Silent Hill (Game)

After I had played Silent Hill 2, I found myself interested in playing the other Silent Hill games, starting with the original Team Silent entries. For the original Silent Hill, often considered one of the greatest PS1 games ever made, I considered buying a digital copy off the PlayStation Store during the time Sony had announced legacy store closures. However, I came across a complete physical PlayStation copy for only $50, which put me in the unique position to experience it as someone who would have bought it at launch in 1999. While many aspects of the game have aged surprisingly well, I can confidently say it’s nowhere near worth the inflated aftermarket values.

Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Just one year after Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, Insomniac released the third and final game in the original Spyro trilogy, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, in the actual Year of the Dragon before they shifted their focus to the still-ongoing Ratchet & Clank series. This entry also had a more ambitious scope, with more playable characters and gameplay variety. Though admirable, I feel from playing it now that it really did more harm than good.

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

With the success of Spyro the Dragon, Insomniac attempted something more ambitious with Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, which included missions and a bigger story, while addressing some of the issues with the original game. This entry released to critical acclaim one year after the original Spyro the Dragon and has stood the test of time. Looking back on it now, however, I feel I have a more mixed opinion on the more drastic changes to the original formula.

Spyro the Dragon

Insomniac games may be best known for their Ratchet & Clank series and Marvel's Spider-Man right now, but their earliest success involved an early PlayStation mascot, a purple dragon named Spyro from their second ever video game, Spyro the Dragon. Spyro is far from obscure, but with Insomniac’s more recent successes, I thought it would be interesting to look back at their roots and see how well their first series held up today. Spyro the Dragon certainly feels like an experience only Insomniac could deliver, but time has only highlighted its flaws.

Devil Dice

As with any major console release, “homebrew” development exists to allow people to make their own games for a given system in an unofficial capacity. However, it’s not too often that any of said games get an official major release. Such is the case with Devil Dice (XI [sai] in Japan), a dice puzzle game from developer Shift of God Eater and Code Vein fame, originally developed for the Net Yaroze homebrew platform. After stumbling upon Devil Dice’s existence after having already owned its follow-up title, Bombastic, I managed to find it in a used game store on a trip to Texas, though I didn’t get around to playing it until recently. After getting the chance to play it, I found it to be a rather unique and enjoyable title in the puzzle game space.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)

In further anticipation of the upcoming Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, here we continue from the original Pro Skater game and into its sequel, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Though the Pro Skater series had begun running on an annual release schedule, this game takes the concepts introduced in the first and expands upon them in a number of areas, creating a more solid experience from a technical standpoint, though it’s not without its flaws.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PS1)

Our personal experience with the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series began with Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 for the PS2, however it did get us interested in the idea of owning a skateboard. Years later when we acted upon this, we gained a sudden impulse to play every game in the series that we could get our hands on, in order of release, starting from the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for the PS1. With the announcement of a remaster of the first two Pro Skater games for modern platforms, entitled Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, I decided to try and revisit those two games for comparison, and possibly beyond. Going back to the original Pro Skater game was a fun experience, though it wasn’t without issue.

Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Final Fantasy VII.

As I mentioned in my review of Final Fantasy VII Remake, I’ve had an interesting history with Final Fantasy VII in that I went through more of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII before the actual game. While I thought I could experience the story through Remake, the ending finally gave me the motivation to play through the original game, which I accomplished with my PS1 copy. At this point, I can appreciate what Final Fantasy VII did and why it’s still celebrated today, but as someone who wasn’t there when it first launched, as I was only four years old, there are some flaws I couldn’t overlook.

Metal Gear Solid (Disc 2) - ...iversary!

In my experience with Metal Gear Solid, I've had a hard time with Disc 2. I discovered that I had a faulty copy right at the switching point (after killing Sniper Wolf), which not even a resurfacing would fix. So I ended up purchasing another copy off the secondary market and made sure that it was in a good enough condition. I felt confident enough in the description provided by the seller, stating that the discs were professionally cleaned and tested. Well, after finally receiving my copy in the mail I was finally able to complete the game and express how I feel about the whole experience. As such, this post is actually a continuation of my anniversary post rather than a separate review altogether.

