I have been in a severe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mood as of late. I usually am anyway, probably because it was the greatest thing about my childhood. (Well, except for for the 3rd movie where they go back to ancient samurai times.....that was crap).
But recently I have had my Turtle Power cranked all the way to 11....I don't know why...
Seriously, click the link and watch it, then come back. I'll wait.
Yeah, I watched it again too.
So the Turtles look awesome, and you get to see all 4 of them throughout the trailer, Shredder looks like an absolute badass, Will Arnett's in it so that 's always good, Megan Fox is...well not a great actress...but she could play the part of April O'Neil just fine, I hear there will be an appearance by Baxter Stockman, you get to hear the Turtles talk and they sound like they should and....(breathes into paper bag)
Let's just say I am excited for this. So with that, I bring you this week's Flashback Friday! My favorite Ninja Turtles game. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.
The memories are already coming back. :)
Of course that is the NES name for it, which is the one I played the most. I played it in the arcade a LOT back in the day, (and to this day thanks to the local barcade "Up-Down") but being 5 years old when the NES version came out (1990), I didn't want to spend EVERY quarter I ever had on this game, so I acquired the home version.
The premise is simple: Shredder captures April and Splinter and it's the Turtles' job to rescue them. Begin game! That's all we needed back then to make an enjoyable game. Simpler times, indeed.
The controls were simple: jump, attack, and that weird thing where hitting both buttons did a special move where you also lost some life. I get that they wanted your money, but it still bothered me that a move you did actually hurt you. This was prevalent in many arcade games, so it's just an observation of mine.
Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines.
Simple beat 'em up, sure, but for me, the joy came in the fact that the game hit all the right Turtles beats for me. The majority of the time you are fighting the Foot Clan in different forms and colors, basically fodder. There are appearances by BeBop, Rocksteady, Krang, Baxter Stockman, etc. The levels are taken straight out of the show, it feels like an episode of TMNT and it's an enjoyable ride from beginning to end.
Donatello also does ass kicking!
You eat pizza to regain health, you hear the theme music at various points in the game, the jump-kick was your ultimate weapon against EVERYTHING, it was just a lot of fun to jump in and kick some shell. You could even use the environment against your enemies. Foot Soldier throws a manhole cover at you? Just smack it right back in their face. Traffic cone on the ground? Smack it into an enemy and watch him DIE! I don't know how fast a cone has to go to kill someone but apparently Splinter made sure to teach it to his sons just in case.
There are even a few skateboard sequences where you are fighting enemies also riding skateboards. At some point in our lives, didn't we all try skateboarding? Until we couldn't figure out how to make the board come up with us when we jumped. (I'm sure I was very entertaining for my neighbors).
Donatello does breaking the 4th wall.
There have been many Ninja Turtles games, and not all of them are bad, the sequels The Manhattan Project and Turtles in Time were games I enjoyed, though a lot of the mechanics stayed the same. I still, however, keep coming back to the first game in the "beat 'em up" era of Turtles games. This game is a classic and you can still find a cabinet in the few arcades that exist today.
Anyone feel like going to Up-Down and spending any quarter they can find? :)
Friday (3/21) marked the release of the first real "must-have" game for the PS4 with inFAMOUS: Second Son. Many people purchased a PS4 specifically for this game (myself being one of them). So let's talk about Sucker Punch's newest game. I will avoid spoilers as best I can. Keep in mind, I've only put a few hours into the game but according to the game percentage screen, I am about 1/4 of the way through the story at this point.
Smoking can be harmful....to your enemies.
You play as Delsin Rowe, an Akomish Native American from Washington who is your basic graffiti spraying delinquent. As the game opens, you hold your PS4 controller sideways, point the reticle at the screen, pull R2 and spray your first tag on the world. It's a pretty cool use of the controller and the spray paint can sound coming out of the controller speaker only enhances the coolness. This becomes a gameplay mechanic since you can add graffiti to specified walls throughout Seattle, which can either raise or lower your karma depending on which image you choose to paint.
