Retro-Gaming and Emulation

Box Cover Art of 484 DOS Adventure Games from 1982 to 1998

2012-01-28T15:43:00.001-08:00

Very nostalgic video by my blogging mate Igor...

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

BBC Micro Emulator for the Android

2011-11-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

Own an Android device? Yearn for the days of playing Elite etc on the BBC Micro? Then what you need is the "Beebdroid emulator". It's freeware and open-source, and can be found on the Android Marketplace.

The official blurb:

Relive the glory days of 1980s 8-bit computing with this epic BBC Micro emulator
We grew up with the BBC Micro and we loved it, so we're bringing it back to the world!
See that Android phone in your hand? That's not Intel inside - it's powered by an ARM processor. The 'A' in 'ARM' stood for Acorn, a visionary British company that produced the seminal BBC Micro, and thirty years later - coming full circle - your phone hosts its venerable ancestor today.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Retro-Respect: Feud

2011-11-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

A rather well-known game about differently-shaped blocks falling down the screen was once described as “brilliantly simple, simply brilliant” – or something like that, anyway. That sentiment has rarely been demonstrated quite as well as Mastertronic’s classic game Feud – a game that would seem to be ripe for a remake, yet somehow no-one’s ever seemed to be able to do a good job of it. It was the first release on their “Bulldog” label and, while that was a worthy label for budget games, perhaps they peaked too soon – I don’t remember any other game released by Bulldog reaching quite the level of popularity of Feud. Released way back in 1987, it’s still a much-loved part of gaming history.

Coded by The Pickford Brothers, who were involved in the creation of a myriad games for the 8 and 16-bit computers and consoles, it was a game of elegant simplicity; you and your brother are wizards, have a bit of a feud going on, and try to kill each other. Oddly enough this was one of the games that my sister and I played repeatedly – apparently controlling warring siblings is good for real-life family relations.

The graphics were very good for the Spectrum at that time, bold and chunky to avoid the dreaded colour clash, and the sound effects were okay. This definitely wasn’t a game that aimed to wow you with aesthetics though – the focus was on game play, which it has in bagfuls. Played in a flip-screen area (of course back in those days, scrolling game maps were virtually unheard of), the game simply consisted of gathering herbs, bringing them back to your cauldron to create spells (once you had the right combination of ingredients), and using those spells to inflict the maximum effect against your brother.

You could play against the computer, but the real pleasure of Feud was playing against another human – or in the case of my sister, partly human. This was done on a split-screen display so you could, if you were sneaky enough, spy on what your opponent was doing – of course, they could do the same to you. The brothers, Learic and Leanoric, never seemed to think that it would be a good idea to just get along. On what seemed quite a large game map you could find ingredients such as Feverfew, Burdock, Ragwort and Bog Weed (yes, Bog Weed) etc – some easy to get to, others far more tricky. Each combination of two ingredients for a spell tended to require a lot of travel, and there could be other dangers besides your brother to be avoided. Naturally, the more powerful spells required more legwork and cunning to gather the necessary herbs – but the end result was definitely worth it!

You had a range of spells, twelve in fact, to aid you or clobber your hapless sibling: Teleport, Protect, Sprites, Zombie, Swift, Freeze, Doppleganger, Invisible, Reverse, Heal, Fireball and Lightning. Twelve might not seem like a great deal but there was a great deal of variety in how you could play the game, and a lot of scope for devious strategy – reversing your opponent’s controls when they were in a dangerous area was always great fun, and watching fireballs and lightning strike the enemy never got old.

Ported to various other systems, Feud for the ZX Spectrum alone managed an estimated 180,000 sales. It remains a much-loved game and, in some ways, unequalled. Who would have thought that gardening (well, searching a garden to gather herbs to create spells to blast your brother into subatomic particles, which is almost the same thing ) could be so much fun?!

(This articles was first published at Retroaction Issue 4.)

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Maniac Mansion remake in the works, TDOTT style!

2011-11-13T03:20:00.000-08:00

This is a rather long trailer for a very interesting project - a Maniac Mansion remake, done in the style of The Day of the Tentacle! (On a similar note, the MI1/2-style remake of The Curse of Monkey Island has been cancelled, though maybe someone will resurrect it.)

