in every room (every towel in a closet had an individual description), it takes hours to search every cranny of every room. It's a way to pad out the time, but it adds nothing since there is no rhyme or reason for the objects to appear when they mysteriously did. Even the admission at the end that Niklos/Dimitry was pulling our leg and leaving clues on purpose doesn't paper over it.

2nd place - Opening a jewel box (Maupiti Island): a) Find peculiar symbols in a pirate cave. b) Notice that these symbols are actually numbers combined with their mirror images. c) Notice that a locked jewel box has the exact same inscription as the pirate cave. d) Notice that the symbols in the cave are plotted as locations in an inverted island map, which you see almost never. e) Read a passage in a book that appears to have no connection with the cave. f) Notice that the phrases in the book might be connected with places in the island. g) Fiddle with the order of the numbers, just because. h) Instead of numbers, use their sums. i) Change into a modular arithmetics, because otherwise you won’t make any sense of the sums. j) Presto, the jewel box opens! No wonder it took ages to solve this puzzle. And yet, it was almost solvable, unlike the next puzzle.

Winner - Solving the killer (Hugo 2): Hugo’s uncle is presumed dead and the whole house is full of friends and relatives with a clear motive to get rid of him. So who did it? Apparently no one and Hugo’s uncle is alive! Too bad there’s no way to deduce the answer before you actually hear it.


Personally, I'd blame Chuck the Plant, hiding in the corner


Magic Square Award 
For the Best Puzzle of 1991



5th place - Fooling an ATM machine (Space Quest 4): The best puzzle in the game is the one involving an ATM card. Although maybe not amazing, it still involves a neat line of puzzle dependencies: you need to buy pants to get a job; you need a job to earn enough money for women’s clothing; you need women’s clothing to be able to use the ATM card. Some points must be deducted, because making fun of cross dressers is not polite.

4th place - Finding a password for Tower of Babylon (Timequest): The antagonist of the game had left to various historical locations taunting messages, all of which contained a number. Putting the first letters of these messages into an order indicated by the numbers, spelled out a password unlocking a passage to Tower of Babylon, where the endgame occurred.

3rd place - Getting an underage kid into a bar (Willy Beamish): The puzzle that truly surprised us was the one involving a cassette recorder. You have to somehow fool a doorman away from his post and the only thing you can do is to call him. It's all set up so that you have to record a show from the radio and play it back to the doorman. But it has a very nice curveball which is that you can also record other telephone conversations. You have to first phone an astrology service and then use that conversation to distract the doorman, who happens to be quite superstitious. That sort of lateral thinking was a nice change from otherwise simpler inventory puzzles.

2nd place - Programming robot heads (Dr. Brain): You might think that a game that began the puzzle genre, would have interesting and original puzzles, but many of them were ordinary math or logic puzzles. The puzzle where you had to program robot heads stood out from that crowd positively. Still, it wasn't good enough for the first prize.

Winner - Rescuing widow’s sons (Conquests of Longbow): We liked how Robin had to leave the coins on the guards' table in order for them to skedaddle and buy beer, letting Robin rescue the Widow's sons. In fact, that whole rescue sequence, involving getting the monk's clothes, getting the Abbott's beer, playing Nine Man's Morris to win the magic amethyst, befriending the barkeep to learn about the secret passage, infiltrating St. Mary's, having the drinking contest with the Abbott, stealing his puzzle box and the fire ring inside, and ultimately freeing the boys, was probably our favorite sequence of the game.


The unsuspecting guards find their TAG reward

Golden Mop Award
For the Most Memorable Character of 1991




6th place - Brian Forbes (Police Quest 3): This highly disturbed individual did not just believe in alien invasion, he also kept a knife in his underpants, for crying out loud!

5th place - Latex Babes (Space Quest 4): Latex babes change from a teenage boy’s dream into their worst nightmare. We might not remember any of their names, but that shaver will haunt our dreams forever.

4th and 3rd place (tied):

Passionate Patti (Larry 5): Larry is the same lovable schmuck we've seen three times before, but Patti is the standout character in the game. Her jaded yet patriotic persona, constant sexual references, and street-smarts make her pretty interesting. Also, she's the only character with any agency, since Larry bumbles into things while Patti actually makes stuff happen. She takes out the bad guy at the end, after all.

Adam and His Oceanic Friends (EcoQuest): Adam himself was quite memorable, as a smart and plucky environmentalist kid. But the non-human characters beg for recognition too: Gregarious the airless manatee, the ever-rhyming Oracle, Narcissus the French blowfish, Professor Erroneous the turtle...most of the characters were quirky and fun in one way or another. But Adam gets the most screen time and the most lines, so in the end, he's the most characterized and the most memorable.

2nd place - Japanese tourist ninjas (Willy Beamish): They were only in it for one puzzle, but not many games ever made have had Japanese tourist ninjas as characters. Still, they were not the most memorable characters of the year.

Winner - Merry Men (Conquests of Longbow): Just like Trickster struggled with finding a single outstanding character in Monkey Island, similar problem occurs with Conquests of Longbow. The tough thing is that each character is so well written it's hard to pick favorites. Robin himself is drawn really well! We like how, when the action begins, he is growing weary of the outlaw lifestyle and wants to settle down with a good woman. But considering that Little John, Friar Tuck, Marian, Alan and Will are all equally memorable, there’s no other possibility but to choose the whole gang.


