Join the Club

August 8th, 2008

toe jam and earl megadrive

At the end of the last entry I concluded that the best thing that we can all do to improve the status of video game is to think more critically about what we play. Even better, discuss games critically with others, constructively sharing our thoughts and forming collective conclusions.

When it comes to critical discussion of video games, us bloggers are usually at the forefront, shaping the landscape of critical discussion. It comes to no surprise then that two of my favourite bloggers decided to take the initiative and start up discussion groups within their communities to explore classic video games. Think of it like the ‘book club’ concept where a group of individuals come together to critically read and discuss novels on a regular basis except replace books with games with the conversation present online through forums and blogs.

This is a fantastic way to encourage deep discussion among enthusiast players interested in some good chin wagging as well as promoting the relevance of older games. Causes that both have my full support. This also allows players to go back and sample games that they might have missed the first time around, so far most selection have accommodated for this.

I ought to quickly introduce both of the ‘clubs’, I’ll write them down in the order of conception:

Together Retro – Retro Gaming with RacketBoy

Introduction
Discussion

Together Retro by RacketBoy has been running for a good couple of months now covering a great selection of games including Defender, Kid Icarus, Ristar and Lunar: Silver Star. I applaud the selections so far as each title wasn’t necessarily the most popular for its time yet still unique and ground breaking in its own way. The discussion seems very versatile with additional ‘extra credit’ games offered to more savvy participants and play time ranging between two weeks to a month depending on the selected game (for example: a month for Lunar, two weeks for Samurai Shodown). I also like how an emphasis is placed on different versions of the game, high scores and tips.

The latest game in the series is Toe Jam and Earl for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis. You can participate via the forums, registration required.

Vintage Game Club – The Brainy Gamer

Introduction
Discussion

The ever popular Micheal Abbot last month began The Vintage Game Club debuting with the brilliant Grim Fandango. Not much more can be said really, the club is a couple of weeks old and response seems enthusiastic despite some difficulty overcoming the game’s difficult puzzles (which itself has become a talking point of the discussion). Excerpts from the forums have also been posted on the The Brainy Gamer blog.

Grim Fandango is the game in question, discussion can be found on the forums, registration required.

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What was Your First Video Game?

December 9th, 2007

your first video game header

Know Your Roots

This expression, I hold with great importance. People that believe in this statement are people who are proud of what they have become and hence have great respect towards the things that shaped them into the person that they are today. I am one of those people and for me video games is one of those things that has shaped me into who I am today.

It is important for us not only as gamers but people to look back at our past and place things of this nature in high regard. So hence I want to talk about the first games that I owned.

I remember when I was selecting my first two games for the NES. My brother and I had a set limit of money to spend. So we spent our money wisely we bought a 3-in-1 cart because it was only a bit more expensive then a single game but it was 3 games! After we made that decision we didn’t have much left to spend so we were forced to buy one of the cheapest games in the cabinet. So we chose a game entitled Totally Rad, probably because of the sweet name I’d say.

3 in 1 cart: Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Nintendo World Cup

super mario bros tetris nintendo world cup cartriage

You gotta say, this cart is absolutely awesome. Not only did it have the two most defining games of the era but it also had the sweet Nintendo World Cup. As a gamer I shouldn’t need to introduce Tetris or Mario to you but I do want to briefly mention that the NES version of Tetris. Anyone that remembers this version of Tetris will no doubt remember the part of the game (I forget which part) where there were the set of Nintendo characters each playing a musical instrument, yay!

A lot of people probably haven’t heard of Nintendo World Cup. It was part of the Kunio-kun series which basically means that each of the players had the same character design as River City Ransom’s bad asses. Before each match you could set 4 variables for the computer AI, for example should the your team mates shoot for goal etc. Much like other NES sport titles NWC was unique in gameplay to work around the NES’ limited hardware. Unlike modern soccer games you control only one player and when you don’t have the ball you call to your team mates for them to pass the ball. By controlling one player it stops the camera from constantly moving from player to player which probably would have killed the NES as any camera panning in this game made the sprites often flash white and caused some slow down.

Totally Rad
totally rad jaleco nes game
Now considering that this game was one of the cheapest NES games on sale that day this game is actually a better than average 8 bit platformer. Totally Rad was made by the not very successful developer Jaleco. There is a storyline in there about a kid that can use magic and his girlfriend being captured but its not very interesting. This is made worse by the totally lame (pun) dialogue. The translators have tried to make things interesting by using teen slang and outdated words like gnarly and tubular. But despite the lame story the game plays quite well. Its not as frustrating as your typical unfair NES platformer and the game has quite a consistent balance throughout.

The game’s main selling point is the set of magic powers that you can use to heal, go invincible and turn into animal-esque creatures. It is very similar to the abilities in other NES platformers like Megaman.

So what about you? What was the first game that you owned?

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Retro Review - Turok Rage Wars

November 30th, 2007

turok rage wars nintendo 64 review

When a lot of people think about FPS games on the N64 they often draw their minds back to thoughts of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark but during the console’s era the Turok series was also a popular FPS franchise for the system. Following the success of Turok 2 developer Acclaim decided to create a multiplayer based Turok game instead of finishing off the trilogy. This game was Turok Rage Wars.