The story continues in Disc 2 with Snake infiltrating a boiler room to get to Metal Gear REX and attempting to shut it down. While this section is shorter in some ways than the previous disc, this is definitely where the most twists come to light, revealing a conspiracy that goes higher up than thought before. The final stretch also introduces new information that can change the perspective of a lot of earlier events in the game. I also found the full characterization of Vulcan Raven to be interesting, taking more advantage of his description of being a shaman. For its depth and complexity, I now fully praise the storytelling capability of Metal Gear Solid.

In terms of gameplay, there are definitely a couple new surprises in this portion. Level design remains interesting and creative, including a hallway absolutely packed with Gun Cameras mounted on each wall. The final boss fights are also the most intense, starting with Snake having to outmaneuver Vulcan Raven in a freezing room where a frontal assault simply will not work. This is when explosives come in very handy, with an element of trickery also becoming a factor in fights from this point forward. My solution involved figuring out that Claymores picked up earlier are now in their natural element, plus letting Raven give chase while only I could see where they were. This didn't take the tension away however, since even being spotted once at the wrong time can let the shaman turn Snake into Swiss cheese with the aircraft grade machine gun he holds in his hands.

The most climactic boss however would be the one against Metal Gear REX, piloted by none other than Liquid Snake. The battle tank is designed to withstand any outside damage thanks to an impenetrable outer shell. To access its vulnerable insides however, Snake needs to trigger the opening of the cockpit by attacking the only weak point on its body, and only the Stinger has a chance of reaching it. After this however is a face to face throwdown with Liquid, who uses all of his strength to try and take out Solid Snake. I'd say that, after losing a few times before taking down the behemoth for good, it is easily one of the most memorable bosses of its time.

Then there's the puzzles. The ones that are in the environment are very minor, but one that really stands out is one that takes advantage of the entire area contained on the second disc. In this puzzle, Snake has to backtrack to two particular rooms to change the temperature of a key card, thus altering its shape and allowing it to function as three key cards. These temperature changes must be done in a certain order and there is the danger of changing the temperature unintentionally, requiring further backtracking. This was only annoying due to my absolute lack of rations, but it is still a very unique concept.

Voice acting continued to stay at a high point until the end, with everyone showing the full range of their talents and matching the appropriate mood of each scene. There are a couple of tearjerkers, which they manage to execute really well, though saying what they are would involve spoilers. The music continued to impress, so I give high praise to the composers involved.

Overall, Metal Gear Solid is a PlayStation game that absolutely should not be missed. Although the actual game is pretty short when you remove the cutscenes, the story itself is complicated enough to stay interesting and the deeper character interactions are all fascinating. With excellent gameplay, storytelling, voice acting and music, I fully recommend this game to anyone looking for either a great stealth game or a good blast from the past.

Be sure not to skip the stinger at the end of the credits though, since it opens exciting opportunities for a sequel. Hopefully it will not disappoint.

Metal Gear Solid (Disc 1) - Happy Ann...

To celebrate the 2nd Anniversary of this blog, I decided to review Metal Gear Solid, a game from 1998 that is well regarded in video gaming as a classic of the medium and a staple of anyone's PlayStation 1 collection. However, I've hit a bit of a snag.

Here's how it is: I decided to go through my backlog a little more by finally playing Metal Gear Solid, a game that I had purchased on a trip to Texas for about $10. I had finally gotten around to playing it recently, and since I needed to post a review of something for the anniversary, I figured that this game would be extremely appropriate to review, due in part both to how far I had gotten and my feelings on what I had played thus far. Unfortunately, when I got to the part where I needed to switch to Disc 2 (right after the second encounter with Sniper Wolf), the game wouldn't let me. I tried a few more times, including regulating my use of a Chaff Grenade on some pesky Gun Cameras; still nothing. When any repair place for it was closed, I tried again the next day (which will be yesterday as of this posting) and got the disc resurfaced; no luck. Since my issue definitely isn't a hardware issue, as the disc refuses to work on my PS1 and PS2 (I doubted the success of it on my PS3 if those two failed even though it laughs at scratches), my only recourse left now is to buy another copy of the game just to complete it.

