Judgment Rites – History Lesson, pt. 1

 by Will Moczarski

Disclaimer: Because this is an episode with a lot of attention to detail (and because work and life are just crazy right now) I've decided to split the post in half, you know, to let you know I'm still alive and all. 

The third mission is called No Man's Land, and it really feels like a proper Star Trek episode. It begins – as it so often does – with a routine mission that is suddenly interrupted by a distress call. The Enterprise is on its way to Omega Corvus to probe some radiation clouds. However, the fact that Kirk is expecting an uneventful mission in his log entry is nothing if not the first giveaway sign that all hell will break loose. Yes, we will even be dragged into a World War, no less.

Game 151: Innocent Until Caught (1993) - Introduction

Written by Morpheus Kitami

 

It's nice to get back to some normal, standard and uncontroversial adventure games after what in retrospect, was a year consisting entirely of more experimental titles, the most traditional of which was arguably the most insane in other respects. (This was actually written in 2025, since I know it's 2026 when you read this) Yes, sir, it's nice to get back to the realm of adventure games that actually enjoy being adventure games.

What, you think there's going to be a joke here? Nah.

Innocent Until Caught is one of those adventure games with a cool premise and world design that even at the time, seems like a complete and total waste of resources. You're telling me that someone made an adventure game with its own unique universe, completely disconnected to any published sci-fi writer or licensed material? And instead of playing as an actual hero, you're just the local equivalent of a tax dodger? The nerve of these people. Give me ten copies and a framed poster of the box art.

Judgment Rites – Who Watches the Watchers

 by Will Moczarski

In our second mission, the crew of the Enterprise is looking forward to taking leave on a planet called Nova Atar. Just like in the TOS episode "The Immunity Syndrome", that ain't happening. There's a bit of crew banter about Kazakhstanian Cognac, and then an emergency call from the Science Vessel Demeter interrupts all further planning. Demeter was located in orbit around Balkos III when the ship was suddenly scanned. That alone wouldn't be unsettling, however, the Demeter's commanding officer Gellman tells us that the inhabitants of the planet are just entering their own stone-age. Gellman is concerned that they may have triggered an old defense mechanism from a sunken civilisation. In the spirit of "better safe than sorry" he pulled his ship up to a higher orbit and made an emergency call for good measure. 

In Soviet Russia brandy inwents you.

I run some of the new data by the computer - Nova Atar (our original destination), the Demeter, Balkos III (our new destination), Gellman, and the Balkosi - but learn nothing new. Then I check my trusty star map and head straight for Balkos III. I command Sulu to steer the Enterprise into the planet's orbit and assemble a landing party consisting of the usual suspects. 

Don't be coy, doctor.

Upon arrival we are scanned by the unknown entity but that is hardly surprising if you take into account where we landed. This is not a stone-age environment but rather the remnants of a technologically advanced civilisation. Or maybe not even remnants? What is this set-up? As soon as I regain control, the three computer consoles in the room are suddenly protected by impenetrable force fields. It seems that somebody is a little touchy about their personal data while they don't mind scanning us down to the Bones.

Judgment Rites – I hope you like to click on computers a lot.

 by Will Moczarski

Last time I promised to take a look at the manual with you and walk you through it before starting my first mission in Judgment Rites. However, the manual is quite long (36 pages) and takes a no-nonsense approach to explaining the game, meaning it is far more informative and much less entertaining than the manual for, say, Pepper's Adventures in Time.

Two pages stand out, though. Firstly, there is a cute little text from the team about what it means to be a Trekkie and that it has been a great privilege to work on a Star Trek game (shown above). And then there is this beautiful black & white picture of the team: 

What looks like a "T" located near the middle of the team is actually an "I".

There's also some information about the factions that are likely to bother you at some point in the game (Elasi, Romulans, Klingons). And of course it contains an in-depth explanation of the interface which is truly necessary if you've never before played one of Interplay's Star Trek adventure games. It's very similar to the one used in 25th Anniversary as there are two main areas that work a bit differently. You start out on the bridge which is where you can be pulled into bothersome space fights or consult Mr. Spock's computer using a keyword system not unlike, say, conversations in some of the earlier Ultima games, meaning if you get it wrong even just a little bit the fancy 23rd century computer won't know what the hell you're asking it about. If you navigate to the correct section of the star map (more on that below) you will advance the main plot – if you go just about anywhere else, it's more space fights for you. 

Game 146: Star Trek: Judgment Rites – Introduction

by Will Moczarski 

Source 

It's time to boldly go where only Joe has gone before...for this blog, at least. Riding on the success of Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, Interplay decided to do a quick follow-up using the same engine. Star Trek: Judgment Rites was released just in time for the holiday season in November 1993 and is generally considered to be the better game. Taking into account that 25th Anniversary scored a respectable 45 points although it was impossible to skip the bothersome action sequences (Joe was ultimately and understandably unable to beat the game fair and square) I'm mildly optimistic that we will have fun with this one. 

