Beware The New List

Posted: 22nd June 2012 by Mulholland in Uncategorized
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Like the swords of Damocles there is a grim spectre hanging over this blog called the revised edition of 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

If you keep a finger on the pulse of gaming (or just read a lot of gaming websites and magazines) then it is easy to see which games are likely to be on the list… but it’s harder to discern which ones will be taken off.

So why am I writing this angst-riddled post now? Well if you look at the albums book by the same publishers then you will know that they come out every two years (then there is the film book which comes out every year) so there is a high chance that this summer will see the printing of a revised list.

What does this mean in real terms? For one thing we have both bought a lot of games from this list for the purposes of reviewing them for this list and the idea that we may have wasted a lot of money on games… okay it’s never a ‘waste’ waste but I cannot see a reason for me to play Pro Evolution Soccer 3 instead of a more recent football game.

Since this spectre has been hanging there we have not been playing certain games for the fear of a newer version replacing it and us having wasted our time. This is annoying since most sports games (as well as games like Scribblenauts and LittleBigPlanet) have been given a wide berth just in case.

As a ballpark figure it is my guess that the new list will have 156 changes… so worst case scenario we may have to start all over again… cripes.

#821 Buzz!: Quiz TV

Posted: 20th June 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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156th played so far

Genre: Party
Platform: Playstation 3
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Relentless Software
Publisher: Sony

Our quest to fill our closet with gaming peripherals will have to end at some point… but not today!

In our eBay purchase of Buzz! Quiz TV we have become the proud owners of a set of four wired buzzers which will now sit between the DJ Hero turntable and Donkey Konga bongos as well as the Guitar Hero/Rock Band instruments. With the exception of the behemoth that is the Steel Batallion controller (which we are hoping to borrow rather than shell out £100) this will most likely be the last thing we stick in that cupboard where the water boiler used to be.

No matter how good or bad this was always destined for status as a Christmas game… which was why we got it in March.

Our Thoughts

A lot of gamers first experience with games are those that facilitate learning. I know my first experience was one of the Adi franchise (which was shortly follow by AstroFire) on my dad’s computer. Since then I have always somehow been in possession of trivia games such as PC versions of Trivial Pursuit but I have to admit that this is the first trivia game that actually worked up my lust for general knowledge the same way a pub quiz can.

Let’s get this started, this is not an amazing game. It isn’t amazing because, in the end, the scope on this game is fairly limited. There is nothing to be unlocked and the replayablity relies heavily on finding people to play with.

With that being said there is one thing that means that this game could be seemingly forever updated; customizable content. Whilst this is on a slightly smaller scale than Baldur’s Gate II there is a large number of people out there constantly making new quiz questions and uploading them to the official site. This means that as long as this community stays interested (and as long as PSN stays up) this game could remain fresh and challenging for many years to come.

I mean sure after 20 plays the presenter will begin to grate on you… he does a little after 3 plays… but as long as you are in good, fun-loving, competitive company then this game is a blast.

There’s really a few things that are a draw. The big thing is, obviously, the trivia aspect, something that are fun to do. This especially applies in a group, when you’re working against each other. It helps that it’s not straight up trivia – speed can matter and you tend to play against others – be fastest, steal points and so on, adding a slight fun dimension.

The other step, however, is slightly more about graphics and such. You select your own character and set up some things for them, and their reactions to events, however small, adds to the fun of the game. They’re not regular boring contestants (although some are close), but you get to play as evil villain, superhero or mime if you prefer. With their unique reactions, as well as unique voiced lines from Buzz, the host, it’s just that bit more fun. Yeah, cheesy, but still good.

Final Thoughts

For me the best Christmas games are trivia based ones so the fact that there is at last a series of fun trivia quiz games with a competitive makes me wonder how much this will be used in six months time… those buzzers may end up thrown through the TV someday.

I would add though, that while the game can be played single player, it is the most fun when played in a group. It supports up to four players, and you probably need at least three to make the most out of it. Go for it!

