#an age to have been around for Goldeneye as a film release and game and it was a pretty big deal‚ reinvigorating the bond

[mariocki]

Infinite list of favourite lyrics: 223/?

Tina Turner - GoldenEye (1995)

"You'll never know

How I watched you from the shadows as a child,

You'll never know

How it feels to be the one who's left behind.

You'll never know the days,

The nights, the tears, the tears I've cried;

But now my time has come

And time, time is not on your side!"

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #600

Top 100 Videogames Revisited

Here we are with a Very Special Top Ten list. I’ve been doing this stupid time-wasting exercise for six hundred flippin’ weeks now. Six hundred! Why?! Why?! God knows. Yet here we are.

It’s getting increasingly hard to find suitably epic topics to discuss when these mega-anniversaries roll around, which is probably why I’ve returned to a well I last dredged way back in 2019. Doing a Top 100 instead of a Top Ten is something of An Undertaking, requiring as it does my remembering quite a lot of things that exist – in this case, videogames. Trying to properly rank them is next to impossible, so I tend to just “rate” them against whatever’s sat next to them. This means I tend to look over the whole list and say “Woah, why’s Mass Effect so low?” – but then, it’s that low because I’m also thinking “well, I can’t really put it higher than Unpacking, and that’s not higher than Perfect Dark, which is a little bit lower than Command and Conquer…” and so on. On the other hand, listing a hundred of the damn things gives me an excuse to not have to write some pithy explanation for all of them. So there’s that.

And it’s TOPICAL isn’t it?! Because a Very Big Videogame is coming out this week. Starfield is definitely the biggest Xbox release of the year, and one of the biggest games of the year full stop; it’s also the first new game in ages that I’ve been really, really excited about (the last one was probably Cyberpunk). But even aside from Starfield, 2023 has been quite the year for gaming in general; up there with 2007 and 1998 probably. Of course, me being me, I’ve not played any of the “big” games; for me it’s only really about Starfield. I’ve barely played Breath of the Wild, so I don’t see the point forking over a small fortune to play Tears of the Kingdom, even though I know it’ll be amazing; I didn’t bother with Baldur’s Gate 3 yet because I knew I’d be playing another massive RPG shortly so what’s the point (also I’d be waiting for the Xbox version regardless); and I don’t have a PlayStation, so even if I wanted to I wouldn’t be able to play Spider-Man 2 But Not That Spider-Man 2 This One’s Just a Videogame it’s Got Nothing to do With the Film You Know the One With the Whole Power of the Sun in the Palm of my Hand Thing.

Anyway, the gist is, despite me just doing this because I thought it’d be fun and relatively easy, it’s also turned out to be quite a good time to revisit my favourite games. Has much changed since I last did this nearly four years ago? Stuff’s come out that’s pretty high in the list – Unpacking, Vampire Survivor. Or I might have played a game more, or more recently (GoldenEye and Quake being higher than in 2019 is due to how well their recent re-releases have held up). Another change I decided to make is recognising remasters or collections; this was really just an excuse to not have, say, C&C and Red Alert both taking up a spot each, or working out how to rank all the Halos or Mass Effects. But also I think the collected editions of those franchises do offer something a bit new, be it updated graphics and options, or just the way The Master Chief Collection allows you to remix and replay the games to your heart’s content. I’ve also decided to put 2019’s placement next to the titles, to see how things have dropped or climbed. I made a (potentially spurious) decision to use collections like Mass Effect to represent the highest-ranking entry last time round – so obviously the Legendary Edition collection wasn’t out in 2019, but the “previous ranking” refers to Mass Effect 2, the most popular part of that collection. Hopefully that makes sense. There are a couple of games where the new entry has entirely knocked the old entry off the charts – Forza for instance, where each new edition is more-or-less an iterative improvement; in these cases I was tempted to put the prior entry’s ranking against it, but decided that was a bit daft.

Finally a big difference is my acknowledging that, whilst it’s not a narrative-based FPS or a dense RPG, I do love Civilization more than almost anything. I think back to how scandalised I used to be at PC Gamer consistently ranking Civ II as the best game of all time, over the likes of Duke, Quake, or even my beloved (and already getting-on-a-bit) Monkey Island games. And yet I think in many ways they were proven right.

So there we are; not much else to it. Please enjoy this spurious ranking and try not get your knickers in a twist. How would things stand if I’d waited till the year was over before revisiting? I guess we’ll never know. Or at least not till my 800th list.

The Secret of Monkey Island (Lucasfilm Games, 1990) 1 NM

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (LucasArts, 1991) 2 NM

Sid Meier's Civilization VI (Firaxis Games, 2017) 5 U

Deus Ex (Ion Storm, 2000) 4 NM

Half-Life 2 (Valve, 2004) 3 D

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (BioWare, 2003) 6 NM

Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe, 2016) NE

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 2017) 21 U

Fable II (Lionhead, 2008) 10 U

Halo: The Master Chief Collection (343 Industries after Bungie, 2014) 7 D

Wii Sports (Nintendo, 2006) 23 UP

Lemmings 2: The Tribes (DMA Design, 1993) 8 D

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 2020) NE

Medieval II: Total War (Creative Assembly, 2006) 16 U

GoldenEye 007 (Rare, 1997) 34 U

Quake (id Software, 1996) 45 U

Command and Conquer Remastered Collection (Petroglyph Games/Lemon Sky Studios, after Westwood Studios, 2020) 12 D

Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000) NM

Unpacking (Witch Beam 2021) NE

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (BioWare, 2021) 22 U

Slay the Spire (Mega Crit, 2019) NE

Lego Marvel Super Heroes (TT Games, 2013) 11 D

Crackdown (Realtime Worlds, 2007) 9 D

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (LucasArts, 1997) 13 D

Portal (Valve, 2007) 17 D

Grim Fandango (LucasArts, 1998) 42 U

Drop7 (Area/Code Entertainment, 2009) 31 U

Sam & Max Hit the Road (LucasArts, 1993) 15 D

Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, 2007) 24 D

Flashback (Delphin Software, 1992) 25 D

Peggle 2 (PopCap Games, 2013) 43 U

Sensible World of Soccer (Sensible Software, 1994) 19 D

Half-Life (Valve, 1998) 14 D

Doom (id Software, 1993) 35 U

Tetris (Alexey Pajitnov, 1986) NE

Quake II (id Software, 1997) 45 U

Pentiment (Obsidian Entertainment, 2022) NE

Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox, 2022) NE

Vampire Survivors (Luca Galante, 2022) NE

Portal 2 (Valve, 2011) NE

Duke Nukem 3D (3D Realms, 1996) 20 D

Minecraft (Mojang Studios, 2011) 63 U

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017) NE

BioShock (2K Boston, 2007) 30 D

Overcooked 2 (Team17/Ghost Town Games, 2018) NE

Quake III Arena (id Software, 1999) 33 D

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory, 2017) 86 U

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games, 2021) NE

Gears Tactics (Splash Damage/The Coalition, 2020) NE

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (TT Games, 2022) NE

Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios, 2011) 26 D

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red, 2015) NE

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Studios, 2019) NE

Switch Sports (Nintendo, 2022) NE

Project Gotham Racing (Bizarre Creations, 2001) 65 U

Halo Infinite (343 Industries, 2021) NE

Age of Empires II (Ensemble Studios, 1999) 37 D

Worms World Party (Team17, 2001) NM

Doom (id Software, 2016) 55 D

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (Q Entertainment, 2004) NE

Marvel Snap (Second Dinner, 2022) NE

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 (Chris Sawyer, 2002) 32 D

Another World (Delphine Software, 1991) 52 D

The Settlers II (Blue Byte Software, 1996) NE

Blade Runner (Westwood Studios, 1997) 41 D

Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios, 2011) NE

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2002) 60 D

Viva Pinata (Rare, 2006) 47 D

Townscaper (Oskar Stålberg, 2021) NE

Syndicate (Bullfrog Productions, 1993) 40 D

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Nintendo, 2003) NE

Cannon Fodder (Sensible Software, 1993) 49 D

Cyberpunk 2077 (CD Projekt Red, 2022) NE

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Technical Institute, 1992) 53 D

Banjo Kazooie (Rare, 1998) 50 D

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (LucasArts, 1992) 64 D

Crazy Taxi (Hitmaker, 1999) NE

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, 1998) 77 D

Superhot (Superhot Team, 2016) 44 D

Super Skidmarks (Acid Software, 1995) 62 D

James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod (Vectordean, 1991) 39 D

Super Mario 64 (Nintendo, 1996) 76 D

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Milan/Ubisoft Paris, 2017) NE

Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap Games, 2009) 36 D

Full Throttle (LucasArts, 1995) NE

Braid (Number None, 2008) 56 D

Age of Empires IV (Relic Entertainment/World’s Edge, 2021) NE

Planet Coaster (Frontier Developments, 2016) NE

Gears 5 (The Coalition, 2019) NE

Pikmin 3 (Nintendo, 2013) NE

Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment, 2001) NE

Counter-Strike (Valve, 2000) NE

Jaguar XJ220 (Core Design, 1992) 80 D

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Neversoft, 2000) 83 D

Thimbleweed Park (Terrible Toybox, 2017) 73 D

Star Wars: Dark Forces (LucasArts, 1995) NE

Beneath a Steel Sky (Revolution Software, 1994) NE

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Tribute Games, 2022) NE

Two Point Hospital (Two Point Studios, 2018) 72 D

Parasol Stars (Taito, 1991) NE

[paragonrobits]

A friend asked me to give a stab at a Tierlist Maker for Video Games Not Yet In the Video Game Hall of Fame Tier List Maker, so here's my list for it!

