Wild Arms 3 | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #15

This week it's the turn of Wild Arms 3 - a fantastic and quite overlooked RPG.  I would like to start this episode with another personal history lesson, as I often tend to do, and go over my experience with the series.  I picked up the first Wild Arms in 1997 when it was released for the PS1, and it was actually my first serious attempt to play through a turn based JRPG.  At about 10 or so hours in, I got stuck on a particular boss (Zed), and at this point the concept of grinding for levels was completely alien to me, so after retrying the fight half a dozen times or so and failing, I gave up.  Then Final Fantasy VII happened, and Wild Arms became forgotten until some time around the year 2004, when I found Wild Arms 3 in a bargain bin for £10.  At first it didn't even occur to me that it was part of the same series that I had tried some 7 years before, though when I heard the music and started to get the gist of the plot, it began to come back to me.  After thoroughly enjoying the game from beginning to end, I then went back and played through the first two game in the series (having to import part 2 from the US).  By then, both Wild Arms 4 and Wild Arms Alter Code F (a PS2 remake of the original) had been announced, and I imported them both as soon as they were available.  I hope to get around to covering the rest of the series in future seasons, but first things first, let's dive into what makes Wild Arms 3 so special, and quite possibly the best entry in the series!

Wild Arms 3 is a great western RPG, and by that I don't mean one that's been developed by team from Europe or the US, I mean western in the howdy pardner, rootin' tootin' Clint Eastwood / John Wayne sense of the world.  The western influence has been present in all the games in the series, yet it hasn't always been as strong as it could have been, with the first two games having quite a large amount of fantasy influence in them, and the fourth game veering into the realm of science fiction.  This time around though, every one of the four playable characters carries a gun (or ARM), you get to ride horses, raid a train, fend off dastardly bandits, and do other cowboy type stuff.  The characters include Virginia Maxwell, who is a descendant of "Calamity" Jane Maxwell from the first game, a young Baskar (native American style culture) by the name of Gallows who is desperate to leave his village, the loner Jet Enduro roaming the world looking to make his fortune, and the wise sniper Clive Winslet who is taking on random jobs to help pay for medication to heal his ailing wife back home.

Next up, the presentation - Wild Arms 3 is incredibly polished, with a fantastic animated intro that plays each time you load your save and actually changes to represent what's going on in the story.  The tune that accompanies this intro is also one of the best from the series, bettered only by the extremely catchy whistling theme from the PS1 original.  This is bookended by another great tune and a series of screens that summarise your character level and other stats should you say no when asked if you want to continue playing after you save your game. The music that accompanies the main game also happens to be one of my favourite RPG soundtracks - series veteran Michiko Naruke turns in some fantastic pieces, from the upbeat toe tappers that can be found in the many dungeons and the over world, to the more laid back tunes from the many towns such as Claiborne.  Visually, the game uses a cel shaded look with a paint like texture that looks quite good most of the time, and a bit odd at others.  For instance, Virginia's hands look freakishly huge in her white Mickey Mouse style gloves, with fingers that resemble sausages.  Overall though, the game is incredibly slick, and it feels like you are watching an episode of a great anime show each time you fire it up.

The game play is fairly traditional turn based stuff but there are a few twists that this series throws into the mix.  Early on in the game each of the four members of your party gets their own "Medium" - an object that allows them to connect ancient guardians of Filgaia (the planet the series is set on) which allows them to cast spells, use special abilities an summon the guardians to aid in combat.  To use all these things you need to earn Force Points (or FP), which can be done by attacking enemies, taking hits and evading incoming attacks.  Building up your FP to certain thresholds (like 10, 30, etc) allows you to use spells like Cremate or Heal without actually expending any FP.  Then there are certain character specific abilities like Clive's Lock On which is allows you to hit enemies that usually have a very high evasion rate, or Extend, which lets Gallows use a spell like Heal on the entire party instead of just one person.  These actually do use up FP.

The one other thing I want to touch on the the dungeon design and the puzzles. Each of your characters have their own tools, like a bomb, a flame crest or a boomerang, and there will typically be locked doors throughout the dungeons that will require you to blow something up, light a torch, or hit a switch with the boomerang.  None of it is especially taxing, but it does help to add some variety to the game play and stop you from getting bored with endless random battles.  Also in the dungeons are two different types of crystal - red and white.  You characters have a bank of vitality, and when a fight ends with them on less than 100%, this vitality is expended to top it back up to maximum.  The red crystals in the dungeons refill this vitality.  The white crystals are related to a system that allows you to skip random battles. Just before one is about to be triggered, a white exclamation mark appears over the head of your on screen person and you have a second to cancel the battle.  One ECM point is used up by doing this, and should you run out you will then be forced to fight.  White crystals restore your ECM meter.

If you're still open to playing games on the PS2 and not all about the current generation, then I would really recommend checking out Wild Arms 3.  Whether you check out the preceeding games in the series is up to you - it's not entirely necessary (there are connections to the first game throughout the third, but the story is self contained enough for it to not really matter).  I'm going to try and cover another RPG a bit later on in this season, but they do take a bit more preparation than the standard episode.  Next time though, I'll be looking at a classic platformer - Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (with HD footage!).

Rumble Racing | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #14

Rumble Racing is the sequel to a year 2000 PS1 game called NASCAR Rumble which is quite highly regarded by those who played it whilst growing up.  Whilst NASCAR Rumble still had some vague resemblance to the populular US motorsport that inspired it with cars that are covered in liveries that are similar to their real world counterparts, Rumble Racing distances itself even further from everything NASCAR.  It's really just the basic car designs that have anything in common with the sport by this point.  So there's not much there for die hard NASCAR fans, but for those of us who happen to enjoy a fun arcade racer now and again, Rumble Racing actually has quite a bit to offer, with a few reservations.