#377 Grim Fandango

Posted: 16th June 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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155th played so far

Genre: Adventure
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 1998
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts

Manuel Calavera (Manny) does not have a good life. He’s dead, first of all, but that’s not exactly a major worry. Following some bad decisions during life, he now has a depth to pay off to make up for his sins. This, he does by being the reaper – black cloak, scythe and all – and get clients with the most pure heart to get packages to the ninth circle – commission based, really. He, however, only gets the bad clients – those who get little more than a walking stick to make their way forward… As Manny tries to change his fortune, things go wrong.

Grim Fandango is one of the last adventures made by adventure giant LucasArts, and the first where they used a 3D engine. It did well critically and is loved by those who played it, but never sold well – it barely broke even.

I’ll admit I love this game, so that’s what to expect, but we can see how things will go from there…

Our Thoughts

The game develops as a film noir story, including mob murders and part of the game set in a 30s high rollers casino town (almost the Las Vegas of the dead). Add to that the game taking place through four years, each year on the Mexican Day of the Dead, borrowing related aesthetics and you can see the look and feel of the game explained to you. As a film lover I have to say that if there was a noir feeling perpetuated throughout this game it would be along the lines of Gilda. Both of these share a Latin feel and most of the characters either smoke, gamble or both. The only thing it was missing was a door with the protagonists name on it which is opened in the first sequence… still I bet this is rectified in L.A. Noire.

The story, as it should be in any good adventure game like this, is brilliant. Funny and captivating, serving as an integrated backdrop for the stories. No spoilers – you need to experience it – but it’s up there as a good story with memorable characters. Whilst this game does borrow does borrow from general mythology regarding karma and the afterlife it is able to being its own twist. The idea that you can still be killed when you are in this limbo state (in a manner which reminded me of a sequence in The Fountain) is something that is both strangely beautiful and macabre.

Linked to that, by the way, is some good voice acting with good casting decisions – partially suitably hispanic – and great sound otherwise, with it setting the right mood.

From there, though, come graphics. First, the backgrounds are mostly lovely – hand painted backgrounds, as gorgeous as any that we’ve seen around this time. The 3D models are less detailed, again a sign of the times, but somehow they feel more detailed than others we’ve seen. They certainly benefit from the stylistic choices, where the Day of the Dead calaca figures add to the skeletal feel without always requiring too many details. They’re simple and blocky, and for most of it work. Still, graphically this is no longer a high point.

The 3D part of the game made things worse, however, in one other way. As an early 3D game of this type, controls aren’t refined yet, and while the creators are still used to a point and click style, their attempt to put this into a 3D mold don’t work as well. Items and hotspots can be tricky to find and point to and some corners are incredibly tricky – the imprecise movement makes it difficult to find the right place to go, making it at times even difficult to find out you can actually go somewhere. In a way this did pave the way for future 3D adventure games (like Sam & Max: Season One) but it makes me wonder how much more fluid this could have been if it has been a point and click.

Still, once you get used to that you do get to what you want. A tough but fun adventure game with a great sense of LucasArts humour that unfortunately left soon after, but can still be found in the games the creators went on to – Psychonauts being one of those that we’ll discuss later. Personally I am dead keen to play the Russian doll-inspired game Stacking… a sure-fire game to be included on the next version on this list.

Finally, a word of warning: It took us quite a bit of work to get this game working on Windows 7 – even the Windows XP virtual machine had quite a few issues – so be prepared to take some time to set it up properly. No DOSBox fix this time. The major issues are that sound can switch off for no reason and items can suddenly disappear from your inventory.

Final Thoughts

I actually had a friend who dressed as Manny Calavera for his video game themed birthday party. It was awesome. Not much for final thoughts but thought it would be something cool to share.

#140 Oids

Posted: 12th June 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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154th played so far

Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up
Platform: Atari ST/Mac
Year of Release: 1987
Developer: FTL
Publisher: FTL

Now then, back to simpler times. Oids is not one of the oldest games, but we are now going back to the Atari days (a platform we hadn’t touched yet). There’s not much to it – according to the manual, you’re supposed to be freeing androids from other mad conquerers by travelling to planets and shooting at buildings, but that’s not clear from the game itself, as always.

