Spud!

its Donner *dog whistles* HUBBA HUBBA

Jerry: sAY hOW YOu DoINg? HEhe, kNow tHE PaSsWoRd? uH-UhH nO CLUeS!

Dave: CAt gOT YOuR tOngUe bUCKo?

Jerry: YoU KNoW wHAT I tHInk DaVE?

Dave: suRE DO jeRRY!

Jerry: HE DOeSN'T KnOW ThE pasSwoRD!

Dave: oK KiD YOu GoT fIVe sEcOnDS tO CLEar The ArEa... fIvE, foUR, thrEe, tWo, OnE!

INTENSE TURRET SHOOTING AT SPUD!

Spud! is an ancient game from 1996. It's a whopping 28 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. This seems to have been put on Steam as a nostalgia gouge, or just a cash grab to try profit from abandonware.

This is a comedy themed point and click adventure game where you move between various 360 wraparound scenes, back in the day when CD-ROMs and "Multimedia" was new. Does anyone even use the term "Multimedia" anymore? Okay. That's how old and busted this is.

This game is so old it runs in DOSBOX and doesn't take advantage of hardware acceleration. It has a dated control scheme, dated graphics, and runs poorly due to the DOSBOX emulation. While DOSBOX is a fine tool for those seeking retro gaming, it's not really appropriate for ancient abandonware like this to be dumped on Steam without any modernisation, this is just a greedy cash grab from developers trying to get your money for dead software, they want to pay them a second time for a game you probably already owned. Or maybe not, in this case, because it really was bad then, and it's bad now.

From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expect as standard.

There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks. There's no way to ensure this is running at the native resolution of your display. There's no guarantee this game will look right on any PC as a result of this hamfisted design decision.

The game only displays in 4:3 pillarboxed aspect ratio, due to the age of the game, it predates the 16:9 widescreen gaming standard established back in 2006. It's possible they're marketing this towards people using an old CRT they found in a dumpster, or this game is being specifically marketed towards people gaming on PC's from 1995... either way, this isn't really acceptable in the modern era of PC gaming. It's obviously not going to look right on a modern 16:9 gaming display.

The controls can't be customised because the game has such a dumbed down, simplified interface that it's just point and click stuff like a browser/Flash game. The fact that the interface is this dumbed down might be seen as a problem in itself, however... this is a fairly shallow experience if you're the kind of gamer that likes to play games with deep, rich control schemes and interaction. You'll get none of that here.

These technical defects push this game below acceptable standards for any modern PC game.

The poor quality of this game is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the all-time peak player number was only 2 players. This is a remarkably low number, and now, the only player activity occurs once or twice a month, presumably someone loading it up to see what it is then quickly uninstalling it. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 100,000 games for gamers to choose from, the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality game is to be expected.

So, should you buy this game? Is this one of the best of the 100,000+ games on Steam?

Spud! is relatively expensive for an abandonware nostalgia gouge, at $4 USD, and it's not worth it. The game is just too old, hasn't been modernised. And as the old saying goes, you can't go home again. Even when it was new, this was never a triple-A game. This is the kind of game that went almost directly from the warehouse into the cheap bargain bins at the front of the shop. Now, on Steam, without any modernisation? This is impossible to recommend. This is also competing with over 11,000 free games available on Steam, many of them far better than this paid product.

this game is effin hilarious thers gnome and santa and they make a star war refernce like he says cold stores instead of clony wars and theres this deer lady she has big tits (breast) and after seeing them i ran to my bed threw my legs behind head and jerkd off into my mouth the main villain is called chillblade and he jumps out of window after a random kid breaks his dolls

I was thrilled to discover that Alternative Software are still going, I loved Skool Daze on my speccy (I've been a gamer since 1978, I'm that old and Skool Daze was ground breaking in it's day) and I came across Spud and decided to buy it based on it's art style ,and the fact it's made by Alternative Software.
I have to say it has that Alternative charm, It's quirky and a bit surreal and some of the puzzles are obtuse but that said, I would recommend picking it up on sale, Alternative have picked the right price, it's a little bit dated ( in a retro charming sort of way) and at a few pounds, dollars, yen etc , it's worth buying and experiencing the Alternative charm
If I was forced into comparing it to a cheese, it would be a good ripe Wendsleydale

