Extra Credit: Battlefront
There were two main franchises we couldn’t get to in our Star Wars episodes: Battlefront and Knights of the Old Republic. Both have significance not only to the fan base but to the world ofStar Wars gaming because they are excellent examples of how to take the license, think outside of the box, and run with it. First up is Pandemic’s Battlefront series hosted by Jamalais and documenting one of the more addicting early online console franchises.
Gaming History X: End of 2015
In a special episode about modern games, Gaming History X, we tackle our views of your questions about gaming today as well as make some special announcements. Enjoy.
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Remember Me
This week’s Lost Treasures of Gaming is near and dear to my heart because I got to review the game upon release. Probably the most unappreciated game of 2013, Remember Me is the first game from studio Dontnod. It fuses combo-based brawling, cyberpunk, and the unique “memory remix” features to create a unique and gorgeous title.
Check out the Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast at http://www.omgnexus.com.
Retrospective: Rebel Strike (Rogue Squadron III)
In order to understand why Rebel Strike even exists and why reviewers were so harsh on certain aspects of it, it’s important to understand where the series roots begin in the Star Wars video game universe as well as the significance of developer Factor 5. As most gamers are aware, the mid-late 90s was a rough time for video games as games went from sprite-based 2D experiences to polygonal 3D experiences with extremely varying degrees of success and failure. During this time Star Wars was ramping up for some new content beginning with the 1995 announcement of the Special Edition Trilogy that would remaster the original films and bring them back to theaters. At the time this was all good news. My friends and I were mocking the transparent snowspeeders in Empire, laughing at some of the effects in A New Hope, and reveling over the cool new things that were teased in the trailer (like the ronto in Mos Eisley). These days there are clearly sour grapes with the Special Edition Trilogy and far more edits have been made for the Blu-Ray releases of these films than what hit theaters in 1997, but again before those films had even come out it was time to ramp up on Star Wars console games. Couple that with the announcement of the upcoming Prequel Trilogy set to release in 1999 and Star Wars fever hit. It should be noted that Star Wars games would consistently release during most of console gaming’s life, but most of the variety was found only on PC and the more traditional action games were found on console.
The Phantom Podcast
On the week of The Force Awakens release, we decided to go ahead and finish our Star Wars video game series with the most controversial and feared topic of all: the games based on or released around the time of the prequels. It’s not so bad and it leads to a discussion on the impressions and impact of the prequel films before the Internet changed our minds.
Tomb Raider Anniversary Review
The original Tomb Raider was more than just a 32 bit title that launched a strong Playstation franchise, it was a cultural phenomenon. For those that have ever played it, especially if you’ve recently gone back, it’s rather difficult to appreciate that game without the amazing strength of nostalgia. Fortunately when Crystal Dynamics took over for the franchise with Legend the company’s second project was to remake the original. As the following reviews will attest, it was a good faith effort to not only switch up the mechanics and polish the weaker points of the first game, but ultimately the need to keep many of the levels and designs intact tarnish the experience. Crystal Dynamics played it safe with how little it tweaked of the original formula and what resulted was a game that feels so updated and tight at some points and so sluggish and archaic at others.
Tomb Raider Review
The original Tomb Raider exploded in popularity on its release in 1996. People were blown away by the 3D graphics and the title helped promote the Sony Playstation despite being released in mind for the Sega Saturn. The game was praised to high heaven by gaming critics and it launched Lara Croft into icon status by being the first digital character to feature on the cover of Face magazine in the UK. Lara would then quickly go on to be more of a sell out than Krusty the Clown. Her image was used to sell various products like the Lucozade energy drink and Land Rover vehicles. After all why not, she was huge in the UK. This game was the talk of many playground conversations when I was younger not just because of the mythical “Nude Raider” code but gamers would discuss how to get through difficult sections of the game. Guides were not common place back then and the small ones printed in magazines lacked the impressive detail we see in fan made guides online today. It was considered a badge of honour if you were able to finish this game without using cheat codes. Its almost twenty years now since this game came out so I made this months Game Club my personal mission to finish this game without a guide. After lots of blood sweat and gamer tears here are my thoughts.
Time has not been kind to Tomb Raider along with the rest of the back catalogue of early 3D 32 bit games. Before I get started on the game itself I really wanted to hit home that I am very nostalgic for games of this era. Resident Evil on Playstation one still remains one of my favourite games of all time, my enjoyment of titles from this generation seems to have actually grown as I got older. This is the beauty of nostalgia, unfortunately for the someone who doesn’t share this connection you’ll probably go into a lot of these old 3D games and have issues with the controls and be generally turned off by the graphics. I acknowledge all these negative points yet I still enjoy these games. I feel these points are worth bringing up before you hear what I have to say about Tomb Raider now.
Extra Credit: Tomb Raider Game Club
Tomb Raider and its infamous heroin, Lara Croft, are a culture phenomenon. While Ms. Croft garnered more attention and mass appeal – both from a gaming and culture standpoint – in the UK rather than the US, it was nearly impossible to live in the late 90s and not know about Tomb Raider. With countless ports and even anAnniversary face lift thanks to now series developer Crystal Dynamics, we delve into the original game once and for all. Join special guest Andy Urquhart along with Fred and Jam as they discuss Lara’s first adventure.
Retro Game Night: Atari’s Star Wars Arcade Games
One of the only redeeming traits of Rebel Strike: Rogue Squadron III on Gamecube is that you can unlock all 3 of the original Atari developed arcade games from the early 1980s. These games – Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi – were games that I had to play every time I saw them regardless of the situation (like me really not liking Return of the Jedi in arcade form).
In lieu of Lost Treasures of Gaming (this week’s ep I’ve already done, Smash TV, and can be found here). Next week we will return to another great Lost Treasure of Gaming.
Podcast: Silent Hill Zero
Whenever a franchise runs long enough, it’s inevitable that you will eventually see a prequel to the original. It just so happens that the fifth game in both the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises happened to be prequels. This week Jam and Fred welcome back guest host Vos to delve into the development, release, and reception of both Resident Evil Zero and Silent Hill Origins (known as Silent Hill Zero in Japan).
Gaming History 101 