Resident Evil Origins Collection is coming
Were you sad that there was no physical release of Resident Evil HD Remaster in the West? Fred and I were so upset we imported the damn game for PS3 from Asia.
Well turns out if we had a little patience we only needed to wait till 19th January in North America or 22nd January in Europe to get the Resident Evil Origins collection for Xbox One or PS4. This comes complete with both the HD remaster of Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0.
Capcom also revealed Wesker as a playable character in Resident Evil 0, which is kinda cool I guess. Would still rather have a Barry Burton mode but I guess a man can dream. If you don’t want the physical game don’t worry the game is also coming digitally for PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. I guess there will also be a PC version but this hasn’t been announced yet.
Yeah I already own Resident Evil Remaster but I will totally buy this once I finally get a next gen console because I’m that guy. This will keep us tied over with plenty of old school Resident Evil until we hear more about the Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Podcast: Metal Gear Solid 3 Game Club
Metal Gear Solid 3 is significant for many reasons and there are fans that consider it to be the best in the series. Jam and Fred get together to talk about this third iteration that spawned the Big Boss storyline, which appears to be concluded in the just released MGS V.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Which Version Should You Play?
First off the original vanilla PS2 version. I really didn’t care for this game that much back in the day and I deliberately left it until last as I thought playing the four other versions would make playing this easier, nope. The original version of the game runs off a similar engine to Metal Gear Solid 2 which means your camera is super restricted. You can use the left stick to slightly pan the camera, but its pretty useless. You’ll spend most of the time playing this game in a stop start pattern. What I mean by that is if your going full stealth you’ll move forward slightly then stop, go into first person view and check the surroundings and then repeat this process every five steps. Some may argue this makes the game more difficult and stealth but in my opinion this is not fun. Every additional version of this game fixed this problem by allowing you full control of the camera so you can rotate it around and see enemies so much easier. It makes the game just that much more playable and fun with this addition alone. For that reason I say avoid the original PS2 version unless you’re a die hard fan of the game and want to see it’s roots.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Review
When I heard we were going to do Metal Gear Solid 3 for the game club I came to the sudden realization that I actually owned a ridiculous amount of copies of the game across four systems. So I felt it was an appropriate time to challenge myself as a gamer and begin the month long quest of playing the game through five times across each iteration of the game. What a fascinating journey it’s been. Not only do I now eat snakes for my lunch but I find myself actively camouflaging up and hiding in the spare room from my lady friend. Fortunately, before I completely lost my mind I wrote a review on the game which covers the following five versions of the game: the original PS2 version, Subsistence version on PS2, HD collection edition on Xbox 360, the Vita version, and finally the 3DS version. Be sure to check out my breakdown of which was my favourite of the five and which one I would recommend people track down.
Podcast: Emergence Day
What started off as a spin-off for the Unreal series evolved into a technical showpiece for the Unreal 3 Engine and eventually became the powerhouse series Gears of War. A staple in the Microsoft family, Gears of War broke through the fears of HD console gaming and was responsible for some of the most influential multiplayer mechanics from co-op to horde mode.
Streets Of Rage 3D – The Joys of Buying on Launch Day Again
I was contemplating whether to write a review for the recent port of Streets of Rage 2 on the 3DS but I kinda thought there’s little point. Most people reading this article will have played the game and know its great. Instead I wanted to write about the fun I had re-visiting the game and why I actually had no problem re-buying this game despite owning it on multiple systems and compilations. If you are someone that needs a score the game is 5 out of 5. Fred and I also talked extensively about the game on our Top Ten Mega Drive/Genesis games of all time, which I highly recommend checking out, you might be surprised what makes the cut.
Metal Gear (MSX) Review
No, don’t be confused this is not Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation or the reboot (Twin Snakes) on the GameCube. It’s also not that Metal Gear game on the NES that everyone played in American and absolutely no one played over here in Europe (quick commentary at the end if interested). Nope, this review is for the very first Metal Gear game released for the MSX microcomputer way before the Solid days and back when Kojima and Konami were better friends. This is a game no one had played in America (until the re-release) and was slightly more popular in Europe. This game along with the MSX sequel titled Metal Gear: Solid Snake (not to be confused with the NES sequel Snake’s Revenge, which is not cannon nor Kojima developed) are both available on the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on Xbox 360, PS3 and PS Vita. They are also available to play on Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence on PS2. For this review I will be covering the PS Vita version but after spending some time with the 360 and PS2 versions, they’re all pretty similar with very minor differences.
Metal Gear puts you in the shoes of a rookie soldier with the code name Solid Snake. Your job is to infiltrate a place called “Outer Heaven,” rescue the hostages, and destroy a new weapon that can launch nuclear missiles called Metal Gear. It’s very likely you’ll be going back to play this game after one of the other titles in the Solid series. So, you probably have some familiarity with the plot and most likely know about the twist at the end. Everything is presented in text and unlike any other game in the series the story sections of the game are short and sweet. Even though I knew exactly where the story was heading it was still interesting to see how it reached that moment.
Retro Game Night: Neo-Retro Marathon!
There was a lot of gameplay involved in my short visit to Neo-Retro town, but it was worth it. Check out the videos below:
This was supposedly a collection of forgotten Dreamcast mini-games, it turns out to be a weird collection of Sonic love fests. Its, um, well, you’ll see…
Extra Credit: From MSX to MGS – The Evolution of Metal Gear
As part of our Metal Gear Solid week, Jam and Fred are discussing the evolution of the Metal Gear series until finally resting upon the 3D remake of sorts, Metal Gear Solid. Discussions are had about the MSX outings, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, before finally appreciating the PS1 classic Metal Gear Solid.
Download this episode (right click and save)
Lost Treasures of Gaming: Miner 2049er
This week on Lost Treasures of Gaming the boys had on none other than Bill Hogue, creator of Miner 2049er. As an avid fan in my youth (and I’ve heard quite a popular game in Europe) I was delighted to revisit this title I hadn’t touched in over 15 years. Originally programmed for the Atari 800, this is the Commodore 64 version, but it captures the soul of the game quite nicely. If you aren’t familiar with this game that is, according to Hogue, a Donkey Kong hybrid with Pac-Man, you should do yourselves a favor and give this addicting and challenging title a try.
The Lost Treasures of Gaming podcast and several other shows can be found at OMG Nexus.
Gaming History 101 