Art of Oddworld Inhabitants online!

I have a soft spot for artbooks - though unfortunately I rarely had funds to buy them. On the top of my list of coveted items was The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years (along with Imaginary Friends Studios artbooks bundle - too bad it sold out). Unfortunately, the price tag of 60USD made it quite problematic for me when I was still a student - and probably I was not alone.


Well, cheapskates of the world, I have good news for you: you can find this wonderful artbook on Google Books project. Wihle of course good number of pages are not available for viewing, there's a good deal of the book is viewable. If you are into graphic design, game art or simply interesting visuals - do yourself a favour and have a look.

If you haven't ever come across Oddworld Inhabitants, if name Lorne Lanning doesn't ring any bells, then why are you even reading this? Click the links above, watch this animation, join the ranks of fans of Oddworld and pray that Citizen Siege sees the light of the day some time in 2009...

Fear in virtual worlds, part III

The third part of my feature series on fear in videogames (the first one is here and the second one here).


Another game that contained a good dose of jumping moments was the original Manhunt. While most hide-in-the-shadows-and-stab-them-from-behind games do, the heavy dark atmosphere of this particular one was intensified by violent nature of the game and the presentation layer, namely noisy VHS look and dramatic camera action. Ambience was further amplified by excellent voice acting, occasional "Boo!" kind of scare, invisible demiurg scheming against the main protagonist and somewhat unpredictable enemies (the AI in Manhunt was interesting, hunting, chasing and going back to regroup). The last episode of the game, Deliverance, truly succeeded in keeping player at their toes. I don't know about others, but enemy that can't be killed instantly, has extremely powerful weapon and charges at the player out of nowhere definitely does qualify as scary in my book. While Manhunt didn't really scare me to death, it was quite intense and last levels made my hands sweat.


After that there was quite some time without virtual scares - until Doom III showed up. I remember it as being quite scary, even if this resulted from cheap tricks such as lights going out, imp bursting out of the ceiling and skulls flying through the room all of a sudden. But one can't deny the storyline, the increasingly thick atmosphere created by reading logs, hearing voice transmissions, and seeing people killed by hell's forces - which really makes player feel like a part of space base's population being decimated right now. I played Doom III alone at night and it made me jump more than a couple of times, although the scripted nature of the game took away some of the scare. Nevertheless, I didn't finish the game because of difficulty level and fear effect combined.

On a side note, I had a nightmare after playing Doom III repeatedly and watching The Matrix (there was also a hint of Donnerjack in it). The two experiences combined into a dream in which I had the opportunity to play the game in total virtual reality immersion (just like in the movie, even the chair and method of connecting was the same), but something went wrong and I could not get out. I remember the fear of dying (because death in the virtual world would result in me dying for real), I also remember dodging fireballs and trying to explain situation to some other player who, unaware of the danger, cheerfully charged at imps...


My totally scariest experience, also resulting in nightmares, was actually quite a recent one, namely playing F.E.A.R. (in this case truly nomen est omen!). The atmosphere was really scary, the enemies would sometimes appear all of a sudden, player would have weird flashbacks and visions, plus add a spooky little girl haunting player every now and then. The moment when dead tortured man moves all of a sudden, the unexpected appearance of the main antagonist on the roof, the corridor slowly feeling with blood - this was the epitome of my virtual scares.

I was playing F.E.A.R. alone at my place at night with high fever, as I was really ill. It felt damn real and I actually had a stomach ache too, so my poor mind interpreted the stimuli of hurting stomach and fear together as a good excuse to enter panic mode, as if something really bad was happening. With fever weakening borders between what's real and what isn't, pain in stomach and hands shaking I've finally decided that enough's enough, turned the computer off and went to sleep. I thought I would have a break from the thrill, however it turned out not to be that easy. I had terrible nightmares all night long, in my perception just as real as if I was still playing the damn game. Waking up from them was one of few times in my life when I was too frightened to get up and turn the light on. Truly one of the scariest game-induced traumas in my life.

Next in line of scares came the famous Ravenholm level in Half Life 2. It contained all the necessary horror ingredients - hints of danger that lies out there ("we don't go to Ravenholm"), spooky abandoned places, atmospheric sounds and finally the horror incarnated - howling, jumping zombie-like things that would hunt me (err, Gordon Freeman). This was truly a masterpiece in scaring a gamer, even more so because of the contrast with other levels, which, while sometimes tense, provided more "normal" setting, thus making Ravenholm part stand out so much more, amplifying the effect. And speaking of the effect, whenever I heard the characteristic howling of these terrifying creatures, I was reduced to shaking jelly before the monsters even arrived.

On a side note: bonus points for Gryffindor Valve for the character of father Grigorij.


The last scary game I have played so far is not chronologically the most recent, but I just had time to finally give it a try - Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. It is the very definition of scary game, based on Lovecraft's prose, oozing with atmosphere and containing fear-centered gameplay. In the beginning, the player does not even have any weapon and is forced to hide, sneak and run away from enemies. There is no health indicator and being hurt is signalised to player via protagonist's heavy breathing and vision problems. Other than physical side, mental health also plays important role, with the main character losing his sanity over the events of the game. Fading or blurring vision, shaking hands, panting - the game does convey a sense of fright and horror very convincingly. So convincingly in fact, that it has joined a line of games I have been unable to finish due to being too scared to actually play it.

