It's a Pixel THING

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

6 Amazing Games that are still Exclusive to the Playstation 2 - It's a Pixel THING - Ep.#48

It’s 2015 and, only now, I’m discovering the huge PS2 library and it’s pretty cool to buy games and have, once again, that same feeling from the eighties in which the only source for video game reviews, and related stuff, were expensive magazines. So, back then, I bought games just by its title or by reading its back cover. If I wanted to know more about a specific title, I eventually had to buy a magazine even knowing that, for the rest of the month, I wouldn’t be able to get a brand new game.

So, with that in mind and applying that same principle, let’s take a peek to these awesome six Playstation 2 video games that I’ve discovered and learned to enjoy!

Gran Turismo 4:

So, let’s just not waste any time and jump right into one of the most successful games on the PlayStation 2: Gran Turismo 4. For starters, it has one of the most beautiful box arts ever on a video game, with its white case combined with the also white background of the cover.

Developed by Polyphony Digital and released firstly in Japan, in December of 2004, by Sony Computer Entertainment, it had a few minor issues before launch that resulted in a year and a half delay and the programmed and highly anticipated online mode was completely removed.

Nonetheless, there’s plenty to do, more than 700 cars to test and 51 tracks do explore.

The sad side is that there’s no changing in weather, night and day transitions - even in 24 hour races - and damage to the player or the vehicles.

Gran Turismo 4 is one of the few PS2 games on a Dual layer DVD requiring that the console’s laser lens needs to be clean and in extremely good operating condition.

It’s also one of the four Playstation 2 titles to have a 1080i resolution, but, sadly, only on NTSC territories, spite the PAL version being the most lucrative practically doubling its own sales on the other regions altogether.

In total, it is estimated to have sold about 12 million copies all around the world.

Ghosthunter:

Developed indoors by Sony Computer Entertainment and released firstly in Europe in late 2003, Ghosthunter has a kind of simple but effective plot, where we control a Detroit detective who releases, by accident, a bunch of ghosts. So, who we’re gonna call? No one! It’s all up to us, ‘cause they even kidnaped Anna, our lovely partner!

This third-person shooter with, also, a first-person mode only useful for more accurate shooting, allows us to also control, in certain places, a spirit named Astral that can attract other ghosts and even possess them.

The game’s amazing ambiance and storyline is what makes Ghosthunter a winner, even if it was criticized for being too easy. I’ve enjoyed it so much and there’s even a surprise at the end that you must find out for yourselves!

The game was released in the States by Namco only in august of 2004 and it included over a thousand tweaks and fixes mostly on the combat and targeting systems making it a bit harder but with simpler puzzles to solve.

Downhill Domination:

As mentioned on episode 12 about mountain biking video games, Downhill Domination is the best you can get based in this extreme sport.

For years Codemasters have been trying to publish a MTB game that really stood out from the crowd, but, unfortunately, even Downhill Domination passed practically unnoticed.

The incredibly huge multi-path courses are so amazingly detailed and designed and filled with wild life. There’s also hikers to avoid, or not, and the other opponents that tries to push us against the obstacles.

With an amazing soundtrack, were invited to roam through a series of challenges in freeride, mountain cross and technical downhill.

The environment is constantly changing, from forests with narrow passages between trees to stony sections, river crossings, weather effects, you name it! There’s so much stuff going on that you just can’t appreciate all of it! You can play the same open track a dozen of times and do it differently on every single try! Amazing!

Primal:

Sony Computer Entertainment developed and released in March of 2003 this action-adventure game that transport us to these demonic realms in search of the main character’s boyfriend. In Primal we play as Jennifer or as Scree, the Gargoyle, and we can change to one of them at any time for a completely different set of powers and abilities.

Jennifer can also change into a demon form, allowing us to do some attack and defense moves unavailable in a human form. As for Scree, he can climb walls and cannot suffer damage, so the most obvious choice is to send him - or it - in front, scouting the terrain!

Jennifer, Primal’s main character, was considered an underrated video game chick that could even surpass Lara Croft herself if the game was available on other gaming platforms!

Tourist Trophy – The Real Riding Simulator:

Another Polyphony Digital astonishing accomplishment released in 2006 and, again, with 1080i support in NTSC regions.

Considered the best PS2 simulation of that same year, Tourist Trophy utilizes Gran Turismo 4’s game engine, the graphical user interface and almost all tracks and circuits.

There’s 135 bikes to take out for a ride from the 1960s up to 2005 and the game also features 186 different riding accessories for the player, like helmets, boots, pants, gloves, jackets, etc, from officially licensed manufacturers.

Tourist Trophy really nails it, transmitting that real feeling of driving a motorcycle, natural and fluid.

The learning curve is right there, but if you’ve played Gran Turismo or other serious racing game, you’re ready!

R-Type Final:

Originally planned to be the last game of the series, R-Type Final, originally released in 2003 in Japan, is simply Irem’s best title of the franchise.

