Caught Speed-ing

Oh man, this is awesome.

I'm saying that only an hour in, so I suppose it could all go wrong... but I can't imagine how.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on the PS2 is, as I have said many times before in many different places, one of my favourite games ever. Not just racing games... all games. I love that game. But after that, things have been a bit hit or miss with the Need for Speed series, as you'll read here someday (soon-ish) when I start my rundown of the entire series...


I definitely need some speed now... I'm last!

I think, in the main, that Need for Speed has a need for cops. They add an extra dimension to the racing that lifts it above the average. I was really happy to hear they were going back down that route, but apprehensive... could they get it right? Then I heard that Criterion were on the case, and I relaxed a little. Criterion are awesome.

And after an hour, I can say that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is awesome. It's exactly what I'd hoped for from a Hot Pursuit game, with lots more thrown in because Criterion loves us.

It's got aggressive cops - they're going to give you a hard time. And that's a Good Thing. It would be no fun if they chased you and then just milled around politely, hoping you might pull over. No, they'll ram you hard and aim to damage you as much as possible. Bring it on.


Seems a shame to smash a car, ramming a roadblock like that...

It's got decent and aggressive AI opponents. Even from the first race, you're not going to just pass everybody on the first straight and roar off into the distance. This game has opponents that want to win. Again - bring it on.

It's got shortcuts - proper, long offroad shortcuts like Hot Pursuit 2, and plenty of them. This is important. The shortcuts not only give you ways to get the jump on your opponents, but also provide ways around police roadblocks. The shortcuts were an integral part of Hot Pursuit 2... I'm glad to see them used properly in this game.

It looks lovely, and it feels great. Being a racer is as great as you'd hope (and they've given you limited weaponry in some races now, too), and being a cop feels, in some events, as much like a modern-day Chase HQ as you're ever likely to get. The only thing(s) it seems to be missing are the huge jumps... I haven't done any yet. I'm not missing them enough to matter.

This is huge fun, and pretty much a dream arcade racer for me. This is after two hours... I broke off from writing this to go back to the game. And now I'm going back to it again. This isn't a review, just my initial impression... there's loads of game to play yet. Loads of lovely game. It's absolutely clear to me that at least a few of the chaps at Criterion must have played and loved Hot Pursuit 2 at least as much as I did. They get what it is that made that such a great game and have taken all that and put it into this game, whilst adding the best of Burnout and their fantastic knowledge of the online system. Cheers, gang, I can't get enough of this game..

Need for... a faster postal service.

I'm a bit disappointed today. I pre-ordered Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit last week. It was posted yesterday, and I kind of hoped it might be here today. I'm just being greedy, I know. Still, it should be here tomorrow, and I'm finishing work early (a happy coincidence).

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 on the PS2 is one of my favourite games ever, so I'm really excited about this. Hang on... does that make this a prequel?

Anyway, I'll be posting my initial thoughts on the game at some point tomorrow (presuming it does indeed turn up). Somewhere in the future, possibly in the Christmas period, I'll be doing a rundown of the entire Need for Speed series...

Oids (Atari ST)

Oids is a rubbish name for a game. What kind of Oids? Androids? Humanoids? Haemorrhoids? You need to be more specific with these things.

Still, despite that obvious flaw, Oids has gained a reputation as one of the ST's finest games. That being the case, it's always been high on my list of games to play for the blog, despite not having a clue about what kind of game it is.

It's actually a bit of a mixture of games. There's a fair bit of Thrust there, a little bit of Lunar Lander and some Choplifter. I would actually say, having played this, that Gravitron 2 (and probably the original) was as much inspired by this as Thrust.


That's the way. Clear a nice little landing space.

The Oids of the title, so say the instructions, are android slaves (see? Why didn't it say this in the title?) that you need to free from their prisons and rescue. They're held across many different planetoids (oh... more than one type of Oids... now I see), and you must fly in in your V-wing ship to rescue them. As you would expect, it's not as easy as it sounds...

Having said that, at first, it appears as though it is as easy as it sounds. I was quite disappointed as I was able to fly around at leisure and at no great speed, picking off ground installations as I pleased and rescuing Oids with the greatest of ease. The pace was extremely slow and the game was very easy... I couldn't see why this was so highly regarded.


I flew into one of those little sun things once. Don't know where I ended up.

But once I'd got a few levels into the game, it all kicked off. Reverse gravity has a massive effect as you're trying to negotiate the landscape, ensuring you have to take things carefully. Installations will fire at you, as you would expect. They're more devious than that, though... some will launch homing missiles, whereas other, hidden installations will appear and launch a barrage of firepower at you.

Luckily, as you would expect of any game where you control a V-shaped spaceship, you have a limited shield. And of course, you can fire back. You've got your normal peashooter bullets... effective enough to take care of most ground installations. For those things where you need a bigger bang, you've got a mushroom-cloud-laying mofo of a bomb. Satisfying.