Who could resist these guys!


Pooooisonous Snake Award 
For the Most Memorable Sidekick of 1991 
-And Not Necessarily in a Good Sense



4th place - Wattson (Free D.C.!): What could be worse than waking after thousand years sleep, when all your loved ones are dead, finding out that robots rule the world and being assigned to find a robot killer by them? Well, you could be given as a steed and as a companion a metallic My Little Pony lookalike, who has an annoyingly wheeny voice and who fails to get your superb jokes.

3rd place - Morales (Police Quest 3): This outstandingly useless companion does almost nothing else in the game but makes phone calls. Also, why the hell did she leave her locker combination written in her desk? Why not just carry that paper with her or commit those THREE NUMBERS to memory? And did we mention that Morales tries to kill Sonny Bonds at the end of the game?

2nd place - Horny (Willy Beamish): Horny is an outstanding frog whom Willy carries around with him everywhere. He manages to beat a German super athlete frog in a competition and earns Willy enough money to gain entrance to Nintari competition. Of course, Horny then has to get caught, but sidekicks do need to be rescued once in awhile. Still, he's not as memorable as a certain Merry Man.

Winner - Much the Miller’s son (Conquests of Longbow): Robin Hood has many great sidekicks: Little John, Will Scarlet, and Friar Tuck. They are Robin’s right-hand men - tough, smart, and willing to mix it up. They've got Robin's back. But since we’ve already covered the Merry Men as great characters, let’s look at a more negative sidekick - Much. We don't know if it's from the stories, but he's more there for comic relief. You quickly learn not to take any advice from this guy. Much even has the guts to suggest using wild boars for distracting guards. Boars???????? No wonder this plan ends miserably.

Rumor is, Robin Hood has considered replacing Much with an irritating owl

Severed Head Award
For the Worst Game of 1991



4th place - Cruise for Corpse: Lion’s share of the game can hardly be called an adventure game as everything seems to focus on constant re-exploring of an uninspired and repetitive setting and collecting dialogue questions. Still, it was filled with adventure game red herrings. For a game with so much weight on interrogating suspects, the dialogue system is horrible. And how come a timed murder mystery has no tension?

3rd game - Free D.C.!: An almost puzzleless game with an infuriating maze and inane use of firearms, just to make the game longer. What’s worst, a game that was advertised as being full of stories was filled with nothing else but snarky dialogue with cardboard characters. And let’s not talk about the ending.

2nd game - Les Manley 2: A game with puzzles so easy they didn’t virtually exist or so obscure you’d not even call them puzzles. Les Manley 2 is full of stereotypes that are largely written poorly and the main character has all of the intrigue of a wet noodle. The game was credited as the first with digitised actors, but majority of the models look like they did it only for the money. And still, it wasn't the worst game of the year.

Winner (or loser) - Hugo 2: A murder mystery without any murder or mystery, full of padding, random events and red herrings. To top it all, the graphics look like they are made with Paint, when there’s sound, you wish there weren’t, and the interface is horrendous.


And this bridge could make even Sierra proud.

Atlantean Medallion Award 
For the Best Game of 1991



3rd place - Space Quest 4: A well-balanced, beautiful to look at and solvable game which goes to great lengths to ensure that you can get all the way back to the beginning to find an item that you missed. Different time zones are distinctive and the idea of using sequels instead of dates is novel, but time travel related puzzles are sorely lacking.

2nd place - Conquests of Longbow: A game with a rich variety of well thought puzzles, which not only found a good balance between giving too much information and being too obtuse, but also allowed true multiple solutions. The story might not be that original, but that’s just to be expected in a Robin Hood game. The narrative has a thrust that never falters, and even revisiting areas feels fresh because of the on-going plot. Sherwood Forest and its surroundings are fantastic places to get lost in, and all the characters feel unique. All this greatness is covered with great, hand-painted graphics and catchy, evocative music. What’s more to ask? Well, there's one game it couldn't top.

Winner - Monkey Island 2: Although many of the puzzles made sense only retrospectively, the intricateness of puzzle dependencies more than makes up for this. The overall plot was full of classic Lucasarts moments, even if the ending didn’t feel quite as satisfying as it could have been. Still, it’s a great experience, it has lovely graphics with lots of details to look at, a well-worked dialogue system with many fun options to choose from, and evocative musical scores flow seamlessly thanks to iMuse.


Let's all party now!

But that's not all! We have a brand new award to give.

Archie Bunker Award
For the Worst Mistake Reviewers Have Made



3rd place - Aperama: We are the experts and we should know these things, but mistakes do happen. When speaking of later accomplishments of Dynamix, Aperama mentioned Blue Force, made by none other than infamous Jim Walls. The thing is, it wasn’t published by Dynamix, but by Tsunami, formed by former Sierra employees. After hearing this, they’ll probably send Brian Forbes after us.

2nd place - Alex: It’s a good thing that Alex hasn’t tried building a career in the world of nobility, because he clearly can’t tell a king from a duke. Unlike Alex suggested, it was the Duke of Austria who captured Richard Lionheart, not the king. Rumor is, European royalty have stopped sending official invitations to TAG reviewers because of this breach of etiquette. Yet, we've done worse.

