#79 Lords of Midnight

Posted: 30th July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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621th played so far

Genre: Strategy/Adventure
Platform: ZX Spectrum
Year of Release: 1984
Developer: Mike Singleton
Publisher: Beyond Software

I sort of remember Lords of Midnight. I was a lot younger, but cousins had it on an old computer system and we (sort of) used to try it. I’m not sure I ever understood quite what it was about, but they probably got into it. Most important was that it looked and felt different, a game where you went out on an adventure and no platforming was required. Instead you got these blocky knights standing in this world.

Our Thoughts

Before starting Lords of Midnight, it felt like a good idea to read up on strategies and how things worked. An old strategy game usually doesn’t communicate its best routes that well and I really didn’t want to get lost with this game. While this paid off – I managed to play for quite a while – it meant that I had a bunch of false starts as I figured out the control and direction to go in. Not too frustrating, but at times confusing.

Often, when a game is listed here with two genres, it’s either because it combines both or, in the case of action/adventures in particular, because they’re their own sub genre. Here, however, you are playing two games that overlap and mix, but where you only need to play one to win – although using both can help a lot.

The adventure game is somewhat Lord of the Rings like – sneak into a mountain fort to destroy an artifact. It’s a simple light RPG thing that’s not as deep as proper entries in the genre, but is quite difficult with the armies and monsters roaming the map and the character who needs to do so generally not being as strong.

The strategy game isn’t complex either – you recruit armies and generals who need them, strengthen them and go around until you are strong enough to assault the main base and take out the big bad.

The big epic mode is of course to do both, as a two pronged attack that, again, sounds a bit like the Lord of the Rings plot.

You have a group of protagonists who help you through – four starting off, although you recruit more generals. The first, Morkin, is the adventurer who is the protagonist of the adventure strand. His father, Luxor, is the great general who leads the army to success. Two others can move around as well, with Rothron being good at recruiting further armies. It feels like there is a nice bit of differentiation between them that adds character to it.

A last element that stands out are the graphics. What’s quite amazing for the time is that it doesn’t show a set image, based on your immediate surroundings, but that it shows elements several squares away (depending on what would be blocking it). They’re not full 3D effects, but add enough depth to create more of a sense of place and especially scale.

Final Thoughts

One of the interesting features of the game is that it feels like it was one of the first that gave you options. There are two ways of winning the game, and while they support each other, if you focus on one you can manage. It makes for an interesting path, one that is still interesting today and that I could see work with a cleaned up interface.

#907 Demon’s Souls

Posted: 26th July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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620th played so far

Genre: Role-Playing
Platform: Playstation 3
Year of Release: 2009
Developer: FromSoftware
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment/Atlus Software/Namco Bandai

The Dark Souls series has its own particular reputation for difficulty and requiring learning by repetition. I’ll be honest, while I think I would enjoy parts of it, it also sounds like something I would get too frustrated with to keep going.

Demon’s Souls is the serie’s predecessor, not a sequel (not that I’m quite sure why that is, probably story reasons) but setting a lot of the wheels in motion. And this is where I get to see how that works out for me for real.

Our Thoughts

Having heard about all the difficulty in this game’s sequels, I was ready for something tough but fair here, and I wasn’t disappointed. I mean, it was frustrating, because I clearly didn’t have the skill to make it that far, but the challenge felt so good. I mean, I would have loved a checkpoint in a level here or there. I would have loved some of the mechanisms that made the level a bit easier (in some of the sequels, killing an enemy a certain number of times removed them). It would have been really useful if there was some signposting that an optional difficult enemy was in this direction, rather than the main level. And yeah, that all happened before I could unlock the game’s full feature set, not yet being able to being the first boss.

From the bits I know, the Dark Souls series might have made everything a bit more fair.

But the game pulled me in. Because it was difficult, but fair, it kept me wanting to try, constantly pushing further to get through – although a few times I got far, died, lost all my souls, and couldn’t get back in time. Those were the moments where I stopped playing for a while, too frustrated to go on. I did jump back in, but it might be a bit too much for me.

