Posted by Guest Author on Apr 22, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Ultra Toukon Densetsu – 1993 – Branpresto
Ultra Toukon Densetsu is an SD version of the long running and wildly popular, not to mention highly influential, Ultraman series. The main gimmick of the game is that all the characters are super deformed, shrunk down to childlike proportions with stubby limbs and large heads.
There are three ultra fighters to choose from, Ultraman, Ultra Seven and XXXXXX. All three have slightly different powers and attack methods, but they all boil down to essentially the same thing. One would think that each ultra person would be more individualized to appease the rabid fans, but there is very little uniqueness to any character.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 21, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea – Pacific Novelty – 1982
In the rather verbosely titled game The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea, you take on the humble role of the titular flea. The game itself in incredibly simple and straightforward. Perhaps this is because of the fact that it’s based largely on other games.
The opening selection screen is a bit like that in Tron. You are faced with four possible paths, each one a different game. First, there’s the Frogger clone. In this one you have to get Mr. F. Lea across a lawn filled with “Lawnmower Man” like self-propelled mowers. After that, there is a walkway full of various dogs, some very long, some short, some fast and some slow. All of this plays out exactly like Frogger, and the point is to fill the four houses at the top with Fleas. As you will see in the other stages, this is all very easy, mostly because all of the more lethal elements have been removed. The dogs never disappear, the traffic at the bottom is very regular and there are no crocs to gobble you up.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 18, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Tengai – 1996 – Psikyo
Side-scrolling shooters are certainly the bread and butter of arcade games. They are fast, simple, and eat quarters like Kirstie Alley on a Twinkie high. The only really thing separating one for another is the window dressing. The graphics and whatever plot they can loosely hang onto them.
Tengai is certainly just another shallow shooter, but damned if it doesn’t look pretty. Plus, it’s not often that you get to use the phrase “mid-evil Japanese steam punk,” but that’s exactly what Tengai is going for.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 17, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Street Fighter: The Movie – 1995 – Capcom
For many a geeky gamer, the 1990’s were the ear of the fighter. You were either a Mortal Kombat fan or a Street Fighter supporter. There could be only one.
Both games spawned equally heinous films, but fanboy being fanboys, they have both gone on to find their respective cult followings. In 1995, Capcom released their game based on the film based on the game, appropriately titled Street Fighter: The Movie. The game replaced the usual cartoony character models with the real-world actors from the film. Such luminaries as Ming-Na, Kylis Minogue, Raul Julia and star Jean-Claude Van Damme were digitized and placed into the roles of fan favorites.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 16, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom – 1993 – Capcom
While the table-top pen and paper world of Dungeons & Dragons has certainly seen a successful adaptation in the world of computer gaming, it’s had a much tougher time making it into the arcades. It should be obvious but the slow moving, story drivin gaming system just can’t keep up with the quarter swallowing demands of the arcade. That doesn’t mean people haven’t tried.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 15, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Dangun Feveron – 1998 – Cave
I sometimes find it interesting to see what lengths a developer will go to in order to get a gamer to play the same old games over and over again. Usually it’s just something like tacking a 2 or III at the end of a popular name and sprucing up the old graphics. Sometime it’s adding a new character or plot line. It’s not often that it’s disco:
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 14, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Chiller – 1986 – Exidy Inc.
Brought to us by the team that did similar light-gun shooters like “Crossbow” and “Crackshot”, “Chiller” takes a major right-turn down the path to hell. Set in the bowels of some sort of castle/mansion/yermom’sbasement environment, “Chiller” runs through four stages featuring various degrees of torture and man’s inhumanity to man…and woman.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 13, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs – Capcom – 1992
Even before you know anything about the game, the title Cadillacs and Dinosaurs makes an impact. It screams B-movie hokeyness, two extremes that should never be combined.
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 12, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Blocken – 1994 – Kid/Visco
Sometimes simply mashing two good ideas together is enough to bring the fun back to otherwise tired modes of play. Take the block breaking action of “Breakout,” add the vertical down-scroll of “Tetris,” some head-to-head action and sprinkle it with lots of pink and blue glitter and a stereotypical anime school-girl, and you have “Blocken.”
