#279 The King of Fighters ’94

Posted: 28th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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406th played so far

The_King_of_Fighters_'94_-_posterGenre: Fighting
Platform: Arcade/Neo Geo
Year of Release: 1994
Developer: SNK
Publisher: SNK

See that up there? Although we played a different port, this is our first Neo Geo game we’re playing. One for the stats, really, but it was about time. Three out of the four of them on the list are fighting games too.

The King of Fighters series started off, with this game, as a crossover event between several SNK franchises. It seems to be a more common thing now, with the Tekken and Street Fighter franchises having had a high profile crossover recently, but it feels like SNK got in on it early. Even so, it became a series in its own right here.

Our Thoughts

As you probably know by now, I’m not the biggest expert on fighting games. Even now, I’m having trouble explaining too much of what makes the game that special.

First of all, to start, the game is probably the first we’ve played for the blog – certainly chronologically – where you fight in teams. Unlike other, later games, the teams are preset, with the only choice you get being what order you use the three fighters in. Mostly, it makes for slightly more variety than the best out of five rounds setup, in that you have more chance to adjust, even if some features (such as fighter switches) aren’t present.

Unfortunately, because you only get preset teams (presumably based on other franchises… that I don’t know much about), there are some balance issues. While some teams get a nice variety of characters – speed, power and so on – others get three of nearly the same character.

The fighting itself seems mostly solid. Sure, I don’t think I got enough feel to get all the combos, but it felt okay. The AI felt pretty brutal early on, and even lowering the difficulty made it possible to get stun locked. The unbalanced team did us no favours here – it felt like the first time (Chinese, I believe) was overpowered compared to others. If you can’t get past the first, and the third is a big beast that is as tough, it feels like you’re bashing your head against the wall. The fact that the team countries literally meant nothing was also slightly annoying and a tad confusing.

It’s quite possible this was because of the arcade version we played, with the Neo Geo version being more manageable. Certainly, once we lowered the difficulty, Peter got a lot further through the game. It seemed a lot of fun still, even if at the same time, the game doesn’t seem to offer loads more beyond what other games in the genre do. Perhaps one of the first, but by now no longer the best.

Final Thoughts

While the game makes for an interesting first stab at a team-based fighting game, the balance issues feel a bit overwhelming and frustrating. It would genuinely have been a better idea to include a later edition in the book (the thirteenth edition springs to mind). With that said, with any team the game starts off difficult and it seem like we were simply held back because we didn’t know SNK fighters that well.

#22 Centipede

Posted: 24th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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405th played so far

11023801Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1980
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari

There are some games, such as today’s game Centipede, that always stayed a bit nebulous to me. I had seen in come by on floppy disks a long time ago, but don’t recall ever playing it. I’m not sure whether it was because I couldn’t get something working (an issue with controls) or because I did, but it didn’t stick enough with me. Probably the latter at some point.

Now, however, I get to play the game properly, with it being our next game (in order too). I finally get to start killing virtual bugs.

Our Thoughts

One of the interesting things about doing the blog is, as we’ve said before, seeing the evolution of certain genres. It’s especially strong in these early games, where the games are big enough that there was room for evolution, but developers also still seemed to be finding their feet and figuring out what they could do.

Centipede, at its core, resembles Space Invaders.  There are plenty of changes, but in essence it’s still a game with enemies coming down from the top of a single screen while you move around the bottom trying to shoot them. The twists, of course, are where the games get more interesting.

The enemy pattern, by the virtue of being a centipede that splits in half when you shoot a segment (more of a worm then) is quite different because of this, and the different paths both halves take after being shot (one goes left, the other goes right) proves as much. The obstacles they navigate – both because they stop your fire and because the centipede turns around and goes down a row when it meets one – are extra frustrating, being a bane rather than some protection.

Oh, and that’s only the main enemy, others, like spiders, occasionally show up as well.