Second Son takes place in 2016, 7 years after the events of the last game and follows the heroic ending of inFAMOUS 2, though you really don't have to know that to enjoy the game here. The main thing that happens between games is that the Department of Unified Protection (D.U.P.) is formed to hunt down and capture the remaining Conduits (or as they refer to them: "Bio-Terrorists") by any means necessary.
Finish Him!
One day a convoy of Conduits crashes on your reservation and your brother, Reggie (who is a local sheriff and spends most of his time arresting Delsin) sets off to help any injured civilians or help track down Conduits to prevent them from escaping. One of these Conduits, Hank, is trapped under the wreckage and as Delsin helps get him free, he inadvertently absorbs Hank's powers and memories, turning Delsin into a Conduit.
You chase down Hank until you both get caught by the head of the D.U.P. Brooke Augustine, who is, herself, a Conduit with concrete powers. Hank is captured and Delsin is knocked unconscious. You wake up a week later to find your tribe ravaged by Augustine and her powers, the only way to save your tribe is to go to Seattle, find Augustine, absorb her powers, and undo what she did.
Flame on?
So that's the setup and you start discovering your smoke powers early on, smoke bolts, smoke missiles, gliding, etc. You do get other elements along the way that basically do the same things with different cosmetic treatments. All are useful in different situations and it is fun to traverse the beautiful city of Seattle.
Alright I have gone this long without mentioning this, so I am proud of my self-control. But: holy crap this game looks good. I will go on record and say that this is one of the best looking games I have ever played. Right up there with Skyrim. The way Delsin animates, even down to his fingers, is a technological marvel and this is the true next-generation experience.
This is in-game! Seriously!
So there are the positives: Looks phenomenal, it's fun traversing the game world, nice little diversions to keep the action from getting too monotonous, and overall just a cool experience so far.
Now for some negatives (no game is perfect, after all): The karma system still feels tacked on and doesn't have much bearing outside of the seconds immediately following your decision. The idea of a morality system is neat but it just doesn't seem that well implemented here. Though it is kinda cool seeing the logo on your jacket change depending on which side you're going down.
Troy Baker always seems to find work. That in and of itself is not a bad thing, Baker is a top-notch voice actor (Bioshock: Infinite, The Last of Us, Saint's Row III and IV, Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins, etc.) But when I hear Delsin talk, I hear Troy Baker, I hear all his other characters. Again, I love Baker's work. He, Nolan North, and Phil LaMarr are my favorite voice actors. Just feels like something is a little off here.
Side Note: He is an incredible Joker. Want proof? Check this out. The laugh will haunt you.
No, I've got the power.
Those little things aside, inFamous: Second Son is a very enjoyable and fantastic experience that any PS4 owner already owns, and if you have been on the fence about jumping into the next-generation, this should be the game that SHOVES you over the line. This game is awesome and well worth your time.
The 27th season of Arena Football got underway last week, unfortunately it started as a bitter defeat for our beloved Iowa Barnstormers. It's been a rough few years for the 'Stormers.
How does that connect to video games? Well, I figured I would look back at happier Barnstormer days with this: Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed for the Playstation.
Pretty sure Kurt just threw the defender's head down the field.
The game was released on May 18th, 2000: The year after Kurt had led the St. Louis Rams to their improbable Super Bowl victory against the Tennessee Titans. Needless to say, Warner became the most famous athlete associated with the Arena League, so they teamed up with Midway to release its first major console release. (There was actually an Arena Football game for the Commodore 64 in 1988, it was text-based and featured 6 teams).
Look familiar?
So this game is basically NFL Blitz-lite. Remember how for years, EA Sports seemed to put all their efforts into Madden, leaving their College Football series a little light on content? Same kind of thing here. NFL Blitz felt like a more complete game than Unleashed, but it was still the only way you could get your Arena Football fix until EA's release in 2006.
The differences between Unleashed and Blitz comes in the differences inherent to the sports themselves. Arena football is 50 yards, balls off the net are live, and there is no punting. While a Blitz style game set in the Arena Football setting seems like a cool idea, in practice, not so much.
At least we still have one of the coolest helmets in sports, right?