Firstly, this being a fairly early release in the life of the PS2, the graphics are not super detailed.  The game doesn't look ugly by any means, and it moves at a nice fast pace which is the important thing - but you can tell that the developers hadn't tapped in to the full potential of the console by this point. There are 14 tracks in the game and all of them are nicely designed, with their own unique styles.  There's quite a bit of variety from tracks set in the countryside, on the docks or in special arenas that have ramps all over the place for you to flip off of.  When you do manage to grab some big air, you can hold down the R2 button and press the left stick in a direction to flip your car, and if you successfully land it safely on all four wheels you get a temporary speed boost.  This mechanic reminds me of SSX, and Rumble Racing could quite easily have been part of the EA Sports Big brand, though it wasn't part of that series for whatever reason.

The range of power ups is actually quite good, with the stand out highlight being a twister that lays waste to anything before it.  You have to be doing really badly to get this though - think of it as this games equivalant to something like the Bullet Bill in recent Mario Kart games - the item that quickly lets you get back into the fray after you've been bumming around in last place for a while.  Some of the other power ups that I like include one that makes the front of your car glow and allows you to plow into the other racers, sending their cars careening through the air, and some more standard things like a bomb, oil slicks and acid that you can shoot in front of you.  It's a shame that you can't shoot behind you as well like in most decent kart racers.  Instead your only defensive options are a pulse that fires out in a circle from your car (and can actually help your opposition if you shoot it into them from behind, thus giving them a boost), and a temporary shield. One of the power ups seems a bit useless to me though - it just fires out a bunch of rubble that seldom hits anybody and doesn't seem to slow the other cars down if they drive into it.  Perhaps I'm just using it incorrectly.

Sound wise, Rumble Racing features an announcer that can both be amusing at times and downright annoying at others.  He reminds me of Gregg Proops, and at first I thought it was indeed him, but apparently the guy who actually does the voice is Jess Harnell who is perhaps most well known for the US TV show America's Funniest Home Videos (similar to the UK's You've Been Framed).  He has also done some other well known voices such as Wakko in the fantastic Animaniacs cartoon from the 90's, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon in some of their games, and the Transformer Ironhide in the Michael Bay films.  There is actually quite a decent variety of lines for him to say in Rumble Racing, so you don't hear them repeat too much.  Some of them are actually track specific too.  That being said, some of his one liners are a tad obnoxious, and when you're doing badly at the game they only serve to piss you off.

Finally, we come to the actual gameplay.  For the most part, Rumble Racing is a slick and enjoyable arcade racer.  It's at its best when played in multiplayer - the single player mode however has some issues with its structure.  Firstly, the game only doles out one new track per cup, with the other two tracks being ones that you've already seen before.  This makes progession a little bit repetitive - it would have been better to have had less cups overall if you ask me and have had each of them contain unique tracks, just like Mario Kart (yes, that game again!).  To make matters worse, the game insists that you come in first place before allowing you to move on to the next cup.  As winning is down to a combination of skill and luck, this can prove quite annoying and the last thing you will want to do sometimes after coming second by a point or two is to play the same cup over again.  Luckily though all of the passwords needed to unlock the other cups and cars can be easily found on sites like GameFAQ's - so I would advise you to just do what I did and unlock everything up front so that you can just enjoy the different tracks and not have to beat your head against the wall trying to get anywhere with it.

So then, overall I can recommend that you pick up Rumble Racing, especially if you have someone else who will play it with you. The game can be found for around £5 on sites like Amazon and eBay, and who knows you might find a copy for even less than that if you're lucky enough to have a retro games shop or car boot sale near where you live! That's all for today - tune in again next week for another episode of PS2 Tuesdays!

Shadow of the Colossus | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #13

Sorry for the belated post - this should have gone up last Tuesday.  As a result you will be getting a double dose this week!

Shadow of the Colossus is the follow up to Ico, a much beloved action adventure title that was first released in Europe in 2002, and then reprinted in 2006 due to demand from those who had heard of the game but not had a chance to pick it up.  I bought Ico the first time around, and I really tried to like it, but it just didn't grab me.  There was something about the gameplay that I just found annoying.  Since then I have tried again several times yet failed to finish the game each time - with the most recent attempt being a few months ago.  I had originally intended that Ico would be the first episode of PS2 Tuesdays season 2, but after putting the controller down in frustration once again, I finally made peace with the fact that I would never beat it, and I should just focus on enjoying the infitely more enjoyable Colossus.

I also bought Shadow of the Colossus on the day of its release in 2006, and this time fell in love with the game almost immediately.  I had already been smitted by the concept of battling one humungous boss creature after another after reading an article in Edge, when the game was still known as Wanda and the Colossus, and after that I followed the project with great interest until the game finally became available.  I can still vividly remember setting out from the temple for the very first time, using my sword to reveal the location of the beast, and then climbing a small cliff where the creature was to be found.  Battling this behemoth was quite clumsy to begin with, as I had to get to grips with switching between my bow and my sword, and the rather unorthodox grip mechanic.

Each of the 16 colossi that your main character has to slay have rather convenient tufts of hair and other bony ridges that you can hang onto or lodge yourself in while taking a quick breather.  It's up to you to navigate their bodies and locate a weak spot, which is denoted by a glowing runic symbol if you have your magic sword in your hand.  Some of the colossi have multiple weak spots, others just have one (usually on their forehead) and battles usually comprise of two stages, at least for me.  The first is simply working out how to get onto the boss - a fairly simple process for the first few battles but a increasingly complex procedure when your adversaries can fly, swim or are covered in tough armour plating.  A few violent stabs with your sword will wittle down their health bar, whereupon the weak spot either fades away and you must find another one, or you have slain the monster.

But just who is the real monster of the game?  These lumbering creatures that your bringing down don't seem to be doing anybody any harm until you come along at the behest of some disambodied voice.  It is clear that you are killing in the name of love, as the opening cut scene shows your character on his horse with the lifeless body of a girl draped across it.  Whether this is your lover or your sister isn't made clear.  There is a legend that this part of the world holds the secret to bring the deceased back to life, and the gentle giants that populate the landscape must pay the ultimate price.  The dark tentacles that writhe out of their fallen forms and shoot into your chest each time you bring one down suggest that you may also pay a steep price, however.

