Archive for 2016
Friday at the Movies: Cloak & Dagger
The 1980s was a weird time for movies. It seems like during this time period that younger kids between the ages of 8-14 were a demographic that was heavily marketed to. While I concede that films of today like anything animated by Pixar or even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are marketed to kids, it doesn’t seem like the movies are specifically created to speak to them. Cloak & Dagger is a film I can’t imagine was marketed for anyone other than young boys that were into G.I. Joe, played video games, and struggled with their parents. So, yeah, every young boy. It tells the tale of an 11-year-old Texas boy named Davey (played by Henry Thomas just after his big debut in E.T.) that is obsessed with a spy role playing game Cloak & Dagger starring a James Bond type named Jack Flack. One day Davey witnesses real terrorists trying to deliver confidential government materials in an Atari 5200 video game cart and of course the world doesn’t believe him because he’s already annoyed them profusely with his imaginary spy nonsense. What I love about this movie is that it speaks to kids at their level and, believe it or not, sneaks in plenty of after school lessons that will hopefully better equip them for handling the real world. If you are into brand marketing the way we all were in the 80s, you won’t be able to ignore the glut of Atari references. This film released in the summer of 1984, which is quite an ironic time to have a film engulfed in Atari marketing since the crash of 1983 was in full effect. I’m sure when it was filming and when the deals were signed, this was at least a year earlier when Atari ruled supreme. Nowadays you will want to watch this film not because of its entertainment merit per se, it is still a movie made for and talking to pre-teens, but more because of the hybrid of going back to your youth and nostalgia for the time period.
Fans of Ocean Software Need to be Checking Out Retro Gaming Round-Up
Simon “Dinosaur Pie” Butler
Retro Gaming Round-Up, a podcast about the classic days of early gaming often pre-dating the NES, has a new section that I’m finding just wonderful. It’s hosted by Simon Butler, a well known developer during the microcomputer days that worked at the beloved Ocean Software. Some use the term “legend” and he’s credited with over 260 releases on Giant Bomb and Moby Games, not to mention his personal claim of around 300 games. It turns out he’s a somewhat angry, off-putting, foul mouthed, hilarious storyteller. That’s why Butler getting his own segment on Retro Gaming Round-Up, dubbed “Dinosaur Pie,” has me hooked.
Origins of Shadow of the Beast
It all began in 1989 with developer Reflections Interactive showing a tech demo to British publisher Psygnosis. With Psygnosis impressed by what they saw Shadow of the Beast was originally released on the Commodore Amiga and was graphically mind blowing for the time. With several colours on screen at once as well as up to twelve levels of parallax scrolling backdrops, the game looked like it was from an arcade machine. Martin Edmonson, one of the founders of the company, was fond of very difficult video games. He wanted to be challenged and have to play a game multiple times to be able to master it. The score for the game was composed by David Whittaker, which was very atmospheric and left a lasting impression on fans. The cover art for the game was from the talented hands of Roger Dean who was well know for working on album covers for Yes, Asia, Budgie, as well as several others. Roger Dean merged a stone age look with technology to create a very unique look to the cover of Shadow of the Beast. He would also later go on to redesign the logo for Tetris.
Podcast: Bringin’ It Back – Reboots (Part 1)
As times change so do video games with developers and publishers scrambling to keep up. There are several ways to handle a classic franchise presented to a contemporary audience, which is fully covered in at the beginning of the show. Of the most scrutinized is the reboot. In this episode Jam and Fred debate the definition of a reboot and then get into the many attempts that have been made in the world of gaming to make what is old become new again.
Hunting tips for Collectors: Charity Shop’s
In the U.K a surprisingly good place to hunt for old games are charity shops. In the U.S most will know these as Goodwills or a Salvation Army store. Charity shops are not generally very large. They’re small little retail units which mostly sell clothes but some often have a little section in the back where they keep DVDs, CDs and yes video games. This article is going to cover some general tips when hunting for games in charity shops.
Shadow of the Beast (2016) Review
Shadow of the Beast is a reboot of a 1989 Amiga title that I’m not quite sure ever released outside of Europe until the Genesis port hit North America in 1991. Even then, the port wasn’t given the proper shift from the base 50hz of Europe to the 60hz of North America, so this already difficult game ran 20 percent faster and was nearly impossible. I bring all of these factors up because it’s a weird title to reboot and an even weirder title to have the backing of a worldwide release from Sony, but that’s exactly what happened. I think I can see why. Shadow of the Beast is a timing-intense action title that manages to balance the nostalgia for the original while also retaining the changes in game design over the last 27 years to make a standalone experience everyone can appreciate. This is what it means to reboot a franchise and make it better than the original.
