Looks like Konami is turning things around. We have Bomberman R for Nintendo Switch, we've got an R-rated Castlevania animated series and now Bomberman is coming back to arcades. It looks like Konami might have finally righted their ship.
Oh, come on!
Yep, Konami is bringing BomberGIRL to the arcade. It's the same "classic" gameplay but with the classic Bomberman characters replaced with utterly generic anime girls.
School-girl - check.
Mecha-girl - check.
Magic-Girl - check.
Underpants-Pirate - check.
This seems to be a continuing theme with Konami announce something people want but then screw 'put a spin on it' which only ends up frustrating the fan base. We want a Fox Engine remake of MGS-III, we want Bomberman, and we're even interested in a co-op survival focused spin-off to MGS-V...
...
.... sorry to cut off my attempt to defend/justify Konami as I have just noticed each of these girls have bomb fuses attached to their butts...
... and their clothes explode when they get damaged...
Abe's Take
I honestly understand that Japan's culture is very distinct and as a nation, they don't have the same hang-ups (they have different ones) as the western world and it's disingenuous to rate this Japanese exclusive game by my standards. However, as I was attempting to say before being distracted by the *sigh* butt-fuses.
Konami there is an interest in you games, we understand Pachinko machines make you obscene money, and the Kojima's explosion damaged you but you can pull it back there is clearly someone in that boardroom with good ideas MGS-III remake, MGS-Survival and more Bomberman but it is also clear there is someone there who needs firing, the guy who says things like "yeah but as a Pachinko, add zombies, and Anime bewbs".
You can level with us Konami, this guy who keeps saying these things you've listened to him before.
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the third entry in the arcade premier fighting series. The sequel to the 2nd most successful arcade game of all time, Street Fighter 3 was released when arcades and home consoles had had embraced 3D as the main driving force. Tekken 3, Soul Edge and Virtua Fighter 3 were now considered the forerunners of the genre. Everyone expected Capcom to embrace 3D like its rival Midway had done with Mortal Kombat 4 and attempt to play catch up with the new firmly established competition. Instead, in a ballsy David and Goliath type move, Capcom went ahead and made the most advanced 2D fighting game ever made and took its competition on under its own terms.
The game pushed the envelope of the 2D fighter to new heights with huge attention to detail in animated design - in some occasions an unprecedented 1,200 individually drawn sprites per character - and gameplay which included a parry system that allowed skill and precision to turn around even the most desperate fights along with other new features such as running and throw combos. As one fan noted "The replay value in Street Fighter 3 was amazing...Even after a year of its release at my arcade, people walk right past other arcades, and go straight to Street Fighter 3."
Though the game did not generate as much as Street Fighter 2, to be expected given the time period, word of mouth had travelled wide and by the time of the home releases the game had become a massive cult hit. Arguably the Blade Runner of the series, It's big breakthrough arrived with the home market releases on Dreamcast and more notably the anniversary editions on the PS2 and Xbox.
Share your memories of Street Fighter III with us below.
So, the New Year is here. Time I use that old Christmas
present. You know, the one that you receive years ago with gratitude but then
become so busy it winds up in a pile somewhere. It vanishes. You forget you
have it. Then, one day, it falls out of a magic hole somewhere onto your head –
usually leaving a lump - and you go “oh yeah! So and so got me this!” then
precede to feel guilty for the next hour or day or week or whatever at what a
complete and ungrateful git you were? Well, that reckoning day is here. Settle down and let me tell you a tale.
The gift in question is Eye of the Dragon given to me by my sister about (checks date) ten
years ago. It is an adventure gamebook.
I love adventure gamebooks and this one is
also by a favourite - Ian Livingstone. In the career deparment, Livingstone is a human dynamo among the likes of Bruce Dickinson and Schwarzenegger.. He brought Dungeons and Dragons to Europe, started Games
Workshop, began Warhammer, began the British magazine White Dwarf, became
chairman of Eidos, revamped Tomb Raider and on the seventh day presumably he rested whilst being given an honorary degree (and rightly so).