And so we have reached the end of the list of the games that have managed to make my hair stand on the end. In the final episode of the series, I will write a little more about what can really make the virtual experience so frightening. Stay tuned!

FPS history on your PSP

I've been toying with the idea to write this for quite some time now, ever since DOSBox was compiled for PSP and I could play Wolfenstein 3D on it, the game that started it all. Just recently a separate build of the game was made for PSP, thus giving me an excuse to finally present the development of 3D first person perspective shooters (abbreviated to FPS) through the looking glass of PSP screen.

I have been growing up with first computers and following the development of video games industry since I was nine. There were many milestones in the industry of digital entertainment since then, but one of them was the moment when first person perspective hit the mainstream. Wolfenstein 3D was a breakthrough, it spread like fire, everyone played it and so from that point on the FPSes have developed into a separate genre. Looking at how these games look nowadays (Call of Duty 4, Crysis) it's hard to imagine how it all started...

So whether you are a young enthusiast who have missed on observing the FPS genre gradually evolve to what they are now, or an old melancholic who would like to take a nostalgic trip to the happy times when both life and games were simpler and more enjoyable - provided that you have PSP, you can now relive the whole experience. From the genre's grand ancestor that is Wolfenstein 3D to lively grandpa Quake, the whole family can can now sit in your pocket and you can revisit them while commuting to work or during that particularly boring lesson.

Wolfenstein 3D

Although technically it was not the first game ever to use first person perspective (some will say Catacomb Abyss was the first, but actually the idea of FPP was something that has begun already in ZX Spectrum era), this is the grandfather of all of them. Wolfenstein 3D was so successful

While the levels were almost 2D with constantly grey untextured floor and ceiling, with all corners being exactly 90 degrees, the 3D illusion created unprecedented sense of immersion. I have mentioned in my post on fear in games how I got shivers from the sound of heavy doors slamming in the distance when I played it as a kid. It just goes to show what impact this game had and it explains while it has spawned a whole army of followers.

The PSP version can be downloaded from here and as an additional bonus it contains Nazi Requiem music in the first menu - I included it on my list of the best game music remixes.

Doom

As a testament to how badly inaccurate my opinions may be sometimes, I should confess that when I first saw Doom on my friend's PC, I said "nah, this is just some sci-fi clone of Wolfenstein, this isn't gonna stick around". Boy, was I wrong.

Doom took the execution of FPS games one step further. The graphics were unparalleled, the monsters suggestively scary, the sounds and the music unsettling. While still relatively 2D - player was not allowed to look up and down yet - Doom's engine allowed for more than just square rooms and constant grey floor. All surfaces were textured, labirynth of walls were running in all directions (all of them vertical, though) , first attempts at water were made, floors were at different heights (just a mathematical illusion in fact) connected with elevators, switches activated moving walls - the immersion factor increased tremendously.

I remember first approaching the window and observed the mountains in the background. At that moment it seemed so real, I felt like I could step forward, enter the game world and go climb this misty peaks and there would be more of the world behind them. My best friend was subconsciously ducking in front of computer when imps hurled fireballs at him. We were both drawn into the world of Doom.

Doom improved on his predecessor in many other aspects, introducing many distinct enemy types, increased number and types of weapons (compared to four simple weapons in Wolfenstein 3D), armors as well as multiplayer (over local network). No wonder it was a huge hit with so many people having played it that it has been remade to almost every platform out there, including Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, mobile phones and of course PSP (get it here).

Hexen and Heretic

Essentially a fantazy shooting frenzy with thin layer of RPG on it, these two games based on Doom engine were quite popular in their time. And while neither of them really was as much of a breaktrough as Doom or later Quake, they have gained quite a following. They have also been remade for the PSP and can be downloaded here (together with older Doom version), so I included them on the list, but more because of their sentimental value than due to merit in shaping the history of FPSs.

Duke Nukem 3D

This game marked my entering into adolescence. I first played it at my friend's place after school and I was stunned by how the graphics shone, how interactive the environment was and how addictive Duke Nukem 3D turned out to be.

The simple fact that Duke would reload his pistol every eight or so shots and that the bullet shells would fly from it was a peak of realism at that time (compared to Doom it indeed was a huge step forward). Being able to use surveillance camera, turn on the movie in the theatre, switch lights on and off, operate different devices was a level of environment interaction unseen before. It also made multiplayer matches so much more fun (strippers!).

Wolfenstein 3D and Doom both included silent protagonist, but Duke Nukem was a talkative guy, commenting the action with catchy one-liners. The fact that our hero would occasionally crack some funny line was a definite novelty.

Even though contrary to its name Duke Nukem 3D was still not full 3D game, player would be allowed to look up and down. The perspective was distorted while doing so, but the illusion of going through a real world was one step ahead of Doom.

