Nostalgic Game Design Can't Be Just Skin Deep

Carolyn Petit examines the very different ways in which two games go about celebrating the NES era.

I imagine that when I look back on the games of 2012 in the future, it won't be any of this year's big commercial hits that stand out most. Great as they are, it won't be games like XCOM: Enemy Unknown or Dishonored that spring to mind first. Rather, what will define 2012 for me most is the fact that not one but two of the most memorable and interesting games I played this year are tremendously referential celebrations of gaming's past.

Of course, games that capitalize on the nostalgia of players who grew up with the games of the '80s and '90s are nothing new. Each entry in Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. series attempts to appeal to those who have fond recollections of the "old" Super Mario Bros. games. And it's not unusual for publishers to resurrect and modernize beloved properties of the past. As a huge fan of Bionic Commando on the NES, I always think of the disappointing 2009 update as an unfortunate example of such games.

At one point, Retro City Rampage references the faux-3D stages in Contra.

But two games released this year--Retro City Rampage and Abobo's Big Adventure--have a different relationship with the past than those other games. These games aren't new entries in old franchises, playing on our fondness for specific characters or worlds, our yearning to play a new game in a series we loved when we were younger. Instead, they reference a wide variety of different NES games, and in doing so, they celebrate the entire NES era. Yet though they share a similar reverence for the past, their approaches are wildly different.

Retro City Rampage takes a type of game that didn't exist in the 1980s--the open-world urban crime adventure--and envisions what it might have looked like if it had. Known early in its development as Grand Theftendo and originally designed to run on actual NES hardware, Retro City Rampage looks and sounds very much like a product of the '80s. If you loved the NES, playing RCR will bring memories flooding back of how it felt to bring a new cartridge home, slam it into the Nintendo, and dive into a new 8-bit world.

It's a heady sensation, with the power of nostalgia making it distinctly different from the contemporary thrill of exploring the lands of Skyrim or the streets of Liberty City. And because games like RCR didn't exist in the '80s, Retro City Rampage initially recaptures the excitement that came with playing something unlike anything you'd ever played before--the first time you played Metroid or Blaster Master or The Legend of Zelda. But eventually, it sinks in that, since we're now in the 2010s and not the 1980s, we have played games that play like Retro City Rampage, and that do what it does better. The visuals and music conjure a pleasing sense of returning to the past, but what it's doing isn't nearly as bold today as what games like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda did back then.

Playing RCR will bring memories flooding back of how it felt to bring a new cartridge home, slam it into the Nintendo, and dive into a new 8-bit world.Retro City Rampage goes beyond its 8-bit visuals and music in attempting to stir up warm, fuzzy feelings for gaming's past, though. It also dishes out references by the dozens to specific games, characters, media personalities, movies, and other pop culture artifacts of the '80s. Some of these nods elicit a pleasing sense of recognition, a simple but satisfying, "Oh, hey, the name of that skate shop is a reference to Skate or Die!" Others may make you chuckle, while some fall flat. But ironically, it's when Retro City Rampage goes beyond textual references and tries to reference classic games via its gameplay that it stumbles the most as a celebration of '80s games.

Games like Paperboy and Tapper, and particular elements of games such as the faux-3D levels in the original Contra, all felt a specific way, and for those of us who played those games when we were younger, the feel of the controls is an intrinsic part of our memories of them. As a result, when playing the sections of Retro City Rampage that are modeled on these games, there's a jarring disconnect between what we see (a room that is clearly modeled on a bar in Tapper, for instance) and what we feel (controls that make no effort to imitate the distinctive way Tapper felt). I know that I enjoyed playing Tapper, but playing the stage that spoofs it in Retro City Rampage doesn't remind me why I enjoyed it.

Retro City Rampage faithfully recreates the look and sound of the games it references, but it goes deeper than that.

Abobo's Big Adventure, on the other hand, duplicates with remarkable precision the way it feels to play the games it imitates. Unlike Retro City Rampage, Abobo's Big Adventure makes no attempt to mix 8-bit visuals and sound with more modern genres or concepts. In fact, nearly every element of Abobo--every character, every environmental detail--is not just a reference to something from gaming's past, but a nearly pixel-perfect re-creation.

