Pre-owned Games

This is a topic which is getting talked about more and more recently; the morality of buying and trading in used games. As you may have noticed from previous reviews, I like really cheap old games, so I have an opinion to share.

I’m not going to make out that pre-owned games don’t hurt developers, because they do. When you buy a used game, literally none of that money goes to the people who made it, and there’s less impetus for the game store to order a brand new copy if they know that people are going to end up trading their games in again. But here’s the twist: I’m all for buying games second hand, but I’m also against trading them in. I know right? It’s like an episode of the Twilight Zone.

I own a fair few games, most of which I could trade in at a moment’s notice, or sell on Amazon or whatever. And in the past, I have traded in games. There are a couple which I regret, but mostly, they were games that I did not, or no longer felt I wanted. I have not done this for a few years however, because basically, I like games. I like having them all on the shelf, even the bad ones. I routinely switch the covers of the ones I really like with the one’s I don’t like so much so that they look nicer. Plus, I’m really indecisive, and prone to shifting tastes in genre, so I need a lot of choice around me. What’s more, I’ve acquired a few games that didn’t do anything for me when they first came out (PS1 games in particular, such as Soul Reaver and Metal Gear Solid), and found that I enjoy them immensely. Now, even if I bought these games in mint condition, still factory sealed, the companies who made them would still get no money, since they aren’t making new copies of those games, and the store can’t re-order.

Recently, however, game companies have been putting in little things to stop people from buying their game pre-owned. Batman Arkham City activated it’s Catwoman levels (arguably, a major selling point of that game) with a single use DLC code. You do have to download the Catwoman content, but that’s largely beside the point.

Classic games get re-releases fairly routinely. If I want to play Final Fantasy VI, I can get the PS1 version, the GBA, or download the PS1 or SNES versions onto consoles. And that makes sense for the developers to do; they still make money, and people who weren’t around to get it the first time for one reason or another can play through a pretty good RPG. But then there’s all these Cult Classics. Eternal Darkness was only released on the Gamecube, and silicon knights seem keen to distance themselves from the few good games they’ve ever made (ooh, burn). Beyond Good and Evil sold so poorly that they were given away with boxes of cheesestrings. And Grandia II, despite being the most popular thing on this blog, has not been available to buy since about 2003. And let’s not forget that ridiculously popular games, like the PS1 final fantasies, did not get any sort of re-release until about 2009. For 12 years, the only way to play FFVII was to buy the original PS1 version. Well, technically you COULD play the PC version, but you COULD also rub glass in your urethra, that doesn’t make it an enjoyable experience.

I’m starting to ramble, so I’ll make my point clear. In five years time, Batman Arkham City (there are other games that do this, and even worse, but they’re shooter-things so I don’t give a fuck) will probably no longer be in production. I doubt that the DLC servers will still be active. That means that eventually, people won’t be able to play through the entirety of that game. Now, I would tend to argue that games are art, at least in as much as any other entertainment media. I can go out, pick up a copy of, let’s say, The World Ends With You, and play it, from start to finish, with every little bit of the experience intact, even the weird tin-pin epilogue where the plot get’s explained in more depth. And the odds are, that game will be pre-owned. If in five years, I buy a copy of Arkham City, then it won’t have the Catwoman levels. Yes, they are largely optional, and yes, they’re not integral to the plot, but that’s not the point. If any part of the game experience requires online activation, then that part is going to be lost forever. And sometimes, it’s the stupid extras that make a good game great. Imagine FFVII with no Vincent or Yuffie. New Super Mario Bros. without worlds 4 and 7. Pokémon Silver without the Kanto region, or the other version mascot. None of these things matter for the story to work. All of these things are entirely optional. But in the world of tomorrow, you are denied them, and you will know that they were there, but now are not.

Review: Toy Story 2 (PS1)

It may be hard to believe but there's a game better than Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. Yes a game better than that genre busting, decade defining jumping simulator. People of the internet I bring you 1999's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue. A godly game whose game play warps, rends and tears reality into something quite wonderful. A game that was my video game training arc of my childhood. As you may have gathered its the the tie-in game to Toy Story 2 for the PS1 and you most likely think it's crap as it's a licensed game but I'm here to prove otherwise. Oh, and its jumping is fairly good too.

Well as it's a film licence the plot is the same as Toy Story 2, Buzz puts a team together to rescue Woody who's been toy napped by the evil collector AL. It does what most tie in games do; expanding on the plot. Mainly because most film plots don't involve platforming, but this game gets away with it and I hold most of the expansions canon to the film series. Yes even the slimy energy being but we'll get to that later. You play as the legendary Buzz Lightyear, who must have had some upgrades at some point as his laser works, like EXPLODE other toys works and he can kind of fly but only to end the level also he seems to be made of some sort of Nintendium alloy. I guess this contradicts the core character development of the first film that he is a toy but to hell with that, his best friend has been kidnapped, clearly we can chalk one up to FIGHTING SPIRIT?

