Shogun 2: Total War
Last year, PC gamers were all ablaze at the return of a game franchise left dormant for 12 years. This year, we herald the return of another long lost classic-Shogun 2. The original game debuted to rave reviews, in 2000, and the Total War franchise has dominated PC strategy charts, crossing many diverse worlds, before finally returning to it’s feudal Japanese roots. With so many years between, there is much innovation to be included and expanded upon, but will all of that make for a great game, or just add to the feature list of a ho-hum sequel?
The Story
Feudal Japan, in the 16th century, was ripe for the re-workings of a military strategy game. The country was is turmoil, the shogunate was constantly being passed around between many warring clans and families, struggling for to be the next to hold the shogunate, create their own dynasty, and control the fate and riches of the country. This makes the perfect backdrop for a strategy game giving the player motivation to outshine multiple opponents, on both the military and the political front. You, the player, pick one of the nine clans to attempt your rise to power with. What more could you want? The story of feudal Japan is a great backdrop, but in a franchise like Total War, it is but a mere pedestal on which you attempt to erect a glorious statue of yourself, as Shogun. There are two major fronts, on which you will wage that war – the campaign map, and the real-time battles.
Campaign Overview
On the global map of Japan, you will manage all of your troops and resources. The map is a flat map of the country, complete with the borders of all of the encompassing territories. Picking a clan will determine not only where you start, geographically, but where your strengths will lie, on or off the battlefield. Each clan has a unique ability or specialization, be it a certain type of resource growth, specialized unit, or battle unit. As you explore the map, it springs to live in lush, colorful 3D.
Managing your resources and economies is no small task. In addition to recruiting units and building upgrades, you must balance your research in military and political specializations. You are able to switch interests, on the fly, but most additions take between 4 and 6 turns to research, so you need to plan, well in advance. Managing your taxes can be a bit tricky, as new units and their upkeep come at a high price. All while attempting this juggling act, you can play the political favorites game with the other clans, while sneaking your specialized monks and ninjas into their territories. The diplomacy features allows many ways to interact with clans, be it an arranged marriage, trade agreement, military alliance, or negotiated military access. Before the negotiations sour, you should have the real workhorses of your empire getting their hands dirty—the monks and ninjas. Monks are great for demoralizing armies and spreading discourse with their wisdom and insight. Ninjas are fantastic for sneaking in the back door to sabotage the castle gate before an invasion, or assassinating a key figurehead, thereby severing the viper’s head before it can strike, and delivering it’s entrails into your awaiting hands. Either or both are key for scouting and weakening forces for the path of your awaiting armies.
Real-Time Battle Overview
This is the real meat and potatoes of the game, the reason we all come to the Total War franchise, and the crown jewel to every surrounding detail of the game. The game’s engine will support up to 56,000 troops, on a field of battle. Each unit has it’s own strength and weakness; archers rain death from a distance, but fall easily in melee attacks, calvary are swift and deadly, but can easily be unhorsed by spearmen, digging in and forming a line. The battles are a fine art of maneuvering and and placing your units, and then managing them to counter the oncoming onslaught. Castles are especially tricky, because the later in the game you progress, and the more upgraded the enemies’ encampments are, the more complex and multi-tiered a siege becomes.
Well used archers, placed correctly within the many tiers of a castle can whittle down enemy forces, and keep them at bay. Even within a losing battle, correctly managing your forces to maximize enemy casualties can pay dividends later. Samurais, spearmen and archers are your bread and butter, but matchlock troops, fire-bombers, ninjas and monks really spice up the combat. Having matchlock troops makes your ranged attacks carry an extra punch, fire bombs can bring down walls and defenses, and ninjas are the perfect weapon for a silent strike against a foe distracted by your frontal assault. Generals help rally your troops, with inspirational speeches before the battles, and unique abilities to calm shaken troops during the battles. Taking out an enemy general can be the crippling blow that turns the tide of an outnumbered encounter, so always keep tabs on your enemies’ general and routes he can be disabled from.
If this wasn’t enough to make you happy, the naval battles have also returned;ships are not quite as advanced as the later games, but it makes for a fantastic addition. Managing your ships, and knowing when to attempt to board enemy ships is an art you really need to master, of you plan on commanding your own naval battles. Each encounter can be fought with an AI controlled mechanic, if you don’t feel like stepping into the shoes of your general, on the battlefield. Personally, I found that the best time to use it, was when my army was grossly outnumbered;allowing the computer AI to manage those battles, always seems to minimize friendly losses.
