DAY 212 / GAME 212 Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

DAY 212 / GAME 212

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

      There are few games created by famous animators and even fewer games created by Canadian born FX animators who studied locally at Sheridan College.  Back in 2011 Michel Gagné finally released on Xbox Live Arcade his 2D shooter/platformer Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet which he had been teasing us with for years prior.  Michel Gagné, who may very well be one of the most skilled classical FX animators currently working, has provided us with beautiful animation on movies like the Iron Giant, the Land Before Time, Lilo and Stitch and Osmosis Jones.  So needless to say, when he decided to create a video game, he made sure to full it to the brim with incredibly fluid and beautiful animation.

         Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a familiar 'metroidvania' style game where you have access to one large map, sections of which are blocked off until you find that upgrade that allows you to pass.  In this case, you are in control of a saucer style UFO that can float gravity-free through the twisted corridors of this spectacularly unique 'shadow planet'.  You use the twin-analog sticks to control flight path and aiming as you use your one robotic arm and it's many different upgrades to grab, shoot, saw and electrocute your way about.  

         Everything in this game is beautiful to look at.  The design choices are clean and sharp with a slick contrast created by putting the foreground into a 'shadow' leaving the background full of colour and highlighting elements of the foreground with glowy rich lighting.  This design choice also creates a strong focus on the beautiful silhouettes of the very active world surrounding you and the characters within.  Long tentacles and razor sharp claws reach out at you from all angles and all kinds of crawly, floaty and creepy creatures try their best to impede your progress as you attempt to stop the Shadow Planet from destroying your homeworld.

           Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is simply a work of art from an incredible artist.  For me as a classical FX animator myself, it's particularly inspiring to see animation and designs of this quality becoming the focus of a videogame.  Not only would I love to see more of it, I'd love to be a part of it.  
            At only $15 typically, I highly recommend it to most everyone.  Available on PC and consoles, it's a very easy game to get into and enjoy for both it's puzzles and it's visuals.  I can only hope that it's success means we may see another game from Michel Gagné in the future.

DAY 211 / GAME 211 Dead Space: Extraction

DAY 211 / GAME 211

Dead Space: Extraction

      Wii games from third party developers that are notable enough to purchase were few and far between.  Most of the greatest Nintendo Wii games were created by Nintendo itself; Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, Pikmin and so on.  It felt as if most developers would rather focus their time on the other two 7th generation consoles.  But a few developers took the time to create games that catered specifically to the Wii hardware.  Ubisoft brought us the Raving Rabbids series, Capcom brought us the Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and EA made a prequel to Dead Space, built specifically for play on the Wii system.  A game that really pushed the graphical prowess of the Wii and was popular enough that it eventually saw a port to the PlayStation 3 system once they introduced the Move controller system.

         Dead Space: Extraction was a bit of a departure from the original game for the PS3 and Xbox 360.  Rather than attempting to port the first game onto the Wii hardware, EA created a new whole game, this time a light gun rail shooter.  They weren't the first ones to do that either; Capcom's Umbrella Chronicles was also a light gun shooter adaptation of the Resident Evil series.  It seems to me that it's just such a perfect choice for the Wii system, since the controls are equipped for light gun use and putting the camera 'on rails' means the developer can control and limit what is on screen at all times which can help them maintain consistent frame rates.

         Dead Space: Extraction wasn't only a unique game in terms of it's structure and gameplay, but was also in story.  For those fans of the series, Extraction provides some insight into the events that lead up to the first game.  Events which include the complete destruction of the USG Ishimura and the colony below it.  It even goes so far as shining a bit of light on the actions of Nicole Brennan (Issac's missing girlfriend from part 1) and really showed the effects of the Marker and how quickly it could convert a mass of people into a mass of reanimated horrors.  EA was even good enough to carry over the two main characters, Lexine and Weller, into a downloadable sidestory for Dead Space 2; which continues their narrative beyond Extraction.  An incredible piece of Downloadable Content in my opinion.