I wish I had made it to the final boss, but right now I don’t have the patience to do that, and there are other games still waiting for me. I believe the first sequel is still coming up and I’m hoping to see where that leads for this game. It might work better for me. If not, I’ll just have to invest more time later.

#61 Lode Runner

Posted: 22nd July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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619th played so far

Genre: Platform
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1983
Developer: Doug Smith
Publisher: Broderbund/Ariolasoft

I’m not going to claim any great affinity with Lode Runner, but I remember playing a version of this at some point and becoming obsessed for a bit with its large number of levels and built-in level designer. It, of course, came with a large number of home built levels, similar to just about any version fo Stunts you’ll find.

I’m not sure if that is a good endorsement of the game itself, but it made such a difference in making a game interesting.

Our Thoughts

I played one of the original versions of Lode Runner to cover this blog. I think it has a definite influence on my opinion now, as it looks more primitive than I remember and harder to get into. I certainly missed some control cues, including how to deal with digging in the floor.

The game itself is reasonably simple. Collect all the treasures and make your escape while avoiding the enemies that are moving around the (single screen) level. The controls for it are okay, but not great. There’s no jumping and few options to avoid enemies other than running away. Most interesting was how you could dig through the level, trapping enemies in a single gap hole, or sticking them in larger gaps. They can trap you as well, though, which would be fatal. They are actually annoying to control, but it’s a decent idea.

But sure, the size of the game is what’s impressive. Not because there is huge variation, but because of the giant number of levels included by default and the many more you can make. As one of the first games to have a level editor, this makes a statement on its own.

Final Thoughts

Lode Runner is a fine platformer for its time – predating the shift that really made them interesting for me, but on the level of how Donkey Kong is interesting.ย  And where the latter has fewer levels, they are more refined. But the sheer amount of content that is in the game and offers is great, and that is enough to keep you playing – you want to see whether you can still beat that next level, even if the current one stumps you.

#235 Cannon Fodder

Posted: 18th July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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618th played so far

Genre: Action/Strategy
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1993
Developer: Sensible Software
Publisher: Virgin Interactive

Partially because of this blog, I started reading up more on older games, to learn about their background and find out more about them.

Cannon Fodder is one of the games that I feel are often discussed in them. There’s some impact to your actions in them that make the games more meaningful than they otherwise would be. I’m not sure if it works that way for me, but we’ll have to see.

Our Thoughts

Cannon Fodder sees you take out a squad of soldiers to fufill a couple of tactical objectives – kill everyone, blow up several buildings, that sort of stuff. The group you take out grows a bit in the first few levels, so there’s a small squad that follows your cursor. It’s a decent game, taking you through pretty varied levels. Your characters level up as they survive missions, making them more valuable.

But not that much. As you are more succesful, more soldiers join your army. They make for an excellent replacement if one of your guys gets taken out and dies – permadeath in that sense is a thing. It means that you won’t bond too much with each character, because they are expendable – real cannon fodder.

And with that, they show you tombstones for each of your dead recruits. More recruits still join you, but it feels dark. You have a decent strategy game, but what it really talks about is how these soldiers are so easily replaced.

It’s a subtle statement, one the game just as much implies as it says. These characters are expendable, but it doesn’t let you forget about them either.

Final Thoughts

Cannon Fodder is a fine strategy game, but to be honest, it would have been forgettable if that was all it was. However, the things it implies regarding cannon fodder is where it sets itself apart for me.

#328 Wipeout 2097

Posted: 14th July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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617th played so far

Genre: Racing
Platform: Playstation 1
Year of Release: 1996
Developer: Psygnosis
Publisher: Psygnosis

We have played several Wipeout games – including the first – and the main thing I remember is that the first in the series didn’t agree with me… and that later ones were okay, but still difficult.

The second – which doesn’t feature the game show aspects that I originally, somehow, associated with this series and this specific installment – would probably be better and more polished, but we will see…

Our Thoughts

So I did a lot better playing this game than I did the first one. Not that, of course, I was winning everything, but I could reliably keep up with more racers and managed a few top three wins quite easily. I’m not sure if that was even quite as intentional, the controls just felt more reliable and responsive. It was a more enjoyable experience, although the Wipeout series was always fun anyway.

