Bottom of the Barrel (no.3): Operation Thunderbolt

It's been awhile since I'd last done a rant on games I've despised so, seeing as I have little to talk about, now may be as good time as any.

Today I want to talk about Rail Shooters. Can't say I'm a big fan of them - you see my problem is that usually there's so much coming for the player that there's little fighting chance left for the player. Thus, the player soaks up bullets he can't dodge and facing odds that they don't have a hope in hell of beating. Now whilst there may be some amusement value - I myself played, and enjoyed the Terminator 2 arcade game back in the day - Rail Shooters aren't really my thing. No, give me first- person shooters any day - at least they have the option of ducking out of fire. 

Which brings me to Operation Wolf - a milestone in Rail Shooters. Released in the arcades, it played by presenting the player with a gun and, through the player's perspective, produced a whole lot of army soldiers to gun down. It came across as being like the action movies of it's time and, through mission descriptions, evoked the sense of a Special Forces operation. The game was a big enough deal to get converted to nearly every home computers and consoles. So a sequel eventually arrived: Operation Thunderbolt!

I myself never played Operation Wolf but I did play Operation Thunderbolt on my trusty Commodore 64. For the purposes of today's post however I present the Amiga version:



One look at the video reveals everything I despise about the Rail Shooter. There's no way to dodge the bullets so all you can do is soak them up and watch helplessly as your health decreases. The levels are long and tedious and thus become less a challenge than an endurance test. There's so much coming at you all at once that the difficulty is ramped up to the level of 'impossible'. Indeed, the only thing that player would need to beat this game would be luck and luck shouldn't have to play a part in beating games. Matters aren't helped with the absurd length of the plane in the final mission and a narrator who sounds like Duffman.

So playing Operation Thunderbolt was enough to put me off Rail Shooters. Okay so there've been some I've enjoyed in the form of Virtua Cop, Gunblade and Hous eof the Dead Overkill but all in all, Operation Thundebrolt made me approahc the genre with a degree of caution.
And I hope it feels damn proud of itself >:(

Its been one week since you looked at me

So it's been a week since I made a return to Azeroth. So how do I feel about it?

Well I think the time away has done me well. When I left last year, I wasn't really enthused about playing World of Warcraft and, despite the myriad of things that can be done in it, somehow doing any of them felt hollow and dull. This time however I'm enthusiastic about doing the many activities again. Oh sure the professions have a degree of tedium attached to them but this time I know what I'm doing and as a result I don't find the profession duties at all prosaic. Subsequently I've made rapid progression in getting my skills up.

When I first left WoW I had three characters entering Outlands (plus there's my Death Knight who was/isn't too far away from there). And at that point I realized I'd be treading over the same ground thrice over. Again the threat of tedium reared it's head and was a good excuse as any not to progress further. This time around however, I've sent Beldrath into Tekkohar Forests and whilst Rithendal may have already been there, this time I'm finding the quests fun to do and have made some considerable progress (of course having the benefits from a level-1-guild-turned-level-9 has helped).

And there was my Hall of Shame. Since giving up World of Warcraft last year I've since struck numerous titles from my Hall of Shame - and thus built up enough karma points to justify a return to Azeroth. Only this time I (insofar) haven't allowed WoW to completely dominate my allotted gaming time - Why, I've recently been trying out Cave Story and Eversion (two games that couldn't be more worlds part).

I've heard of some people leaving World of Warcraft only to return some time later with fresh eyes and, having experienced it myself, there is indeed a lot of truth in that statement. Where once I was tired with WoW I'm now finding a renewed freshness. Of course, at my peak last year, I was playing WoW pretty much exclusively - which in retrospect is probably not the best way to go about playing WoW. Now, having spent some time away  and a reassment of the time allocated to WoW, another journey through Azeroth is looking pretty good at the moment.

Thats my Steam

On January the 4th of this year I took a brave step into the unknown: I signed up for that thing called Steam. So what do i think of it?

Well for a while I was unsure what to make of it: I saw the wide range of games available - many of which caught my attention. But out of the ones I was interested in, many of which I had already purchased through GoG. So what was left?
Well I did like the idea of game specific browser but my current OS offers the same thing. And the sharing of gaming records? Funny, I thought that was what Raptr was for. So ultimately my first impression of Steam was that it did things that had already been done.

Since then however my view has softened somewhat: I can see that the browser has it's own range of useful features and the range of games includes some titles that I've been interested in playing and aren't available anywhere else. Of course it seems stupid that I should be getting more games considering my commitments to World of Warcraft and the Hall of Shame but in the terms of playing games that escaped me the first time around (as is often the case with my taste in gaming), as well as a method of keeping abreast with newer games, Steam has proven be quite a handy gadget.