Unfortunately I won't be able to get another copy and complete the game on time to review it for the anniversary, so I decided to meet halfway and review the first disc for now, with a plan to talk about the second disc later. As a result this may be written more like I'm giving my impressions of the game so far, rather than as a full review of the game. I apologize for this and hope that this is the only time I will ever have to split a review of a multidisc video game. So, without further delay, here's what I think of Metal Gear Solid so far.

The story of Metal Gear Solid is actually a continuation of the games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, neither of which I would have been able to play anyway (or at least not that easily). Fortunately the North American game manual actually acknowledges the question of "What is 'Metal Gear'?" and both the manual and game proper provide text recaps of those two games (the ones in the game are more in-depth). This is very fortunate, since it allows those starting out the series with this to still understand references to these events throughout. In his first mission (1995 in Metal Gear), Solid Snake, the newest member of elite special force group FOX-HOUND, is sent to Outer Heaven to rescue Gray Fox -the only member given the code name "Fox"- and destroy a nuclear-equipped walking battle tank known as a Metal Gear. He succeeds, also defeating Outer Heaven's leader, Big Boss, who had sent Snake into Outer Heaven under the belief that he would fail. Four years later (1999 in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), Snake is sent by FOX-HOUND leader Roy Campbell to Zanzibar Land to rescue Dr. Kio Marv, who created an oil refining microbe named OILIX. He succeeds, but is also forced to defeat Gray Fox, the leader of the Zanzibar mercenary outfit. Snake also takes down a new Metal Gear and has a rematch with Big Boss, who loses once and for all. After this, Snake gives up on war and retires to the peaceful Alaskan wilderness.

In the 21st Century (in Metal Gear Solid), the nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island has been captured by Next Generation Special Forces led by members of FOX-HOUND. The terrorists demand to have the remains of Big Boss within 24 hours or else they will launch a nuclear weapon. To counter their efforts, Roy Campbell recruits Solid Snake once again, this time to single-handedly infiltrate the facility and rescue DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and the President of ArmsTech, Kenneth Baker. Then, he is to prevent a nuclear launch and defeat all of the terrorists: Revolver Ocelot, an expert with handguns; Vulcan Raven, a giant and shaman; Sniper Wolf, the beautiful and deadly sniper; Psycho Mantis, former member of the KGB's Psychic Intelligence Unit; Decoy Octopus, master of disguise; and their leader, Liquid Snake, a man with the same face as Solid Snake and the only other member of FOX-HOUND who was given the code name "Snake." Snake, also tasked with finding out the whereabouts of Meryl Silverburgh, Campbell's niece, dives into his mission determined to complete it in time to prevent a nuclear catastrophe.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'd to say that so far the story is one of the most well-written stories ever to grace a video game. The pacing is just the right speed to set up and explain different aspects of the Metal Gear universe, as well as the events on Shadow Moses before and during Solid Snake's mission. As the events unfold, there is a lot of depth to the writing, with characters analyzed and careful discussions of human psychology and political intrigue introduced just enough to get you to think about your targets and actually see the driving motivations behind the way they function. It does more than just have the villains be complete cardboard, instead actively making them more unique and interesting, which helps them become all the more memorable even after you turn off your console. The interactions that Solid Snake has are also enlightening to the Metal Gear universe, as the ghosts of his past haunt him once again and he learns more about the internal politics of FOX-HOUND, as well as just what it means to be a real soldier. Relationships are also hinted at and can even affect how one character will respond in a later situation, making it all the more intriguing once it comes to pass. I also appreciated how the game knows when to be suspenseful as well as dramatic. There are feelings I experienced in this game that didn't come up so easily in others, which I will go into detail about later. So far, though, I'm finding myself engrossed in Metal Gear Solid's storyline.