1rst place - Ilmari: We couldn’t leave the blunder that inspired the whole award go unpunished. While trying to speak of Archie Goodwin, the famous sidekick of detective Nero Wolfe, Ilmari accidentally spelled his surname “Bunker” (yes, B and G are quite close to each other, but it’s still an incredible accident). While we are sure that Nero and Archie B. would quickly bond over pints, this crossover still waits its writer.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

Those were the TAG awards for 1991! And just like last year, you’ll have a chance to guess the TOP 5 for the next year. If you can state which 5 games will be the best games of 1992, 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. If no one pinpoints the exact order, persons with closest guesses will get 5 CAPs as a reward.

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 1992, 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 1992. 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 78 CAPs. Again, if no one gets the exact order right, persons with the closest guess will receive half of the total prize (39 CAPs).

For ease of reference, here are the games we’ll be playing in 1992:

Alone in the Dark
Amazon: Guardians of Eden
Bargon Attack
Batman Returns
Curse of Enchantia
The Dagger of Amon Ra
Dark Seed
Dune
Eternam
Fascination
Frederik Pohl's Gateway
Gobliiins
Hook
Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
Inca
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
The Island of Dr. Brain
KGB
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
The Koshan Conspiracy
L. A. Law Game
Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
The Legend of Kyrandia
The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
Lure of the Temptress
Mixed Up Fairy Tales
Nippon Safes, Inc.
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
Rome: Pathway to Power
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
WaxWorks

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 1992 will be published. The prizes for the winners will be handed at the end of the year 1992.

By taking part in the FULL HOUSE competition, you’ll also be automatically competing for STRAIGHTS. After a sequence of five games from the main game list has been completed, we’ll look at who has guessed closest the order of those five games. If someone got the exact order, she’ll be awarded 10 CAPs, otherwise, those with closest guesses get 5 CAPs.

Let the contests begin!

68 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eventually, yes. They were originally placeholders for Joe's Zork Marathon (the entries were combination of Twelve tasks of Hercules and Twelve Flatheads). Joe's plans have somewhat expanded from the original, so we'll have to reorganize the schedule eventually.

      Delete
    2. (I made an updated version below of the deleted post because I forgot to include Alone in the Dark and L. A. Law game, so Ilmari's post is a response to that.)

      Delete
    3. (That's the official story. Actually I borrowed a time machine, went into the future to read Laukku's question and returned into past to answer it.)

      Delete
    4. My revised "plan" if you can call it that is to drop a new Zork game review every 4 or so completed games in 1992. That should get me to the end and finishing up early in 1993 even if I add some other stuff so should be on time for Return to Zork. We can adjust accordingly.

      I also have some other Missed Classics to come out during 1992 so I won't just be playing Zork. Right now, I tentatively am considering "Adventureland" and "Cranston Manor". (The former because it and Zork I both represent a first attempt to scaling down the complexity of "Adventure" for a personal computer audience, the latter because I started the Hi-Res series and want to finish it eventually.) But honestly most of the Missed Classics I did were spur of the moment things, futzing around with a game and then realizing that I had enough notes to write a post or two.

      Delete
  2. At last, a best puzzle award! I was wondering whether there ever would be one or not.

    TOP 5

    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    Frederik Pohl's Gateway

    FULL HOUSE

    The Legend of Kyrandia
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    Lure of the Temptress
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    KGB
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    L. A. Law Game
    Eternam
    Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    Gobliiins
    Dark Seed
    Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    Nippon Safes, Inc.
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Dune
    Hook
    The Dagger of Amon Ra
    Alone in the Dark
    WaxWorks
    Batman Returns
    Inca
    The Island of Dr. Brain

    BOTTOM 5

    Rome: Pathway to Power
    Fascination
    Bargon Attack
    Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
    Curse of Enchantia

    Does getting into 1992 BTW mean that you're getting rid of the weird placeholder entries in the game list?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I answered your question even before you made it! ;)

      Delete
  3. Oooh! Let's do this!!

    TOP 5:
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    The Island of Dr. Brain
    Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)

    FULL HOUSE:

    Alone in the Dark
    The Legend of Kyrandia
    The Dagger of Amon Ra
    Gobliiins
    Dune
    Lure of the Temptress
    Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    L. A. Law Game
    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    Fascination
    Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    Eternam
    Rome: Pathway to Power
    Curse of Enchantia
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    KGB
    Inca
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    WaxWorks
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    Bargon Attack
    Dark Seed

    BOTTOM 5:

    Nippon Safes, Inc.
    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    Batman Returns
    Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
    Hook

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am going to suck at this terribly. I have not played most of these games and there are more than a few that I've not heard of outside the blog...

    TOP 5:

    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    The Dagger of Amon Ra

    The MIDDLE:

    Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    Alone in the Dark
    The Island of Dr. Brain
    The Legend of Kyrandia
    Curse of Enchantia
    Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    Gobliiins
    WaxWorks
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    Rome: Pathway to Power
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    Dark Seed
    Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    Lure of the Temptress
    KGB
    Eternam
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    Dune
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    Inca
    Fascination
    Hook

    BOTTOM 5:

    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2
    Nippon Safes, Inc.
    Bargon Attack
    L. A. Law Game
    Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joe: You missed one! Where do you want to place Batman Returns?