Somehow, by virtue of the slower enemy, the game doesn’t feel as fast paced as Space Invaders or its other successors. The garden theme makes it feel a bit more leisurely while the (initially) single enemy focuses you quite well at the start. It mostly seems more fun.

The challenge isn’t necessarily less though, it’s more extended though. Because the mushroom fields move between levels, it becomes more difficult to aim, while more enemies slowly stack to make it more complicated. It’s never a single thing, but instead an accumulation of small things making you lose the game.

It’s a step up in complexity from Space Invaders, but the step is small enough that the game stays intuitive and fun that way. Centipede is still a good game.

Final Thoughts

Shooters might not be the most sophisticated, but it feels quite amazing how much the game packs into the small space – the way the worm grows and splits, and the large amount of different enemy behaviours that seem to show up, mean that the levels change in character quite quickly. It’s still incredibly entertaining and fulfilling to play through.

#609 Red Dead Revolver

Posted: 20th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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404th played so far

Red_Dead_Revolver_CoverartGenre: Action
Platform: Playstation 2/Xbox
Year of Release: 2004
Developer: Rockstar San Diego
Publisher: Rockstar Games

Prior to the expansion of the list, Peter played through Red Dead Redemption, a great game that is probably best described as Grand Theft Auto III (or later) as a western. As the new edition of the list was released, the game then (deservedly) made it on, meaning that we’ll have to play it again later.

So we want to play the first game in the series now. What we’re hoping for in a simpler western open world game. What we’re getting… well, we’ll see…

Our Thoughts

So it wasn’t that. Sure, Rockstar has its different games (such as their Table Tennis game), rather than the Grand Theft Auto open world games. And despite the series link to Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Revolver isn’t an open world game. Playing through it, it felt more like the different missions from these games, stitched together, with a focus on shooters and enough replay value added for higher scores and more money. Not shoot-em up style, there are plenty of 3rd person shooter elements and more actionny bits, but the exploration we were expecting is gone.

Elements of it are present though, in particular in the hub town which feels a bit more alive, with interesting new possible features to interact with and people walking around, the world generally being alive. I hated having to leave it, but the game did expect me to go on…

The “only the missions, not the open world” structure works on some level. You get enough story in each of the sections to make it interesting, while the game clearly knows how to put a lot of variety into them. If there’s one thing that bothered me is how easy it was to get overwhelmed – you can quickly get to a place where a lot of enemies attack at once without it being easy to find a place to defend.

This is most obvious with the bosses. They’re sort of puzzle bosses – brute force doesn’t work well on them, finding the extra ways to kill them are needed, in particular when keeping them away from your partners/charges to defend. The difficulty felt like it ramped up a bit too quickly there – dealing with the hordes is tough but doable, while the boss encounter required too many repeats. The checkpoint system gets a bit weird as well – I felt we had to replay a few too many encounters sometimes to get back to where we need to be.

What doesn’t help here is that the upgrades you get are paid from money that you gain in part based on how well you do on a level. This means that doing badly puts you in a downward spiral – your weapons degrade as you use them, requiring you to spend to improve them. It feels sort of balanced in that it doesn’t go down too fast, but it can feel frustrating.

Still, when the difficulty doesn’t get in the way, the game is fun and the world it builds is interesting. Its sequel did feel better, with the limited levels in this game feeling a bit constricting and too high-octane to keep up with. More breathing space would have been welcome.

Final Thoughts

As a loving player of Red Dead Redemption I now really understand what all the critics meant when they referred to it as a “spiritual sequel”. There is not much that they hold in common with the exception of the dead eye mode and the general setting of the Old West. It really makes me want to dig out Red Dead Redemption and do some post-game exploration and try to blow up that mountain lion with dynamite… don’t ask.