Argh! Erm... alright, I get the message!

Once you fill up with rescuees (eight) or clear the planetoid of captives, you can dock with your mothership and deposit the Oids to safety. It's a simple and tried-and-tested gameplay mechanic, but it usually works, and when it's particularly well done as it is with Oids, it's a joy.

When Oids first started, I was expecting a fast-paced blast. It's not like that at all, it's far more measured and a little bland to start with. But a few levels in, it becomes a real challenge and a real test of your gaming skills. Although it's not really a shoot 'em up, it certainly becomes frantic as you try to fend off the planets' defences and rescue the poor, downtrodden Oids. I've had a lot of fun with this game... I can see myself playing it for a long time to come.

Apologies!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week... I've just found myself totally absorbed by Deadly Premonition! It's just so bizarre and entertaining, I find myself going back to it every night and not really making time for anything else. Part detective story, part survival horror, and aaaaalllllll mad.

The voice acting is really good... it really sells the whole story. I suppose the detective and driving parts slow the game down a lot just when you've been battling through intense moments, but that kind of light and shade is good. And the conversations are either so mental or so entertaining that you don't mind anyway.

I've got a few things lined up for the coming days, so keep an eye out and I'll get back to the business of updating this thing. I'm also looking at what I've played this year... there will be a top ten rundown towards the end of the year. I think that Deadly Premonition might well figure in that rundown somewhere...

NaNoWriMoz

I've signed up for NaNoWriMo.

Today.

How silly.

If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, click the link. Basically, though, the aim is to write a 50,000 word novel... during the month of November. I've got no idea what I'm doing or writing about, so signing up with a week of the month gone might not be very smart, and I'm obviously destined to fail.

On the other hand, victory would be glorious.

This might impact my blog posting for three weeks, but I'm determined to keep it going on a similar to level to that of the last few weeks. This would be fantastic if I didn't have a job that keeps me out of the house for as much as fourteen hours a day, five days a week...

Frostbite (Atari VCS/2600)

I always wanted Frostbite back when I owned an Atari... it always seemed like, if you'll excuse the turn of phrase, a cool game. Never did end up with it, though. Of course, in this day and age it's easy to play the old games, classics or otherwise, either by emulation or other means. I happen to have bought this on Microsoft's Game Room... as well as the Activision Anthology a few years ago.

And I'm glad that I did. Frostbite is a fun little game... what's important is that it's got the qualities that were essential in making a VCS game successful. It's fast paced, it's cute, and games don't usually last too long, making it an ideal arcade-style game.


Nip, nip! Those crabs might be almost underwater, but they'll still get ya.

The object of Frostbite is to build an igloo before the temperature drops so low that it freezes you to death. This being the arctic, that's easier said that done. You have to jump on ice blocks as they float past... each time you turn the ice blue, a block is added to your igloo. Later levels see the ice crack apart causing further complications, but you can reverse the flow for your own means.

Hang on though... that sounds simple! Naturally there's more to it than just that... there would have to be, or it wouldn't be much of a game. Polar critters roam around, getting in your way. If it wasn't bad enough that Arctic crabs, snow geese and clams shove you off the ice into the bitterly cold water, once your igloo is complete there's a polar bear patrolling the ice around your home! Well, if you will choose to live there...


Clams and crabs and bears, oh my!

So, was it worth the almost thirty year wait to play this? I'd have to say yes, it was. Sure, I'd probably have appreciated it a lot more at the time, and likely as not would have played it until I'd earned my sew-on patch. Nowadays it's unlikely you'd play it for more than fifteen minutes at a time, but from my point of view I'm likely to play it for fifteen minutes now and again for quite a while to come. Frostbite is cute, it's fun and it's a great example of just how good Activision could be in those days.

Tower of Evil (Commodore C16/+4)

What on Earth am I doing, writing about this? Well, before I (or anyone I knew) got our Commodore 64s, one of our mates had a C16. When we weren't booting a footy around on the field outside his house, we were likely to be in his room, mucking about on his C16. Although having said that, I only really got to know him a short time before he got his 64, and so I didn't really get to play with the C16 much. I do remember, though, that one of the games he owned was called Tower of Evil, and I might have played it about twice, but it stuck with me and I really fancied giving it a shot, just to see what it was like. And hey, it's nice to bring in other systems.


That's it! The way to the next level. Just got to fight past the Pac-Man rejects...

So, what is it like? Well, it's like Atic Atac... or for me, Wizard's Lair (as you know, I had a C64 but not a Spectrum, so I've never played Atic Atac...). Anyway, it's a game where you have a large number of interconnected rooms that you have to explore. As is the tradition in these games, you have to find treasures while avoiding attacks from the resident monsters...