There are 15 levels, from the safety of Andy's house to the rain soaked airport tarmac for the final showdown with Stinky Pete. From Andy's neighbourhood with its towering bloody tree to a construction site with its towering skeletal building, this game has a thing for climbing - you have to climb stuff in every level but there's quite a few that are built around it like Andy's neighbourhood with that bloody tree! It gave me hell as a kid but this is where you are thankful Buzz is made out of that Nintendium alloy, yes lasers could hurt him but that fall from low orbit just kind fazes him for a second then he stands right back up again.

To progress in the game you have to collect Pizza Planet tokens, and to get them you will have to collect things. Lots of things, it's that kind of game. For example, Mr Potato Head keeps losing his parts or Bo Peep her sheep. Fair enough that's basically their thing but I find it hard to believe Hamm keeps losing all his coins in every level. Then again, it is exactly 50 coins he needs in every level so maybe its having that number of coins in him unlocks some kind of super mode for him, all fiery eyes and tron lines but we didn't get to see it for budgetary reasons. You also get tokens by racing other toys like RC or completing puzzles. Potato Head does help you out with more than just tokens though - getting him his parts back will unlock upgrades like rocket boots and grappling hooks. These upgrades help you get through the level at hand but some tokens in earlier levels can only be gotten with upgrades. Sneaky.

Then there's the bad guys you will face on your perilous journey, they're pretty awesome actually what with them being toys. That's right, you gotta KILL other toys to save dear old Woody, and they re-spawn as soon as you move away from where they EXPLODED so that's always fun. What's cool about them isn't just that they are just toys, it's that for most of the game they're toys from what seems to be the Buzz Lightyear toy line. There's Zurg mooks which explains why they want to kill you, and they're programmed like Buzz was at the start of the first film. That doesn't explain why they are every where though - like in Andy's house and in Al's Toy Barn yeah I get that - but at the construction site or in alleys and gulleys? The second lot of mooks follow the same way of thinking, they're cowboy mooks might not be from the same show as woody but they certainly fit with the theme which is damn cool and makes the world feel bigger with some thought out history.

The bosses in this game are just god damn awesome. Each level has its own mini boss usually at the top of something - like I said this game likes climbing. In addition there's the big bosses that have their own level. There's the ones you expect like the evil Emperor Zurg and Stinky Pete but most of the others the developers just made up. And they are GLORIOUS. There's the angry tin robot in Andy's attic (which despite the kill bot looks quite a nice place to be, just saying Toy Story 3, just saying) to the construction site's jack hammer Gurren, and of course the slimy energy monster that lives in a rubbish bin and gets stronger the more you shoot it. You may say this guy doesn't fit the tone of the Toy Story-verse but dude he's green so he's made of FIGHTING SPIRIT. Moving along. There's one boss I've never forgotten about - one boss that soars above the rest. Yes it's the ZURG KITE and my god he's awesome, you find him at the top of that bloody tree and he totally makes that bloody tree worth it because he's a thousand foot tall and made of fire - not really he dose spin though. In my head he went on to have adventures of his own after the end of the game.

This game was one of the greats, I'm sure you big bad people of the internet played bigger, badder games when you were kids but if you did play this game as a kid then you played it a lot as it's HARD, so many falls and that BLOODY TREE. But it was never so hard it was unplayable, in fact it's so hard it was addictive and to me that's the sign of a true great. To me its aged well and still looks pretty but I may be alone in that. I think some times I turn off the part of my brain that knows what current gen graphics look like. I'd recommend this to Toy Story fans, kite enthusiasts and fans of 3D platformers of its age.

10 ZURG KITES OUT OF TEN.

Thief: The Dark Project + Thief II: The Metal Age (PC)

I wasn’t planning on doing a review this week due to exams, so this Bumper Giant Size edition has come as a shock to all.

Thief III: Deadly Shadows is one of those games you’ve probably seen a million times in game stores as a budget title (it’s usually next to Tomb Raider: the Angel of Darkness). I bought that for about a fiver, and it didn’t work. Two weeks later, I saw the first two thief games in one box for two pounds.

They didn’t work either.

However, I was able to eventually get them both working, after an extensive amount of faffing around, though it took the better part of a year for me to get Thief II working.

So, let’s start Reviewing!

First of all, I have the $old-out Software edition, so the cover leaves a fair bit to be desired; the boxarts for the two games combined only take up about a third of the front cover. Thief’s boxart reminds me of Assassin’s Creed, which isn’t really a good thing; the game emphasises not getting seen and discourages killing of humans. Thief II’s a little better in this regard; we see the protagonist (Garrett) standing in partial shadow, bow ready, eyes darting around, which is more the type of thing you’ll be doing.