#24 Donkey Kong

Posted: 16th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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3

403rd played so far

DonkeyKongARCTitle

Genre: Platform
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1981
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Perhaps inevitably, gaming would start riffing on movie stories. While not the first, Donkey Kong‘s inspiration is obvious form the name – King Kong is already referenced in the name, and the central image of an ape climbing a skyscraper holding the female love interest captive makes as much sense in a game as it does in a movie.

Of course, any gamer worth his salt (at least of our generation) has played this game, so there’s little more needed for introduction. Personally, I played the PC version of this game a lot – on a boot only floppy (couldn’t run from DOS, didn’t need it) whose mechanics I never found out, but that made the game extra special.

Our Thoughts

It’s odd to get back to a game you used to play loads when you were younger – it must have been nearly two decades since I last played Donkey Kong, but I almost instinctively still knew what to do. At the same time, my reflexes were off – possibly down to slightly different timings between versions, but probably just as much down to my nervous system having degraded over the years. Still, I remembered the strategies and remembered enough of what to do, showing what I wanted to remember.

The game itself then remains as good. The first platformer on the list (I wouldn’t dare say the first one ever, although it looks close) feels, compared to platformers created later but that we played earlier, better in its controls. Jumping is predictable and straightforward – any time I missed, it was because I guessed wrong – and allows you to pull off some tricky feats if you know what you’re doing.

What helps is the variety the game has included from the start. The first, by now familiar level starts with you climbing a construction site while jumping over barrels thrown at you by the titular Donkey Kong. The last level – and second at the lowest difficulty level – instead gets you to walk over blocks holding the construction site together until it collapses and the gorilla drops to the floor. It uses the same mechanics – down to the blocks being as wide as your jumping distance, similar to the double barrels occasionally thrown at you in the first level – but feels entirely different.

Later difficulty levels, aside from upping game difficulty, introduce more levels in between the standard first and last ones. The elevator level is the one I remember (seeing as it came up when I started the game on a higher level on the PC version) with some more annoying jumps and different ways to die, and another one using conveyor belts. As much as these levels share mechanics, each only adding one or two of their own, they all feel incredibly distinctive with what seem like quite different goals.

What is as impressive is the look of the game. While simple, a lot of the look of the game seems to be retained through the different stories (Donkey Kong himself one of the most notable inconsistencies between them). This is testament to the thought out designs of them – the construction site look means most of the platforms are a few (easily drawn) lines that can be refined as needed. Mario has had a lot of thought gone into his design, from the hat being used to avoid animating hair to suspenders making it easy to distinguish the arms. It all transfers easily, and although it’s not always great, the look of the games is pretty nice.

Probably one of the strangest things here really is that it seems like later platformers didn’t learn a lot of the lessons from this game. The controls are tight enough that it’s weird so many other games mess them up (and not to just add difficulty). Even the graphics feel so well thought out. It’s no wonder Super Mario Bros. and its successors came out so well after it.

Final Thoughts

Okay, now what gamer has not played the original Donkey Kong at some point in their lives? I first played it on a keychain which acted a bit like a Game and Watch. I still have it somewhere but it needs a new battery. Still stands up to this day if you ask me.

#610 Rome: Total War

Posted: 12th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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402nd played so far

RomeboxGenre: Strategy
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2004
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: Activision

Wow, has it already been 250 games since we played Medieval: Total War? I suppose it’s what you’d expect, considering that there are still two more coming up (Medieval: Total War II and Empire: Total War), but it doesn’t feel like we’ve been that long.

Still, aside from the expected improvements, the game feels like it should have slightly more appeal – the time period simply appeals more to it. This should be fun then.

Our Thoughts

To start off with – as much work as they might have put into the battle side of the game – the first part it explains and that it partially moves towards – it doesn’t feel the strongest, and it’s one of those things where other games do it better. But that’s not where the series is strongest – it’s the world exploration, the diplomacy surrounding it, and how your empire-building factors into the battle.

We skipped the battles from time to time. They took up more time than they were worth and the game plays as well as an empire building game. As such, this is the part we’ll mostly be discussing.

