Gaming Memories: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room, where the ectoplasmic residue is the real thing and all of our nuclear accelerators are licensed, thanks for asking. We all have that one special childhood thing that we have the fondest memories of as we grew up. For some of us it was Star Wars, for others it was Batman, and still others it was Ninja Turtles, Disney Movies, Transformers, what have you. For me, that thing was Ghostbusters.

The 1984 comedy classic that spawned a sequel, a lengthy cartoon series, and a huge amount of toys- yes, it was just my thing as a kid. I'd spend day after day playing with my toys until they were so worn down that they were practically falling apart. I'd run around in my backyard with my plastic proton pack strapped to my back having adventures and capturing ghosts everywhere I went. And even though the world's enthusiasm for Ghostbusters started to fade as the 80's turned to the 90's, my own certainly didn't. I was definitely one of those people always waiting in vain for a third movie that would never come. However, in the year 2009, I did get something awfully close. But let's back up a minute here.

When the cartoon series "The Real Ghostbusters" ended in 1991, Ghostbusters as a whole almost seemed to end with it. The original actors moved on with their lives and careers, the toys stopped getting made, and the brand name just went quiet for a while. Sure, there were minor resurgences here and there- Dan Akroyd dropped rumors about a possible Ghostbusters 3 all through the 90s, a short-lived cartoon show called "Extreme Ghostbusters" aired in 1997 and had it's own brief merchandise run, and of course "Ecto-Cooler" lived on for quite a while in the lunch boxes of kids all over the country. But for the most part, Ghostbusters as a franchise went dark as the 90s gave way to the new millennium and for a while, it seemed like it might stay that way forever. Then, in late 2007, something big happened.

Throughout the mid-2000s I had a subscription to the magazine Game Informer which I received monthly in the mail. This was back when I was still hip to the cutting edge of gaming and had all the latest consoles as they arrived, so I still had plenty to read about as the magazines came in. I loved seeing all of the latest news and goings-on in the gaming world, as well as checking out the current hottest games on the market. However, I was totally shocked when I opened my mailbox in December of 2007 and saw this:

Ghostbusters in a video gaming magazine? I never saw it coming. I frantically flipped through the pages to get to the article, where I read all ten pages of it from start to finish. A Ghostbusters video game was in the works for the latest generation of consoles. It had a script written by Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd, just like the original movies. It had ALL FOUR original actors (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Akroyd, and Ernie Hudson) reprising their roles as Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddmore. Hell, even Annie Potts and William Atherton were returning as well (unfortunately no Sigourney Weavor or Rick Moranis, but I was still happy with what I got). 

I read the article again and again and again. I scrutinized every picture and piece of concept art. And then read it one more time. The new game was set to take place three years after the events of Ghostbusters 2 and would have the player assuming the role of a nameless rookie who joined the team as the fifth Ghostbuster. As per the article, the game would have the player clashing with familiar foes such as Slimer, the library ghost, and even the Stay Puft marshmallow man himself. It all seemed too good to be true. I couldn't wait to see how things would play out.

There was a long time of silence between the announcement in the article and any further news, but the silence was broken in December of 2008 when a trailer was finally released to the public. I remember jumping on my computer with my face glued to the monitor as the trailer started. Just like the article I had read earlier, I watched it from start to finish. And again. And again. It was really happening. There was Murray delivering his deadpan Venkman lines, Ramis and Akroyd spitting out scientific technical jargon as Egon and Ray, and Hudson doing his down-to-Earth Winston. It didn't seem real, but somehow it was. We were going to get as close to the third movie as we ever would.

Some time passed and while I anxiously waited, the advertising campaign ramped up. Commercials were on TV and various alternate trailers were released. For a short and beautiful time, Ghostbusters was back. It was delayed a bit for some time but eventually was released on June 16th, 2009, nearly coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the release of the first film on June 8th, 1984. I promptly arrived at Best Buy that morning to procure a copy, which I did and rushed home to play.

While previous Ghostbusters games may not have lived up to the franchise's potential (or have been downright awful), Ghostbusters: The Video Game is just about everything you'd want as a GB fan. It wasn't the third movie we all wanted, of course, but it was close enough to be it. Picking up where the story last left off, the Ghostbusters' business is still booming and they've even started pushing for franchises (much like Venkman mentioned in the first movie). They've hired a new member to the team, a so-called "experimental weapons tech" who basically serves as a guinea pig for the Ghostbusters' many untested gadgets. You assume the role of the nameless rookie, who also has no speaking lines in the game. Some people might scoff at this but I think it was a perfect idea because it preserves the interactions between the four main Ghostbusters that we loved so much from the movies. Anyway, shortly after the newbie joins the crew a massive spectral energy force is unleashed upon Manhattan and it's up to the Ghostbusters to figure out what's going on.