Duke Nukem 3D was also very important due to the fact that its engine got licensed and thus players received Blood and Shadow Warrior. The first one was a self-mocking horror pastiche, the other one Hong Kong ninja movies spoof with, both with memorable protagonists cracking cool lines while hacking swarms of enemies to pieces. Unfortunately, they have not been ported to PSP (yet?).

Download Duke Nukem 3D for PSP here.

Quake

I remember that Polish game magazine Secret Service wrote in their review of Quake:

Duke Nukem 3D unveils its secrets slowly and it always has something hidden up its sleeve, while Quake just shows off everything in one mighty blow and after that you are left with just more of the same

It was a little unfair to say that, especially since the two were obviously designed with different philosophies, both in terms on engine and of gameplay. Duke Nukem 3D had more parodistic tone to it, less powerful graphical engine, and many switches and devices to interact with, while Quake was serious, gritty, dark shooter with great gothic visuals and no funny distractions - it was all about pure slaughter in 3D environment.

Quake became the first truly 3D game in which player could turn their head around and look at level architecture. I am of course aware that technically it was still more of a 2.5D, but from the players perspective it was already a marvellous three dimensional world, complete with archways, spires, towers and occasional outdoor fragments. The violet clouds speeding over the horizon were making one hell of an impression. The dynamic lightning, while present, was still more of a hack from technical standpoint, as lightning maps were calculated during level creation, but the flying rockets would brighten up their immediate surroundings.

Quake was among the first games to profit from the hardware graphics acceleration that was just being born (we're talking about 1996). VQuake and GLQuake took advantage of the new graphical possibilities and Quake was the first FPS to use bilinear filtering, dynamic lights and higher colour palette.

Another thing that Quake has done for FPS development was introduction of client-server multiplayer. While it was technically possible to play Duke Nukem 3D over internet in multiplayer mode, it required additional program. It wasn't until Quake that internet FPS carnage has really begun.

It was also one of the first games that required using keyboard and mouse simultaneously. While Duke Nukem 3D and its counterparts could easily be finished without, this was not the case of Quake anymore, since flying enemies in real 3D were hard to shoot down using just keyboard. Although finishing the game without mouse aiming was feasible, it was definitely hard.

The port of Quake on PSP is almost perfect - it is running smoothly, it has mouse mapped to analog stick, it even allows multiplayer over Wi-fi in Ad Hoc mode, all the sounds are there. So you have no excuse not to download it.

Later times

What happened next? Quake II introduced OpenGL to the masses in the flashy galore of colourful lights, as well as popularised rocket jumps (one day it might also be remade for PSP). Half Life demonstrated how powerful a narrative using FPS can be. Unreal Tournament broke the rule that a FPS game must have single player story mode by essentially being just a multiplayer game. Quake III joined this school of thought and introduced great level design. Unreal Tournament 2003 dazed everyone with incredible graphics and its 2004 edition introduced vehicles as well as new story modes. Enemy Territory became first free multiplayer FPS that would include different classes of players. Far Cry raised the bar in graphics department, took players for a walk outside and topped that with pretty smart AI. The story continues...

But while all FPS lovers owe much to each of the aforementioned titles, it's really Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Quake that have laid the foundations for the genre. Playing them in chronological order give an opportunity to see how much FPS games have progressed over time. And having them all in my pocket on PSP is a marvel of XXI century, which I didn't even imagine when I was playing them as a kid, teenager and student.

PSP Faker

...or how to fake orgasm firmware (yes, I have a sense of humour of a 12 year old, I know).

Remember how I wrote an angry rant on Sony forcing me to pirate their downloadable games? I actually oppose to pirating games and if I like a game, I buy it - yet Sony assumed that since I have Custom Firmware, I already am a thief.


Apparently I was not the only person annoyed by this issue and the help unexpectedly came from Dark Alex himself. He has written a plugin for Custom Firmware that emulates having regular firmware, so that Sony installer can install the game on the PSP when we buy it from Playstation Network Store. You can download it from DA's page or from PSPUpdates.

Beats and flOw didn't impress me, but it seems like I'll have to shell a couple of dollars for that incoming Super Stardust Portable...

Sin Tournament

While killing time youtubing, I've dug out a little video made by a chap called Matt Barry, who apparently is a modder and level designer. The video shows work in progress on Sin City styled level:

Although this little project seems to have been abandoned, probably due to Sin City game being announced in 2007, it shows interesting use of textures and manages to captivate the comic's feel. Overall, a little curiosity with potential.

Starcraft in Korea

While we are all waiting for Starcraft II, let us brush up a little on a phenomenon that Starcraft is in Korea.

I assume that if you are into PC gaming, then you know that Starcraft is practically the national religion in South Korea (not sure about North Korea, though). If not, then have a look at this National Geographic video:

Yes, incredible as it may seem to us, these guys have money, fame and groupies. As someone pointed out - "I should have been born there, this way I would be doing the same thing I am doing now, only I would be getting paid for it".