Shadow of the Colossus features an amazing soundtrack, and visuals that still look great to this day.  The original PS2 version did have quite noticeable slowdown at times, something which the HD rerelease has addressed, making it the utlimate version of the game. Team Ico have teased us for years with trailers and screen shots for The Last Guardian, the planned third part of the "Ico trilogy", yet it still hasn't been released, and Sony are still adamant that it hasn't been cancelled.  Let's hope it finally makes its way onto the PS4 in the near future, as what has been shown off looks fantastic!

Xyanide Resurrection | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #12

Here we are with the final episode in the current run of PS2 Tuesdays.  I will be taking a break from this series for a little while - probably a month or two.  They will be coming back though, and in the meantime I have plenty more ideas for content on the channel.

This time I'm taking a look at a shoot em up by the name of Xyanide Resurrection. About a month ago, I traded in my copy of Skylanders along with the portal and all the figures I had collected, which was worth £33 in store credit.  Instead of blowing the whole lot on one new game, I decided to buy PS2 and PSP games with it instead.  While I was browsing their selection, I spotted this game.  I was a bit unsure of the quality, but it was only £2, so I decided to take the risk.  I'm quite satisfied with my purchase, with a few minor reservations.

Xyanide Ressurection has a lot of cool things going for it - the graphics are decent, with the background comprising of high quality video streaming from the disc, givig you the illusion of travelling down a tunnel, through an asteroid belt, or flying over a city for example.  It reminds me of games that used a similar technique when CD video was in fashion - stuff like Creature Shock or Sewer Shark.  My only real gripe about the graphics is the fact that every level uses the same orange colour scheme, which can get a bit monotonous after a while.  It can also be a little difficult to see enemy ships and bullets against the background, though thankfully the game does give you a warning when a missile is incoming.

The missiles can still be quite hard to avoid though, as you have to worry about enemies coming from all sides of the level, and spin around to face the threat.  Weapons wise, you start of with a rather puny cannon, a lock on attack, and a small supply of bombs.  By picking up "Xyanide" from downed enemies, you earn currency to spend in the shop between missions.  They sell various upgrades such as a magnet that makes it easier to draw in Xyanide, a shield that recharges after a while (incredibly useful) and improved weaponry.  Another cool thing is that between each level you get to choose which of two branching paths to go down, ala Outrun or Darius.  Taking the upper route is easier, and the lower route harder.

The game is quite pretty, just a little too orange.

The levels play out against some pumping techno tracks which helps to increase the excitement, but like the backgrounds does get a little repetitive by the end of a level.  As for difficulty, I was playing on the lowest setting to try and get used to the game, and I still found things rather tough.  As I was trying in vain to work out how to harm the boss of level 3-1, the game crashed on me. The other cool thing about the game that I must mention before I wrap things up are the motion comics.  These are very well done, and help set up the back story of the game.  It's a bit of a strange tale about a witch called Aguira, and a pilot who breaks the rules a few too many times and ends up getting punished.

All things considered, if you see a copy of this game nice and cheap like I did, I would say that it is worth adding to your PS2 collection.  It's not the greatest game out there, but it's decent enough. Taking a look at Amazon and eBay, it can easily be found for less than £5.  It would appear that there was also a PSP version released, which is going for roughly the same price. OK then, that's it for this season, stay tuned for the new, improved season 2 in a few months time!

Wacky Races | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #11

I have long been a fan of the kart racing genre, ever since the very first game in the Mario Kart series was released on the SNES and I spent many hours playing against friends and my brother in both the Grand Prix and battle modes. There have been many games since then that have all attempted their own variations on the formula, and the Mario Kart series has remained far ahead of the competition in my opinion. A couple of games have come close to beating it over the years - namely Crash Team Racing and Diddy Kong Racing, and then there are dozens of mid tier kart racers that are decent enough but not strong enough to be included in the A list.

Wacky Races starring Dastardly and Muttley is one such game, which was originally released for the Dreamcast before being ported over to the PS2. I used to love the old cartoon that the game is based on, and the developers have done a great job of converting the 2D cartoon into a cel shaded 3D world. All of the old favourite characters such as the Ant Hill Mob, Penelope Pitstop, the Slag Brothers and more are all present and correct, though some like Professor Pat Pending and Dick Dastardly himself have to be unlocked by progressing through the Adventure mode.

Speaking of which, the adventure mode is basically a copy of the one found in Diddy Kong Racing, with individual races awarding you a star for winning them, and more advanced racers locked away until you earn a certain number of stars. After a while boss challenges will also open up - beating the first one in a world will unlock another attack for your character to choose from, and then beating the second will open up that character. After all the individual races is an environment are dealt with, you can then choose the Wacky Cup Challenge - which is a five race tournament. Beating that then unlocks the Golden Muttley Challenge, where you have to win all the individual races and must collect the hidden golden muttleys around each track while you do so. Beating those then allows you to take part in the Battle Arena Challenge, which is similar to the battle mode found in the Mario Kart games - drive around for a fixed amount of time, hit your opponents with weapons, earn points, win. Aside from all those modes there are also time trials for you to beat.

Brrr, this looks rather chilly!

Unlike other games in the genre, there isn't a fixed range of items for all characters to use - instead each character has their own unique items. You start with three unlocked, and earn more by progressing through adventure mode. The items themselves fit into the usual types: ones that you can shoot your opponents with, speed boosts, shields and the like. As for the different tracks you'll be tearing around, there are four different environments in the game: a wild west style area, a snowy mountain, a big city and a forest. Each of these have five tracks within, which to a pretty good job of distinguishing themselves from each other. A few of the tracks can be quite annoying to beat, especially when you're still getting used to the layout.

I'm not sure whether the guy narrating the game is the same one who used to voice the Wacky Races cartoon many years ago, but it sounds remarkably close. In fact, the game has nailed the style of the cartoon all around, and is a pretty fun game all around. It even features a multiplayer mode that supports four players, though I can't really comment on how good this is as I have not had the chance to try it, sadly. In terms of cost, Wacky Races will likely set you back less than £5. At that price it's worth a look, though it's not the best kart racer money can buy by any means!

