Great games and gaming news from around the Web
Want to ruin Halloween? Sure. Why not? Give it a try. This puzzle has driven many players totally insane. I’m actually not kidding. I’m dead serious. It’s really hard. It can warp your helpless mind and make you smash your computer. I have received more hate mail for this little puzzle than for any other reason.
Why don’t you try it? Go ahead… see if you can solve it.
You won’t regret it… for a while.
If you wonder what it might have been like to be Victor Frankenstein working in his laboratory to bring life to the stitched together parts of dead people… wonder no more! You can be the brilliant doctor as he fights off a mob of angry villagers and tries to harness the power of lightning to animate his dead creature.
Enjoy splattering blood, flying brains, bats carrying explosives, and unlimited firepower in this action-packed horror spectacle.
WARNING: This is a frightening and violent horror game. May not be suitable for young children. Parents must use their judgment.
Our little game is based upon the wonderful work of totally original horror and philosophy by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. It was published in 1818, when Shelley was 19.
If you are going to read one great horror novel, this is it. Here’s a book scan of the novel at the Internet Archive. Here’s a download text version.
Here’s an excellent blog devoted to Frankenstein.
Improving upon the most boring character in the history of world literature, Electronic Arts is going to release an action game called Dante’s Inferno. From the looks of the preview, this version of the Dante character is much more interesting and capable than the literary original who is the main character in the Divine Comedy trilogy consisting of the epic poems called Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Author Dante Alighieri wrote himself into his epic poem as a rather stolid, questioning dullard who follows the ghost of Virgil around in hell. He whines about all the people who did him wrong in life and coincidentally runs into almost all of them during his sour-grapes tour of Satan’s domain. But this video version of Dante kicks some smokin’ butt. This is the Dante I’ve been waiting for and I am going to relish using my Xbox controller to stomp around and cut the heads off some nasty devils and repentant sinners.
It’s probably best to at least read Inferno before playing so that you can agree with me on how to improve the irritating main character. But I will credit Mr. Dante Alighieri with one major achievement: he seems to have invented multi-level game play. His version of hell is a series of rings that descend toward the most terrible of sins and punishments. That’s pretty much the definition of modern computer gaming.
So, have you tried this puzzle yet?
It’s hard. Don’t cheat. Leave comments here if you want to beg for clues or insult the game-maker. And remember… it’s really hard. You have to get the mummy out of the tomb. You can hear him pleading with you from behind that door. Listen. Set him free… if you can.
Here’s an article by Tim Martin in The Telegraph about how computer games are having a growing influence on literature. As the game’s trailer shows, the upcoming computer game, Dante’s Inferno, will be a wild ride into hell. I’m sure the game is full of levels as most games are and as Dante’s original literary Inferno certainly is. It will also most likely contain a good sampling of quotations from the original since you’ve got two poets running around in hell making observations and explaining things for all of us. In the electronic version I’m sure that Dante will get to cut off many limbs and heads and such things. I don’t know – is gaming influencing literature or the other way around? Maybe a little. I think gaming is having more of an effect on film making. Maybe the answer is in the trailer. I also think that if you are going to make a game based on Inferno, you should not make it an action game. You should make it an open-ended exploration of hell. Just that. No more required.
It’s always good to watch a western. Rockstar Games has released this trailer for their new game, Red Dead Redemption. The game sure looks good and if it’s anywhere near Grand Theft Auto it’ll be one to try.
Kongregate.com has a fun zombie shooter game that’s free. You start out in a fortification that’s surrounded by marauding zombies. You must earn your keep with the survivors by going out on missions to kill zombies, find supplies, and rescue other survivors. There’s lots of blood and wandering undead that are surprisingly difficult to dispatch. Great fun.