 Because the thing is, as we love Civilization and its similar games, there is something special about these world building games, and Rome: Total War brings in its own twist on the formula that makes it as engaging on its own terms.

While Medieval: Total War placed you squarely in charge of your own kingdom, not beholden to any, Rome: Total War places you in charge of one of Rome’s great families. Still important, but beholden to the will of the senate and the mood of Roman citizens. It adds a few further interesting elements to gameplay. First, you get missions to gain favour, as well as rewards, which focus early gameplay somewhat. Second, that influence should translate into senate positions, which I haven’t seen matter too much, but probably have a point. And last, when you get too powerful, defeating them and taking Rome becomes one of the final objectives of the game.

It feels like the range of buildings is a bit more expanded as well, with more options to focus on growth and happiness rather than just army building. The game feels like it’s been enriched here, compared to the previous entry we discussed.

Another mechanic that I believe was new as well is the influence of family. Family members – whether by blood or adoption – are both your city leaders (you can’t control them without a governor) and generals. They become important for control of the region, and training them is vital.

From this, the simulation is quite rich with loads of options. There’s plenty going on, although not so much as to be overwhelming. The integration with the RTS segments are done quite well – even down to different positioning for backups – although the controls are a bit too clunky sometimes to be completely fun – for us at least.

Final Thoughts

Anyone remember Time Commanders on the BBC presented by Top Gear’s Richard Hammond? The engine used for this was used for this programme was the same used in the game. Weird to think how an entire show (effectively a strategic gameshow) was based around the engine of a video game.

#1020 Year Walk

Posted: 8th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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401st played so farYear_Walk_iTunes_App_Store_IconGenre: Advenure/Puzzle
Platform: iPhone
Year of Release: 2013
Developer: Simogo
Publisher: Simogo

Some games are ones we want to play purely because of the image, which looked weird – some goat-like thing standing in a river.

By the way, this game, being the before-last game, will have the highest numbered game we’ll play until the end of the blog. Let’s get our one eligible 2013 game played.

Our Thoughts

I have to agree with the book write-up about this game. This is a game about exploration – not as much adventure, just some puzzle solving – finding your way through the world, going down new pathways and figuring out what you’re doing, and what’s going on.

This is mostly fairly straight forward – you have to be observant and spot the clues, listen to the right things occasionally (with the exception of one puzzle that without a musical ear – an ear I don’t have – is pretty difficult to solve). It will at times leave you hanging as it refuses to give any further hints, but that’s not too bad. The game needs some more touch screen skills to input the game sometimes, not explaining but relying on you understanding when to drag, swipe or turn. They’re not impossible, but while the input often added to the game, there were a few cases where it felt needly complex, especially when dragging from one area to another.

Even so, the story is compelling. The first playthrough won’t necessarily explain much, mostly implying what happened, with only a few lines of actual dialogue. When you finish the game, however, you get pointed to an extra feature in the companion app (normally an encyclopaedia giving further background details on several story elements), and a second part of the story unfolds as you go through it. The events of the game get explained and a second ending is made available in the main game. There’s more to the story than is needed, and while it’s never a happy ending, it feels a better one.

Year Walk relies heavily on atmosphere, which is close to that of a thriller or horror work. It was reminiscent, in a way, of The Blair Witch Project in feel. While there are some vaguely horrific sights, a few scares through sudden popups and some very uncomfortable scenes, nothing is really nightmare inducing, in part due to its general art style. Mostly the game makes you feel uncomfortable, slightly on edge as you go through the levels. Just as much, however, is mature, in a way that story telling in games rarely is.

Final Thoughts

Year Walk made me jump. It’s a fantastically dark adventure game in the same vein as The Path where atmosphere and exploration are the order of the day. The use of the accompanying companion app is a great idea which I am surprised other games have yet to use. You could probably fill in a decent book with great mobile games by now, this probably already exists I wager.

50 Game Round Up: 351-400 (Peter)

Posted: 7th February 2015 by Jeroen in Round-Up
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In this lot of 50 I finally feel like we have been able to catch up on a lot of the years, genres and platforms that had been left behind previously. Our statistics now take on a more long-term view of what we play in the 50. I know that this sounds a little bit pathetic but I am a bit fan of spreadsheets and formulae so the chance to use this with our gaming list… well it helps to tick a few boxes.

Best Game I Had Not Previously Played

It is really hard to think of just one game that stood out in the last 50 to mark as the best one. The Secret of Monkey Island was a bizarre and fun point-and-click adventure which we managed to finish in one sitting. So too was Loom which was interesting and highly original (it’s just a pity that they never ended up making the sequel that they wanted to). Yoshi’s Island was remarkably cute and frustrating in all the right places.

However, the title for my best game I had not previously played as to go to Earthbound. Kingdom Hearts comes a close second but Earthbound combines the right amount of story, strange characters and sheer mindfuckery that I can appreciate in a JRPG. Yes, there were times when grinding became an issue but there really are not many games out there with such a strange view on the world.

Worst Game

Where the best game took a little bit of thought there is only one contender from this batch that springs to mind: MLB 09: The Show. It makes sense that this was taken out of the 1001 games list since in many ways it was hard for newcomers to access unless they spent an inordinate time on the training sections. I mean, unless you have a great interest in the sport of baseball (which few people outside of the USA have) this is a pretty niche game that failed to grab either of us.

Most Surprising Game

There were a number of pleasant surprises this time around. I won’t dwell too long on either You, Me & The Cubes or The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai since both of these games were removed from the list. Whilst I understand about the latter game it is sad that something as unusual as You, Me & The Cubes got removed… yet we still have nearly every Metal Gear Solid game on the list.

If we are to go just by games that have remained on the list then there is PixelJunk Monsters and Prince of Persia. For a tower defence game I was surprised just how well made the co-operative part of the experience was. Then there is Prince of Persia which still stands up today as an engaging platformer… something that came as a surprise since my only previous experience was the 2008 remake.

Biggest Disappointment

For me the disappointment comes from a level that, arguably, should never have been produced in the first place. The infamous airport level from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2… I think I will be leaving this there.

Best Blast From The Past

Unlike the 50s where we had the barmy notion to only play new games this batch had a nice selection from my past. I got to swing around New York in Spider-Man 2, toy with the lives of fake people in The Sims 2 and design my own rollercoaster in Theme Park. There is one game, however, it was a real treat to see again: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I still hold out hope that we will one day see an HD remake of Vice City.

Games We Kept Playing

Earthbound and Kingdom Hearts were the main ones that I kept playing with personally. I still have the Kingdom Hearts game on the go but Ni No Kuni has loomed large after a years absence and has claimed my gaming time once again.

50 Game Round Up: 351-400 (Jeroen)

Posted: 6th February 2015 by Jeroen in Round-Up
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It has been an interesting 50 – between finishing the now-removed games and Peter’s blog guiding our decisions, we’ve been a bit more structured than before, while trying to keep our stats in check as well (we’ll have a Wii game in the next 50, I promise). At the same time, now that we’re here it feels like we’re getting close to the halfway point as well, to the point where we’ve started planning for it.

Most important, we’ve had a very interesting fifty, with some really good games. Let’s go through the best again.

Best Game I Had Not Previously Played

We’ve had some good games and there are several that I won’t go further into because of that. Kingdom Hearts was magical, Earthbound was a visit to an interesting RPG land, You, Me & the Cubes stole our heart, and more. Probably one of the more notable examples is Oblivion, which certainly had his flaws, but which I want to mod around soon for a proper play through the game.

If there’s one game that I really have to give it to though, it’s Loom. As an adventure game, it’s not too difficult, but it’s an amazing story which touched you in a special way. We’ve gone through it in the write-up, but summarized it was an amazing experience that we set through in wonder from start to end. Again, one of those games that are almost art on their own.

