It's time to get spooky. It's October, that means that Halloween is fast approaching and for one month we all get to be a little morbid and spooked before we enter the time for good-tidings and merry, merry, jolly, jolly, stuff. That was probably the worst way to describe the Christmas period but you get what I mean right? Anyways to celebrate this I'm planning on doing a few Halloween themed articles this month and I figured what better way to start than examining the survival horror genre. Specifically the two grandfathers of survival horror and seeing which one did it better. Today we try to answer question, Who did Survival Horror better, Resident Evil or Silent Hill?
Lisa in P.T
The 90s were a marvelous time to be alive, even though I didn't show up until 1997. The PlayStation 1 was the best thing since sliced bread letting us play games like Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, Spyro the Dragon and so, so many more. But the PlayStation 1 also paved the way for a new breed of horror. Most horror games up until this point were simple point and click or text based adventures such as Alone in the Dark, Sweet Home and The Lurking Horror. But with the the PlayStation 1, horror found a new home and in 1996 it cemented itself in gamers lives with Resident Evil.
Led by Shinji Mikami, Capcom revolutionized the horror genre, not only by scaring the pants off of the gamers who dared to enter the nightmare but also by challenging them with confusing puzzles, a map that is easy to get lost in and of course an inventory system that needed to be micro-managed throughout the entire game. Resident Evil also dealt with the topic of bio-terrorism. Shady companies using lethal viruses to create vicious and terrifying monsters as well as unnaturally large spider creatures which even thinking about makes my skin crawl. Combine that with a dash of betrayal and some of the most cheesiest lines ever recorded for a game and you have Resident Evil.
And of course this was only beginning. It would be another two years before Resident Evil truly became a gaming masterpiece. In 1998 Capcom released Resident Evil 2. Taking place two months after the events of the first game and featuring an entire new cast of characters, Capcom proved with Resident Evil 2 that they could not only make a fantastic sequel to an already great game but make a sequel that new players could jump in on with no prior knowledge of the first game. If it weren't for the big two after the title and the little tidbits referencing back to the "Spencer Mansion Incident" you could easily pass off Resident Evil 2 as its own game. Around this time though another Japanese publisher called Konami decided that the formula Capcom had made with Resident Evil was a lucrative one and decided to throw in their own two cents. They grouped a bunch of their developers, ones who hadn't actually made a game with the company, and tasked them with making a game to rival Resident Evil. This group of developers would become Team Silent and would be responsible for making, arguably, not only the best horror game every but one of the best games ever.
Silent Hill 2 or one of the best games ever made!
In 1999 Konami released Silent Hill and at face value the game comes across as a another take on the Resident Evil formula but once you start playing, you'll find things are massively different. Silent Hill takes a more Lovecraftian approach to story-telling, using the supernatural, the cult and of course the fear of the unknown which allowed Team Silent to breathe a new life into horror, one that Resident Evil wouldn't really achieve for another twenty years. Silent Hill also stripped back on the survival mechanics. While it does feature an inventory system the amount of inventory slots are limitless meaning you can carry as much as you want and don't have to micro-manage. That being said, ammo and health items are very scarce so use with caution. I also think that the puzzles in Silent Hill are also more thought out and convoluted than those found in Resident Evil. But by cutting down on the survival elements, Silent Hill was able to spend more time building atmosphere through imagery and sound and oh boy does this game have imagery. You'll spend more time in Silent Hill exploring new areas whereas in Resident Evil you'll find yourself re-treading familiar ground just to drop off a few items because you're carrying too much.
The true success of these games however lies in their replay-value. Apart from the multiple endings you can chase down I find that these games encourage you to return to their horrors at a higher difficulty, especially Silent Hill which offers multiple difficulty settings for not only its combat but also its puzzles. But we're here to talk about the horror elements and honestly on a second go Resident Evil's horror doesn't hold up. This of course was Capcom's goal, after one playthrough you're suppose to know the shocks and scares, you're suppose to know the puzzles. On a second playthrough Resident Evil pushes players to survive, health and ammo are practically non-existent and enemies are extremely vicious. Silent Hill is the same, however I do feel that Silent Hill retains its horror no matter how many times you've played the game. I always find myself unnerved returning to the town of Silent Hill but I can't say the same for Resident Evil. But I've rambled long enough and if you've stuck with me this far you're a true legend, the question still remains however, who did survival horror better? Honestly, they both do a smashing job at it and that's all I can say. Each game has it's own standout gems but both also have their flaws. Resident Evil puts the survival in survival horror but Silent Hill puts the horror in survival horror and if you're looking for a scare on all hallows eve, I highly recommend checking out these two quality gems of horror gaming. Let us know what your favorite horror game is and for more on Resident Evil, Silent Hill and survival horror,
Kojima is at it again. Before we begin I feel like I should give fair warning that this post is mostly a rant. I've been thinking long and hard about Death Stranding and honestly I've got a few things to say, so if you're still reading do enjoy. The release of Metal Gear Solid V way back in 2015 was a little overshadowed by the very public feud that was going on between series creator Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami. Of course all this came to an end with Konami firing Kojima, leaving fans to wonder, what would happen to Metal Gear and more importantly, what would happen to Kojima. Look no further than the Pachinko machines and Metal Gear Survive to see the state of that once great series but on a more pleasant note, shortly after all this drama had gone down, Sony announced that they had teamed up with Kojima and his production team and that they were working on a new game called Death Stranding.
