[1001] Califor-nya-nya…Games
Many people might well have been excited by the Olympics this year. But there is another competition that grips us all at the UCHG much more than London 2012 — and that is:
1001 No.64: ‘California Games’ (Sega Master System, 1987)
California may well be super cool to the homeless, but it also has many varied, and thrilling sports — including Skateboarding, Surfing, Roller Skating, Foot Bag, BMX, and most importantly, Flying Disc.
These are all challenging in their own ways, mainly because most of the time we have no idea what we’re doing. At the UCHG we decided to hold our competition to be theCalifornia Champion — look out for Ross and Brad in a furious battle for 2nd place.
The Ratchet & Clank series is now pretty well known, and has spawned a hell of a lot of games — currently standing at around 12 in all, with re-releases and ‘HD remakes’ still turning up for the current generation of consoles. It’s a popular series — and of course there’s good reason for that. Let’s look at 2 of the 3 that feature in the 1001 list –
1001 No.62: ‘Ratchet & Clank’ (PS2, 2002)
The original game in the series was a relatively early PS2 title, coming out 2 years after the PS2 itself. But you’d never know it — it looks great, and even playing through it today I was surprised at the framerate and generally impressive look of the game. The voice acting is well done, and the characters of Ratchet (a weird kinda rabbit alien thing) and Clank (a little robot dude) are rather loveable — it’s a nice comedic duo, and you do warm to them.
The premise is pretty simple — you’re just some rabbit thing minding his business, when (with the arrival of Clank) you get caught up in a galactic struggle to save the universe from a crazed evil alien, whose plan it is to build all over other people’s planets. Basically a mad property developer.
It’s essentially just a platformer, but with many different kinds of fun weapons — so many that sometimes it’s a pain just to cycle through them all. It’s simplistic, slightly lengthy if anything, but fun — and certainly not without its challenges. You can see why the series really took off, as it manages to tread that line of frustration vs reward, with plenty of variety to keep you hooked. You hop from planet to planet, shooting bad guys and collecting 1000’s of bolts, which act as currency.
1001 No.63: ‘Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction’ (PS3, 2007)
This new instalment of the series was the first to appear on the PS3, and so as expected takes advantage of the increased abilities of the system — it looks fantastic, and plays superbly. All the elements are still there from the previous game — it’s the same kind of shooter/platformer, with an even bigger arsenal, more stuff to kill, more bolts to collect, and more planets to visit. The storyline is nothing special either — another case of ‘save the galaxy’, this time from a creature who seems determined to exterminate your species.
On one hand you could say it is far too similar, that it’s just ‘more of the same’ — and I’m pretty confident that every Ratchet & Clank game plays pretty identically — but why change a winning formula? Obviously there are always a few new features, new weapons, etc — but it’s like any major gaming series — Zelda, Mario, Sonic — it’s consistent.
That’s not to say I’d put Ratchet & Clank up there with those giants of gaming — it’s great, sure — but it still does just feel like it’s missing that special something that would make it a real classic series. Saying that, I will still give the many other titles a go someday…
I’ve been embracing the world of handhelds, and am now in possession of a 3DS. Rather than play the latest and greatest 3D titles though, I’ve gone back through the 1001 and dug out a few weird sounding ones for the original DS (thank you backwards compatibility).
And this one certainly is a bit weird. It’s called:
1001 No.61: ‘Hotel Dusk: Room 215′ (DS, 2007)
It’s essentially a little mystery game. You’re some ex-cop, who works for a kind of private detective agency that poses as a door-to-door sales company. You apparently left the force because you shot your partner (Bradley) but are convinced he’s still alive and out there somewhere. And for some reason you’ve ended up in some deadbeat hotel. So far so weird.
But it gets much weirder, in that the hotel is full of coincidences and characters from your past, and the whole thing becomes one crazy mystery — with red herrings, dead ends and twists all over the place. The actual gameplay is pretty much made up of one main thing — dialogue. To play, you hold the DS vertically like a book, and it sure feels like one — conversations seem to go on forever.
Be sure to be paying attention though — as an ex-cop, of course it’s pretty much your duty to go sticking your nose in all over the place, and so you do with great delight. What this means is that every now and then there’s a kind of interrogation as each mini-mystery comes to a close, and if you ask the wrong thing or miss a vital clue — GAME OVER.
It’s got a great visual style, rotoscoping making it almost comic-book like — and has obviously Japanese roots. But it’s been localised really well, and the dialogue (although bloody lengthy) is well written and pretty engaging. I did actually end up caring about the characters, which shows they’re doing something right.
