A top-down action game originally released for the NES which put players in the shoes of John McClane, the action hero played by Bruce Willis from the popular film Die Hard.
Took a little hiatus yesterday to polish off Dark Souls, but here we are with another Octurbo. Following the end of Man Week, the theme of the next group of games is that there is no theme. Pretty avant garde, right? First on the chopping block, and following in Batman's wake somewhat, is another Japan-only game based on a beloved 1980s action movie from America. I mean, it's Die Hard., you can all read titles. I just get so lost as to what to put up here sometimes.
The Die Hard game isn't quite the departure from its source material that Batman was, but it's still taking a few liberties with the plot of the movie. It's actually a lot like the NES game, which is explicable given both are top-down shooters with the same developer (Pack-in-Video), but oddly enough not quite as advanced despite being on a 16-bit system. The NES game had a lot of interesting ideas, though it's worth noting that it was released a year after this TG-16 version and Pack-In-Video had a bit more time (and feedback) with which to improve it.
But whatever, this is a movie license game. Looow expectations to overcome.
Play a TurboGrafx-16 Game, Get Together, Have a Few Laughs...
Welcome to Die Hard! Man, I can already feel the sweltering summer heat. Which is when Die Hard is set. In Australia.These opening credits with the stylized photos are the best part so far. Well, it's been the only part so far. It's a good part though, don't get me wrong. Who doesn't remember the menacing Hans Gruber and his brutal henchmen: Karl, Gary Busey (on loan from Lethal Weapon), Blood Dragon's Michael Beihn and the Red Skull?Like the NES game, Die Hard follows the movie's plot almost exactly. A little too exactly, as it even incorporates the deleted scenes from the start of the movie where John McClane is dropped off in a nearby forest after agitating the cab driver with all his sardonic one-liners.I have no idea what this says, but I imagine he's wondering why there's a huge forest just outside LA.All right, so we immediately see what kind of game this is. The top-down shooter kind. Wait, I said that part in the intro. Well, I didn't mention that you don't start with a weapon, and need to punch the nearest armed goon to get a machine gun. Technically accurate to the movie!Less accurate is how Hans Gruber appears to have hired the Vietnamese army to defend the skyscraper he's trying to rob. Yippie-Ikari-Warriors, motherfucker?These pits are a nuisance. The ones that are already here are easy enough to avoid, it's when they start appearing beneath your feet that they become an issue. I'm guessing it's bear season in South California? Maybe they're all over the place up there, knocking over letters in the Hollywood sign and getting into mischief.In this extremely exciting screenshot, I'm demonstrating my new gun. It's a brakka-brakka kind, rather than the pew-pew kind. Big upgrade.Oh hey, a Jurassic Park style utility shed. I'm hoping I find some answers or the way out and not Samuel L Jackson's severed arm. I'm going to need that guy come the second sequel.Or I could get ambushed by a bunch of enemies and find treasure at the end, by way of this fetching blue vest that inexplicably boosts my health. Shades of Bloody Wolf's lunacy here already.I upgraded once again to this limited-ammo grenade launcher. Don't know if I care for the pink explosions, but hey this is a progressive era.More funky photo filters between levels! What is that in the background? A giant PS1 logo?Nakatomi Plaza's right ahead, but first I have to swim through the Los Angeles swamplands. "Ol' Swampy", as LA residents fondly call it.I can't pass through the bamboo walls (ask any native Los Angeleno, and they'll tell you how tough their bamboo is) so I have to navigate these aquatic passages very carefully.Or I could just find the flamethrower and burn my way through. If only there was a way to avoid getting burned while standing waist deep in water.Aw, I was hoping for a new one of these. Maybe a screengrab from the part of the movie where John McClane is outside the building and traipsing through a Southeast Asian swamp.Finally, we're in Nakatomi Plaza. Or its basement. Whatever, I'm indoors now, I can deal.Though I wasn't prepared for how much topiary would be down here. When Ellis had that line about how he'd closed so many deals that Nakatomi could afford a subterranean garden maze, I figured he was just full of hot air.Seems like the goons/evil cops have their own multi-colored power-up system. I'm going to have to stay on my toes. Which are still safely ensconced in my shoes for the time being.Oh hey, it's a type of goon that looks like Karl! These guys usually have rocket launchers, which seems a bit like overkill.I've been walking around this damn basement for literally minutes and I'm almost out of patience. I'm fairly sure I've walked past these windows before.I'm being constantly worn down by going through these corridors over and over, and certain items like upgrades don't come back. My vest got dirty and is now missing as my health continued to drop (which is kind of a nice touch). If I don't reach a new area soon, I'm quitting.D'agh! Even if that's not Japanese for "fuck this, I'm out", I'm going to pretend it is anyway.
