Free Open Source Point-and-Click Adventure Fan Game Review: Indiana Jones and the Call of Thunder

I compiled Indiana Jones and the Call of Thunder, gave the game an ending rather than a call for volunteers as the project had long closed by that point, and added some inventory art. Other than that, I had no input in the actual game design. Because of this, like Open Quest before it, I have decided to give this one a full review instead of a retrospective.

The game uses the sixth version of the Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion, one version above the one used in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Because of this, the game art is inspired by, and mostly uses art lifted from and used by or slightly modified from that game. It has no music, but it has one sound effect in the form of a lightning strike. This is a quick and dirty little example that puts the ScummGen fan compiler to its full use, and excludes features that were not supported by it.

The game is a simple two room game that works like a point-and-click escape room adventure game. Indiana Jones has been driven to a cave entrance. The game begins with the classic Indiana Jones title card as the adventurer walks into said cave. He has come for an artifact, and has difficulty exploring do to a lack of light.

The objectives are simple, yet the puzzles themselves aren't as simple as they seem on paper. Indy needs to find a light source, find the artifact, find a way to extract it from the cave, and finally, find his way out of the cave. The game uses the classic text verb buttons with an icon-based inventory system that were used in classic LucasArts adventures of the early 1990s. Inventory items can be used on objects in the cave or combined with objects in the inventory to create a new inventory item.

The game is straightforward, but there are a few places that could use some improvements to make it easier to know what to do next. The biggest one is that there is no lever graphic for a lever puzzle. The puzzle can still be solved, but it can be difficult to determine which way to use the lever without the graphic assistance. The second main issue is Indy's partner, who is waiting at the truck used to bring Indy into the cave. It is not obvious that he can be interacted with, as he is completely off-screen and is only accessible by pointing the mouse pointer at the top of the screen at the cave entrance.

Indiana Jones and the Call of Thunder is a fun little game, although it is rough and unfinished due to its status as a work-in-progress project at the time of its release. Its flaws make it more of a demonstration of the ScummGen compiler than a game in its own right. However, even though it has since been left stagnant, but what is there can still be played through from start to finish. Your mileage may vary based on how much you able to enjoy what is essentially a tech demo.

Final Verdict:

2½ out of 5

Free Point-and-Click Adventure Review: Dráscula: The Vampire Strikes Back

Dráscula: The Vampire Strikes Back is a point-and-click adventure game by the Spanish developer Alcachofa Soft.

The game follows a man named John Hacker who rescues a girl from the vampire Count Dráscula. It's a game with many humorous takes on the movie monster genre. Unfortunately, the English translation is let down by the sub-par voice acting and translation mistakes.

The version of the game with Spanish voices and subtitles, the version with English voices and subtitles, and versions with French, Italian, and German subtitles, are available for free download from ScummVM. Due to this, it is possible to have Spanish voices with Spanish, Italian, French, German, or English subtitles. This is the way to go as the voice work isn't as rough in the Spanish version.

The graphics are quite nice, with a pleasing cartoon style and detailed backgrounds that fit perfectly with the character sprites. The point-and-click interface is unusual, but it becomes second nature once you get used to it. There are a few puzzles that stretch logic a bit, but they are all solvable with a little out-of-the-box thinking.

If you play the free version from ScummVM, make sure to download the music add-on which is available in several different audio formats including FLAC, MP3, and OGG. It's well worth the download as the music is actually quite good. Together with the graphics, it is definitely the best part of the game.

Dráscula: The Vampire Strikes Back is a humorous adventure game that has a lot going for it. However, if you play it make sure to combine the data with the subtitles in the language of your choice with the Spanish voiceover. The English voice work is done by actors whose first language is not English, and it shows. The English subtitles have a few translation mistakes, but it is quite enjoyable with the Spanish voices in the background. The unusual but easy-to-learn interface and good puzzles round the game out well. The music is the best part of the game, as it fits the tone of the game perfectly. Dráscula: The Vampire Strikes Back is far from perfect, but it is free. With a little fiddling to get the Spanish voices working with subtitles from other languages, it is also pretty fun.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Free Point-and-Click Adventure Review: Lure of the Temptress

Lure of the Temptress was the first game by the English video game developer Revolution Software, which would later become known for its popular Broken Sword series of adventure games.

