#i mean imagine a huge game franchise innovating and taking any kind of risks in lords year of 2024 when they couldn't do that in early 2010

[antirepurp]

grabbing rise of lyric with my fangs. like sure whatever it was probably for the better for sega to intervene with some aspects of the development like having the characters' designs be less stylized and wacky and stick a bit closer to their original looks, but the micromanaging and insistence on a more typical sonic experience is what kills me bad. ignoring the fact the game came out on a console that wasn't designed to run shit made with that particular version of the cryengine (if it could run any cryengine games for that matter) which was ultimately why rol ended up like that, it presented a wonderful opportunity to innovate on sonic games and introduce Something New to the mix that hadn't been done in the big releases since unleashed. had boom been successful and become the funny side franchise sega decided they wanted it to be, they could have had games that did not Need to stick to the boost formula or whatever the Thing in the mainline games has to be. they could have had games that people who typically don't go for fast-paced action platformers (like me!) would be more willing to pick up as their first sonic game, which could later lead them to try some of the other games as well. instead they insist that a game that was conceptualized as a 4-player co-op experience and built around this idea needs more speed sections which feels like something that inherently clashes with the idea of co-op play with multiple people anyway and might not be the part that anyone would remember most fondly about such experience. and then they put it on the wii u. and then they make it a franchise thing and give the reigns of it to some cartoon writers who know nothing but the basics about the game they're supposed to make a cartoon about.

laying down in a puddle cradling rise of lyric in my arms and falsely trying to assure it that everything's okay when it very much isn't and the world did my darling so fucking dirty

[ranger-report]

Thoughts On: Heretic

Earlier this year, just before the beginning of quarantine, I played a little game called AMID EVIL, something I would not have done were it not for the enchanting video skills of YouTuber Civvie 11. In his video, Civvie demonstrated the awesomeness of the retro shooter, both in graphics and gameplay, and since I was jonesing for something a little more dark fantasy than I was used to, I decided to give it a try. The game is a thrilling rush, and worthy of its own post here, but that game was a segue into me finally picking up and playing a game series that I had been intrigued by for nearly twenty some odd years: the Heretic and Hexen games.

AMID EVIL owes a lot to these games; in fact, it's not much of a leap to say that it owes everything to these games. It's even less of a leap to say that most first person shooters, whether dark fantasy or no, owe a lot to these games. Raven Software introduced a monster of a franchise when they dropped Heretic in December of 1994, working in collaboration with id Software as Raven was creating their games using the DOOM engine (or, as I think we're calling it now, “id tech 1”). John Romero helped in-house, giving advice on how to work with the engine, which was instrumental for Raven to push id tech 1 to its limits. They made changes to the engine which eventually became staples in other FPS games: an inventory system, translucent objects, pushable objects, the ability to look up and down, and the ability to fly. While the game itself was objectively a reskinned version of DOOM, it was stylish and engaging and reworked the most popular game engine at the time. In short, it won accolades in no small amount, and sealed itself in history as a high watermark for boomer shooters, hell, for PC gaming in general. So when we're looking backwards into the foggy past of our ancestors, is Heretic a game that we, in the Year of Our Lord Gaben 2020, should consider playing, either for the first time or as a throwback? Roll up your sleeves, party people, we've got a deep one to dive into today. Because we can't simply look at Heretic alone; oh, no. We're going to have to look at the whole franchise.