      Delete
    2. I think it was supposed to be just under "Hook". I personally hope it will do better because I'm the one playing it, but realistically I'm not sure how good it could be.

      Delete
  5. Castle of Dr. Brain did manage to spawn a genre of its own, that is, pure puzzle adventure games.

    Don't get me wrong: I kowtow at the supreme altar of the Coles and every project they touched. That said, Does Dr. Brain really meet any strong adventure criteria beyond being developed and published by a traditional adventure game company? I'm wondering what makes its string-of-puzzles format more history-making here than, say, Cliff Johnson's 1987 "The Fool's Errand" (which, hm, I also don't think would be described as an adventure 8)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I changed the wording to "help to spawn", since clearly Dr. Brain wasn't the first of its kind. It could be argued that a puzzle game, released by a renowned adventure game company and using the same interface as the traditional adventure games of that same company, did help to get more people appreciate puzzle games.

      As for Dr. Brain being an adventure game, well, that's what Mobygames says and we do tend to believe it ;)

      Your comment does suggest to me that perhaps the Most Evolutionary Game Award is a bit problematic. After all, The Adventure Gamer has always covered only a portion of all adventure games, so perhaps picking examples of games we have played as most important for the evolution of adventure games might be historically inaccurate. What does everyone think?

      Delete
    2. I changed the wording to "help to spawn", since clearly Dr. Brain wasn't the first of its kind

      Was there a big boom of puzzle games in its wake? Off the top of my head I can think of Hodj 'n Podj, which was probably more in keeping with the Fool's Errand tradition. Lots of puzzly Myst-alikes (eg. the 7th Guest) followed Myst, but surely that simply built on Cyan's earlier Manhole, Cosmic Osmo, Spelunx etc. Whether Dr. Brain spawned any kind of lineage is an interesting question with a not at all obvious or straightforward answer. The Dr. Brain brand actually lived on quite a bit after the extinction of classic Sierra, but the Sierra we all know and love didn't really release any further non-Dr. Brain games in this format... nor did any of its main competitors or imitators like Lucasfilm, Tsunami etc., right?

      As for Dr. Brain being an adventure game, well, that's what Mobygames says and we do tend to believe it ;)

      If we measure it against the adventure-game hallmarks of inventory problems, dialogue puzzles, and exploration / navigation challenges, I think we may find it has been miscategorized. (I've spent most of the past decade there and can testify that the process by which its sausage is made isn't always a pretty one 8)

      Delete
    3. Maybe it's more accurate to say that Dr. Brain is a puzzle game in an adventure game engine? After all, it's basically using the normal Sierra interface, and it does require some adventure-style interaction (first-person movement between rooms, a few instances of inventory manipulation, examining objects for more information, etc). So it counts as an adventure game because that's the engine it's presented in, but it's a puzzle game because that's the primary mode of gameplay.

      I don't think the award is a problem if we consider that all the awards are relative to the subset of games played. Asking "Out of the games we played from this year, which one contributed the most to the evolution of adventure games?" is a valid question, just as much as "Out of the games we played this year, which one had the best puzzle?" We're not being as rigorous as the Digital Antiquarian or the CRPG Addict, so it's not really a problem if there was a game we didn't play that had an example of something more innovative.

      Besides, the games that are the most innovative relative to adventure games are likely to be the ones most on the fringes of the definition and thus less likely to be played anyway. Given how muddy the definition is, it's reasonable that we've set our criteria and then evaluate just the subset of games chosen. Even the CRPG Addict had to set criteria to define the games he would play, since "role-playing game" isn't any less muddy a concept than "adventure". I think his criteria are better-defined, though. It might be worth thinking about better criteria to define the adventure game genre more clearly (without using arbitrary rules about reviews on game sites and such), but I won't attempt to do that in this comment.

      Delete
    4. Rowan: I bow to your superior historical knowledge, so I've adjusted the wording even further.

      Reiko: We have that awkward phrase "being unquestionably an adventure game" in our criteria - if we wanted, we could use that to restrict the number of potential candidates for main games. Personally, I am just so into all these fringe cases that I've been quite inclusive in my choices, when making up a list of games for Year Ahead posts. Indeed, I value such originality more than mere technical innovations, when it comes to the question of "evolutionarity" - this might well be the reason why Dr. Brain did so well with the proceedings.

      [For those curious to know, I might detail the process by which we decided the various awards. Firstly, after having played a game, the reviewers were presented with a series of questions (did they find any good puzzles in the game, did they think the game moved the development of adventure game genre forward, did they think the game deserved to be in the top games of the year etc.) - most of these answers ended up right there in the post, with some emendations and rephrasings, if necessary. To determine the relative order of these candidates, we held a poll among the reviewers. Of each category, only the topmost candidates were selected for the post.]