This is based primarily on what I considered to be overall value to gaming history as a whole, with games with greater influence or impact ranking higher than those that had less impact on those to follow, or on culture. All the entries are those that have been nominated to the Hall of Fame, but not actually inducted as of this post's writing. Games that I personally like are generally rated higher, though mostly because I'm more familiar with them and thus can judge their impact from a personal POV.

(Tier List explainations, below!)

SHOULD BE IN ALREADY

Final Fantasy: I mean seriously. How is this one not already in yet?? It is not, as my research suggests, the first true RPG; that likely goes to games like Ultima. It is certainly an incredibly influential one; FF is a name closely associated with JRPGs in general, and its diverse class system is one of the strongest things to do with it, as noted by challenges like beating the game with a party of Black Belts. FF is THE name of RPGs in general and I'm startled it hasn't made it in, though I suppose that's owing to more notable entries (Hard as that is to imagine). It doesn't hurt that the majority of my favorite FF titles are those most similar to this one, such as FF6 and FF9, in terms of approaching the general world setting and class systems. Most significantly is that this game popularized RPGs and made them accessible, in ways that previous games such as Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest did not; the field of gaming would be VERY different without it; RPGs became VERY popular, to the extent of RPG elements being almost universal among other games in the modern day. (I am also pleased and amused to see 8-Bit Theater mentioned on the actual Wikipedia page. Now THAT'S notability!)

Sid Meir's Civilization: HEY NOW HALL OF FAME JUDGES, DON'T YOU BE MOCKING CIV, ALRIGHT. CIV IS FUCKING AWESOME. Okay, jokes aside, I'm genuinely astonished as the Civ series is considered the first true main game of the 4x series, and it shows; the entire genre centers around expansion, resource usage and diplomacying or conquering your enemies, and considering the impact of this game and its sheer popularity, to the extent of the meme of the game getting people to play for Just One More Turn, I'm a bit disappointed that it's not already in the hall of fame. I also note that I am personally more familiar with the spin off Alpha Centauri, a sci fi variant, which is still one of my all time favorite games.

Half-Life: Given this game's popularity, to the point of its release alone consigning the likes of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines to cult classic status and its engine spawning a whole THING with GMod and the usage of physics mechanics in FPS games, one thing of note is its use of scripted sequences; at the time, an unknown in most games of the time. There may be something to be said for how the entire game is spent as Gordon Freeman, behind his eyes, possibly engendering a lack of separation between self and character that would be later emphasized in games like Bioshock. It's influence on games cannot be denied, with publications using it as a bookend between eras of gaming. One consistent element of what seems to make this game so distinctive is its approach to storytelling, without simply imitating film techniques which don't always work well with gameplay.

Candy Crush: This is an example of something I don't personally play myself, or even like very much, but I'd be remiss to dismiss it out of hand. There's no denial that phone games are one of, if not THE biggest market of games in the here in now; if now in scale, certainly in quantity. You might call it the TF2 Hat Economy theory; people aren't spending BIG bucks, but they are spending a LOT of little bucks all the time. It proves that highly accessible games that are generally free to play, with optional purchases, are a legitimate means of game business, and this certainly revolutionized how games were seen by the money-makers.

Super Smash Bros Melee: I loved this game as a kid, but truth be told i have a bit of a love-hate relationship; i REALLY dislike the competitive community that has fixated hard on this game, so any thoughts on it will have a slight element of pause beforehand. Even so, I can't forget the thrilled delight I felt watching the trailer for this game in supermarkets for the first time as a kid. at a time when getting any new games at all was a HUGE deal in my family. So, there is a lot of feeling behind this one! Ultimately, I have to concede that while i have complicated feelings about this game, its worth noting that the vast majority of things that made Smash iconic, and influenced the competitive scene AND the games inspired by Smash AND shaped the course of the series going forwards, largely owe themselves to Melee in particular. 64 was far more slow paced, while Melee began the trend towards much more fast paced action (and while I doubt it's SPECIFIC to melee as a whole, it may have been a trend for the genre from then). Melee is STILL widely played, especially on the competitive scene, and this sort of longevity always bears evidence of notability.

Goldeneye 007: I have to admit that despite being a kid in the 90s, despite someone who put most of their time into gaming, and despite being someone whose favorite system at the time was the Nintendo 64, I mostly missed out on the trend of history by honestly not being that much into this game. I have to say that I DID play it, however; I just never managed to get past the first level or so. I have strong memories of triyng and failing to sneak around a snowy lair of some description; it wouldn't be until the mid-2000s, playing Deus Ex Human Revolution, that I got the hang of stealth. All the same, personal indifference really doesn't matter much because HOLY SHIT THIS GAME HAS SOME STAYING POWER. IT HAS INFLUENCE, FRIENDORITOS. Perhaps chiefly, at the time it was made, consoles were not considered viable platforms for first person shooters; Goldeneye revised that notion, and created a whole revolution in multiplayer and shooter games. We would later see the ultimate consequence of this in games like Halo, which further revolutionized the whole genre. Ironically, the stealth attributes I was so bad at were part of what made the game so unique! It's one of those games that may not have aged well, by modern standards, but its import to gaming as a whole goes a long, long way.

Guitar Hero: I expect this one might be a bit hard to justify, but on its own, this game is INCREDIBLY innovative, though its not entirely the first of its kind, having mechanics based on earlier games. The very first entry has a respectable library of 30 songs, which is impressive considered at the time it was made, its not likely people expected it to get as far as it did; bear in mind that the massive libraries of later games were the result of years of this game series being a massive steamroller of a franchise! At the time, this one was an unknown. It has an interesting history as being a successor of sorts to an arcade exclusive, and inspiring a genre of imitators and spiritual successors on its own; of great note is the sheer impact this game had. With so many of those successors, the increased value of liscened soundtracks, and the way the game's concept became so influential, its astounding this one isn't already on the hall of fame. (It's also very fun, but fun alone doesn't make for memorability, sad to say.)

DESERVES IT AT SOME POINT

Myst - an iconic and incredibly atmospheric puzzle game, I'm genuinely surprised that I haven't heard talk about this one in some respect; it bears note as a rare game with absolutely no conflict whatsoever. I actually rank this one on par with the 7th Guest in terms of atmospheric games, though their tones could not be more different. So why do I think this game deserves it at some point? It was an incredibly immersive and beautiful game, lacking in genuine danger or threat, encouraging the player to explore and tackle the puzzles of the game. This sort of open-ended lack of peril makes it an interesting precursor towards certain flavors of sandbox games around now. It's worth noting that it was a tremendous achievement, given technical limitations of things such as the CD-Rom it was stored on, maintaining a consistent experience, as well as tying narrative reasons into those very constraints. It has been compared to an art film; if so, it certainly is the sort that invited imitators and proved to be a great technical achievement.

Portal: PORTAL! What can I honestly say that hasn't already been said by other people? The amazing integration of a physics engine into innovative puzzle solving, combined with a slow burn sort of minimalist plot reveal concerning the AI proving itself to be a kind of reverse HAL 9000? This game got a HUGE number of memes back in the day, and I expect anyone reading this can probably reference a few. The cake thing, certainly, and its relevance to matters of deception. There is much discussion over the game's utility in academic circles, which is certainly quite notable, and for my part, I'm interested by the point that at first the game gives you a lot of hints towards what you're supposed to do, gradually making it less obvious for the player you're on your own entirely, using your experience with the game to get past the puzzles from there, and its excellent game design. Ultimately though, I place this below Half Life in hall of fame urgency, because while I probably like this one more, it doesn't have the same impact on other games, per say. (That's a lot of awards for it, though. Wowza.)

Resident Evil: Is it fair to call this one the major survival horror game of its era? No, because it's apparently the FIRST, or at least the first to be called such. It's certainly up there with shaping the genre as a whole, both its immediate predecessors and modern games. The flavor of a survival horror can even be judged about whether its close to Resident Evil's style of defending yourself with limited resources vs controlled helplessness. It's also worth pointing out that I quite like the restricted, cramped setting of the mansion, rather than an expansive city; Biohazard was a real return to form, even if its something I mostly watched through funny lets plays because OH NO ITS TOO SCARY I CANT WATCH.

Asteroids: It's called the first major hit of the golden age of the arcade. I'm forced to say... yeah, it absolutely deserves it. The actual implementation and hardware of the game makes for interesting reading, and so its innovative nature ought to be noted: it lacked a soundchip at all, making use of handmade circuits wired to the board. It's reception was great, beating out Space Invaders and needing larger boxes just to hold all the money people spent on it. It also invented the notion of tracking initials on the top ten score, which has implications for arcade challenges.