Heretic is not a complicated game per se, but it has a lot of tricks up its sleeve. We have the standard issue Run-Gun-Have-Some-Fun gameplay that Wolfenstein and DOOM brought to the table. There's three keys of different colors – yellow, green, and blue – there's a variety of weapons that almost line up point-for-point with DOOM's stack of damage inducers, and there's a horde of enemies that are around every corner waiting for you to come out magic blazing. But where DOOM has a mostly straightforward path from point A to point B, Heretic is a trickster which can and will give cause to tear one's hair out. Secret doors, invisible walls, fake walls, and hidden switches are everywhere, which means that nine times out of ten you'll either be consulting your map to figure out where the fake walls are, or you'll be pressing the space bar on every surface to see if it will open or activate something useful. Raven did a bit of a whammy on the game, setting up the simplistic stuff to lure you in, as though promising a hot night out with the kind of experience you think that you're used to, but then they strap you in for the kinky stuff that you always imagined you'd be into, but now that we're here you're not so sure. Make no mistake, I did consult a walkthrough at least once, maybe twice if I'm remembering right, during my playthrough. And the game is punishing the deeper you get: enemies lie in wait immediately behind doors, around corners, hidden out of sight or just above you since some of them can fly, and as your limited ammunition dwindles down into the red, you'll be forced into running risk-and-reward of melee weapons and inventory items to keep moving. Fortunately, each weapon has its own ammo stock, and some enemies are more susceptible to different weapon types. Adding to the bonus in the player's favor are inventory items that boost weapon damage, specifically the Tome of Power which magnifies the current weapon's attack power into a secondary fire that more often than not is absolutely brutal. But, unlike future entries in this series, the motto of the day is: Keep Moving, Keep Shooting, Don't Stop Moving, Don't Stop Shooting. It's Fun, Fast, and Furious in an entertaining way that only occasionally leaves you pondering why you even booted up the game this morning.

However you may feel about the gameplay itself, it can't be denied that the visual aesthetics and gamefeel are dripping with atmosphere. Everything from top to bottom feels like the best of cheesy 80's style fantasy art, from the front cover to final screen. Gloomy castles, underwater domes, craggy hellscapes. Weapons impress with over-the-top magical properties. The default staff acts like the DOOM pistol, lobbing nearly harmless yellow energy, while the Etheral Crossbow shoots multiple energy arrows at once, like a magic shotgun, easily the most versatile weapon in the game. Besides that one, my other favorite weapons are the Hellstaff (which blasts rapid-fire red energy, and causes acid rain to fall when Tomed up) and the Phoenix Rod (basically a magic rocket launcher that belches fire when overpowered). Depending on what you're facing, proper usage of these weapons (all finely drawn sprites, natch) can either chew through a mob with ease or leave you scrambling to get back. Stun lock Disciples with the Dragon Claw while obliterating Golems with the Crossbow; save the Phoenix Rod for big bads. And enemy creatures run the gamut from the simplistically annoying Gargoyles (red bat-winged creatures who also shoot fireballs) to the sturdy Golems (which come in a secondary variety which throw flaming skulls at you) to the Disciples of D'Sparil (faceless hooded monks who fly, chant, and shoot fireballs at you, on theme). Usually these damage sponges come at you in packs, rarely doing so in solo numbers because otherwise the game wouldn't be a DOOM clone. What really gets challenging is when boss creatures start popping up like regular enemies – in packs. Take the Iron Lich for example, a massive floating skull wearing a spiked helmet that throws walls of fire and tornadoes that do continual damage, they appear as a boss at the end of the final level of the first episode, then appear later on in groups. They take incredible amounts of damage and return fire constantly, which leads to a tense game of bobbing and weaving and staying as far away from them as possible. But the absolute worst is the Maulotaur. Basically, a minotaur that stands head and shoulders taller than the Iron Lich, carries a huge mace, and shoots waves of fire at you which can one-shot you if you're not paying attention. Staying away from them is key, but they can charge forward fast in order to close distance and take a few swings at you with the mace. These assholes also start as a final bosses, then appear as regular enemies surrounded by waves of other mobs. Maulotaurs are the dealbreakers of the game; they require ridiculous amounts of ammo to kill, and will force you through most of your inventory items if you're not already powered up. Thankfully, your inventory can hold quite a few helpful items, such as quartz flasks for health, the aforementioned Tomes of Power to boost weapon damage, invisibility spheres and wings of flight, and even motherfucking time bombs. But amongst all these, the most ridiculous and yet satisfying item is the Morph Ovum. Shaped like an egg, when used it gets thrown outward and whatever it hits is transformed into an easily killable chicken. Got a wave of monsters crowding too close and you need to thin the herd fast? Turn them into chickens, then turn them into fried chickens.

