DAY 151 / GAME 151 Ghostbusters (Sega Genesis)

 DAY 151 / GAME 151

Ghostbusters (Sega Genesis)


      Back when my brother and I first got our Sega Genesis one of the things we used to do was borrow stacks of games from my uncle to play through at home.  One day, on my birthday, my uncle called me up and told me to choose one of the games I had borrowed to keep it as a gift.  Which was pretty damned cool.  So I looked at the stack I had sitting by my Sega and picked my favorite title that I hadn't beat yet.  Ghostbusters.
        Growing up, my brother and I loved Ghostbusters; both the movies and the animated series.  And although this Ghostbusters game for the Sega Genesis may not be the best representation of the films, it contained enough relevant content that it made me happy.

           Ghostbusters the movie wasn't exactly an action film, I guess you may call it a 'paranormal comedy'.  So your choices are somewhat limited when it comes down to basing a game off the content.  Now, you'd think that if you wanted to create a comedy game you'd have made an adventure title where writing and dialog are up front.  But instead developer Compile in Japan made the movie into a side scrolling shooter/platformer title.  In the end though, they managed to make a pretty solid title that felt like although it contained a lot of original content, still kept on style with the original property.  Except the character select screen.  That art is terrible.  Only Ray looks like himself.  And where the heck is Winston?  Believe it or not they skipped his character in the game.  It's like the people responsible only watched the first half of the movie..

       Ghostbusters starts with you getting a few calls from potential clients who want you to clear out the haunting in their buildings.  You begin with 4 houses to choose from and can attack it any way you wish.  Though each of them vary quite a bit in difficulty and there is a typical easy-to-hard order which is the best way to tackle it.  Each building is haunted differently, one house is full of spiritual fire and (oddly enough) is pitch black; requiring purchase of night-vision goggles to properly complete it.  One building is frozen over, and I can't quite remember the other two, except that they all also varied in size as well.  The little old lady's house being the smallest and the high-rise apartment being the largest.  

       Each building contains a few mini-boss ghosts that you need to defeat before making your way to the final boss ghost and then of course tons of little ghosts littered all over the level.  With the exception of hauling in the final spirit and trapping it after defeating it, for extra cash, you never use your typical particle beam and trap system.  I guess it would make the game silly, since you'd be hauling around tons of traps, or there would have to be only one or two ghosts per level.  Instead, you find yourself using various anti-ghost guns like the '3-way shot', 'shell' and your usual single-shot proton gun.

              Ghostbusters was a fun, kinda dark, silly 16-bit title that I loved.  Everything from the stubby little caricatures of Peter, Ray and Egon (No Winston???) to the creepy 80's ghost designs and the terrific chiptune soundtrack.  It was a little stray from the movies, but as far as early 8 and 16-bit game go for movie-tie-ins, this really was pretty good.  When I recently hooked up my Genesis again, this was definitely one of the first cartridges I tossed in.

DAY 150 / GAME 150 Counter-Strike

 DAY 150 / GAME 150

Counter-Strike


      With the popularity of Half Life and it's included level modding tools came a huge game modifying community.  While I was in university I used to play Half Life online deathmatch with friends of mine from back home.  The basic game was pretty fun but as new fan mods started to show up we tried a whole ton of them.  Some were silly, like Boxwars, where everyone was a crate amongst a sea of crates.  And some were very successful.  Counter-Strike was one of the later.  
        Counter-Strike was so successful it was acquired by Valve and the creators hired.  It's been consistently updated over the past 15 years, released on multiple platforms and seen a number of ports, rebuilds and sequels.  Aside from Team Fortress -also from Valve and using the Half-Life engine- Counter-Strike has grown to be one of the longest running and perhaps most popular online FPS multiplayer to date.  

Graphical progress over 15 years.

         I remember when a friend of mine at UofT residence showed it to me.  I was amazed because for the first time in an FPS game took proper care to recreate the weapons in both animated action and design.  And although I don't consider myself a 'gun-nut' I always appreciate when someone recreates the weapons nicely in a shooter title.  As soon as I started playing though, I was hooked.  I spent way too many late nights playing Counter-Strike when I should have been working on my classes, I'm pretty sure I recall playing until the sun came up.

