'Siberia'

 I was always more into story driven games than action or racing based games.  I loved controlling a narrative and the form taught me a lot about storytelling.  One of the best point-and-click games on the PC was 'Siberia' where you play as a young woman on a big adventure.

It's one of the better games of it's type as the puzzles are not illogical and you can master it without recourse to a FAQ.  

It is a beautiful game, full of inspired scenes and locations, great dialog and lovable characters that have charm and grace.  The world is so fully realised that you really feel that you are part of it, and remarkable that is.

It's amazing what one can do with a computer and to play such a game on one makes the technology worth having.  

Metal Gear Solid

 You may not think it, but solid snake is an environmentalist.

He doesn't look like a tree hugger but he's determination to free the world of nuclear weapons makes his qualifications as a man of peace unquestionable.  Snake is a hurt and bruised man, cynical and ruthless, but he's need for a liveable world cannot be dismissed. 

He doesn't try to get the arms dealers to love him; he just goes in and crack heads until the job is done.

Up against him is a pantheon of warriors with various skills and abilities to try to stop Snake.  From gun totting Revolver Ocelot, to mind bending Psycho Mantis each one has a job to prevent our hero to achieve it's goal: world peace.

Snake is no Rambo, he's clever, sneaky and enterprising enough to evade detection from the mindless clone guards that petrol every area of this environment.  He's lean, mean, and a one man army against the ultimate doomsday weapon, Metal Gear.

With help from his team mates over his CODEC he gains enough knowledge and insight to navigate the sterile confinements of Liquid Snake's base.

The fact that Snake and his enemies are all connected deepens the fraternal nature of mankind that is set to explode.

It's the reason why I bought a PlayStation and still regard it as one of the great videogames of that era, if not of all time.  Don your cardboard box and set off into the Alaska wilderness in a mechanised survival game that reminds that right is might. 

   

Final Fantasy VII

 This is the stuff legends are made of.  

Final Fantasy VII has a history.  It's called 'Final' because the developers thought it would be their last game to make.  It has, and still continues to have, many many sequels each with their own flavour and variety while still having some communality.  It's the Doctor Who of games.

It must have had a big impact on me because after this one I played all the others and ended up writing my own version as the first full length project I worked on ('The Rose of Eternity').  All summer when I was sixteen I wrote that and I was able to do that because I had played all the games and understood how they fit together and how they could be manipulated into something new.

It's huge for me this game, I can't really overstate it.  It gave me a way for exploring philosophy without me realising it.  Environmental issues are at the forefront of today's world and this game explores that.  As Doris Lessing would have it the main characters are 'good terrorists', defying the corrupt corporate world as they pollute everything for the sake of a promised land.  Greta Thunberg could easily be one of these heroes.

But they are not treated as heroes.  The roster of characters are the outcasts, the desperate, the abused, and all with a greater sense of destiny and purpose that is more than their own individual lives.  They are discouraged, dissuaded, hounded and their lives are put in danger over and over.  Yet their are the ones that everything depends on.  They can't put their lives on hold or expect better weather will come.  They know that if they do not do something than nothing will be done.

When I first played it I didn't know what to expect, especially not one that had a daunting amount of CDs to get through.  The game is huge, filled with every type of terrain and habitat you can think of.  Underground bases, spaceships, villages and forests, you can spend a lot of time just looking around.

It has an extreme amount of detail that must have gotten worked through during  some heavy crunch times in it's development.  There are minigames and side quests you can spend your life doing and even optional characters to get if you want.

 It certainly looks clunky now graphic wise as if it were made out of Lego but the remake certainly corrects that.  When it first came out you were amazed at the 3D rendering of  cut scenes, at the sheer scope and scale of the majestic work that told an epic story, and a deep one to.

Not many games have the time to fit in an existence identity crisis in it's main hero but then this is why this game is different.  Actually, why am I here?  It's a tough question to bring up anywhere let alone a game.  But the genre of videogames seems to have grown up at about the same rate I have, me being born in 1987, and is really asking some serious questions.