What gets me is that this game doesn't feel nearly as highly regarded as its indirect sequel, Hexen, and that's probably because for the most part this is a full-on DOOM clone. There were a lot of them back in the day, too many to count, and I think that if wasn't for the legacy of Raven and Hexen, this might have fallen through the cracks of history. Is it uninspired? No, not in the slightest. The quality of the spritework and animations are top notch, the production values are stellar, putting it just above the quality of the average obvious Doom clone. The amount of innovation, with the aforementioned inventory system and modifications to the engine, mesh well with the ambitious world/story crafted in the background of a single warrior trudging across worlds to defeat an evil tyrant who has taken over his people's lands. The current version on Steam is actually the second version released; initially, the game launched in 1994 with three episodes, the first one being the shareware version, and then later on in 1996 had a second physical release which added on two new episodes. It was like an expansion pack folded into the main game, and considering that Hexen was released in 1995, it makes sense that the two new episodes of Heretic feel so much more brutal in difficulty by comparison. And thematically it makes sense for them to have a higher base difficulty, since it’s about escaping the dark world you had to break into, and now you're crawling your way back out of it. Kind of a neat trick, having the hero beat the bad guy halfway through the story, then showing his journey to get back home. Hell, even the name of the main character is awesome. A later game in the series will reveal that his name is Corvus, but originally the character was simply referred to as The Heretic, and in a gaming landscape featuring such characters as Doomguy, the Quake Ranger, and the Doomslayer, the Heretic ought to stand right up there with the rest of them.

So is the game worth playing today? Absolutely. Any fan of boomer shooters or retro gaming in general should absolutely play this game. Utilizing DOSBOX (which the Steam release uses) is fine, but doesn't allow for the best playing experience currently. A quick download of GZDOOM to launch the game will give better controls, easier mouse compatibility, and smoother graphics. There's a method to tie GZDOOM into your Steam page so you can even track how long you've been playing it (for those who this is important for). And it's super cheap, meaning there's little to no excuse to not play it. So why then is this game sitting in the background, kind of like the little engine that could? You know, I'm doing my best to get into the meat and potatoes of this game, to be more descriptive of it and really entice you, the reader, into wanting to play this game. The powerups are fun, there are segments where you absolutely get to go apeshit on monsters and laugh hysterically while you do so, there are moments where the “AHA” is so enlighting that the relief is palpable. Some of the bosses are so memorable that to find them around the corner later in the game as minibosses – in multiple! – is downright frightening and adds to the risk/reward, since they're usually guarding something good that you want to pick up. Long story short, if you like DOOM, you'll like Heretic, which feels like selling the experience short. But the real reason I think Heretic is overlooked is because it is overshadowed by the more complex, more engaging, and more brutal Hexen.

If it hasn't become obvious yet, this is going to be a multi-part Thoughts On post. You've read Heretic, which is a fine game that does what it does and is memorable and fun and fine. But next, we're going to dive into the second course of this delicious fantasy meal, Hexen, and talk about how the second game in this series is the one that got everyone to sit up and take notice of what Raven Software was doing.

[xb-squaredx]

The Kirby Stagnation Problem

Kirby, Kirby, Kirby. Everyone’s favorite pink puffball has been around for ages, and with so many games under his belt, I’m shocked at how consistent the Kirby series has been quality-wise in all that time. While some games fare a bit better than others, I don’t that any of them are outright BAD. Kirby stands out as an extremely strong series in that regard; with each new Kirby game released, you have a good idea of what you’re going to get. Great music and visuals, fun, if somewhat unchallenging gameplay, and a fair spattering of content. Kirby’s consistency is so good, in fact, that it might be masking a subtle problem that’s come to a head with his latest adventure, Kirby Star Allies. Is Kirby…growing a little stagnant? Is the star of the show in a rut? Let’s discuss this below the break.

Truth be told, Kirby is a franchise that does experiment a LOT; Kirby seems to be the go-to Nintendo character to place on a novel game concept that would likely not sell very well otherwise. Had Kirby’s Epic Yarn or Kirby Mass Attack been original IPs, it’s likely they’d fly under the radar. When it comes to these spin-offs, they have a lot more freedom to go off the rails. Turn Kirby into a ball and use the stylus to draw paths for him! Put him in a racing game that uses one button! Let Dedede star in a rhythm game! So when I talk of possible stagnation, I’m mostly talking about the core platformers where Kirby made his name, the “real” Kirby games in that sense.