A less obvious sign of how deeply Starcraft has penetrated the popular culture in Korea is this stand-up comedy show:

Yes, these people really laugh at it... Okay, okay, it made me chuckle once or twice, too. So sue me.

Continuing on our quest for Starcraft oddities, here comes English study book based on Starcraft (and I know this is not news, thank you so very much):


Surprisingly, I think this is an interesting concept. It's always easier to learn and retain information when it relates to the things one is interested in. So I for one am all for Starcraft English book.

And finally, the icing on cake is this pack of Starcraft-branded ... Dorrito chips:

Fear in virtual worlds, part II

Continuing the subject of scary videogames moments (part I is here), I must confess first that I actually missed out two games from early DOS era in my previous note: the original Alone in the Dark and Space Hulk.


While AitD sequels were a mere shadows of the original (especially the last one is catching a lot of flak in reviews), this game was really something. It required a lot of quick thinking in stressful situations from the very beginning - in the very first location player had to immediately start blocking both door and window in order not to be devoured by incoming creatures. The game included Lovecraftian elements and pirates - a combination granting success in the eyes of video game players - but above all, it delivered truly scary experience.


Also, Space Hulk. The moment when a space marine with PowerClaws (or whatever the name of that murderous device was) guarding the back of a squad falls and evil Aliens Genestealers attack the rest of your squad from behind, successive squad members monitors go offline... Combining strategy, arcade, micromanagment and horror, this game would guarantee a good dose of adrenaline to the player.

I don't know how I could have forgotten these two games. The only possible explanation is that I played them both before I even had my own PC and I don't have the originals on my shelf. So, let us now leave the DOS era and move towards early Windows...


The next game that managed to scare me was Blood. I was already in highschool and even though the game's graphics don't seem that realistic these days and theoretically I was already quite grown up, but nevertheless Blood managed to creep me out. It had really thick atmosphere, memorable monsters and great sound effects combined with unsettling music would set the ambience really well. Roaring stone gargoyles (the epic battle with first one was a tough cookie), growling underwater beasts, screams of evil cultists, with occult chanting in the background of some levels ("...pestis... cru-ento... filo... matsus...") - I actually had to take breaks when playing this game, when the spooky atmosphere was getting to me.

On a side note, Blood remains one of my all time favourites and some time later I got used to the screams, monsters and music so much that I would be playing the game to cheer myself up, not to mention hours of multiplayer. I actually plan to write a separate post on this game alone.

Around that time I also got frightened by System Shock II, but since I have just played the demo, I don't think it really counts. Never got back to play this one, which is a shame.


Next in line comes another incredibly scary game, namely Aliens versus Predator. Playing as Alien was spooky with weird, with strange music, unusual vision and the need to have incredible spatial orientation when walking on the walls and ceilings. Player had to watch out for marines and other hazards, but while challenging, this mode was not very frightening. The other two modes, however, were. Even as a Predator, with great health, powerful weapons at hand and vision modes facilitating enemy detection and aiming, fighting swarms of Aliens would be a memorable experience, full of moments when player jumps up. The epitome of fear incarnated, though, was playing as a Human.

The reason for this was simple - the Aliens were not scripted, but deployed in waves somewhere in the level and then would roam free to bite player, coming out from every ventilation shaft, pipe and dark corner randomly. It's true that there were no savegames during a level, the sounds were very suggestive (just like in the movies), the vision was limited and levels were claustrophobic, but the main reason why this game was so scary was the impredictability of the threat. There was no way to guess when or where from the next attack would come, so the game would keep player at his toes all the time. And since Aliens were such killer beasts, if player missed one acid-blooded monstrosity crawling upon him from behind, the game would be over in seconds. Of course, our Marine would carry a movement detector, the beeping of which alone was often enough to start one's heart racing, but it only covered fron 180 degrees... I admit not having finished this game due to its insane difficulty setting and fear factor.


The sequel to Aliens vs Predator was still scary, more cinematic and epic, with better story - but it was scripted, hence less unpredictable and therefore less frightening as well. Which is not to say that it wouldn't freak me out once or twice. Or thrice...


Next comes a whole paragraph devoted to Silent Hill series. Actually, these games could have a separate post written on them. They were all about fear and uncertainety. The first one was the most bizarre of all, with worlds / dimensions / realities switching in a way that left the protagonist (and hence the player as well) totally unsure of what is happening, as well as when and where. The game took a lot from Jacob's Ladder movie. The sequel was a psychological nightmare, with recurring motive of a girl in haunted city resembling main hero's dead wife. The girl would die over and over again, only to reappear alive later on, leaving protagonist more and more guilty, shaken and bewildered, finally leading him to see why this was taking place. The third part was definitely less psychological and more straightforward splatter-horror-like, but with great graphics and twisted storyline it also fit well into the series' dark univers. And let us forget about the fourth one.

