Way back when I got my first vaguely powerful computer (an Amiga 600 - pitiful by today's standards, and more than a little pointless by the standards of the day, as it was effectively a cut down A500, rather than an upgrade in any way), my main reason for doing so was the wonderful selection of Point'n'Click adventures published by the likes of Lucasarts.
The Secret of Monkey Island, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis... all groundbreaking titles in terms of gameplay and storytelling... And yet, the only one that got a follow up at the time was Monkey Island. The whole concept of Point'n'Click adventures became outdated all too quickly - Lucasarts, I believe, claimed there was no longer a market for them - and the genre all but disappeared.
Sure there were indie developers still making them, and software available that allowed folks to craft Point'n'Click adventures themselves... and, of course, even the likes of Myst and Riven could be called Point'n'Click adventures... but they lacked a charismatic character that the player could see and relate to.
Many years later, the concept gained a new lease of life, thanks to a wave of nostalgia for this much-loved genre, and the hard work of the folks at Telltale Games. Telltale have not only picked up the Sam & Max franchise - dropped by Lucasarts despite its popularity and plenty of calls for a sequel - they are also continuing the awesome Monkey Island series... Which I've just started playing via WiiWare.
Yes, I know I said I wouldn't take my Wii online, but the temptation proved too great - there are some excellent games available as DLC.
Both Sam & Max and Tales of Monkey Island are presented in episodic format but, while Sam & Max Season 1 was available at retail, Monkey Island has yet to make the leap from DLC to disc. This causes a bit of a dilemma... since each part (of which there are five) costs 1000 Wii Points (£7), while I could download the entire series for the PC for $35 (approx £28.50), or wait for it to come out at retail and have it in a far more convenient format, albeit still rather expensive.
Sam & Max was very enjoyable, despite some rather terrible 'logic', though the series is noted for its wackiness. Monkey Island, meanwhile, is noted for its insult-based swordfights and sequences where wandering around a seemingly random maze is actually part of a puzzle. So far, in Part 1, only the latter has been represented, though it was very well done. Maps play a key role in these puzzles, and are actually quite easy to follow. Only the last map puzzle - finding the secret door - caused me trouble, and that was because I misinterpreted a couple of the instructions.
Some of the puzzles are a little obscure (missing a stone wheel? How about using a cheese wheel instead?), and I suspect some are generally solved by accident, by those who spend absolutely ages trying everything... but that is, after all, the nature of Point'n'Click: it rewards those who explore and experiment, rather than those who just want to get from A to B, to use Item X in Slot Y.
There were points where I was completely stumped, and I'm sorry to say I had to resort to a walkthrough... which generally had me groaning because, while the next step wasn't necessarily obvious, it was frequently a little contrived (that stone/cheese wheel, for example, needs to be imprinted before it can be used...), and led to lots of backtracking.
The only real problem with the Wii version, though, is its tendency to crash... Like the Wii version of Ghostbusters, it just falls down at certain points - scene transitions - but, thankfully, picks up where you left off after restarting the machine.
I've also downloaded a game called NyxQuest, which involves a flying demigoddess searching for Icarus in a scorched Greek landscape. It's an arcade puzzle game, in that you control Nyx directly with the nunchuck stick, and help her by using the Wiimote to interact with elements of scenery. Ambidextrous gameplay has never been my strong suit, so I'm not doing too well at the moment. It's certainly very stylish, though.
I now have to get on with some washing up, before heading over to my folks for dinner - I'd forgotten that my sister was coming over this weekend...
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