Tag: History Lessons Page 8 of 9

History Lessons: Master Of Magic

On September 29, 2012

New readers may wish to read my History Lessons Introduction first. Previous History Lesson posts can be found here.

I couldn’t stay away. At first I thought I’d just take a break from games while my wrist healed, but soon I gave in and started looking for games I could play with one hand. Fast-paced action games were out of the question, unless I could play them entirely with the mouse, so I started looking at turn-based options. Roguelikes would work, of course, but I wanted something with a longer playtime. Eventually I settled on Master of Magic, the 1994 fantasy-themed strategy game by Simtex. While Simtex are perhaps more famous for creating the first two Master of Orion games, Master of Magic garnered a loyal community of fans, many of whom are still playing it today.

Most players describe Master of Magic as a fantasy version of Sid Meier’s classic Civilization series, and while Master of Magic certainly has its differences, the description is fairly accurate. Much like Civilization, players in Master of Magic start off with a single city and must expand their empire by managing production of buildings and armies, exploring the world map, founding or conquering new cities, and eventually encountering other empires controlled by computer players. But this all takes place in a fantasy world, where the players are powerful wizards and there are all manner of monstrous creatures to encounter or recruit as they vie for supremacy. And best of all, it can be played entirely with the mouse, and it’s all turn-based so I have as much time as I need to make decisions. Perfect!

History Lessons: No One Lives Forever (part 2)

By waltorious

On August 11, 2012

In Uncategorized

If you haven’t read it yet, you’ll probably want to read through part one before continuing.

At long last, I have finished No One Lives Forever. This took a while partly because I was busy but partly because the game is even longer than I suspected. I’m happy to report that despite the length, the quality of writing that I praised in part one never really faltered. There was one character I was unimpressed with, and a few dud jokes, but overall No One Lives Forever remained a tightly-written and thoroughly entertaining game. Most importantly, it handled the theme of sexism elegantly, without becoming overly preachy or melodramatic. Given the problems that most games have with female characters, this was a relief. Actually, it was more than a relief, because I now have a game I can point to as evidence for how to do it right. It’s not perfect — Cate’s wardrobe is a little worrying for most of the game — but in terms of the writing at least, it’s miles ahead of the norm for games at the moment.

I’m not worried though. The demand for better female characters (and indeed better characters in general) will continue to grow, and games as a whole will improve in response. But, despite holding up No One Lives Forever as an example to aspire to, new games will have to go about things differently. You see, I wasn’t entirely accurate earlier — the writing in No One Lives Forever isn’t great despite the game’s length, it’s great because of it.

History Lessons: No One Lives Forever (part 1)

By waltorious

On July 7, 2012

In Uncategorized

It’s been a while since I wrote a History Lesson post. You may wish to read my introduction if you haven’t already, and previous History Lesson posts can be found here. This is also the first History Lesson post that I’m writing as I play, rather than after the fact.

Having decided to take a break from Skyrim, I figured I should change gears. Instead of a modern game set in a medieval fantasy world, how about an older game set in the modern world? It seemed like the perfect time to try No One Lives Forever, a game I’ve been meaning to play for a long time. No One Lives Forever was released in 2000 by Monolith, the same studio behind Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (which was the subject of a guest post on this very blog), and it is set in 1967. Inspired equally by James Bond and Austin Powers, it tells the story of ’60s superspy Cate Archer, an operative in the British branch of the international intelligence agency UNITY. While ostensibly a first-person shooter, No One Lives Forever is known more for its implementation of stealth gameplay and for its variety of imaginative set pieces. It’s one of those games that many people hear about but few have played, touted as a classic that never quite reached the status it should have.

It’s also one of the rare games that feature a female protagonist. Let’s talk about that for a second.

Alternate History: Doom [Guest Post]

By waltorious

On November 6, 2011

In Uncategorized

I have mentioned Doom, the 1993 game that basically launched the first-person shooter genre, a few times on this blog. But I’ve never actually played it (gasp! I should probably rectify that). Fortunately, jefequeso has played it, and he contributed this piece about what it’s like to revisit the game today. Read on!

Let’s face it—even the most casual of gamers has at least some passing knowledge of Doom. As the title that essentially jumpstarted the FPS industry, it’s not exactly obscure. So this is going to be somewhat different from the other History Lessons, in that it’s not about introducing people to an old game they might have missed. Rather, this is about re-visiting a classic almost all of us have played and looking at some of the things that make it still entertaining today.

History Lessons: Duke Nukem 3D

By waltorious

On November 3, 2011

In Uncategorized

2011 saw the release of Duke Nukem Forever, a mere 14 years after it was originally announced. The game was not well received, but really the release itself is more significant than the actual game. Duke Nukem Forever was the classic example of vaporware, a game that had garnered enormous amounts of hype but which suffered delay after delay, until it entered a state of limbo with few believing it would ever be released. Yet somehow the game was never cancelled, and it became a sort of myth, elevated to legendary status.