And that's the TG-16 Die Hard game. If it ever gets to the point where it remembers that it's supposed to be based on a movie with scenes that wouldn't be impossible to translate into an action game without adding leftover level design from Commando, I didn't see it. I was too busy getting horribly turned around by Ellis' goddamn basement garden maze. They really let success go to their heads back then, huh? Why couldn't he have spent it all on nose candy like everyone else.
Die Hard's not a bad game on a purely mechanical level. A little uninspired maybe, since the top-down path it follows was well-trod even by 1990. It does throw plenty of new weapons, health pick-ups and armor at you at regular intervals to keep things fair, barring an insta-death pitfall or two. Ultimately it is its dubious connection to the movie, adding in stages from stock Vietnam shooter games that have no place being adjacent to a skyscraper in downtown LA, that really make it seem like a lazy cash grab. The plot of Die Hard would not be incredibly difficult to turn into a game, as the later NES version would almost sort of figure out, so it just seems baffling as well as disappointing. Oh, and fuck maze levels in shooters. At least give me a map!
I know, a movie license game wasn't all that great. Octurbo will presumably continue to blow your minds with the blogs to come.
I actually watched Die Hard last week, and I can confirm that it does not at any point contain John McClane wading through the (literal) jungles of Los Angeles. I can also confirm that Die Hard is still a really good movie.
I thought I had to go through hell playing those indie RPGs, but your Turbografx adventures are probably a far worse fate than dedicating 30 minutes to an hour each to half-baked "strategy" games and minimalistic rougelikes with no defining characteristics. But speaking of mediocre RPGs, I did buy that Focus Interactive humble weekly sale after you directed me to it, so now I guess I have that sort-of-terrible Game of Thrones RPG that tries to be like Dragon Age (ironic in its own way) and fails? Or that I once again own the bane of my existence, Divinity 2?
These pits are a nuisance. The ones that are already here are easy enough to avoid, it's when they start appearing beneath your feet that they become an issue. I'm guessing it's bear season in South California? Maybe they're all over the place up there, knocking over letters in the Hollywood sign and getting into mischief.
How many times is the phrase "is that in the wiki" going to appear in your blogs? Because I'm pretty damn sure the first Metal Gear did this "spawning overhead pit trap" thing, too.
Bloody Wolf, though? I'm getting a stronger Last Alert vibe from this. I'm expecting John to yell out how nobody can hire his feelings.
D'agh! Even if that's not Japanese for "fuck this, I'm out", I'm going to pretend it is anyway.
@arbitrarywater: I swear there must be some good games for this dang console, and I've got a lot left on my list to try out. There's always the no doubt amazing stuff on TG-CD for next year.
All those Focus Home Interactive games are probably worth a dollar, right? Then again, you also have to account for the amount of equally valuable time they'll probably use up. Maybe think of it as a good deal on high-octane blog fuel?
@mento: I can confirm that Bomberman '93 is great with 4 other people and that Rondo of Blood is really hard (Richter is slow as hell and Maria is made of glass). Other than that though? I can't help you. Maybe the Turbo CD port of Might and Magic III with its sort of amazing techno soundtrack?
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