I entered the world of Super Mario 64 late, but it was still waiting there for me when I got around to it--pristine, colorful, and enchanting. Enchanting in that this game made you feel like you were entering the world of childhood again. I mentioned that with Banjo-Kazooie too. Perhaps platformers uniquely have this ability to make us feel like kids again in their bright fantasy worlds, controlling characters to do acrobatic moves that we dreamed about doing as kids when we were climbing trees or jumping off walls. There is a lot of wish-fulfillment in platformers--the way they create the worlds that we fantasized about. At least for me. Perhaps shooters are wish-fulfillment for others, I don't know. But what I dreamed about as a kid was faraway worlds and fantastical creatures.
Super Mario 64 is to me the quintessential platformer just like Ocarina of Time is the quintessential adventure game. There are debatably greater ones, but this set the standard for 3D platforming games, just like the original Super Mario Bros. set the standard in its generation and still remains among the greatest videogames of all time.
Just as the gunplay in a shooter is the most important aspect of the game (and still one reason why I can't place BioShock on as high of a pedastal as others have), the most important aspect of platformers for me are the levels. Just how good are they? Banjo-Kazooie and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy are both great to me because they create large overworlds that absorb you into the game. Mario takes a different route here. While its levels are not as big as those in Banjo, their small size allows for there to be a lot of them, and there is a wide variety in types here. It's a bit hard to describe what makes me like or dislike a level. Perhaps some of it has to do with the gameplay itself and how you can react to that level. Mario, of course, had some of the finest gameplay of all time. This was the first real game in full 3D that I remember. Nintendo must've flipped some wigs when it released this and players could long-jump Mario across bottomless caverns, have him swim to the bottom of a shimmering lake, and backflip up an ice cliff. This I truly believe to be the most influential console game of its generation, surpassing Final Fantasy VII and Zelda and all of the rest, purely becuase of its 3D gameplay and the attention that went into creating the world. These were some mindblowing graphics when it came out, but it is the simplicity of the gameplay in this new 3D world that really was the determining factor in making it great. It felt so incredibly natural and fluid to control Mario, and I can say having played it recently, the gameplay still holds up better than any other game of its generation. You could make a strong case for this being the best game on the system.
I had a lot of fun playing this for the first time when Daniel stayed at my house for a week (part of it detailed in Daniel's first story here). Again, this is one I plan to beat one day, and one of the many games that I stopped once I was on the final boss. Oh, my lack of dedication back then....
--Edward
Showing posts with label Video Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video Games. Show all posts
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Edward's Videogame Obsession #6: Half-Life
This was the first PC game I ever really got into. It fortunately came out during a period where expensive graphics cards weren't mandatory to play computer games. Somehow, my PC at the time was able to run this. This and The Ocarina of Time were the two greatest single-player experiences I've ever had. My first runthrough of this game was like a dream, because whenever I remember any specific moments from it, it brings back such a strong feeling of nostalgia and joy and also a bittersweetness that I probably won't ever have an experience like this again.
In terms of first-person shooters, this was one of the most revolutionary of all time, along with games like Doom, Goldeneye, and the first Halo. It introduced a cinematic quality to gaming that I see used in games like Far Cry, Uncharted, Killzone, and many, many others. This was one of the earliest games that really achieved this effect, and if others had attempted it before, none perfected it before the first Half-Life. This quality really drew me into the game in a way I had never been before. Something about Gordon Freeman's quest from the bowels of a top-secret science facility located far beneath the desert in the American Southwest was so intense, so cool, and so mindblowing. I loved the gradual progression from area to area in the facility, since as has often been noted before, there were no clear breaks between levels (again, this game strove for a kind of realism and immersion that was not seen earlier than this). Some of the areas will stay with me forever: the train tracks level, the giant tentacle level, the office level. Fuck, pretty much all of them, honestly. My favorite was, of course, Surface Tension (see my #7 favorite videogame moment ever here). I felt exhilaration along with Gordon Freeman at seeing the sun finally, and the vast expanses of desert, dam, and cliff spread out before me. Much has been made of the fact that Gordon Freeman remains forever silent (like Link in my other favorite game), allowing the player to insert themselves behind the mask of his special protection suit and see the world vicariously through his eyes. I'm not sure of the truth of this, but I know the way the game is created--its vast, lived-in environments; the sense that you are barely eeking your way through increasingly deadly situations in a massive world, instead of destroying swathes of armies and feeling like you are Superman in a typical shooter; the fact that the game doesn't dumb down to its audience like previous shooters had--sure made me feel like I lived insisde of this game, moreso than any game I had ever played before.
I had so much fun with this. I never wanted it to end, and was sad when it had to. The one flaw with the game is the final levels spent in the alien world, but no game is perfect. This also had a very influential multiplayer mode with the later expansions and mods Team Fortress Classic and the exceedingly popular Counter-Strike (neither of which I have much experience with, because of my lack of high-speed Internet growing up). What I think Half-Life brought to the table was an incredibly involving and exciting single-player mode, and I can see its influence in so many modern games. Even a movie like Children of Men I felt was very influenced by the visuals of Half-Life's phenomenal sequel.
--Edward
In terms of first-person shooters, this was one of the most revolutionary of all time, along with games like Doom, Goldeneye, and the first Halo. It introduced a cinematic quality to gaming that I see used in games like Far Cry, Uncharted, Killzone, and many, many others. This was one of the earliest games that really achieved this effect, and if others had attempted it before, none perfected it before the first Half-Life. This quality really drew me into the game in a way I had never been before. Something about Gordon Freeman's quest from the bowels of a top-secret science facility located far beneath the desert in the American Southwest was so intense, so cool, and so mindblowing. I loved the gradual progression from area to area in the facility, since as has often been noted before, there were no clear breaks between levels (again, this game strove for a kind of realism and immersion that was not seen earlier than this). Some of the areas will stay with me forever: the train tracks level, the giant tentacle level, the office level. Fuck, pretty much all of them, honestly. My favorite was, of course, Surface Tension (see my #7 favorite videogame moment ever here). I felt exhilaration along with Gordon Freeman at seeing the sun finally, and the vast expanses of desert, dam, and cliff spread out before me. Much has been made of the fact that Gordon Freeman remains forever silent (like Link in my other favorite game), allowing the player to insert themselves behind the mask of his special protection suit and see the world vicariously through his eyes. I'm not sure of the truth of this, but I know the way the game is created--its vast, lived-in environments; the sense that you are barely eeking your way through increasingly deadly situations in a massive world, instead of destroying swathes of armies and feeling like you are Superman in a typical shooter; the fact that the game doesn't dumb down to its audience like previous shooters had--sure made me feel like I lived insisde of this game, moreso than any game I had ever played before.
I had so much fun with this. I never wanted it to end, and was sad when it had to. The one flaw with the game is the final levels spent in the alien world, but no game is perfect. This also had a very influential multiplayer mode with the later expansions and mods Team Fortress Classic and the exceedingly popular Counter-Strike (neither of which I have much experience with, because of my lack of high-speed Internet growing up). What I think Half-Life brought to the table was an incredibly involving and exciting single-player mode, and I can see its influence in so many modern games. Even a movie like Children of Men I felt was very influenced by the visuals of Half-Life's phenomenal sequel.
--Edward
Edward's Videogame Obsession #5: Perfect Dark
Probably at about this point, we thought nothing could match our experience with Ocarina of Time, but along came a little shooter called Perfect Dark. This is one of the earliest games that I remember anticipating before it was actually released. We were looking up previews of it online, and what really blew our minds was the sheer amount of weapons in this game. Goldeneye already had a fair share of guns, from AK-47 variants to the fabled Golden Gun, but its unofficial sequel had something like 50 weapons to choose from. These really did live up to the hype. When I make my top videogame weapons of all time list, let me tell you that a shit-ton will be from this game. The most famous of these are the laptop gun and the Farsight. The laptop gun has probably already been described by Daniel somewhere in this blog, considering this gun really sums up his videogame philosophy for some reason, but basically it's a machine gun (that doubles as a laptop!) that you can set up as an automatic turret wherever you want to blast foes while you go about your daily business. The Farsight is an alien weapon that is the ultimate sniper rifle, since it allows you to see and shoot opponents through walls.
I would say out of all Nintendo 64 games, this was the most played by Daniel and me. We played this one from when we bought it until I got a PS2, which was probalby at least two years. This took Jim's love of bots to its farthest possible extent. The customization in the multiplayer was absolutely amazing. You could play with a wide range of bots, ranked by skill level or by the style of play that they exhibited. You could pick whatever weapons you wanted to use. You could pick the style of play. You could pick from a variety of great, great, great levels, including some Goldeneye sequels. You could even pick the music, which was also great. We had our own customized characters in multiplayer mode. Mine was the tall, golden, blonde Mr. Blonde, outfitted in a trenchcoat and standing at least seven feet tall by my estimates. Who did Daniel play as? I'm not sure. Perhaps he can answer.
Perfect Dark had everything we could ever ask for in multiplayer, and to this day it stands as my favorite multiplayer experience of all time. While shooters since this have perfected the gameplay aspect (especially considering shooters weren't exactly great to play on an N64 controller), no one has ever topped the customization. I will admit, the Halo and Call of Duty series have done a great job with this, but again...the lack of bots can't be stressed enough. TimeSplitters came the closest (again, this was basically an unofficial sequel of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, since it was made by a lot of the same crew), especially after TimeSplitters: Future Perfect started showing the individual scores for each player on a team instead of just grouping the team score.
Like Goldeneye, this game had a fun although ultimately unmemorable story mode. Console games had clearly not learned the lessons of Half-Life yet, but that doesn't mean I don't love the single-player campaign too. One of my ultimate goals is to eventually beat this game, since both Greg and I were stuck on the final boss. It probably wasn't that hard, but it was the fact that you had to go through the entire level each time you died on the boss that led us to give up on it (similar to me and Super Mario 64). I'd also like to beat all of the challenges (another great, great aspect of the game) with Daniel someday.
--Edward
I would say out of all Nintendo 64 games, this was the most played by Daniel and me. We played this one from when we bought it until I got a PS2, which was probalby at least two years. This took Jim's love of bots to its farthest possible extent. The customization in the multiplayer was absolutely amazing. You could play with a wide range of bots, ranked by skill level or by the style of play that they exhibited. You could pick whatever weapons you wanted to use. You could pick the style of play. You could pick from a variety of great, great, great levels, including some Goldeneye sequels. You could even pick the music, which was also great. We had our own customized characters in multiplayer mode. Mine was the tall, golden, blonde Mr. Blonde, outfitted in a trenchcoat and standing at least seven feet tall by my estimates. Who did Daniel play as? I'm not sure. Perhaps he can answer.
Perfect Dark had everything we could ever ask for in multiplayer, and to this day it stands as my favorite multiplayer experience of all time. While shooters since this have perfected the gameplay aspect (especially considering shooters weren't exactly great to play on an N64 controller), no one has ever topped the customization. I will admit, the Halo and Call of Duty series have done a great job with this, but again...the lack of bots can't be stressed enough. TimeSplitters came the closest (again, this was basically an unofficial sequel of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, since it was made by a lot of the same crew), especially after TimeSplitters: Future Perfect started showing the individual scores for each player on a team instead of just grouping the team score.
Like Goldeneye, this game had a fun although ultimately unmemorable story mode. Console games had clearly not learned the lessons of Half-Life yet, but that doesn't mean I don't love the single-player campaign too. One of my ultimate goals is to eventually beat this game, since both Greg and I were stuck on the final boss. It probably wasn't that hard, but it was the fact that you had to go through the entire level each time you died on the boss that led us to give up on it (similar to me and Super Mario 64). I'd also like to beat all of the challenges (another great, great aspect of the game) with Daniel someday.
--Edward
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Edward's Videogame Obsession #4: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Yup, the best game of '98 was The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, much-heralded as the greatest game of all time. Looking back, Half-Life actually gives it a run for its money as the best game of '98, but since I did not play that until several years later, Ocarina took the cake.