With a third person point of view, you guide the rookie in and out of situations where you trap ghosts and solve puzzles throughout levels. Ghosts aren't entirely uniform, however- there's a wide range of types that have different strengths and weaknesses and must be dealt with accordingly. For example, many ghosts require the typical method of blasting them with the proton stream and then sucking them into a ghost trap, but others require you to freeze them in place with a different type of beam and then disintegrate them with a shotgun-like blast. Trapping ghosts earns you money, which you can then use to purchase upgrades for the four different proton pack weapons you switch between. There's the regular proton stream and the stasis stream which I just mentioned, as well as the slime tether and the meson collider. The slime tether is pretty much exactly what it sounds like- you use it to shoot a tether of slime at at object, which you can then attach to another in order to move it out of the way. You also must use the good slime to neutralize the effects of black slime which you'll encounter throughout the game, as well as defeat certain enemies. Finally, the meson collider acts sort of a like a powerful machine gun version of the regular proton stream.

By far though, the most fun I had in the game was by trapping ghosts using the regular proton stream, just like in the movies. It works a tad differently however, as they needed to add some extra layer of challenge to the game. In order to be able to trap a ghost, you need to first substantially weaken it by slamming it around using the proton stream. Holding onto it for longer charges the "slam meter", and once that is high enough you can deal greater damage to it, thus making it easier to drag into a trap. It sort of feels like fishing, except way cooler because, well, it's Ghostbusters.

As you progress through the game, you can also use the PKE meter practically to locate ghosts and also find hidden areas (usually that lead to an achievement or trophy for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, respectively). You can also use it to scan different ghosts, which gives you more info about them that you can read about in "Tobin's Spirit Guide", which was mentioned by Egon and Ray in the movies. It's little tie-ins like that to the lore of both movies that made it such a fun experience for die-hard fans of the movies like myself. There's tons of little references everywhere if you look hard enough. There's also so-called cursed artifacts all around, which can be picked up and examined to even further expand the Ghostbusters lore. There's even a few nods to the cartoon shows for eagle-eyed players, such as the PKE meter at the workbench in the basement that looks suspiciously like the one from the Real Ghostbusters. Also, there's a reference to the hilariously badly translated ending screen of the first Ghostbusters video game for NES on one of the computers in the firehouse. Like I said, I couldn't get enough of it all.

 The appearance of the infamous ending text from the NES Ghostbusters game was just one little nod to a franchise with as rich of a history as Ghostbusters.

As you play through the game, you learn that the spectral energy surge has been the result of Ivo Shandor, the servant of Gozer who was discussed at length in the first movie, attempting to break through to our world and take control. You visit many familiar locations such as the New York Public Library and the Sedgewick Hotel, which all tie into the story nicely. You also get to sit back and let the four Ghostbusters work their comedic magic together again. For instance, one part that cracked me up was when Egon and Winston are assessing a giant machine.

"What if we try locking those things down?" asks Winston.

To which Egon replies- "I can calculate 54 likely outcomes...we'd survive three of them."

Winston then nonchalantly responds- "That beats our usual odds."

Aside from the comedy, you also get to experience a lot of the strange and mystical spirit world qualities of Ghostbusters, the kinds that were only alluded to in the movies, most likely because of a lack of production budget to bring them to life. For example, one chapter has you crossing through a dimensional portal into a nightmarish "ghost world" version of the New York Public Library. Also, there's a boss fight with a "giant Slor," which was only briefly mentioned in passing in the first movie. And of course every Ghostbusters fan wondered what the hell a Slor was! After this game, we finally knew- and it was just one more indication that the developers clearly recognized the franchise and its fanbase, treating it with the due respect it deserved.

Ever wonder what a giant Slor is? Well, there you go! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you.

The game mostly felt, to me, like a big combination of both the movies and the cartoon show. For example, in the chapter where you follow the Stay Puft Marshamallow Man through Times Square in an attempt to suck him into a massive trap mounted on top of the Ecto-1 called the "Super Slammer," it reminded me very much of some of the plots to episodes of The Real Ghostbusters. To further illustrate that point- in an episode called "Cry Uncle", the climax has the Ghostbusters chasing Mr. Stay Puft through the city in order to trap him, very much like in the video game. Also, in another chapter the Ghostbusters are riding a boat around that Ray refers to as "Marine Ecto-8." That had to be a direct reference to the cartoons, in which the Ghostbusters often used a helicopter called Ecto-2.

From an episode of The Real Ghostbusters...

...and the second chapter of the game. Once again, you can clearly see the influence with the right set of eyes.

This was all perfectly fine with me because I love the cartoons, probably just as much as I love the movies. Seeing them both mixed together and thrown into a video game was just about everything that could've made me happy as GB fan.

