Nukezilla Review: Host Master and the Conquest of Humor (Flash)

Hey, remember the late 80′s/early 90′s, when LucasArts (then, Lucasfilm) games produced point-and-click adventure games? Remember how the puzzles in those games involved as little actual logic as possible? Remember how funny those games were? Remember how Tim Schafer was involved in most of them?

Those days were awesome. And Tim Schafer remembers them well, because he (along with co-designer Klint Honeychurch) created a fun, retro throwback to the old SCUMM Engine days, titled Host Master and the Conquest of Humor.

Host Master involves Tim Schafer (in a tux, surprisingly), hanging out backstage at the Game Developers Choice Awards, waiting to emcee. Suddenly, Tim realizes he has no jokes for his keynote speech, and must find up to 22 jokes hidden in the green room in order to deliver a legendary keynote speech and….save the game industry, perhaps?

Like many adventure games of the era, a lot of the fun lies in the dialogue rather than the gameplay, and Host Master is no exception. While the jokes that Tim must find are understandably lame (though I’m sad to admit one or two caught me off guard), the jokes he cracks while in search of them will keep players smiling throughout the entirety of the playthrough (try telling Tim to “turn on” stuff).

Unfortunately, Host Master is far too short, but surprisingly contains multiple endings (try finishing the game with zero jokes, or finishing with all 22 in order to unlock Moonwalk Mode, which is more fun than I care to admit), and the music — all thirty seconds of it before it fades away, never to return — is fun and zany and another throwback to the old DOS sound cards.

Any fans of old school adventure games, who remember that a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle is naturally the only way to travel a canyon, should definitely wander over to Double Fine’s site and play Host Master immediately.

Click here to play Host Master and the Conquest of Humor.

This review is Day 13 of the December Review Nukestravaganza.