I’m going to continue to compare and contrast the two for the remainder, though I’ve only played the first few levels of each so far (it takes me a while to get through most games, but hey, I get my money’s worth). Thief starts off with a thieves’ guild training course, which can be skipped, although it sets up the story a bit. The first level sees you breaking into a manor to retrieve a specific object, so it’s pretty much what you’d expect. Level Two, you need to spring your fence from prison. A bit high stakes for this stage, but I’m game. Except that the prison is located adjacent to a Haunted Mine. Full of Zombies. That can’t be taken down with your blackjack. Or Sword. Or ANYTHING other than holy water arrows. Which can only be made at certain points. I’m not saying that there SHOULDN’T be zombies(except I am), but not for the second level. Still, let’s see what level three has in store.

 

The third level sees you breaking into a tomb. It’s almost entirely full of the undead. Where there are no zombies, there are lizards who belch poison gas.

Thief II on the other hand is (I understand) almost completely free of non-human opponents, and the levels are much more focused on stealing things. You know, like a Thief would. What’s more, in the original Thief, to finish a mission on Normal Difficulty, all you need to do is grab the necessary loot. In Thief II on normal, one of those objectives is always to ESCAPE with the loot, which is far more realistic.

I was surprised to learn that during development of Thief (originally an action title called Dark Camelot), the plot was established first, and the levels tailored to fit, while in Thief II, exactly the opposite was done, and in my opinion, to better effect.

Now let me make this clear, this is not another MYST/realMYST thing. They are both great games. You play from a first person perspective, and use various tools to move around unnoticed, such as water arrows to douse torches to create more darkness, or wash away inconvenient bloodstains. The HUD has a little “light gem”, which shows how visible you are at any given moment, however you need to rely on your own ears to work out how heavy you’re footfalls are, or how close the guards are. Going unnoticed is its own reward, as you can eavesdrop on conversations between NPCs , which may lead you in the direction of treasure. But mostly they bitch about their bosses, which is still pretty entertaining.

My only major gripe is that they are next to impossible to run on modern PCs, and there is not (as of yet) one patch that just makes them work. Thankfully, there’s a pretty supportive community of fans out there, who have managed to get helpful links to fixes for whatever problems you’re having, and believe me, you will have at least two major ones. All Dark Engine games are incompatible with multiple processors, and even if you have a single core, chances are that it’s doing something called hyperthreading, which means that it’s acting as though there are two processors. Also, the video files used for mission briefings use a codec which needs to be registered, except that the company no longer supports them, so good luck with that too.

The only thing I can really say is it’s worth the effort.

Unless you only got Thief 1. That might be disappointing.

Grandia II (PS2, PC)

Imagine a PS2 game, set in a world of fantasy, ruled over by a sometimes oppressive religion, the people kept in constant fear of events taking place a millennium ago. One day, an outsider comes, and meets with one of this faith’s devout. Though he seems a poor match at first, gradually, a love forms between the two. Together, they set out on a journey, with several like minded individuals, including a halberd wielding beastman. Together, they discover that their temple is based on years of deception, and the world is finally thrust into a new age of enlightenment after facing almost certain destruction. 

Okay, so I’m definitely not saying that Grandia II is a rip off of Final Fantasy X (particularly since it was released first). But there is a similar set of themes. So, basically, if you liked FFX, chances are you should give this a try.

The first Grandia has achieved a level of infamy right up there with Resident Evil. Personally, I think this is unfair, there’s only one truly atrocious performance, and he doesn’t get credited. But that’s enough on that. Grandia II has a superb voice cast, with names you’ll probably be able to recognise from virtually any anime or video game.

The gameplay is essentially turn based, although rather than stand in neat lines, the characters run around the battlefield constantly, so many spells have an area of effect that is crucial to the flow of battle. It’s way too complicated to explain here. So I won’t. Also, no random encounters. I don’t mind random encounters, but some people take umbrage, so make of that what you will.

Now, the juicy bit; the story. You play as Ryudo, a “geohound”, which is a kind of mercenary thingummy. It’s never really explained what a geohound is, and at first it seems like it’s a race rather than a job title. I guess the idea is that there people who will do any job, for the right price. As a result, most people hate and fear them. The plot starts when you are hired to escort a Songstress of Granas (the major religion in the world) to a nearby tower to perform an ancient ritual. Yeah, I think that will go as well as a particularly clumsy octopus performing open heart surgery on a conscious and irate wolverine. The songstress (Elena), ends up getting possessed by the “Wings” of Valmar (Satan), which take the form of a succubus who calls herself “Millenia”. So, obviously, you take her to the Not-Vatican to get Not-Exorcised by the Not-Spanish Inquisition (Weren’t expecting THAT now, were you?).