Still, a shoot ’em up with Asteroids influences. Why is it special enough for the list?

Our Thoughts

Let’s start with the firsts – somehow, despite its age, this game looks good. Yeah, sure, it’s all small pixels without much details, but somehow everything is clear and the environments look interesting. Maybe not gorgeous, but enough to happily stare at for a little while before you crash into the rocky planet surface.

Although the control scheme clearly dates back to Asteroids, the games owes as much to Lunar Lander‘s constrained environments and careful landings, creating a game where you need to be careful. At the same time, despite wanting to take your time navigating through it – and you do need to be careful at times – the fire coming from several cannons makes the game a lot more complicated to get through and means you don’t always have the time. The controls aren’t simple, although you quickly get used to it, making some moves more complicated to pull off.

The game is fairly simple – kill things, move around – but with its difficulty, it has a far more longetivity than you might give it credit for. Even if you’re done with all those levels, there’s always the ‘roll your own’ option. The game includes a level editor – make it more difficult if you’re already done… or go for the easy way out and make a level you can easily finish to practice your maneuvers.

Final Thoughts

This makes me wish that we had covered Asteroids but we did look at Mad Planets so that’s gonna have to do. We take these sorts of games for granted nowadays. Anyone with a smartphone can download a game like Nucleus and enjoy something that really has a lot to thank the likes of Oids for… and even they don’t include a level editor.

#601 Ninja Gaiden

Posted: 8th June 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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153rd played so far

Genre: Action/Adventure
Platform: Xbox
Year of Release: 2004
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Tecmo

People tend to moan about how games have been getting easier when compared to many of the games released in the eighties and early nineties. To be fair this is a fair comment with save points being mostly dismissed for convenient in-games saves. Same goes for the abundance of in game hints that can be seen in games like Zack & Wiki.

There are a number of games that buck the trend, but not as many as you would have thought. Today’s game was one of the benchmarks before the likes of Demon’s Souls… this is Ninja Gaiden.

Our Thoughts

It’s a dual-edged sword when you start a game that you expect to be monumentally hard. After a long week it can be a bit daunting to start a game that you know is going to, eventually, frustrate you in more ways than you could imagine. Then when you start playing it… it is not THAT bad.

Granted we played this on normal difficulty (because we are not masochistic) but for a game which, according to the book, had such a hard first boss that many players quit and never played again it wasn’t too difficult. Maybe it’s because after relishing the challenging games on this list like Viewtiful Joe and Flywrench this did not feel too bad. I mean a good game should challenge the player and if every game allowed us to defeat everything on the first attempt it would be so boring and gaming would have not developed the way it has. There’s certainly an experience element here, with Peter having fairly good beat em up based skills, but I didn’t feel like I was that far behind, managing some fights the first time where Peter needed a few more goes. The game actually felt fairly balanced.

So let’s break it down. As with most games involving a hero it starts with a village being burnt down. We saw this trope in Jeanne D’arc, it’s been mentioned in Xenogears as well as many other games that we have both played and are due to play. It’s a trope I’m already getting slightly annoyed with. Your character is Ryu Hayabusa and as a kick-ass ninja your job is to save the world because (as is the case in many Japanese games) there is a demon sword that needs protecting/destroying/stealing (delete all that don’t apply). To do this you fight your way through demolished villages, temples, airships and even an Aztec pyramid.

As with many good action/adventure games which feature a somewhat linear hack n’ slash dynamic, the key is a good story and a sleeveless leather ninja outfit. To be honest I have never found Hayabusa the most relatable character whether it be in Ninja Gaiden or Dead or Alive so that does colour my feelings somewhat. What does work is that the ending does lead towards the expectation of a sequel… something so cinematic that I have not seen in as many franchises as I would have hoped.

What also helps is the fighting system. The jumps and attacks feel so incredibly fluid that it each battle contains graceful moves with slashing action. The combat itself is part of the Devil May Cry and God of War style apart from the abundance of charge up moves. In many ways this makes the Ninja Gaiden system slightly more difficult to handle but the sight of graceful hack n’ slash combos are so very rewarding. At this point the controls do get in the way sometimes. Yeah, it’s possible to keep up with the attacks and you don’t need them, but the charging, where present, is slightly imprecise and easily broken. There are spells you can use, but I couldn’t always get the combination to do so to work, which undoubtably got in the way in a few more difficult fights.