Now two years on and after all the trailers and teasers that Kojima Productions have shown we still don't know what the game is about or when it's actually coming out. What spurred me on to write this was the most recent trailer of Death Stranding shown at the Tokyo Games Show this year, you can watch it below.
Now I don't know about you but after watching this trailer I've started to notice a little bit of a pattern developing. Every time Kojima Productions releases a new trailer for this game, it's always some form of cutscene and it introduces a new character.
Apart from the small bit of gameplay we saw at E3 this year, nobody knows how this game actually works as a game. I know that Kojima is the type of director who focuses more on story and would happily spend all his time building the story and characters in promotional material.
But lets look back at Phantom Pain, sure it had its fair share of story trailers but bundled in with those were a few gameplay trailers as well. We got to see both sides of the coin with MGSV but with Death Stranding it's almost like Kojima is avoiding gameplay.
This got me worried about the where Kojima Productions are in terms of development. I'm aware that recently Kojima said they are now at the stage where he has a controller in his hands and the game is coming together as a whole, but my question is, how long have they been in this phase?
If it's the case that Kojima and the team have only entered this stage of development then it could be a little while longer before we get anything substantial gameplay wise and that isn't exactly the best thing in the world. If rumors are to be believed then the PlayStation 5 could be hitting out shelves sometime in 2020.
I have a serious hunch, if you will, that Sony are planning to use Death Stranding as a launch title for the PS5. It wouldn't be the first time a Kojima game was used as a PlayStation launch title, that mantle sits with Metal Gear Solid 2 and while it wouldn't be a bad thing to see Death Stranding launch alongside a new console I think it would dampen the legacy that Sony have built this console generation.
The PS4 didn't have a great launch line-up but since its release in 2013 it has gradually built up a fantastic selection of firs-party titles. God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, I could keep going but it is a damn big list.
The point I am trying to make is that Death Stranding is shaping up to be Sony's most ambitious first-party release for the PS4 and if the PS5 is landing on store shelves in 2020 then Death Stranding would be a fantastic way to cap off the PlayStation 4's legacy and I suppose end the current console generation with a bang.
We'll probably be hearing from Death Stranding one more time this year. As everyone knows, Game Awards host, Geoff Keighley, is best mates with Hideo Kojima so it is very likely that Death Stranding will be showing its ambiguous head at The Game Awards this December.
And hey even if Death Stranding is released on PS5, I'll still be playing it. Can't deny the game still looks pretty awesome.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warning! The following review contains minor spoilers for the game in question. So don't complain if anything is spoiled, I warned you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spider-Man's first outing on the PlayStation 4 sets out with one goal and that's to "be greater". Insomniac's decision to set this game eight years after Peter Parker became the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man not only places players in the boots of a more experienced Spider-Man but introduces them to a world of pre-established history and secrets just waiting to be discovered. I realize how late I am throwing my two cents in on this but after spending so much time with this game, absorbing everything it had, from its in your face action sequences and hard hitting story beats to its obscure Easter eggs and more, finally here is my review of Marvel's Spider-Man
It took me just two days to beat Spider-Man and that's probably down to the fact that I simply didn't stop playing. It than took me a further two days to finish the game 100% and nab the platinum trophy in the process and I have to say I enjoyed every single second of those 96 hours. Insomniac set out to make a great Spider-Man game and a great Insomniac game and being completely honest I think they succeeded. Before we talk about Spider-Man and everything he can do, lets take a minute to talk about his playground, New York City. Of all the Spider-Man games that came before it, Insomniac's take on the city that never sleeps is a sprawling landscape filled to the brim with crime, familiar locations, collectibles and of course the occasional super villain. The random crime system is a fun addition when you're swinging around but because there are only a limited amount of each crime it can become a little repetitive after a while. There is only so many times I can stop a speeding car the same way before the novelty wears off.
via GIPHY Thankfully Insomniac counteract this by adding in a bunch of collectibles if you're not interested in fighting crime all day. The stand out of these are Peter Parker's old backpacks which are scattered all over Manhattan, each with its own little trinket, if you will, that expands on the already pre-established history in the game. But the best part of the city, for me anyways, were the landmarks. Not only is the game full of actual landmarks from New York such as the Empire State building and Times Square but also a bunch from other Marvel comics and films like Avengers Tower, Alias Investigations and the Sanctum Sanctorum.
And geographically all these locations have a bit of credibility behind them. For example, Alias Investigations and Nelson and Murdoch: Attorneys at Law can both be found in Hell's Kitchen while the Sanctum Sanctorum sits right next to Washington Square Park like it is in the MCU. In short Spider-Man's open world feels alive and one that could exist not only in the real world but also in the fictional superhero setting the developers have created. Now lets dive into the gameplay shall we? Lets start off with the main feature this game has to offer, the web-swinging. Swinging around the dense locale of New York City has never felt better. The web-swinging in this game not only looks great but feels great. It's very obvious that Insomniac Games looked to past Spider-Man games when designing the web-swinging, right from the get-go everything feels natural and while there is a small learning curve to the swinging, once you pick it up you'll be soaring through the New York skyline looking and feeling, amazing.
