DAY 15 / GAME 15 Day of the Tentacle

DAY 15 / GAME 15

Day of the Tentacle


                 Day of the Tentacle tells the story of what I like to imagine American history was actually like.  

This little intro animation was beautiful.

              There is no other game that would have you take hold of a three characters, fired across time using a time-travelling port-o-john (Chron-o-john), to save the future from sentient tentacles.  DotT was simply perfect.  The artwork was fresh, clear and colourfull, especially considering the resolution restrictions of the time.  This was another LucasArts adventure that had featured newly added voice tech which really helped with the hilarious dialogue; a lot of which was thanks to legend Tim Schafer.
              This game killed me.  It was amazing, just the right amount of wacky, loads of great character designs and little LucasArts easter eggs.  The caricatures of the founding fathers really show just how hilariously interesting American culture has made them over time.  I really always get a kick out of any time someone uses dead presidents for humor.  Anything from FDR American Badass and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, to Scott C's historical characters in his Double Fine Adventure Comics, I love it.

Washington sporting his wooden teeth.

              Day of the Tentacle was one of those games.  One of those perfect games that really helped solidify my adoration for LucasArts.  Games like this one, Dark Forces, Sam and Max, Fate of Atlantis and Tie Fighter (etc etc) just poured out of LucasArts.  I knew if it had the LucasArts logo on it, it was worth the price tag.  

             Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that Hoagie was the basis for Eddie Riggs.

DAY 14 / GAME 14 Bladerunner

DAY 14 / GAME 14

Bladerunner


             I guess with Broken Age so close to release, I've had adventure games on the brain.  Now usually, when it comes to adventure games I almost always go straight to LucasArts.  But in 1998, timed perfectly after I had just really gotten into Bladerunner, Westwood Studios released a point and click adventure by the same title.  

            Bladerunner could not have been released at a better time.  Any later and it may not have been released at all; what with Adventure Games dropping off the map about a year or so later.  Any earlier, and it just wouldn't have been the same game.  The pre-rendered environments really did the world justice, a lot of it spot on with the movie's sets.  They even got a number of the same actors from before for voice and model reference.  They just really nailed the atmosphere of the movie.  There were a number of areas where I would just leave the game open and enjoy the sounds of the rain and the traffic going by.  It was perfect.

No Harrison Ford.  But you could eat where he ate!

           Instead of just translating the existing story, or making a whole new one.  They kinda played off the existing movie.  Although it felt a bit contrived at times, it still sat well with me.  You play another Bladerunner, and the story takes place alongside the events of the movie.  The best part of this game though, was just how open-ended it really was.  There was a ton of different endings determined by in-game choices.  I never saw them all and even when talking to friends who have played it, we all recounted different experiences.

          All in all this game really hit it on the head for me at a time when the movie was fresh in my mind.  It was the perfect addition for me to experience more of the world and Westwood did it right.  They got the mood and atmosphere and pacing right where it had to be.  I'm a little surprised they did it so well almost 20 years after the movie's release, but if anything maybe it gives a bit of hope to the idea of another game down the road.

         Which I'd buy on the spot.

         Because, Bladerunner.

DAY 13 / GAME 13 Sam and Max Hit the Road

DAY 13 / GAME 13

Sam and Max Hit the Road


             Back when I had bought some LucasArts game for my PC, I forget what game exactly, possibly Rebel Assault.  One of the things that was included on the disk was something I'd never seen before, and never saw again;  Trailers.  Now, trailers for games may be commonplace now as video is a regular part of our PC atmosphere, but back then it was a different story.  The neat thing about these trailers, is that they rendered in realtime.  They were like a demo that was unplayable, just a collection of realtime cutscenes.  So, there was one for Day of the Tentacle and one for Sam and Max Hit the Road.  (I think there was one or two more, but for the life of me I can't remember what they were.)  All of them looked amazing.  I never really got a good taste of adventure games until I got a hold of one of these.  

          Sam and Max were characters created by the incredible Steve Purcell who is now, and has been at Pixar for over 10 years.  Back then, he did a comic strip about a "anthropomorphic dog" and "hyperkenetic rabbity thing" who dubbed themselves the Freelance Police.  This comic was featured regularly in the LucasArts magazine The Adventurer that came packaged with their games and was eventually released as a full comic collection on it's own.  Sam and Max Hit the Road was the best embodiment of his strip.  It really felt as if the comic was based of the game. 


