Rogue Legacy: Heirs have their uses!

Rogue legacy as the title of the game suggests, is a 'Roguelike' game. This game genre is defined by random level generation, permanent death and generally (but not always) 2-D style tile based environments. If done poorly, this will lead to frustrating and short lived play, due to the perma-death feature. However if done well, a roguelike game will offer hours of fun and a unique sense of progression, albeit with some frustration still.

Considering I have no sunk 80+ hours into Rogue Legacy, it safely falls into the 'good' category for myself. It's unique approch to the perma-death of a character is that you can choose 1 of 3 heirs for the death of your previous character. You earn gold throughout your characters life which can be spent on upgrades which in turn are then passed onto your heirs, these range from base health increases, to access to new weapons and even new classes with unique abilities. As you spent your gold your castle will grow adding more towers with further choices on what to spend your gold on giving you a physical representation of your progression!

When you choose to be succeeded by one of your 3 hiers it's interesting to note that not all heirs are created equal! Not only is each heir assigned a class with their own unique play style but there are smaller traits which can be beneficial or a complete handicap to them (not to mention hilarious). These range from dwarfism making your character tiny, shortsightedness meaning enemies at range appear blurry. A personal favorite is being clumsy meaning any destructible object you touch will explode! so rather than landing on a table over a spike pit safely, if your character is clumsy he will crash straight through it onto the spikes!

Each time you enter the dungeon it will be randomly generated but will have the same rough lay out with the tougher areas being joined to the starting area, I won't go into to much detail as to how as part of the joy of this game is exploring and getting your head around the mechanics. There are some really tough boss fights to which can be incredibly tough to get past considering even reaching them can be exceptionally challenging! Luckily very early on you will get the ability to 'lock' the dungeon down preventing it from randomly spawning again and enabling you to jump straight to the door outside a boss fight.

This game is an incredible amount of fun and considering how often you die very fast paced! if your looking to dip your toe into the roguelegacy genre this is a great place to start! check out Durr's failed attempts in the video below.

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Dust: An Elysian Tail

Dust is a game that harks back to the good old days of Castlevania and Metroid, a 2-D side-scroller with fast paced frantic combat and RPG elements, with a solid story built in to boot. First of all the game is just beautiful to look at, the hand painted graphics and character design is brilliant. Considering that everything in this game was made and designed by one man is truly inspiring.

The combat strikes the perfect balance between being easy to pick up but hard to master, the basics of combat are introduced at a steady pace, making it easier to get to grips with. With one button letting you do a basic attack and another letting you perform a heavy attack, holding down the heavy attack will make you spin your blade. On top of this you can dodge left and right and have a button for magic, whilst the magic is very weak when initially cast, if it's combined with your spinning heavy attack then it will create mass homing missiles or pillars of fire depending on the selected magic.

The story of the game is deftly told with a strong cast of voice acting and beautiful animations, the main character is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, who's other notable performances include Izaya from Durarara and Renton from Eureka Seven. He really brings the character of Dust to life. Fidget  Dusts main companion throughout the story provides often needed comic relief and a few hilarious 4th wall breaking comments such as early on she screams "mash all the buttons!!!" during one of the first fights you encounter.

The RPG elements of this game are well done being able to level up and assign a stat point according to your play style. There is a crafting system as well enabling you to craft items found in the field. However something I haven't come across before which I loved was the ability to sell materials you find to the merchant who will in turn then be able to stock them for you. This removes the need to grind X monsters for Y material which is a breath of fresh air for the genre.

If you enjoy the Castlevania sides scrolling action of ages past or just enjoy a game with a good story and fun combat I can't recommend Dust enough. Truly worthy of more praise than it has received thus far.

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Bastion: The kid wakes up

Bastion is a game which is a shining example of story telling being told through game play, every action you take the 'Narrator' will comment on. From smashing away with your hammer to falling off the world, the story unfolds with the gruff voice commenting on your actions and the world around you. The intro to the game is beautifully done with you lying on your bed not moving as you move the controller to try and work out what to do you arise from your bed and the narration begins with 'The kid wakes up'.

Whilst the story is the real meat of this game the combat system is not to be overlooked with a top down hack and slash style game play and an immense amount of 'tonics' to augment your abilities there are a lot of options in this game. You can choose to take any 2 weapons with you from a fairly large pool, on top of that each weapon has 2 skill tree's from which to choose ability's making your play style very unique.

