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What has happened to these games?
If the P&C adventure genre is dead, then it is certainly time for a revival.
The Infocom games (Zork, Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, etc.) were the beginnings of PC gaming, and at the time were just about all that was possible. Because they were so linear, and based around simple text commands, they were viable, and great fun.
Nowadays, PCs can do much more than that. Even the simplest of games has complete interactivity, and most have a skirmish + multiplayer mode to keep things going.
The problems that have arisen with adventure games in recent times, are essentially that they have no options but to play the game. If you look at these games, there is no option to do anything different. This means that if you get stuck, it is impossible to go online and practice, or play a little differently, and many people resort to walkthroughs, which in the long run destroy the game.
In the same vein, it is impossible and boring to play any of these games twice. The entire of the game lies in the plot and in the puzzles, and it is not usually possible to turn the difficulty up (the "Mega-Monkey mode in CMI is a very primitive solution, which wasn't passed on to EFMI)
I honestly hope that these flaws haven't killed off the genre entirely, because Monkey Island and Myst are (in my opinion) some of the best games I have ever played. But in order to remain popular, these games have got to have some replay value. They are generally far too short, and unplayable.
Another noticible point about the genre is the amount of work required to create each hour of fun. An RTS or RPG requires a game engine (with a bunch of graphics), and then levels/missions, much of which can be left to fans if a mission editor is included. An adventure game, though, generally has little/no interface, and needs a new set of artwork, plot, sounds and many hours of work just for one more puzzle. It is essentially impossible to include an editor with an adventure game.
So it is easy to see why adventure have fallen since the days when all they needed was a bit of text, and almost no PC competition. But it still seems a shame that some of the best games ever on the PC are dying out, when they have given me far more fun than any other games on the market!
If the P&C adventure genre is dead, then it is certainly time for a revival.
The Infocom games (Zork, Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, etc.) were the beginnings of PC gaming, and at the time were just about all that was possible. Because they were so linear, and based around simple text commands, they were viable, and great fun.
Nowadays, PCs can do much more than that. Even the simplest of games has complete interactivity, and most have a skirmish + multiplayer mode to keep things going.
The problems that have arisen with adventure games in recent times, are essentially that they have no options but to play the game. If you look at these games, there is no option to do anything different. This means that if you get stuck, it is impossible to go online and practice, or play a little differently, and many people resort to walkthroughs, which in the long run destroy the game.
In the same vein, it is impossible and boring to play any of these games twice. The entire of the game lies in the plot and in the puzzles, and it is not usually possible to turn the difficulty up (the "Mega-Monkey mode in CMI is a very primitive solution, which wasn't passed on to EFMI)
I honestly hope that these flaws haven't killed off the genre entirely, because Monkey Island and Myst are (in my opinion) some of the best games I have ever played. But in order to remain popular, these games have got to have some replay value. They are generally far too short, and unplayable.
Another noticible point about the genre is the amount of work required to create each hour of fun. An RTS or RPG requires a game engine (with a bunch of graphics), and then levels/missions, much of which can be left to fans if a mission editor is included. An adventure game, though, generally has little/no interface, and needs a new set of artwork, plot, sounds and many hours of work just for one more puzzle. It is essentially impossible to include an editor with an adventure game.
So it is easy to see why adventure have fallen since the days when all they needed was a bit of text, and almost no PC competition. But it still seems a shame that some of the best games ever on the PC are dying out, when they have given me far more fun than any other games on the market!
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What has happened to these games?
If the P&C adventure genre is dead, then it is certainly time for a revival.
The Infocom games (Zork, Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, etc.) were the beginnings of PC gaming, and at the time were just about all that was possible. Because they were so linear, and based around simple text commands, they were viable, and great fun.
Nowadays, PCs can do much more than that. Even the simplest of games has complete interactivity, and most have a skirmish + multiplayer mode to keep things going.
The problems that have arisen with adventure games in recent times, are essentially that they have no options but to play the game. If you look at these games, there is no option to do anything different. This means that if you get stuck, it is impossible to go online and practice, or play a little differently, and many people resort to walkthroughs, which in the long run destroy the game.
In the same vein, it is impossible and boring to play any of these games twice. The entire of the game lies in the plot and in the puzzles, and it is not usually possible to turn the difficulty up (the "Mega-Monkey mode in CMI is a very primitive solution, which wasn't passed on to EFMI)
I honestly hope that these flaws haven't killed off the genre entirely, because Monkey Island and Myst are (in my opinion) some of the best games I have ever played. But in order to remain popular, these games have got to have some replay value. They are generally far too short, and unplayable.
Another noticible point about the genre is the amount of work required to create each hour of fun. An RTS or RPG requires a game engine (with a bunch of graphics), and then levels/missions, much of which can be left to fans if a mission editor is included. An adventure game, though, generally has little/no interface, and needs a new set of artwork, plot, sounds and many hours of work just for one more puzzle. It is essentially impossible to include an editor with an adventure game.
So it is easy to see why adventure have fallen since the days when all they needed was a bit of text, and almost no PC competition. But it still seems a shame that some of the best games ever on the PC are dying out, when they have given me far more fun than any other games on the market!
If the P&C adventure genre is dead, then it is certainly time for a revival.
The Infocom games (Zork, Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, etc.) were the beginnings of PC gaming, and at the time were just about all that was possible. Because they were so linear, and based around simple text commands, they were viable, and great fun.
Nowadays, PCs can do much more than that. Even the simplest of games has complete interactivity, and most have a skirmish + multiplayer mode to keep things going.
The problems that have arisen with adventure games in recent times, are essentially that they have no options but to play the game. If you look at these games, there is no option to do anything different. This means that if you get stuck, it is impossible to go online and practice, or play a little differently, and many people resort to walkthroughs, which in the long run destroy the game.
In the same vein, it is impossible and boring to play any of these games twice. The entire of the game lies in the plot and in the puzzles, and it is not usually possible to turn the difficulty up (the "Mega-Monkey mode in CMI is a very primitive solution, which wasn't passed on to EFMI)
I honestly hope that these flaws haven't killed off the genre entirely, because Monkey Island and Myst are (in my opinion) some of the best games I have ever played. But in order to remain popular, these games have got to have some replay value. They are generally far too short, and unplayable.
Another noticible point about the genre is the amount of work required to create each hour of fun. An RTS or RPG requires a game engine (with a bunch of graphics), and then levels/missions, much of which can be left to fans if a mission editor is included. An adventure game, though, generally has little/no interface, and needs a new set of artwork, plot, sounds and many hours of work just for one more puzzle. It is essentially impossible to include an editor with an adventure game.
So it is easy to see why adventure have fallen since the days when all they needed was a bit of text, and almost no PC competition. But it still seems a shame that some of the best games ever on the PC are dying out, when they have given me far more fun than any other games on the market!
Page: