#782 Portal

Posted: 27th November 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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3

197th played so far

Genre: Puzzle/Action
Platform: PC/Xbox 360/PS3
Year of Release: 2007
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve

Memes. A term that first arose in the 1970s when Richard Dawkins wanted a term to apply to how ideas, catchphrases and other such items of culture can quickly pass through a populace. In the age of the internet this is something that has exploded since now not only do things like nursery account for our collective consciousness but also things like lolcats.

By 2007 most of the internet savvy will have encountered the likes of the Dancing Baby or the Hampster (sic) dance. On a personal level, the first meme I was awake was called a meme was actually the Loituma Girl.

I mention the idea of memes for one reason: the cake is a lie. I can not think of a meme that has united gamers the world over more than this. In about two hours of gameplay this game created a legacy that really shaped how games have been marketed since.

Our Thoughts

Believe it or not, until today (as in, writing today, not you reading today), I had never played Portal. Never seen more than a screenshot or two. Read quite a bit about the mechanics and options, and its various appearances in memes, jokes and more.

So, as I really wanted to play Portal at last, I did so in about three hours in mostly one sitting (well, with a food break, but that’s all). It’s the perfect size for it and is the sort of game where you have to.

It starts off nice and simple. The game slowly settles you into the elements that you need to use through the puzzles. These slowly ramp up in difficulty, as usual, and remain challenging, though clearly not impossible. There’s some elements that take longer to be introduced, but it all leads from what happened before – aside from a few icons, you never get (or need) an explanation. And that makes you feel a lot smarter.

There’s a few oddities through the levels, although this starts off as humorous narration and comments, but this starts to sound slightly more sinister down the line. There’s a few other hints in the level, but let’s say the last third of the game isn’t about solving puzzles any longer… there’s more going on, but we’ll avoid the spoilers to that.

And this is where I step in. As I mentioned in my introduction this is one of those games where everyone knows what the ending is. Just YouTube the award-winning ending song ‘Still Alive’ and you have an idea what is going on.

The fact is that by avoiding ‘spoilers’ (although this is as much as a spoiler as the ending of Empire Strikes Back is) you avoid talking about the thing that made this game the success it is; GLaDOS. This sociopathic computer is what makes this game what it is. True, the physics puzzles are clever and the portal gun itself is inspired but she takes the cake. Pun unintended.

At the very beginning of the game it is clear there is something wrong. Where are the other employees? Why do the turrets apologise after you disable them? What’s with all the glitches in her speech? It is clear very early on that these tests are part of a sadistic computers attempts at playing god. What is even more chill in realisation are not the first unlucky soul to go through this. Every now and then you come across little hold-ups containing tools and a radio as well as blood/faeces smeared walls containing clues of where to go and the memetic phrase ‘the cake is a lie’ and links to the Half Life universe.

When you eventually escape being incinerated then GLaDOS comes into her own. Her vindictive, passive-aggressive, manic own. The fact that she makes a return in Portal 2 is great since the dismantling of her parts is actually gruesome from a technical standpoint… what? I would have loved to keep the yellow module… so cute!

In the end there are two parts to this game. First, the game is excellent in putting its storytelling in the game – its setting and puzzles – not requiring any cutscenes or other exposition. It’s helped a lot by a lot of callbacks too. You get a good idea of what happened, and that makes it all the more chilling.

Part two is in its deconstruction of certain game ‘tropes’. A few puzzles in, you start to be able to look ‘behind the walls’, and that becomes more major down the line. You’re not just solving puzzles in a clean environment. There’s something going on behind the walls. Other people have written more on this, but you quite literally go backstage, and in a way it’s a bit mindbending – a bit meta – but at the same time, sensible. Finding it quiet makes it even creepier.

Final Thoughts

The game is a good puzzle game, with fun, if mindbending, puzzles, purely physics based and leading from everything else. It has a brilliant, if weird story that’s amazing on its own. And it looks good as well. Add the slight philosophical elements to it and… well, let’s just say that this has entered my top 10.

We played Portal now because we have plans for games 201-250. We’ll mention this more in the round up in the next week or so.

We also figured that in 151-200 we have not covered many ‘big’ games. In previous groups we have had the likes of Super Mario 64, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII. So we needed a big name!

#891 Captain Forever

Posted: 23rd November 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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0

196th played so far

Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Internet
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: Jarrad Woods

One of the nicer things the internet has enabled is the easier creation and distribution of games. It’s easier to create a flash game everyone can see. While this leads to a lot of copies and crud being out there, there’s also many gems.

Captain Forever is a throwback to older games – simple Asteroids-style graphics where ships are lines that have a slight CRT glow, shoot things and collect. True, there’s more to it, but today is a rather retro game for one released in 2009…

Our Thoughts

The basic mechanics of the game are fairly simple – move and shoot. Unlimited space to move around in, and you run around, shoot ships and so on. The controls get a bit complicated (partially thanks to some limits we’ll get to in a moment), but are mostly tight, assuming your ship’s balanced and set up right.

Because yeah, that’s the main thing in this game. Its addition to the genre is as ingenious as it’s fun. You fight against other ships similar to your own and, when you kill them by hitting their central part, you can take the parts of the ship that survived and connect it to your own, making it have more engines, weapons, but also adding bulk and slowing you down.

This gameplay of destroy, consume and upgrade really reminded me of the earlier levels of Spore where you are able to spark evolution by consuming other beasties. In Captain Forever you consume spaceships in the style of Mortal Engines which does add an extra element of fun to this game. Something which I haven’t really seen done as successfully in a game before.

Added to that, your parts have upgrades, you start with the most basic version (can’t stand up to a lot of damage, weapons do little and so on), but you can improve them by stealing them from stronger opponents – yeah, you need to strike them down before they can be useful. It makes it a challenge to get them, and getting them often gets you swarmed, making it difficult to take a break to put those new parts in.

On the whole, there’s more of a challenge here anyway – you can’t just keep adding parts on. If the engines aren’t divided right, you’ll find yourself flying in circles. If you are too bulky, you’re slow enough that you can’t chase after anyone and are less mobile. If you do it right, you can set your engines to allow you to fly sideways as well – minor but fun enough.

On the whole, the game is an interesting, slightly strategic twist on a shoot ’em up where you’ve got more of an influence than in most – it’s not just about shooting and picking up your upgrades, you need to decide whether you want to attack and what you want to use on a ship. It might be too insignificant to bother or too difficult to take on just yet – the purple ones are simply too tough.

Final Thoughts

You can’t say this game is inventing too many new things – all the parts are around, just not combined like this just yet. However, the visuals are suitable and charmingly old school, but made spiffy enough. The gameplay is solid and the upgrades integrated just as well.

It’s a good, fun shoot ’em up, available for free and worth a go if you have a few minutes – it’s that type of nice casual but not too casual game.

#202 Super Castlevania IV

Posted: 19th November 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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0

195th played so far

Genre: Action/Platform
Platform: SNES
Year of Release: 1991
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

Castlevania’s one of those long running standard-setting series. You know, like Mario, Mega Man, Sonic and Kirby. Videogame series that have delivered several times and tend to be reliable enough to do a good job most of the time.

It’s a bit of a miracle then that neither of us has ever played a game from the series, despite the praise it often gets. You say miracle, I say that it’s a bit of an embarrassment that two gamers such as ourselves haven’t done so.

Our Thoughts

Neither of us are fans of survival horror games. I mean hell the zombies in the story levels of Timesplitters 2 make me jump so heaven knows how I am going to survive the time we eventually play Fatal Frame 2. With that being said I do love the horror elements these games bring to the table. Hell, that’s the only reason why I am kinda looking forward to when we get around to playing Siren Blood Curse.