On a personal level there really is not much to criticise. The sound and graphics have aged remarkably well with them being better than the majority of titles on the Nintendo Wii. The one thing I am going to cry out against is the camera which can be abominable. Whilst having a button to centre the camera makes up for it a little bit there are sections where you fight in such claustrophobic areas that you can die because all the action is happening off screen and it is labour intensive to get the camera just right. This is something rectified in the updated Ninja Gaiden Black but for now I am still slightly frustrated at a battle against two men on horseback where the enemies were so quick that they moved out of frame by the time I was able to centre the camera!

Fast, furious, fun and with magical fire, ice and electrical powers I have to admit that I was shocked at how much fun Ninja Gaiden was. Thankfully it is completely backwards compatible on the 360 so there is no excuse to not pick up a copy of this game… it’s rather cheap!

Final Thoughts

I suppose the remakes and rereleases will have had its effect on what this game would be like, this game holds up incredibly well. Don’t get put off by the comments about the game’s difficulty – yeah, it’s tough, but once you get your first save point, things will get easier to keep up with. You’ll need to redo certain battles once or twice – you need to figure out the attack patterns and work out a strategy – nut it’s not as annoying as many make it out to be.

With that, most of this is a tight game, and in the end its climbing and jumping environment makes for better freerunning than Free Running, so surely you can give this a go?

#526 Grow

Posted: 4th June 2012 by Mulholland in Games
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152nd played so far

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: Internet
Year of Release: 2002
Developer: Eyezmaze
Publisher: Self-Published

Right, so when we look at The Path we did so to include an independant title after a series of rather commercial titles… today’s game was chosen because we were sat watching a recorded episode of Dirk Gently and figured it wasn’t gripping enough for complete viewing.

So together we decided to play a number of the Grow titles (for there are many) but for the sake of this blog we are going for the original.

Our Thoughts

Since the idea was to play a game to completion (or 5 hours) this game was actually a rather brief one to do. Between the two of us (and the game giving us a new hint every few goes) we were able to get full marks in a decent amount of time. In fact, based on the previously mentioned episode (and, of course, past experience), I’d say about half an hour.

So what is Grow? The instructions are simple enough, you are presented with a red sphere and a number of objects. The end goal of the game is to place these objects in the right order in order to level them all up the maximum number of times. Some (e.g. the TV screen) need only a few turns whereas things like the ladder and egg need a while longer. However, it is not a simple ordering game in that respect since different orderings can lead to different outcomes. If you place the tornado (or cyclone) too early then a cloud can not form over the mountain. If you do not place the yellow ball early enough then you can’t get the vampire chicken.

Because the game gives you such instant feedback, both through the graphics and nice animations, as well as things happening regardless of whether you’re doing things the right way – sometimes through clues, sometimes by things going completely wrong, and sometimes by doing something completely irrelevant to the final solution. There are often different options – in fact, one of the other games in the series has two different outcomes, depending on what solution you go for – the proper (weird) one, or the daily ‘go to work’ solution. All of that combined gives the game a great ‘just one more go’ appeal (as I’m currently experiencing with the excellent Grow Cube) that’s hard to rival considering its simplicity.

Part of this appeal also comes from the graphics. Yeah, they’re simple and handdrawn – don’t forget this is 2002 – but they work well, by being simple enough to appeal and the cartoonyness ties into the strange setting of the whole game. This isn’t realistic, it doesn’t look it, it’s just good fun. The options also all work well together, considering the amount of options available for a game (math geeks: 10! )

As a game this works well in this age of ‘pick up and play’ where Peggle and Drop7 reign supreme. It really is a nice little Flash-based time waster as are the many sequels found on the same site.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, I know this isn’t a blockbuster spend weeks on it type of game – not that many games are. However, this is a really fun and challenging diversion (not difficult, just challenging) that can be enjoy as a flash game, for free. Worth playing, you won’t regret it.