Next up is the gameplay systems, mainly the fact that the game focuses heavily on stealth, or, as the logo puts it, Tactical Espionage Action. As Snake goes through the Alaskan facility, he must avoid detection from the guards for as long as possible by hiding within the environment and generally staying out of their line of sight. Some items that Snake can come across, such as the famous Cardboard Box item, as well as use of the radar to read cones of sight can help avoiding mooks and cameras, which may or may not shoot at you upon detection, easier to avoid. However, he must also take sound into account, with things such as stepping in a puddle of water being enough for a guard to wonder what's going on and investigate. If Snake is detected at all, then Alert Mode will come into effect, obscuring the radar and giving him a short amount of time to hide, triggering Evasion Mode if done successfully. If Snake can avoid detection until the end of Evasion Mode, then the game will resume as normal, with guards being ordered to assume their positions again and granting Snake a new opportunity to advance. Being detected was genuinely surprising at times and could at times invoke a feeling of suspense as I tried my hardest to stay away and use up as little ammunition as possible to not attract more guards. Trying to fight off a seemingly endless wave of bad guys as the clips gradually dwindle away was more than a little unsettling and made me more resourceful and cautious in how I approached the levels as a result. The right box at the right time can be a real life saver.

What helps make the stealth more interesting however is the ability to switch camera angles at appropriate moments. The game is normally in a 3/4 overhead perspective, but a simple button press will switch to a first-person view to get a closer look at the environment. I didn't take advantage of this mode much, but there is another camera angle that allows Snake to see around corners easier. This I liked, since if needed, a guard pattern can be observed more closely while still giving Snake time to react to what he sees. These camera changes are unlike what I see in a lot of games now, which have fully controlled cameras and operate in a more open environment, which, while arguably allowing for better environment reading, hasn't gotten my heart to beat faster with urgency like Metal Gear Solid has.

Should Snake have the need to use a weapon, there are plenty of options, most of which can be easily found in the environment. A couple of guns can easily be used to fend off various soldiers if need be, though there are also plenty of grenade options, including normal, Stun and Chaff grenades to also make getting through a level more expedient, though you still need to weigh your options as to whether or not you really want to use that ammunition so hastily. While other guns are required in order to pass, like the Nikita, which fires remote controlled rockets, and the Stinger, which launches surface to air rockets, you still need to decide if its a good idea to use them outside of their intended use. I'm enjoying the variety in weapons so far, though the only weapon I really didn't like to use was the Sniper Rifle, since you need to constantly take Diazepam to lower Snake's anxiety levels and steady his shot. It gets annoying after a while, particularly when you run out of the stuff in a desperate moment.

Thankfully, it is actually pretty easy to switch between weapons and items. By holding down L2 or R2, you can bring up a menu that scrolls against the respective corner of the screen so that you can make the best choice of equipment when you need it most. Pressing L1 or R1 will also equip and unequip the selected item at will, so you can hide under the cardboard box of your choice in one second and then start running at full speed the next. I feel that the controls overall are designed pretty well, as I was able to get the hang of them pretty quickly and make snap judgments on the fly, partly thanks to the speed at which something is equipped, though I'll admit that the gun controls take a little getting used to.

While there is some subtle difference between each type of mook in the game, the most standout enemies are easily the bosses. Each one requires a unique strategy to beat, like waiting for Revolver Ocelot to reload his gun or throwing a grenade down the hole of Vulcan Raven's tank or even having a fist fight with a Cyborg Ninja. One of the more memorable ones is the two encounters I had with Sniper Wolf, if only due to how frustrating they are. You have to use a Sniper Rifle to get at her the first time and optionally the second time, though I decided to use it anyway to test my skill. Running out of Diazepam during the second encounter made my shots more inaccurate, thus forcing me to depend on my luck holding out. Thankfully it did, but I will never forget my troubles with trying to kill her. The first encounter with Liquid Snake also requires the use of Stinger Missiles, with the lack of Rations, the item that can increase your heatlh, causing my pulse and sense of dread to increase as both of us inched closer to death, with only a single mistake needed to spell disaster for me during the fight as I held out and fired off enough missiles to take down the Hind he piloted.