So far we have seen graphic depictions (Splatterhouse) and humorous depictions (Zombies Ate My Neighbours) and Super Castlevania IV plays it straight and gothic. The whole point of the game is that you are venturing into Dracula’s castle in order to take on epic boss fights and to defeat the evil dark lord himself (seriously, who keeps resurrecting this creep?) So, there you are. Hero vampire hunter Simon Belmont traipsing through Dracula’s castle so you can put an end to him once again. Before you can do that you need to battle your way through his castle which is demonic in itself.

Games like this rely a lot on three things: setting, bestiary and armoury. In order to be great to play they all need to be beyond good. So why don’t we start with the first one; setting. Dracula’s castle could easily be a dull place to be. Castle levels in certain Mario games can feel sparsely furnished and fairly dull. I mean if you are going to build a castle level into a platformer you need to think more of Amityville Horror rather than Count Duckula. For those more versed in the universe, by the way – this setting is the same as the original Castlevania, just upgraded.

Luckily Konami have decided to not emulate (the amazing) Count Duckula and have created a house and grounds with a life of it’s own. Roaming medusa heads, skeleton soldiers and other such lovelies maraud through the rooms and grounds trying to maim you mercilessly. All the rooms are varied with the uniting feature that they feature platforming sections, dimly lit candlesticks and the occasional hidden sections filled with hearts and chicken legs (the latter of which restores your health meter).

One of the nicer additions here are the different weapons. Yeah, we see a variety of this in plenty of games, but here they’re both thematically appropriate and nicely varied. Rather than a boomerang, you throw crosses (yeah, you are fighting vampires), there’s holy water and throwing knives (okay, that’s less interesting). It adds a bit of variety, although your standard weapon – the whip – is already enough to set it apart from many other games. It makes for a nice variation in an otherwise challenging game. And don’t get me wrong – it is tough. Maybe not Kid Icarus tough, but tough nonetheless.

The bestiary itself is varied enough to warrant a few merits. Nothing is too far off the beaten horror path since you will be encountering the stereotypical crows, zombies and gargoyles. In a strange tangent you will also be attacked by small frogs, porcupines and tentacle things that fall from the ceiling to cause maximum death. It is always good to see a mix of things which are standard with others that are fairly surprising. The boss fights too are varied mix of the expected and the unexpected but none of them are particularly taxing…

Final Thoughts

It’s good to finally get around to a decent traditional 2D-platformer. It’s a genre that we really have been neglecting as of late and we will be endeavouring to get back up to date with. Personally I am looking forward to some of the older Taito ones. That’ll be ace!

#660 Jade Empire

Posted: 15th November 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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0

194th played so far

Genre: Action/Role Playing Game
Platform: Xbox/PC
Year of Release: 2005
Developer: Bioware
Publisher: Microsoft (Xbox) 2K Games (Xbox)

My love for Bioware has been well documented on this blog before and happily, we’ve already had a chance to play Baldur’s Gate II, Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic before. With today’s game, though, we finally venture into unfamiliar territory for me.

For this installment, we go to slightly less familiar surroundings (for us). While the previous games were split between fantasy games and scifi stories (even including their non-RPG titles), we now go an oriental setting. The first time they used an original IP as well in one of their big RGs, which creates its own world building pressure. Let’s play!

Our Thoughts

Now, obviously part of the thign you see while playing this game is that there’s a progression visible in how the games develop. At the same time, as important here are the changes in design and looks, sensibilities, see how the games evolve.

Jade Empire has, you can safely say, a special place there. Its unique setting penetrates a lot of the game, which is a change for the better. The UI feels different (although it still has the basic elements), but the look of the games is lovely as well. There are many beautiful vistas and monkeys, goats and other animals run through the fields and sit next to the road. They’re beautiful. We’ve seen some nicer graphics already, with characters not always being as nice, but the environments really stand out. The set up really reminded me of when we played Guild Wars where I was enamoured with the scenes of windmills and cherry blossoms.

