Hello again and welcome back to another requested review. One literature genre that translates pretty well to adventure games seems to be mystery tales, especially detective stories. There’s something special about solving a mystery, even better if it’s in the shoes of a hard-boiled detective. I’m talking about The Dame Was Loaded.
The Dame Was Loaded is an FMV adventure game produced by Australian developer Beam Software and published by Phillips Interactive Media. It was initially released in 1996 for the PC and Macintosh. It was re-released in 2018 for Windows and Linux at GOG.com.
“Space: the final frontier“. I’m sure everyone knows this quote. Outer space has always been the ultimate destination of any population, to create new civilisations in new, alien worlds. So much so that space colony management sims could almost be considered its own sci-fi subgenre. So, today we’ll be reviewing Utopia: The Creation of a Nation.
Utopia: The Creation of a Nation is a managerial/strategy game developed by Celestial Software and published by Gremlin. It was originally released in 1991 for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was released the following year for DOS and in 1993, it was ported for the SNES/Super Famicom in the US and Japan. In 1994, it was released for the Super Nintendo in the EU and in 1995, it was re-released for DOS in CD-ROM format.
It wasn't long ago now that we were banging on about Zzap! 64 Annual 2019 ; a glorious book of goodness from Chris Wilkins as a revival of the classic Zzap magazine, wrapped up in the guise of an awesome looking hardback. Well it looks as if the C64 is about to get in on the action once again, as Chris Wilkins has launched the official Kickstarter for the ZZap! 64 Annual 2020; a Kickstarter which is already at the half way point
You've probably heard the name many times ' Chris Wilkins ' , a highly respected retro head who has launched countless retro gaming books such as The History of Ocean Software, The Story of the Commodore 64 in Pixels, The Story of the Oliver Twins and The Story of the ZX Spectrum in Pixels. But now after many Kickstarter successes, he has launched possibly the greatest of them all and the big 100 after the previous Crash 2018 Annual. It's the ' Crash Annual 2019 - Issue 100 ' Kickstarter campaign; a campaign for an Annual full of game reviews, techy bits and even an Adventure trail!
Remember not long ago when I was happy to mention the latest Amiga Future Magazine that was celebrating an impressive 20 years? Well good news as just recently we were again contacted to be told the latest Amiga Future Issue 132 is now available for purchase. Thankfully the magazine is available in both English and German, and can be ordered directly from the editorial office of Amiga Future, and the other Amiga dealers that stock the magazine.
As if this year couldn't get any better, but after previously teaming up with Retro Asylum and then Novabug, we are now teaming up with Xyphoe! If you've never heard of Xyphoe before, his videos are very similar to Novabug's, in the fact that he does retro gaming longplays, reviews and more, all with clear to understand vocabulary and enjoyable enough to keep coming back for more. In fact as a first teaser before he gets the hang of our little editor, here's a video to keep you occupied ' [ARCADE / MAME] Hunchback - Longplay & Review '.
As you well know, this site is very much based on both the Indie and Retro side of gaming goodness, especially with my era going back to the 80's. Well just recently, I was checking through some of the best Youtubers, looking for some great hardware reviews of Retro systems. Well sure enough I found them, and although I don't usually plug other peoples views, this comes as an exception. I never had a C64, nor did I have a ZX Spectrum, but I did have an Amstrad cpc 464 and then onto an Amiga. There is something missing nowadays, as when I was a kid, there was complete excitement just going into a store and buying the latest magazine or seeing rows and rows of tapes at just £2.99. Or the large Amiga boxes full of colour, lots of floppies and spin wheels donating the games anti-protection. Such good times, such awesome games.... So if you are looking to buy a Retro computer system, either an 8bit or 16/32bit then enjoy the videos below!
That's right readers, Indie Retro News is now officially on YouTube!, as our site grows we will be doing Interviews and Reviews which will be up on our YouTube channel. What's more, the latest Indie Music and Game Retro Remixes will have a special place in the playlist! So check us out, click on the YouTube on the far right of the page or click here
As an update to all our viewers there has been some more website/blog improvements, one of the updates is the Continue Reading addition. Instead of taking up the entire blog with one article which in turn knocks the other articles off the blog, we can now have far more in one article including more write ups, pictures and videos without hardly affecting the rest. Simply click on the Continue Reading option below a news post to read the rest of what's posted.
Second update is the amount of news articles per page has been increased, before it was limited 7, this is ok for laptops and smaller screens but large monitors view nothing but empty space halfway down the blog. With it increased to 10 I may later increase that again, we can have alot more news articles on the front page.
A developer by the name of ChrisD has been creating a game known as "Spuds Quest" it has been in development since 2002 and is around 70% completed, or so the developer states.
In the words of the developer the game "is a platform adventure puzzler inspired by the classic Dizzy games, with some Zelda thrown in" so all those hardcore retro fans are going to love this... hopefully.
As stated the game is a Nod to the classic dizzy and zelda games "back in the day" and will most likely play out in a similar fashion, from the screenshots it appears to be located in a bright tropical environment, as well as an underwater level and even one situated inside a temple. whether there will be other environments when released is uncertain as of this point in time.
In many of the screenshots there is a frog who appears to be following you, this is spuds friend "prince charming". similar to the old fairy tale where the prince is turned into a frog by an evil witch and must be kissed by a princess... this one changes the fairy tale slightly.
No kissing is necessary... if only things could be so simple.
No instead you must find "find four magical artifacts, all said to be buried deep within ancient temples around the world."
About the gameplay:
There is a transition from night to day and various whether effects are in place but all seem to only change the background, no tiles appear to be changed whether that be by colour or by whether effects. when it rains or becomes night the background changes hue, but from what i can see that is the only change.
Spud does have a weapon, a projectile one at that. "he throws apples. This is used to kill enemies, knock switches, destroy
certain blocks, etc. Gives me a little more variety in the puzzle
department too."
So there will probably be a few levels dedicated to using projectiles to press on with the game.
The game is on kickstarter and is hoping to raise a pledge of £5,000, if you wish to donate you also gain a few "perks" from doing so:
Pledging £1+ will get you a place on their website.
Pledging £5+ will get you a digital copy of the game and a spot in the credits.
Pledging £10+ will get you a digital copy of the game and the OST as well as a place in the credits.
Pledging £25+ along with the above you also get a hard copy of the game.
Pledging £35+ along with the above will get you a hard copy of the OST
Pledging £150+ will get you your own spot inside the game, an NPC dedicated to you and your "likeness" with your name. plus all of the above.
If you feel any of that is worth donating for then go right ahead.
Otherwise the game is expected to be released march 2013.