Just about. Now, I've said this to many people before and also alluded to it in a previous review, but I'm always quick to defend Ghostbusters 2 from the many people who claim it's a bad movie (many of which, by the way, seem to have suspiciously emerged within the last year or so. Wonder why that is?). Firstly, no, it's not a bad movie, and if you think it is then get out of my life. Secondly, as a fan of the second movie just as much as the first one, I would've liked to see more references to it throughout the game. There's a few minor ones here and there such as the discarded firehouse sign outside the window that can just barely be seen, or the cursed artifact of the "hot beverage thermal mug and free balloons for the kids," and even the painting of Vigo the Carpathian that's hanging around in the firehouse, but for the most part it is much more strongly connected to the story of first movie as opposed to the second. The closest the game comes to having a tie-in with the second movie is during the chapter on Shandor Island, in which you run around in a sewer-like area following a flow of dangerous black slime, which was quite reminiscent of the river of slime in GB2. However, that's about it as far as references. Personally, I would've loved to have seen a return of the Scolari Brothers- I mean, what a perfect opportunity for a boss battle would that have been? We got to see three of the big monsters from the first movie return to play prominent roles in the story, so why not the Scolari Brothers? Seemed like a missed opportunity to me.

The chapter which has you following an underground flow of black slime was about the closest the game got to a Ghostbusters 2 feel.

Anyway, beyond my gripes about the lack of Ghostbusters 2 references, there really isn't much I had to complain about while playing through. Just some minor things- for instance, sometimes the dialogue becomes noticeably unsynchronized with the character's mouth movements during cutscenes, something that seemed a tad amateurish even in 2009. And speaking of dialogue, it's pretty obvious in his voice acting that Bill Murray was not that into the project. You can tell almost every time he was speaking that he really phoned in his performance. In fact, sometimes you can't even tell what he's saying at all because he's mumbling his lines so much. It's a bit of a shame that he couldn't muster up at least a little more enthusiasm, especially since he didn't even have to do anything besides speak into a microphone, but I can look past it because at least he did it at all. At the end of the day, I don't even care if he decided to speak in a pirate accent the entire time, I'm just happy he was on board enough to be a part of it and step back into his role as Peter Venkman one last time. And lastly, the game is generally pretty short. It's fine because it gave it more of that authentic movie feel, but I only complain about it because I didn't want it to end. I wanted to see the Ghostbusters keep going forever.

Alas, nothing gold can stay. After the game came and went, it seemed like Ghostbusters was primed for a comeback. Talk of a third movie once again reared its head on all corners of the internet. Both Dan Akroyd and Ivan Reitman, the director of both movies, repeatedly stoked the flames for several more years. It was all speculation, but there was talk that a script was in the works. Would the world actually see a bonafide Ghostbusters 3 in the theaters? For a short period of time, it seemed plausible.

However, the end finally came on February 24th, 2014, when news broke of the death of Harold Ramis, the original actor for Egon Spengler and writer of the scripts for both movies and the game. With Ramis went the original Ghostbusters, and it seemed that now, once and for all, it was over. But you all know what happened next- shortly afterward, the "reboot" of Ghostbusters was announced, and despite all the doubt surrounding the franchise and the finality of Ramis' death, it continued to build steam and was eventually released in the summer of 2016. I have many mixed feelings about the reboot that are pretty much beyond the scope of this post, but suffice it to say that I think the whole thing was unnecessary. I actually enjoyed Max Landis' pitch for Ghostbusters 3 that has since surfaced on the internet and wouldn't have minded seeing that movie, but it's not what we got and unfortunately will never be. I also thought it was bitterly ironic that the original cast did a reunion for Entertainment Weekly magazine just 9 months after Ramis' death. I remember seeing it and thinking to myself "why couldn't they just put their differences aside like this when Ramis was still alive? He should have been there with them." We'll probably never truly know why.

Anyway, all of this only serves to illustrate how much the game meant to me as a fan. It is, for all intents and purposes, the Ghostbusters 3 that we all were waiting for. It was all of the Ghostbusters back together again for one final encore and it was the last sweet sendoff to a franchise that went away a little too early, as far as I'm concerned. Some might say that Ghostbusters has never really gone anywhere, but I'm in the camp that I would've liked to see all of the guys strap on the proton packs one last time on the big screen. However, I'm very happy with what I got in the game. As a video game it's a blast, as a continuation of the Ghostbusters franchise it's fantastic, and as the last remaining testament to the true fans, it serves its purpose well.

 I can't possibly describe to you how great it was to see the Ghostbusters back for one last ride.

The future of Ghostbusters is somewhat of a huge question mark right now. After the reboot had a mediocre showing in theaters, plans for a sequel were most likely scrapped. There doesn't seem to be anywhere left to go now, but I'm confident that the franchise will find a way to live on. It's my sincere hope that another cartoon series makes a return for a new generation. Hell, even as an adult you can bet I'd be parked in front of my TV every Saturday morning ready to watch further adventures of Peter, Egon, Ray and Winston. One can only hope. However, despite what may happen, the originals will always live on as unforgettable classics in the eyes of every nerd and geek who hoped they could build their own positron collider as a child. And right next to the two movies, you can add the video game to that list. Thanks for reading.