Worst Game

It’s tempting to put sports games here. MLB 09 didn’t work for me at all, as an example, and even Football Manager 2010‘s simulation aspects weren’t good enough to convince me. But there’s than that.

For a supposedly major gaming series, Gran Turismo was incredibly frustrating. No matter what the rest of the game is like, if your tutorial section is near-impossible to get through, a challenge on their own, while it’s also mandatory, it just isn’t that appealing. It makes it difficult to get into the game, and makes it feel as if you have to be on top form from the start. As good as the game then could be, it feels ruined already. Unfortunately, getting into the game after that doesn’t improve it a great deal and feels a lot like more of the same – too punishing.

Most Surprising Game

With a fifty this good, there were a couple of games that we weren’t expecting much of going in, but that turned out to be a lot of fun. Obviously, they’re on the list for a reason, but we’ve seen in the past that always doesn’t say much (right, Free Running?). Some, then, do make us happy when we get them and they’re more enjoyable. Very recently, while Phoenix Wright seemed nice enough, we didn’t expect it to be this appealing. Aliens vs Predator was a lot more appealing than expected with the different modes of play from the different species.

Even more so though, Uniracers became a lot of fun. It might have seemed very simple, but the gravity-defying antics of the unicycles were a lot of fun and we enjoyed playing it together. It’s one of those games that takes a simple concept and runs with it, without adding too many distracting features or even trying to make it more challenging than it really deserves. It was a surprising good simple racer.

Biggest Disappointment

 Here’s a tough one. There certainly were some games that weren’t as good as I was hoping, or that didn’t live up to what I wanted. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is an odd example of this, in that we were hoping they’d be more tasteful than reputation suggest… especially for one of the biggest franchises. In fighting games, UFC 2009 seemed to have so much promise that it was a shame it didn’t get there.

My disappointment was on a personal note. UFO: Enemy Unknown is a game I recall playing with friends and getting excited about, but getting back to it now just felt too difficult, too hard to get into. Characters died too easily and it felt like the choices in difficulty, such as its permadeath, were pegged at the wrong level compared to what we were used to now, or that I really wanted to spend time on. I know we have some sequels coming up – some tougher – but I hope some will be more manageable.

Best Blast From The Past

With the many games I did know this fifty, there are several that were just great games to get back to. Classics (for me) like Tetris and Prince of Persia. Theme Park, which was a game we enjoyed playing together as much as we just enjoyed playing it – it’s good to play with someone watching over your shoulder. And Pokemon is one of those series I still enjoy playing and messing around with every now and then.

Most fun though? The Secret of Monkey Island is great fun, as good as it ever was, and it was fun getting back to it and playing through the game (to completion) was a treat. We’ve still got two installment of Guybrush’s adventures coming, and this is enough to make me look forward to them (although, yeah, I finished them already)

Games We Kept Playing

Here’s a clear winner, as between the time we wrote about it and me writing this post, I played through and finished the game. My appreciation of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 was, I hope, clear in the write up, and playing through it completely, seeing all the conversations and having everything pay off made the game even better. It might have, in fact, become one of my new favourite games, if it doesn’t top the list. As it’s from some of the same designers as Planescape: Torment, I guess that is to be expected anyway.

#278 Theme Park

Posted: 4th February 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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400th played so far

Theme_Park_coverGenre: Management Simulation
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1994
Developer: Bullfrog Productions
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Oh Theme Park, how we’ve been looking forward to playing this. I remember playing this at a cousin’s place and being so impressed with it I wanted to see more. Because I had no other real way to play, instead I made big plans for my own theme parks, using half-remembered Theme Park rides together with ones I invented myself. For some reason, in particular I remember doing so with a cousin while staying over at my grandparents’ house.

