Publisher: Red Orb Developer: Legend Year: 1998 Platform: Windows
The last adventure game developed by Legend Entertainment was their first attempt at horror, done so with help from one of the best suspense writers in the business, John Saul. The Blackstone Chronicles is a paperback series of six stories, detailing the hell that Oliver Metcalf endures trying to piece together the mysteries of the Blackstone Asylum, last run by Oliver’s father. The game begins where the series ends, the asylum turned into a museum. Naturally, spirits of those who lived and worked in the asylum haunt Oliver. His father, Malcom, pissed that the asylum is being desecrated, and further pissed that Oliver hasn’t done anything to protect his father’s legacy, kidnaps Oliver’s son and threatens terror unless he learns his lesson and obeys orders.
Publisher: Infocom Developer: Infocom Year: 1986 Platform: DOS; Apple II; Amiga; et. al
Jeff O’Neill’s first game with Infocom pits the player in a circus mystery involving a kidnapping and a cast of crazy characters. O’Neill certainly brings forth his vision of the shady underbelly of circus life, and there are several puzzles apropos to the atmosphere (e.g. getting across a tightrope, taming some lions, etc.). However, the mystery itself is highly convoluted and not all that interesting.
Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Cognetics Year: 1986 Platform: PC; Commodore 64; Apple II
Thomas M. Disch, prolific science fiction writer and reviewer, wrote a game in 1986 that infuriated me as a child. At the time, I felt the game was too difficult, though I liked the premise behind it. So about ten years later, I picked the game back up. It infuriated me. Amnesia just may be the most difficult text adventure ever put on the market. And by difficult I don’t mean that you have to battle mazes and guess what verb the author wants you to use. The game is just damn hard.
How do you take a Myst clone and get me to like it? Add a developing story, voice acting, some FMV sequences, inventory based puzzles and a suspenseful atmosphere, and that should do it. On second thought, that doesn’t sound much at all like a Myst clone; rather, it sounds like a promising game.
When I received this game as an unexpected Christmas gift, I was excited. I found the movie incredibly funny and had read many positive reviews on multiple sites. But after playing Holy Grail, the only opinion I can justify is that this is absolutely the most irritatingly brain-chafing game I have ever played.
Publisher: Microids Developer: Microids Year: 2002 Platform: Windows, XBox, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS
Labelled as the adventure game of the year for 2002, many accolades were given to this unique adventure and some have called it the best adventure ever. While I have no strong feelings about that (the list of great adventure games in the early aughts are pretty slim), I fear Syberia has been given legendary status in the gaming community for the wrong reasons.
Death By Troggles 
You must be logged in to post a comment.