One way that the graphics have failed the test of time is in the cut scenes. Granted we have a kick-ass PC (nicknamed the Kraken) which means we are able to crank all the stats way up to 11 but the side-effects of this is that whilst the gameplay worlds look vibrant during cut scenes they have a tendency to look fuzzy and lacklustre. A real pity.

Another change is a different setup of stats. The previous games are heavily stat- and equipment-based. In Jade Empire, we instead get something more based on skills. You can customize your focus using an amulet (it’s your birthright, there’s more of an explanation for it). Beyond that, the game is focused on learning techniques. These are different styles of attack – different martial arts styles, weapon use, chi (magic), support and transformation (yeah, you can become a demon for a little while).

There are a lot of the latter available with an immediately visible variety that really feel different. The battles are more action-based than before (previous Bioware games having been slightly turn based, with queued actions), which leads to some button mashing. With three possible actions, mostly being a rock-paper-scissors style cause and defense action system (block = use heavy attack, heavy attack = use quick attack, quick attack = block or roll). There are tradeoffs between the styles here, in range, speed and damage, as well as some special effects.

It’s not as complex as some of their other games, but still highly customizable and a lot of fun. The game is quite difficult on its default difficulty, you want to save lots (especially, as always, early on). It’s never impossible, though, and most of it really comes down to you knowing what mistakes you made.

A strange change of pace arises when you are flying between places where suddenly you are confronted with a DoDonPachi-like minigame where you shoot down enemy planes and collect power-ups. It’s a little bit confusing and something that could have ultimately been cut from the game because it disturbs the flow of this otherwise Asian-set RPG.

The story, meanwhile, is enticing early on. There’s a lot of interesting characters in the game – not all likeable, but all seeming slightly more real. You’re a monk/student who turns out to have a special destiny, with his/her own special powers, and having to do more down the line. It’s well written, as expected, and I want to play more to find more about it, but that’s something I’ll chase up later… Let’s just say it fits the atmosphere. It’s slightly different from what you normally see in western RPGs – there’s a JRPG influence, although it doesn’t overwhelm. It’s one of the stars.

In the end, a brilliant, vibrant setting with a lovely, well-integrated story and a system that works so well that it forms a beautiful combination. Well worth its status.

Final Thoughts

We are really rushing our way through the list of BioWare games and now we are officially half way through I think we should slow it down… but that probably won’t happen.

Until that day I will be making a new save game and make this the first BioWare game that I want to play in my own time rather than one which this list fostered onto me (in truth I REALLY want to play the Mass Effect games but I am being made to wait for that).

#696 Elebits (or Eledees)

Posted: 11th November 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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0

193rd played so far

Genre: Action/Shoot ’em Up
Platform: Wii
Year of Release: 2006
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

For those of you keepin track, it’s been a while since we did a Wii game. Technically World of Goo was one, but it wasn’t a proper one… We didn’t even touch our Wii to play it. Before this we’re going back to the game we covered 69th (!), Zack and Wiki. Amazing, really.

Today’s game is known as Elebits in most places, but Eledees in Europe. Apparently it was done so because in French Elebits sounds like the phrase “and the cocks” as in the slang term for penis. Why this was not done for the people of Quebec I have no idea… maybe they are more resilient in Montreal.

The titular Elebits are small cute creatures created from electricity. They like to hide and sleep and try to hide from others. And we’re going to capture them. Yeah!

Our Thoughts

What’s going on? Your parents study these Elebits, instead of paying attention to you. In a fit of parental irresponsibility, they go off to research them during a power outage, leaving you on your own (in the dark no less). You decide to get the capture gun and capture these Elebits, to power the house and your things, and go out exploring on your own.

The point of these levels is pretty much that you wander around unlit areas, finding and capturing different types of Elebits. Most of them increase the Watts you have stored up, while some increase the strength of your capture gun, allowing you to move bigger objects to find the elebits hidden in and behind them. Another reason to get watts is that it activates electrical devices (giving you more other elebits) and often unlocks doors and other things blocking your path. You also get a couple of powerups to play with – mostly things to attract or stun elebits, but also strength powerups and such.

