The Manhole: Masterpiece Edition

how the media portrays taking drugs

Reminds me of the old Humongous Entertainment games (Putt Putt, Pajama Sam, etc) except there's no story or goal. It's a neat piece of history, and it might keep your child entertained for a while. I won't judge it too harshly since it's pretty old and obviously aimed at children. For what it is, it's alright. I feel as if I have to pay it a certain amount of respect for the road it paved for the modern point and click/exploration genre of today that we know and love. Don't expect much, but if you got it in some bundle or another, it's okay to check out once just for the experience. You aren't missing much though and I wouldn't go out of your way for it.

I got this as part of a bundle and decided to try it out . It's...weird. It's like a kid version of the original Myst or Shivers. So even though I never played this as a kid it still gave me a kind of nostalgic feeling, just because of the way the game is constructed. I'd probably wait for it to be on sale unless you have specific childhood memories of this, though. But it was still good for a solid 30 - 40 minutes of feeling like a kid again.

the manhole is a short but sweet childrens game full of amusement and adventure. this is of course a remaster of the original game but mostly still keeps most of its charm.

Having recently turned 39, I decided to play The Manhole for the first time. It does bring me back to my childhood, in that yes it strikes me as a computer game whose origins were in 1988. Back in the days when it was amusing to click a picture and hear a boing boing sound. This entire game is like a sophisticated version of one of those playtoys in the crib that makes noises and moves about and accomplishes nothing. In a way, that's how it was advertised too. I don't mean to denigrate the purpose- a surreal exploration game with no goal but to enjoy and be silly. But the length of this thing makes it tedious to learn. If I was young enough to laugh at the same goofy noise every day then maybe this would be the game for me. Would I have the motor skills to use the computer though? The Masterpiece Edition graphical upgrade over the original certainly aged poorly. It visually resembles Myst with less effort, but navigation is difficult. Where do I click to turn around? Can I go back from here? The original line art didn't translate well into 3D rendered worlds when the latter hints at open world exploration, but the navigational nodes are restricted. The music is obnoxious, with the exclusion of a few selections, and it abruptly cuts in or out based on a random action. It doesn't set a mood so much as tell you you've entered a wacky room. I'm sure there are youths with strong emotional ties to this game, the same way I still have a stuffed rabbit sitting on my bed. I wouldn't recomend my rabbit to anybody though.

"has stopped working"

Acid trip Myst with a bunch of bugs.

Pretty simplistic point & click. Kinda cute, quirky, and charming. Has some display and control issues, but they are understandable after so many years. Probably not worth as much as it is, so get this on sale.