The most memorable and talked about fight however would have to be the one against Psycho Mantis. His fight is very unique and one I haven't since seen replicated in any game since. He begins by reading the player's memory card, making comments about them based on the games they have played as well as their overall performance thus far in Metal Gear Solid. Next, he demonstrates his psychic abilities by moving your controller through the rumble feature. During the actual battle, he can read all of your moves, mess with your TV screen and negate any damage you try to inflict on him. The only way to do anything to him is to clear your mind and switch your controller to Controller Port 2, allowing freedom to kick his ass. While I didn't quite understand what made the fight so great at first, I began to see the real genius behind it when it was at last right in front of me. He is the only boss I can recall who demonstrates his abilities by reaching beyond the screen and interacting with the player on a whole new level. There is a certain feeling I got, which I can't quite describe, when I had to physically interact with the console to outsmart Psycho Mantis, a feeling that is much different than reassigning the controller with the press of a button or a couple of mouse clicks. This indescribable feeling, as well as the sense of urgency as he possesses Meryl, is the reason why Psycho Mantis has one of the most memorable boss fights in all of gaming, and I really wish that there would be one in the future that can recapture that same magic.

Another instance of this indescribable feeling is when I realized that in order to get Meryl's Codec number, I had to look on the back of the actual game box and notice a certain screen shot. This is an example of how Metal Gear Solid goes the extra step and lets the player figure out that a video game doesn't have to be limited to the confines of the screen in front of them, but that they can also access the contents of the room to find a hidden solution to a standing problem. In this way, Metal Gear Solid is more and more of a stroke of genius.

One thing to keep in mind however while playing Metal Gear Solid is that in order to build upon the world it resides in, it has to have cutscenes. A lot of cutscenes. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that this game has plenty of cutscenes and Codec conversations, as well as a full Briefing on the disc about the Shadow Moses mission which is made of them, which I understand are required to help flesh things out and keep the atmosphere ever changing. However some of them can be pretty long, which can get in the way a little if you're trying to do something else really soon. This still didn't prevent me from enjoying them and reacting appropriately, it just sort of bugged me, partly because as a result the game itself is much faster paced than I had originally anticipated.

While the graphics of the game are actually pretty good for a PS1 title, the only things that bothered me about the 3D character models was the faces. I understand again that there are technical limits for the system, but they look a little blurry and their eyes always look like they're closed (almost like a particularly bad Rob Liefeld drawing). I thank the character designers for keeping them distinguishable, but I personally enjoyed the Codec conversations more due to the wider range of expressions and more identifiable facial features. I don't want this to come off as me detesting older game graphics, but I just wanted to express a more minor annoyance I had.

Then there's the music, which I must say is composed very well so far. The different styles between cutscenes and in-game action help really well to set the mood and some pieces would be easily recognizable if I heard them out of the original context. I also enjoy the voice acting, which helps the characters come alive and establish their personalities as more believable. Special praise goes to David Hayter, who voices Solid Snake in a way that still gives him depth while retaining the cold personality he has at this point in time.

Metal Gear Solid, at least thus far, is a very enjoyable game. I'm finding myself captured by a unique world with distinct original characters and a great balance between stealth and action. At this point, I can't wait to see what Disc 2 has to offer to complete the story and see just how Snake plans to stop Metal Gear REX from causing worldwide destruction.

Come back later for a look as I complete my review with my thoughts on Disc 2. Hopefully the end of the world won't get in the way of that.