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Posted by Guest Author on Apr 11, 2008 in
Videogames 
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware.
Akkanvader – 1995 – Taito
It’s no surprise that there are exactly 1,035,648,399 different clones of the original Space Invaders. Today, I’m taking a look at one of them, Taito’s Akkanvader from 1995. It’s colorful, cute, and best of all, fun!
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 29, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Matsuri Hino
The first volume of Matsuri Hino’s Vampire Knight was released in January, 2007. By the end of 2007 only three volumes were out— but the series made it to ICv2’s top manga properties for 2007. It was #7 on the list, beating out heavy hitters like Fullmetal Alchemist and Loveless. Now the manga has an anime adaptation starting in April in Japan, which is only likely to increase the franchise’s popularity.
The series follows a young girl named Yuki Cross, who attends the Cross Academy. She is one of the school guardians, who ensures that the Day Class and the Night Class don’t have any troublesome interactions. See, Yuki knows the school’s biggest secret: the Night Class consists entirely of vampires. Yuki herself is the victim of a vampire, her parents having been killed by them many years before. Now she fights for peace between the two races…even if she has to fight against the other school guardian, the vampire hunter Zero Kiryu.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 28, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Takeshi Obata
Takeshi Obata is an odd member of this list: the only one who has never written a hit manga (in fact, he’s only written one manga, period). And yet, he’s also one of the most well-known and well-loved creators in my 10some. Why? Because he is the artist behind the phenomenal hit Death Note, as well as the popular board game shounen series Hikaru no Go and the upcoming shounen action series Blue Dragon, based on a popular game.
Obata is a rare sort of shounen artist: his style is very heavy on the details, whether on facial expressions, in backgrounds, or on clothing. His drawings are also more fashion-conscious than your average Naruto issue, often featuring recent trends in clothing and accessories.
But whether the art is for a go tournament in Hikaru or a shinigami consulting with a human in Death Note, Obata’s art is always extraordinarily attractive and, to put it simply, just plain cool.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 27, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Peach-Pit
This twosome has long been a hit amongst hardcore anime fans for their cult series Rozen Maiden, about a collection of living dolls that have to fight to become “Alice.” The series has proven to be extremely viral, and its characters are arguably more popular than the actual series itself.
Unfortunately for Rozen Maiden fans, a dispute between Peach-Pit and the editors at Rozen Maiden‘s magazine, Monthly Comic Birz, led to the series getting a sudden an anticlimactic ending. Fans hope that the dynamic duo will continue the series elsewhere, but there is no news.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 26, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Tachibana Higuchi
You may not have heard of Tachibana Higuchi or her manga Gakuen Alice just yet, but TOKYOPOP is guaranteeing that you will. They’re positioning it to be the new shoujo hit, to replace the uber-popular Fruits Basket when it ends in 2009.
The series features Mikan, a young girl whose best friend, the uber-intelligent Hotaru, leaves town to go to an exclusive school. Mikan, desolate without her friend, runs away to attend the same school: Gakuen Alice. At the school, she learns that “Alice” isn’t just a name, it’s a magic power— one that every student at Gakuen Alice has, but its form varies with each student.
Gakuen Alice isn’t Higuchi’s first manga, but it’s her first to be released in English, and is being positioned to be a big hit in the U.S. if TOKYOPOP gets its way. With fun characterizations, an interesting plot surrounding a mysterious school and its student bodies, and Higuchi’s cute art, the odds are certainly in its favor.
Gia Manry is a Portland, OR-based professional writer specializing in pop culture/entertainment writing. Read up on more of her work at giapet.net or hire her at GiaManry.com.
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 25, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Masashi Kishimoto
Kishimoto has only two manga to his credit to date: his debut, a Shonen Jump contest winner called Karakuri, and a little manga about a ninja named Naruto. What, you’ve heard of it?
Jokes aside, Naruto has become the biggest seller in U.S. anime and manga history. VIZ has been releasing both the manga and anime, and the anime has also been a big hit on Cartoon Network. The series, which follows a young Naruto as he grows up and learns about being a ninja— and faces his greatest fears, foes, and friends.