Wow, what a game. This was the must-have title of the year for every boy, girl, or simpleton who still played videogames. I'm not sure how we heard about videogame hype back then, since as far as I know, we didn't go to Web sites like IGN or Gamespot or whatever (these might not have even existed, since the Internet for personal use was still in its infancy), but the streets were buzzing. There is the now-legendary tale of how I was supposed to keep the game a secret from Daniel, since he was getting it for Christmas and I got it several weeks/months earlier, but I will admit now that I had a large part in this. I'm not sure what exactly his parents said, but I know that I wanted to keep it a secret too, since I wanted to get as far ahead as possible before he got it, because I was a motherfucking bastard and still am. Perhaps this was because Daniel might have beaten Banjo-Kazooie first (we beat it around the same time from my memory). It's interesting how we (only me in reality) were more competitive with single-player story modes, but that we didn't really play competitive multiplayer that often, because let's face it: one-on-one gets either depressing (if you lose too much) or awkward real fast (just ask Daniel and Josh Nesbit).
Everyone in middle school at various points in time relatively close to each other all had the same experience. We opened up the box, took out the golden cartridge, and started up our soon to be all-engrossing alternate reality as young, pointy-earred Link. We all questioned what the big deal was as we climbed down the ladder out of our quaint home in the forest, learned how to wield a sword and a slingshot, and got through the first dungeon inside of a large, benevolent, and perhaps somewhat intoxicated tree. This all changed when you took your first steps into the fields of Hyrule, glimpsing the smoky peak of a volcano far in the distance, and to the left of it, the glittering spires of Hyrule Castle. While the generation before us had the collective experience of the original Super Mario Bros., we had Ocarina of Time. There are many games that define my childhood, and I'll talk about a lot of them in this series, but none meant more to me and so many others than this perfectly packaged and presented beauty of a game.
The music was great (listening to this recently on YouTube, I realized that this easily has one of the greatest videogame soundtracks of all time--check out any of the adult Link temples for some amazing music), the graphics were stunning, the gameplay was fun. But what really stuck out for me was the sheer scope of the game for that time. It just seemed so big and immersive, and for that reason, so many of us lived an alternate life inside of its bounds. The levels were quite long and difficult for that age, so it was easy to get lost inside its complexities (which probably seem minimal compared to games now). And iconic. God were those levels ever iconic.
None moreso than the infamous Water Temple, where Daniel places me as being by the time he got the game. I'm sure I was there for another few months. Even with the help of a strategy guide, that temple was a nightmare. It's funny that a temple could prove so hard that even strategy guides couldn't figure it out. It was beautiful, just like all the other temples, so all of us begrudged it with gentle good humor, but we never held it against the game. This was the last game that I ever used a strategy guide in. I always felt somewhat guilty about beating such a great game using one, but at the time, we weren't ashamed. As I hit puberty and "became a man," I learned some of the dogmatic ethics of gaming, which for me included no outside help (up to and including help from other people, which is one reason I like playing games by myself now, so they won't give me tips and make me feel guilt, followed by shame, followed by self-loating, followed by possible self-harm/destruction). This led to such fiascoes as Metal Gear Solid 2, which I had to give up playing since I was stuck on a pointless part that wasn't actually hard, but there was something subtle I had to look up, and I couldn't get over that guilt and continue playing the game. Like I said, I make it hard on myself sometimes.
I would like to play this game again sometime soon. I really think I only went through it once, that first time, which was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I think every male of our age had the same experience. I love the Castle Town. I loved the environments by temples but not actually in them, like the big volcano or Gerudo Valley. I loved the mini-bosses and the mini-dungeons (the well or inside of the big fish). I loved this game so much and I still do.
--Edward
Wow, what a game. This was the must-have title of the year for every boy, girl, or simpleton who still played videogames. I'm not sure how we heard about videogame hype back then, since as far as I know, we didn't go to Web sites like IGN or Gamespot or whatever (these might not have even existed, since the Internet for personal use was still in its infancy), but the streets were buzzing. There is the now-legendary tale of how I was supposed to keep the game a secret from Daniel, since he was getting it for Christmas and I got it several weeks/months earlier, but I will admit now that I had a large part in this. I'm not sure what exactly his parents said, but I know that I wanted to keep it a secret too, since I wanted to get as far ahead as possible before he got it, because I was a motherfucking bastard and still am. Perhaps this was because Daniel might have beaten Banjo-Kazooie first (we beat it around the same time from my memory). It's interesting how we (only me in reality) were more competitive with single-player story modes, but that we didn't really play competitive multiplayer that often, because let's face it: one-on-one gets either depressing (if you lose too much) or awkward real fast (just ask Daniel and Josh Nesbit).
Everyone in middle school at various points in time relatively close to each other all had the same experience. We opened up the box, took out the golden cartridge, and started up our soon to be all-engrossing alternate reality as young, pointy-earred Link. We all questioned what the big deal was as we climbed down the ladder out of our quaint home in the forest, learned how to wield a sword and a slingshot, and got through the first dungeon inside of a large, benevolent, and perhaps somewhat intoxicated tree. This all changed when you took your first steps into the fields of Hyrule, glimpsing the smoky peak of a volcano far in the distance, and to the left of it, the glittering spires of Hyrule Castle. While the generation before us had the collective experience of the original Super Mario Bros., we had Ocarina of Time. There are many games that define my childhood, and I'll talk about a lot of them in this series, but none meant more to me and so many others than this perfectly packaged and presented beauty of a game.
The music was great (listening to this recently on YouTube, I realized that this easily has one of the greatest videogame soundtracks of all time--check out any of the adult Link temples for some amazing music), the graphics were stunning, the gameplay was fun. But what really stuck out for me was the sheer scope of the game for that time. It just seemed so big and immersive, and for that reason, so many of us lived an alternate life inside of its bounds. The levels were quite long and difficult for that age, so it was easy to get lost inside its complexities (which probably seem minimal compared to games now). And iconic. God were those levels ever iconic.
None moreso than the infamous Water Temple, where Daniel places me as being by the time he got the game. I'm sure I was there for another few months. Even with the help of a strategy guide, that temple was a nightmare. It's funny that a temple could prove so hard that even strategy guides couldn't figure it out. It was beautiful, just like all the other temples, so all of us begrudged it with gentle good humor, but we never held it against the game. This was the last game that I ever used a strategy guide in. I always felt somewhat guilty about beating such a great game using one, but at the time, we weren't ashamed. As I hit puberty and "became a man," I learned some of the dogmatic ethics of gaming, which for me included no outside help (up to and including help from other people, which is one reason I like playing games by myself now, so they won't give me tips and make me feel guilt, followed by shame, followed by self-loating, followed by possible self-harm/destruction). This led to such fiascoes as Metal Gear Solid 2, which I had to give up playing since I was stuck on a pointless part that wasn't actually hard, but there was something subtle I had to look up, and I couldn't get over that guilt and continue playing the game. Like I said, I make it hard on myself sometimes.
I would like to play this game again sometime soon. I really think I only went through it once, that first time, which was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I think every male of our age had the same experience. I love the Castle Town. I loved the environments by temples but not actually in them, like the big volcano or Gerudo Valley. I loved the mini-bosses and the mini-dungeons (the well or inside of the big fish). I loved this game so much and I still do.
--Edward
THE Timesplitters
This was probably the game I played the most of growing up (especially multiplayer). Timesplitters was in one word: Fun.
I'll explore its multiplayer mode first:
It was one of the few games where you could make bots- I made a crap load of them and made them dumb as rocks- - I mean what's the fun of bots ripping you to shreds? My favorite level was the Tomb. Favorite game variant capture the bag. It's really hard to talk about my favorite weapon because Timesplitters had so many good weapons (that you could dual wield- which I maintain was the sweetest thing ever). Off the top of my head, I'd say my favorite weapon was dual-wielding the chain guns....especially on the Tomb level. I used to sit on a ledge over-looking a the enemy's spawn point and just unload my chain guns with what seemed to be a never ending supply of ammo. I'd throw my prox mines on THE wall to get to my base. Throw dynamite on anything I could, and would shotgun the shit out of herds of my enemies as they bottlenecked to my base.
Correct me if I am wrong Daniel, but I'm pretty sure I never wanted to go head-to-head because it was much more fun to be on the same team and just destroy- Unlike Timesplitters II which was mainly head-to-head multi-player deathmatches.
I'd also be remiss if I didnt mention an alien level that I have a hard time remembering- though I know all the multiplayer levels were also the singleplayer story mode levels as well. but that alien one was huuuuge, and had stationary guns that were so amazing.
Single player story mode was fun, but never kept my attention much. I remembering playing through the first few levels, which I think had a Chinese restaurant (Hibachi style) or something- and that dogs could chase you. But then the game just got complicated and multiplayer had BOTS! Looking back- and knowing how my Timesplitters journey would end (a scratched disc that I literally tried EVERYTHING to get it unscratched...toothpaste, spitting on it, buying a cd scratch kit, some solutions and wipes, windex- I mean everything) I wish I would have completed the single-player mode.
There is so much Ive missed because my memory just doesnt remember video-games well- so please add your experiences with this brilliant game.
Edward's Videogame Obsession #3: Banjo-Kazooie
What can you say about this game? Pure childhood delight in its most concentrated form. This took my love for overworlds (which I suppose prefigured the complete immersion of MMORPGs and social networking games and all of those other, more modern things) to the max with one of the greatest of all time. This had some damn great levels in it. While Mario 64 probably had technically better levels, Banjo's had more charm. This game was all about crazy charm, full of loud noises and squawking, and it was pretty damn big for its time.
My favorite level was Rusty Bucket Bay, for its size and difficulty. Click Clock Wood, the final level, was ambitious enough to have four different stages corresponding to the seasons of the year. Clanker's Cavern was epic, because you could dive down seemingly hundreds of feet into the water to get to the main portion of the level, which was inside a huge mechanical fish. God, just talking about this makes me want to play it again so bad. I plan to DL this on my Xbox soon.
When talking about this game, it should be mentioned that for unknown reasons (that I'm sure could be explained if we were just a little older at this point) Daniel and I received VHS tapes about this game in the mail, which only added to its legend. I will stand by my opinion that this had the greatest platformer levels of all time. There have been more innovative ones through the years, but I haven't played many other platformers that actually made me want to live in their world.
In any normal year, this would've been the game of the year, but in '98 another game came out that would change our lives. It was....
--Edward
My favorite level was Rusty Bucket Bay, for its size and difficulty. Click Clock Wood, the final level, was ambitious enough to have four different stages corresponding to the seasons of the year. Clanker's Cavern was epic, because you could dive down seemingly hundreds of feet into the water to get to the main portion of the level, which was inside a huge mechanical fish. God, just talking about this makes me want to play it again so bad. I plan to DL this on my Xbox soon.
When talking about this game, it should be mentioned that for unknown reasons (that I'm sure could be explained if we were just a little older at this point) Daniel and I received VHS tapes about this game in the mail, which only added to its legend. I will stand by my opinion that this had the greatest platformer levels of all time. There have been more innovative ones through the years, but I haven't played many other platformers that actually made me want to live in their world.
In any normal year, this would've been the game of the year, but in '98 another game came out that would change our lives. It was....
--Edward
Edward's Videogame Obsession #2: Diddy Kong Racing
Though Mario Kart got all the press, Diddy Kong Racer was always, I felt, the finer kart racer to grace the 64. Made by Rare--which was perhaps the greatest developer on the system, debatably surpassing even Nintendo, with such games as Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, and all of the Donkey Kong games--what made this game different from Mario Kart 64 was the ability to drive not only a kart, but a (small) plane and a hovercraft (somehow, the turkey character, who I believe was an unlockable one, rocked the shit out of this vehicle--he was my go-to guy if I was in a hovercraft race). While the case could be made that Mario Kart had better multiplayer, I enjoyed that Diddy Kong actually attempted to have a somewhat satisfying one-player experience, which was probably a rarity in the world of kart racing games. I love any game that has an overworld, and Diddy Kong didn't disappoint. It even had an elephant genie.