In each of these games there was a lot of scares, some coming from the fact that alternate Silent Hill reality was nightmarish world of rust and decay in which causality was just an empty word, but also from really unsettling monsters. An invicible monster called Pyramid Head was haunting player throught Silent Hill 2, pretty much causing me to sweat each time it appeared (not to mention the famous "rape" scene). Little shadow babies in Silent Hill 1 gave me the chills with their crying and moaning. The moment from the beginning of the game when player gets trapped in a nightmare with a crucified corpse on the fence was a masterpiece. Silent Hill 3 also had a couple of really scary moments, for example at the hospital, when player enters a wing that doesn't exist...


There was a good amount of fear coming from the fact that rules of the game could change with shifting of the worlds (especially true for Silent Hill 1), there also was a certain amount of unpredicatibility, because the game would throw some surprises at the player every now and then. The thick atmosphere of danger was further by white static being emitted from the radio each time a monster would be approaching (quite similar to movement detector in Aliens vs Predator and equally unsettling). The visuals of the other world and monsters, incredibly spooky music by Akira Yamaoka added to the overall impression - this series gave many people some serious nightmares.

To be continued...

Sex in videogames

From the depths of internet comes this lecture on sex in videogames, surprisingly mature and also quite funny:

The author actually makes a couple of valid points, even though last four minutes could be compressed into one. Still, he takes after Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation, how can you not like this guy?

Pac-man in space. On drugs.

I just came across this explanation to what Pac-man game really is all about:


I must say that this is ... creative. Not bad for reinterpretation of this:


And speaking of Pac-man, don't forget about this and this. Wicked!

GlaGPS

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Remember how I wrote about Portal and GladOS ringtones? Well, some smart chap has made a custom GPS GladOS voice. If I had a GPD, I would be downloading this as we speak - but the way things are, I'll just bring it to your attention:

And if you think it's been photoshopped or anything, since the hand does not move during the movie, here goes another movie by Brave_Otaku, who actually downloaded and installed the whole thing.Publish Post

Fear in virtual worlds, part I

Kotaku had recently posted an article concerning spoof article on the most scary enemies of video games, which resulted in a very interesting debate in comments, in which I have also taken part in. This in turn has stimulated me to write some more about scary moments in computer games I played, but since it began to become really a huge post (not to mention me falling behind my schedule), I have decided to split it in parts in chronological order.


The very first game that really scared me was Wolfenstein 3D. It may seem funny nowadays, but at the time it was the very first game with full 3D view I played. The immersion was further strengthened by the fact I was playing it alone in a dark room of an empty building after the night has fallen. It took place during students conference, where my mother was a lecturer and I was more or less twelve back then, which also explains a lot.

The most scary element of this experience as far as I can recall was the sound of steel doors slamming shut somewhere in the distance, because that meant something out there was prowling through the level searching for me. I also knew that if "it" attacks me from behind, I will not turn around in time (turning around was a long process in Wolfenstein). What added to the sense of incoming danger was that the enemies were actually quite scary: from Gestapo officers with machine guns, shouting "Gestapo!" when they saw player to deadly zombies with machine guns sticking out of their corpse. Suffice to say this game made me jump more than once.

On a side note, epic fight with Hitler in his bunker was also quite a showdown, requiring running from the fight in order to replenish disappearing health and ammo, with Adolf H. in his exoskeleton armour chasing the player. The sense of satisfaction coming from seeing his bowels spill out from the exploding armour was immense, even more so since the fight was so intense. In these politically correct times this would not pass quality assurance or Sony / Nintendo acceptance process (vide Manhunt 2 case).


While its successor, Doom, was more sophisticated graphical-wise and contained more suspense moments, including some "Bam! Lights go out and thousand imps descends upon you!" thrills, it never really scared me as much as the original Wolfenstein. But then again, I played it with my lights on and I was quite a bit older. I remember my friend ducking in front of my PC when imps hurled fireballs at him, so I guess it was quite suggestive nevertheless. Also, I can recall a story of a student who played Doom all night in his dorm and when leaving his room next morning he saw a cleaning lady, screamed and run away - he was later explaining that seeing her in her brown clothes at the end of dark corridor caused him to believe she was an imp. I guess the fact that he hasn't slept at all justifies him a little - the perception is a little different in such a state.

Honorable mention includes The Legacy, the old DOS game heavily based on Lovecraftian mythology. If player's character didn't have enough willpower, they would scream seeing zombies, their hair would rise, they would drop the objects they were holding (usually a weapon, which made fighting zombies kind of hard) or even freeze in shock. As I tend to play magical characters in RPGs, this would not be a common annoyance for me (high values of strong will), but there were some monsters which would melt even occultist's mind (green tentacled thing for example). I actually thought it was a very original approach to creating a horror atmosphere, even though it wouldn't scare me too much - but I have played it as an adult, because it wouldn't run on my DOS era PC.


Next in line comes X-Com: UFO Defense, also known as UFO: Enemy Unknown. How a strategy game (sic!) presented in mere 320x200 resolution could make player twitch is beyond my comprehension, but it really did. One of the reasons might be that there was a good amount of unpredictability, both in terms of enemy AI during missions and in terms of the game rules that kept changing during the game. Atmospheric music also helped.

