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Friday 23 July 2010
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Secret of Monkey Island: a lateral thinker's paradise...
You may well remember the first time you were ever stuck on a game puzzle. For me, it was Scott Adams' vintage graphical adventure, The Hulk, and it involved killer bees; I don't recall much else. This was the age of text-based classics like Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and The Hobbit, in which the solution often relied on you entering exactly the right verb-noun phrase: 'Go North', 'Dig hole', 'Kiss monkey' – ah, the memories. For many veteran gamers, the words "I'm sorry, I can't do that here" still bring about paroxyms of frustration.
But as games evolved, puzzles evolved too. Soon they were environmental, requiring the discovery, combination and manipulation of seemingly random objects. From Ultimate's Sabreman series in the ZX Spectrum era to the likes of Uncharted and Assassin's Creed today, we're continually shifting blocks, turning dials, and figuring out how to utilise seemingly random inventory items.
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Friday 23 April 2010
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Marvel vs Capcom 3: he's big, he's green, he'll throw you off the screen...
Oh, the nostalgia. Those three words: Marvel versus Capcom; they take me right back to the Dreamcast days, when the 2D fighting game was going through its first revival. The original MvsC was the culmination of Capcom's search for a decent cross-franchise smackdown - a noble quest that began with the 1996 arcade classic, X-Men vs Street Fighter, and also took in the stupendous (almost unbelievable at the time), SNK vs Capcom series.
Marvel vs Capcom 3 will hit Xbox 360 and PS3 next spring, complete with an evolved Vs fighting system (hyper combos ahoy!), and three-on-three tag team action. With Capcom clearly up for a fight, which inter-license face-off would YOU love to see? You can pit Capcom against any TV, film or literature series with a suitable range of characters - and you've got to tell us why it would rock.
To get us started, I'd suggest the following...
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Friday 12 February 2010
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Videogames are like relationships. Some last forever, providing an endless perfect balance of joy, challenge and satisfaction. Others, we enjoy furtively, afraid of what our friends might think, knowing they're all wrong. And there are those we go into for a quick mess about, certain nothing serious will emerge and feeling happy about that.
But others, we look back on and think 'dear sweet Jesus, what was I thinking?' You know what I mean, right? Those games we once played obsessively, that we eulogised about to our peers, that we sacrificed sleep and nights out and love affairs to. And then maybe weeks or months or years later we look back and wonder what on earth we were doing.
Unfortunately, as a games reviewer, my mistakes are recorded for all to see in various magazines and newspapers. Many of them are now mercifully defunct so my lapses in taste are lost forever. However, I'm not sure I'll ever reconcile myself to the fact that I gave Pilot Wings 64 nine out of ten in Edge...
Anyway, what are the games you are most ashamed of championing in your shadowy past - what is your interactive entertainment equivalent of discovering a Travis CD in your collection?
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Friday 5 February 2010
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I don't care if you're a friend of Virgil's, if your name's not on the list you're not coming in.
So, EA's epic literary hack-n-slasher is out today, and already Dante's Inferno producer Jonathan Knight has his heart set on a conversion of Macbeth. Shakespeare's bloody tragedy certainly has plenty of videogame boxes ticked - an imposing Gothic castle, a murderous noble and his insane wife, a battle sequence, some witches... But can we expect an influx of similar translations? And if so, which classic works of poetry, prose or theatre should be next?
There are some obvious contenders. Instead of Macbeth, I would have gone for the even more gratuitously gory Titus Andronicus, a Roman revenge saga with more severed limbs than a serial killer's fridge freezer. Or maybe Othello in which the player must closely monitor the character's bubbling jealousy gauge. Hamlet, though, would be useless, a gigantic 'quick time event' in which, after an hour of ponderous CGI story, a message flashes on the screen demanding, "To be, press X. Not to be, press O".
So what do you think? Any favourites from your book shelves? Let's stick with pre-20th century works - the earlier the better. Personally, I'd go for The Decameron as a vast plague-ridden MMORPG; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as an Ico-style moral adventure; and Machiavelli's The Prince as a stealth shooter.
How about you?
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Friday 18 December 2009
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Apologies to those who don't get the week off between Christmas and New Year, but for me, this is a time for catching up on games that I've managed not to play for the rest of the year; you know, because of all the... work... I do... playing... games... Erm...
Anyways, with all the titles released every year, there are lots I don't get to look at 'professionally', especially those that Greg or Jack have grabbed to talk about on the blog.