I remember that Daniel and I got this game that first Christmas that we got our 64's, and we must've watched those intro videos a dozen times (for unknown reasons). I am happy to say that I eventually beat the normal game mode (you had to face Wizpig--the boss--twice, from my memory), and progressed in mirror mode (you do all the races again....but this time backwards!), although I never beat it (probably moved onto another game at this point). A staple of our childhood, and one I'd like to see brought out again. Although the battle mode was undoubtedly better in Mario Kart, I have fond memories of shooting missiles at Daniel and some bots while playing as the turkey in the ice level. I loved that there were several different areas in the overworld, and each of the levels in each area had the same theme, although they got progressively harder. There was the ancient dinosaur theme, the snow theme, the volcano theme, etc. This game seemed to borrow from platformers with these archetypal levels (makes sense, considering it was the Donkey Kong series). I've always admired that game developers have been able to wring so much from these basic ideas of levels. Look at Super Mario Galaxy for proof.
--Edward
I remember that Daniel and I got this game that first Christmas that we got our 64's, and we must've watched those intro videos a dozen times (for unknown reasons). I am happy to say that I eventually beat the normal game mode (you had to face Wizpig--the boss--twice, from my memory), and progressed in mirror mode (you do all the races again....but this time backwards!), although I never beat it (probably moved onto another game at this point). A staple of our childhood, and one I'd like to see brought out again. Although the battle mode was undoubtedly better in Mario Kart, I have fond memories of shooting missiles at Daniel and some bots while playing as the turkey in the ice level. I loved that there were several different areas in the overworld, and each of the levels in each area had the same theme, although they got progressively harder. There was the ancient dinosaur theme, the snow theme, the volcano theme, etc. This game seemed to borrow from platformers with these archetypal levels (makes sense, considering it was the Donkey Kong series). I've always admired that game developers have been able to wring so much from these basic ideas of levels. Look at Super Mario Galaxy for proof.
--Edward
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Edward's Videogame Obsession #1: Goldeneye 007
In this series, I will try to document some of my various videogame phases (a la Daniel here), roughly in chronological order. I'll try to keep them pretty short, because Daniel and I got some complaints about our older videogame posts being too long.
Okay, so--at least for the moment--I'm not covering anything pre-Nintendo 64, because although I did play plenty of videogames, I wasn't really "into them," per se, just because I was too young to really fully take in and work hard at a game. Daniel and I got Nintendo 64's a year after everyone else did, because our parents were from the humble working class and were poor. That was a tough year to wait with our increasingly shoddy looking SEGA Geneses. We played a lot of Mario Kart at Josh's house to get our fix, as Daniel has mentioned before.
As the next Christmas came around, we greedily unwrapped our presents, I'm sure both of us knowing that we were getting a 64. Sure enough, there it was. I got I believe five games that first year, but easily the biggest of the lot was Goldeneye, which had just come out recently, and was the absolute shit for kids our age. Everyone played this game. It was just a given that if you went to someone's house, you were going to start up some multiplayer and blast each other with Dostoevskys and remote mines and other "eye-opening" weapons.
I don't know, for some reason I was never one to play that many FPS deathmatches. I guess I just always hated losing, so, although I played a shit-ton, I never played as much multiplayer as stalwarts like Greg Rickert and others. I do think I played a lot with Conor Duggan at this point, though.
I had a lot of respect for the single-player campaign in this game, which I always felt was unfairly neglected. The Facility topped Daniel's list of greatest videogame levels, which is a fair assessment. God, I should do a top videogame level list sometime. I don't know exactly why I loved one-player so much, because it seems pretty primitive even when compared to the original Half-Life, which came out the next year, but I had a lot of fun with it. Goldeneye should be honored as the forefather of such modern console shooter mainstays as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the Halo series, both of which borrow quite a bit from Goldeneye when it comes to multiplayer deathmatching. I ultimately think that Goldeneye had the most influential shooter multiplayer of all time (you could make a case for the early Quakes here, but I will let someone more knowledgable argue their case), while Half-Life had the most influential single-player mode for a shooter. Those are just my thoughts.
--Edward
Okay, so--at least for the moment--I'm not covering anything pre-Nintendo 64, because although I did play plenty of videogames, I wasn't really "into them," per se, just because I was too young to really fully take in and work hard at a game. Daniel and I got Nintendo 64's a year after everyone else did, because our parents were from the humble working class and were poor. That was a tough year to wait with our increasingly shoddy looking SEGA Geneses. We played a lot of Mario Kart at Josh's house to get our fix, as Daniel has mentioned before.
As the next Christmas came around, we greedily unwrapped our presents, I'm sure both of us knowing that we were getting a 64. Sure enough, there it was. I got I believe five games that first year, but easily the biggest of the lot was Goldeneye, which had just come out recently, and was the absolute shit for kids our age. Everyone played this game. It was just a given that if you went to someone's house, you were going to start up some multiplayer and blast each other with Dostoevskys and remote mines and other "eye-opening" weapons.
I don't know, for some reason I was never one to play that many FPS deathmatches. I guess I just always hated losing, so, although I played a shit-ton, I never played as much multiplayer as stalwarts like Greg Rickert and others. I do think I played a lot with Conor Duggan at this point, though.
I had a lot of respect for the single-player campaign in this game, which I always felt was unfairly neglected. The Facility topped Daniel's list of greatest videogame levels, which is a fair assessment. God, I should do a top videogame level list sometime. I don't know exactly why I loved one-player so much, because it seems pretty primitive even when compared to the original Half-Life, which came out the next year, but I had a lot of fun with it. Goldeneye should be honored as the forefather of such modern console shooter mainstays as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the Halo series, both of which borrow quite a bit from Goldeneye when it comes to multiplayer deathmatching. I ultimately think that Goldeneye had the most influential shooter multiplayer of all time (you could make a case for the early Quakes here, but I will let someone more knowledgable argue their case), while Half-Life had the most influential single-player mode for a shooter. Those are just my thoughts.
--Edward
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
It's weird, but one of the best memories of video gaming was playing this with Edward and Daniel for hours and hours. It was always the same too. We would play horse on Canada and I would always lose. It's probably because I knew Edward and Daniel played it allll the time. I can tell you that I yearned for their praise. If I could do a trick and then manual for awhile and take it into another move, I would just about go crazy with joy. Of course, they did it every single time and just about raped me (probably because I was obsessed with Christ Airs and tried to do them anytime I could).
I can still remember all the groans and yells as Edward or Daniel would jump off a ramp, manual to a rail and kick-flip up to it, grind for what seemed like an eternity, manual again, go off of another ramp and do some special move, manual again, and somehow end up in the starting point- - racking up about 100,000 points. Typically, I went off the ramp and would accidently do a kick flip and end up getting a big zero cause I didnt land it, OR getting a gentleman's 25.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Semi-Post Apocalyptic Video Game: Red Faction
First of all, any game with a railgun is always going to be amazing. Though, I would say the best part of Red Faction was the ability to destroy the environment completely. I used to rocket-launch the shit out of rock bridges just as my adversary was crossing them. Needless to say the rocket didn't kill them, instead it was the long plunge into oblivion. I was in love with rocket-launching the shit out of everything. There was also C-4 which was sweet cause you could stick it on people and blow the crap out of them.
My favorite guilty pleasure in that game would be to get the rocket launcher and railgun. I would find a secluded place on the map and use the rocket-launcher to burrow my way into a wall(and youd be surprised how far you could go). Id then take my railgun and just sit there and kill everybody- without fear of retaliation cause I forgot to mention the proximity mines i'd put in the tunnel.
Red Faction wasted a lot of my time while I had a PS2.
Friday, July 30, 2010
A Few Thoughts on Video Games (These Aren't My Final Ones...)
Okay first off: why is it that there is a certain class of guys who only plays first-person shooters and/or sports games?
Also, I think it's annoying how our culture makes it so that girls tend not to play "traditional video games" as much as guys do. A lot of girls won't touch games because they think of it as a boys-only domain, although they are quick to jump on Facebook or cell phone games, which are essentially just video games with a lower budget.
As Daniel mentioned in his previous post, video games tend to have a bad reputation in terms of being "immature" or just in general not "productive" (again, this is referring to a specific person who shall remain nameless). I'm not quite sure why this is. Well, okay, I kinda am. Video games started as toys marketed exclusively towards kids, and only in recent years have they begun to catch up with other mediums in terms of catering towards adults and striving towards art and away from just mindless entertainment.
I just want to use this post as a jumping-off point towards some discussion about the state of video games in our society now and where they are headed in the future. I agree with Daniel that they have unlimited potential towards making great leaps forward as an artistic medium, because no other kind of art allows for the complete immersion of the senses and brain the way video games do. To me, nothing is as frightening as a good horror game; nothing will draw me in for as many hours as some of the more addictive games out there. Ultimately, I feel that in the future, nothing could suck us into an absorbing and immersive storyline the way a video game could (as long as audiences keep showing development companies that we are willing to buy challenging and mature games that aren't just mindless popcorn fare). I respect the Wii for some of its games--Mario Galaxy chief among them--but I sometimes worry that the future of gaming will be baking a cake in a game or getting a workout in a game instead of running or biking outside. I would rather Nintendo push into other dimensions, into things that only games can do. If we want to do yoga, we can do that in real life; we don't need to do it in a Wii game. I'd rather see there be more Shadow of the Collosus's instead of more Wii Fit's.
--Edward
Also, I think it's annoying how our culture makes it so that girls tend not to play "traditional video games" as much as guys do. A lot of girls won't touch games because they think of it as a boys-only domain, although they are quick to jump on Facebook or cell phone games, which are essentially just video games with a lower budget.
As Daniel mentioned in his previous post, video games tend to have a bad reputation in terms of being "immature" or just in general not "productive" (again, this is referring to a specific person who shall remain nameless). I'm not quite sure why this is. Well, okay, I kinda am. Video games started as toys marketed exclusively towards kids, and only in recent years have they begun to catch up with other mediums in terms of catering towards adults and striving towards art and away from just mindless entertainment.
I just want to use this post as a jumping-off point towards some discussion about the state of video games in our society now and where they are headed in the future. I agree with Daniel that they have unlimited potential towards making great leaps forward as an artistic medium, because no other kind of art allows for the complete immersion of the senses and brain the way video games do. To me, nothing is as frightening as a good horror game; nothing will draw me in for as many hours as some of the more addictive games out there. Ultimately, I feel that in the future, nothing could suck us into an absorbing and immersive storyline the way a video game could (as long as audiences keep showing development companies that we are willing to buy challenging and mature games that aren't just mindless popcorn fare). I respect the Wii for some of its games--Mario Galaxy chief among them--but I sometimes worry that the future of gaming will be baking a cake in a game or getting a workout in a game instead of running or biking outside. I would rather Nintendo push into other dimensions, into things that only games can do. If we want to do yoga, we can do that in real life; we don't need to do it in a Wii game. I'd rather see there be more Shadow of the Collosus's instead of more Wii Fit's.
--Edward
Final Thoughts on Videogame Month
Some conclusions from blogging at this point in my life on videogames:
1. Nobody else really wants to blog about videogames at this point in their lives.
2. I hate them all for it.
3. Not really, but come on, it's not that hard to vocalize your love or even hatred or indifference on the matter.
4. Above all, videogames must live on, because like all other things denoted as childish and killed off with the first submittal of taxes at the dawn of adulthood, they preserve our spirit.
