Technobabylon - Wadjet Eye and Technocrat games

Oh I have been a bad blogger haven't I? To be honest, I've not played any games of note to review really... well I was recently OBSESSED with the Walking Dead games by Telltale, but I'm not sure they fit the tone of the blog so I didn't post about them! Anyway, I had been waiting eagerly for this release from Wadjet Eye for a long time, so I leapt on it as soon as I was able to.


Here is what they have to say about the game themselves:


"City of Newton, 2087. Genetic engineering is the norm, the addictive Trance has replaced almost any need for human interaction, and an omnipresent AI named Central powers the city.
CEL agents Charlie Regis and Max Lao are investigating a serial Mindjacker who is tapping into the neural wiring of seemingly ordinary citizens, stealing their knowledge and leaving them dead. An agoraphobic net addict named Latha Sesame might be the next target. But when Charlie’s past comes back to haunt him, he and his partner find themselves on opposite sides of the law, with Latha’s fate in the crossfire"

Technocrat's Technobabylon (original)

Technobabylon with a bit of Wadjet Eye pizazz..

I played some very early versions of the first three chapters of this game released by Technocrat for free on the AGS forums I frequent, so I knew I wanted more of this game, and when I heard it was heading for the Midas touch of Wadjet Eye, I was delighted and excited to see what Dave Gilbert could do to it, and he hasn't disappointed.

Having played the earlier versions of the beginning, I steamed through that bit quickly, as I'd already put the hours in on the puzzles, but that wasn't off putting at all. The atmosphere and story was beautiful already from what Technocrat put in himself, and Wadjet Eye polished it to a high shine in my opinion, adding the voice acting and musical score I expect from them, that helped the immersive experience. Of course, the artwork was also beautiful, but what else would you expect? I know, I'm a Wadjet Eye fan-girl, I am! I admit it wholeheartedly.

The only thing I could possibly mark this game down on, is that it is occasionally confusing about exactly what is happening and what you're supposed to do. There were a couple of points here I felt a bit lost, but that is partly because this future world is a bit odd, and the people in it know things we don't. For the most part, it is explained, but I felt occasionally like I missed a vital conversation or something and had to do a bit of random exploration to work out how to proceed. That said, I did muddle through!

One of my favourite bits of the games was learning how to use the technology of the time to solve puzzles around you. At first it seems bizarre, and then you understand it like second nature, like a real integration of technology into society. You have to interact with machines and robots to solve puzzles, and of course, use the "trance".

I also connected rather strongly with Latha Sesame... she's an agoraphobe who spends her life in the "trance".. and I am an agoraphobe who spends my life on the internet/in games so I very much relate!

An odd thing I feel I must mention here, is something I'm not sure is intentional or not... I should probably ask Dave Gilbert, but one of the characters (Dr Adam Baxter) looks a LOT like Richard o'Brien (he of Rocky Horror Show and The Crystal Maze fame) This is, in my opinion a good thing, whether intentional or not ;) If the artist didn't use him as reference, I'll eat my hat. That nose! The ears! Gah! It's all too much to be coincidence! 

Dr Adam Baxter

Richard O'Brien.. no.. wait...

I then noticed that another character (Dr Nina Jeong) looks a lot like Yunjin Kim from Lost... Her eyebrows don't seem quite the same, but a startling similarity. Look at the nose shape, nasolabial creases... the eyes... even the lips! I'm not judging that the artist used these as reference by the way, Damn good choices in my opinion!

Yunjin Kim

Dr Nina Jeong

I really don't want to spoil the plot, because it's glorious. It's a cyberpunk dream. I adore this kind of storyline, and it's why I loved Gemini Rue so much. Thrown into a future world, that asks questions I've pondered myself, and makes you question the world. If, like me, you're a fan of sci-fi and cyberpunk, don't ask questions, just buy the damn thing now. If you liked Gemini Rue, you will like this, I guarantee it. 