This seems like this will continue.  When gamers acquire wealth and power we really could see a big transformation for how we live on life on earth.  Life is a bit of a choose-your-adventure story anyway so making life more game-like could be rather enjoyable.  With so many people just putting up with their jobs to scrape by a living making it more fun might not be such a hard sell.  

All life could be a game if we really do live in a simulation but it's probably best to act as if what we experience is real and there is no other chance to live otherwise there is no incentive to make life just on this planet.

But I could live in the world of Final Fantasy.  To be proactive in doing what's right rather than thinking about climate breakdown, being totally isolated from your neighbours and managing your anger by attempting to communicate to a wider world that might not be listening.  At least I would get a cool sword to reek justice.  

Now it's audience participation time!  If you enjoyed this blog and my previous work than you can help support me in a few ways:

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Live long and prosper.

  

 

'Bubble Bobble'

 Two dinosaurs armed with nothing but their burps to tackle their foes face level after level of increased difficulty to save their girlfriends from the Cave of Monsters.  

This is 'Bubble Bobble' and it marks a distinction of being one of the few games that my sister would willingly play with me.

It is an insanely fun game, trapping your enemies in bubbles and then satisfyingly pop them as they met their demise.  And the levels never seemed to end.  There are a hundred levels in this game and it takes some stamina to get through them all, particularly as in the NES there was no save game option.  You basically had to do this in one go.

Playing the old games now I wondered how the hell I ever managed to finish these as I struggle with the sheer hardcore toughness those oldies had.  

It was colourful and full of antics that kept you on your toes, especially the big fat purple whale that would haunt you if you didn't finish the level in time.  There was no time to think, only to act and to act decisively.

A formative gaming experience for me and my sister and a treasured memory of those happy moments.  

Now it's audience participation time!  If you enjoyed this blog and my previous work than you can help support me in a few ways:

- by being my patron on Patreon.com

-give a one off donation with Buy Me a Coffee

-Buy one of my literary books

-Share this blog on your social media

-Leave a comment, you can even recommend me book

-Follow me

I can't stress enough how much all this helps me and how in the long run it will help you, so if you can and you want to please support my free content so I can keep on producing my beloved blog.

Live long and prosper.

  

'Mischief Makers'

 'Shake, shake!' 

One of the more innovative and underrated games on the N64 'Mischief Makers' offers a unique combination of 2D scrolling with pre-rendered 3D backgrounds and tons of mischief.  The console's first platforming it definitely made an impact with me.  I picked it up for it's colourful zaniness and colourful zaniness was exactly what I got.

You play a robot named Marina off to save her creator during a civil war who has to grab and shake a lot of things in order to progress through the levels.  It was insanely attractive as it never took itself too seriously but got it's point across effectively. 

 Jumping around, teleporting and even riding missiles, it is high octane stuff but it also has a decent storyline running through it.  It is almost part RPG as you get to talk to characters who have been caught up in the war and I found this unusual for a platformer of it's time.  It was this element that made me found it endearing along with the infectious personality of Marina herself and the puffed up enemies.

Shaking is a big part of the game.  You shake pots for energy, you shake enemies to make them cry, you shake almost anything you can find in the hope that it can be turned to your advantage.  The graphics are a joy  as you run your way through the levels in a kaleidoscope of colours that fits with the overall game's peppiness.  The inventiveness of the game mechanics is what endures with me and I would love an updated version to become available for the new generation of game consoles.    

Now it's audience participation time!  If you enjoyed this blog and my previous work than you can help support me in a few ways:

- by being my patron on Patreon.com

-give a one off donation with Buy Me a Coffee

-Buy one of my literary books

-Share this blog on your social media

-Leave a comment, you can even recommend me book

-Follow me

I can't stress enough how much all this helps me and how in the long run it will help you, so if you can and you want to please support my free content so I can keep on producing my beloved blog.

Live long and prosper.