Ms. Pac Man: This one consistently ranks HIGH in gaming records of its time, though there is admittedly some confusion to whether it or Donkey Kong was a better seller. Interestingly it appears to shape most of the gameplay mechanics people remember most for Pac-Man, such as the improved AI of the ghosts. It's more highly regarded than the original game, and on a personal note, I remember being a kid and seeing this arcade machine at ALL the laundry places my family usually wound up going to.

Frogger: It's placing on this list is not solely because CUTE FROG. The accessibility and wide appeal of the game bears a great deal of consideration, the flexibility of its formula, and just how many dang times it's been ported in one form or another. (And also, cute frog.) It also gets points for the creator being inspired for the game when he saw a frog trying to cross a road, hampered by the vehicles in the way, and he got out of his car and carried the frog across the street. The game is also evident of broad appeal, and some money-makers resisting it, goes back a long way; it was apparently dismissed as a kid's game by some, which just goes to show that some problems are older than quite a lot of gamers alive today.

Uncharted 2: this is one of those games where I cannot honestly say I have personal experience to draw from. Of the playstation's big games, I remember the Jak and Daxter series; I remember Kingdom Hearts, and I remember Ratchet and Clank, and I remember Infamous, but the Uncharted series remains

something of a 'I don't go here?' obscurity in my personal playbook. It does look memorable and charming from what I've seen, and one consistent element I've seen in comments about it is the cinematic nature of the game; it feels very much like a fun heist movie, based on what I have seen of it, and the notable thing is how the game FEELS cinematic.. in a literal way. As in, it combined elements of cinematography with game design, and that's no mean feat: what works for movies are unlikely to translate well to the interactive side, and it shows how that can be done for other games. The extensive praise does the game a LOT of credit!

WORTH NOMINATION AT LEAST

Angry Birds: As noted before, I'm not the biggest fan of most phone games, given that i prefer a more passive experience than most provide. As such, Angry Birds isn't something I've played as of this writing, but I have to appreciate the straightforward and simple gameplay; it reminds me a bit of the Burrito Bison game series, which I HAVE played, and I'm going to go out on a limb and assume it's because Angry Birds is probably the innovation that coined that particular style of gameplay. It's an example of what made phone games profitable and worth the time of developers to work at them; its easy for casual players to get into, and there's a fun sort of impact involved. Given the popularity of phone games, this one has a LOT of influence in getting that rolling, similar to candy crush, if not as much.

FIFA International Soccer: Simulation games are a tricky business; it can be really difficult to get them right, and this game provides an example of it being done in a way that a lot of people REALLY loved, set up an entire game series, and revived the 3DO system after a very bad year. Of note, apparently it was commented that it was more of a simulator than a console game, and this is rather funny considering how simulator is its own genre nowadays! Such do things change. It seems to have been a revolutionary game and simulation; setting the shape for modern sport games of its type, and tending more towards realism (accounting for acceptable breaks in reality) than was typical of the time. This one's position is thus picked for its impact as a whole; while it may not necessarily be a household name now, the series continues on, and is popular enough that even after 20 years, it's still been going.

Elite: I nominate this game in this position for being a startlingly early entry into what we would now consider open-ended games, even with an element of exploration and trading; if one stretches definitions a bit, a precursor towards gameplay of the like scene in 4X players who strive to avoid conflict, if possible. Its technical breakthroughs are some very interesting reading and make for good game history; a vast and complex game (not just by the standards of the era, either), and opening the door for persistent world games such as World of Warcraft.

Wii Sports: A significant game, and much as how other titles mentioned above were famed for gateway entries into gaming for an unfamiliar audience, or those that would want o play on a more casual basis. It seems notable to me for being most suited as a family game, or a more casual experience of multiplayer than usually associated with games like this; this has greatly influenced Nintendo's design philosophy, and one can see elements of this all the way through the Wii U onwards. It's essentially a fliparound from Mario Party; less competitiveness, but definitely meant as a group thing. Controversy is evident, because like with Mario Party, injuries did result from it.

Call of Duty: I place this one here because, while it DOES hold a very significant role in gaming history, with countless imitators, spiritual successors, being a game-changer in ways that its modern reputation might surprise you with, ultimately it is less so than other games such as Goldeneye, Halo or Half-Life. It's development in AI pathfinding and tactics is incredibly noteworthy from a mechanical perpsective, and the sheer level of awards it won is notable. In the end this game's popularity and continuing influence means that it shouldn't be overlooked.

Metroid: You can't spell 'Metroidvania' without this game! A relatively open ended exploration-based game with further options opening as new tools were found give it an interesting vibe, and the oppressive atmosphere distinctive to the game says great things about its sound and level designs. It wasn't the first open world game, or explorer, or even the first to open new aereas based on equipment, but it had ALL of these elements in a very memorable package. (Samus Aran as a female protagonist is something I'm a bit reluctant to give it credit for, as her identity was obfuscated for most of the game, and only revealed in a fanservicey way in a secret ending. All the same, credit where it is due, I suppose!) It's music seems to endure as a mood setter, too!

Pole Position: Perhaps not the FIRST racing game, but still considered one of the most important from the golden age of gaming, and the one to codify many of the firm rules of the game series. It's three dimensional gameplay is incredibly innovative for its time, and having played it and games like it in the past, I'm struck by how smooth the whole thing feels. No wonder it was popular! It is notable for having been designed specifically as a 3d Experience, meant to execute techniques like real drivers might attempt, which makes it a different sort of beast in that it tried to do more realistic actions; in some ways, a precursor to modern trends of realism in many games, for ill or best. Ultimately I think this one is worth a nomination because of its influence towards racing games (a popular and long lived genre, to say the least) as a whole.

OUTSIDE CHANCE

Nurburgring 1: On the one hand, I feel a bit guilty putting this one so low; it is recognized as likely being the earliest racing game in history, and given that I just finished noting Pole Position's influence, it feels a bit mean to rate this one as relatively insignificant all the same. However, in terms of notability, I never even heard of this one, and it was tricky finding information about it. Accordingly, that may say something about its influence, though this position DOES make it noteworthy as the first of its kind, albeit with Pole Position refining and introducing elements that shaped the genre.

Dance Dance Revolution: It feels a bit strange, putting this one fairly low. This thing was a MONSTER back in the day; entire arcades were built around the dancing control peripherals it required, rhythm based games or mechanics specifically invoked it by name, and it was an absolute cultural touchstone for years and years. So, why place it low? Partly, its because I can't just shove EVERYTHING into the 'deserves a nomination' folder; I do think it's fairly reasonable for this one to at some point get a nomination in the future, though ultimately there's games more noteworthy on the whole. It's specific rhythm qualities continue outside of its genre, and are quite influential to gaming as a whole, though unfortunately the series seems to have lost something in notability over time; popularity is a factor, but so is the impact on other games.

NBA 2K and NBA Jam: I put these two together because they touch on similar touchstones for me, and they really did popularize basketball games back in the day. Jam in particular seems to be invoking the Big Head mode that were a big thing in games at the time, at least going from the screenshot. They were very popular and highly beloved games back in the day, though I don't know if they have much influence on later games. I note that interestingly, they take opposite approaches; 2k focuses on AI and realistic experiences, while Jam was deliberately less realistic and more actiony in its over the top gameplay.

Nokia Snake: This one really impresses me for the sheer number of releases, in various forms, it's had! Interestingly, there seems to be little consensus on the name of this game; most just call it Snake or something on that theme. I went with Nokia Snake because... mostly, it sounds funny, and that's how its done on the list. This one is fairly low, but I Have to give it credit for having hundreds of releases!

Farmville: My mom liked Facebook games, a lot. And I am certain this one was one of her main ones! I rate it fairly low, and no doubt her spirit is yelling imprecations at me across the void of time, space, and abandoned socks; all the same, this one is ranked low because of the sheer number of displeasure aimed this one's way. (And to be fair, she complained about it. A LOT.) It is thus notable for unusually negative reasons; an example of exploitation, pressuring players to pester their friends to play it in an equivalent to electronic chain mail, and microtranscations.

Tron: I'm inclined to give any game that takes place in a computer land and uses programming or mechanical terminology a free pass! Interestingly, this has some association with the Snake game, as they have similar gameplay and Snake games are sometimes called Light Cylce games, after this one. It has an interesting history; the graphical system was chosen largely because it was believed it was more likely to be achieved before the deadline.

NO BUSINESS IN THE HALL OF FAME

Mattel Football: I do feel a little mean putting anything in this category; firstly because I don't want to make actual fans of something sad, and secondly because I believe you can probably find notability anywhere you look, if you are inclined. And here is the chief difficulty with this one: I could not find any real information in this one. It has no Wikipedia page, a google search only led to undescriptive links of SALES for the game, but not any information on the game itself. Notability is my main resource for sorting these entries, and honestly? If google has nothing on you, that's a pretty poor sign. Sorry, Mattel Football, but you look like a poor man's Game And Watch. You're no Portal, Myst or Pole Position.

[aion-rsa]

15 Best James Bond 007 Games Ever

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

After multiple delays, No Time to Die is finally hitting theaters in the UK and U.S., marking Daniel Craig’s final appearance as super spy James Bond, the end of an era for one of the more beloved 007s. It’s still too early to say in which direction the storied franchise will go next, but now is the perfect time to look back at the history of 007 in video games, especially as Hitman studio IO Interactive prepares to bring James Bond back to gaming!

Just like the films, some Bond video games are much better than others. There are a couple of stinkers out there, but also some all-time classics. If you’re looking to get an extra fix of 007 ahead of No Time to Die, these are the secret agent’s very best adventures on consoles and PC:

15. 007 Legends

2012 | Eurocom | PC, PS3, X360, Wii U

While 007 Legends is the most recently released Bond game, it also has some serious issues that keep it from placing higher on this list. You play as the Daniel Craig version of Bond re-living his past adventures. That sounds fun in theory, but seeing the current Bond and modern gadgets in missions based on Goldfinger and Moonraker never quite feels right.

Worse, the entire campaign feels more like a generic Call of Duty clone than a true 007 experience. While stealth is an option in most scenarios, it doesn’t even work that well. In a spy game! There are worse ways to kill a few hours, but there are also much better Bond games out there. All that said, this installment does provide a great tour of Bond’s greatest cinematic hits for newcomers and longtime fans alike.

14. 007 Racing

2000 | Eutechnyx | PS1

There have been so many amazing chase sequences in the James Bond films that a 007 game focused solely on driving seems like the perfect fit. The results, however, were pretty mixed. There’s a good selection of cars from the movies here (including the iconic Ashton Martin DB5), and when missions focus on just driving as quickly as possible, it’s a pretty fun game. More problems arise if you find yourself in any sort of combat situation.

The biggest problem with 007 Racing is just that it tried to do too much in a PS1 game. The technology wasn’t there yet. Make a new 007 Racing with a decent budget and it could top a list like this in a few years. But if you love Bond’s cars, this is the best way to get in the driver’s seat.

13. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

2004 | Electronic Arts | GCN, PS2, Xbox

The reason Rogue Agent is on this list is because it tried to do something new with the Bond franchise, even if it ultimately missed the mark. First, you don’t even play as 007. Instead, you’re an ex-MI6 agent with a cybernetic eye. That’s also why the game is called GoldenEye. It has nothing else to do with the movie, or the much better 1997 video game.

Putting aside the tenuous James Bond connections, Rogue Agent is a pretty typical first-person shooter from the era with a couple neat tricks up its sleeve. You can see through walls and deflect bullets with your magic “golden eye.” There was also a really solid multiplayer mode that was sadly taken offline years ago. If EA had just called it something else or not included the Bond connections, it would probably be much more fondly remembered today. 

12. Tomorrow Never Dies

1999 | Black Ops Entertainment | PS1

The best thing that can be said about Tomorrow Never Dies is that it has a really great soundtrack. Of course it includes the classic Bond theme, and the movie theme by Sheryl Crow, but just minute-to-minute, the game has a lot of pumping tracks that would feel right at home in any film in the franchise.

As for the gameplay…it’s fine. Tomorrow Never Dies is heavily inspired by the shooting and stealth gameplay of Syphon Filter, but not quite as good. And Syphon Filter hasn’t exactly aged gracefully. At least the skiing and driving levels are pretty fun though. 

11. GoldenEye 007: Reloaded 

2011 | Eurocom | PS3, X360, Wii

Never say never again, but due to the complicated rights issues, GoldenEye 007 will probably never see an official re-release, even if it would certainly be welcomed by millions of gamers who grew up in the ’90s. Instead of dealing with legalities, Activision decided to just make its own version of GoldenEye with a modified story and Daniel Crag in the Bond role instead of Pierce Brosnan.

And Goldeneye Reloaded is pretty good, with lots of varied objectives and high production value. It actually feels like an authentic James Bond experience. There’s even a respectable multiplayer mode that channels a lot of what made the original game great. Still, the level design never quite reaches the heights of the N64 classic, and the AI is pretty bad in the single player campaign, which keeps this from being an all-time great Bond game.

10. James Bond 007: The Duel

1992 | The Kremlin | Sega Genesis

The Duel is a really ridiculous game, but also way more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Timothy Dalton lends his “likeness” to Bond for the last time as the secret agent infiltrates enemy bases with only his trusty pistol so that he can plant bombs and rescue identical damsels in distress. There are plenty of generic henchmen to shoot, but Oddjob and Jaws (apparently borrowing one of Dr. Eggman’s leftover boss machines) also make appearances. 

Even though it feels a little by the numbers at times, the controls are tight and the 16-bit soundtrack is surprisingly strong. You could do much worse with a licensed platformer from the early ‘90s.

9. James Bond 007 

1998 | Saffire | Game Boy

While everyone remembers Rare’s N64 Bond offering from the year before, gamers overlooked this gem for the original Game Boy. James Bond 007 is played from a top-down perspective and it was never even released in color, but Saffire still managed to pack a truer Bond experience into this tiny cartridge than many more technically advanced games have.

There’s an original story with plenty of humor and innuendo, the option to sneak around or use karate moves, and the studio even managed to include baccarat and the classic James Bond theme. This one is still well worth tracking down. 

8. Blood Stone

2010 | Bizarre Creations | PC, PS3, X360

Blood Stone received a lot of hate from critics upon its release, but looking back now, it’s hard to understand why. The combination of cover-based shooting, melee combat, and focus kills that let you quickly dispatch enemies hold up really well. And Bizarre Creations, best known for the excellent Project Gotham Racing series, even threw in a few very fun (though short) driving sections.

Daniel Craig and Judi Dench are back to lend their voices to the game as James Bond and M respectively. With its excellent original plot, nonstop action, and high production values, Blood Stone is the closest thing you’ll get to an interactive Craig Bond movie.

7. From Russia with Love

2005 | Electronic Arts | GCN, PS2, Xbox

From Russia with Love is probably best known as the Bond game that brought Sean Connery back to the role for the final time. EA even got him to record some new dialogue, though Bond is still modeled off his classic ‘60s look. Between the presence of (arguably) the best Bond, a plot based on one of his most beloved films, and the use of the iconic jetpack from Thunderball (just because it’s awesome), From Russia with Love is pure fan service from start to finish.

The game isn’t completely true to the movie, though. Legal issues have plagued the Bond franchise for years and that meant some odd changes to the game’s story, with the villainous organization OCTOPUS replacing the movie’s SPECTRE. If the rights could be worked out now, From Russia with Love is begging for a modern remaster.

6. The World Is Not Enough

2000 | Eurocom | N64

Even N64 aficionados forget about the second Bond FPS released for the console. The World Is Not Enough takes a lot of obvious cues from GoldenEye, with similar missions and level layouts, plus a respectable multiplayer mode. But it also carves out its own identity with several new weapons and gadgets. The game also added voice acting — something that’s sorely missed when going back to GoldenEye now.

Does everything work here? Not quite. The AI is particularly weak, and it’s not the easiest game to go back to now, but at least it’s aged better than the movie it’s based on.

5. Agent Under Fire

2001 | Electronic Arts | GCN, PS2, Xbox

Agent Under Fire went through a really tortured development. It was first intended to be an improved port of The World Is Not Enough. Then, it was going to be more of a direct sequel to GoldenEye. Finally, it ended up as its own original project, and it still holds up pretty well, with some solid shooting mechanics and driving missions inspired by Need for Speed. It’s just unfortunate EA couldn’t secure the likeness of any past James Bond actors, so 007 ended up looking like Sterling Archer. 

And while the multiplayer may not be the best a Bond game has ever seen, there are some great maps here, and thanks to the inclusion of bots, you can still fire it up today. There’s not much to dislike about Agent Under Fire, and EA only improved on the formula, the following year…

4. Nightfire

2002 | Eurocom | GCN, PS2, Xbox

Think of Nightfire as a much more refined version of Agent Under Fire. After taking a break from the last game, Pierce Brosnan provided his likeness for Nightfire (although someone else voices the superspy). The FPS levels are much more fun to navigate than its predecessor’s and require the use of tons of gadgets to complete. The AI puts up a real fight, too. The driving levels maybe aren’t quite as enjoyable as the ones in Agent Under Fire, but that can be forgiven when the shooting is this good.

The campaign is really short, but multiplayer has surprising legs, with eight excellently designed maps, a dozen different modes, customizable bots, and a handful of playable Bond villains from past movies. It could have been a huge hit if console gaming had online multiplayer at the time.

3. Quantum of Solace

2008 | Treyarch | PC, PS3, X360

Largely ignored at release, Quantum of Solace is probably the most underrated Bond game. It’s built on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare engine, which had just been released the previous year, so the shooting is silky smooth. But it also tried to innovate with melee attacks and a cover system that switches to a third-person perspective. The moment-to-moment gameplay is filled with the explosions and big set pieces that Call of Duty is known for. You don’t do much sneaking either, but that fits the grittier tone of the Daniel Craig movies.

It’s unfortunate that Activision went in a different direction with the Bond license after Quantum of Solace. This was easily the best of their offerings, and a Treyarch-developed sequel could have been something really special.

2. Everything or Nothing 

2004 | Electronic Arts | GCN, PS2, Xbox

Everything or Nothing is notable for being the first big budget Bond game that actually tried to move the series out of the shadow of GoldenEye. The switch to a third-person perspective wasn’t revolutionary, but it did allow for much better stealth gameplay, plus the addition of rappelling and a neat spider robot. Everything or Nothing actually makes you feel like a superspy with an arsenal of cool gadgets at your disposal.

Even the obligatory driving sections are firing on all cylinders here, with one Road Rash-inspired chase sequence featuring Bond on a motorcycle that’s quite possibly being the best level in any Bond game ever. Everything or Nothing would be a fantastic template to follow for any developer looking to resurrect the Bond franchise in video games. (Talking to you, IO!)

1. GoldenEye 007

1997 | Rare | N64

Of course GoldenEye is still the best Bond game of all time. A half dozen developers have tried to outdo it over the last two decades and still GoldenEye reigns supreme. The funny thing is that nothing about GoldenEye should have worked. Licensed games were notorious for their poor quality in the ‘90s. Movie tie-ins released two years after a film has hit theaters are almost always shovelware. Plus, the legendary multiplayer mode was only added to the game just a few months before release. On paper, GoldenEye sounds like it should have been a massive disaster on par with E.T. for the Atari 2600. 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

And yet, the final product still stands out as one of the greatest first-person shooters of all time. Yes, it’s a little rough around the edges now, and the frame rate really chugs along at times, but it’s still incredibly fun to complete objectives in classic levels like Facility or Train. Or just watch watch a mission completely go to hell, as you try to survive against a horde of guards who’ve cornered you. The replay value, with tons of unlockables for completing missions quickly, still outshines many modern shooters.

Then there’s the multiplayer with its near-perfect maps and endless options. GoldenEye 007 was the peak of multiplayer shooters on consoles in the ’90s, with its fast-paced shooting and excellent maps. Sure, it would be easy to make a much better looking and sounding Bond game now, but it’s hard to imagine any team could create something more innovative or more fun. GoldenEye 007 remains the undisputed king of Bond games.

The post 15 Best James Bond 007 Games Ever appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[shirlleycoyle]

My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited

In November 2007, an entirely contextless video of me being punched in the face went viral. You might have seen it. It still does the rounds every couple of months, often when something notably bad happens that warrants a response of disbelief. In these strange times, it’s managed to remain endlessly prescient.

For the uninitiated, the video in question is an 11-second clip in which, aged 16, I appear wearing a dressing gown cord around my head, a chain necklace, some children’s sunglasses and a black T-shirt. I sit down and address the camera, ostensibly about to tell the viewer what I was thinking. I am immediately interrupted by my friend Tim, who appears stage left and lamps me. Rather than react in pain or anger, I err more towards disappointment and dismay, bewildered that something like this could happen. “Ah fuck. I can’t believe you’ve done this,” I said. End scene.

It’s been nearly 14 years since I uploaded the original video and to this day it still prompts questions. Who was the guy who got punched? Why did he get punched? Who punched him? What was he thinking? Why did he react that way? Why did he leave YouTube?

In recent years I’ve come to appreciate and even enjoy its bizarre status as an enduring piece of internet history, but my relationship with the clip in the decade that followed its inexorable rise hasn’t always been easy. To understand why, it’s useful to remember that the internet in 2007 was, for better or worse, a very different place.

Having spent the best part of my school years filming stupid skits with mates instead of studying, there was something semi-appealing about the prospect of being able to put videos online to share with friends. It began in mid-2003, when myself and a group of friends would have been in our early teens. Inspired by the likes of Jackass and Bam Margera’s CKY movies, our impressionable young selves set about ignoring all relevant safety warnings, hurling ourselves out of trees, riding scooters into curbs, and racing tyres down hills on skateboards.

At the age of 14 or so, I had envisaged cutting the footage into a chaotic feature-length video of “stunts.” I’d probably have soundtracked it with music from the Tony Hawk games, alongside countless other homemade skate videos people made circa 2003 that probably featured a mix of Ace of Spades or Guerilla Radio. I still have a box full of VHS-C tapes kicking around somewhere, which can only be viewed on one of those absolutely insane VHS adapters. Having not watched any of it in well over a decade, I can safely say that the content contained within those tapes is unequivocally shit.

All of a sudden you're everywhere and it's out of your control. You either try to fight it and get destroyed, or embrace it and try to cash in.

Looking back, the whole endeavour was entirely aimless, but aside from coming away with mild head injuries from time to time it was an innocuous way to spend my childhood. At the very least it also means I have a bizarre, tangible record of my youth that I’ll be able to laugh at one day when I’m old and wizened.

By summer 2004, we had started filming on Mini-DV, which opened up a whole new world of editing possibilities. Plugging a video camera into a computer and capturing footage directly to editing software is pretty much a given for today’s generation of content creators, but back in the early 2000s, this was revolutionary.

We’d eventually gravitate away from ‘stunts’ towards more structured skits and sketches. Nothing was ever scripted per se, but we’d usually start out with a rough idea of something and see how it played out.

There was an ambitiously misguided 'silent horror' short, soundtracked by Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, in which someone chopped off ‘my cock’ (a banana) with a garden shear. We considered this to be the absolute pinnacle of comedy.

There was an ill-advised 'Ballers' skit in which we ventured out in sports gear to make a mock training video taking the piss out of a guy at school who fancied himself as a bit of a gangster; this painfully middle-class white kid who listened to rap metal and liked basketball. He obviously never saw it and there's no question that we looked like idiots filming it at the local park. It’s probably quite offensive in hindsight.

The author at the Bristol Climate Change Protests in September 2019. Image: Shanya Buultjens

There was a James Bond 'spoof' that involved misquoting portions of dialogue from that scene in GoldenEye where Q gives Bond an exploding pen. It was funny to about three people. One of them was my mum.

One time a mate of mine fell out of a tree when he tried to swing from a branch. He landed on his back and ended up coughing up blood. He didn’t go to the hospital even though he probably should have. He’s now a doctor and a father.

Mercifully, none of this stuff ever made it online, but I did sell a couple of DVDs to people at school who rightly/probably/hopefully never watched them. In an ideal world, I'd own the only copies. I'm also fully aware that writing about this now only makes it more likely that one of the four people that still have a copy will dig theirs out. Please do not do that.

In 2005 and 2006, YouTube was very much in its infancy. This was the time when clips were limited to about 100mb and you could only upload about 30 seconds worth of footage at a time, which basically made it perfect for bursts of frenetic, inane content. As the platform grew, it became a dumping ground for skits and footage that we’d accumulated over the preceding years. Much of it went completely unnoticed until late 2007, at which point things started to get a bit weird.

The truth is that, nearly a decade and a half later, I’m still processing it.

The clip that people have come to know started out as an aimless skit filmed in Summer 2006. We hadn’t planned anything, least of all me being punched. In the footage building up to the event, I pushed Tim off the chair, he fell and hit his head on a filing cabinet off-camera. Rather than react to Tim, I sat down and proceeded to ad lib something that I’d venture to guess would have been considerably less funny than the act of violence that followed. Unprompted, Tim upsided me and I reacted with an inexplicable, completely incredulous response, which has followed me online ever since.

The footage sat on a tape until July 2007 when I decided to upload a brief segment under an ambiguous title. Fast forward to November and the video had somehow blown up, had its comments section relentlessly spammed, been ripped countless times and had offensive Wiki pages written about it. I also received a few direct messages which could at best have been described as ‘worrying’ and at worst ‘threatening,’ which was nice.

To this day, I’m none the wiser as to how it blew up in the way it did. I originally uploaded the video under the title ‘ ___________’ but the video somehow found its way onto 4chan where it spread like wildfire. The earliest mirrored link I could find was from January 2008, by which time it had been re-uploaded by multiple accounts, the most prominent of which had already clocked up almost double the number of views compared to my original upload.

At the time, going viral wasn't really comparable to any other experience and it certainly wasn't something I could discuss in solidarity with my friends. All of a sudden you're everywhere and it's out of your control. You either try to fight it and get destroyed, or embrace it and try to cash in. After yanking down several other videos on my YouTube channel, I opted for the latter.

When the video blew up, I got a call from a friend who informed me that the video had made the front page of Break.com. I peripherally knew what that meant: they offered a buyout scheme for videos that made the front page, which meant that I could make some money from it.

As it transpired, this wasn’t such a great idea. After signing a release form with some pretty appalling terms, over the following months I had several unnerving interactions with researchers for various TV shows looking to license the clip. Each offered far more favourable terms than those of Break. One of them harassed a bunch of my mates on Facebook. I think he even offered to pay one of them for my contact details.

By that point, it was all too apparent that I had completely fucked it. Break had the rights and I couldn't do anything with it even if I wanted to. At just 18 years old, I had sold out. In the short term, I used the money to buy a TV, which was great, but I soon started to get the creeping feeling that this was a decision that would come to haunt me. At that point, it was easier to disassociate myself from the clip, abandon YouTube, and move on with my life.