It was also the first game that featured the Virtual Theatre engine, which allowed non-player characters to wander around the game scenes doing their own business, giving the game world a larger sense of realism. It was rough here, as characters would sometimes block the path of the building you needed to enter and, even more annoying, would sometimes be way off on another screen and you would have to chase that person down if you need him or her to complete a task. This would become less of a hassle in Revolution's next game, Beneath a Steel Sky.

The game's interface was a bit rough here as well, as you needed to click on an object and choose an action from a drop-down menu. It's not intuitive, as it is quite different than other point-and-click adventure games. It takes a while to get used to it, but once you do, it's at least tolerable.

The story of the game involves a man who has been imprisoned. He escapes and another prisoner joins him. He sticks by your side as a sidekick and sometimes will be required to solve certain puzzles. He isn't as oddly charming as Foster's robot companion Joey in Beneath a Steel Sky, but like that little robot, he provides much of the game's humour. It's not as humourous as some of Revolution's other games, but it definitely has its moments.

The goal of the game is to learn about and later confront and defeat the titular temptress. She is actually a level beyond that, as she is more of a sorceress, and is probably the most memorable part of this game. The puzzles to get there are decent, and aren't too hard to figure out. This part that brings this game down a bit is when you need to involve townsfolk to complete a task. The directions to do so are sometimes obtuse, especially in the directions given where you need to talk to people that are from, or will be in, certain areas. This is mainly due to the fact NPCs will wander from screen to screen, as mentioned above, sometimes making it hard to tell where they are or even whether that person really is the one you want.

Lure of the Temptress is a rough game, especially in its interface and the fact NPCs are given too much leeway to wander. However, an interesting sidekick and a memorable villain, plus the fact that it is free to download and play, make it a bit appealing despite its flaws. If nothing else, it is neat to see where Revolution Software and its Virtual Theatre engine began.

Final Verdict:
3 out of 5

Free Open-Source Point-and-Click Adventure Mega Review: Teenagent

The Polish game developer Metropolis Software House was founded to develop the adventure game Teenagent. Metropolis Software House was purchased by CD Projekt in 2008, and in 2009, the game was released for free through CD Projekt's digital storefront GOG.com. It was added to the open-source adventure and RPG interpreter ScummVM in 2010.

Teenagent follows a teenager named Mark Hopper who was chosen to work for the RGB intelligence agency. His first mission is to bring a thief named John Noty into custody.

Mark has to travel to many locations on his mission. As this is a point-and-click adventure game, the tools in his arsenal are pockets with infinite storage space and his wits. The puzzles are for the most part pretty fun, but there are a few weird ones here and there. It's nothing too big though, so it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the game.

The graphics are the best part of the game as they are really detailed and are reminiscent of LucasArts adventure games, as is the interface. This was obviously intentional as there are a few in-jokes about games in the development house that George Lucas built scattered within the game.

The music is a mixed bag. Some of it is enjoyable, but unfortunately, there is one track that I found rather annoying. Your mileage may vary on this point, of course, but I personally got through that area as fast as I could. 

In the GOG.com version, there is no voice acting, but there was a voiced version included on the coverdisc of the Polish Gambler magazine. This version has voices recorded by the creators of Gambler and is only available in the Polish language 

Teenagent is a free adventure game that is pretty fun. It has fantastic background and character art, and the story is a fun, purposefully cheesy take on the spy genre. However, a few odd puzzles and at least one music track that might be considered annoying depending on the player, drag it down a bit. Thankfully, these spots don't last too long. That is good because the rest of the game is rather enjoyable.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Open-Source First Person Shooter Mega Review: Wolfenstein 3D

Wolfenstein 3D was a first-person shooter released in 1992 by iD Software. The company was a name well-known in shareware circles at the time, but after the release of this game, it became close to a household name.