      Delete
    5. The truth is that we've broadened the base so far that we could very easily end up with some games that don't really hit the generic definition of 'adventure'. For instance, we could start listing every game for the year that has over 20 votes on Mobygames as Disregarded. As Doom has inventory puzzles (keycards), I could argue that it is an adventure game. I don't think this, I should hasten to add. :) In this same manner, the majority of our awards are going to have a degree of opinion over solid fact to them. For instance, I don't personally think that the iMuse system was particularly revolutionary.. for the simple reason that the only people who ever tried it in the 90s were Lucasarts themselves - other people used mood music, sure, but nothing like the detail of 'adding and removing instruments' that the MI team did.

      Delete
    6. Right, I'm saying that the phrase "being unquestionably an adventure game" could be defined better, but that's not a discussion for the comments here, I don't think. I'll send a message later with my thoughts in more detail to avoid any more derailment here.

      Delete
    7. When I try to personally define 'adventure game' it's on a simple scale. I categorize all games as "Adventure" "Action" "Strategy" or "RPG" so for me puzzle games of all kinds fits in the 'adventure' category.

      For this blog however we concentrate on "graphic adventure games" which could have a number of definitions in itself but is clearly one of 'we all know them when we see them'

      With multiple reviewers though we've become much more inclusive and included games that for one person would just 'get in the way' of ever completing the project so Trickster was much less inclusive purely to make the task more manageable with a possibility of actually finishing it.

      Of course, CRPG Addict went the other way and kept adding games to his already herculean list.

      Delete
  6. All right, let's see how well I'll do this time (most of this is pure guess work):

    Top 5:
    1. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    2. Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    3. The Dagger of Amon Ra
    4. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    5. Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)

    The middle:
    6. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    7. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    8. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    9. KGB
    10. The Legend of Kyrandia
    11. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    12. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    13. Lure of the Temptress
    14. Hook
    15. Curse of Enchantia
    16. Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    17. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    18. The Island of Dr. Brain
    19. Alone in the Dark
    20. Gobliiins
    21. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    22. Dark Seed
    23. Batman Returns
    24. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    25. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    26. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    27. Bargon Attack
    28. Inca
    29. Nippon Safes, Inc.
    30. WaxWorks
    31. Rome: Pathway to Power
    32. Dune
    33. Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    34. Eternam

    Bottom 5:
    35. Fascination
    36. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    37. The Koshan Conspiracy
    38. L. A. Law Game
    39. Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    ReplyDelete
  7. Again thanks to you guys for your commitment to this site. I think we all appreciate it very much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! We wouldn't do it, if we wouldn't have such a great community of readers.

      Delete
  8. Possibly a dumb question, but is there a way to subscribe to the blog through e-mail? (I'm afraid that if I just stick to the RSS, I might end up missing posts.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your wish is our command! I've added a "subscribe by e-mail" widget to the left column.

      Delete
    2. Wooooo!! You're awesome; thank you!!

      Delete
  9. OK, since I was so unsuccesful last time, I've not put a huge amount of effort into the order here because I'm always wrong anyway so lets see if random chance can help me out. The top 5 are more carefully picked though, and surely Hugo will be at the bottom.

    TOP 5:
    1. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    2. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    3. The Legend of Kyrandia
    4. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    5. The Dagger of Amon Ra

    FULL HOUSE:
    6. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    7. Gobliiins
    8. Dark Seed
    9. Alone in the Dark
    10. Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    11. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    12. Dune
    13. Lure of the Temptress
    14. Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    15. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    16. KGB
    17. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    18. Curse of Enchantia
    19. The Island of Dr. Brain
    20. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    21. Eternam
    22. Nippon Safes, Inc.
    23. Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    24. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    25. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    26. Fascination
    27. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    28. The Koshan Conspiracy
    29. WaxWorks
    30. Inca
    31. Rome: Pathway to Power
    32. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    33. Bargon Attack
    34. Batman Returns

    Bottom 5:
    35. Hook
    36. Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    37. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    38. L. A. Law Game
    39. Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    So many games for this next year though! Looking forward to it already!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. >surely Hugo will be at the bottom.

      You guys are all overestimating Curse of Enchantia because it has pwetty gwaphics. It's like a (1+1+1+7+1+1)/0,6=20 game at best, and many of those 1's could even be 0's.

      Then again, some of the 1991 games I'm unfamiliar with could be even worse.

      Delete
    2. Was it so bad? Then again, I keep confusing it with Lure of the Temptress in my mind, so you might be right.

      Personally, I suspect that L.A. Law might just beat Hugo III. I mean, the idea of making a law show into an adventure game just sounds like a catastrophe.

      Delete
    3. I seem to recall both Lure and Curse having some poor puzzles, and I could probably have put them lower but I don't really remember them very much.

      There's quite a few on the list that I've either not played, or played so long ago that I have no idea how much they'll score. So, lots of uninformed guesswork!

      Delete
    4. I've actually played neither but I've watched Yahtzee's Let's Play of Enchantia. It's a random mess.

      Delete
    5. Lure is pretty bad, but Enchantia is abhorrent. At least that's the impression that lingered after playing it 20+ years ago.

      Delete
    6. I played Lure of the Temptress once and HATED it. I also hated Legend of Kyrandia though which I think is generally much more liked.

      Delete
    7. I don't really understand what people see in the Kyrandia series. I was quickly bored by all the "get 7 gems of 5 different colours" puzzles.