The game felt rushed. the AI was pretty spotty and the plays didn't seem all that fleshed out. Kinda felt like you were in the backyard with your friends and you ran that infamous "Just Go" play you drew up.
All was not bad though, it was something different, a new form of football that fans were becoming more aware of thanks to the cover athlete and "Poster Child" of the AFL.
Of course, things have changed in the League since the days of Unleashed. The Arena League as it was then is no more, closing up shop in 2009. After taking existing teams and teams from the "af2" league (including our then Barnstormers), the new Arena Football League formed and is the current incarnation of the League.
While there were 17 teams in Unleashed, the league now sports 14 teams, including the recent expansion teams: The Portland Thunder and the L.A. KISS. Of the 17 teams in the game, 5 of them exist today: The Barnstormers, Tampa Bay Storm, Orlando Predators, San Jose SabreCats, and Arizona Rattlers.
P.S. How cool are Arena Football team names? Houston Thunderbears, Los Angeles Avengers, New England Sea Wolves. Just awesome!
Sleepy time....
I could get into the history of Arena Football and go on and on for way too long, and I might someday, because it is interesting. For this, however, Let's just take this game for what it was: A Blitz style game for an up-and-coming league (at the time) which felt rushed and left you having fun for a bit before going "OK, let's play Blitz".
It was an OK game that appealed to me more since I have always loved the ideas of Arena Football, and that OUR GUY was the cover athlete.
I'll probably end up looking at the 2 Arena Football games made by EA on a future blog post and still hope that, someday, 2K Sports picks up the rights and makes an Arena Football 2K(year) game. Please, oh please.
I continue my look at some awesome video game music through the years. This time I look at an 8-bit game. No, it's not Mario or Zelda, but an equally awesome hero: The Angry Video Game Nerd.
Please tell me you have heard of the Nerd. The guy who's gonna take you back to the past, to play some shitty games that suck ass?
Well he has been making videos for years and is very entertaining and well worth your time to check it out (NSFW mind you).
Now, there have been a few games in the AVGN Universe, made by independent studios, sometimes just one guy. There is now a proper 8-bit scrolling AVGN game available on Steam. I'm sure I will talk about the actual game at some point, but for now, this is my personal favorite track in the game.
Presenting, from The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (Release: September 20, 2013, PC)
Future Fuckballs 2010!
This music takes place in the level of the same name and it's a futuristic level (go figure right?).
I freaking love this song. It's got a nice build at the beginning, kinda dark and spooky, yet driving. Then we start getting the synth sounds on the top that help drive the song to the eventual hook where you either want to pump your fist, jump up and down, bang your head, any combo of the 3, or just play the game better.
Again, I think it's the drums that do it for me, that driving beat, the bass on the drums, I am glad I chose to play drums as a kid. :)
The game itself is hard as all hell, very Mega Man-like. I will come back at some point to talk about the game in detail once I play it more, but if you want a fun/frustrating platformer, or if you are a fan of the Nerd, I would recommend checking out the game on Steam.
And no, there is no Smooth McGroove version of this......yet.
Video games and music go hand in hand, and the really good music leaves you nodding your head even though you don't realize it. In this new segment, I look at some of the best music in gaming. Whether your opinion on the actual game itself may vary from mine, we should at least agree on the kick-ass music.
With that, here is the first entrant:
From Final Fantasy VIII (Release: September 9th, 1999 in North America)
"The Man With The Machine Gun"
Now, I don't have much history with the Final Fantasy series as a whole. My experience stems from a couple hours with FFXIII on the Xbox 360, a few hours with the very enjoyable Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII on the PSP, and the first few levels of FF XIV - A Realm Reborn on the PC and soon on the PS4.
I have always known the FF series to have some of the best music in gaming since they have award winning composers, which is why I purchased TheatrhythmFinal Fantasy for the 3DS. It's a rhythm game using music from the FF games. Pretty fun and, at least in my case, a way to discover the music that I had been missing.
For me TMWTMG has those hard, driving beats and drums that make you just wanna kick ass, which is why this is music you hear during combat. Maybe it's my drumming background, but I always have a soft spot for a great beat and kick-ass drums.