         I also got surprising good at it.  Although I can get pretty good at most competitive local multiplayer games, once you drop me into a pot of online players I tend to do quite poorly.  But when playing  Counter-Strike I managed to roll in at the top, or near top of the rankings at the end of the match.  Mind you, CS featured simple, easy to learn levels and basic goals like team vs team bombing runs and VIP deathmatches.  So, it doesn't take hours to put yourself into a position where you know the game inside-and-out.  It also didn't feature any over-the-top leveling system like Call of Duty where consistent players start with regularly better weapons.  And even if they did, in Counter-Strike you may be just as well-off with a cheap pistol if you know what you're doing.

         Counter-Strike was a basic Terrorist vs Counter-Terrorist FPS game where each team starts with a different goal.  During a bomb defusal game, Terrorists place a bomb at a preset goal and defend that position.  Counter-Terrorists aim to defuse the bomb, usually wiping out the opposing team in the process.  VIP requires Counter-Terrorists to protect a living target while Terrorists attack and Hostage maps are basically the opposite.  Hostage maps were a blast though, because if you're feeling like a right a-hole you can kill your own hostages.  Which I've been known to do after threatening the other players with demands.  

          I put tons of hours into Counter-Strike.  Which is pretty great considering that other than the initial purchase of Half-Life, the game was free.  I've never played a game mod so much and never seen one blow up into something this huge.  I got along perfectly fine with the random online crowd, but that that ever seemed to be an issue back in 1999.  What I really need to do now is try out the latest version after not playing this for 15 years and see how things have changed.  I'm sure I'll be right there on the bottom of the charts.

DAY 149 / GAME 149 Dead Space

 DAY 149 / GAME 149

Dead Space


      When Denise reads this she's going to hate my guts because she's going to find out that 6 years ago I dropped $150 US plus shipping on the ultra special edition of this game before anyone knew it was going to be any good.  Except me.  I knew it was going to be good.
        This collector's edition came in a special box and included a Ishimura patch, tiny artbook, hardcover graphic novel, two signed and numbered pieces of artwork and an animated short on DVD.  As well as the game of course.  The funny part about all this is that a couple years later while attending a Dead Space PAX East panel hosted by Visceral Games I managed to score both the artbook and the hardcover novel just for showing up and got them both signed. 

          But yeah, Dead Space turned out to be an incredibly rich new science fiction horror property; right from the very beginning when you crash land your ship into the floating graveyard Ishimura.  Dead Space follows engineer Isaac Clarke who arrives at the 'planet cracker' mining ship as part of a small rescue team investigating a distress signal.  Not realizing they were in for anything more than a downed transmitter, Isaac quickly finds himself surrounded by horrific creatures that are the product of the reanimated Ishimura crew.

         Everything about this game is brilliant and inventive.  There is no UI in the standard sense, all your information is built into the world design.  Heath is shown as a meter on your RIG system (the lit up spine of the suit), ammunition and other info is shown as holographic displays projected from your suit.  Your weapons are not weapons in the traditional sense, as an engineer you find yourself using dangerous tools like laser welders, plasma cutters, rotary saws and a hydrazine torch.  Tools that allow you to dismember your violent aggressors as trying to kill them by any other means is just a waste of time.

            There are some great sections in this game where you have to make your way through sections where the interior is breached, forcing you to quickly pass with a limited air supply to the next area.  All the while, everything is a deadened silence as no air means no sound.  
         Everything has a great mechanical design that feels real and tangible.  The monsters are horrific and Visceral really didn't pull any punches with the designs which capture husks of the humans they were as part of the grotesque beasts they now are.  Everything about the game is designed to make you feel vulnerable, even with a few ranged weapons on your person you are constantly worried that something is going to drop down from the ceiling and rip your suit apart to chow-down on the goo inside.

