John Westland saves the day.
Falafel van silly video sequence:
End credits:
We rejoin John back in Stacy's apartment. First, he makes a quick phone call to the compound, telling 'Basal' that there will be a new driver today. Then he calls the Falafel Hut and places an order. Then, like a bastard, he doesn't pay the driver and robs him.
Being a spy means being a jerk to people in the food industry I guess.
John holds up the driver to take his clothes, changes into them, and is ready to storm the compound as a one-man assault team. Stacy comes in and tells him its now or never. He drives the falafel van to the compound and hides his tranq gun in the takeout. Once inside, he pulls the gun and quickly tranqs the guards. Whew!
Then it's simply a matter of untying the ambassador, having Stacy save his bacon, and a quick race around the cliffs to the helicopter - which I simply skipped past to the end credits, where John gets his dolphins and the girl.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Codename ICEMAN. Now you've seen a piece of adventure game history without having to actually play it. Consider yourselves lucky.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Sixteen: ICEMAN in the Desert
John Westland makes contact with a sexy CIA agent he met somewhere before...
We're so close to the end now I can almost feel it. It feels great. Like... taking a piss after a long night out drinking.
Anyway, here's the second-to-last video featuring actual gameplay. Iceman actually turns into a decent sneaky-spy adventure game at the end: you make contact, hide from the guards, follow your clues, make contact again, meet the beautiful CIA spy (Sarah Walker??) and head to the safehouse to start assembling the things you need for the final raid on the compound.
I'm not sure why Stacey didn't just go in herself, but hey.
Also, 'the weapon.' I love how you actually have to look at it to get a description of what 'the weapon' is. Turns out.. it's a nonlethal sleepy gun. Terrorists don't use nonlethal sleepy guns!!
We're so close to the end now I can almost feel it. It feels great. Like... taking a piss after a long night out drinking.
Anyway, here's the second-to-last video featuring actual gameplay. Iceman actually turns into a decent sneaky-spy adventure game at the end: you make contact, hide from the guards, follow your clues, make contact again, meet the beautiful CIA spy (Sarah Walker??) and head to the safehouse to start assembling the things you need for the final raid on the compound.
I'm not sure why Stacey didn't just go in herself, but hey.
Also, 'the weapon.' I love how you actually have to look at it to get a description of what 'the weapon' is. Turns out.. it's a nonlethal sleepy gun. Terrorists don't use nonlethal sleepy guns!!
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Fifteen: Out The Hatch
John Westland goes for a swim.
Alright mateys, it's time to get off this boat. John takes a look around using the Captain's large, shiny shaft (ahem) and spots the harbor and the oil right. He makes a note of the heading and sets off to get his diving gear. A brief tour of the sub later and he's out the hatch, swimming around in the briny deep.
Holy crap the ocean is big and dark and easy to get lost in! (FUCK THE OCEAN!)
John find the oil rig and plants the explosives, then swims off towards the harbor. He uses his awesome KGB whizbang to defuse an electronic field and swims up to find the net dangling in the water. He puts his hard-won bottle in it, then receives the all-clear signal. John hides his motorized diver and comes ashore in sunny Tunisia.
Now it's time to get all spy on this game!
Alright mateys, it's time to get off this boat. John takes a look around using the Captain's large, shiny shaft (ahem) and spots the harbor and the oil right. He makes a note of the heading and sets off to get his diving gear. A brief tour of the sub later and he's out the hatch, swimming around in the briny deep.
Holy crap the ocean is big and dark and easy to get lost in! (FUCK THE OCEAN!)
John find the oil rig and plants the explosives, then swims off towards the harbor. He uses his awesome KGB whizbang to defuse an electronic field and swims up to find the net dangling in the water. He puts his hard-won bottle in it, then receives the all-clear signal. John hides his motorized diver and comes ashore in sunny Tunisia.
Now it's time to get all spy on this game!
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Fourteen: Sink The Alpha!
John Westland sinks a Russian sub.
We start off with John at the helm, who must have received a premonition of danger because he suddenly orders the sub to dive like a motherfucker. The sonar team then report an inversion layer right where John is heading, which is good because inversion layers block enemy sonar.
