Gamezebo, Epicenter Podcast, and DL games
.
.
Games: First off, a quick shout-out to Gamezebo.com. For those of you who like to dip into the “casual” scene, they've got a pretty good thing going on over here. Even better, it's run by my friend and former GameCritics associate, Erin Bell. Nothing but good things to say about that lady. Go check them out, and tell them that Drinking Coffeecola sent you.
.
.
.
Games: Head over to GameCritics and check out the podcast we did with Bryan Jury of Epicenter Studios.
.
.
He’s a really candid straight-shooter behind the recent Real Heroes: Firefighter for the Wii, and he’s got a lot of interesting things to say about getting his game (and studio) off the ground. There is definitely no PR filter happening there.
.
.
.
Games: It’s been a great summer for download-only titles. I'm still beating my head against the wall (in a good way… I think) trying to finish the Extreme level of missions in Trials HD, and I've spent a few hours with Shadow Complex over the last couple of days.
.
I'm doing the official review for GC so I won't spoil the whole thing here, but I will say that it's a very well-produced, well-thought-out title that does credit to its forebears. Perhaps not the end-all, be-all that some are making it out to be, but it's certainly one of the best Live Arcade games released so far, and I'm enjoying it. Besides those, ‘Splosion Man was a fantastic little game, and there are at least three or four WiiWare joints I haven't even had time to get to yet.
.
If you haven't started checking out some of the smaller DL games yet, you're missing out.
.
.
.
That's it for now... it's bedtime.
.
.
Posts
Brad, were you a big Flashback and/or Out of this World fan back in the day? Everyone is talking about the Super Metroid influence in Shadow Complex, and sure it's there, but those other games are what Shadow Complex *really* reminds me of. Flashback was one of my absolutely most favorite games ever, and Shadow Complex is the first game I've played in 15 years that feels like it.
http://gambit.mit.edu/updates/2009/08/fascism_is_so_much_better_in_2.php
Hey Matt.
Interesting. Definitely a fan of those games and I've heard a few other people make the same OoTW/FB connection, but honestly I don't see it. Is it the use of cutscenes in conjunction with the ‘dropped into a strange environment’ setting?
A lot of it has to do with the combat for me. The firearm-based combat complete with one-hit melee kills is right out of Flashback/OOTW and owes almost nothing to Metroid. Also, the fact that most screens are discrete spaces embodying contained firearms-based challenges (as opposed to long, winding corridors with nothing but bugs to squish) makes the flow of the game feel a lot more like Flashback to me.
To be more simple about it, it's like Flashback/OOTW mostly in the sense that it involves running around with a gun fighting other humans with guns. Strategically this is not at all what Metroid asks you to do. I know you get powered up with all sorts of sci-fi shit later, so maybe the game becomes more like Metroid as you go, but I think there are so many examples of games that Shadow Complex is directly copying--Flashback, Out of This World, Blackthorne--in terms of its core firefight mechanics that seeing Metroid as the only inspiration seems sort of bizarre to me.
Hey Matt.
Interesting. When you outline it like that, I see what you're getting at, and now that you mention it, I actually agree in the general comparison. Presentation-wise and the way it comes at you in small chunks, that connection is definitely there.
I also certainly agree that Metroid isn't the only influence, but I would have to say that it's by far the largest and most pervasive influence. All of the gear the character collects, the general flow of the game, the map structure, the insistence on item collection, some of the actual powers themselves… it's all directly lifted from Super Metroid. Like, DIRECTLY.
The OoTW/FB bits are definitely there, but the lion's share is Metroid, IMO.
My opinions were formed rather early, and now that I've gotten the double-jump power up, I see what you mean. I think the navigation probably becomes more and more like Metroid as you get more powered up, which you never did in Flashback/OOTW.
I think the reason I've been harping so hard on the "it's not just Metroid" idea is because the friend of mine who recommended the game to me is OBSESSED with Metroid and considered Shadow Complex some sort of gauntlet that Microsoft had thrown down to Nintendo concerning Nintendo's refusal to make a 2D Metroid. This is why the elements that were not based on Metroid struck me more than the ones that were.
Consequently I find it hard to take Shadow Complex as some sort of jab at Nintendo... like Arx Fatalis was at EA. The developer, Arkane, wanted to make Ultima Underworld III, but EA wouldn't let the rights go. They ending up making a game that was virtually *identical* to the one Looking Glass made in 1990, with just names and things changed so it didn't utilize the Ultima mythology. That level of shameless copying is what I was expecting from Shadow Complex, which is why I reacted the way I did I suppose.
I never knew that was what was behind Arx Fatalis... I actually loved that game. ^_^