Review: Doom 64

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room. Today we'll be looking at a pretty sweet Nintendo 64 game, one I spoke of not too long ago in my collection additions segment, if you've been paying attention. Yes, I'm talking about Doom 64, Nintendo's very own incarnation of the first-person shooter classic. Having recently completed this game for the first time ever, which is admittedly a bit embarrassing considering that Doom is one of my favorite video game franchises ever, I'm ready to give it a proper review. So let's travel to the shores of hell as we take a look at Doom 64.

Released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64, Doom 64 is quite an interesting specimen because it was the first, to my knowledge, to do something completely original with the series. Up to that point, there were only three other games in the series: the original, Doom II, and Final Doom. The original had been ported to just about every console that was around at the time, including Nintendo's biggest rivals, the Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn. Both the PS1 and Saturn versions took a good deal of liberties from the original including a new soundtrack, sound effects, and a few new levels. However, for the most part it was running on the same engine as the original PC version. Enemy sprites, weapons, items and level design from the original all remained the same.

Meanwhile, Doom II had yet to be brought to any home console and Final Doom had only been released on the Playstation, but neither of these games really brought anything radically new to the table yet. Enter Doom 64, which started from scratch and did something very much original while keeping the core gameplay intact. The end result was a game that managed to be both new and familiar at the same time. I think this novelty of it is what I enjoyed the most. I've played Doom 1 & 2 probably a zillion times in my life and a good deal of Final Doom as well. I've also done several playthroughs of Doom 3 too. So, playing an entry in the series that I've never experienced before was just very refreshing.

Story-wise, the game seems to follow the events of the original PC Doom trilogy (I, II, and Final Doom), yet stands alone as its own game for the most part. Actually, from the level design, it reminds me a lot of movies like Alien and Event Horizon with the "haunted space ship" vibe going for it. There's a lot of long corridors with glowing computer monitors buzzing everywhere, sliding metal doors with that classic sci-fi spaceship sound effect, and very few wide-open outdoor areas which makes you feel like you are somewhere deep in space. It's also interesting to note that this game and Event Horizon came out in the same year, about 5 months apart, and Event Horizon has basically the same plot as the original Doom: an inter-dimensional gateway is opened up which causes hell to spill out. This has nothing to do with Doom 64 of course, it's just an interesting footnote.

Anyway, the gameplay is just as straightforward as any other Doom game- grab some weapons, blast the crap out of demons, and find the level exit. The game throws a few curveballs at you however, if you were expecting everything to be exactly like the earlier Doom games. For one thing, as I alluded to before, all enemies and items sport completely redesigned sprites and sound effects. Most are pretty similar to the originals, but some have interesting design choices- for example, Cacodemons now have arms with chains attached to them, the plasma gun has a constant buzzing electrical field, etc.

Enemies, weapons and items all sport newly redesigned sprites, like our friend the Cacodemon here.

The game is also notably darker than it's predecessors. It could just be the TV I'm using, but there were some points where I had absolutely no idea what I was doing until I increased the in-game brightness, and even then it was still hard to see what was happening. Actually, I imagine that back in the day it probably would've been pretty scary to play this game; considering the dark lighting effects in tandem with the chilling minimalistic music that plays in each level, I could definitely imagine being easily frightened playing this alone at night as a kid.

You'll find yourself stuck in a lot of hallways like this, where you can be ambushed quickly from any direction.

There's also some new types of mechanics too, such as items that only appear when certain conditions are met. For example, in some parts of the game killing all the enemies in a certain room is required in order to make a key appear, which just sort of materializes in after all the demons are dealt with. You can also look through little monitors at different parts of the level (often hidden ones), reminiscent of the security monitors in Duke Nukem 3D.

And lastly, there's even new enemies- only two to speak of, but still a fresh take on Doom that wasn't anywhere else at the time. There's the so-called "nightmare imps," which are just regular imps that have been re-colored and fire faster, more powerful projectiles at you. And there's also the "Mother Demon," the final boss of the game. This continued the Doom tradition to that point of having something entirely new as a final boss, and just as before, she's pretty effin' difficult.

Anyway, despite the changes the core gameplay concept is still the same- which is certainly fine with me, since I love Doom so much. There are a few notable flaws though. For one thing, the control scheme is a bit weird. You can use either the D-pad or the control stick in order to move around, but the control stick is far more responsive, meaning I mostly gravitated toward using that. However, strafing is an integral part of dodging enemy attacks and those buttons are mapped to the left and right bumpers. Maybe my hands just aren't big enough, but I find that when I use the control stick, I can only manage to reach one of them, which only allows me to strafe one direction. I don't have this problem when using the D-pad, so I found myself switching back and forth between to two which sometimes got confusing and led to a few unnecessary deaths.