The Verdict
If it sounds like all I’ve been doing, thus far, is praising this game, you would be making a correct assumption. I’m sure that some of the more rabid players could find minor glitches in the damage dealt or received in certain situations, or minor flaws in the game’s economic system, but I am not that person. Shogun 2 is an amazing simulation/military strategy gem, that succeeds in immersing the player in the role of vying for the shogunate in feudal Japan. The massive scale battles, and intricately detailed castle sieges are enough to hook the player, alone, without even factoring in the battles at sea, and wealth of options and strategies to delve into at the campaign map. It accomplishes everything promised, and then some. If the campaign is not to your liking, there are multiplayer options, and even recreations of historic battles to try your skills at. There is a lot of replayability, to be had, in taking the campaign from many different angles, and with different strategies and bonuses. If you are remotely a fan of military strategy games, do not let this one slip by. Those familiar with the Total War franchise can expect the same high quality, highly addictive and fun experience of all Shogun’s predecessors. Pick out your samurai armor and prepare for war!
Shogun 2 : First Impressions
We live in an age of instant gratification. Text messages must go out instantly, who can wait around for a phone call when a 15 year old girl can type War and Peace on her cell phone keypad by the time you’ve read these first couple lines(although, I dare you to decipher her shorthand text speak). With that knowledge, it is ironic that all of us PC gamers, who want our content immediately, cannot wait to jump back into 16th century, Feudal Japan! On March 15th, another PC sequel, 11 years in the making, finally goes live on store shelves and digital distribution sites–Total War : Shogun 2.
Alpha Protocol
A wonderful action-RPG, offering the player tons of choice and real-life consequences! Where have I heard that before? This is not a simple Mass Effect game cloned in the James Bond environment, it does have it’s bugs and it also has elements that set it apart from the Mass Effect series. Elements, that this writer hopes, influence continued innovation in Bioware’s epic franchise, but can Alpha Protocol stand on it’s own two feet, or did SEGA make the right call by cutting it off at the knees?
The Story
Alpha Protocol puts you in the shoes of Michael Thornton, newest recruit for Third Echeleon, er, I mean Alpha Protocol—a super-secret government black ops organization. The game’s opening finds you somewhat unwillingly recruited, and tasked with seeking out terrorist operations and possible Broken Arrows in the Middle East. You know, something light to get your feet wet. Throton’s appearance can be varied with some limited options, and the game offers a few tutorials at the base, if you require a brush up on the controls and gadgets. Shortly into the story, the game starts taking twists and turns as crosses and double crosses abound, and your choices determine the way the story plays out. I have to give credit to Obsidian, where Mass Effect offered some great choices on what was still a linear story, Alpha Protocol not only illustrates the consequences of your actions, but shows you more varied paths along that linear highway. Speaking of the choices, Thorton is given a 5 second opportunity, in conversations, to drop a suave Bond quip, an aggressive Jack Bauer approach, or a more balanced Jason Bourne opinion—including 3 of the four famous J.B.’s of the spy world(c’mon, Jim Beam is an important spy accessory….). You also are given the same timeframe to choose whether the NPC’s you cross paths with live or die, or which option in a mission to take. Where Mass Effect’s games give you the ever popular “Save the puppy or throw the puppy in the furnace”, Alpha Protocol blurs the lines with options like “Mame the puppy to save the kittens or nuke the kittens and emerge with an unscathed puppy”. An interesting note, to the story, is that most of the story progresses through interactive flashbacks, shown at key points of the game, which reflect any choices the player has made up to that point. So, for example, if you are a reckless agent executing key characters and killing friendlies, it will be mentioned, as will alternate pathways available with the game’s allies and enemies. The flashbacks do a great job of linking the story elements and illustrating a “big picture” setting for what your missions have entailed and how they have affected the overall plot. That said, the story is not a epic Homer-ian tale, but it is the backdrop of what could easily be a lost Ian Flaming Bond tale riding on a roller coaster of spy twists and turns.
