Bringing a Classic Game to Modern Consoles The Right Way

I was not a fan of the 8-bit NES / arcade game Rush'n Attack. But the planned remake looks cool.

It looks like Konami saw the awesome Bionic Command:Rearmed and decided to try with one of their old games.  I'll definitely check it out when it's released, but I'm wondering why Konami opted for Rush'n Attack over something like Contra.  Contra is one of the most fondly-remembered 8-bit games.  The Contra code is famous.  Rush'n Attack, on the other hand, was the kind of game people bought because they thought the name was clever, and because it sounded like fun to run around killing commies with knives and machine guns.  In the days before downloadable demos, that kind of thing is all we had to go on.  Unfortunately it was a pretty bad game.  Repetitive, slow-paced, and fairly difficult if I remember correctly.  I'm sure the remake will be good, but I still don't understand that choice given the alternatives.

In any case, I'm glad to see Konami realizing that gamers appreciate some effort going into bringing classic games to modern consoles. As opposed to this:

Ughhh...that image alone makes me sick to my stomach. You know what's better than that? 1) Contra on MAME. 2) Contra III on a Super NES Emulator. 3) ANYTHING.

Konami and everyone else -- we will gladly pay $15+ for classic games on our modern consoles if you put some effort into optimizing them. Widescreen and high definition are the main things I want. Achievements, enhancements, different modes of play are also nice. But I won't pay one penny to play a non-optimized, emulated version that runs in a letterboxed window, so don't waste your time.

Edit: I just discovered that Konami did release a new Contra game for the Wii last year called Contra ReBirth. IGN gave the game a decent score, but those graphics -- yikes!  Contra III for the SNES looks much better.  That is not rebirth, Konami, that's more like a zombified Contra, dug up and reanimated in a grotesque, vile form through evil magic, a.k.a. a half-assed development effort.  Those graphics can't be considered acceptable by today's standards on any console.  Thankfully, the new Rush'n Attack screens show that Konami is putting a little more effort into their next 8-bit remake.

Batman: Arkham Asylum -- How I Came Around

Since I acquired an XBox 360, I've downloaded a lot of demos of games that I have no interest in buying or playing for more than 10 minutes. I wanted to see the graphics and sound that the games today are capable of. But I didn't have that much interest in becoming immersed in a game. Batman: Arkham Asylum was the game that overcame that resistance.

I was initially impressed with the game's graphics. The demo first has Batan fighting a room full of goons. I found that fun, but it was nothing mind-blowing. I thought the best part was how the game zooms in and goes into slow motion when Batman delivers the final blow to the last goon standing. It was cool, but I didn't think I'd want to play an entire game of doing just that.



The demo then has Batman intervene in a hostage situation. This introduces the user to "detective mode", which is a visual filter Batman can use to see useful things in the environment. Using this mode, Batman has to sneak around a room and surprise the hostage-taker from above. I tried to complete this part of the game a few times and just couldn't do it. At that point I gave up on the game. I kept the demo on my XBox just so I could show the graphics to my friends and family members.

One evening a week or two later, I decided to take one more stab at getting past the hostage room in the demo. I was able to get past it that time. I'm very glad I did, because that's when game got really interesting.

The next part and final part the demo introduced me to "invisible predator" mode, where Batman has to neutralize a room full of armed thugs. If they notice him, they open fire and often kill Batman before he can escape. Batman can use a variety of tactics and gadgets to successfully neutralize all of the henchmen. Once I played though this part, I was hooked. Using Batman's different types of takedowns is just awesome and really makes the gamer feel like Batman. The moves are easy to execute, but timing everything correctly and using an optimal strategy is challenging and addictive. "Invisible predator" mode is just executed so beautifully. The game would be worth it for just those "challege rooms" that can be unlocked in the full version of the game.



So as I implied, the quality of the demo persuaded me to buy the full version of the game. I've now played through the game completely and remain impressed and really in awe of how good modern games can be. I'll have more thoughts about this game in an upcoming post comparing 2D and 3D games.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - One Piece of Advice for Sega

If these Sonic the Hedgehog 4 videos are legitimate, the game looks good and about what I'd expect from a 2D Sonic on a current generation console.  Since it will be an XBox Live Arcade game, I'm sure I'll be willing to shell out $10-$15 for it.