Making his debut in 1993, Kirby was the product of then-newbie director Masahiro Sakurai. Sakurai saw the complexities of then-modern gaming and desired a game that catered more towards the newcomer, but would still be satisfying for more hardcore fans, and Kirby was born! Since then, the puffball has starred in all kinds of games, and they’ve kept that beginner-friendly mentality. However, this design philosophy might also be responsible for Kirby’s possible stagnation. After all, you can only innovate so much without making the game too complex for these beginning players.

(How many times do we have to beat you down, you old tree?!)

When looking at Kirby’s platform games, you do notice innovation and more complexities being added for sure. The original game didn’t even have his now-signature Copy Abilities yet, so imagine how HUGE of a change that was for his franchise. The problem I’m seeing though is that while there are a good number of ideas generated in these titles…you start to see a pattern. Super Star, and to an extent Dream Land 2 and 3 introduced Helpers, with Super Star and Dream Land 3 also featuring co-op play, which carried over into Kirby & the Amazing Mirror and Kirby’s Return to Dreamland. Kirby 64 introduced the concept of mixing and matching Copy Abilities, which was used to a lesser extent in Kirby: Squeak Squad. Moving into the modern era games, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, Kirby: Triple Deluxe and Kirby: Planet Robobot felt like a culmination of past games, with one big new feature that debuted in one game, only to be replaced in the next game. First we had Ultra Abilities, then the Hypernova ability and then finally Kirby piloting a mech suit. And so when Kirby makes his true HD debut with Kirby Star Allies what does he bring to the table? Helpers. And co-op. And…mixing…abilities…together. Huh.

Don’t get me wrong; Kirby Star Allies is pretty good, and in many ways improves on those features. The stages feel designed around four players this time around, and the mixing and matching of powers is both more fluid than in Kirby 64 and leads to more interesting combinations and interactions with the environment. That being said though, there isn’t really anything surprising there anymore. You know what you’re going to get with a Kirby game; a main campaign, a harder, extra campaign, two throw-away minigames and a boss rush mode…and that’s all here with no extra curveballs. Hal Laboratories has managed to stay pretty consistent, but I fear that’s come at the cost of ambition.

It’s been a while since a game has come along that’s really wowed the fan base and truly pushed it forward. Some of these concepts are great, like the mech suit from Planet Robobot. I mean, it’s definitely unexpected! But you know it’s only around for one game. I’m not saying we need a Super Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild-level overhaul of the series, but I do think the series does need to start taking some more chances, but doing so might alienate the beginner crowd.

I am in no way saying that Kirby as a franchise needs to focus on the hardcore OR the casuals exclusively. I wouldn’t want a Kirby game to come along that’s incredibly hard; that just isn’t the appeal. I understand that Hal’s hands are kind of tied; to innovate or try something totally out of left field might drive fans away, so it’s a delicate balancing act. It’s really hard to say what the next game should do; it isn’t as simple as “just make it 3D!” There seem to be some signs that Hal is working on SOMETHING in the background with Kirby; the bits and pieces we get of plot seem to get a bit more dire with each new game, making me wonder if we’re subtly building up to something that’s, dare I say it, epic in scale. Probably not but it’s something that would surprise me, and I think that’s something Kirby needs to do. Super Star is a fine game, but there’s no need to stick to that formula exclusively. If you become predictable, you risk becoming boring. And that’s the kiss of death.

I fear we’re getting to a point where if you play one Kirby game, you’ve played them all. Maybe we already are at that point. But for a series as enduring as Kirby has been, I can only hope that the fan base doesn’t fizzle out before a new game comes along that feels really special and not so by-the-numbers. Kirby is a franchise that’s special to me, special to a lot of people…it’s not like its gotten BAD or anything, and it doesn’t seem in any danger of dying anytime soon, but I feel it’s going through a slightly bumpy patch. Here’s hoping he comes out the other side all the better for it.

Until next time,

-B