Katamari Damacy | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #10

About 7 or so years ago now, I bought a second NTSC PlayStation 2 so that I could play imported games without having to go through the hassle of having my console chipped or using any other tricks to run US games.  I don't regret doing this as it allowed me to enjoy many RPG's that either never made it over here in Europe or took their sweet time getting a release.  The initial impetus behind this decision was not made to play an RPG however, it was so that I could play Katamari Damacy.

The King of All Cosmos has gone on a bit of a bender and in his drunken state has accidentally knocked all of the stars out of the night sky, so it's up to you as the pint sized Prince to roll up all sorts of junk into a ball until it's large enough to become a star and return things to their previous state.  During the early levels you will find yourself rolling up tiny items like paper clips, mice and the like, as as the game grows on the contents of your ball of crap slowly increase until your picking up cars, people, and entire buildings!

The controls take a bit of getting used to at first, as manipulating your ball is like driving a tank.  You push both analogue sticks up to go forwards, both back to go in reverse, and one forward / one backwards to turn.  After a little while this will become second nature though, and you will have a huge grin on your face as you careen around the place hoovering up kitties and all manner of other stuff.  Trying to roll over items that are too big will knock parts off your Katamari, so you have to build up gradually.

The gameplay is fun, and the graphics while a bit basic are nice and colourful and stylised - however probably the absolute best thing about the game is the soundtrack.  The music is absolutely amazing and comprises of some extremely catchy J-pop. I bet you won't be able to get the music playing in the background of this video out of your head after it's finished! In a addition to the standard single player "make a star" mode there is also a multiplayer mode which is quite good fun.  The idea here is simply to pick up more stuff than the other player within a three minute time limit.

That's an impressive ball o' shite you've got there!

There were quite a few sequels to the original Katamari that were released over the years following it's release, some of which came out on other systems like the PSP and Xbox 360.  I haven't enjoyed any of them as much as the first though - partly because the basic gameplay can start to get a bit repetitive after a while, and also because they have never quite matched the brilliance of the music found in that very first game.

Picking up a copy of the game today will likely set you back around £10. If you've never experienced a game in the series before, then maybe the original and arguably the best is a good place to start. Now, let's enjoy some more of that soundtrack!

R-Type Final: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #9

In the mid to late 80's shoot 'em ups were all the rage, but since then their popularity has waned. Recently however, the arrival of download services from all three console manufacturer's has seen a revival of classic arcade style games that can be picked up and put down quickly and easily, and we've started to see shoot 'em ups come back into fashion. Even the holy grail of vertical shooters, Radiant Silvergun, can be experienced by the the masses for a low cost thanks to it's release on Xbox Live.

As the name suggests, R-Type Final was supposed to be the very last game in this series developed by Irem.  It was followed up by two more games on the PSP though: the Tactics games. If it was the swansong of the series, it would have gone out on a fairly high note, as R-Type Final delivers an atmospheric trip down memory lane and features dozens of different ships for the enthusiast to collect, as well as a branching route through the stages. Fans of the old games will see familiar bosses such as Dobkeratops (the one that looks like H.R. Giger's Alien) in new surroundings, and stage three is another huge enemy dreadnought as is traditional with the series.

Even on the absolute lowest difficulty setting of Baby, R-Type Final can be an absolute bitch. Don't expect to get very far into the game on your first try. Luckily however, each time you see the game over screen the game gives you slightly more credits than the last time, and your skill should also have improved a bit so you should get slightly further in. I'm not really a fan of the modern day bullet hell shooters myself, I prefer the old style games where the enemies attack in exactly the same way each time so you can learn and adapt through trial and error. This is the category that R-Type Final falls into.

Each of the many many different ships that are gradually unlocked as you play feature their own style of weaponry, so it's worth trying each one out as you get access to it to see which one suits you best.  The all still use the Force though, the little bolt on shield thingy that has been a hallmark of most of the games in the R-Type series since its inception. More than ever before, the difficulty and the level design will force you to detach your Force pod from the front of your ship and move it to the back, as enemies swarm at your from both sides.  On the lower difficulties at least, dying doesn't mean you lose all the power ups you've picked up along the way, you return in the state you left in. The game is still tough, even like this!

There are 100 ships to unlock in R-Type Final, making it a completionists dream!

R-Type Final is not my favourite game in the series by any means (that would be R-Type Delta for the PS1) but it does have it's charms and it holds infinitely more charm to me than whatever me-too FPS is currently in vogue at the moment. The game can be found for as little as £5 used and about £15 for like new copies.  Irem still apparently functions as a company, though their output has dwindled in recent years, which is quite sad.  Maybe they could licence out some of their properties to other developers like Capcom did recently with Strider.  I would love to see new versions of R-Type, Dragon Breed, Ninja Spirit and Steambot Chronicles!

Space Channel 5 Parts 1 & 2: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #8

This time, I am here to talk about Space Channel 5 - part one and part two. I know technically that's two different games but they're so similar in style and execution I have decided to group them together.

At it's most basic level, the Space Channel 5 games are based on repetition. You watch your opponent do a variety of moves taken from the four directions (up, right, down and left), a "chu" button (X on the PS2) and a "hey" button (the circle button). Then you repeat the moves in the same order, and you also have to get the timing right as well. If that sounds very simple, it is. If that sounds boring, it isn't. Why? The wonderful music and the style of the game.

Space Channel 5 has music running deep in its veins - funky, 60's esque carnival music, often with latin american flavour. The main theme that is the backbone of both games is a piece of music called "Mexican Flyer" by Ken Woodman and his Piccadilly Brass. It wouldn't sound out of place in an old spy film. Alongside this are many other types of music, from waltzes, electric guitar solos, a bit of techno and even some inspired by the work of Michael Jackson (who makes a guest appearance as Space Michael).

This colourful scene is from Part 2, which is much more varied than Part 1.

The 60's also pervades the style of the game. It's all bright orange PVC and curves. The curves are not just to be found on the retro chic space age decor, but also on the leading lady, Ulala. She has been voted sexiest lady in a game on more than one occaision, but of course I really couldn't comment on something as sad as that. *Cough*.