The game, as mentioned here, might sound fairly simple, and the basic idea is fairly simple – point and capture, really. It isn’t as straight forward, of course, making the game quite a bit more difficult at the same time.

First, to win a level, you need a lot of watts. This soon gets to a stage where you have very little leeway in how many you’re allowed to miss. Second, to get to a lot of them, you really need to improve your strength, while the items providing the bonuses can be rare and certainly take some time to unlock, making it a real stop and go thing – you gather a lot, then slowly get to the point where you can move enough stuff to really get more elebits.

The elebits aren’t easy to catch either. First, to get the most watts from them, you need them happy – asleep or enjoying a cookie. Unhappy, they not only give you less, they also try to escape. Not just annoying for the slower ones, some elebits absolutely race around the room, making them tough to get (the fat blue one can be a real bitch). And as if that wasn’t tough enough, you then get all the other restrictions. Think you got it? Now try doing a level without breaking more than seven items. Be quiet – if you go over a noise level more than a few times, that’s a game over too. The game’s almost sadistic in the number of bigger restrictions it adds, with levels that are difficult enough even without them. It’s simply evil, making it a race against the clock where you still need to stay careful.

When you start, the game is dark enough the graphics don’t matter. Once the elebits light the room, however, things don’t get too much better either. They’re slightly blocky, and while everything is interactive, they’re not too inspiring. Then again, there’s a reason for it. One of the extra modes of the game is the Edit mode. Yeah, you can change the levels to suit you, which is a cool nice feature to play around with the mechanics, and it’s obvious we should be able to recreate mostly all of the game’s levels in it. It’s neat, at least to spend some time in.

Whilst there is an issue with graphics the main problem we had was with the control system. On the whole it is good and would have been really improved if MotionPlus had existed with the launch of the Wii but things always reach a standstill the moment you reach a door.  The game’s physics is not always consistent since vases can find themselves hovering mid-air for no good reason but the doors take the cake. Basically in order to open a door you need to press A, twist the controller and then pull it towards you. Sounds simple enough and other Wii games have since been able to carry it off but here it is a real obstacle, more so than the actual obstacles.

It looks like an adorable, cute game, but has a tough, difficult game underneath that’s worth trying. Just don’t get deceived by the game’s initial appearance.

Final Thoughts

You go on quite a journey from capturing cute creatures with a light gun to defeating giant robots in a funfair. When the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. makes it way to the shelves I would not be shocked if Elebits doesn’t make a guest appearance in some capacity.

#859 World of Goo

Posted: 7th November 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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0

192nd played so far

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: PC/Wii
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: 2D Boy
Publisher: 2D Boy

Okay, this is a game listed in the book for both the PC and the Wii but in reality we played it on an iPad. There is no real reason for this other than price and the fact that this looked like it would be great using touch controls.

Our Thoughts

Continuing the apparent theme of cute outside-darker inside World of Goo is rather messed up. On the surface this appears to be a sweet game about leading balls of goo (not too dissimilar to the soot sprites from the world of Studio Ghibli) towards a pipe which promises some unknown destiny. What you are actually doing is leading a cute species of goo balls towards their doom… it’s like the anti-Lemmings! What are these adorable pieces of goo being used for? Lots of things by the looks of it…

It’s actually a bit of a weird disconnect that’s been commented on before. You’re doing as much as you can to get these goo balls to the pipe so they can escape, which they do with glee, but when they get to where they are, they’re actually there to be used – made into more structures, almost wasted. Quite a sad fate when you think about it.

The physics of this game is what makes it look like an interesting puzzler. In order to help your goo balls meet their maker you use their inherently gooey nature to form structures like ladders, bridges and floating buildings like the house in Up. You have to be careful not to use all the goo too quickly because you can either run out of goo balls or have to start dismantling things whilst trying to maintain their structural integrity.