The game was based on the 1981 Muse Software stealth action-adventure game Castle Wolfenstein and its 1984 sequel, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. The idea was always to create a three-dimensional version of Castle Wolfenstein, but the company didn't own the rights until John Romero, the co-founder of iD Software, purchased the rights to the Wolfenstein name from the creator of Castle Wolfenstein, Silas Warner.

With the name secured, the game had much of the same story as Castle Wolfenstein in that an allied prisoner of war escapes Castle Wolfenstein. This time however, the role of the prisoner was given to William "B.J." Blazkowicz, who fought his way through the game with his guns and fists rather than through stealth.

The game had a first-person view, with the player experiencing the game through the eyes of B.J. Blazkowicz himself. Through six episodes comprised of six levels each, he blasts through Nazi enemies and collects health, ammo, and new weapons as he goes along. 

The game gets crazier as it goes on and leans heavily on the notion of Hitler trying to make augmented super soldiers. In this universe, the program succeeds, both through giant Nazis that take multiple shots to kill as well as Nazis in robot armor. This even extends to Adolf Hitler himself. 

Some levels will require a key to unlock doors which can generally be found in areas filled with guards and sometimes guard dogs. There are also hidden doors that can be found by pressing walls and paintings. Many times these will be found in the latter, which are usually giant pictures of Adolf Hitler. The hidden door will slide away and Blazkowicz can grab the loot found inside.

When a level is completed, the player is given a screen with the time it took them to get through it, the number of enemies killed, and the secret areas found. A time that is par for the level will be displayed with which to compare the player's time.

Wolfenstein 3D is a landmark game for the first-person shooter genre. It's over thirty years old now, so it definitely shows its age. However, it is still fun to play, even if it may cause dizziness due to the fact that the graphics are presented through ray casting, making only the surfaces visible to the player. The game has been ported to many different architectures from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo Switch, so it is easy to pick up and play on your platform of choice. Fans have also converted the game as modifications for many later, more capable engines from Doom to Half-Life 2, and even in Virtual Reality in Half-Life: Alyx. However you play it, it's well worth playing to experience the game that popularized the first-person shooter genre.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

Free Open Source Point-and-Click Adventure Game Review: OpenQuest

I converted Michael Sheail's tutorial game to Wintermute from Adventure Game Studio, so I could learn how to use the engine, in 2016. However, I have decided to do a regular review rather than a retrospective. I had no hand in the actual game design, which was released in 2007, almost a full decade before I even laid eyes on it.

OpenQuest is a two-room adventure game about aliens searching an office for an artifact. There is only one person in the vicinity with which to communicate, the cleaning woman Carol, as well as Zif, your commanding officer.

The game was created by Michael Sheail as a tutorial on creating an adventure game. It accomplishes its goal so well that it was converted from Adventure Game Studio two times. It was converted to SCUMM with ScummC in 2008, and then to the aforementioned Wintermute Engine eight years later.

It contains all of the traditional aspects of graphical point-and-click adventure games. There are objects that can be found by opening a storage container, combining objects in inventory, talking to the cleaner to get access to somewhere you weren't previously allowed, objectives that are only available if an event is accomplished, a door puzzle to get in the other room, and finally, a jigsaw-style triangle puzzle.

All of the conversions of the game contain these aspects, except for the SCUMM version which contains everything except the triangle puzzle. In that version, once you access the monitor, the game goes straight to the point in the game after the triangle puzzle would normally be found.

The game also has three music tracks that work well for the game's atmosphere, suitable sci-fi sound effects, and one instance of a vocal track when one of the aliens laughs. The SCUMM version includes the sound effects but doesn't include the music.

OpenQuest is short and bittersweet, as it contains only two rooms, however, it works well in its purpose as a tutorial game. The music and sound effects work well with the game, and the puzzles are well done, and, depending on your skill level with adventure games, can even be a bit challenging. It is a fantastic look into how to make games for all three platforms to which it has been converted. However, if you just choose to play the game, go for the Adventure Game Studio or Wintermute versions as those are the most feature-complete.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Free Open-Source City-Building Game Mega Review: SimCity/Micropolis

Maxis is well known for its simulation games. The game that started the company was SimCity, the game that popularized the city-building subgenre of simulation games.