Already mentioned on Pixel THING’s “10 must have PS2 games” episode, R-type Final provides more than 100 ships to choose that, obviously, needs to be unlocked.

The graphical power of the Playstation 2 is extremely well used and abused with lighting effects, explosions, animations, you name it, but, unfortunately, with all this going on at the same time, slowdowns can really occur.

However, if you’ve grown up alongside with the R-Type video games, you’ll certainly enjoy this one! It spawned innumerous other video game franchises that we all must be grateful to.

So, excluding HD remastered titles, what other Playstation 2 exclusives would you recommend? I’m curious to hear from you, ‘cause, and as I said in the beginning of this video, I’m just now beginning to enjoy PS2’s amazing library of games.

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Thursday, April 30, 2015

War In Middle Earth [1988, ZX Spectrum / MS-DOS / Amiga] Review - It's a Pixel THING - Ep.#47

Back in 1989 there was a game that always intrigued me. Every time I went to one of my favorite local ZX Spectrum videogame selling spots I got somehow mesmerized by the cover of War in Middle Earth. By that time I didn’t have any background on the magnificent J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece.

Then, one day, I finally picked the game up and brought it home. Placed it in my Spectrum and run it. My first impressions were of complete blankness. I didn’t know what to do or to what I was looking at. Back then this was the main problem with pirated games that were normally sold in electronic stores without any kind of officious fiscal control that could protect the intellectual property of their creators. In this particular case, the original boxed game brought a forty-three page manual that, obviously, the pirated one didn’t have making it really hard for newbies to the Tolkien universe to understand.

Only a few years later I read the books and was absolutely blown away by the details, characters and storytelling that Tolkien had put into his work. So, by that time, around 1992, just when I was embracing PC gaming, I came across the DOS version and thought about giving it a second chance. By that time I had a whole new perspective about Middle Earth and all that is linked to it.

The game was released for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Apple IIGs, Atari ST, Amiga and DOS in 1988 by the Australian software company Melbourne House. If I recall correctly, it was my very first Real Time Strategy game and that’s where it all began. Then, after War in Middle Earth came Dune II, Warcraft, Command & Conquer, etc, etc..

Melbourne House was already familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien’s work. They’ve released, in 1982 and for all 8 bit machines, The Hobbit, an illustrated text adventure game that went being a bestseller game on the Commodore 64 and the BBC Micro with estimated total sales of more than 200.000 copies and also won, in ‘83, the Golden Joystick Award for best strategy game. The website worldofspectrum.org even stated that, and I quote, “The Hobbit was the first Spectrum game ever to sell a million copies”. An astonishing achievement for that time and, in 1984 was even released by the publisher a 78 page hint book named “A Guide to Playing the Hobbit” making it probably the first ever player’s guide to a videogame. Please correct me if I’m wrong!

So, getting back to War in Middle Earth, was it worth it? Is the game really that intense and absorbing as the Lord of the Rings’ books in which it is based?

The concept for this title was pulled off by Mike Singleton, a former English teacher and very successful eighties British author and freelance game designer that, unfortunately, left us in 2012 (1951-2012). He was considered the father of home computer gaming and his work will live on forever, ‘cause many of today’s titles had their roots in this man’s head.

War in Middle Earth is a fairly huge game set in a gigantic fantasy world that even to this day drags a countless number of fans that unite at this one and only webpage (www.warinmiddleearth.com) exclusively dedicated to the game. It combined both a large-scale army-unit level and a small-scale character level and everything just happens simultaneously. Middle Earth Westlands’ map is also a very important item for us to use and a physical copy of it came inside the box.

The game’s plot is obviously similar to the one from the books. The 16bit versions had additional adventuring features depicting the events from the Shire to Mount Doom.

Right at the start, Frodo, Pippin and Sam are surrounded by Nazgul riders and their first task is to travel to Rivendell, although we’re free to decide the game’s own progression.

The main goal is to take the ring to Mount Doom, but how we do it is completely up to us, the player. In the books, the ring bearer is Frodo, but, in War in Middle Earth Frodo can die. If this occurs, the ring simply passes to other character. But if it falls into the hands of the enemy, it will be taken to Barad-Dur, Sauron’s fortress in Mordor, and our quest will be forever lost. Also, if the enemy forces manages to enslave three allied citadels, the game will also end. So, let’s go find some treasures and recruit armies in this early amazing and involving real time strategy and role playing game.

Every time we start a new game, a new adventure will also take place, ‘cause there’s plenty to do, like, for instance, rethink new strategies and find all hidden objects.

Besides that first huge impact of the amazing cover art from that little plastic case from the ZX Spectrum game, the 8-bit versions of War in Middle Earth failed to impress. However, the 16-bit ones were considerably enhanced and all play and look identical.

