Anyone Asked For Good ALIEN Games?!

Dedicated to re-watching the Director's Cuts for Alien and Aliens last weekend ;P

So, while browsing the internets, I've stumbled upon this kewl post...

I've personally played maybe 30% of the games listed there, but for which I did, I more or less agree with that guy! So, what I would like to recommend:

• Aliens (C64)
• Alien 3 (NES)
• Aliens VS Predator (Arcade)
• Alien Trilogy (PSX)
• Aliens VS Predator 1-2 (PC), especially 2. And avoid Primal Hunt please!
• Aliens: Infestation (DS)

And - pfft - of course I'm waiting for Alien: Isolation as much as you are!

BONUS: Turns out, this exists!

OCEAN RPG Demo Released!

Such a sweet surprise from my good friend, Snowy-Aegis! He's currently making a sort-of-a gaiden OCEAN game with RPG Maker; I suggested an idea of a prequel, but right now it looks more like an alternate timeline story.

ANYWAY!

Here are the release notes and the download link!

OCEAN DEMO 1.0 RELEASED

The Improved Title Screen by EinhanderZwei on deviantART

Well well... 'This is a nice, interesting scene' (c) MADstarter

First of all, HAPPY WORLD OCEAN DAY!!!

And what's the best way to celebrate it rather than to check out the first 4 (technically, 7) maps of the project you've heard about but I'm sure wanted to try out yourself?

That's right my beloved cuties and patooties, Sergei Savenko's OCEAN Demo 1.0 is now live. You can download and play it, like... right now.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• Unzip OCEAN_Demo.zip to whatever folder you like (D:\Games\OCEAN_Demo would be good enough);
• Launch the Launch_OceanDemo file;
• Set up the keys and all necessary goodies (screen resolution, sound, yadda yadda);
• KICK ASS!

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

DropBox | Google Drive | MediaFire

SOME PROTIPS:

MAP02: Hypothermia

• Make sure to explore everything. All there's to find will aid you later;

MAP03: Licence To Kill

• The best route is not the straightforward one;
• Look for hidden switches - there's two of them that will help you dramatically;

MAP05: Fear Of The Dark

• This is a rather hard level - don't hesitate to save your game from time to time;
• Memorize the location of health recharge terminals;
• Machete is good against the zombie nurses;
• Always be on your guard;
• Crouch often - that will compromise the enemies' accuracy;
• Do not waste ammo;

MAP06: Marina

• This map has a puzzle, as well as a lot of enemies, as well as a big environmental hazard;
• Don't waste Slayer ammo;
• Take cover whenever possible;
• Don't hesitate to save the game often;
• It IS possible to jump over to the pool, just look better at the surroundings;

KNOWN BUGS/ISSUES:

• The number of monsters is the same on all difficulties; however the other standard DOOM schema is supposed to be in effect (double ammo on DEFCON 1 and 5, respawning enemies on DEFCON 1, etc.);
• Sean's crouching sprites are his standing sprites squeezed vertically;
• The number of enemies on MAP06 can be pretty unfair - please report if the map is TOO difficult;
• Help screens are not redesigned;
• MAP06 is very poorly decorated... for now;
• Chainsaw puffs in diving mode;
• DOOM cheats still work :P
• The engine returns lots of warning messages regarding the textures - ignore them; the game is playable and glitch-free;
• GZDOOM interface is mostly default;

COMING SOON:

• Standalone Mod (convenient for Linux users);
• ModDB page;
• DoomWorld thread;

THANKEES:

• All the current (see below) and potential members of the official DA group! You guys ROCK!

DoncellaSuicide  | Lucifer-Krusnik00  | Magicisreal828  | pingukasane  | Gothalla123  | Ciullo-Corporation  | bds314  | NemesisIlit  | TheGreyPersona  | EpicMaster3D  | NagainaTheNaga  | LaNora-84  | czmAvery  | Blackpantherwolf13  | Nikunia  | breaker213  | Kalidreamine  | Ms-Ru  | HansTechrist  | Meljona  |  LostMemoryOfADream  | Snowy-Aegis

• John Romero, Andrew Sega and Jason Jones;
• GZDOOM Team;
• :iconvoreq: for the legendary one-liner: 'have fun with your naked furries and fish, freak';
• :iconheellawait: for Svetlana chibis, stabbing me in the ass for teh l00lz, and thus giving me enough fuel for hatred that kept me on when I was feeling burnt out;
• Svetlana Tikhovliz for unknowingly giving the first and last name to one of the game's most memorable characters;

OTHER USEFUL INFO:

Where else!

