My head is killing me today, and I am feeling seriously dizzy. It shouldn't be anything serious, but it's annoying me enough to not be able to right anything properly today. Theeeeerefooooooore, this is going to be another one of those short posts accompanied by a YouTube clip.
Loom, a 1990 game by LucasFilm (currently LucasArts) is a very unique experience, even when compared to the other great adventure games released by the company in the early to mid 90's. One of the first graphical adventures to completely abandon the use of an inventory and related puzzles, the gameplay instead revolves around the use of a distaff and the musical tones the protagonist, Bobbin Threadbare, can play with it.
From a technical point of view, the game was fantastic for its age, especially the CD version, with VGA graphics and full speech. I played the game as a kid, when CD-ROM drives and sound cards were something I'd only read in magazines about, but the 16-color EGA graphics and PC speaker grunts had their own charm back then. Though I find that the 256-color VGA version is really beautiful even today, as it has aged really well. The music is also outstanding, as it should be in a game which emphasises its use so much, but what really stands out is the use of excerpts from Chopin's Swan Lake.
Loom's plot is fairly basic at first glance, as it is basically the typical story of an unwilling young man who is tasked with saving the world, but Brian Moriarty weaved (pardon the pun) a beautiful tale around this basic premise. I can't get into any detailed analysis at the moment due to my amazing nearly-exploding head, but I will say that the story manages to surprise me with its depth and maturity even on my current (second) playthrough, sixteen whole years after my first experience with the game. The game is also quite violent at times, though the violence makes perfect sense in the context it's presented in, something that was another departure from most LucasArts/LucasFilm games of the day.
Sadly the game wasn't as successful as its peers, which presumably is a direct concequence of its unique nature. We tend to idealize about those times, but the early to mid 90's were a time when adventure games were the FPS's of today, and Sierra/Roberta Williams were pumping one sequel after the other, with the predictable results of often low quality, bug-ridden games. In that context, especially when considering that there was no fan-driven Internet hype machine at the time, it wasn't at all surprising that people preferred Sierra's by-the-numbers sequel than a completely new, and sometimes perplexing game such as Loom.
If you would allow me to indulge into a "What-if?" theorycraf rant, I'd have to say that it really is a shame that Loom wasn't a big mainstream success. Had it been such a success, more games would have copied its unique point and click system, which isn't based on such arbitrary verbs or icons for such things as "Talk" or "Use" and so on. But more importantly, more games would have copied its unique approach to puzzles, and its lack of inventory, instead of the countless bullshit inventory puzzles we had to endure over the years. You know, the kind where you have to rub every single item in your inventory of 20+ items on every single part of your screen and hope for some results. Makes one wonder how much more intuitive adventure games would have been had this design convention been abandoned, but oh well.
Rant's over, here's the intro of the game, alongside with some of the first few areas. I have to confess, listening to Bobbin's voice after all these years is a strange feeling.
There's also a speedrun of the entire game on YouTube, where some nutso finishes the entire game in 27 minutes. I haven't watched it, but it should make for an interesting watch for people who want to find out more about the game but don't want to play it. Though I wouldn't be surprised if he skips every single cutscene. At any rate, you can find said video here.
TL;DR version:
"The last leaf of Autumn."
Showing posts with label Retro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Retro. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22
Tuesday, July 15
[Retro Tuesday] The actual Retro Tuesday Post
Since E3 is still going strong with quite a few big announcements, none as big as the Final Fantasy XIII one as of yet though, it's kind of hard to concentrate on anything else game-related. Still, since today's theme is retro/indie games, I'll stick to the subject.
At any rate, today's subject is the Red Alert series of strategy games. What started as a prequel/sidestory to the Command & Conquer series, as well as a thinly veiled criticism of Soviet Russia and/or a Tom Clancy fangasm, eventually became its own, independent series.
The first game came out in 1996 and had a very interesting story premise. What would happen if Hitler was killed (by Einstein, no less) before he gained power? According to Westwood, the people behind Red Alert, not really that much. The major difference would be that instead of Hitler, Stalin would try to take over the world. With tesla cannons. And jet planes. Well alright, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe did teach us that during WWII the Germans did have access to jet planes as well, but they weren't exactly as advanced as the ones in Red Alert.
That was the main catch of this game. Einstein's use of a time machine to kill Hitler created a rift in the time-space continuum, which according to every rule of Comic Book Physics means that it's entirely possible for Apache helicopters to co-exist with WWII-era tanks, and Tesla coil weapons (which never existed in our timeline) to co-exist with ordinary flamethrowers. This meant that the developers were free to add all sorts of strange units to what was otherwise a very realistic game, much like its predecessor, Command & Conquer. The fact that the plots of these two games are connected through the character of Kane/Yuri also helped explain the level of technology available in the C&C games.
However, the sequel that came out four years later was much different as far as plot was concerned. In those four years that had passed, Westwood was bought out by Electronic Arts, and Blizzard had released their magnum opus, Starcraft, which went on to become a huge success and steal C&C's thunder.
It was perhaps a side-effect of the buyout, but while Red Alert 2's story is a direct continuation of the original game's, there is no connection to the main Command & Conquer storyline. In fact, as of this game, the Red Alert universe is supposed to be a different, perhaps parallel, one to the C&C universe. This was kind of a disappointment to some fans, me included, as we crave our Kane drama, and I was never a big fan of retcons to be honest. Later on, EA tried to tie the two universes together again, but this story has become one big clusterfuck already.
