1001 Challenge
It’s Halloween – Splatter your house
It’s that time of year – Halloween. Of course, the day has taken on a new meaning nowadays.
Some more cynical than we might say that it’s become a corporate whore – purposefully taken from its original meaning.
Fortunately, some of us still want to keep that original purpose alive – and that’s to play some spooky retro games. So here it is:
1001 No.86: ‘Splatterhouse’ (1988)
RIP Tom Clancy
Earlier this month, we saw the sad news of the passing of Tom Clancy, a man influential in many ways – a huge literary career in books, but also movies, and of course games.
The inspiration behind the Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon series to name a few, we couldn’t let this go without doing some kind of tribute. So here’s our Big Talk on the Tom Clancy games that meant something to us.
(Includes 1001 no’s 83: Splinter Cell, 84: Chaos Theory, 85: Double Agent.)
Don’t miss any more buoys
That’s right it’s WAVE RACE 64, the groundbreaking game that spawned, uhh, exactly zero other Jet Ski-based games.
1001 No.82: ‘Wave Race 64’ (1996)
But hey, it’s pretty damn funny when there’s 2 of you who have no idea how to operate a Jet Ski trying to shove it around a course, attempting to pass as close as possible to a series of floaty red and yellow buoys.
Once the UCHG started replacing the word buoys for boys, hilarity reached new heights – especially when the announcer demands you not miss any more.
Check out how extreme this game can be!
Join the Red Faction
Red Faction began as an FPS back in 2001, with a focus around destructible terrain. Set on Mars, it was all a bit Total Recall – miners on the red planet, striking back against an oppressive corporation.
It was good fun, nothing groundbreaking (except for the actual ground breaking, literally) – with a sequel in 2002. But the series was at its best when many years later they released:
1001 No.81: ‘Red Faction: Guerilla’ (2009)
Red Faction Guerilla brought the Red Faction series into ‘next gen’ territory, bringing with it a 3rd person perspective and a free-roam environment. And it totally suits it – the surface of Mars becomes your playground, as you can destroy pretty much anything and everything you come into contact with.
The storyline… well, who really cares. Same old save the rebels from the evil corporates. It is kind of weird that you’re up against an organisation named EDF. Of course it’s not the French energy company, but the Earth Defense Force. It does add a fun element to the game though if you imagine yourself a British Gas employee, screwing up the power plants of your rivals whilst gathering inaccurate meter readings.
But destruction is the real name of the game, in any way possible – though bringing down a building with your own sledgehammer is extremely satisfying. The physics are so much fun, and with thermal charges, cool ray gun things and rocket launchers (and stompy robots) blowing things up is bloody brilliant.
I really can’t think of a game since that has done it quite as well: and even the follow up game, Red Faction Armageddon, didn’t come close – actually pretty much killing off the series due to dumping the open-world freedom of Guerilla and putting you back underground.
Guerilla is well worth a visit if you’ve never tried it. Red Faction is dead now, dying with THQ – though purchased by Nordic Games, so a resurrection is always possible. We can live in hope!
Screenshots don’t really do it justice. To whet your sledgehammer’s appetite, watch this – and tell me you don’t wanna blow some shit up.
THQ, gone but not forgotten
Ironically this post was originally going say goodbye to Red Faction, in the wake of the cancellation of the series – but ended up saying farewell to the company that created it. However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel…
Alongside the major announcements in gaming this year like the PS4 and XBOX One, another big story was of THQ filing for bankruptcy – a bit of a surprise in that they’ve always been one of the more well-known developer / publishers – but due to some poor decisions and poor products (see the $80m shortfall disaster of the uDraw, and the Call of Duty wannabe title Homefront) they sadly took a tumble in 2012.
In the last few weeks THQ received approval for liquidation – so it’s so long to a company that gave us some very popular franchises, including Warhammer 40k Dawn of War, Homeworld, Saints Row, Red Faction, and Company of Heroes.
1001 No.80: ‘Company of Heroes’ (2006)
I have fond memories of the acclaimed Company of Heroes – a superb WWII strategy game that was less about resource management and more about combat, with some great mechanics around cover, unit deployment, and general tactics. One particular standout moment I recall was the defense of a hill against wave after wave of Nazi troops – planning and executing your own strategies, but also adapting to situations as they develop being one of the most satisfying experiences in gaming – and in fact the whole game was full of excellent moments of tension and frantic decisions.
Fortunately this franchise is safe and sound, the developer Relic sold off to Sega – with Company of Heroes 2 released recently in June 2013.
Similarly it seems that, like Company of Heroes, some other franchises will rise from the ashes of THQ – Saints Row, Darksiders, Metro, Warhammer 40k and more have been sold on to other publishers: and the upcoming South Park game lives on too under Ubisoft.
Even Red Faction has been sold off – so maybe it will return – but the best news is that Homeworld, a classic from 1999, is finally getting it’s own HD remake. That too is one of the 1001, bought by myself many years ago but never conquered – so one day I’ll get back to it…
It’s a shame when companies fold, especially due to silly decisions – and when even strong franchises can’t save them. But at least something will come out it – and we’ll get to keep playing their games.