If you don't know the plot, basically, some aliens called the Morolians have invaded Earth and are forcing humans to dance. Why? You'll have to play the game to find out. The script is rather daft and cheesy, but certainly fits in with the style of the game. Ulala says such things as "I feeling kinda... funky!" before a boss battle, and rather worryingly even says something along the lines of "No, not there! Ooooh!" when she gets touched up by a plant in part 2.

Both games only take a couple of hours to complete. Is this a major problem? Not for me it isn't. The music and the sense of fun that the game exudes keeps me coming back time and time again. I must have completed both games at least half a dozen times by now. What's more, they won't break the bank... or the first one won't at least. It can be found online for about £5.  Part 2 seems to be a bit more elusive, and therefore goes for around £25. Do you need both? Not really, as they're fundamentally the same. However, part 2 has a bit more musical variety, the game is a bit more technically accomplished and the levels are more elaborate, so it may just be worth the extra money.  I recommend trying the first one at least at the low price, then maybe shelling out for the second if you find you enjoy it as much as I did.

Kya: Dark Lineage & Kao the Kangeroo: Round 2 | PlayStation 2 Tuedays #7

 

Today, we’re going to look at not one, but two platformers that really took me by surprise.  I recently had some store credit for my local pre owned game and movie shop, and was struggling to find games that I wanted to make up the full amount.   There were a few games that I weren’t too sure about, but I decided to take a bit of risk and pick them up – they were only £2 each, after all.  Much to my surprise, both of them turned out to be really well put together, and I ended up playing each of them for way longer than I expected to when I just chucked them in for a quick go.  Please note that I haven’t yet finished either of these games, but the quality of what I have seen is really high, so I am fairly confident in recommending both titles especially as neither of them will break the bank.

First up, we have Kya: Dark Lineage, which was published by Atari and developed by Eden Studios in.  Eden Studios are more well known by gamers for their driving games, such as the V-Rally series and Test Drive Unlimited, but they certainly have proven with Kya that they know what they are doing when it comes to putting together a polished platformer.  The game begins with a CGI scene set in our world, where Kya hears a creepy noise in her house at night and goes to investigate.  She discovers that her half brother Frank has found a secret room that Kya’s long absent father had blocked off.  After picking up a strange amulet, Frank is sent through a portal to another world and, fearing for his safety, Kya dives in after him.

After a rather rough landing she wakes up to see a group of furry creatures called Nativs looking down at her.  Before she has long to take stock of her situation however, she is forced to run for her life as the group comes under attack from the evil Wolfun.  After a very extensive tutorial sequence the group eventually arrive to the safety of the village, when you are then told how to fight and given your first proper mission in this new world.  Kya: Dark Lineage impresses from a technical standpoint right away – the graphics rival the likes of Jak and Daxter in terms of their detail, and loading times are cleverly obscured to the point where you barely notice them.

The game frequently switches from one style of gameplay to another, such as floating on a stream of air, riding a magic board down a slope, or beating Wolfun into submission.   Not too far into the game, you are informed that these Wolfun are actually Nativs  in disguise.  Once they have been knocked out, you can use your power to revert them to their original form.  As you save more and more Nativs throughout the levels, new shops will be built back in the hub village.  The items sold there will usually grant Kya some new ability which she will need to learn in order to advance any further.  The currency for these shops comes in the form of Nuties, which are dropped by enemies and also found in crates that can be destroyed.

The other game I would like to cover is Kao the Kangeroo: Round 2.  I was vaguely aware of this title before buying it but had always dismissed it as just another generic platform game.  However, just like Kya I discovered a bit of a hidden gem.  Development duties this time belong to a Polish company called Tate Interactive,  and the game was published by JoWood Interactive in Europe.  I have not played the first game in the series that was available for the Dreamcast, but it would appear that this game picks up some time after the end of the first one, with Kao incarcerated in a cage by a dastardly hunter.  After being broken out by his parrot friend, you are told that the hunter as also captured many other animals, and from there in becomes your mission to set them free.  Kao, armed with his trusty boxing gloves, a deadly spinning tail attack and other items like boomerangs, sets off through several worlds with 4 or 5 missions within them, in order to help his friends.

I was really surprised with just how well this game is made.  The controls are really solid and responsive (which is of vital importance in a platformer), the graphics are excellent, and a nice variety of things for you to do just in the first world.  It is very much a collect-a-thon style platformer in the style that Rare made for the Nintendo 64, though thankfully it doesn't go overboard with it like Donkey Kong 64.  Instead your limited to three things you have to hunt down and pick up in each level: stars, which are typically dished out for defeating enemies in combat, coins, which are strewn everywhere throughout a level as well as found in breakable post and crates, and purple gems with a usually a bit more tucked away than the coins, and unlock extra mini games in the hub world.

Like I said at the beginning, I was lucky enough to find both of these games for £2, though they normally go for a bit more than that.  Should you happen to spot either of these games in your local game shop or perhaps at a car boot sale or flea market, I would certainly consider giving them a go if you enjoy a good 3D platformer now and again.

Shox | PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #6

 

We're at the halfway point of this season of PS2 Tuesdays, and this time I'm looking at another rather by the name of Shox.

The EA Sports BIG range started with SSX right back when the PS2 launched, and since then there have been many other games in the series which all share a similar style. Each game in the series is high on action and thrills, and usually adds some twists to an established sport. We've had motocross action in Freekstyle, Sled racing in Sled Storm, a mean game of basketball in NBA Street 1 & 2, a gangsta rap flavoured fighting game in Def Jam Vendetta and most recently NFL Street. Amongst all these games Shox was released, and it gained very little fanfare and press compared to it's series siblings. Is that because it's a bad game? No way, Shox is one of the best arcade racers I have played in recent times, and now I will attempt to explain why.

