Posts Tagged ‘3d’
Check This Out: Play NES Games Rendered in 3D
Overnight there was apparently a craze regarding 3DNes, a project capable of re-living your favorite NES games in a browser and now in 3D. This isn’t those 3D games that appear on the 3DS either, it’s a seemingly re-rendered version of the game to support depth (or volume). Originally this is what I imagined voxels (volumetric pixels) to look like and it’s somewhat like the aesthetic of 3D Dot Game Heroes but in your favorite NES games. In order to play you need to be on the 64-bit version of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, have the NES rom you want to play uploaded to a linked location online (they recommend cloud storage), and you can only play online. A downloadable version will be available soon.
It’s super cool to see these classics with new life in 3DNes and while I messed around with it a little, I have to admit I would probably prefer a downloadable version. You are welcome to head on over to the developer, Geod Studio’s site and play around with it yourself or merely watch the video at the top of the page. Now you’re playing with 3D power.
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.
Everything is Better in 3D!!! Right?!?
So how many have you own one of the remastered 3D games on your 3DS, whether its an NES title or Mega Drive game? Me neither, I have none. I almost brought Streets of Rage in 3D just for the hell of it but decided I just was not going to be “one of those guys,” you know the ones that download every version of a game you love (Fred). Well looks like I might give into temptation this September as Nintendo is bringing three more Mega Drive classics in remastered 3D to the 3DS. Those games are:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Streets of Rage 2
- Gunstar Heroes
Sonic 2 is practically available anywhere, I just won’t be buying that game again (unless it comes to my fridge, maybe). Streets of Rage 2 is one of my favourite games of all time so I’m probably sold there but the one that I’m really keen on is Gunstar Heroes. I really don’t give a crap about the 3D but the thought of having a classic game like that on a portable sounds very tempting. The price is believed to be about £4.49 (approx $6 US) for each game which is fair. So there you go, more Sega goodness coming to the portable in 3D! Will you be buying into this? Will you be “that person”? Let’s hope this trend continues and we continue to see more classic games coming to the eShop on 3DS, with or without 3D. Lets also hope someone finally ports Doom to my damn microwave keypad already.
Review: Racing Aces (Sega CD)
Console: Sega-CD/Mega-CD
Released: 1994
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Instruction Manual: Not Necessary – Link
Difficulty: Hard
Played it as a child? Yes
Value: $4.45 (used), $9.35 (new) (pricecharting.com)
Other Releases: No
Digital Release? No
Racing Aces is another in a long line of games that came out before their time. It’s not that the concept is particularly unique – a bunch of different planes involved in a race with occasional weapon combat – but rather that it’s a fully polygonal game trying to operate on a system that just doesn’t have the power. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Sega CD, but I acknowledge that it did nothing more than add some graphical maps and sound channels to the Sega Genesis. This isn’t very conducive to a fully rendered 3D environment for racing. As a result it looks and acts much like the Genesis ports of games like Virtua Racing or Hard Drivin’, with large bare environments that are boring to look at and staggered, slow vehicles that don’t make for an exciting battle. Racing Aces moves sluggishly, the enemies have an unfair advantage, bare bones world, and is a racing game – all negative things in my book – so why do I like it so much?
The game starts off with a training arena that gets you used to using the easiest of the four classes of airplanes, the basic bi-plane. It allows you to learn navigation, pointing the plane where you want it, and how to navigate the air before throwing competition your way. It’s during this tutorial level that I learned I had a long way to go and for some reason remained a blocked part of my fond memory of this game. Racing Aces controls like a computer that has too many processes (which may very well be what’s happening) because all of your inputs have drastic changes to the movement of your plane and come a few seconds after you press them, so it’s difficult to re-adjust yourself after an overshoot. You eventually get the hang of it but that really means you get used to tapping directions to slowly adjust your direction to just the right spot. Well until you hit a turn, that is, when everything gets thrown drastically off course and you’re again fighting to fly in a straight line. Since I’ve never flown a plane before, I guess it’s possible that this is a normal experience for pilots but for those of us just trying to play a game it was a bit specific. This speaks nothing for the other planes in each class, there are usually 2-4 different ones, which will force you to readjust to even more picky controls. It’s all worth it once you grind through the hour or so of practice to get your skills up because then you feel like this laughably sluggish race moving at stuttering speeds is actually intense. By the end of it onlookers couldn’t help but crack up as I inched my way toward a finish line.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape (Ubisoft)
Four years after the release of the original Rayman and plenty of celebrated success, Ubisoft released a sequel that changed the concept of the series entirely. Unlike the original cartoon-like platformer that was tough as nails, we were greeted with a dark, 3D rendered platformer. While the jump to 3D was hit or miss for various gaming staples, Rayman found a welcome home with Rayman 2: Great Escape, touted by many (myself included) as one of the best 3D platformers ever developed.
If I mention a cutesy 3D platformer that stars evil robots and pirates it would be hard to tell if I was talking about a Ratchet & Clank, Rayman, or even Conker because the idea is so recycled. While the plot may remain the same, that’s where the comparisons end. Instead of the aggressive worlds that had one goal – to kill you – of the original, we are now given fully rendered open environments that crave exploration. For the most part you are tasked with going from the beginning of any level to the end, but along the way you also collect the glowing lums from the original. For the lums that are on your path and along the way this is no big deal and it will surely get you to end of the game, but if you want to unlock everything you will have to find all 1,000 lums. That is where the game goes from a simple level-to-level game and becomes a test of platforming abilities and risky gameplay. It felt a lot like the convention we saw in Super Mario Galaxy, where the game can literally be as hard or as easy as you like, but back in 1999 this was a new concept. Rayman 2 is also much easier as a whole, which allows you to appreciate the game and environment instead of threatening to destroy your controller with every new turn. It’s just a fun ride with enough levels to secure a 6-10 hour campaign.
Gaming History 101 