Category: Special Features
Easily one of the best part about having friends or coworkers who are also die hard gamers like yourself, is the fact that you can talk to this person about how the developers don’t know what they’re doing, how you would’ve done such and such game better, and ultimately, “back in my day…”
Personally, “back in my day” is the best part of any gaming-related conversation. Mainly for the sake of bringing back fond memories, but also because I always manage to realize something that I never noticed before as a kid, or simply couldn’t figure out.
Case in point: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Casino Night Zone. I spent years trying to get past that block that you simply couldn’t jump over. If you’ve played Sonic 2, you know what I’m talking about. I ended up giving up on the game completely, and declared it broken and unbeatable. Then, just two years ago, I learned while talking to a friend that you actually have to press down on your D-pad, as the platform you’re standing on is actually an elevator.
Silly realizations like this are one of the many reasons it’s always a good idea to take a trip down memory lane. Today’s trip will take us to the town of DoDonPachi. PEW PEW after the jump.
Kyle here with another edition of The Music Vault!
Last time we looked at Team Teamwork’s “Vinyl Fantasy VII,” a mash-up of hip-hop lyrical stylings and the music of Final Fantasy VII.
This time, we’re gonna have a look at the just-released music on Harmonix’s latest addition to rhythm gaming – The Rock Band Network.
The Ace Attorney series proved to western shores in 2005 that a game in which you play as a lawyer could be not only fun, but downright awesome at times. Sure it had a tendency to be silly and extremely over the top, but snappy writing and simple and intuitive gameplay made the original game a joy to play. Sequels followed almost yearly, culminating in this year’s instalment: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.
The original BioShock was considered a masterpiece by gamers and critics alike in 2007, and whenever something’s successful a sequel usually gets announced. Now the time has come to return to Rapture, but is this a welcome one?
BioShock 2 puts you in the diving suit of one of the prototype Big Daddies, the first one to be successfully bonded to a Little Sister. On New Year’s Eve, 1958, your Little Sister was forcefully taken away from you, putting you in a chemically induced coma. Now, ten years later, you have awakened to find a city in utter ruin, with a constant need to relocate your lost companion.
With access to the Heavy Rain demo coming to us earlier than expected, this gamer took it upon himself to download it as soon as he had the chance. My personal conclusion? It works, and it works far better than many cynical gamers thus far have been willing to believe it could.
The demo gives you three different segments to play through; a tutorial to guide you through the basic controls, an action heavy scene set in an run-down apartment block, and the crime scene of a murder committed by the Origami Killer, the character at the centre of Heavy Rain’s dramatic story-line.
The first part of the demo, the tutorial, begins with retired detective Scott Shelby making his way down a rain soaked alley, on his way to question someone in regards to their sons death at the hands of the Original Killer. Why he couldn’t just park his car in front of the apartment itself is never mentioned, but that’s a question for another time. For now, lets focus on the gameplay.
It seems to me that a lot of gamers, not to mention game journalists, have gotten it into their heads that our chosen form of recreation won’t be taken seriously unless we recognise a landmark achievement within the history of gaming; the video game equivalent to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.
Being both a film student and a gamer this is a concept that really speaks to me, but before I go into the basic gist of things I’d like to take a moment to explain what I mean by the Citizen Kane of video games.
In the mid-to-late ‘90’s, the PC gaming market almost seemed like a sort of secret society, offering a consistent level of thrills for quick-learning gamers who knew how to use their PCs for more than just The Oregon Trail. First Person Shooters were all the rage back then, adding fast-paced action, copious violence, and the occasional bits of profanity and nudity that made committed computer players feel truly rewarded.
Eventually, videogame consoles would catch up to the PC market with 3D visuals and “edgier” releases, and it was during the turn of the century that Serious Sam was released, almost as a send-off to the FPS days of yesteryear.
Fast forward to today, where the team behind Sam’s previous adventures brings back their classic for a console and PC re-release. Not content with merely porting the game at a budget price, developer Croteam has given the original game a serious HD makeover, appropriately titled Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter. But does the untouched gameplay still remain fresh in a time of an overabundant FPS market?
Welcome to space. Aliens live here. Angry ones.
That’s the premise behind Team 17’s new top-down shooter for the Xbox 360, a remake of the original Alien Breed for the Amiga, Alien Breed Evolution.
The game has gotten a new coat of paint and a new set of wheels, so to speak. The graphics and musical score have been updated for the Xbox 360, and the controls rely on both analog sticks for movement and aiming. Movement is done with the left analog stick, while aiming in any direction is done with the right analog stick.