Because it's not a commercial product but a free Flash game, Abobo's Big Adventure can get away with replicating the first stage of Double Dragon (complete with its fantastic music), and pitting you against enemies from Super Mario Bros., Renegade, Donkey Kong, Kung Fu, and other games. If you've played Double Dragon, the experience isn't just nostalgic because it looks and sounds like Double Dragon. It's also nostalgic because it feels like Double Dragon. If it didn't, playing this stage would feel just as discordant as it feels to play the Tapper level in Retro City Rampage. But instead, the experience is harmonious, and pleasurable.

Abobo's Big Adventure doesn't just make superficial nods to the games it spoofs. It reminds us why we loved playing them.What's remarkable about Abobo's Big Adventure is that it takes you back to the sights, sounds, and feelings of classic NES games not just once or twice, but over and over again. There's a level that mimics a fortress in The Legend of Zelda and one that imitates a match in Pro Wrestling. One faithfully re-creates early stages in Contra, and another sees you leaping and shooting through a remake of Mega Man 2's Quick Man stage. Like the Double Dragon stage that opens the game, these aren't dry, unimaginative replicas. They're filled with characters from other games and have frequently hilarious surprises in the forms of unexpected boss fights and other tweaks to these scenarios some of us know only too well. But it always nails the most crucial detail. It always feels right. Retro City Rampage reminds us that we played these classic games. Abobo's Big Adventure reminds us that we loved playing them.

What about players who didn't grow up with NES games? Which game has more to offer players who aren't versed in 8-bit gaming history? By offering a sampler platter of 8-bit gaming experiences that are still fun to this day, Abobo's Big Adventure is ultimately a more varied, better-playing game than Retro City Rampage. The direct comparison is, however, perhaps a bit unfair. One game sets out to be a fun open-world game with visuals and humor that reference the 8-bit era. The other is made almost entirely of actual pieces of 8-bit games--sprites, backgrounds, music, gameplay mechanics. But if we see more games in the future that strive to celebrate NES games to the extent that these two do, I hope that they take a cue from Abobo's Big Adventure, and recognize that it's not the pixelated visuals or chiptune music that makes those games so worthy of our enduring affection. It's the way they play.

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Mugen Souls Review

There's a lot to appreciate about the anime-style trappings seen in many Japanese role-playing games. The influence of Japan's rich history of cartoon and comic art can translate to colorful environments, outlandish characters, and even some offbeat humor. Mugen Souls is one such RPG. But while it wholeheartedly embraces the anime-loving, game-marathoning otaku culture that inspired it, Mugen Souls seems to have completely forgotten to be a good game first and foremost.

The premise of Mugen Souls is novel: rather than saving the world from imminent destruction, antiheroine Chou-Chou wants to turn every being in the seven corners of the universe into her loyal servant. She has a knack for getting people to surrender to her will, thanks to her unique ability to pander exactly to anyone's taste in character stereotypes. She also has a commandeered spaceship and an ever-growing army of subservient lackeys under her rule.

The character designs are cute and appealing (if a little uncomfortable at times--some of the characters look quite young), and the theme of conquering the universe with your egotistical charm is inherently appealing. But the problems with Mugen Souls emerge from the get-go. Chou-Chou's one-note appeal fades quickly as she and the supporting cast fail to undergo any satisfying character development, even after Chou-Chou displays her ability to assume seven different personality types.

The one-dimensional characters might be forgiven if their interactions were as funny as the game seems to think they are. Alas, attempts at humorous exchanges between the characters fall flat with resounding thuds, save for a few cute digs at video gaming conventions. There's little to the story besides the supposed humor, so when the funny fails, every lengthy dialogue exchange turns into an excruciating experience.