        Dead Space is easily one of my absolute favorite games of all time.  The horror element was the exciting part that grabbed my interest, but the solid, tangible sci-fi elements sold me on the rest.  The designs are amazing, the sound is fantastic and the overall atmosphere of the game is cold and haunting.  I'm glad I jumped on this game when it came out and I've never been disappointed yet.  Dead Space 1, 2, 3 and Extraction for the Wii were all amazing and I can't wait for a 4th.

DAY 148 / GAME 148 Duke Nukem 3D

 DAY 148 / GAME 148

Duke Nukem 3D


      Back when First Person Shooter games were the new thing on the market, there were a lot of Doom clones out there, but one stood out as almost a direct competitor; Duke Nukem 3D.  An FPS sequel to an MS-DOS side scroller, Duke Nukem 3D was over-the top, crude, horribly sexist, but also disgustingly fun and unique.  

       Duke Nukem is a 80s/90s action hero with giant arms, a golden tan, buzz-cut, sunglasses and cigar-in-mouth.  A mouth that only opens to deliver some badass line from either Army of Darkness or They Live and a few other choice quotes.  He's a little far from a role model, but he knows how to kick some alien butt.

        But really, Duke Nukem was a real product of it's time.  Released in 1996, back when gaming was still kind of a 'boys club' thing and even still a bit of a 'hidden hobby'; developers could put quite a variety of content on the market without worrying too much about offending certain demographics.  Or at least, it sure seemed that way.  During large portions of the game you find yourself wandering through strip clubs and porn shops where you can tip strippers see some tits and oggle the goods.  Then whip out your machine gun and mow down some alien pig cops.

       As ridiculous as Duke Nukem 3D was however, it was also quite innovative.  The game engine offered a number of things that weren't available in Wolfenstein or Doom.   This included the ability to fly with a jetpack, the inclusion of CCTV cameras within the game that actually rendered their POV live within the game, light switches, laser trip-mines and if I remember correctly, the ability to look up and down.  (Doesn't seem like a big thing, but it was.)  All this, but it still followed the same Doom gameplay design.  Hunt through the levels for colour coded keys, those keys give you access to further points in the level which require more keys.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.  

            The best part of Duke Nukem 3D, the part that gives it by far the most staying power -especially at the time- was the malleability of the game through it's map editor.  The Duke 3D map editor was one of the most easy to use pieces of game modifying software available at the time.  You could find all the resources online for building your own levels and modifying the game platform.  I used to have a huge guide printed out with answers on everything so far as level building went.  Jamie, Mike and myself used to build and share levels constantly, it was a favorite hobby at the time for the most of us.  Sketching out ideas on paper, building levels bit-by-bit.  I always used to try to make levels based on movies, especially Aliens and Jamie actually started fiddling with the code in an attempt to use the engine to build a FPS version of PacMan.  The furthest I remember him getting was altering the code so that ammo and other pickups started chasing you through the level. Which was pretty amusing in and of itself.

      If you were to look at Duke Nukem 3D now for the first time, it would probably look like a terrible game.  A lot of what separated it from other shooters were the kinds of things that are the norm in all FPS games now.  It was fun, I wasn't as excited about it moreso than I was with Doom or Doom II, but the map editor made this game more than just a game.  It was the equivalent of digital Lego; which was a ton of fun.

DAY 147 / GAME 147 Torchlight

 DAY 147 / GAME 147

Torchlight


      While Blizzard was working for years on the release of Diablo III, ex-Blizzard employees were working on a Diablo clone that was arguably better than the original.  I remember hearing a lot of great things about Torchlight shortly after it's release a few years back and so when I saw it on for cheap through Xbox Live Arcade's holiday sale I was sure to pick it up to try out later.  
     I didn't realize when I had first purchased Torchlight just how similar it was to the Diablo series.  But once I started it up, it was immediately obvious.  Though sporting a more stylized character design and a cleaner, more colourful level design; Torchlight featured a very similar UI layout, character selection screen, skill tree design, soundtrack, writing, play style, camera view and well, pretty much everything else.  I mean, if it were called Diablo III, it could have easily passed for the direct sequel of Diablo II without much of any question.  

