tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post4643769708816889263..comments2024-03-29T05:52:53.051+11:00Comments on The Adventurers Guild: An American Tail - Final RatingThe Tricksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419316208187255801noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-40148721373139762342022-03-10T13:33:38.183+11:002022-03-10T13:33:38.183+11:00Does Abandonia generally do research on the year? ...Does Abandonia generally do research on the year? Because in my experience abandonware websites either copy Mobygames or the copyright date.<br />@Angry Internet<br />Ah, admittedly I must have overlooked those, I'm more focused on Capstone's FPS and adventure titles.MorpheusKitamihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16591271981112642781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-44644347950714524402022-03-09T06:12:53.928+11:002022-03-09T06:12:53.928+11:00OTOH, the rest of their licensed titles are all mo...<i>OTOH, the rest of their licensed titles are all more current with whatever they're licensed from.</i><br /><br />Their <i>Zorro</i> game—an unplayably awful <i>Prince of Persia</i> knockoff—was released sometime around Summer 1995, or 2 1/2 years after the TV series it was based on had finished its run. But then I suppose Zorro is something of a perennial franchise, so timeliness doesn't matter as much.<br /><br />Amusingly their <i>Homey D. Clown</i> game—ranked the fifth-worst of all time by <i>Computer Gaming World</i>—was released during <i>In Living Color</i>'s fifth and final season, in which the character didn't feature at all because Damon Wayans had left the cast. Granted that's probably not the biggest reason the game was a terrible idea.The Angry Internetnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-75046684240759283792022-03-07T08:55:51.415+11:002022-03-07T08:55:51.415+11:00Abandonia has the game as a 1993 release, and the ...Abandonia has the game as a 1993 release, and the game's wiki page says so too at the top, but then has multiple links to 1992 reviews. So it seems likely that it actually came out that year. Though it COULD be a case of US vs international release, as Lisa suggests. Anyway, thanks for posting the contents of the article!Torchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929817555431987717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-34937493680520923742022-03-04T05:49:02.968+11:002022-03-04T05:49:02.968+11:00We've done occasional dips to game magazines, ...We've done occasional dips to game magazines, but that's not 100 % reliable, since especially the lesser known games were reviewed often way after they were published (if ever).Ilmari Jauhiainenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01655841880034965950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-75817118701900509502022-03-03T14:31:17.919+11:002022-03-03T14:31:17.919+11:00There's a link to the article from the game...There's a link to the article from the game's wiki page:<br />https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-29-ca-5439-story.html<br />(though its the same thing as what Lisa posted, just with the time and date. No, there's no star rating there, sloppy)<br />It does look like its from 1992, since there's a review from CGW and GamePro, later in 1992. Curious, what sources have we used in the past to detect when a game is from besides Mobygames?MorpheusKitamihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16591271981112642781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-700777839878709052022-03-03T04:05:35.846+11:002022-03-03T04:05:35.846+11:00The article says:
Once again, Capstone delivers ...The article says:<br /><br /> Once again, Capstone delivers a promising new game that doesn't live up to its full promise.<br /><br />"An American Tail: The Computer Adventures of Fievel and His Friends" is presented in two parts. Each part takes place separately and are based on Fievel's adventures in New York ("An American Tail") and out West ("An American Tail: Fievel Goes West"). The games are part adventure and part puzzle. Assorted puzzles include a matching game, scrambled-picture puzzles and a mock shooting gallery.<br /><br />Our young testers were clamoring to try the game. They loved the movies and they wanted to love the game. They actually loved maneuvering around the screens and looking at the pictures. But the story was too hard for the 7-year-old to read, and the 9-year-old thought it was dumb.<br /><br />Since it was too complicated for the younger kids to play alone, we thought we'd try it out as a "quality time" candidate. The problem is, the game is not of the quality to improve your time together. Although we ran into a couple of minor program bugs, they weren't game-stoppers. The game-stoppers were the puzzles that couldn't be solved by the target audience. Although there is no age range advertised on the game anywhere, we would assume it would include any kid old or young enough to be interested in the movie.<br /><br />In addition, we have become used to a certain sophistication in the graphic animation quality of games. If you talk to a character and they walk off the screen to meet you at another location, you don't expect to turn around and find them in the same place next time you pass by. You expect to be able to control the speed of reading introductions or skipping them altogether.<br /><br />This game had lots of promise and looks beautiful. But your kids will probably get more for your money by going back to see the movies again. <br /><br />(This was followed by a star rating out of five, which was not preserved in the ProQuest database I'm looking at.)<br /><br />Maybe some kind of pre-release review copy? Or maybe Mobygames is just wrong, or is generalizing from a release outside the US...?arcanetriviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02033767865654085177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-16127372842527421202022-03-03T02:20:25.811+11:002022-03-03T02:20:25.811+11:00Indeed. They probably saved a ton of work by just ...Indeed. They probably saved a ton of work by just digitizing the movie images for backgrounds. In that sense it would be strange if they missed a deadline by 2 years...Torchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929817555431987717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-57777529586878340242022-03-03T02:17:59.807+11:002022-03-03T02:17:59.807+11:00It's not that it's bad. It's just miss...It's not that it's bad. It's just missing in a lot of departments. Seems rushed at times. Though I imagine kids who have watched the movies would be able to both enjoy it AND finish it, so that might count for something. Torchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929817555431987717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-60607190909774317422022-03-03T02:16:20.599+11:002022-03-03T02:16:20.599+11:00Hmm... according to Mobygames, it's 1993, so n...Hmm... according to Mobygames, it's 1993, so not sure about that wiki. The reference is to a Los Angeles Times article from august 1992, that you need a subscription to read. If anyone has access, it could be interesting to see what it says. Perhaps it's a game review, which could confirm a 1992 release date. Torchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929817555431987717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-9116200174346240812022-02-28T18:15:27.214+11:002022-02-28T18:15:27.214+11:00It's like they tried to rush out a game to rid...It's like they tried to rush out a game to ride the film's hype, but missed the release by a few trifling years. Feels like the effort was minimal on the designer's part.ShaddamIVthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02024540172370536692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-6579666400651938482022-02-26T05:13:04.326+11:002022-02-26T05:13:04.326+11:00for a movie tie-in game for kids, it didn't se...for a movie tie-in game for kids, it didn't seem too bad! Games based on movies in the 90s more often were platformers or action games, so it's nice to see an attempt at an adventure game.Andy_Panthrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18231815646876343380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-75339538793127595502022-02-25T13:31:43.882+11:002022-02-25T13:31:43.882+11:00Capstone seems to be the kind of company to pick u...Capstone seems to be the kind of company to pick up licenses for cheap in the hopes that they could turn a profit, so that explains the delay between the movie and game. OTOH, the rest of their licensed titles are all more current with whatever they're licensed from.<br />However, I was checking Capstone's Wikipedia page, and apparently this may have been released in August 1992, which would put it slightly closer to the movie.<br />It is worth pointing out that this method didn't really work for them, since they went bankrupt in '96.MorpheusKitamihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16591271981112642781noreply@blogger.com