Now when it gets to the combat it's pretty obvious that Insomniac Games took a few pages out of Rocksteady's book, it's very much akin to the Batman: Arkham style but rather than button mashing and knocking enemies about left, right and center, Spider-Man encourages you to be a little more tactical, using aerial attacks, web-strikes and gadgets to beat your foes.
via GIPHY Every attack you land will build up focus which is essentially your bread and butter in combat. Focus allows Spider-Man to dish out special take downs but also, if you wish, can be spent regenerating health and you'll be surprised how often you'll be doing this. Nailing that perfect dodge isn't as easy as it looks. Spider-Man of course comes with its fair share of usual suspects in action games. I am of course talking about the various enemy types. You have your grunts, heavies, the ones with shields and the ones with sticks that you can't hit unless you do something first. Games like the Arkham series, Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor, all of which use a similar combat system have these types of enemies but Spider-Man breaks its enemy types into factions such as, thugs, prisoners, Fisk thugs, demons and Sable agents with each faction being tougher than the one before it. In other words, the Sable agents hit harder than the average thug. But of course this wouldn't be an Insomniac game without the gadgets. Using a similar layout to the weapon wheel in Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man has a collection of little gadgets and gizmos that aid in combat and while all are great in their own way but I found that I was only using three or four for the entire game. Web-shooters, impact web, web-grenade and the trip mines are probably the best of the lot and switching between them to take down the various enemy types regularly can turn a fight from mediocre button mashing to something quite tactical and stylish. Like the swinging the combat also has a learning curve to it, one that took me a quite a while to master, but once you have the slightest grasp on how to perfectly blend all these moves together combat feels so much more satisfying and stylish. But combat gets really interesting when you introduce suit powers into the mix. Like the more recent Spider-Man games, suits are a big part of this game. The two Amazing Spider-Man titles had a variety of suits but I always felt they were more cosmetic than anything else. In this game however each suit not only looks great but each comes with its own individual suit power and each suit power gives you that little bit of edge during combat. Each suit power is unique in its own way and depending on how you want to play you can choose your suit power accordingly. For example if you're the kind of player who likes to take down enemies as quickly as possible then use Web-blossom because it is ideal for crowd control. The best part about the suit powers however is that once they're unlocked you can use them with any suit. Take the Iron Spider suit which is of course taken from Avengers: Infinity War. This comes with an awesome suit power where spider arms come out of Spider-Man's back and increase the amount of damage you can deal. I love this suit power and while the suit itself looks amazing, it's not my favorite to wear but because I can use suit powers with whatever suit I want it just means I can "look the way I want and play the way I want" (hands down the best thing Bryan Intihar has said throughout the promotion for this game!)
I realize the picture above is not the Iron Spider but it's close enough I guess... Honestly though the weakest part of the suits are the suit mods. Suit mods are pretty much perks, just added aid to help you along in a fight. There is a whole bunch of them to unlock but honestly I found myself using the same ones throughout the entire game, these were of course added ballistic and melee and a focus booster. I did try the other suit mods but honestly the three I had for most of the game were the most practical. But the gameplay is not all about Spider-Man. There will be times where you have to play as Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Miles Morales. Playing as Peter Parker usually requires you to walk around and play a few mini games to advance but this never felt like a chore and playing as Peter Parker allows you to see a side to the world that Spider-Man would never be able to show the player. In other words it's great playing Spider-Man but it's just as good playing as Peter Parker.
Now playing as Mary Jane or Miles Morales is when things get really interesting. These sequences usually involve you sneaking around a heavily guarded area and while at times they can feel forced I have to admit I really enjoyed them. At one point Miles goes head to head with Rhino, a situation which is extremely tense as you've no actual way of fighting Rhino and he is huge.
Moving right along into the story this honestly feels like the one aspect that I was worried for the most. Nailing a story in a superhero game is tough, not only do you have to craft an original story for the game but you also have to take into consideration the established lore of comics and such because if you didn't you'd pretty much divide a fan base. Luckily Spider-Man has a brilliant, if not slightly conventional story. I particularity liked the fact that Insomniac chose to use Mr. Negative as the main antagonist for most of the game. He was a breath of fresh air, a villain that not many fans of previous Spider-Man games would know very well. Of course the more traditional Spider-Man villains such as Electro, Vulture and Rhino show up eventually and that's really when the story flies off the rails. And before we go any further that while it was so blatantly obvious that Doc Ock was going to take the rains from Mr. Negative eventually I didn't mind this and instead couldn't wait to see the calm and kind Otto Octavius embrace his darker side. All in all the inclusion of Doc Ock and classic Spider-Man villains was a smart choice from Insomniac. But unfortunately the story does suffer from some good old fashioned predictability. While it's not apparent at every twist, it does kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when it does finally decide to show itself. Funnily enough though this game also has the ability of throwing you completely for a loop, dropping emotional bombs on you right when you least expect it and oh boy, they hit home really hard. All of this, of course, would be nothing without the superb voice acting. Yuri Lowenthal, Laura Bailey, William Saylers and all the main cast deliver their lines spectacularly. Not one piece of dialog feels out of place or badly acted which is perfect for pulling you right into the immersion.