      Delete
    8. Yeah, the first one had some quite bad puzzles and an annoying maze (but not as bad as the one in Pandora Directive). The second one, aside from the recurring Simon Says, had much better puzzle design. I haven't played the third one yet. But they do have a certain charm, and good pixel art and music - and a pretty unique interface.

      Delete
  10. And before I forget, I'd like the 2014 remake of Shadowgate, please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would be delighted to play the Shadowgate remake on Steam also. Looks like it has some great Steam achievements. Thank you!

      Delete
    2. Reiko, I believe you get two prizes. (For both bottom and full house.) Do you have a choice for your second?

      Delete
    3. Laukku, we don't have an email on file for you and I at least don't have access to see it through Blogger. Can you drop a mail to the admin email in the left nav (by "what's your story") and we'll send the keys to you that way.

      (Same goes for Corey Cole unless one of the other admins already has your contact info.)

      Delete
    4. I got the game redeemed. Thanks!

      Delete
    5. I got your emails. Thanks so much!

      Delete
  11. So, as you know I don't play adventure games, and I'm very much out of the loop. However, my list is:

    TOP FIVE
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    Lure of the Temptress
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary

    THE MIDDLE BIT
    Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    Dune
    The Dagger of Amon Ra
    Alone in the Dark
    Eternam
    Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    Gobliiins
    Dark Seed
    Fascination
    Hook
    Inca
    The Island of Dr. Brain
    KGB
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    The Legend of Kyrandia
    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    Nippon Safes, Inc.
    Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    Rome: Pathway to Power
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    L. A. Law Game
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    Bargon Attack
    Batman Returns
    WaxWorks
    Curse of Enchantia
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!

    BOTTOM GIVE
    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    (Also I'm tempted to try playing Putt-Putt along with whomever runs it. I don't think I know enough about adventure games to write a review.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Canageek,

      We'd love to have you contribute a review if you think you're up to it! Nothing like having to write a review to inspire us to do the research... I'm not sure if that one is taken yet. I think we recommend that you try your hand at a Missed Classic first to see how you like writing to a schedule.

      Delete
    2. I agree heartily with Joe's sentiments. No one has yet reserved Putt-Putt for themselves so feel free to take it Canageek! I am guessing that as a children's game Putt-Putt will be extremely short, so we might even be lenient on the recommendation of trying first a Missed Classic.

      Delete
    3. Keep in mind: I don't really play adventure games, so I wouldn't have anything to base my ratings on, so I don't think that would be fair. I'll try and catch up with my blog reading, then play along. Might even Let's Play it, since I suspect it will take under an hour.

      Delete
  12. Here's my Full House list:

    Top 5:
    1. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    2. Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    3. Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    4. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    5. The Dagger of Amon Ra

    Full House:
    6. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    7. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    8. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    9. Alone in the Dark
    10. Dune
    11. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    12. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    13. The Legend of Kyrandia
    14. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    15. Gobliiins
    16. Bargon Attack
    17. KGB
    18. Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    19. WaxWorks
    20. Eternam
    21. The Island of Dr. Brain
    22. Lure of the Temptress
    23. Hook
    24. Dark Seed
    25. Rome: Pathway to Power
    26. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    27. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    28. Inca
    29. Batman Returns
    30. Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    31. Nippon Safes, Inc.
    32. Curse of Enchantia
    33. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    34. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade

    Bottom 5:
    35. The Koshan Conspiracy
    36. L. A. Law Game
    37. Fascination
    38. Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
    39. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2

    ReplyDelete
  13. For my part, I didn't know at all about a third of the games on this list. The only "cheat" I allowed myself was to look up screenshots. So I have a feeling that I'm going to be nailed pretty hard if there are nice looking games that suck here... :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. So after a strong start, I came out empty-handed for 1991's categories. :-(
    And apparently I managed to complete Conquests of the Longbow while completely skipping/missing its best puzzle!

    But man 1992 looks exciting. Only a couple of names I don't recognize, stiff competition for the top 5 and lots of games in the middle tier that I didn't get to play back in the day. So for the top 5, except for a certain game which should be a shoe-in for the first place, I'll just focus on the other games' pedigree. I'm tempted to put Alone in the Dark there but I feel its focus on action and the dated graphics will ultimately detract too many points.

    TOP 5:
    1. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    2. Quest for Glory 1 Remake
    3. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    4. Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    5. The Dagger of Amon Ra

    BOTTOM 5:
    35: Rome: Pathway to Power
    36: Fascination
    37: Inspector Gadget
    38: Curse of Enchantia
    39: Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even if you aren't sure, putting in a Full House guess also enters you into winning the straights-- getting the relative positions correct of five games at a time.