And yet, for the best part of 14 years the questions have kept coming: no, it wasn’t staged or scripted, it wasn’t a set-up, I didn’t know it was coming and, yes, it hurt. It was also very funny, which is presumably why I felt the need to upload it in isolation in the first place. Incidentally, Tim and I are still friends and contrary to some of the absolutely insane comments people leave on YouTube I can confirm that neither of us are in prison, the punch wasn’t a reaction to some sort of disagreement and he’s a lovely bloke.

To be clear, the lack of context wasn’t a deliberate choice to add intrigue either. I’d never even considered the possibility that anyone outside my circle of friends would see it. To me it was just another daft clip that a few mates would find funny.

Around the time I’d started to make peace with the issues around ownership, in 2018 it came to my attention that Break had shut down and its owner Defy Media had gone bust. The site was subsequently purchased by Yeah1 Network, but to this day I have no clarity whatsoever on my legal rights to the video. Any attempts to receive guidance have either turned up dead ends, or led to suggestions that I speak to IP lawyers, whom I have neither the means nor the time to deal with. Incidentally, if anyone has any insights in that area, I’d love to hear them.

Having said this, there’s something quite empowering in taking something embarrassing and admitting to it before someone else can point it out to you—a bit like taking ownership of an amusing surname. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what gags can be made from the name ‘Weedon,’ but I learned quite early on that if you make the jokes yourself and beat others to it, no one can fucking touch you. It’s much easier nowadays to hold my hands up and admit that I shouldn’t have sold the rights, make a joke of it and move on. At the very least, it makes for a good anecdote at parties.

As I suspect is probably the case for old content creators, if you can even call us that, the real story about I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This isn’t in how it’s aged and endured, or even how it’s impacted my life. For me, it’s tied up in issues of rights, ownership, and monetisation. As mercenary as it might be, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t regret missing out on a slice of the pie when it came to YouTubers being able to monetise their content sooner. On the one hand, that's probably a very cynical view for something that was created by a bunch of teenagers who were fooling around making videos for fun in the noughties, but on the other, that's just the world we live in now.

Perhaps the strangest thing about my experience with it nowadays is the way people engage with it on a day-to-day basis. The comments vary from young people discovering its origins for the first time, surprised to discover that it is in fact a 14 year old video and not a recent creation filmed for Vine or TikTok. At the other end of the spectrum are those who are incredulous that someone with a video that has 9.2 million views and an account that’s amassed over 15,000 followers without really trying would step away from the platform and not want to make content.

The truth is that, nearly a decade and a half later, I’m still processing it. I love seeing how it’s been re-interpreted in modern mediums and that positive association has made it easier to accept. Charles Cornell turned it into a sad song. It got sampled in a KIll The Noise track. I had a nice interaction with The Sidemen about it. Will Smith even featured it in an insane Instagram post during the pandemic. I DM’d him to say thanks and he obviously didn’t reply.

To that end, a small group of us have recently started work on a film project exploring the nature of the meme, how it grew, its impact on my life and my relationship with the internet at large. In doing so, the hope is that, while answering some of the burning questions that other people still seem to have, I’ll ultimately be able to make peace with the whole thing.

@Twotafkap

My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[antiques-for-geeks]

Games of Christmas Past : Goldeneye 007

Rare / 1997 / Originally £59.99 / Nintendo 64

As the sun sets on this strangest of years and a cold wind blows through an empty AfG towers this Christmas, the team cast their thoughts back to Christmas Days past, when your rich Uncle used to come round in the afternoon with your cousins and their latest full priced games that you couldn’t play because they had an Atari ST in 1987 and you were still pretty pleased with your Spectrum +2 bought last summer thankyouverymuch.

So once again, we’re looking back at the games we did get to play on Christmas Day. The good, the bad, the ugly, the over-priced, the cheap and the ones purchased by Grandma because the nice man in the shop said it was the one that all the kids were playing.

First for this year, Pop...

Now effortlessly installed as the most fondly remembered and critically lauded Bond game ever, the world needs another piece about Goldeneye like a donkey needs a second pisser... but I’ve been asked to write about a game that holds strong seasonal memories. There’s simply no way to avoid this bald fact: Goldeneye was simply the best gaming Christmas present I ever got.

So... I’m going to write about it... and some lucky donkey is going to empty its bladder in record time.

About the best thing about being newly employed in the late 90’s was having my own money to spend on whatever gaming rubbish I saw fit. I bought a Tiger ‘Game.com’, Satan's own handheld system. Why? Because it was there! (in the Argos catalog, that is). 

So when I wandered into a branch of HMV and saw an N64 demo pod with the first level of Goldeneye ready to play I knew straight away that my number one seasonal priority was to be able to take it home.

The first level lays it all out. I stealthily approach a guard tower, taking out a few unfortunate soldiers on the way. Up top is a sniper rifle... plenty of time to get a bead on the forehead of a distant and totally oblivious soldier. He has no idea what’s coming. My finger tightens on the N64’s trigger button. He’s thinking about how cold it is... how much he misses his family... how soon his commission is coming to an end… to be back in his wife’s warm embrace... borscht for dinner tonight.

BANG! His head snaps back and he crumples to the ground… ‘Hey! That’s sick!’ opines some random guy watching over my shoulder. But I can hear it in his voice. He knows, just as I know. This game is awesome.

I gifted myself a few games on Christmas day along with the console. I’m sure Mario 64 was one of them, and I’m sure I loved that too, but that year the holiday season belonged to Bond.

I’d played some first person shooters before, but those had all been riffs on the ‘Doom’ formula, with a corresponding feeling that you were floating through the levels, somehow disconnected. Goldeneye put you right in the film, dealing with changing objectives and with the ever-present possibility of sneaking up on enemies and dealing with them silently. Many levels were designed around the film’s sets before shooting was even complete, and they benefit greatly from feeling more like real places.

And so much fun could be had just experiencing this world! Somewhat shamefully, Tim and I would play the second level set inside a well guarded Russian lab with our own rogue objective: the scientist cull. What this involved was simply finding all the white coated lab personnel and gunning them down in the most extreme (and satisfying) ways possible. The detail that made this particularly fun was how well their biological whites showed up the inevitable blood stains, like some kind of terrible alternative universe Persil advert.

Sorry, this lab is over populated. I’m sure you understand.

This was a game that could be enjoyed as a quick blast on the easier levels, but provided a genuinely rewarding structure for extended play on the harder difficulties. The bad guys were tougher, requiring you avoid combat where possible and to master the precise aiming controls to take them out with head shots. Additionally, the mission objectives were extended with interesting additional tasks, taking in much more of the level. As icing on the cake, beating the game on higher difficulties unlocks a couple of extra levels, which are both well worth seeing - especially the ‘Aztec’ level from Moonraker where you get to face-off against fan favorite bad guy Jaws.

I suppose I should at least mention the groundbreaking multi-player element. The N64 supported 4 players, and 4 player couch co-op would no doubt have been awesome if I’d had 4 controllers, a decent sized TV and 4 people to play against. The few times I managed to rustle up an extra to battle against were good fun, if imbalanced, because I never got to play anyone else who actually owned the game. Single player was where I spent 99% of my time.

Apparently many of the team that put Goldeneye together hadn’t worked on a major game before, allowing them to build it unshackled by the past. In many ways this sounds like a game that came good because of dogged determination and a series of lucky accidents. It certainly shifted the goalposts for what was expected of a first person shooter for console generations of games to come. The way games develop over time often appears to be a series of big bangs, followed by copies, iterations and enhancements. Goldeneye is definitely one of those seismic bangs, a huge success that other developers wanted a piece of.

Rare did it all again, and technically better with the release of Perfect Dark a couple of years later, and though I loved that game too, for me it didn’t have quite the same bombshell impact.

I guess this is the point where we should address the elephant in the room. Goldeneye, like so many games from its console generation hasn’t actually aged very gracefully. The graphics were certainly pretty great for the time, with a long view distance and excellent character animation. They really do look hopelessly primitive in 2020 though, and the controls feel slow and clunky. Not to mention that the N64 controller, so ahead of its time in the 90′s feels like an alien object  to a modern player used to iteration after iteration of 2 stick gamepads for the last 20 years. It’s a real shame that licensing issues have prevented a cleaned up re-release (we’ll ignore the 2010 effort by Activision; it’s a characterless shadow next to the real thing).

So why does this game make me think of Christmas? Is it because many of the levels in Goldeneye are appealingly wintry? Maybe because a Bond film was an ever present pleasure for terrestrial TV viewers at yuletide in the UK?

Nope. This game basically lets you commit murder on a massive scale, again and again and again (oh, and those poor innocent scientists!) That hardly qualifies it as festive entertainment. It's probably just because a new console and a great game to go with it has been a staple requirement for so many of my Christmases. This was one of the greatest of all.

Score card

Presentation 9/10

The bond atmosphere is presented almost perfectly, from the iconic ‘gun barrel’ opening onwards.

