Overlord and Medevil?

Ok, I've blogged a bit on Medevil, a Playstation classic.  So what do these two title have in common.  Well, basically they are two games on major consoles that are outstanding, but haven't recieved the attention they deserve.  Until now, there's Overlord 2 set for release.  Now, if they only can pull their heads out and come up with a Medevil release for xbox 360 we'd be good right.  

Let's take a look at the Overlord the original ( I bet some of the peeps that worked on Medevil had a hand in this game, don't know for sure, but one can guess).

The setting is colorfull cinematic, kind of like a boat load of games from the old Playstation days, but well done.  You're the Overlord, and you have minions that you command, heck, you can even throw a few of them to their demise just to gain some of your health back and they'll happily jump to their deaths for you.  If you don't wanna swing your axe because your feeling a littly lazy or just maybe you like sending the minions to do your dirty work, have at it.  I can't really recall a game like it that's so well executed.  The Rainbow Six series comes to mind, but totally different genre.  

Henceforth Overlord 2

If you haven't played Overlord, go rent it, or scoop it up at Gamestop if you can find a copy.  It'll run you about $17, but well worth it.  Spin this classic for a few hours and you'll be primed for the new realease.  I haven't played Overlord 2 yet, but after playing the original, I can confidently say it's getting purchased and going into the coveted keepers pile. 

I'll update when I give Overlord 2 a spin, may download the demo soon and keep you posted. 

Until next time, keep your paws dry whilst your minions are ransacking villages, use GhostGrip.

There's the top 10 and then there's my top 10

Top ten lists are great, I mean, look at David Letterman, the dude's made a living off them.  Everyone like's a top 10, it kinda helps us put things into perspective.  So 2008 is over, and everybodies gotta top 10 for 2008.  They all line up and put in their 2 cents, hundreds of websites, publications, bloggers, editors, and millions of Gamers, all of them have a top 10 and each of their top 10 is different from the next.  

Put it into perspective

So here's the thing, I may have just discovered Soduko or whatever it's called in 2008 or maybe Connect 4 and played it a bunch.  So does Connect 4 make my list?  How about this scenario, I found some obscure independent game made in Norway in 2008 that I think is the show, does that make the top 10?  In order to have a top 10, we gotta first lay out some ground rules.  Number one, my top 10 list will contain games played on major gaming consoles (xbox, playstation, nintendo.  Number two, I said consoles, not some handheld device like a PSP or Nintendo DS.  Number three, these games will have been available to the general public, I'm not gonna pull some game out of my a$$ that only a few played but it never got released or made it anywhere.  No diss to independant labels and stuff like that, actually, if you wanna send my something I can spin on my 360 or PC I'm game to give it a go and it may make the top 10 independant games list sometime.  So, be fair.  I'm not gonna list my top 10 NHL players of 2008 and just randomly throw some WHL dudes in there.  

The top 10 listed and in one sentence, why.  Drumbroll...

10.  Little Big Planet - Reminds me of some early Atari computer games, I think Adventure comes to mind.  Allows players creative input.

9.   Deadspace - Graphics, intuitive controls, great sound, and some scary moments,, golden.

8.  Fifa 08 - Great soccer, good online play, very nice.

7.  Burnout Paradise - Awesome addition to this franchise.

6.  Wii Sports -  A staple and great introduction to the Wii, besides Super Mario Brothers, probably the best game to actually be shipped with the console.

5.  Assassins Creed -  Can get a little repetitive, but groundbreaking gameplay, smooth, awesome graphics, epic.

4.  Left 4 Dead - Simple to the point and fun, think Galaga, Centipede, or PacMan with good graphics.  Grab your gun and start shooting.

3.  Fable 2 - A great follow up to Fable.  No dissapointments here.

2.  Gears of War 2 - There's just something about chainsawing locusts,, call me crazy.

1.  Fallout 3 - To me, this is Bioshock on crack, excellent. 

Till next time, keep your hands dry and keep those zombies in check.

 Gears breaking new ground?

For some of you, I may be preaching to the choire, you may know other titles that have proceeded my experience in this matter.  To me, when Gears of War came out, the cover, peak around the corner, etc, came from a great game.  Syphon Filter, to me, was the first game to actually capitalize on this type of game play on the Playstation. 