          With Diablo III still seeming like ages away from release, I was really excited for something to bridge the gap.  Torchlight filled those shoes like Sasquatch at a Big and Tall.  Uh.  
      But seriously, when Diablo III finally did come out and I finally got in installed after a new videocard purchase and everything I really just wanted to play more Torchlight.  Aside from being shorter that Diablo II and III, it really was more enjoyable.  It felt well rounded, well cleaned up and encompassed everything I loved about Diablo.  If this point hasn't been made yet already, Torchlight is what Diablo III should have been.  

       Matt Uelmen, who scored Diablo II and III, lent his services to Runic Games to help score Torchlight.  Truth be told, the majority of the amazing atmosphere in these games is derived from the soundtrack.  Uelmen created an original score which I found immediately recognizable as a Diablo soundtrack and was the initial reason I began to think that perhaps Torchlight and Diablo were related somehow.  Of course, I looked into it and discovered what I know now about how the game was led by a two co-designers of Diablo and Diablo II, along with a few other ex-Blizzard employees.

            Torchlight's only downfall was that it was, in a sense, bite-sized.  Though only a $15 downloadable title, I put quite a few hours into it.  It only offered one set of dungeons, plus a game+ set of dungeons and only three playable classes.  But it was solid and offered some nice new mechanics such as the addition of an animal helper.  A helper who could run to town and sell goods you collect as you make your way through the levels, allowing you to continue without taking a break or waste scrolls of Town Portal. 

        As much as I loved Torchlight I've yet to try the sequel.  I own a copy, but haven't had a chance to really get into it yet.  Which is funny to think about since I was very impatiently awaiting Torchlight 2 ever since I first discovered it's upcoming release.  Nevertheless, any Diablo fans out there who still haven't tried Torchlight should definitely dig it up on Steam or XBLA and give it a whirl.  It's certainly worth the price.  It's also frequently on sale on Steam, so keep your eye out and you'll probably get it for $5.

DAY 146 / GAME 146 F-Zero X

DAY 146 / GAME 146

F-Zero X

         Although Nintendo may have really started the future racing genre going with the introduction F-Zero for the Super Nintendo, Psygnosis really took off with it on the next generation of consoles in Wipeout 2097.  What the PlayStation could now offer was so much more advanced than the 16-bit systems and perfectly suited the requirements to properly build the ideal future racer.  Of course, Nintendo wasn't about to lose that race and in 1998 -two years later, they released a sequel F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64.  
           Continuing the tradition of a very manga/comic book style and shooting for high speed and party play over complex graphics; F-Zero X was very much successful, making for a very pleasing racer.  


         When they designed F-Zero X, they decided to shoot for simple graphical design with low poly counts in order to reach super high framerates at the time.  This was really a bonus in a game where you wanted to enjoy that sense of a really high speed, but it was also important because of two other reasons:  F-Zero X allowed for up to 4 players split-screen simultaneous.  A lot of N64 games that offered this had to cut out some features in order to facilitate this, but not here.  There was this and also the fact that there was THIRTY ships racing on the same track.  There was no sign of slowdown when flying past dozens of ships at once when fighting your way through the pack at the starting line.

           Not only are there 30 ships on the track at once, but they are 30 different ships.  Once unlocked, you can choose between thirty hover racers each unique in stats and style.  The simple, low-poly designs mean they are easily recognizable and feature unique silhouettes.  Just a bit of proof that high-poly high-detail graphics may not always provide the best look.  Tracks are wide and open giving the impression of giant stretches of a high-tech racing surface.  A surface which defies gravity at every chance, twisting, looping tightening into a tunnel and opening up into the outside of a pipe.  (This is always scary.)  To make things even better, F-Zero X was designed with a random track generator.  You could essentially race over and over again, barely ever on the same track.  