The artistic style of this game is beautiful  some of the environments are truly gorgeous whilst not hyper realistic graphics the unique art style is exceptionally well animated and truly picturesque.

The environments you traverse are a joy to explore, as the world builds up from under your feat 

on your way to discover hidden treasures and secrets. There were times in the game where I stopped dead in my tracks and admired the amazing scenery and the smallest details that makes this game stand out compare to the usual grey wall and dirt brown pallets of the AAA's we are used to.

The last thing I have to mention about Bastion is the melodic sound track, ranging from upbeat fast paced battle music. To the somber and saddening tracks that match the mood of complete loneliness and despair at the world the characters lived in being ripped apart. For all those looking for a good story combined with stylized art style and beautiful soundtrack I can't recommend Bastion enough. If possible it's defiantly one to be played with a controller for all those PC users out there, I found a controller just made the game that bit more enjoyable.

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2-D Survival Horror: Lone Survivor

The title says it all a 2-D survival horror game, as unlikely as those two words being used in the same sentence may well be, the statement holds true. Lone survivor's roots are definitely entrenched in the first Silent Hill games, from the feeling of dread the game instills to the hard to distinguish machine like noises that erupt from the creatures. 

The game itself finds you in control of medical mask wearing man who appears to be in his late 20's. You are tasked with simply surviving and exploring your apartment complex, unfortunately your sanity has been getting the better of you recently. There is no bar or meter to track your sanity only the sense that the world and the way your character behaves becomes stranger. You are able to take pills to try and alleviate these effects, but it's never clear how the pills will effect you.

Along with pills you have to keep yourself fed and scavenging for food becomes rapidly important and you often feel relieved at finding some edible food. As when times become desperate the hunk of rotting meat in your fridge starts to look a lot more tasty... 

The meat of the game is going to be running, hiding and occasionally fighting the twisted incantations of this world. The emphasis on shooting is really played down, you only ever have a hand gun and ammo is exceptionally rare. This ramps the tension up considerably as it's nearly always better to run or hide from the twisted apparitions that live in this world with you.

For those who scoff at the idea of 2-D game being scary I request you at least play the demo and wet your beak. I haven't experienced this feeling of claustrophobic dread created by the atmosphere  from horror games in a long time. For it to come from a small indie 2-D title is even more impressive.

Grab your head phones because you can play the demo online here: http://www.lonesurvivor.co.uk/demo.html

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A cult classic: Dungeon Keeper 2

 

 

 

Dungeon Keeper 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed Dungeon Keeper, which originally spawned from the great mind of Peter Molyneux before he left Bullfrog. The game has a huge cult following and is one of the few games which I can always go back to and play.

 

Dungeon Keeper 2 is an RTS game where your aim is to keep your dungeon heart alive and shatter your opponents. You take the form of a big floating hand which is used to control the many creatures in the game and build the dungeon itself.

 



 

You progress through the game with world domination in mind, there is a 3d map which is divided into regions – you can then click to decide which map to play. There are 20 main levels in the campaign, but you can also unlock other maps and mini games.



 

In the game there are different types of rooms which you can build to improve your creatures or resources. Some rooms such as a lair and hatchery, are mandatory, so that your creature has somewhere to sleep and eat.

 

The creatures in your command can be used to fight, research new spells, or be used as scouts and guards. They join your dungeon through a portal, which must be claimed by an imp. The size of the rooms you build also determine the kinds of creatures which your dungeon will attract. It is important to bear this in mind when you may be limited to a certain amount of space.

 

 You start off with four imps, which are used for digging, claiming land, mining gold, dragging wounded creatures around, etc. The imp is the most important creature for a dungeon keeper, as they are used to build everything. However, they burn your mana resources so it’s not a good idea to have too many at once.

 

It is also possible to torture an enemy creature until they defect to serve your evil cause. This will however cause problems if they have to share living space with evil creatures and they will become unhappy. If any creature is too unhappy with your overlord skills, they will leave the dungeon and never return. Therefore, you have to build separate lairs and hatcheries to ensure that all creatures are happy.

 

 

There are also undead creatures, skeletons and vampires. Skeletons are obtained by letting a prisoner die while held hostage in your prison (this won’t work if they are left to die anywhere else). Once the creature turns into a skeleton, they can then be dropped into the dungeon and will act as a normal creature. Skeletons have no fear, and so are useful for taking out fear traps (which are annoying and will scare away imps etc).

