Showing posts with label Nintendo 64. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nintendo 64. Show all posts

Friday, 27 October 2017

Nightmare Creatures (PS1, N64, PC)






Nightmare Creatures (PS1, N64, PC) :




Adam Crowley is a bit of a git! He's only gone and released a nightmarish Transmortification virus on old 19th Century London town, and it's turning all the cockneys into hideous, deformed creatures of the night! Unlike Eastenders though, it's going to take more than a cup of tea to sort out this load of slobbering, gibbering, undead moaners....




Step forward our two brave heroes, Father Ignatius Blackward , a priest with more than a little knowledge of the occult and magic...and Nadia Franciscus , a vengeful daughter out to put a stop to Crowley's plans and make him pay for her immunologist father's death!




Third-person, hacky-slashy, action-adventuring is the way forward...through 18 levels of London fog, creepy cemeteries, stinky sewers and the like. Switches must be flicked to open gates, holes in floors jumped over and all manner of creatures hacked limb from limb using the various items lying around and some funky fighting moves made possible by using different button combos...




You also have to make sure and keep killing the various fiends and keep your adrenaline meter high, or you'll end up succumbing to Crowley's virus yourself! This adds a bit of urgency to the game, and also makes it a bit more difficult...

Roaming about in the London fog and creeping through rat-infested sewers makes for an atmospheric adventure, and the John Carpenter-esque soundtrack and random spooky sounds also help make you feel favourably freaked out!




There are sometimes a few camera issues, and the controls cans occasionally be a bit unwieldy..and like other PS1 games it's beginning to show it's age a little..but it still stands up as a decent and fun example of the genre! And you could always try the slightly better looking N64 or PC versions!

Saturday, 6 May 2017

Shadowman (PC, N64, PS1)





Shadowman (N64, PS1, PC) :

The Nintendo 64 was often wrongly regarded as a machine for kids, whilst the PS1 was the choice for the older gamers. People complained that there were no decent games for the mature player on Nintendo's machine, and the general cuteness of it's games put a lot of people off...but then along came Shadowman, a game based on a comic by Valiant!




Described by a few magazines as "Zelda's Evil Twin", Shadowman had plenty of swearing and gory, gruesome bits! It saw you play the part of Mike LeRoi, an unwilling latest addition to the line of Shadowmen...a group of Voodoo warriors blessed by the dark gods with supernatural powers, which they used to protect their tribes from threats crossing over from the undead plains known as Deadside.




The latest threat to the world is a chap calling himself Legion, who has gathered up a group of serial killers and built a huge place called Asylum in Deadside, which will enable all manner of nasties to creep over the divide into Liveside. As Shadowman, Mike is able to travel between both worlds, and must collect Dark Souls, evil energy that Legion plans to give to his many minions to make them powerful. As you collect these souls, you gain more power which helps in the fight against evil..





You collect lots of different weapons, some of which have both a Liveside and Deadside equivalent. A cool feature is being able to wield a different weapon in each hand, giving you more ways to battle the baddies! The game does play a lot like some twisted Ocarina Of Time and you can tackle it in a similar non-linear fashion so long as you have the right equipment to make it past certain obstacles.




The boss battles are great fun, and see you making trips back to some nasty, dark Liveside locations...the fight with Avery Marx as he stalks you in the dark with night vision goggles being a personal favourite! All in all, it makes for an atmospheric, freaky game that I personally think is a must-have for any N64 collector..

The game is also available on PS1 and PC, but having never played either of those versions, I can't say whether they're any better or worse....




The game did get a PS2 sequel, Shadowman - 2econd Coming which was okay but not a patch on the first. It seemed to lose a lot of the atmosphere of the first game but I suppose it's still worth checking that out too..which I may just do at some point in the future, right here on the blog!


Saturday, 12 November 2016

Body Harvest (N64)






Body Harvest (N64) :


Halloween isn't just a great time for getting freaky with ghouls and ghosts, it's also the perfect time to indulge in a bit of alien hunting! And in this N64 title from DMA Designs ( who would later go on to become Rockstar North ) you can indulge in a great deal of bug-blasting shenanigans!




Since 1916, alien invaders have been visiting Earth every 25 years and harvesting it's inhabitants for food. In 2016, the last few human survivors are orbiting space in a space station and decide to send some Troopers back in time to try and prevent these body harvests from happening. However, the baddie bugs attack the station.. and our hero Adam Drake barely escapes into the past, being the only Trooper to do so! You then, must take control of Adam, and explore the areas where the aliens plan to invade and try to stop them munching their way through history!




Doing so involves some RPG-lite type exploration of buildings, chatting to the folks that populate these time-zones and seeking their help to battle the beasts. Some will loan you vehicles to use, or give you keys to secret passages or buildings that hold better weapons. The ultimate objective in these areas is to locate the Alien Generators that spawn the creatures and destroy them, whereupon you will gain access to the next area..




The aliens will attack in waves and attempt to capture humans and eat them. If you're to make it to the generators, you'll need to stop these waves! Running around on foot can be very dangerous, so it's very handy that there are all kinds of vehicles lying around the place and you can enter any one of these for a bit of extra health and firepower. Yes, that's right...just like Rockstar North's later titles you can hop into any vehicle you can see, and this game has loads....


Image - Mike Dailly

From Fire Engines to Fighter Planes, Tanks to Ice Cream Vans..there's load of different driving styles to master. It's easy to see that sandbox gaming is slightly older than most people think too, as the levels are huge and the vehicles allow you to explore them however you choose! It really is like GTA crossed with Earth Defence Force....




This is one of my favourite N64 games, and I can't recommend it enough! The levels get crazier and more filled with slimy alien bugs of increasing strength as the game goes on, and finding which weapons and vehicles to use and where is loads of fun. There are plenty of secrets to be found too, and it'll take you ages to see the end...




It's by no means perfect, and even at the time of it's release people found Adam to travel around a bit too slowly on foot...and it does have the occasional game-breaking bug, if you explore a bit too far from the course the game ideally wants you to take...but if if you give it a chance, stick with it and reach the later time-zones you should end up loving it as much as me! Go track it down and give it a blast!!

(Edit - Also click here to read a great article on the making of the game at Nintendo Life)