Considering it's a very early version of this type of game, it's quite interesting. Certain can give you temporary invincibility if picked up, or they might increase your firepower. Handy features, both. Teleport machines can be located around the tower, giving you access to other levels... but putting you at the mercy of other, different tower-dwelling critters.


Ugh. Seagulls. If only I could pick up some fish and chips, I could get rid of them.

It's simplistic stuff, for sure. The character you play is basically Berzerk's Evil Otto with arms and legs. Different levels are defined merely by different coloured walls and differently-shaped beasties. Oh, and as you progress to higher levels, they gather up the nerve to shoot back at you. How very dare they.

Tower of Evil is ancient in videogame terms, and nowadays it shows. It is what it is... there's no apparent variety to the gameplay, although maybe if you get far enough it changes (from my research, the Spectrum version has an extra bit that I imagine the C16/Plus 4 didn't have the memory for). It doesn't hold up particularly well now, although I did enjoy whizzing around from room to room... thankfully, everything moves at a fair clip. I'm glad I gave it a go, although I probably wouldn't choose to play it again... but I can easily imagine that if you bought this back in the day, you could think it was the best thing ever.

Deadly Premonition (XBox 360)

I've just spent the last hour playing a game I bought on the way home this afternoon... Deadly Premonition, on the XBox 360. Don't consider this a review (not many of my posts are reviews anyway, really)... an hour's worth is nowhere near enough to do it justice. I'm just setting down some initial thoughts.

Deadly Premonition is a survival horror game... more specifically, it's a Japanese survival horror, which means it's gloriously fucked up. First impressions, though, are a bit iffy. I mean, it looks like a PS2 game which, given that we're years into the 360's lifespan, is a bit worrying.


Bet I wouldn't have had this problem if I'd bought a Zippo.

Still, right from the start it's interesting, with a bizarre-but-attention-grabbing opening sequence. It's not giving anything away to say there's been a murder, and you're playing the detective sent in to the sleepy backwater town to investigate. And I think it's fair to say that this guy has issues of his own...

Deadly Premonition, as well as being a survival horror game, also has a bit of RPG thrown in. Weapons deteriorate through use, meaning you'll want to carry a few at once and switch between them. But as well as maintaining weapons and health, you'll have to eat, drink, sleep and avoid getting too scruffy. I'm not sure how that works yet, I haven't been playing long enough.


There, there, lads... it'll be alright. Actually, it might not.

I've read a few things about this game in the past few days. Reviews have been about as mixed as for any game I've seen. The graphics have been hit the hardest, but they're serviceable, and what do you expect for a cheap game anyway? I've also read that the controls are bad. Listen, if you've ever played Resident Evil 4 to any degree of proficiency, you won't have a problem playing this game.

So far, I've found Deadly Premonition to be genuinely weird, genuinely funny and genuniely creepy. When those twisted, backwards-facing "Ju-on"-like ghouls appear from seemingly nowhere, moaning "I want to diiiiiiie" with voices like a Rick Astley seven-inch single played on 33 RPM, you'll definitely jump, and quite high at times.


Oh, for Christ's sake. That's just wrong.

Get further into the game and you have to maintain vehicles, and you'll encounter local townsfolk who you'll need to interact with if you're to get anywhere. Seemingly, accepting side missions will give you additional rewards. No idea what they could be, but they can only be good things, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to finding out how it all works, and how it pans out.

So, from my first hour or so it seems that Deadly Premonition is part Resident Evil 4, part Alan Wake, with a bit of the twisted side of killer7 thrown in for good measure and to keep you on your toes. Seems like a winning combination to me... I'm suitably intrigued enough to be invested in it now. Fantastically, as the title screen appears it says "Marvelous Entertainment 2010". Yes. Yes, it is.

Bleh.

Soooo tired today. I've got a one-year-old that didn't feel like sleeping last night. He's getting injections at the doctor's tomorrow, and I'm taking a half day off work to look after him in the afternoon. Being off work for that long means I'm hoping to do two updates tomorrow! I've got one almost finished...

So, look out for those tomorrow. You wouldn't guess one of them in a million years...

Pinball FX 2 (XBox 360 Live Arcade)

I'm not going to pretend I'm any kind of pinball expert. In fact, I'm rubbish at it. "Hit flashing ramps for bonus!" "Hit targets for multiball!" Whaaaat? I just like whacking the ball and hoping it doesn't get past my flippers. Am I a bad man?

It goes without saying that I'm not exactly cultured in this regard. Doesn't matter. I love racking up high scores, and pinball is one of the purest forms of this exercise, so from that point of view, it makes me happy. And I can quite easily sit and zone out on a pinball game for hours. It can be quite therapeutic, as well as fun.


This table is called Pasha. It's filled with Turkish delights!

I downloaded the original Pinball FX... oooh, a good while ago now. Over time, I've downloaded all but one of the additional tables available for it, and when I feel like playing something that's not too taxing, it's kind of my fall-back game. I can just chuck it on and sit there, merrily flipping away for fifteen minutes or an hour, or whatever. So I was very interested to find that a sequel was available, and for free, no less!