All Grow games can be found on the Eyezmaze website, where you can play the original Grow game (played here), as well as many other fun variations.

#958 The Path

Posted: 31st May 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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151st played so far

Genre: Adventure
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: Tale of Tales
Publisher: Tale of Tales

Now for something completely different. In what we’ve decided will be tradition, after completing another batch of 50 we turn to something slightly different – indie and different from what we expect. We did it before with Facade, now it’s time for The Path.

The Path is described on Wikipedia as being a psychological horror art game. Its premise is simple – you start the game as one of six girls and have a simple mission – go to Grandmother’s house. Stay on the path.

Our Thoughts

The first time we listened and, well, obviously it was boring. If you play the game properly, of course you don’t stay on the path. You leave it, and that’s where it starts.

For most of the game, you walk through the forest alone, accompanied by creepy music. You’ll occasionally meet a girl in white, and most of the interactive objects you find are golden clovers, which are little more than the game’s collectibles – 144 in total, and you get little from it except for hints on where to find items. Whilst you roam the forest there is the option to walk or run (with every 100 metres travelled allowing a fleeting glimpse at where you have travelled so far). Running does offer many advantages since it allows you to cover distance quickly, however it means you forfeit the ability to find clovers since they only sparkle when you are walking at a leisurely pace.

Those items are the second part of the game – and in a way the point of the game. For each girl you need to gather several items, and doing so unlocks rooms of the grandmother’s house and work towards the game’s ‘ending’. These items all seem junk left in the forest and all feel vaguely dirty, even if they may not always seem it. There’s a red balloon to collect, for example, and a (two-headed) teddy bear – grimy, but sweet in a way. But then there’s the shotgun shells and the needles, less savoury things to find in the forest.

Whilst all items are always present in the forest, each girl can only collect certain ones. Interactions with these items lead to character specific dialogue. Ruby is a goth who walks with a limp, as such her dialogue is nihilistic and some of her items include a spray paint can and a syringe. Then there is Robin who is innocent and rather than being fearful of being lost in the woods retains her innocence… even taking to skipping merrily through a graveyard since she is unable to comprehend death. Ruby, Robin, Scarlett, Rose, Ginger and Carmen. With the exception of the last one (where I do not see the red link – probably based on carmine) the namings are rather clever.

When you find all the items meant for your girl, the girl in white leads you back, but it’s not the proper end to get to all the content. Of all the characters in the game it is “The Girl In White” who is the most interesting. Whilst the grandma is fairly creepy this young girl is the closest you have to an ally. At first I was very wary of her since in a game where encountering a wolf will cause your character to lie hurt in the road clutching yourself. She beckons you to follow her and to be honest I was suspicious that she was trying to lead you towards the wolf like one of the sirens from Greek mythology. She is quite the contrary. She leads you to objects and interacts with your character in child-like ways such as telling jokes and playing patty-cake. She is also the only way you will find your way back to the path to safety. Truly, she is your guardian angel.

To get all content, you have to find the wolf. That’s just something you need to experience. It is an experience. After you encounter the wolf it is clear that your character has been murdered. Grandma’s house becomes even more eerie and the character disappears from your roster. What else has happened to them? Well that’s up to your imagination. Their slow-walk as they comfort themselves by cradling their arm… were they brutally murdered? Were they raped? It’s up to your interpretation. Personally, I still feel guilt for leading my first character (Scarlett) to her wolf. This game gets in your head.

The game is very atmospheric and every element contributes to put you in a constantly uncomfortable state. It’s not in-your-face scary, but keeps making you shift, afraid of what might pop up in the distance. The music is gothic, very creepy, and the forest is dark. While there’s some nice plants, the few models get repeated so they don’t become distracting, and while the expanse is beautiful at first, it gets scary soon. Then there’s the item locations – half crumbled buildings, dirty abandoned couches, none of which are very comfortable. Positively creepy.

If there’s one game that qualifies as art in the whole ‘Are videogames art?’ debate, it’s this. It’s an experience, it makes you feel and worry, it can touch you quite deeply. For that reason alone, it’s worth experiencing.

