PA Adventures look like ew

I thought this comic was just a random non-sequitur. Then I saw screenshots.

Horrible, horrible screenshots.

Seriously, and I say this as someone who liked Dark Chronicle a lot, there is no visual style I've hated this much in a long time. Its ingredients all sound like they should work out, but they do not. This is like the anti-Lister-patent sandwich.

PA Adventures reviews on Eurogamer and Jolt seem to complement each other nicely.

Nelly Cootalot, saviour of my sanity

Sorry about that, it's been a horrible half year and I've hardly had time to play anything. In this orful time, the little AGS adventure Nelly Cootalot: Spoonbeaks Ahoy! came as a Shubsend.


Cutesy? Well it is, but not in a nauseating kind of way. It's close to being one of the best possible light and casual adventures — even moreso than the new Sam & Max, come to think of it.

In theme, the game of course recalls the third Monkey Island, right down to the "verb coin" interface — my biggest gripe with the game is that I kept forgetting to hold down the left mouse button to activate it. The thing is, I had about as much fun playing Spoonbeaks as I had playing the much longer and more expensive (to make and to buy) Monkey 3. Nelly Cootalot just oozes a kind of infectious charm, underscored by the fresh visual style that takes it as far as it possibly can without becoming too precious.

Featuring as it does a meaty amount of great puzzles that only sent me packing for hints a couple of times, Nelly Cootalot is just about the perfect ticket for 3-6 hours of pleasant adventuring.