         Dead Space: Extraction really surprised me overall.  I wasn't expecting so much work to be put into a Wii adaptation from EA and they really pulled through in the end with this one.  Apparently it gets fantastic reviews as well and was simply overlooked quite often since it was a rail-shooter on the Wii.  But I can certainly say it's well worth any Dead Space fan's time, I only wish they sold a Plasma Cutter shell for the Wimote to really add to the experience.

DAY 210 / GAME 210 Terminator

DAY 210 / GAME 210

Terminator

      YET ANOTHER awesome Sega Genesis game I probably wouldn't have played if it wasn't for my uncle, the Virgin Games adaptation of the movie The Terminator.
          Having never seen the first Terminator movie at the time, the whole thing was a little bit confusing, even with my uncle explaining most of what was going on.  Having only ever seen Terminator 2 it was a little weird controlling Kyle Reese instead of the T-800 and of course, now having the T-800's chasing you around.  Sometimes in droves, although, turns out that wasn't referencing any of the film's content but rather the only way to make the game any kind of challenge since fighting only one Terminator through the entire game would be kinda boring.

        Being a product of Virgin Games I should have expected that Dave Perry would have had something to do with this.  Apparently Dave (Of Earthworm Jim, Cool Spot and Aladdin fame to name a few.) programmed the game engine for this particular game.  Though it may not be his most crowning achievement, it was a pretty solid game at the time and it sure beats out the versions that were put out on other consoles which from what I heard were pretty broken.  The animations were pretty slick and the intro level where you fight your way to the time machine that sends you into the past featured some neat sequences.  This includes a decent battle with one of the larger Skynet robotic tanks.

        The Terminator featured a pretty decent score, right from the opening sequence which emulated the original movie titles.  Composed by Matt Furniss, it hits all the right notes and certainly maintains the feel of a classic 80's sci-fi movie.  Matt also scored the Alien 3 game for the Genesis which sounds notably familiar, as well as a very extensive list of games through the 90's including Cool Spot, Alone in the Dark and Battletoads.  I always remember thinking there was not much cooler than the moody title sequence from this game.  That and how Kyle Reese spends most of the game with his shotgun hidden inside his coat, pulling it out only to shoot.  Except that I always mistook it for a bathrobe.  

          I don't remember this game being very long.  I think there was about 4 levels.  The intro sequence in the future, a level in the Tech Noir club where you first meet Sarah Conor, a level where you are breaking out of jail and a final level where you defeat the Terminator once and for all in the steel mill.  That steel mill was super tough.  You had to eventually lure the T-800 into the press and crush him.  Even though there were dozens of them littered about, I guess killing one did the trick.  I'm pretty sure I remember doing this, so I must have beat this game as a kid.  One of the few at the time, that's for sure.

DAY 209 / GAME 209 Deus Ex

DAY 209 / GAME 209

Deus Ex

      Deus Ex was another title that wasn't on my radar until everyone around me started to get exited about it's launch.  I really had no idea what I was getting into, but everyone seemed to think this was the best new game since Tetris so when everyone else was out picking up their copy at launch day, so did I.
        Turns out everyone knew something that I didn't because Deus Ex turned out to be one of those incredible genre-defining games that is still popular to this day.
          Deus Ex was a First Person Shooter, Role Playing Game at the very least.  Contained in a FPS shell, you're allowed to progress through the game in various ways, tuning your character to fit your needs and play style.  A play style that could vary from a stealth, sniping, all-out shooter, hacking or talking your way though problems.  It's the kind of game that inspired similar titles such as Fallout 3.

          Deus Ex was easily one of the best examples of the Cyberpunk genre in gaming.  Between it's Bladerunner-esque settings and it's grungy dark future, the hacking through the city and the regularity of cybernetic implants, Deus Ex practically defines it.  You can fight your way through the thick plot any way you desire and soak it all up along the way.  I'm actually surprised I didn't play this more.  Considering how many different ways there was to play through the game, and how much I usually love an open ended game like this I'm not sure why I gave up on it after getting stuck after only the first try.  Truth be told, when I got stuck, I really should have just either continued to hammer at it, or just went and started a new game to try out one of the many other different methods of attacking it.