Somewhere in between all of this, he invented RPG
adventure gamebooks. Eye of the Dragon is one of these books - his first in thirteen
years – and said to reflect his years of experience in the gaming industry. “I'll have that,” I said to my sister. “Ok,” she said. And on it went to my shelf
until this very day.
I open it and begin to read.
I play the role of the token tough brute adventurer who is down on
his luck. One day. while trying to get some shut eye, a weary looking chap named Henry Delacor informs me that for five long years he
has searched for the fabled dragon statue - worth the very specific amount of 335,
000 gold coins. It is hidden in a deadly labyrinth under the city and will kill
anybody who touches it unless they insert two precious emeralds
into its eyes. He’s just arrived back from that labyrinth now, apparently, after only
discovering one of those emeralds.
“I’ll go!” says my character.
“Here, drink this slow acting poison,” says Henry “that way
I can be sure you will return here with half of my reward for the antidote.”
“Ha, don’t make me laugh old man” I say as I push him ove…
No, I’m kidding. I down the poison in a single
shot.
What sort of jackass am I playing?
So, I make my very poisoned way through some scary forest
of evil to discover a house. Inside is a trapdoor. Visions of Zork spring to mind and I
wonder if I will be eaten by a Grue or something. I should mention at this point
that in determining my characters strength I came out as reasonable. So,
imagine more a Jason Statham over that Conan image. I can’t punch through walls but I’m
ripe enough to oil wrestle a few orcs when that awkwardly inevitable
moment arrives.
I quickly come to a branching path offering a left or
right choice. I pick right and arrive at a door. Inside is a man
who wants to sell me a picture of an Owl. Feeling confused, I buy the
picture and ram it into my bag pack before walking out. Awhile later, I arrive
at a door. This one contains a merchant operating a trinket stall selling chalk, whistles and pickled pigs tails. How these men get to
work every morning through some guy’s basement or indeed what the market for
owl paintings and tin whistles is in an underground, secretive labyrinth
- I don’t quite know. Feeling a little annoyed at this point, I only buy one
pickled pig’s tail on my way out along with an obvious silver dagger.
Suddenly, I step on a pressure trap which releases arrows and it's almost a complete relief to be under attack. Seeing as this is the first luck roll of the game, the arrows skirt harmlessly
around me. I walk on. There's another arbitrary
left and right fork. I continue right and find a pit which I have the option of
swinging over on rope or jumping over. Figuring the rope will be cut, I choose to swing across it
anyway as I want to be "in character" playing this poison drinking dumpling. Sadly, it is completely safe so I’m guessing those merchants simply put it
here to aid shoppers reaching their store.
On the other side I find…more doors.
Door 1: No enemies or traps. Offers the choice of a free
bronze plate of armour or an iron plate of armour. I take the iron which boosts
my skill.
Door 2: Contains a woman in cage who flirts with me. I
approach her, discover she’s a vampire and instant kill her with my obvious silver dagger. No
challenge. I now gain a jewel on a gold chain.
Door 3: Contains 1 gremlin which dies in two hits. The rewarded is a silver key and magic green
goo in a jar which may or may not be gremlin poo.
By this point, my bag is so loaded with trinkets and
sparkleys and wonders that I am almost in danger of being crippled under its
immense weight. There is no item limit so I can carry as much swag as I like. I
eventually reach a corridor where two skeletons try to swipe at me with swords but I
walk right past them. To make this encounter more entertaining, I imagine both of them standing there in utter disbelief and
one probably shouting after me “Yeah, and don’t come back!”
As the half dozenth encounter comes and goes with little impact I come to the realisation that the dungeon is entierly idiot proof. A helpful arrow points to an area where a giant sandworm atempts to jump me and is promptly slapped aside. My prize is an un-trapped chest
with 27 gold pieces, a book of poetry and a staff. I becomes so jaded at this
point that I choose to whack the staff on the floor sustaining my first minor
injury in the act because this isn’t just any old staff it’s the super,
amazing, awesome thunder staff that can kill evil sorcerers in a single
hit…yaay.