The object of the game is to build a functioning city. Residential, commercial, and industrial districts have to be created, as well as either coal or nuclear energy to power them. Public transportation, as well as police and fire departments, need to be built as well. The way these elements have to be placed requires strategy because coal and industrial districts raise pollution. The citizens of the city in the residential districts need these districts at which to shop and work, or else people won't move into the city. Industrial districts raise crime, so police districts need to be placed throughout the city or else people will move out of the city due to high crime. High pollution will also cause people to leave the city.

A finite amount of money is available, so these elements have to be purchased in a fiscally responsible way. At the end of each in-game year, the population will be shown to have grown or shrunk. Negative amounts of growth cause a loss of money. If there isn't enough money to pay them, city functions like police, transportation, and fire department funding will go down. Taxes can be charged to mitigate loss, but if it is raised too high, people will move out of the city.

As the city grows, the citizens request special buildings such as airports, seaports, and gaming stadiums. These are much more expensive than regular buildings and districts, so it will likely be a while before the money is ready to purchase these unless the money has been saved over several years.

There are disasters, both natural and supernatural, that can wreck the city that need your intervention such as earthquakes, fires, floods, monster attacks, nuclear meltdowns, plane crashes, shipwrecks, and tornadoes. These appear at different years throughout the city. Every disaster, plus monster attacks, excluding nuclear meltdowns and shipwrecks, can be let loose at any time by selecting it from the menu. 

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System version is my personal favorite version of the game. The objects to be placed are larger, there's a helper character named after Will Wright, the creator of SimCity, and there are new objects to be placed. These include a house for the mayor, a zoo, a casino, an amusement park, an expo, a police headquarters building, a fire department headquarters building, a big park, a bank, a central railroad station, a landfill, a library, a windmill, and a library.  There are also Nintendo-specific additions and changes. Once the city becomes a megapolis, a Mario statue can be placed. Additionally, the monster attack is changed to an attack by Bowser, King of the Koopa.

The source code and game data for the original SimCity were released as Micropolis, Will Wright's working title for the game. This version has everything from the original SimCity except for the plane crash disaster, which was removed because of September 11, 2001, the date of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States.

SimCity is an important historical game since it popularized the city-building genre of video games. It is a slow-paced game compared to modern titles, even on the fastest setting, but it is still fun. I recommend playing the Super Nintendo version in an emulator, as you get the Nintendo-added extras and the ability to fast-forward the game to make the years go by less slowly.

Final Verdict:

4½ of 5

Delores - A free Thimbleweed Park game and source released

Another tidbit that I missed while I was away was an awesome small Thimbleweed Park game titled Delores.

The game is available for free at GOG.com, Steam, and Epic.

The source code of the game (but not the engine) is also free to tinker with at Github.

ScummVM 1.9.0 "Myst-ery U.F.O.s Release" Is Here

ScummVM, the project that aims to re-create engines for adventure games, using the original scripts and data files, so that the games run on modern (and some not-so-modern) systems, has received a new release.

This release brings support for six new games: Myst, Myst: Masterpiece Edition, U.F.O.s (also known as Gnap), and Sierra's Hi-Res adventure games #0: Mission Asteroid, #1: Mystery House, and #2: The Wizard and the Princess.

There's also been a lot of bugfixes for Sierra's SCI games, the addition of Hercules rendering and font for the AGI games, an enhanced Sherlock games experience, and the addition of AmiUpdate on the Amiga port.

ScummVM 1.8.0 Is Out Now

ScummVM, the project that allows multiple point and click adventure games to be played on modern (and some not so modern) architectures, has been updated to 1.8.0. New in this release is support for ten new games:

• Amazon: Guardians of Eden
• Beavis and Butthead in Virtual Stupidity
• Broken Sword 2.5: The Return of the Templars
• Labyrinth of Time
• Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender
• Sfinx
• The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Rose Tattoo
• The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Serrated Scalpel
• Zork: Grand Inquisitor
• Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands

Additionally, there are new ports for GCW-Zero and Raspberry Pi. The graphics subsystem for the Sierra AGI engine has been overhauled, and the SCUMM engine has also received some love. The original Maniac Mansion walking code for the V0 and V1 version of the game has been implemented, Maniac Mansion can now be played from within Day of the Tentacle, and lip sync animation has been improved in later Humongous Entertainment games.