5. That's not an overstatement. If anything it's an understatement.
6. Games are fun. Video or otherwise. Somehow sports slip by the security keeping videogames out of adulthood. Sports are amazing, and prove to be one of the very few things that's able to be preserved from childhood and accepted by society. The thought of grown men crying over some game they watch on TV being played by kids in college who've barely hit their twenties if that, is probably more acceptable in society than grown men crying because The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is just so damn hard without a strategy guide. And yet, in the video game scenario, they are actually physically affecting the situation as opposed to miles away from a game being broadcasted on TV. The fact that crossword or sudoku puzzles are considered an intellectual way to pass the time, but video games are immature and fruitless is a real shame. No offense to crosswords and sudoku, but video games are immersive and expansive. You occupy other worlds, become other people and entities, and you live other lives. I can't imagine how people one or two hundred years ago would react to suddenly being sat down with a PS3 controller, but I really don't they would think they would believe that it seemed like something only children should occupy their time with. And thankfully, due to the growth of video games and slowly more-accepting society, the age-range of videogame players is expanding.
7. Video games let people touch the other side of our consciousness. They breed problem-solving, logic, empathy, confidence, and creativity, not to mention hand-eye coordination. And their versatility and potential uses still left to be discovered are boundless. If anything, video games paved the way for generations to take to computers and cell phones like they were breathing air, but it is the video game that still embraces the individual's journey in their experience as one would listening to a song, watching a movie, or reading a book.
8. Games I'm looking forward to playing/beating: Windwaker (beautiful and fun, but Jesus, you think there's enough sailing?), FFVII, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid (yeah, I'm coming back for you time), SSX 3-I never beat you did I?, Knights of the Old Republic-I got a taste and I want more, GH1, GH2, GH 80s (you're welcome), Rock Band, Prince of Persia 3, Resident Evil 4, Jak and Daxter, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and whatever Edward tells me is good.
1. Nobody else really wants to blog about videogames at this point in their lives.
2. I hate them all for it.
3. Not really, but come on, it's not that hard to vocalize your love or even hatred or indifference on the matter.
4. Above all, videogames must live on, because like all other things denoted as childish and killed off with the first submittal of taxes at the dawn of adulthood, they preserve our spirit.
5. That's not an overstatement. If anything it's an understatement.
6. Games are fun. Video or otherwise. Somehow sports slip by the security keeping videogames out of adulthood. Sports are amazing, and prove to be one of the very few things that's able to be preserved from childhood and accepted by society. The thought of grown men crying over some game they watch on TV being played by kids in college who've barely hit their twenties if that, is probably more acceptable in society than grown men crying because The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is just so damn hard without a strategy guide. And yet, in the video game scenario, they are actually physically affecting the situation as opposed to miles away from a game being broadcasted on TV. The fact that crossword or sudoku puzzles are considered an intellectual way to pass the time, but video games are immature and fruitless is a real shame. No offense to crosswords and sudoku, but video games are immersive and expansive. You occupy other worlds, become other people and entities, and you live other lives. I can't imagine how people one or two hundred years ago would react to suddenly being sat down with a PS3 controller, but I really don't they would think they would believe that it seemed like something only children should occupy their time with. And thankfully, due to the growth of video games and slowly more-accepting society, the age-range of videogame players is expanding.
7. Video games let people touch the other side of our consciousness. They breed problem-solving, logic, empathy, confidence, and creativity, not to mention hand-eye coordination. And their versatility and potential uses still left to be discovered are boundless. If anything, video games paved the way for generations to take to computers and cell phones like they were breathing air, but it is the video game that still embraces the individual's journey in their experience as one would listening to a song, watching a movie, or reading a book.
8. Games I'm looking forward to playing/beating: Windwaker (beautiful and fun, but Jesus, you think there's enough sailing?), FFVII, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid (yeah, I'm coming back for you time), SSX 3-I never beat you did I?, Knights of the Old Republic-I got a taste and I want more, GH1, GH2, GH 80s (you're welcome), Rock Band, Prince of Persia 3, Resident Evil 4, Jak and Daxter, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and whatever Edward tells me is good.
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Top Ten Video Game Levels
Note that my top 5 Overworlds are down below the top 10 levels. First, let's start off with my many Honorable Mentions. Note that some of these I don't know the actual names: Hot Top Volcano (with hovercraft) - Diddy Kong Racing, Snow Level - Metroid Prime, Level in the City's Ruins - Medal of Honor, Chicago - Perfect Dark, Cradle - Goldeneye, We've Got Hostiles - Half-Life, Wario's Stadium - Mariokart 64, Rainbow Road - Mariokart 64, DK's Jungle - Mariokart 64, Double Deck - Mariokart 64, Block Fort - Mariokart 64, Ord Metal Junkyard - Shadows of the Empire, Ando Prime - Star Wars: Episode I Podracer, The Loop - NBA Street, Level 1-1 - Super Mario Bros., Casino - Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Treasure Trove Cove - Banjo Kazooie, Freezeezy Peak - Banjo Kazooie, Bob-omb Battlefield - Super Mario 64, Cool, Cool Mountain - Super Mario 64, Kalamari Desert - Mariokart 64, Notre Dame - Timesplitters 2, The Water Temple - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (and all the other temples), Tree level - Kirby's Dreamworld, New York City - Spiderman 2, Overworld - Zelda: Windwaker, South America - Little Big Planet, Normandy - Call of Duty: World at War, The Dam - Goldeneye and Timesplitters 2, Robot Factory - Timesplitters 2, Caverns - Goldeneye, Chicago 1920s(?) - Timesplitters 2, Atom Smasher - Timesplitters 2, Overworld - Super Mario Sunshine
Top 10 Levels:
10. Battle of Hoth - Rogue Squadron
9. Dragon Cove - 1080 Snowboarding
8. Canada - Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
7. Mexican Mission - Timesplitters 2
6. Hazy Maze Cave - Super Mario 64
5. The Silent Cartographer - Halo: Combat Evolved
4. The Second Island of Liberty City - Grand Theft Auto III
3. Garibaldi - SSX Tricky
2. Click Clock Wood - Banjo Kazooie
1. Facility - Goldeneye
Top 5 Overworlds:
5. Diddy Kong Racing 64
4. Grand Theft Auto 3
3. Banjo Kazooie
2. Super Mario 64
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Top 10 Levels:
10. Battle of Hoth - Rogue Squadron
9. Dragon Cove - 1080 Snowboarding
8. Canada - Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
7. Mexican Mission - Timesplitters 2
6. Hazy Maze Cave - Super Mario 64
5. The Silent Cartographer - Halo: Combat Evolved
4. The Second Island of Liberty City - Grand Theft Auto III
3. Garibaldi - SSX Tricky
2. Click Clock Wood - Banjo Kazooie
1. Facility - Goldeneye
Top 5 Overworlds:
5. Diddy Kong Racing 64
4. Grand Theft Auto 3
3. Banjo Kazooie
2. Super Mario 64
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Digital Dream Door Has Video Game Lists!
Ahh, so anyone who knows me somewhat well knows that I have a very soft, crumbly part of my heart for the Web site Digital Dream Door, which houses a whopping selection of music lists (and some movie ones, too). It is very informative, and if I'm ever trying to get into a new genre that I don't know very much about (say, New Wave, or reggae), I can easily go on there and see what the top albums are in that particular genre, or who the top artists are, etc.
I just found out today they have a smattering of video game lists too, which is awesome. I'll post the link here of their top 100 greatest video games of the 2000s. You can see all their other video game lists posted at the top of that page. Look at #1! It still baffles me why so few others seem to like this game besides me, Daniel, and Greg. I can see why you'd be sick of them now, since there are so many GTA-clones out there, not to mention a vast amount of real sequels (although all seem to get good scores--the only one I've played is Vice City, which I liked, but it is exactly like the third game, so I never got why people creamed over it so much, other than that most of them didn't play GTA III, so this was their first exposure to the series. If that is true, then I am totally understanding, because when the very concept and execution of the series first washes over for you, you will be in for one long wet dream). But when GTA III hit the market in 2001, it was so breathtaking and so....what we wanted games to be like, that it blew our minds.
Here is the link: http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_video-games-2000s.html (I had to write that manually, so tell me anyone if it doesn't work).
--Edward
I just found out today they have a smattering of video game lists too, which is awesome. I'll post the link here of their top 100 greatest video games of the 2000s. You can see all their other video game lists posted at the top of that page. Look at #1! It still baffles me why so few others seem to like this game besides me, Daniel, and Greg. I can see why you'd be sick of them now, since there are so many GTA-clones out there, not to mention a vast amount of real sequels (although all seem to get good scores--the only one I've played is Vice City, which I liked, but it is exactly like the third game, so I never got why people creamed over it so much, other than that most of them didn't play GTA III, so this was their first exposure to the series. If that is true, then I am totally understanding, because when the very concept and execution of the series first washes over for you, you will be in for one long wet dream). But when GTA III hit the market in 2001, it was so breathtaking and so....what we wanted games to be like, that it blew our minds.
Here is the link: http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_video-games-2000s.html (I had to write that manually, so tell me anyone if it doesn't work).
--Edward
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
All right. So anyone that knows me probably knows that I think one of the best games, if not the best, is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (single player, obviously). I know it already has a shoutout on DIMB, but deal. What makes Ocarina so eternally satisfying is that it lies in the overlapping section of the venn diagram of video game qualities. It has just the right amounts of hack 'n' slash fighting (not like FF), learned weapons/tools that require some attention/practice (not like Dark Alliance), exploring (not like side-scrollers), challenging-but-achievable puzzles (not like bastard Majora's Mask), side quests that are useful to the main quest but not necessary (not stupid things that take all your time and then are like, yay, we put your name on the wall of the inn!), and, my topic for today, mythos.
Mythos is probably one of the most important factors in a game's success. Lastingly, anyway. Given an audience of geeks/nerds/what-have-you, video game designers have recognized that there is nothing geeks/nerds/what-have-yous like better than accumulating knowledge that is in no way useful to any situation or conversation EXCEPT THOSE ABOUT THAT KNOWLEDGE ITSELF. (Actually, Chewbacca had a wife and child, didn't you know?) By building a universe in which a game resides, designers not only guarantee a loyal fanbase that will try MORE THAN ONCE to play Majora's Mask (even though it is clearly not a well planned game. Or too well planned maybe), but they give their players depth and texture so even if they've played Ocarina many times, it is still engaging because it is not limited to the beating of the game itself.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Top 10 Co-Op Games of All Time
I've always felt that cooperative modes have gotten the short end of the stick. Everyone laughs them off in favor of competitive multiplayer, but I know Daniel and I had some great times growing up playing many a co-op mode. There is something uniquely satisfying about combining our unique and vast powers together to form some kind of unstoppable team (cue high-fives). Note that I have not included any sports games--since there are so many and I think of co-op more in terms of completing some sort of campaign mode rather then playing on a sports team--or any games where you play together mostly in arcade mode as opposed to story mode (something like Turok: Rage Wars comes to mind). Anyways, we're off!
10.) Guitar Hero series: Not the most notable co-op ever (can you tell I'm straining to include entries?), co-op in the Guitar Hero series meant that one person played lead guitar (the highly sought-after spot which I often hogged) and the other had to play either bass (shit-tastic) or rhythm guitar (pretty close to it). I had some good times with Mike as we tried to beat all the songs in the game ("Hangar 18" of course proved particularly challenging, and as I remember we were only able to beat it with me playing the bass part for whatever reason). This is pretty fun to play on the hardest songs, where it's a fight for survival. Another thing we tried to do was beat "Through the Fire and Flames," and we made it up to the end of the solo, but as both rhythm and lead parts have to solo a lot--and as the solos are easily the hardest in the entire series--we were never able to pass this. At least we made it past the intro, which is more than most teams could say. I would love one day to have a competitive team so that we could battle other teams and perhaps have matching uniforms.
9.) Batman Forever: Do I remember that much about the co-op on this? Not really. You could make a case that I shouldn't include it on this list since I really can't say much about it, but one thing I do remember about Batman Forever (on the Genesis) is that it made me want to go out to a toy store and find Batman's gadget belt, complete with smoke pellets, grappling hook, and the plethora of other gadgets he used in this underrated SEGA game. Daniel and I undoubtedly didn't make it very far, but we tried our hardest (not really).
