One-Shots, Racers

Inertial Drift Sunset Prologue: A Bold New Take on Arcade Racing

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I love me a slippery-slidy, drift-centric arcade racer, as you’ll know very well if you followed the extensive Ridge Racer Cover Game feature from a while back, or indeed were kind enough to watch my playthrough of Split/Second Velocity on YouTube.

As such, I was immediately interested when PQube announced its upcoming racer Inertial Drift, developed by an outfit known as Level 91 Entertainment. This game promised a ’90s style aesthetic, exaggerated arcadey racing action… and what sounded like a rather unusual control scheme.

How exactly does a twin-stick racing game work anyway? I fired up the Inertial Drift Sunset Prologue interactive demo to find out.

Continue reading Inertial Drift Sunset Prologue: A Bold New Take on Arcade Racing →

Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Quadron

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So you reckon you’re a Tetris pro, hmm? Well, how would you manage if required to play two overlapping games of Tetris at the same time?

That’s the premise behind public domain release (and game development library showcase) Quadron, a game which takes the classic falling-block action of Tetris into a whole other dimension… and perhaps in not quite the way you might have expected it to!

It’s a mind-frying challenge, to be sure, but there’s definitely fun to be had here if you want to take your puzzling to the next level. Check out the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

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Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Refia

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Refia is an interesting character in Final Fantasy canon, because she didn’t exist in the original version of the game she’s from — in fact, none of the protagonists from the 3D remake of Final Fantasy III did.

Indeed, the original Famicom version of Final Fantasy III instead features a player-named party of indeterminately gendered “Onion Kids” — thereby kicking off the series’ occasional, inexplicable obsession with the vegetable in the process. Refia didn’t show up until Matrix Software brought out the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy III in 2006 — which was also the first time the game came West.

Well, just because she wasn’t there from the very beginning doesn’t make her any less worthwhile as a character! So let’s take a moment to celebrate Refia’s contribution to one of the most well-known RPG series in the world.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Refia →

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Neptunia Shooter

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Don’t you love it when an April Fool escalates into something that is actually rather excellent?

That’s what happened with Neptunia Shooter, a game that started as a joke by Idea Factory International — a joke that people responded particularly positively to, resulting in it becoming a real, actual thing.

And it’s good! Paying homage to a variety of classic shooters while maintaining its own unique identity, this is a challenging blastathon for Nep fans and shmup enthusiasts alike. Now howsabout a Switch version, Iffy?

Atari Collection 2, Evercade

Asteroids 7800: Besteroids?

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I was never a huge fan of Asteroids back in the day; I always found the “turn and thrust” controls to be a bit of a challenge to deal with.

That hasn’t stopped me from playing numerous versions of this arcade classic over the years, though, including the Atari 2600 version, the Atari 8-bit version (which was subsequently ported to the 5200), the Atari ST version and two versions of the arcade game. And over time, I’ve come to appreciate this game a lot more than I did as a kid.

One version I’d never had the opportunity to play with, though, was the Atari 7800 incarnation. Now, thanks to the Atari Collection 2 cartridge for the Evercade retro gaming system, I can enjoy this version — which has quickly become my favourite! — any time I want. Hooray!

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Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z: Worms?

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EA, lest we forget, stands for “Electronic Arts”. And back in this company’s early days, they really stood by that name, releasing a variety of fascinating, experimental pieces of work that were notably different from a lot of other games at the time.

One great example from EA’s initial batch of five games is Worms?, a take on a cellular automata model known as Paterson’s Worms. In the game, you control between one and four worms in an attempt to capture as much territory as possible by “programming” the worms’ behaviour.

It’s more of a software toy than a “game” as such, but there’s a lot of fun to be had here — particularly if you enjoy creating interesting patterns through judicious application of mathematics. Find out more in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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My Time With Dee Dee

Summer Loop: The Beach Episode as Existentialist Nightmare

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The idea of existentialism is a concept that a lot of people have been brought into contact with through various forms of media — most notably for us in the gaming sphere, Taro Yoko’s masterpieces in the Nier series.

But how much do you really understand about this philosophical concept — and how might it relate to video games and visual novels? These are the things explored by Summer Loop, the third volume in the My Time With Dee Dee series of visual novels, produced by friend of the site Matt Sainsbury from DigitallyDownloaded.net.

Matt was kind enough to once again provide a copy of the game for me to explore — if you’re interested in trying it for yourself, you can find it right here!

Continue reading Summer Loop: The Beach Episode as Existentialist Nightmare →

My Time With Dee Dee

My Time With Dee Dee, Vol. 2: Learning to Love the Male Gaze

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Those of you who have been following for a while may recall that friend of the site Matt Sainsbury from Digitally Downloaded has been beavering away at a series of visual novels based on his site mascot for a while now — you can read about the first one here.

I finally got around to making some time for the second volume — and a look at the third one will be following shortly! — so I figured it’s high time we talk about it. Because, much like its predecessor, it does an excellent job of raising some interesting and relevant talking points without becoming preachy about it.

Volume 2, subtitled Meet Lo and Nettie! focuses on the topic of the male gaze, which is a term bandied about so often these days that its original meaning has become somewhat obfuscated. Let’s see if three cute girls can sort that whole mess out, shall we?

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Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Home Run

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I live in a country where there have, for most of my life, been fairly strict rules in place saying that advertisers should advertise their own products rather than say how shit their competitors are.

It’s for this reason I always find it rather amusing when I come across titles like Home Run, and Intellivision’s rather mean-spirited attempts to make this game look as crap as possible next to their baseball game.

I mean, okay, Home Run is exceedingly simplistic… but as I’ve discovered a few times previously on this series, that can actually make sports games that I’d otherwise baulk at exploring rather more fun than expected! See the evidence in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more.

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Mana Khemia

Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy – Making the Grade

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cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
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For most people, a “good” RPG consists of some combination of a compelling story, solid combat mechanics and satisfying progression.

Many RPGs have stuck with the conventional “experience and levels” system over the years, simply because that is a proven progression mechanic that works well, offers continual rewards for continued play and tangible improvements in your characters over time.

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis did something a little different, where character combat effectiveness was directly tied to your engagement with the game’s core alchemy system. And its sequel Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy follows suit — but rather than simply rehashing the previous game’s mechanics, it adds an interesting new twist. Let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy – Making the Grade →

The best of overlooked and underappreciated computer and video games, from yesterday and today.