The Games Workshop has stood as a shining beacon in town centres around the world as gathering spots for nerds, geeks and every available derisory word we can think of.
We don’t feel bad saying that because some of us hecklerspray writers (cough ahem) were included in that ‘nerdy’ few who devoted far too much time to the table top franchise [You're all perverts - Ed.].
For a number of years, table-top games have dared to jump from dice to the 21st century with several releases such as Space Hulk, Dawn of War, Fire Warrior but to little success except for inside pre-existing fan bases. Developer Relic Entertainment should however buck that trend with Space Marine, a gratifyingly violent third-person shooter/hack-n-slash combo that even non Games Workshop collectors can enjoy.
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It’s nice to find a free game that craps all over many of those commercially available.
While Masq may not be one of the best lookers out there – though it is home to a distinctive style – it manages to captivate in the small doses it offers with some fine, branching storylines and a level of freedom most games can only ever dream of.
In fact, the best way to put it is exactly how PC Gamer said it:
The Deus Ex of comic-strip soap operas. Get shot, divorced, incarcerated, all three, and more.
And that’s bloody high praise. A great timewaster and fantastic game in its own right.
Play Masq Here:
Masq
It’s really quite annoying when you ‘discover’ a talent out there that you really enjoy the work of, then it turns out they’re the same age as you are.
Not that hecklerspray has an actual age, of course – we are but a huge hive-mind entity made of pure carbon and powered entirely on bicep juice. But still – you mortals know what we mean.
One of these talented young chaps, known around the world of gaming as ‘Yahtzee’ is one Ben Croshaw; creator of the frankly hilarious Zero Punctuation video game reviews and part-time game-maker. The first of the fruits of his labour was 5 Days a Stranger, a horror adventure game starring what became Croshaw’s trademark character, ‘Trilby’.
For a free game that clocks in a fairly short amount of playing time, you still feel satisfied with what’s on offer. Cleverly written, witty, logical and with just enough challenge to keep you playing, 5DaS is a fantastic example of free, independently-developed games at their best.
And he’s made a series out of them, so there are more games to download once you’ve finished this one. Which is nice.
Go and Check Yahtzee’s Stuff Out:
5 Days a Stranger
Zero Punctuation
As any nostalgic 25 – 30 year old will tell you the mid-80s were a truly magical cinematic time for any kid to grow up in. In the wake of George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy, we were bombarded with a cluster of imaginative, mystical live-action fantasy adventure films, which eagerly promoted a genuine sense of mischievous fun and adventure.
Tales of typically normal excitable youngsters going on epic adventures that lifted the heart stirred the soul and haunted our dreams. But it was the palpable sense of adventure that really convinced, giving us youngsters an achievable sense of daydream adventure – long before the internet or Xbox-claimed adolescent imagination.
Why the mid-80s? Give us another span of time where there was an equally audacious flux of films that dared to lift the lid on Pandora’s Box to capture our imagination and fiendishly tape into our most primal kiddie fears? So forget the CGI-bloated likes of Harry Potter, Golden Compass and the new Narnia adventures and let us divulge to you hecklerspray’s definitive Top 10 Cult Classic Fantasy Adventure Flicks from the Mid-80s…
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