Since then I’ve been able to play it more, and while in some ways it doesn’t hold up to my imagination, I’ve had a lot of fun playing it. Its sequels too, but for some reason the first always kept its magic. Let me explain…

Our Thoughts

First, the obligatory comments – yeah, the game looks dated. It’s clearly from 1994, and even then doesn’t feel as crisp, the semi-3D look just not paying off that well yet. We played a few sessions and each time it took a bit of time to get back into them, while at the end looking at another screen made everything seem small. High resolution didn’t perform as well by the way – possibly a side effect from the performance fixes in the version we had. On the whole it tries to look cartoonish, but the graphics aren’t quite high res enough to pull it off.

Still, there are some charming bits to it. Most important, while the short cutscenes of you going on a ride are simple, they feel like a reward in themselves. That was something I remember being the case two decades ago (we’re actually inside the haunted house!) and even now there was something fun about watching these videos. Silly, perhaps, but it’s one of those small rewards we like.

Ignoring the overly smooth graphics, it’s the simulation parts where the game obviously really shines. First, because of the light nature of the game – managing a theme park isn’t exactly world changing in the way something like SimCity is – the ideas in the game can be fairly light. The shops and attractions you build are all fairly fun, places that look like ones you want to visit and ride on, making it as attractive to you as a player as it should do to your game’s little visitors to your park. Nothing is unexpected, but it just shouts ‘fun’.

Underneath that is a tougher simulation. It’s not strictly the most difficult – we managed to get back from a deficit at one point by simply having expensive ice cream from a stall at the very entrance of our park – but requires some learning to get it right and can get overwhelming when a few too many things go wrong at once. It’s mostly about getting to a point where you make enough that money is not a concern.

I mean, take that previous example. Due to some careless playing earlier, we started the level with a $150k loan. The interest on this was pretty bad and we couldn’t build much. We started by building three of the starter shops at our entrance – coffee (which is nearly free to make so sells nearly completely at a profit), balloons (which are fairly popular) and centrally, ice cream. We added a lot of sugar to it because the punters apparently like that – having them buy more. Soon the stall became popular enough that we could charge five times the entrance fee for a cone ($500 or so each) and still had every visitor come by to buy it. While it still took some management, as well as carefully rationing out some other upgrades to attract more people, those shops got us out of debt and with a healthy constant income to continue. We did have to look at our stock levels – although coffee didn’t have any, ice cream needed to be ordered so we didn’t run out just as a busload of passengers arrived. We also had to keep our research up – more shops for a profit and better rides that would attract new visitors. Other research options were less important – intentionally low on staff, their training mattered less. Ride upgrades were more important, for capacity and reliability. And warehouse upgrades mostly meant we had to spend less time ordering supplies.

You’re constantly balancing those priorities, while also keeping an eye out on the future.  Your final intention is to sell your park (at an auction) so you can put your profits into a new park, with higher value, probably a few more options, and most important, a higher difficulty. It’s a good way to keep momentum going with new starts and challenges while still having a link between levels – there aren’t entirely new starts.

It’s weird that the later sequels just don’t live up to the game. Theme Park World and Theme Park Inc seem to share an engine (with some refinements in between of course) with graphical upgrades, but with the single park approach and more artificial limits in place, don’t give the sandbox feeling the original gives you, nor the full simulation experience. It also seems to focus on a slightly more childish experience. Rollercoaster Tycoon, which we will get to at some point, feels closer to the original experience, but feels a bit too serious. Theme Park‘s mix is just original enough, featuring Bullfrog’s levity, as also seen in Dungeon Keeper, as well as their ability to make an engaging and seemingly expertly balanced simulation. It falls to the side of fun without feeling it compromises anything.

It’s a shame the only update that seems to have been made is the Nintendo DS one, as a PC-based update that smooths out the performance issues the game currently has (it requires some expert DOSBox manipulation to make it work as it should) would make the game a lot more pleasant, without bringing in the downsides other sequels (spiritual or not) have.