Really weird, fun and surreal first person point and click adventure! I loved its early 3D pre-rendered look and animations. The controls can be a little wonky, but getting over them is really worth in order to enjoy this really unique adventure!

spud! is not a game about story
it is a game about patience. a game about not knowing what to do and still persevering, going forward and conquering your fears.
it may at first look like a kids game, but be not mistaken, this game is cruel
it'll force you to make decisions against your very own will. it will be harsh and it will punish you for your mistakes.

many lives will be taken
and you will have to bear that burden for a greater cause

thank you spud

5/10

I don't know, wasnt able to going any further, HOW did they fck up gameplay so hard in a POINT&CLICK GAME!?
I was invested in this piece of art, but it's just too much for me. Sorry.

Spud! is a game played in DOS. I already have DOS installed on my PC, and am familiar with playing games using it, but others may not be. But the game hung after every movement, like it was pausing, and then resetting the screen. EVERY movement! Of course this bothered me. However, I finished the game. It was cute, the dialogue humorous, and even fun. Most of the solutions to the puzzles are logical, when you piece items you acquire into the story-line. Parts of the game were a bit difficult for me, so thank goodness there was a walk through available online. (Funny thing about the walk through I used was that the direction was backwards to the game. When the walk through said on the left, in the game it was on the right.)
The best part of Spud! is that even at the present day of 2022, the game still holds a high rank in originality, and entertainment.
If a player can tolerate the lack in performance as I did, then they should enjoy this point and click adventure.

The pain, confusion, and turmoil I went through figuring out this game is not worth the full price let alone the 80 cents I got it on sale for.

this game is the shit yo

please listen to me. never ever ever ever ever ever ever buy this game. this game is worse than death. believe me or not this game is really worse than death you dont want to play it please just go back to sleep and never touch it again i dont care if you bought it already you dont play it no matter what. I need to go to therapy 5 times a week because of this game. Just dont buy or play it please......
edit: btw i dont actually go to therapy bc of it lmao u can play it if u want to but be prepared its very damn slow and annoying and hard! :)

It is truly unfortunate that someone had to bash this game simply because they didn't fully understand how to play. This is an OLD game and it was truly immersive for it's time. That being said, they never claimed to have remastered this game in really any way, so to expect phenomenal graphics is laughable. This is a very fun point and click game. Christmas themed (believe it or not) and tons of interesting things to see and take in along the way. Someone has mentioned some small form of racism within the game, and if it is the part I am thinking of- it is all in the eye of the beholder. Its a puzzle game from 1995 and there is absolutely NO reason not to play this game. Especially right now when people are thirsty for nostalgia and Christmas is right around the corner. Don't let negative reviews determine whether you will attempt a game or not- for I almost missed this gem due to Mr. "I am going to change my handle because of this game" and the numerous people who encouraged his comment. Give it a try and throw it back for yourself this Holiday Season :)

Things this game is not:
-the best point and click.
-for kids, necessarily.
-bad.
This is a neat little game, with some problems, but in 2020, the majority of them can be solved by keeping a walkthrough on your phone to look at.
If you want a point and click with some attitude and soul, while still keeping a christmas theme, you've got a perfect contender here.

this shit puts silent hill to shame

The navigation system reminds me of the time I ate rancid calamari drank half a tub of bleach hurled myself down the stairs then tried to run to the nearest seven eleven half naked, overall a pretty good experience.

I strapped an alarm clock and some TNT to the Duracell Bunny to make a time bomb.

11/10 Better than any other game in my library.

While it was ahead of its time when released and the gameplay is unique to say the least the story and plot are utterly horrific. That being said I am currently working on speedrunning it for kicks and because I actually gain a small amount of enjoyment from bad games and movies.

This is one of the only things that I remember from my childhood. I was so excited when I found out that it's on Steam. My dad, my sister and I would play this and Toonstruck all the time and recently I bought Toonstruck on GOG and I just bought this today and have completed the first half in just under 2 hours. I can't believe I can still remember what to do after about 12 years or more. So good to be able to play again! :-) I also can't believe this has bad reviews??? 10/10