Year: 2016

Game Changers: GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo 64) (Rare, 1997)

Game Changers is a semi-regular column featuring games which have had a significant impact on me over the years. Games that were so incredibly stunning and awe-inspiring, they changed my conception of what a game could be at the time. Previously, I have written about Out Run, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Red Dead Redemption.

When the first-person shooters first rose to prominence, they were almost entirely non-existent anywhere besides the PC. Console controllers at the time simply weren't equipped to handle movement and aiming together in any kind of intuitive way. That all changed with Rare's 1997 smash hit, GoldenEye 007.

Rare made expert use of the uniquely designed Nintendo 64 controller when implementing the control scheme for the game. They utilized the brand new controller features like the analog joystiq, yellow C buttons, and gun-like Z trigger for more natural-feeling movement and shooting than had been possible before. The brilliance of their control scheme was that it worked so well with Nintendo's oddball controller. A device design that had previously left many fans scratching their heads suddenly made (some) sense. It seemed almost as if Nintendo had designed the controller for GoldenEye, and not the other way around. What's more is that for the first time, a game developer had successfully created an acceptable way to enjoy the wildly popular first-person shooter genre on a home game console.

While the first-person shooter control scheme may not have ultimately achieved perfection until 2001's Halo on the original Xbox, GoldenEye represented an absolutely crucial stepping stone along the path; basically, the only real stepping stone. The game opened up the world of first-person shooters to millions of people who only liked to play games on their television sets. The genius of this timeless classic cannot be overstated and the controls are only but one of the numerous reasons why.

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GAME CLUB PLAYS: ALIEN: ISOLATION

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Hello, Internet and welcome to our next round of Game Club. I’m TruLegendKiller, and for this round of Game Club we will be playing through Alien: Isolation. I was hoping this would have fallen into October but it is what it is. Released in October of 2014 to, largely, high reviews. Classified as an action-adventure game, make no mistake, this is a survival horror. And one at its finest. Developed by Creative Assembly (the minds behind the Total War series and the upcoming Halo Wars 2) the game is based on the Alien science fiction horror film from Ridley Scott. By based, I mean a direct sequel to the first film. This is no James Cameron science fiction action film. The game takes it back to the series roots of horror. In other words, it is you, and a monster, and you are struggling to survive. And because of this reason, this is why we are playing this game.

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I have been an Alien fan for many years. Equally, I have been a horror fan as well. Most horror games have little to no effect on me. Games like Five Nights At Freddy’s or Outlast hold little interest to me. Those games throw jump scares and think it makes it amazing horror. In my opinion they do not. What makes good horror is when it is natural. When no matter what you do, be it have weapons or reach a save point, you can still lose. That is what makes this game so amazing. The Xenomorph’s AI is smart, it learns, it predicts, it adapts. In games like Outlast you can hide in a locker and the AI will almost never find you. Here… Well, never think you are safe. Oh, you found a check point? The Xenomorph will kill you as you are trying to save.

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Set in the year 1237, 15 years after the events of the first film. You play as Amanda Ripley, daughter to the missing Ellen Ripley. Approached by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation with the promise of maybe finding her mother. After the flight recorder of the Nostromo was located, she is tasked with recovering it from a space station. This is where the nightmare begins. This is where your nightmare begins.

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This is a long game and will, likely, take several episodes of Game Club to get through. There are 19 main story missions. As such, try to play up to mission 7 (Seegson Synthetics). Good luck, have fun, and get good.

Until next time.

Stay Geeky Faithful Readers. 

It’s time for a Good Green Lantern Game

Sure, I may be cheating by not counting this as a Nonstiq topic. But I do think it's time we talked about how a Green Lantern game could work if done by a competent studio with a full development cycle. Why am I doing this? Well mainly because I just recently got into the Green Lantern Mythos and have been rather disappointed with myself for putting it off for nearly 20 years. Because as  a huge Star Wars fan, the Green Lantern lore has been right up my alley, but more on that later. In about 3 years we’re going to be seeing Warner Brothers take another shot at the Lanterns on the big screen with the Green Lantern Corps film. And of course, I hope the rumors about CW maybe taking a crack at a Lantern's Light are true. I would honestly trade all that for a proper Green Lantern Game, not just a movie-tie in serving as a quick cash grab.

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I Re-Played Lost Planet 3 from 2013: A Review From Scroo

Hey. You guys ever play the Lost Planet games? I never played the first one but I did play the second. Heads up, it's aged like Melanie Griffith. But the third installment wasn't half bad. Stick around and I'll tell you why it could be worth going back to now. Read more

Game Club Plays: The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Hey everyone, Scrooloose here again with another great pick for the Twinstiq Game Club. This week it's going to be The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

This is a mystery narrative title with some kind of noir elements and plenty of puzzle solving that was released in 2014. That was a mouth full I know. Ethan Carter was originally rendered in Unreal Engine 3 and is still one of most highly detailed and aesthetically beautiful games out there to date. In 2015 there was a free redux version released that used the more powerful Unreal Engine 4 and the difference is noticeable not only visibly, but also in terms of performance and various forms of refinement. Nowadays there's even a VR version of the game released as DLC. Ethan Carter is available for PC through Steam and GoG as well as for PS4 so you'll have a couple of options for playing. Sadly there is no Mac port.

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As said above this is a narrative title set in the first person where the player takes the role of Paul Prospero, a detective tasked to find out what happened in the game's setting, Red Creek Valley. Pretty simple in its execution The Vanishing of Ethan Carter says from the beginning that it will not hold your hand. That means a few things: Firstly, there's no real tutorial, suck it up and figure it out. Secondly, there are no forced story elements so you as the player are allowed to go as deep or as shallow in the game play as you like. Thirdly, there are no real hints aside from the clues that Paul will find via exploration.

I personally really love this game and it's worth the full price of admission. Beautiful environments, minimal loading screens, lots of exploration and puzzle solving and a pretty well told story make this one my pick for this Game Club round. It's also a relatively short game, I spent about five hours on my first play through. We at the Game Club hope you'll join us on our journey to solve The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.

System Requirements for The Vanishing of Ethan Carter are as follows:

MINIMUM:

    • OS: Windows 64-bit
    • Processor: Intel Core2 Duo or equivalent AMD
    • Memory: 6 GB RAM
    • Graphics: DirectX11 compliant card with 1GB of VRAM
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 9 GB available space
    • Sound Card: DirectX9c compliant