FRANK HERBERT'S DUNE

There was a time when Dune could've been a behemoth of a franchise. Alejandro Jodorowsky's early treatment from the 70s became a legend in its own right and even inspired the likes of Star Wars and Alien. After David Lynch's underwhelming adaptation, the SyFy channel brought it to the small screen in the early 2000s with a small budget to match. So far, it's the best there is (that is until Denis Villeneuve gives us his inevitably awesome take) but I cannot forgive it for siring Frank Herbert's Dune, Cryo's broken attempt at a video game on PC and PlayStation 2.

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5 GAMES FOR JUNE

June's selection of games takes you on a trip around the world and beyond. First up is the space-themed pinball game 3D Ultra Pinball: Space Colony followed by a global racing tour in Magnetic Field's Network Q threequel International Rally Championship. Then, get into all sorts of hijinks while in Japan in Big Red Adventure's comedic predecessor Nippon Safes, Inc before travelling to a moon colony in order to protect its independence in the FPS sequel Rebel Moon Rising. Lastly, explore the trap-filled dungeons in the Tower of Souls, a rather unique dungeon crawling RPG.

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OUTWARS

If there's one overlooked sci-fi shooter of the 90s, it's Outwars, SingleTrac's balls-to-the-wall action game from 1998. Published by none other than MicroSoft, it bears comparisons to a certain space-bug movie of the time. Want to know more?

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STUPID INVADERS

Comedy is something of a rarity in today's gaming market. Sure you may muster a titter or two at the quips made in Doom or the tantrum of a losing sibling in Mario Kart but none of them gets there through actual, full-on comedy. That's where classic adventures shine. And one that does is Xilam's 2000 point-and-clicker Stupid Invaders.

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5 GAMES FOR MAY 2019

For the month of May, gun down some terrorists in the PC-only light-gun shooter A.D. Cop. Take turns to solve the murder in Foul Play: Mystery at Awkward Manor based on Clue/Cluedo. Drive fast down dirt tracks and country roads in Network Q RAC Rally Championship. Destroy everything that moves in the little-known sci-fi first-person-shooter Rebel Moon. Finally, take your wrestling skills around the EU in WWF European Rampage Tour. Read on for more...

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5 GAMES FOR APRIL 2019

Capping off a month of Star Trekking, here's a quintet of mini-reviews set in the universe. First up is Star Trek: First Contact, an interactive fiction featuring the original crew. Next is Star Trek: Pinball, where you can fight for the high score in three unique tables. You can find out everything you need to know about the Enterprise, including an interactive guided tour in Star Trek: The Next Generation - Interactive Technical Manual. There's a more visual take on interactive fiction in Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Transinium Challenge. To cap it all of, you can follow the plot of the fifth movie in the multi-genred Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.


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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - A FINAL UNITY

In my continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, I thought I'd seek out new life and new civilizations in Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity. Let's boldly go where no one (or quite a few judging by the sales numbers) has gone before, and take a look at Spectrum Holobyte's classic 1995 adventure that is perhaps my favourite Star Trek game of them all.

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STAR TREK: ARMADA

Many a gaming genre has worn the Star Trek license, but out of all of them, the Real Time Strategy perhaps fits Gene Roddenberry's egalitarian concept the best. Shooters are arguably too violent for the peaceful goals of the Federation while narrative-driven adventures don't always delve into the complexities of diplomacy, telling distinctly one-sided stories. So let's talk about Star Trek: Armada, Activision's 1999 attempt to do the cult phenomenon justice.

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STAR TREK: GENERATIONS

Three years after Captain Kirk passed the torch over to Jean Luc Picard in the seventh Star Trek motion picture, MicroProse finally gave us the movie tie in. Released in 1997, Star Trek: Generations adds a heavy dose of adventuring to the first-person-shooter but is it any better for it?

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STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9 - HARBINGER

Out of all of the Star Trek spin-offs, Deep Space 9 is arguably one of the best though it is somewhat underrepresented in video-game form. In 1995, the Federation space station located on the far side of the Milky Way came to PCs in a hybrid adventure game by Stormfront Studios called Harbinger.

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STAR TREK: KLINGON HONOR GUARD

Compared to other long-running franchises, Star Trek has had a pretty good run of games. In 1998, MicroProse had you play as one of the series' most famous villains - The Klingons - in Star Trek: Klingon Honor Guard.

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THE THING

John Carpenter's The Thing is a milestone in sci-fi cinema so it's surprising that it took 20 years until we saw a videogame based on it. Released in 2002, Computer Artworks underrated gem proved that it was worth the wait. So much so that John Carpenter himself officially endorsed it as the canonical sequel.

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GENEWARS

When you think of the iconic games spawned from the minds of Bullfrog, chances are you'd list off a number of all-time favourites. Legendary god-games like Populous, Theme Park, Syndicate or Dungeon Keeper solidified their name in history. However, very few are likely to put forth GeneWars in that memorable list of classics, but does this black sheep deserve to be overlooked?

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QUEEN: THE EYE

With Bohemian Rhapsody winning all kinds of awards, the awesome musical stylings of Queen are again on everyone's minds - if they ever left. But on the outskirts of their rock anthems and operatic concept albums sits a band with a keen interest in science-fiction. We all know Flash Gordon, and some may have seen the Orwellian We Will Rock You on the stage, but most fascinating is Queen: The eYe (yes, that's how it's spelt), a little-known action-adventure published by Electronic Arts in limited numbers back in 1998.

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RIPPER

In the realm of FMV computer games, has there ever been a more star-studded cast that of Ripper? Released in 1996 by Take-Two Interactive, it stars Christopher Walken, Karen Allen, Burgess Meredeth and several other recognisable faces among the rabble of Hollywood working stiffs. But can this retelling of Jack the Ripper transposed to the cyberpunk future of 2040 match the movie-quality output of its US setting?

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THE X-FOOLS: THE SPOOF IS OUT THERE

The folks at Parroty Interactive are at it again with another pop-culture parody. This time it's the classic 90's supernatural procedural that falls victim to their particular brand of 'comedy'.  Having a timely release in 1997 when X-Files fever was at a high, there's a lot for The X-Fools to mock, but how does it fare for fans and non-fans alike?

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MEN IN BLACK: THE GAME

A pivotal movie in my early teenage years was the Will Smith starring blockbuster Men In Black. Much like any other major movie at the time, a video game tie-in was released. Developed by Gigawatt Studios with the underrated SouthPeak Interactive (of Temüjin fame) handling publishing duties, this Resident Evil-like action adventure went somewhat under the radar back in 1997.

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FLYING SAUCER

Alien mythology and conspiracy theories reached mainstream popularity in the 90s thanks to a certain sci-fi TV show. One of the most obscure and overlooked games from this era is this PostLinear developed simulation from 1998 that sees you piloting a Flying Saucer. And it sure does owe a lot to the phenomenon that was The X-Files.

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ALIEN VIRUS

With the number of games set in an abandoned space station, it could very well be a sub-genre all on its own. I know I've features enough on them on this site to notice a pattern. So let's look at another one. Here's a 1995 adventure game by Trecision called Alien Virus.

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MAJESTIC: PART 1 - ALIEN ENCOUNTER

Istvan Pely has become something of a minor celebrity in the gaming world. He is currently the lead artist for Bethesda's biggest titles most notably Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. Before he came to that envious position, he designed a trilogy of loosely related adventure games. The first was Majestic: Part 1 - Alien Encounter, a first-person space adventure released in 1995.

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