Buenos Dias. My name is Manny Calavera and you`re my next customer..

You know it, I know it...It is one of the best games ever made. Such elegance, such sophistication, art and all that jazz..literally. 

Grim Fandango came out in 1998 from Lucasarts, and gave the gaming world something that was never done before, and probably never will be done again: an artistic depth. I`m not talking about some good drawings and nice music, I`m talking about art deco architecture, free form jazz, illustrations full of culture, and a plot that says "somebody sat down and actually thought about this" all over it.

Grim Fandango is a graphic adventure set in a world stuck between our world (whatever that means) and the afterlife, called the Land of the Dead. The story follows the travel agent Manuel (Manny) Calavera, who attempts to save Meche Colomar, a newly arrived but virtuous soul during her journey to the nine underground (afterlife). 

Manny`s world combines elements of the Aztec belief of afterlife with some film noir tones and Casablanca-like old movie setting. But at the end, it`s an adventure game where you click your way into the game`s beautifully designed plot. So it kinda feels like eating a five-michelin star dinner alone at home in front Seinfeld. 

There are some problems with making a classy game. First of all, as a player, you can`t tell anybody. What are you gonna do, run and tell people that the game is frickin full of character? As a person playing computer games, your reputation of understanding and commenting on art and class is probably not too high. So your whole enthusiasm explodes inside, nodding to the screen with a stupid smile on your face. Secondly, classy games don`t sell much, because it`s not democracy, but mediocracy ruling on this earth. Sadly, the game became a victim of too high of a quality and could not sell too well. 

All in all, not many games talk about death. They show death, they create and celebrate death, but never ever really talk about death. This one does - with cool jazz, latin overtones and some unexpected referrals to other uncommon topics like freedom, poetry and inward journeys.


I`m not going to suggest that you should take that journey, play this game or make an effort to understand it. I`m just saying whatever you do, if you have to talk about games someday, don`t you dare to ignore Grim Fandango.


..or this whole crowd below will get you to the nine underground by force.

pics by lucasarts and pocketgamer.co.uk

A long time ago, in a house far far away...

Games are not just about computers and consoles..at least they were not when I was a child. Not that I`m talking about 1920s, but even 80`s were a little less digital and little more analog.

When we were kids, my imagination was a bit above the capabilities of my Amstrad. There was so much creativity that they could fit into 128kb. So, my friend A!riza and I had to invent games to entertain ourselves.

As I mentioned in one of the older posts, one of the first games that we invented was called something like "Alien Attack". We were two space soldiers (it`s totally your fault if you don`t know what a space soldier does) and we were travelling in our small space ship (my room).

My room was literally as small as a matchbox back then - a perfect spaceship. The window was the display, my small electric piano was the main controls for the ship, the Amstrad was the main computer. As if there was any other computer.

We had laser guns and after landing on an alien world, we used to storm out of the space pod and fight against the aliens in the living room, a.k.a alien world. These aliens were so sneaky, they were imitating shapes of lamps, chairs etc. Awesome stuff.

I won`t recommend you this game though, I figured out there is no way of trying it without looking abnormal after a certain point in your life. Or you know what, go ahead and try it.

Have a scary Halloween with "Veil of Darkness"

dotpixel by me!

Days of Amstrad opens the veil...and here it is - Veil of Darkness. Arguably the best horror game ever made. 


Veil of Darkness is a horror-action-adventure game for the PC, which was developed by Event Horizon Software and published by SSI in 1993. Some of the main reasons why it may have escaped your radar could be poor marketing of games in 90s, your lack of taste in good games, or you could be too young for that. In any case, you`ve missed a lot.

Veil of Darkness is a 2D point-and-click adventure game with some RPG elements mixed in. It features a fixed isometric perspective and a good amount of action-RPG style combat. Except the leveling system, it could be the grandfather of Diablo or a far relative of Sacred. But the coolness of the game lies in the twists of the plot. The plot overall sounds cheesy at first (your plane crashes in Romania, a dark curse affects a small village), but feels mysterious and the atmosphere is scary. 

The biggest factor making the game scary is the lack of technology. Don`t take my words as an insult to the game - because that`s not true. The low resolution graphics and midi sound are irritating. It is similar to being afraid of the dark, you tend to get more scared when you cannot fully see, hear or understand the details. And when this unintentional element meets the intentional horror aspect, you find yourself in a tasty horror experience.

One of the disturbing twists is figuring out who it was attacking and eating villagers - an unexpected werewolf action from an unexpected town resident. Overall, the game has a disturbing atmosphere.

Of course, do not expect like a horror movie tension, as things evolve and occur at a much slower rate and speed, nevertheless couple of plot twists, unpredictability, low detail graphics and disturbing midi sounds are its strongest points. And the slower pace will make itself unforgettable as it slowly sneaks into your conscious and subconscious.

One caveat though - if your eyes are already adjusted to the colorful HD world and hi-res sounds, it may become hard to look at this old boy on your PC. But I say, try it when you have time. It`s only like 3MBs to download.