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Time to Kill - You'd Better Have Plenty of It

After the release and success of Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, 3D Realms announced the long-delayed Duke Nukem Forever. Once development hell began for DNF, 3D Realms and n-Space developed the first of many side games for the franchise called Duke Nukem: Time to Kill for the PlayStation (PS1). Released in 1998, this was not only the first game created specifically to satiate fans until the release of DNF, but it was also the first third-person shooter (TPS) in this line of games. While this game should be able to keep one entertained for as long as it should, I can say that I am definitely not a fan.

The first thing to mention, as always, is the story of the game. It is actually important that you don't skip the cutscene that plays when you pop the game in for the first time, which I must say was put together rather excellently with great accompanyment by "The Thing I Hate" by Stabbing Westward, as the game picks up exactly where it leaves off. We see in the video that aliens, including the familiar Pig Cops, have come to take over the Earth, again, and it is up to Duke to stop them. The manual elaborates by telling us that the aliens are called the Draks and they have the goal of altering Earth's past in an attempt to erase Duke from history. While time travel isn't completely original for the series, Duke Nukem I had this for Episodes 2 and 3, it seems like an interesting concept in theory, especially since the entire game is built around this. Unfortunately, it only goes downhill from here.

When the game actually starts, there is a pretty steep learning curve for controlling Duke. It doesn't help that the game utilizes "tank controls", where moving and turning the camera are assigned to the same stick. While you would think the rest of the controls would probably make up for this, they seem to only work when they feel like it, especially Duke's movement speed and jumping. This is a real pain during later platforming segments where your control has to be very precise or you end up dying or halting your progress, which led me to using a jetpack to bypass even the smallest jumps over lava. The control is further crippled by the ratio of the speed of Duke's actions to the speed of his enemies. The speed of drawing and holstering his weapons, and even strafing, is so slow that you will more than likely take a hit or two before you can get one on the enemy.

But the aiming system itself deserves special mention, which you'll have a hard time wrestling with. The manual states that Duke can aim pretty well as long as you point him in the general direction. During gameplay, this seemed more and more like an outright lie. While it is true that Duke can aim at an enemy on his own, it only applies to what appears to be a thin line of sight in front of him. So naturally, I tried to aim manually, which is also very tedious, as enemies are much faster than the aiming speed in both normal and precision modes. However, the biggest problem I had was trying to aim at an enemy directly in front of me. To elaborate, when near an enemy, the red aiming reticle, which only appears when in a firefight by the way, will attach to the enemy like it should. But instead of staying there, the dot will sometimes bounce back and forth between your intended target and the wall behind them, leading to more lead in the wall than in an alien's chest. For this reason alone, I used the Combat Shotgun as soon as I could and never thought twice about it.

Duke is definitely no stranger to weaponry, and this game has plenty of choices, overwhelming even. There's the standard Desert Eagle, Combat Shotgun, and RPG, among others. But throw in the fact that each time period also has it's own unique weapons, like a Buffalo Rifle and Holy Hand Grenades, and your list of weaponry will cover the selection screen, which ends up with you having more weapons than you will actually use. While most of these work just fine, especially the guns, some of the weapons, like the Throwing Knives, have abyssmal control and overall aren't worth using.

The graphics of this game are pretty standard fare for that point in the PS1 era, but I found that the graphics of Duke Nukem 3D were a lot better to look at, and those were mostly rotating sprites. Duke's character model actually looks a little feminine, even with his time-accurate costumes, and the Pig Cops are more obviously portly, which can be a little jarring after watching the opening movie. However, I can't complain too much, as it is an older system, but it was still a little hard to look at at times. At the same time, the level design was done well for a TPS like this, but some moments are a little cryptic, like needing to blast open a wall to get to the first Gun in level 3 or needing to push a trash bin in level 6 to get one of the crystals for the time machine. Overall, some of the levels could have used some minor tweaks in size and design to be more interesting to play through.

