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Just Adventure review Earl Bobby is looking for a Loo

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Review: Gemini Rue

-Story-

Gemini Rue narrates the story of two people. When the intro begins, we're introduced to Delta-Six, a male specimen, part of some experiment. Initially, it appears that Delta-Six just had his memory wiped out, because of his attempts to escape, and it is hinted that he has done the same before. We're also introduced to Azriel Odin, an ex-assassin, currently situated on Barracus, trying to find his brother .

-World/Setting

The game mostly takes place in two different settings. One being the planet of Barracus, currently ruled by a Boryokudan (a mob), and one being the facilities of Center 7 .

The settings are totally unique and amazing for different reasons.

a) The planet of Barracus, where it's constantly raining, gives this feeling of decay and film-noir, as everything is almost falling apart. Additionally it also makes obvious the presence and the rule of the Boryokudan. The game is taking place in the far future (2230 DC or so), but despite the apparent presence of technology, an approach to show that nothing comes without consequences is evident, as we have spaceships next to rotten buildings. What also got my attention is that almost everyone is either a junkie or part of the Boryokudan.

b) The facilities of Center 7 on the other hand, appear to be a great technological achievement, where everyone is happy and acts for the common good, by performing training and various tasks assigned. However everything is under surveillance and its evident early on that escape is needed. Initially due to the memory wipe, you will be kind of lost in terms of who to trust or not, which really makes this part of the game a great mixture of 1984 and Logan's Run.

-Graphics

Personally I feel the graphics are amazing and moody. I can say that the walkcycle seemed a little weird to me, but that may be just my idea, so you are free to disregard this. The animations overall are very detailed and well made, the backgrounds are amazing, and some scenes will probably take your breath away. There are one or two close-ups as well. And of course there are some other more fancy ones, like the raindrops on the ground, the rain dripping from the edges.
What's also worth pointing is that I don't remember a background that felt static. There was always something moving, either a light flickering, or the rain, or a terminal's light blinking.

-Music/Sound

Whatever a person can say for Nathan Allen Pinard would be insufficient; the music is mostly ambient and fits incredibly well with the game, boosting up the immersion a lot. The soundtrack roots mostly to Blade Runner and Halo, and will certainly not let you down. As for the sound effects there's a great variety from ambient sounds to footsteps, that all fit the game quite excellent.

-Voice Acting

The voice acting is really great, and every voice fits the character quite amazingly good. I especially loved the voices from the speakers throughout Barracus, and the voice behind Epsilon-Five.

-Interface/Puzzles

The interface is very similar to 7 Days a Skeptic (by Yahtzee), where in addition, you get a kick icon. I have to say I really liked using the kick on everything and the puzzles that were related to it, were probably my favorite ones.

From the beginning of the game, the puzzles are created in order to familiarize the player with the interface and the logic of the game, so later on as the game progresses, you won't find yourself in a dead-end. An interesting element is the Terminal. Several of those are scattered on Barracus (both on streets and apartments), where the player can look up for information.

The game, except for the standard point and click puzzles, also contains certain sequences, that I found really exciting. Some of them involve maintenance duties as Delta-Six, other involve gun-fights. A lot of people have complained about those action sequences, and it really makes me wonder. I honestly really loved them, except that I would like to be able to change the controls. But regardless I always longed for them. Initially, they seem very barren, but
as you progress into the game, the controls and the sequences become more complicated and difficult, without however becoming annoying.

-Conclusion

You must give this a try, it's definitely a very innovative game with a story that won't disappoint you. Disregarding the magnificence of this game, should be considered a crime.

It took me about 8-9 hours to finish (on default settings), so I'm guessing it is at least 4-5 hours of gameplay worth. The game also comes with a developer commentary and bloopers.

Get the Demo

Visit the Gemini Rue Webpage and get your copy

Captain has a burger

CaptainD interviews the JBurger....

Hardy's round-up

Hardydev do a round-up of the AGS Award Best Game nominees.

Spread TEH LUV!

On the front page of TIG, some awesome dude by the name of Frank00, finally spread the love and culture of AGS to the rest of the world.

Check it out!

You wait ages for Martin Mulrooney to interview...

...and then two come along at once. After his Alternative Magazine interview of TJD creator, not its time for TheJBurger at Hardydev.

Down with down

Alternative magazine have an interview with Theodore Waern, creator of The Journey Down.

Democracy comes to Egypt... and AGS?

Vote for the AGS Awards winners! Or the muslim brotherhood.

Free AG

AdventureGamers have a review of some January freeware releases, including a couple of AGS ones.

AGS Nominations 2010: Snakes of Eternal Journey Down Technobabylon

Bicilotti as a proud host has created a very unique and awesome way to present the nominations for the AGS Awards of 2010. An AGS executable. Check it out here.

From this paragraph and further down the games will be listed. I will have a download link for each game that appears for the first time, so you can guys download. Regardless, I must say they were all predictable, as anyone with a right mind would pretty much expect them. All but some.
Head over Heels for instance stroke me with a happy remark. The best demo category is full of unexpected nominees. And I was sad, cause for another year, none of my games got nominated. But that was expected too. But one nomination. THAT SINGLE NOMINATION MADE MY DAY.

