BAD MOJO

BAD MOJO is a Kafkian tale of an insect expert embezzling grant money to find himself  turned into a cockroach  by his mother's magic locket the minute he's about to flee his rented apartment and his current life.The locket-mother becomes an oracle guiding the roach through an astonishing world of  tubes, holes, fuses, appliances, furniture, carcasses of other roaches and small animals,oozes and leaks of various kinds and other wonderful features of a nasty old landlord's building and the bar beneath it.
The roach-you solves puzzle after puzzle  and is addressed by the oracle after unlocking each part of your quest until finally presented with a choice -to save the landlord or yourself or both (in which  a family reunion is in order).

Interactive movie games became one of my favourite genres the minute I found out about them in the 90s and I enjoyed playing each and every one of them (The Klingon Academy, The Ripper, Burn: Cycle etc). The reason I value this title more than others is that it took the bizarre elements and used them consciously moving away from the prevalent cyberpunk and  movie franchise tendencies of the day, thus creating a singular outing in the world of interactive movies. Highly recommended!

HUMAN: FALL FLAT

Now this is what  I call gaming entertainment! This may easily be the most successful attempt at putting one's dream into a computer game.No gory details, no beheaded beasts, no visits from spectres or ancestors, just your own inadequacies, the fear of failure , loneliness and curiosity that you get punished for on a daily basis.The landscape is simplistic and stripped of  any detail that could be inconsequential  to such a dream.  Bob is naked, wearing only a protective helmet , and fears heights. Accordingly, he solves puzzles by moving different objects around and pushing buttons while walking across floating islands so that he could address his fear by jumping off the platform and falling flat onto another level.To spice the feeling of inability to run things and limited physical movement while we dream , Bob is innately clumsy. In order to get Bob through all the 12 levels you have to master the awkward mechamics (OCTODAD  comes to mind)  that's integral to the game's value and charm. Failure is awarded by laughter in the proud tradition of slapstick humour and  narration borders on misanthropy. This is the kind of dream you can easily see yourself waking up from in a pearl of sweat.
And if you want to introduce your friend to this nightmarish world, there's always the split-screen cooperative multiplayer mode. Enjoy!

THE NEVERHOOD CHRONICLES

This game was  and still is a personal favourite from the 90s.Yes, it's a simple point-and-click adventure game with a linear structure and simple navigation throughout the imagined claymatian world. But what a magnificent world it is! Wooden and clay sets with abstract, yet easily identifiable architecture  of a highly artistic Demiurge aided by Terry Scott Taylor's  incredible genre-bending soundtrack invite you into a uniquely odd world. So many things I like about video games are featured here: superb stop-motion animation of the characters, awkward posture and coordination of Klaymen along with somewhat tedious walks he takes throughout the game, slapstick humour,silly full motion video cut scenes, puzzles that range from simple to abstract to silly, absense of inventory screens (I always disliked them in games) etc.
A cult classic that will be enjoyed even a hundred years from now!

JOURNEY

Probably the best game I've ever seen and played. The mere thought of making a game out of a life parable (imagine Piers Plowman made into a game :) ) and  succeeding in bringing all aspects of a regular human experience into a 2-hour gaming fun is a feat in itself. Everything befalls our beloved ethereal creature we guide through this life's journey: the loneliness and dignity of human experience,longing, growth, companionship. the beauty and mystery of life, the acquisiton of knowledge and experience, facing nature that is closer to Tarkowsky than Von Trier, wearing the ever-growing mark of  a seasoned soul. Our hearts slowly melt with passion and love and at the end of the game , when our character reaches the end of the road and passes on, it is very hard not to shed a tear. I know I did.Never have I felt such warmth in my heart while playing a computer game.

A true masterpiece of gaming if ever there was one.

SUPERHOT

I really dislike FPS games. I always did . I didn't like the original Doom,Wolfstein, I didn't even like playing Operation Wolf  in the local arcade when I was a kid. The stream of titles that flooded the market didn't  convert me into a fan, no siree (ok, except for maybe Borderlands). But then Superhot appeared and I was immediately attracted to it . Highly appealingly simplistic yet elegant visual representation combined with sparse use of colours gives this game a truly unique look. Plus the mechanics are impressive, limiting as they are- everything moves when you move your mouse , otherwise time passes extremely slow.The levels/missions don't last for days on end  (you can actually have a good night sleep before a daunting day at work), and each one is a bundle of joy and excitement. The look and feel of SUPERHOT make me almost forget I'm playing a game in  which I'm supposed to kill other living beings.

A masterpiece!

A Foreword

Games should be works of art defying the existing genres, current markets and should constantly defy expectations of both the young and the seasoned. I see playability, graphical capabilities and many other aspects that seem superimportant to us nowadays as secondary to games being authentic pieces of multidisciplinary art.
I'm too old to be playing Mortal Combat 56456, Tekken 234826, Super Mario on Steroids Part 293847 or other rehashes flooding the gaming market. Give me a small indie game that has an interesting twist to it and I'm hooked. Nothing against smart big titles either.
Ygorrr