Finally lets talk about how this game looks. I don't like talking about graphics in reviews, I really don't. Sure there's an expectation with modern games to look great but I would rather see a game boast awesome gameplay and an engaging story than have both of those elements suffer because the developers wanted to make their game pretty. With that said we have to talk about the graphics because, oh damn son, this game is whopper fine looking. Character models look great, New York City looks great, Insomniac even went out of their way to model little rooms inside windows which just adds a whole new level of depth to the city. Every individual suit has its own unique look and don't even get me started on the lighting. Whether it's early morning or late evening this games lighting is incredible and completely changes the look of the city. Times Square is cool to look at but Times Square at night is a whole other thing. I stood there for ten minutes just soaking in the pretty lights. Overall Marvel's Spider-Man is a brilliant experience and while there was so much doubt that Insomniac wouldn't be to pull it off I am extremely glad that they did. I have loved every minute of this game and honestly I cannot wait for the DLC just so I have an excuse to go back and play more. For more on your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,
Although it is something that occurs all too often in this industry, the closure of a development studio is a terrible thing and one that can stay with certain players. The shock of EA closing down Visceral Games almost a year ago still rings out among the gaming community, especially those who were fans of the Dead Space series. But I never once thought the day would come that Telltale Games would close their doors.
Telltale Games, best known for their episodic narrative games such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands , made headlines last Friday when hundreds of employees were left jobless after they were informed about the closure and told to leave the building within thirty minutes. Telltale were quick to issue a press release on the same day, taking to Twitter where they posted an image that read...
"Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company's employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley issued the following statement: "Its been a incredibly difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry." Telltale will issue further comments regarding its product portfolio in the coming weeks." 250 employees, which is pretty much the entirety of Telltale's workforce have been laid off without severance pay. This information comes from Emily Grace Buck, a now former Telltale employee. Emily took to Twitter in the wake of the mass layoffs and here's what she had to say...
Her second tweet doesn't make things much better...
And for those of you wondering about the planned Stranger Things game and The Wolf Among Us: Season Two, Emily even provided some information on those...
Emily goes on to add a lot more and I would highly recommend swinging by her Twitter to get the full scope of the situation yourself. Now a hashtag has been pushed to trending in hopes of getting these very talented developers into other jobs. #Telltalejobs has already managed to turn the heads of some of the biggest names in the industry such as Ubisoft, Blizzard and Niantic. But this story doesn't end here. Another former Telltale employee is attempting to sue Telltale on the grounds that they have broken labor laws. Vernie Roberts submitted a class-action lawsuit against Telltale on behalf of himself and his fellow colleagues stating that they were let go "without cause" and were not given an "advanced written notice as required by the WARN Act". Roberts complaint also states that the total number of layoffs is equal to 275 which would include the 250 employees let go on Friday and the remaining 25 mentioned in Telltales official statement. I plan to update this story as more details emerge so for all your news on Telltale Games and the future for their now ex-employees...
Welcome to Weekly News Roundup, where we bring you the top gaming news of the week and kicking off our news IGN have fired a staff member after a major plagiarism scandal.
Boomstick Gaming said that there were no hard feelings but wish that he had be credited however after an investigation by IGN the ultimately fired writer Filip Miucin.
Filip Miucin has not yet made a public comment on the scandal but IGN have posted a statement apologising to it’s viewers, Dead Cells developer Motion Twin and of course Boomstick Gaming. IGN also stated that they are currently working on another review for the game.
But as messy as this situation is IGN seem to be responding accordingly, when asked on Twitter if Boomstick Gaming would receive the ad revenue pulled in by the review Peer Schneider co-founder of IGN confirmed that discussions with Boomstick Gaming along those lines are taking place. It’s nice to see that IGN are taking this seriously and seem to be doing everything they can to right there wrongs because let’s be honest it’s not something you see a whole lot of in this industry.
In other news Fallout 76 will not be releasing on Steam. This week Bethesda released a statement about the launch of Fallout 76 saying that the game and it’s beta for PC will only be available through Bethesda.net and not Steam. This is a strange move given that all previous Fallout games have been released on Steam but of course in doing this Bethesda won’t have to share any of the money made through sales with anyone.
Now this doesn’t mean Fallout 76 won’t make it to Steam eventually, Fallout Shelter was also a Bethesda.net exclusive but has since made its way to Steam. Fallout 76 is set to release on PS4, Xbox One and PC on November 14th with the beta starting sometime in October.
Next up, Cory Barlog, writer and creative director on God of War might have hinted that the script for the next God of War may already be in the works. Definitely one of the standout games of this year so far has been God of War and with nothing but praise there is a strong chance of a sequel. This week Cory Barlog put out a tweet saying that he had just sat through a four hour script note discussion.