Oddly enough, very soon after that they report a Russian Alpha sub which starts firing torpedoes at the Blackhawk like they're going out of style. John shuts off the engine, fires four fish back at the Alpha, and waits. And waits. And waits.
The first two torpedoes miss...
But the second two hit. Bye bye Alpha!
But there's still two torpedoes incoming. John begins evasive maneuvers and drops two decoys, which thankfully the torpedoes follow. (You'll note in the subtitles that it took me about an hour to get this right.. crazytime.)
After that, we're suddenly off the coast of Portugal, where we follow the USS Koontz through the Straight of Gibraltar in yet another stupid driving minigame. Once we're safely through, the Captain - miraculously recovered now that our mission is almost over - tells John to have a look through the periscope.
Next update, we'll actually start playing a real adventure game, with like, adventure game puzzles and stuff!
We start off with John at the helm, who must have received a premonition of danger because he suddenly orders the sub to dive like a motherfucker. The sonar team then report an inversion layer right where John is heading, which is good because inversion layers block enemy sonar.
Oddly enough, very soon after that they report a Russian Alpha sub which starts firing torpedoes at the Blackhawk like they're going out of style. John shuts off the engine, fires four fish back at the Alpha, and waits. And waits. And waits.
The first two torpedoes miss...
But the second two hit. Bye bye Alpha!
But there's still two torpedoes incoming. John begins evasive maneuvers and drops two decoys, which thankfully the torpedoes follow. (You'll note in the subtitles that it took me about an hour to get this right.. crazytime.)
After that, we're suddenly off the coast of Portugal, where we follow the USS Koontz through the Straight of Gibraltar in yet another stupid driving minigame. Once we're safely through, the Captain - miraculously recovered now that our mission is almost over - tells John to have a look through the periscope.
Next update, we'll actually start playing a real adventure game, with like, adventure game puzzles and stuff!
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Parts Twelve and Thirteen: John Versus The Destroyer and Ice Ice Baby
John Westland sinks a Russian destroyer and gets a perfect 10 in the Ice Slalom.
Alrighty then! Two videos this update because the first one was so short. John calmly takes control of the Blackhawk and orders the sub to dive below 600 feet, but not before turning off the active sonar and engaging the caterpillar drive. Err, whatever silent running mechanism the sub has.
The object of the battle is to hit the destroyer four times and sink it. Each Harpoon missile has exactly a 30% chance of hitting. So, the object of the battle is to save each time you get a successful hit, and load when you don't.
I wish I was kidding.
I tried to cobble the video together well but there are still a few rough edits, so sorry about that. It would have been fucking boring to watch me save/load for 20 minutes.
Then, we have to survive the incoming torpedoes - which is actually OK because we dove, turned our engines off and fired our Harpoons early - the game seems to recognize precautionary measures like this and responds accordingly.
After the fight radio reports that we've got new coded messages. Looks like we're on our own from here on out. Time to proceed to the next checkpoint. This involves a slalom through a field of icebergs, or keeping the sub roughly pointed in the correct direction and not whacking into the upside-down mountains of frozen water. It's actually easier than it looks, something that should be obvious by the perfect score and zero editing marks.
Then it's another coded message - we need to cause a diversion once we're in the harbor. OK. Easy enough. Now where was that bazooka?
Alrighty then! Two videos this update because the first one was so short. John calmly takes control of the Blackhawk and orders the sub to dive below 600 feet, but not before turning off the active sonar and engaging the caterpillar drive. Err, whatever silent running mechanism the sub has.
The object of the battle is to hit the destroyer four times and sink it. Each Harpoon missile has exactly a 30% chance of hitting. So, the object of the battle is to save each time you get a successful hit, and load when you don't.
I wish I was kidding.
I tried to cobble the video together well but there are still a few rough edits, so sorry about that. It would have been fucking boring to watch me save/load for 20 minutes.
Then, we have to survive the incoming torpedoes - which is actually OK because we dove, turned our engines off and fired our Harpoons early - the game seems to recognize precautionary measures like this and responds accordingly.
