Black-and-white etching of a crumbling stone labyrinth.

Puzzles

March 26, 2018 / 0 comments

Adventure games make me nervous. You may have noticed, if you’re attuned to these things, that the jokes and the acting out against the parser have something of the air of a defense mechanism. Whenever I look at a game and realize I need to do an adventure-type puzzle, I start picturing a small version…

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Line on Sierra: Quest for Glory I, Part 2

March 19, 2018 / 0 comments

Last time in Quest for Glory, the brave thief Hamburger Tree arrived in the town of Spielburg and settled into a life of aimless destitution. As we left our hero, he had just discovered that his simple life of selling mushrooms and drawing maps was no longer sustainable. Let’s hope he doesn’t make any super…

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A character in blue shirt, purple pants, and a black cloak runs through a forest. Input text: "aaahhhhh"

Line on Sierra: Quest for Glory I, Part 1

March 12, 2018 / 0 comments

Ten games into this series, I’ve started to get the hang once more of how Sierra games work. So it’s the perfect time for a game to come along that doesn’t work like any of the others I’ve played so far. To be fair, I’ve been surprised by the amount of variation I’ve encountered in…

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A close-up from behind a robots shoulder as he holds up Roger Wilco, an ordinary-looking what man with brown hair, by his shirt. The robots arm is very shiny and reflects the purple of the planet surface. Roger is staring at the hand with a wide-mouthed, horrified expression on his face. The composition is unusually cinematic.

Line on Sierra: Space Quest III

September 19, 2016 / 5 comments

Welcome back! The ongoing Police Quest problem notwithstanding, at this point we are firmly within the Golden Age of the text-based Sierra games, and I am prepared to get pretty gushy about Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon. One thing about this game is obvious almost right away: compared to previous Sierra games, it looks fantastic. Space…

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Sonny stands by a trash can near the river. Game text reads: "You move the garbage around, but all you see is more garbage." There is a pool of blood by the river in the background.

Line on Sierra: Police Quest II

March 28, 2016 / 1 comment

After the series high so far that was King’s Quest IV, what better way to celebrate than to play another fucking Police Quest game? Guess what: I hated it! DAMMIT I forgot to hide the mouse before taking the screenshot AGAIN. As the presence of the mouse cursor suggests, 1989’s Police Quest II uses the same Sierra Creative Interpreter…

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Atum screenshot. A first-person view of a computer on a desktop. The computer screen shows a platformer game. The player character is holding up a lighter to the screen, which has set some barrels on fire in the game-within-the-game.

MIXTAPE: Fourth Wall Breakers

September 22, 2015 / 1 comment

I’ve always been attracted to media that break the fourth wall. In movies and TV, this can be used to resist the traditional philosophy that the equipment that makes a film is ugly and uncouth and should be treated as a silent observer of a spontaneous display of narrative. Turning and speaking to this stuff…

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Lolotte's throne room, set up for a wedding. One of the winged guards officiates and others line the walls. Rosella is passed out on the floor in a black gown. Edgar, dressed fancy, stares down at her in surprise.

Line on Sierra: King’s Quest IV, Part II

April 6, 2015 / 1 comment

Last time in King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, I made it through the long, inventory-stuffing introduction sequence and out of the dreaded whale’s mouth. Now I’m ready to defeat evil and bring hope to the forces of good and WOW HANG ON LET ME EXPLAIN See we’re friends now! It’s cool! Everything’s cool! They’re…

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A close view of Rosella and Genesta standing together on a beach. They look very similar, except for Genesta's wings. Text reads: "Rosella looks awestruck at the fairy. She is stunningly beautiful! But still there is a certain sadness to her."

Line on Sierra: King’s Quest IV, Part I

March 23, 2015 / 1 comment

After another Space Quest and a highly unfortunate Police Quest, it’s finally time to return to the flagship series with King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella. It represents the biggest leap in graphical quality in the series so far, as well as a few other innovations I’ll get to later. For now, behold the glory of 320×200 resolution! It also represents…

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Extreme close-up of a Kodak slide projector.

Reading Mad Men: “The Wheel” and The Wheel of Fortune

February 27, 2015 / 1 comment

PETE’S FATHER-IN-LAW: Nixon didn’t stand a chance. The Browns trounced [Washington], 31-10. The result of that last home game has correctly predicted the last six elections. PETE: I wish someone would have told me that. [both laugh] PETE: …of course, it’s really a 50/50 chance of being right. The climax of “The Wheel” is an especially…

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Why Would You Call Someone a Sociopath?

January 26, 2015 / 0 comments

[TW: ableist speech] What’s the purpose of calling people sociopaths? Why use that word, in particular, versus any of the alternatives available to you in a heated argument? For example, you could use a typical curse word like asshole, which also implies that the target doesn’t care about people’s feelings. But cursing makes the speaker seem…

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