The Gameplay
Alpha Protocol plays like a straight third-person shooter…..if your tv or monitor is mounted on a vibrating bed. To say the camera is wonky is a gross understatement, and the fact that a patch has not seen the light of day is a disappointment, but the game is very playable. I have noted some easy user hacks to the game’s ‘ini’ files, online, but as of this writing I have not been able to test those out–an option, sadly, not available to the console gamers. Sadly, without either of these, the camera can frequently be shaken AND stirred. As you progress, Thorton levels up, allowing you to tailor his strengths and attributes to your style of gameplay. A stealth player may work towards high pistol, melee and stealth skills, while a more aggressive player may work on Toughness and Rifles. Each skill set also offers Skills that Thorton can activate during the game, a brief invisibility in the Stealth skill set or a Focused Aim in the rifle set–more tools at your disposal for carrying out missions. In addition, Thornton gets a variety of passively active perks that are based on how you approach the game and it’s characters. Each mission you have an “eye-in-the-sky”, called a Handler, feeding you Intel and information via CommLink. Simply choosing different Handlers, or keeping the same Handlers can reward you with perks, as does favoring certain weapons or gadgets offers more variety in playthroughs. In addition to the conversation/decision making system and character customization, you also have some mini-games for when computer hacking, lock-picking and security hacking are needed, and there are some good and bad features here. Security hacking has you matching wires numbered from 1 to up to 7, in order to hack and turn off a security alarm. A nice feature here is that hacking any terminal once allows you to shut off that terminal again without playing through the mini-game. Lockpicking is a ridiculously easy game of lining up tumblers, but computer hacking has caused the most frustration. Hacking was not explained well in the the game’s first mission, and that is it’s biggest downfall. The player sees a grid of numbers, roughly 12×20, and the player must match two lines of code in the scrolling numbers. What is left out of the explanation is that your sequences are the only numbers in the grid that are NOT scrolling—knowledge that makes the mini-game infinitely easier. All of these elements play out over the initial Middle East mission, and three more areas the player can tackle in any order, before progressing to the game’s endgame.
The beauty of the game is that you can attack a mission like a Sam Fisher, stealth agent, and, if and when that approach goes awry, run and gun your way out of trouble. I love the versatility this offers, and the character customization options and story choices lift this game above many entries in that franchise, in my opinion. Another great element to note is the ability to interact via email, with characters in the game. Yes, Mass Effect 2 gave Sheppard an intergalactic email account, but sadly Bioware only created a way for Sheppard to get an “atta-boy” or “how dare you” from the game’s many characters. Alpha Protocol elevates this element to an option for you to get more intelligence, download codes or useful information for your mission, interact and reply to characters in the game, or sell information on the black market to fund your missions. The “Choice Is Your Weapon” tagline, that the game carries does happen to be a good illustration of how your actions and choices can impact the game. Avoiding executing or simply saving NPC’s can pave the way for good alliances and relief in tough situations. I will not give out any spoilers, but much like amassing your team and gaining it’s loyalty has it’s advantages in Mass Effect 2, making friends rather than enemies does have a certain payoff in a few of the missions I encountered.
The Verdict
Yes Alpha Protocol has it’s faults, but I believe we have the foundation for what could have been a great franchise, had SEGA not hastily decided to pull the plug. This is not a bad game patched together from the innovations of other franchises, melded with the cheap glue of lackluster elements. The story is interesting, the blatantly advertised choice system is a welcome and interesting change from a crowd of bland third person games, and the customization is a slam dunk. Had the game not been so glitchy, I would have been inclined to score Alpha Protocol a full five stars, but I am completely happy with what it had to offer-especially if we see a patch in the near future. I completely understand the crowd of gamers who will wait and pick up a single-player only game from a bargain shelf, long after it’s release, but for me, Alpha Protocol was well worth the gaming money spent, and then some. As I begin another playthrough of the game, I raise my shaken Martini glass to Obsidian, on a job well done.