After the fight radio reports that we've got new coded messages. Looks like we're on our own from here on out. Time to proceed to the next checkpoint. This involves a slalom through a field of icebergs, or keeping the sub roughly pointed in the correct direction and not whacking into the upside-down mountains of frozen water. It's actually easier than it looks, something that should be obvious by the perfect score and zero editing marks.
Then it's another coded message - we need to cause a diversion once we're in the harbor. OK. Easy enough. Now where was that bazooka?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Eleven: Trouble on the Horizon
Johnny Westland takes command after the captain has a little 'accident.'
The first item of business is to head back to the torpedo room and fix that stupid conveyor belt, which thankfully doesn't take too long. Johnny remembers to actually load the damn torpedo, avoiding yet another instadeath later, and heads back to the bridge.
The captain talks Johnny through another extremely boring driving sequence and then surfaces - where they have to go onto the bridge to see that there are two Russian warshps gunning for the Blackhawk! (Seriously, isn't that what periscopes are for? So subs can move around without exposing themselves like this?)
The Captain and Johnny discuss options and head below - but the Captain takes a horrible fall and suffers a head wound, leaving Johnny in command!
With warships after the Blackhawk!
And a newly-repaired torpedo launcher!
Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time to get some fight on!
Next update....
The first item of business is to head back to the torpedo room and fix that stupid conveyor belt, which thankfully doesn't take too long. Johnny remembers to actually load the damn torpedo, avoiding yet another instadeath later, and heads back to the bridge.
The captain talks Johnny through another extremely boring driving sequence and then surfaces - where they have to go onto the bridge to see that there are two Russian warshps gunning for the Blackhawk! (Seriously, isn't that what periscopes are for? So subs can move around without exposing themselves like this?)
The Captain and Johnny discuss options and head below - but the Captain takes a horrible fall and suffers a head wound, leaving Johnny in command!
With warships after the Blackhawk!
And a newly-repaired torpedo launcher!
Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time to get some fight on!
Next update....
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Ten: Shop Class
Johnny Westland remembers his eighth-grade shop class.
Hey, finally - some damn puzzle solving! Slightly less annoying than 'get this procedure exactly right or else you can't proceed' is this sequence, where Johnny Westland fixes two things wrong on the sub that you can miss completely unless you explore around.
The first is the loading mechanism for the torpedoes. The Old Salt complains about the torpedo loader not sounding right and before he can be tasked with fixing it, leaves the room. So it's up to Johnny (because apparently there are only two seamen on this boat other than him) to fix it. Yes, a high-ranking Naval intelligence officer is off to the machine shop.
The next part of the sequence involves a complicated series of, well, shop class tools. Johnny needs to make a new pin for the loader and grinds it down, sands it off, drills a hole in it and then goes to the other room for some more tools.
While he's in there he has the foresight to check if his diving apparatus - which he MAY JUST NEED SOME DAY - works. Guess what, it doesn't! Good thing he didn't find that out when he was, say, in the fucking ocean trying to use it to breathe. So he fixes that and then high-tails it back to the torpedo room to fix the loader.
Good thing too, because Johnny's Spidey-sense is telling him it's about time for a fight!
Hey, finally - some damn puzzle solving! Slightly less annoying than 'get this procedure exactly right or else you can't proceed' is this sequence, where Johnny Westland fixes two things wrong on the sub that you can miss completely unless you explore around.
The first is the loading mechanism for the torpedoes. The Old Salt complains about the torpedo loader not sounding right and before he can be tasked with fixing it, leaves the room. So it's up to Johnny (because apparently there are only two seamen on this boat other than him) to fix it. Yes, a high-ranking Naval intelligence officer is off to the machine shop.
The next part of the sequence involves a complicated series of, well, shop class tools. Johnny needs to make a new pin for the loader and grinds it down, sands it off, drills a hole in it and then goes to the other room for some more tools.
While he's in there he has the foresight to check if his diving apparatus - which he MAY JUST NEED SOME DAY - works. Guess what, it doesn't! Good thing he didn't find that out when he was, say, in the fucking ocean trying to use it to breathe. So he fixes that and then high-tails it back to the torpedo room to fix the loader.
