Hey, remember this???? No?.. Well, fuck it, It's back in all its amateurish ( especially highlight by each blog's altered title ) and uncreative ( another blog about games that some douche played - wonderful! ) glory! I was planning on basing my third edition on a couple of PS1 classics - most notably Vagrant Story and Abe's Oddysee, but as it turns out... those games haven't aged all too well, as is the way with most PS1 games when taking your first step, instead of stepping back in. In any case there were still plenty of candidates, but generalised laziness halted me back. I've been meaning to get back into at least posting one more recently because of all of the PS2 games I've been getting into. And, well, here we are! Or at least where I are. Is this thing on?!
Also should note no custom made banners on this corner of the blogosphere since I'm virtually talentless in... everything... so it's all left to whatever GB's text editor can give me... don't forget your coats!
Shadow of Rome For The PS2
What I thought - 6-7 years later, and it still stands! Shadow of Rome was well known for, at its time, the rather unique concept of basing its story and gameplay around the Gladiatorial games of Roman History. Gladiator buzz had certainly died down by that time, after a recent resurface with 2000's Gladiator, but still proved to be an excellent take. It made great use of the themes with a fairly slow paced, gore filled combat resume neatly woven around a not-very-authentic-but-still-entertaining take on the assassination of Julius Caesar. There were parts that featured a more linear focused brawler design, but the majority of the game had you playing out a small variety of Gladiator modes, ranging from simple death-matches, saving damsels, to single handedly assaulting small Fortresses, that pretty much always resulted in limbs soaring through the sky. A handsome selection of weapons, all with their own weight and undeniable feeling of power made Shadow of Rome's combat one to remember.
The soundtrack is also phenomenal, and one of my favourites from the entire CAPCOM library. It had a subtle mix of JRPG-ish tunes, with the grandiose feeling of awe that historically themed orchestral songs so often leave you with. Marvelous *re-positions monocle*
Will I play through it again? - I've already completed it a few times now, though it's one of those games that I'll enjoy heading back to after so long, just because it's that special and immensely fun to play through. It's aged surprisingly well, with some crisp graphics, brilliant facial animations and intense gameplay. It's rather clunky, though, which'll no doubt keep people from taking advantage of such an underrated gem as this, but for people who are accustomed to the traditional clunkiness of CAPCOM's games of old(ish) enjoys hammy handed voice acting (another CAPCOM tradition) with some memorably OTT hack n slash, and haven't played Shadow of Rome, I fully recommend you give it a look! Not much to lose for the price it can be found at these days, no doubt.
Also Centurion Gorilla Gladiators.
Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions AKA Mission Failed - The Game! For The PS1
Why it took so long? - Actually, this is another that I played the oozing shit out of when it was new.. yes, I know, this entire blog series has lost all consistency!
BUT!! And that's an all-capitalised but:
Like Shadow of Rome before it I lost this through the years of house moving, bedroom switching, and the nightmarish manner of a disorganised teen. I decided that I wanted it once more within my possession, though, just for me considering it a fairly rare title - whether anyone disagrees or not! I need my niche dammit! - and alongside the original Metal Gear Solid, played a focal point of my childhood era of gaming. So I got it! £8's worth of got to be exact, which is pretty unfair when put against Shadow of Rome for half that price, but c'est vie.
So Special Missions is simply a huge bundle of VR missions - much like the VR missions more people will remember in MGS2: Substance, or even the few in the original Metal Gear Solid too. There's no story ( though this entry does creatively factor into things down the line ) and is made up of you playing as Snake, more as an avatar than a character, going through an ensemble of cleverly designed trials within numerous categories. You'll begin with the staple sneaking missions, which pull you through 15 levels of increasingly complex arenas, trying to get from one point to the next while avoiding the Genome ( winter variety, oddly enough ) soldiers. Eventually you'll unlock Weapon levels, which instead ask of you to kill all enemies you encounter, sometimes without being seen. As you scale through the percentage meter of what the game has to offer, though, it starts introducing weirder and weirder levels. You'll find yourself facing off against Godzilla parodies in the form of gigantic Genome soldiers; you'll be knocking down guards into pits one after another like they were domino's; you'll shooting down UFO's; you'll be solving murders and, eventually, you'll be roaming around as Grayfox himself with the goal of assassinating Solid Snake who actually joined the Genome Soldiers.