Weekly Byte for 6/1/2010
New Releases
Tuesday June 1st
Alpha Protocol – $49.99, The Espionage RPG
Sims 3 Ambitions – $39.99 – Meticulous career control for your Sims
News Bytes
- DRM Alert!!! So this week, we have good news and bad news on the DRM front. First, the good. A Blizzard representative was quoted saying that Anti-piracy efforts, on the PC platform, are an outright waste of resources that would be better devoted to making better games. They acknowledged that piracy and software cracking teams were exponentially greater than the developer teams, and that anti-piracy measures are futile at best. They seem to believe that, if correctly implemented, Battle.Net will offer enough features to lure players into wanting to play with a legitimate, paid copy rather than a cracked torrented one, and isn’t that what we have been saying here at EDG? Make the game better and continue to innovate, and the majority of players will gladly pay for the experience. On the downside, Namco Bandai, while echoing the futile sentiments of anti-piracy measures, have said that they are choosing to support the “always on” DRM scheme that Ubisoft has flung at us, like plague ridden bodies over a castle wall. They admit that it is not the best scheme, but it is the best option for them, at this time. So how will Test Drive’s new game and The Witcher 2 be affected? Only time will tell. However, if you are a Test Drive fan, head over to the Test Drive Unlimited 2 site, or click here, to apply for the game’s beta. Keep in mind, that while Blizzard’s statements are a remarkable breath of fresh air, Battle.Net 2.0 still requires a log in for single player gameplay—-although it would appear that an offline mode, a la Steam’s offline play, should be an option. Keep your eyes peeled for the EDG SCII Beta preview, coming soon—–and keep at those Zerg rushes, the Beta has been extended until June 7th!
- Were you one of the lucky 25,000 first gamers to jump into OnLive’s pre-order? Were you looking forward to the free first 3 months that were promised? Well, that’s not the deal anymore! Take heart true believers, OnLive has not taken away, but upped the ante to one year free AND one free game. Sounds like a great deal no? Also sounds like an attempt to attract attention from their competitor, Gaikai, who has been drawing much attention of their own with their pricing structure and network of server sites. It will be interesting to see this clash of the titans, and the news they unveil at E3!
- Need For Speed World Online prepping pit crews. The official launch date of the online racing MMO will be July 20th, with beta access for pre-orders. The new iteration in the NFS universe will allow free play until level 10, after which a $19.99 ‘Starter Pack’ purchase will be required and will up the level cap to 50. Also available with a pre-order is an exclusive car, early access and a power up pack. I assume there won’t be any balancing issues with the exclusive content, but then again that statement would assume that there is enough of a NFS following willing to make the jump into MMO territory and play long enough to uncover these balancing issues.
- More Call of Duty ups and downs, as Treyarch announces that they are solely committed to the Call Of Duty franchise. Sure, it’s good news, but it’s also worrisome if they are not cautious to avoid the same pitfalls that Infinity Ward fell prey to. On another front, Black Ops details are hitting like tracers lighting up the night sky. Apparently, we can gladly move on from World War II as the new game’s setting will span across multiple fronts such as the Cold War and Vietnam. Joystiq aired a developer interview, withe Treyarch’s Dan Bunting, here, but if you are reluctant to read it, I will post the highlights here :
- True to Call of Duty form, you will control multiple characters across many frontiers in the 60′s and 70′s timeframe, enclosed in a single, over-arcing storyline.
- Four player co-op and two player split screen has been announced, along with a beefed up COD4 graphics engine.
- DLC was not addressed, a PS2 port was confirmed DOA and a Wii title, handled by another team within Treyarch, will be enrolling for active duty.
- Heavy Rain will not be storming onto the PC. Well, we can put this rumor to rest apparently, although, even with the mixed reviews, I can say I would still like to see Heavy Rain get ported over. In a large list of games supporting Nvidia’s PhysX technology on an Nvidia website, gamers spied that Heavy Rain would be supporting the technology that shined in Arkham Asylum, among other titles. Without a game announcement, this seemed like an accidental announcement for an interesting PC port. Unfortunately, the PhysX guys have declared this a mere typo and corrected the website. True, this does not completely rule out the game’s weather conditions changing direction to the PC, but it makes it a lot more skeptical, for now.