         Sam and Max was also one of the first 'talkie' adventure games from LucasArts.  Meaning it was one of the first to include actual voices for the dialogue.  Which was fantastic because when quality voice acting, (hard to come by at the time) and quality writing are paired together in a game like this, it just makes it even more memorable.  Between the wacky writing and the absolutely obscure puzzles, this adventure game really was one of a kind.

           Sam and Max really brings back a time for me when gaming was different.  AAA titles by the best talent and biggest company didn't have to be a big overcomplex blockbuster of a game.  Hit the Road is timeless, but for a huge company to try to sell a game like this in the market nowadays would mean certain death.  It's nice to see the indie developers trying to do similar things every once in a while but with the exception of a select few, noone's quite made anything that compares yet.  With that in mind, tomorrow is the beta release of Broken Age.  Tim Schafer and Double Fine's attempt to show publishers adventure gaming is still a viable market.  I'm really looking forward to seeing things come full circle and very excited to see what a legend like Tim can do to an adventure game now that he's at the helm of Double Fine.


            Sam and max also lived on to become a great, short lived cartoon animated created at Nelvana.  As well as a TellTale Games point and click adventure that was produced quite recently.

DAY 12 / GAME 12 Crazy Taxi

DAY 12 / GAME 12

Crazy Taxi

           I'm not really sure why the Sega Dreamcast didn't compete better in the 6th generation console market.  There's a chance it just want advertised we'll enough, or that it was released too early.  But it certainly wasn't due to a lack of solid titles.  One of those unique titles was Crazy Taxi.   


            Crazy Taxi was bizarre as it was addictive.  It felt like it was developed by someone who tried to make a game about American culture without having ever stepped foot stateside.  The game was small, featuring only two levels and a handful of different  cars/drivers.  Designed as an arcade title, it really felt like a quarter muncher.  Your one and only goal is to start on a timer, picking up and dropping off fares as quickly as possible within a set time limit.  But it was easy to pick up and anyone could get the hang of it quickly.  I had a roommate in college who was addicted to my Dreamcast.  I think this game may have been the one that got him started.  I remember him coming out of I his room when I first started it up, lulled out by the sound of the Offspring soundtrack.

           Crazy Taxi was wacky and bizarre and definitely represented what made the Dreamcast so unique.  Titles like this one that you really wouldn't find anywhere else.  It really was a blast and the short time limits meant passing the controller around was easy which made for an enjoyable time for all.   Maybe one day someone will take the core of Crazy Taxi and make it into a fuller, larger game that's even more ridiculous.  I know I'd buy it.

DAY 11 / GAME 11 Road Rash

DAY 11 / GAME 11

Road Rash

            I remember in the 16-bit days when the old Electronic Arts logo used to come up on the screen, it meant something really special was coming.  The Sega cartridges even had this little yellow tab on them to differentiate them from the rest.  Road Rash, for those who never played it, was a motorcycle racing game for the Sega Genesis which played like most racing games of the time.  The road was a scrolling background, and your bike controls allowed you to basically move side-to-side as the road curved one way or another.  Road Rash's twist was that as you made your way through the pack of other bikers, you had the opportunity to punch or kick them, ideally knocking them off their bike.  There were cops and cows and cars, sand and oil and water, amongst other obstacles.  

Man, I never realised how dated those bikes are now..

           But what made Road Rash really special was my dad's enthusiasm for this game.  Road Rash meant father-son-son bonding time.  It's not like we didn't do other things together, other things we both enjoyed.  But he was always over-the-top to bust this out on the weekend for the three of us to compete.  I think for him it was good to have a game he could beat us at.  I guess there's nothing more satisfying than knocking your smirking son off his bike with a club at 120mph.  (For real, this wouldn't come about until split screen on Road Rash II.)


            I haven't played this game for a very long time.  I'll be sure to bust it out soon though.  A lot of my old Sega games I've repurchased in either various Sega Collections or emulated virtual consoles for newer systems.  So I haven't hooked up the Genesis for a while now and it's quite overdue.  For fans of Road Rash, there was a successfully funded Kickstarter for a game called Road Redemption which plans on being a spiritual successor.  This will hopefully be released this fall. 

