Podcast: Play It Loud!
This week Fred and Jam are discussing the development, release, and games behind Nintendo’s most popular portable: the Game Boy. Released under the concept of keeping it addicting and inexpensive, the Game Boy was the first video game system to be embraced by the mainstream and thanks to a little game called Tetris was a must own for the 90s.
Undertale Review
Undertale is a game that is hard to ignore if you are a retro gamer. It strikes me as a bit of the hipster’s version of an SNES title because it seems to check all the boxes that get several communities pumped up as well as intrinsically embracing what is great about contemporary retro. Couple that with the fact that it was almost completely created by one person, Toby Fox (who had art help from Temmie Chang), and there’s no doubt Undertale is an achievement. None of this really matters for a review, though, which forces the critic to look a work right in the face and give his or her opinion. Is Undertale a one-man-band achievement that results in one of the most impressive indie titles that hearken back to the days of 16-bit? Sure, but that’s all left to award ceremonies and Fox’s peers to decide. Is it the “must play” retro game that garners all the glittering prizes and game of the year nominations from my peers? Perhaps not. While I can admit to being entertained by the title – especially the very notable fourth wall breaking aspects that you almost never see coming – Undertale is weakened by the zeitgeist and harmed by the fact that no one on the Internet can just let you play a game anymore. That game, while great, leaves more to be desired.
Undertale began to make waves with the Earthbound crowd and while it’s not quite as heady and definitely not even a fraction of the length of those titles, Undertale does grow from those roots. Personally I was never all that fond of the series (although I have not yet played Mother 3), but the humor was undeniably charming and Undertale embraces and builds upon that humor in spades. You play as a character named “the child” who is given a name of your choice and skates that line of androgyny just enough that your avatar can identify as whatever they want. An introduction explains that there are two worlds, the humans and the monsters, that have become separated from one another and whenever a human enters the world of the monsters they become corrupted and never escape. As your quest begins, you start to learn that the irony of this is that monsters aren’t all that bad and much like humans just have a wide spectrum of personalities and behaviors. The theme is hammered home when you discover that interactions with monsters are just that, interactions, and just because video games have taught you that fighting is the only way to go that you have a slew of other options. From this point on you journey into the world to behave as you wish and reap the consequences of quite literally all of your actions along the way.
Jade Empire Review
The original Xbox was a system with some incredibly gems on it that really didn’t receive much appreciation until near the end of the consoles life cycle. The game developer Bioware were all about the Xbox with their main hit on the system being Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic then later down the road in 2005 they brought out one of the most overlooked titles from the company Jade Empire. Jade Empire really never found its audience, even to this day. Just mentioning this title to people today brings question marks in peoples minds. I remember seeing the game in an Official Xbox Magazine and being incredibly excited by the screen shots. Then the game came out and people just sort of forgot it was there. Today the game is passed off as one of the weakest titles in Biowares back catalogue.
Jade Empire is a Western developed action role-playing game (RPG) you play as a martial arts hero that you choose at the start of the game. You can choose between 5 set character models (6 if you have the limited edition or special edition), you can choose to go with pre-selected stats or you can customize the heroes stats yourself. You unfortunately can’t customize your characters appearance which is a shame considering Bioware’s previous Star Wars title allowed you to alter your characters appearance.
Podcast: Jade Empire Game Club
Due to scheduling conflicts, Fred and Jam had to do the Jade Empire game club as a live show and not an extra credit. BioWare’s first console exclusive (temporarily) and intermediary between Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect is an interesting combination of gameplay mechanics for the developer. Fred and Jam delve into the development, mechanics, and campaign of Jade Empire, which is probably the most polarizing of BioWare titles.
The Making of Jade Empire (G4 Special)
A brief documentary produced by G4 and found on the Limited Edition supplemental DVD.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Marble Madness
This week Syd and Sean were graced by the presence of a wonderful game developer named Mark Cerney. Responsible for working on a bunch of games we all loved including Sonic 2, Crash Bandicoot, and more, one of Cerney’s first releases was Marble Madness. In addition to being a newer perspective on games, this title was significant for many reasons both revealed in the interview and mentioned in this video.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours Review
When you think of space shooters, the Darius series is probably not the first one you would think of, so it came as a wonderful surprise to to see this title come from out of nowhere and single handedly brought about what could be the renaissance of the space shooter series. Dariusburst Chronicles Saviours (DBCS) is a love letter to the Darius series as well as anyone who has nostalgia for the shoot-em-up (shmup) genre. This series first started all the way back in 1986 and was infamously known for its merginging of space and the ocean. By this I mean that enemy ships all look like mechanical fish. It has an incredible design to it that you’ve just never seen anywhere else. Although the Darius series has not seen recent titles in the West, it has been living on with a lot of popularity in Japan on the portable and arcade scene.
The DBCS concept is pretty simple: you’re in a small space ship flying through various environments and your goal is to unload bullet hell onto any fishy looking space ship that happens to disturb your casual flight. The main hook of this game is the “burst” feature, which is a super charged cannon and unloads a devastating beam of death once you have acquired enough charge. It’s an essential feature to use against the gorgeous looking boss battles which range from giant mechanical crabs, lion-fish, and swordfish. It felt like quite the trip to the mechanical aquarium for me as I used to be quite the enthusiast of fish in my younger days and seeing some of creatures recreated in this game brought a smile to my face. What I love about the boss battles in this game is how you’re presented with a giant “WARNING” sign before each foe appears, you have this feeling something sinister is around the corner. Despite seeing this screen hundreds of times it never got old for me. If you’re skilled with the cannon, you can time it just right for when the boss decides to give you a stream of its own beam of death, which you can counter and land an even bigger beam of destruction back at the baddie. This moment when I was clever (or lucky) enough to pull it off was one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had in gaming for quite some time. Its not all burst beams though, ships come in different fins and shells and you can pick up power-ups to upgrade your ship along your level.
Podcast: 2016 on the 5s and 10s
In a slightly early episode this year, we are ringing in 2016 as we always have: by celebrating the decades and half decades of gaming history. This year we are celebrating years ending in 1s and 6s and covering everything from Nintendo becoming a toy company to the release of the Commodore Vic-20.
Extra Credit: Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR for short), is notable for many reasons. Developers BioWare and Obsidian not only created a new plotline, in fact part of a new history, of Star Wars, but managed to also do so with RPG elements. From the moment development began to the release of the sequel, KOTOR is definitely an influential part of the video game universe of Star Wars. This episode delves into development, mechanics, and release of both titles in the series.
Twas the Night Before Xmas, Part 4
For the first time ever, Jamalais joins in a Christmas episode with Fred and special guest Fortengard to discuss Christmas stories, memories, and the holiday releases of 1998 and 1999. This amazing art comes courtesy of listener SieOne.
Gaming History 101 