The way that these structures work depend a lot on the type of goo you use. The main type are the small black balls which can only be used once. Other types include large ones that need to be broken up, green ‘ivy’ goos that CAN be reused, red balloons and whitish ones that resemble drool (ew).

This becomes tricky quite quickly. Because the structures aren’t rigid, you can spend quite a bit of time trying to get them in place, only to have them collapse under their own bulk before you’ve had a chance to reinforce them, costing you plenty of goo balls. It’s frustrating, made worse by the game encouraging you to try again to get more balls out.

Final Thoughts

Most good puzzle games take a simple mechanic and run with it to make the puzzles more difficult, complex or otherwise different. This game is no exception. It’s challenging, but never in a way where you’re not sure what to do, it’s just a matter of figuring out the best way to do it. Just as challenging, but great fun too.

#903 Fat Princess

Posted: 3rd November 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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1

191st played so far

Genre: Action
Platform: Playstation 3
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: Titan Studios
Publisher: Sony

Time for us to take another delve into the dark world of downloadable console games and it’s actually one of the reasons I wanted to buy a PS3.

Strangely it took me a long time to get the scratch together in order to buy this rather strange sounding title.

Our Thoughts

“Cake please!” “Cake for EVERYONE!” When a game begins with words like this you know it is going to be slightly strange. Then you remember what the title is and not only does it feel apt but it also… well it makes you hungry. Someone likes cake…

The game itself feels like a mixture of Team Fortress Classic‘s gameplay with the graphics of Animal Crossing and the blood-thirsty nature of Killer7 (maybe not as gruesomely bad as the latter, as the violence here feels cartoony at times. Maybe more like Pain. A game that actually includes the princess). As Little King’s Story demonstrated (ages ago) just because something looks cute doesn’t mean that something darker does not lie underneath. However, where in Little King’s Story this was a thinly veiled attack on genocide and all that entails Fat Princess has a great (if slightly dark) sense of humour.

The main plot behind this game is that a cake has appeared in the neighbouring Black Forest (and yet this cake resembles a Strawberry Shortcake more than a Black Forest Gateau) and the princesses of two kingdoms become addicted to this sublime confection whilst they are playing together in the woods. What ensues is a battle between the two nations where princesses are kidnapped and territories are taken in preparation for a visiting prince (not-so)charming.

The story mode is over fairly quickly and in reality serves as a comprehensive introduction to all game modes, controls and the different classes of warriors. The real joy lies in the online multiplayer (something which I usually refuse to do due to the number of idiots who usually end up filling the channel with swearing) which is exceptional. Whilst most of my experiences usually ends up with a lot of shouting in foreign languages coming from the TV (in what I am guessing is Portuguese) the rooms are all friendly and filled with good sports. It talks to the target audience of the game that the online multiplayer is enjoyable compared to my previous experience of online Call of Duty.

As previously mentioned there is a hint of Team Fortress Classic due to the variety of classes which are, in this game, conveyed by different hats. In the original game there are Workers, Warriors, Priests, Mages and Rangers with Ninjas, Pirates and Giants appearing as part of later DLC. Each of these classes receive upgrades within individual games with all bar Mage getting greater offensive capabilities. The Mage instead adds ice powers to its fire powers, which is as neat. Notable too is that the Priest gets its own different upgrade – from just healing, it gains the ability to drain the life from the opponents – a good ranged attack that can attack multiple enemies.

As usual the class you are best with really depends on your personality as well as what the other fifteen members of your team choose. On a personal level I end up being a support player by mining resources as a Worker for the first half and then acting as a Priest/Dark Priest in the second half so I can heal my team members and sap the life-force from the opposing team.

Without a decent internet connection this game can not be played to it’s full potential since it is in the changing natures of an online team and the strange words of encouraged shouted by your teammates. In the end though this is still a fun (if slightly unusual) game.