Like its spiritual sibling Bleach, Naruto features a large cast of popular characters all across the “good”/”bad” spectrum, and the titular Naruto himself— who is also the containment vessel for a fox demon —isn’t always a good guy.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 24, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Coharu Sakuraba
Coharu Sakuraba is not one of the more well-known mangaka in the U.S., for the simple reason that none of his works has been licensed for release here. Two of them have been adapted into anime, though, which has provided Sakuraba with something of a cult following among fans around the world.
The first of those series is based on Kyou no Go no Ni (“Today in Class 5-2”), which follows a group of fifth graders and their adventures at school as they sit on the cusp of becoming teenagers. In keeping with their age, the stories often feature some level of sexual interest, combined with naivety as the kids have no actual experience. The slightly pervy tone is probably what prevents the manga from making it over to the U.S., although the series is well-liked for its goofy humor and occasional slapstick.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 23, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Ai Yazawa
No name is more revered in the shoujo scene these days than that of Ai Yazawa, creator of the immense crossover hit Nana. The series features two girls, both named Nana, who meet on a train to Tokyo, where they’re both moving. They run into each other again while apartment-hunting and decide to live together. The two are complete opposites in personality; Nana Osaki is a punk rock singer with a less-than-pleasant past, while Nana Komatsu is a cheerful klutz with no particular life plan.
But Nana isn’t Yazawa’s first hit, or her last. Paradise Kiss, the tale of a high schooler Yukari who chugs along at school as her parents tell her, until the day she is “kidnapped” by Paradise Kiss, a group of fashion designers who want her to model for them. She does so, and finds her life turned upside-down as she learns about life, love, and fashion.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 22, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Tite Kubo
You may have heard of a little manga called Bleach, about a high school guy and a few shinigami (death gods) that fight various evil-doers. Sound familiar? It’s only one of the biggest anime and manga hits in recent years.
Creator Tite Kubo is actually the son of a town council member in Hiroshima. His intense art style earned him an editor’s attention when he entered a manga contest, and although he didn’t win, he was able to do a few short stories. He got his big break with Zombie Powder, an action series that was serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump for a year before it was discontinued.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 21, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Arina Tanemura
Arina Tanemura is a shoujo manga superstar, with hit series such as Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and Full Moon wo Sagashite under her belt. Her current ongoing series is Gentleman’s Alliance†, which is being released in English by VIZ.
Tanemura’s debut work was a 1997 series called I-O-N, about a girl named Ion Tsubaragi who develops psychic powers. After that she charged ahead with a collection of shorts called Firecracker is Melancholy, and dove into her first big hit: Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, a magical girl series about a high school girl who transforms to fight demons. Jeanne was followed up by the shorter Time Stranger Kyoko, which is a slightly sci-fi magical girl series set in the 30th century.
And finally comes Full Moon wo Sagashite (published by VIZ as Full Moon), featuring a 12-year-old girl named Mitsuki who wishes to be a pop idol but who has a throat cancer that can only be cured by removing her vocal chords— and a grandmother who is opposed to the idea of her granddaughter auditioning. When Mitsuki overhears two shinigami (death gods) talking about how she has only a year left to live, and she runs away to audition. The shinigami catch up with her and offer her a deal: if she promises to go quietly when her time comes, they will give her the ability to turn into a healthy 16-year-old so that she can audition.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 20, 2008 in
Comic Books 
If you’re into anime at all, you’ve probably heard of its most famous manga creators Shirow Masamune (Ghost in the Shell), CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth, X, Tsubasa Chronicle), and Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, InuYasha). You may even know Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina), and the godfather of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka (Astroboy, Black Jack). But these are only the most famous few drops in a sea of manga creators: Here is one of picks for the ten mangaka you really need to know— and keep an eye on:
Naoki Urasawa
He first made waves in the U.S. with his series Master Keaton, whose anime adaptation was released in English by Pioneer/Geneon in 2003. But Naoki Urasawa’s best-known works these days are the Fugitive-esque drama Monster and the extremely popular and still-running 20th Century Boys.
