QCF: Sam & Max Save the World Remastered

ith the closing of the original Telltale Games in 2018 leaving many fans of adventure games sad and unsure of the genre’s future, many assumed something like Sam & Max may never be seen again. And although the name of Telltale and many of its properties have new ownership, the members of the Freelance Police will have their escapades retold by the original developers in Sam & Max Save the World Remastered. For new fans and old, this collection of the six-episode first season first released in 2006 is a time capsule to what adventure games were, and what fans still crave today.

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QCF: Helheim Hassle (Xbox One)

The word hassle is a good way to describe what Bjørn Hammerparty has to overcome; a pacifist Viking that refuses to die in battle and go to Valhalla, only to accidentally die in battle and go to Valhalla. Now after centuries of not quite fitting in, Bjørn has the chance to gain a permanent spot in the peaceful underworld of Helheim. All he needs to do is help an inexplicable but laid-back skeleton named Pesto retrieve a magical item for their master and survive a multitude of puzzles constructed by undisciplined goblin cobblers.  But maybe the real hassle was the friends they made along the way. Hmm, that last part doesn’t really land like I thought it would. Anyways the game was fun, but not without its frustrations. Sort of like this intro. Okay, moving on then.  

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QCF: The Procession To Calvary (Steam)

t can be difficult to find something new and interesting in the genre of adventure games, a form of media that has existed for over forty years. In The Procession To Calvary, it’s creator Joe Richardson is able to create an unapologetic and humorous entry into the market utilizing free use artwork from the Renaissance and public domain music that is a refreshing ode to the cutout hilarity of Monty Python. And although the mechanics of the game are also laughable, it does not take away the fact that it has a sense of humor that was exactly on my level of gross and stupid.

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QCF: Moss

n the media that we digest, there exist a plethora of fictional worlds that remain with many of those who have visited them for years on after, purely through the magic of that universe’s inherent intrigue. Video games in particular, have been able to craft exceptionally memorable settings because of the advantage of interaction that they can offer to the players who travel to their worlds, and the introduction of Virtual Reality has opened up a whole new plane of possibilities for world building.

Fledgling developer Polyarc recognized this potential, and sought out to produce a fantasy realm that permeated a larger-than-life sense of adventure that utilized all of the horsepower that the PlayStation VR peripheral could output with their puzzle-based platformer, MOSS. Even though there aren’t many contemporaries that can compare to the ambitious scale of Polyarc’s premier release, to begin with, the team was still able to produce a charming journey with a distinctive identity of its own, and follow through on a promising start towards what may be the first true killer-app that the PlayStation VR has seen since its launch.

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PAX PRIME 2014: Exploring the world of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

ever before have I witnessed something struggle so hard to remain relevant like I have with Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog, and his laundry list of gimmicks and reinventions over the years. The spiny celebrity has done anything from hosting interspecies relations with a human woman to a werewolf, and so many other endeavors, that it’s no wonder that his appeal has gradually dwindled into disenchantment.

This new direction of the hog going “boom” admittedly comes off like a superficial one at first glance, but after giving it a go, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric could possibly be the proficient palate cleanser to all the failed expectations.

Ironically, Sonic Boom’s potential to be a good Sonic game is that it doesn’t try to play like a “Sonic” game at all.

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QCF: The Wolf Among Us-Episode 4

f you’re surprised that our review for the fourth episode of The Wolf Among Us has appeared so soon after the last, you are not the only one. In only about a month we now find ourselves heading towards the final episode, having been let in on what is really going on in Fabletown as well as the identity of whoever has been causing so much trouble. With the ghastly images of Bigby’s last encounter still fresh in his mind, he is only able to lick his wounds and attempt to track down the person responsible for lambasting his body with silver bullets and leaving him for dead.

So does the fourth episode in this dark fairytale give us all the answers in such a short period of time? The question really is are those answers enough for what is about to happen to the Sheriff and the rest of the Fables?

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QCF: Kentucky Route Zero: Act 3

or almost eleven months, I had assumed that the fine people at Cardboard Computer must have been lost on the Zero. It’s understandable, of course seeing as how eerie and mysterious that route can be. However that also meant that the status of the third Act was also unknown. That is, until recently when the game was updated, and the adventures of Conway and his group of mismatched travelers continued.

It required some research and replaying of the first two Acts to catch back up, but now we have come to the halfway point in this tale. I can say confidentially that the story has taken sharp turns along the drive, where a fallen tree and a run-down tavern opens up to some of the most beautiful and serene moments in any video game and the tale remains to be as bizarre and surreal as it is familiar and warm.

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QCF: The Wolf Among Us-Episode 3

e have arrived at the half way mark on this twisted fairytale from the Fables universe, and we begin this episode immediately following a startling discovery. Bigby’s reaction was difficult to choose, so much so that I restarted the episode a few times. My play through of The Wolf Among Us has been so far a story of redemption, the big bad wolf attempting to show humanity in a town almost completely void of it. Several attempts have been made to bring out the beast that dwells within, however the sheriff still tries his best to help the residents of the Woodlands and its rejects. But how much can someone take? What will someone be capable of doing when someone they care about it put in harm’s way? This recent discovery may be the one thing to send Bigby down that dark and violent path, and I’m sure it will not end well.   

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