It's hard to know what else I can say about this game without giving too much of the plot away, and the juicy plot and story is the backbone of this game, and I don't want to spoil it- so just play the damn thing already and come back and thank me later!

Buy the game here:

http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/games/technobabylon/

This is not an affiliate link, I get nothing if you buy this game, I'm not that popular ;)

The Shivah (Kosher Edition) by Wadjet Eye Games

The Shivah is the most recent game I have played by Wadjet Eye, despite them having made it back in 2006 as their very first game! With the re-release of the game, remade with new graphics and full voice and sound packs as the "kosher edition" I reconsidered it.

Shivah screen shot (apartment appears in a Blackwell game)

I will admit that I avoided it originally because of it's content. I am not a religious person (I'm actually an atheist), and I know nothing about Jewish culture, and I didn't know what to expect in a game about just that. However, I must say I'm pleased I decided to give it the time. When I thought about it, I realised other games had helped me understand religions on some level without it being an absolute "religious game" it just had that as a partial theme- Gabriel Knight 'Sins of The Fathers' had masses of stuff about voodoo, but was about murder and conspiracy. Broken Sword taught me about the Templars, and the Gnostics and more, and I've lost count of the games with mentions of Catholicism. Some sort of religion can make a good story in an adventure game, that's for sure. The Shivah is not so much a "Jewish game" as I may have though, but a game about murder and loss, that happens to have a Rabbi at the centre, so his world involves Jewish themes and ideas. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy it!

Don't mess with tha' rabbi!

It's a very short game, but that doesn't detract too much from it, especially when you know it was Wadjet Eye's first game. I'm very fond of their style, their humour, the graphics and even the music of their games. The only thing is I'm sick of New York now! I know it's where Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye lives with his family, so it's what he feels most comfortable using as his setting, and I can understand that, but I'd love to see something somewhere else.. anywhere else!  

The game, despite it's short length, has multiple endings. You can end it before you even start anything interesting in fact, without ever knowing anything. It makes a short game more rewarding as I replayed it several times to try to get all the endings, and getting it through Steam meant it had Steam Community achievements too (you have to get the game through Steam to do that though)

Rosa's cameo

One of my favourite bits in this game was the cameos of Rosangela Blackwell from the Blackwell games, standing in a bar "talking to herself", and Detective Sam Durkin who is also in the Blackwell games. Of course, Sam could well have been in Shivah first, but I played them the wrong way around! The apartment you visit was also in one of the Blackwell games, but I know from hearing the commentary on the Blackwell games that it did come from the Shivah first. Little things like that make nice connections for fans through games which is particularly nice in Indie games.

New York skyline

The voice acting is, as you would expect from Wadjet Eye, beautiful. Well cast, well recorded, well acted. The music is stunning, same as I expect from them, and the graphics are just beautiful. I mean look at the screen cap of the skyline for a start! I sound like a screaming fan girl, I know, and I suppose I am. Everything Wadjet Eye touch is gold. Of all their games, this would be my least favourite, but it's still a damn good little game and worth a play.

How many other games have you ever played where you get to play a boxing Rabbi??

Click below to buy the game from Wadjet Eye (currently $4.99 via this link or £3.99 on Steam)

WELCOME!

Hello guys and gals!

Snowball by Level 9 on a BBC Micro

I have so many blogs now, it's practically obscene, and I never keep up with any of them, but this is one I've been meaning to make for a long time, and kept putting off!

I've been a fan of the adventure game genre for my whole life pretty much. No really. My first computer, was a BBC Micro (ok it wasn't mine, it was my dad's!) and I loved the text adventures. I learnt how to spell using those things, and you had to get good pretty quickly, because if you spelt things wrong the text parser had no idea what you were on about. My tag line with "Arfle barfle gloop" is a homage to those Level 9 adventures and the frustrating text parser... I think that particular one was in Snowball?

