Category Archives: Games

by Martin Mulrooney | 24/11/2009 · 12:00 pm

INTERVIEW – In Conversation With Jakub Dvorsky, Founder Of Amanita Design And Creator Of Machinarium

By Marty Mulrooney

jakub_dvorsky_2

Alternative Magazine Online recently reviewed the fantastic Machinarium here, an indie point and click adventure created by Amanita Design. Founded by Samorost 1&2 creator Jakub Dvorsky, the studio’s latest offering has received glowing reviews from the gaming press, showing that even the smallest indie endeavours can reach a larger audience if enough care and attention is given during the creation process.

Featuring exclusive artwork and insight into the creation of Machinarium, Alternative Magazine Online is proud to present an interview with the man behind it all, Jakub Dvorsky. Enjoy!

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Filed under Alternative Musings, Games

Tagged as Adventure Games, Amanita Design, Jakub Dvorsky, Machinarium, point and click, Samorost

by Martin Mulrooney | 23/11/2009 · 12:00 pm

GAME REVIEW – Machinarium

By Marty Mulrooney

machinariumheader

The first thing that strikes you about Machinarium, the new point and click adventure game from Amanita Design (creators of Samorost 1&2), are its graphics. Showing a dense robot city full of hustle and bustle, the artwork on display is never anything less than stunning, elevating the material far above its Adobe Flash-based engine. (Usually used for short, online-only games.)

The next thing you notice is the sound design. This game features amazing background music and sound-effects, perfectly suited to the onscreen visuals. It really is a delightful pleasure to load up an independent game from a small Czech development studio and be blown away, in this day and age of HD graphics and next-gen console gaming, by an indie offering.

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Filed under Games

Tagged as Adobe Flash, Amanita Design, Jakub Dvorsky, Machinarium, Machinarium Review, Samorost

by Guest/Previous | 21/11/2009 · 1:00 pm

GAME REVIEW – Halo 3 ODST (Xbox 360)

By Duncan Voice

There’s something quite unnerving walking around a big city on your own at night. It can be a lonely experience, with the fear of coming across a gang of thugs ready to ruin your evening. Overturned vehicles line the streets, corpses strewn along the pavement. No, this isn’t a stroll around Gloucester on a Wednesday evening, this is a night in the life of The Rookie, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

This expansion-cum-full-game pits you as the aforementioned Rookie, as he tries to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of his squad after they were knocked off course by the Prophet of Regrets ship, during a drop into New Mombasa. The game attempts to expand the Halo storyline, and takes place during Halo 2 before The Covenant vitrify the city.

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Tagged as Bungie, Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo 3 ODST Review, Martin O Donnell, ODST, Xbox, XBOX Live

by Guest/Previous | 19/11/2009 · 12:00 am

GAME REVIEW – Batman: Arkham Asylum Second Opinion (From A Batman Fanboy!)

By Duncan Voice

Batman-Arkham-Asylum

To the left of the desk where I am writing this stands a glass cabinet containing the complete line of Batman Hush action figures, including the Jason Todd as Hush figure, only one of two thousand ever made, pristine in the box of course.

To the right stands a bookcase holding about fifty pieces of Batman literature ranging from Frank Miller masterpieces The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, and the seminal Year One, to Jeph Loeb’s Batman:Hush and The Long Halloween, to the infamous Knightfall series where Bane defeats the Batman.

I left the cinema after both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight feeling particularly underwhelmed. Such is the plight of the fanboy, nothing is good enough. The films seemed to forget that Batman is the ‘Worlds Greatest Detective’. He’s a thinking mans Superhero. If Superman reads Nuts magazine, Batman reads Esquire.

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