http://obscuritory.holenet.info The Games You Never Played Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:41:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/blog/help-out/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/blog/help-out/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:40:14 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=2361
The Labyrinth of Time is a beautiful, forgotten game. Luckily, the artist is still going at it, and he has a new book coming out! But he needs some money before he can start publishing it. That’s where you come in. If you have some spare change, please send a little money to Bradley W. [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/blog/help-out/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/racing/hoverski/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/racing/hoverski/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:33:45 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=1914
Don’t let the 80s stock photography scare you away! HoverSki has the foundations of a great top-down racing game. You get a track, a jet-ski, and you go fast. You’d struggle to find anything simpler. But the game shakes that modesty and tip-toes into the world of extreme sports, and that’s a big misstep. Hoverski was [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/racing/hoverski/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/software/seize-the-day/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/software/seize-the-day/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:45:51 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=2272
Planner programs are one of the many relics of 90s computing. Nowadays we can happily default to Google Docs, Outlook, iCal, or whatever we have on our phones, but before we synced up with the cloud, the competition was fierce. If computers could do nothing else right, they would still store contacts and remind you [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/software/seize-the-day/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/adventure/eastern-mind-the-lost-souls-of-tong-nou/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/adventure/eastern-mind-the-lost-souls-of-tong-nou/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:56:22 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=2146
Playing Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-Nou for the first time is a life-affirming moment. In a world where games need to be marketable, along comes one so incomprehensible that I mistook it for a fevered dream for nearly a decade afterward. Eastern Mind is, unquestionably, the strangest game ever made. It’s the interactive equivalent of a [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/adventure/eastern-mind-the-lost-souls-of-tong-nou/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/sim/big-rig/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/sim/big-rig/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:53:18 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=2113
Not many simulation games from the 80s earn their genre’s moniker like Big Rig. The creator, Bill Pogue, must have had a thing for freight trucking when he set out to recreate an accurate cross-country cargo trip. For goodness’s sake, this is a text-based driving sim that keeps track of the weight of your fuel. [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/sim/big-rig/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/puzzle/star-wars-pit-droids/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/puzzle/star-wars-pit-droids/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:15:30 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=1138
Hear me out on this one. Star Wars Pit Droids! is a kids game based on the widely panned pod-racing segments from Episode I. If this game was produced by serial rapists, it could not have any less going for it. You’d be excused for passing it over. Against all odds, buried beneath a vile [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/puzzle/star-wars-pit-droids/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/sim/roller-coaster-factory/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/sim/roller-coaster-factory/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:41:49 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=1776
When I was a kid, I had this deep obsession with wanting to get a roller coaster video game. The object of my affection was Ultimate Ride, which looked incredible and extensive for its time. The demo took a full day to download on my dial-up connection, but in spite of my fervency, my old [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/sim/roller-coaster-factory/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/strategy/missionforce-cyberstorm/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/strategy/missionforce-cyberstorm/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:29:06 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=1218
Some games are forgotten by time because they’re awful, weird, or just don’t work right. As much as I appreciate quirkier, experimental games, mainstream game-consumers usually had some credible reason not to play them. Most of the games I write about for this blog are in that vein, even perennial favorites and beloved underdogs like [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/strategy/missionforce-cyberstorm/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/rpg/dont-go-alone/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/rpg/dont-go-alone/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:26:31 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=930
Haunted houses never get a fair rap. They might be cheesy and schlocky, but you’re getting what you pay for. Sometimes you just want cheap scares and creepy decorations. So thank goodness that Don’t Go Alone doesn’t put up any pretensions. It takes place in a haunted house, and you fight ghosts. Doors burst open [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/rpg/dont-go-alone/feed/ 0 http://obscuritory.holenet.info/action/arcade/frogger-3d-hes-back/ http://obscuritory.holenet.info/action/arcade/frogger-3d-hes-back/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:24:04 +0000 Shadsy http://obscuritory.holenet.info/?p=1185
The 90s reboot of Frogger kicks ass. I swear to god. This game is great. As great as Frogger can be, anyway. It’s like someone took the original and injected it with shark hormones and nitroglycerin. Hyperbole aside, the Frogger remake (occasionally subtitled Frogger 3D or Frogger: He’s Back!) is easily the best in the [...]]]> http://obscuritory.holenet.info/action/arcade/frogger-3d-hes-back/feed/ 0