The game was designed by a band of six among which the name of Michael A. Stackpole (yes, it's the author!) is probably the most famous. However, some of the others can pull their weight, too. Elizabeth "Liz" Danforth's career in game development began in the mid-1970's, and she apparently has been part of the industry to this day. The latest famous game she worked on is Wasteland 2 (2013) although it may just be me who's unfamiliar with the others. Scott Bennie contributed to 25th Anniversary as well as Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (1997), Star Trek: Starfleet Command (1999) and Starfleet Command II: Empires at War (2000). He was also involved with The Lost Vikings (1993), Descent (1995), and Fallout (1997) to name but a few. A varied and storied career if I ever saw one.

Pepper's Adventures in Time – Final Rating

 by Will Moczarski

When I started playing Pepper's Adventures in Time for the blog (way back when) I singled out the manual as a true labour of love. I stand by my assessment. However, I also remarked: "This is beginning to sound like work, or worse - school." And if I ask myself the pertinent question: was the game fun and did it meet its goal of teaching me something as well? I'm not sure what to answer. Did I learn something? Yes, lots of trivia. Would I have learned more had I known next to nothing about US history? Possibly but...the game tends to work sort of like an old-school museum. The "TRUTH" button is a stand-in for reading the plaques, and you learn a lot about the artifacts but not so much about the broader strokes of history. Your mileage may vary but I felt that a kid playing Pepper will pick up a lot of tidbits and facts which means that the most absurd ones will probably stand out and continue to linger in the back of their head. The game is edutaining, but is it educational? I doubt it.

On the other hand, TAG regular Vetinari claims he learned a lot about history when he played Pepper around the time of its release. Maybe I'm wrong but the TRUTH button sure felt a bit like the Neuschwanstein episode in Gabriel Knight 2 at some point - I fear it belongs in a museum.

But we're not here to rank a game based on its educational merit but rather to see how it fares with our six PISSED categories. Let's do that instead of waxing didactic, shall we?

Pepper's Adventures in Time – Won!

 By Will Moczarski

400 points in my pocket, and one more act to go. This time around we need to find out how meat was cooked in colonial households, learn about colonial cures for fleas, compositions for the glass armonica, blue dye, and taxation without representation. Sounds like a wicked school day to me.

Actual objectives are as follows: 

• Get into Penn Mansion,
• Rescue Lockjaw,
• Prove General Pugh's a Fraud!

Time to tie up all these loose ends, it seems. If you think back to act 5 you may remember that it involved a bit of time-travelling to the year 1787. Instead of witnessing the Constitutional Convention firsthand we learned about Ben Franklin's troublesome gout. Then we went back in time to 1764 again, which is why middle-aged Ben now looks quite young to Pepper. The jolly founding father, not knowing about our time travel shenanigans, takes that as a compliment, of course, and then the chitchat makes way for some serious plotting. Ben hands Pepper a custom-made kite and wants her to go windsurf across the river with it. After that, she is to distract the sentries at the front bridge with food. While Pepper proceeds to sneak into Penn Mansion, Ben will rally the colonists in order to put pressure on the General. (He does not acknowledge that it was us who did all the legwork for the rallying in the previous act by performing some mind-numbing...well, what's the opposite of a fetch quest? A spread quest?)

Pepper’s Adventures in Time – Back Without A Vengeance

 by Will Moczarski

Well, on to the penultimate act of Pepper’s Adventures in Time we go! Let’s dive right in...

Act 5: Pepper Visits the Constitutional Convention or The Key to an Old Ben’s Heart

In the fifth act we need to learn about gout, Ben’s raccoon skin cap, unusual uses for a kite, Ben’s role at the Constitutional Convention and eyeglasses invented by Ben. As usual, these will be necessary in order to solve the quiz at the end of the act. The objectives needed to progress to the final act are: 

* Distribute Ben’s Special Editions

* Go to the Constitutional Convention

* Get Advice from Ben

That’s fairly unspecific. Let’s see how we fare with this one! 

On the first screen we see Ben working on a new pamphlet. He wants to help the people get back to the “good old colonial ethics of hard work and diligence”. No more hippy-dippy for Mr. Franklin, it seems. Pepper asks whether Ben couldn’t just go to Penn Mansion and ask for Lockjaw, seeing that he’s a “pretty important guy in Philadelphia”. Ben turns her down, telling her that he was never on good terms with General Pugh and thus his influence doesn’t extend to his mansion. Pepper suggests they just raid the joint but Ben tells her that the Mansion is well guarded. He is positive that he can help her cross the river and sneak into the Mansion – it’s getting her out he’s worried about. Pepper then suggests that the townspeople of Philadelphia might be able to help but Ben tells her they’d need a reason to gather at Penn Mansion because they won’t rally against the General for a dog they don’t even know.