          It really was fantastic though.  I may not have gotten a full feel for just how open-ended it really was, but I sure got an idea from the one incomplete run-through I did do.  You could attempt the entire game using nothing but brute force, loading up heavy weapons like rocket launchers and machine guns.  You could take your enemies out from a safe distance, you could hack your way through backdoor entrances, taking over CCTV cameras and door controls.  You could sneak your way through the game, a-la Splinter Cell non-lethally subduing your opponents or you could even talk your way through situations.  Working your charisma to gain access to otherwise restricted areas or diffusing situations that may otherwise require a fight.

          And of course, like most great RPGs inventory was as much of a puzzle as the rest of the game.  It's a great limitation, requiring you to decide on exactly what you need to move forward, carrying only what's necessary and not just everything you can get your hands on.  Using a grid style inventory system like Diablo and Resident Evil, rearranging your contents sometimes allows you to carry a few extra things, so you find yourself in this one screen always Tetris'ing your belongings to make room for one extra box of bullets or that key card you desperately need to move forward. 

           I've been meaning to go back and play Deus Ex for a while now; ever since I realised just now much I enjoy games like this and Fallout.  I still have my copy, plus it's on sale right now at Humble Bundle .com, so I'm definitely going to make the move sooner than later.  There was also a recent sequel Deus Ex: Human Revolution that was released for consoles and PC, which was a very faithful addition to the series and I played through a couple times since it was so absolutely solid and beautiful.  

DAY 208 / GAME 208 Zoom!

DAY 208 / GAME 208

Zoom!

      On the topic of ancient Sega Genesis classics, here's another one that I put plenty of time into.  And although it's never been reviewed as an incredible game, I sure enjoyed it.
          Zoom! is primarily a puzzle game, but it also has the feel of an older arcade platformer like Donkey Kong or Super Burger Time.  In Zoom! each level you are placed on a different shaped grid.  The idea is that you run around on the grid lines with a chalk tail and as you make your way about the level your tail highlights the grid lines.  If you manage to encircle a grid square with chalk, that square becomes highlighted.  Now keep doing that until you've highlighted the entire grid and you win.  Of course, the entire time you're also being chased by weird 80's video game villains like the 'disembodied hand', 'bathtub scrubber' and 'spiny sea urchins'. 

            Zoom!  was pretty fun.  But also because it was so ridiculous.  The game itself was pretty straightforward, but the enemies were so bizarre and the item pickups so random; suns, stars, mushrooms..  Zoomer also tossed something behind him, in order to push back enemies and buy yourself a tiny bit more time in a tight situation.  But of course, it looked more like he was shooting golf balls out his butt.  The early voice digitization had it's moments too.  Audio was so compressed it was hard to make out what the intended dialogue was.  As you made your way through the level it sounds like someone is most certainly cheering you on with the phrase 'come on boy!'.  Then again, maybe that was what it was mean to say.

      Zoom! may not have as huge an impact on me as some other games with strong narratives and deeper characters, but it's another one of those great classics I really enjoyed back when it was new.  The music tracks for the different levels were actually pretty good and regardless of how silly and repetitive the overall game was it really was a blast.  And again, it's another great game I would have never seen in my entire life had my Uncle not had a copy for me to try out.

DAY 207 / GAME 207 Forgotten Worlds

DAY 207 / GAME 207

Forgotten Worlds

      The more I think back the more great games I start to remember that I had played on my Genesis as a kid.  For some reason I keep forgetting about Forgotten Worlds.
      Back in 1988 Capcom released into the arcades this fantasy-sci-fi shoot-em-up featuring two mega-muscley super-soldiers who fight through eight gods to save earth.  Now, I've never actually seen this in the arcades, but I did play a ton of the Sega version ported to the Genesis and I loved it.  Like a lot of older arcade titles, it didn't need a complex story and it didn't even have to make much sense.  It just needed to give you a reason to shoot up everything on the screen.  Which is easy when you're a big flying commando, spinning around, shooting every which way with unlimited reams of ammunition.