8.) X-Wing: Not often on a co-op best-of list do you see a PC game that doesn't offer online co-op. No--we played co-op ON THE SAME KEYBOARD. Haha. Our system revolved around (I believe) Daniel controlling the mouse and me hitting a random button to fire at spaceships in this Star Wars-themed space simulator. This was a very early period in our gaming lives, but a rich one. Complete with the soothing sounds of the Z104 radio station in the background (playing such notables as "Waterfalls," the entire soundtrack from Romeo+Juliet [most importantly "Lovefool"], and of course, the oft-mentioned No Doubt), this was a great experience that, like many of our early gaming and other life-experiences, didn't really make sense. We probably didn't beat many levels, and we certainly didn't know how to play the game correctly, but we did have a great time and I look back on this pre-CD-ROM computer game with fondness.
7.) Twisted Metal: Black: A period not spoken of too often, since I gave the game back eventually to whoever rightly owned it (a Round Hill kid perhaps?), Daniel and I almost beat this game during a quick run that we made at the game's co-op mode. It was a lot of fun figuring out how to beat the bosses, and ultimately we were never able to outwit the final boss of this game. If only we had had more time with the game, undoubtedly we would've solved this bitch of a boss, but unfortunately we will forever remain the bitches.
6.) Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy: like X-Wing (although that is really supposed to be only a one-player game), this is a co-op game where you and your friend both control different parts of the same character. In this case, one person controls your character's movement, while the other controls his psychic powers (which was the selling point of this sadly underplayed game). Daniel and I were always players willing to give interesting or underappreciated games the benefit of the doubt, and this is no exception. Because both of us controlled various aspects of the same person, this actually did require quite a bit of teamwork, which added to the fun of an already interesting story mode (complete with various bad guys representing different psi-powers and trips to such interesting places as the Caspian Sea and God knows where else).
5.) TimeSplitters 2: This is just a classic FPS that allows you to relieve the glories of single-player mode with a friend. It raises the question of why more shooters don't have this feature. This was a game from the classic PS2 renaissance of freshman-junior years for Daniel, Greg, and me. We were somehow able to recapture the glory days of the N64 in the tremendous variety of games that the PS2 offered us. TimeSplitters is one of the most iconic games of this time period, and we basically did all that you could do in this game. We did story mode, we did arcade mode, we did fucking Virus mode for hours on end, and we did co-op. I love that classic first level, the Dam, an obvious parody of the first GoldenEye level. I love how you steadily push deeper and discover darker secrets (Aliens and of course the Aliens rip-off level in the first Halo), and finally fight your way out with flamethrowers as time runs out (again, Aliens). Don't forget about the Gothic feel of the Notre Dame level, complete with spooky characters shrouded in hoods and pouring rain. And of course the brilliance of the Atom Smasher level, which was like a videogame version of the campy 1960's Batman show. I was only ever able to beat the challenging Robot Factory level with Daniel's help.
4.) Rock Band series: This is what co-op is all about. Nothing is as primal in videogames as a bunch of drunk people playing "Creep" by Radiohead, everyone repeatedly saving that wasted drummer who keeps failing out of the song. Clearly the go-to game for any sort of social event.
3.) LEGO Indiana Jones: Daniel mentioned in another entry that Banjo-Kazooie is best described as "joy." The same could be said for this game, which by the way comes free with the Xbox 360. Co-op, and basically the game itself, is such pure, heavenly fluff that you can't help falling in love with it after you've played it enough. Cynical people who prefer more macho first-person shooters to satisfy their ghastly needs personally frighten timid old me. I prefer to sit back and listen to the comforting music of John Williams as Jake repeatedly tries to look up hints online to find that last gold thing so we can beat the damn game completely.
2.) Two Crude Dudes: Daniel summarized this pretty well in his post "Children of the Systems Part 1," so I won't take away from his solid descriptions of this post-apocalyptic wasteland (perhaps a social critique about the state urban America was in by the mid-'90s) full of nipple-sucking and crack-smoking. I loved that one level where you climbed up and down ladders on various parts of the screen, so you could be about a few feet above or below your compatriot--what the fuck was the point of all these sub-levels? Also, did I mention the nipple-sucking?
1.) Halo: Combat Evolved (and I suppose by extension, Halo 2): I might never have gotten into the Halo series like the rest of the planet, but if there's one thing this game does right (and I won't lie and say there's only one--this game had perfect controls too), it's the co-op mode. Like TimeSplitters 2, it's nothing fancy. Just add goddamn co-op to a solid one-player game, and you turn it into something great. The scope of this game made it natural to add another player to the campaign mode. Only in Halo can it take three-plus hours to beat a single level with your friend (as Daniel and I proved on a recent excursion in the snow level on Legendary). That's about how long it took to beat the entire Two Crude Dudes co-op campaign (although there was a much greater risk in that, since if you died too many times or wanted to puss out, you had to start the game all over--no save mode).
I have some great, great memories of going through this multiple times with Daniel (at the moment we're working on it on Legendary). It's so much fun to drive Daniel around as he shoots a machine gun wildly in the backseat, preferrably with a friendly, albeit stupid bot in the passenger seat also shooting wildly. Other games should learn something from the co-op of the Halo series: you don't have to make it fancy; just include the damn thing. (I decided to include Halo 2 along with the original, since they essentially have the same type of co-op experience, but let it be known that the campaign mode in the sequel is so much less memorable than the original.)
--Edward
10.) Guitar Hero series: Not the most notable co-op ever (can you tell I'm straining to include entries?), co-op in the Guitar Hero series meant that one person played lead guitar (the highly sought-after spot which I often hogged) and the other had to play either bass (shit-tastic) or rhythm guitar (pretty close to it). I had some good times with Mike as we tried to beat all the songs in the game ("Hangar 18" of course proved particularly challenging, and as I remember we were only able to beat it with me playing the bass part for whatever reason). This is pretty fun to play on the hardest songs, where it's a fight for survival. Another thing we tried to do was beat "Through the Fire and Flames," and we made it up to the end of the solo, but as both rhythm and lead parts have to solo a lot--and as the solos are easily the hardest in the entire series--we were never able to pass this. At least we made it past the intro, which is more than most teams could say. I would love one day to have a competitive team so that we could battle other teams and perhaps have matching uniforms.
9.) Batman Forever: Do I remember that much about the co-op on this? Not really. You could make a case that I shouldn't include it on this list since I really can't say much about it, but one thing I do remember about Batman Forever (on the Genesis) is that it made me want to go out to a toy store and find Batman's gadget belt, complete with smoke pellets, grappling hook, and the plethora of other gadgets he used in this underrated SEGA game. Daniel and I undoubtedly didn't make it very far, but we tried our hardest (not really).
8.) X-Wing: Not often on a co-op best-of list do you see a PC game that doesn't offer online co-op. No--we played co-op ON THE SAME KEYBOARD. Haha. Our system revolved around (I believe) Daniel controlling the mouse and me hitting a random button to fire at spaceships in this Star Wars-themed space simulator. This was a very early period in our gaming lives, but a rich one. Complete with the soothing sounds of the Z104 radio station in the background (playing such notables as "Waterfalls," the entire soundtrack from Romeo+Juliet [most importantly "Lovefool"], and of course, the oft-mentioned No Doubt), this was a great experience that, like many of our early gaming and other life-experiences, didn't really make sense. We probably didn't beat many levels, and we certainly didn't know how to play the game correctly, but we did have a great time and I look back on this pre-CD-ROM computer game with fondness.
7.) Twisted Metal: Black: A period not spoken of too often, since I gave the game back eventually to whoever rightly owned it (a Round Hill kid perhaps?), Daniel and I almost beat this game during a quick run that we made at the game's co-op mode. It was a lot of fun figuring out how to beat the bosses, and ultimately we were never able to outwit the final boss of this game. If only we had had more time with the game, undoubtedly we would've solved this bitch of a boss, but unfortunately we will forever remain the bitches.
6.) Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy: like X-Wing (although that is really supposed to be only a one-player game), this is a co-op game where you and your friend both control different parts of the same character. In this case, one person controls your character's movement, while the other controls his psychic powers (which was the selling point of this sadly underplayed game). Daniel and I were always players willing to give interesting or underappreciated games the benefit of the doubt, and this is no exception. Because both of us controlled various aspects of the same person, this actually did require quite a bit of teamwork, which added to the fun of an already interesting story mode (complete with various bad guys representing different psi-powers and trips to such interesting places as the Caspian Sea and God knows where else).
5.) TimeSplitters 2: This is just a classic FPS that allows you to relieve the glories of single-player mode with a friend. It raises the question of why more shooters don't have this feature. This was a game from the classic PS2 renaissance of freshman-junior years for Daniel, Greg, and me. We were somehow able to recapture the glory days of the N64 in the tremendous variety of games that the PS2 offered us. TimeSplitters is one of the most iconic games of this time period, and we basically did all that you could do in this game. We did story mode, we did arcade mode, we did fucking Virus mode for hours on end, and we did co-op. I love that classic first level, the Dam, an obvious parody of the first GoldenEye level. I love how you steadily push deeper and discover darker secrets (Aliens and of course the Aliens rip-off level in the first Halo), and finally fight your way out with flamethrowers as time runs out (again, Aliens). Don't forget about the Gothic feel of the Notre Dame level, complete with spooky characters shrouded in hoods and pouring rain. And of course the brilliance of the Atom Smasher level, which was like a videogame version of the campy 1960's Batman show. I was only ever able to beat the challenging Robot Factory level with Daniel's help.
4.) Rock Band series: This is what co-op is all about. Nothing is as primal in videogames as a bunch of drunk people playing "Creep" by Radiohead, everyone repeatedly saving that wasted drummer who keeps failing out of the song. Clearly the go-to game for any sort of social event.
3.) LEGO Indiana Jones: Daniel mentioned in another entry that Banjo-Kazooie is best described as "joy." The same could be said for this game, which by the way comes free with the Xbox 360. Co-op, and basically the game itself, is such pure, heavenly fluff that you can't help falling in love with it after you've played it enough. Cynical people who prefer more macho first-person shooters to satisfy their ghastly needs personally frighten timid old me. I prefer to sit back and listen to the comforting music of John Williams as Jake repeatedly tries to look up hints online to find that last gold thing so we can beat the damn game completely.
2.) Two Crude Dudes: Daniel summarized this pretty well in his post "Children of the Systems Part 1," so I won't take away from his solid descriptions of this post-apocalyptic wasteland (perhaps a social critique about the state urban America was in by the mid-'90s) full of nipple-sucking and crack-smoking. I loved that one level where you climbed up and down ladders on various parts of the screen, so you could be about a few feet above or below your compatriot--what the fuck was the point of all these sub-levels? Also, did I mention the nipple-sucking?
1.) Halo: Combat Evolved (and I suppose by extension, Halo 2): I might never have gotten into the Halo series like the rest of the planet, but if there's one thing this game does right (and I won't lie and say there's only one--this game had perfect controls too), it's the co-op mode. Like TimeSplitters 2, it's nothing fancy. Just add goddamn co-op to a solid one-player game, and you turn it into something great. The scope of this game made it natural to add another player to the campaign mode. Only in Halo can it take three-plus hours to beat a single level with your friend (as Daniel and I proved on a recent excursion in the snow level on Legendary). That's about how long it took to beat the entire Two Crude Dudes co-op campaign (although there was a much greater risk in that, since if you died too many times or wanted to puss out, you had to start the game all over--no save mode).
I have some great, great memories of going through this multiple times with Daniel (at the moment we're working on it on Legendary). It's so much fun to drive Daniel around as he shoots a machine gun wildly in the backseat, preferrably with a friendly, albeit stupid bot in the passenger seat also shooting wildly. Other games should learn something from the co-op of the Halo series: you don't have to make it fancy; just include the damn thing. (I decided to include Halo 2 along with the original, since they essentially have the same type of co-op experience, but let it be known that the campaign mode in the sequel is so much less memorable than the original.)