Alone in the Dark 2 - Final Rating

Written by Andy Panthro

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

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

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

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

Alone in the Dark 2 - Won!

Written by Andy Panthro

Hey, can you teach us some magic?

We begin this section in control of Grace again, although not for long. With Carnby out of action, it’s time to get to work. Grace only has a couple of items available, and there’s nothing to be found in the captains room. There is a large statue of the captain next to a locked door though, and by putting the loa stick into the captain’s hands, the door opens.

Inside is the witch lady Elizabeth, who is busy keeping Carnby suspended in the air. There doesn’t seem to be anything to pick up in the room, so instead we remember the advice from an earlier book about voodoo (we picked this up as Carnby in the gunpowder room, if I didn’t already mention it) and wave our chicken leg at the veve (a ritual symbol) in order to break the spell. Not sure how much this really mirrors actual Haitian vodou practices, but it causes the witch lady to explode in another fun animated scene. 

Alone in the Dark 2 - Pirate Shenanigans

Written by Andy Panthro

Grace is of an age where the basement is too spooky.

I will fully admit to looking up the first of the steps I needed to take in this section. I had arrived back in the kitchen of the mansion as Grace, and all I had found was a key on the floor. If I tried to leave this room to get to the main door (or the stairs up or down) a pirate would come and catch me.

I tried ringing the bell again, assuming the key might be for something back at the ship, but you get a message saying you’re not done here. Good that it’s not letting me leave without getting whatever items I might require at least! A quick check of a hint and it turns out the key is for a cabinet in the kitchen. The trouble with this cabinet was, I had completely assumed it wasn’t able to be opened, because there was never a message when I tried to interact with it. Often a locked door or cabinet in this game will give you a message if you try and interact with it.

Anyway, the kitchen cabinet contains two items, an ice box and molasses. I tried using both, and grace dumps them out on the floor. I immediately assume I’m supposed to use these as traps, so I reload, and then pour the ice out on the floor. Next, I get the attention of the pirate and make him follow me into the kitchen, where he slips on the ice and dies! Score another one for Grace.

Police Quest: Open Season - Final Rating

 by Alex

Is this really “THE MOST INTENSE MULTIMEDIA CD EVER!”? Remember when “multimedia” was an adjective that seemingly everything had slapped onto it? My friend Merriam-Webster.com (NO AI FOR ME!) defines “multimedia” as “using, involving, or encompassing several media” in its adjectival form. As a noun, M-W states that “multimedia” is “a technique (such as the combining of sound, video, and text) for expressing ideas (as in communication, entertainment, or art) in which several media are employed,” and also “something (such as software) using or facilitating such a technique.”

So, by this definition, isn’t a movie multimedia? Isn’t a Broadway musical? Weren’t radio plays? Weren’t plays by Euripides and Aristophanes? You’re telling me Oedipus Rex wasn’t a more INTENSE MULTIMEDIA experience than Police Quest: Open Season?

Ah, but by the box’s own definition, I am comparing apples to oranges, or what Aristotle might call in Posterior Analytics (which is NOT the analysis of the human butt; get your minds out of the gutter) a false syllogism. If all A is C, and there is no B in A, and we suppose that A is “a Greek tragedy” and C is “an intense multimedia experience” while B is “a compact disc,” we can see that calling, I don’t know, Lysistrata or The Frogs a more intense multimedia experience than Police Quest: Open Season is logically unsound. But the real Greek tragedy is me, a Greek, bastardizing the great Philosopher’s Posterior Analytics to make a butt joke about a thirty-year-old adventure game.

«Ντρέπομαι που είμαι πρόγονός σου, βρε μαλάκα.»

I mean, there are better ways to make butt jokes about or in adventure games:

So if the horse fart is A, the horse’s ass is C, I guess the bag is B, so we can say “All A is C . . .” Talk about Posterior ANALytics . . .

The amount of mileage I’ve gotten out of that screenshot is truly stunning.

Alone in the Dark 2 - Saving Grace

 Written by Andy Panthro

So long as we don't have to redo that maze!

A potentially fun little swap here, we shift from the main protagonist of Edward Carnby to the young child Grace, who was the Hero of Halloween in Jack in the Dark. As before, Grace can’t attack or fight anything directly, so no more brute forcing things with a tommy gun. We take control with Grace having left the mansion, and hiding behind a statue.

