Wayne’s World - Final Rating

by Michael

Okay, kids.  Grab some Red Vines and let’s rock out this final rating post.

So, we reached the end of Wayne’s World in the last post, and it’s time to reflect on the experience.  This can be a very educational experience, and with some soul-searching, this process will bring us to total harmony....

... NOT!

Seriously, this wasn’t a bad game.  It definitely has flaws, but I was expecting something much, much worse based on the games of this developer we played already.  Most recently, Alex briefed us on L.A. Law back in 1992, and Ilmari drove The Beverly Hillbillies to the view of civilization earlier this gaming year.  I think they made a better effort with this outing, but let’s see how it fares in the scoring.  

Missed Classic: The Hound of Shadow – Appointment with Death

Written by Vetinari

Last time we were asked by Father Paul Mason to find out the nature of the beast that killed Matthew Talbot. A good place to search for that would be the Reading Room at the British Museum, but obviously without knowing the name of a book to retrieve, the library is almost useless. I do not know of any other source of knowledge (except for Marcus, who is characteristically close-mouthed about any topic of which I ask), so I am a little bit lost here.

The list of verbs does not give any particular hint (I already tried searching almost everywhere I thought there could possibly be something hidden), so I resort to checking back my screenshots and notes. And I find out that when Marcus gave me the Gascoigne Journal to read, he took it back but said that I could read it as long as it would not leave the shop.

Marcus drops a hint.

So I immediately ask him to show me the Gascoigne Journal, and he reluctantly does so. Apparently, Gascoigne talks about the Plateau of Leng and some of the terrible creatures that reside there, saying that Von Juntz's book has more details. But... I already read Von Juntz's book...

Wayne's World – Won!

by Michael

At the end of this game, we will be rescuing a princess.

Well, I have to take back some of my optimism about this game from the previous posts.  This last segment of the game made me feel as though I was constantly climbing ladders, dodging wine barrels being tossed my way.

I’m going to leave out a lot of the deliberations that went into my actions.  A lot of the puzzle solving in this last section came down to pure luck or brute force inventory application.  Sometimes, I could see where I might have been given a hint, had I arrived at a different screen first, but instead did not.

Last we saw, I found out my pookie had been babe-napped, and the money we raised to save the TV station had been stolen at the same time.

I dare you to say it three times, really fast.

Exploring the world after the tragedy, I made my way to the grocery store warehouse, where, housed within, was a meeting of the Secret Society of Sinusitus Sufferers.  Because that is the most likely place for a meeting, of course.

I could think of a better place for such a meeting.

BloodNet – Final Rating

by Will Moczarski

The time has come for the final rating of the "cyberpunk vampire adventure game" BloodNet – or is it a cyberpunk vampire RPG? When I started reviewing this game back in fall 2022, I made two predictions: there’ll be more coincidental Muse lyrics than “time is running out” in my posts before I get to pen the final rating. And “exploring the far reaches of Cyberspace” will surely be a chore. Both of them were wrong. Cyberspace was alright (although there are some who will beg to differ), and I refrained from quoting Muse altogether as far as I'm aware. Before I try to break down the sprawling mess that is BloodNet, however, let's take a look at what the contemporary magazines had to say about it. 

Missed Classic: The Hound of Shadow - By the Pricking of My Thumbs

Written by Vetinari

Next morning, I wake up to a surprise. The landlady, Mrs Bastable, announces that a visitor, a young lady, is waiting for me in the lounge.

Now, I haven't mentioned anything about a landlady up to now, and I can hear what you're saying: of course there's a landlady, all sleuths (especially ones who live in London, and in Marylebone, no less) have a landlady. No! You are thinking of Victorian sleuths! Golden Age sleuths have no landladies, only secretaries!

She's no Miss Lemon, but Nikki Porter comes a close second.

Anyway, going to the lounge I find that this mysterious visitor is none other than Yasmin the maid/assistant from the séance. She says that her real name is Vivienne Powers and that Harry Pelham, a.k.a. the Adept Karmi, has not been right since the other night. Nightmares, headaches, depression, the whole package that you can expect after having had a close encounter with occult and malevolent forces.