Micro-Reviews For A Few Underrated Games

Most of the games listed here were/are at least cult classics or financial successes at some point in time (especially thanks to the modern wave of retro games being re-released/remade for services like Steam, GOG.com and even Battle.Net), but a couple, like Disruptor and Cyber Org,.. Nobody plays them, nobody discusses them, nobody puts them in all those articles like 'Top 10 Unknown PSX Games'! Cyber Org doesn't even have a MobyGames page - how insulting is that?

Marathon Trilogy (PC) - my favorite gaming franchise of all time; a series of beautifully magnificent first person shooters from Bungie (the guys that eventually made Halo), notable for their ridiculously complicated storyline and teeth-crushing difficulty. Also, all 3 games are OFFICIALLY FREE now!

Chaos Break (PSX) - a fun little third-person shooter from Taito, inspired by the first Resident Evil. Very fast-paced and graphically sweet game!

Disruptor (PSX) - my favorite first-person shooter for the PlayStation. Incredibly beautiful game with perfect difficulty, great level designs and live-action cutscenes; I'm SHOCKED nobody ever talks about it!

Ys I & II Chronicles (a lot of platforms, but best versions are on PC and PSP) - excellent action RPGs in the vein of Legeod Of Zelda and Diablo, with beautiful pixel graphics and very emotional and sweet storyline; my favorite JRPG series hands down.

Resident Evil: Gun Survivor (PSX) - very much hated by the fans and critics, but I still kinda like it. Totally not the worst FPS ever, and I have to admit it's actually pretty damn scary.

Silent Bomber (PSX) - a crossover between Contra, Robotron and Bomberman, of all games! Basically, it's a top-down run-n-gun game, but instead of a projectile weapon, you have bombs and landmines of different types that you plant on the ground and even on the enemies; this adds a whole new gameplay mechanic to the genre, to say the least! Nice music, solid story and pretty graphics don't hurt, too.

Cyber Org (PSX) - imagine a cross between Devil May Cry, Fighting Force and your favorite roguelike or hack-n-slash RPG, complete with heavy metal soundtrack and (supposedly, since it was never fully translated to English) nice storyline, and you'll understand my frustration over Square not releasing it anywhere except of Japan! The intro cinematic alone is mindblowing.

Pursuit Force & Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice (PSP) - my favorite PSP games ever; sort of like GTA meets Chase HQ. The definitive police-themed gaming franchise for me!

Apocalypse (PSX) - a top-down twinstick Contra-esque game with amazing graphics, music by System Of A Down, and the main character based on and voiced by Bruce Willis! Again, how come nobody talks about it?!

One (PSX) - another excellent Contra-styled game with great graphics, nasty difficulty and adrenaline-injected gameplay. Thank God it was released on PS Network, at least!

Crusader: No Remorse & Crusader: No Regret (PC) - popular back in the day, but sort of obscure now series of isometric action-adventure games from the creators of Ultima and Wing Commander, featuring lots of gore, destructible environments, and a PHENOMENAL soundtrack by Andrew 'Necros' Sega. The only downfall of these games is the control scheme, and that's why I prefer the PSX version of No Remorse, even though it has less cutscenes and maps. (detailed review here)

True Crime: Streets Of LA (PC) - another definitive police-themed game for me; yeah it's a GTA clone, but it has enough quirks and twists to stand on its own IMHO. Big hit back in the day, but again, pretty much forgotten now... oh, and the soundtrack just kicks GTA's a$$ and eats what's left.

