R.I.P. Kazuhisa Hashimoto

R.I.P. Kazuhisa Hashimoto

Up, up, down, down......

Tactical move

Here's another printed ad I remember quite vividly. This time, it's from the late nineties and from a game you may have heard of: Final Fantasy Tactics!

 Original image located here. Accessed 21st February 2020 

 It is interesting to compare this to the Ico advertisement that was discussed in an earlier post: Both contain little information about the game they're advertising and both are more intent on discussing the spirit of the game. Those bracketed headings ("or...") may look funny but they are indeed representative of the narrative in Final Fantasy Tactics. 
The use of humor in this ad is an odd choice considering how humorless the game actually is but, unlike Ico, I don't this game would be that hard a sell. After all, Final Fantasy 7 and 8 were big sellers so the brand recognition would well and truly be in place.

Labyrinthine

Here's a scan of a printed ad of Ico dating back to sometime in 2001:

Two things about this ad stand out immediately: One, it's a two page ad, and Two, there isn't a lot there to describe the game itself. The ratio of art and game information (ie screenshots) is way off. Sure the paragraph of text describes the game decently enough but everything else is vague.
Much like the game itself.

Still, the use of a two-page ad is surprising considering Ico's notoriety as a poor-seller. A two page ad says 'I am selling a big deal here' so someone at Sony's marketing department is clearly is trying to push the game. Still, I'll give them props for trying....

I will not deny that Ico may have been a hard sell so it is interesting that this ad is more akin to the spirit of the game rather than the game itself. A triumph of creating interest borne of confusion?

Lazing around

Here's another gaming advertisement I recall from the early nineties. A game entitled Laser Invasion that originally appeared on the NES:

 Original image located here. Accessed 17th February 2020

From what I could gather, this game was trying to merge three genres into one. Of course many games attempted such a move in the era and in this case, we have a flight sim, a gallery shooter and an early attempt at a first person shooter. It is incredibly ambitious - moreso considering that this is on the humble NES and at a time when the 16-bit era was already in full swing.

But this ad sticks out in my mind as it puzzled me: What on earth was a Helijet? Was it some weird hybrid of an attack helicopter and a jet fighter? The thing in the ad looks very unfamiliar to me - is it a real thing?

About Face

I have a fascination on seeing printed gaming adds from the nineties / early 2000s. They always have this quality to them about who can be the most amusing and who can have the most attitude (and thereby the most cringe-worthy). Therefore, it is interesting to look back at them as relics from the distance of twenty-odd years.

One ad I remember vividly is this one, for Gameboy / SNES game Faceball 2000:

 Original image located here. Accessed 19th February 2020

It is fair to say that is very much a product of the nineties: A Virtual Reality game! Use of language! However, what i can gleam from this, at least from a modern perspective, is this is a first-person perspective shooter and an early attempt at 'arena' shooters (currently popularized with the likes of Player Unknown Battlegrounds).

Recently I did try Faceball 2000 on the SNES and found all my assumptions were correct: This is indeed a first person arena shooter. Alas, it has not aged well: i found the things slow, clunky and the impression that this was a game that pushed the SNES to the limit (although not in a good way).
Still, I will give it credit for it's pioneering spirit.....

Bug Hunt

Recently I beat the Alien vs Predator arcade game for the first time.

It is an unusual thing to include an arcade game in the list of games I've beaten. This is due to arcade games being of short experiences (of 1-2 hours max) compared to that of modern games (hours of double/triple digits).
But in the end, Alien vs Predator has aged remarkably well. I recall being enthused about this game when I was a kid and I find, as a adult, it still kicks arse. It's one of the best brawlers of it's day, possibly ever, and a shining example of how to handle a licensed game (if only modern game developers took notice).

Funny thing: As is my understanding, this game was based on a Alien vs Predator movie that never got made. Needles to say, I'm sure glad we got the game.

Bordered up

To follow up from a previous post, I did a check on my Steam account and found that yes indeed, Borderlands 2 is the most owned game by the people on my friends list.

And it would seem for very good reaosn

Cross the Border

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of casting another game from my Hall of Shame. Clean up your desk Borderlands 2, you're out of here!

Original image located here. Accessed 7th February 2020

According to my Steam profile, twenty five of my friends have this game - so to say that it is one of the bestselling games of the last couple of years is an understatement to say the least.

But who would dare challenge a statement? From the view of the outside looking in, there has been much said about this game: It has plenty of personality, the combat is intense, there's some decent writing and colorful characters, there's a villain you'd love to hate, this game gets so much right that it renders it's predecessor obsolete.
For me, having played this game all the way to the end credits, I can safely say that everything I'd heard was 100% true. This game was a fun ride balancing humor, quotable lines, the atmosphere of traversing a ruined world and some truly intense battle sequences (least not the final boss battle).
One can always tell when a lot of passion has been put into getting a game together and this is indeed one such case.

Funny thing though: I did enjoy Borderlands 2 but that enjoyment came from playing with some friends. I can imagine that playing it by one's self would yield a different experience but, for some reason, I'm not about to try. No doubt such a move will challenge my enjoyment of this game but, at the same time, I know very well when one needs to walk away.

But ultimately, who would dare challenge this game's status? Not me that's for sure.

I must be getting soft in my old age.

We're Rat-rat-ratties

Recently I have been having a shot at Vermintide 2.

I've never played any of the Vermintide games - I barely knew anything about them beyond the name and the Warhammer connection - but a friend of mine gave me it as a present last Christmas. So I gave it a shot. After all, with a name like Vermintide, it would be a given that you would end up fighting a horde of Skaven right?

So we have a cooperative game where four people choose a character from a selection of five and go kill Skaven. And, as befitting the setting, they will attack en masse will bring along both Beastmen and Chaos Warriors along for the ride.
This may not be the first co-op game I've played with some buds but this is of particular note as there is a horde, and I mean a horde, of baddies coming in to be carved up - and in a variety of ways at that. As this is largely unfamiliar territory, I feel compelled to ask: are all co-op games like this?

At time of writing, I am currently seeing some success with the fire mage. I am also observing how closely the game is tied to the Warhammer universe (although I do have issues with the voice of the witch hunter).
But as this a co-op game, the game is dominated by the one guy who has played it a lot and is several levels ahead of the rest of us....