DAY 10 / GAME 10 Brütal Legend

DAY 10 / GAME 10

Brütal Legend

            In honor of the 10th day-aversary of this blog.  I present to you my second most favorite game of all time.  Brütal Legend is a goddamned masterpiece.  For me, this game excels in all aspects.  Gameplay, story, visuals, audio, acting.  Brütal Legend is also almost single-handedly responsible for my love of heavy metal music and reinforced my love for the works of Tim Schafer.

            Brütal Legend brought back all the flavour of Grim Fandango's development.  It's production held so much interest with me, just like back in the Lucasarts days.  Such a unique and stylistic title, Brütal Legend set you into a world build on the themes and principles of heavy metal.  It was so full of eye candy that I became super excited by all of the artists involved.  It was shortly after that I started to follow the works of other Double Fine staff such as Scott C., Nathan Stapley and Pixar animator Tasha Harris.  I blame Tasha for the outstanding, fluid and emotional animation which really helped sell the characters and story alongside some great voice talent.  This included Jack Black, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Lita Ford and even Pennywise the Clown (Tim Curry.)  And man, playing through a second time, after learning a ton about heavy metal, this game really opens up a whole second layer of references.

           Brütal Legend, not unlike Grim Fandango, is a game driven by visual and story.  My favourite kind of game.  Only this time around it's a Frazetta style heavy metal world instead of a art-deco jazz world.  Brütal Legend even hints at some of the great Tim Schafer personality from Grim Fandango.  Tim's love for muscle cars shows through as you drive a demonic rat-rod through the open heavy metal world.  You even encounter a hotrod racing demon named Fletus, which feels like a throwback to your partner in Grim Fandango, Glottis, who builds a rat-rod out of a DoD company car for you two to tour the land of the dead in.  Driven only by his own raison d'etre; to wrench engines and go fast.  

        This game will stick with me forever.  The world is so ripe and tangible.  You can just pick it up to drive around in it and explore the art of it all while the Deuce (your car) blares your choice of metal music.  Double Fine managed to secure 107 different heavy metal songs from 75 different bands.   This doesn't even include the original soundtrack produced by Peter McConnell, who has composed soundtracks for Lucasarts and Double Fine since Monkey Island 2.  To top it all off, when this game's demo was released, I played it with Leia when she was only a few months old at the time and the soundtrack put her to sleep like a heavy metal lullaby.  To this day she still enjoys the likes of Black Sabbath and Mastodon, singing Iron Man to herself in the backseat of the car.  

DAY 9 / GAME 9 Zombies Ate My Neighbors

DAY 9 / GAME 9

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

            I'm not sure what prompted my brother to get this game.  Or where he got it from.  Maybe this was another one that we had tried out at our uncle's house, or maybe my brother bought it on a whim.  As he tended to do, completely based on the back of the box.  Whatever manner of magic brought this game to my doorstep doesn't matter this time around.  All that matters is that I was one of the few who were lucky enough to have enjoyed it.
           

           Zombies Ate My Neighbors was developed by Lucasarts and released by Konami in 1993.  It never really clicked for me that it was a Lucasarts game until a lot later on since most of their stuff was released on PC only and their logo wasn't even on the box.  But it really did feature the usual quirky Lucasarts-esque humor.  They even slipped in a hidden Day of the Tentical level.  Once on a whim, I bugged Tim Schafer via Twitter asking if he'd ever worked on it:  "..My only contribution was a suggestion for a level name: Mars Needs Cheerleaders."  

            Each level had a unique title card with various early horror movie themes such as Dr. Tongue's Castle of Terror, Lumberjack Hedgemaze Mayhem, and Terror in Aisle Five.  The whole game, which is a top-downish, isometricy shooter-style gaunlety game;  Requires you fight your way through levels in an attempt to rescue various survivors before they get eaten.  Different survivors are worth different points, cheerleaders being worth the most, schoolteachers being worth the least, if I remember correctly.  You grabbed a variety of weapons from waterguns to silverware and different monsters were more or less susceptible to different items.  I see that box says '55 levels' and now that I look into it, there really were 55 levels, but I swear there were more.  That game felt like it would never end, and back when you wanted games to last forever.  You'd never know when another great game would come out, or when you could afford a new one, so this was just the best thing ever.

             We never did beat that game.  Maybe one day soon I will.