Imagine an arcade racer in the tradition of Ridge Racer or Sega Rally. Colourful well designed tracks and cars you can slam round corners with the greatest of ease. Shox has both of these things and much more. The vital sensation of speed that so many racing games crucially lack is present and correct, and even more importantly the game is great fun to play. It basically takes the idea of rallying, with the off road courses and real cars that have taken part in the WRC over the years, and then throws the point to point time trial nature of the real thing out of the window. Races take place over 3 laps against a field of five other cars. There are 6 races in a particular class, and four classes to work your way through. Each progressive class has a more powerful selection of cars.

The gimmick to this is the Shox zone. There are three of these zones in each track, and when you enter one a timer starts to tick down. This time is divided into gold, silver and bronze sections, and the faster you are the better the medal earned in that section. Get a gold in all three Shox zones during one race and you activate the Shoxwave - a bubble of air that travels around the track in front of you. If you manage to catch up to it and drive in it you get a huge increase in the amount of cash you earn.

This cash can be used to either buy new cars outright or gamble to try and win them. Gambling starts off being very expensive and risky, but every time you lose a gamble the cost is halved, and the challenge is made slightly easier. So if you keep at it eventually you will win because the CPU driver will be driving so badly you could get out and walk and still beat him. This kind of removes the challenge of the game and makes buying the cars a pointless exercise when you can just keep gambling until you win.

Adding to the replay value of the game are the platinum cars, which are basically the same as the normal cars but with improved handling, speed and a nice shiny metallic paint job. Before you start a race you can see what car you have to use on that particular track to get a platinum, and earning it involves getting 3 gold Shox zones with that car on that track. As well as the extra cars, there's another reason to earn platinums on the tracks - you have to earn at least 8 in order to open up the last four races in the Shox category and complete the game.

Graphics are very good - fast, smooth, colourful and vibrant. Considering there are only 3 different environments spread over 28 tracks there's a surprising amount of variety in the design of the tracks. You will pass golf courses, drive along a tropical beach and even down a toboggan run! The cars are solid and there are even damage and dirt effects that gradually build up over the course of a race, although this doesn't effect your handling or performance in any way. The cars all look like their real life counterparts too, and they range from Lancia Deltas through Mitsubisha Lancers, Subaru Imprezas to the powerful B class cars that have been banned.

Shox manages to catpure the feeling of classic arcade racers such as Sega Rally Championship and Ridge Racer.

The music is excellent too, and really adds to the excitement during a race. The style is dance music which is very heavy on bass, and it dynamically changes when you enter or leave a Shox zone, kind of like the music in the SSX games which changes depending on whether you are doing well or badly. The sound effects are nothing offensive or amazing - the usual range of engine noises and crunches when you inevitably hit something.

The overall difficulty level is fairly low as you can just keep trying a race until you manage to win. Some of the races took me a fair few tries though, mainly because the pack is always quite close behind you at all times. One mistimed corner or collision on the last lap is enough to lose you the race, but you can restart at any point from the pause menu. The platinum challenges do add an extra degree of difficulty if you feel like beating them all, but at the end of the day the game wont take you that long to beat. You will be having fun all the way though at that's what counts. You can find Shox very cheaply (for around £3) so it is extremely good value for money.

The only other thing to mention is the multiplayer mode, which is competently done but cant compete with the likes of Burnout 3's Crash mode. The graphics are noticeably less detailed, the Shox zones are absent and there's no music, but at least it maintains the 60 frames per second speed of the main game.

Overall I can really recommend Shox. It's the sort of game I would have happilly put £1 coins in a few years ago when the arcades were still popular, and this sort of game is quite rare nowadays. It's not in the same league as something like Burnout 3, but if you've already finished that this is the next best thing. Go and track down a copy, I'm really glad that I did.

Flipnic: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #5

There's no getting around the fact that Flipnic is an incredibly strange game, and one that sits in a niche so narrow that it meant it was easily overlooked at the time of release.  The strange animation that plays as the game loads up should be your first clue that this is something "different".  Different good or different bad depends on how you personally feel about pinball, the digital recreation of it, and how patient you are.

You see, purists of real pinball machines are more often than not likely to turn their noses up at video games attempt to do justice to their favourite past time, at least up until recently where Pinball Arcade has come along to challenge those notions.  Likewise, a good deal of videogamers probably don't want pinball coming anywhere near their precious entertainment.  The number of people who straddle the middle group who appreciate both as valid forms of electronic excitement is quite small, yet it is these people who will get the most out of Flipnic.

The first "table" is the one that most resembles a real pinball machine, replete as it is with familiar elements like pop bumpers, drop targets and ramps.  It is comprised of a dozen or so interconnected screens, each of which feature some kind of mode such as multiball or having to knock down specific targets.  Flippers are of course a given, and are present in all tables except for the last set, which choose to use a paddle much like the one found in games like Breakout and Arkanoid as the method for you to keep the ball in play. 

It's challenging, to say the least.  In fact the entire game is quite high on challenge.  Even though it is actually quite hard to completely lose your ball on the first stage due to there being only one out hole on the bottom screen, the things you have to trigger to fully unlock the next stage are not easy and will take a fair amount of time, luck and skill to overcome.  Thankfully, even when you get a game over, if you save your progress to a memory card you won't have to beat what I call the "core" challenges again.  These are the ones in red on the progress screen that have to be defeated in order to fully unlock the next stage.  Even if you haven't unlocked them, the game is kind enough to let you play the other stages on a trial basis for five minutes and one continue.  This is a nice touch when you lose your temper with a particular challenge (you will) and need to do something else for a while.

The graphics in Flipnic are very polished and each level has its own style.

Later tables grow increasingly wacky in their design and each has their own visual style.  The music that goes along with each one is nice and funky in places. As for value, Flipnic contains a ton of things to keep you occupied.  There are four different table styles and four separate levels within each one. As you gradually progress through, fully unlocking the later ones, you will also gain access to mini games such as football and basketball which can be played in two player mode.  Speaking of which, the main game has a two player option as well, though I have not had the chance to try it out yet, sadly.