They don't even need shirts to save the world.

        Forgotten Worlds was a favorite between my brother and I.  At least, that's how I remember it.  On the Genesis, it worked well as a two-player game as you were not limited to a number of lives, but instead you were able to continue respawning after death, so long as both of you didn't die at the same time.  I'm guessing it was the best way to translate the game over from it's coin-eating brother in the arcades.  This was so effective that when my brother wasn't around to play with me, I actually used to still play it as a two-player game.  I plugged in the second controller, and used my foot to play second player.  All you needed to do was press two buttons at once, one to rotate your dude and another to continue firing.  It was genius.

       Forgotten Worlds was a pretty straight forward shoot-em-up.  You can float around the screen as it scrolls around you, in some levels left-to-right, in some upwards.  You can gather 'zennys' (pennies?) as currency from defeating enemies and use them to trade for weapons and armor upgrades to help you through the levels.  Each level is a different (somewhat) mythical theme and each one contains your typical shooter boss at the end.  And since the bosses are supposed to be gods, they are usually pretty massive and feature some epic designs.

          Forgotten Worlds was just unique enough that it will always stick with me, even if I hadn't seen it for decades.  And the more I go back and look at it I'd love to give it a try again sometime.  Turns out it's available on the Wii virtual console, so I may have to dig it up and see how it looks.

DAY 206 / GAME 206 Perfect Dark

DAY 206 / GAME 206

Perfect Dark

      After the success of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, Rare attempted yet another blockbuster FPS title.  Perfect Dark maybe have been too much for the console, even going to far as requiring the RAM expansion pack to take full advantage of what the game had to offer.  Rare pushed for higher end textures, visual effects and audio over what they produced with GoldenEye and although they definitely succeeded I found the game had a bit of a messier look overall.  Some levels becoming harder to read visually in comparison.  With that in mind, Perfect Dark still succeeded as an excellent game and an especially fun multiplayer game.

          Perfect Dark took the place of GoldenEye for us as the choice multiplayer title at the time.  It was an easy transition since the multiplayer laid out pretty much the same with all the same options, gameplay modes, (plus additional) controls and of course it's based of the same game engine so everything felt very familiar.  But of course, it offered both a change of settings with new maps and new weapons as well as a few new modes of play and bonus settings which meant we weren't just playing the same game over again.  The weapon list was huge, the map list was more expansive and some additional gadgets really changed things up.  This included a dreaded 'slow-mo grenade' that created a cloud that when entered, halved the speed of everything within.  Bullets included.  Better yet, you could actually turn this on as a map-wide feature during multiplayer.  It was like playing the entire game in bullet-time.  Not surprisingly, we actually played with this feature on a lot.  

        Perfect Dark actually featured a great single player campaign as well.  Heavily influenced by a wide range of cyberpunk movies and novels, the story follows a special agent Joanna Dark as she stops a world-wide threat of destruction from an alien source.  I didn't get to play much myself, since I never owned this game myself for the N64, but I did watch a lot of it played when at a friend's house or during the short periods which I borrowed it.  It featured settings that resembled that of Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell and other great sci-fi movies as well as some fantastic gadgets and weapons that included a SMG that doubled as an automated turret.  

         Perfect Dark was another one of these great but few games which revolved around a strong female character.  She wasn't over sexualised and is regarded not only for her combat skills but also for her perfect scoring at the Carrington Institute.  And of course, Rare went and made this an absolutely fantastic game from both a multiplayer and single player standpoint.  It was recently revamped for the Xbox 360 in HD with high review and also featured a sequel, Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360 that was released around it's first launch.  It was actually made by Rare as well, which I hadn't figured since it has a much different feel to it.  And although it didn't do as well as the original, I was actually quite happy with it.