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Snake on a Plane - new C64 game

2011-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Not entirely sure if this was designed to coincide with the Guinness Book of Records' announcement that Samuel L. Jackson is the highest-earning actor of all time, but this is a new C64 game. Have never seen (or wanted to see) the film, but this game looks quite cool

Get it here

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Frank N Stein Rebooted

2011-09-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

The Retro Brothers get their hands on a preview copy of a new Spectrum game by coder Colin Stewart!

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Miss reading Atari ST magazines?

2011-08-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

Then check out The Atari ST Magazine Archive! The database of magazine images is currently small but due to grow as time goes on. Currently only two sets of magazines have been uploaded, but since one of them is ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment), I'm sure it'll be worth looking at! Now when ST Format and ST User get added, the nostalgia factor is going to be immense...

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Video of "Soulless", an in-production C64 game

2011-08-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

(Music is from the game "Pandora" and will not appear in the finished game.)

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

8-Bit Commando Review

2011-08-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Made with the 2D Engine and brought to us by the same programmer brothers who created the excellent puzzle game Chains comes a real blast from the past. Well, maybe a blast from the present. I don't remember playing the original Commando back in my Speccy days so I'm not sure if this is a straight remake or not, but 8-Bit Commando has you running, jumping and shooting your way through 6 increasingly challenging levels. While that doesn't sound like much and ether are only 2 difficulty levels, the levels themselves are satisfyingly long and are each very different. You start off with a grumpy colonel (or something) debriefing you and then its off to save the world again.

The game plays very smoothly and is extremely true to the old 8-bit platform shooter style games, with the controls gratifyingly responsive and simple - just 4 directions, jump and shoot (which can be customised, or a joystick / joypad can be used). There are many different types of obstacle, some stationary and others moving; the levels themselves are sometimes on moving objects (for example the train level), and your enemies come in all shapes and sizes, speed of movement, attack and defensive capabilities - the game offers plenty of variety, despite being very simple in nature.

The retro graphics are often gorgeous, as you can see in the screenshots. Scrolling is smooth and animation fitting for an 8-bit style game. The music too is awesome - I'd forgotten how good chip music could actually sound in the right hands (the hands in this instance belong to a chiptune artist known as "Ozzed") - it sounds great and suits the game perfectily.

There's not an awful lot more to say about 8-Bit Commando - it sets out to be an enjoyable and challenging platform game with an authentic retro feel, and it manages all of that in style. It costs $9.25 and is available for PC and Mac (playable demo available - obviously I'd strongly recommend playing the demo first if you're thinking of buying it).

http://2dengine.com/commando/

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Interview with Mark Jones

2011-08-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

Our blogging friend Gnome has posted an awesome interview with Mark Jones, who worked on Wizball, Arkanoid 2 and other Ocean Software titles for the Speccy. Also his new project for iOS is mentioned...

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

DotEmu Collection 1

2011-07-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

If you love retro games and have enough time to play 40 of them, this pack is amazing value!

"In this pack, you will find the wild type Krypton Egg, the mythical Nicky Boom and its sequel Nicky Boom 2 and plunge back to humour and reflexion with the three episodes from Gobliiins trilogy. Take a break with the arcade games of Irem Arcade Hits including among others: R-Type Leo, Cosmic Cop, Dragon Breed, Hammerin’ Harry, Gunforce 1 & 2... And finish with the famous Simarils Collection and its classic games, such as: Ishar 1, 2 & 3, Deus, Robinson’s Requiem, Storm Master or Transartica!"

http://www.dotemu.com/en/download-game/1480/dotemu-collection-vol1

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Space Harrier for Atari 8-Bit

2011-07-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Stumbled on this recently - an Atari 8-bit version of Space Harrier.

More Info

Download

Video:

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CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Mission Extreme video - C64 game in development

2011-06-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Developer's Blog (Italian)

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Thoughts on Game Design - Past and Present

2011-05-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me to wonder whether gaming schools teach radically different concepts of game design today than compared to, say, 10 years ago. Technology moves so fast that we sometimes forget that features in games that we take completely for granted nowadays were once new and exciting - the rechargeable attack bar in turn-based RPGs, for example - revolutionary at the time (was in Final Fantasy VII that brought that idea in?) but now commonplace (or outdated, even).