The Amiga one has a significantly better audio environment, so, if you’re a real fan of Middle Earth, you might wanna check this early venture into Tolkien unmatched fantasy world.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Trials Fusion with a Retro Twist [PC, 2014] - It's Play Time! - Ep.#4

Just to show the awesome "Retrospective" track that is part of the "Fault One Zero" downloadable pack! Genious!

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It's a Pixel THING's main theme by LASERS (Amsterdam).

Monday, April 20, 2015

Restoring my old IBM PS/1 486DX2 66MHz - It's a Pixel THING - Ep.#46

The PS/1 line of computers was IBM’s successful return to the home market in 1990 and this specific model from 1993 was the very first time that I saw a tower model, even before the Amiga 4000T arrived. I fell in love with it right away and started saving some money getting also a part-time job just to get one of these! Even so, it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my parents, ‘cause these IBM machines were so freaking expensive, as you can see by the numbers printed in the original invoice that I’ve kept all these years! Its price was three hundred and ninety thousand escudos, around two thousand euros in today’s money!

It came originally with 4 megabytes of ram, one hundred and seventy megabytes of hard disk space and it’s a DX2 with 66 MHz and not a DX/33 as stated in the invoice. Through the years, I’ve managed to get some extra ram, to a total of 16 megabytes, and replaced the original hard drive so that I could get an astonishing number of five hundred and twenty eight megabytes for Windows 95 and games! Later I’ve also got a CD ROM drive and an ISA SoundBlaster compatible sound card that brought a new life to my favorite old DOS games.

Now let’s bring it back from the dead and listen to its startup amazing sounds!

The original PSU from my PS/1 died several years ago and, just now with the tip from my good friend Paulo_Becas, I realized that there are ATX to AT PSU converter cables. So, I’ve bought one of those from amigakit.com for about 15 euros and just used a spare ATX PSU that I had laying around.

Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Let’s try a few classic games, some of my biggest addiction from that Era!

Back then my favorite game genre was the point’n’click adventure type, so, inevitably I had to try some. Starting with Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the floppy disk edition that has no digitized voice. I have it on steam, though, and finished it recently. Such an amazing adventure!

This is the first time that I’m hearing music from Wolfenstein 3D, and I’m amazed by it! I remember to play this game with only the beeps from the PC speaker! By the way, the IBM PS/1 models have this pretty handy PC speaker volume knob in the front of the case! Awesome thinking! Not everyone had the possibility to buy an audio card. Back then, prices weren’t friendly at all! So, if we’re gonna play games with sound only from the PC speaker, let’s make it with style!

Another awesome point’n’click adventure game from Lucas Arts: Day of the Tentacle, with tons of hilarious unforgettable moments! And this one has some amazing digitized speech throughout the game! Just an amazing accomplishment from Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman, that you know… right?..

Moving on to another game, this time around it’s another title that I’m hearing, for the first time, its music and sounds using a sound card! I remember to play GODS at a friend’s house even before I bought my own IBM. It’s one of the greatest classic from the Bitmap Brothers!

Who hasn’t played the very first Micro Machines? It’s such an entertaining and funny little game that got me hooked for countless hours and even days! I don’t recall this degree of sluggishness.. It’s maybe a sound issue?!? Hummmmm.

I’ve already reviewed this game for my channel, so feel free to check it out clicking on the rectangle shown on your screen.

The Monkey Island franchise brings so many memories from those awesome 3.5 inch floppy disk Era! Such an amazing time and such an awesome piece of programming, again from Lucas Arts and the creative minds of Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman and Ron Gilbert. Did you know that the film series Pirates of the Caribbean somehow drank some inspiration from the Monkey Island games? This is the second installment of the franchise, LeChuck’s Revenge. Another awesome point’n’click adventure classic.

It can’t get more classic that this: DOOM 2, Hell on Earth, the second installment of ID Software’s groundbreaking franchise. There weren’t any big differences in gameplay and graphics from the original DOOM. The Johns – Carmak and Romero – just focused on more complex level design taking advantage from the natural computer hardware evolution. And, someone once stated that “it’s a keep on the hard drive forever game”.

This is the first time I’m trying Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe on the PC. I used to play this game on the Amiga and it was considered by the press the best game ever made for that platform. Honestly, it’s not my kind of thing and, right now, I’m thinking of a ton more titles that are way better than this. Well, I’m testing it just to hear its main theme that I have on my iPod and absolutely love it.

Now comes a game that I spent so many time playing and enjoying. The very first Warcraft Orc and Humans, from Blizzard. Even today it continues to be so addictive! After I shot these images I spent the rest of the afternoon playing it! This isn’t just a “build base”, “build army” and “destroy enemy” type of RTS. We have also missions where we need to rescue friendly forces and besieged villages and it was a major breakthrough on the genre back in 1994. And it was highly enjoyable to play with a friend in multiplayer mode by modem or over local network.

So, guys! I hope that you’ve enjoyed this return to the past! It feels so good to have my old IBM working again! It was my first PC and, from the minute I’ve pushed the start button, it brought so many great memories from those years of DOS gaming!