           The funny thing about the track generator was that now and again it would create a track with turns that were near impossible.  You could make them, but you'd have to be careful about it.  The best part was that the A.I. cars quite often couldn't make the turns and would end up flying off the track.  This wasn't a big issue though, since we mainly used it during multiplayer.  Now multiplayer was where I really spend the most time in the past.  Four of us, Mike, Trevor, Jamie and myself -the old high school crew- used to play this a bunch.  We used to call out what the random tracks looked like in the map view.  Typically a human organ.  The other amazing thing we figured out was that if player 1 and 3, or 2 and 4 did a 'spin attack' the minute the light turned green, it would hit the player in-between.  This hit was so powerful it would fire that player (typically Mike) far off into the distance for a winning start.  But the hit also drained that player's shields to nil.  One bad turn and that player was toast.  And since we were playing randomly generated tracks most often, this was almost definitely a sure thing.

        F-Zero X was a terrifically fun future racer.  Not necessarily my favorite, but for sure a timeless classic.  I actually just received this free on the Wii through Club Nintendo and I was playing it for a couple hours the other night.  I almost forgot how solid it was.  It's a ton of fun and if you ever get a chance to try it out be sure to do so.

DAY 145 / GAME 145 Super Mario Brothers

DAY 145 / GAME 145

Super Mario Brothers

         For most of us, it's not a question of whether or not you've played the first Super Mario Brothers game for the Nintendo Entertainment System it's when.   If you're my age or older, there's a good chance you were playing the first real installment of the Mario series when it was originally released on the NES.  If you were lucky, on your own unit at home.  If you weren't as lucky, you found yourself watching over your friend or neighbour's shoulder a he refused to pass on the controller.  For myself, I never did own an NES, but a lot of people I knew did; from friends to relatives to the sitter's husband.  I had many opportunities to play most of it most of the way through, but it wasn't until I borrowed a copy of Mario All Stars for the SNES that I really had the chance to sit down with it on my own time.

          Super Mario Brothers is where gaming really took off in my mind.  I played a few C64 games and a handful of old PC titles, but most of them felt more like work that games.  Mario though, Mario tasted like candy.  It was much better than I felt was healthy for me.  When people talked about video games being bad for you like violent movies and comic books, I figured they must be talking about this because it was just as enticing as both those things.  Of course, we know better now but as a kid, I wasn't trying to get into trouble.  I was happy being the good kid and so, Mario and console games in general felt like a kind of forbidden fruit.  If we were at someone's house, I wouldn't ask to play their Nintendo, I would always wait for the offer, which almost never came.  But when it did, it was a special time.

         Super Mario Brothers was just this solid, simple, well-rounded side-scrolling platformer.  Where games I'd played before this felt like I was there to learn something; math or spelling or logic.  But this, this was like an action movie.  You ran, killed some weird looking dudes, tried over and over to make insane jumps that required expert timing and coordination.  Everyone could enjoy Mario.  It was appealing, somewhat easy at first to get into, but also offered great levels of difficulty for those who really wanted to press their skills at electronic gaming and prove themselves the best.  Also, my aunt said that the nighttime levels scared her and I will never forget that because it's generally hilarious.

        As it stands, I've never been able to beat this game.  I've come close, but even with the ability to put the game down and return to it -since the newer versions that include a save option- I still can't do it.  It's bloody difficult.  I've even managed to beat Lost Levels and Mario Brothers 2; but this one is just too much.   So for those of you who've managed to complete Super Mario Brothers, I salute you.

         Super Mario Brothers has set in stone a place in gaming history.  Pretty much everyone knows it by name and can most definitely describe it to you.  It's easily found on many platforms and still holds up as a simple, easy to play game.  If you're reading this and for some godawful reason you've never actually tried it, stop what you're doing and play it.  Right now.  Heck, just go here and play it.  Because having never played Mario is like having never looked at the sun, even though it's there, cooking eggs on your driveway, all the time.  

DAY 144 / GAME 144 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

DAY 144 / GAME 144

Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

         Just barely over a year ago, Nintendo released a sequel to the GameCube title Luigi's Mansion.  Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon was built for Nintendo's handheld this time around, the 3DS.  Following Mario's second-banana, Luigi as he nervously makes his way through a series of haunted mansions, each housing a piece of the shattered moon.  Instructed by the eccentric Professor E. Gadd, Luigi is kitted out with various inventions designed to help with the capture and investigation of ghosts all around Evershade Valley.  All who have suddenly become hostile after spending years living alongside the professor peacefully.