Listening to all the FF music makes me want to go back and play the games, which I know could consume any and all time I HAD. It will be interesting to see how popular the FF games will be on the Playstation Now service. I might have to take advantage of that.
Oh, and if you have been following my posts, (good for you) I will put this here as well:
With the release of the WWE Network, I have been watching A LOT of wrestling. More specifically, a lot of older wrestling, like mid-to-late 80's wrestling. I consider the late 80's - early 90's era of wrestling to be the "larger than life" period. Back then, we thought it was real and the characters were these huge icons that we really got behind or genuinely despised.
Then the hey-day of wrestling happened. As a teenager in the late 90's - early 00's, I have vivid memories of flipping back and forth between Monday Nitro and Raw and getting overwhelmed by the male soap opera that is professional wrestling. It is in this era that my favorite wrestling video game came into existence: WCW/nWo Revenge for the N64.
Raven be all like "Whatever".
The cover picture, might I add, is great. It depicts all the main factions in WCW at this time: Hogan with the nWo Black & White, Kevin Nash with the Wolfpack, Raven with his Flock, and Goldberg with the WCW side, then smoke in the background cause hey, it's the late 90's, that's what we do.
WCW/nWoRevenge was released in North America in October 1998 and used the famous AKI engine; the same engine used in games such as WCW vs nWo World Tour, Wrestlemania 2000, and WWF No Mercy. Which is to say, THE premier wrestling engine.
Sharpshooter and the Scorpion Death Lock....it's the same move ok?
Revenge was a direct sequel to World Tour and added new features, such as instant replay, new animations, new moves, and the ability to steal your opponents taunt.
It also, for the first time, introduced real arenas, such as Monday Nitro, Bash at the Beach, Souled Out, SuperBrawl, etc. This was a big deal and helped the game feel more real.
Not to mention the robust roster of characters. There were around 63 characters that comprised of the nWo Black and White, nWo Wolfpack, Raven's Flock, and WCW factions. Let's throw in a 1/2 in the form of Wrath, who was an unfinished character who you could access via a cheat code. It's fun to play as him since he is pretty much a busted character as far as animations are concerned.
Free 4 All!...See? Cause there are 4.
Revenge also planted the seed that would become the now-famous Create-a-Wrestler feature. It was very limited here in that you could only change the current roster's nicknames, clothes, and clothes colors, but it was still a cool way of customizing the game as you saw fit. You wanna make DDP a member of the Wolfpack and have him wear the nWo black and red colors? You can do that.
Side note: DDP was and still is the MAN and WWF/WWE severely underused him. Also, Randy Orton's RKO would not exist without DDP's Diamond Cutter.
Side side note: DDP Yoga is really good, you should try it.
The game modes were simple: one vs one, two vs two, handicap matches, championship ladders (not actual ladders, just match after match until you eventually faced the champion) where you could face the heavyweight champ, the U.S. Champion, the Tag Team Champs, or the Cruiserweight champ, and, my personal favorite mode, Battle Royal.
Battle Royal was my favorite mode because I would always crank up the number of wrestlers to 40 and turn off the "over the top" rule so we could take the fight outside the ring and use the various weapons to just beat the shit out of everyone. Of course, there could only be 4 wrestlers in the ring at once, so it would take a while to get through it, but that game was so fun that it didn't matter.
Bang!
I still have my original copy of Revenge and I would slam this into my N64 any day. Wrestling games have changed dramatically since the days of the AKI engine, and while WWE 2k14 is still a fun game, I guess I was the right age at the right time for a game like WCW/nWo Revenge; my favorite wrestling game of all time.
Guys, I played a lot of Titanfall yesterday
.
.
.
like A LOT!
Let's say after 60+ games online, 10 1/2 hours, and over 1200 kills later, I wanna talk about it a bit.
You can look back to my thoughts on the beta earlier. Not much has changed, so that kinda gives my initial reactions. I will touch on a few changes that I noticed and things specific to the full retail version.
First off, the positives:
- Guys, this game is badass!
.
.
.
.
I suppose I should elaborate...
- The highs are higher in Titanfall for my personally than with any other shooter I have played. That's not a knock against the other games, that's a glowing compliment to this game.
