Labrytinth - The Adventure Game

Have you ever wanted to grab a few friends and test yourself against the Goblin King and his Labyrinth? Now you can thanks to River Horse Games!

Let's start by looking at the book. Much like the Labyrinth itself, things are not what they seem at first glance here.

They made an interesting choice by cutting a small area out of the pages so that the custom dice can be stored in the book. It's a neat idea but I can easily see it leading to tearing a page if your finger gets hooked in there. Also, the owl in the bottom corner is on every page and you can flip the pages to make his wings flap.

Removing the dust jacket finds a replica of Sarah's book! For me, this alone is worth the price of admission. I'd be happy just to have this on display. But, there is adventure within!

Now Hear This - Gorky Park

Before you get your hopes up, no, this post is not about the soundtrack from the 1983 William Hurt movie of the same name. Today I'm talking about the glam rock/hair band Gorky Park.

The band originally formed in Soviet Russia (insert Yakov Smirnoff joke of choice here) in 1987. That same year, they came over the the US looking for a record deal, which they were able to score with help from Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

In 1989, they released a self-titled album and its first single "Bang".

This song got quite a bit of air play on MTV, which is how I first found them. The song has a catchy chorus and you can easily imagine an arena crowd chanting along. The video stayed in MTV's Top 15 for two months, topping out at number 3.

If you were old enough in the 80s, you no doubt remember the cold war and a time when it seemed like someone could "push the button" at any time to kick off a nuclear war. The US wasn't quite so friendly with Russia then so for a Soviet band to gain popularity in the US seemed like a big deal to me at the time.

The band's second single, "Try to Find Me" (Billboard #81) was the required on every hair/glam rock album power ballad. The song "Within Your Eyes" may not be a ballad but it's definitely a better candidate to find its way on to a mixtape.

It was the third single "Peace in Our Time" that really made them stand out for me because it features guest vocals by Bon Jovi! In the late 80s, you couldn't get much bigger. Both of these songs found their was to radio. I also dig their cover of The Who's "My Generation".

Although they released three more albums during the 90s, they never managed to match their initial success. With grunge on its way in and the third and fourth albums only being released in Russia I never knew they had more albums until the internet came along.

The first album will always stick with me. Anytime I listen to it it immediately takes me back to the late 80s when the world was a much different place.

Missile Command: Recharged

Missile Command is the latest Atari classic to make the transition to mobile. The game play is essentially the same, but you can't bring a 40 year old game into the present without a few changes, right?

You'll notice right away one of the biggest changes are the graphics. Most everything is now rendered in a Tron-esque neon. I think this gives it a more retro feel than if it was replicating the original graphics. Somewhat lost under an annoying "soundtrack" are the original arcade sounds. It's not bad the first couple times you play but thankfully, it can be switched off.

To defend your cities, you still have 3 bases which now have unlimited ammo but take time to reload before they can be fired again. Since you direct shots by tapping the screen, you can't choose the base that shoots. This can be challenging! It seems to use the closest base that is ready to fire. It might not sound like much but it will be an adjustment for veteran Commanders.

There are no longer attack waves to break up the assault, you are consistently under bombardment. It starts out slow, but of course things begin to get more intense the longer you play. Your cities don't rebuild, but destroyed bases will. At least if there is a point where you get extra cities I haven't hit it yet, my best so far is around 25k.

The incoming ordnance is also a bit different. Enemy missiles now come in three sizes (smart bombs in two!) with projectile speed increasing as they get smaller. Also in the skies will be the occasional "power-up" which...isn't quite the right word because it's not always something you want! Maybe environmental modifier? These can slow things down, speed them up, set off a bomb that will clear the screen, and more.

Another new feature is that you can improve your defenses as you play. Your score after a game translates to points to buy upgrades for missile speed, explosion size, and how quickly your bases can reload or rebuild themselves. I think these add a good incentive to play again other than beating your last score because you'll get higher scores the more you improve.

The game is free but unless you pay $2.99 you'll be stuck with limited replay, represented by a battery graphic that loses one of three bars per game played with one bar recharging every 20 minutes. The free version has all the features of the paid so it's worth checking out if you're an arcade fan.

This is a fun return to a classic but honestly I don't see myself playing it much once it gets to the point where I'll have to play 2 or 3 games just to improve one thing. I'll probably keep it around as a time filler for awhile.

I almost forgot, there is one more fun new thing they put in here: Augmented Reality. Now you can have a Missile Command cabinet wherever you go. You can get right up close to it and the image is super crisp. You can also access the game from here so it's almost like walking up to a machine to play.