Hi Tom.
i do know exactly what you mean, ---- though I've never played the nes
batman game you mention (I have played the Mega drive one though0.
I do stil have games like Final fight and Double dragon and stick them on
occasionally precisely for the reason of just wanting someone to thump,
however I find with Turrican the experience is so radically different.
The game is simple, and the game's goal, blow up enemies, find power ups,
look for the exit, is equally simple, however the execution of this is far
more complex simply because the levels are such huge mazes.
I'll frequently start a stage, initially go the same way I've been before
then think, ooo, what's that crack in the wall? or "do I go left or right
here, ---- which way did I go before?" or "Hold on, there's a ledge up
there, ---- how do I get up to it?"
thus there is always new teretory to explore and a great sense of freedom,
of being able to literally find my way anywhere in the level, not just going
left to right as in most games.
Quite often I'll work damn hard to get somewhere, then find it is a dead
end, or fall down what I believe to be a secret passage only to discover an
abyss and lose a life, ---- -but that is Turrican for you, and whenever I
see "game over" it actually makes me want to try the level again, to see if
I can find more extra lives and power ups to keep me going.
As i said, shades of doom deffinately shared some of this feeling,
particularly in not being restricted in progress, but I've yet to see an
audio side scroller that even comes close.
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 2:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Mysteries of the Ancients Levels
Hi Dark,
Dark wrote:
This actually ties into something I was thinking about the other day.
I realized, that despite having games as complex as smugglers, shades
of doom, entombed, time of conflict and lone wolf installed on my pc,
what is the
game I play most often? What is the game I frequently just think "hay,
I've got half an hour, ---- lets play something" and stick on?
Easy, ------ The freeware, graphical remake of Turrican, T2002 (with
it's various level packs that people have created of course).
this is not, by any stretch of the imagination a particularly complex
game.
My reply:
Yeah, I definitely know the feeling. There is a lot that can be said
for the walk along blow-m-up or walk along beat-m-up game like
Turrican. Just start the game and play with no better goal in mind
than to blow up, beat up, or otherwise kill as many baddies as humanly
possible. There were a number of games of this type for the NES and
SNES, and they were surprisingly fun despite lacking a game story, cut
scenes, whatever.
Like I was saying to Phil over on the USA Games list my son recently
got hooked on the 1989 Batman game for the original NES. It is still
one of the top downloads for NES roms, and has been declared one of
the top 10 games for the NES platform. Besides extremely sharp
graphics and animations for the time the game play is fantastic. There
isn't much to the stages other than walking along beating up the
Joker's thugs, but all that is made up for a well balanced combat
system. It is challenging and you have to figure out if taking out an
enemy is better with fists, batarang, or a rocket. It is both simple
but highly challenging at the same time. That spells great replay
value that has lasted for 22 years.
To get back to my point I often wish I could just load up a game like
that and play it like I use to. MOTA is a great game, but puzzle
solving etc take brain power. Sometimes you just want to ggo out there
and slug it out with some baddies for the heck of it. Double Dragon,
Batman, and games of that sort give you that relief. You don't have to
think about it, but can just punch, kick, and fight your way through
the levels until you take on the big boss man.
Dark wrote:
There's a tendency I've noticed in audio side scrollers to essentially
make everything feel quite automatic. You get close to enemy, enemy
attacks unless
you hit first, on harder difficulty enemy damages you more. you get to
edge of ledge, hit single jump button.
Compare this to the fluidity and sense of freedom in a game like
Turrican, Metroid, ---- or even something like original mega man, and
the difference is
astronomical.
My reply:
Yes, you are definitely right. That's one thing I was hoping to avoid
with Mysteries of the Ancients. The game mechanics are just a little
too automatic for my liking, and I want something a little more fluid
and challenging. If you don't hold down the jump keys long enough poor
Angela gets dumped in a fire, lava pit, lands on some spikes, etc.
Jump too far and she over shoots a ledge and falls screaming to her
death. These things are not at all unusual for mainstream games of the
type you mentioned, but are almost non-existent in audio games. Its
time to change that.
Smile.
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