List of nominees as follows:

Best Game Created with AGS for 2010

Eternally Us
Snakes of Avalon
Technobabylon - Part I
Technobabylon - Part II
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Gameplay

Eternally Us
Snakes of Avalon
Technobabylon - Part I
Technobabylon - Part II
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Original Story

Eternally Us
Snakes of Avalon
Technobabylon - Part I
Technobabylon - Part II
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Dialogue Writing

By the Numbers
Eternally Us
Snakes of Avalon
Technobabylon - Part II
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Puzzles

Eternally Us
Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks!
Snakes of Avalon
Technobabylon - Part I
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Short Game

Eternally Us
Kuma Story
Head over Heels
rein
Technobabylon - Part I

Best Demo

Blockz
Indy and the Crystal Cursors
Indiana Jones and the Seven Cities of Gold
Matt to the Future
Quantumnauts

Best Non-Adventure Game Created with AGS

1st Drop
Barn Runner Halloween 1: Fully Automatic Mojo
Infinity bit
Operation: FORKLIFT
Space Pool Alpha

Best Player Character

OSD: Blades of Passion
Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks!
Professor Neely And The Death Ray Of Doom
Snakes of Avalon
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Non Player Character

A woman for all seasons
Earl Bobby is looking for a Loo
Technobabylon - Part II
Snakes of Avalon
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Background Art

Eternally Us
Professor Neely And The Death Ray Of Doom
Technobabylon - Part I
Technobabylon - Part II
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Character Art

Eternally Us
Death: Episode One
Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks!
Professor Neely And The Death Ray Of Doom
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Animation

By the Numbers
Eternally Us
Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks!
rein
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Sound Effects

Eternally Us
Earl Bobby is looking for a Loo
Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks!
Snakes of Avalon
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Music

Eternally Us
Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks!
Snakes of Avalon
Technobabylon - Part II
The Journey Down: Over the Edge

Best Voice Work

Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator - Case 2 Deluxe
By the Numbers
Earl Bobby is looking for a Loo
Eternally Us
OSD: Blades of Passion

Best Programming

By the Numbers
Eternally Us
Infinity bit
Operation: FORKLIFT
Space Pool Alpha

Domo Aggiato Mr Puzzleboto

AdventureGamer's annual awards (The Aggies) have chosen Dave and Ivy's AGS materpiece Puzzlebots in 3 categories: Best Gameplay, Best Concept and Best Indie. Congratulations and good luck for the final results. If you don't win, remember to pretend to look happy for the winner when the camera is on you!

Of Penny Arcade

Normally I confine the blog to matters of AGS, but this is important and possibly some who read this blog have opinions on the matter.

Penny Arcade is a web comic. Not one I follow regularly, but they achieved some fame in the adventuring world by having a couple of somewhat-adventurery games created by Hothead Games (they who used to employ Ron Gilbert).

Also Penny Arcade expo (PAX) has become a popular place for games to be presented with attendees like AGSers Deirdra Kiai and Dave Gilbert.

It's a long story what has happened. In short: Penny Arcade offended a rape survivor and then mocked them and fans of the comic made death threats to the people who said this was bad. It has all escalated and got very nasty and Penny Arcade have made a number of grudging non-apologies, of which the last was the closest to an actual apology.

The problem isn't really the original comic, its the response and the rape culture that surrounds it, belittling rape as a joke, using it a a metaphor. To maybe give some idea of the deal: its would be like a politician calling a Jewish person a Nazi.

Over on IGN there's a blog from a presenter at PAX who has decided not to go because of this. I think there will be perhaps a very different atmosphere at future PAXen because of all this, and I'd encourage anyone who looks at Arthur's article to consider their own position if they are thinking of attending PAX.

MONEY IT'S A CRIME?

Let's be honest.

Lots of people want to do their hobbies and gain money.

But that doesn't mean anything now, does it? The usual mistake that people do is to misjudge their skills and the situation. See, when it comes to going commercial, most of those that attempt it, usually think that being a publisher is just getting all the money. Of course some publishers just do that, but most of them do some actual work, that is promoting the game, and forcing the developer to fix various stuff, from coding to art to music to documentation. From the most of us the excitement of working on a game and being paid for it, usually results in overestimating our skills in such a degree that will later (once disappointment sets in) seem preposterous.

The usual attempt that people do is make a freeware game and then if that goes well, they push on to a commercial game having acquired a crowd. But at times we overestimate the circumstances and believe we're about to conquer the known world, only to be slapped really hard in our faces. Summing up, an audience around something, has nothing to do with people actually buying anything. If somebody gives away donuts, everyone is going to get some, but not everyone is going to buy it, if the next day, that same somebody decides to charge money for it.

Going commercial means a financial risk, and not just fame and success. Otherwise nobody would make games for free. DUH!

Those are my personal opinions, feel free to disagree and flame as much as you can. I also know that this isn't quite any news, but I felt like ranting.

Charting your progress

Those of you who love nothing better than a nice Excel graph should get out more. And then head over to Dave's blog where he shows some!

On a related note: