#and also now I feel old because the first Xbox war released in 2002

[kaddyssammlung]

Vessel played The Halo theme song and the crowd goes crazy because of it?! I love that. I played Halo because it came with the Xbox back in the day XD.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #482

Top Ten Sega Games

So I read somewhere on the internet that in June it’s the thirtieth birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog (making him only a couple of months younger than my brother, which is weird). This is due to his debut game, the appropriately-titled Sonic the Hedgehog, being first released on June 23rd. As such – and because I do love a good Tenuous Link – I’ve decided to dedicate this week’s list to Sega (also there was that Sonic livestream and announcement of new games, so I remain shockingly relevant).

I’ve got a funny relationship with Sega, largely because I’ve got a funny relationship with last century’s consoles in general. As I’ve said before, I never had a console growing up, and never really felt the need for one; I came from a computing background, playing on other people’s Spectrums and Commodores before getting my own Amiga and, later, a PC. And I stuck with it, and that was fine. But it does mean that, generally speaking, I have next to zero nostalgia for any game that came out on a Nintendo or Sega console (or Sony, for that matter). I could chew your ear off about Dizzy, or point-and-click adventure games, or Team 17, or Sensible Software, or RTS games, or FPS games, or whatever; but all these weird-looking Japanese platform games, or strange, unfamiliar RPGs? No idea. In fact, I remember learning what “Metroidvania” meant about five years ago, and literally saying out loud, “oh, so it’s like Flashback, then,” because I’d never played a (2D) Metroid or Castlevania game. Turns out they meant games that were, using the old Amiga Action terminology, “Arcade Adventures”. Now it makes sense.

Despite all this, I did actually play a fair few Sega games, as my cousins had a Mega Drive. So I’d get to have a bash at a fair few of them after school or whatever. This meant that, for a while, I was actually more of a Sega fan than a Nintendo one, a situation that’s broadly flipped since Sega stopped making hardware and Nintendo continued its gaming dominance. What all of this means, when strung together, is that I have a good deal of affection for some of the classics of Sega’s 16-bit heyday, but I don’t have the breadth or depth of knowledge you’d see from someone who, well, actually owned a console before the original Xbox. Yeah, sure, there are lots of games I liked back then; and probably quite a few that I still have warm nostalgic feelings for, even if they’re maybe not actually very good (Altered Beast, for instance, which I’m reliably informed was – to coin a very early-nineties phrase – “pants”, despite my being fond of it at the time). Therefore this list is probably going to be quite eccentric when compared to other “Best of Sega” lists. Especially because in the last couple of decades Sega has become a publisher for a number of development studios all around the world, giving support and distribution to the makers of diverse (and historically non-console) franchises as Total War and Football Manager. These might not be the fast-moving blue sky games one associates with Sega, but as far as I’m concerned they’re a vital part of the company’s history as it moved away from its hardware failures (and the increasingly lacklustre Sonic franchise) and into new waters. And just as important, of course, are their arcade releases, back in the days when people actually went to arcades (you know, I have multi-format games magazines at my parents’ house that are so old they actually review arcade games. Yes, I know!).

So, happy birthday, Sonic, you big blue bugger, you. Sorry your company pooed itself on the home console front. Sorry a lot of your games over the past twenty years have been a bit disappointing. But in a funny way you helped define the nineties, something that I personally don’t feel Mario quite did. And your film is better than his, too.

Crazy Taxi (Arcade, 1999): a simple concept – drive customers to their destination in the time limit – combined with a beautiful, sunny, blue skied rendition of San Francisco, giving you a gorgeous cityscape (back when driving round an open city was a new thrill), filled with hills to bounce over and traffic to dodge. A real looker twenty years ago, but its stylised, simple graphics haven’t really dated, feeling fittingly retro rather than old-fashioned or clunky. One of those games that’s fiendishly difficult to master, but its central hook is so compelling you keep coming back for more.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive, 1992): games have rarely felt faster, and even if the original Sonic’s opening stages are more iconic, overall I prefer the sequel. Sonic himself was one of those very-nineties characters who focused on a gentle, child-friendly form of “attitude”, and it bursts off the screen, his frown and impatient foot-tapping really selling it. the gameplay is sublime, the graphics still really pop, and the more complex stages contrast nicely with the pastoral opening. Plus it gave us Tails, the game industry’s own Jar Jar Binks, who I’ll always love because my cousin made me play as him all the time.