Geared Up
Well, I can thank our own, Patrick Adams, for this week’s ‘Geared Up’ entry. I was a little uninformed with last week’s discussion of Nvidia’s current 3D PC technology, so what better way to get caught up than to get up close and personal right here! The 3D kit currently retails on NewEgg for $199.00, with a copy of James Cameron’s Avatar for the PC. As I mentioned, the tech runs best on a monitor with a refresh rate of 120Hz, but it is not required. This particular kit only includes the software, glasses and IR transmitter to transmit the image up to 15 feet wirelessly to one or multiple sets of glasses. It’s the LC lenses in the glasses that are the key to the whole technology. The lenses flicker at a rate far beyond the eyes detection, allowing the images corresponding to each eye to be seen as 3D by the wearer. Like our console wireless controllers, they are charged by USB to be ready for use in-game, but I found no details on how long they could be used before requiring an additional charging. Sure, this only creates the illusion of 3D, but judging by the spectrum of reviews, it can be excellent—-provided you have the tech to pull it off. I have been able to find prices for 22″ monitors starting at $249 and climbing online-which is probably not unreasonable if you are in need of a replacement monitor, but seems expensive if you already have a good resolution reliable monitor and are upgrading for the sole purpose of 3D support. One of the interesting features that I came across, that one might not think of, is the ability of Nvidia’s 3D tech to create it’s own crosshair in any title supported. Why in the world would they do that, you ask? Well, in case the game did not adapt it’s built in crosshair to the 3D support, Nvidia does the work for them so that your crosshair will not disappear behind objects and enemies rendered in 3D, causing targeting difficulties. If you are curious about the technology and it’s presentation, check the links below.
For a video of the unboxing and product review, look here. Also, many associated videos can be found on the right.
For a full list of supported games, as well as links to product descriptions, check Nvidia’s page here. I have to say, the list of supported titles is absolutely staggering, and I can easily see myself dusting off many of these games when my budget catches up with the falling prices of the monitors and tech.
Retro Active Podcast – Level 2: Dream On
Listen in as Eric Bouchard talks about his favorite console of all time, the Sega Dreamcast, in the return of the Retro Active Podcast.
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Background music courtesy of pvcd.com.
30 Reviews in 30 Days, Day 20: Retroview – Jet Grind Radio
It’s no secret if you have been following the podcasts that my all time favorite system was the Sega Dreamcast. It was short lived thanks to not having a DVD player among other things, but it had some amazing games. Part of the reason for this is it ran a variation of Windows, which made programing games for the system a snap. One of the reasons the Dreamcast is loved by old school gamers is the creativity of several of the games for the system. There were some truly ground braking and trend setting games on the console, including the game many have credited with starting the Cell Shaded Graphics trend: Jet Gring Radio.
Crossing In Line Skating with…graffiti?
Jet Grind Radio takes place in Tokyo-to, a city loosely modeled off of Tokyo. The city is divided into three quadrants, each ruled by its own graffiti gang. Shibuya-cho is ruled by the Love Shockers, Benten-cho by the Noise Tanks and Kogane-cho by the Poison Jam. You start out as Beat, a runaway “rudie” who has decided to form his own gang, the GGs. After proving you can both skate and tag, you are joined by Gum and Tab. Your first mission: tag the Shibuya-cho bus terminal to prove to the Love Shockers that you intend to be the rulers of the area. That’s right, I said tag. Graffiti plays a big part in the game, As you skate throughout the game, you run across areas you need to tag. Sometimes, all you need to do is hit the button to spray a quick tag. Others,especially when creating a big bit of graffiti, require you to follow the arrows on the screen using the analog stick on the controller. Failure to do so will waste spray paint, and you cannot afford to do that, especially not in the latter stages. So the gameplay is basically just those two things: skating and tagging. Sounds a little repetitive and boring? Trust me, it is anything but.
The intricacies of the game
As you may imagine, there are people who are trying to stop you. One of these groups is the cops, lead by Officer Onishima. The main group of cops are…inept may be too nice of a term. Think the Keystone Cops of the silent film era and you have an idea of just how bad they are. Still, if they get a hold of you, they will slow you down. Onishima is another matter; he carries a rather nasty over sized pistol, and he will send you flying if he hits you with shots from it. If you can get behind him, however, you can tag him, keeping him from shooting you for a time. Then there are the gangs. First they will just try to tag over your graffiti; then they will start being more and more disruptive until finally it becomes time for a showdown. This showdown involves you choosing one of your team members to try and chase down the members of the other gang and tag them enough times that they give up and allow you to claim their turf. As you move on, things become more difficult. The police start to bring out riot cops with tear gas, tanks and helicopters that make it much more difficult to hit your tags before your time or you life bar run out. There is also something much more sinister at work, which you begin to uncover as the game goes on.