On that note, the boss levels are the shortest, being basically a room. However, instead of being challenging, they can actually be taken out with total ease. You don't even have to enter the center part of the room to kill the first one and hiding in one of two pools of water is enough to kill the second, which even conveniently hovers above to let you get in a few cheap shots. These stages just didn't provide enough of a challenge to excite me, instead making me wonder if they knew how to properly design a boss room. The same can be said for the overwhelmingly difficult challenge stages. If Duke finds a Stopwatch in a level, he can be transported to an extra level at the end where killing the enemies in a room within a time limit will net you a new weapon. However, the enemies deal enough damage that it is very unlikely you will get the weapon, let alone survive with it.

The biggest aspect of a Duke Nukem game is actually the one-liners that he churns out. They are the bread and butter of his dialogue and are usually pretty hilarious. But this game is actually a little off here. While it is funny the first couple of times to hear what Duke has to say, it gets annoying when you hear him say the exact same lines repeatedly, sometimes in a row. It appears that Duke here has a limited dialogue pool, which is a shame as a bigger selection for the game to cycle through would have made it easier to tolerate.

Now, the game would be a fairly decent reccomendation, even with the control problems, if not for one simple flaw: the game utilizes an arcade-style continue system. While it is easy to get used to at first, screwing up enough can get you to focus on getting through levels flawlessly and saving continues, actually making the experience more painful given the wealth of enemies and the damage they can deal at once. Compounding this further is the fact that checkpoints seemed to be placed too far apart from each other, making for large sections that need to be redone at a time. This became more and more unbearable over time, reducing my willingness to continue playing. In fact, it got to the point where I was almost getting to an "infinite death cycle", where no matter what you do your progress is forever halted, the only solution being to restart the entire game.

I have played through a majority of the game, about three levels off from the end. But at this point, I had just about lost all will to continue playing. I decided to watch the ending on YouTube, and it turns out that a scene in the opening where Duke's motorcycle is transformed into a pink girlie bike offers a rather questionable motivation for the narrative. This just didn't make sitting through the game seem that worth it anymore, so I just relinquished all will then and there.

Duke Nukem: Time to Kill has an interesting time travel premise, but the numerous gameplay and control problems actually make it more frustrating than fun. I have read that there was some influence from Tomb Raider, but I have no experience with that line of games and thus have no comment on that. I can't really recommend this game, except to those who have played both Duke Nukem and Tomb Raider before, or are brave enough to bear the flaws and make it to the end. Otherwise, I would suggest that you look somewhere else to find a TPS worth playing.

[OLD] Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown - Hail To The King, Baby!

If you have ever played a Duke Nukem game in your life, there's a very good chance it was this one. Released in 1996, Duke Nukem 3D was, and still is, the most popular Duke Nukem game on the market. In fact, there still exists a huge following of the PC version's level editor to this day. It's also the game that introduced Duke to the Mature rating, and has consistently remained with each installment. This game was originally brought to the PC through DOS, but has also been ported to the major consoles of the time it was released; it has also been recently ported to the Xbox 360 and iPhone. With so many versions to pick from, I have decided to play and review the PS1 port, Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown.

The story of Duke Nukem 3D takes place immediately after the events of Duke Nukem II, which is explained in the manual of Total Meltdown (the PC version has it on-screen). After the defeat of the Rigelatins in the last game, Duke has hijacked one of their ships, making his way back to Earth for relaxation. As fate would have it, his ship is shot down by unknown hostiles, forcing him to eject. He lands miraculously on the roof of a skyscraper, vowing revenge on the aliens that attacked him.

Like the second game, you get a choice of difficulty settings before you start: Piece of Cake (Easy), Let's Rock (Medium), and Come Get Some (Hard), with an unlockable Damn I'm Good (Very Hard). I played on Piece of Cake, not only for the sake of efficiency, but also because I'm not very good with FPS games. Even then, the game provides a bit of a challenge, often leading me to come up with creative ways to kill aliens on very low health. This game also has an improved Save system, allowing you to Save permanently or Quicksave temporarily at any point. Even on Piece of Cake, I recommend using Quicksave as often as you can, since you can easily die if you're not careful.