But what about you? Do you have a selection of titles you're gearing up to tackle as you tuck into mince pies, cheese balls and After Eight mints? While the rest of the family is trying to decide between the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special or On Her Majesty's Secret Service will you be elsewhere with a glass of snowball playing your import copy of Demon's Souls?
And do you have any games on your Christmas list?
Come on, Christmas is a time of sharing, so let us know - just in case we get the same game and fancy a bit of Merry Christmas multiplayer...
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Friday 20 November 2009
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The Sims 3: an accurate representation of human behaviour? Yes. Yes it is.
Last week's semi-philosophical question prompted a wealth of fascinating responses, so here's another along similar lines.
An alien arrives on Earth and wants to know all about mankind - there's just one problem; the visitor will only accept the information through the medium of videogames, and will only play three. Which videogames do you choose?
Fundamentally, you have to decide what you want this extraterrestrial being to understand about humanity and then select the games that will illustrate this. You must provide only three options, and you need to briefly explain each of your choices.
Here are mine...
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Friday 13 November 2009
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A couple of weeks ago my post on the airport sequence in Modern Warfare 2 sparked an interesting debate about the nature of morality in videogames. A reader named Candleberry argued that as the consequences of your actions effect only pointless pixels on a TV screen, no decision you make has any moral complexity whatsoever. I disagree; it is possible to set someone a completely hypothetical moral problem, and - in order to appreciate and untangle it - they'll need to go through the same ontological and semantic thought processes as they would when facing the real thing. What we do in games doesn't matter, but they make us think anyway.
So with this in mind, what's the most morally dubious thing you've ever done in a videogame? It could be an intentional part of the game design, or it could be some horrible way you've chosen to exploit the mechanic for your own sick purposes.
There must have been times you've thought to yourself, 'Lord help me, I shouldn't be doing this'. Well, look, we're not going to tell anyone else. So please share. And to get us started, here are some of my favourites...
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Friday 9 October 2009
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Jet Set Radio: graffiti, skating and J-funk = cool?
Games are, let's be honest here, rarely cool - not in the widely accepted definition of the term. You won't garner social credibility playing Modern Warfare 2, even if its release is likely to be one of the entertainment events of the year. Although videogame culture is slowly but surely carving a niche for itself in the mainstream consciousness, there is still a hint of shame attached to a weekend-long Killzone 2 marathon.
But once in a while a title comes along that somehow punches the zeitgeist squarely in the face; that it's okay to talk about in public. There are games that pique the interest of lifestyle mags, Newsnight reviews, hot new musicians and other discerning cultural commentators. They're not better or worse for it, they're just 'cool'.
So here are, in my blinkered opinion, the ten coolest games of all time. I've stuck to retail releases; there have probably been countless viral and augmented reality experiences that I've missed – although those tend to be considered cool simply because they're created by the sorts of Hoxton-based creative media agencies that tell us what's cool in the first place. So that's technically cheating.
Anyway, this is a Friday Philosophy entry because, a) it's a bit throwaway (I mean, it doesn't really matter in the end, does it?), and b) I'd like your suggestions in the comments section. Go on, you're cooler than me - what have I missed?
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Friday 11 September 2009
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Video games, as a form of mass entertainment, have been with us for around 35 years. But as hard as this may be for some of us to comprehend, creative genius has been around much longer. Before micro chip technology, however, some of the greatest minds the planet has ever seen were forced to channel their brilliance into other pursuits like painting, literature, science and war.
So let's say you could bring back one historical figure to work as a games designer. Who would it be and why? Which great poet, profound philosopher, or ground-breaking mathematician could have been a match for Miyamoto or Will Wright or Peter Molyneux? And what they have produced?
Here are three suggestions to get you going...
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Friday 4 September 2009
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Most of us, at one time or another, have done something we've regretted. Really regretted. Regretted enough to think, 'sweet Jesus, if only I could go back in time and absolutely NOT do that'. But, then imagine that you're given the chance to correct a calamitous error in your life - it's a complex decision because every action, every mistake, has consequences, often both good and bad; any one who's read Ray Bradbury's classic short story, A Sound of Thunder, will know as much.
So, if you had the chance to remove a key videogame series from the history of electronic entertainment, what would it be? What would the world of gaming be better without?
