This is not Monkey Island!
They did it again. They: that’s people who compare each and every adventure game that’s being released to one specific game. Yes, you know the one: It’s The Secret of Monkey Island. Mind you, I love the game. It’s fun. It’s entertaining. It has some of the whackiest humour and strangest puzzles I’ve ever encountered. And I’ll be the last person to take away its cult status. That status is well deserved. But I’m sick and tired of people who, when writing a review about a new adventure game – be it as professionals or simply as gamers on a board -, compare this game to MI, reaching the conclusion: “Weeelll… you know… it’s a nice game… has its moments… but it’s not as good as MI used to be…”, usually followed by some extra whining about the golden days of adventure gaming that have come to an end because, according to these people, we suffer from a complete lack of good games altogether since LucasArts and Sierra have stopped publishing great games. I agree with them that it’s a shame Sierra’s basically not existing anymore, and yes, I too would love to see more great games like MI or Gabriel Knight. I’d do anything for a fourth installment in the Gabriel Knight series, and GK3 is still my most favourite game. No other game has been able to dethrone good old Gabe but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what game developers try to give us today; that I don’t appreciate the effort that goes into a new game, into the story, the graphics, the gameplay. I do, and some of the “modern” games (read: games that were published after the golden era) have blown me away – not as thoroughly as Mr. Knight, but some of them came pretty close.
It’s simply not true that there are no good games around nowadays. There are. You just have to open your eyes and give them a chance. Granted, the quality might have diminished a little, and there are a lot of bad games as well, but there are still those gems to be found that warm the heart of every gamer. Culpa Innata, for example, was a wonderful game, and Overclocked by House of Tales is probably the best adventure of the year 2007. So, for LeChuck’s sake, please stop whining about the golden days. They’re gone. They won’t return. But there are games waiting to be played, waiting to be appreciated for what they are. Besides, I’d really like to see a review for a game employing the same graphics, the same complicated control system, the same lack of voice acting, the same lack of graphics in the inventory, the same computerized sound as MI did. People would hate it, I’m sure of that – people hated Aurora which was released in 2007 but failed to provide voice acting, failed to translate inventory items. Today, this is a no-go (there are exceptions like first-person horror-adventures; Scratches comes to mind); it was ok in the early days because the means just weren’t there to do it any better. Nowadays they are there. We get the stunning graphics, we get good voice acting, we get matching sounds and music, we get more or less easy-to-use inventory and controls. And we still get the good stories.
Back from the (Un)Dead
This is pretty embarrasing, but I completely forgot about this blog – shame on me. Now it’s time to resurrect it from the dead and see if there’s more to it than a zombie-like existence (not that I have anything against zombies, quite on the contrary – great guys when you get to know them a little better).
For starters, let’s just say that it’s a nice and bright day, that I’m still unemployed (have been so for almost 3 months now) and that leaving Salzburg was probably the best decision I could have made. Vienna, my new home, has just much more to offer, and yes, it’s also a lot windier than Salzburg used to be. I’m still not quite sure what this blog is going to be about; since I’m currently playing a lot of computer games (that’s an advantage when you’re unemployed – you got all the time in the world to pursue your hobbies), I might just as well talk a little about those and scare away anybody who might accidentally stumble upon this site 
Just a short note on the name of this blog: It derives from one of my favourite books, The Lions of Al-Rassan by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay (my personal god, as far as literature is concerned). If you haven’t read the book by now, go out there, grab a copy (or order it online) and read it. You won’t regret it, it’s great stuff, wonderful characters, intruiging storyline – no, I’m not getting paid for advertising it I’m just enthusiastic and get carried away easily when it comes to really good literature. Having said that, I think Mr. Kay’s books might also make great adventure games… you can tell that clearly I’m playing far too many of those games. Currently, I’m trying to solve the mystery of The Awakened – it’s a Sherlock Holmes adventure (usually, I’m not really into detective stories) dealing with a mysterious, and, yes, dangerous Cthulhu sect trying to resurrect The Great One. So far, I’ve come across a wonderful statue of good old Cthulhu:
Isn’t he just adorable? Cthulhu’s Mini-Me, cast in silver, was lying on the floor, just waiting for Mr. Holmes to grab it. The great detective, however, has so far failed to connect the statue, the strange poetry and the even stranger tattooed guy in Switzerland to the name of Cthulhu; in fact, the name hasn’t been spoken yet in the game. I guess there are just no Lovecraft books around Baker Street – which isn’t surprising since the game is set in 1894 and HP Lovecraft wrote the bulk of his works in the 1930s. More on the game after I’ve finished it.