Once upon a time, adventure games were the proverbial kings of PC gaming, entertaining gamers everywhere with a heavy focus on well-written stories and trong, realistic characters. Adventure games had their best run during the late 80’s and early 90’s, before suddenly dying out. So what happened to the adventure games, and where are they now?
In this three part series we’ll be taking a look at the history of adventure games and possible try to predict a future for them as well.
In our third installment we take a look at the revival of adventure games, their current state and their various spin-off genres.
Once upon a time, adventure games were the proverbial kings of PC gaming, entertaining gamers everywhere with a heavy focus on well-written stories and strong, realistic characters. Adventure games had their best run during the late 80’s and early 90’s, before suddenly dying out. So what happened to the adventure games, and where are they now?
In this three part series, we’ll be taking a look at the history of the adventure game and possibly try to predict a future for them as well.
In this second instalment we take a look at the decline and near eradication of adventure games
Rocktober is upon us, and you should all know what that means: Tim Schafer is back, with a game that could only rock harder if it was made out of stone. But that wouldn’t be a very great gaming experience. Brutal Legend has a lot to live up to considering Schafer’s history with LucasArts’ adventure games and his previous game that no one bought: Psychonauts.
Brutal Legend kicks off, where else, at a metal concert. Jack Black plays Eddie Riggs, the world’s best roadie who’s working for the world’s worst metal band: Kabbage Boy. They have a tween audience, which doesn’t sit well with Eddie. There’s nothing that Eddie can’t build or fix, except the band itself. After an on-stage accident some of Eddie’s blood spills onto his belt-buckle, in reality an amulet of Ormagöden, The Fire Beast, Cremator of the Sky and Destroyer of the Ancient World.
Stellar voice acting and a great script makes characters come alive. Jack Black is perfect for the voice of Eddie Riggs
If you’re a gamer willing to open yourself to new and inventive ideas, consider downloading Lucidity from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The main menu introduces you to a hauntingly beautiful rendition of a well-known Swedish lullaby, Byssan Lull, whose origin is steeped in mystery.
Lucidity’s composer, Jesse Harlin wrote an interesting piece recently on how this Swedish lullaby came to be chosen for the game, as well as his opportunity to work with Swedish singer Lisa Eriksson.
The LucasArts composer provided a partial translation of the lyrics on the website which are used as a starting point for the subtitles included in the video below.
Once upon a time, adventure games were the proverbial kings of PC gaming, entertaining gamers everywhere with a heavy focus on well-written stories and strong, realistic characters. Adventure games had their best run during the late 80’s and early 90’s, before suddenly dying out.
So what happened to the adventure games, and where are they now?
In this three part series, we’ll be taking a look at the history of the adventure game and possibly try to predict a future for them as well. We begin, obviously, with the early development and subsequent rise of adventure games.
THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN...
Almost every kind of fiction is based off of something else, and the adventure games were no different. In the mid 70’s, before gaming was an actual term and computer hardware would cover an entire room, the first seeds of the adventure game genre were sown by way of Interactive Fiction.
Most superhero games have the same bad luck as most movie based games: they usually downright suck, with some exceptions here and there. Batman: Arkham Asylum is a bold attempt at the latter category, with characterisations, locations and overall theme ripped straight from the world of the comic books. Fans of Batman can rest assured that Arkham Asylum delivers, and then some.
The game kicks off as Batman, once again, has apprehended the Joker during his latest crime spree. As he brings the Clown Prince of Crime back to Arkham Asylum, he’s naturally suspicious about how easy it was apprehending him.
The perpetual spit quickly hits the fan as Joker breaks free from his shackles, beats up some guards and promptly takes over the entire Asylum, with a little help from Harley Quinn and his goons newly shipped in from Blackgate penitentiary. Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, as well as the asylum’s warden, Quincy Sharp, are kidnapped and it’s up to Batman to rescue them, defeat the Joker and find a way to survive among the rest of his rogue’s gallery in the veritable hellhole that is Arkham Asylum.
MetroidVania is an interesting genre name to be sure. Named after the two series’ that birthed this particular gameplay style, Metroid and Castlevania, the genre is defined by 2D gameplay across sprawling maps with progression controlled by the items and moves you have access to at any given moment.
The genre isn’t dead, but it’s certainly a bit of a wasteland right now with portable Castlevania titles the only viable option and the last 2D Metroid released way back in 2004. Here to save the day for fans is Shadow Complex, a new, original, sizable adventure for Xbox Live Arcade.
Platform & shoot your way through the game world...
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