...And that’s about all I can really say. It's actually quite frustrating, since the best parts of the story are all earth shattering spoilers. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Dad. Young Anakin goes over to the dark side. Leia is Luke’s Sister. Soylent Green Is People. The Princess is in another castle. Jean Grey isn’t as dead as we were led to believe. Summoners don’t NEED luggage. All your base may not be in your possesion. Once you know these things, your view of the entire story is changed. I have quite a lot to say about this story, and may one day revisit it. But for now, I leave you with this; Grandia isn’t as bad as people say. Grandia II has possibly the deepest plot of any game I have ever played. Hell, I could write an ESSAY on the themes and symbolism on this thing. Plus, it has probably the best battle system of any turn based RPG. It couldn’t have sold very well, since subsequent Grandias never saw a PAL release, but it is definitely worth a shot.

Also, there’s robots. Did I not mention the robots?

MYST (DS version)

Have you ever played a game and thought to yourself, “Do you know what could only enhance this gameplay experience? Microsoft Power Point”. 

Up until the massive success of the Sims (which has shipped more copies than WoW has subscribers, make of that what you will), MYST was the best selling PC game ever. Which I guess proves that Apple was good for something at one point. Not only did this game sell very very VERY well, it is also attributed to the success of the CD-ROM drive. It has been re-released and ported more than ten times, and there has recently been talk of a motion picture adaptation.

And now the question that you’ve all been bursting to hear answered; why then, is it so shit?

Well, part of the problem is that it’s on the DS. But let’s start with the cover. The box art is fine, but turn it over, and we see a fairly major warning sign; the back blurb is in English AND Dutch. This would be fine, if they were just trying to appeal to broad demographics, but the DS only has options for English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. And then there’s the blurb itself; “All source code has been re-written specifically for the Nintendo DS performance and gameplay”. Wow. How generous. I’d hate to think that I was purchasing a game that had been coded for a pocket calculator and stuck on a DS flashcard. THIS was what you used as the most IMPORTANT feature of your game? That’s not to mention that malarkey with the words “performance and gameplay” seemingly tacked on there for no logical reason.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to judge a book by its cover. So I’m going to judge it by its manual instead. It’s in greyscale, which is a real pet peeve of mine, especially when big companies like EA and Ubisoft, who so obviously have the money and resources to print in colour do it, but I digress. The content isn’t actually all that bad, it tells you how to use the interface, and even has few hints to get you started (believe me, you NEED them). The only reason I bring it up, is that the content is only about twelve pages long. So, they repeat it all in two other languages. Again, fair enough, this is the European version after all. Except that the languages chosen are Finnish and Swedish. Again, why? I am genuinely asking why those ones? And why not Dutch, since you seem to want to hook them in as much as the English speakers? THIS MAKES NO SENSE!

So, FINALLY, we get on to the game itself. And you know what? It’s not terrible. Yeah, kinda threw a curveball there. MYST is a very good game. It would take quite a bit to ruin it totally. You start out on a mysterious Island, and that’s pretty much all the info your given. By exploring the island and experimenting with the various books and arcane machinery, you can teleport to new areas, to collect special pages which can be put into one of two special books with a person trapped inside, and the plot is gradually revealed as you go along, mostly through inference. There’s surprisingly little exposition, but a TON of backstory. You’ll need to take notes as you go, and by about halfway, I started to find myself writing as though I really were exploring these places, writing down thoughts and feelings about the three characters in the game. But it was very difficult. Because this game should NEVER have been on the DS.

The DS screen is too small for this game, since most of the plot and puzzles are based around information in special books you find. Midway thoughtfully provide a magnifying glass button that lets you read them. VERY slowly. But then there are the machines. It’s very difficult to work out what you can and can’t operate, or indeed if you have done so correctly. This can make the already difficult puzzles just plain infuriating.

And now, onto the Big point I made at the very start, a problem common to almost ALL versions of MYST apart from the original on the Apple computers of the time. Whenever you move, there’s supposed to be a subtle fade from one still image to the next, the idea being that, since all worlds in MYST are contained in books, you are turning the page. I  imagine this would also evoke a more Dreamlike feel to the whole game. Instead, the stills cut from one to the other, with absolutely no transition, which makes everything incredibly disorienting.

So, to some up, MYST is a very good and incredibly immersive game. MYST DS however, is a pale echo of this. I didn’t even finish this game. I finished realMYST, the recent PC version that, rather than using pre-rendered stills, renders all the worlds in real time 3D. And it is stunning. The graphics are a far cry from...well, from Far Cry, but it’s a thousand times better than pre-rendered stills, squashed and distorted to fit the DS screen. Perhaps they should have spent less time on the source code after all.