Overall, if you enjoy digital pinball, or just want a game that's a little different from the norm for that matter, then Flipnic is a very worthwhile purchase.  Looking at eBay, it would appear that the game goes for around £15 in the UK and $20 in the US - though it can be found for less if you're patient.  I would say this is a fair price for the game, and if you're tempted I would recommend adding to your collection now, before the game becomes any rarer and the price increases.  With pinball itself enjoying something of a renaissance at the moment, the number of people interested in classic games like this one will only be on the rise.

There have actually been a decent amount of pinball games that make use of the video game medium to offer something that can't be done on a physical table, and more often than not the results are positive.  My personal favourite has always been Pinball: Revenge of the Gator on the Game Boy, but those seeking this type of game should also check out the following - Kirby's Pinball Land and Pokémon Pinball for the Game Boy, Alien Crush, Devil Crash and Jaki Crush for the PC Engine, Pinball of the Dead for the GBA, Adventure Pinball for the PC and Metroid Prime Pinball for the DS.  There are more than these out there, but these should keep you happy for quite some time.

Sky Odyssey: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #4

PlayStation 2 Tuesdays are officially back!  The plan is come up with one of these every week (or almost every week) until we have twelve.  Then that will be the end of Season One.  I will then switch my attention back to Commodore Classics until we have twelve of those as well.  From there, I will then continue either with Random Retro Round Up, or Nintendo Night.  Other new "series" may be added as well.  We will then come around to PlayStation 2 Tuesdays Season Two! There's a long way to go before we get there though, so let's get started.

First of all, before I say anything else about Sky Odyssey, I must begin by saying that it is amongst my very favourite games for the PS2.  It was a fairly early release in the life time of the system, so there weren't many other games competing for my attention.  I don't remember exactly how I heard about the game - I vaguely recall that the official PS2 magazine put a demo of the first level on their cover disc, and I was hooked.  Sky Odyssey is like no other game I have ever played.  Pilotwings comes close, but as it shifts it's focus across various modes of air transportation, it's not the same.

So what do you do in Sky Odyssey?  Well, you play the role of an aviator and explorer, who sets off to an island chain to discover four parts of a lost map, which will in turn lead you to a hidden treasure.  These map pieces are always found in ancient ruins, one on each of the four major islands in the archipelago.  The only way to get to each one is by flying, so you set off either in your trusty biplane or jet plane, and traverse many varied environments including severe stormy weather, underground caves full of hazardous stalactites and stalagmites, a huge mountain range and much more.

The main aspect that Sky Odyssey absolutely nails is the handling of your aircraft.  It feels tricky at first, yet as you gradually become acclimated with the sensitivity of the controls and how fast you need to be going in order to avoid stalling, flying starts to feel like second nature.  As you grow more confident you can throw in acrobatic manoeuvres like barrel rolls or flying at low altitude, which will give you extra points at the end of a mission.

Another area the game excels in is atmosphere.  The graphics may look rather basic nowadays, but the wind, particle effects and lighting still do a great job of immersing you in the game and making you feel like you are really flying.  The music is exciting as well, helping the sense of adventure immensely. Finally, we have the sheer variety of situations that the game designers have come up for you to cope with - from having to refuel from a moving train because your tank has sprung a leak, to riding currents of air in order to greatly increase your top speed and make it to your destination on time, to dumping your fuel at the foot of a mountain range in order to make sure your craft is light enough to make it to the summit.  The developers really have crafted a great game here, one that I keep coming back to time and time again.

Sky Odyssey is a game that I rarely, if ever, hear anyone talk about. It is a genuine Hidden Gem on the PS2, and definitely deserves more attention.  Taking a look at Amazon Marketplace and eBay, you can pick the game up for between £5 and £10, so it hasn't really changed in value since I bought myself another copy about five years ago.  If you still own your PS2, or are thinking of picking one up with a bunch of old games, then a copy of this game should definitely be a part of your collection - especially if you want to play something a little different.

PS2 Tuesdays | New Videos Online | New Articles Coming Soon

I have put together video versions of my first three PlayStation 2 Tuesdays articles from last year.  Please make sure you check out the playlist below.  Next week I will be posting an all new article with a companion video, so be sure to come back then!

RC Revenge Pro: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #3

RC Revenge Pro, while being and immediate sequel to PS1 title RC Revenge, is also a successor to a fairly popular Dreamcast game by the name of Re-Volt. It shares many similarities with its parent game yet manages to refine things slightly to make for a more enjoyable experience.

The game was published in Acclaim in the year 2000, and for such an early PS2 release the graphics hold up reasonably well today but won't blow you away by any means. The main single player mode is split over four cups, with tracks set in environments such as a dinosaur populated jungle, a creepy mansion, a futuristic lab, an area inspired by ACME style cartoons and a pirate themed area.  Some more unique environments would have been nice as you do revisit the same ones multiple times, and even the same tracks with slightly altered routes.

The tracks themselves are fairly well designed for the most part but a few of them are pretty confusing and there's a good chance you will lose your way the first time you drive them.  This can be mitigated slightly by an option to turn on a pulsing light that shows you where you're supposed to go, but this doesn't always show up very well against the backgrounds.  I like the fact that some of the tracks have multiple routes, and Acclaim even did the whole transforming vehicles thing long before Sumo Digital used a very similar mechanic in Sonic Racing Transformed.

This merman guy is lurking in the sewer, generally getting in the way. 
The graphics may look incredibly blocky here but they don't look so bad when the game is in action.

One of my main gripes about the original Re-Volt is that the handling of the cars was very tricky.  This may be quite realistic as RC cars can indeed be a bugger to control, but it doesn't make for a very entertaining video game.  Thankfully they have learnt their lesson and there are plenty of cars to choose from in RC Revenge Pro with a good handling stat.  More are unlocked as you progress first through the four main cups and then their reversed equivalents, including military vehicles cop cars and even a UFO.

While definitely not in the top tier of arcade racers published for the PlayStation 2, for the few quid it would cost to pick up these days I would recommend trying out RC Revenge Pro.  If you enjoy the likes of Mario Kart or Micro Machines you are sure to find enough here to keep yo busy for several hours, so you will definitely get your monies worth.