Good thing too, because Johnny's Spidey-sense is telling him it's about time for a fight!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Combat of the Quests
We break from our regularly-scheduled Let's Play for this kick-ass link: Combat of the Quests, a fighting game featuring characters from classic Sierra adventures game beating the crap out of each other on classic Sierra adventure game backgrounds.
Sure, it's a one-joke premise but it still looks awesome. Bookmark now.
Sure, it's a one-joke premise but it still looks awesome. Bookmark now.
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Parts Eight and Nine: Decoding and Roll 5d6
Where we discover just how absolutely shitty this game is.
Oh. My. God.
This is literally - LITERALLY!!!! - the most un-fun sequence in any adventure game I have ever played. I think that everyone involved in the creation of this game, and the producer who approved this, should be legally barred from making any games ever again, ever.
So.
We start off in video numero uno with Major Westland cracking the codes he just received over the radio. Which cannot be done without the help of the game's manual making for yet another copy protection sequence. Not that anyone would ever want to pirate this game, but never mind.
Then John actually gets the freedom to go exploring a little and discovers that there is more to this railroaded adventure game than he originally thought - the sub has OTHER ROOMS! Amazing! There's a kitchen, and.. a tube. We'll stop in the kitchen where a bottle of rum (like in the code!) sits tantalizingly on a table. When he goes to pick it up in video deux, he is approached by a salty old seaman who demands John play dice for it.
Alrighty.
Just so you understand how much time this took: I started around 8 pm last night, quit around 11.30, and started again at 6.30 this morning and wrapped up around 8.30. So about five and a half hours to get to the end, which I have mercifully condensed into 10 minutes so you guys get the highlights. I explain the game and the tricks behind solving it in the subtitles, but suffice to say that I'm glad I never, ever, ever have to play that sequence ever again.
The sub battles better be easy, that's all I'm gonna say...
Oh. My. God.
This is literally - LITERALLY!!!! - the most un-fun sequence in any adventure game I have ever played. I think that everyone involved in the creation of this game, and the producer who approved this, should be legally barred from making any games ever again, ever.
So.
We start off in video numero uno with Major Westland cracking the codes he just received over the radio. Which cannot be done without the help of the game's manual making for yet another copy protection sequence. Not that anyone would ever want to pirate this game, but never mind.
Then John actually gets the freedom to go exploring a little and discovers that there is more to this railroaded adventure game than he originally thought - the sub has OTHER ROOMS! Amazing! There's a kitchen, and.. a tube. We'll stop in the kitchen where a bottle of rum (like in the code!) sits tantalizingly on a table. When he goes to pick it up in video deux, he is approached by a salty old seaman who demands John play dice for it.
Alrighty.
Just so you understand how much time this took: I started around 8 pm last night, quit around 11.30, and started again at 6.30 this morning and wrapped up around 8.30. So about five and a half hours to get to the end, which I have mercifully condensed into 10 minutes so you guys get the highlights. I explain the game and the tricks behind solving it in the subtitles, but suffice to say that I'm glad I never, ever, ever have to play that sequence ever again.
The sub battles better be easy, that's all I'm gonna say...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Seven: Navigation and Sonar
Where our hero talks to his captain, navigates the sub and manages not to fuck up his next driving test.
Captain Jonathan Hawkins completes his cameo role by opening the safe containing the locked briefcase with Westland's further orders, which lay out the course the sub will take to Tunisia. Think 'Hunt for Red October' meets 'the most boring after-school special ever.' Westland, thinking quickly, asks the captain what the combination to his top secret Navy safe is, because hey, you never know when the captain might take ill and be unable to give you such valuable information in the future.
John then uses the amazing 2004 map interface to navigate a course around the top of Canadia and between Iceland and Greenland to Tunisia. If you're playing the homegame: I used a combination of the two strategy guides I could find online to get the 'best' course with the most possible points (10) - the guide on GameFAQs was wrong in that it deviates by 200 miles and only nets you 7 points.
Then it's another nail-biting driving sequence and Westland gets the encoded radio message.. what does it mean? Tune in next time to find out!!