           I really wasn't sure what to expect, having never played the first.  I can't remember exactly why I decided to finally pony up and buy this, but I did it shortly after release with my only regret being that I didn't purchase it sooner.  Dark Moon was easily one of the most fantastic looking games I had seen yet on the 3DS.  Within each mansion there are rooms (of course) and each room has it's own fixed camera giving the whole game the feeling of wandering about in little dioramas.  Every little piece of furniture, painting, vase and candlestick rattles about as you use your ghost capturing vacuum.  To make it even better, using the glassless 3D option on the 3DS offers a great sense of depth that really reinforces the diorama feel.

             Dark Moon was an incredible amount of fun.  It offers so much charm, much more than I was expecting.  Luigi hums to the background music as he nervously makes his way through the creepy mansions.  All the ghosts have their own unique personalities, the spiders, rats, ghost dogs and even some props like plants and stuff all feel like major characters within the game.  There is a ton of replay value as each level offers bits and pieces to go hunting for and there is even an online multiplayer gauntlet; The ScareScraper.  In which you power through floor after floor of a tower as a team, capturing ghosts as quickly as you can.

              Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is one of those games that is a fantastic example of how powerful and capable the Nintendo 3DS handheld is.  It's a strong proponent for the 3D option and takes full advantage of the second touch screen as well.  In fact, I've heard they plan on porting this game over to the Wii-U system, which would make it the second game that has successfully ported from the 3DS handheld of TV console.  (Resident Evil: Revelations being the first.)  If you have a 3DS, this is a game to own.  In fact, if you have a 3DS, there's a good chance you already have it.

DAY 143 / GAME 143 Krusty's Super Fun House

DAY 143 / GAME 143

Krusty's Super Fun House

         Another great game based off the Simpsons property was the Lemmings clone Krusty's Super Fun House.  If anyone remembers the Lemmings games in the early 90's, they were these addictive puzzle games where you had a limited amount tools at your disposal to guide your lemmings across a 2D map.  The goal was to get as many as you could across alive, as you had to actually use some of the lemmings as bombs, bridges, stoppers and so on.  
            Created by the same Flying Edge developer that created Bart's Nightmare, Krusty's Super Fun House has you controlling Krusty instead of one of the Simpsons.  You make your way through your Fun House, which has been infested with Itchy-esque mice.  Half platformer half puzzle, you toss pies at snakes and flying pigs while creating a path to lure the mice into various horrific death machines.

              I never did have a copy of this game, but my uncle did and I borrowed it now and again to see how far I could get.  Like Lemmings, this game could get pretty difficult at times, the puzzles can get downright frustrating especially if you don't have the mindset for it.  The Fun House was set up with a series of doors, each leading to a new room with new a group of mice that need eliminating.  There are a number of rooms each grouped within a 'world' or section of the establishment.  Each section is themed a little differently with a variation on the enemies wandering about and best of all, each world has it's own different death machine for the mice manned by a different cast of The Simpsons.  

        Checking out the different wacky traps was by far the best part of the game.  I had a list of the different level passwords, including one that unlocked all the worlds so that I could at least get a view of each trap at work.  Morbidly amusing, the traps included a boxing glove on a big lever- manned by Bart.  A nuclear laser gun- manned by Homer.  A slide-whistle that inflates the mice until they explode- manned by Sideshow Mel.  A chomping masticator run by Corporal Punishment and a slicing and dicing machine run by Bart.  You had to use a range of items that would disrupt and redirect the mice wandering path to ensure they wander right into these horrifying, yet hilarious traps.

      At a time when Simpsons was at a high and there were a large number of games about the series, this one stood out as being particularly unique.  Not only because for once you weren't controlling Bart, but also due to it's more puzzle based structure rather than arcade button mashing.  As a kid I loved the dark cartoon humor involved in obliterating the mice Itchy and Scratchy style.  To be honest, I'd kind of like to see this redone as an updated downloadable title with some fresh graphics.  I think it would be a ton of fun, just like it was 20 years ago.