Random FPS Trivia

This is the first of my posts I'm going to 'port' from my DeviantArt account. Hopefully, nobody minds ;3

• Warren Spector said that he gave Deus Ex its title just to have people mispronounce it as 'Do Sex';
• The name of BFG from DOOM means 'Big Fucking Gun';
• The name of ASMD from Unreal means 'And Suck My Dick';
• The first game to invent akimbo guns wielding, health recharge wall panels, mouselook and the 'Domination' multiplayer type was Marathon;
• One of the developers behind DOOM'95 (the official port developed by Microsoft in order to promote Windows 95 as a game platform) was Gabe Newell;
• Speaking of Newell, Half-Life originally started as two separate projects; one was a horror FPS Quiver based on Stephen King's 'The Mist'; other was an FPS about Ivan the Space Biker;
• The first game to invent alternate fire was System Shock;
• Although Quake did boast fully 3D graphics, it didn't really utilize the mapmaking capabilities of 3D (ex. moving in all directions as opposed to walking through levels that could be recreated in Doom with minimal losses) - while Descent did;
• The first game to invent zonal damage was SiN;
• Nowadays, everybody knows whose head is hiding behind the Icon Of Sin in DOOM II, and that the Icon's welcome message, while played in reverse, means 'To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero'; it all started when Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud (id Software artists) decided to troll Romero and placed the sprite of his severed head on a stake behind the bossbrain. He managed to learn this the same night (before they told him), and as a comeback, he asked Bobby Prince (DOOM composer) to record the backwards message and insert it - so basically, it was him who trolled the artists, and the whole shift the next day was almost ruined;
• Wolfenstein 3D is a semi-sequel to Apple][ 2D stealth action games, Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein - both are mainly considered the first stealth games in history, along with Metal Gear. id Software were even able to realize all the original games' features in 3D (changing the uniform, dragging the corpses, etc.), but those were dropped in favor of more fun and fast-paced gameplay;
• DOOM started as a licensed Aliens game, before Tom Hall has written a design document called The Doom Bible; it had elaborate story, realistic feel and 5 playable characters. John Carmack famously replied that a story in an FPS is like a story in a porn movie, cut 80% of everything down, and later Hall left the company due to creative differences;
• It's also hilarious that Carmack was sometimes so deep into the code that he barely played the end product; when they were playtesting the Jaguar port of Wolfenstein 3D, he said that the game was pretty fun to play, to which Romero replied: 'You know, it was fun on the PC, too';
• Resident Evil was initially planned as an FPS;
• The first game to utilize 'hub' levels (as opposed to level-after-level progression) was Hexen: Beyond Heretic;
• The title songs to Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity were done by the band Psykosonik (credited as 'Power Of Seven');
• DOOM 64 is not a port of any of the classic DOOM games, but a sequel with new levels and story, redrawn graphics and new score;
• Zero Tolerance was originally supposed to have multiplayer capabilities (although, it needed 2 consoles and 2 TV sets). The official Technopop site even has the schema of an officially unreleased link cable;
• Recent re-releases of DOOM I & II (most notably, X360 versions and DOOM BFG Edition) have 'censored' medkit sprites, since effective recently, Red Cross is against their logo being displayed in videogames;
• One of the textures in DOOM is a manipulated image of a wound on Kevin Cloud's knee;
• Resident Evil: (Gun) Survivor didn't have lightgun support in its US release... oops;
• Wolfenstein 3D was not the first FPS created by id Software; it was Hovertank 3D;
• Witchaven and TekWar were actually the first games that utilized the Build Engine; they were released 1 year before Duke Nukem 3D;
• In Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza, John McClane is holding the weapons as a left-hand like in the movies, since Bruce Willis is left-handed himself;
• Early versions of Unreal had a tribal-looking girl in a thong as a playable character;
• The first ever FPS for Mac? Pathways Into Darkness by Bungie;