The old criticism of "Monty Hall Dungeon" or the more
British term "Supermarket Sweep Dungeon" really sums this adventure up. I wonder
through constant rooms, down left or right branching corridors and
get tanked up with items that are either way over powered, may or may not be key requirments later in the game or result in instant death.
Eventually, I discover a dwarf in one of the rooms and on
freeing him he follows me about for the rest of the game like a miniature David
Dickinson cracking terrible jokes and saying things like “Oh I wonder what’s in
that treasure chest,” “this room looks interesting.”
And, if you fall over, we have Injury Lawyers For You!
Trying to ignore him and
keep my sanity, I run into the intelligent and slightly deranged sorcerer in
question simply called "Evil Sorcerer". Luckily for me, his accuracy is so awful
that every spell he casts misses (I only discovered he was there by
turning around to note that a wall was singed) and unless you are standing
directly in front of him you are absolutly and entirely safe. The catch? He has a sword that
kills you in a hit. So, Jar Jar Binks wielding a Golden Gun. I pull out the staff. He explodes, I carry on.
Finally, we manage to find the jewel of I’m An Adventurer Get
Me Out Of Here and then Mr "super insanely ridiculous unskippable over the top
boss" arrives - who is to my surprise not made out of special item. His attacks
do double damage, but thankfully me and the dwarf manage to take care of him.
Then, it’s back to the shopping trip from hell - a brass bell, a bronze statue of a
monkey to go with your owl painting, a silver armband etc
With two pages of items filled in and our budget at an end, we
walk into a room to fight the titular dragon. It’s asleep. We walk past it. End
of encounter.
Then, just in case you were thinking this book was made with
beginners in mind, the second final boss appears. He is a doppelganger of
the consumerist dwarf sidekick and is offensively unkillable. You can only beat him by luck as in every attack round you suffers an accumulating minus two
to your dice rolls. No item in the game prevents this bro down from happening. You
just have to oil that chest up and jump right in there.
After having my 24th
legendary final battle for the supermarket, I decided the gasmillion groats the dungeon would ram up my arse for winning really wasn't worth it.
And thus my dodgey 'venture came to an end. I left the 24 dead version
of me on the dungeon room floor, put
the fictional world back on my shelf, picked up a New Year’s drink
and wondered what in the whole of hell inspired Ian to write such a
bannana. When no answer came, I went to wash the oil out from behind my
ears.
Update: I don't speak the evil tongues of marketeers but it turns out "game wrote following years of gaming experience" actually translates nativly to "prototype adventure he cobbled together back in 1982, before he'd written his first book, and promptly left in the attic." Perhaps if this was published as the great unreleased Fighting Fantasy juvenile, more people may have accepted it for what it was and enjoyed it. Then again...
“Raised in the Granite Orphanage, Jennifer and her friends
were wanted as adopted daughters.
It happened in September…”
It’s hard to be objective to a game I ritualistically play
every Halloween much less to a game that practically redefined the survival horror
genre overnight. Clock Tower is a forgotten gem which has no right to be as
good as it is. It does everything wrong. An action driven game that pits you
against only one enemy whilst offering no weapons to defend yourself against it. Check. A 90’s
point and click adventure that can be finished in less than an hour. Check. Small children
killed in a Nintendo exclusive. Check. Yes, Clock Tower truely offered the unseasoned survival horror market an experience quite unlike any other.
Inspired by the giallo work of Dario Argento and video
nasties such as The Burning, Clock Tower puts you in control of orphan Jennifer as she attempts to navigate an isolated mansion whilst she and
her young friends are routinely hunted and butchered by a serial killer. You win the game by
hiding in any space you can find hoping to be quick enough, lucky enough - the killers appearance
is randomized - to escape some unfortunate end. Help does not come.
While you run, Jennifer panics. If she panics too much she
will begin to fall over. Her killer closes in. If you reach a dead end, the
game continues letting you simply wait knowing there is absolutely nothing you
can do. Then you are schewered like a pig. You will see Jennifer die a lot in Clock
Tower. Suprisingly, this game never
made it out of the Japanese market.