At first rules were clear - it's us humans versus little gray men. We use weapons to kill each other, mano a mano, when we shoot down their vessels. But then the aliens would then terrorize the cities and bring deadly Cyberdisks with them! Fighting with numerous alien foes was a tough cookie, but we would learn how to do it with only minimum civilian casualties. And that's when a new race appeared - all of a sudden I had to battle a different kind of enemy, the one that could fly (Floaters), at night, keeping an eye on civilians. The in-game darkness became much more threatening now that I wasn't sure what was hiding in darkness anymore. Couple of in-game days after that fight, aliens retaliated and attacked me in my own base, my soldiers scattered randomly in different rooms, aliens roaming free through the corridors of our own hideout! Still, it was all but a prelude.

The first real horror was another mission to counter alien terror in one of the Earth cities. New alien type, the Snakemen, brought a deadly pet - the Chryssalid. Breeding in a manner of H.R.Geiger's Alien, infecting both civilians and my soldiers, who would in turn into Chryssalids and start devouring next victims - this enemy was terror incarnated. On first encounter my battle-hardened squad was torn to pieces in just a couple of turns.

At this point I must say that during many missions I have actually grown attached to my soldiers, recognizing their individual skills and remembering their names. Seeing them die one by one was a really shaking experience. As a result, I would replay the mission adapting the approach of US Army in Iraq - upon seeing anything suspicious move inside a house, I would bombard it with explosives. Civilians? Oh well, bad luck. My men come first. Still, even this tactic wouldn't spare me some nasty encounters - and Chryssalids were very quick beasts. Researching Plasma weapons and flying armours alleviated the fear of the Chryssalid a little, but these monsters were still dangerous.

Just when I got used to changing conditions and new alien types the game would throw at me, I thought that things couldn't get worse - and I was once again proven wrong. With arrival of Ethereals, the master race behind all the alien invasion, the Psi combat was introduced and it quickly turned the rules upside down. The toughest of my soldiers would panic, shoot their comrades in berserk frenzies, drop armed grenades or even totally succumb under alien control. I remember one particular mission where the only thing I could do after saving in a particularly bad moment was the damage control - after many failed attempts, I managed to save half of my man, most of them wounded. Spooky music, night missions and unseen enemy unknown decimating my teammates - that was the very definition of the word "scary".


Then Diablo came and rocked my world. The thick atmosphere of something evil boiling underneath a cathedral in a small village of Tristram was incredibly dense. The stories told with excellent voice acting were adding to it. One recurring motive was that of a cruel demon called The Butcher. Crippled kid who lost his leg to it, old drunkard telling the story of how it slaughtered his brothers-in-arms and breaking to cry, dying soldier at the cathedral entrance - player could feel that there was a savage beast out there, waiting for his next prey. This introduction alone was enough to feel chill. When the beast rushed towards me snorting "Argh, fresh meat!", I almost had to change the armchair cover. And trousers. There were many other monsters in Diablo, including the main evil boss in hell, there were many other spooky moments as well, but nothing compared to that moment of opening the door to bloody hideout of a blood-thirsty demon.

To be continued...

Also, tits

The flood of PSP titles has recently diminished to a trickling stream and now is reaching drought status. This is going to be my excuse for describing two incoming PSP titles that I am itching to check: Ikkitousen Eloquent Fist and Moe Moe Niji Taisen Deluxe.

The first one looks like a simple scrolling beat'em up game with added RPG elements and "pantsu flashing". The game's name contains a pun, since in Engrish "eloquent" becomes "ero-quent" (check here why this is funny to some). Still, graphics are cool even if somewhat NSFW. I think I'm going to give it a try, if only to check whether the actual game part is worth anything (and train my Japanese, of course).



The second one is a mixture of strategy game, World War II and breasts. As much as I don't think Nazi references should meet with some extreme retaliation unless the context suggests they are being used in their real evil meaning (Nazi propaganda), I also feel a little uneasy about the game with cute little Nazi girls.


I personally can't forget visiting Japanese izakaya where Iron Cross was hanging on the wall in a central place, right above the little altar. Not that I was angry or anything, but it seemed a little, hmm, tasteless to have Nazi decoration out there. So this game is a little on the risky side for me - but I do not condemn it, it's only somewhat tasteless entertainment after all.


Nevertheless, now you know what PSP games I am waiting for, having already finished God of War and being stuck in Crisis Core. And I've brought it to your attention in order to just signal certain cultural differences in approach to digital entertainment.

Even further beyond Good and Evil

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there lived a girl who was a reporter and lived in a lighthouse. Her name was Jade - very fitting, since she had green hair and used green lipstick. Since the planet she lived on has been struck by war and the girl had good heart underneath tough street-smart tomboy skin, she was running a shelter for war orphans of all races. It didn't matter whether a kid had horns or blue skin - she tried to help them all. Unfortunately, her job was not always allowing her to pay all the expenses, so one time electricity was cut off, just when evil DomZ attacked, leaving her and kids without a shield. Lots of trouble resulted, including new job, joining resistance, taking part in illegal races, assembling a spaceship, flying out in space and taking lots of photographs...

