Tag Archives: puzzle adventure

Atari ST A to Z: Thunderbirds

As we’ve previously talked about a few times, licensed games on 8- and 16-bit home computers tended to follow a particular formula.

That’s why when games like Thunderbirds came along and tried to do things a little different from the usual “platform game that doesn’t have much to do with the show or movie” approach, it was worth taking notice. Okay, so Thunderbirds in particular manages to create a lot of its own problems by taking this approach… but it’s got ambition, I’ll certainly give it that.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that when this was released, a lot of conventions that we take for granted in gaming today were still being established and figured out. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself as I had to restart that first mission over and over and over again…

Find a full archive of all the Atari A to Z videos on the official site.

Check Out My Prison Princess Review!

Full article coming later today, but this is super-important to acknowledge: the commercial, mainstream outlet Nintendo Life was kind enough to give me the opportunity to write about qureate’s new point-and-click puzzle adventure game for Nintendo Switch, Prison Princess.

This is noteworthy because it marks a substantial shift in the site’s editorial policy: they’re now keen to specifically seek out specialist writers for more niche-interest games such as shoot ’em ups or games with provocative ecchi content, rather than passing them to staff writers less familiar with the cultural context or background of such works. This will hopefully lead to fewer situations where there’s a huge disconnect between a critic and the target audience of a particular game. And hopefully more articles from people like me and their new, frighteningly knowledgeable shmup specialist!

I’d like to heartily thank Damien McFerran from Nintendo Life for the kind opportunity to write about this game — and for the site’s admirable new approach. And I would please encourage you, dear reader, to support this change in outlook: it’s exactly the sort of thing we need to see happening on more mainstream sites. It deserves rewarding.

And a great way to do that is simply to go and check out my review of Prison Princess over on Nintendo Life — you can do that by clicking right here!

Thanks for your support, and I hope you enjoy the review.

Pete

Fairune 2: It’s Exactly What It Looks Like

After the first Fairune successfully proved that you can make something that looks convincingly like an action RPG into a two-hour puzzle adventure, the natural next step for creator Yuumi “Skipmore” Kimura was to go bigger.

With that in mind, Fairune 2 is a considerably expanded affair over its predecessor, but maintains the same compelling, enjoyable and oddly relaxing blend of light action RPG elements, item-based puzzle solving and mind-bending navigation brainteasers.

If you’re coming straight from the first one, it might not subvert quite as many expectations as that one did — in that it’s a lot more of “the same” — but it is similarly delightful, and a pleasure to explore. Let’s take a closer look.

Continue reading Fairune 2: It’s Exactly What It Looks Like