Following Freeware: May 2014 releases
Cale Quest
Cale has a simple desire. He just wants something to eat. But when he gets to the shared kitchen in his flat, he finds it almost entirely devoid of food. Now he wants more than just a simple snack. He wants the best sandwich ever made. It doesn’t matter how far he has to go and who he has to work with to get it. He will gather the finest ingredients there are and make a foodstuff that will leave the world in awe.
Amuzo Arts have created a game whose central quest is somewhat different from the grand adventures gamers are used to. The graphics are done in a brightly coloured semi-realistic style. From Cale’s single room in his flat, you will travel to the town square, a crammed comic and games shop, and a somewhat more minimalist record store. Characters are reasonably proportioned, with distinctive clothing and some limited facial expression. These characters are decently animated, and there are nice background animations as well, such as the birds foraging for food in the park. Each area has its own music, from a simple mellow piece on the streets to a more jazzy number in Cale’s home. There are also some sound effects, most notably a Caribbean drum trill that plays when you advance your quest.
The game comes with a point system, and with 400 points to collect in total, 5 at a time at most, you have a long task ahead of you. The game uses the standard four-cursor AGS controls, with the addition of taste and smell. Both of these additional abilities are used in solving specific puzzles in the game. Your task takes you back and forth across your home town of Matlock, as you struggle to find what makes a perfect sandwich. You will execute a number of fetch quests, sabotage a yodeller at a local fair, and take on the comics store owner in a cutthroat card game. There are extensive dialogues with all characters, many of which provide you with the information you need to advance. Cale is, at times, an unlikeable character, with insulting people an option in all conversations. As such, this game may be unsuitable for the young or easily offended. It is also advisable to save on a regular basis as it is possible to die, sometimes with little warning of danger.
Cale Quest can be downloaded from the AGS website.
Into the Wild
Crystal Rose Divine, presenter of the documentary program “Into the Wild”, is about to make a major scoop. She has travelled to the MugaBuga island, home of the tribe the island is named after. There she intends to be the first outsider to interview the MugaBuga man, chief of that lost tribe. But the MugaBuga man seems unwilling to make conversation. Perhaps if she can put together an offering in accordance with the traditions of the tribe, she can win him over.
Carmel Games take players to a remote jungle island in this outing. The bright cartoon-style characteristic of the studio’s usual graphics is once again in evidence here. Scenery varies from dark jungle glades to high, bright clifftops and a thundering waterfall. Crystal’s outfit seems unsuited to jungle exploration, consisting of a business suit with high heels and hoop earrings. She and the other characters are well animated, though Crystal is the only one that moves around much. A tribal jungle theme plays throughout, though sound effects, such as the thundering waterfall, play over the top. The game is also fully voiced to a decent standard, though the constant subtitles are a boon in the noisier areas.
Simple point-and-click controls will see you through as you scour the island from end to end looking for the ingredients needed to make a suitable offering. Improvisation is the order of the day, whether to cross the raging river or devise a temporary rope slide handle. You also need to keep an eye out for combination clues hidden in the scenery. Many of the puzzles along the way also require item combination, as will the final piecing together of the offering.
Into the Wild can be played online at Mouse City.
Tales of Carmelot
In the mystical kingdom of Carmelot, disaster has struck. Carmelot’s pot of gold has gone missing, leaving the kingdom’s finances in disarray. With no one else to turn to, the king calls in Ryan O’brien. With the aid of a little magic and some of his famous Irish charm, hopefully Ryan will be able to track down the missing moolah.
In this start of a new proposed series from Carmel Games, the characters suggest Carmelot is in the Emerald Isle. The graphics feature the same bright cartoon style of previous games from this studio. Your quest will take you from the imposing Carmelot Castle to a shopping district with mystical overtones, and to a mysterious stone high atop a hill. The action takes place entirely at night, though the interior scenes are brightly lit. The characters, such as a leprechaun-like innkeeper, are decently animated. These are reasonably voiced, and there is a narrator whose descriptions occasionally provide clues. The background music has a suitably medieval tone.
Finding the lost pot of gold is no simple task. Using single-button point-and-click, you will have to concoct some potions, fix an amusement park ride and learn how to dance. A lot of these tasks involve finding inventory, some hidden behind movable bits of scenery. You also need to engage in a follow-the-sequence minigame and put together a password. The password puzzle involves some outside knowledge, though the information in question is fairly widely known. A video walkthrough is available for those who would otherwise get stuck on this particular puzzle. Restoring the treasure earns you the gratitude of the king, and the promise of further adventures to come.
Tales of Carmelot can be played online at Gamesnappy.
Other new releases
Not all games are created equal, and freeware games especially come in all shapes and sizes. Not to be overlooked, the following list might also be of interest, though these games may be significantly shorter or less polished, more experimental titles than those detailed above, some perhaps only borderline adventures to begin with.
Reincarnation: Loving Every Evil Triumph by Vile Media – Return a computer-gaming soul to hell in this mini-episode of the Reincarnation series.
Orlok’s Ordeal by Tuuka and Dave van Bale – When his precious is stolen, Nosferatu must venture out in his castle to find it.
House of Fear: Revenge by ViDi Games – Explore a creepy house full of supernatural happenings.
Brew or Die by Tim Ned Atton – Tired of your failures, the king gives you one night to produce the Elixir of Life, or face execution at dawn.
Hipstercalypse by kokos – An OS upgrade in 1996 catapults you into the future. Can you use what you find there to halt the Hipstercalypse?
That’s it for this month. Think we’ve missed a gem or want to tell us about your own game? Then pop in to our Adventure forum and tell us about it!
Stephen Brown and Willem Tjerkstra contributed to this article.
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