Summary
turok rage wars nintendo 64 single player
Turok Rage Wars is a bit like Quake 3 compared to the other Quake games; everything here is based solely on the death match formula, you know so because multplayer is the first option on the selection screen. So obviously you’ve got a hoist of multiplayer options. As for the single player, you select a character and follow a map like layout in which you select what levels you wish to play. For the most part this is linear but as you unlock more characters the routes will become more open. You can also play the single player co-operatively with a buddy. As you’d expect (being a Turok game) theres a nice selection of interesting weapons at hand.

Story

I don’t even think that there is a story in this game and if there is then its not really interesting.

Gameplay

Death Match

Turok RW boasts a nice selection of multiplayer match customization which is terrific. Unfortunately its nothing on the scale of Perfect Dark but there is more than enough on offer here to satisy fans of the genre. To give you an idea of the game’s scope, here’s some stats ripped straight from the back of the box:

Acclaim seem to love everything in multiples of 4.

In terms of multiplayer game modes you have Death Match and Team Death Match (called Bloodlust), Capture the Flag and Frag Tag (characters turn into monkeys). So all standard FPS game modes, its unfortunate that Acclaim didn’t introduce any new game modes here. A little bit of innovation here would have gone a long way. Also the level selection is based on the game mode, so if you want to play the Frag Tag game mode you can only play Frag Tag on ‘Frag Tag only’ maps. Much like other FPS games each stage has a special power item which will give you some sort of power for a limited amount of time in Turok RW they call it a Power Core.

Game Speed

Something that I noticed when playing this game with my mates is how slow Turok RW feels compared to Quake or Perfect Dark. This can often make combat feel old and sluggish. Although as you progress in the game you unlock faster characters which does fix this to a degree.

Weapons

What makes Turok RW so interesting is it’s creative assortment of weaponary. You’ve got your standard pistol, shotgun and rifle configuration but theres also some really creative weapons in here. I’m talking a flare gun, boomerang, plasma rifle, freeze gun (which slows down characters speed) but my favourite has to be the inflator. As the name suggest when you hit people with this gun it increases their size. On secondary fire you can charge up a shot and watch them inflate until they explode. Awesome. What Turok 2 fans will notice is that instead of the standard crossbow you have the Tek Bow and your default weapon is now the Warhammer.

turok rage wars nintendo 64 multiplayer

All of the weapons are split into categories, so each player has 2 standard guns(shotguns, pistols, rifles), 2 science based guns (plasma gun etc.) and 1 explosive based gun (rocket launcher etc.). In single player your weapon selection is predetermined depending on the character that you are using. But in multiplayer you select which weapons you want to use per category.

The weapons overall are fairy balanced and its clear that a lot of thought has been put into not only balancing these weapons but also designing them to look and feel right. And it definetly shines through as its the game’s main highlight.

Highlights

As I mentioned before the weapon selection in this game is superb and is definetly the main highlight of the game. The game’s textures also looks much more crisper than other FPS games for the console (even Perfect Dark). Although its not hard to see why as the game arenas are kept in doors and generally feel quite small and cramped. The game can also take advantage of the N64 expansion pack although it isn’t necessary.

I think as a package this is definetly something that multiplayer FPS fans should be happy with. With 4 dedicated players this game is a blast. It capitalizes on the multiplayer strength of the N64 which is definetly a good thing. Its also a lot more stable to play than Perfect Dark as it stays within the limits of the console’s requirements.

turok rage wars multiplayer nintendo 64

If you’ve played a Turok game before then you’ll know that the game is littered with dinosaurs. Because of the nature of this title this isn’t so. Thankfully this has been fixed as you can unlock a raptor. Unlike the other players the raptor is restricted to their claws as their only weapon(also has a powerful swipe for a secondary function). The raptor can move around much faster than all of the enemies. These attributes actually ensure that the raptor doesn’t out balance the character set.

Lowlights

Unfortunately Perfect Dark had to come along and blow this game out of the water. More guns, levels, options, modes, bots. To this day Perfect Dark remains one of the most customizable console FPS games around. Its hard not to recomend Perfect Dark over this.

The main gripe for the multiplayer would have to be the small stages and 4 player restriction. Most of the stages early on in the game are just a giant square room with some stairs and corridors. Later on these go outdoors and contain various gimicks to make them more interesting. But you are still walking through the same not too interesting environments, they lack natural creatures like fish, even plants aren’t included. So it makes the environments feel very hollow and lifeless. The 4 player restrictions apply to bots as well so you can never go beyond a total of 4 players.

The single player can also get a bit tiresome as the majority of levels have the same goal of fragging bots, the tight and enclosed areas don’t really make it any more interestig either. When you are playing one on one it gets a bit frustrating trying to hunt down that one last bot through the maze like environment.

Conclusion

Turok Rage Wars is a great addition to the Turok series, in its glory days on the N64. It also capitalizes on the strength of the system which is good to see. For Turok and FPS fans this comes highly recomended but for everyone else theres Perfect Dark.

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