What it’s aided by is that the tracks are easier to follow. The game takes a step up in visuals and it helps to identify what’s going on and when to react. There are a bunch of small fixes here that are simply that helpful.

Final Thoughts

I admit I still struggled to really get far into this game, but there is a clear progression and I did feel I was getting more out of the game this time. It’s a fun racing game and drives you much more than others would.

#390 Thief: The Dark Project

Posted: 10th July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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616th played so far

Genre: Stealth
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 1998
Developer: Looking Glass Studios
Publisher: Eidos Interactive

After System Shock 2, Thief: The Dark Project is another part of the Looking Glass trifecta of important games – the Ultima Underworld series will follow later. All three evolved what 3D games could do, each in their own way, and with Thief we look at improving stealth gameplay.

Our Thoughts

It’s probably not a surprise that this game has you infiltrating mansions, breaking out of prisons and so on. Mostly – so far – with a motivation of fun and profit, which works as a good enough wrap around plot without getting too involved.

It’s all, then, about these large environments and AI patterns of everyone who inhabits these areas. A lot of it becomes a bit of a puzzle – how do I get past this guard without alerting the others, where are the dark areas or loud grates and how does this work out? Even so, it offers multiple options past, more giving you a toolbox to get past these challenges in these different circumstances.

One of the goals, then, is often a deathless run as well – don’t kill any guards or servants, just sneak past or knock them out. It’s a nice added bonus, and even playing at a difficulty where I didn’t see the need to stick to that, I tried as much as I could – just failed at it from time to time.

To be honest, for the first playthrough, I just got lost. Obviously I had to be careful walking around the area, but I was spending quite a bit of time just exploring and seeing what’s about. There isn’t quite as much story telling in the areas as System Shock – in part because they’re independent levels – but I could see that appearing later.

Final Thoughts

I’m not sure the game grabbed me as much as System Shock, but I felt like repeating the level several times to get further – I got killed a few times because I didn’t quite get it right. It’s what showed off the many opportunities best though, with strong stealth showings becoming easier, but having some big battles in between that got worse quite quickly – and killed me soon enough. You can keep trying, and it seems like a lot will feel different every time.

#827 De Blob

Posted: 6th July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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615th played so far

Genre: Puzzle/Platform
Platform: Wii
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Blue Tongue Entertainment
Publisher: THQ

I’ve been keeping an eye on De Blob since, I believe, just before the start of this blog, as an interesting game that seemed so different from everything else.

Not to mention that the original version of the game was based on the area around the railway station in Utrecht, a place I’d been traveling to and through over the years for various reasons (mostly education related) and I was wondering whether I could see any of that in the final game.

Our Thoughts

The basic premise of the game is simple – just spray as much of the area with paint. You get some choices in colour – the primary and secondary colours, really – and there is a lot of just colouring buildings going on that just involves bouncing around the level.

If that’s all there is to it, the game would have gotten boring – even with black paint and water (washing off the paint) it would have been straight forward. It’s the missions that guide you through the world and give the game purpose. Not all of them are required, which means that the more annoying ones (with jumping puzzles…) didn’t feel too punishing.

Aside from the fairly unique mechanics, what really sets the game apart in my mind is its setting. The basics of it – a police state that says everything has to be colourless – isn’t that special, and we always tend to associate dictatorships like that with greys and browns. However, it sets it in this weird and happy world, one that you really make happy and beautiful. All the city’s inhabitants are simple blob creatures – with a helmet on if they’re a police officer, that sort of stuff. You colour them as well as you colour their buildings. Then there are the weird paint receptacles – cute spiders with paint on their back that you stomp to increase your paint reserves. They’re all cute and create a nice atmosphere that feel like it encourages bouncing around.

Final Thoughts

The concept for this game is quite interesting, something fairly unique, especially when placed in these action/adventure style 3D levels. There’s a lot to do and find and it takes a long time to run out of these. I really enjoyed the game and its challenge.