Speaking of deaths, restarting a level after dying is a tad unnecessarily annoying. If you die, you'll automatically start over at the beginning- however, you'll be stripped of all of your weapons and ammo. There's a fairly simple password system that lets you restart with all of your items, but inputting it is kind of awkward. If you die you'll need to go back into the menu, select the password option, and then you'll be taken to the password entry screen. Your previously entered password will still be there- however, for some reason you won't be able to just start up the level again. You need to erase the last letter of the password, then re-enter it and hit start, at which point you'll be back at the beginning with your weapons again. Not too much of a hassle, just annoying to do every time you die.

Another unique and interesting feature of this game that wasn't present in any other game of the franchise, which I haven't actually completed myself but I've read about, is acquiring the three so-called "demon artifacts" in secret levels in order to make the final boss easier to complete. Secret levels were nothing new to the franchise; Doom 1, 2, and Final Doom all had hidden levels within. However, this was the first time that secret levels had specific objectives to them- to collect three "demon keys" that both upgraded the powerful "Unmaker" weapon and deactivated teleporters during the final boss that normally spawn in extra demons to deal with. Again, just another unique twist to the formula not seen in any other game (and also one that will likely give me a reason to revisit this game in the future).

The "Unmaker" weapon gives you this quaint message upon picking it up. 

In all, Doom 64 is a very fun game. It's Doom, so you pretty much can't go wrong there, but it adds plenty of twists and turns to the formula for fans of the earlier games to enjoy thoroughly. These days, the franchise has been turned on it's head numerous times, starting with Doom 3 all the way up the "reboot" (just so you all know, I really hate that word) released earlier this year. However, back in 1997 Doom 64 was the very first shakeup in the series, one that I think went over very well. If you're a fan of Doom and haven't had a chance to play it, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try. Thanks for reading.

Collection Additions Volume 8: Genesis vs. NES

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room once again. It's one of the great ongoing debates in the gaming community- which is better, the NES or the Sega Genesis? I think it goes without question the Super Nintendo was far superior than the Genesis in terms of graphical capabilities, audio output, game library...nearly every category across the board. And this is coming from somebody who grew up with a Genesis and has always personally favored it. But what about the NES? I think it's better to have those two head to head because there's a bit more equal footing. Yes the NES is only 8-bit compared to the Genesis' 16, but does the NES have more to offer with it's massive library of classic games?

Oh, I'm just thinking out loud. I don't really have an answer there- I see the NES and Genesis in two fundamentally different categories. I have feelings of nostalgia toward both of them and I don't really favor one over the other. But I will say that I don't think the Genesis deserves to be dumped on as much as the internet community likes to do these days, ridiculous marketing campaigns with made-up technical jargon aside.

Anywho, I buy a lot of games for both consoles, which is what I AM going to talk about today. Here we have Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the Genesis, and Adventure Island & Donkey Kong Classics for the NES.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors isn't just the name of a fantastic dubstep techno song- no, it's a cult classic game that was released for both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1993. You can have another debate over which version is better (I'm sure the SNES version is), but once again I'm avoiding that and sticking to what I have right in front of me, which is the Genesis version. It's got everything you could possibly enjoy if you're a fan of horror by taking the shlocky, B-movie feel of horror movies through the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's and turning it into a video game. It's also well-renowned to be one of the best 2-player games of it's time- as two young teenagers, you have to fight off an army of zombies and save your dumb, oblivious neighbors from being eaten. It's also a HUGE game too, with 55 levels in which you'll be fighting not only zombies, but aliens, chainsaw wielding maniacs, vampires, and more. You'll also be fighting these monsters in a diverse set of locations like a typical suburban backyard, a supermarket, a football field, and even a medieval castle. Levels all have goofy-sounding names like "Pyramid of Fear," "Dr. Tongue’s Castle Of Terror," and "Terror In Aisle Five," reminiscent of 50's horror movies with sensationally ridiculous titles. Dr. Tongue’s Castle Of Terror, by the way, has music that's sort of a 16-bit rendition of the theme from The Shining. How awesome is that. Really, this game is probably one of the biggest tributes to classic horror movies ever made. It's made even funnier by the fact that you're playing as two kids battling zombies with things like squirt guns, fire extinguishers and weed whackers. This is truly an excellent game and one I thoroughly enjoy, if not for the huge amount of references to horror movies alone.

