HuniePop Review
Please Note: Any way you dice it, HuniePop is a game intended for adults. There is smoking, drinking, very adult language, scantily clad (and potentially fully nude) individuals, adult situations displayed/discussed, and potentially what could be described as pornographic art of a certain type referred to as “hentai”. Now, perhaps you already know this, but it’s a warning for those that don’t. Fortunately this review, while it mentions this content, contains none of these items. It can be considered safe for work (although someone may make fun of you), including all screenshots, and only mildly discusses themes that would be considered appropriate for, at worst, a teen audience. This is just a friendly warning from the folks here at Gaming History 101.
I get it now. For years I have watched my friends, family, and even gamer peers play match three games and never understood it. Sure, I gave a good couple of weeks to Marvel Puzzle Quest, and I had played the original Puzzle Quest in the past, but I was never drawn into them like others were. Eventually, I quit playing these games altogether. But I get it now and I will sadly admit that for more than 15 hours of my life – which may be the blink of an eye to the average Candy Crush addict – I was officially hooked to a match three game. Unfortunately that match three game also happened to be a hybrid dating sim, and a relatively poor one at that, which also had a readily available uncensored patch that displayed an occasional pornographic hentai image, but a match three game nonetheless. It may be shameful for some, although I have no shame, in admitting that I not only liked but got addicted to HuniePop, but I did and it was definitely the match three game that did it. No, seriously, there were easier ways to see the art and out of those 15 hours I spent about 2 minutes looking at art, one total hour playing the dating sim, and 14 more doing nothing but match three. In fact, the game is pretty terrible at everything it attempts to accomplish outside being a basic match three clone. But still, I was hooked.
Podcast: Arcade Memories
This week Fred and Jam wax nostalgic on their favorite arcades from the past. It’s always been our belief that not only were the cabinet games themselves impressionistic, but the particular arcade you would visit and games you selected at those arcades to be just as significant. We talk about the locations, interiors, moods, feel, and of course our favorite games.
New Retro Arcade, The Emulator Frontend We Wanted Game Room To Be
A new development has come from the folks at Digital Cyber Cherries called New Retro Arcade that utilizes Unreal Engine 4 and a bunch of assets to simulate an actual arcade for your MAME emulation. This program is what we all probably hoped the Xbox 360’s Game Room was going to be but never was. You can browse your arcade, complete with random lights, sounds, and crazy carpeting, and play whatever you like. Built into the program are random arcade activities like darts and bowling, but the real draw is picking up that SNES controller, Gameboy sitting about, or walking up an arcade cabinet and playing the game. You can see in the video below that of the authenticity retained by this program, scanlines and rounded edges are a welcome part of it. The demo has it running on a GTX 780 TI, but it clearly doesn’t seem to need that power, however the average Windows XP MAME machine is probably not going to have the chops to run it. It’s a good start, but I’m going to want to test it myself and I can’t see it replacing my MAME machine as my go-to for arcade emulation, but if I get some sort of VR helmet in the future it does appear be an enticing recreation. Clicking on the company name above will take you to the site to get this free download.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blE43U3PTGQ]Swedish Airports Have Arcade Charity Machines
This is a incredibly creative way to raise money for charity that will hopefully catch on in other countries. Working with the Red Cross arcade machines of Space Invaders, Galaga, and Ms. Pac-Man have been installed to accept multiple types of currency with all the proceeds going to charity. So you can enjoy your favourite retro games while you wait for that plane ride knowing it all goes to a good cause. If this catches on maybe well see other games brought back into the fray. If I could choose I would sink plenty of money into a Bubble Bobble or Rainbow Islands cabinet.
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Review
The original Hotline Miami is still a massive indie hit that has a colourful over the top retro look to it with a fantastic soundtrack to accompany it. The goal of each level was simple: kill every enemy on screen by any means necessary. Although that comes across as a very basic concept the game is very difficult and you will find yourself restarting constantly until you finally figure out the magical formula to dispatch all the bad guys in the level. I was hooked to this game instantly when I first played it, and was pretty excited to hear a sequel was on the way.