• Cult classic shooters Chasm: The Rift, Venom: Codename Outbreak and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games were developed in Ukraine (the latter two - by the same company, GSC Game World);
• (reminded by Snowy-Aegis) The Marathon series is actually a sequel to Pathways Into Darkness - Bungie have confirmed that these games take place in the same universe and even share some characters (most notably, W'rkncacnter and the fact that Marathon Security Officer is a reincarnation of PiD's protagonist). Some fans also speculated that Halo might take place in the same setting as well, but despite multiple cross-references, Bungie have denied that;
• Before (and somewhat during) becoming famous for The Elder Scrolls games, Bethesda Softworks have created several meh-to-mediocre FPS's based on the Terminator license: Terminator 2029, Terminator Rampage and (actually pretty solid) Terminator: Future Shock;
• Contrary to popular opinion, Raven Software didn't always license the id Tech engines in their early days - such games as CyClones, Necrodome, Take No Prisoners and Mageslayer were built upon original engines (the latter three utilized the same one, Vampire Engine) - although only CyClones and Necrodome are FPS's;
• Hexen II: Portals Of Praevus and Heretic II are not included in the Heretic+Hexen Collection on Steam because unlike the other games in the series, those two are owned by Activision (which is ridiculous, since Portals Of Praevus is a darn add-on);
• Everybody knows that Quarantine was released on PC and 3DO; however, there was also a Japanese port for the PlayStation, renamed 'Hard Rock Cab';
• John Romero wasn't the one who came up with the legendary '...make you his bitch' poster for Daikatana; it was created by the ION Storm marketing department and meant to be a parody of John's speech patterns during the deathmatch sessions. He just blindly approved this poster, but audiences didn't get the joke;
• It is believed that the first ever FPS to utilize tracker music was Unreal; but actually, it was 1995's In Pursuit Of Greed - scored by none other than Andrew 'Necros' Sega (who later became an overnight sensation after Crusader: No Remorse, and who belonged to Straylight Productions - the same demo group as Alex 'Siren' Brandon);
• Microsoft Hellbender is a sequel to Fury3, which is a spiritual sequel to Terminal Velocity - how's that for a confusing sequel numbering pattern?
• Final DOOM: TNT Evilution began as just another another fan-made mission pack, but hours before release the Team TNT were contacted by John Romero, who offered them a retail publishing deal. Their agreement ignited a huge controversy and flamewar among the DOOM community back in the day;
• Project Snowblind's working title was Deus Ex 2;
• EVE, the ship's computer from Microsoft Hellbender, is voiced by Gillian Anderson!
• The first videogame that utilized Monolith's infamous LithTech Engine was Shogo: Mobile Armor Division;
• Halo: Combat Evolved started its development as a real-time strategy for Windows and MacOS, and later shifted to a third-person shooter - its first ever public presentation was hosted by none other than Steve Jobs himself;
• The intro song to Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is 'Negai' ('Wish') by Nemoto Miho. It was written and recorded specifically for the game;
• Nine Inch Nails are responsible for the ambient soundtrack for the first Quake; as a returning gesture, their logo is featured on the Nailgun ammo packs;
• Speaking of Quake, it started its development as a 2D RPG (!), where Quake was the protagonist's name (!); you can read the brief overview in 'Read This!' for Commander Keen 1.
• List of the working titles for Wolfenstein 3D: Castle Ochtenstein, Luger’s Run, The Fourth Reich, Adolph’s Bane, Hard Cell, Luger Me Now, Tank You Very Much, Castle Hasselhoff, How Do You Duseldorf?, Castle Verlassen, Sturmwind, Hollehammer, Schattensendener, Geruchschlect, Dolchteufel, Grabgrabbener, Eisenschwert and Dammerung;
• The first FPS to utilize voxel graphics was Delta Force;
• (suggested by Snowy-Aegis) The Half-Life and Portal franchises take place in the same universe, and plot-wise their events occur during the same time period;
• The idea of Left 4 Dead came along when Valve employees decided to test out the AI in Counter-Strike Source by starting a game session with 4 players opposing a large crowd of bots armed with knives;
• The idea of Portal came from an indie game called Narbacular Drop, the developers of which (DigiPen Institute Of Technology) were later hired by Valve;