But I would suggest this to Sega -- zoom the camera out at times.  Perhaps you could have it zoom out in proportion to how fast Sonic is moving.  Capcom used a variable zoom level in Bionic Commando:Rearmed to great affect. I actually think anyone releasing an updated version of an old school game should look closely at all the things done right in Bionic Commando:Rearmed. The way it handles 2 players would also be a good model for Sonic. The camera zooms out as the players get further away from each other. When they get too far about, the screen splits. I don't know if Sega plans to make Sonic 4 two players, but if they do they should use the Bionic Commando system or one like it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum -- Playable Joker Levels -- So Wrong

The playable Joker challenges in Batman: Arkham Asylum are exclusive the Playstation 3 version of the game, but my criticism of them is not due to the fact that as an XBox 360 owner, I can't play them. I would feel this way even if they were an XBox 360 exclusive.

The playable Joker levels are so, so wrong. It's not that they're completely out-of-character for the Joker, which they are, but mainly because they diminish Batman's abilities by making them reproducible by a lanky, undisciplined lunatic. See for yourself:



I appreciate the fact that they gave him a gun and electric hand buzzer which he uses occasionally. It shows that they tried, a little, to make these stages consistent with who the Joker is. But it's still obvious that they basically re-skinned Batman as the Joker, retaining the fighting mechanics. So now the Joker has striking and countering skills that rival those of Batman, who honed his skills over years of intense training and extreme mental and physical conditioning. It does not make any sense and just looks ridiculous.

If they were going to do this -- which I don't think they should have -- they should have given the Joker meager hand-to-hand combat skills. Let him keep the gun and electric hand-buzzer and use them a lot more. Give him henchmen to do most of the fighting. Yeah, that would have been more difficult to execute, but if something's not worth doing the right way, it's not worth doing.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Delivers a Critical Blow to 16-bit Nostalgia

Last year I read a review of  Batman: Arkham Asylum that called it the first good Batman game.  I immediately objected, "But the Sega Genesis Batman was great!"  But after playing B:AA and seeing how good a Batman game (or any kind of game) can be, my nostalgia for the Genesis version faded, and that game seems like a cookie-cutter action platformer.

It may seem unfair that I'm comparing a game made 20 years ago to a game made last year.  But what's makes B:AA great isn't just technological, but the fact that it tries to encapsulate the character that it's about.  The games of that era couldn't have been expected to be anywhere near as good, but they at least could have made an effort to convey the essence of the character. What the Genesis Batman did was try to capture the atmosphere of the Tim Burton Batman movie that it was based on.  It performed admirably in that regard, given the limitations of the Genesis. But when you strip off the visuals, you're left with a generic jumping / punching / throwing protaganist in a mediocre game.

If you've never played Batman for the Sega Genesis, here's a video of the first level:



You can see that stealth is not a element of the game at all. The detective aspect of Batman is not represented. Gadgets are barely represented. The Batmobile and Batwing levels are generic shoot-'em-ups with Batman window dressing. The NES game Metal Gear -- for all its faults and bugs -- showed that stealth could be implemented with the technology back then. The technology wasn't the big hindrance though. I guess the main thing preventing more creative gameplay was either laziness or lack of imagination from game developers.

There are good games from the 16 bit era, but Batman: Arkham Asylum really opened my eyes to how good games can be, and made me wonder why the games that came out in the '80s and '90s weren't better than they were. I'll have more thoughts specifically about B:AA later.

Introduction

This blog will be the reflections on video gaming from a veteran but casual gamer. It will not be comprehensive in any way, and the games and topics I talk about will be based on my constantly fluctuating whims, which will probably seem arbitrary to most readers.

I'm back into video gaming after a 10 year absence. I skipped the XBox / PS2 generation, and only bought a current-generation system (XBox 360) within the last month.

The main reason I bought the 360 was to play games with my son, who is almost 4 years old (and eventually my daughter, but currently she's only 1). (I know there aren't as many kid-friendly games for that system as there are for the Wii, but I had other reasons for choosing the XBox, and there are enough kid-friendly games for it.)

I'll be posting my thoughts on the games I've been playing as well as other observations about video gaming in general, especially how it's changed during my life.

My perspective has been shaped by owning a Colecovision, NES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and Sega Dreamcast, spending a lot of time in arcades, and playing my share of PC games -- all over the last 25 years