In developing The Journey of Iesir, an adventure game that's going to blow your socks off (seriously, I'm not just spouting rhetoric here - our graphics artist is amazingly talented and we're a group of people who've all loved playing adventure games for years, so are trying to distill the best of all our experiences into one game), it became clear that many things we were determined to include in the game were unheard of even when some of our all-time favourite games were released. The Secret of Monkey Island, for instance, had several screens with only one or two interactable objects in them - or even no interactable objects at all! Nowadays I'd be horrified if that happened frequently in an adventure game; I'd expecte several things on every screen that I could interact with, even if they weren't directly important to the plot / game play. Would I still like SoMI as much if it were released for the first time now, in its orginal form? I doubt it - but it's still a classic game. I hope Journey of Iesir is a game people say that about in 20 years' time...

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

"The Adventures of Jim Slim in Dragonland" released by Protovision for the C64!

2011-05-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

I find it astonishing that people are not only still writing games for the C64, they're actually still selling games for the C64! Perhaps it's the news that, after a fashion, Commodore are going to reissue the beloved 8-bit computer... at any rate, this looks like a fun game if you like the genre.

15 worlds with 3 levels each have to be overcome.
Use trampolines to reach higher regions.
To open locked doors, you'll have to find the matching key.
Travel fast with tube systems and teleporters - but with an uncertain destination! If you find a shoot power-up you can kill some nasty creatures of your opponent.
But beware: There's an invisible, omnipresent enemy: time!

More info at the official website.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Programmer Interview

2011-05-03T12:39:00.001-07:00

Our blogging friends The Retro Brothers have just posted a very good interview with Spectrum programmer Steve Turner, who wrote quite a few games that were published by Hewson.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Commodore 64 to be reissued!

2011-04-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

If I'd posted this on April 1st you would all of course have thought I was joking - but in actual fact, there is going to be a C64 reissue! (Well, after a fashion.)

See the news coverage here.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Far Cry Instincts and Evolution - Xbox

2011-04-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Far Cry: Instincts and Far Cry Instincts: Evolution are the two Far Cry titles released on the Xbox. Instincts is a remake of the original Far Cry with the major difference being reduced map size, because of the Xbox's reduced power, and the addition of a few new abilities, weapons, and multiplayer modes; Most prominent among these was the Feral Abilities that held a prominent spot in the revised plot. Evolution is the direct sequel to Instincts and the ending of the Feral Abilities sub-series. Both these games have been remade and ported a few times. Like I said before, Instincts is a remake (or re-imagining might be more accurate) of the original Far Cry, which in turn got ported to the arcade with Paradise Lost, and ended up on the Xbox 360 along with Evolution in a graphical enhanced version called Far Cry Instincts: Predator; And then their is even Far Cry: Vengeance a remake of Evolution on the Wii.

Both of these titles are fantastic and have, quite possibly, the best core gameplay of any FPS I have ever played. This core gameplay is a combination of stealth and action. You sneak around the jungle and into enemy camps (or watch from afar with your binoculars) tracking enemies moments, locations, and numbers. While not currently visible by the enemy and you can lay traps, both unlimited by using tree limbs (but in limited locations) or by using claymores anywhere; Additionally, Evolution adds to this by introducing remote controlled C4, a devastatingly fun tactical weapon. Imagine sneaking through a enemy encampment, avoiding their patrols and setting 4C charges on strategic enemy buildings. Then suddenly blowing the charges, popping from cover and moving down the enemy; Only to retreat into the jungle with them in hot pursuit right into a valley filled with pointed and explosive traps of death. Not that this is something you will be doing for every fight, far from it. Their is quite a lot sandbox elements to the game, and for the most part you can decide how you will approach a fight, but you can be sure that some of them will force, or at least nudge, you into a more stealth, full out action, or vehicle oriented combat (land, water, and air based).

For combat both games have a variety of regular military grade weapons plus the Feral Abilities and use an approximately realistic damage model. This damage model has head shots being fatal to most enemies and even body shots being very devastating and is (surprisingly) one of the very few FPSs on the Xbox to use such a realistic model. The Feral Abilities, like the guns, come in slowly and include a devastating melee attack, super speed, super senses, and health regeneration.