NOTE: Might obviously add more later.

My Top 10 Video Game Ladies (REVISITED)

Yep, this is a franchise reboot of this post, because hey, why not? :3

10. Nekolyss (OpenArena)

You're probably thinking I'm crazy to put an over-the-top 'sexy' player model from the open-source re-imagining of Quake 3 that I've barely played, but I have several reasons to do so: first, I'm a male subject after all, I find her hot and I still love catgirls, no matter how exploitative all those My Little Felicia Digital Art Tributes get lately; second, I love FOSS and everything about it; third, I love Quake 3 and id Tech 3 engine overall; fourth, and most importantly, she was created as a satire of over-the-top 'sexy' characters made up with a sole purpose of cheap drool-inducing eye candy and nothing else. Don't believe me? The OpenArena developers have stated it themselves!



9. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider series)

When Toby Gard's infamous cup of coffee fell on the Core Design office floor, and Laura Cruz's (sic!) breast size accidentally got three times bigger than the developers originally wanted, the ultimate video game sex symbol was born - just as Tomb Raider the game set the tone and template for all the games in what we now call action adventure genre. To be honest, it wasn't the best of its kind, but who cares when the game's protagonist is hotter than any video game heroine was before?!



8. Taki (Soul Calibur series)

No video game characters list is complete without a ninja, and Taki always nails the 'sexy kunoichi' fetish for me. It was a real catfight to pick from - can't we forget Nina (Saboteur 2), Ayane (Dead Or Alive/Ninja Gaiden), the unnamed protagonist from The Ninjawarriors, and so on. But the kunai-sliced cake goes to Taki, for several reasons: her combos are easy enough to be mastered by a beginner (remember, I suck ass at fighting games), her costumes are always stylish, and of course she's lovable to look at as the blue moon on the star-filled night with the sakura petals flying across the sky. ^w^



7. Eve (Parasite Eve)

Call me a retard, but the supporting cast is the major reason I never played the Parasite Eve sequels. Aside from all quirks, the first PE is one of the iconic survival horror games to me, and the majority of its charm goes to the main villain. Melissa/Eve (eh, calling it a spoiler - now that's retarded) has it all - sex appeal, raunchy personality, gruesome The Thing-inspired mutation cycle, disturbing biography (counting the Parasite Eve book, to which the game is a sequel), and just the fact that she does horrible evil things onscreen, right from the goddamn opening cinematic. Speaking of 'God damn', to any Adam this Eve is certainly one hell of a forbidden fruit.



6. Konoko (Oni)

One of the most badass action adventure heroines out there, this cyber cop doesn't really show off cleavage or anything, but her character and personality are what Konoko-chan is all about. Essentially, she is a walking nuclear reactor, ready to go off every minute and explode into a rainy cloud of blood and limbs (there was gore in the beta version), always aiming for heads and breaking the necks. Bravo Bungie for indulging our perverted fantasies yet again!



5. Cryss (Unreal Tournament)

What, another network FPS player model? Seriously? What's different this time? Well, unlike OpenArena, I've played the Epic Games' definitive multiplayer classic to death, so this Goth hottie has such thing as the nostalgic value going for her. The player model/skin I'm always playing is Necris/Malakai, so in the single player team events, Cryss is a frequent partner. You know, it's always pleasing to see a badass dark warrior princess running around fighting by your side!



4. Claire Redfield (Resident Evil series)

Hands down my favorite Resident Evil lady, since the day the (arguably) best game in the franchise was released. Unlike Jill Valentine, she's not a pinup sex symbol, unlike Ada Wong she's not forced to be considered a sex symbol at all, and unlike half of the other female cast, she's not pointless. Oh, and she also starred in another game that makes the RE2 supremacy arguable, and I'm of course talking about Code Veronica. Well, on the negative side, we also have all the newer games to wipe their feet on her by giving her lame attempts at badassness and dressing her up in glasses and cleavage, but I still love the gentle, sympathetic, humble self-defending-never-attacking-first young biker girl who was just forced to become a zombie slayer at Umbrella's mercy.



3. Samus Aran (Metroid series)

The late Gunpei Yokoi and his gang at Nintendo R&D1 were certainly watching too much Alien, otherwise they'd follow their own game manual and make Samus a man. But luckily (and shockingly for all the gamers back in 1986), the Metroid development team was the first to show that the girls in video games would never remain reduced to damsels in distress anymore. With her amazing full body armor and arsenal of deadly weapons, Samus Aran is permanently memorized as the first REAL video game heroine, from the groundbreaking original, through the epic Super Metroid, to modern days.



2. Rayne (BloodRayne series)

The final cut of 'sexy vampire' fetish and my all-time favorite fanservice-ready video game heroine. Rayne is a redhead vampress wrapped in tight leather, carrying a military arsenal and big, I mean BIG blades to slice down the Nazis, and not to mention her fantastic curves. What's not to like? Terminal Reality knew they came up with an awesome character, by making her moan like a porn star while drinking the Nazi gore and deliver F-bombs almost as frequently as gunshots, slashes, bites and stabs. Bad girls go everywhere!