Like I said... weird. But under a more positive light: inventive. They were what made Special Missions for me so memorable and downright gob-smacking. Kojima's blatant sense of kooky humour was being shown to a new generation of masses through Special Missions, and in general remains as one of my favourite Metal Gear Solids, oddly enough. It's all brilliant in concept, but put against the test of time implicates a significant drop for the enjoyment.
Fortunately, the more creative missions manage to stay fresh thanks to its quirky aesthetic of literally leaving you with nothing to predict just WTF is coming up next. Or at least it would if I hadn't spoiled what to expect in the previous paragraph. Non the less, Special Missions is a game I'm glad to have on my shelf once again, and for what it helped me relive, I'm grateful for.
Should be noted that this also requires a copy of the original MGS as well to play. Everytime you want to play Special Missions, you have to put in the MGS disc. Plus it doesn't work on a PS3 either so.... PATIENCE!
Will I play through it again? - I've downed my last Genola for a good long while I think.
The Red Star For The PS2
Why it took so long? - NO, this is not another that I'm more so reliving the memories with. This entry right here is a gawd dayum, bona fide, true as tinsel first timer for me. WE'RE BACK ON TRACK! Or rather I'm back on the right track.. or maybe now I've opted for the wrong track?? Or m-
I only recently heard about this through a tweet by VinceNotVance, appreciatively enough, who I think was complimenting the PSP release. I didn't have a PSP, so I opted for the PS2 version instead and we lived happy ever after.
What I thought - It's really rather good, taking cues from a lot of the Arcade days of top down shootin, side scrollin beat-em-ups, but in 3D, and in the same game! Generally the game plays along as a pretty satisfying action/adventure, almost akin to something like DMC, with some intuitive combos to unleash through a blend of melee and ranged weapons. The neat trick is how sometimes it'll revert from the side scrolling action to a top down shooter, which is usually the calling card for one of the dozen upon dozens of mid-game boss battles that you'll encounter. The boss battles also then initiate a kind of Bullet Hell scenario with sometimes of up to hundreds of shiny, futuristic bullets completely covering the entire screen.
It has two initial characters, with an unlockable third, and they all have their own distinctive playing style that's enough to differentiate the characters when playing as one over another besides their obvious cosmetic differences. Cooperative play is also in full effect, and comes with the usual fun and frustration depending who you decide to coop with. Speaking for an ideal partnership, the games works perfectly with a fellow/fellowess at your side and makes the otherwise shallow template much easier to ignore. The difficulty is neatly balanced as well, giving you a real breeze through the first couple of stages, but naturally ratchets up the enemies ( to which there was a surprising variety of ). Fortunately, there are upgrades to attain via your accumulated points from completion of the stages, but it's more related to you trying to keep up with the enemy, rather than attempting to RPG your character into an unstoppable juggernaut.
Will I play through it again? - More than likely. So far I've only completed it as the one character, and the gameplay's arcadey charm still contains that addictive nature of heading back in just to add a few extra numbers on to your own Leaderboard. And even if I don't, for a fiver this gave me a pretty lil bundle of play-time and one I'd recommend to most, if they haven't already shelled for the PSP version.
And that's that. Felt good to actually put some effort towards a blog again, AND YOU CAN TOO! Now I leave you with this track from Yakuza 4 to which is still, since the games release, festering within the inner reaches of whatever part of the brain memories are stored. Just because the more videos and pictures the more chance you won't piss this off to watch that QL Giantbomb just pos-FUCK!
Log in to comment