Now this brings back memories! Can you imagine children today having the patience to wait for games to load? For me it was all part of the 'ritual', and I actually enjoyed the loading times and uncertainty of it failing to load first go. I liked the blip blip music and graphic slowly building up on screen while you gripped the joystick in anticipation. All part of gaming back in the day.
Rambo
I have two major interests in Life (apart from writing & whisky), two constants which have been by my side since I was 10 years old; Heavy Metal music and Videogames. I could get overly dramatic here and say when times have been bad these 2 have seen me through but I won't. Oh right...I just did. Well its true. Join me as I delve into the fun of old....
Showing posts with label game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Monday, 30 April 2012
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Rage Of Dinosaurs
In 1994 the 2D fighter Primal Rage was developed by Atari Games (Probe on home consoles) and published by Atari (Time Warner on consoles.) First off, can 1994 qualify being called 'retro'? Well Sony's original Playstation is thought of by some (including myself) as being retro, so this slab of gaming brilliance does indeed. (Defining what is retro will always be argued in the same way nobody can ever agree on BEST OF lists, its all down to personal choice.)
Anyway onto the game. I didn't play a lot of this when it was released but recently got it bundled on one of those retro compilations (Midway Arcade Treasures 2 on Xbox) and I must say WOW! What a cool game and seriously good looking compared to some of the titles on offer back in '94. Playing it last night, I often caught myself forgetting to play properly simply in order to just ogle the screen. It really IS that nice looking.
I really love the story behind it too. Whereas other fighters like to confuse its audience with ludicrous, off the wall stories (Tekken im looking at YOU) Primal Rage has a neat straightforward clash between the Virtuous beasts and the Destructive beasts.
In camp virtuous we have -
Armadon - God of Life
Blizzard (giant ape)- God of Gooodness and Virtue
Sauron - God of Hunger (what a strange thing to be a god of?!?)
Talon (velociraptor)- God of Survival
And on the bad Destructive team we have -
Chaos - the charmingly sounding God of Decay
Diablo (T Rex) - God of Evil and Destruction
Vertigo - God of Insanity
Nit-Pickers will of course peg this as being just as ridiculous as anything Tekken has come up with, but NAY I say! Take away the god like statuses and all you have is an almighty scrap between two giant reptiles, which was always happening 60 million years ago.
Another cool thing are the cavemen/women supporters watching the prehistoric punch ups. They whoop it up and jump around clapping if their beast wins and with certain moves you can even bash them into the air with your giant tail or fist. No fun for the hapless cheerleader but a satisfying little extra for you and your dino.
Primal Rage is one the best 90's 2D fighters you can get and to have it for peanuts is a wonderful thing indeed. Praise be the God of games!
Oh and the games coolest dinosaurs? Without doubt its the two apes (Blizzard & Chaos) and Diablo, a fiery red T Rex. Awesomness!
Anyway onto the game. I didn't play a lot of this when it was released but recently got it bundled on one of those retro compilations (Midway Arcade Treasures 2 on Xbox) and I must say WOW! What a cool game and seriously good looking compared to some of the titles on offer back in '94. Playing it last night, I often caught myself forgetting to play properly simply in order to just ogle the screen. It really IS that nice looking.
I really love the story behind it too. Whereas other fighters like to confuse its audience with ludicrous, off the wall stories (Tekken im looking at YOU) Primal Rage has a neat straightforward clash between the Virtuous beasts and the Destructive beasts.
In camp virtuous we have -
Armadon - God of Life
Blizzard (giant ape)- God of Gooodness and Virtue
Sauron - God of Hunger (what a strange thing to be a god of?!?)
Talon (velociraptor)- God of Survival
And on the bad Destructive team we have -
Chaos - the charmingly sounding God of Decay
Diablo (T Rex) - God of Evil and Destruction
Vertigo - God of Insanity
Nit-Pickers will of course peg this as being just as ridiculous as anything Tekken has come up with, but NAY I say! Take away the god like statuses and all you have is an almighty scrap between two giant reptiles, which was always happening 60 million years ago.
Another cool thing are the cavemen/women supporters watching the prehistoric punch ups. They whoop it up and jump around clapping if their beast wins and with certain moves you can even bash them into the air with your giant tail or fist. No fun for the hapless cheerleader but a satisfying little extra for you and your dino.
Primal Rage is one the best 90's 2D fighters you can get and to have it for peanuts is a wonderful thing indeed. Praise be the God of games!
Oh and the games coolest dinosaurs? Without doubt its the two apes (Blizzard & Chaos) and Diablo, a fiery red T Rex. Awesomness!
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
The Stabby Stabby Beret
One of the early games to get me hooked was Konami's 1985 hit Green Beret. My God I LOVED this title, adored it and would slobber over it just as I do over high heels and Jagermeister now that im that bit older. The game itself simply involved running through levels as an elite soldier (a Green Beret natch) killing Russians as you go in order to save POWs at the end. But everything from the cassette cover depicting a charging soldier (see top photo) to watching the enemy disintegrate into running skeletons from a blowtorch blast drew me in making me play until my fingerpads almost bled. I was always a button control guy, joysticks were not too accurate for me.
It was quite the looker in its day and steaming around stabbing everything that was unfortunate enough to run into your path was VERY satisfying. The characters were solid enough looking and those wintery backgrounds were very nice. And who can forget the alarm siren at the beginning? It still takes me back to Christmas in the mid 80s when I play today. Which is what the stand out games did of course, they not only stand the test of time in terms of playability but they wind the cogs back as if a quarter of a century was last week.
Yes there were loading times (and times when it wouldn't load at all) but who cared? Certainly I didn't because I was too busy 'limbering up' my fingers in anticipation of yet another marathon stab stab session. Frustration was almost non existant in youth and it never once bothered me when it took repeated turns to open up another level. And on reflection Green Beret's stages weren't THAT long so my gaming skills (or lack thereof) were to blame there.
It would be fantastic if today we could recapture some of the excitement we had from playing in those days. I will never forget the thrill of seeing this title on the shop shelf and swiping at it like a rattlesnake at a cowboy's heel before rushing home and waiting impatiently while it loaded. Loading times were brilliant and as much of the gaming as the gaming itself back in the day.
It is safe to say that Green Beret was one of my biggest gaming moments and stabbing kung fu kicking Russians as they fly into you has never felt so grand.
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