Final Thoughts

One of the weirder things that date this game, other than the poor path-finding exhibited by the customers, is the advert for Midlands Bank that appears in the beginning. Now, I am sure to anyone outside the UK this will have just been chalked up to a made up brand for a TV advert in the opening FMV, however this was an actual bank taken over by HSBC in the late nineties. I know it’s a weird point to raise but it really struck me.

A number of times when I was playing this I was thinking about how this was included and Theme Hospital (the better game in my opinion) but, when I thought about it, this actually makes sense. Theme Park was a trailblazer of a game, it launched a number of careers and (honestly) how many people looked at Theme Hospital and thought to make their own version? Not many.

#668 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Posted: 31st January 2015 by Jeroen in Games
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399th played so far64721_frontGenre: Adventure
Platform: DS
Year of Release: 2005
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

Prior to us playing the game for this blog, I mostly knew the Phoenix Wright series through word of mouth. People got quite obsessed with it for a while – something slightly obnoxiously so – and beyond that I never felt too interested in investigating.

On its own merits though, it seems like a fun enough premise – an adventure game starring a lawyer, trying to solve cases and defend the innocent in court. That first part reminds me a bit of Discworld Noir, which I enjoyed at the time (and want to play again!) although obviously with some different focuses.

Our Thoughts

First, the one clear annoyance: Realistic, this is not. Aside from all the investigation advantages, one thing that occasionally got to me were the repeated “That’s not how it works in court!” feelings. Trickiest? The amount of intentional lies would normally send some witnesses to their own case for contempt of court or perjury, while the way evidence is treated (including not making it available for both sides prior to the case) seems too easy to mess things up om real life.

But that’s fine. The game clearly goes for the cinematic feel, like a courthouse drama. A lot of that actually becomes quite boring – there is a lot of text to read through, where you have to carefully step through a witness statement to find its weak point, or where you’re waiting for a lot of characterisation to pay off. It’s good text – well written and entertaining, but you might feel you want to actually play a bit more often. This just isn’t one of those games though. It’s about the text, the interaction between several larger than life characters, and resolving the mysteries of various whodunnits in the court room. Interaction outside court is limited to moving between locations, talking to people (and showing them items) and searching rooms for clues, which are often clear enough.

There are no real puzzles to solve – item use is limited to using it at the right point in a conversation or court case and most thinking comes from what points to press.

As muchas that may sound as a criticism though, it really isn’t. Because of the low number of interactions, there are few opportunities for outright failure. The game is constructed so you can’t really miss any clues – the Monkey Island method – and the bits where you can go wrong (with the judge’s patience) are generous in their timing and don’t allow for much deviation anyway.

With a fairly simple gameplay, the storytelling has to be up to scratch, and it is where the game does shine. The characters are lively, amusing, but following along with Phoenix Wright works well as the goofy attorney who’s great when in the courtroom. It’s a world of heightened character – Phoenix Wright’s boss, the most grounded character, exits stage right after the first chapter – where the prosecutor hides evidence and makes back alley deals, witnesses get overly sexual and everything feels larger than life. The mysteries, in the mean time, are compelling, making you wonder what happened and how you’ll pull Phoenix Wright out of a bad situation next. At the same time, the plot resolves in such small steps that the way of reaching the conclusion often seem logical, you can follow all deductions.

The cases themselves link together, creating an undergoing narrative linked through weapons and characters. They are multi-layered, requiring several phases of investigation and court room work.

We played the DS version, which has an extra chapter with more detective options at the end of the game. We didn’t really get to play with that, but it already seems unnecessary. Just solving these murders is fun enough.

Final Thoughts

To be honest I expected something more along the lines of Trauma Center: Under the Knife, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how engrossing it was. In many ways it was like taking on the role of a character in a legal procedural drama… especially in the ways that certain elements of criminal proceedings are just ignored. I tell you, if my time on jury service was anything like the courtrooms in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney I would have begged to stay on for longer.

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