Switching over the NES side of the fence, we have Donkey Kong Classics and Adventure Island. Donkey Kong Classics I believe needs no introduction- its Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. packed into one game. Both of these games were released individually as part of the "black box"series of launch titles for the NES, but this was the first time they were packaged together as a sort of "value pack." Anyway, while I would've preferred to have both of the originals (and I'm sure I will eventually buy both of them either way), having them both together is pretty cool, especially since I haven't played much of Donkey Kong Jr. in my lifetime. However, even though it is an absolutely undisputed classic arcade game...it gets boring pretty fast. Due to the hardware limitations of the time, it doesn't have all of the levels of the arcade originals, leaving you with about 25% less of the full experience. And even if it did have every level, I still feel like it would get old fast. The novelty of playing a game like that was really meant for the arcades, where you'd put in a quarter and your friends would gather around as you attempted to get your name on the high score board for the whole world to see. At home...it just doesn't quite have the same effect. Like I said, it's a classic game, but if you want more than 15 minutes out of playing a game, you might be a tad disappointed.

Adventure Island is quite a different story. Released in 1988 by Hudson, the company I knew best for making the Bomberman games, Adventure Island is a simple, fun little platformer that I never really knew about when I was a kid, yet is often regarded as one of the NES classics. You take control of the protagonist on a quest to save a princess on a remote island, fighting various island creatures like birds, snails, and raccoons along the way. Pretty standard stuff. Such as 2-D platformers go, you run from the left side of the stage to the right until you reach the goal. Along the way you can find powerups like an axe to throw at enemies and a skateboard that lets you move a little faster. The problem with the skateboard though is that you can't stop moving, which makes jumping on the platforms a bit trickier. It'd be nice if you had a greater degree of control when you pick it up. It actually seems to me like the game is meant to be played as quickly as possible, as you are rewarded when you move through a stage swiftly and punished when you don't. For instance, you have to grab different kinds of fruits to stay alive, as your hunger meter will slowly decrease as you progress through a stage. I didn't think that aspect of being stranded on an island would be included in a game like this. Obviously it was way ahead of Metal Gear Solid 3. Actually, it reminds me a lot of those endless mobile games like Temple Runner, in which the goal is to just keep moving and stay alive. In that sense it was REALLY ahead of its time. Anyway, I haven't played much of it yet but it's fun and simple, so I'm sure I'll get a chance to give it more of a go in the future.

Anyway, that's all for today's collection updates. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for when I have something actually resembling more of a full game review in the future.

Gaming Memories: Mastering Resident Evil Code: Veronica X

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room. I try to bring different things to the table, but I'll own up to this one fact: I talk about Resident Evil a lot. I try not to be repetitive, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of my greatest gaming memories come from playing it, and all in all it's probably my favorite video game franchise of all time. Anyway, today I want to talk about another one of my finer gaming accomplishments from one of my favorite games ever: obtaining an A ranking in Resident Evil Code: Veronica X.

I've spoken a bit about C:VX in my previous review of the Resident Evil franchise, but to quickly recap it is definitely my second favorite in the franchise, right behind the Gamecube remake at number one (and before the remake came out, it was my favorite). Over the years I've played through this game dozens of times, and even though I've never done a no-damage speedrun or anything like that, I think I've come pretty close to mastering it. But things weren't always this way.

In the late 90's Resident Evil was in its prime. With three critically acclaimed games down (and one stinker), the franchise was poised to expand at the turn of the century. And that it did when Resident Evil made the jump to 128-bit technology on the Sega Dreamcast in early 2000 with Code: Veronica. As a fan of the series from the very beginning, I marveled at screenshots I saw in gaming magazines. I wanted to play it quite badly, but there was only one problem- I didn't own a Dreamcast, nor did I even know anybody who did. I had to wait almost two whole years before I could play it, only after it was ported to the Playstation 2 as Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, a sort of remastered edition with new cutscenes and content.

Anyway, I played the hell out of it. I beat it from start to finish, played a little bit of the extra content, then beat it again, and again. By the fourth time, I had decided that I wanted to go after the big prize- the infinite rocket launcher bonus item, only obtainable after beating the game with an 'A' ranking. How does one achieve an A ranking, you ask? Well...

Every Resident Evil game had it's own standards for achieving an A rank, usually centered around beating the game under a certain time limit and keeping saves to a minimum, usually one or two. But C:VX took this a step further. The conditions to obtain an A are as follows:

-Beat the game in under 4 hours and 30 minutes.

-No saves at all.

-No deaths/retries.

-No use of instant healing first-aid spray items.

-Complete a brief optional mission.

Doesn't sound too difficult, right? Well this is quite a long game, in comparison to other RE games to that point. I probably saved over 20 times my first time through, dying at many different points along the way. This would be a challenge.

