2005 October | The Games of my Life

Archive for October, 2005

Pathway to Glory (N-Gage, 2004)

Saturday, October 22nd, 2005

Yup, N-Gage. No, I’m not kidding. The world’s first gaming phone (it’s not a “handheld console”, but a gaming phone – and it might have been successful if only they had promoted it like that from the start, along with skipping the original sidetalking version and releasing only the QD, even if a few months later) is not only a very good phone, but there are some very good games for it. This one is my particular favorite.

Pathway to Glory is a turn-based tactical game in which you play an Allied squad of soldiers in World War II (you can also play as the Axis in multi-player games, but there’s only an Allied campaign). Soldiers have skills, get promoted, and improve their skills between missions – if they survive, of course. So you tend to get attached to the best ones.

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Posted in N-Gage games | 1 Comment »

The Hobbit (ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64, 1982)

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

Back in time, to a 1982 game I played on 1983, on my first computer, a 48K ZX Spectrum: The Hobbit.

This game… well, it has a story. A personal one. I guess I could say that this game changed my life – as much as anything can change one’s life.

So you’ll have to bear with me – or, of course, skip this post. Because this one is as much about “why I’m the way I am” as it is about the game – perhaps more. And it’s a long one.

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Tags:80s games, Commodore 64 games, ZX Spectrum games
Posted in 80s games, Commodore 64 games, ZX Spectrum games | 13 Comments »

Tennis Critters (PC, 2003)

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

One of the best multi-player games I’ve ever played, and a staple of the “post-lunch afternoons” at my place for years: Tennis Critters.

What’s there to say? It’s a tennis game, but with chipmunks (and a penguin). It plays very well with one player on the keyboard and three using gamepads. There’s not a lot of customization (the chipmunks only differ in colors, they don’t have different characteristics), there are only two courts…

But it plays great. It’s fast, tough, and unforgiving, but when you begin to get good at it, the joy of beating another player, or, even better, of you and your teammate beating the other team, is a wonderful experience.

As I said, it’s not perfect – we haven’t played it any more since I bought Mario Power Tennis on the GameCube, since that one’s even faster, more involving, and, for a change, highly customizable, and the characters are actually different. But it’s still (along with Super Sprint, which I’ll write about in the near future, hopefully) possibly the multi-player game I’ve played the most.

Link: Official site.

Posted in 2000s games, PC games | No Comments »

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (PC, 1999)

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

It should actually be “Brian Reynolds’ Alpha Centauri”, but Sid Meier was (and is) the best known name, and it draws heavily on Meier’s original Civilization, so… Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri it was. By Firaxis Games, distributed by Electronic Arts.

SMAC, as the game is affectionately called, is still a very popular game these days among strategy fans, and for good reason. In my opinion, it’s still the best Civ-style game, and I doubt even Civilization 4 (which I can’t wait to have) is as good, in some respects. Unfortunately, it didn’t sell as well as it should have, because people these days lack imagination, and it’s much easier to understand what you get by inventing “The Wheel” or “The Alphabet” than what “Bioadaptive Resonance” or “Controlled Singularity” even are. In short, it scared many Civ fans, which was a shame.

But it has some things no other game of its kind has:

style – the spartan interface, the voices, the graphics, the sounds, the descriptions, the movies. Unforgettable.
characters with personality – Civ 3’s leaders, even though they’re supposed to be real life ones, have no personality. SMAC’s had. Who can forget Chairman Yang, Lady Deirdre, Sister Miriam, or CEO Morgan? They actually have different goals in mind, and act towards them. They all speak in their own way. And they all have great quotes.
a story – yes, a strategy game with one. Really. And it doesn’t always end the same way (and I don’t mean just because you lose the game in the middle).

As I said… still my favorite game of its kind, after 6 years. You can probably buy the Planetary Pack (the game plus the expansion pack on a single CD) very cheaply, these days. And you really should.

Links: Wikipedia entry, Official site.

P.S. – did you know that this game has inspired 3 novels, a comic book and a GURPS book? Not bad for a turn-based strategy game…

Posted in 90s games, PC games | 8 Comments »

Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2004)

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Back to the present decade for one of the best, most involving, most visually impressive, and most polished games games ever: Capcom’s Resident Evil 4. This is about the Nintendo GameCube version – the PS2 version isn’t out yet, and I’m sure it won’t be as good (I love my Cube. )

First, unlike previous Resident Evils, this one has a great control scheme, and a great point of view, which makes me wonder why it’s not used more often. The story is good, the game is creepy (almost scary, sometimes) from beginning to end. Great voice acting (again, unlike some previous REs… “master of unlocking”, anyone?). Some parts of the game are unforgettable: the big fight in the first part of the village… the first El Gigante… the “big fish” under the lake… the first time you fight a… oops, don’t want to spoil it for you. This time, there are no zombies… your enemies are human. Or at least, appear to be… They communicate among themselves, work as teams, go after you in several ways at the same time.

In RE4, you play Leon Kennedy, from RE2, who is sent to a mysterious rural area in Spain (it’s so rural that they still use pesetas instead of euros! ) to investigate a clue about the kidnapping of the U.S. President’s daughter. Of course, things aren’t as they seem… (are they ever?)

I haven’t seen a GameCube or PS2 game that looks nearly as good as this one. And believe me, it’s not just a graphics fest. Let’s put it this way: I can still remember how I played through several parts, even though it was months ago. It’s simply an experience you won’t soon forget.

Really, buy this game.

Posted in 2000s games, GameCube games | 2 Comments »

Sango Fighter (PC, 1993)

Tuesday, October 18th, 2005

Sango Fighter, again, is a game few will know. It’s a Chinese-made fighting game, in the Street Fighter mold. For MS-DOS. Remember that?

