This week, long awaited platformer And Yet It Moves (1000 Wii Points) has finally made its way to Wii-Ware. Turn the game’s beautiful paper-craft inspired world on its head by using the Wii remote to complete mind-bending puzzles by changing the world around you.
Hit the jump for the rest of this week’s Nintendo Download Update.
[This month is officially Driver Month here on Gamer Limit. Join us as we embark on an exhaustive road trip in a series of retrospectives for the Driver franchise in the run-up to Driver: San Francisco.]
After the gargantuan success of Driver, the inevitable announcement of a sequel in 2000 came as no surprise, and with the dawn of the PlayStation 2 fast approaching, the anticipation for the Wheelman’s second and final lap on the PlayStation couldn’t have been higher. Likewise, my hopes for a worthy sequel were just as astronomical having enjoyed its predecessor like nothing else.
Reflections also had similar hopes for their sequel to be the most successful driving game of a generation, with ambitions of expanding the series to heights many couldn’t have foreseen.
Join me as we shift into the second gear of Driver Month.
[This month is officially Driver Month here on Gamer Limit. Join us as we embark on an exhaustive road trip in a series of retrospectives for the Driver franchise in the run-up to Driver: San Francisco.]
Have you ever felt like a game was made solely for you? Well, this is exactly how I felt when a soon-to-be-revolutionary driving game sped onto the PlayStation completely out of nowhere back in 1999.
For as long as I can remember, I have always had an unrelenting admiration for cars, with a particular love of seeing them being bashed about and pushed to their very limits in high speed car chases from Hollywood movies. You could therefore stipulate that I’m a self-confessed fanatic of this particular genre of film, a fact that is testified by my mammoth machinima project Collateral Collision. Apparently I wasn’t alone in my enthusiasm either, seeing that there was another soul who happened to share my passion.
His name was Martin Edmondson (see, we even share the same name: coincidence? I think not), founder and Creative Director of Reflections Interactive who were previously responsible for the Destruction Derby series. If I were to ever meet the man, it’s abundantly clear we would end up spending an endless amount of time nattering away about our favourite car chases. Because just like me, Martin wanted to pay tribute to his infantile fantasy and developed a project of his very own – that project turned out to be not only the ultimate homage to cinematic chases but one of the most influential driving games of the generation; one that is still deeply cherished by its loyal fanbase.
Take a ride with me as we uncover the Wheelman’s untold legacy.
After playing Panzer Dragoon Saga, I found myself a bit torn. Here was a game from the Sega Saturn widely heralded by RPG fanatics as one of the greatest games in the genre, and it didn’t completely blow my mind. It’s my own fault; no one is immune to the unstoppable force of the hype machine, and I came into the experience with preconceived notions after hearing for years that it sits pretty amongst the best games in the genre. I’ve recently replayed Final Fantasy 7 – the other ‘big deal’ JRPG of that console generation – and though it’s not a personal favorite, it’s easy to see how it maintains its place as one of the best JRPGs ever made. I have trouble saying that PDS withstood the test of time as well as other RPG greats.
And yet, there’s no doubting that Panzer Dragoon Saga is a very good game. It’s easily the best RPG I’ve played on the Saturn, and one of the best RPGs of its generation. As the third installment of a series that started out (and continued afterward) as rail shooters, PDS combines unique gameplay with its own brand of original storytelling and style. You’ve probably never played anything quite like it, and unfortunately you probably never will. Unless, of course, you’re playing this very game.
If you guys are anything like me, you were raised on the ridiculous balls-out action films of the 1980′s. With movies like Predator, Commando, and Tango & Cash ingrained into my psyche, it should come as no surprise that I am eagerly anticipating The Expendables; a up coming action flick starting Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, and Mickey Rourke (with a cameo from the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger himself) that promises to be a throw-back to the glory days of the genre.