Medieval II: Total War (PC, 2006): I’ll be honest with you, this game is really the number one, I just feel weird listing “Best Sega Games” and then putting a fifteen-year-old PC strategy game at the top of the pile. But what can I say? I like turn-based PC strategy games, especially ones that let you go deep on genealogy and inter-familial relationships in medieval Europe. everyone knows the real-time 3D battles are cool – they made a whole TV show about them – but for me it’s the slow conquering of Europe that’s the highlight. Marrying off princesses, assassinating rivals, even going on ethically-dubious religious crusades… I just love it. I’ve not played many of the subsequent games in the franchise, but to be honest I like this setting so much I really just want them to make a third Medieval game.

Sega Rally Championship (Arcade, 1994): what, four games in and we’re back to racing? Well, Sega make good racing games I guess. And Sega Rally is just a really good racing game. Another one of those that was a graphical marvel on its release, it has a loose and freewheeling sense of fun and accessibility. Plus it was one of those games that revelled in its open blue skies, from an era when racing games in the arcades loved to dazzle you with spectacle – like when a helicopter swoops low over the tracks. I had a demo of this on PC, too, and I used to race that one course over and over again.

After Burner (Arcade, 1987): there are a lot of arcade games in this list, but when they’re as cool as After Burner, what can you do? This was a technological masterpiece back in the day: a huge cockpit that enveloped you as you sat in the pilot’s seat, joystick in hand. The whole rig moved as you flew the plane, and the graphics (gorgeous for their time) wowed you with their speed and the way the horizon shifted. I was, of course, utterly crap at it, and I seem to remember it was more expensive than most games, so my dad hated me going on it. But it was the kind of thrilling experience that seems harder to replicate nowadays.

Virtua Cop (Arcade, 1994): I used to love lightgun games in the nineties. This despite being utterly, ridiculously crap at them. I can’t aim; ask anyone. But they felt really cool and futuristic, and also you could wave a big gun around like you were RoboCop or something. Virtua Cop added to the fun with its cool 3D graphics. Whilst I’d argue Time Crisis was better, with a little paddle that let you take cover, Cop again leveraged those bright Sega colours to give us a beautiful primary-coloured depiction of excessive ultra-violence and mass death.

Two Point Hospital (PC, 2018): back once again to the point-and-clickers, with another PC game only nominally Sega. But I can’t ignore it. Taking what was best about Theme Hospital and updating it for the 21st Century, TPH is a darkly funny but enjoyably deep management sim, with cute chunky graphics and an easy-to-use interface (Daughter #1 is very fond of it). The console adaptations are good, too. I’d love to see where Two Point go next. Maybe to a theme park…?

Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox, 2002): I never had a Dreamcast. But I remember seeing the original Jet Set Radio – maybe on TV, maybe running on a demo pod in Toys ‘R’ Us or something – and being blown away. It was the first time I’d ever seen cel shading, and it was a revelation; just a beautiful technique that I didn’t think was possible, that made the game look like a living cartoon. Finally being able to play the sequel on my new Xbox was terrific, because the gameplay was excellent too: a fast-paced game of chaining together jumps and glides, in a city that was popping with colour and bursting with energy. Felt like playing a game made entirely of Skittles and Red Bull.

The Typing of the Dead (PC, 2000): The House of the Dead games were descendants of Virtua Cop’s lightgun blasting, but with zombies. Yeah, cool; I liked playing them at the arcades down at Teesside Park, in the Hollywood Bowl or the Showcase cinema. But playing this PC adaptation of the quirky typing-based spin-off was something else. A game where you defeat zombies by correctly typing “cow” or “bottle” or whatever as quickly as possible? A game that was simultaneously an educational typing instructor and also a zombie murder simulator? The fact that the characters are wearing Ghostbusters-style backpacks made of Dreamcast consoles and keyboards is just a seriously crazy detail, and the way the typing was integrated into the gameplay – harder enemies had longer words, for instance – was very well done. A bonkers mini-masterpiece.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Switch, 2019): the very fact that erstwhile cultural enemies Mario and Sonic would ever share a game at all is the stuff of addled mid-nineties fever dreams; like Downey’s Tony Stark sharing the screen with Bale’s Batman (or Affleck’s Batman, who the hell cares at this point). The main thing is, it’s still crazy to think about it, even if it’s just entirely ordinary for my kids, sitting their unaware of the Great Console Wars of the 1990s. Anyway, divorced of all that pan-universal gladhanding, the games are good fun, adapting the various Olympic sports with charm, making them easy-to-understand party games, often with motion control for the benefit of the youngs and the olds. I don’t remember playing earlier games extensively, but the soft-RPG trappings of the latest iteration are enjoyable, especially the retro-themed events and graphics. Earns a spot in my Top Ten for its historic nature, but it’s also thoroughly enjoyable in its own right.

Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if all those crazy internet rumours were actually true, and Microsoft did announce it was buying Sega this E3? This really would feel like a very timely and in some ways prescient list.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #364

Top Ten Original Xbox Games I’d Like to See on Games With Gold

So with Mercenaries in November and Jedi Academy in February, it’s nice to see that original Xbox (2001-2006) games are being made part of the Games With Gold initiative. I like free stuff, and GWG is a great little addition to the Gold service. I tend to find nowadays that I get more excited by the older games, as they’re increasingly things that I missed out on last generation; Jedi Academy doesn’t quite fit the bill (I had it on PC) but it’s always fun to swing a ‘saber and party like it’s 2003.  

Anyway, with all this in mind, here are ten games released on the first Xbox console that I'd love to see on Games With Gold, either because I didn’t play them the first time around, or because it’s been sixteen years and the game disc is stuffed in my loft somewhere and it’ll just be easier to have it digitally nowadays, y’know?

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003): however good the Mass Effect games are, I still miss the dynamic of this, BioWare’s best work (IMO). A terrific story, a tremendous twist, and a great combat dynamic that I wish they’d return to. And yes, my disc is stuffed somewhere at the back of the loft.

Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding (2001): I was one of those who bought an Xbox just before Microsoft knocked a hundred quid off its price, so as a consolation they sent me another controller and two games. One of those was Amped, a game I didn’t really expect much of but which was great fun. Channelling the vibe of Tony Hawk games, but faster and more colourful, it was an accessible and fun stunt racer that took advantage of the Xbox’s ability to create custom soundtracks from your own music library.

Project Gotham Racing (2001): still to this day my favourite PGR and possibly, by extension, my favourite racer of all time that doesn’t feature a short hairy plumber. The graphics were great, the Kudos system was inspired, it was great fun tearing round London, but really it was the progression mechanic that I loved, and which they messed around with a bit too much in subsequent games. Due to the custom soundtracks, certain songs from Pink and Nick Cave remind me of PGR courses to this day.

Burnout 3: Takedown (2004): I didn’t actually play this on the Xbox (my brother had it for the GameCube) but I loved the crashing dynamic so it’d be tremendous to have it again. I think I have Burnout Paradise somewhere, but it’s not quite the same for some reason; I liked the more old-fashioned, prescribed nature of tackling the crash courses, ticking them off almost like a puzzle game.

Psychonauts (2005): another one I've never played, but it gets rave reviews and I’ve loved Double Fine’s other work. With a sequel due out soon it’d be great to jump into the original.

Jet Set Radio Future (2002): I missed the Dreamcast and therefore the original JSR, but I played the demo of this “Back in the Day” (it came on a disc stuck to the front of a magazine that I had to buy in a shop, would you believe it?). It was great, great fun, just sliding around a beautiful, magnetic future-city. I wonder if it’d still feel fresh, or has the seriously underrated Sunset Overdrive scratched that particular grinding itch?

Spider-Man 2 (2004): I never had this; I don’t think I'd ever played it. But I remember playing the first Spider-Man game and wishing the swinging mechanic was a bit better. I think the consensus is Spidery 2 nails it perfectly. Seeing as the game I really want to play – Insomniac's PS4-exclusive Spider-Man from last year – remains out of my grasp, this would be a soothing balm.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002): I love a good RPG, but I've never gotten into Elder Scrolls. I know we’re now all looking at whatever’s coming over the horizon on the PS5 and Xbox Infinity, but it’d be nice to go back to a simpler time and enjoy this lost classic (well, lost to me coz I never played it). Fun aside: this was an early example of a game I nearly played, of a game I knew I'd probably like, but also knew I didn’t have time for. It was a wrench not buying it; I made that decision consciously because it was just too much money to lay out on something I couldn’t get to immediately. I mean, I probably have even less time nowadays, but it’d be free, so, y’know. That's something.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003): this is another one I played on the GameCube. It’s probably the best Simpsons game? Maybe? Certainly it’s the only one off the top of my head that managed to capture the sense of Springfield as a place, even if its gameplay didn’t always gel with the world of the show. I do remember it being fun to play and very funny, however, so it’d be nice to revisit it properly on Xbox.

Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003): I bought this on PC, along with Thief 3, taking advantage of a sale at (I think) either HMV or Game. I barely played either of them, as it was that period where I was sort of naturally segueing from playing games on PC to playing them on a console. As such, although I enjoyed what I experienced of it, I'd love to try to go back and complete it. My memory of it is that it was unfairly maligned whilst simultaneously not being anywhere near as good as the first game. But then what is?

To be honest, guys and gals, I've gone through this listing games I'd love to play (and there were several more that didn’t quite make the cut – Fusion Frenzy, Blinx, Dead or Alive 3, Wreckless, Republic Commando, the list goes on) and I've been made aware that, thanks to the generousness of Games With Gold I already have tons and tons of games I doubt I'm gonna get round to. I guess the collector in me can never be satisfied! Anyway, OG Xbox. Good times.