All games made by 'Barschsoft'...
Salad Days
The first entry in this here reproduced log can be backtraced to 1997. Like so often, die psychosis of the testee is caused by events in his childhood. In this case, it's the strong nostalgic memories about the dominating products of long dead producers of leisure electronics.
George Stobbart - occupation: American tourist in Paris. After a few month, he comes back trying to get it on again with his girlfriend Nico, the photograph who helped him unravel a Templar conspiracy in the first game. Instead of the date he hoped for, Nico drags him to the home of a Professor of Central American culture - where the two are knocked out. Nico is taken away while George is bound to a chair with a poisonous spider in the room. And just to be sure, the baddies also set the room on fire.
Jake Stonebender is one of the regulars at the prolific bar where people from the past, the future and various mythological dimensions meet. Some visitors share their personal problems freely with the protagonist - dragging him right into them as he tries to solve them. How do you turn a series of short stories into a computer game? Make it episodical. Each of the episodes can be played independently with the bar acting as the place where short interludes take place. Interestingly enough, each episode is quite long on its own, resulting in a massive game when combined.
A dark backroom filled with smoke. The evil masterminds had a meeting. "How can we achieve world domination the fastest way?", asked the overweight boss. The suspicious looking man on his right was playing with his knife but his mouth remained closed. For the first time, we can see the third man's face. He had been slumped back into his chair but now he was leaning forward on the table. He was wearing thick glasses, the little hair which is left was completely white. He's wearing a brown suit. "Can't we just do it like in the old days? Let's just fake the results of the elections!" Fury was glowing in the big cheese's eyes. "Stupid fool!", he shouted out, "Oh Great Satan, why do I have to be surrounded by such idiots?". Suddenly, a slim shadowy figure stepped out of a dark corner. The three looked surprised - they obviously had no idea there was someone else in the room. Stunned by the shock, they just looked at the mysterious man eyes wide open. Tension was building up in the air, the silence would have killed every normal being. At last, the figure began to speak: "I come directly from the the nameless one you serve." "You mean.....", was all the big cheese could gasp pointing his head eastwards. "Silence!" Despite his unimpressive appearance, the unknown person seemed to have some kind of natural authority over all the other men. "Listen to me carefully as I'll only say it once: the youth of today is the future voters. Control the youth, and the future is yours!" In the very next moment, the figure was gone again - as suddenly as it had appeared. But he had left inspiration in the other men's heads. "Heureka! Let's make a computer game!", they shouted unisono.
Carmageddon is known worldwide because of its controversial violence and gore, but while most of the games that support their interest in the controversy are usally empty of quality and fun factor, Carmageddon has loads of it, making a great and round game. The idea is insane: running over pedestrians, driving at the limit doing suicide cornering or jumping for hundreds of meters into the ground or from roof to roof, and crashing into your oponnents and law enforcers at maximum speed, all inside a totally open world with complete freedom to explore and experiment.
Based on the Griffin and Sabine trilogy of books, by Nick Bantock, Ceremony of Innocence brings to life the story of an intense relationship carried out entirely through a mysterious exchange of exotic postcards and letters. Griffin Moss is a lonely postcard designer who one day receives a very odd card from a woman named Sabine Strohem—a card in which she states she has a psychic link to him and his artwork. So Griffin and Sabine begin the correspondence that forms the backbone of this surreal and haunting story.
Axis & Allies - a popular board game set in the Second World War. Well, sort of a Second World War at least, with some changes to the actual historical situation of 1942 for the sake of game balance. Dogs of War is an unofficial version of Axis & Allies without major changes from the board game.
Europe in the 19th century: military superpowers trying to take over the world. Whether it is direct wars and takeover of land or acquiration of 'colonies' - these were troubled times.
In several scenarios (defined by their starting date, each representing a slightly different historical situation) or on a random map, the players each take over one of the 'relevant' (i.e. powerful) countries trying to achieve total world domination. The final step for this is to be elected by the one of the council meetings which occur on a regular basis.
1997? Yes, I know what you're thinking: So he is playing new games after all. That's right - there are a few good ones. The more current the year, the bigger the exception, though, making it even more noteworthy if a good game turns up in such a year. Considering its age, Incubation is like a flower growing from bowl of pus. Growing from such an unpleasant surrounding, it has to be spoiled in some way.
Little Big Adventure 2 (known as Twinsen's Odyssey in America) is the sequel to Little Big Adventure, made by the developers of Alone in the Dark. It is an action adventure and the gameplay has hardly been changed compared to the predecessor. Nevertheless, LBA2 manages to outmatch it in every respect.