Another impressive feature, at least for the time, was the fantastic jungle visuals that had the best foliage to date. This was accomplished by use of the CryEngine, a engine developed for the original Far Cry and latter iterations were used in such graphical marvels such as Crisis.

All in all both games are fantastic; With great visuals, interesting missions, and some of the best gameplay to be had.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

I must be getting old... but is that so bad?!?!

2011-03-04T04:05:00.000-08:00

It’s funny how as you get older, so do the games you play. When I was a kid and in my teens, perhaps even my early twenties, I was always eager to get the latest games available. Then that tendency stopped – partly due to lack of funds to pay the new release prices, and partly from not having the hardware capable to running the very latest games – and now I’m in my thirties, it’s almost gone full circle. Do I bother with the latest FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer games (my PC is certainly up to the job)? Well, no… I spend a lot of time playing Kick Off 2 on the STEEM Emulator. I catch up on the great LucasArts adventure games I never managed to own when I was younger. I download retro games and retro remakes.

Sadly, this is a sign that I’m getting old. Perhaps it’s a sign that a lot of modern games just don’t always appeal to me as much (blood spattering around the screen is not something I’m fond of, for one thing). Still, it’s also an indication of just how much enduring appeal games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras had – and how aesthetics really aren’t the most important thing to gamers! A lot of indie games (most of the new games I get these days are indies) are going back to the concept that gameplay should come first – (though some are producing great looking games too). Still, Kick Off 2 looks absolutely awful (STEEM even emulates the flicker caused by whatever technique was used to push the graphics into the area normally occupied by a black border on the ST), but has any football game ever quite matched the sheer speed and excitement of Dino Dini’s classic?

Not to me… but then again, I’m getting old…

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Sniper Elite - Xbox

2011-03-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Sniper Elite, for the Xbox, PC, PS2, and Wii, puts you in control of a sniper in WWII who primarily operates alone behind enemy lines to accomplish his missions. The game is mainly about honing and perfecting your observational skills with a close second going to the mathematical approximation of gravity, distance, and wind, or more succinctly sniping.

The observational part comes about because it is imperative that you notice both other snipers and normal troops before they notice you. Most of the game is made up of moving between cover and constantly scanning both the ground and, primarily, the windows and roof of all the buildings; Of which their are normally a lot, since you are primarily venturing through war-torn cities.

But the most enjoyable aspect of the game is of course the shooting. And in this it is the best sniping game I have ever played. The normal concerns of adjusting for distance and wind are here, which in their own right are very fun; As you end up shooting at all different ranges so much over the course of the game you get very good at it, and of course get enjoyment over your skill at it. One particular example of a very enjoyable sniping achievement in my play-through was when I was actually able to get a head-shot on an opponent so far away that the enemy was not even close to being on the screen while I pulled the trigger. Additionally, their is a lot of strategy involved. For one it is important to not only notice when enemies are on screen but to observe them over time and from different angles, noting all of their locations and movement patterns. The soldiers also act quite realistic and will jump to cover if fired upon and will even try to rescue a injured companion, which is a very devious and effective strategy to use.

Not that these are the only things that you will be doing in the game; Like you would expect you are given a range of mid-ranged weaponry, claymores, and other explosives; All of which you will have to use at some point.

In closing I would say it is a great game that while being primarily a sniping game covers a wide range of military action/stealth gameplay, and really does not do a single thing wrong.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

My new Text-Based Game Project

2011-02-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

As a programming challenge to myself, I've decided to make a game that's based on a part of my job - a part that I find rather annoying, but extremely challenging. Naturally I'm going to try to take away the annoying elements :-D - and I'm going to simplify things somewhat, partly for the sake of gameplay, and partly to make the programming a little easier. It occurred to me one day that computer games often have us doing things for fun that we'd avoid in real life - the original Mario Bros. had us putting boxes on a conveyor belt, for heaven's sake! Night Shift had us manning factory machines, and Advanced Lawnmower Simulator - well, I don't need to tell you what that one did.

Anyway, more news as I near having a playable game. I've only been developing the game for a couple of games and have made considerable progress, but getting the actual gameplay mechanism working could prove more tricky than what I've done so far. If you have a weird yearning to play a cunning, strategic text-based game, watch this space...

