Army Break 4: Off to the borders

Well, as I only have another couple of hours in Athens, thought I'd let you know that a) I'll be off very soon to serve on a certain island and b) that I really need some sleep. Should be back after a few months or -provided I get really lucky- some weeks.

Cheers and take care everyone!

Army Break 3: Games for men

Surely most wont be surprised, but the people (involuntarily) serving the Greek army are indeed men. Men coming from all classes, of all educational levels and generally between their late teens and early thirties. Men, one would say, that are what video game demographers would describe as the gaming's hardcore audience. So, this being a gaming blog and me having understood that people not in the army don't find army jokes and funny situations particularly amusing, let me talk about what these men play. Oh, and please don't expect any sort of sociological insight and/or analysis. The army does after all rot ones brain. Severely.

Anyway, in their vast majority soldiers tend to enjoy Pro Evolution Soccer on either the PS2 or the PS3. Shockingly even sheepherders (a certain sheepherder actually) that can't read or write also play and love it, as do most officers. Football Manager on the PC sits firmly in the second place, closely followed by the collective forces of console-based fighting and driving games. World of Warcraft and Street Fighter are also among the more popular titles, unlike all things Wii. Nintnendo's ultra-popular family oriented beast is, it seems, considered an obscure kids console that can't even play porn DVDs.

As for handhelds the PSP is by far the more popular. The iPhone comes a distant second and I've yet to see a Nintendo DS.

Oh, and on an unexpected note, adventure games are actually popular among us grunts. Especially Monkey Island and Gabriel Knight it seems, though Grim Fandango has more than a few admirers itself.

Cheers for now. Gotta sleep some more. Last night's 14 hours were apparently not enough...

Army Break 2: The Indie Rox (and military blues)

I really don't feel like discussing the army or anything related to it. I'll just mention the general lack of sleep it seems to impose on people and the fact that I never thought I could lose that much weight that fast. Oh, and it's dreadfully stupid, paranoid, tiring and boring. Right. Now I'll move on to something more game related. A list of interesting things that seem to have happened while I was guarding obsolete stuff nobody would ever want to steal anyway:

• Rox -the brand new Atari ST game- got itself released.
• Time Gentlemen, Please is here AND so is the interview with its creators.
• Super Mario Bros. X can nowadays make our PCs happy.
• Frantic Franko Demoooooooo!
• The Adult/Educational compo has began.

Army Break 1: Monkeys, Housekeeping and Parades

Seems the first part of my basic training has come to an end, and, well, I must admit that, despite the silliness, pointlessness and downright ridiculousness of the whole thing, the army provided me with a ton of opportunities for a good laugh. Simply watching all those screaming people trying to make confusion more confusing can be bloody hilarious, you see. Anyway. My legs are still sore and the back isn't at its best, but at least I acquired all the combat abilities required for a decent surrender: saluting, parading, toilet cleaning, quick-shaving, bed making and cooking large quantities of horrid food. Oh well, at least I still got a few more days before I return to the bloody camp for another two weeks or so...

On the happy side of things and ignoring the disheartening results of yesterday's euro-elections, it seems I've returned to a gaming world where Monkey Island has returned from it's undeserved grave and is ready to bring classic quality adventures to the progressive masses. In an unexpected move Lucasarts (which apparently got itself a new president) is releasing the jaw-dropping The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for Xbox 360 and Windows. It's a faithful remake of the original SCUMM game with high-res hand-painted graphics, an orchestral soundtrack, full voice over, a hint system, new interface and the chance to instantly switch from the Special Edition to the classic one. Oh, and it seems that a few nice little easter eggs and touches have also been added.

What's more, everyone's favourite heroes of the episodic variety, Telltale Games, have started accepting pre-orders for their spanking new Tales of Monkey Island series, that will span 5 hopefully glorious episodes. Impressively, the team behind the games series consists of Monkey Island veterans and even Ron Gilbert himself has offered his advice and ideas. As for the pre-order offer itself, it's more than generous. Have a look. I already did and happily spent my 34$, mind.

Early previews of both games can be found here, here and here.

You're in the army now...