Solid gameplay can rescue an RPG with a weak story, but the gameplay of Mugen Souls is a superficially complex mess of disparate mechanics that fail to gel into anything cohesive. Chou-Chou, her seven personalities, and her servants traverse small, sloppily designed, uninteresting overworld areas, which chug along at incomprehensibly low frame rates, despite their simplistic visuals and object models, unless you lower your display resolution to 720p. There are mobs of endlessly respawning enemies on each map, and though you can see them before you fight, they tend to move so quickly that avoiding them (or slashing Chou-Chou's weapon fast enough to enter battle with an advantage) is extremely difficult once they notice your presence.

When you enter a fight, there are lots of options available to you, all of which are explained only one time through poorly presented tutorials--which then become completely inaccessible should you want to review anything you've learned. You've got a fairly standard RPG array of basic attacks, special skills, and items to use, as well as a positioning-based combat system that lets your party and the enemies run around the field. Characters can also perform team-up attacks that have some amusing animations, but they become so drawn out that you are quickly tempted to turn off the "battle animations" option.

Chou-Chou has access to some unique skills, however. She can shift into one of her seven personalities mid-combat, which changes her affinities toward special attacks; rather than being based on traditional RPG elements like fire, wind, and water, skill and character affiliations are based on personality traits like bipolar, graceful, and sadist. Chou-Chou also has an ability called the "moé kill": by pandering to enemies' particular tastes, she can transform them into willing peons, who then power up her spaceship. This is accomplished by trying to match a series of three action selections to an enemy's taste and current mood. Make the enemy happy, and you are rewarded; pick the wrong choices, and you get an agitated, more powerful foe to contend with.

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Taking the Neo Geo X for a Test Drive

A bit from left-field NeoGeo, in the good way.

Luv that the tv hook-up's and arcade stick seem a part of the $200 package.

I'm curious what games are going to be released.

Upon mention, I gotta say...when I hear SNK, I don't think of anything but Crystalis...

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Derrick the Deathfin Review

Derrick is a shark. And like many sharks, he has an appetite that's never satisfied. But while the sharks of the real world won't flop over and die if they miss a meal, Derrick's life hangs by a thread with each missed mouthful. That's not an easy life for a fish--despite being at the top of the food chain--particularly when, as you discover, his parents are turned into seafood by an evil organisation intent on polluting the world's oceans. And what beautiful oceans they are: intricate, handmade papercraft oceans that are as bright and colourful as the likes of SpongeBob's Bikini Bottom, but with a playful imagination and design all their own. Derrick certainly doesn't want them turned into sludgy, rotten wastelands.

Fortunately, Derrick's shark ancestry gives him quite the advantage when it comes to roaming the world's 2D, side-scrolling oceans. He can chow down on the many inhabitants of the sea with ease, with the delightful papercraft crabs, fish, squid, and other creatures disappearing in a puff of smoke. He's fast too, and by holding down the right trigger you can make him even faster and gracefully leap out of the ocean like a modern-day Ecco the Dolphin. Such manoeuvres are tricky to master, though. There's an impreciseness to Derrick's movements that means you're never in total control of his actions; it's all too easy to swim straight past or leap right over a group of delicious sea creatures.

And that's not something you want to do too often. With each flick of a fin, a health bar at the top of the screen depletes, and quickly too. As you roam around each level, trying to make it to the finish line on the other side, you must eat constantly; go too long without a meal, and it's lights out for Derrick. It's that constant pressure to survive that makes navigating the well-designed mazelike courses a serious challenge. Eat everything in sight too quickly, and you might leave yourself without enough food to make it to the end of the level. If you take a wrong turn down a tunnel, only to reach a dead end, you might not have enough energy to swim your way back again.

There are a few things around to help you out, though. Trails of pink diamonds to collect often point you in the right direction, as well as double up as food for Derrick. They're one type of collectible found in each level, the other being giant tires that float above the surface of the water, ready for you to skilfully leap through as they burst into flames. Collectibles are totalled at the end of each level, giving you a score that's placed on a leaderboard, albeit a local one. They unlock new areas too, including fun fast-paced levels that are based on speed, which shun the health bar for a time bar that ticks down quickly as you make your way through each maze.