Part of the problem is just general fatigue as you go through. There's more than enough time granted to you to beat the game; if you know exactly where to go and what to do, it can be completed in under 4 hours. However, sitting still for that long without losing your will to play was a bit of a problem for a spastic kid like me. And boredom aside there was needing to eat along the way, getting up to use the bathroom, homework that needed to be squared away first, parents distracting you who didn't know you needed to make every second count - it felt as though the planets needed to align for your one perfect run. I needed to block out an ideal period of time to do it. I remember having to pick a day where I could set aside at least 4 and a half hours to do so, then planning a strategy for an optimal run. I wrote down the solution to every puzzle in a long list so I wouldn't have to take time reading texts or analyzing clues. I did a trial run through to maximize my time spent, charting every path along the way that led to an optimal route. After many preparations, I was ready. I set my four and a half hours aside, waited for the clock to be an even 12 noon, and was off. 

There are basically 8 major sections of the game which I break up as follows:

The prison

The palace

The military training facility

Return to the prison

Return to the palace/the airport

The antarctic base

Return to the military training facility as Chris -----> MIDWAY POINT

The antarctic base as Chris

The first half of the game you play as Claire Redfield, and once you hit the midway point you switch to playing as her brother Chris. Chris' opening sequence was like an adrenaline rush- you knew that once you got there, you were halfway through. Even the music that plays during his opening cutscene is inspiring. However, you also knew that Chris' part of the game starts getting harder and harder, all the way up to the end.

 

 Once you saw this opening shot, you knew you were halfway there.

There are several points in the game where you can screw up badly, and while most of them are in Chris' portion, Claire has a few points in her own. For example, during the boss fight right before the midpoint with the "Nosferatu" boss, you have to perfectly land 8 shots with a sniper rifle on the monster's exposed heart in order to kill it. If you miss even one, you have to rely on pumping it full of whatever bullets you have left in order to take it down. This requires you to play a bit conservatively beforehand, stocking up as much handgun bullets you have for Claire's handgun (which you should have upgraded to a burst-fire at this point). If you didn't you might be screwed, since you pretty much had to leave all of your other guns behind for Chris to pick up later. On top of that, the boss shoots out a purple gas which, if you are hit enough times by, causes Claire to become poisoned. If you are poisoned at this point, you'll need to retrieve a serum later on as Chris, which eats up about 5 minutes of time. Not that big of a deal, but when you're rushing through at nearly the end of the game, 5 minutes can seem like an eternity.

The idea is to land 8 shots directly on the monster's exposed heart. Doesn't sound too hard, but the first person sniper rifle controls are kinda wonky and you have to be careful not to get to close to him or he'll smack the crap out of you with his tentacles. However, get too far away and you won't be able to see him. In all my years of playing, I've never once landed all 8 shots on his heart.

 If you run out of sniper rifle bullets, you'll have to resort to shooting him with whatever other ammo you have left. You also have to be very careful to avoid getting hit by the purple gas he emits, otherwise you'll be poisoned and will need to find the antidote later on.

In Chris' half, there's three parts in particular that stick out in my mind where an entire runthrough can be ruined very quickly- the introduction of the "sweeper" enemies, one part where you briefly regain control of Claire and have to break open a glass ball, and the first boss fight with Alexia.

Sweepers are almost exactly the same as hunters, which are extremely dangerous enemies on their own- sweepers, however, will poison you every time they damage you, making them that much more lethal. At one point in Chris' game, you need to run past two sweepers which come at you from both sides, and if you stop to kill one, you're most likely done for. Since they can take you into caution with just two hits, the third is likely to kill you because they can perform an instant kill if you're in caution. I found this out the painfully hard way in my first run through when I made it to that point and tried to fight them off instead of just running past them- I was dropped pretty quickly and my run to that point was over.

In this section, sweepers come at you from the left and right. Your best bet is to avoid them, because if you aren't able to take them out quickly you'll be screwed. Even when avoiding them, you're likely to take a hit which can be very dangerous. One minor mistake here can doom an entire run, so this part was always extremely tense for me.

For a brief section of Chris' half of the game, you have to take control of Claire once again. Toward the end of the game you find a key card embedded inside of a glass ball and must use a giant stone slab to crush it and free the card. The slab rises to the ceiling on a chain and then falls, and just before it falls you must run underneath it and place the ball down down. However, if you aren't quick enough it's another instant death. Thankfully, I have never actually died here, but it's a nerve wracking moment since you are very close to the end at that point and one slip up could cost you the whole game.

And lastly, the part I remember the most is immediately after you regain control of Chris once Claire's brief section is finished and you have a boss fight with the transformed Alexia Ashford monster. It's not too terribly difficult, as it only requires five magnum shots to take her down. However, there's a bit of a hitch- if she gets too close to you, she can instantly kill you. Okay, so just stay far away from her, right? Well...if you're prepared, that's not too hard to do. However, there's a huge requirement before you can do that- you have to remember to equip the magnum as soon as the fight starts. See, before Claire's brief segment begins you must equip the knife as Chris in order to cut Claire out of this green snot-like stuff she's stuck to the wall with. However, when you regain control of Chris, you'll still be equipped with the knife. During one of my better runs, I was anxious to take Alexia down and completely forgot about it. I pressed the ready weapon button and mashed the fire button as soon as the fight began...only to take a slash at Alexia with the knife, who's standing right in front of you when it begins. Before I could scramble to recover from my mistake, it was too late- she was upon me and my entire run was ruined. This fight is only about 10 minutes away from the end of the game, so to come that close and fail was devastating.