There's a whole lot more new with this release, as it's been a long time coming, so head over to the ScummVM site and give it a spin.

Indiana Jones and the Call of Thunder Fangame Released

I finally got myself familiarized with ScummGen, the compiler that takes C-style code and compiles it into resources used by the actual SCUMM engine (used by LucasArts for all of their adventure games from Maniac Mansion to The Curse of Monkey Island, and by Humongous Entertainment in most of their games until 2003). I polished up the ScummGen test game, Indiana Jones and the Call of Thunder.

The original team (Dominik Haslinger, Jens Doblies and Sebastien Ronsse) did the majority of the work.  It was originally intended to be a much longer game, but it was cancelled.  I finished up the ice cavern sequence so that it could be released as a completely playable game as I thought it would be a shame if no one got to play it.  Their sourcecode was playable up to the point where you complete the mechanism in the cavern.

Here are the changes and fixes that I made to that source code:

-Replaced LucasArts logo with a ScummGen logo.
-Made a few grammar corrections to the original script.
-Created icons for inventory items that lacked them (all instances of the stones and the gas can).
-Programmed an if/then statement regarding the gas can that was referenced but not implemented in the source.
-Fixed the mechanism puzzle to require both objects, as before it was possible to complete it with only one object.
-Added dialog to facilitate the change in the mechanism puzzle.
-Fixed the lighting so that the cavern stays lit when you move to the cavern entrance and back.
-Enabled the usage of the item used to exit the cavern, as referenced but not implemented in the source.
-Changed the description of the macguffin as it was originally used as a joke related to the game being unfinished (but kept it humourous to suit the tone of the original).
-Added dialog necessary for the ending sequence.
-Added an ending screen.

You can download it at my itch.io page if you want to try it out.  It includes the sourcecode.  It doesn't include an executable though, as it needs ScummVM in order to run (and I figured I'd cut out the middle man and just let people run ScummVM on whatever system they wish to run it on).  It's detected in ScummVM as Day of the Tentacle.

Free Open-Source Point and Click Adventure Review: Flight of the Amazon Queen

Flight of the Amazon Queen has achieved cult status, thanks in no little amount due to its creators releasing it as freeware in conjunction with its engine being recreated in ScummVM.  It has quite a few flaws, but if you are willing to overlook them, this free adventure game might just be worth a play.

The game follows a pilot for hire named Joe King, who has landed a deal to fly a famous movie actress across the Amazon jungle in his plane, the Amazon Queen.  The problem is he is not the only pilot for hire in town, and his competitor wants to have the lucrative contract for himself.  To add to Joe's worries, his plane crash lands in the jungle, and his mechanic can't salvage it.  He goes off to try to find help, but ends up discovering a diabolical plot in the process.

It's a very B-movie plot, and this is done deliberately.  Everything has the feel of a throwback to cult adventure films of the 1930s and 1940s, from the cheesy writing, to the voice acting.  This is part of the game's charm, but it definitely may be a turn off to some.  The game's art style is reminiscent of LucasArts adventure games of the early 1990s, with art in the background and extra details in the foreground.  The art isn't as detailed as those found in LucasArts adventures, however, it works well for the style of the game.  The music, likewise, isn't up to the caliber of the big adventure game releases of the period. The music in the lobby of the mysterious factory in the lobby is a bit grating, but the rest of the music works well.

The puzzles in this game, unfortunately, are quite a mixed bag. One puzzle in particular, regarding a gorilla, is quite aggravating.  There is no sign on what you should be doing, and the logic required to solve the puzzle is quite warped, and way outside of even the reality set up by the game.  The real annoyance comes in when that joke, including the puzzle, is repeated again later in the game.  The joke that was set up by the puzzle wasn't funny the first time, and it's even less so the second time.  It could be enough to get people to give up on the game, but thankfully, there are some much better puzzles later on.  The puzzles in the tomb are quite good, and are inspired by the Indiana Jones adventure games, to great effect. The MacGuffin of the game is even a crystal skull, several years before one was found by Indy himself.