Vampires are creature by dragging a corpse into a graveyard. When a vampire dies, they will regenerate in the nearest graveyard. But if he meets a Monk, is level one, or you don't have any Graveyards, than he will disappear in a swarm  of bats and won’t come back.

 

A fun and also useful spell in the game, is the possession spell. This spell allows the player to possess a creature and see the world through their eyes and control their actions.  This can be used on imps for example, to dig up gold faster – or on a creature to use a particular ability.

 

 

There are also other game modes available such as multiplayer, skirmish and my pet dungeon. My pet dungeon is a sandbox mode where you can amass a huge dungeon and keep playing for as long as you want. You can then order enemies at any level you want, to charge in and attack – testing the strength of your dungeon. This is useful to see how quickly you can form a solid dungeon, or for just relaxing and building without pressure.

This game is definitely a favourite of mine, I hope to make a few videos soon to show how the gameplay and different game modes work. If I've sparked your interest in this game at all, I believe that you can pick it up from gog.com for next to nothing.


 

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Gunstar Heroes: Manic Fun

Gunstar Heroes is one of the last games I really played on my Sega before moving onto the compact disc system of the Playstation. I still go back and play it every so often even now, it's fast paced manic fun. 

You can play as 1 of 2 characters, one has the ability to run and shoot, while the other has to stand and shoot but can shoot diagonally rather than just up, down, left and right. There are various power ups the modify your guns turning them into a short range flame thrower or homing bullets.

However the real fun comes when you get more than 1 gun power up as you can combine them to create powerful effects. Using the examples above if you combine the flame thrower with homing bullets. The flame that you shoot out detaches and chases enemy's around the screen!

The movement is a real joy in this game as well with the ability to jump onto walls and kick off them. You're also able to jump onto and kick enemy's or even throw them around the screen if you're close enough.

The bosses are massive and plentiful and the explosions flashy and generous this game is a great way to kill some time even by today's standards.

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An overshadowed RTS: Battle Realms

Battle Realms is an RTS for PC, set in a fictional feudal Japan where four warring clans vie for dominance. Each clan has it's own unique set of units ranging from deadly dual sword wielding Ronin, to the lotus clans crow spewing hag.

The real treat with Battle Realms is the single player campaign. It follows the hero Kenji, based off your actions in the first mission will determine whether you join the Dragon Clan or Serpent Clan. You are met with a choice defend the peasants from the bandits or put them in their place for not paying their taxes.

After this fork in the road, not only will you be choosing your clan to play but the story will unfold in an entirely different way, some of the maps are the same but will feature different opponents or events.

This was one of the first RTS's that I came across that had 'hero' units leading your army! This was before the days of Warcraft 3 where you had a powerful hero at the head of your army. The combat is fluid and fun, with each unit having it's own unique ability. For example the bandits are able to use glass swords to do immense damage on their next attack, but take damage themselves upon use they break - so it's only 1 time.

There is even the opportunity to catch wild horses you find, so you are able to mount any unit -increasing their combat potential including your heroes!

This RTS was an immense amount of fun but never got the chance to shine as it was over shadowed by Starcraft and Age of Empires at the time.

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Grandia: a hidden gem

I first came across this amazing game in a video preview contained on one of the official Playstation magazine demo disks. That's right back in the good old days where you bought a magazine for £5 and got a good 5-10 game demos to play and a fair few videos. I was around 12 and having only Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon as my anime influences, I found I was infatuated with the art style of this game.

Upon finally purchasing this game I was shocked when in the first 10 minutes of play I discovered voice acting! Not only was this incredibly rare for a PS1 game, but the voice acting wasn't bad either! A real treat for me to hear the first sentence uttered in the game to contain the word 'bastards' as well (swearing in a game - my word).

The icing on the cake for me was this game actually had an incredible combat system! I wish Iwas joking but the combat system alone kept me coming back for more with this game. It was a lot more fun and involved than the final fantasy 7 combat system that i had tried out previously. You have the ability to interrupt what ever your enemy is doing through the use of a well timed 'critical' or you could do more damage but let them attack by doing a 'combo' You are even able to combine your attacks with other party members for powerful combo moves!

All in all this game was an immense amount of fun and although I haven't mentioned it yet the story is truly heart warming and has some decent character development. I highly advise if you haven't played this game yet you go back and give it  ago.