Final Thoughts

The game sounds weird – feed your princess to keep her put while stealing the other princess? What? – and certainly doesn’t sound like this sort of multiplayer semi-strategy action game. It looks kiddy and cute, but it’s mostly good, solid and fun. It’s worth your time, and don’t just do it for some singleplayer – jump into multiplayer instead when you get the hang of the game and learn the rest there. It’s truely worth it, Peter’s certainly addicted enough already.

#886 Fieldrunners

Posted: 30th October 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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190th played so far

Genre: Strategy
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Subatomic Studios
Publisher: Subatomic Studios

Game 200 really feels incredibly close now. I can’t quite believe that are now reaching that 20% or 1-in-5. The whole idea that in little under two years we have reached such a milestone.

One type of game that we have a lot of remaining on this list is under the rather dubious grouping of “various” which basically any game that has majorly appeared on more than three platforms. Fieldrunners is such a game and for this blog we are playing the iOS version on iPad.

Our Thoughts

This is not our first time at the tower defense rodeo. Many a moon ago we reviewed Desktop Tower Defense so any of you that have been keeping up with this blog or are just fans of this type of game will know how this goes but for those who do not here is a brief summary. You are defending something off screen and using the cash you have earned from killing enemies you buy a bunch of different towers to prevent the many waves of opponents from destroying your base.

As ideas go it’s a pretty damned simple one which has meant that there are literally hundreds (if ot thousands) of these games in existence. So why has Fieldrunners earned a place on this coveted list?

One thing that I really liked was the variety of towers available which are all upgradable in order to increase their strength, range and rate of firing. Some highlights are the goo gun, which slow down enemies, and the lightning gun which is like a large Tesla coil. Also on offer are more standard tower defense guns such as a gating gun and a rocket launcher.

The towers are quite interesting and, combined with the many different unique enemies (in a 100 round game, you see about 10 to 12 of them. The graphics, while not brilliant, are nice as well, and make for clear unique pictures to distinguish them even on lower resolutions. The interface itself could do with some clarification – the upgrades aren’t immediately obvious – but most of it is very straight forward.

It’s not the most difficult game – while it’s time consuming, the game is fairly easy to beat – but it’s a fun distraction that works well enough as a good example of the game. And I’m sure the challenge will follow on the higher game modes, which I didn’t get around to yet.

Final Thoughts

I don’t know enough about this type of games to put in a further comparison – it’s hard to see where this game innovates in the genre, but what I can safely say is that it’s a good, solid example of the genre, which makes for a solid diversion when you want it. An exemplar, possibly, more than an innovator. But those, too, are good.

#159 Splatterhouse

Posted: 26th October 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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189th played so far

Genre: Fighting
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1988
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco

Rounding off our stint of games from 1986-1990 is a rather different title which is a cross between The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Zombies Ate Our Neighbours. Unlike any of the fighting games we have encountered during this blog Splatterhouse is a side-scrolling beat ’em up (think of The Simpson’s Arcade Game but with giant leeches! Or possibly, more serious, the Double Dragon series)

Our Thoughts

In a strange take of the “save your girlfriend” trope your character has been resurrected and granted super strength by a strange mask which has granted you super strength so that your punches have the powers of kicks. So you venture through this grotesque world filled with zombies, acid-belching torture victims and other such delights so that you can rescue your girlfriend (feminism never made it to the world of video games… still hasn’t really).

The gameplay is exceedingly simple; you can jump, punch and a combination of the two which acts as some form of special sliding kick attack. The real fun of this game occurs when you pick up weapons and start kicking ass. Slicing off heads, smashing skulls with a 2×4, this game is rather cathartic.

Graphically this game looks very cartoonish but in a fashion that could easily be adapted to make a fairly decent graphic novel. Everything is exaggerated to the point where things are either bulging or look truly disgusting. The whole thing takes place in a 2D world where the beauty of the game lies in the animated backgrounds which feature things that would not look out of place in horror franchises like Hellraiser, Evil Dead and Friday The 13th. The graphics are actually fairly gritty, in the overly serious superhero comic sense – dark and lots of browns, but clearly not real. It’s all quite gruesome, and while this might at tiems be played for laughs, the game this time seems intent on making you squirm in some way.