DAY 142 / GAME 142 Project Gotham Racing 4

DAY 142 / GAME 142

Project Gotham Racing 4

         One of the early titles for the Dreamcast was a racer by the name of Metropolis Street Racer.  It's original design changed quite a bit before it's final launch and eventually became a really solid arcade style racer featuring real cars with a goal to shoot for points as a high score can win a race if you drive with style instead of just speed.  Down the road it gained a few sequels for the Xbox and Xbox 360 titled Project Gotham Racer with the same basic theme.  Although I had tried out the earlier titles, I didn't pick any of them up until Project Gotham Racer 4 was released.  

      I remember seeing screenshots from PGR4 before it's release and being fairly astounded.  There were are few that looked practically photo-realistic.  Part of the reason for that was due to the camera mode built into the game engine.  Fairly new for a console, Project Gotham Racing 4 allowed for you to enter a photo mode when paused.  You could adjust various exposure setting and colour adjustments, then snap the photo and it would do a separate render pass and post the render online.  It wasn't a huge jump up from the already fantastic graphics, but it made for much more realistic captures.  This was definitely a highlight of the game for me.  With the exception of Wipeout HD for the PS3 I've yet to see a game match this kind of screen-cap utility.

         PGR4 could be best described as a 'stylish racer' offering points for drifting corners, doing donuts and when on a bike, doing stunts all while competing in a closed circuit road race.  The tracks are all set in a variety of real locations including Vegas, Quebec City, Tokyo, Nurburgring, London, New York and a few others all faithfully recreated.  On top of this, PGR4 offers the most advanced weather system to date on any racing game I've ever seen.  Weather can change within a single race, or have a set mode which can feature one of 10 different weather types.  From rain to sun to snow and ice, changing up the track completely.  The system even tied to local weather, so if setup properly, would mimic real local weather.

      Project Gotham Racing 4 is also unique because it's one of the only racers that features both car and motorcycles, including races between the both of them as well as races that focus on one or the other.  This is nice because there aren't many good motorcycle racers out there that aren't extremely difficult (MotoGP).  Bizarre Creations really managed to give the motorcycles controls which feel unique from the cars, but also still very much arcade style controls which are not to hard to wrap your head around.  In total, there are about 130 different vehicles.  And like Forza and Gran Turismo, they are nice enough to range from old hatchbacks to ultra modern supercars.  

          PGR4 has always features a really interesting soundtrack system.  Though, the first one had the best setup, PGR features a wide range of music types, each slotted into a different radio station that you can 'tune in' while driving.  Everything from classical to electronic to rock.  I think one version even featured an 'mp3 player' that would play music off the console.  
           I loved PGR4, it is a fantastic racer with some great online capabilities I never did end up using unfortunately.  It looked great, was fun with solid loose controls and a TON of cars and bikes to choose from.  It still holds up as an great racer from the last generation and if anyone is looking for a neat new racer to try and hasn't tried this, it's easy to get a hold of and worth every penny.

           

DAY 141 / GAME 141 Sonic Adventure

DAY 141 / GAME 141

Sonic Adventure

         The only console I ever bought at launch was the Sega Dreamcast.  It was unlike any other console launch that had come before it.  At this point, the internet had become more prevalent and upcoming gaming news was much easier to come across.  When rumors online started about Sega releasing a new console I was ecstatic.  I followed all the news and reviewed every image posted about the upcoming games; Crazy Taxi, Metropolis Street Racing and of course, Sonic Adventure.
         I was sure to preorder the console with Sonic Adventure and a VMU memory card.  It was released on 9-9-99, just after I started at college and I ended up having to get my brother to pick it up.  It was one of the most exciting consoles I ever bought.  

         Sega even had a special deal on with some rental places.  They offered Dreamcast units for rental for a short period before it was to be released.  All you had to do was put down a $300 deposit.  I can't remember what the rental cost actually was, but it was totally worth it.  It came in a special case and included Sonic Adventure, but unfortunately no memory card.  With no memory card there was no way to save my progress, so I actually left the Dreamcast on for the entire week and played Sonic almost all the way through.  It was a really cool promotion on Sega's part; something that I think would have only worked back then and if it was done again now it would require having to fight through a line up that started a week ahead of time.