--Edward
Edward's Top PS2 Games
The PlayStation 2 was the first home console system post-N64 for me. The 64 was where I really blossomed as a gamer. Yes, I played my fair share of SEGA Genesis games, but I was still a youngun and things weren't too serious. The N64 was where I started to get more serious. I picked out the games for myself instead of just playing what my parents got me. GoldeneEye and The Ocarina of Time were the first real masterpieces I played that opened up my eyes as to how great games could be--that they could be life-changing and -affirming experiences that I would cherish forever.
The PS2 was when I became a mature gamer however. I decided to stop using strategy guides, since I felt that this was cheating myself as a player, and I really started to focus on actually beating all the games I had, instead of just starting one then giving it up for another one like a cheap, used-up prostitute. The PS2 was a great system and it actually--surprisingly--was able to live up to the mighty legacy of the N64. As I say a few times in the game reviews here, it was the first time that games were able to live up to their potential, as imagined by Daniel and me growing up. Games like SSX: Tricky and Tony Hawk 3 and NBA Street all had intricate trick and combo systems, and games were able to in corporate advanced statistics and leveling systems to clearly show player progress. This was always how the minds of Daniel and me worked growing up, so we had met our match. This is most clearly shown in SSX: Tricky tournaments held between Daniel, Greg, and me. Perhaps later in the month I will post the stats for these mighty tournaments, which included such notable cameos as Matt DeBruycker, Douglas Rickert, and Joe DeBruycker (and Luke Wence!). I wish we had video clips of our snowboard races, but alas, technology had not yet caught up with our mighty intellects at that point. This was pre-JFP.
-Grand Theft Auto III (obviously #1, Daniel and I are the only people who like this game apparently....)
-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (so many hours put in, so much joy drawn out; "Papparazzi" by Xzibit)
-TimeSplitters 2 (probably more hours than I put into any game until Guitar Hero and TimeSplitters 3 came out)
-Final Fantasy X (epic)
-NBA Street (the PS2 was one of the first systems I got that had so much potential actually unleashed: games like this and Tony Hawk were the kind of games we always wanted to play growing up)
-SSX: Tricky (come on)
-Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (the hidden game that I loved and no one else knew about at the time--the size of the world was staggering--this reminded me most of an update of Banjo-Kazooie, which is easily an all-time game for me)
-Gran Turismo 3 (depth and surprising addictiveness)
-Guitar Hero II (crack)
-Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (beat out Red Faction to make the list based on its innovative controls, ridiculously bad voice-acting, and the amazing co-op, as well as the idea of a person who lives only in his mind and goes places using remote viewing)
Honorable mentions:
-Red Faction (the hidden, ugly cousin of TimeSplitters that is supposedly all about the one-player, but we uncovered the joy of multiplayer, which is building tunnels)
-Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (one of the premier games on the system sadly ruined by my use of a strategy guide--one day I wil go back and beat this, and the first one, in which I was on the last boss)
-Guitar Hero (didn't need two of these on the list, but this had debatably the best setlist of the series)
-Sly Cooper: Thievius Racoonus (the hidden platformer of the holy trinity of the PS2, less well known than Jak or Ratchet)
-Ratchet and Clank (good, funny, but not great like Jak, although I think a lot disagree and I hear the sequels are even better)
--Edward
The PS2 was when I became a mature gamer however. I decided to stop using strategy guides, since I felt that this was cheating myself as a player, and I really started to focus on actually beating all the games I had, instead of just starting one then giving it up for another one like a cheap, used-up prostitute. The PS2 was a great system and it actually--surprisingly--was able to live up to the mighty legacy of the N64. As I say a few times in the game reviews here, it was the first time that games were able to live up to their potential, as imagined by Daniel and me growing up. Games like SSX: Tricky and Tony Hawk 3 and NBA Street all had intricate trick and combo systems, and games were able to in corporate advanced statistics and leveling systems to clearly show player progress. This was always how the minds of Daniel and me worked growing up, so we had met our match. This is most clearly shown in SSX: Tricky tournaments held between Daniel, Greg, and me. Perhaps later in the month I will post the stats for these mighty tournaments, which included such notable cameos as Matt DeBruycker, Douglas Rickert, and Joe DeBruycker (and Luke Wence!). I wish we had video clips of our snowboard races, but alas, technology had not yet caught up with our mighty intellects at that point. This was pre-JFP.
-Grand Theft Auto III (obviously #1, Daniel and I are the only people who like this game apparently....)
-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (so many hours put in, so much joy drawn out; "Papparazzi" by Xzibit)
-TimeSplitters 2 (probably more hours than I put into any game until Guitar Hero and TimeSplitters 3 came out)
-Final Fantasy X (epic)
-NBA Street (the PS2 was one of the first systems I got that had so much potential actually unleashed: games like this and Tony Hawk were the kind of games we always wanted to play growing up)
-SSX: Tricky (come on)
-Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (the hidden game that I loved and no one else knew about at the time--the size of the world was staggering--this reminded me most of an update of Banjo-Kazooie, which is easily an all-time game for me)
-Gran Turismo 3 (depth and surprising addictiveness)
-Guitar Hero II (crack)
-Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (beat out Red Faction to make the list based on its innovative controls, ridiculously bad voice-acting, and the amazing co-op, as well as the idea of a person who lives only in his mind and goes places using remote viewing)
Honorable mentions:
-Red Faction (the hidden, ugly cousin of TimeSplitters that is supposedly all about the one-player, but we uncovered the joy of multiplayer, which is building tunnels)
-Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (one of the premier games on the system sadly ruined by my use of a strategy guide--one day I wil go back and beat this, and the first one, in which I was on the last boss)
-Guitar Hero (didn't need two of these on the list, but this had debatably the best setlist of the series)
-Sly Cooper: Thievius Racoonus (the hidden platformer of the holy trinity of the PS2, less well known than Jak or Ratchet)
-Ratchet and Clank (good, funny, but not great like Jak, although I think a lot disagree and I hear the sequels are even better)
--Edward
Edward's Top Xbox Games
I got an Xbox late--I had owned a PS2 for three or four years. I got it because James, Daniel, and I (and someone else...who?) were going to start a Halo team complete with headbands and matching outfits/team "moves." I wanted to practice the game, and it took me many years to realize that no matter how much I played the one-player mode by myself, even if I got to Legendary, that it would never make me good at multiplayer. I was never really one to get that into Halo's multiplayer--mostly just because I was so far behind, so whenever I played, I just got slaughtered and it was no fun--so I never really got that into the worship of these games like others did. However, I'm not stupid enough to not include them on my list of the top 10 Xbox games (not ranked). Regardless, unlike almost every other Xbox owner on the planet, those two games do not comprise my fondest memories of this cold, intimidating black box. (No order, just the same as the N64 list.)
-Ninja Gaiden (completely epic and lengthy, ridiculously challenging yet satisfying, I loved all the environments and it was vast and full of places to explore almost like a GTA or Jak-type game)
-Half-Life 2 (not quite as memorable as Half-Life the original, but this was probably as gripping and cinematic as any game I've ever played)
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (probably the first and only RPG I've ever beaten, this is pure-awesome in itself just for being a good Star Wars game--it has a good story, great characters--like the droid that calls humans "meat-bags"--and it's just quality)
-Burnout 3: Takedown (the purest distillation of an adrenaline rush I've ever seen in a game--also, it let you listen to your own music, which only added to the near-perfection of this game)
-TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (outside of the Guitar Hero series, which doesn't even count because of my level of addictedness to those games, this is probably the game I've put the most hours into--I don't care how much "real shooter fans" would probably say it sucks, the cartooniness and the humor and the pure joy of this game is a revelation)
-Far Cry: Instincts (a surprise vote, this never would have made the list after I beat its single player campaign, which is supposedly the best part of the game, but after we played multiplayer in it, I have to include it--I fucking love the multiplayer)
-Halo: Combat Evolved (enough has been said about this; I'm not as big of a fan as others, but this is undoubtedly because I missed out on the multiplayer craze [I tend to miss out on popular things], but you have to give this game the respect it deserves)
-Halo 2 (do I want to put this on here? Not really, but I apparently didn't have that many Xbox games I was into, or at least that I can remember)
-Fatal Frame (scariest game ever, do not question this or let anyone sway you otherwise)
-Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Daniel's signature series, this was a solid action-adventure game with a storyline twist at the end that I kinda forget, but I'm pretty sure implied that all of the previous events didn't actually happen)
Honorable mentions:
-Burnout Revenge (were this a standalone game, I'm sure I would have loved it, but it happened to come after the best racer of all time, so it was a bit of a let-down)
Fuck if I know what else?
--Edward
-Ninja Gaiden (completely epic and lengthy, ridiculously challenging yet satisfying, I loved all the environments and it was vast and full of places to explore almost like a GTA or Jak-type game)
-Half-Life 2 (not quite as memorable as Half-Life the original, but this was probably as gripping and cinematic as any game I've ever played)
-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (probably the first and only RPG I've ever beaten, this is pure-awesome in itself just for being a good Star Wars game--it has a good story, great characters--like the droid that calls humans "meat-bags"--and it's just quality)
-Burnout 3: Takedown (the purest distillation of an adrenaline rush I've ever seen in a game--also, it let you listen to your own music, which only added to the near-perfection of this game)
-TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (outside of the Guitar Hero series, which doesn't even count because of my level of addictedness to those games, this is probably the game I've put the most hours into--I don't care how much "real shooter fans" would probably say it sucks, the cartooniness and the humor and the pure joy of this game is a revelation)
-Far Cry: Instincts (a surprise vote, this never would have made the list after I beat its single player campaign, which is supposedly the best part of the game, but after we played multiplayer in it, I have to include it--I fucking love the multiplayer)
-Halo: Combat Evolved (enough has been said about this; I'm not as big of a fan as others, but this is undoubtedly because I missed out on the multiplayer craze [I tend to miss out on popular things], but you have to give this game the respect it deserves)
-Halo 2 (do I want to put this on here? Not really, but I apparently didn't have that many Xbox games I was into, or at least that I can remember)
-Fatal Frame (scariest game ever, do not question this or let anyone sway you otherwise)
-Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Daniel's signature series, this was a solid action-adventure game with a storyline twist at the end that I kinda forget, but I'm pretty sure implied that all of the previous events didn't actually happen)
Honorable mentions:
-Burnout Revenge (were this a standalone game, I'm sure I would have loved it, but it happened to come after the best racer of all time, so it was a bit of a let-down)
Fuck if I know what else?
--Edward
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Top 10 Greatest Videogame Moments, Part 3
2.) Draw! (1080 Snowboarding): Somehow, the inconspicuous game 1080 was able to make my list of favorite gaming moments twice. Pretty amazing considering the game wasn't even that great (don't let Daniel tell you it is...I mean it was great, but not actually good, if you know what I mean). Anyways, I believe Daniel and I were racing on the final level of this game, a big glacier/tundra mountain full of lots of powder and basically just a downhill dash to the finish line. Both of us were apparently hungry for that line on this particular day. Neither of us wanted to lose, and this is one of the few times in a racing game against one other person where neither of us did lose. Because we crossed the line pretty far apart from each other in terms of distance, but apparently at the exact same time. In huge golden letters, "DRAW!" sprawled itself across the screen. I am not sure by what measurement of time the game measured races, but somehow we were able to get the EXACT SAME TIME. Such a thing can happen in Tricky, down to the hundredth, but even then, it always awards one racer the victory over the other. I would think most games are this way--that they wouldn't allow ties. However, glorious 1080 is similar to glorious soccer in that you can actually tie in it. I know this is a stupid thing to post so high above some of the other great stuff above, but this was a mythical moment for the Waterford Boys, something dreams are made of. Indeed, the beauty of that final level--Deadly Fall--was dreamlike: stunning vistas capped in white stretching out as far as the eye could see, the bright yellow rays of the sun piercing the icy cold. This was a defining moment in our childhoods.