The evil corporation gets a dose of Derrick thanks to small puzzle levels where you have to blow up an oil rig or take down a mighty trawler. But these sections are more of a missed opportunity than a break from the fast-paced action. Puzzles are painfully easy to solve and often just involve nudging a few bomb-fish around until they're in just the right place to explode. Indeed, there's a lack of depth to much of Derrick's adventures. Every level lasts just a few minutes, and you can easily make your way through all 32 of them in a single sitting--a little longer if you hunt down all the collectibles.

It's a format that lends itself greatly to mobile--a fact that's referenced in loading screens--but it works less well here. As fun as many of the levels are, you don't ever feel like you're getting enough of them, even if you go back and replay them, as the collectibles compel you to do. But that's not enough to discount Derrick the Deathfin. The beauty of its colourful visuals, the wonderful trip-hop soundtrack, and the compelling, enjoyable levels create an utterly charming package that's big on imagination, if just a little short on execution.

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GameSpot Asia Beat Ep. 11: Gametoberfest!

October 18, 2012 3:18AM PDT

It's October, there's a lot of games to talk about, and there are four editors with mics handy. You do the math.

First off, we apologize for the extra week delay for our GameSpot Asia Beat podcast; there were conflicting schedules and whatnot waylaying us last week. With that out of the way, this week's episode is a megaton of games-talking courtesy of yours truly, GameSpot Asia's Randolph Ramsay, CNet Asia's Aloysius Low, and SGCafe's Sim Cheng Kai.

Topics of interest include the best way to not mess up your XCOM single-player session, reasons why Code of Princess is a great successor to Guardian Heroes, and why Project X Zone isn't hot stuff. On with the show!

Timestamps are below for your reference:

2:14 - FTL
6:58 - Giana Sisters
7:30 - XCOM: EU
18:01 - Intermission #1 ("Gemini Salsa" by McVaffe)
18:33 - Dishonored
23:29 - Borderlands 2's pirate DLC
26:18 - Torchlight 2 (again)
28:01 - Project X Zone
33:41 - Unfinished Swan
37:50 - Code of Princess
42:38 - Harmoknights
45:39 - Dance Central 3
49:23 - Intermission #2
50:01 - News on Tetsuya Mizuguchi
55:07 - Mechwarrior Online
1:02:40 - Project Eternity,Baldur's Gate series
1:06:44 - Halo 4 on two discs
1:11:22 - Intermission 3
1:11:52 - StarCraft II WCS, MOBAs
1:17:12 - Prey 2 In Limbo
1:19:02 - Darkstalkers Are Not Dead, GGPO Blues

As ever, download the podcast here and dish out your two cents at the comments box below.

By Jonathan Toyad, Associate Editor

Born and raised from a jungle-laden village in Sarawak, Malaysia, Jonathan Toyad has been playing games since the early 90s. He favors fighting games, RPGs, and rhythm titles above every other genre, and occasionally spaces out like Pavlov's dog to video game music on his iPod.

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Starhawk dev lays off half its staff

October 18, 2012 4:29AM PDT

LightBox Interactive confirms it has laid off 24 staff as part of shift towards making games for iOS devices.

Starhawk developer LightBox Interactive has laid off half its staff as part of a shift toward developing games for iOS devices. Company president Dylan Jobe confirmed to Gamasutra that 24 of the studio's 45 employees will be let go effective Friday.

"The reason for the layoffs is a strategic shift in our product development as we move forward with a very focused and self-funded team to bring our next game to iOS devices," Jobe said.

The studio was founded in 2009 out of the ashes of Incognito Entertainment (Warhawk, Twisted Metal). According to Jobe, LightBox remains "very close" with Sony following the layoffs.

The third-person shooter Starhawk released in May this year to a positive critical reception, but was not one of the month's top ten titles in the United States, according to NPD data.

By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He lives in Connecticut, works out of the company's New York City office, and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

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Battlefield 3: Aftermath DLC out Nov. 27

Battlefield 3: Aftermath will launch on November 27 for PlayStation 3 Battlefield Premium users, developer DICE announced today. The content releases a week later on December 4 for Xbox 360 and PC Premium users, and launches for all PS3 players December 11. Xbox 360 and PC gamers without a Premium subscription can get in on the action December 18.