Then, for me at least, there followed the beginning of the graphics adventure with text input! Enter Sierra On-line with such wonders as the Kings Quest, Space Quest, and Police Quest seriesesesesss I also played Leisure Suit Larry, but that's only because my dad was convinced we wouldn't be able to work out what we had to do with our innocent little minds, and I must say spelling "prophylactic" was challenging, but I managed it! When my dad worked it out, he took the disk away from me and my brother (until we found it again! BWAHAHA!) I still love all these Sierra games and they bring back a wonderful sense of nostalgia!

One of my favourite bits from Space Quest 4 by Sierra

The peak of adventure gaming, in my opinion at least, was the 1990s. My favourite games came about in the beginning of the 90s, with VGA and Sound Blaster around, things seemed more realistic (stop laughing at the back, kids, it WAS impressive at the time!) and when the point and click games arrived, and you know longer had to guess the exact phrasing the computer wanted from you, it became a little more user friendly, and more about the puzzles. My favourite games to this day include Space Quest 4 and Monkey Island 2. Two classic VGA point and clicks, from two classic studios, Sierra and Lucasarts (Yes, as in George Lucas and Star Wars!)

Sadly, when graphics got more and more realistic and with a dawn of new gaming for everyone, not just us geeky shut-ins, games changed. Adventure games slipped away quietly. A few would come out sporadically, but they were few and far between, with poor budgets. Sad times. I satisfied myself playing the retro games I'd already enjoyed using DOSbox (I still do this!) and sulking t anyone who would listen about how much I missed good gameplay.

A screenshot from The Blackwell Epiphany by Wadjet Eye Games
(made with AGS by Chris Jones)

BUT! Viva la revolución! Adventure games have been creeping back! The recent advent of such platforms as Kickstarter has meant games such as Leisure Suit Larry got remade, because of public support. Steam Greenlight has been helping developers put games out that the people want, not just a guy in an office who decides for us. My ultimate discovery, has been AGS, the  Adventure Game Studio . An engine which adventure game fans and enthusiasts can make their OWN adventure games in, and share them with the world! The majority of these games are free, and some of them are.. well, pretty dire, but amongst them are some wonderful gems, and some even worth paying for. I have paid personally for several of them, including every game Wadjet Eye has made to date. Their Blackwell series in particular is amazing. 

I made my own Simon the Sorcerer.
It was the first time I'd used this software too!

On a personal level, since those beautiful VGA backgrounds back in the '90s, I wanted to be an adventure game background artist. I was devastated that by the time I was grown up, it was all about 3D rendering and maths based art, which is not how my mind works. Seeing AGS, I feel a renewed enthusiasm, and I have started drawing my own backgrounds for fun, as practice, and I hope that one day I'll get my art into a game of my own! Watch this space. The rubbish little Simon sprite design to the left is one I made using a program called Pro Motion. Not bad for a first attempt!

So, what is this blog about? I've told you my life story about adventure games back there and probably bored you to tears, but it was necessary, sorry. In this blog, I'm going to review and discuss adventure games!. That might be retro ones from long, long ago, it could be a recent remake, an indie game, or something a lot more mainstream, and maybe look at ones currently being made too, but when I say adventure, be clear that I mean a true adventure like a point and click or text based, not something like Tomb Raider or even Final Fantasy, which are adventures of sorts, but action and RPG, not a TRUE adventure, in terms of my blog definition of them at least! (Don't get me wrong, I adore both those series, and I play more than just adventuress, but damn adventures are an under-appreciated genre!!)

OK, so enough waffle. I will take a bow and return with some actual content! I have downloaded MANY games in the Steam Summer sale recently, so I have a few to discuss...

All screenshots/images are used under creative licence and critical analysis and are not owned by me, but by the respective game creators who hold all copyright. I will happily remove any images used within this blog if they belong to you and you have a problem with them being here, just send me an email. I purely use them out of love for the genre!