DAY 205 / GAME 205 Flow

DAY 205 / GAME 205

Flow

      Before Journey and before Flower, That Game Company created one of the first major 'art' games; Flow.

         Flow, which was a rebuilt version of a Flash web-browser game by the same name, is like watching life as it exists under a microscope.  The game itself is simple.  Designed to simply provoke an emotional response instead of providing the player with a finite goal, playing Flow creates an amazing sense of calm that comes with floating around and enjoying the simple world around you.

         In Flow, you control what appears to be a tiny microorganism.  You float around suspended in a fluid world, tiny flecks of matter drifting around you.  Just as it is when viewing through a microscope, your depth of field is so shallow that your playing field is a paper-thin 2D area.  You can get a glimpse of the fore and background, but they are extremely out of focus, really solidifying that microscopic feel.  You discover quickly that touching certain items will send you further and further into the background as you make your way through the world.  You also discover that you can 'eat' certain other microorganisms.  And as you do that, you grow in both size and beauty.  Eventually swimming about as a magnificent glowing string of art.

         In Flow there is no ending, no way to 'win' and no way to 'lose' and although it doesn't follow suit with our typical idea of a game in the end it accomplished a lot of the same things.  It's fantastic, relaxing and interactive.  Unlike some 'art games' Flow requires your input and with that feels like a proper videogame experience.  I've put way more hours into Flow that you'd think is natural, but it really is just a beautiful and unique experience.  And considering the price, (about 5$) it's well worth checking out if you own a PlayStation 3, PSP or PlayStation 4. 

DAY 204 / GAME 204 Airforce Delta

DAY 204 / GAME 204

Airforce Delta

      Airforce Delta is one of only two flight sims I've ever purchased.  This excludes games like Descent and X-Wing and even then, I wouldn't entirely consider this to be a real flight simulator but more of an arcade flight combat game.  Nevertheless, you do get to fly a plane and that's what counts.  Not just one plane either, over the course of the game you get access to a huge list of aircraft.  I'm pretty sure Konami supplied me with almost every single jet fighter I've ever wanted in a videogame.  Everything from the A-10 Warthog, to the X-29, the F-4 Phantom and the F14 Tomcat.  

       Airforce Delta had a very Konami feel to it.  The menus and sound FX all resembled those I'd seen and heard in Metal Gear Solid.  The action-oriented arcade simulator pacing and layout of the levels felt somewhat familiar as well.  
      There was a wide range of different kinds of levels to work through as you take control of a hired mercenary, earning cash for more planes, to shoot more stuff for more cash for more planes.  In real Konami style, Airforce Delta has you flying around getting into dogfights, running escort missions and taking out ground forces.  Airforce Delta was also great at the time to me because so few flight combat games included any ground detail.  But in this game, there were all kinds of structures for you to buzz with your jet, simply for the fun of testing your skill.
       Reminds me of a time when my brother and I rented Ace Combat for the PS1 and we played a game between the two of us where we would dive at the ground in a kind of game of chicken.  Whoever pulled up last won.  Only my brother yanked the controller out of the port on me just before I was going to hit the ground.  Back when you had to actually plug your controller in to the console.  Good times were had.

       The ground combat was always more exciting than simply chasing another bird's tail.  But on top of it all, in the later levels Konami included combat that had you flying inside of a mountain.  A few enemy bases were accessible through a launch bay on the side of a mountain, allowing you to fly into the narrow entrance, taking out the base and flying out the other side.  It was like a mini-death star run from Return of the Jedi, simply amazing.  

        I haven't played many other action flight sims in my gaming career.  Ace Combat, AH-3 Thunderstrike and Airforce Delta are pretty much it.  Which is kind of surprising considering how many are out there and how much I love planes.  Then again, story is key with me and with the exception of racing, I really favor games that feature strong characters and interesting narratives.  Which is not something you typically find in most flight combat games.
         Or maybe it's simply because I broke that joystick back in the 90's and never replaced it..