 

You have to equip the knife in order to cut Claire out of this green snot-like shit. However…

 …you’d better be prepared to unequip it as soon as you regain control of Chris and the fight starts, otherwise your whole run might be done for.

I wanted to give up after that debacle, but after a week or so I knew I had to try one last time. I made a note on my puzzle guide that read: REMEMBER: EQUIP THE MAGNUM! and set out to do one more run. This time I was fully ready. I blazed through every part- Claire's first half, her second half, and by the time I reached the midway point at Chris' start I was totally pumped. Unfortunately I had gotten poisoned during the Nosferatu fight whereas I hadn't in the previous run, but it was no matter- I couldn't turn back now. I once again reached the fight with Alexia and this time I was ready- I pulled out my magnum and blasted away, taking her down without a hitch. I was totally stoked now- only one last boss fight stood between me and rocket launcher glory. But the final fight is anything but easy.

After taking down Alexia in the first fight, you do a little bit of running around before facing off with her once again, this time in two different forms- one in which she is a massive blob swinging tentacles around and spitting out annoying little smaller blobs that attack you, and a second in which she basically turns into a giant dragonfly and spits fire at you. I had a tendency to way overprepare for this fight- I would bring along the AK-47 with a 50% clip reload, the fully loaded submachine guns and the magnum, as well whatever extra healing items I could carry in my inventory. Really, all you need is the submachine guns. Even though the AK-47 is more powerful, the dual submachine guns are ideal because Chris points them in two different directions which allows you to have one shooting at Alexia and the other dealing with the little blobs she unleashes on you.

I had originally stuck with using the magnum since it's the most powerful out of all of them, but this time I tried the submachine gun strategy and found that it worked to my favor. Once her first form is dealt with and she turns into a killer mosquito, Alexia starts rapidly flying around above you and shooting fire at you every now and then. In order to kill her, you need to grab the ridiculous-sounding "linear launcher" (seriously, that sounds like a gun I would've made up in 6th grade) and take aim above you, timing it just right that the blast nails her in mid-air, and then you've done it. I grabbed the launcher and took aim, my heart pounding like crazy. I fired the shot, and....I missed. Again and again. To make matters worse, there's a countdown going down above you, and at that point there should only be about 2 and a half minutes left on it, so my anxiety was sky high. Thankfully, the launcher has infinite ammo- it's just annoying because it's pretty easy to lose track of Alexia as she buzzes around, especially though the view in the scope where it's hard to see where you're looking as it is. Also, as I mentioned before the first-person scope controls are kind of weird compared to the rest of the game, so you have to grapple with using the controls for a bit before you get the hang of it, and by then Alexia will most likely be spitting another volley of fireballs at you. She flies around so quickly that you need to anticipate where she's going to be, only firing when you're sure she'll fly straight into the blast. I tried again and again, getting more frustrated. Only one shot stood between me and the end. I'd done it before, I could do it again dammit!

The linear launcher controls just like the sniper rifle. This fight is even worse than the Nosferatu fight though because Alexia is buzzing around you like a pissed off bumble bee and spitting crap on you.

But finally, after what seemed like an agonizingly long period of time I fired the winning shot, hitting Alexia and ending the game. I felt great as the last ending cutscene played out, but I still stood in anxiousness. Despite my checklist, I still worried that I had missed something along the way, that I didn't satisfy one of the requirements, that my timer was off and I had gone over the 4 and a half hours, that I had done something wrong and my efforts would be in vain. I waited until the end credits, ready to see my ranking, and...

...there it was. The glorious A ranking. I'd done it. The rocket launcher was mine. I gleefully celebrated, but once again I restrained myself cautiously. How did I know for sure that it worked? The only way to find out was to start a new game and check. I did just that, skipping over all of the opening credits rapidly and  jumping right into a new game. I opened my inventory box-

-and there it was, the infinite rocket launcher, guaranteed to destroy anything in one shot. I immediately equipped it and ran out into the area where you first encounter zombies, in which you'd normally be armed with a measly knife. I rejoiced as I blew away every zombie that came near me, laughing as their burnt corpses hit the ground. And then I played through the whole game again. Not in one single go, but doing everything I hadn't been allowed to do in the main run. Saving every chance I got. Using aid sprays. Taking my sweet ass time. Wasting away every special weapon on the smallest of enemies. Defeating every boss with ease by using the rocket launcher. And it was a wonderful feeling. Thanks for reading.