Since the game is Chinese, and not originally intended to be distributed in the West, it’s… well, exotic. The fighters don’t look angry, they look ceremonial, and painting-like epic. Their looks… let’s say me and my friends gave most of them nicknames, such as “the bearded guy” or “the barkeep”. Their battle cries… How heroic does “oyyyy!” sound? And you have to see some of the winning poses to believe them…

But it played great.

It was a game where you always felt you could become a little better – and not, like in more recent games, by memorizing and practicing a 12-button combo, but by using about 5 special moves per character (other than the basic ones). No matter how fast the other guy was, there was always a way to move faster and counter his move – not out of cheapness, but because you really could perform the counter-move faster. When we got good, we were really good – our matches became epic, as we countered move with counter-move with counter-counter-move. Wheels within wheels within wheels, and other Dune quotes.

This is the fighting game I’ve played the most in my life, with the second one being the PC port of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. And I still have fond memories of it. Current fighting games seem to be either graphical show-offs, button mashers, or simply combo memorizing games… not Sango Fighter.

Posted in 90s games, PC games | 7 Comments »

Chaos (ZX Spectrum, 1985)

Monday, October 17th, 2005

Back to the ol’ Speccy for a 1985 game I and my friends played well into the 90s: Chaos.

By looking at screenshots, it appears stupidly basic; by watching someone play without explaining to you what he or she is doing, it seems insanely complex. The reality?

The premise is simple: 2-8 wizards trying to kill each other, using a variety of spells, including summoned creatures independently controllable, in a relatively small map (one screen) (sounds almost like Magic: the Gathering, only without the cards…).

The options, however, are many. Should I cast this Giant when the spell has a 20% chance of working? Should I cast it as an illusion, which works 100% of the time, but can easily be dispelled? Should I try to create easier, weaker Law creatures so that the Giant (a Law spell) is easier to cast later? Or should I go towards Chaos instead so I can eventually cast a Red Dragon? Is that guy going to attack me, or can I stay concentrated on killing that other guy? Can a Magic Bolt kill him, or should I save it for when I’m threatened? He’s attacking with undead creatures, and I have none… should I cast a Magic Sword and fight them physically? Trap them with Fire or a Gooey Blob? Create a Horse or a Pegasus, mount it, and get out of here? Create Magic Trees so I can get new spells? Is that Ogre he just cast an illusion?

And all of that in 48 K. Yes, 49152 bytes.

Oh, and the snake on the loading screen looked great.

Incidentally, Jullian Gollop, the author, would later create Laser Squad, UFO – Enemy Unknown (a.k.a. X-Com), Laser Squad Nemesis, and the new Rebelstar: Tactical Command for the GBA.

By the way, you can get Chaos here.

Posted in 80s games, ZX Spectrum games | 7 Comments »

Natuk (PC, 1998)

Sunday, October 16th, 2005

This one will, I’m sure, be completely unheard of to most of you, which, again, proves that there’s no justice in the world. The author, Tom Proudfoot, earned so little money from registrations that he stopped making games. And yes, I did register, even though I was relatively poor at the time.

Natuk is a shareware role-playing game, of the “customizing characters, then exploring and fighting a lot” kind. Nothing new there, right? But the game had two qualities that made it take up weeks and weeks of my life.

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Posted in 90s games, PC games | 2 Comments »

Max Payne 2 (PC /PS2 / Xbox, 2003)

Sunday, October 16th, 2005

In contrast to the previous 1982 game, here’s a 2003 one: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne.

Now, it wasn’t certainly as innovative as the first Max Payne – technically, other than improved graphics and sound, the only major novelty was the Havok ragdoll physics engine (it was one of the first games to use it, and it was certainly impressive). But it was also an improvement in other, subtler ways. Basically, it was the first Max Payne done right.

It had a much better story, and better writing (makes the first game sound like an amateurish Raymond Chandler imitation), although I miss the “The sun went down with practiced bravado” line. It used real actors, this time. The dream sequences were creepy instead of annoying. The sniper rifles were done right. Playing as Mona Sax was actually a different experience. The “reloading during bullet time” effects were out of this world. The “Address Unknown” theme park was a brilliant level. Even the TV shows inside the game were a pleasure to watch.

One of my favorite action games of all time, and one I am currently re-playing.

Official site: www.maxpayne2.com.

Posted in 2000s games, PC games, PS2 games, Xbox games | 4 Comments »

Penetrator (ZX Spectrum, 1982)

Saturday, October 15th, 2005

While the Sinclair ZX Spectrum wasn’t my first “games playing system”, it was surely my first computer. While it was released in 1982, I got mine (well, my father’s) in 1983 – I was 9 then. Man, I feel old…

And this – Penetrator, from Melbourne House, was the first game I played on the Speccy. At the time, the name didn’t sound “suspicious”, like it would today.

It’s basically a Scramble (an even older arcade game) clone – you fly a ship, which can shoot forwards, and drop bombs beneath you, in an apparently physics-reallistic sort of way. The first level is on open air, with just mountains to dodge, and missiles which try to hit you, but from the second level onwards, the game is inside increasingly complex caverns, so the ceiling is also a danger. And new enemies, of course.

Of course, the graphics seem laughable now, but reviews at the time said great things about them – they were impressive, for the time.

It would take years before I was able to beat the game without cheating, but I did so. My first Spectrum game…

If you want to try the game yourself, it’s perfectly emulated.

Of course, soon I would have a much harder challenge ahead of me: The Hobbit. My first text adventure game, at a time when I didn’t know any English. But that’s for another post…

Posted in 80s games, ZX Spectrum games | 4 Comments »