- They have added new (and useful) burn cards. Such as: double XP, permanent cloak, more lethal grenades, etc. I find myself actually using Burn Cards now unlike the beta.
- Guys, the game is really badass!
OK, now for some things I had issues with:
- That frame rate....whew. I have been playing the Xbox One version (I will pick up the PC version to see how much better that looks) and once the game gets heavy, the frame rate drops to what feels like single digits. Rough in some spots and absolutely great on others.
- Everything is online, including the campaign. Even the tutorial has to hit a server before you can join. This really isn't a remark specifically aimed at Titanfall, but I don't like this "online-only" mentality that is becoming more prominent. Mainly because this, if your internet goes down or if (in this case) EA's servers decide to catch fire, you CAN NOT play the game AT ALL. Maybe I am the only person that that bothers, but I think it's worth mentioning.
- Speaking of the campaign, I am not really sure what the point of it is. In essence, it's the same multiplayer maps, the same multiplayer structure, but with a little more dialogue and more pictures in the upper right hand corner. Guess I don't understand what is so bad about adding some sort of single player campaign to a shooter.
- I wish there was more stuff. Sounds weird to say, but I really wish there were customization options for my pilots and titans, like decals or face paint or something. There also aren't that many unlocks, like weapons and perks. Those perks also don't really seem all that helpful.
All that said, this is still a fantastic game and well worth your time. Like I said earlier, the highs are higher here than anywhere else and I can not recommend this game enough to people who are shooter fans looking for something a little different.
I will be on twitch tonight as I look to hit level 50 and prestige (or "regenerate") for the first time. Join me won't you?
Ok, I am feeling extra retro today. Somehow, I always come back to SEGA Channel.
What was SEGA Channel? Well it was a piece of hardware that was WAY before its time. Think Netflix for video games in 1993. Sony is attempting something similar now with Playstation Now, but back then, this was unheard of.
But don't take my word for it, watch this incredibly 90's promo and see for yourself.
Feeling rad yet? Well let's break this down cause I feel compelled to do so.
- We are introduced to GOOD GOD WHY IS THE LOGO BOUNCING ALL OVER THE SCREEN? JUST SIT STILL! (Get used to the logo which now has ADD).
- We are introduced to Eric Hastings who will guide us through this infomercial. The Major Nelson of his time.
- A couple games go flashing on our screen. Including: Earthworm Jim, Sonic and Knuckles, Road Rash, and Comix Zone. Can EA and Criterion just make a damn Road Rash game already? PLEASE?
- Can't get more 90's than that shaky cam with colors all around it. I call it the "Saved By the Bell Treatment".
- 90's Dad hair alert!
- FEMALE ALERT! I can imagine the pitch to her to be in this video went something like, "You will be the hottest girl ever, trust us".
- Ecco the Dolphin sighting! Also a bunch of other games that..(seizure).....gah! Where was I?
- I am not exactly sure what "Video Game Paradise" is. I assume it was life before Superman 64.
- 1:27 HOLY CRAP IT'S PHIL MOORE! Alright, this got interesting. Nick Arcade was a big part of my childhood, though it was mostly me yelling at the tv "Why are you so dumb?? You are bad at games! It's right in front of you!" Not really knowing the intricacies of Green Screen Technology. Though in the early 90's, maybe it was still Blue Screen Technology.
- Does anyone else get a little motion sick when the camera zooms in and out real quick? Don't worry, it only happens ALL THE TIME!
- Look at the hottest girl ever!
- Look at the mustache!
- 2:17 Look at the EVERYTHING! The vest on the red shirt, the hair, the TV.
- HA! Parental controls. That's a good one. Remember when we pretended to care? Still don't care.
- Yep, she whispers "I know where they are" while looking right at us. That's not creepy or anytPLEASE DON'T KILL ME!
- SEGA Channel hook-up. Sounds kinky!
- 2:45 Ok, we now get a young, female version of Eddie Vedder showing us how to hook up the device to a car engine....no, wait that's a Genesis. Seriously, after the 32X and Sega CD came out it turned the Genesis into a mutant monstrosity.