It tries admirably to use some of the DS’s unique features, like the stylus etc, but it’s obviously in the relatively early days of the DS. It’ll never win any ‘best game ever’ awards, but despite being a pretty linear narrative, with no real choices apart from the correct ones, it’s good fun — and as always with things like this it’s just nice to see something that’s a break from the norm.
Hmm. A game, based in Japan, about earthquakes and tsunamis… You certainly couldn’t make something like this nowadays, and indeed they can’t — there was a planned sequel to this for PS3 that was cancelled in light of the 2011 earthquakes in Japan.
1001 No.60: ‘SOS: Final Escape / Disaster Report’ (PS2, 2003)
Now this is not a mainstream game in the slightest. On first glance it looks like your standard 3rd person PS2 classic — but what are the bad guys? Terrorists? Aliens? Zombies? The answer is none of these (kinda). It’s your environment.
You know all those disaster movies, where some massive crisis hits a city and everyone enters a struggle for survival? Ever think that’d make a good game? Well someone certainly did, and that became ‘Disaster Report’ — or as it’s known in the UK for some reason, ‘SOS: Final Escape’.
You’re just a guy coming into your first day of a new job, on a new man-made island — when suddenly an earthquake strikes and chaos ensues. You miss the first rescue chopper, and so from then on you’re left to try and find safety within a constantly collapsing city.
Whether it actually does make a good game is another question. It is quite fun for the most part, and has some interesting mechanics — you can construct things to help you on your way, such as by combining a hard-hat, torch and tape to make a headlamp; and the reliance on water is a good way to keep you moving — you have a ‘thirst’ level as well as a health meter.
There are some basic choices along the way that can dictate different endings, but that would mean that you actually care about the plot — which you won’t. As you might expect, there is some dastardly conspiracy behind the disaster you’re caught up in — but it does all get rather silly. As it was originally a Japanese game, the dialogue and voice acting has been localised for English speaking countries — but it’s pretty damn bad in places, and the controls are clunky as hell.
Like quite a few games I’ve come across so far in the 1001, this seems to be on the list mainly because it’s rather unique — and while it is pretty rough around the edges, it’s always good to see something new.
Here’s a few games to try on the awesome little handheld that is the Gameboy Advance…
1001 No.57: ‘Advance Wars’ (Gameboy Advance, 2002)
In the past, turn-based-strategy games have turned me right off. These are type of the games where, unlike something like Command & Conquer, each player takes turns to decide their next move — and decisions are dictated by a number of points that can be used to move, attack etc.
Frankly I always found the idea extremely boring and tedious — where would the excitement be? Turns out I was wrong… so very wrong.
Advance Wars has tension — and if anything it is even more tense than your normal strategy game. What’s my next move? What is my opponent thinking? It’s like a game of chess, but the kind of chess where your pieces go around shooting, shelling and bombing eachother. It’s brilliant. And it’s tough — one small error early on can cost you the game, and it requires some real careful thought about how you deploy your armies. Don’t you dare consider sending those little mechanised infantry against those heavy tanks — and woe betide you if you leave your anti-air units undefended!
Try it, it’s brilliant fun, with awesome anime style graphics and a good learning curve. Thanks 1001 for getting me to try Advance Wars! There were a couple of sequels too, so at some point I’ll have to check them out…
1001 No.58: ‘Drill Dozer’ (Gameboy Advance, 2006)
It’s always great to see something fresh, a new spin on an old idea — and so I really enjoyed stumbling upon Drill Dozer, an odd little 2D platformer on the Gameboy Advance. It’s like very many games of its type, with varied levels, bad guys, and creative end-of-stage bosses — but what makes Drill Dozer different is in the name: your drill.
You basically control a mini drilling machine, and with the use of the L + R buttons you can shift through gears for more power. Your drill is your one and only tool — it is your weapon but also is used for all sorts of things — spin through maintenance shafts; propel yourself across gaps; attach a propeller to go through water, or fly through the air.
The original cartridge featured a built-in rumble pack; but was never released in Europe. A snappy storyline, funny dialogue, cute graphics, and not too long — this one is most definitely worth a go.
1001 No.59: ‘Astro Boy: Omega Factor’ (Gameboy Advance, 2005)
Not a huge amount to say about this one — it’s a brilliant side scroller by some of the guys who made Gunstar Heroes, so you can guess at both the tough level of difficulty and the epic madness that’s in store for you should you try it.
It’s based on some anime tv show thing, which probably adds something if you know the characters — but it doesn’t matter. One odd thing about it is the amount of revisiting of old levels you need to do to get the true ending — [spoiler alert!] the first time through the game, you actually lose. Weird. And tough. But good. Features flying robot horses.