Android Gaming Update - ScummVM and Flight of the Amazon Queen

Ok, so this is a kind of joint 'review' of ScummVM and 'Flight of the Amazon Queen'. First off, ScummVM. If you've never heard of it, SCUMM VM lets you play old adventure games (such as Monkey Island) on various devices, including Android! If you're used to the 'click on something in the Play Store and install it and go' type approach then this is slightly more complicated, but it's worth the effort. (You have to install ScummVM and also the plugins for the games you want and download the game files and install them in the right places.) Also, steering a mouse pointer around with the touch screen is a bit strange to begin with but necessary to play the games.

So, what was the first game I played with ScummVM? A game that I bought on the Amiga years ago and never finished, 'Flight of the Amazon Queen'. Oddly, I enjoyed it a lot more this time round. The only annoying thing was a puzzle that I couldn't figure out and still don't understand even though I looked up the answer - which buttons to press in the temple to open a certain door. If anyone gets to this and works out why you press what you press, please let me know! I'd gladly have paid money for this as a finished game on Android, so getting it for free with ScummVM makes it even better! I really enjoyed it. It centres around Joe King, Pilot for Hire, who ends up roaming around the Amazon trying to stop an evil Scientist called Doctor Ironstein from turning people into an evil Dinosaur army. The puzzles are mostly fairly obvious (with a bit of thought) and there are some laugh out loud moments. If you liked the humour of LucasArts games you'll probably like this! FOTAQ is from the peak of adventure gaming, really, originally released in 1994 (this ScummVM version was made available in 2004).

ScummVM is a great opportunity to play old games and it's perfectly legal - a lot of people want their old games played and aren't going to spend the money making them work on modern devices, so its emulation approach is a brilliant way to give these games another airing.

The only question remaining is what to play next!