Even so, the focus really is on gore, and it takes any opportunity it can find to make it worse.

Two sequels later this became somewhat of a cult game which culminated in a 2010 remake of the same name that debuted to lacklustre reviews. Proof if proof were needed that sometimes it is better to leave well alone and let the original speak for itself.

Final Thoughts

As far as beat ’em up scrollers like this go, this is a fairly simple version. At the same time, it’s magnificently fun to play it, from beating up the various zombies and creatures to making sure you outrun the darkness that’s chasing you. A true exemplar of its genre, with the right aesthetic sense and enough going on that you don’t want to think past the visuals to know what is really going on. Sticking to the things that don’t feel crazy is fine.

#112 Kid Icarus

Posted: 22nd October 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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188th played so far

Genre: Platform
Platform: NES
Year of Release: 1986
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Some fifteen years ago, I first watched the Captain N TV series. They were, as you can imagine, awesome for the time – here was a hero who used a NES controller to get special powers and who fought in a videogame environment against all sorts of other game enemies.

I recognised some of his sidekicks, with Mega Man having been quite known already, but one I did not recognise (as useful as he was in the game) was Pit, from Kid Icarus.

Best described as a cherub, he can fly and shoot arrows. Simple video game material, surely?

Our Thoughts

Kid Icarus is, for the best part, a fairly straight forward (but hellishly hard) platformer. You walk around, jump to ascend and shoot enemies using bow and (unlimited) arrows. Several different enemies swarm around you, from walking eggplants to the grim reaper. All have quite different characteristics, with not all of them being able to be defeated by your weapons.

We know how difficult this combination can actually end up being, with Super Mario Bros. having been an example we discussed some time ago. Kid Icarus is far worse. So difficult, in fact, that (at least according to the book) very few people finished it – in fact, just getting past the first level is a major struggle. The game got a Gameboy sequel, but after that it didn’t get a sequel for about twenty years (the recent Kid Icarus: Uprising). One of the main reasons, so it’s speculated, is that it was that tough – people gave up partway through, so not many would bother with a franchise when they initially couldn’t get past the first level. This is yet even more food for thought that we are dumbing games down… compared to this modern games like Kirby’s Epic Yarn are in the minus figures in terms of challenge.

One part of the difficulty is the amount of enemies. While sort of manageable, the enemies come in groups, trying to overwhelm you. As your shots are quite slow, you can’t kill too many of them if they rush you, making running away or past them a better strategy. If the frequency of your shots was not bad enough the range of your attacks (especially in the beginning) is downright piddly.

The second part comes from the platforming. Thanks to your wings, you jump quite high, and the developers make use of that by requiring high jumps. One evil feature here is the scrolling. You need to jump up, step by step, in the first level. However, once the screen has scrolled up, if you fall down to a section that’s scrolled off screen, you die – no backtracking or scrolling back down. This will take you by surprise the first time or two.

At first, this platforming seems minimal, but partway through the first level you get a couple of tricky jumps from pillar to pillar. The length of your jump has the disadvantage of making it more difficult to aim and the controls are tricky enough it’s difficult to do so. Combine that with giving you minimal space to do so and not much room to stand on (as well as some slippery floors). It’s all about precision from the start. At first you can do these jumps without enemies, but when they come in… It isn’t very easy.

Oh yeah, and story… it matters little with these older platformers, but basically, you need to rescue the Queen of Light from the Queen of Darkness. There’s a bit of Greek mythology thrown in, which shows up in the later graphics… but as you also fight eggplants, I wonder why they would mix with tales of Medusa and Perseus knock-offs.

Final Thoughts

Unlike Jeroen my first exposure to Pit was as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and later as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Upon playing Kid Icarus I am not entirely sure why there was such overjoyed internet acivity when Kid Icarus:Uprising was announced. I mean… if there is 20 years as a gap how much of a franchise is it?

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