Of course my first thought is, “what if I just leave?” and I try walking towards the front gate. Alas, there is a zombie there with a gun, and this results in a game over. This time, instead of Carnby being thrown into the sea, he is instead suspended by his feet above the pirates as they party on the deck of their ship. 

Alone in the Dark 2 - Clowning Around

Written by Andy Panthro

The creepy teleport room, where I began today

It’s been a little while since I played, it’s not always been the most fun experience, so I put it off for a while. Last time, I’d just been warped to a new area, and it just seems to be either another building or another part of the same house. The room I start in seems to be some sort of ritual area, not sure why it’s there other than I guess if the others can use it to warp around like a teleporter. In the corner is a flask, which I drink immediately, as the health points stack.

Gabriel Knight - Final Rating

Written by Michael

Circumstances came up, and I wasn’t able to finish the rating in time for this post.  Morpheus helpfully offered to take care of it for me.

...heh.  I joke a little.  This is one of the few times the two of us almost agree about a game.  Although, based on his comments, he would still score it lower than myself.

Humor aside, let’s get to the task at hand.  This is going to be tough for me.  I’m not known for covering top-10 games, and certainly didn’t expect Hand of Fate to crack the list.  The titles that I prefer, such as the humor-infused Sam & Max, are not universally acclaimed as high art.   I’m writing this introduction before I’ve figured out the score, but if the readers have any say, this game will blow those titles away.

Alone in the Dark 2 - Wining and Dining

Written by Andy Panthro

Party time.

I have tried my best to fully explore upstairs, so the only other places to go are locked doors, filled with trigger-happy zombies, or the kitchen. I managed to get past the trident statue by staying as far away as possible, although later I found out that I had just lucked into the solution of how to pass this obstacle (it depends on the colour of tile you step on, apparently). 

In the kitchen, the little chef sometimes wanders in but does not attack. The other chef mentions that wine opens doors, and tells me to eat. There’s food on the counter, and I can indeed eat the eggs without any problem. However, after being in the kitchen for a minute, the larger chef opens what looks like an ice-box, and takes out a blowpipe. Annoyingly, this means I have to try and kill the larger chef, which is easier said than done. After his death, I can loot the rest of the kitchen.

Gabriel Knight - Won!

Written by Michael

Gabriel thinks he knows what to do

Hey, we’re in the home stretch.  Day 10 will be the last day of the game.

Last time around, Gabriel had just watched his uncle sacrifice himself to restore the long-lost talisman to the family.  Gabriel, now taking on the family tradition of shadow hunting, is going to need the extra power boost.

If only it was back in 1989, we would have had another option.  And sadly, @arcanetrivia, this isn’t the job at hand.

Gabriel now has the talisman, and heads back to the states.  He arranges for his uncle’s body to be properly buried at the castle in Germany.  On the way back, he tries to reach both Grace and Malia.  Neither answer his calls.

Gabriel Knight - Heartless, Heartless, You Think it's Gonna Fill This Empty Soul

Written by Michael

How I feel every morning. 

So, last time I underwent a hazing initiation ceremony to become a chosen one, just like my uncle, and it seems, practically every male above me in the family tree.  We wake up, sore, and think it might have just been a dream... but then we notice the large brass key at the foot of the bed, the same one that was given to us in the sequence,

I’m pretty sure I know where that key is used.  Wasn’t there an oversized keyhole just next to the bed to another room?

Gabriel Knight - Cuts Like a Knife

Written by Michael

When we wrapped up last time, Gabriel had returned from an intense party and was suffering from a hangover of sorts.  Grace struggled to wake us up, and when she did, she gave us some advice:  call Uncle Wolfgang.

Let’s reach out and touch someone, and call Germany, shall we?

Alone in the Dark 2 - Play Your Cards Right

 Written by Andy Panthro

Red herrings.

Last time, we found ourselves in the basement of the mansion. After dealing with many machine gun zombies, finally we’re getting some puzzles and the game feels a lot better for it. I basically have two options here, to go upstairs or to go into a side room that sounds like gunfire. Since I want to finish up down here before moving on upstairs, I check the side room.

As I mentioned last time, it turns out it sounds like gunfire because two burly guys with pistols are shooting targets on the other side of the room. Acting quickly with my battledore, I had dispatched them. The room has four posters of four playing cards on one wall: The Jack of Diamonds, the Queen of Clubs, the King of Spades, and the Ace of Hearts. At the other end of the room, are four pillars with pictures of each suit on their four sides. I am assuming I need to rotate the pillars so they match the wall pictures.

This took a bit of figuring out, as hitting the pillars did not always rotate them once. Then immediately I’m stumped, as I try Diamond, Club, Spade, Heart and it does nothing. Then I try them in reverse, still nothing. I’m curious if the suit means anything, or perhaps I’m just seeing puzzles where none exist.