If we also factor in that Santa Monica Studios now have a job listing on their website for concept artists to work on the God of War team, yeah there’s a damn good chance their working on it.
But of course they would games take a seriously long time to make so getting started on the next God of War now is perfect for Santa Monica Studios but we probably won’t see the game for another 4 years.
Next, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is in closed beta this weekend starting today of all days. The beta for the next Call of Duty starts today at 10am Pacific time and is available to players on PS4, Xbox One and PC and is a whopping 21GB in size. However PC gamers to get another treat with an open beta also available for the whole weekend as of now an open beta for PS4 and Xbox One has not been confirmed.
And finally Henry Cavill wants to play Gearlt of Riveia in Netflix’s Witcher adaption. During an interview with IGN while promoting his latest film Mission Impossible: Fallout Cavill who is best known for playing Superman confirmed that he wouldn’t mind playing Gearlt in Netflix’s TV adaption of the Witcher.
Interestingly enough Cavill also happens to be a gamer and is a massive fan of World of Warcraft and Skyrim. And who knows if he landed the role he could do a fantastic job we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
And that is your gaming news for the week. We’ll be back next week with another dose of gaming news. I’ll see you in the next one but until then remember for all your news, reviews, playthroughs and previews
Welcome to Weekly News Roundup where we bring you the top gaming news stories of the week and kicking off our news this week is a little purple dragon or more so how Activision have essentially botched the physical release of Spyro: Reignited Trilogy.
The success of Crash Bandicoot: The N’Sane Trilogy has shown publishers that gamers want to see the older games making a comeback and it was brilliant to see that following in the footsteps of Crash, Spyro is next in line for the remake. However if you were planning on owning all three original Spyro games on one disc you’re going to be disappointed. Thanks to Reddit it was confirmed that only the first game is actually on the disc while Ripto’s Rage and Year of the Dragon will have to be downloaded separately and it’s not known whether that’s through a patch or a unique download code.
The game’s official website also confirms this.
But the real question is if you’re going to release a physical copy of a game and leave two thirds of it off the disc what’s the point of releasing a physical copy in the first place? If it’s a case of a patch then yeah it’s going to be a pain to download but bearable but if it’s a unique code then that throws game sharing and trading out the window. Why would your mates ask for a loan of game or even game retailers buy a game back when a huge portion of it is unplayable because someone else already used the download code? Simple answer is they wouldn’t
Personally I see two possible reasons why Activision would do this, the first being that they hope it would encourage more gamers to go out and buy the game rather than asking a friend for a loan. The other reason is simply because these games are two big to fit on one disc. I mean in terms of scale Spyro is marginally bigger than Crash Bandicoot. But if I had to pick one it would be first. Given the recent history Activision have acquired with new releases, I’m looking at you Modern Warfare remastered. There is a good chance that this is just a ploy to boost sales.
In other, much better news, Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4 has gone gold. Yes Insomniac’s hugely anticipated Spider-Man game for PlayStation 4 is finally ready to hit shelves on September 7th. Insomniac Games celebrated the news by sharing this lovely image via Twitter.
For those of you unsure what going gold means it’s basically when a game is more or less done on a coding and design scale and publishers start to print physical and digital copies of the game getting them ready to ship for release.
However not even a game going gold can rule out the chance of a delay or some change to a release date but it doesn’t look like that is going to be happening so my guess is we’ll be most definitely swinging into action with Spider-Man on September 7th.
As always PlayStation 4 leads the way with its main titles being Mafia 3, an intense mob story set to the backdrop of 1960s America in the fictional city of New Bordeaux.
Along with Mafia, PS4 players can get their hands on Dead by Daylight a 1-v-4 asymmetrical multiplayer that sees players desperately try to survive the advancements of a murderous psychopath.
PS3 players can nab the fantasy title Bound by Flame along with Serious Sam 3 BFE and finally PS Vita players get gory slice-em-up Draw Slasher and the turn-based strategy game Space Hulk.
However that’s not all for PlayStation Plus as Sony is throwing in a bonus VR game called Here They Lie which is a psychological horror and PlayLink Trivia. All games listed are available to download for Plus members from August 7th with Here They Lie remaining available until October 2nd and PlayLink 3 reaming until November 6th.
Next, Shenmue HD Collection which features the first two Shenmue games has received a new trailer confirming the games release in Japan. Shenmue HD is set to hit Japan on November 22nd a good three months after the games release in the Western market.
While the collection is releasing in the West for PS4, Xbox One and PC on August 21st the Japan release is exclusively for the PS4 which to be fair is probably a smart move given the massive popularity the PS4 has over there. And finally it turns out that parents are now hiring tutors to help their kids get better at Fortnite. This story was first revealed by the Wall Street Journal which according to that parents are paying between 10-20 dollars an hour for people to teach their kids to become better Battle Royale Competitors.
Honestly this story went on for a bit and I was so blown away by the stupidity of hiring a tutor to train children to be better at Fortnite that I just closed it down.
And that is your gaming news for the week, thank you very much for tuning in.
