Stinger

“Let's go get some grade-A payback, and incidentally save the world in the process.” Sam & Max: Episode Six — Bright Side of the Moon marks the end of a great experiment in adventure gaming. By virtue of actually reaching its natural conclusion, rather than being abruptly cancelled or abandoned, the first season stands alone […]

After playing it relatively safe for a couple episodes, and then blowing the roof off with a fantastic middle installment, the Tales of Monkey Island series takes quite a turn with the fourth episode, The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood, sure to be one of the most debated and controversial games that Telltale has […]

Telltale Games have long since established themselves as the masters of modern episodic gaming, seemingly the only developer who can understand and fulfill the basic tenets of an episodic format in the adventure (or any other) genre. Having cut their teeth on less established gaming franchises, Tales of Monkey Island: Rise of the Pirate God […]

“Diplomacy's not working, Sam. I'll get the brass knuckles.” There is no need to sugarcoat it: I was starting to get a little worried. The first three episodes of Sam & Max: Season One demonstrated an impressive attention to detail and occasional flashes of writing brilliance, but also displayed the inherent weaknesses of an episodic […]

“You could've at least had the courtesy to be impaled on spikes!” If there is one specific attribute that the beloved Sam & Max Hit the Road exemplified for adventure gaming, it's pure lunacy. Every plot element, every character, every bizarre situation sparkled with the sort of extreme creativity that can only be attributed to […]

Starship Titanic begins very oddly. Apparently you are sitting in your house, minding your own business on a normal day. Your computer sits on the table in front of you. You must take a CD with Starship Titanic’s logo on it and put it in your computer. After doing this, the big ship in question […]

The Dig, a much-delayed 1995 Lucasarts adventure game inspired by Steven Spielberg, deals with a concept that Americans have become fascinated with: the existence of aliens. Television shows like X-Files and movies like Contact have made us think more and more about whether there is intelligent life on other planets. The Dig begins with a […]

I have, as my mother would say, an “overactive imagination.” As a result, I have set my mind to multiple creative projects over the past few years, including a text adventure game, a novel, a short story, and two traditional adventures (whether I actually finished any of these projects is another topic). When I sat […]

Let’s make something abundantly clear right from the outset: Jane Jensen’s BeTrapped is not Gray Matter aka Project Jane-J. It is not the savior of the adventure genre. It is not overwhelming in beauty, magnificently cinematic, or wonderfully confounding in puzzle difficulty. Sound appealing yet? Ah, but save your resentment; I’d go as far as […]