This is a premise of Beyond Good and Evil, a very good but underappreciated game. To give you the taste of it, I suggest you watch this very atmospheric trailer:

You might also want to see the excellent fan-made trailer and game beginning, as well as Jeff Gerstmann's videoreview.

It has gained a cult status quite some time after it has been published, because even though it was really fresh and with captivating story, it didn't really sell well. Unfortunately, we, who loved the story and stylish execution of it, were left with story that begged for continuation, as BGaE was only a first part in what was planned to be the trilogy.


It is therefore with great joy that both me and many others have welcomed the news that after long time Ubisoft has decided to allow the original game's creator, Michel Ancel, to continue the story in a sequel.


Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado let me present to you the first teaser of the second part to this beautiful and touching story:

Yes, the art style has changed to a more gritty and serious look, yes, this is some desert setting suggesting that "we are not on Hyllis anymore, Toto", yes, I have a ton of doubts and fears concerning the sequel, but nevertheless it's Beyond good and Evil 2 and Michel Ancel is behind it! Just how cool is that!

I hope they don't screw this one up.

Carlson and Peters, page 364

Unreal Tournament 300

There was once a very bad, although visually spectacular, movie called 300 with extremely cool trailer including Nine Inch Nails music. There also was a very good game called Unreal Tournament 2004 featuring memorably deep commentator's voice. Then there was Youtube, where folks with too much free time on their hands can find this kind of mash-up, combining the two:

Of course somebody anal extremely overanalysing had to point out that announcements are not in proper order, so there also exists a second version for those who care - the above one is cooler, though.

Personally, I finding it strangely fitting. They should have thought about it in the first place and added UT announcer in 300 from the start.

Team Fortress 2. With boobs.

Okay, there are days when others' creativity leaves me speechless for a moment. I have to admit I didn't see that coming. If you're a gamer, then you surely must know Team Fortress 2, right?


The artist that goes under the nickname ghostfire reimagined the female version of the game's roster. With, ahem, attributes. I mean one can clearly see that these are girls. Of course I like Team Fortress 2 and of course I like... but this?


Now let's wait for the Rule 34 to take over and... I think I need to lie down.

The Portal phenomenon

It definitely took me some time before I finally played Portal and I wanted to do this ever since I saw this great trailer:

Now I know why everybody over the tubes have been raving about it: in short, because it's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Other than interesting game mechanics, which actually didn't get to me that much, it has a great narrative and one of the best villains ever- GladOS.

In a nutshell, player becomes a young woman caught in an experiment facility, who has to perform different tests using Aperture Science device creating portals. As a test subject, the girl is guided by the omni-present AI (GladOS) with wonderfully distorted female voice and an attitude that could be best described as somewhat deranged. She is both a narrator to some extent, as well as both enemy and companion, it gives player orders, sets rules, tells the story, mocks and teases, promises and deceives - in short, it sets the atmosphere of the game.

There are three pillars to Portal's success, each spectacularly executed: audio, story and gameplay. The first one is composed of the best AI voice ever together with one of the most wicked ending song up to date (not to mention other excellent sounds). The second is one of the greatest narratives I have seen in a computer game during last couple of years. The third is the game mechanics - mind-bending portal puzzles in hazardous 3D space.

Penny Arcade summed it up perfectly in this comic strip:


No wonder even Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation reviews loves it. The sheer brilliance of this game has resulted in fan-arts, some darn funny, some touching, some kinda risky, some including crossover and some a bit obnoxious.

The best part for me (and I assume many others) was the voice of omnipresent and seemingly omnipotent deity - GladOS. Just like in Manhunt, where main hero is led by a voice of snuff movie maker, who switches between being roles of compassionate guide and cruel torturer, who taunts, teases and comments protagonist's actions, so does GladOS put Chell into harder and harder tests, gives information ("In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice. For instance, the floor here will kill you. Try to avoid it."), which is sometimes warped, mocks her actions later in the game. The writing of GladOS lines is nothing short of brilliant - you can read it on Wikiquote, but without the context it is somewhat similar to reading a movie script.

After trying to kill Chell at some point, this strange relation becomes much more threatening and climaxes during the game's finale, where two female minds engage in a fight. Delightfully surreal scene is further amplified by GladOS torrent of deranged speech ("killing you and giving you good advice aren't mutually exclusive"), which she sputters like a being possessed by a demon, altering between smooth sweet voice and spitting threats. You can watch the scene here, but be aware that there are spoilers and the effect is not as powerful without knowing the whole story that has led to that point.


Speaking of the story and ambiance, the narrative is led in a great way, leading some people to overanalyse it. What's actually interesting is that the story, GladOS and sinister atmosphere of the abandoned experimental facility run by deranged AI was something that resulted from time constraints and actually was not a part of initial design - you can read more about it here.

The icing on this delightful cake (pun intended) is the ending song, "Still Alive". Unfortunately, it's not funny at all without first completing the game (duh). There exist many weird renditions of the song and I heartily recommend having a look at them, because some are really hilarious.

