Following Freeware – May 2016 releases
Old Woman Beardychin and the Scruffedy Bumtious
In her little cottage in the woods, Old Woman Beardychin is just running through her normal routine. Going out to pick some leaves to make her morning tea, she is surprised to find a Scruffedy Bumtious lurking in her garden. Whilst liking the little creature, she initially can’t see herself looking after it. But when a mysterious cloaked figure spirits the animal away, Old Woman Beardychin changes her mind. Thus begins a quest across the land in search of the missing beast and its strange kidnapper.
With Old Woman Beardychin and the Scruffedy Bumtious, Riaise has produced a fairy tale of sorts, though one that does not always follow the usual traditions. The graphics are displayed in a cartoon style, with most objects made up of solid blocks of colour with limited shading. Despite this simplicity, there is more than enough detail to identify most items. You start in the forest that is home to the protagonist before travelling through a small village and on to a mountain lair. Characters are realistically presented, the titular Old Woman having a light stubble and the Bumtious looking like a cross between a sheep and a dog. These are animated in a basic but effective way. A variety of simple string and piano pieces backs up proceedings, ranging from a pastoral tune in the forest to a deep, ominous score when facing the villain. There is no voice acting but there are a small handful of sound effects.
For most of the game, control is handled through the mouse. Right-click looks at items, and left-click interacts with them. A label appears at the bottom of the screen when the cursor is pointing at a hotspot, letting you know what you are looking at. In the latter part of the game, there is a small maze section. This is presented in a highly retro style, using the arrow keys to navigate a simple line-drawn labyrinth. You will need to enlist the help of three fairies in your quest, solving a problem for each to acquire their aid. A modicum of inventory combination is vital, and there is one spot of moderately difficult pixel hunting near the start. The tone is lightly humorous, with some gentle mocking of adventure game clichés.
Old Woman Beardychin and the Scruffedy Bumtious can be downloaded from the AGS website.
Sniper and Spotter Being Patriotic
Ivan never asked to be part of the Russian army on the Western Front. He just wanted to live a peaceful life at home with his family. Unfortunately, the choice was not his, and he has been assigned the position of spotter for the gung-ho sniper, Olga, for duty on the front line. With no equipment and no training, he doesn’t feel prepared for the horrors ahead. As they set out on their mission to take out an enemy commander in a disputed city, it’s starting to seem like Ivan’s chances of seeing home again are looking pretty slim.
Sniper and Spotter Being Patriotic provides a darkly comic take on war from Blondbraid. The graphics have a stylised realism to them, reminiscent of a communist cartoon, with dark browns dominating the colour palette. Ivan the spotter has a slumped stance and moves with a lazy bow-legged walk. By contrast, Olga stands rigidly upright and moves at almost a march. From the run-down army camp at the start, the pair travel across a city that bears all the marks of a long conflict. There is only the occasional piece of music, with the action backed more by the ambient war sounds of constant shelling. Sound effects also tend to be militaristic in nature, with explosions and gunshots instigated by the characters.
Simple mouse controls involve right-clicking to look and left-clicking to interact. Over the course of the game, control switches between Ivan and Olga at certain points. Sometimes the two act in concert, with the other character following behind. More often, as they become separated by the fortunes of war, you will control each independently. Though these sections involve you guiding both characters within the same timeframes, you only switch when you complete an objective for one of them. Having been sent out underequipped, improvisation with the materials at hand is the order of the day. You also need to remember you are in a war zone, as careless actions can get the characters killed. Fortunately, such deaths simply reset the action to the start of the current short scene. There is also a section where you will need to spot and point out enemy combatants as you navigate a fortified area of streets. The game is humorous, though given the subject matter, the comedy is unsurprisingly dark.
Sniper and Spotting Being Patriotic can be downloaded from the AGS website.
Willem’s Winners
Vortex Point 7: Waddington Swamp
Dr. Prescott, a distinguished professor, visits the Vortex Point team because he needs a guide to take him to the center of Waddington Swamp. The police insist he needs one because most of the people who venture into the swamp are later found lying dead on its shore. There is even a special cemetery for the unfortunate souls who lost their lives there. The professor doesn’t believe any of the things people say about the swamp, however, and just wants to get there as soon as possible. So Kevin takes him as far as he dares to go. On the way, he meets a nice shop owner, an old enemy and a big alligator. He also makes an old man very happy.
The Vortex Point series continually brings together the best of what Carmel Games has to offer, and the seventh installment, Waddington Swamp, is no exception to this rule. As usual the game is shown in third-person mode in vivid slides (albeit in this game a bit dark to suit the swamp) in a cartoonish style with virtually no straight lines. The story starts at the team’s headquarters and the swamp excursion includes stops at a shack, the cemetery, a restaurant and a souvenir shop. Voice acting is excellent, as we expect from Carmel Games, and subtitles in one of eight different languages are displayed in a black bar at the top of the screen. The accompanying music is a dark and mysterious, a simple tune that fits the circumstances well. Sound effects like sawing through a fence and popping a cork out of a hole are adequate.
Like its predecessors, Waddington Swamp is played using only the left mouse button for all interaction. Icons for the game’s menu and a walkthrough are in the lower left corner of the screen, while the inventory is in the lower right. Most puzzles are inventory-based, but you also have to make some packages fit in a freezer and find the code to a lock somewhere. This game is a bit more difficult than is normal for Carmel Games, which makes it more interesting to play, while the atmosphere of the swamp and a nice twist in the story make it extra fun.
Vortex Point 7: Waddington Swamp can be played online at Kongregate.
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