I hope you`ll enjoy your Halloween, and may the veil of darkness (the game, not death) surround you one day. 

screenshots: abandonwaredos.com 

Halloween is coming to "Days of Amstrad" (teaser)

Carve your cross, prepare your silver bullets because Halloween is coming to town...I`ll talk about a scary old gem that most probably escaped your radar all those years. Coming this weekend!

copyright goowik design

"This won`t work."

I played every Indiana Jones title made for pc and home consoles. Don`t you miss a fine 2D point-and-click adventure sometimes? Although there is adventuregamers.com and steam selling some of the finest selections of older adventure games, I miss the days when they came in approx. 28 floppy discs, a fine box and a manual. 

Fate of Atlantis is special for me as it has a unique plot, and does not rely on a movie script. Even if you`re not familiar with the game, you`ve probably guessed that it`s about Indy`s search of the lost city. Sophia Hapgood, an old co-worker of Indy who gave up her archaeological career to become a psychic, joins him along the journey. As expected, Indy and Sophie are opposed by the Nazis who are seeking to use the power of Atlantis for warfare, and serve as the adventure's antagonists. The game came out in 1992, and 1993 again with voice acting. As usual, I had the previous version and wanted to kill myself when they released the new version. (That`s why I`ll wait for the newer version of iPad, so sneakily.)

There is no need for me to talk about the gameplay or the marvel of point-and-click adventures - your loss if you`ve missed them. But the limits, beautiful, tight limits of these games- that is something to talk about. Unlike new technological breakthrough games like GTA, where you can beat up senior citizens, kick pigeons and explode buildings, 2D adventures have a single route, a character. 

If something happens, that`s because it is supposed to happen. It`s like reading a fine book, smooth and less plastic. You encounter less bugs, no physical weirdness, just plain game, where your character proudly says: "Can`t do that", when you try to open a jar with your whip. For a change though, Fate of Atlantis had an interesting twist. Depending on your selection in the first part of the game, you were allowed to pick one of three gameplay styles: Cooperatively with Sophia (easier), alone (you have to think a lot), or using your fists more than your wits (lots of button mashing). 

The locations and the plot do not change much among the 3 selections, but the experience is slightly different, as your inventory options and conversations differ. I finished this game 3 times in my life, 1992, 1999 and 2010 (don`t judge me); and I liked the "wits" option the most (1999).  

I miss the days where you could not find 323 ways to overcome an obstacle. When it comes to games, I like my limits. I love it when "There`s no room to maneuver..."

Joy and the stick

You don`t know Combat School. You don`t know what kind of an evil game it was. It was our 4th joystick in a month, I remember my mom`s eyes when I asked for the fifth...oh, the horror.

Combat School is actually an arcade game by Konami. The game can be played against the CPU or another player. Player one takes control of Nick, a green haired recruit in a green shirt. Well thanks to my father, our screen was a poor green screen, so no colors for that boy.  His rival`s name is more creative than Nick, he is Joe, another green haired dude with a green shirt. Joe was a little lighter green on the head though, so I assumed he was blonde in the real and colorful world. 

The game has 7 different training stages that you have to go through against your opponent. But the trick is here: if you fail at any level, you have to do push ups. I swear real push ups are easier than this thing, as you have to pummel your joystick right and left to do the moves to a level that 80s plastic engineering can not take anymore. The brutal move usually broke my joysticks at the neck, which makes the "stick" part detach and leave you with a blank "joy". 

Believe me when I say Amstrad never excelled in making joysticks. The two parts of your stick was attached thanks to this 2 mm cheap screw, which is ready to blast into new adventures rather than doing his job. 

Back to game: After all seven training courses are cleared, during which you`ll break your joystick anyways, the graduate (only the winner of the 7 challenges) will go to rescue the president from the terrorists. What a turn off. Your friend has to sit down and watch you play half of the game, because he could not shake his joystick fast enough...well, games have not developed into Fallout in one day.

In my case, Combat School shared the same disc (or disquette if you will) as Gryzor. So that was the golden item in my room. Throw all my clothes, pencils, posters if you want; but my friend, if you touch my golden disc, well we will have some problems.

Please take one last look at the craftily programmed graphics of that marvel. Nick is crossing the bridge while Joe is waiting for his turn, oh so anxiously. 

Pixel hunting 101 for couples

(image credit: coba)

Playing games as couples is more like an art than science (don`t know why I said that). You have a world that you may or may not want your significant other to be a part of. In any case, there should be games that you can share, if you have to. Mystery Case Files is definitely one of them.

The concept is extremely basic. There is a list of items on the right, and you are trying to find them in the picture. Actually the developers are clever enough to embed this puzzle pieces into a story and the items are not easy to find.

My favorite one was Madame Fate, a twisted circus story with lots of different puzzles in addition to hidden item quests. There are 6 games available for Windows or Mac. After a while, your eyes get crossed, and the fun activity with your partner becomes more like a frustration, where her incapacity to find a hidden item becomes your only focus, you fight, plates crashing on the wall, slamming doors, lawyers and so on..no happy ending in this one.