Leisure Suit Larry to return with HD remake and new adventures
Of all the old adventure games to get a modern re-release, Leisure Suit Larry seemed one of the most unlikely, but nonetheless EGM are reporting that the series will be making a comeback (disgusting pun not intended). Replay Games have acquired the rights to Larry, and are teaming with original creator Al Lowe to create re-mastered versions of the original games and start work on new adventures.
Editorial: How to save adventure games
This feature originally ran in PC Gamer UK issue 225.
Adventure games suck. Sorry, but it’s true. This isn’t a lunk-headed action fan telling you this, nor a snotty RPG fan who wants to solve every problem with a sword. No. This is coming to you from a guy who considers beating every Sierra and LucasArts game ever made to be an amateur claim. If it exists, I’ve likely played it, or at least know of it. Broken Sword? Zork? The Last Express? Kingdom O’Magic? Les Manley? I’ve finished great adventures and rubbish adventures, and make no mistake, adventures are my favourite genre of all time. They’re what got me into gaming, the genre I’m most nostalgic about, and one still bursting with incredible untapped potential even today. Even so, today, they suck.
And that’s something that can change. That’s why I get cross. Adventure games deserve to be great once again. The catch is, they have to earn it, and almost none of them are even trying.
Saturday Crapshoot: Police Quest
Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. This week, we pick up the shield, reach for a nightstick, and prepare to retread some very, very mean streets with the Lytton PD’s top Sierra suicide squad .
LA Noire is coming soon to the PC. But crime? Crime has always been with us. Laura Bow’s notebook saw her through two major cases back in the 1920s. Discworld Noir was funny, clever, and a brilliant spin on Terry Pratchett’s most famous creation. On the indie side, The Blackwell Legacy games are doing a great job of telling mysterious ghost stories. During the FMV era, it turned out The Dame Was Loaded, and then of course, there was a game simply known as ‘Noir’ – and a personal favourite of mine, the (later, not sucky) Tex Murphy games, which took those classical stylings into the Future. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? We do. We’ve painstakingly dug it out a million times.
But few of those cases are stranger, quirkier, or just plain messed up as gaming’s original interactive police procedural adventure. Prepare for the insanity that awaits… In Pursuit of the Death Angel.
Saturday Crapshoot: Pepper’s Adventures In Time
Sometimes, it’s fun to play the villain. We all know this. But there are limits. We live in a civilised civilisation, and as such, not everything can be permitted. There are scoundrels whose mere existence is an affront to the one true Queen, she who all right-thinking Ladies and Gentlemen call Majesty. There are sins that should never be played out, particularly not in an ‘edutainment’ game designed to inform and shape other fragile minds. Some things, some people, are just… beyond inappropriate.
This is the story of one such wretch, and her most deserved punishment.
These are the crimes of Pepper Pumpernickel, the girl who stole America.
They did it first
In a world of clones and copycats, it’s worth remembering that every idea was once new.
Whether it’s Richard Garriott turning himself into the world’s first cosplayer by showing up at conventions dressed as his alter-ego Lord British, or Westwood inventing the RTS in Dune II, these are the moments that defined the games we play today. On PC, anyway. Herzog Zwei? What’s that?
But what about some of the more obscure firsts? Who made games talk? Who made film ratings part of our industry? Which FPS first came up with the idea of mixing driving and shooting, in much the same way that the genius who first combined salt and vinegar crisps and broken up pieces of Kit-Kat created the most delicious snack of our age? That is the question.
We’ve gone back into the archives in search of the geniuses, the dreamers, the designers and games that proved there were still ideas left to explore – just as today’s designers continue to prove how much more can be done.
Crap Shoot: ImagiNation
Richard Cobbett heads back in time to play with one of the first dedicated gaming networks, now reborn for a new generation to wander through its worlds and virtual arcades.
Once upon a time, there was a magic world called The Sierra Network – later renamed ImagiNation. Only available in the US (and even then, only if you had a lot of disposable income) it was one of the first dedicated gaming services in the world – a place to go, hang out, and play games like Chess and Red Baron with fellow pioneers. If you were lucky, you might have found Bill Gates at one of the tables. If you were even luckier, you might have found love in one of the social areas. For most people though, actually taking part was an impossible dream, with the closest they could get being to jiggle the pages of Sierra’s official magazine until it looked like the screenshots were actually moving.
Years later, the dream is a reality. ImagiNation is back, and now anyone can play.
See what Half-Life looked like in 1997
The marketing for Half-Life 1, before Valve got seriously good at it, was bizarre. Remember the magazine ads with a glowing baby, a lambda for an iris? It looks like they also weren’t quite as good at making trailers back then – or perhaps publisher Sierra wasn’t. Soxy discovered an ancient trailer for the game on his copy of 1997 quiz game You Don’t Know Jack – Volume 3, and it’s funny to see what they thought was impressive back then. Doors opening, for example, apparently warrant a smash cut.