Captain Jonathan Hawkins completes his cameo role by opening the safe containing the locked briefcase with Westland's further orders, which lay out the course the sub will take to Tunisia. Think 'Hunt for Red October' meets 'the most boring after-school special ever.' Westland, thinking quickly, asks the captain what the combination to his top secret Navy safe is, because hey, you never know when the captain might take ill and be unable to give you such valuable information in the future.
John then uses the amazing 2004 map interface to navigate a course around the top of Canadia and between Iceland and Greenland to Tunisia. If you're playing the homegame: I used a combination of the two strategy guides I could find online to get the 'best' course with the most possible points (10) - the guide on GameFAQs was wrong in that it deviates by 200 miles and only nets you 7 points.
Then it's another nail-biting driving sequence and Westland gets the encoded radio message.. what does it mean? Tune in next time to find out!!
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Six: USS Blackhawk
Where our hero drives a sub around and manages to not fuck it up.
Avast mateys! Welcome aboard the USS Blackhawk, the Navy's newest multi-billion-dollar piece of hardware. Swab the poop deck now ya landlubbers!
John starts off in his (vast) cabin and gets the lay of the land - by searching through his furniture for anything that isn't tied down, and adding it all to his inventory. What's that you say? More stupid 'gotcha' puzzles? Could things get any more retarded?
Well, you be the judge of that. After meeting the Captain, John sits at the sub's helm, a massive piece of equipment that looks like Steel Battalion controller. The commands are easy enough to figure out (if you have the game manual which tells you what all these fiddly pieces actually do.) John navigates the sub out of Pearl Harbor handily enough and then joins the Captain in his quarters so the both of them can open The Briefcase - and get the rest of John's mission.
Avast mateys! Welcome aboard the USS Blackhawk, the Navy's newest multi-billion-dollar piece of hardware. Swab the poop deck now ya landlubbers!
John starts off in his (vast) cabin and gets the lay of the land - by searching through his furniture for anything that isn't tied down, and adding it all to his inventory. What's that you say? More stupid 'gotcha' puzzles? Could things get any more retarded?
Well, you be the judge of that. After meeting the Captain, John sits at the sub's helm, a massive piece of equipment that looks like Steel Battalion controller. The commands are easy enough to figure out (if you have the game manual which tells you what all these fiddly pieces actually do.) John navigates the sub out of Pearl Harbor handily enough and then joins the Captain in his quarters so the both of them can open The Briefcase - and get the rest of John's mission.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Five: John's Mission
Where our hero receives his orders for operation ICEMAN.
Alright, now things are starting to get interesting. Westland receives his briefing from General Braxton, who details the operation, codenamed ICEMAN. John is to take the USS Blackhawk, a super-secret and super-silent sub to Tunisia and rendezvous with a female agent disguised as a Muslim there. The 7th Fleet in the Mediterranean is simply a diversion to distract the Soviets, hopefully ensuring Westland will have a smooth journey. Once there, we're gonna bust the ambassador out and show these terrorist scum a thing or two.
John flies to Pearl Harbor and boards the USS Blackhawk according to proper military procedure, netting him a few bonus points. He is then shown to his quarters where the video cuts off - before our next update, where John gets to drive the sub around.
Until then...
Alright, now things are starting to get interesting. Westland receives his briefing from General Braxton, who details the operation, codenamed ICEMAN. John is to take the USS Blackhawk, a super-secret and super-silent sub to Tunisia and rendezvous with a female agent disguised as a Muslim there. The 7th Fleet in the Mediterranean is simply a diversion to distract the Soviets, hopefully ensuring Westland will have a smooth journey. Once there, we're gonna bust the ambassador out and show these terrorist scum a thing or two.
John flies to Pearl Harbor and boards the USS Blackhawk according to proper military procedure, netting him a few bonus points. He is then shown to his quarters where the video cuts off - before our next update, where John gets to drive the sub around.
Until then...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Four: Johnny Westland In Flight
Where our hero's vacation is cut short by a call from his boss.
