Here for your soul

I didn't spend much attention with the annual Steam summer sale. In fact the only thing I got what was the Dawn of War expansion Soulstorm. An odd choice given it's toxic reptutation but there are two reasons as far as I can see:

1. Sisters of Battle FTW
2. Having the game in a digital format.

I suppose the second reason may be another step in making the physical format of gaming becoming obsolete, but there is much to be said to have the game forever attached to my Steam account (I have the other Dawn of War game already attached through already owning a physical copy).
Likewise, I no longer have to go through mods and patches to get to the game working as Steam is keeping it going - more so now that the Gamespy servers have shut down completely.

Still it makes you wonder if Dawn of War will still be played in 2024...

To be this good takes Ages

Following on from an earlier post, today I downloaded Radiant Silvergun and had a bash at it. I didn’t last long, which is unsurprising for an arcade shooter, but I was impressed with the number of shooting abilities on offer. Needless to say, this warrants further investigation.

What is of particular note is that with the purchase of Radiant Silvergun, the number of Sega games (as in either made by Sega or originated on a Sega console) on my XBLA account now reaches eight. It joins the likes of Sonic Adventure, Sonic CD, Ikagura, Soul Calibur, Daytona USA, Nights into Dreams and Guardian Heroes. Now whilst it may not sound like much it still represents a third of the games I have downloaded from XBLA.

I suppose having a particular empathy for the Sega games is a holdover from my days as a Sega fanboy. I guess once you’re a fanboy you’re one for life and you can never truly escape such a fate. However other reasons behind such an empathy exist in the form of:

• Perhaps playing Sega games on the Xbox it is a firm indication of Microsoft's replacing of Sega in the Console race
• Or maybe it is more of a case of finally playing games that I have previously only been able to admire from afar.

But most likely there is still the faint glimmer of hope that if Sega games are being brought maybe a miracle may happen and we’ll finally see a re-release of Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force 3.

But what are the odds of the happening, amIrite?

Shot Through

When I was a kid I really enjoyed arcade shooters – for some reason there was something appealing about controlling a jet/helicopter and gunning down a seemingly endless parade of military hardware. Indeed, I recall seeing these type of games in arcade parlors, watching the demo/attract mode and feel I could do better. Of particular note, I recall being more excited about Raiden 2 than Mortal Kombat 2 or Super Street Fighter.

I can’t stress this enough: I haven’t a clue as to why arcade shooters had such a sway over me. Was it the first kind of arcade game I saw and became familiar with? Was it seeing something that was capable of producing something beyond the limitations of my trusty Commodore 64? Or was it the offer of blowing shit up? I don’t know and somehow, such questioning doesn’t warrant further pondering.

However, when I entered my teens and adult years I grew off arcade shooters. Again why this is so is unclear to me:  Most likely it was me becoming aware of other gaming genres. Or maybe I realized just what a coin thief arcade games truly are. Nevertheless, I’ve gone off shooters and the interest has never been rekindled – true I’ve the Raiden Project for the PlayStation but, as always, the power of nostalgia can have a sway that is difficult to resist.

Still, what is of particular interest is that through being away from the genre, many innovations have occurred to it. Innovations that to me, come as a complete surprise. Two particular titles have stood out in particular: Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. Both games from those wunderkinds known as Treasure and have such a reputation in amongst the arcade shooter crowd.

A reputation that warrants investigation – I already have Ikaruga and have had a go at it. So let’s see if Radiant Silvergun has something to offer….

Doomed from the start

These past few weeks I've been playing a lot of Doom, 1 and 2, largely through the enhancement lens provided by the Brutal Doom mod.
However, whilst I've gushed about the dramatic changes Brutal Doom offers, it doesn't however change one pet peeve I've had with Doom. It's a problem I had twenty years ago and it still bothers me now - and that;s the stupid level design. There are places that are inaccessible and stuff that's near impossible to find.
And I feel this problem was ramped up in Doom 2 - Whilst I was able to get 100% kills and secrets on every level in Doom 1, in Doom 2 I missed more than a few. Yes it may provide a challenge but there were times when I'd been over the same level several times to a point where I felt I was being trolled by the game designers.

Still, in a world clogged with ultra-serious shooters, there's something to be said for a twenty-year old shooter that has enough 'goin' desperado' clout to hold appeal even now

A Tail and a half

When I was kid, I'd play Super Mario bros with my older brother. He didn't have to but he did.
And, as befit the older brother, he'd choose Mario and leave me with Luigi. It's the same story that may sound familiar to many other people and it's a tradition that continues to this day.

Strangely, whenever we played Sonic 2, my bother would always opt to play as Tails - which i found kinda odd as out of Sonic and Tails, Tails was clearly the younger of the two XD

Raiders of the Lost Character Arc

Among the trailers shown at this year's E3, were new iterations the franchises of Tomb Raider and Uncharted.
Of course this is a prime example of brand recognition being put to good use but I can see some potential. The question is whether or not that potential will be realised and not dropped on the floor. You see, my main beef with these two series is that they are being handled by writers who have a character but no idea as to what to do with them.

Much has been written about Nathan Drake being something of a response to Miss Croft - only with him being completely honest about being thief and being as snarky as humanly possible. And that's all there is to him - and for some reason that is enough for some people but you can only fool them for so long.
However, it has been observed that the torture/imprisonment scene in Uncharted 3 provided some depth that Nathan Drake sorely needed but it never went any further. Hopefully the writers of Uncharted realize this and build upon it for the new game. After all, it would be senseless to present a revelation and not see it through. Indeed,  if Nathan Drake isn't who he claims to be then why would he build such a facade?

And as for Lara, the previous Tomb Raider game certainly put a lot of effort in establishing some background and making her a warrior/survivalist type. So is there anything that can be done? Well, from the looks of it, the new Tomb Raider game seems to heading further down that path. Such a knowledge doesn't sit well as the Tomb Raider games have had a nasty reputation of being formulaic - and just because there's one game setting off in a new direction doesn't mean the franchise won't fall back into bad habits.

Of course, this is all speculative - it is too early to say seeing this is based on trailers. But if a trailer is not making me interested in the game it's plugging, then something isn't working.
Whilst there is potential for the new Uncharted and Tomb Raider games, it remains to be seen if this potential is realized or mishandled completely.
Knowing how things go however, my money is on the latter....

Myth Busted

Not much to say for today except that I've got a third blog going.
It too is a gaming-related blog and it is aimed at analysing, and debunking, many of the urban myths within gaming

It can be found here