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 games: what makes you tick?
This week, free nostalgia. I don't think I'm being overly patronising when I say that the freeware adventure What Makes You Tick? is filled with nostalgia. I don't just mean the earlier-Century vibe and classic tale of the peculiar that the game employs to delightful effect; rather the way that this point-and-click adventure recalls an earlier era of games, such as the Monkey Island series, which were once so sublimely popular but are now in decline. Arguably, the modern role-playing game has taken over completely from the classic adventure game, but there are nevertheless some contemporary efforts taking place to keep the tradition of point-and-click puzzle-based adventures going. Sam & Max, once a hugely popular comedy cartoon adventure, has recently been remade, to a mixed reception, while elsewhere people are creating free traditional adventure games of their own using tools such as Lassie Adventure Studio. The spooky and beautifully designed adventure What Makes You Tick? uses this tool to pleasing and brain-teasing effect. The story of mortal danger and local eccentricity is superb, with its 1800s theme and its gentle, textured soundtrack. While the adventure genre is traditionally bound up with criticisms relating to oblique puzzles and obscure concepts, What Makes You Tick? allows for a fair bit of exploration and some satisfying resolutions to the problems it presents. It's also wonderfully written: this really is the short story game that it claims to be.  WMYT won't take you more than a couple of hours to get through but it's free to play and worthy of your time. This kind of independent production, made simply for the love of this specific kind of game, is fast becoming the lifeblood of modern PC gaming. What a shame that so few commercial companies see their way to funding games that aren't trying to be an all-encompassing blockbuster. We'll take a look at some genuine interactive literature in a forthcoming column.
Jim Rossignol
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 the darknessgames #209  overlordgames #208  pegglegames #207  tomb raider... games #206 mercury...games #205 books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. |
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