Flight of the Amazon Queen is a conundrum of a game.  It has many flaws, for sure, but it has a undeniable charm about it.  It's a pure homage of B-movie action films of the classic Hollywood era.  If you are willing to take the cheesy writing and voice acting for the homage that it is, and are willing to overlook some puzzles with a frustrating lack of logic, it may be worth playing.  There are, after all, some really good puzzles to be found in some parts of the game, and the story, cheesy as it is, does work well for the type of game the creators were striving to make.  As it's now a free game, you might just find it worth a try.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

ScummVM Testing For Zork Nemesis and Grand Inquisitor

ScummVM has just announced full support of two new games in their daily builds, Zork Nemesis and Zork: Grand Inquisitor.  In order to support these games in the next stable release, they need people to help them out by playing through them and reporting any bugs they find to their bug tracker so the ScummVM team can squash them. They also need people to submit screenshots for the games.

When you're done testing, don't forget to let the team know whether you could complete the game and post links to any bugs you submitted to their tracker in this post on the ScummVM forums.

I Am Now Helping Out the ResidualVM Wiki Too

As you probably know, I'm a big fan of the 2D adventure game interpreter suite ScummVM and its sister project for 3D adventures ResidualVM. I have been helping out the ScummVM Wiki since 2006, since I really wanted to help out the project in a big way, and I can only submit a few minor patches since I'm not skilled enough in programming to help out the project that way.

I have decided to ask if I could help out on the ResidualVM wiki as well, since I want to help out that project in a bigger way than my minor compilation fix patches, but as with ScummVM, I'm not skilled enough to do much more than that, programming wise.  Happily, the ResidualVM team has also graciously taken me up on my offer to help out.

It was fun watching ScummVM grow while I was a part of the documentation side of the project.  It will be even more fun to watch ResidualVM grow, as it's at an early stage of multiple engine support at this point, and there's a lot of buzz going around for more potential future engines all the time. :)

Point and Click Adventure Mega Review: Beneath a Steel Sky

Beneath a Steel Sky was Revolution's second game, which was an improvement over the first in every area.  Its fantastic story, memorable characters, and fun puzzles have made this game a cult classic.

Beneath a Steel Sky takes place in a future dystopia where there are large discrepancies between the people who live in a city run by an intelligent machine, and those who live outside it, with the latter looked down upon.  The game follows Robert Foster, a man who was born in the city but was raised outside of it.  He is kidnapped and taken into the city, and he has to find out why and then, ultimately, to escape.

All versions of the game have nice graphics for it's time, that while pixellated today, still portray the coldness of the city quite well.  The original CD version has digitized static illustrations by comic book artist Dave Gibbons to illustrate the intro, which explains how Robert got to be in the city.  The Remastered version has new higher resolution illustrations for the intro.  Both versions set up the story quite well.  There is also a floppy version, which doesn't have voice overs, so the static illustrations are not used, and a different animated intro is used, which has a musical score to the intro that is exclusive to this version.  The illustrations do a better job of framing the story, however, so the CD version or the Remastered version are the ones to play.

The game uses Revolution's Virtual Theatre engine, which had a feature that allowed the non player characters to perform daily routines to give the games an added sense of realism. Beneath a Steel Sky is Revolution's second game to use this engine, and it is a much improved experience. Finding the characters you need to interact with is no longer a chore. The game does well to let you know which character you need to speak with at which point, and each character has a routine that is easy to see. You can also increase or decrease the speed of the game through the menu, which decreases the amount of time between the character's movements. This helps a lot in easing any frustration over needing to wait for specific breaks in a routine.