DAY 203 / GAME 203 Herzog Zwei

DAY 203 / GAME 203

Herzog Zwei

      I was never very good at Real Time Strategy games, but my Uncle had this one game for his Sega Genesis that I absolutely loved to play back in the day when we used to visit.  

    Herzog Zwei was nice because it really wasn't too complicated.  It was like playing Checkers instead of Chess.  Which is an especially potent comparison for myself since I never had the patience for Chess growing up, but loved me some Checkers.

     The goal in Herzog Zwei was to take over all the bases on the map.  Basically, it was a two player game in which you either play against the computer A.I., or another human player.  Though, the computer was pretty predictable at times and you could actually confuse the hell out of it; throwing it into a tantrum where it kinda freaked out, transforming back-and-forth and going in circles.  At which point you would laugh at the screen and say 'stupid computer', back at a time in which we tended to view computers are clunky and kinda dumb compared to today's smartphones and high-end consoles.

     For me though, Herzog Zwei was only partly about the strategy and almost completely about the idea that you controlled a giant transforming mech that can drop armaments across various landscapes as well as shoot to defend and attack opposing forces.  It really felt a bit like Robotech; with a similarly designed mech and F-14 tomcat style airplane mode.   Which I loved at the time.
     Gameplay was fun of course.  It was simple, if you understood the menus.  Order up different supports, (troops, tanks, hovercraft, turrets) and transport them to a base you want to take over.  Different terrain calls for different kinds of supports and each one can be programmed for different actions:  Defend, circle, attack, if I remember correctly..

           Herzog Zwei is another one of these old Genesis games I would have never heard of had my Uncle not owned a copy.  What with his modded Genesis and imported cartridges.  This was a fun little game pick up and play quick considering it's an RTS.  It's one of many old Genesis games I wish I still had a copy of.  Maybe someone can point me the way to a good emulator resource, since I'm really out of touch with those over the past decade.  That and I think I'm going to give AirMech a try when I get home today.  Apparently it's a new game that is basically an exact ripoff of Herzog Zwei, in all the best ways.

    

DAY 202 / GAME 202 Max Payne

DAY 202 / GAME 202

Max Payne

      In the wake of The Matrix there was an increased presence of blood opera, John Woo, slow motion action sequences and bullet-time.  At least, it seemed that way to me.  And although Max Payne had begun development long before The Matrix was released in theaters, the bullet-time game mechanics and the heavy John Woo gun-ballet influence clearly took footing from the film.  Not that any of this is a bad thing in the slightest.  In the end, Max Payne was one of the greatest new action games to hit the PC in a long time and easily set the bar for what a third-person shooter could really be.  Max Payne was stylish and unique and offered up a third-person game that incorporated mouse and keyboard aiming controls plus a slow-motion action system for gloriously accurate headshots.

       Max Payne was a gritty cop drama about an NYPD officer who ends up tightly wound into a somewhat complex plot that includes warring mob families, a government soldier enhancing drug program and a big pharma company that turned it into a street drug.  Max's wife ends up discovering Aesir's big secret, who in turn kills her and her newborn daughter, covering it up as a random attack by some drug addicts.  Of course, this sends Max into a spiral of revenge as he discovers the truth behind his family's death and the Aesir corperation and lays waste to everything in between.


       Max Payne's big draw was the shooting mechanics.  The slow-motion gunplay combined with dramatic dives across screen meant each encounter allowed you to take your time and make each shot count.  Of course, the game was still difficult regardless of this seemingly game-breaking feature.  I can't even remember if I managed to beat this game without using cheat codes or not, but I do remember it being a tough game to beat.  
           Of course, gameplay wasn't everything.  Max Payne features a pretty rich story which pushes forward with the help of noir voiceovers and these fantastic comic panels that feature live actors photographed and photoshopped to resemble in-game characters.  Sometimes cutscenes like these are more timeless than pushing them as real-time interstitials that may age poorly depending on the power of the engine at the time.