In short - if by any chance you have missed this game and you dare call yourself a gamer, you simply must buy it and play it. The sheer amount of songs, jokes, images and cake references this game introduced to the general public is a testament to its greatness. I didn't expect it when I first started playing Portal, but this is one of these games.

Valve, I take my hat off to you.

The truth about Mortal Kombat

It seems like Shao Kahn wants more from the tournament than just blood of the contestants:

I couldn't help but smile at "uhh... sexuality!" and "I'm not mad" lines. This probably means I am a pervert, but oh well, I am already long past the denial phase. Enjoy!

Spectrum movie goodness

I have been planning to write ZX Spectrum retrospective recently, but I realized I had already done it some time ago on the occasion of 25th anniversary of this extraordinary computer. Instead of writing a long-winded article over again, I have chosen instead to present you with two Spectrum-related movies I have found on Youtube.

The first clip is an advertisement for ZX Spectrum+ (exactly the model I had) from the eighties, and boy does it look cool.

The second clip is a retro music video featuring "SUPERB remix of Martin Galway's C64 'Arkanoid' theme (remixed by Lagerfeldt). The Arkanoid tune is of course a remix of Martin's ZX Spectrum music from the Ocean game 'Cobra'" which means that not only the video, but music as well stems from ZX Spectrum roots.

If you missed on the age of 8bit computers, you might watch it in the similar way people go to museum to see caveman tools exhibition, and if you are a thirty-plus nostalgic (like me), enjoy
this little retro flashback.

On PSN DRM and piracy

The big news is that Sony PSN games DRM was hacked. Don't know what I am talking about? To put it simply in plain English: downloadable titles from Sony online store are now cracked and can be played on any PSP. Although the creators of this hack made it for the use of people owning downloaded titles (their program checks for licence files when decrypting eboot files), apparently some people didn't bother and shared it with everybody.

You might be curious if I am going to bash them or actually enjoy it. Well, it is complicated. Let me elaborate a little more on this topic.


I really wanted to play these titles legally. I went through the whole registration process on the Sony online store, including checking my credit card information, then I installed some silly program to put the downloaded game on my PSP and when I finally wanted to buy Beats! - I was denied the right to do it. Sony didn't like my Custom Firmware and wanted me to revert to their official one, otherwise I wouldn't be able to play the game. Of course I did not do that, but I was cursing Sony under my breath when waving bye-bye to Beats. This really annoyed me. Why can't I play the game if I want to buy it?

I have written numerous times that I do not encourage piracy. Yes, I do download game isos, but I always buy the games I like. I often carry iso images on my Memory Stick after I have already bought the game, too, in order to cut down loading times (such is the case with Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony) or simply not to bother with taking UMD cases with me (Lumines and Every Extend Extra, which I play every now and then in short bursts - their images are relatively small).

Nevertheless, while I admit using and downloading isos (I am too lazy busy to rip them myself), the main point of using Custom Firmware is homebrew. The homebrew applications are the selling point of the PSP for me, enabling additional functionality well beyond the scope of what official PSP firmware can do. They give me freedom of choice in what I want to do with the damn device.

Thanks to homebrew I read books in PDF (a feature that Sony might one day chose to implement in their firmware), I repeat my Kanji lists, I revisit 8-bit games through emulators and I rearrange files on the Memory Stick without using PC (PSPFiler, which I have not yet described on this site). My coworker amuses himself with creating music on the go and uses his PSP as a GPS terminal - while I feel no need for these functions, for him they are what makes PSP his weapon of choice. Oh, and one more thing, very important for a Linux-infected mind like mine (coming from poor country counts too) - it's all free.

Hence, Sony decides to punish me for using Custom Firmware by not allowing me to play their games legally. Well then, tough luck, I will do it illegally. Not my call, but hey, as the French would put it: "Tu l'as voulu, George Dandin".

And Sony obviously didn't learn anything after the very similar thing happened with PS1 emulation that got deciphered by smart hackers, making PSN Store virtually unnecessary, since anyone could just make PSP eboot of their old PS1 game by themselves. The pattern was the same - overly restrictive approach, which in turn resulted in a torrent (actually, many torrents, hint, hint) of converted PS1 games. Since people were asked to pay again for the possibility of playing games they already own and paid for, no wonder they started searching for alternatives, even less legal ones (ahem, I am a bit of a socialist myself, I am afraid it shows here).


This time the case is different, but the outcome is even more annoying. I want to play the game they sell and give them money for it, even though they complicate the procedure of buying it to the point where only really devoted Sony zealot will have the patience to follow it. Sony, however, assumes that since I use Custom Firmware, I am probably pirating their games and won't sell me the game I want, trying to force me to comply and give up on my CF. I am not a pirate, but Sony knows better. Hence, the result is that I actually will be pirating PSN games, because I am denied the right to play them lawfully. Paranoia worth of Kafka.

Therefore my final opinion on the subject is: yes, I am glad someone cracked it. You asked for it Sony. I will definitely download and play them this very afternoon. Personally, I will remember to pay for these titles, sh