Well, actually, that's not entirely true. What you get for free is basically a new pinball engine. The clever bit about it is that you can re-download any tables you've already bought for the original and play them in updated form. That said, they don't seem that updated - there's a flashy trail effect to the ball, but that seems to be more or less it - but most of the tables get three new achievements each, for a total of 39 new cheevos. That's a heck of a lot for an XBLA title!


The majesty of Rome... in pinball form!

If you do stump up the 800 points, then you get four brand new tables, and these ones do seem to have ramped everything up a bit. There are four distinct themes, so you're never in too much danger of getting confused as to where you are. That said, the gameplay on all the tables is pretty similar... flippers, ramps and bumpers are all in much the same places, and objectives are all pretty much the same. I know the objective is to make these like real-life tables, but I think in some cases they could use the technology to come up with something really outlandish.

Still, I'm being a bit petty. I've happily downloaded Pinball FX, Pinball FX 2 and all the extra tables bar one, which for 200 points I might as well get as well. I couldn't tell you how these stack up against the classic real pinball tables, but they're enjoyable enough that I can play them at any time and while away a good chunk of my evening. Pinball FX was kind of a guilty pleasure for me to begin with... Pinball FX 2 ramps that up by a few notches, so that should be me happy for the next three years or until Pinball FX 3 comes out.

Syberia (PC)

The last PC game I played was Clive Barker's Undying, a game I'd never played before but that my wife Lorraine had played in America. Today, I played Syberia, a game I'd never played before but that my wife Lorraine had played in America. I sense a pattern developing. Still, if it worked last time...

Syberia is a point-and-click adventure, and it's very much in the classic vein of that genre. That also means that it has its frustrations and limitations. The amount of times you'll hear "No point, it's locked" or "No need to go down there" is ridiculous. But with this game, it's well worth getting past that and sticking with it...


Hello, Kate Walker. I would say "Good day", but it obviously isn't.

You play Kate Walker, a somewhat downtrodden business lawyer who's been shipped abroad on a quick trip to close up the purchase of a toy company whose owner has died. Any thoughts of tying up the deal and getting home quickly soon evaporate, though, when it turns out that the company has a surprise heir...

What follows is, I can say without reservation, one of the greatest PC adventure games of all time. It starts off slowly, and like I said, it can be a bit frustrating. But you can't give up. You know how point-and-click games work... you can't do something in one area until you've found everything in another area. Think of it as unlocking new parts of a game... that's in vogue these days. Once you get into that mindset, you're away... otherwise, there's always the online walkthroughs to help you along, if you must...


Well, that's just typical.

I know that's cheating, but with Syberia it's worth doing whatever it takes to complete the game. I haven't done it yet on this play through, but I can remember vividly from watching Lorraine that Syberia is a great story, one that has real emotional weight as it unfolds. The people in Kate's life at home, on the other end of her mobile phone, are obnoxious morons, and you really feel for her as she gets drawn into the world of the Voralbergs and the remarkable automatons they've manufactured.


Oooh, you don't want to be hanging around there. It's Halloween!

Syberia is a beautiful-looking game, even for its age. The town of Valadilene and its surroundings look like the sort of place you could easily lose yourself in. As Kate's life in New York exposes itself as being less rosy than she'd thought, you find yourself entirely on her side as her journey through Europe on her quest to find the rightful heir to the company takes on a different meaning...


Ooh, that's clever!

Unless you really can't stand point-and-click games, and I know that's entirely possible due to their somewhat plodding and contemplative nature, I implore you to play Syberia. Yes, that's right... I used the word "implore". For me, it's right up there with Grim Fandango in terms of quality PC game storytelling. It doesn't have that game's sense of humour... it's not that kind of game. But it's one that will stick with you for a long time afterwards.

You can buy it from GOG.com for $9.99, although occasionally they'll offer it for less.

A number.

I was just looking at the stats for the blog (I love stats, but only discovered these a few days ago!), and I've spotted that there have been over 2,000 page views in the last month.

Now, that might not be a huge number in the grand scheme of things, but I reckon it's pretty good for my little corner of teh Internetz. I can't help feeling that this is building quite nicely.

So, many thanks for reading. It's nice to know that my stuff is actually worth putting out there. And please keep coming back... and if you think anyone you know or don't know might like it, please point them in this direction, be it via Facebook, Twitter or whatever. I'll keep doing this regardless, but the more that read and enjoy it, the better!

Clive Barker's Undying (PC)

Clive Barker's Undying is not a game I've ever played before. It's not a game I would have ever picked by myself, nor would I have bought it if I was browsing the racks in the game shops. So why on Earth would I pick it for this blog? What brought it to my attention? Well, years ago, my wife used to play it. And she really enjoyed it, too. When I spotted it in a "3 for £10" offer, I snapped it up... mostly for her, but also in the knowledge I could write about it myself. Two for the price of one.