Another super-exciting update here. John takes a message, makes a couple of phone calls, gets on a plane for a cut scene and makes his way from the airport to the Pentagon, where he jumps through a bunch of hoops to get 'upstairs.'
I cut this video short of the meeting so I didn't have to cut that part in half.
Also, my thought on this game so far: these aren't puzzles. There's nothing to explore. This game is so ludicrously linear it's basically 'find the correct phrase to advance through the poorly-written story.
I don't even remember the Police Quest games being this bad.
Another super-exciting update here. John takes a message, makes a couple of phone calls, gets on a plane for a cut scene and makes his way from the airport to the Pentagon, where he jumps through a bunch of hoops to get 'upstairs.'
I cut this video short of the meeting so I didn't have to cut that part in half.
Also, my thought on this game so far: these aren't puzzles. There's nothing to explore. This game is so ludicrously linear it's basically 'find the correct phrase to advance through the poorly-written story.
I don't even remember the Police Quest games being this bad.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Three: Spies and Surprise
John Westland discovers there is more to the beautiful Stacy than meets the eye.
The morning after. Warm satin sheets and poor object descriptions: just another day in the life of John Westland. John gets a note from the lovely Stacey that explains she has some things to tend to. Fair enough. He steps outside and lo and behold, her earring is there on the ground. And upon closer examination it appears to be hollow..
And contains some microfilm.
Uh oh. Our little Stacey is some kind of spy! Let's hope John doesn't talk in his sleep about military secrets.
He then walks across the beach to his own hut and rummages through his things, picking up his military ID, some loose change and a little black book with... his boss' phone number in it.
John, I'm not sure you're using that book correctly.
He uses his change to buy a newspaper - it seems the US Ambassador to the Middle East (what?) has been kidnapped by a Soviet-backed Islamic terrorist group. And the US has 30 days to cough up money or he'll die. Uh oh.
The morning after. Warm satin sheets and poor object descriptions: just another day in the life of John Westland. John gets a note from the lovely Stacey that explains she has some things to tend to. Fair enough. He steps outside and lo and behold, her earring is there on the ground. And upon closer examination it appears to be hollow..
And contains some microfilm.
Uh oh. Our little Stacey is some kind of spy! Let's hope John doesn't talk in his sleep about military secrets.
He then walks across the beach to his own hut and rummages through his things, picking up his military ID, some loose change and a little black book with... his boss' phone number in it.
John, I'm not sure you're using that book correctly.
He uses his change to buy a newspaper - it seems the US Ambassador to the Middle East (what?) has been kidnapped by a Soviet-backed Islamic terrorist group. And the US has 30 days to cough up money or he'll die. Uh oh.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part Two: John Westland Gets Lucky
Where our hero gets lucky about 19 minutes into the game.
Having just donned his shirt, John ducks into the hotel lobby and grabs his room key - and takes note of a dinghy (heh) service that might just come in handy later. Then it's off to the bar, where he spies a beautiful girl alone at a table.
She seems unnaturally easygoing - maybe because her dialogue seems to be a thirteen-year-old's idea of a spy novel - and insists that John dance with her. They writhe around the dancefloor for a while, and one bottle of cheap champagne later they're back at her place. A little talking, a lot of kissing, a few mushroom clouds later and the fireworks take off.
And then Johnny wakes up alone in bed. Oh, the life of a Naval Officer. It's a lonely one.
Having just donned his shirt, John ducks into the hotel lobby and grabs his room key - and takes note of a dinghy (heh) service that might just come in handy later. Then it's off to the bar, where he spies a beautiful girl alone at a table.
She seems unnaturally easygoing - maybe because her dialogue seems to be a thirteen-year-old's idea of a spy novel - and insists that John dance with her. They writhe around the dancefloor for a while, and one bottle of cheap champagne later they're back at her place. A little talking, a lot of kissing, a few mushroom clouds later and the fireworks take off.
And then Johnny wakes up alone in bed. Oh, the life of a Naval Officer. It's a lonely one.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Codename: Iceman Let's Play Part One: CPR
Where our hero puts his mouth on a girl's mouth, and doesn't even buy her a drink first.