As you make your way through the game, you are guided by your ever present ruler of the airwaves, DJ Professor K. K runs Jet Set Radio, a pirate radio station reaching out to the the skating, tagging rudies like the GGs (you knew I had to define the term rudie at some point). He gives you updates on what the police are doing, what the other gangs think of what you have done and a little bit of an inkling to the rather sinister plot to suck all the unique character out of Tokyo-to. At once both entertaining and over the top, DJ Professor K helps tie the game together between missions, giving you the felling of being in a living, breathing world. Of course it helps that the graphics are just amazing.
This game is gorgeous
As I mentioned earlier, Jet Grind Radio was really the leader in the cell shading craze, and the game just looks amazing, even now. Seeing these cartoonish characters running thorough the 3D world of Tokyo-to is impressive. Each section of the city has its own feel. Shibuya is a shopping district bathed in daylight, Kogasne is a residential area built on the water that is always on the verge of sunset and Benten is the overnight entertainment district. You go from the waterways and playgrounds to the neon lights to the crowded malls, all without missing a beat.
The graphics for Jet Grind Radio set a standard that many other games tried to match.
Then there are the animations. Your character is never really standing still, always moving to the music even when you are just sitting there. Get enough air on a jump, and your character will go into beautifully animated tricks from spins to flips. Large tags are painted by your characters almost in a type of dance step. Even DJ Professor K’s exaggerated updates are just a joy to watch. The level of care taken with the graphics of this game is just impressive.
Not everything is as polished as the graphics
Unfortunately, not everything in the game is as well handled as the graphics. Though most of the controls are fairly well laid out, the camera will drive you insane, especially in levels where you are constantly making rapid turns. You will find yourself hitting the center camera button a lot, which doubles as your tagging button, which can be a bit of an issue. Then there is the one trick that is just really difficult to master: wall riding. Though you will not have to use it a lot, there are a couple of missions later in the game where you have to wall ride to reach certain tags, and one in particular that is just a pain in the but to reach. Try as I might, I really struggled hitting that one within the time limit of the level. Don’t let those issues keep you from playing this game, however. Oh, and don’t think you know all about this game if you have played Jet Set Radio Future. As interesting and fun as this sequel is, it cannot hold a candle to the original Dreamcast gem. Jet Grind Radio gets a 5 out of 5.
Three fives in a row. What can I say? I’ve just hit a high point in my reviews.
30 Reviews, Day 4: Retroview – The Revenge of Shinobi
You may have wondered whatever happened to Retro Active. It hasn’t vanished completely. We still hope to do a Dreamcast podcast one of these days, but Tom and I both have been rather busy, and trying to schedule a podcast has been next to impossible.
The main articles and the podcasts are not all we intend to do with Retro Active, however, and I can think of no better time to debut our latest feature in retrogaming than during the 30 Reviews in 30 days. Enter the Retroview, a Retro Active review of games from previous consoles. Our first Retroview is none other than one of my all time favorite games for the Sega Genesis, The Revenge of Shinobi.
The Ninja Returns:
Did you ever get the chance to play Shinobi in the arcade? I did. It was one of those games that always interested me, but I was never a huge fan. It was a difficult platformer, and the sequences where the ninjas were jumping toward you and you had to hit them with shuriken always seemed out of place. So when my friend was telling me I needed to playThe Revenge of Shinobi on his Genesis, I was a little skeptical.
That is until I actually started playing it.
Not the same old Shinobi:
At first, this game seems very similar to the old Shinobi game. You, a lone ninja, are taking on and entire force called the Neo Zeed. You have to force your way through waves of enemies and rough platforming to make it to the end of each stage, where you face off against various bosses. This is where the similarities end.
Ninjitsu, Double flips…. No, this is no the old Shinobi.
Gone is the stage where you have ninjas jumping at you in the “forced 3D” perspective. The platforming sections can be insanely difficult, forcing you to measure to the exact edge of a platform before jumping, realizing you will have to time the jump perfectly to be able to make the next one. You find yourself quickly mastering the somersault jump (hitting jump again at the top of your jump) both for the ability to transition between stages/levels in a stage and for the ability to throw 8 knives (though referenced as shuriken in the game, they look more like kunai). Of course, you had to be careful with that move, because you did have a limited number shuriken to use and always had to be on the lookout for more. That is, unless you knew the exploit: go to options, drop the number of shuriken to zero, then wait a bit for it to turn into an infinity symbol. That trick made life easier, but it in no way made the game easy.
