Tag Archives: gameplay

Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Winter Games

1 Comment

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for multi-sport athletics games, and it’s a genre of game we don’t tend to see all that often any more. Hence, I often find myself looking back to retro games to get my fill.

One of the earliest games of this type I remember playing was Winter Games by Epyx — this may well have been the very first game I ever played on our Atari ST, in fact; it was certainly one of the first pieces of software we owned for the machine, anyway — and one of the first games my brother ever reviewed, kicking off a lifelong career in the games press and surrounding fields.

Enjoy my questionable wintry athleticism in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

header-5603011

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Tiffani Hildebrand

5 Comments

One of the things the Atelier series has always done well is infuse its secondary characters who are of minimal importance to the main narrative with just as much personality as its leads.

A good example of this is Tiffani Hildebrand from the Atelier Arland series, who first appears in Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland and sticks around for its follow-up Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland. In mechanical terms, she’s a shopkeeper. In personality terms, however, she’s so much more.

There’s also a disappointing lack of fanart of her online. Someone get to work, quick! In the meantime, though, let’s take our time to celebrate Atelier Tiffani: The Mom of Arland and her official art.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Tiffani Hildebrand →

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Microsoft Flight Simulator

3 Comments

Microsoft Flight Simulator is the new “can it run Crysis?” game in terms of the demand it places on one’s hardware, but aside from that it’s also one of the most impressive, ambitious, sprawling pieces of interactive entertainment ever created.

Providing you with literally the entire world to explore — and in a jaw-dropping level of detail, too — there’s the potential for limitless enjoyment here, whether you’re a seasoned virtual pilot or a newcomer to simulated civil aviation.

Sit back, fasten your seatbelt and let’s go on a flight, as I demonstrate some aspects of this massive simulation on a virtual flight from the village where I grew up to the city where I live now. And don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Videos

Atari A to Z: Computer War

2 Comments

Nuclear war is a scary prospect, but as a general rule we, the people of the world, don’t seem to be nearly as nervous about its possibility as we were back in the 1980s, for one reason or another.

The ’80s, as we’ve seen a few times on this series, played host to a variety of media that acknowledged and explored the strong degree of paranoia and fear that existed with regard to the United States’ Cold War with Russia in various ways. One of those pieces of media was the excellent movie WarGames, which in turn inspired several video game adaptations on various platforms.

One such video game was Thorn EMI’s Computer War for Atari 8-bit, a game I very much enjoyed when I was a kid — and still like firing up now and then today. Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

header-5603011

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari A to Z Flashback: Millipede

Leave a comment

You might wonder what the appeal of having several different versions of the same game in one compilation is. Indeed, dear viewer, I was right there with you until recently.

Then I played the Atari 5200 version of Millipede — an unreleased prototype that was essentially a port of the version for Atari home computers. And I was blown away by quite how enjoyable it was. For me, it’s ended up being an even more appealing way to play the game than the arcade original.

To be fair, any Millipede is good Millipede, but to see what makes this version special check out the video below — and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

header-5603011

Atelier, Atelier Arland

Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland – A New Generation of Alchemy

4 Comments

cropped-atelier-megafeature-header-1-8868334This post is one chapter of a MegaFeature!
< Prev. | Contents | Next >

In the previous part of this feature, we took a high-level look at how Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland represented a return to the Atelier series’ roots, after Gust experimented with the formula quite a bit throughout the latter days of the PS2 era.

Today, we’re going to examine one of the main ways that the game combines this “traditional” feel with more complex, in-depth and modern mechanics: its revamped alchemy system. As the centrepiece of the Atelier series as a whole, this has always been where Gust has been at its most experimental and iterative, building on the best aspects of what had come before while casting aside the things that didn’t work quite so well or which couldn’t practically be fleshed out any further.

While Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland’s alchemy system is distinctive in its own right, it also clearly learns a lot of lessons from what immediately preceded it. So get that fire lit under your cauldron, and let’s get cookin’!

Continue reading Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland – A New Generation of Alchemy →

Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy Marathon, Videos

Final Fantasy Marathon: Pointy Helmets – Final Fantasy III #12

1 Comment

One of the interesting things about Final Fantasy III — and also one of the reasons it gets criticism from some quarters — is how it effectively requires you to use certain jobs for certain sequences.

To date, we’ve already seen a couple of sequences where you needed a White Mage handy to cast Mini on the party, and this time around we’re coming up on a sequence that doesn’t so much as require Dragoons, but is certainly a lot easier if you happen to have a party full of Dragoons.

An adventurer is only as good as his equipment, however, so today is all about getting our four Warriors of Light tooled up with appropriate pointy implements. Check out how it went in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!

Evercade, Namco Museum Collection 1, NES

Mappy: Your Move, Cat

5 Comments

Mappy is perhaps not one of Namco’s most well-known arcade games from the early days — here in the West, anyway — but it’s still one that the company frequently acknowledges and pays tribute to.

Many of the cars in the Ridge Racer series feature “sponsorship” by the series, for example, and the first Mappy title, which we’re concerned with today, was successful enough to spawn several sequels. There was even an animated series made in 2013 as part of Namco’s ShiftyLook initiative, but sadly this is no longer officially available.

Whether you’re a longstanding fan of the series or a newcomer, you can now enjoy the original Mappy’s NES port as part of the Namco Museum Collection 1 for the Evercade retro gaming platform. So let’s take a closer look!

Continue reading Mappy: Your Move, Cat →

Atari A to Z, Videos

Atari ST A to Z: Viz

1 Comment

In the mood for some foul-mouthed nonsense, flatulence and big, hairy bollocks? Then I give you the official video game adaptation of Viz, courtesy of Virgin Games.

Viz is not a good game, but to be fair it does say as much on both the front cover and in the instruction manual, so you only really have yourself to blame for any frustration you might feel as a result of playing it. As an adaptation of the license, mind you, it’s very solid, with some excellent graphics and animation, some catchy music and, of course, lots of swearing courtesy of Roger Mellie, the Man on the Telly.

Strong language and offensive material abounds in the video below — and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more video game funtimes!

header-5603011

short;Play, Videos

short;Play: Satazius Next

1 Comment

Who doesn’t love a good shoot ’em up? And if you’re after some top-notch modern shoot ’em ups, you can’t go far wrong with Astro Port’s work.

Satazius Next is an update to the company’s popular Gradius homage Satazius, and features improved visuals, a new soundtrack and the same solid horizontal shooter action that the studio has become so known and loved for.

Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube for more!