Forget about totally obscure titles, that's no fun - what's the biggest brand we can afford to lose for the good of games in general? And what do you think the consequences of its removal would be?
Can we, for example, afford to obliterate the Turok series of dinosaur blasters? The loathsome Postal? The silly Dragon's Lair?
Who goes? You decide...
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Friday 14 August 2009
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Batman: Arkham Asylum. But where's the next good super hero game coming from?
This month sees the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, the hugely promising noir adventure that may well put the 'super' back into the super hero videogame. For years we've had to suffer mediocre movie tie-ins, with the Watchmen, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man 3 all proving as useless as the films they were based on. The only truly bright spots (that I can instantly recall at 21.30 on a Thursday evening) have been Neversoft's original Spider-Man title on PlayStation and Capcom's series of Marvel-themed fighting games. I have great hopes for DC Universe Online, but that's several months away.
So anyway, with Arkham Asylum on the way and super hero movies crowding the box office charts, which comic book heroes should have their own games, and who should make them? I've come up with a few to get you started; some of these may have made the odd cameo appearance in the distant past, but none have stood astride the current consoles.
Excelsior! And all that...
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Friday 25 July 2008
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The Mercury Prize nominations were announced earlier this week, prompting the usual heated discussions about the artist selections, the controversial omissions and the broader purpose of the entire enterprise itself.
According to the official website, the remit is merely to champion UK music, with no specific agenda concerning eligible styles and genres. However, there's clearly a bias toward the more sonorous, stately end of the mainstream indie spectrum (so, no to Wombats and Pigeon detectives, yes to Elbow and Radiohead), and a determination to represent the sitar-pluckers, drum troublers and folk warblers languishing under the problematic world/roots heading. Agenda or no agenda The Mercury Prize is clearly not The Brits. Or the MTV Awards.
So, my question is, if there were such a prize in the videogame sector - a ceremony that celebrates offbeat, original games, available through mainstream channels - what would you chose from the last 12 months?
You don't have to stick to UK games, and you can opt for XBLA, WiiWare, PSN and Flash titles as well as major retail releases. Just keep in mind, it's got to be a bit offbeat. And no sequels...
My suggestions...
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Friday 27 June 2008
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Okay, this is a slightly different one, but it might be fun. I was watching a travel programme this morning, wondering if anyone had ever been inspired to visit a specific location because it appeared in a videogame. And this got me thinking, how many real-life towns, cities or regions have actually featured in games?
Of course, most settings are fictional - either complete works of fantasy, or based loosely on geographic types. But a few give themselves a real-life environment. So which have been most memorable? And have any made you more interested in the location being featured?
The best thing about The Getaway was its extraordinary recreation of central London, while the Tokyo of Metropolis Street Racer took me back to me single trip to the city's marvelous Game Show. There must be others - so see if you can think of them.
And the fun doesn't stop there. I've created a Google Map so you can add your suggestions! Together we can create a valuable resource for videogame-obsessed travelers! Or just fritter away Friday afternoon on another hair-brain scheme while your company goes down the pan.
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A few weeks ago Sony were telling us that the PS3 had "overtaken" the 360 in Europe. Now Microsoft are claiming that in Europe the 360 is, "at least, if not more than, three quarters of a million ahead of PS3". Of course, neither Microsoft or Sony mention the Wii which has comprehensively outsold both. But seriously though, do sales figures actually matter to punters? I mean do you honestly care who is winning the console "war"? And if so why? But let's face it nothing can match the ferocity of the Speccy/C64 playground battles of the '80s. C64 all the way, obviously.
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Friday 20 June 2008
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From the troubadours of Occitania to today's glut of folk-plundering female solo artists, narrative songs are entrenched in the musical canon. They have inspired dozens of movies. The 1976 film Ode to Billy Joe was a dramatisation of Bobby Gentry's lugubrious song of the same name; Sean Penn's directorial debut, The Indian Runner, had Bruce Springsteen's Highway Patrolman at its heart; and the concept behind J-horror flick, Densen Uta, originated in the infamous Gloomy Sunday. There's also Sweet Home Alabama, Stand By Me and Blue Velvet, all of which made passing references, at least, to their namesakes.
Games based on songs? Well, there have been lots of games based around music and musicians, of course. But a game inspired by, and bearing close narrative resemblance to, a specific track... Hasn't happened yet as far as I know.
So which songs do you think would make great games, and why?
I've got a few dodgy ones to start us off... Continue reading...
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