A Random Monii

So people say that the point-and-click genre is dying out. Some even say it flatlined long ago. Back in the early nineties, back when Lucasarts weren’t just known for Star Wars titles, we had gems such as the Monkey Island series. Games that were well-written and funny, games that showed that not all gamers were FPS-playing cretins. The first ever PC game I remember playing was Sam & Max Hit the Road. I must have been about 6 or 7, playing it with my dad. Even now, over 10 years later, very few other games have ever matched up to the sheer funness of that game. It was excellently animated, gags-a-plenty as the two madcap, rather furry investigators charged around a fictionalised United States.

For a while we had been looking forward to a sequel to Sam & Max, but our hopes were dashed in 2004 for a while when we got that infamous quote from Lucasarts:

“After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations, we’ve decided that this was not the appropriate time to launch a graphic adventure on the PC.”

Well, sucks to them. Then, the awesome Telltames Games let us know that they were working on a brand spanking new episodic sequel game. Actually, the first episode was released internationally on the first of this month. Check out Telltale Games here, they are to be commended for continuing the amazing Sam & Max story. You can download the first episode from there, too. Since downloading things isn’t such a hot idea with capped internet, I’m waiting for the whole thing to (hopefully) be released as a full game when they’re done. From what I’ve seen from screenshots and videos, it looks like Telltale have stuck close to the original humour, which is fantastic news.

With all the hype around the release of the PS3 and Wii, I have started to think about my own experiences with consoles.

To tell you the truth, it’s been pretty limited compared to some people. I vaguely remember having a second-hand Sega Megadrive when I was younger and having a lot of fun playing Sonic the Hedgehog on it, as well as the infamous Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.

A little later I got my hands on a Playstation. So many hours were lost to the awesome games on that machine. I played Tekken until my fingers were blistered. Resident Evil was finished from behind a pillow to duck away from the nasty monsters. Games like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot have a place in my heart forever. I recall having no memory card and having to leave the console on for days at a time until I fully completed games. My first demo disc  was from the Official Playstation Magazine, and I remember being enthralled at being able to try out games before I bought them. All in all, the Playstation was awesome. Those original controllers made excellent lassos if your PS happened to break, as well. 

 Eventually I realized that the really cool games were to be found on a new-fangled console called the Playstation 2. I hankered after one for a year or two, and eventually got the shiny black wonder-gadget. Oh, how I loved it. The fancy DualShock controller, memory cards (!!!) and sleek cd-tray, all of it beautiful. The games really were next-gen for me, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sucked up nearly 6 months of my life.

 Unfortunately, in what I would call one of the greatest losses of my life, I had to sell my PS2 when I moved recently. Now I’m torn between buying another PS2, or waiting for that illustrious PS3. To buy now or buy later, hmm…