- C'mon, how hard can this be? Plug the SEGA Channel into the Genesis, turn Genesis and TV on. Ta-freaking-da. Though I guess if Pop-Tarts have more than one step (toast it or don't) then I shouldn't be surprised here.
- "Now hold on to the dialysis machine while navigating the menus". Seriously, honey, put the Genesis down, I think we all get it.
- Boy, they love letting you know that you can play Earthworm Jim don't they? I enjoyed me some EJ but with over 50 games you would think they would show something else for a second.
- 3:40 Now we get a guy who couldn't make it into a John Hughes movie telling us about a help screen. This should go well.
- "My favorite, hints and tips".... here is a hint AND a tip, maybe talking isn't your thing.
- So now I am sure we will get a little info about what each help menu item actually shows you, I mean they did a whole part of the infomercial to talk about NOPE FUCK THAT, MORE PHIL MOORE!
- What's that, Phil? You have a secret? Well what is it? Tell me! Ok....ok I can tell you are excited....ok maybe chill....PHIL STOP YELLING AT ME! That's not how a secret works.
- "I'm not gonna bring it to you like the pizza guy". I have nothing for this I just wanted to bring it up as a reason to adore Phil Moore.
- I am aware that it's the 90's but I feel there is severe "Plaid Overkill"
- 4:30 Hey I am still talking here, where are you going? Camera? Hey! Come back!
- 4:45 Is that Phil Moore staring into my soul? Or is the X-Files starting?
- Ah, more 90's. Backwards snapback hats, electricity coming out of EVERYTHING, and graphics that came right out of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers....or maybe something with a little less budget like .....this....
- 5:08 What game could you be playing where your thumbs are moving THAT fast? Super Blister Man 3?
- More Sonic games, yet another Earthworm Jim sighting, Street Fighter II, and then they show a few more...(seizure) ....ngh! Why does that keep happening?
- And the list of games goes..(seizure).....seriously stop it!
- We end with the evil SEGA cyborgs planting SEGA Channel directly into your eyes and brainwashing you before we fade to black.
Truth be told, I enjoyed SEGA Channel. I remember waking up HOURS before I needed to go to school to see what new games came every month. It was a really innovative service. The biggest knock against it was that the Genesis was dying out and if it had came out earlier in its life cycle, they could have capitalized on this technology even greater than they did.
SEGA Channel went worldwide in 1994 and was discontinued by 1998. The asking price per month ranged anywhere from the $15 range to the $20 range depending on where you lived and what cable provider you had. Kinda pricey for the time. We shall see if Sony has success with their Playstation Now. Until then, we can look back at this and feel all sorts of nostalgia.
Twas the days before Titanfall, and all through the house
not a sound could be heard, but the rapid clicking of my mouse
Why? Well I checked out One Finger Death Punch on Steam the other day and I figured I would tell you about it.
Let the clicking begin! FIGHT!
The whole basis of 1FDP is simple: enemies will attack you from either side of the screen and your job is to take them out. It's a 2D game with 2 buttons. (Kinda misleading with the name, you actually use 2 fingers).
You start off with simple enemies: one hit, one kill. If they are coming from the left side of the screen, you click the left mouse button, and vice versa for the right side. After the first couple of levels you say to yourself "I got this".
FYI: You may not totally "got this" yet.
As the game progresses, you get introduced to other enemies and mechanics. Some enemies that take 2 hits to take out, enemies that dodge your first attack and move to the other side of you. Enemies that will take multiple hits on multiple sides to eliminate, as well as weapons you can throw, killing any enemy on that side of the screen. Add to that passive skills you unlock throughout the game that give you bonus thrown weapons or other perks.
Yeah it can get all sorts of confusing and seizure-inducing.
The end result, however, is a frantic but fun time waster.
I am going to click you so hard!
So far, I have played just past the first boss and I'll come back to it for brief little chunks of playtime. It's funny, simple-yet-frantic, and well worth the $4 I spent on Steam. The price, I believe, goes back up to $5 towards the end of March. Either way, I have been enjoying it and I think you should check it out.
Now I will exclaim, with this new game in sight,
Happy Titanfall day to all, I probably won't sleep tonight.