Final Thoughts

As I said, this game got into my head. Survival horrors freak me out because of the whole idea of life and death. The Path prayed on my empathy and new found responsibility as a teacher and made me feel incredibly wary and guilty hours after finishing the game. It annoyed Jeroen a bit becuase, as he said, it is just a game.

In the end though… it isn’t. To play to completion you need to lead these girls like lambs to the slaughter. It isn’t fun violence like Saints Row 2 and the moral compass isn’t as loose as in inFamous. All these girls, in the end, are innocents. The wolf could mean death in the literal sense or the death of innocence that comes from sexual awakening or something traumatic. It’s your choice. Dead or alive. Innocent or corrupted. The wolf never seeks you out but is fed by the player’s curiosity or need for completion. I was unable to feed him a second time after I saw the consequences that befell the first girl. Powerful stuff.

50 Game Round Up: 101-150 (Jeroen)

Posted: 27th May 2012 by Jeroen in Round-Up
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After Peter’s picks yesterday, it’s now my turn to go through the games and pick my favourites.

It seems like we’ve said this previously, but it’s felt we’ve hit our stride now. This past fifty games feel like the best set yet and we’ve enjoyed playing them. We’ve been having so much fun, it’s actually sped up our playing (we’re actually building up quite a buffer – three months ahead by now, we’ll probably end up speeding up our posting speed at some point), because it’s just been so much fun to play.

After all of that though, it seems like the next 50 could go over that… let’s hope it does!

Best Game I Had Not Previously Played

As said, lots of great games again in this fifty. Peter has already mentioned Jeanne D’Arc as his favourite, I seriously loved God of War II (one of those games that was just great to watch) and Pain was just simple good fun.

In the end, there was one single game that wooed us both. Peter mentioned how much he’s been playing it, while I started the first game in the series first and am loving that. Saints Row 2, you’re brilliant. Great sense of humour, brilliant gameplay, way too much customization to get boring and a collector’s dream. And then it’s just a fun game to watch. Love it.

Worst Game

Look, we’ve said a lot about Free Running already, but I’ll not go on about that after Peter already did. Let’s just say that was terrible.

There’s another game though that didn’t belong on the list. It might not be a too bad game, but we’ve already played it plenty… Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. It’s just the same game as Metal Gear Solid (the first one)! I won’t repeat it… but it just wasn’t fun to play. We were happy when we could stop.

Most Surprising Game

There’s been the psychodelic Mad Planets, the surprisingly engaging BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, the surprisingly sandboxxy Far Cry 2…

When it comes down to it though, Facade was surprisingly good and in depth – it came true on the promises and was more interactive than expected. Good fun, certainly something to try if you haven’t yet.

Biggest Disappointment

Some games are just hyped up and loved by so many that you’re expecting something great. Harvest Moon was supposed to offer a deeper experience, RPG and all. We really wanted to have something fun here and love it. But I’m sorry, it’s just so incredibly boring to play. Repetitive, long winded and just not actually interesting. Sorry guys!

Best Blast From The Past

There’ve been quite a few games I already played before that we now played for the blog. Back to some more Half-Life, fun enough, and Civilization got us right back to being addicted to the game. Defender of the Crown and SimCity might have disappointed slightly more, but it worked well enough for me.

In the end though, last night’s Dungeon Keeper clinched it. Several hours of play, great humour, incredibly addictive, and I know it all too well. It’s brilliant. So happy I got back to it – even if it took me an hour or two to fix it.

Games We Kept Playing

With us having already mentioned Saints Row 2 often enough, I won’t repeat it here again. That limits my options quite a bit further though, so I’ll cheat slightly with a game I played before, though I already loved it before. Neverwinter Nights immediately went back on my playing list… and yeah, I’ve already started looking at playing some of the expansions. God, I love that series.

50 Game Round Up: 101-150 (Peter)

Posted: 26th May 2012 by Mulholland in Round-Up
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So here we are again. 50 games in six months and it is time for our round-up so we have a chance to look back to reflect on what we have played.

This time we are introducing a new category: Best Blast From The Past. Since we are both gamers there is a proportion of each 50 that we have already played and as such have a chance to get nostalgic about so an apology in advance for possible gushing.