1.) The Log (Guitar Hero II): Now, as a warning, this is going to be a long post, so please bear with me. A lot of the above moments have been simply cute happenstances or memorable moments, but few have been the product of actual hard work (the 2:40 is one of those, as well as the other Guitar Hero moments). This achievement took me between a year and a year and a half to achieve. But oh God was it ever worth it. Let's clear this up right now: the Log is the guitar you get after 5-starring all of the main setlist songs in Guitar Hero II on expert (so basically every song in story mode). The guitar is an ugly thing itself, crudely shaped out of a log (hence its name). (You get the "Eyeball" for 5-starring all of the setlist songs on hard, which is a really good accomplishment--harder than beating the game on expert.) It is what it stands for that counts. It means that you are one of the elite few who have 5-starred every song from "Shout at the Devil" to "Free Bird." Here is another breakdown thread which shows the difficulty of 5-starring all of the expert songs in the series in comparison to each other: http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60158&highlight=. It shows the pain I went through. Let me just say right now that it is a lot (A LOT A LOT A LOT A LOT A LOT) harder to 5-star songs than beat them. Just because you can beat the game on expert, please do not compare this with getting the Log. Even if you can 5-star 95% of the game, please do not compare this with getting the Log. I had gotten maybe all but 10 out of the 40 songs in the setlist within the first month or two, but it took me the last year to get those last 10. Some songs are exponentially harder to nail than others.
Some people might ask how you 5-star a song as opposed to just beating it. This has to do with your overall final score. Once you have a high enough score on a song, you 5-star it. The score needed to get a 5 star rating is based on your multiplier (the meter that shows whether you have no combo, a x2 combo, a x4 combo, or a x8 combo if you happen to be under starpower holding a combo) using a fancy mathematical formula that I do not know. Basically, if you hit a high enough score, you 5-star it. And you hit a high score by keeping a combo through as much as the song as possible and through using starpower (especially in parts of the song where the starpower is likely to reap you a high score--i.e., chords or passages with a lot of notes). It is obviously easy to combo the early songs, but later songs do not have many easy parts to hold a combo in. "Misirlou," for instance, has almost no passage where you can hold a combo consistently without large amounts of skill.
Let's talk about some of the tough ones. Everything in the first four tiers was not particularly challenging if you have already gotten to the skill level where you are thinking of going after the Log (a once inconceivable goal for me). "Freya" in the fifth tier was an obstacle, but it has so much repetition that once you bring the song into practice mode for a bit, you'll get it. By the way, practice mode becomes invaluable when you are going for five stars. I imagine most people do not utilize this mode during normal play, but it is a gift from God when you need to learn a part, because you are able to slow parts down and do them over and over again, until you get the fingerings right and get some muscle memory down, at which point you can speed it back up. Unfortunately practice mode was always very boring for me (if you haven't noticed in my post about not reading enough, I am a pussy when it comes to discipline and trying to have a long attention span). It was hard mentally to do a short part of a song over and over and over again, often on slow speeds, but that is what you have to do if you want to become a world-beater. I utilized practice mode enough to nab the Log, but I was never able to become a truly talented player because I didn't put in enough time in practice mode. I have read stuff from great players who say that they never even play songs normally outside of practice mode unless they are seriously going for score. That takes discipline.
In the next tier, we have a seriously annoying song, "Rock This Town." In his breakdown, Jesse smartly ranks this as #58 out of 64 in the game to 5-star. I don't know what it is about this song, but the rhythm is all kinds of fucked-up. Mike was known for his early passion for this song (possibly on hard mode? I forget...), but by the time we got to the thoughts of actually 5-starring it, he had to quietly step back into the shadows, because this is a song you don't attempt to tackle without some serious practice, and Mike was never as dedicated as me when it came to practice. Mike kinda stopped playing the game seriously after he completed it on expert. He wasn't ready to take it to that next level, just like I was not ready to take it to the next level after getting my Log (and don't let anyone fool you, there are many levels past this). We all have our limits.
The next tier is the penultimate one, and what a bitch it is (keep in mind I did not 5-star all of the songs in order--my final 5-star was in this tier, for instance, but the later ones do tend to be much, much harder than the earlier ones as you can see). "Madhouse" is the only (relatively) easy song here. You have "Carry Me Home" which is ranked two songs below "Rock This Town." "YYZ" is not exactly easy. Then you have "Laid to Rest," which was a personal enemy of mine. This is what I was talking about in a previous post when I said that some things were very hard for me that were easy to others. Jesse ranks this as a mid-upper level to hard song, but a lot of others never found this too challenging. I remember Mike being pretty good at this song (again, he never 5-starred it, though. Why not, Mike?). This was an absolute and total pain for me. The thing about this tier was that not only were the songs hard, they were all bad songs too. I hated pretty much everything on this tier ("YYZ" wasn't too bad). Fuck you, Lamb of God. I'm sure Greg is rolling in his shallow grave right now. I could never get the fucking melody of this song down, and that is probably the part that is easiest for everyone else. This was my #55 out of 64 total songs (there are only 40 in the main setlist, so this includes bonus songs too).
"Beast and the Harlot" was hard at first, but practice mode really helped me on this one, and I went on to 6-star it (this, "Police Truck," and "Number of the Beast" were my only final tier 6 stars). "Free Bird" also feels like it should be a lot harder then it actually is. "Institutionalized" is another story. This is just a damn hard song to 5-star. No if's, and's, or but's about it. You have to learn to hit the choruses in this song, which is not that easy, but once you do (through practice mode), this song falls apart under your sweaty hands. "Hangar 18" lies next--the second hardest song in the final tier to 5-star. There is no easy way to get around this. You have to learn to hit the bigger riff, which is no cakewalk. But there is absolutely no way you'll be able to combo anything else in the last two minutes of the song, because the rest is solos. Just pray for a good run.
This leaves two songs left, and these two are the hardest motherfuckers there are. "Misirlou" and "Psychobilly Freakout." I got them in that order, although "Misirlou" is conventionally considered to be the harder 5 star to get. I just had a lucky run on "Misirlou," which allowed me to get it. This is one of the few songs where practice mode really doesn't help you (at least not with the majority of the song). This is because you cannot slow down the fast strumming of "Misirlou" to practice it--it will just fuck your rhythm up. A lot of people have trouble with fast strumming in this series, so they get screwed come "Misirlou." The only reason to take the song into practice mode is to practice the final set of triple chords, which is how basically everyone gets the 5 star. Activate SP over these trips and you're pretty much golden if you hit them with a x8 combo. However, it should be noted I didn't do this. I never really practiced this part too much, so I almost never hit it with a perfect multiplier. That is basically how I did things in the game--I never hit the parts you were supposed to when I did pull the 5 star out of my ass for songs. I just had a lucky run where my rhythm was great and I hit most of the verses under x4. This is I would say my greatest 5 star ever (a case could be made for "Texas Flood," but I hit it under the influence of opiates, so I consider it to not be as legitimate).
"Psychobilly Freakout" was the last song I 5-starred out of the main setlist, and it took forever. There is absolutely nothing about this song that is easy. And almost nothing repeats other then that chorus, so you absolutely have to hit it and try to hit those ending chords with a multiplier. This song was a damn pain to get. When I did get that Log, though, God--that whole year and a half was totally worth it. It made the achievement so much more worth it that I put in so much effort.
I was not able to hit the equivalent of the Log in GH1, Guitar Hero: Rock the '80s or GH3. True, I did not put in as much effort as I did in GH2 and that is probably a lot of the reason why. In all of these games I was only one song away. "Cowboys from Hell" in GH1 (no practice mode in this game really makes it a pain to go after 5 stars), "Play with Me" in '80s (I was starting to get close on this one, and I think I could do it with time), and "Raining Blood" from GH3 (I was getting close in this too). It has always let me down that I never got these songs 5-starred, as well as the two bonus songs in GH2 that I never got. "Jordan" is considered to be an easier 5 star to get than "Misirlou," and I believe that. The only thing is, "Jordan" might be the hardest song to pass in the entire series. I have never once beaten it, and that is my biggest let-down. I would rather beat it then Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" (I can't believe I once got past the solo of "TTFAF" and failed at 90% because my finger was on the wrong button!). I was able to pretty consistently combo everything in "Jordan" outside of the solo, but that fucking solo is absolutely insane on the GH2 engine (a lot more unforgiving than GH3's, and that is one of my problems with GH3: they made the engine so easy to hit HOPO's [hammer-ons and pull-offs] that they overcharted all of their [bad] songs as a result, making a mess of the game). "Six" was the other song I was never able to 5-star in GH2. This is somewhat understandable, just because this song is absoultely damn ridiculous to combo. Jesse ranks it as the fourth-hardest in the series to 5-star, right before "Cowboys from Hell" and "Texas Flood" (this was another luck run, and like I said, I was lightly under the influence of opiates, so I have never been as proud of this one as I have been of "Misirlou").
My goal was always to 5-star every single expert song. I think with a lot of practice I could've gotten almost all of them. After all, I was missing only 10. The only one that I perhaps would not have been able to get is the annoying oh-my-god-look-how-hard-this-song-is-lol song "Through the Fire and Flames" in GH3. This is exponentially harder to 5-star than all of the other songs. But still, I had it as my goal that I would get them all, so I was going to try. My descent into drug addiction prevented me from playing anymore, because, like I mentioned before, I considered being under the influence as cheating since I found that I choked less often when I was high on opiates. They helped with the nervousness of my playing, so I thought it was unfair to count scores while on them.
Let me take a minute here to give shouts out to all of the bonus songs and songs from other games which were also a pain in the ass to 5-star on expert. First, let's do GH1: "Texas Flood" is considered the second-hardest 5-star in the entire series (I believe that "Cowboys from Hell" is harder personally, but that's just me); "Frankenstein" is an absolute bitch to get; "Bark at the Moon" I got soon thereafter, and is an absolute rocking song; "The Breaking Wheel" is the hardest bonus song to get, and the only big strumming song in GH1--it is such a pain to get because its speed keeps on changing randomly.
GH2 bonus songs: "Raw Dog" (fuck you, this song should not be hard); "FTK" (stupid song, no one knows about it, and hence no one wants to play it); "Gemini" (wait...looking up my score, I never 5-starred this?! Maybe I did and never posted it, I dunno, but that sucks if I didn't...I had to have, come on! It is ranked as just above "Thunderhorse" and just below "Carry Me Home"; you know what? I think I got this, but I will go and check sometime, although I think my GH2 is missing at the moment); "Less Talk More Rokk" (hard until you learn it in practice mode, then it's a lot of fun); "The Light That Blinds" (fast strumming craziness); "Thunderhorse" (along with "Laid to Rest," this is the song I hate most in the game--not hard for anyone else but me apparently).
GH '80s: "Electric Eye" (lots o' chord changes); "Caught in a Mosh" (fast strumming without being "fast strumming," w/ lots of chord changes); "Seventeen" (to me this is the hardest song because of hand changes other than "Play with Me," which is all solo).
GH3: I never really tried that seriously at this game, because by the time I bought it, I was losing interest in the series (partly because of how bad I thought GH3 was compared to the first two--two words: sell out). I don't even know what was that hard in this game other than the ones I didn't get ("Raining Blood" and some pain-in-the-ass bonus songs that suck). Fuck this game. It's sad that the games actually got worse in the series after this.
Anyways, hopefully this post shows how important this achievement was for me. This moment is not so much an individual moment as much as it was the summing up of a year's-plus worth of effort towards one goal: 5-starring all of the career songs in Guitar Hero II. I have never been quite so obsessed with a video game as I was at the peak of my playing with the Guitar Hero series. This was always my goal, but it was my biggest fear that I would never quite get the Log. My final goal was to 5-star all of the expert songs and to get a bunch of FCs, and I vaguely knew that I might never get this, but I'm glad I got the Log on the path to that. It's one thing I can cherish forever to picture myself at the top of my abilities at this game. One thing is for sure: I will never be able to 5-star "Misirlou" again.