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Peter Molyneux to receive the Academy Fellowship

2011-02-21T08:10:00.000-08:00

Game designing legend who created Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park and the Fable series is to become a BAFTA Fellow

London, 21 February 2011: Peter Molyneux, the creative force behind some of the world's most popular and enduring video games, will receive the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ Fellowship at this year’s GAME British Academy Video Games Awards.

Molyneux is one of the best-known names in the international world of computer games. He co-founded Bullfrog Productions in 1987 and created a new genre of computer games known as “the God game”, with the release of Populous. Since then he has been responsible for a string of massive gaming titles including Powermonger, Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper and the Fable series. Cumulative sales of his games are at approximately fifteen million worldwide.

On being invited to receive the Fellowship, Peter Molyneux said: “I remember back in 1967 watching the first BAFTA awards on television with my family and seeing them being so excited about those accolades. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would be possible for me to accept one of the greatest honours the entertainment industry has to offer. My first thought on learning that I was awarded an Academy Fellowship was that to be in the company of some of the greatest talents the entertainment industry has ever seen is truly humbling and secondly that this an award not just for myself, but for all the people I’ve ever worked with”.

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA, said: “We are delighted to be honouring Peter at this point in his long and successful career in video games. He is one of the leading figures in the development of video games as an art form and an inspiration to the next generation of creative minds”.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Wednesday 16 March at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The Awards will be streamed live for the first time at go.ign.com/baftamicrosite, as well as at www.bafta.org and www.baftagameaward.com.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Star Wars: Republic Commando - Xbox

2011-02-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

Star Wars: Republic Commando was developed by LucasArts and released in 2005 for the Xbox and PC and is another one of those games that is a great mixing of different genres. In the game you play as the leader of a elite squad of clone troopers, Delta 38, that are always sent on critical and dangerous missions, often behind enemy lines. On one hand it is a great action FPS, that is moderately reminiscent of Halo. On the other hand it is also very strategic and values forethought at least as much as action. The ingeniousness is in how they seamlessly integrate these two opposing ideas.

To make this integration of genres work the strategy has been somewhat simplified, or at least the controls have. You normally have strategic control over three other squad-mates, to which you can issue simple commands. These commands include: use specified cover, breach/hack door, focus fire on specified enemy, search and destroy, and secure location. For the most part the strategy is setting up the squad in strategic positions which can then leave you to focus completely on the action; Not that all the battles go this simple. Often you will face situations featuring a constant stream of enemies where you will have to push your squad forward to an objective or constantly reorder your positions because of other changing factors. Personally, I think that this formula worked very well and I really enjoyed it.

The action FPS part of Republic Commando is pretty standard fare. You have the standard assault rifle, anti-armour grenade launcher, sniper rifle, infinite ammo pistol, and melee in addition to the numerous enemy weaponry you can pick up. You and your squad have a regenerating over-shields and health bars, with your heath only regenerating when visiting any of the bacta charging stations spread around the game. But if your health runs out completely you, or any of your squad, can be revived by a fellow squad member. What makes this action possible is how well your squad acts when not receiving orders, which is to say very well. You can do a fair amount of damage yourself but sometimes their are huge numbers of troops that no single commando could deal with himself and your squad-mates are always needed to watch your back.

Their are a few very cool features included in the game that really polishes the whole experience and make it feel more unique. One feature that has no effect on gameplay at all, but is still one of the coolest parts of the game, is the weaponry. Instead of having separate weaponry, your issued assault rifle is capable of being transformed on the fly into a sniper rifle or anti-armour grenade launcher. Their is also the fully immersion way that the game is displayed. The game world is shown, when not in cut scenes, completely through the helmet of a storm trooper. This helmet contains your HUD that holds your health and shield information along with some rudimentary squad information. Additionally, this screen be negatively effected by events in the world; For example, killing an enemy too close to you, or simple rain, can cause effects on your screen that at times are restrictive to vision.

The one disappointing area of the entire game is how short it is. But the game does manage to pack in some very interesting scenarios into this small package. You start the game at the very beginnings of the Clone Wars during the battle of Geonosis, in which you slip behind enemy lines to assassinate and sabotage. The next time you take control again is over a year into the war; You have been sent to investigate a mysterious derelict ship. The mystery of the derelict ship solved, the war drags on becoming increasingly deadly. Which leads us to the third and final chapter of the game, which takes place on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk which has recently sent a distress call. Here your squad must restore order and help fight off the invading army.