For you that have not played the original on PS1, do it, if you have access to one, Syphon Filter 1 and it's sequal are games worth playing.  For many of you Gears of War was your first experience taking cover and firing around corners, but for many others, we can remeniss this type of game play (although it may have been perpitrated by previous titles) Syphon Filter was actually the first game, in my opinion, to actually have the AI and the character interactions succeed at the same time, in a harmonious fashion. 

Laying the groundwork

Laying the road for block busters like GOW.  So when you're ducking behind a burnt car and blindfiring at some fool, pay homanage to one of the greatest games on PS1 ever made.  I can't wait for GOW2, look forward to chainsawing some chumps.  Look forward to me blogging on some other great PS1 games, like Medevil, Fable, and let's not forget, Tenchu, dude,,,, are you kidding me?  Yes, the PS came out with the shizzzooohhh back in the day, hope they can pull their head out of their a$$ and come up with some stuff that'll make me fork out half a G to buy a PS3, untill next time,, see you on Xbox Live.

Atari 2600, the beginning 

What the!?  Slam, Atari 2600 controller goes flying across the room.  Then it's off to find a screwdriver to take the thing apart, again, and clean the contacts, especially on the lone "Little Red Fire Button".  If you know anything about old school Atari games, you know that that red button got pounded on more than,,, well, let's just say ALOT!  I don't know about you, but the thing always seemed to hit the picket lines when I was playing Moon Patrol, Dig Dug, or Star Wars (the Empire Strikes Back). 

Cool kid on the block

Right in the middle of jumping a crater, facing a flame throwing Fygar (the little green dragon dudes), or trying to get my snowspeeder to hit the little flashing square (said to be an open bomb hatch, put a round here, and you destroy the Walker in one shot) on a Walker.  I don't remember how old I was at the time I would beg my mom to go to the kids apartment that had a 2600, I just remember that that guy was the most popular dude on the block.  Kids would offer him all sorts of perks for some game time, anything from straight out sweaty stinky wet nickels, dimes, and quarters, to cold hard Hot Wheels and Go-Bots (we all knew the value of Transformers back then, come on man, what kind of fool would offer up a Transformer to play an Atari?).  I remember playing Pac-Man so much, I'd wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of the beginning of the game, it was something like,,, doo-nah-ooh-naah.  Who can forget Combat on the 2600, it was like, so many options and layouts, it was crazy and seemed realistic at the time.  

Gaming is big time

So now your probably asking yourself, what's the point here?  Video games have been the focus of millions and millions around the world, from the average citizen to being a key issue of political campaigns and government.  So where's the harm?  Looking back on my experiences being a Gamer, starting with the 2600, there are tons of valuable abilities gained.  Gaming isn't a passive event, like watching a movie, it's an active mental and physical challenge.  It requires analytical thinking, strategy, pattern recognition, and bartering skills for those unfortunate enough to not have a machine (these guys sometimes turn out to be very successful in business, having aquired negotion skills at such an early age).  However, that's not the real purpose of this first little blog here, the real purpose is to introduce myself, let you know where I'm coming from.  I have a long history of Gaming, we're talking grass roots (from a consumer's POV, I'm not a programmer, although, I did make a few games in the Basic programming language on my Commadore 64).  This doesn't mean I pretend to know all there is about gaming, or that I'm an authority at all on gaming, because I believe I share a similar background in gaming to a TON of people out there. Gaming transcends alot of things. 

My Atari 2600 may be your X-box 360 or PS3

To read or participate in this blog, you don't even have to be my age (you can judge that with the Atari references, Google it if you have too) or even close to it.  My 2600 was your Sega Genesis (or Playstation, or X-Box, etc...), besides half the Mortal Kombat population out there would probably rip my skeleton out and I'm not even gonna talk about Madden or Fight Night.  I would say I'm a slightly above average gamer when it comes to skill, but I have a passion for gaming.  That's basically it, and, oh, one more thing, to all of the younger gamers making fun of us old dudes on X-Box Live or any other online gaming service, save it, and to all you older people thinking gaming is below you, there's nothing like an online multi-player head shot to take your mind off the BS office politics you went through a few hours earlier.  Either way, it's great gaming with people of various origins, race, age, whatever, that's part of the experience.  Gaming brings us all together and allows us to talk smack at the same time.  OUT!!