The dialog is fantastic, framing a serious story with quite a few moments of dry humor throughout.  Much of this humor comes from your sidekick Joey, a robot that Robert built himself.  Joey will also serve in a helper role, which will help you get through many puzzles.  In the CD and remastered versions, Joey is voiced excellently, as is Robert himself.  Both get American accents, which help give them more of a feeling of being outsiders, when contrasted with much of the rest of the cast who have a variety of British accents.  The musical score is also fantastic, from happy up-tempo songs, to more cold, stoic melodies, which help frame the atmosphere, bouncing from the happy utopia that the city tries to pretend it is, to the cold, heartless dystopia that is the actuality.

There are a few puzzles that have some weird logic, especially later in the game, but for the most part, they're well done. The game has a number of puzzles in a computer world known as LINC space. These puzzles are much different than the rest of the game, and take some getting used to. Once you know how the puzzles work, however, working out the solutions isn't too difficult. There are moments in the game where you can die. Like the later Broken Sword, most of these deaths are foreshadowed before hand, however there is one part later on in the game where it is possible to die without warning, so it would be wise to save often.

Beneath a Steel Sky is regarded as a classic of the adventure genre, and it has surely earned that reputation.  The story is fantastic, the characters are fun and memorable, the voice acting is excellent, and the music is atmospheric. In addition, the puzzles are, for the most part, quite fun.  The CD version and floppy versions are now free to download.  However, the Remastered version adds a new higher resolution intro by the artist of the original, Dave Gibbons, and adds modern features such as an in-game help when you get stuck.  Both the CD and Remastered versions present the game in the best way, as the intro and voice overs add a lot to the experience.  You can't go wrong with either version.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

ScummVM Through Your Browser With HTML5

ScummVM for HTML5 is a project by Jukka Jylänki, which uses enscripten to convert ScummVM's SCUMM engine to HTML5.

On the ScummVM for HTML website, you can play demos of Maniac Mansion, Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam & Max Hit the Road directly in your browser.

ScummVM 1.6.0 Is Out Now

ScummVM, the program that lets you play classic adventure games on modern computers, consoles, phones, and tablets, has been updated with support for four new engines, bringing support for six new games: 3 Skulls of the Toltecs, Eye of the Beholder, Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon, Hopkins FBI, Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths, and The Journeyman Project: Pegasus Prime.

In addition to the new games, there's support for the Macintosh version of Discworld 1. On the LucasArts side, music has been improved in the Macintosh version of LucasArts adventures, and there are major bugfixes to the bike fight sequences on Old Mine Road in Full Throttle.

There are also other changes included as well, such as an update to the latest Roland MT-32 emulation code, a new grid chooser for save games, an extended FluidSynth configuration dialog, and Belarusian, Finnish and Galician translations for the GUI dialogs.

Dreamweb Is Now Freeware at ScummVM.org

ScummVM has successfully negotiated with another copyright holder of a classic adventure game to release the game for freeware for use with ScummVM. The game in question is Dreamweb, a mature (15+) adventure game by Creative Reality from 1994 following a bartender who has been having some disturbing dreams. The versions available from ScummVM include both English versions (the uncensored UK version and the censored North American version) (as well as the UK floppy version), and French and Spanish versions.

ScummVM 1.5.0 "Picnic Basket" Released

ScummVM, the program that lets you play classic 2D adventure games on many devices (from Windows, Mac, and Linux, to Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, iOS, Android, and more), is now at 1.5.0 with the release of "Picnic Basket". Along with the 2D LucasArts adventure games, most 2D Sierra adventure games, most 2D Revolution Software games, and countless others, the new release supports Blue Force, Dreamweb, Geisha, Sołtys (including an English translation for the first time), and the children's games Backyard Baseball 2003, Gregory and the Hot Air Balloon, Magic Tales: Liam Finds a Story, Sleeping Cub's Test of Courage, and The Princess and the Crab.

Geisha is now supported in ScummVM

ScummVM has just posted news that Coktel Vision's semi-erotic adventure game, Geisha, is now supported in ScummVM in the latest daily builds. In this game, you have to stop a mad scientist from turning your girlfriend Eve into a half cyborg geisha. As this is a newly supported game, the ScummVM team is accepting bug reports for the game, which can be reported by following the instructions outlined at the ScummVM website.