The Revenge of Shinobi also introduced a whole new gameplay mechanic to the series: Ninjitsu techniques. Theses techniques, ranging from a lightning shield to protect you from some attacks to the ability to jump further, can only be used once per stage, so when you chose to use them was crucial to your success. There was one exception to that, however: Ninjitsu of Mijin, of the art of pulverizing. When you used it, you ninja would slam his sword into the ground and explode, killing all normal enemies on the screen and even causing serious damage to bosses. After that, you would reform, still having the ability to call on another Ninjitsu. This technique, though extremely powerful, cost you one life, and they did not take the ability away when you were down to your last life. In other words, a careless player could accidently end the game by using it with his last life.
Graphcis, sound and…Spider-Man?
One of the things that really set The Revenge of Shinobi apart from its predecessors on the Genesis is it was among the first to really push what the system was capable of doing. Graphically, it still stands out as one of the better looking games on the system, especially when it comes to the fluidity of movement of the characters and the rendition of the Ninjitsu. The sound is impressive, with catchy music that transcends the limitations of the Genesis itself. Even as I type this, I can hear the music from the first stage running through my head. It just sticks with you.
There was one other thing that really set this game apart, however: The Bosses.
Name another game where you will go up against the Terminator, which starts to look more like the Hulk toward the end of the fight, Batman, Godzilla and Spider-Man. That’s right; in the original edition of the game, all of those enemies make an appearanceam, though not necesarily as you would expect them to appear. Later versions of the game had to change things due to copyright issues, which meant Batman ended up getting replaced with a weird man-bat creature and Godzilla was replaced by a skelatal dinosaur, but since Sega was working on a Spider-Man game at the time, you still faced off against the wall crawler. While this could have just seemed either cheesy or stupid (and probably would today), when I ran across these enemies in the game, I found myself almost giddy with excitement. Theses light touches actually help brighten up what can ne a frustratingly difficult game.
The Bosses of The Revenge of Shinobi. They are definitely memorable.
In the end, The Revenge of Shinobi will always be one of my favorite games for the Sega Genesis. Maybe it is more the nostalgia talking then the “seasoned” reviewer in me, but I give this favorite of retrogamers a 5 out of 5.
Retro Active: Dream On – The All Too Short Life of Sega’s Dreamcast
It was the late 90s. Sony’s Playstation had revolutionized gaming consoles. Sure, Nintendo was trying to compete with the Nintendo 64, but mostly to no avail. Sega was definitely on the outside looking in, with commercial failures of the 32X, Sega CD and Saturn. In 1997, Sega decided it was time to try something new, and thus was born the Sega Dreamcast.
Sega’s last stand in console gaming was a truly revolutionary console. For the couple of years that it was out, there was nothing that could really compare to it as far as quality gaming experience. And yet, merely 18 months after the console made it’s North American release, Sega pulled the plug on its “savior” and dropped out of the console business entirely.
So how is it that a console that was only around for a couple of years is considered by many, myself included, to be their favorite console of all time?
Sega’s Lost Reputation
Sega had made a huge splash in North America with the Sega Genesis, providing a true rival for Nintendo. Though the Super Nintendo did better overall in the US, the Genesis still managed to carve its mark into console gaming stateside, due at least in part to it being released before the SNES.
But then Sega started making reactionary decisions that began to turn gamers against them. Decisions like releasing the Sega CD, 32X and Saturn in rapid succession. Gamers were suddenly faced with the fact that, in order to keep up, they were going to have to fork out a ton of new money for consoles from Sega, and that coupled with the rising popularity of the Playstation really began to tarnish the name Sega in gaming console realms.
The Sega CD, 32x and Saturn all but ruined Sega’s reputation.
With this in mind, it was not surprising that gamers did not react well to the news in 1997 that Sega was killing the Saturn. It really looked like Sega was just about ready to leave the console business entirely, except for one thing: rumors of a new system in the works that was supposed to blow the competition away. Even as the details of this system were released, many critics questioned whether Sega’s reputation had been hurt too much by its recent failures to compete in the console market, no matter how good the system would turn out to be.