           Sonic Adventure looked absolutely incredible.  A huge jump from the 5th generation console games, it featured higher resolution textures sampled from photographs, fantastic backgrounds and crisper, anti-aliased screen resolution.  The framerate was high and the game was quick.  It was colourful and had some brilliantly designed stages, especially considering it was the first proper 3D Sonic game since the Saturn never saw anything other than Sonic 3D Blast.

            Sonic Adventure was a pretty inventive variation on the series as well.  Offering some free roaming levels as well as the usually fast-paced action levels.  It also offered 6 interwoven storylines featuring Sonic, Tails, Amy, E-102 and Big the Cat.  Each character having slightly different gameplay for 6 different variations on the world put forth.  Sonic Adventure also featured a neat use of the VMU memory card.  A memory card with a controller and screen built in, it not only gave you access to your savegames, but also allowed you to play minigames.  In this case, a tamagotchi style game that revolved around Chaos that you discover throughout the main game.  
            All in all Sonic Adventure felt like the first successful and exciting Sonic game since Sonic 3, or perhaps Sonic and Knuckles was released on the 16-bit Genesis.  And considering how excited I was for this game's release, I was surprised at how absolutely satisfied I was the the final product.  

DAY 140 / GAME 140 House of the Dead

DAY 140 / GAME 140

House of the Dead (Various)

          Some games are just fun with no real focus on plot or innovation.  Just shootin' and screens full of monsters.  Any modern arcade with the room for light-run cabinets should feature House of the Dead or one of it's sequels.  Every time I have the opportunity to spend time at a Playdium or Dave and Buster's this game is definitely one I'm sure to park myself in front of. 

     I'm not sure exactly what it is about this game.  There are other light gun shooters, a few that I really enjoy, perhaps even more than this one.  (Especially Time Crisis, what with the foot-pedal-cover system.)  I think that maybe it has something to do with the fact that over time, what with this being a staple modern most arcades, it simply grew on me.  

      House of the Dead encompasses a lot of what was lost in modern gaming.  When I say that, I don't mean the lost art of games requiring astronomical skill to complete or lack of handholding and tutorials.  When I say this, I mean the loss of the b-movie game scene.  In the 90's, when games started to include voice audio and tried to become more cinematic, but didn't have the budget for proper voice actors you ended up with some extremely entertaining results.  As game development budgets grew and grew with more recognition within the entertainment industry more often it attracted better writers and better actors.  Of course, when I say better actors in some cases I'd say actors, period.  I'd swear a lot of old games were voiced by some of the game dev staff, they were just that bad.  

         But just as b-movies have that silly charm, so do some of the older games.  Resident Evil, Silent Hill, House of the Dead; sometimes the writing and acting is so bad it counters some of the serious horror, rounding it out so that it's more playable in the end.  Especially in a case like there where you don't have time to enjoy any plot anyhow since you pop in some quarters and shoot some dudes until you're out of money.  

         One of the best time I've ever had playing House of the Dead was at Playdium one day with a few friends.  They had a good deal certain nights where about $20 got you two or three hours of unlimited gaming on anything in the place.  Now, I can't remember what version of House of the Dead I was playing exactly and I can't seem to find it online, but it had room for three players.  Two pistols and one shotgun.  And since we had unlimited playtime on the swipe cards, two of us got together to play this; one with the shotgun, and the other with twin-pistols.  That was the ultimate way to play a light gun game.  

         House of the Dead has had what seems like a pretty good run since it's release in 1996.  It's had 3 sequels in the arcade and a number of interesting spinoffs including an updated version for Wii and PS3 House of the Dead: Overkill, an english learning game for the Japanese Nintendo DS English of the Dead and my favorite:  Typing of the Dead.  A typing learning game laid out exactly like House of the Dead 2 but instead of shooting, you have to quickly type the words that appear above enemies heads.  It's a super fun twist of an already fun game.  I actually just purchased it again as part of a Humble Bundle online sale and if you ever get a chance to give it a try, do it.  You don't even need a light-gun peripheral to play it.