We’ll be back next week with yet another dose of your gaming news but until you can stay up to date by subscribing to our blog or following us on Twitter.
Once again thank you very much for popping in I’ll see you in the next one but until then, remember, for all your news, reviews, playthroughs and previews,
Welcome to the first in a series of reviews for Metal Gear. Today we'll be taking at look at the game that started it all, Metal Gear, released in 1987.
It’s been 31 years since the release of the first Metal Gear and since then the eight sequels and various spin offs that followed have cemented the series as one of the biggest franchises in gaming to date and that was no small feat. Each entry into this series greatly expands on the formula set up in the early games while some bring entirely new features to better enhance game play and overall player experience. Hopefully by the end of this marathon we’ll see just how much this series has grown over the years and ultimately how it became the monumental beast it is today.
Now before I get carried away I want to lay down some ground rules, the first being that I’ll only be reviewing the main games in the franchise minus Portable Ops, mainly because Peace Walker pretty much ignores the events of that game anyways.
This also means that the Metal Gear Acid, Survive and the Ghost Babel series will also be left out, given that they take place in their own timeline and are not considered canon. However I am going to be reviewing Metal Gear Rising: Revengence. While it is a spin off I consider it canon as Hideo Kojima was greatly involved in developing the story. Secondly I’m going to do my best to keep these reviews as unbiased as possible. It’s very easy for me to rhyme off praise for these games but that wouldn’t exactly be constructive criticism now would it? So don’t worry this won’t be a series of me saying, over and over, that these games are amazing. Now there is a lot to cover in this series and absolutely no time to waste so without further ado, welcome to the Metal Gear Solid series.
In 1987 a game designer working at Konami named Hideo Kojima was put in task of designing and directing an action game for the MSX, a popular games console in Japan. Seriously the furthest into the western market this console got was Argentina and Continental Europe it never broke the mold in American but was massive in Japan and the go-to platform for Konami at the time. After brainstorming the best route to go with this, due to the limitations of the MSX, Kojima decided to focus the game on stealth and not pure balls to the wall action and from that Metal Gear was born.
Now while the Metal Gear Solid series has become synonymous for it’s over the top story lines and lengthy cut scenes the plot of Metal Gear is pretty rudimentary and now that I think about it so is the rest of the game, this game is essentially Metal Gear in its basic form. And that’s not a bad thing, considering this was the first in the series and released on a fairly under powered platform.
Box Art for NES Port
There was a lot this game got right but a lot it manages to miss the mark on.
But before we dive into the game play and stuff let’s talk about the story and find out where this series began. So here’s your mandatory spoiler warning so...
Spoilers.
The game opens with FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake infiltrating a fortress known as Outer Heaven. Once inside Snake receives a radio call from his superior Big Boss who tells him to find Grey Fox, another FOXHOUND agent who infiltrated Outer Heaven a few days prior but went missing. Before going missing however Gray Fox transmitted a two worded message that simply read, “Metal Gear.” Snake’s primary object is to find Gray Fox and learn about Metal Gear. Snake is also informed that he will be helped by resistance members Kyle Schneider, Diane and Jennifer. With his orders received Solid Snake commences Operation Intrude N313 and the game begins.
Solid Snake (Metal Gear)
After exploring the base for a while and rescuing a few hostages along the way Snake is told that the only way to get close to Gray Fox is by getting captured so he goes and gets himself captured, is brought to a cell in the basement and after punching a wall a couple of times finally meets Gray Fox. Gray Fox explains that Metal Gear is a walking battle tank capable of launching a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planet and that the only person who knows how to destroy the machine is its creator, Dr. Drago Pettrovitch Madnar. Fox tells Snake to go find Madnar and as he’s leaving the cell Snake encounters the first boss of the game Shotmaker.
Now normally a boss unit in a Metal Gear game usually has a detailed background that is somehow linked into the plot but in this game, bosses just appear, introduce themselves then you have a fight, they die and are never spoken of again.
There will be more on that later.
Fun fact though, if call Diane during a boss fight she can give you tips on how to beat them. But earlier in the game it’s her brother Steve who answers as Diane is out shopping or in the shower.
Anyways Snake beats Shotmaker and makes his way to the roof where he parachutes down into the courtyard only to find that Madnar has been moved to building 2. So it’s off to building 2 where Snake finds Madnar in the basement except it’s not Madnar but instead someone waiting to spring a trap, Snake avoids the trap and discovers that Madnar is on the second floor. Snake finds the real Madnar only to be told that the good doctor won’t reveal how to destroy Metal Gear until Snake rescues his daughter, Ellen, who for some reason is also in Outer Heaven.
Snake makes his way back down to the basement, rescues Ellen and then goes back to Madnar who explains that to destroy Metal Gear he needs 16 sets of plastic explosives and has to attach them to the legs where the armor is weak.