Best Game I Had Not Previously Played

This has been a real dash to the finish line. If you had asked me before 140 I was pretty likely to have said Saints Row 2 was my favourite game that I had never played before. It ticked all the boxes of things I love about the Grand Theft Auto franchise and was very very silly. True it had some flaws, such as the lack of decent radio stations, but I loved it.

Then Jeanne D’arc came along which stole my heart away. The enchanting storyline, the beautiful anime-styled cutscenes, the pick-up-and-play feel of free battles… it had me from the get go. I still have no idea why this was released in the UK but I sure am thankful for this list for pointing us in this game’s direction otherwise I would have never had a chance to play this gem.

Another note-worthy game is BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger which, if it had hopped over the 150 line, would have set the benchmark very high and could have had a great chance at being the top pick. For now it has the distinction of being a top three which is not bad at all.

Other games that deserve to be mentioned include God of War II, Far Cry 2 and Halo 3: ODST.

Worst Game

Dear Free Running,

Why were you on this list? I understand many other games I will not like. I am not a horror enthusiast but I can see their worth. The same games for the skateboarding games that go COMPLETELY over my head. But neither of us could find any merit in your inclusion. Everything you did had been done before in better games.

I have a feeling you won’t make the cut of the next list which will be some form of justice. You suck. Seriously. I won’t even try selling you on eBay.

Most Surprising Game

Remember how much we hated Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes? Well we never really enjoyed this franchise. I mean Snake Eater was okay but I was blown away by Metal Gear Solid 4. Having chartered the course of this series from the original through all the major console releases it is so interesting to see how this game morphed from one that annoyed me to one that was a joy to play. I need to get a copy of this to complete at a later date, thanks for the lend again Chris.

Biggest Disappointment

Everyone I know raved about the Team Fortress games. This meant that when I sat down to play Team Fortress Classic my expectations were ridiculously high and although I did enjoy the game it was never able to live up to them. Much like Half-Life if I’m being completely honest.

Best Blast From The Past

Well I expected Tekken to be in here but that was a bit of a bust. However, Abe’s Exoddus really stood up to the plate and delivered a great gaming experience which reminded me why I played the demo constantly for a few weeks. It was great to finally be able to play the game properly.

Games We Kept Playing

Saint’s Row 2 wins this by a country mile. I have played this for over 26 hours and I still have missions to get through. It was not only great value for money but has given much joy and frustration. Blowing things up, streaking, dressing up as a hot dog, setting things on fire and casual plastic surgery. God, I love this game.

#340 Dungeon Keeper

Posted: 25th May 2012 by Jeroen in Games
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1

150th played so far

Genre: Strategy
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 1997
Developer: Bullfrog
Publisher: Electronic Arts

As we’ve mentioned before, for these landmark numbers for games we like to find a game that’s somewhat meaningful for us – we care about or such. For the 50’s Jeroen gets a ‘joy game’ whilst I take the 100 marks.

Dungeon Keeper is one of these games. Made by the at the time brilliant developer Bullfrog, it’s a strategy game using the tagline “It’s Good To Be Evil“. I played through it a few times (by now knowing what’s coming) and even did quite a bit of research into how it worked to get past some trickier bits – the scripts are all plain text and fairly easy to understand.

Our Thoughts

Want a bit of proof this worked for us? At around 22:30, we stopped playing. I thought it was around 9. That’s certainly a sign of addiction – and yeah, I could’ve gone on longer if I wanted.

At the core, this is a normal real-time strategy game in the vein of Dune II and Warcraft. You build up your army and send it in against the enemies. There’s a larger simulation aspect added though, which is arguably for a large part the more interesting.

As the dungeon keeper, you’re responsible for building a dungeon. While these include such interesting staples as torture rooms and treasure rooms, just as important are certain rooms more important for developing your dungeon but that might not be impressive to visiting heroes, such as the workshop – you need to build your doors and traps somewhere!

This leads to most levels being a two step approach – first you build your dungeon, gather your armies and train them, then when you feel ready you go in to face the heroes or rival keepers and wipe them out.