1. Feena (Ys I&II)

Lovable, caring, tender, supportive - a complete opposite of what a typical female video game character usually is. No cleavage (for the most part), no sex hotline voice, nothing that can qualify as 'hot' and 'sexy', like, at all. What won me over about her was her character, so kind and gentle that nobody else will top her charm. Encouraging Adol to go fight the evil forces, praying for him, helping him out, expressing her gratitude for everything - never did I see a personality person so fleshed out by the writers and more likable because of her inner beauty, not only the exterior (which still happens to be cute as well), although ironically she's onscreen during, like, 15% of the time in both games. But seriously gentlemen, she's one of the best love interests ever in video games, period.

The Space Marine Week #7 - Let's Play Turrican 3: Payment Day!

YOU WANTED IT - YOU GOT IT!

PC Engine [1987] (NEC, Hudson Soft)

When talking about the old-school video gaming consoles, pretty often I mention an unknown (for the speaker) device called 'PC Engine'. But I never got it why was such a machine got unsuccessful and pitifully lost in the shadow of SNES and Genesis. Its library of games is not that large, surely, but the quality of the most is just stunning at times. So right now, when someone nostalgically sighs remembering the NES days, I usually sigh at no ability to get the PC Engine in my possession in the past, now or in the future. Sure it didn't have hardcore CRPGs, flight sims and turn-based strategy games (with some exceptions), but what a massive array of shmups, platform games, RPGs, arcade ports were released on it - there was even an FPS! Such focus on arcade-style games was already enough to beat up Genesis, but alas... So today, I present you - NEC PC Engine!

Developers: NEC Corporation, Hudson Soft Generation: Fourth 'Bits': 8 (main CPU), 16 (graphical processing units) Release Dates: Oct, 30, 1987 (Japan), Aug, 29, 1989 (US) Media: HuCards, CD

      


I. BRIEF HISTORY

PCE was created by the NEC Corp. in the late eighties. In 1987 it was released in Japan, and in 1989 it came to USA and Europe (however, in the latter it was available only via import). Its sort of weird full name - PC Engine - may be a reference to the famous line of PC88/PC98 home computers created by the same company, a platform that gave birth to many now-famous video game franchises. However, in USA and Europe, the console was renamed to TurboGrafx-16. In a weird twist, its success worldwide was just as polar as the titles: PC Engine became a hit in Japan, subsequently outselling even the NES, but the numbers in the US weren't as hot, despite the aggressive marketing campaign, a mascot attempt named Johnny Turbo and constant picking on Sega Genesis. The whole bit war of 'NES vs Genesis', which later mutated to 'SNES vs Genesis', earned PCE the reputation of a niche product for hardcore gamers only.

II. TECHNICAL SPECS

The console was equipped with 8-bit CPU and 16-bit video system consisting of two chips, which led to average in complexity yet colorful graphical capabilities.

Here is the quick specifications comparison with NES and Genesis (the info is taken from Wikipedia):

Parameter	NES	PCE	Genesis
-	-	-	-
Processor	8-bit Ricoh, based on 6502 core	8-bit MOS Technology 65SC02 a.k.a HuC6280 by Hudson	16-bit Motorola 68000 (or compatible) + 8-bit Zilog Z80 (or compatible)
CPU Speed	1,79 MHz (NTSC), 1,66 MHz (PAL)	1,79 or 7,16 MHz (software-dependent)	7,67+3,58 MHz (NTSC), 7,61+3,55 MHz (PAL)
Video Processor	PPU, Picture Processing Unit	Two 16-bit processors — HuC6270 and HuC6260	VDP, Video Display Processor
Screen Resolution	256 x 240	256 x 216	Up to 320 x 224 (NTSC), up to 320 x 240 (PAL)
Max Onscreen Sprites	64	64	80
Max Onscreen Colors	48 and 5 shades of gray	512	512
Video Memory	2 Kb, can be expanded by the cartridge memory	64 Kb	64 Kb
Sound Unit	5 channels (frequency, triangle, white noise, Delta-DAC)	8 bit PCM stereo / 6-channel stereo	6 channels w/frequency modulation, additional 4-channel PSG chip
RAM	2 Kb, can be expanded by the cartridge memory	8 Kb (32 Kb for TurboDuo)	64+8 Kb
Storage Capacity	Up to 48 Kb, expandable	From 256 Kbit up to 24 Mbit	Up to 4 MB (32 Mbit)

For the storage media, PCE used an interesting brand of cartridges called HuCards (or TurboChips in the US), although something similar was already familiar to the gamer audiences with Sega Master System cards. But the real, true innovations introduced by the console, existed just as well:

1. The first CD-ROM console add-on in history. Yes, PC Engine is actually the first platform ever that used CDs to store its games. To play those, an additional module had to be purchased, dubbed PC Engine CD-ROM2 (interestingly, the US manufacturers instead produced a combo unit with CD drive included, branded TurboDuo). Thankfully, instead of stuffing the discs with grainy videos like Sega CD did, the developers took way better advantage of its capabilities, resulting in a lot of excellent titles - again, unlike Sega's counterpart.