--Edward
1.) The Log (Guitar Hero II): Now, as a warning, this is going to be a long post, so please bear with me. A lot of the above moments have been simply cute happenstances or memorable moments, but few have been the product of actual hard work (the 2:40 is one of those, as well as the other Guitar Hero moments). This achievement took me between a year and a year and a half to achieve. But oh God was it ever worth it. Let's clear this up right now: the Log is the guitar you get after 5-starring all of the main setlist songs in Guitar Hero II on expert (so basically every song in story mode). The guitar is an ugly thing itself, crudely shaped out of a log (hence its name). (You get the "Eyeball" for 5-starring all of the setlist songs on hard, which is a really good accomplishment--harder than beating the game on expert.) It is what it stands for that counts. It means that you are one of the elite few who have 5-starred every song from "Shout at the Devil" to "Free Bird." Here is another breakdown thread which shows the difficulty of 5-starring all of the expert songs in the series in comparison to each other: http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60158&highlight=. It shows the pain I went through. Let me just say right now that it is a lot (A LOT A LOT A LOT A LOT A LOT) harder to 5-star songs than beat them. Just because you can beat the game on expert, please do not compare this with getting the Log. Even if you can 5-star 95% of the game, please do not compare this with getting the Log. I had gotten maybe all but 10 out of the 40 songs in the setlist within the first month or two, but it took me the last year to get those last 10. Some songs are exponentially harder to nail than others.
Some people might ask how you 5-star a song as opposed to just beating it. This has to do with your overall final score. Once you have a high enough score on a song, you 5-star it. The score needed to get a 5 star rating is based on your multiplier (the meter that shows whether you have no combo, a x2 combo, a x4 combo, or a x8 combo if you happen to be under starpower holding a combo) using a fancy mathematical formula that I do not know. Basically, if you hit a high enough score, you 5-star it. And you hit a high score by keeping a combo through as much as the song as possible and through using starpower (especially in parts of the song where the starpower is likely to reap you a high score--i.e., chords or passages with a lot of notes). It is obviously easy to combo the early songs, but later songs do not have many easy parts to hold a combo in. "Misirlou," for instance, has almost no passage where you can hold a combo consistently without large amounts of skill.
Let's talk about some of the tough ones. Everything in the first four tiers was not particularly challenging if you have already gotten to the skill level where you are thinking of going after the Log (a once inconceivable goal for me). "Freya" in the fifth tier was an obstacle, but it has so much repetition that once you bring the song into practice mode for a bit, you'll get it. By the way, practice mode becomes invaluable when you are going for five stars. I imagine most people do not utilize this mode during normal play, but it is a gift from God when you need to learn a part, because you are able to slow parts down and do them over and over again, until you get the fingerings right and get some muscle memory down, at which point you can speed it back up. Unfortunately practice mode was always very boring for me (if you haven't noticed in my post about not reading enough, I am a pussy when it comes to discipline and trying to have a long attention span). It was hard mentally to do a short part of a song over and over and over again, often on slow speeds, but that is what you have to do if you want to become a world-beater. I utilized practice mode enough to nab the Log, but I was never able to become a truly talented player because I didn't put in enough time in practice mode. I have read stuff from great players who say that they never even play songs normally outside of practice mode unless they are seriously going for score. That takes discipline.
In the next tier, we have a seriously annoying song, "Rock This Town." In his breakdown, Jesse smartly ranks this as #58 out of 64 in the game to 5-star. I don't know what it is about this song, but the rhythm is all kinds of fucked-up. Mike was known for his early passion for this song (possibly on hard mode? I forget...), but by the time we got to the thoughts of actually 5-starring it, he had to quietly step back into the shadows, because this is a song you don't attempt to tackle without some serious practice, and Mike was never as dedicated as me when it came to practice. Mike kinda stopped playing the game seriously after he completed it on expert. He wasn't ready to take it to that next level, just like I was not ready to take it to the next level after getting my Log (and don't let anyone fool you, there are many levels past this). We all have our limits.
The next tier is the penultimate one, and what a bitch it is (keep in mind I did not 5-star all of the songs in order--my final 5-star was in this tier, for instance, but the later ones do tend to be much, much harder than the earlier ones as you can see). "Madhouse" is the only (relatively) easy song here. You have "Carry Me Home" which is ranked two songs below "Rock This Town." "YYZ" is not exactly easy. Then you have "Laid to Rest," which was a personal enemy of mine. This is what I was talking about in a previous post when I said that some things were very hard for me that were easy to others. Jesse ranks this as a mid-upper level to hard song, but a lot of others never found this too challenging. I remember Mike being pretty good at this song (again, he never 5-starred it, though. Why not, Mike?). This was an absolute and total pain for me. The thing about this tier was that not only were the songs hard, they were all bad songs too. I hated pretty much everything on this tier ("YYZ" wasn't too bad). Fuck you, Lamb of God. I'm sure Greg is rolling in his shallow grave right now. I could never get the fucking melody of this song down, and that is probably the part that is easiest for everyone else. This was my #55 out of 64 total songs (there are only 40 in the main setlist, so this includes bonus songs too).
"Beast and the Harlot" was hard at first, but practice mode really helped me on this one, and I went on to 6-star it (this, "Police Truck," and "Number of the Beast" were my only final tier 6 stars). "Free Bird" also feels like it should be a lot harder then it actually is. "Institutionalized" is another story. This is just a damn hard song to 5-star. No if's, and's, or but's about it. You have to learn to hit the choruses in this song, which is not that easy, but once you do (through practice mode), this song falls apart under your sweaty hands. "Hangar 18" lies next--the second hardest song in the final tier to 5-star. There is no easy way to get around this. You have to learn to hit the bigger riff, which is no cakewalk. But there is absolutely no way you'll be able to combo anything else in the last two minutes of the song, because the rest is solos. Just pray for a good run.
This leaves two songs left, and these two are the hardest motherfuckers there are. "Misirlou" and "Psychobilly Freakout." I got them in that order, although "Misirlou" is conventionally considered to be the harder 5 star to get. I just had a lucky run on "Misirlou," which allowed me to get it. This is one of the few songs where practice mode really doesn't help you (at least not with the majority of the song). This is because you cannot slow down the fast strumming of "Misirlou" to practice it--it will just fuck your rhythm up. A lot of people have trouble with fast strumming in this series, so they get screwed come "Misirlou." The only reason to take the song into practice mode is to practice the final set of triple chords, which is how basically everyone gets the 5 star. Activate SP over these trips and you're pretty much golden if you hit them with a x8 combo. However, it should be noted I didn't do this. I never really practiced this part too much, so I almost never hit it with a perfect multiplier. That is basically how I did things in the game--I never hit the parts you were supposed to when I did pull the 5 star out of my ass for songs. I just had a lucky run where my rhythm was great and I hit most of the verses under x4. This is I would say my greatest 5 star ever (a case could be made for "Texas Flood," but I hit it under the influence of opiates, so I consider it to not be as legitimate).
"Psychobilly Freakout" was the last song I 5-starred out of the main setlist, and it took forever. There is absolutely nothing about this song that is easy. And almost nothing repeats other then that chorus, so you absolutely have to hit it and try to hit those ending chords with a multiplier. This song was a damn pain to get. When I did get that Log, though, God--that whole year and a half was totally worth it. It made the achievement so much more worth it that I put in so much effort.
I was not able to hit the equivalent of the Log in GH1, Guitar Hero: Rock the '80s or GH3. True, I did not put in as much effort as I did in GH2 and that is probably a lot of the reason why. In all of these games I was only one song away. "Cowboys from Hell" in GH1 (no practice mode in this game really makes it a pain to go after 5 stars), "Play with Me" in '80s (I was starting to get close on this one, and I think I could do it with time), and "Raining Blood" from GH3 (I was getting close in this too). It has always let me down that I never got these songs 5-starred, as well as the two bonus songs in GH2 that I never got. "Jordan" is considered to be an easier 5 star to get than "Misirlou," and I believe that. The only thing is, "Jordan" might be the hardest song to pass in the entire series. I have never once beaten it, and that is my biggest let-down. I would rather beat it then Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" (I can't believe I once got past the solo of "TTFAF" and failed at 90% because my finger was on the wrong button!). I was able to pretty consistently combo everything in "Jordan" outside of the solo, but that fucking solo is absolutely insane on the GH2 engine (a lot more unforgiving than GH3's, and that is one of my problems with GH3: they made the engine so easy to hit HOPO's [hammer-ons and pull-offs] that they overcharted all of their [bad] songs as a result, making a mess of the game). "Six" was the other song I was never able to 5-star in GH2. This is somewhat understandable, just because this song is absoultely damn ridiculous to combo. Jesse ranks it as the fourth-hardest in the series to 5-star, right before "Cowboys from Hell" and "Texas Flood" (this was another luck run, and like I said, I was lightly under the influence of opiates, so I have never been as proud of this one as I have been of "Misirlou").
My goal was always to 5-star every single expert song. I think with a lot of practice I could've gotten almost all of them. After all, I was missing only 10. The only one that I perhaps would not have been able to get is the annoying oh-my-god-look-how-hard-this-song-is-lol song "Through the Fire and Flames" in GH3. This is exponentially harder to 5-star than all of the other songs. But still, I had it as my goal that I would get them all, so I was going to try. My descent into drug addiction prevented me from playing anymore, because, like I mentioned before, I considered being under the influence as cheating since I found that I choked less often when I was high on opiates. They helped with the nervousness of my playing, so I thought it was unfair to count scores while on them.
Let me take a minute here to give shouts out to all of the bonus songs and songs from other games which were also a pain in the ass to 5-star on expert. First, let's do GH1: "Texas Flood" is considered the second-hardest 5-star in the entire series (I believe that "Cowboys from Hell" is harder personally, but that's just me); "Frankenstein" is an absolute bitch to get; "Bark at the Moon" I got soon thereafter, and is an absolute rocking song; "The Breaking Wheel" is the hardest bonus song to get, and the only big strumming song in GH1--it is such a pain to get because its speed keeps on changing randomly.
GH2 bonus songs: "Raw Dog" (fuck you, this song should not be hard); "FTK" (stupid song, no one knows about it, and hence no one wants to play it); "Gemini" (wait...looking up my score, I never 5-starred this?! Maybe I did and never posted it, I dunno, but that sucks if I didn't...I had to have, come on! It is ranked as just above "Thunderhorse" and just below "Carry Me Home"; you know what? I think I got this, but I will go and check sometime, although I think my GH2 is missing at the moment); "Less Talk More Rokk" (hard until you learn it in practice mode, then it's a lot of fun); "The Light That Blinds" (fast strumming craziness); "Thunderhorse" (along with "Laid to Rest," this is the song I hate most in the game--not hard for anyone else but me apparently).
GH '80s: "Electric Eye" (lots o' chord changes); "Caught in a Mosh" (fast strumming without being "fast strumming," w/ lots of chord changes); "Seventeen" (to me this is the hardest song because of hand changes other than "Play with Me," which is all solo).
GH3: I never really tried that seriously at this game, because by the time I bought it, I was losing interest in the series (partly because of how bad I thought GH3 was compared to the first two--two words: sell out). I don't even know what was that hard in this game other than the ones I didn't get ("Raining Blood" and some pain-in-the-ass bonus songs that suck). Fuck this game. It's sad that the games actually got worse in the series after this.
Anyways, hopefully this post shows how important this achievement was for me. This moment is not so much an individual moment as much as it was the summing up of a year's-plus worth of effort towards one goal: 5-starring all of the career songs in Guitar Hero II. I have never been quite so obsessed with a video game as I was at the peak of my playing with the Guitar Hero series. This was always my goal, but it was my biggest fear that I would never quite get the Log. My final goal was to 5-star all of the expert songs and to get a bunch of FCs, and I vaguely knew that I might never get this, but I'm glad I got the Log on the path to that. It's one thing I can cherish forever to picture myself at the top of my abilities at this game. One thing is for sure: I will never be able to 5-star "Misirlou" again.
--Edward
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)