Runaway: A Twist of Fate

I started playing this maybe a year and a half ago, but then we were moving and I got distracted, and the desktop computer I installed it on isn't in a great spot for extended gaming in the new house. But now I've got the new gaming  laptop so I'm giving it another shot. Took a while to get downloaded, but I was finally ready to go...

Can't... resist...

Aww just look at that Civ V icon. All lonely on the desktop. It's practically screaming "click me!" Guess it's time to try out the new Viking civilization. The bonus is that units can embark much faster, so I figured I'd play them on the Caribbean map since that should be lots of islands. But no, it's pretty much the southern US, Mexico, Central America, the top of South America, and Cuba. So that was less effective than it should have been. Also ski troops aren't so useful around the equator. But it didn't matter. I killed Caesar for daring to settle next to some ivory I wanted, but then let everyone else live as I went for a cultural victory.

Kitti-on-mousepad delay

Ok really this time - gonna load up Runaway 3. I like the Pendulo games because they're funny, cartoony graphic adventures with decent production values, which is pretty rare outside of Telltale's stuff. The main problem I have with them is the characters just refuse to be the remorseless kleptomaniacs one usually finds in adventure games.

Curse of Monkey Island inventory about 15 minutes in

"Keep one of the items on the scaffolding
to  prevent it from rusting"

In the first game there was some point where you need to get the idea that you need to fake a packet of instant coffee. Around the area is an empty wrapper in the trash and some coffee beans in an exhibit, and a character that expresses interest in having some coffee. But Brian absolutely refuses to pick either item up until you go through a bunch of dialog that makes it painfully obvious that THE NPC WANTS COFFEE. I think they mostly fixed that problem after Runaway 1, but there's still the problem that frequently you know what you want to do before the character does, and have to work on getting them to figure it out before continuing. Also, it's a problem that the characters sometimes don't want to steal everything that isn't nailed down, and sometimes have a problem with deceiving/hurting people. Given how Gina felt the need to justify taking some abandoned construction equipment, and saying that she'd definitely return a collection plate after she was done with it, it didn't even occur to me that she'd be fine not only taking an urn full of ashes, but then pouring them into a random box so the urn could be used for another purpose.

Much more acceptable than petty theft

The thing is, Brian and Gina aren't really any better than, say, Guybrush Threepwood. They'll steal, deceive people, and destroy their surroundings in pursuit of whatever the current goal is. They just make you feel a bit worse about it. Still, I do love that they clearly have the same clothing designer as Guybrush. That thing in the middle of the above picture is as tall as Gina yet somehow fits in her clothes until you use it.

Still, the Runaway games tend to be well-written and have mostly good puzzles, and I do enjoy them. It's just frustrating that they could easily be so much better.