I've... got a pocket full of... Kryptonite

It's a First-Person Shooter... and there's the reason I hadn't played it before. If you've read much of this blog in the past, you'll know it's not a genre I'm particularly au fait with. Still, as I've said before, I'm not averse to a good blast now and again, and Lorraine promised me that this was quite an intense, creepy game. Excellent... I like a game that has something to make it stand out from the crowd.

And Undying certainly does stand apart. At first, it sets just the right spooky atmosphere, with a nice scene-setting intro to get you going before you're dumped outside a lightning-enshrouded mansion. Good stuff. Unfortunately, after five minutes of play the scariest thing is the voice acting. The accents are atrocious! If you thought Dick van Dyke's "Gawd bless yer guvnor, me cheeky Cockernee sparrer" accent was a shocker, you ain't heard nothing yet. English, Irish... doesn't matter. They're mangled beyond belief.


That's them! The source of all troubles. Well, the middle one's alright... isn't he?

Not to worry, though. Although the story is important, it comes across well enough that the dodgy accents don't ruin it. In fact, they provide a bit of light relief in among the frights and the action.

Undying has a lot of action, once it gets going. As things unfold, you learn more and more about the Covenant family, who occupied the mansion until their untimely deaths. Only one remains, your friend Jeremiah Covenant, but even he isn't well and he wants you to find out what's going on before the seemingly inevitable happens. Unfortunately, although his siblings are dead, they still make their presence felt... strongly. They're to be found in ghostly form, roaming the mansion's rooms and corridors, frightening servants and generally getting up to no good. Your task is to stop them and, ultimately, the Undying King, who plans to be a bit naughty in our realm.


What are you laughing at?

You have a trusty old revolver to start with, and this comes in handy for dispatching Howlers, nasty looking things that think nothing of ripping off your head and eating it. Yuck. Other weapons can be found, along with spells which you can activate with the mystical green stone that you keep around your neck for protection. You're going to need everything you can find, and your wits, as everything ramps up toward its (no doubt terrible) conclusion.

Clive Barker's Undying has all the ingredients of a classic FPS, and thankfully it mixes them just right. The action is tricky and satisfying, the story is interesting and there's a good amount of scary stuff going on. For a game that's almost ten years old, it still feels good to play today, and is more interesting than a majority of the more generic shooters with rubbish, cobbled-together storylines. Given that it can be picked up for so little these days and runs without issue on a modern PC, I would recommend that anyone pick this up. I'm heading back in there now...

Phoenix (iPhone/iPod Touch)

"Hey!", I thought, when I saw the name Phoenix on my iPod. "Taito must be releasing a series of arcade classics on the iPhone. Fantastic!" Then I saw the screenshots and realised it was not Phoenix from the arcades at all, but an entirely different game. Swizz!


Die, alien scum! That was a bit predictable, wasn't it?

It's a little bit naughty giving a game an already-well-established name. It's a bit like forming a rock band now and calling them The Human League, or something. Except you'd get killed for that, obviously.

Still, on second glance I noticed it was actually a shooting game... not only that, it looked like a bit of a bullet hell affair. So I checked the requirements... I'd been very keen to buy Espgaluda II, but I've got a first generation iPod Touch and (disappointingly) that game won't run on the 1st gen models. But all was well... Phoenix runs on everything.


A shield! Nice. Now I can get in there and really give them what for.

If you look Phoenix up on iTunes, the lack of any kind of storyline is both hilarious and refreshing. There are no pretentions here: you just fly up the screen and shoot everything. Great.

Phoenix has got a typical iPhone control method. You slide your finger around the screen to move your ship, which fires by itself. Your ship is quite big, and this makes it quite easy to control. In fact, out of all the shooters I've played on my iPod Touch, this is the one I've had least problems and most joy with when it comes to the controls.


Now we're talking! Come on, I'll take you all!

Although your ship is big, the hitbox is not, so with careful manoeuvring you can steer your way around most of the bullet patterns that are thrown your way. That means it's quite easy to concentrate on blowing stuff up.

I love blowing stuff up, and Phoenix really does do it pretty well. Ships of various sizes stream down the screen, and you blow them up. Various pickups will appear as you shoot stuff, ranging from shields to weapons upgrades to special attacks. When large ships are destroyed, any bullets that remain on the screen will be converted to bonuses, which automatically flow into your ship to add to your points total. It's a familiar mechanic, but no less enjoyable for it.


Ahh, that's the stuff! Now, I am eeenveeenceeblllllle!

Phoenix boasts of being different every time you play, due to a revolutionary procedural content generator that spawns different attack patterns depending on how well you're doing. As you progress, the difficulty level ramps up too, from one star all the way to five. As you only get one life (but can take a few hits before death), you'll have to be careful as those stars light up...