       I really loved what Max Payne accomplished at the time.  There really wasn't much like it and at a time where I was trying to absorb anything with a John Woo feel to it, this really hit home with me.  Max Payne eventually saw two sequels; one shortly after this release, and one that came out about a year or two ago.  Which I own, but still haven't tried out yet.  They even recently made a live action movie out of the first game, which I actually quite liked since they managed to really capture the look and feel of the world from the game.  

DAY 201 / GAME 201 Wipeout HD/ Fury

DAY 201 / GAME 201

Wipeout HD/ Fury

      The Wipeout series of games have always been a surefire hit with me.  Ever since I fell in love with WipEout XL for the PlayStation 1 in the 90's I've yet to find another future racer that comes close to matching the style, atmosphere and super-solid gameplay.

       Wipeout HD was both an early release for the PlayStation 3 and one of the first big games available on PlayStation's online store.  In fact, Wipeout HD was only available as downloadable title, which I found somewhat surprising at the time since it's such a flagship game for the Sony consoles.  Not to mention, on top of it all Sony was only charging a paltry sum of $20.  A price that is more and more common now in the age of indie gaming and digital distribution, but at the time made little sense for a AAA title.  In fact, being such a huge fan of the Wipeout series, I would have gladly paid full price if it were available on disc.

My own in-game export

      Wipeout HD encompassed everything that was incredible about series.  On top of which it it managed to one of the most beautiful games available on the system.  It features sharp, clean graphics and silky smooth framerates.  It's quick and responsive and features an absolutely fantastic soundtrack; as the series always has since it's first release featuring bands like Chemical Brothers and Prodigy.  Wipeout HD, like it's predecessors, is also beautifully delivered with an amazing sense of design style.  All the logos, menus, ships and fictional ads feature some of the most fantastically sharp and modern designs in a fictional race setting ever conceived.
       Wipeout HD also featured one of the most fantastic in-game photo modes available to date.  It beats out PGR4 and Forza (Well, maybe not Forza 5) for some of the most fantastic second-pass rendering options, creating some of the best looking screenshots of all time.  It comes very close to creating renders that looks like miniature set pieces with it's brilliantly rendered out-of-focus areas and lighting reproduction.  Not to mention, the game saves the files in JPG format straight to the PS3 hard drive, allowing you to copy them onto a memory stick and do with them what you wish.

another of my own in-game photo exports

        To top it all off, as if Wipeout HD wasn't enough, Liverpool Studios and Sony also released a downloadable add-on, Wipeout HD Fury.  Which added additional ships, tracks and race modes.  It really was that perfect second helping of the series that kept me coming back after I figured I had exhausted it.   
          Liverpool Studios and Sony always make a surefire hit with this series and I can only hope that they announce very shortly a brand new Wipeout for the PlayStation 4 as they have with the PS2, PSP, PS3 and the PS Vita.  I feel as if it is pretty much guaranteed and I'll be very happy to own a PlayStation 4 when they do.

DAY 200 / GAME 200 Uncharted 2

DAY 200 / GAME 200

Uncharted 2

      Before Naughty Dog created the groundbreaking (and heartbreaking) Last of Us, they worked on a game series nearly as fantastic and considerably more lighthearted.  I for some reason skipped out on the first Uncharted game when it came out, but after the amazing response Uncharted 2 received I decided to put it off no longer.  

      Uncharted is what happens when you essentially reboot Tomb Raider and turn Lara Croft back into a guy.  That in itself would have detracted my interest from the series if developer Naughty Dog wasn't so talented at creating incredible characters and fantastic stories.  In the end though, Uncharted 2 ends up being very much it's own piece and at that a much stronger game from pretty much every angle.  Everything from the shooting mechanics to the accuracy in which you climb about, the strength of the game engine's rendering abilities and the incredible cinematics.  Uncharted 2 had really superseded the Tomb Raider franchise.  Not that I should be comparing the two per se, but I did actually end up playing Uncharted 2 sandwiched between Tomb Raider: Legends and Tomb Raider: Underworld.  