John Westland is just relaxing on the beach in Tahiti, reading an interesting news article about Tunisia, a neutral and oil-rich African nation. His towering intellect reasons that this may be an explosive situation. Hmm!
He gets up to stretch his legs and happens upon a fun game of beach volleyball! Hey, an opportunity to stand around and get some points for a few minutes. It's all fun and games until one of the bikini-clad players swims after the ball and gets herself drowned (what kind of resort is this, exactly?) John swims out to get her, drags her back to the beach and starts CPR according to his Amazing Naval Officer Training Manual.
This copy protection sequence over, he explores the rest of the beach and finds... his shirt. Yup.
Next update, he'll get to put his mouth on another woman. It's a wonder Tom Cruise didn't make a movie out of this game, too!
John Westland is just relaxing on the beach in Tahiti, reading an interesting news article about Tunisia, a neutral and oil-rich African nation. His towering intellect reasons that this may be an explosive situation. Hmm!
He gets up to stretch his legs and happens upon a fun game of beach volleyball! Hey, an opportunity to stand around and get some points for a few minutes. It's all fun and games until one of the bikini-clad players swims after the ball and gets herself drowned (what kind of resort is this, exactly?) John swims out to get her, drags her back to the beach and starts CPR according to his Amazing Naval Officer Training Manual.
This copy protection sequence over, he explores the rest of the beach and finds... his shirt. Yup.
Next update, he'll get to put his mouth on another woman. It's a wonder Tom Cruise didn't make a movie out of this game, too!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play: The Complete Saga
This is the complete playthrough for Sierra's Hero's Quest / Quest for Glory series, starting with the original EGA copy of Hero's Quest (before the series was renamed) all the way through to Dragon Fire. Quest for Glory was a hybrid adventure game and RPG series from Sierra, which was unique in that you could import your character from one game to the next, offering a more complete feeling of continuity.
I did this as a Let's Play thread on the Something Awful Forums with great success; it took about ten months from start to end, posting two to three videos a week during that time. While doing the playthrough, a VGA remake of Quest for Glory II came out, which I highly recommend anyone interested in the series pick up (it's free to download.)
I also managed to land a really cool interview with the original creators of Hero's Quest, Lori Ann and Corey Cole. It's worth a read but maybe after you've watched the game.
The playthrough was approached as a fighter, not because it would make the most entertaining path but because the fighter is the easiest character to transition into Paladinhood, an almost Easter Egg-like 'fourth class' that players who import their characters can choose. The Paladin gets some special scenes in Quest for Glory IV and V especially, so even if you're familiar with the games you might not have seen some of the things the Paladin gets to see.
The rules for the playthrough were:
1. To make it through all five Quest for Glory games,
2. With 500 points in each game (except for Q4G3 where a bug prevents it),
3. As a Fighter becoming a Paladin,
4. Which we'll get in Quest for Glory 2,
5. So we'll end up with 550/500 points in that game,
6. And record ourselves as we go.
We did indeed glitch out of some points in Quest for Glory III, which I noted during the playthrough.
There is a little bit of skipping here: some of the games require some very boring grinding or long traveling for thirty seconds of payoff, so those portions have either been turned into a montage of still screen captures that show the action, or in one case cut completely and supplemented by screen captures (these points are noted in the videos.) There are also some critical bugs in Quest for Glory V that necessitated turning the recording software off at one point, which is also noted.
I've added commentary to all the videos through Overstream.net. The idea was to be entertaining and share as much of my knowledge of the games with you as I could. If you find the subtitles annoying, you can head on over to the Classic Let's Play YouTube Channel and watch them commentary-free.
Obviously this was a labor of love, both for the game series and the adventure gaming genre as a whole. This series is fascinating, as you can visually trace the progression of adventure gaming from a 16-color EGA text-parser-based genre through to 256-color VGA with graphics, to the introduction of voice talent and the genre's sunset with flashy 3D effects and environments while storylines and quality start to suffer. It's a roadmap of gaming in the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, and it is easy to trace the fortunes of both Sierra and the adventure game genre they helped forge.
But hey - have a great time. This is a game, it's supposed to be fun after all.