The content is free with a $50 Battlefield Premium subscription, and will also be available as a $15 standalone download.

Aftermath adds four new multiplayer maps set in the streets and cities of a post-earthquake Iran. Additionally, the content brings a new game mode called Scavenger. Gamers who play this mode begin a round with only a knife, one grenade, and a sidearm, and must scour the terrain for more powerful weapons to get the upper hand on their enemies.

The Aftermath content also brings a new weapon, the crossbow, to players' arsenal. Additional achievements, assignments, and vehicles are also up for grabs in the new add-on.

Battlefield 3: Aftermath is the game's fourth of five planned expansions. It follows Back to Karkand, Close Quarters, and Armored Kill, and precedes the final expansion, the suitably named End Game.

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IGN up for auction - Report

IGN could be going up for auction, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The paper reported that News Corp. is working with investment bank Allen & Co. on an auction to sell IGN's network of video game and entertainment sites, following a year of failed efforts to produce a sales deal.

According to the report, News Corp. publicly stated its intention to sell IGN Entertainment after news that it was preparing to restructure its internal publishing and journalism assets, separating them from its media and entertainment businesses.

News Corp. bought IGN in 2005 for a price tag of $650 million (a deal that also included other sites, such as GameSpy.com and TeamXbox.com), but now hopes to sell the network of video game and entertainment sites for around $100 million.

According to the report, Break Media and SAY Media are among potential buyers for IGN, although sources close to News Corp. told the paper that other potential bidders could include private equity funds.

Sales negotiations were affected by turnover at both IGN and News Corp., with the departure of IGN chief executive Roy Bahat in August, and the resignation of News Corp.'s chief digital officer, Jon Miller.

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Are Modern Games Being Dumbed Down?

Of course they're being dumbed down. Since the time the consoles became popular, the 'Casual Gamer' demographic has been the dominant one over the 'Hardcore Gamer,' - no longer is difficulty a priority among the new games released, neither is novelty. Most developers, especially those that are under obligations to distributors, will focus their efforts and design choices to make games more 'accessible' to newer, more casual, players - so that it will sell as many copies as possible. 

So, is there a reason to not continue making the same game over and over?(Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Medal Of Honor, Elder Scrolls) No, there is not. Casual gamers have almost minimalistic standards when it comes to improvement in games - so as long as it looks good, it WILL sell. They have other things to worry in life.

Oh, and if you actually demand artistic effort from your developers - you have no choice but to wait until some ambitious company, like CDProjekt, releases a beautiful game like Witcher or Witcher 2. Until then, either buy your Call of Duties or you don't, personally I can't stand them. 

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Soul Reaver to originally be new IP - Naughty Dog director/writer

The 1999 action adventure title Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was initially planned to be a game called Shifter, according to former Crystal Dynamics producer/director/writer Amy Hennig.

In an interview on PlayStation Blog, Hennig--now a Naughty Dog writer/director--said that the game's narrative was inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost.

"The protagonist was, essentially, a fallen angel of death, a reaper of souls hunted by his former brethren, and now driven to expose and destroy the false god they all served."

She also added that Crystal Dynamics was sceptical in adapting Shifter's concept into the Legacy of Kain franchise because of the unnecessary technical risks.

"Creative constraints can be inspiring and invigorating, and once we dug into the challenge, the concept evolved in all kinds of exciting ways."

While the plane-shifting concept was kept in the final product, Hennig mentioned that Raziel was originally planned to have shape-shifting powers, but was cut due to technical limitations at the time.

Concerning the first Soul Reaver's abrupt ending, Hennig said that the team had to cut the last few levels of the game and set it up so that Soul Reaver 2 would meet its August 1999 release date. The original plan was for protagonist Raziel to hunt down his former brother and antagonist Kain, then activate the pipes of the Silenced Cathedral to kill off the remaining vampires of Nosgoth. Hennig said that the final ending opened up more narrative options for future sequels, like Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance.

A reboot of the franchise was rumoured earlier this year, thanks to a survey conducted by Square Enix.

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