Any possible disappointment that this isn't the 1980 arcade game is quickly washed away in a hail of bullets. Phoenix is a nice, if repetitive blaster, which I've enjoyed quite a bit so far. It certainly isn't on the level of quality or complexity of the Cave shooters, but on the other hand that could be quite a draw to a number of people... sometimes it's too frustrating to have your backside kicked to Kingdom Come. If you've got a first generation iPhone or iPod Touch and are missing out on Cave's games, or feel like dipping your toe into the waters of bullet hell shooters, Phoenix will fit the bill very nicely indeed.

Buy it on iTunes for 59p

Costume Quest (XBox Live Arcade)

Halloween in America is awesome. I'm qualified to say that, because I lived there through six of them and experienced it in all its over-the-top-yet-perfectly-orchestrated splendour. It's a wonderful occasion, and an absolute joy to walk the streets with your kids, going from door to door. It's a hell of a contrast to the British attempt at Halloween, with kids coming round any time they fancy from September onwards, and gurning miserably at you if you have the nerve to give them sweets and not money. Grasping little shits.

See what a cynic I've become? I miss the American Halloween. But now, thanks to the lovely folks at Double Fine I can play Halloween on my XBox, with the release of their new game, Costume Quest.


Ahh, siblings... always with the fighting and arguing...

Costume Quest is almost heartbreakingly cute, but more than that, it captures perfectly the entire essence, feel and atmosphere of an American suburb on Halloween. The opening scene, where the camera travels through the neighbourhood on the way to our heroes' house, is just right in every way, with the kids milling about in their costumes in the early evening.

The object of Halloween, and therefore the game, is to collect as much candy as possible. Costume Quest features a pair of twins; Reynold, a boy, and Wren, a girl. After their initial squabbling, you must decide which of the twins will be the leader while trick-or-treating, and therefore the character under your control. Unfortunately, this is no ordinary Halloween night. The town is hiding place to a horde of candy-gobblin' goblins, as Reynold and Wren soon discover when one of them is kidnapped by one of the monsters...


"By the power of Graysk... oh, hang on...

Whichever child is left must do the trick-or-treat rounds, collecting candy as usual, but also recruiting allies to help in the fight against the evil Goblin forces. This isn't too difficult, as the town is packed with kids in their different costumes. Some are not so friendly, but once you get someone onside, they'll follow you around and you have the added benefit of having them, and the powers of their costume, alongside you in battle.

The battles take place when the kids encounter any of the monsters intruding upon Auburn Pines' evening. In what is an awesome turn of events, they transform into whatever they're wearing at the time. So a robot boy becomes a huge missile-firing mech, a knight becomes, ummm... a knight, etc. What's brilliant about this is that it puts you directly into the mindset of the kids... if they were wearing those costumes, that's how they'd imagine themselves to be. It's fantastic.


And now, foul creature, you shall perish by my sword.

As you travel, you can hit many of the objects around town. Mailboxes, bins and even pumpkins may contain precious candy, and it all helps to fill your candy pail. And then there are other items to be found... most notably, costumes. You can obtain blueprints of different costumes, and the pieces can be found around town, usually in coffins that are lying in back gardens...

There's a bit more to the game than this, too. You'll routinely pick up quests along the way, and these help add a fair amount of play-time. I haven't completed the game yet, so I'm not entirely sure whether you have to finish all the quests to complete the game, but you'll probably want to anyway as they help you in various ways, whether it's for XP or bonus items to use in the game.


Mr. Johnson's costume was just a touch too realistic.

Adding to the whole feel of Costume Quest is the dialogue. It's not spoken, but pops up in bubbles, and is beautifully child-like... and childish, at times! That's not meant in a bad way, it's just another way the game completely sells the world in which it takes place. There's some great humour too... check out the fella with the bobbing-for-apples minigame as a prime example...

I've read reviews that complain about certain elements of the game... that there's too much story, or the fighting is too simplistic, or the save game system is rubbish (actually, there's an element of truth to that last one, but not so much that it's offputting at all). But I bet those reviews were written by the kind of joyless goons that leave their porch lights off on Halloween. Costume Quest is a beautifully conceived and executed little game, that is a thorough joy to experience. Best of all, better even than the fact I love it, it's had my almost-ten-year-old absolutely hooked since he bought it. You can't ask for much more than that.

A preview, of sorts...

I might not have posted when I said I would, but I've got a lot of posts lined up and being worked on, so there should be plenty to read this weekend. A few hints: there'll be a bit of an XBLA blowout, a classic scary PC action game, a Commodore 64 budget game and maybe an old classic reimagined on the DS. Mabe a couple of others too, if I can find the time...

Keep 'em peeled!