      So if, for example, you think you can guess at the relative rankings of our first five, it's worth building a big list:

      Game 74: Mixed Up Fairy Tales (1992)
      Game 75: Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (1992)
      Game 76: Hugo III: Jungle of Doom (1992)
      Game 77: Eternam (1992)
      Game 78: Frederik Pohl's Gateway (1992)

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the suggestion, Joe!
      Here's my middle tier then:

      6. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
      7. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
      8. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
      9. Alone in the Dark
      10. Amazon: Guardians of Eden
      11. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
      12. KGB
      13. The Legend of Kyrandia
      14. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
      15. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
      16. The Island of Dr. Brain
      17. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
      18. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
      19. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
      20. Lure of the Temptress
      21. Dark Seed
      22. Hook
      23. Nippon Safes, Inc.
      24. Dune
      25. WaxWorks
      26. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
      27. The Koshan Conspiracy
      28. Gobliiins
      29. Inca
      30. Batman Returns
      31. Bargon Attack
      32. L. A. Law Game
      33. Eternam
      34. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2

      Delete
  15. List for 1992:

    Top Five:

    1) The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    2) Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    3) Kings Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    4) The Dagger of Amon Ra
    5) Star Trek: 25th Anniversary

    Full House:

    6) Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (Remake)
    7) Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    8) Frederik Pohl´s Gateway
    9) Lure of the Temptress
    10) Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (Remake)
    11) The Legend of Kyrandia
    12) Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    13) Alone in the Dark
    14) Dark Seed
    15) Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    16) Batman Returns
    17) Gobliiins
    18) WaxWorks
    19) Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    20) Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2
    21) KGB
    22) Rome: Pathway to Power
    23) Eternam
    24) Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    25) Dune
    26) The Island of Dr. Brain
    27) Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    28) Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    29) Inca
    30) Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    31) Nippon Safes Inc.
    32) Fascination
    33) Bargon Attack
    34) Curse of Enchantia

    Bottom 5:

    35) Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    36) Hook
    37) L.A. Law Game
    38) Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
    39) The Koshan Conspiracy


    Actually that was pure guesswork, I hope that Koshan Conspiracy is as bad as B.A.T. and that The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes is as good as it sounds;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mine if it's not too late! I'm tempted to put Legend of Kyrandia and Bargon Attack in my Top 5 considering I'll be reviewing them but I think the regulators gang won't let me go away with it ;)

    So here is my list :

    TOP 5
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    Alone in the Dark
    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel

    FULL HOUSE
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    The Legend of Kyrandia
    Lure of the Temptress
    Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    The Dagger of Amon Ra
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    The Island of Dr. Brain
    KGB
    Dark Seed
    Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    Gobliiins
    Eternam
    Inca
    Nippon Safes, Inc.
    Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    WaxWorks
    Dune
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    Rome: Pathway to Power
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    Hook
    Fascination
    Bargon Attack
    Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    Batman Returns
    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    Putt-Putt Joins the Parade

    BOTTOM 5
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    L. A. Law Game
    Curse of Enchantia
    Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    Worth trying for straights anyway :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are perfectly on time! The guesses can be made all the way to the second rating post of the year.

      Delete
  17. Finally, games I've actually played… well, 3 played and around 7 tried out... Damn it, how am I supposed to roll the dice to get the right order? Guess I just have to guess.

    Top 5
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    The Dagger of Amon Ra
    Quest For Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero
    Quest of Glory III: Wages of War

    Middle
    The Legend of Kyrandia
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    Police Quest I: In Pursuit of Death Angel
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    Dark Seed
    Putt-Putt joins the parade
    Alone in the Dark
    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    Batman Returns
    Lure of the Temptress
    Curse of Enchantia
    Dune
    Eternam
    Frederik Pohl’s Gateway
    Nippon Safes, Inc
    Bargon Attack
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    Gobliiins
    Hook
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Inca
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    The Island of Dr. Brain
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    KGB
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    L.A. Law Game
    Waxwork

    Bottom 5
    Rome: Pathway to Power
    Dune
    Fascination
    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience form Planet X
    Hugo III: Jungle of Dome

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you noticed that you've put Dune to two places? And that you haven't put Spellcasting 301 anywhere?

      Delete
    2. Missed that, thanks for the notification. Then I've have to strike Dune from the middle list and replace that with Spellcasting 301... or do you want me to type out a complete list?

      Delete
    3. Just say which Dune is supposed to be "Spellcasting" and Ilmari can put it in the spreadsheet.

      Delete
    4. So it's the one in the middle list that should be changed. Consider it done!

      Delete
    5. Thanks, sorry for the trouble.

      Delete
  18. Ok, here goes.

    Top 5
    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    The Dagger of Amon Ra

    Middle
    The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    KGB
    Lure of the Temptress
    Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    The Legend of Kyrandia
    Gobliiins
    Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    Dune
    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    Batman Returns
    Dark Seed
    The Island of Dr. Brain
    Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    Curse of Enchantia
    Nippon Safes, Inc.
    Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    Alone in the Dark
    Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    Rome: Pathway to Power
    The Koshan Conspiracy
    Eternam
    Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    Inca
    Bargon Attack
    Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch

    Bottom 5
    Hook
    WaxWorks
    L. A. Law Game
    Fascination
    Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    Huuuge amounts of guesswork here, but it seems like I'm in sync with most others here regarding the Sierra/Lucasarts factor in the top 5

    ReplyDelete
  19. Although there's still lot of time to make guesses for the Full House, I've gathered those given until now to a spreadsheet:

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mV6K-US-k92ThXedoe9AL69KyvR76UdVtpF8NmIVe6E/

    If anyone sees any mistakes I've made, just let us know!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Top 5
    1. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    2. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    3. The Dagger of Amon Ra
    4. Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    5. The Legend of Kyrandia