2. 99,9% compatible portable version. PC Engine GT (TurboExpress in the US) was marketed as a separate system, and unlike Game Boy or Game Gear, it utilized exactly the same carts as the 'big' console. From the technological point of view, PCE GT was also superior to both competitors - for example, it supported TV output, a feature that became industry standard only recently. Unfortunately, what strangled this system was its price - $299 for a handheld is too much even nowadays. Ironically Nomad, a similar effort from Sega, was also a flop among gamers.

III. THE GAMES

To this day, PCE holds a solid reputation of the number one console for shmup (shoot 'em up) fans, and it was gained for a reason. No other system may compete with it in this regard, having so many games of this genre in its library that are still fun, playable and considered great classics today. After all, it's the quality of proposed games that makes the customer decide to stick with one system or another, and PC Engine does not disappoint. Here's a brief list of my personal favorites:

- HuCard games:

Super Star Soldier - one of the more famous titles for the system. Amazing graphics, catchy music, hot dogfights with hordes of enemies and tricky bosses - awesome!

Soldier Blade - to be honest, it's my most favorite game on the system, also being my second favorite game in the shmup genre (next to Tyrian). Everything here is just perfect. Limit-pushing visuals, complicated segmented bosses, incredible soundtrack and perfectly balanced gameplay and difficulty curve - I'll never get tired of praising this game, it's that good.

Gradius, Salamander, Parodius - very good ports of the classic Konami shooters.

R-Type - another solid port of the legendary Irem shooter. By the way, this is likely the only cartridge-based video game in history that was released on more than one storage unit (two carts, in this case).

Turrican - let's mix up the lineup of classic Japanese shooters with a classic European shooter. Not exactly the best console port (that'd be the one for Genesis), but a great portable experience for the owners of PCE GT.

Download, Heavy Unit, Cyber Core - some more decent-to-good shooters. Download is especially remarkable for its hilarious obscene English on the Game Over screens.

Raiden, Image Fight, Chase HQ, Splatterhouse, Street Fighter II' - more good arcade ports, and not only shmups this time.

Bomberman series - that's right, here's where it all started.

Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu - a great platforming game, with especially memorable musical score. There's also an equally solid NES port.

Silent Debuggers - this is the FPS I was referring to in the opening. OK, not strictly one, as it's more like a dungeon crawler, but still a decent game, complete with good graphics.

Adventure Island series - yeah, that's where this started, too!

Blazing Lazers - can't say that I'm a huge fan of this game, but I'm well aware that it is considered a classic. So worth a mention for sure!

Bonk's Adventure series - see Blazing Lazers.

- CD games:

Gate Of Thunder - believe it or not, the survival of the whole idea of having games on CD depended on this game's success. As evident from the games of today, it was a hit! This legendary shooter from Hudson looks worthwhile even today, with beautiful pixel graphics and the immortal soundtrack, recorded in crystal clear Redbook quality.

Lords Of Thunder - a spiritual sequel to the previous game, shifted towards so-called Euroshmups with their in-game shops, health bars and pretty tame difficulty. But there are highlights, including the fantasy setting and upbeat rock soundtrack. Was also released on Sega CD.

Akumajou Dracula X: Chi No Rondo - before the Dracula X Chronicles for PSP was released, this game was a forbidden fruit for gamers outside Japan. Of course, such fruits tend to be the sweetest, and it's very true here - by some (including myself) it's rightfully considered the best Castlevania game of pre-SOTN era.

Cho Aniki series - if you're not disgusted by such term as 'homoerotic space shooter with bodybuilders in speedos', you'll enjoy these pretty fun and campy games. They are actually well-made, there are some sequels on other platforms, and the music is, again, excellent.

