For the Record: Adventure Games Are Not Dead!
By Craig White
It’s been said many times by gamers, and I’ve even been saying it a few
times myself: “adventure games are dead.” However, that could
not be further from the truth. Perhaps at a time like three years ago
this might have seemed true, but now the adventure genre seems to be back
on its feet, and it could not have been a better time.
The past five or six months brought an array of excellent, unique new
adventure games unlike any we have seen before. LucasArts came out with
The Curse of Monkey Island, a hilarious pirate adventure improving
on the first two classic Monkey Island games. Westwood released
Blade Runner, a revolutionary 3D real-time adventure which provided
a new experience each time it was played. Take Two created Black Dahlia,
one of the most satisfying and complete game I have ever played, although
other aspects of the game made it less spectacular in my eyes.
The above games are only a few of the top hits released by major publishers,
and each one is unique from the other providing us gamers with a wide
variety of games to choose from. The best part is, if we dig deeper and
look harder, we can find even more brilliant games by smaller publishers;
the hard part is finding them.
There are so many small publishers out there that are making wonderful
adventure games as we speak. Crimson Productions is in development with
Assault on Turkey Rock, a bizarre adventure game with wonderful
2D graphics and a twisted hilarious plot. If you’ve heard of this game
yet, please raise your hand. Too bad I haven’t seen many hands go up yet.
If you haven’t, please check out our preview of this game because it is
sure to interest you. Adventure Soft is based in the UK and is in production
with Simon the Sorcerer 3. The first two Simon games were
truly fantastic, yet many people have never played them–let alone even
heard of them. The Feeble Files was also a creative 3D game from
Adventure Soft that did not get the recognition it deserved. This situation
is fair because Adventure Soft does not have a publisher in the US, so
most of us can’t get the games unless we order it through their web site.
A game publisher has a limited budget for advertising its games. It’s
quite obvious that the majority of gamers are action and strategy gamers,
so therefore action and strategy games are advertised more than adventure
games. Let’s say a company has four games being made. One is an action
shooter, the other a real-time strategy game, the third is a war game
and the last one is a revolutionary adventure game. The company wants
to sell their games and in order for that to happen, they have to let
people know about them. It’s not right, but the majority of their advertising
money will go toward the action, strategy and war games. With the small
amount they have left they may set up a few ads for their adventure game,
but most of us may never see them and we won’t have heard of that game
and therefore we miss out on it. Another reason why most of us think that
adventure games are dead: because we never heard of the best games!
Thankfully there are magazines (both online and in print) that help to
“advertise” their games through previews, reviews and special
features. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found out about great new
games by reading a review in a magazine or in an online publication.
The games coming out in the future help further my point. Sierra has
two titles of interest to me and I’m sure most of you: King’s Quest
8: Mask of Eternity and Gabriel Knight 3. Both games are 3D,
and Mask of Eternity even has some action elements, although it
is still an adventure game at heart. Gabriel Knight 3 will have
a strong plot like the previous GK games and will have a whole
slew of interesting characters to fully interact with. LucasArts seems
to be revolutionizing the adventure genre (again) with their 3D adventure
set in the land of the dead, Grim Fandango. What interests me the
most with this game is that they claim there is no true interface; the
character is the interface. He looks when there is something to do and
you hit the appropriate key on the keyboard to preform the action. While
it may scare some of us at first, I think each new idea should be given
a chance. Do you see a pattern here? (Hint: think three-dimensional.)
A lot of things adventure gamers seem to be afraid of involve change.
Let me say this: change is good! When Sierra announced Mask of Eternity
would contain action elements, everyone freaked! They thought it would
be a Quake clone or would not be a true King’s Quest, and
in a sense it isn’t. It’s still is a King’s Quest adventure, but
it has a whole new world (seven to be exact), a new character to explore
it with, and it has a tiny bit of combat. However, it still has puzzles
that will make you think, and it still gives you the feeling of adventure,
the feeling you’ve done something good and you’ve enjoyed it. So what’s
everyone complaining about?
The adventure genre is only dead if you give up faith. If there is no
fan base, no adventure games will be made. We must show publishers that
we want adventure games and we need them. A petition has been set up for
fans of the earlier Police Quest games in demand of another Police
Quest adventure, and with all of your help, this game will become
a reality.
If you are a true adventure gamer, you will dig deeper for your games.
Look beyond the ads. If you still don’t see what you want, go right up
do your favorite game publisher and demand it! Show your support for your
favorite genre and never give up. The minute you do, adventure games really
will be dead.