#836 Defense Grid: The Awakening

Posted: 2nd July 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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614th played so far

Genre: Strategy
Platform: PC/Xbox 360
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Hidden Path Entertainment
Publisher: Hidden Path Entertainment/Microsoft Studios

Although there are plenty of tower defense games out there these days, we don’t see many on the list. We’ve had Pixeljunk Monsters and one of the first, Desktop Tower Defense, but they feel rare on this list.

Defense Grid: The Awakening looks like a high production value interpretation of the genre. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good game, but it is a good start.

Our Thoughts

The basic gameplay of this game isn’t necessarily that different. There isn’t much you can change about placing towers on a grid and upgrading them isn’t a new thing either. One thing it feels we haven’t seen as much is the focus on pathing your enemies. Some of it was in other games, but several levels make it the focus, forcing the enemies to take the longest path in and out. You’ll still have flying enemies you can’t control, but that really becomes part of the challenge.

The other change is that this isn’t just about preventing enemies from reaching your base, but instead about preventing them taking power cores from a station partway through the level – sometimes at the start or end, but often partway through. There aren’t necessarily masses of strategy in there, but it makes a few changes to who you want to kill first and strategizing for that – especially when some start carrying off several cores.

The other pleasure in playing the game are the visuals. Set in this sci fi part destroyed world, it looks broken and real. It feels less constructed and more planned, although not too much… Still, the high production values are what really make the game stand out compared to its simpler counterparts. This is further emphasized by its story – having a slightly snarky AI be the reason you’re doing all of this helps immensely in building your goal.

Final Thoughts

I think this is the best tower defense game I’ve played for this blog. Pixeljump Monsters, with its different ‘interface’, is one of the few competitors in my mind, but I loved playing this one. I need to get back to it soon, it deserves it.

#826 N+

Posted: 28th June 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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613th played so far

Genre: Platform
Platform: Xbox 360/PSP/DS
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Metanet Software/Slick Entertainment/Silverbirch Studios
Publisher: Metanet Software/Atari Inc

Did you know that N+ is utterly ungoogleable? I don’t think I need to explain why, but it’s frustrating when I want to write these small bits.

N+ is a platformer, stylized, with very few unnecessary elements, based on a Flash game just called ‘N’.

Our Thoughts

N+ is not a gorgeous game. As stylized as the graphics are, they are not that pretty, just functional. It gives you a reason to focus purely on the platforming. On theย  whole, that platforming feels as focused.

The game starts of challenging and keeps being difficult, with short levels still taking some time to complete, especially if you want to collect the optional coins.

I quite enjoyed the time I spent on it, but the game was difficult enough that after short burst I lost the focus I needed to keep going.

Final Thoughts

Decent and very straight forward platformer… but man, it’s tough.

#474 Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Posted: 24th June 2017 by Jeroen in Games
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612th played so far

Genre: First-Person Shooter
Platform: PC/Xbox/Playstation 2
Year of Release: 2001
Developer: Gray Matter Interactive
Publisher: Activision

Wolfenstein 3D is certainly a notable game. It was amazing to see 3D done at the time, as a first person shooter. Horribly dated now, of course, but the technology was amazing at the time. On the other hand, setting it amongst nazis reviving Hitler, the subject matter felt edgy at the time, but now feels unnecessary.

Returning to that castle, then, we go back to the nazi theme (which I’m not convinced of), but in a modernised setting that looks more like what we’ve grown used to. The question is, does that make it better for us?

Our Thoughts

I’ll be honest, as much as it is meant to be the point of the setting, the nazi imagery of this game feels mostly unnecessary and not something needed here. The game spends a lot of time trying to set this up as necessary – turning them into monsters – but it never quite worked.

Even so, while set in a castle, these days a good way to create a large integrated setting, this is no System Shock 2 and it instead creates several levels (with associated secrets) and an outdated feeling score at the end of each level. It’s a weird throwback.

The castle is designed to be somewhat realistic – perhaps except for some lengthy staircases that seem to have heavy stuff dragged up and down them for the levels to work. It feels like work has gone into it.

Final Thoughts

This game is a decent enough shooter, but feels outdated in places and I feel the setting doesn’t do it any favours. It never connected with me and became middle of the road because of that.

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