Snake then makes his way over to building 3 where Metal Gear is being kept. Around this time things start to get weird, Big Boss starts to give misleading information to you and before Schneider can reveal the identity of the leader of Outer Heaven he is cut short and you don’t find out what happened to him. Snake makes his way to the basement of building 3 where he finds Metal Gear and after a back and forth with lasers and explosives Snake destroys the tank and somehow starts the self-destruct sequence for Outer Heaven. Trying to escape Snake encounters the leader of Outer Heaven who turns out to be Big Boss. Snake kills Big Boss and makes his escape, Outer Heaven explodes and Snake comes home, job done. The credits then roll and afterwards a radio transmission comes in from Big Boss saying “it’s not over, we’ll meet again” or something along those lines.
Big Boss (Metal Gear)
And that is the entire story of Metal Gear, and as you can see compared to future games in this series, it is very, very simplistic. It’s straight to the point and easy to follow.
That being said after experiencing the rest of the series before this game I really loved the change of pace it brought. Sure the story beats are small and predictable, but at least they’re there and even though I knew exactly what was going to happen I still got a rush of excitement when it was all revealed at the end. The fact that a game released in 1987 can provoke that kind of a reaction in person playing this 31 years on, yeah that’s pretty impressive.
But that’s really all I can say on the plot so let’s move on and see how the game actually looks and plays.
Now I’m reviewing this game based on the version released with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PS3 so I can’t say how the original MSX version was but overall this game plays pretty well. Controls are easy to wrap your head around thanks to them being mapped similarly to later games in the series. So if you’ve played one of them you know how this one works.
First let’s talk game design. Now I don’t know what it is but I have such a soft spot for 8-bit games whether it’s the music, which in this game is amazing, or just the pixel art graphics I don’t know. For a game released in 1987 it looks amazing and the graphical upscale that came with the remastered version gives the colors a more vibrant and deeper tone, trust me this footage does not do it justice. That being said I couldn’t help but feel that as you progress further into the game every area just seems to blend into one. The same textures are used for every building and they all seem like the same place even though you’re moving from location to location.
The level design is great in building one and is designed specifically to encourage the item progression system in place, more on that later. However as you move into building 2 things start to get tedious. Every room and floor in building 2 is littered with guards and traps and it’s near impossible to get through here without setting off an alarm. Building 2 is also made up of two elevators one that goes up and one that goes down so in order to progress you have to find the right elevator which can be a pain if you don’t have the right key cards, more on those later.
The game is broken up into different screens, with each screen showing a new part to the current building you’re in. Each screen has its own guard patrols and traps. Now something that is kind of annoying but surprisingly helpful at times is the fact that these screens reset themselves when you leave. What do I mean by that? Well let’s say you enter a screen and there’s two guards in it. If you take those two guards out, leave and come back in they’ll have re-spawned. This can be annoying if you’ve just spent the last few minutes taking out the guards only to have them re-spawn straight after you leave especially if you have to back track, which there is a fair bit of in this game. That being said bosses do not re-spawn so thankfully you don’t have to fight the same boss twice, not that that would be a total issue, definitely more on that later.
However this feature is most helpful when it comes to ammo and rations. If you enter a screen with either or both of these items you can collect them, leave and when you come back they’ll have re-spawned so you can pretty much keep coming and going from the room until you’re fully stocked.
Metal Gear's core game play is based around stealth, puzzle solving and item progression. Stealth is pretty explanatory and I’ll talk more about it in a moment but the item progression essentially encourages you to make your way through the areas picking up key cards, weapons and other items which open up doors and help you solve puzzles. Each door is opened by a different card level, with a total of 8 cards in the game. If you’ve played Metal Gear Solid or Metal Gear Solid 2 you know about the card system and by Metal Gear Solid 2 the card system was streamlined to the point where you didn’t even need them equipped to open doors. In this game however every card is its own item and it’s not clearly shown which card opens what door so as you progress you’ll find yourself standing in front of doors trying every card to see which one works, this wouldn’t really be an issue only that these situations usually happen in the worse places imaginable, more on that later.
Puzzles in this game are pretty simple but at times actually require some thought and are kind of cool when you figure them out. Take rescuing Ellen Madnar as an example. In order to get to Ellen you have to go through this dark area and I mean literally you can’t see anything when you enter it, the only way to get through here is to find the flashlight on the upper floors and then equip it in that area. This is how the item progression helps with puzzles, where you literally need a certain item in order to progress.
Pretty clever I must say.
Now stealth has you doing the usual avoid guards and cameras and try not to raise an alarm. This game introduces the cardboard box and cigarettes to help you get past cameras and lasers, both items still remained in the series right up to Phantom Pain. Avoiding guards is easy enough however that’s mostly down to the silly AI. Guards can see you but only if you’re standing right in front of them meaning you can get as close to guards as you want and as long as you’re not standing directly in their line of sight they won’t see you.
Another staple feature of the Metal Gear series are the detailed codec calls that reveal details on the story or tips on how to solve puzzles. In this game the radio calls are not half as detailed. You can only call your buddies in certain areas and anywhere else just gets you radio silence. Big Boss fills in for the usual Colonel Campbell in this game giving the player information on certain areas and items but sometimes this is more annoying than helpful. Take this gas room you encounter early in the game, Big Boss doesn’t tell you that you need a gas mask until after you’ve entered the room because he “forgot to mention it” but you’re already losing health at this point. Also leaving these rooms forces you to equip a key card which removes your gas mask so you’ll be losing health while you’re slogging through your inventory looking for the right card.
