Articles

THE STATE OF ADVENTURE GAMING - March 2002

By Randy Sluganski

ADVENTURE GAMES - THE GENRE THAT DOES SELL!

This month we have the cumulative sales figures for any adventure game that sold at least 1,000 copies in 2001. As always, these figures were compiled by PC Data and do not include online sales or any sales outside of North America. To see them just click here.

Probably the biggest surprise were the outstanding sales figures for King's Quest Mask of Eternity, a 4-year old game that sold more units than many of the newer releases. Tierra's King's Quest 1 remake (hosted by Just Adventure) would seem to be a driving force behind the renewed interest in this game. There were also some huge disappointments, most notably the low sales figures for Stupid Invaders a game that deserved a better fate. Funnier than all of the Monkey Island games combined, it just never caught on with the public. Microids Road to India and Druuna suffered from poor distribution which is reflected in their low sales figures. Children's adventures are the biggest overall sellers as the Humongous/Infogrames library of Putt Putt, Pajama Sam and Freddie Fish games still sell in the hundreds of thousands.

I LOVE THE SMELL OF CHEETOS IN THE MORNING

According to an article in the January 3rd New York Times, a group of young programmers have created an online game called Day of Defeat; a modification of the popular game Half-Life. Day of Defeat is being touted as the first video game that lets you choose whether to be an Allied soldier or a Nazi protagonist and has become very popular since the release of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. When asked by Jonathan Kay, the author of the piece, why anyone would want to create a game that would allow the player to express socially unacceptable sentiments such as racism and anti-Semitism, 17-year-old Matthew Lane, a Day of Defeat web designer said:

"There's nothing like traveling back more than half a century to put yourself in the boots of a World War II soldier storming the beaches at Normandy. As kids, many of us have dreamt what our grandfathers and fathers suffered through, and fought for, more than 50 years ago. Day of Defeat just brings these things to reality."

Right. I can't think of anything that more approximates the realism of freezing in a foxhole while surrounded by the corpses of your fallen comrades than sitting on your Twinkie-molded ass in front of a monitor munching Cheetos and swigging a cola.

TAKE OUT THE PAPER AND THE TRASH….

My wife grumbles that I'm a packrat. I, on the other hand, think of myself as an adventure historian preserving minutiae for future generations of gamers. Still, in an attempt to appease my non-adventuring spouse (aka the heathen), it was time to sort through the accumulation that had overrun the Just Adventure office.

So what lay hidden beneath the layers of dust? How about a cornucopia of adventure trinkets unequaled in the history of mankind. So many goodies, in fact, that a '10 Best' article spotlighting the best and most curious adventure game oddities is currently being written. In the meantime, here is a small sampling of what to expect:

In 1997, Dreamcatcher released Cydonia. Due to some legalities associated with the name Cydonia, the game was re-released as Lightbringer. At the E3 that year, Marshall Zwicker, the man responsible for developing Dreamcatcher's box art, gifted me with a prototype box for the DVD version of Lightbringer. As luck would have it, different art was used for the eventual release, so the box pictured here has never before been seen by the public.

HE DOESN'T LIKE ANY BALLS NEAR HIS FACE

The March 2002 issue of PC Gamer features their 8th Annual PC Gamer Awards. Awards are bestowed for best action game, best sports game, best simulation, best game that recreates a decapitation as performed by a scantily clad, huge-breasted woman and so on. As usual, there is no award for best adventure game.

But wait, what is this I see on the last page of the magazine in an article that proposes to present some of the year's less-than-special moments in PC gaming titled 'Games that made us go hmmmm….", but a special adventure award:

The Schizm Beyond Dracula's Mysterious Sanctuary award for the most forgettable adventure game. Uh…we don't know - any Dreamcatcher game.

Stellar praise indeed! Especially from a magazine that allows its sport's editor to review the adventure games.

THIS AIN'T BRAIN SURGERY

In the past, we have usually agreed with Dreamcatcher's policy of changing the name of an historically titled game that has been previously released in Europe. Thus Jerusalem becomes Timescape and Faust is changed to Seven Games of the Soul and so on. American gamers are more apt to buy a game that does not sound educational.

But we also think that a major marketing blunder occurred when it was decided to change the title The Secret of Loch Ness to The Cameron Files: Secret at Loch Ness. Loch Ness has now been reduced to a subtitle and is not even readily apparent on the box. Why would you push one of the world's most well-known myths in folklore to the background in favor of the name of an unknown detective? To compound this comedy of errors, why would you then disguise the box to look as though it is wrapped in a brown paper bag? What would have been the problem with putting a picture of the Loch Ness Monster on the cover and calling the game The Secret of Loch Ness - The Cameron Files? Dreamcatcher has failed to take advantage of thousands of already existing websites, books, magazines and videos that have focused on the Loch Ness Monster. Instead they have doomed the game to anonymity. I have already watched as potential purchasers at Electronic Boutique have bypassed the box without a second glance. Do you think they would have done the same if the Loch Ness Monster were on the cover?

From what we understand, The Cameron Files was planned to be a continuing series involving different cases and that probably played a big part in Dreamcatcher's decision to name the game The Cameron Files. But sometimes the answers are so obvious and the solutions so simple that even a team of experts can be fooled.

DAGNABIT - WHY I REMEMBER WHEN WE HAD TO PLAY GAMES IN BLACK AND WHITE!

You may not remember a wonderful adventure game named Realms of the Haunting that was way ahead of its time. ROTH successfully combined elements of a First Person Shooter and an adventure games puzzles and, in my opinion, has yet to be equaled.

Well, it seems some blokes from merry, olde England have, in the tradition of Tierra and King's Quest 1, decided to remake ROTH using the Undying graphics engine and are calling their effort Undying Realms.

Keep in mind that progress is slow as they are doing it in their spare time for free, but what I have seen so far is very impressive. Now before some of you starting getting all grumpy on me and complaining that the remake has dropped some of its adventure aspects, keep in mind that the ability to modify many of today's action and strategy games is exactly what has strengthened those genres. Who knows, what's good for the goose may also be good for the gander in the world of pc gaming.

HAIL, HAIL THE GANG'S ALL HERE

As you have probably noticed we have scads of excellent new staff members at JA. In our newly formed console section reviewing action/adventure games are Scott Jelinek, Dawn Johnson and Joe Waddington - all three of whom also pull double-duty at Intel Gamer.

Soon to commander our screenshot section is James Korwek, long-time JA fan and an expert at digging-up box shots of new releases. From Spain, Mark Ross, besides contributing an occasional column is also working on reviews of Runaway and Hollywood Monsters. You can also now read bios of all of your favorite JA writers in our JA Staff section.

Plus, we are also in the process of offering the largest collection of downloadable adventure games and demos available on the internet and an entire section devoted to fan fiction based on adventure game characters.

Need more? We'll soon have an exclusive interview with Benoit Sokal, creator of Amerzone and Cyberia. Fresh reviews of many old games, a Titanic giveaway and, because you demanded it, new Top 10 Lists!

RED HERRINGS

The Watchmaker is currently scheduled to be released on May 15th at a retail price of $39.99. We will soon have information on how this long-awaited game can be purchased.

Meanwhile, it looks as though it will be a few more weeks before we have a release date for Simon 3D. The distributor has promised to notify us the moment he has a retail price and release date.

It seems as though Sierra is getting back into the business of making adventure games! Rumors are afoot that the Space Quest series may be rejuvenated and there is even a whispering of a King's Quest revival. While Sierra will not confirm any information regarding games that are not yet official, Just Adventure has been promised some exclusive information if and when these games are announced.