Space Invaders Infinity Gene (XBox Live Arcade/iPhone/iPod Touch)

Space Invaders, Taito? In 2010? Really? I mean, we just had Space Invaders Extreme not that long ago... surely that's enough? It jazzed up the age-old formula quite nicely, and there's only so much you can do with Space Invaders.

Isn't there?

Not as far as Taito is concerned, and in an attempt to keep Space Invaders fresh (and raking in the cash), they've given it the most radical reworking of an original game... well, ever, probably.


That's bigger than a typical mothership!

The title screen is odd, and should give you a clue that this isn't going to be your traditional Space Invaders game. Although, when it first kicks off it lulls you into a false sense of security by giving you Spacies, straight-up. Just a few seconds in, though, and it wrenches you through time and space and gives you an Invaders game the like of which you could never have imagined...

When a shooter is as radically overhauled as this, it's difficult to think what it can be compared to. It's a bit obvious to say it's Rez-inspired... just because they're quirky, offbeat shooters doesn't mean they have that much in common. No, Infinity Gene is pretty much its own entity, offering a refreshing take on Space Invaders with enough to link it to the past but with plenty there to enable it to stand proud on its own merits.


Oooh, that looks wrong in a small picture. Anyway, all those bits fly around and need to be shot.

Although the classic invaders appear often, they're almost thrown in as distractions; as if the programmers know you'll recognise them and go after them, when greater enemies are always just around the corner. Huge vector spaceships will appear, taking several shots to dispatch. Bizarre frameworks will appear, with invaders travelling along them and hemming you in. Formations will appear from unexpected places, forcing you out of your comfort zone. Infinity Gene never lets you settle, always throwing new ideas at you, constantly making you adapt.

Fortunately, you're able to even things up a little (albeit just a little). The classic saucers that flit about now drop DNA capsules, and when you pick enough of these up they strengthen your firepower. You're never going to turn into a bullet-hell wielding, all-conquering monster, but at least you've go a bit more than the original's pea-shooter. And as the game progresses, you're able to unlock different types of firepower, some of which you might find useful and some not, depending on how you play.


This lot never give up, do they?

The game also features a number of modes beside the main game, which is quite important in ensuring you'll play it for longer than the customary ten-minute blast. Challenge mode gives you 99 stages to clear (or try to clear), Bonus mode gives you, erm, bonus stages to play, which are unlocked throughout the game... and then there's Music mode.

I love things like this in games. Music mode, as you'd expect, lets you play the game to your own choice of music. Better than that, though, it generates the stage around it. So the number of stages available is limited only by the size of your music collection.


OK, this is just getting insane.

This is awesome. Personally, I'm a big fan of instrumental rock, and it lends itself to this sort of thing extremely well. And from the tracks I've used, there can be an incredible amount of variety to the stages you can get. Yngwie Malmsteen is my favourite guitarist... I can highly recommend his tune "Leviathan" for a fun blast, or "Little Savage", which almost turns this into a racing game!

Space Invaders Infinity Gene is an excellent (if slightly mad) reworking of the original arcade classic. The amount of gane you get for your money would make it well worth your while if it was limited to just the main game and the Challenge mode, but with the Music mode giving you so much extra play, it's a steal. Music mode works better on the iPhone/iPod Touch (it's a bit of a pain having to stream playlists on a console, changing tracks on your media player every time), but I prefer the game on the big screen with a "proper" controller. Either way, you can't really go wrong with this.

Aaargh!

Well, so much for my promised update. That's what I get for not doing one thing at a time. Too many good games on the go at once, that's the problem! Still, that means it'll be a bumper weekend of updates... keep checking back for them!

Super Meat Boy (XBox 360 Live Arcade)

I was going to write about something else today, something that I started playing last night, but I didn't bank on XBox Live Arcade throwing three games out on one day, with at least two that I really fancied trying... and ended up buying. So the original offering has been put on hold, and instead I'm going to write about the game that took a solid hour out of my evening without even trying... Super Meat Boy.

To be honest, I'd heard very little about Super Meat Boy before its 360 release, other than the odd comment on a website saying it was "awesome". I like awesome games, so I thought I'd better investigate. It turns out that Meat Boy was a flash game on the Newgrounds website, which instantly brought something else to mind...


She's quite something... you can see why he'd go to all that effort to get her back.

Graphically, it has a certain charm, and this is where the Newgrounds link comes in... it kind of reminds me of Alien Hominid to look at, and Alien Hominid is another game that started life as a flash game and made its way onto the 360. It also reminds me of Alien Hominid in how bastard hard it is. But although there's more to do in Alien Hominid, you're more likely to spend more time with Super Meat Boy, and this is purely down to the superb game design.

You see, the beauty of this game is that when you die, there you are again, ready to throw yourself at the challenge one more time. This instantaneous restart is crucial to the game's hook, because if you had to wait for any kind of loading screen every time you died, your telly would likely have a controller-shaped hole in the middle of it after less than an hour. As it is, every time you die and are frustrated to the point of turning it off, you find yourself unable to resist flinging Super Meat Boy to the right just one more time... nnngggghhhh!!!