9/9/99 – Enter the Dreamcast
As the North American release of the Dreamcast approached, word started to get out that Sega may just have created the console that could win gamers back. Sega pushed the 9/9/99 release date and the tag line “It’s thinking” into the minds of gamers, while in store displays featuring launch titles Soul Caliber, Sonic Adventure, Powerstone and Hydro Thunder stunned critics. As the date drew near, gamers as a whole seemed to decide the newest Sega offering was worth picking up, with a record setting 300,000 units preordered. In the first two weeks after its launch in the US, Sega sold 500,000 Dreamcasts. It looked for all intents and purposes like Sega was back.
The Dreamcast was revolutionary in many ways. It was the first console to run Windows as an operating system, allowing programmers to create games without having to learn a completely new way of programming. The Virtual Memory Card had a built in screen, allowing for data swapping and play calling in sports games without giving other players in the room any idea what was called. It was the first gaming console to come with a modem included, allowing both for the system to be used as a web browser and for online gaming.
The Dreamcast seemed to have a lot of things going for it. Excellent launch titles, the introduction of online play and a phenomenal list of launch titles with more great games appearing consistently began to win over even the toughest of critics. Sega had even managed to turn what should have been its biggest handicap into a major asset.
The Dreamcastgained a lot of momentum, thanks to release titles like Soul Calibur and NFL 2k
EA Sports Meets Its Rival
When Sega announced it was pulling the plug on the Saturn, EA Decided it had had enough. The company announced it would not produce any sports titles for any new Sega consoles, including this Saturn. This meant that there was not going to be an NBA Live or Madden game for the Dreamcast, something that was not well received by gamers. Sega seemed to be out of options, since there were not many serious competitors to the EA Sports titles, especially when it comes to basketball and football. So Sega decided to do the unthinkable and make its own sports games.
While people may have been laughing when Sega first announced the 2K Sports Series, they were not laughing long. NFL 2K blew people away with its gameplay, graphics and online functionality. Not only did many people come to like the game better than Madden, but it outsold the EA powerhouse by 49,000 units in the first two weeks of release. NBA 2K surprised people as well, and it was not long before people began to realize that that 2K Sports was not just some quick fix Sega hoped would fill the void left by EA, but that Sega had truly worked to create a competitor in console sports gaming.
So with all of this going for the system, why did the Dreamcast Fail?
There were many factors, but in the end one thing more than any other lead to its downfall.
Sony Scores the Knockout
In March of 99, Sony announced plans for the Playstation 2. The system would not be out for another year, but Sony hoped announcing it would be enough to help hold in interest in the Sony branded console. The new console would have twice the graphical power of the PS1, and it would be able to play DVDs, a technology that was just getting started at the time. This was one of the key features of the system, especially since it would be introduced at a price that would make it one of the most affordable DVD players on the market.
Buzz about the PS2 built quickly. The only problem was Sony could not keep up with demand, and the company announced it would be cutting back its quantity for US release. Going into Christmas of 2000, people could not get a hold of PS2s, and Sega figured it could could capitalize on Sony’s misfortune buy convincing gamers to buy the Dreamcast instead. Thing is, it became apparent that people were more willing to wait for the PS2 than they were to buy the Dreamcast. Even a drastic price cut and offering to give the system to gamers for free for signing up for SegaNet could not stir up enough interest to keep the console going.
Despite offering huge discounts on the system and having amazing games like Jet Grind Radio, Marvel VS Capcom 2 and Shenmue, the Dreamcast could not compete with the PS2
January of 2001, Sega announced it would no longer be making Dreamcasts come March. The lack of DVD player and the poor reputation carried over from its previous failures was more than the company could overcome. Though Japanese games would still be made for the system as late as 2004, the last US release for the system was NHL 2K2 in 2002.
In the end, Sega was a victim of its own misfortune. Despite the fact the Dreamcast was ahead of its time, the lack of DVD support and gamers’ distrust thanks to the companies previous console mistakes doomed it to an early end.
So now you know why the Dreamcast failed. Why do we like it so much?
Well, that’s a whole different discussion. We’ll save that for the Retro Active podcast.