Originality 9/10

Like nothing else released before, Goldeneye set a high bar that wasn’t matched anywhere during the N64′s lifespan... except by its ‘sequel’ Prefect Dark.

Graphics 8/10

Somewhat colourless, but very solid. The frame rate is acceptable for the time. The digitized faces of the guards looked great back then, but slightly ridiculous today. Animation, particularly the way enemies react to being blasted, is exceptional.

Hookability 9/10

The dam level is the prefect opener, giving you a chance to see what the game is all about. Play it on the ‘Agent’ (easy) difficulty and you can have a good time without having to be a dead eye with the manual aim controls. No game let you snipe an enemy from half way across the level before this one. Once you had, you were in for the long haul... or morally outraged.

Sound 9/10

Perfect music for a bond game, and a great accompaniment to the action. Gunshots, screams and other spot effects all enhance the action. No bad voice acting to spoil the effect.

Lastability 9/10

Loads of varied levels, each with new, interesting objectives when played on higher difficulty levels. Because the mechanics of the game were so good, it was fun just to pick your favorite level and just mess around or prefect your run. Then there’s the multiplayer...

Value for Money 8/10

£60 was an awful lot of money, but there aren’t many games that got more playtime.

Overall 9/10

One of the all-time greats, I can’t bring myself to mark it down just because the passage of time has been so unkind.

[zero2zedplaystation1games-blog]

0 to Z of Playstaion 1 Games - 007 The World is Not Enough

007: The World is Not Enough is a first  person shooter developed by Black Ops Entertainment and published by EA, unlike it’s predecessor Tomorrow Never Dies this game also saw a N64 release shortly after the Playstation release, after the fairly lukewarm response to Tomorrow Never Dies switch to a 3rd person perspective, this 007 title would revert back to the GoldenEye 007 first person shooter formula the game would also use an updated version of the games engine.

Once again while using Pierce Brosnan’s likeness his voice is not used in the game and like 007 Racing and Tomorrow Never Dies, Adam Blackwood reprises his role as the voice actor for Bond also voicing Bond was  Tim Bentinck, John Cleese would also lend his voice to R for the game.

The World is not Enough is a first person shooter baed on the 1999 film with the player taking up the role of James Bond through a total of 11 missions with a number of objectives in each that need completing, these objectives range from rescuing hostages, destroying enemy vehicles and collecting items as well as using Bonds patented bag of high tech toys.

The game also has several different weapons at the players disposal including submachine guns, shotguns, a tranquilizer gun, sniper rifle and a rocket launcher, weapons must be reloaded after a certain amount of shots fired, the player also has a certain amount of health which decreases when damage is received, there are however power ups that decreases the damage received from enemy attacks, these power ups do not protect the player character from radiation or fall damage (I hate fall damage).

A multiplayer mode that was present in the N64 release was considered for the Playstation version however this was not added with developers feeling it would take away valuable production time and therefore reduce the quality of the main game.

The Playstation version of the game on top of the missing multiplayer mode is know to be missing three missions as well as an entire difficulty level.

The story very closely follows the movie, the plot revolves around the assassination of billionaire Sir Robert King by the terrorist Renard, and Bond's subsequent assignment to protect King's daughter Elektra, who had previously been held for ransom by Renard. During his assignment, Bond unravels a scheme to increase petroleum prices by triggering a nuclear meltdown in the waters of Istanbul.

While the Metacritic and GameRankings are average coming in at a 61% and 68%  however the game did receive some good reviews and a couple of very good reviews Game Vortex giving the game a 95% DarkStation gave the game a 9/10 while  PSX Nation said the game is A worthy game for first person shooter fans.

One good review however a 8.5/10 from Gamezone If you aren't shaken, but stirred by competitive role-playing action in a console game, The World Is Not Enough may be right up your mission alley the game is an action first person shooter can’t really do much role playing in the game.

Absolute PlayStation gave the game a solid 82/100 while Happy Puppy gave the game a 75/100 at the other end of the score spectrum there were some low scores which have helped to plummet the games average score GamePlanet giving the game just a 2.5/5 Da Gameboyz could only manage a 5.2/10 for the game, while CNET Gamecenter, Daily Radar, Hot Games and Gaming Age only giving the game a very average 50/100  

In comparison the N64 version of the game stands at 81% on GameRankings and Metacritc a full 13% and 20% higher than the playstation 1 version

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific but from a podcast I listen too I have heard they have a huge stock of older games.

So lets get down to business we may as well start with Gamedude like the previous two bond games I have covered this looks a fairly common title with Gamedude paying out just 50 cents to buy a copy from you, where as if you are looking to buy a copy that will set you back just $4 which is about £3.

Moving on to eStarland.com the site however does not a single copy of the title available, the only version for the Playstation that is for sale is the special 007 Tomorrow Never Dies + The World is Not Enough 2 Pack, a used copy of this will set you $12.95 so roughly $6,48 for each game this is a complete used version of the game so disc, manual and case.

Retrogames.co.uk sadly has no copies of The World is not Enough for sale for the ps1, a copy of the far superior N64 version is for sale and will set you back £9 which is just under $12, also available is a copy of Official Playstation Magazine - Xmas 2000 the cover game for the month is 007 The World is not Enough which is on sale for £5 which converts to $6.63.

Amazon.com has plenty of used copies of the game on sale and some very cheap ones as well a used copy in very good condition is currently available for 68 cents + $3.99 for shipping so $4.67 in total for the game which is about £3.53 in the UK., adding in shipping costs this looks to be the cheapest option available on amazon.com.

Prices for a used copy of the game do go as high as $18.51 this version the seller states All products are guaranteed against defect always nice to get a quality guarantee but that is pricey. For a new copy of the game you are looking at a minimum of $28.50 or £21.53 those prices include the shipping cost all the way up to $54 that includes shipping price as well this is about £41 in the UK.

Find more at  https://zero2zed-playstation1.blogspot.co.uk

Written by

P J Gibbon

[gamelyplanet-blog]

Before CoD: “Medal of Honor”, a personal retrospective PART I

The bloodiest war in History that engulfed the entirety of mankind; the Second World War, one of the most fascinating and terrifying moments in human history has been talked about, portrayed by and reenacted in every art-form at some point; video games have not been an exception. Though the original Call of Duty remains the quintessential War World 2 shooter, it was not the first series to approach and treat the Great War with such reverence. Infinity Ward, the makers of Call of Duty, did in fact start their careers with a game in another series about World War II: Medal of Honor.

The Medal of Honor series has been a mainstay of the shooter genre for about twenty years now, starting its life in the original Sony Playstation. Not simply a pitch out of nowhere in a safe and established IP or a clone of a more popular game as it’s customary these days, Medal of Honor is actually the brainchild of none other than Steven Spielberg himself. It was Spielberg, while getting ready to release his 1996 war epic Saving Private Ryan that tasked the electronic entertainment division of Dreamworks (his own company) to work on a pitch for a World War 2 game. The developers had a herculean task ahead of them; they had to tackle an entirely new subject matter in a genre mostly foreign to it and they also had to ease the concerns of WWII veteran organizations that thought the game would be disrespectful schlock. After patience, talks, changes and an internally-circulated and very well-received demo, Electronic Arts funded the project and released the first game in 1999, simply titled Medal of Honor.

Even without the influence from Saving Private Ryan and Spielberg’s involvement, the original Medal of Honor is interesting. Not many first-person-shooters originate on consoles and especially not back then. Sure, there were versions of Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Quake from the SNES to the Playstation, but they were all ported over from the PC versions. The successful shooters that originated on consoles were usually tie-ins to large movie licenses, such as the Alien games and, of course, 007: GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. It’s more than a little significant that Medal of Honor was a Playstation game first and foremost; it came at the right time on a system that changed gaming forever. The Playstation took gaming into the mainstream and helped rewrite the dated notions of what the entire medium could achieve; it was the system thanks to which in the eyes of normies video games stopped being glorified children’s toys and became a real form of entertainment and/or art. In this regard, the original Medal of Honor is the perfect mirror of the very system it was first released on; Dreamworks and EA proved that shooters weren’t just about grey corridors and energy weapons, gore and killing monstrous aliens; they could be historically accurate, with high production value, entertaining but also educational and centered around one of mankind’s darkest and most important moments. That the game didn’t just disappear, but also spawned a sequel on the same system and eventually became a large IP for EA across multiple platforms makes that original endeavor very important for gaming as a whole.

Steven Spielberg on the set of “Saving Private Ryan” (With Tom Hanks in the background)

Medal of Honor places the player in the shoes of Jimmy Patterson, an agent working for the OSS, that is the Office of Strategic Services, parts of which eventually became the CIA. Patterson is tasked with a variety of solo missions, infiltrating Nazi strongholds and doing anything from locating documents and MiA Allied troops to taking down German super-weapons.