In an effort to promote this masterpiece, a retro-style flash game was added to the official Expendables Facebook page. Basically functioning as a Contra clone, The Expendables flash game features three difficulty levels, dependent on which character you choose. It is important to note that in order to play the flash game, you need to “Like” the Facebook Page. It may not be the most robust title, but at least you get to play as Sly again (and not in some lame Judge Dredd game this time). Read more… »
The Breath of Fire series is immensely popular among older gamers, for some reason. If you ask me, how anyone could enjoy these games is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. They are constantly marred by slow, droll combat, frequent random battles, and even more frequent fetch quests; the payoff being a set of predictable, mediocre storylines in pretty much every respect.
I think Makoto Ikehara, the mastermind behind the series, must have realized this. That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter turned out so much different from the rest of the series. Even though it may tragically go down in history as the game which ‘killed’ the Breath of Fire games, I believe that this game is perhaps the best thing that’s ever happened to the entire genre of RPGs. Read more… »
Last year we had our Ratchet & Clank charity gaming marathon, which almost ended in a crazed James stabbing everyone, fortunately for this event there is a dedicated team of marathon gamers.
ExtraLives are attempting to play through their top 10 N64 games over a 64 hour period, their donation goal is $2,500, and at the time of this post the marathon has been running for 8 hours and has already received 1,203.60 in donations.
There’s a strange lack of tension in Front Mission 4, considering that the Front Mission storyline is about nations perpetually warring with each other using bipedal tanks called Wanzers, and making battlefields out of inhabited cities. I couldn’t put my finger on what the problem was until I was most of the way through the game.
One time while playing, my girlfriend watched for a few minutes, and I asked her if she felt tense watching a city being made into a war zone. She pointed out that there’s a distinct lack of human element in the game; there’s no people running for their lives, no civilians to protect, not even any repercussions for hitting buildings with missiles on accident. Hell, there’s not even any vehicles on the side of the road!
The epiphany hit me like a ton of bricks. The previous installment – Front Mission 3, of course – for all the bad things I have to say about it, successfully made me feel as if my life was constantly in danger. It also made me feel like, by grace of piloting a Wanzer, I was constantly endangering other people who could care less about the pointless conflicts which spark the fuels of war. Read more… »
It’s hard to tell, but this has to be from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, the only SNES Super Famicom Zelda release. Japanese commercials are… weird. No gameplay, no information, just lots of costumes, pumpin’ music, and choreographed dancing. Oh, and a giant Ganon puppet that bears a passing resemblance to Jabba the Hutt.
But that’s what makes it just so incredibly awesome. It reminds me a bit of the Men In Black theme song, but taken to the next level. The level of… Zelda. Check it out after the jump!
Heavy Rain is a game that has divided opinions here at Gamer Limit. Some of us think it’s a glorified cutscene with obligatory button presses, others think it’s a welcome change of pace and a great narrative-driven game.
Heavy Rain’s influences are vast; movies like Se7en and Saw are easily spotted. Yet there is one gem of a game that hasn’t been praised for being a visionary of its time, and an obvious influence on Quantic Dream’s big PS3 exclusive. I give you: Road Avenger!
This week on Retro Reunion we have a very special commercial for you. This little gem isn’t pimping the Sega Mega Drive or SNES – oh no! This 30-second clip is dedicated to what is obviously one of the most incredible handheld gaming devices in the history of games.
The ad starts out like a steamy night with Russell Brand: hot. Arnie is doing his thing, donned in his classic Mr. Freeze outfit. But then something happens; all of a sudden it switches gears and becomes even more radically bodacious. You’ll definitely have to pick your jaw up off the floor when you see how insanely insane the insane graphics are!
After a roughly fifteen year hiatus from new releases, website RetroZone has just released a new NES cartridge. That’s right – not Virtual Console, and not a port – a brand new game on a decades-old system. I think this one-ups the new Dreamcast game that came out late last year…
Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril is a brand new game that you can buy now, including the game, instructions, and one of those sweet black dust sleeves, for only $30. It’s region-free and will work on most any NES or clone (like the RetroDuo), but… it sold out immediately.