    Full House:
    6. Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    7. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    8. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    9. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    10. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    11. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    12. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    13. Gobliiins
    14. The Island of Dr. Brain
    15. Dark Seed
    16. Bargon Attack
    17. KGB
    18. Dune
    19. WaxWorks
    20. Alone in the Dark
    21. Eternam
    22. Lure of the Temptress
    23. Nippon Safes, Inc.
    24. Hook
    25. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    26. Rome: Pathway to Power
    27. The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    28. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    29. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    30. Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    31. Inca
    32. Batman Returns
    33. Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    34. Curse of Enchantia

    Bottom 5:
    35. Fascination
    36. The Koshan Conspiracy
    37. L. A. Law Game
    38. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2
    39. Hugo III: Jungle of Doom

    ReplyDelete
  21. Top 5
    1. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    2. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    3. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    4. Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    5. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

    The Middle

    6. Alone in the Dark
    7. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    8. Hook
    9. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    10. Lure of the Temptress
    11. The Legend of Kyrandia
    12. L. A. Law Game
    13. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
    14. Nippon Safes, Inc.
    15. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    16. KGB
    17. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    18. Fascination
    19. The Island of Dr. Brain
    20. Gobliiins
    21. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
    22. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    23. WaxWorks
    24. Rome: Pathway to Power

    Bottom 5
    25. The Koshan Conspiracy
    26. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    27. Batman Returns
    28. Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
    29. Eternam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr.Valdez: There's 10 games missing from your list! They are:

      Bargon Attack
      Dune
      Dark Seed
      Dagger of Amon Ra
      Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes
      Inspector Gadget
      Quest for Glory III
      Amazon: Guardians of the Eden
      Curse of Enchantia
      Inca

      Delete
    2. *Egads*

      Here's my updated list:

      Top 5
      1. Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
      2. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
      3. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
      4. Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
      5. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

      The Middle
      6. Alone in the Dark
      7. Dark Seed
      8. Dune
      9. Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes
      10. Dagger of Amon Ra
      11. Quest for Glory III
      12. Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
      13. Hook
      14. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
      15. Lure of the Temptress
      16. The Legend of Kyrandia
      17. L. A. Law Game
      18. Frederik Pohl's Gateway
      19. Nippon Safes, Inc.
      20. Mixed Up Fairy Tales
      21. KGB
      22. Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
      23. Fascination
      24. The Island of Dr. Brain
      25. Gobliiins
      26. Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch
      27. Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
      28. The Koshan Conspiracy
      29. WaxWorks
      30. Rome: Pathway to Power
      31. Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
      32. Curse of Enchantia
      33. Amazon: Guardians of the Eden
      34. Bargon Attack

      Bottom 5
      35. Batman Returns
      36. Inspector Gadget
      37. Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
      38. Eternam
      39. Inca

      Delete
    3. Are you sure you didn't get the two Sherlock Holmes games mixed up?

      Delete
  22. Obdurate Hater of Rhythm Games1 November 2016 at 05:25

    I am going for the dark horse candidates, which are among my favorites:

    Top 5:

    Spellcasting
    Dune
    Amazon
    Gateway
    Dagger of Amon Ra

    Bottom 5:

    Hugo 3
    Fascination
    Dark Seed unless Gige's artwork make you bump it up a lot, in which case Inca
    Ringworld

    My favorites would include KGB and Alone in the Dark and my most hated would include King's Quest 6--fuck King's Quest, even though I love Sierra--and Kyrandia, but I doubt you will put them there.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Obdurate Hater of Rhythm Games1 November 2016 at 05:30

    Blue Force was a huge disappointment: Made by former Sierra employees, yet it lacked the humor, creativity and good writing of Sierra games, and the plot went nowhere. Also, my last pick for the bottom 5 is Ringworld: I heard horrible things about that game.

    ReplyDelete
  24. OK. Waiting until the last minute but still not putting a lot of thought into it, let's see how my 5 minutes of re-ordering fares in the Full House...

    1 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
    2 King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
    3 Star Trek: 25th Anniversary
    4 Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (remake)
    5 Frederik Pohl's Gateway

    6 Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Volume II
    7 Dark Seed
    8 Dune
    9 Eternam
    10 Quest for Glory III: Wages of War
    11 The Dagger of Amon Ra
    12 Gobliiins
    13 Bargon Attack
    14 WaxWorks
    15 Inca
    16 Amazon: Guardians of Eden
    17 Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
    18 The Island of Dr. Brain
    19 KGB
    20 Curse of Enchantia
    21 The Koshan Conspiracy
    22 L. A. Law Game
    23 Leather Goddesses of Phobos! 2: Gas Pump Girls Meet the Pulsating Inconvenience from Planet X
    24 The Legend of Kyrandia
    25 The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
    26 Inspector Gadget: Mission 1 - Global Terror!
    27 Mixed Up Fairy Tales
    28 Nippon Safes, Inc.
    29 Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (remake)
    30 Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
    31 Lure of the Temptress
    32 Alone in the Dark
    33 Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
    34 Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch

    35 Fascination
    36 Hook
    37 Batman Returns
    38 Hugo III: Jungle of Doom
    39 Rome: Pathway to Power

    I noticed I've chosen games I'll be reviewing myself at number 1 and 2. I should have chosen Waxworks, Leather Goddesses and Amazon at 3, 4 and 5 so I could cheat and guarantee myself the top 5. Mwahahahahah!

    ReplyDelete