The Cave Review

When Maniac Mansion was released in 1987 it was a revolutionary title in the Adventure Gaming genre, and in video gaming in general. Adventure games were just beginning to ride a wave of popularity that would see the genre become the most successful in PC gaming in the late eighties and early nineties. The game, created by Ron Gilbert, would solidify this golden age, and set down many benchmarks for almost every graphic adventure that came after. Gilbert also created the mega-hit, iconic Monkey Island series, but after several runaway successes at Lucasarts Games he left the company in 1993 and, despite working as a consultant on several titles, never created his own adventure game again.

That is, until now. Partnering with Double Fine Games – run by another Lucasarts graduate, Tim Schafer – he has returned to the genre in which he made his name after a wait of approximately twenty years. But of course, things don’t stay the same in video games for long, so the adventure / puzzle genre has changed dramatically. But then The Cave isn’t your average adventure game, and those involved in its development aren’t your average game designers.

Read the full review here.

 

Retro Corner: Cancelled – The Top Games You Won’t Play in 2013

Over the years, we have become accustomed to seeing a plethora of newly-announced video games at E3 each year, each accompanied by some hyperbole or perhaps a teaser trailer.This helps build anticipation and gauge fan interest long before the title actually hits retail shelves and we can get our hands on it. But as you look forward to the big releases due in 2013, spare a thought for those games that never saw the light of day.

A huge number of titles every year will be announced, but just won’t end up reaching completion. Some will stall soon after, through a lack of funding or the inability to secure a publisher. Others however will enter full production, only to be cancelled at a later point; sometimes for a near-unknown reason. Then there are even the unfortunate few who reach Gold status, are weeks away from release, and they still get canned.

These are the sort of decisions that haunt gamers for life. The interesting concepts, exciting storylines and intriguing trailers that fans get a glimpse of make them want the game desperately, so imagine the disappointment that comes when that title never gets finished. There have, of course, been thousands of such cases – and many, many high profile ones that stand out in the memory – click here to read on for five of the most painful!!