Hello readers,
after a break of over a year, with a semester abroad, finishing uni and starting a dual study kind of deal in between, a lot has happened since the blog was last active. Here is the situation that I left you guys with (unpublished reviews to release in the coming days).
- Games Played: 123
- Last Played Game: Tomb Raider (1996) - Not Beaten
- Up Next: Vandal Hearts (1996, PSX)
While I am re-starting my journey with Vandal Hearts as we speak, which puts us in October 1996 (which is pretty wild considering we started all the way back in 1990), I'd like to discuss what to expect from this blog for the foreseeable future.
1) The main focus of the blog will remain playing old games chronologically. The spreadsheet can be found on the right hand side of the website. 1996 has 8 games remaining, at which point we will make our way to the biiiig gaming year of 1997.
2) Modern gaming will be a small part of the blog too. I am currently playing Death Stranding as my main modern game, which will receive a proper review when I am done with it. I have also a few "Modern Rapid Fire" reviews ready to go for smaller games. These might be games I have abandoned or ones that are very short.
The first order will be to release the unpublished reviews for the 20 or so games that the blog is still missing, while I keep playing Vandal Hearts, which is a game of medium size. I will also try to attempt to actually beat more games, so wish me luck and especially a lot of patience with some of the very grindy games this era of gaming brought us.
For now, I will leave you with another "What Am I Playing Next", detailing the next 5 retro games for the blog.
 |
| VANDAL HEARTS |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: October 25, 1996
- Platforms: PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Windows
- Genre: Tactical RPG
- Developer / Publisher: Konami / Konami
- Series/Franchise: Vandal Hearts
- HowLongToBeat: 21 hours
- MOBY RATING: 7.8
A Tactical RPG in the 90s that doesn't take 50 hours to beat? Sign me up. I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to the genre, and most of my time with tactical games has come through the modern XCOM games and Mario+Rabbids. That's pretty much it, though by now there is also the first two Fire Emblem games and some other miscallenous titles. My summary up to this point: Modern games = amazing. Retro games = many QoL features needed and too hard, as well as too long.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
No history. First game in the short-lived series.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
I have heard plenty about Vandal Hearts on retro forums, but know nothing about it. It got a sequel, so my hopes for the original are high.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
 |
| THE NEVERHOOD |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: October 30, 1996
- Platforms: Windows, PlayStation
- Genre: Point-and-click adventure
- Developer / Publisher: The Neverhood Inc / DreamWorks Interactive
- Series/Franchise: /
- HowLongToBeat: 7 hours
- MOBY RATING: 8.1
This era of gaming was definitely one for unique and odd games. As someone who tries to look up as little info as possible before starting these games, all I know is that the devs got an idea for a game in a "plasticine" world and then designed a point and click adventure around it that, me personally, would only be able to think up if I was in a very creative state of mind, if you catch my drift. The devs are most likely just much, much more creative than me in their normal states, but man does the game emit weird and quirky, but in a good way.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
There is no history to speak of, but the game did spawn a "sequel" which moves away from the p&c genre to the platforming one called Skullmonkeys in 1998 and more recently Armikrog in 2015, which is a kickstarter-funded spiritual sequel by the same creator (Doug TenNapel), as it also uses clay animation and has suspiciously similar looking characters.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
I expect it to be wonderfully weird in spirit and tediously clunky in execution, as has often been the case for games of its time. It has a cult following even today, so it looks like a game well worth it if you manage to push through.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
 |
| BLOOD OMEN: LEGACY OF KAIN |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: November 15, 1996
- Platforms: PlayStation, Windows
- Genre: Action-adventure
- Developer / Publisher: Silicon Knights / Crystal Dynamics
- Series/Franchise: Legacy of Kain
- HowLongToBeat: 15 hours
- MOBY RATING: 7.7
Another well-known video game franchise makes its debut, this time it is Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain as part of the Legacy of Kain franchise, which just last year released a remaster of the Soul Reaver 1 & 2 games, which released in 99 and 01 respectively.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
None. Never played one as part of this challenge obviously, since this is the debut game, but also never interacted with the series myself in any shape or form in the past. I know nothing about the gameplay, the story, the characters or the music and setting.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
The series has its fans even today. It must have done something right. It looks like a game up my alley for sure. It has received a lot of requests from fans to make a comeback, which it kind of did with the remasters, but me liking this game + a new entry being announced in the near future would be a combo I could get on board with.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- None
 |
| SONIC 3D BLAST |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: November 8, 1996
- Platforms: Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn
- Genre: Platformer
- Developer / Publisher: Traveller's Tales / Sonic Team / SEGA
- Series/Franchise: Sonic
- HowLongToBeat: 3.5 hours
- MOBY RATING: 6.9
Ah, Sonic. Readers of my previous Sonic reviews (of which there have been 4 so far), will know two things. One, I enjoy the soundtrack of Sonic games. Two, I don't enjoy the speed of Sonic games. It's just too fast for me, it just doesn't end up clicking. Apart from rage-inducing control issues from time to time, I'd say the majority of my issues with the Sonic franchise are 100% subjective. But fifth time is the charm, and I'm not giving up hope yet.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
Well I've detailed it a bit above. I've played Sonic the Hedgehog 1 through 3 for a few hours each, plus Sonic the Hedgehog CD, which I remember for the US vs Japan soundtrack controversy (I enjoy both :o).
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
I'd be surprised if anything changes for me with this game. Apart from presenting itself as "3D", it will likely be very similar to the others. The "poor" Moby Score also doesn't help matters.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)
- Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (1992)
- Sonic The Hedgehog CD (1993)
- Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (1994)
 |
| CONTRA: LEGACY OF WAR |
BASIC INFO
- Initial Release Date: November 29, 1996
- Platforms: PlayStation, Sega Saturn
- Genre: Action
- Developer / Publisher: Appaloosa Interactive / Konami
- Series/Franchise: Contra
- HowLongToBeat: 1.5 hours
- MOBY RATING: 6.5
I had to triple-check that this was indeed classified as an Action game and not as the typical Run and Gun game the series is known for. Turns out, this is one of two games Konami let be externally developed in the Contra series, and it turns out even more that the game sucks ass. If you think 6.5 Moby Rating is bad, you should check how the game performed over on Backloggd.
MY HISTORY WITH THE SERIES
I reeaaally enjoyed Contra III: The Alien Wars. Played it a few more times after originally playing it for the challenge. Then I played Hard Corps, which I didn't enjoy quite as much because if I remember correctly, there was just too much going on at the same time and it felt like it had an artificial difficulty added to it. Reviews for it say that I'm in the minority with that opinion.
MY THOUGHTS BEFORE STARTING THE GAME
It's a shame that this game is Contra in name only, but we shall play it nonetheless.
REVIEWS OF OTHER GAMES IN THE SERIES
- Contra III: The Alien Wars (1992)
- Contra: Hard Corps (1994)
No comments:
Post a Comment