Well, actually, not you, but me, and, well, I haven't technically joined anyone or anything yet, but surely you get the idea... As many of you dear friends and readers already know, I'll have to serve my compulsory army duty for the better part of this year. This quite obviously means that Gnome's Lair wont be updated that much -not at all for the first couple of months I'm afraid- and that I'll have to make sure I provide you with these links before I leave: DeathSpank, Resonance, Get Lamp, SYNSO 2: Squid Harder and Into the Mind of Sky Spiders.

That's it from me. Gotta leave now and have a nice weekend before getting dressed in green and shaving my beard. Oh dear, oh dear...

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars: The Director's Cut: The Wii Review

As far as legendary creators of point-and-click adventure games go, Revolution, despite having only released a handful of titles, is second only to Lucasarts, though, as most Sierra fans will happily admit, quantity has absolutely nothing to do with quality. As for most hardened adventurers, they will definitely remember Beneath A Steel Sky, Revolution's magnum opus, a game that is up there with Monkey Island 2, Gabriel Knight 3 and Grim Fandango, and a game that you simply have to play and then play again just to make sure you fully enjoyed its delights (especially now that it's free). Many more though, the rather more mainstream audience apparently, will probably remember Revolution for the original Broken Sword instead; it was always the more popular game and has even gone on and spawned three quality sequels.

Interestingly Broken Sword, or to give it its full name Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (a.k.a. The Circle of Blood in the US), was, despite its popularity and the fact that it also appeared on the PlayStation, a truly great point-and-click adventure game. Possibly even the last truly successful genre offering ever, and one of the first games to have a Templars theme. Some would even call it a classic and they definitely wouldn't be wrong.The player stepped into the shoes of George Stobbart (a semi-likeable American tourist in Paris), who, with the help of Nico Collard (a very likeable French journalist), had to travel around the world solving puzzles, discovering the true history of said monastic order and uncovering conspiracies. Now, as most of you dear readers are either already familiar with the plot or don't care to have it spoilt for you, well, I wont say anything else about it. I'll just admit it's way above than the average game offering in terms of quality, sports some well defined characters, interesting themes, varied locales, a decent story arc and some rather successful touches of humour. Actually I'd rather watch someone play through Broken Sword than watch the Da Vinci Code ever again. Besides, Broken Sword still looks absolutely fantastic.

What's more, the game I should be talking about -what this review is all about- is none other than the brand new Director's Cut of Broken Sword for the Nintendo Wii; the only console that can properly handle adventures. And, yes, it does handle Broken Sword brilliantly, despite the Wii Remote being no mouse. After all, the slight lack of precision is offset by the sheer joy of playing an adventure on a big screen and from the comfort of your sofa.

Now, and to be absolutely honest, I have to admit I would probably have loved this Director's Cut if it was nothing more than a quick and dirty Wii port with new controls thrown in. I really would, but this, well, this was just unexpected. The game has really been expanded, updated, enriched and given the true -and 100% successful- director's cut treatment. Possibly for the first time in gaming history.
Not only have all the original artists (and that would of course include legendary Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame), actors, and team returned to update this classic, but the work they've done is truly stellar. There are brand new gameplay segments where you get to play as Nico, new recorded music, new bits of dialog, new cut-scenes, brand new graphics, more puzzles, an amazing hint system, a helpful and well written diary you can access at all times and even a new anti-colonial (!) subplot. Of course the old bits have also been upgraded to look and sound the part -though a slight gap of quality, especially between new and old audio, is at times noticeable- and some gameplay glitches have also been fixed. Yes, even that notoriously frustrating goat puzzle has been simplified. And picking up that irritating little wire in Ireland wont irritate anyone any more.

On the downside of things the clickable hotspots have been reduced and the disc doesn't offer anything else besides the game as one -well, I at least- would expect form anything labeled a director's cut. I mean, really, how difficult would it be to include some trailers, bits of concept art, some sort of making of and a slightly richer manual?Then again, I really shouldn't be complaining. I mean, look at the screenshot above. The improved interface and Dave Gibbons' close-ups of characters , as well as the excellent and innovative new puzzles (especially the two deciphering ones) are more than enough extras and brilliant additions to an already excellent adventure.

Verdict: Buy it. Even if you don't have Nintendo's latest console, buy a Wii and then buy it. Then love it sweetly, passionately and deeply for Broken Sword deserves it.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

• Space War Commander Review
• Vince Twelve: The xii games Interview
• A guide to the world of the indie adventure
• Molstrums Mansion