You start off the game with a Pistol, but over time, you can pick various weapons, including a Shotgun, RPG, and Chaingun Cannon to name a few. At times, you will see a crack in a wall, so it's good to have the RPG or Pipebombs on standby. You can also use your Mighty Foot as a kick attack, which can also be used on glass or trashcans to conserve ammo. In order to advance to certain areas, you must also gather keycards, colored yellow, red, and blue. Power-ups in the game include, but are not limited to, Portable Medkits, Steroids, and a Jetpack, and can be found not in crates, but in the open, behind secret compartments, and inside trashcans. In a change of pace from the first two games, this third installment is a First-Person Shooter, but remains the only one in the series aside from the upcoming Duke Numen Forever.

The controls are tight and respond perfectly, though it can get a little awkward depending on how you use them. Total Meltdown, even though the box doesn't say, is Analog Compatible (recommended), with the Left Stick for normal movement and the Right Stick for strafing. You can move the camera up and down using L1 and L2, which can lead to the aformentioned awkwardness, especially if you are facing a ledge or tall platform. Fortunately, you can center the camera by pressing both Left Shoulder Buttons at once. Aside from that small hurdle, the controls are, as stated, perfect.

The game comprises three episodes (L.A. Meltdown, Lunar Apocalypse, Shrapnel City), with a fourth one (The Birth) for owning Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition. Total Meltdown has its own fourth episode (Plug N' Pray), but I only played the first three as they are universal to all versions. Each episode is comprised of many levels, 7 for the first and 11 for the other two, each with a couple of secret levels. Each episode has its own challenges, but you can also find videos on YouTube on how to progress through each level much quicker, given this game's massive following. Every episode also has a Boss at the end, the first two of which you must find, which prove to be quite a challenge, and can take some time to figure out how to kill in the most efficient manner.

A notable thing about this game is the number of movie references it makes. For instance, the cover is a reference to Evil Dead, and at one point you encounter the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, you actually have to know the references in order to get them, and a couple of times they are required in order to advance in the level. At one point early in the game, you see a poster that covers an obscure pathway. I didn't know this was a reference, let alone that I had to go through it, so I had to find that out with an online walkthrough. I was aware of the 2001 reference, but I didn't know I had to go through it, and again I found that out through a guide. Newer players, like me, are likely to miss a lot of these references, so they are more prone to looking them up in a walkthrough. Still, the jokes are funny when you know the references.

The graphics are a big improvement over Duke Nukem II, although they are sort of pixelated in Total Meltdown compared to what I've seen of other versions. To create the 3D effect, levels are constructed in the style of DOOM, with enemies, women, and objects being rotating 2D sprites. Despite the downside of the PS1 port, they're still rather impressive, and still seem to hold up to this day. Since the music seems to change depending on the version, I will say that the music of the Total Meltdown variant is pretty well-done, and you are able to to listen to a few of them by using the PS1 disk as a CD (though the manual warns against playing Track 1 because its really a data file). The voice of Jon St. John suits the Duke Nukem character quite nicely, and it's nice to know that he treats this role with great admiration and respect. My only complaint about it is that some sounds that should be playing at the end of each episode are left out of this port, so I had to look for them on YouTube in order to know what they were.

One last thing I should mention is that this game has a multiplayer function called Dukematch. However, since Total Meltdown, the only version I have, requires two PS1 consoles, I am unable to comment since I only own one.

Duke Nukem 3D is a game I would whole-heartedly recommend. It's fun, even for those like me who don't excel at its genre, and provides a bit of a great challenge. As said with the first two games, it has a lot of trial-and-error gameplay, presented in an enjoyable and satisfying way. It's good to play the first two games so that you know the story better, but this can still easily be one you can pick up and play. As said before, this is a game that has a large fanbase to this day, and chances are, after playing it, you will become part of it.