Keep on Rockin'

The biggest news so far this week is Harmonix announcing an end to regular DLC additions to the Rock Band store.
Some might say that this news has been long overdue as the wave of music rhythm games (or whatever you want to call it) has long since passed, those who've played it have since moved on and it's now only the diehards left still playing Rock Band.

Personally it's something I have mixed feelings about:
On one hand, the time of Rock Band has passed. But for me it's not just in popularity but somehow Rock Band 3, unlike it's predecessor, had no sense of longevity. Rock Band 2 had enough gigs and challenges to justify the DLC and hours of play time - conversely Rock Band 3 had a story mode and...then what? What do you do then? Face down a list of unplayed songs in the Music Library? It's far from a carrot and somehow, it makes the idea of obtaining more DLC feel more like a hollow exercise.

But on the other hand, the use of DLC available to RB2 still holds appeal (as mentioned above). Why, when Harmonix announced the 50% off sale, I picked up a lot of new stuff and gave RB2 another spin. And I must give props to Harmonix for keeping the music rhythm game genre going for as long as they did: they had a great selection of music and they didn't fall into the trap Guitar Hero did of releasing a new game every year.

Still, this may well be the death knell of the music rhythm game genre (if it hasn't already happened). And, like most people, I have a whole wide range of DLC songs on my console hard drive so there is certainty that I won't stop playing Rock Band for good. Whilst a potential revival seems (however remotely) possible it's unlikely music rhythm game genre will match the heights of it's heyday.
But for what;s worth I invested many hours in the Rock Band games and enjoyed it to bits.
So, for now, lets all raise a glass to Rock Band...

We live again

 Yep it happened - after a four month absence I decided to make a return to World of Warcraft - I suppose that once you've signed up you can never really leave.

Somehow I find this music appropiate enough:

Positively Shocking

I don't believe it: System Shock 2 has finally appeared on GoG. I never thought it possible but there it is.

Somehow I think this music appropriate:

Driving me Backwards

As established previously in this blog, my teenage years were spent as an Amiga owner. Not for me the thrills of SNES, Megadrive or PS1. Nope, I had an Amiga 1200 and a very limited access to games and even less people to talk to. But no matter: I had some good times on the Amiga and was deeply fascinated by the Amiga being a vehicle for many bedroom developers having a crack at making their own games. Indeed, I've had a soft spot for the Amiga ever since.

The Amiga I owned was an Amiga 1200 - something of a big deal as it was marketed with an Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) chip that could boast a range of 256 colors over the previous range of 32. Whilst this presented some stunning graphics, for it's day, along with some beefed up hardware, a problem soon arose. For the Amiga 1200's predecessor, the Amiga 500, had enjoyed a large amount of success as a games machine - but due to the Amiga 1200's advanced specs, many of the programs wouldn't work. Some games got re-released with AGA tweaks whilst others flat refused to run - indeed, when determining compatibility was nothing more than trying one's luck with a 50-50 chance of success. This in turn resulted in some bad press for the Amiga 1200 and effected it's sales.

I am recounting all of this becuase I am reminded of it everytime I see this:

And they say history never repeats...

Beyond 2000

Not a lot to say today but, according to my Raptr profile, I recently surpassed 2000 hours of game time:

(edit: 24th February 2013)

Not bad for a decade+ of work

The Interzone Mantras

Before there was Good Game, there was The Zone:



The Zone was a TV show that ran on Australian TV during the nineties. I watched it religiously as a kid thinking that a TV show dedicated to gaming was the best thing ever.

Looking back however, My God is this show a product of it's time: never mind the reviews focused on SNES or Megadrive, witness the cringe-worthy terminology, boundless enthusiasm and the opeing titles utilizing random 3d graphics over house music.
Funny thing is that this TV show came at a time when gaming is a niche activity. Now, of course, gaming is enjoyed by many people of many backgrounds - something that Good Game understands entirely.  In fact lets do a comparison: Good Game is made by people who are gamers, passionate about their craft and know their audience. The Zone, conversely looks like it's trying to appeal to a wide audience and acting in a manner to what someone thinks as 'nineties cool'. I've heard Bajo & Hex being criticized for looking and acting like they're from another planet but that's nothing compared to the stilted manner that The Zone comes across as. Interestingly enough, as the show went on, it gradually moved away from gaming and collapsed into nonsense that was painful to watch.

Still, as I've said, to see a TV show focused on gaming was a big deal and I enjoyed watching The Zone a lot. And besides, if it wasn't for this show, we might never have seen Good Game - so I'll take that for what it's worth.

For more info on The Zone go here

R.I.P. Robin Sachs

Original image located here. Accessed 6th February 2014

"I hear we have a galaxy to save"

R.I.P. Robin Sachs

People say we monkey around!

Well if you’ve completed the first two Monkey Island games, you may as well take the leap and complete the third one. And that’s exactly what I did: Yep Curse of Monkey Island has now been cast down from the Hall of Shame.