Here’s a typical event that may happen in Clock Tower: I run into an outhouse with the pulsating John Carpenter music revibrating down
the coridors after me. I climb a ladder onto a balcony and duck down. The
killer enters and I push the ladder over preventing him from reaching me. He
leaves. The music ends. I suddenly realise the drop is too far for me to return
to the ground floor and I am stuck up there. Suddenly, the roof caves in and
the killer is up there with me. He advances.
It is this psychology of uncertainty and vulnerability that
makes the atmosphere of Clock Tower work so effortlessly. You are in danger
from the moment the game begins to the moment it ends. There are no powerups,
no cheats or saves and later games in the series wouldn’t even have canonical
endings. Pick your favourite said the director [in the sequel manual] there’s
the “Hollywood” ending, the “franchise” ending; he continues to list them off
as if he really doesn’t care. The game over screen is termed “dead end” perhaps
ironically. There are nine endings in total to Clock Tower and many of
them are not pretty.
The popularity of the game continued to grow years later thanks
to internet piracy and elements of the game found its way into populrar cultue,
the panic system was incorporated into the original Dino Crisis and online cult
legend Benjamin Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame developed a video game trilogy
inspired by the game beginning with “5 Days a Stranger.” Now the series has
finally been revived thanks to a kick starter campaign.
Will Jennifer and her friends escape from The Barrows
Mansion? This time perhaps, and there are three endings in which the escape can tie into a direct seuel, but in future games - all endings are equivocal.
It is this open endededness and lack of concern with an overly rewarding or
punishing game experience that allows players the freedom to interpret the game
as they see fit.
The game was later ported to Windows but once again failed
to acquire interested publishers outside of Japan. I wonder why.
If you like this try:
5 Days a Stranger, Broken Sword (series), Silent Hill
(series), Dark Seed (series).
The 32X was by all accounts the start of Sega’s downfall. A
bad decision from a company that barely sold. That doesn’t stop Doom 32X from being one
hell of a game to play.
When criticism is levelled at 32X Doom it often makes you
wonder if the detractors had even played the thing. The truth is they probably
haven’t. Even with an entire episode missing, and no 2 player option, the addictiveness
of this game is undeniable. The gameplay is right there sucking you in with smooth
breezy controls and a slick level of animation. As the enemies flood the
screen, and fall to your firepower, the framerate is constant and perhaps the
best in any console port.
Doom 32X even offers a higher challenge to the initiated because
of a certain limitations. Much like the SNES version, the enemies are only
animated to face you, however the difference is the 32X hardware allows them to move faster
and also prevents them from blurring into the background so you have every chance
to spot an assault while the superb framerate doesn’t drown the combat in mud.
The superficial arguments used against 32X Doom are
soundtrack focused. The ignorant mass will inform you that it is the equivalent
of static electricity and methane gas having baby time while a faucet drips in
the background. While this hyperbole has some bearing, to say this soundtrack
adds nothing to the game would be simply wrong as you traverse grey moon cut corridors
and endless voids as daemons scratch there way towards you. The tin coated atmosphere
the low frequency music brings to the game is oddly fitting.
Being the launch title for the 32X, the curse of Doom32
might just be that it was simply one of the few good games on a console that
should never have been made. Now it is just an enigma in time.
Gameplay 4/5 Entertaining and cathartic.
Graphics 3/5 Many animations have been removed but what
remains is incredible.
Sound 2/5 Very faithful creature sounds and an often derided
dark soundtrack.
Longevity 4/5 Short and no multiplayer but its addictiveness
speaks volumes.
Pc to Port 3/5 Missing an entire episode. No BFG.
Overall B-
The first port of Doom to arrive on consoles, Doom 32X is forever
the underdog for the shallowest of reasons. Its primary fault is that it is far
too short. Regardless, the game will hook you for some time.
