For some reason, every three years or so, Gabe is gripped by a passion for Role-Playing Games. Nobody knows why. Obviously, I don't have a problem with this. One of the reasons we so rarely cover RPGs in comic form is that, outside of these bizarre windows of opportunity, he doesn't give a good God damn about the genre as a whole. Since we tend to do comics about games we've both played, that throws a certain percentage of them right out. During these stints of his I invariably try to get him into harder stuff - "If you like this, man... Wow. I've got this Fallout Shit that will fuck you up," but all that seems to do is snap him out of it and make him angry.
Well, even if the good times are over, at least they dropped by at an auspicious juncture. Though I doubt he'll end up a Tactics Ogre man, we were certainly able to find some common ground in Lost Kingdoms - this is the CCG/RPG you might have heard about for the 'Cube, originally called "Rune." Whatever they've decided to call it now, it's rad. I keep reading comments from people disappointed with the way combat works, decrying it as "simplistic," but it manages to be so fast-paced and fun in execution that I wonder what those people would like. First of all, it's not Turn Based, so I'm sure that loses it some points with The High Council of RPG Purists. You find cards for your "deck" like you find anything in this genre. Meaning, it's either in some conspicuous box somewhere, or you get it as a reward for completing a task - in this game, each chapter is a discrete "level", and there are rewards associated with not losing. Combat takes place wherever you happen to be standing at the time you're attacked, it simply cuts away any part of the level beyond a certain radius - usually the area ends up being square. Some cards spawn autonomous creatures into the playing field. Other cards act as attacks - direct beams, traps, or melee techniques. Others replace you in the battle, for varying lengths of time, and usually to the detriment of your opponents. All of these events occur in real time. When you take into account that you can only bring thirty cards into each level - and that those cards are divided up into five elemental suits - you can see how it might get interesting. Cards gain experience and shift into new forms. What's not to like, really.
Did anyone else download that multiplayer test for New World Order? Did you load it, and then wonder if your computer had crashed? Maybe it was formatting your machine? And then were you like, no, I guess not, it just takes a week for it to do anything? But there's no bar to tell me that, so maybe I should do something to pass the time, like build a log cabin? And then, were you like, What The Fuck? Did it occur to you that they're going to need to get up a lot earlier than they apparently do to properly emulate even Counter-Strike, a game so Goddamn old that we have unearthed fossils of Tyrannosaurs, hunched over granite keyboards playing it? I just... God. I have no idea what this thing is trying to communicate. What is the purpose of it? I don't know what it's for.
We've already said what we were going to say regarding Doom III, but seeing it garner the accolades it has just makes me want to say it again louder. There's no game there. There's nothing to comment on from a play perspective, save a few minutes of visual and auditory presentation - like a Future Crew demo writ large. I'm not saying it's going to suck or rule. Maybe id will be the ones to make a real game with their technology again. What I'm saying is that there's nothing to actually know about it. Promising? Okay, you can have "promising." Here you go. Best of show? Not on my watch. What the hell show did you go to?
(CW)TB out.
shut your mouth until you can
I agree with Tycho concerning Doom 3. What we saw at the show was certainly a cool technology demo but it hardly deserves best of show. It's not that I don't like it, I just don't think it's all that interesting. We only ever saw one or two enemies on the screen at once during the entire demo which doesn't seem very Doom like. In fact the only thing about it that did seem reminiscent of the previous titles was its apparent lack of a story and its same old satanic art direction. From what we saw the story seems to be the same old "oh crap a doorway to hell opened up and now freaky shit is coming out." That's enough to get me killing monsters but it's certainly nothing revolutionary in the world of first person shooters. Then there's the art direction, which appears to have been done by that weird guy from your algebra class who never washed his hair and drew swords and pentagrams in the margins of his notes. I guess a guy impaled on an upside down cross with a goat head might have been cool when I was in seventh grade but now it just looks silly. I'll give you that the monsters and environments were well constructed and looked very real but the problem is their original concepts seem totally uninspired. Sure it's the best looking hallway with pipes that leads to a room full of boxes I've ever seen but it's still just the same old pipes and boxes. For me the game of show has to be Panzer Dragoon Orta. No other title on the show floor, with the possible exception of Zelda looked as interesting. When I say interesting I don't just mean the graphics were cool. I mean this title is a work or art that was actually interesting to look at. The designs for the various creatures, environments and vehicles are so astounding they put most big budget Sci-Fi flicks to shame. I'm still looking forward to Doom 3 but I'm not expecting anything more than another Doom game from it. I'd love for them to prove me wrong.
Do you live in or near Sunnyvale California? Do you know where Golfland USA is? If you answered yes to both of those questions then you my friend have homework. I have received a couple reports that Metal Slug 4 is at that very arcade right now just waiting for you to go down and play it. So your homework is to get your ass down there, drop some quarters in that son of a bitch and then tell me how it is.
Speaking of Neo-Geo games I have put up a new article in our Land of the Rising Fun section. This time I give my impressions of King of Fighters 2001. Travis from Videogame Depot says they are scheduled to get some more copies of KOF 2001 in next week as well as some home systems to play it on. He also said Metal Slug 4 should be arriving in his shop soon which is very exciting. I tend to get a few mails each week from people asking about the Neo-Geo. It seems many of you are interested in getting into the scene but you're not sure where to start. Well to help you out I am working on a new article for Land of the Rising fun that will explain the finer points of getting started collecting Neo-Geo stuff. I'll try and layout the basics concerning everything from the Neo-Geo MVS arcade system to the Neo-Geo color Pocket. I'll cover things like how to avoid getting ripped off and what to look for when you decide to get your first arcade machine or home system. If you have any questions regarding any aspect of the Neo-Geo feel free to send them to me so I can include them in my write up.
-Gabe out.
-Gabe out