Going into Curse of Monkey Island presents a challenge a half: I was aware that opinions are divided about this game. Some said this was the best of the series and a highpoint in the entire Point-and-Click-Adventure game genre. Others said it was a bastardization of the series and the absence of Ron Gilbert was painfully obvious. So what do I think of it?

Well strangely enough I can see both sides of argument. On one hand, Curse of Monkey Island succeeds on many levels: The animation is extraordinary to behold and it’s certainly welcome to see animation of Disney level being put to good use in a computer game. The voice acting is great – particularly the contributions from Alan Young and Earl Boen. The backdrops are beautiful to behold (but then again, I’ve been saying that a lot for many of the adventure games I’ve been playing lately). The jokes are great and laugh out-loud funny. And even if Rob Gilbert isn’t on board, the people behind Curse of Monkey Island are obviously putting in a lot of effort to say something of their own.

But on the other hand, many of the problems are really repeating themselves. The insults are still there and whilst it’s a nice idea to put a different twist on them it’s odd to see one of the memorable aspects of the original replicated. The plot is compelling enough but it’s still following the same structure as the first Monkey Island game.  The ship battles are an unusual inclusion – almost as if the game suddenly decided it would rather be Sid Meier’s Pirates instead. Also annoying is how little Elaine Marley contributes to the game itself – she’s shown to be a smart and capable woman so it is disappointing that she’s been shut out of the game for 95% of it. I did say it was clear that the makers of Curse of Monkey Island wanted to say something of their own but it is an off-putting thought that the makers may have been spending too much time than necessary looking at Curse of Monkey Island’s predecessors.

And then there’s the ending: Again, much like Monkey Island 2, it led from a bizarre final act that seemed to be completely disconnected from the rest of the game only to arrive at a conclusion that could be best described as abrupt. Personally, considering the abrupt nature of the ending to Monkey Island 2, I would've preferred it if the makers swept it under the rug and concentrated on saying something of their own - bu no, they seemed awfully intent on going out of their way to explain Monkey Island 2's ending and thus it comes across as being somewhat unwelcome.
But if following the motions that Monkey Island 2 set up (to the letter!) seemed a bit suspicious, worse still was the series of vignettes based on previous Monkey Island locations. Thus one gets the feeling that maybe somehow the love for Money Island 1+2 may have had a far greater influence on the makers of Curse of Monkey Island then first assumed.
At least this time though the game got a proper ending. Not a good one but it was somewhat satisfying to see Guybrush and Elaine sail off into the sunset.  

So in the end I enjoyed playing the first three Monkey island games. But now I think, having completed Curse of Monkey Island, now may be a good time to stop. At time of writing, I have no interest in pursuing Escape to Monkey Island or the Tales of Monkey Island – as is my understanding, if I was bothered by the various allusions to the first two games in Curse of Monkey Island then the next two game aren’t going to much better.
So in a way, maybe this is the cue to stop waffling about Adventure games in this blog. I’ve been playing a lot of adventure games over the past month so now perhaps now is a good time as any to cease and explore new horizons. And is there something I already have in my sights?

Oooooooooooooooh yeah….

Talk about the Bastion

Recently another game was cast down from my Hall of Shame: Bastion!

After playing Adventure games for the past few weeks it was welcome change to return to the RPG – wandering around a world that gradually (and in this case literally) opens up before me, bashing some heads and looting gold to build even greater weapons. Funny thing is, I never saw this game as an RPG – I was far more invested in building up this thing called the Bastion and exploring this world before me to notice stuff like stat increases and the like.
And what a world it is. I was really impressed with the art direction and the hand-drawn graphics. I thought hand-drawn graphic would be a craft on the way out but that does not seem to be the case here. Each environment is beautifully rendered and it was impressive to see the Bastion being built up with the progression of the game.
Also impressive is the music, with its use of slide guitars and Middle Eastern vibes. I read it was intended to provoke a ‘frontier’ sense and to that it end it was successful – although for me, it reminds me of a Tea Party-lite.
Indeed such is the technological achievement of Bastion that I’m finding it difficult to grasp that was made by a team of seven people. But I suppose anything is possible….

As for the narrative, Bastion stands as a giant. I enjoy stories where there is an unreliable narrator but I don’t think there’s been a game that employs such a technique (Final Fantasy Tactics could disagree but I haven’t played it). Sure there have been games that pull the rug out from under the player but never has there been a game where the narrator seems to see things differently from what the player is witnessing. Also pleasing is how the story is conveyed through a very small cast of characters – I always enjoyed small casts of characters as it provides time to get to know them and see how they develop. And to that end Bastion succeeds with flying colors. 

So yeah, Bastion provide to be true treat and definitely something I will return to in future – And the presence of a New Game Plus feature will make sure of that.