     Uncharted 2 is just one of these game that sums up what video games are currently capable of.  If you wanted to take someone from the 90's who hasn't seen a videogame for 25 years and wanted to show them what games are like now, this is what you would show them.  It's tight, perfected and maintains that cinematic feel that we've been trying to achieve for so often in games for decades.  Landscapes stretch out to the edge of the horizon, elemental effects render as they would in real life, characters move with the fluidity of real life.  Uncharted 2 is a real accomplishment.

        Of course, Uncharted 2 looking amazing is just half of it.  What Naughty Dog does so well is very evident in this series, because by the end of the game you have become very invested in the characters and the relationships that developed along the way.  Uncharted 2 could have just as easily been a beautiful but shallow game, but instead it will maintain a place in gaming history with some of the greatest video game narratives and characters of all time.  Of course, I'm sure everyone who's reading this already knows how great Uncharted is, and for those that don't it's about time you made a place for it in your life.

DAY 199 / GAME 199 MDK 2

DAY 199 / GAME 199

MDK 2

      It seemed like all the best new games were coming to the Dreamcast just after I had purchased it.  Of course, it was the first console to come out of the 6th generation of hardware and with that almost a year ahead of anyone else.  So developers more that took advantage of it and I got to play games like Metropolis Street Racer, Crazy Taxi, Virtual On, Soul Caliber, Resident Evil: Code Veronica and of course MDK 2.
         MDK 2 was the sequel to the obscure Shiny title from a few years earlier.  Though developed by Bioware this time around, it still manages to keep up the dark humor and fantastic surrealism as you now control Kurt Hectic as well as the Doc and Max.  The robotic, six-legged, cigar smoking, gun toting, jet packing dog.

       MDK 2 ended up being one of my favorite games to come out of the Dreamcast.  It had a ton of 'wow' moments where you could be up in a tower above some huge future city with hovercars flying this way and that and draw distances that were seemingly non-existent.  (As short draw-distances and fog were quite common in 5th gen console games.)  Curved Surface rendering and other ways to fake high-polygon count were available and lighting and texturing was vastly improved over the old game.  The result was a gorgeous looking game that featured fantastic looking alien creatures and bizarre landscapes that graced your retinas.


       MDK 2 not only cleaned up the visuals, but as previously mentioned, added a new angle to the game as it now gave you control over 2 new characters on top of Kurt.  As the story goes, Kurt gets captured by the evil Shwang Shwing after eliminating the last Minecrawler rolling over Edmonton, Canada.  (Bioware anyone?)  Max and the Doc chase after him to the alien planet of Swizzle Firma.  So, the levels rotate between Kurt, Max and the Doc, each one with a different playstyle and therefore different level layout.  Kurt follows the same theme as MDK 1; a bit of platforming and sniping puzzles.  Max is super fun, with his 4 arms he can wield 4 separate guns including pistols, shotguns, uzis and huge chainguns.  Max's levels are primarily run-and-gun, but are a real blast.  Dr. Fluke Hawkins' levels are an interesting style of puzzle platforming.  You can collect bread and a toaster to shoot toast, ladders, sodapop and a few other bizarre items to help you with your platforming.  

        MDK 2 was just about fantastic.  Combining ridiculous beautiful violence with random bizarre humor and gorgeous setting.  Writing that is worth your time and gameplay that cements that.  Not all games get the sequels they deserve, but luckily this one was taken with care.  It's also available as of recently in the form of an HD remake that has been lovingly updated and available on Steam for those who want to try it.  I haven't yet, but the screenshots look fantastic.  I'll have to pick it up one day for sure.