Apogee Software and GoG Are Giving Away Rise of the Triad
Today at 4:00 PM GMT (that’s 12:00 PM EDT and 9:00 AM PDT for those who need it easy) game distribution site Good Old Games is giving away Rise of the Triad for the first 30,000 people who request it. Now what’s funny to me is that the press release says they’re giving away the 2013 version of Rise of the Triad whereas I would have assumed it would be the original The Dark War version from 1994 but who knows, for now I would trust it’s the newer (and better) game. After the first 30,000 go it’s still going to be available at 80 percent off, which is a steal for that game. As my review in the link will explain, if you want the 90s brought back to life with modern controls and graphics, this long 20+ hour FPS with a campaign and frag-fest multiplayer is a gem. If you want to be prepared, you may want to zip over to the site, make a username if you don’t have one already, and be signed in and ready to refresh your browser at the golden hour. It’s free, what have you got to lose. Also if you’re curious to read up on what started life as the sequel to Wolfenstein 3-D, feel free to check out our historical context article on the development of the original.
Targa, Spiritual Successor to Turrican, English Prototype Releases
Long lost to the annuls of history, the spiritual successor to the Turrican series, Targa, has had its North American unreleased prototype dug up and released for all to enjoy.
I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Turrican if you live in the United States because, well, it’s more of a microcomputer and Mega Drive title. Still, run-and-gun shooter with great graphics from 1990 found many homes in America with a Commodore 64 (C64) release, a Turbografx-16 release, a Genesis release, and of course the SNES (and oddly enough it had a Europe only release on the NES as well). Developed by Manfred Trenz, who’s games are of cult legend and include The Great Giana Sisters and the stellar C64 port of R-Type, Turrican led a double life on both the Genesis/Mega Drive and SNES with a series of titles that play to each system’s strengths. While 3 titles released on the Genesis/Mega Drive (Turrican, Turrican II: The Final Fight, and Mega Turrican), only two of the planned 3 titles released on SNES (Super Turrican and Super Turrican II, both of which are on the US Virtual Console as well) and the third being a Japan-only game known as Rendering Ranger R². Released in holiday 1995 in Japan, this spiritual successor programmed by Trenz himself featured many of the tricks the SNES had mastered in its time including, much to Trenz’s dismay, pre-rendered graphics like those seen in Donkey Kong Country. It didn’t sell well, had a super limited release (approx. 5,000 copies), and fetches about a couple thousand dollars anytime it appears online. With the late release, low sales, and cost of localization, this almost completely in English release never graced the light of day until now, and thanks to a tip from Retro Collect, notable NintendoAge member MrMark0673 has found and released the North American prototype for all to enjoy. It even works on a flash cart in a real SNES.
Hotline Miami Review
Getting that “retro feel” in modern games is a particular challenge that few actually nail. Sometimes the aesthetics are spot on, but at the expense of gameplay, which can feel sluggish or imprecise and the developer often sites authenticity for retro consoles or some other excuse. Many times the soundtrack is fantastic but it’s the only notable aspect of the game. By process of elimination there are those titles that get the gameplay down but at the expense of aesthetics and story a la Retro City Rampage. That’s why Hotline Miami seems such an achievement because it looks like a 16-bit top-down game, plays like a twin stick shooter from the 90s (Smash TV anyone?), and manages to pull off the unreliable narrator concept that usually falls flat. On top of that, it has a fantastic soundtrack that Dennis Wedin composed for the game and stands as the first thing you experience upon booting it up and the most notable part of the experience. All the elements are there and the result is an unforgetable title from start to finish.
Retro Shop Finds: Mystery Gamecube 10-pack Unboxing
Fred and Brian unbox a mystery Gamecube 10-pack that could have any game in it. Check out what they find. Fred also notes a handful of Game Gear games he picked up for coverage in the upcoming weeks.
Battlefield Hardline – First 45 Minutes of Campaign Quick Look
Update 03/20/2015: Fred decided to play the whole game so now it’s part of a playlist that will autoplay if you start with the original video. Basically, it’s all automatic if you watch this.
Original Post: So Battlefield Hardline is hitting store shelves in the US on Tuesday and I cannot believe that they have yet to show off more than a handful of minutes of the game’s campaign. With Dead Space‘s Visceral games creating the campaign, you would think EA would put more push behind it whether or not it’s any good. Oh well, thanks to EA Early Access we got the opportunity to experience, and get some colorful commentary on, the first 45 minutes in this Quick Look. Check it out. (Please Note: This video is unplayable in some countries due to licensing issues, sorry, out of our hands).
Gaming History 101 