In Monster, Kenzo Tenma is a Japanese doctor living in Germany when he makes the decision to operate on a young boy who arrived at the hospital first instead of a prominent politician who arrived later, displeasing his superiors. Shortly thereafter, his superiors— and the boy, along with his twin sister —all disappear. Nine years later, he runs into the boy, Johan, again, now a man and a mass murderer. When Tenma becomes the suspect for Johan’s crimes, the doctor takes matters into his own hands. He saved the monster; he will put him away. The series is widely acclaimed for its slow yet intense pacing, thrilling and suspenseful action, and particularly its phenomenal characterizations. No character is thrown away; each has his or her own back story, and there are many of them.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 19, 2008 in
Videogames 
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past:
Gammarauders
Released by TSR in 1987, Gammarauders is a crazy hodgepodge of post-apocalypticism, table-top role-playing and sci-fi comedy. From the game’s World Book:
“It was a time of peace and plenty. Men flew in multicolored suits. Women worked magic by wiggling their noses. Vehicles talked. Blond genies lived in bottles. Hillbillies invaded a land called Beverly…”
And it goes on like that. For twenty pages.
The game is played with large cardboard hexagonal areas á la Settlers of Catan, much smaller cardboard token pieces representing troops, various action cards and, the main attraction, sheets featuring the Bioborgs. Bioborgs are huge mutated animals ranging from a t-rex to a kangaroo to a penguin and more, all massive and outfitted with lethal weaponry. The players assume the role of one of the various wacky groups and gangs ranging from hippies to gangsters to samurai. The whole thing has a very over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek tone, but in fact little of the back story has much effect on the actual game play. The main appeal is the ever changing battlefield and the crazy visuals. For example, the weapon cards all feature unique designs and crazy names like the Helio-Conic Slugger, Neonuclear Flamer and Omni-Ionized Gas Emissions.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 18, 2008 in
Videogames 
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past:
Solarquest
It is a rare thing to find a game that is not only a ton of fun, but also quietly educational. Built on Monopoly’s core mechanics, Solarquest adds a bit of depth as well as a lot of polish and eye candy to the otherwise dry franchise.
The basic idea is that you’re zooming around the solar system buying up every major rock (mostly moons) you can find. Instead of moving in a fixed path, players may choose to orbit around the home planets for as long as they wish, building up fuel and cash. Once a player has bought up a planet’s surrounding moons they essentially have a monopoly and gain more money for rent and fuel when another player lands there. There are also special rules to allow cutthroat laser battles that are sure to end friendships and destroy marriages.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 18, 2008 in
Horror 
Neil Marshall Writer/Director of the Descent and Dog Soldiers returns to the big screen with Doomsday. In 2008 the Reaper virus lays siege to Scotland, killing people by the thousands. In response the British government puts up a 30 foot wall around Scotland, separating it from the rest of the world and trapping those infected within. Anarchy ensues as people rape, loot and kill in a lawless land while the rest of the world looks on.
Fast forward thirty years. The rest of the world has turned their back on England, London has become a third world haven for the downtrodden who live on the streets because they can’t afford to live anywhere else. It is among the masses that victims of the returning Reaper Virus are found. Martial Law is declared by Prime Minister Hatcher (Alexander Siddig a.k.a Dr. Bashir from Star Trek:Deep Space 9) and a plan is drawn up to find out why some people survived within the quarantine zone of Scotland and to find the cure for the Reaper virus.
Eden Sinclair played by Rhona Mitra ( Shooter, The Number 23, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans ) is chosen to lead a team back into the wasteland to find a survivor and the cure. The team, of course, is filled with throw away good guys who’s only job is to get slaughtered and make Eden look all the more bad ass.
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Posted by Guest Author on Mar 17, 2008 in
Videogames 
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Text Adventure
First off, no, I never got the Babel Fish. At least not on my own.
The text-adventure version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the most evil games ever created. It’s also, as most inherently evil things tend to be, a huge amount of fun. Not surprising since the source material is brilliant and the game was adapted by author Douglas Adams himself. The game follows the plot of the book just about as much as the books themselves follow any sort of plot. Much like the book, the player is simply called to react to the events transpiring around him. From the bulldozing of the house to the trip to space and the travels of the Heart of Gold, everything just sort of happens. Naturally there are a lot of new bits and a lot of missing bits, but collectively all of the bits make for a great experience.
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