Though the 32X version opted to be marketable sooner; delivering a fun yet fleeting game because of it, Jaguar Doom hit the shelves
when the project was completed. The result was a fully realised game with 2
player co-op and deathmatch along with all the weapons and levels the 32X port lacked.
As you enter the familiar void, the first thing to become immediately
obvious is the complete lack of all background music. While this may detract from
the games action and excitement it further serves to increase its level of
angst and violence as the player becomes more in tuned to the games environment. The
chainsaw is that little bit louder, the long corridors that much emptier and
the strange gurgling at the end of that corridor all the more concerning.
This is also true in cooperative mode as you cautiously
move ahead etching ever closer to a distant gun battles and foul screams.
It is undeniable that silence has irreversibly changed this version of the game
forever. The atmosphere is brooding with a keen shadow of nihilism. Every little detail that
was there before has been enhanced.It is a version of the game that is that little more visceral. Blander, yes, and yet more cerebral. You will be etching
to evacuate hell as soon as possible. This is as close as the game gets to
a survival horror experience.
The carnage is in full screen with deamons just
as interested in slaughtering themselves as you and yout comrade as you traverse
the dark corridors all the while concerned about an ambush. Suddenly there is a
noise up ahead, you branch out and pull out the shotgun. If this is begining to resemble a typical game of Doom that's because it is. And it's brlliant.
Gameplay 4/5 Doom played with the isolated atmosphere of
Alien.
Graphics 5/5 As close as a console port could be to the PC
game.
Sound 2/5 Fantastic sound with no soundtrack which is both hindrance
and blessing.
Longevity 4/5 The 2 Player mode makes this
Pc to Port 4/5 A decent port only lacking due the absence of
a grand final boss
Overall B
When Jaguar Doom was released it was being pushed as the systems
killer app and with good reason. This is a one of the grimiest, meatiest console
ports of them all. Dense in atmosphere and with a fanatic 2 player mode.
Doom 3DO adds a new addition to the series – ice skates. As
every level has you hurtling out of control past the items you wanted to pick up
and the enemies you needed to shoot.
The upshot of such lag is this control pad to game
response is also bestowed upon your enemies whose seeming artheritis mean they struggle to hit you as
much as the enemy soldiers in Rambo 3. Thankfully, these issues are reemedied with the addition of beer goggle as the game provides the option of
shrinking the visuals down to total none existence in order that it can respond
faster.
G-imp makes roll to wound. Critical miss :(
To summarise, you have two choices, you can play a game that
isn’t there. Or you can see a game you can’t play. Something
positive? Well, the background music is performed live by an 80s garage band in an inoffensive sort of way. But, you know I’m clutching at straws
when the best compliment I can
give this game is its skill in vibrating my eardrums.
Doom 3DO is a masterclass in how videogame companies kill
the industry. Pick a licensed product. Check. Hype the game up before you’ve
even started the work on it? Check. Christmas deadline? Check. Cut the staff?
Check.
Doom 3DO was one of the first ports to include specters (invisible demons). It's a shame you'll go blind before you can appreciate this.
But don't take my word for it, here is the bloodcurdling story of the SOLE programmer who worked on the project to a TEN week deadline. For an additional Doom 3DO challange - try watching it without pulling your hair out. Atari’s "E.T." and George Santayma’s quote about "those who forget the past..." were clearly not areas covered in the 3DO handbook of “how we conduct super
business and stuff.” Unsurprisingly, they went backrupt less than a year after this games release.
Gameplay 1/5 Abysmal (if you opt to shrink the screen,
replace this score with graphics)
Graphics 2/5 Practically isn’t there (if you opt to zoom the
screen, replace this score with gameplay)
Sound 4/5 The highlight. Possibly better than the original
games if you are into 90s rock remixes.
Longevity 1/5 Shorter than Hear Say’s career and twice as deadly
PC to Port: 2/5 All the great things are there. Way, way,
way over there.
Overall D-
Certainly not the worst game in the world but still a dark example. Doom
3DO is like looking at the greatest party you have ever seen through a keyhole
while all the guests make fun of you.