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Hotline Miami: 'Do you like hurting people?'

Hotline Miami

This is one of the few games that has really made me sit down and think about my actions, and my personal involvements in the acts I commit. The 'acts' in Hotline Miami, are gratuitous, blood drenched, high octane feats of psychotic violence. Within the first 3 minutes of playing the first level, you will have smashed some guys brains out on the floor, then caved the next guy's head in with a bat while he is taking a piss.

The game's story is where it really hit home for me. It reminded me a lot of David Lynch's style of story telling where in you're never quite sure what is going on and any theories you may make tend to be quickly dashed. The characters you encounter are even presented in a cryptic way in the form of 3 people wearing animal masks.

However a question asked very early on which made me take my hands away from the keyboard and mouse was simply 'Do you like hurting other people?' A simple sentence but very sobering after leaving a room filled with gore and blood drenched corpses and I had to admit I did just have fun...

The gore and violence is enough to turn even the hardest of stomachs at times, with acts such as knocking someone down with a punch then taking a drill to their skull, or dumping a pan of boiling water over someone. But if you can stomach the violence and have some patience with the Nintendo hard difficulty this game is a lot of fun.

Special mention has to be made to the brutal soundtrack which matches the tone and pitch of this frantic flurry of violence perfectly.

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Hurr's top 5 Sega Megadrive games

 

 

5. The Lion King

 

 

Possibly one of the most infuriating games I have ever played, although this was probably easy compared to the likes of Ecco the Dolphin. The Lion King is a solid example of when games based on movies were actually good. The game itself is a platform game, with Simba as the main character (with Timon and Pumba available in bonus levels). The most difficult, and the most fun part of the game for me was the Stampede level where you have to jump carefully and avoid getting trampled to death.

 

The Stampede

 

 

 

4. Jungle Strike

 

You get to control a helicopter and blow stuff up – what more incentive do you need to play this game ? There was also an element of strategy involved, as you had to complete various missions. For example if you choose a heavy weapon, you will be able to carry less and so you must decide on the most  suitable option for that particular mission. You can also pick up power ups, fuel and ammo – which I found to be one of the most fiddly parts of the games. If fuel runs out then you will crash and maybe fling your controller somewhere..

 

3. Streets of Rage 2

 

If you didn’t have streets of rage in your Sega collection, then you were missing out big time! One of the most fun co-op games I have ever played. In the game you have the basic punch, kick and throw - then there are multiple weapons you can pick up including knifes, pipes and bottles. The special power up for each player allows you to call in a police car which fires a huge rocket, damaging all enemies. Although it was annoying trying to avoid punching your teammate in the face rather than the enemies, playing with someone else definitely made the game a more enjoyable experience.

 

2. Golden Axe

 

 

 

 

This game remains one of my favourite co-op games ever made. The game is a hack and slash style, with a simple aim to kill Death Adder and all his minions. Your primary weapon is melee, but you can also use spells dropped by little drawfs looking things (don’t know what they’re actually supposed to be) which you can also kick to get a health chicken from. There are also several minions which you can knock off a mount and take it for yourself which gives you a wider attack range.

 

My favourite element of the game was the map itself and the various levels. The village you work your way through is on the back of a giant turtle, which takes you across the sea and then to a giant eagle which you fly to the castle. The game also had some impressive boss fights which were also hard as nails. The story isn’t much to write home about, but the gameplay more than makes up for it.

 

 

1. Sunset Riders

 

 

The most shocking moment of my life was when Durr told me he had never heard of Sunset Riders (seriously- what the fuck?). I could not believe that someone could have not heard of this AMAZING game. Ok so I’ve gone into fanboy mode a bit, but let me tell you why this game has earned its rightful place in my number one spot. Sunset Riders is a wild west shooter, where the player can control one of four cowboy bounty hunters. Your aim is take down the notorious criminals in the west and claim the rewards.

 

Your gun has unlimited ammo and you can jump between levels and shoot in all directions, and if you get a silver badge power up – you can dual wield ! The second power up Gold Badge allows your gun to fire continuously –and both power ups can be used together for ultimate decimation. It’s also quite competitive as if you are playing co-op, it’s the player who deals the most damage to the boss who will claim the bounty for themselves. Overall, it’s a great fast-paced co-op game and in my opinion one of the best shooters available on the Sega mega drive.

 

 

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