Why so much excitement about one game? The protracted development certainly didn’t help, with expectations for the final product rising with each delay, but the original spark was the hit game Duke Nukem 3D. Released back in 1996, the game earned an extremely devoted following. I had never played it, so I decided to try it and see what all the fuss was about.

Alternate History: Shogo: Mobile Armor Division [Guest Post]

By waltorious

On October 21, 2011

In Uncategorized

There is too much gaming history to be covered by one man. Fortunately, jefequeso offered to help by contributing this guest piece on Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, the 1998 first-person shooter by Monolith. Read on for his thoughts on the game.

Monolith is something of an enigma. While FPS developers such as Valve and id have signature styles that permeate their classic titles as well as their new releases, it’s hard to see the Monolith that created Shogo: Mobile Armor Division going on to make games as gritty and brutalized as Condemned and FEAR. Shogo is a lighthearted, funny, entertaining, addictive, broken, infuriating, borderline unplayable gem of an FPS, about as far removed from FEAR’s visceral gunfights and Condemned’s disturbing imagery as you can get.

History Lessons: System Shock

By waltorious

On October 15, 2011

In Uncategorized

In 2007, 2K Boston (now known as Irrational Games) released Bioshock, which proved to be a big hit. I wanted to play it but I didn’t have a good enough PC at the time. But as I read more about the game I learned that it was a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, a game I’d heard many good things about but had never played. So I figured I’d find a copy of that and try it first. But then I decided I should really start at the beginning, and try the first System Shock game. I didn’t know much about that one, other than that it was much older, having been released in 1994. I was able to find a cheap used copy on eBay, got it running pretty easily in DOSBox, and gave it a go.

I was not prepared.

History Lessons: Another World

By waltorious

On October 11, 2011

In Uncategorized

Another World (known in the United States as Out of This World) was released in 1991, by a single man, Eric Chahi (who has recently returned to game development with From Dust). The original release was for the Amiga, a system which I have never even seen, let alone owned, but there was a DOS port a year later, which I did play. The game made a big impression on me, as it did for many others, for reasons I will discuss.

In 2006, Eric Chahi released the Another World 15th Anniversary Edition, an updated version of the game that runs natively on Windows, has optional updated graphics, some improved checkpointing, and a bunch of extras including making-of videos. I recently got around to playing the new edition, which inspired me to write a History Lesson about it.

History Lessons: Outcast

By waltorious

On October 3, 2011

In Uncategorized

Outcast was released in 1999, which turned out to be very unfortunate timing. It was a time when graphics cards (known then as “3D Accelerator Cards”) had just taken off, and the games industry was running wild with crazy, high-resolution, detailed texture-mapped games that were miles ahead of what had been possible just a few years before. But Outcast took advantage of a different type of graphics, eschewing polygons (well, partly) in favor of voxels, which are in essence 3D pixels. Think Minecraft, but make all the blocks really tiny. The newfangled 3D cards did not support voxel graphics, so Outcast needed to be run entirely on your CPU. To make things worse, you needed pretty much the absolute best CPU available to play the game at any decent framerate. At a time when gamers were spending their money on shiny new 3D cards, Outcast was asking you to shell out for a new CPU instead. As a result, very few people played it.

I was one of the many who didn’t play it. I did try the demo, though, and it was very impressive at the time. I remember being floored by the water graphics… the realistic ripples and waves that I saw were unthinkable at the time; even the 3D accelerator cards couldn’t do graphics like that. The landscapes were also incredible, with believable rolling hills and soaring mountains. Curves, basically, which polygon-based graphics would be unable to accomplish for some time yet. Too bad the demo ran at about 5 FPS on my machine; all I was really able to do was admire the scenery and then quit. Outcast was some kind of dream game that I knew I would never be able to play because there was no way I could afford the dream machine I would need.

Until now, of course.

History Lessons: Might and Magic Book One: Secret of the Inner Sanctum

By waltorious

On September 23, 2011

In Uncategorized

The Might and Magic series is probably most famous for the Heroes of Might and Magic spin-off series of tactical fantasy warfare and conquest. But the original games were old-school, party based RPGs. I played and enjoyed games 4-6 of the series back in the day, so I was excited when a giant pack containing games 1-6 was (re-)released on GOG.com. True to my methodical nature, I decided to start with the very first game, which I was surprised to learn was released way back in 1986. Now THAT’S old-school. While I am no stranger to ye olden days of DOS, still I braced myself for a very limited and trying experience, for how deep could a game so old be? Just by virtue of the tiny file size limits, I was expecting a much smaller experience than the sprawling, epic games that came later.

I was wrong. Might and Magic Book One is very, very impressive, and definitely worth a look as a History Lesson.