Bit like a snail, is Super Meat Boy... just his trail is bloody, rather than slimy.

Adding to the addictiveness is the fact that many levels take between 10 and 30 seconds to complete, and there are tons of them. It's like the most successful handheld games in that regard... it's very easy to just dip in and out of when you've got a bit of free time. If you complete a level fast enough, you get a Grade A+ ranking, and unlock the "Dark World" version of the level... it's the same level, but with loads more added evil. So, effectively you're getting twice as much game for your money. Even better.

I've mentioned that Super Meat Boy is bastard hard. It really is. You're going to die an extraordinary amount of times while playing it. It's also very evil. It has a sick, twisted, black heart... blackened by a profusion of congealed blood. The blood, fantastically, is everywhere. Super Meat Boy himself is blood red, and being a meat boy, contains lots of blood. This blood is spilled, splattered and strewn across the level every time SMB is killed, as you might expect. But the level doesn't reset when you die... the blood remains smeared, caked and splattered all over the scenery. Which is nice.


Replays are hilarious, with every Meat Boy that attempted the level being shown at the same time.

Super Meat Boy is an old-school platform game made new. I've read in a couple of places that it's like Super Mario Bros., which is cobblers as all it shares with that game are the initials and the ability to jump and sprint. If anything it's even more old-school than that. It kind of reminds me of the twisted glee of the torture screens in Creatures on the Commodore 64 in some ways, although the gameplay is pure platform jumpiness, with the odd boss level thrown in for good measure. They've launched it at the sale price of 800 points... I would grab it for that now if you have any interest in leaping about and dying lots.

Game Dev Story (iPhone/iPod Touch)

If you like to keep up to speed with the games industry as a whole, rather than just play the games it churns out, then you'll probably be aware that a fairly alarming number of games development studios are closing down these days. To the casual observer, this might seem a bit odd... all games sell millions, so developers must be bathing in money, right? Not so. Maybe you'll understand the situation a little better if you play Game Dev Story.

In this game, you take the management reins of a new software house. Naturally, the aim of the game is to rise from nothing to become a Valve-like behemoth, but the course of the games industry does not run smooth...


Five? Great! Send 'em in!

First things first. You can't knock out a game with just your secretary for help... you're not Jeff Minter, after all. Nope, to get anywhere in this game, you're going to have to hire some staff. Fortunately they're queueing up to work for your fledgling company. The difficulty comes in hiring the right staff. You're not going to get the best on your limited budget, but if you hire for their potential, you can train them over time and hopefully develop them into award-winners.

Having said that, there may be times when they're not quite up to the task at hand. No fault of their own... it's just inexperience. When this happens, you can give your project a boost, either by using items in conjunction with your research data, or by contracting some aspect of the work to a specialist outsider. What you have to bear in mind is that these things all cost money, and until you have a hit on your hands it's in limited supply... so choose wisely.


This project is really heating up...

Once your game is finished, it's time for the release. It'll help if you pay for advertising at this time... you need as many people to know about your game as possible. Then you can sit back and watch the sales mount up. Or can you? It doesn't pay to sit around, and while your staff might be a bit burned out to be considering anoher game, you can take on other projects to keep funds ticking over, such as creating scenarios or sound FX work. There's always plenty to do.

This all sounds a little bit dull, but it isn't at all. It's entertaining... interesting, even, to see how this game industry works. And it helps that it has a nice sense of humour. The game is littered with cute little references, and the best thing is they tie in (somewhat) with real gaming history. So if you know your consoles, you should be able to figure out which ones to throw your weight behind in the game... and which ones to avoid!


Damn! We were hoping for the Dreamcost 2.

I've seen a lot of reviews that complain about the graphics... that although the style is nice, the iPhone is capable of better. I think that's missing the point. Just because "better" is possible, it doesn't mean it's suitable. The pixel-art style this game employs fits really well, and that's much more important than adding extra flash. Similarly, there are complaints that the game doesn't fill the whole screen. If this affected gameplay, fair enough... but it doesn't. To me, Game Dev Story has very cute graphics that fit perfectly... that'll do for me.


Hurray! What a bunch of stars we are!

If there's one game that Game Dev Story reminded me of, it's Rock Star Ate My Hamster, which I played back at the beginning of February. It has the same reliance on hiring the right people, making the right choices regarding work and advertising, and some nice subject-related humour. That also means that there's a chance the repetitive gameplay will become stale over time. And with the relatively expensive (for the iPhone) £2.39 price tag, some might not feel like taking on the risk. Personally, despite my usual apathy towards resource-management games, I've fallen for the charms of Game Dev Story, and it's a very welcome addition to my iPod Touch.