And now... a montage!
Back to the game!
It's an East Fricana MONTAGE!
And the points that are cut:
Freeing three villages cut out due to repeated computer crashes that made video capture impossible, skipping to the last village:
Note that the excessive pausing in the last video is the only workaround to prevent the game from crashing. Sorry 'bout that!
Bonus Videos:
Quest for Glory IV Dream Outtakes:
Laurel and Hardy from Quest for Glory III:
Arne the Aardvark from Quest for Glory III:
"All Toked Up"
X-Ray Glasses from Quest for Glory II:
Bonus Material:
Interview with Lori Ann and Corey Cole
Hope you enjoyed it, and this was either a pleasant trip down memory lane or introduced you to how adventure gaming used to be!
Note: If you watched all the videos in order without stopping (excluding the bonus scenes), it took you 1 day, 3 hours, 9 minutes and 51 seconds. Maybe it's time to go outside, eh?
I did this as a Let's Play thread on the Something Awful Forums with great success; it took about ten months from start to end, posting two to three videos a week during that time. While doing the playthrough, a VGA remake of Quest for Glory II came out, which I highly recommend anyone interested in the series pick up (it's free to download.)
I also managed to land a really cool interview with the original creators of Hero's Quest, Lori Ann and Corey Cole. It's worth a read but maybe after you've watched the game.
The playthrough was approached as a fighter, not because it would make the most entertaining path but because the fighter is the easiest character to transition into Paladinhood, an almost Easter Egg-like 'fourth class' that players who import their characters can choose. The Paladin gets some special scenes in Quest for Glory IV and V especially, so even if you're familiar with the games you might not have seen some of the things the Paladin gets to see.
The rules for the playthrough were:
1. To make it through all five Quest for Glory games,
2. With 500 points in each game (except for Q4G3 where a bug prevents it),
3. As a Fighter becoming a Paladin,
4. Which we'll get in Quest for Glory 2,
5. So we'll end up with 550/500 points in that game,
6. And record ourselves as we go.
We did indeed glitch out of some points in Quest for Glory III, which I noted during the playthrough.
There is a little bit of skipping here: some of the games require some very boring grinding or long traveling for thirty seconds of payoff, so those portions have either been turned into a montage of still screen captures that show the action, or in one case cut completely and supplemented by screen captures (these points are noted in the videos.) There are also some critical bugs in Quest for Glory V that necessitated turning the recording software off at one point, which is also noted.
I've added commentary to all the videos through Overstream.net. The idea was to be entertaining and share as much of my knowledge of the games with you as I could. If you find the subtitles annoying, you can head on over to the Classic Let's Play YouTube Channel and watch them commentary-free.
Obviously this was a labor of love, both for the game series and the adventure gaming genre as a whole. This series is fascinating, as you can visually trace the progression of adventure gaming from a 16-color EGA text-parser-based genre through to 256-color VGA with graphics, to the introduction of voice talent and the genre's sunset with flashy 3D effects and environments while storylines and quality start to suffer. It's a roadmap of gaming in the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, and it is easy to trace the fortunes of both Sierra and the adventure game genre they helped forge.
But hey - have a great time. This is a game, it's supposed to be fun after all.
And now... a montage!
Back to the game!
It's an East Fricana MONTAGE!
And the points that are cut:
Freeing three villages cut out due to repeated computer crashes that made video capture impossible, skipping to the last village:
Note that the excessive pausing in the last video is the only workaround to prevent the game from crashing. Sorry 'bout that!
Bonus Videos:
Quest for Glory IV Dream Outtakes:
Laurel and Hardy from Quest for Glory III:
Arne the Aardvark from Quest for Glory III:
"All Toked Up"
X-Ray Glasses from Quest for Glory II:
Bonus Material:
Interview with Lori Ann and Corey Cole
Hope you enjoyed it, and this was either a pleasant trip down memory lane or introduced you to how adventure gaming used to be!
Note: If you watched all the videos in order without stopping (excluding the bonus scenes), it took you 1 day, 3 hours, 9 minutes and 51 seconds. Maybe it's time to go outside, eh?
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