Now what am I doing? Sewer Shark? Yes, THE Sewer Shark for the Sega CD. Why? Well because, unfortunately, Writer/Designer Ken Melville passed away at 65 years old on February 1st. I figured I would look back at one of the most talked about games for the system. (Aside from Night Trap, which he also had a hand in).
This gentleman seems very pleased at your desire to play Sewer Shark.
Ah, the Sega CD. FMV gaming at its finest. To be fair, this was the first real attempt at something of this nature. While I have never seen Sharknado (I know, shame on me) I like to think it compares pretty close to this.
The story: In a post-apocalyptic world, environmental destruction has forced most of humanity to live underground. You play as a "rookie pilot" and, along with a group of "Sewer Jockeys" travel through the sewers and kill mutant creatures, cleaning it for "Solar City", which is an island paradise ruled by the evil Commissioner Stenchler.
And this would be the game screen.
So the whole objective here is to travel through the sewers without crashing or running out of energy. It's a rail shooter basically. the D-pad on top of the screen is how you dictate which turn to take in the sewers. At points throughout the game you receive a set of directions on where to go, miss one of those turns: you crash into a grate or a wall and it's game over.
Pretty brutal.
Also, throughout the game, your co-pilot, Ghost, or the Commissioner will cut in to give you a progress report. They don't like how you are doing: eventually leads to a game over.
Pretty brutal.
Overacting in a Sega CD FMV game....ya don't say?
Sewer Shark was released on October 15th, 1992 for the Sega CD and the 3DO. Though, I'm guessing, most people experienced this on the Sega CD. This game was on the Associated Press list of top ten games of 1993. Man, what else came out that year?
Again, this is the first real attempt of a console trying to do games like this. People were (and are still) Way into this game and Night Trap. These games have cult followings and they are still a fun romp through nostalgia. At the very least, you should go to YouTube and watch videos and even full-plays of this.
Thank you, Mr. Melville. Hope you are still Turnin' and Burnin' in the Great Beyond.
After spending around 6 hours with Obsidian's new RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth, I am happy to report that there is indeed a fantastic South Park game! I will try to avoid spoiling jokes or plot points as best I can, but keep this in mind: if you like South Park AT ALL, then you should be playing this game....
The beginning cutscene, which is in a style straight out of 1970's era Dungeons & Dragons cartoons, lays down the game's premise: Humans and elves are waging an epic war for possession of the most sacred of relics: The Stick of Truth. You play as "the new kid" who can change the tide of battle for good.
You start with a pretty robust character creator. You can let your imagination run wild with clothing options, color options and facial features. Of course your character will change his look over time, you are given a pretty good foundation for your adventure.
You and your family have just moved to South Park, Colorado and your parents first ask you to go out and make new friends. You walk out your front door and see 2 kids locked in a fierce battle, you intervene and make your first friend: Butters!
Side note: I think Butters is one of the best characters on the show.
You are then led towards the Grand Wizard's (aka Cartman's) house. You are initiated into the Kingdom of Kupa Keep (yep, that joke comes up). You are then asked to choose your class: Fighter, Mage, Thief, or Jew.
The Kingdom of Kupa Keep...you see where that's going, right?
As of this writing, I have only played Fighter and Mage. Next playthrough I think I will try the Jew class to see what exactly sets that apart.
Combat works like it does in a Paper Mario game: Turn based combat where you need to hit a specific button to deal maximum damage. You also hit a specific button to block incoming attacks. You have your basic attack, abilities that take up Power Points (PP....yep that's a joke) and magic that uses mana. By "magic" I of course mean the power to fart on people. There are also hilarious Final Fantasy-style "Summons" which you can use once a day from characters like Mr. Hankey and Mr. Slave.
There are also the traditional "status effects". You have your basic Burning damage from fire, Poison damage comes from "grossing out" your enemies, causing them to throw up every round. "Pissed" mode will cause the opponent to target the character that caused it, also hinders that opponents stats. You also have to worry about Bleeding damage and there are items that clear your debuffs or add buffs to your party.
