Isolation Games

On Saturday - at a mate's wedding no less - I came down with the dreaded swine flu. The fever, shivers, nausea and sweats kicked in, as well as a whole load of other stuff that I can't mention on a family-friendly blog such as PC Format's.

I managed to get my sweaty arse to Boots and grab some Tamiflu, which is rather odd stuff. I swear I started gurning at one point. The NHS helpline recommended five days of quarantine, so until yesterday I've been stuck in my room with little more than a computer for company.

What a great time to catch up on some games I've always wanted to play, I thought to myself. So between finishing off Series 5 of The Wire (great stuff) and passing out, I filled my sick time with the following games:

THE DIG

I've been playing this for Format, but never finished it. It's a great game, but the finale is abysmal, the kind of schmalzy sci-fi of which The Dig's story progenitor Steven Spielberg is so proud. It doesn't tie up any of the game's loose ends. And another complaint - without wanting to give too much away - when death is irrelevant, any investment in the characters falls by the wayside.

MIRROR'S EDGE

Whilst we're on the subject of characters falling by the wayside, Mirror's Edge's Faith also falls off buildings. A lot. I was intrigued by the Jet Set Radio-esque looks of the game, and the minimalist-future design. But as I tumbled from a great height for the ninth time, I realised that this might not be a good gaming experience for someone suffering from balance issues and nausea.

BRAID

Somehow this indie gem passed me by, but it's a cracking little title. Even though I was only playing the demo, it gave me a lovely feeling of genteel, folksie English warmth that made me forget about the pain. A better treatment for Swine Flu than trippy anti-virals.

FULL THROTTLE

I have to confess that I did start Day of the Tentacle, which I remember fondly from my youth, but I found the whole 90s wackiness incredibly off-putting. When you wake up in cold sweats with a hallucination of Laverne crazily walking towards you, you know it's time to move on to something else.

So, I booted up Full Throttle. I never played it on its release, but it's gone straight to the top of my LucasArts adventure charts. For a 14-year-old game it hasn't dated badly at all: as Tim Schafer's upcoming (but not on the PC, poo!) Brutal Legend confirms, there's still a lot of mileage in the oily sweaty rock-biker aesthetic.

Full Throttle is almost perfect as it stands, the voice acting is spot-on, and I found myself laughing more in the first five minutes than I did during the entirity of The Dig. But I could see a Monkey Island-style facelift going a long way: the game is let down by a handful of unresponsive action sequences. Other than that, it's one of the best games I've ever played. It's not on Steam, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.