At its surface the game does retain its origins – and my American may be showing a little, but these are origins I was completely unaware of and I was still able to appreciate. You play as Aarbron, a warrior with an unknown past (you can unlock) that seems linked to the worlds you are exploring, however you have been changed. Now you are unable to understand the language of the beings that speak to you (also an unlock) and the only common tongue seems to be violence. You are a tall, fit warrior with twin spikes protruding from your hands that appear to be made of bone. Despite having modern 3D rendered graphics, Shadow of the Beast is a 2D side scroller that will frequently put your navigation and combat skills to the test in a balance of the left and right sides of the screen. I was impressed with how basic the combat system was until your realize that this game, like its protagonist, isn’t bogged down with complexity but rather tactics. You will have to think in the moment to react with the wave of enemies approaching you or you will suffer being volleyed back and forth from a series of foes. It’s daunting at first and by the end of the first level I thought I didn’t stand a chance against the reboot of a title already known for having a punishing difficulty and unfair traps. That’s not the case here, but you will need to practice and learn the full spectrum of your move set through advancement of the campaign and unlockables you purchase between levels. I wasn’t pleased with this decision at first – one my biggest gripes with the MetroidVania formula is that it gates you for not having what you don’t know exists – but these levels are brief and exciting enough that I managed to excuse this decision. By the end of the second level you won’t have the full body of options, but you’ll be robust enough to tackle a majority of the game’s challenges.
Original Amiga port of Shadow The Beast Unlockable in the Remake on PS4
Editor’s Note: We have a copy of Shadow of the Beast on PS4 and Fred is currently playing through it. A full review will go live Monday.
The remake of Shadow of the Beast on PS4 has arrived and is out now on PSN – and for those of you tangible collectors, there is a region free, English, disc based version you can find at import retailers. Recently the developers revealed you’ll be able to unlock the original Amiga port during the game. This isn’t an uncommon thing with a lot of these retro revival type games. Other titles in recent history that did this included Splatterhouse and Flashback on Xbox 360 and PS3 (Flashback is also on PC), all of which allowed you to play the original game. Splatterhouse allowed you to play all three of the original titles in the series making this title highly collectible to this day, especially since it’s cheaper to track down the remake as opposed to owning all of the original titles physically. Let’s also not forget the original game was an arcade and TurboGrafx-16 game with the second two sequels being exclusive to the Mega Drive. It’s somewhat surprising only the first Shadow of the Beast game will be unlocked, unless maybe developer Heavy Spectrum is planning to release the others with sequels to this remake, I guess we will see. All three original Shadow of the Beast games were released on Amiga but the first two games in the series were ported to various consoles.
Very little has been covered on this title since its original reveal over a year ago and then it suddenly was released on the world this week. Originally demoed at EGX 2015 and with only being showed off on a single game unit, I wasn’t particularly impressed with what I’d played then. The game came across as a 2D hack-and-slash with excessive waves of enemies. It seemed to lack the unique exploration and the convoluted puzzles that were present from the original. Of course a lot can change in that tim,e and maybe it has. I don’t doubt this will be more accessible to a modern audience but it just feels a chance was wasted here. Since the remake is coming with the original Amiga port, however, I think I might have to give this one another shot.
The Story of Lionhead Studios’ Rise and Fall
Sorry to have led you here on false pretenses by suggesting that I had written an article on the subject. Don’t worry, there’s a link here to the incredible, somewhat heartbreaking details of the beginning and tragic end to Lionhead Studios. I’ve said before that the challenge of being a no ads blog about retro games and located in the Midwest (Kansas City) leaves me at a loss for developer inside stories. I’ve got Jam, who is closer to some of the core studios in London, but frankly he doesn’t work for pay (none of us do) and I have no idea how he would get into a closed studio to ask insider questions. None of these factors are the case with Eurogamer. Writer Wesley Yin-Poole wrote a fantastic piece last week that not only told the history of Lionhead (many of us could do the research and write that) with the rare inclusion of some candid stories. Those stories, including quite a few of the colorful actions of Peter Molyneux, are what I always want to know about game development and the studios responsible. In short, read this story now. The link can be found here, or by clicking on the Lionhead logo at the top, which some of you may have already done.
Podcast: That’s Not How It Happened
This week Fred and Jam are leaping head first into the Prince of Persia franchise. They discuss the roots, mechanics, and original trilogy that spanned a decade. The show concludes with the discussion of the Sands of Time trilogy, including the mechanic that the franchise is best known for.
Here’s the link for the original Prince of Persia video that Mechner took of his brother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAjRNU3DbSY
Version: Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2 (or Biohazard 2 as it’s known in Japan) is one of the most popular games in the series and has had a numerous amount of ports. In this video we examine all of the content, plot, and changes between the original PS1 release of Resident Evil 2 and all other versions that came afterward.
Special thanks to the Play Old PC Games blog (http://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2014/09/04/resident-evil-2/), the-horror.com, and the Resident Evil wiki on Wikia. All footage was captured by actual gameplay on hardware save for the final emulation comparison.
Gaming History 101 