Realism and film roots proved a wonderful mix that works even now, in the game’s old age. Medal of Honor’s gunplay is satisfying. Despite its technical limitations, the weapons feel authentic, in weight, look and sound; it sounds like a given in the modern, military-infested shooter genre, but it was a breakthrough approach at the time. The lone wolf protagonist angle allowed the developers to show less and make use of lighting and shadow techniques to work around the hardware’s limitations and so most missions take place at night or inside claustrophobic German complexes, making it a great and serious looking title. There is era-appropriate artwork during loading screens in the style of propaganda posters, the title screen is a 1940s style war room instead of a simple menu with a logo and even the save/load screen is designed to look like a personnel file. The attention to detail to make the game feel like it’s taking place during the second world war is extremely impressive even by modern standards and the fantastic soundtrack that accompanies players throughout the meaty campaign bolsters the already strong atmosphere and gives off the feeling of a true cinema period classic that you get to partake in.

Where Medal of Honor really still shines is in its enemy AI. The German soldiers aren’t just dumb obstacles charging at the player like most videogame enemies; they spot the player and immediately use tactics. They crouch, they go prone, they roll to dodge, they choose the best position for cover, they even throw grenades back at the player. In rare occasions, Germans will even jump on grenades and cover them with their bodies to contain the explosion and save their comrades. Enemy AI in Playstation games simply wasn’t like this; even compared to the majority of Playstation 2 games, the Germans in Medal of Honor react realistically and complexly. Of all the things that are hard to design in a game, smart AI is probably at the top of that list, making Dreamworks Interactive’s achievement all the more significant. 

Of course, a game like Medal of Honor hasn’t aged flawlessly; the controls are a little stiff, as the game was released for a system, which didn’t even have controllers with analog sticks yet. The aiming and moving are locked to the D-Pad and in situations that the player has to quickly react to unseen threats, the game feels a little rigid. The enemies are also bullet-sponges and if more than one of them are on screen at the same time, the player is unlikely to leave the encounter completely unscathed. 

For all that’s great about the enemy AI, it occasionally glitches and it can be inconsistent, particularly in regards to the enemies’ field of vision; the view distance is understandably low, considering the hardware, but the Germans can sometimes spot Patterson from afar, before the agent and by extension the players can see them.

Lastly, there are no checkpoints in the original version of the game; much like every first person shooter of that era, if the player’s health bar hits zero during a mission, they have to start over again.

Playing the original Medal of Honor in 2017 remains a satisfying and humbling experience; not only does the game still play well enough, but it’s also a link to the past, History in game form. It’s interesting; Dreamwork’s title was one of the first shooters, especially on consoles, to try and educate people in History, but because of its origins and what it represents for gaming, it has become history itself, even if it is only in its own little niche. Those were the days that spawned everything we consider a rule in gaming today, much like the NES library did for gaming in the ‘90s; Medal of Honor is a representative example of the entire 5th console generation, from the way the market worked, to the type of game that was popular, to the involvement of big names from other forms of entertainment, to innovation and polish; it was the era of growth of the entire industry and that’s something engraved on Medal of Honor now-wrinkly skin.

From Steven Spielberg’s brain and his idea for a loose tie-in to his movie, to a multi-million dollars franchise for one of gaming’s biggest publishers, it’s hard to look at the original Playstation title and not see the amount of work, attention to detail and talent that went into making that game. By the time the WWII shooter subgenre had started becoming saturated and dying out, that first game was a distant memory in the minds of most people, assuming they had even heard of it before; yet, even to this day, it’s easy to see and recognize how many genre-defining foundations and tropes Medal of Honor alone created and established.

Next: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Note: Medal of Honor is available for purchase via the PSN “PSOne Classics” section for play on Playstation 3, Playstation Portable and Playstation Vita systems.

[20thcentutygeek]

My top 10 “straight up Action movies” of the 20th century

A sample of what is available on http://www.20thcenturygeek.com/blog/ 

March has been action movie month and I love a good Top 10 list. So here is my top 10 action films. 

The only criterion for this list was that the film had to have minimal cross genre elements. So, I have discounted films like Robocop, Terminator 2 or even Indiana Jones. The other thing is that this is a list that I have created and is based solely on the films I love in date order. If you want to suggest anything else or dispute anything on this list, let me know.

1.       Rambo: First Blood (1982) – one of the first true one man army action films but not just action candyfloss. The film provides a perspective on veterans by civilians and their place in society following Vietnam. Stallone’s John Rambo is a damaged soldier looking for connection in the real world. When he is rejected he reverts to his training and takes the war to small town America. The action is raw and brutal but its true impact comes at the end when Rambo breaks down and retells what has seen and been through. This is an action film with a message about ignorance and the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder.

2.       Commando (1985) – A proper candyfloss action film and the second one man army film on this list. This film has no deeper meaning but is filled with some great set pieces and one liners. Schwarzenegger is on true muscle bound action hero form. The fact that his daughter has been kidnapped as leverage to assassinate a country‘s leader is completely immaterial. The plot is so thin but it all builds up to an amazing and ludicrous third act. Seriously, Arnie taking on an entire drug cartels army is awesome. The only thing that brings this down is Bennett, Arnie’s nemesis, who seems so out of shape next to Arnie that the final fight is a bit daft.

3.       Lethal Weapon (1987) – The buddy cop film was already a staple by the mid-80’s; the sub-genre came to America with 48 hours in 1982. This was followed by a couple of other films in the genre but it wasn’t made really popular until 1987 with Shane Black’s Lethal Weapon. The previous entries had leant a little more towards the comedy and while fun they were throw away. Lethal Weapon took this to the next level by upping the violence and intensity, and wrapping around it the great pairing of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. The chemistry between the two is excellent and what drove this franchise for four films.

4.       Die Hard (1989) – Possibly the best loved action film of all time. Die Hard was a game changer, it took the everyman hero of the 70’s and throw him into the over the top action of the 80’s. Based on the book “Nothing lasts forever” by Roderick Thorpe released in 1979. To me this film is almost perfect, Bruce Willis is excellent as John McClane and Alan Rickman is thrilling as Hans Gruber, the slimy international terrorist thief.  This film was rightfully a break out for each actor and started the film description cliché “Die Hard in a …” of all the films on this list this is the one I have watched the most.

5.       Tango and Cash (1989) – The second buddy cop film on the list. While Lethal Weapon took the genre pretty straight, Stallone and Russell take it full on action cheese. This film is pure dumb fun, the plot is basic and the action is big. Of the two Kurt Russel seems the more at home as the scruffy Gabe Cash while Sly Stallone sometimes feels a little awkward as the well-manicured Ray Tango. However, when that starts to fall away a little by the second act they fall into the roles brilliantly and the fun just keeps on coming. This is not going to win any awards but is perfect Saturday night pizza and beers action mayhem.

6.       Hard Target (1993) – John Woo’s first American film and it had Jean-Claude Van Damme in it. Mixing the oriental directional style of Woo with Van Damme’s martial arts was a great idea and is brilliant fun. In a story about People being hunted for sport we get everything we would expect, slow motion, high kicks, dove’s and amazing action set pieces. This was at the height of Van Damme’s 90’s fame and is one of his best films. It also includes the brilliant Lance Hendrickson at his nastiest, as the main villain.

7.       True Lies (1994) – Take Bond and make him an American Family man built like an Oak and you get James Cameron’s True Lies. This film demonstrates how far Arnold Schwarzenegger had come as an actor. He is charismatic and plays the roles of dull computer salesman and super spy well and with charm. He is also surrounded by a solid supporting cast from the sexy Jamie Lee-Curtis (I grew up when I saw that dance scene!), the entertaining Tom Arnold and the evil Terrance Malik. The comedy never over takes the action and the third act contains some of the best stunts you will see in any action film of the decade.

8.       Goldeneye (1995) – One day I will get to cover James Bond on a couple of episodes but right now I need to admit, Goldeneye is my favourite bond film. This may be due to my age, I was 14 when the film came out, but Peirce Brosnan is my James Bond. I had seen some of the other films before this and was aware of Bond as a film series but had not been pulled into them until Goldeneye. You couldn’t avoid Tine Turner’s excellent intro song and the advertisements. This is one of the few Bond films I have seen in the cinema and I have loved it ever since. Also the game was awesome; let’s just not talk about some of the other Brosnan outings at the moment.

9.       Bad Boys (1995) – The first of two Jerry Bruckheimer actioners on this list and the film that made the Fresh Prince a legit star. This film is great for two reasons, the first is the relationship between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the second is the stylised action. Watching it now I will admit that some of the directorial choices date the film to the decade. This is small a minor complaint however when many of the other choices still stand up so well and the main cast are so good. It should also be noted that this is the feature directorial debut of Michael Bay; regardless of my feelings about his more recent Transformer efforts his style is perfectly suited for this action.

10.   Con Air (1997) – I flip-flopped between this and The Rock to put on this list, both Jerry Bruckheimer films. In the end I decided to go with Con Air because it is slightly more fun and has the amazing John Malkovich as the main villain, Cyrus ‘The virus’ Grissom. Nic Cage delivers one of his more subdued performances amid some more flamboyant choices from the bad guys around him. However, it is clear that he is having fun; he is a pretty good action lead. The premise of the film is daft and some of the leaps in logic and credulity push the boundaries at times. However, the film is endlessly quotable and the plane grave yard sequence is so much fun and chock full of great moments.