While this sounds very formulaic, this isn’t as strict as it sounds. Your enemies seek you out, meaning that you don’t always have the time to build your dungeon. You need to find resources, both gold to build your dungeon and new rooms and creatures that are sometimes elsewhere in the area, for which you need to strike out, and at times exploration is half the fun. In yet other levels you’re more timed – such as the one level where your enemies attack you from all sides and you have to survive wave after wave, or another where you either spend a lot of blitz time training your creatures to defend against strong heroes, or rush in to defeat an enemy keeper who starts out incredibly strong. Still, in many cases you can determine how fast you go and where you go, and when you do what, giving you an amount of control that adds its own strategy. Even when it’s about defeating the four wizards who rule the land and hide in their fortresses instead of about you killing some keepers.

The great thing about the game is probably the amount of fun there is in this. While the core game is pretty straightforward – the game AI is usually fairly simple, but the game is balanced so that later levels become absolutely horrible, making the final enemy (the Avatar) absolutey horrible to fight. To be brutally honest the game’s AI is pretty stupid. I can not talk for later in the game (I was a bit young for this at the time) but after a conversation and some observation I can not speak much for their intelligence. I mean… when you keep a fleet of beetles and don’t even try to train some of your beasts then you deserve to have you minions tortured until they turn into ghosts (wow this blog entry got dark).

The writing – especially voicing – makes it more fun though. You’re the evil guy, so obviously this is about converting lovely villages – described as having many fluffy bunnies hop around the fields and kids not being punished for crimes they didn’t commit – into horrible places – or perhaps not if you’re a demon spawn looking for a nice place for your holidays. This is also shown in the worldmap slowly changing from a green and colourful landscape to a black and red volcano-filled horrible area as you defeat the different areas, but it’s the mentor who really drives it home.

In the game itself, this manifests itself in several humorous comments that happen at different times (I understand the game tells you to go to bed if you play at 4AM, but I never had a chance to do so) as well as the general design and writing. Your score is determined not just based on the usual parameters (speed, gold gathered etc), but also on more obscure mechanics, such as how many of your creatures you slapped (it makes them work faster) or how long you trained your mistresses. Those same mistresses, by the way, are probably a good example of the game’s humour becoming more visual… and I supposed purile. You see, these women, dressed in all leather, have a slight bondage theme going on – to the point where being slapped and tortured makes them happier, instead of angrier as normal. At least they did not moan with pleasure whenever you slapped them… I did worry for a while.

So as a mix of simulation and strategy – genres Bullfrog does well – this game works well. Tough, but not impossible, and with enough simulation that you can spend quite a bit of time and resources on it, but this doesn’t ever get overwhelming.

The graphics in the mean time are simple – we’re looking here at a mostly pre-3D era, and while the dungeon is partially 3D, quite a lot of things (including most objects and all creatures) are 2D sprites placed on top of it. The game has a high-res version built in (press Alt+R while playing), making for a better experience and badly needed to get past the pixel blur. It’s still quite dated and the colours are fairly drab, but it’s playable and, I suppose, functional up to a point. The high-resolution certainly helps but it really does have a level of graphic sophistication like Super Mario RPG. Considering how many frolicking minions you can have at any one time you can forgive the graphics. However, one thing that is really annoying is the isometric viewpoint. When building treasure rooms and the like this can be a real pain since you wil repeatedly miss out a row of building because you simply can not see all of the floor because of the dungeon walls getting in the way… some transparenting like was later used in The Sims would have worked perfectly.

And as said, it’s still very playable and quite an addictive game even now. Difficult to get to work on Windows 7 now (use Dosbox, trust me), but worth a try. It’s probably still in a few bargain bins somewhere and there is always the fantabulous world of eBay.

Final Thoughts

I will be honest here, I was never the biggest fan of this game. I was seven when I first played this and when you consider the complexity and the hinted sado-masochism I think it’s fair to understand why. Whilst this is not a game I really like to play myself it really one that I enjoy watch being played (a bit like Civilization really).

Still, what a great 50 we’ve had… time to write our round-ups.

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