Big Boss also informs you that Schneider knows where said gas mask and other items are but Schneider just gives you a general direction to go to find them which in a game that has no compass or map, basically no real way of knowing where you are just comes off as tedious and unhelpful. Big Boss also doesn’t tell you what Schneider’s frequency is and I’m assuming that it was originally included in the games manual.
Kyle Schneider (Metal Gear)
That’s all well and good but I’m playing a ported version of this game 31 years after its initial release, and yes I know that all I have to do is whip out my phone and type a few words into Google and I’ll find it. But really the guys over at Bluepoint games could have programmed a few extra lines of text to make up for the information that was provided in the manual. I make it sound like I’m being lazy but doing this would help boost immersion and wouldn’t slow the pace of the game.
And while we’re on the topic of tedious and unhelpful information, this game is also lacking in series amount of it. It doesn’t really explain a whole lot to you. For example while making your way through building 2 you have to get card 7 from a boss called Bloody Brad but Bloody Brad is only vulnerable to attacks from a Rocket Launcher. However the only way to get the rocket launcher is to call Jennifer and she’ll prepare it for you but this is never explained in the game at all and unless you call Jennifer by chance after getting her radio frequency you won’t be able to figure this out.
Unless of course you look it up online but we’ve been over that so let’s move on.
The game also doesn’t fully explain the class system it has. The class system is pretty simplistic, rescuing hostages gains you a star and each star lets you carry more ammo and rations. You also can’t contact Jennifer unless you’ve reached the highest class so if you haven’t been rescuing hostages good luck getting past Bloody Brad. You can also lose a class rank if you accidentally kill a hostage and this is fine I never really got the urge to shoot a hostage during the game except towards the end when you’re fighting the boss Dirty Duck who has surrounded himself with 3 hostages one of which is Jennifer’s brother. Accidentally killing these hostages will lower your class, yet another thing the game doesn’t tell you, so you won’t be able to contact Jennifer and on top of that if you’re not class level 4 you won’t be able to carry the 16 sets of plastic explosive needed to beat Metal Gear so you can’t actually beat the game. I think the most annoying part about that is the fact that the Dirty Duck fight happens so close to the end and if you’ve been rescuing hostages all the way through there won’t be any more to free so your class rank isn’t going back up.
And that’s a lovely way to bring up the bosses of this game. So remember earlier when I said that the bosses don’t really add anything to the story well the reason for that is the fact that there is no explanation as to who they are or why they’re here in fact the only boss who has a shred of character development is Big Boss and that is mostly down to the discovery of him being the leader of Outer Heaven. I’m going to assume again that some of this information might have been in the games manual but again we’ve already been over that.
The boss fights in this game are also stupidly easy mostly requiring you to stay in one corner out of their firing line until it’s safe to poke out and fire back. And sometimes you don’t even have to move from that spot like in the Hind-D fight and the one with Fire Trooper.
Apart from Big Boss and Metal Gear itself the rest of the boss fights are pretty forgetful and one of those two I mention doesn’t even move. Metal Gear just stands there and lets you attack. Yes, even though it’s the first Metal Gear to appear in the series, the TX-55 Metal Gear stands perfectly still and is instead protected by these cameras that shoot lasers. I mean it’s not great but its leaps and bounds better than what players got in NES version of this game, where Metal Gear was swapped out for a super computer. I would talk about the other changes made to the NES version but I’d probably need to do another video for that so let’s leave it there.
Now I really am making it out that this game is more tedious than enjoyable to play but that isn’t the case in truth at times this is a fun game it’s just old and shows its age. Back in 1987 games weren’t as laid out or diversified as they are today so if you’re thinking about trying Metal Gear out be a little patient with it. That being said if I was to recommend this game to anyone it would have to be to a fan of the series as you really don’t have to play this title to understand the story going into the likes of Metal Gear Solid or pretty much any other game in the series and to be honest I really don’t see anyone that isn’t a Metal Gear fan playing this game, I mean, I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t a fan I would never have played this game.
But taking myself out of that fan head space and looking at this game from a unbiased critical perspective I can see the potential this game had back in the day and to be fair this game does pioneer a lot of the features that would become synonymous with the series even if they’re a little tedious and not fully realized just yet.
Overall I’d give Metal Gear a solid, no pun intended, GAG rating of 6 out of 10. It’s a little rough around edges but definitely worth the experience if you’re a fan of the series or just like 8-bit games.
And that is Metal Gear, it’s where the series began and to tell the truth back in 1987 I don’t think anyone thought this game would spark a franchise that would go on to be massive in the gaming industry. Now a lot of the features I had an issue with in this game are mostly resolved to some degree in the next game but that’s best left for another day. Tune in next time when we’ll be taking a look at the second game in the franchise, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
Until then I’ve been Sean, thank you very much for reading and if you’re going to take one thing from this review let it be this, for all your news, reviews, playthroughs and previews,