It all makes for enjoyable combat that keeps your engaged throughout the fight.
The look is SPOT ON. You will feel like you are controlling an actual episode of South Park. I have not watched the show in a while but even I got a lot of the references they were making and knew most of the characters I was interacting with. This does begin my quest to start buying the seasons on DVD and watch them until the discs catch fire.
The best thing I can say about this game is that it is beyond funny. Since this was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, I can't say I am surprised, but it is still worth mentioning this game made me laugh OUT LOUD several times. Example: You can go into anybody's house, use the toilet to take a shit, collect that shit nugget and use it to "gross out" enemies. There are a lot of "Oh my God HAHA" moments in this game and they are best left for you to find out for yourself.
The only thing I am not loving about this game is how cumbersome it is to get to the map to see where to go for quests. A lot of quests get thrown at you and to get your mind on where you want to go you have to pull up the menu, scroll over to the quest log to see which one you want to do, scroll over to the map and look for the exclamation point, back out to the game and hope you remembered where to go. Travel is made easier with "Sir Timmy's Fast Travel", but it would have been nice to have some faster way to track quests.
That is my only issue with the game so far though. I am absolutely LOVING my time with this game and I can not recommend this enough. If you even remotely like South Park, you owe it to yourself to play this game. I have a feeling I will be talking about this game again when my "Game of the Year" list comes up.
With South Park: The Stick of Truth due out in stores tomorrow (3/4), I figured I would do a little piece on an "oldie but a goodie".
Believe it or not, there are not that many South Park related games. According to Wikipedia and Jeffipedia (aka my brain) there are 6 (counting Stick of Truth). There is a pinball machine and also (I'm sure) a TON of mobile games, but there are only 6 South Park console based games, and 2 of them were Xbox Live Arcade Games.
So let's take it back to the beginning, the first South Park game I played. You know what they say about your firsts? You never forget them....for better or for worse.
Worse
.
.
.
.
just....worse
.
.
Oh my God, they killed....fun....you bastard!
The year is 1998, Comedy Central was still kind of a niche channel, and everyone was freaking out about Y2K. South Park the show debuted in 1997 and the world was never the same. 17 years later the show is still going strong and is mentioned in the same sentence as The Simpsons: the gold standard of animated comedy longevity and relevancy. Of course there is going to be a video game based on the foul-mouthed Colorado kids.
It's just too bad we got this one first:
Snowball Fight with Turkey Simulator 1998 - in stores now!
The premise here: a comet plummets towards South Park, Colorado. As it gets closer, enemies descend upon the town, including mutant turkeys, deformed clones, robots, aliens, etc. Your job as Kyle, Kenny, Stan, and Cartman, is to save the town FPS style!
Did I mention you can piss on the snowballs to make it more powerful.....it's a South Park game, what do you expect?
You travel through many iconic South Park locales and meet many recognizable characters along your journey and they are all voiced by the right people and the look is definitely South Park. So at least they got that right. That gameplay though....
There are guns but you'll probably stop playing before you get there.
South Park was released for N64, PC, and Playstation from 1998 (N64) to 1999 (PC and PS) and was developed by the now defunct Iguana Entertainment, who were best known for developing sports games like NBA Jam and College Slam. Maybe that's why an FPS from these guys isn't that great. Though I would love the Jam announcer to scream things like "BOOM-Shakalaka!" and "He's on FIRE!" whenever I killed something.
There was a multiplayer mode, the PC version even had online multiplayer.
In case you had friends who didn't get the memo.
Head to head mode let you and your friends have at it as different South Park characters in a deathmatch style mode. Pretty bare-bones and boring. Still made for a somewhat fun time since you would inevitably say some stupid one-liner as your character whenever you killed someone. Fun until you get that guy who thinks he does a REALLY good Cartman impression prove to you why you normally don't hang out with him.
Definitely not the worst game I've ever played. It still was pretty funny and it was the only way to get a South Park fix outside the TV show and (gasp!) VHS tapes.
Still, pretty bad game.
I actually have high hopes for Stick of Truth from all that I have seen. Expect my first impressions sometime this week.
+(U)+(Front).jpg)
.jpg)