All that aside, while RA2 wasn't as good as its predecessor, or indeed its competitors, it was a really fun game and had even quirkier units than anything else. From Rocketeers and Chrono Legionnaires which erase enemies from time, to tanks shaped like giant spiders and attack... squids (I'm not making this up), the unit selection was definitely fresh and unique.
And then there was the main theme, Hell March. Inarguably one of the best themes in gaming history, anyone disagreeing will be tesla coil'd to death. Here's a really nice video compilation of movies from the games, with Hell March playing on the background:
Red Alert 3 was announced a while ago, and the people who bought the expansion for C&C3 will have access to its beta soon -lucky bastards, but so far we hadn't seen a single thing from it. While we still don't know much (will Yuri/Kane still play a role? He should, he gets around), the following video shows us one thing: There's a new faction, the Japanese! And true to the series, they have some really loopy units, such as jet planes that change into robots, Robotech style, and giant mechs. Can't wait, personally! I'm more excited about this game than Starcraft 2, in fact.
TL;DR version:
Retro, smetro. Here's a couple of shiny new things:
Disappointed by Street Fighter IV's cast so far? Capcom has now created a poll that lets fans vote for the next character to be added to SFIV's roster. While to someone jaded and cynical like myself, it seems like further confirmation of SFIV being complete fan service, it's still a neat thing, and will hopefully mean that we'll see more characters than just the entire cast of SFII. Better start mashing that F5 key.
And since my #1 game on my wish list is Gears of War 2, here's the cinematic trailer that's just as good as the Mad World trailer of the original (A.K.A. best trailer ever)
November can't come fast enough.
At any rate, today's subject is the Red Alert series of strategy games. What started as a prequel/sidestory to the Command & Conquer series, as well as a thinly veiled criticism of Soviet Russia and/or a Tom Clancy fangasm, eventually became its own, independent series.
The first game came out in 1996 and had a very interesting story premise. What would happen if Hitler was killed (by Einstein, no less) before he gained power? According to Westwood, the people behind Red Alert, not really that much. The major difference would be that instead of Hitler, Stalin would try to take over the world. With tesla cannons. And jet planes. Well alright, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe did teach us that during WWII the Germans did have access to jet planes as well, but they weren't exactly as advanced as the ones in Red Alert.
That was the main catch of this game. Einstein's use of a time machine to kill Hitler created a rift in the time-space continuum, which according to every rule of Comic Book Physics means that it's entirely possible for Apache helicopters to co-exist with WWII-era tanks, and Tesla coil weapons (which never existed in our timeline) to co-exist with ordinary flamethrowers. This meant that the developers were free to add all sorts of strange units to what was otherwise a very realistic game, much like its predecessor, Command & Conquer. The fact that the plots of these two games are connected through the character of Kane/Yuri also helped explain the level of technology available in the C&C games.
However, the sequel that came out four years later was much different as far as plot was concerned. In those four years that had passed, Westwood was bought out by Electronic Arts, and Blizzard had released their magnum opus, Starcraft, which went on to become a huge success and steal C&C's thunder.
It was perhaps a side-effect of the buyout, but while Red Alert 2's story is a direct continuation of the original game's, there is no connection to the main Command & Conquer storyline. In fact, as of this game, the Red Alert universe is supposed to be a different, perhaps parallel, one to the C&C universe. This was kind of a disappointment to some fans, me included, as we crave our Kane drama, and I was never a big fan of retcons to be honest. Later on, EA tried to tie the two universes together again, but this story has become one big clusterfuck already.
All that aside, while RA2 wasn't as good as its predecessor, or indeed its competitors, it was a really fun game and had even quirkier units than anything else. From Rocketeers and Chrono Legionnaires which erase enemies from time, to tanks shaped like giant spiders and attack... squids (I'm not making this up), the unit selection was definitely fresh and unique.
And then there was the main theme, Hell March. Inarguably one of the best themes in gaming history, anyone disagreeing will be tesla coil'd to death. Here's a really nice video compilation of movies from the games, with Hell March playing on the background:
Red Alert 3 was announced a while ago, and the people who bought the expansion for C&C3 will have access to its beta soon -lucky bastards, but so far we hadn't seen a single thing from it. While we still don't know much (will Yuri/Kane still play a role? He should, he gets around), the following video shows us one thing: There's a new faction, the Japanese! And true to the series, they have some really loopy units, such as jet planes that change into robots, Robotech style, and giant mechs. Can't wait, personally! I'm more excited about this game than Starcraft 2, in fact.
TL;DR version:
Retro, smetro. Here's a couple of shiny new things:
Disappointed by Street Fighter IV's cast so far? Capcom has now created a poll that lets fans vote for the next character to be added to SFIV's roster. While to someone jaded and cynical like myself, it seems like further confirmation of SFIV being complete fan service, it's still a neat thing, and will hopefully mean that we'll see more characters than just the entire cast of SFII. Better start mashing that F5 key.
And since my #1 game on my wish list is Gears of War 2, here's the cinematic trailer that's just as good as the Mad World trailer of the original (A.K.A. best trailer ever)
November can't come fast enough.
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