Everybody's Tennis: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #2

Clap Hanz has a long history of developing fun, accessible golf games with their Everybody's Golf series (aka Hot Shots Golf in the US).  They date back to the original PlayStation, and the franchise is still going strong today with the latest release on the Vita.  Back in 2007, they decided they would also take a stab at the tennis genre.  For whatever reason, this never caught on and the PS2 version of Everybody's Tennis (along wth a slightly updated PSP port) remains the only one so far.  This a bit of a shame, because while it's not the deepest tennis game out there, it certainly is a whole long of fun and offers a decent amount of gameplay. I remember picking this game up a few years ago when I saw a copy in my local supermarket.  I had no idea it existed before seeing in there on the shelf, but I decided to buy it based on the strength of the golf franchise.

The structure of the single player mode sees you starting off in the novice league, with four courts and two characters unlocked. You are told that you will advance to the amateur class once you've won four matches, and each of these matches also unlock other items along the way.  These could be courts, characters, clothing or different umpires. The courts in Everybody's Tennis are all very nicely designed, being full of colour and rich in little details like trains passing by in the background or a rogue football bouncing across the court in Sakuragoaka Park.   All the different court surfaces such as grass, clay, hard and wood are all represented in the game.

Sound is a either OK or awful depending on your tolerance for whimsical music and bad voice overs.  It does suit the nature of the game but I can see how it would definitely start to grate on the nerves of some before too long. This biggest problem is probably the umpires.  These are of various nationalities but the poor acting makes them sound like bad racial stereotypes and could be potentially offensive, which is definitely not the intent!

Get past this though and you do have a solid and responsive tennis game, thankfully. As I said before it's not the deepest on the market - if you want that I recommend Sega's Virtua Tennis series for the World Tour mode.  What is on offer here is a lot of fun though and the PS2 version can be found easily for just a few quid (the PSP goes for considerably more) so I would say give it a go if you enjoy tennis games.  Oh, and besides the aforementioned single player mode there are also training and multiplayer options, with the game supporting the Multi Tap for four player fun.   Hopefully Clap Hanz and Sony will decide to revisit the franchise again (maybe on the Vita?) - it deserves another shot.

Splashdown & Splashdown 2 Rides Gone Wild: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays #1

The last PlayStation 2 recently left the production line, and so to celebrate the life of this truly fantastic console I present to you the first in a new regular series: PlayStation 2 Tuesdays.  There are literally hundreds of fantastic games to be scooped up for the system, often at a very reasonable price.  Each week, I will be focusing on one or more games to try and highlight why you should consider picking them up.  First up, the Splashdown series.

The Jet Ski / Sea Doo racing genre has been somewhat under utilised in video gaming over the years, with the most notable series being Wave Race on the N64 and Gamecube.  The Splashdown series is less well known amongst gamers in general, yet it gives Nintendo’s franchise a serious challenge in terms of quality and playability.  Both games were developed by Rainbow Studios, who had already gained something of a following thanks to their high quality ATV Offroad Fury franchise.

The first game features 21 tracks (20 unlocked over the course of three different difficulty settings, and one secret track).  The majority of these are fairly realistic circuits set in locations around the globe such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Nice harbour in France and around the coast of Bali. There are also four or so other tracks that are based inside man made arenas, and these are used for one on one challenges with other racers in single player.  By beating characters that are locked to begin with you then earn the right to play as them.  Each track features ramps to jump off of, buoys to slalom through, and more often than not multiple routes to take.

The water looks wet... which is nice.

The easy mode gives you 12 races to complete, and as the name of the mode would suggest it is fairly straightforward to beat it.  Stepping up to Normal gives you the full 20 normal courses to complete and the opposition is notably tougher.  You have to make sure you execute tricks and built up your performance meter, which in turn increases your top speed.  Basic level tricks are pretty easy to pull off, but in this first game the mid tricks are quite difficulty to remember, and the high level ones involve a long and complicated string of button presses that are unique for each character.  I am always pretty hopeless at remembering moves in fighting games and it’s the same deal here as well.

The handling is nice and responsive, though this does vary depending on the character you choose.  You can push up on the left stick as you go round tricky turns to take them at a tighter angle, or you can dip the front of your personal water craft under the water and then quickly pull back to hop over small obstacles. You also need to take advantage of straight areas of track by pulling back on the left stick to hydroplane, and avoid wiping out.  One collision is enough to lose you the race even on the normal difficulty, though you can restart as many times as you need to.  Before each race you will be told the minimum position that you need to finish it to be allowed to move on to the next event, based on your current standings in the tournament, and again I didn’t have too many problems on the first two difficulty settings but Hard definitely lives up to it’s name.

Moving on to Splashdown 2: Rides Gone Wild, things are taking to all new levels of craziness as the subtitle would suggest.  The World Tour mode takes place on up to 12 tracks set in theme park rides.  These include a track that is quite obviously based on Jurassic Park, one that is pirate themed, a Bermuda triangle circuit that goes from calm seas and sunny skies one minute to a storm the next, with sinking ships and world war 2 biplanes in the background.  I do like the imaginative track design and the way the route changes slightly on each lap, but on the whole I think I prefer the normal tracks from the first game.  The difficulty of the game is noticeably harder this time as well, I had trouble progressing far on the normal setting with the characters you start the game with.  Unlocking stuff in Splashdown 2 is done by spending points you earn based on your performance in each race.  As well as more characters there are additional Sea Doos with different statistics, various wetsuits that I believe are merely cosmetic, and more tracks to unlock.  The trick system has been refined a bit in the sequel, with the high level tricks now being easier to pull off and remember.

On the third lap of the pirate themed level, the ship explodes and you can take a short cut through the wreckage.

In addition to World Tour there is also another huge championship set in the indoor arenas similar to the first game, and there are also technical time trials to attempt set on unique tracks. All of these game modes and unlockables mean that there is plenty to see and do in both games, so considering that they should only cost you a few quid to pick up they are both bargains.  Whether you prefer the realistic approach taken by the first game or the wacky fantasy of the sequel is all a matter of taste really – I would say try both games out and decide for yourself, as they are both definitely worth adding to your collection.