Like the rest of the game the presentation in Star Wars: Republic Commando is similarly polished and enjoyable. While the in-game graphics obviously do not stand up in terms of polygon count and are definitely not as shiny as modern PC/Xbox 360 players have come to expect, it makes up for this fact in shear stylish good looks in both gameplay and cutscenes. In the gameplay it is obvious that attention to detail has been put into the presentation; In addition to the stylish good looks we also see a range of motion from the characters. With multiple death animations for all characters and with some characters jumping, and even flying, all over the place and grappling with you and your squad all the while looking realistic. But when you are talking about presentation the cinematics are were it is at, and what really makes the cinematics shine is the shear scale of many of them. You start of the game as a baby woken up for the first time by your creators. You then see yourself progress to adulthood, constantly learning and training. One of the more interesting cinematics comes right finishing your training; The war is about to start and the Clone army is on the move, so a massive movement of troops is underway with transports landing and being boarded with fresh troops headed for Geonosis.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Games featured so far...

2011-02-07T09:45:00.001-08:00

62 games across 9 different systems

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator

Stranger's Wrath - Xbox

2011-02-07T06:27:00.000-08:00

Stranger's Wrath is a 2005 Xbox exclusive action adventure game. It has recently been ported/remade for the PC and PlayStation 3, and is the last game set in the Oddworld universe; This Oddworld universe is a place conceived by the development team Oddworld Inhabitants, and characterized by the consistent use of humour throughout, but with the serious overarching theme of depicting the evils of modern capitalism, industrialization, consumerism, and corporations. For more information about the Oddworld universe, or the games set within it, check out my article on the subject.

The general idea is that you play as a bounty hunter named Stranger who is out to capture as many criminals as possible to earn the moolah, aka money, to pay for a life saving operation. You capture criminals by either killing or, for more money, knocking them unconscious and, for both methods, putting them in your infinite capacity bag and bringing them to a town bounty store.

Personally I think that Stranger's Wrath has some of the best mechanics of any action adventure. Foremost is the ability to seamlessly transition between third-person, for exploration and melee combat, and first-person, for ranged combat, perspectives; This mechanic gives the player the best of both worlds, allowing them the better viewpoint of the third-person perspective while not simplifying the world down to a series of 2D planes. Additionally, it has, like every good action adventure, a unique and interesting equipment/weapon load-out, and a fun way of transversing the environment.

The equipment is particularly noteworthy (and gives a new meaning to live rounds), as Stranger's unique crossbow shoots living ammunition. This ammunition is found and bought throughout the game and is comprised of nine different critters. For example Wasps are used as an equivalent to a sniper rifle and Boombats are similar to rockets. But their is not always a one to one relationship between normal weaponry and Strangers creature arsenal, and a few have some very interesting uses. All of these ammunitions are fired by Stranger's double-barrel semi-automatic crossbow, a veritable contradiction in terms, but it works well enough. When not in first-person perspective this crossbow is unusable, but that does not mean that Stranger is no longer able to kick some ass; In third-person perspective he gains the ability to headbutt and to perform a spinning AOE punch. Additionally, if given a little time to speed up, his run will turn into charge, which, along with spreading up the rate of travel,will also deal massive damage to any enemies it connects with.

Throughout the entire game the level design has obviously been given attention to try and make the game as non-repetitive as possible, and I would say they have succeeded. They are all very different, and the only real constant, the big boss battle at the end, manages to be the biggest agent for uniqueness, as every single one is completely unique and on a separate note, extremely fun and at least somewhat epic. Along with this uniqueness, their is also lots of platforming and strategic elements to every level; For example, explosive barrels that Stranger can set off, or cranes that can lower heavy loads onto unsuspecting minions.

I recently fired up my copy of Stranger's Wrath, and was pleasantly surprised that the graphics have not really faded that much with age. While the game world is slightly low resolution and blocky, it still looks great and the cutscenes look amazing, professional movie quality amazing.

Associated Blogs:

CaptainD's PC Gaming Blog
Jonathon Wisnoski - Game Reviewer and Commentator