Download 2 - a nice sequel to a nice HuCard game. Same good ol' cyberpunk and ridiculous (im)maturity - the main character smoking was actually a shocking sight back then.

Psychic Storm - yet another decently made shmup, a solid A-. Besides, it's the first shmup I ever 1CC'd, but that's not a big deal, since it's very easy - and it's not a bad thing, since in this case it's good for the beginners!

Ys Books I & II - sort of a port/remake of the first two games in Falcom's cult action RPG series, not the only one, but one of the more famous. This version is notable for having an official English localization, above-average voice acting and the ability to beat both games as one large adventure (which it is, practically).

Ys III: Wanderers From Ys - remake/port of the third Ys game. Again, considered to be one of the best.

Seirei Senshi Spriggan - a shmup from Compile, godfathers of the genre. Excellent graphics, interesting setting and, as usual for Compile games, a mind-blowing arsenal of weapons.

Valis series - very interesting lineup of platforming slashers a la Castlevania, more famous on the Sega Genesis. Unfortunately, unlike the Genesis entries, there were no official or fan translations for the PCE...

IV. CONCLUSION

As you may've read between the lines, I really love PC Engine. Excellent hardware (first of all, the video system and the CD drive), excellent games, and hours of fun spent playing them - this is what comes to my mind whenever I think of it. Don't hesitate to familiarize yourself with it and its one-of-a-kind library, and you'll see how many more awesome retro games are waiting for you to beat!


^_^

The Space Marine Week #1 - Top 10 Space Marine Video Games (That Are Better Than WarHammer 40k Space Marine)

Well, the title says it all I hope, and without further pathos, let's get started. These are the ten best video games that I come up with whenever I hear the term 'space marine'. Now, let me make one thing clear - I've picked them from the games I have personally played or, even better, beaten - so you won't see Dawn Of War here, for example, even though I am completely sure it's an awesome game; just didn't have a hand on it (yet). Also, this time I'll pick one game from each franchise, to keep up with the 'ones I've personally beaten' criteria. Go go go!

Honorable Mention: DOOM

Putting it outside of the list because, despite it being an iconic game that influenced a whole genre of first-person shooters, the main character himself has little to no identity - and that was intentional, since it was John Romero who said that the DoomGuy is in fact supposed to be the same person as the player. So even while he has a face and a recognizable outfit, it doesn't really look massive enough and has nothing to do with protection (as you are collecting armor vests and shards throughout the game). Still, every space marine games list is incomplete without DOOM.

#10. Killzone

Check out my review of this underrated PS2 gem, but I'll still say a few words: it's a great futuristic Call Of Duty clone with interesting gameplay, complex map designs, several playable characters and badass storyline. I didn't like Killzone 2 much though, but Killzone 3 demo left me a bit interested. But even though I beat the second and third ones, I'm not sure if they'll fare up any better than the original, which is still a great game - check it out if you have a PS2!

#9. Gears Of War 2

I own the whole classic trilogy of GoW games, but so far have beaten only the first two. While GoW 1 was a great solid game, the storyline was a bit jumbled, starting right from the action and not ending on that much of a note. According to CliffyB's words in GoW 2 manual, the primary focus during the sequel's development was in fact the narrative update. Epic Games aimed to create the ultimate cinematic shooter that gives player a summer blockbuster experience, and I have to say, they succeeded. More rail shooting levels, more QTEs, the infamous cutscene with Dom (if you've beaten it, you know what I'm talking about), more use for the chainsaw - not only GoW 2 is everything-GoW-1-was-only-better, it also fixed and improved what was lacking in the first game, making it the ultimate modern shooter. The downside? No PC version, dammit!

#8. Turrican 3: Payment Day (aka Mega Turrican)

A third installment in the famous German lineup of run-n-guns, Turrican 3 is often viewed as the least best in the original trilogy. Originally it was developed for Sega Genesis under the Mega Turrican title, but the first version to be released was actually the Amiga port, renamed Turrican 3: Payment Day, and that's the one I'm talking about here. It's often criticized for more straightforward linear levels, the absence of Lightning Whip and revised health system - of that points I wholeheartedly agree only with the second one, while the first and last, in my opinion, made it easier and more accepting for newcomer fans, including myself. Also, it has more like a coherent story, with obviously anime-ish intro and outro that compliment each other. The music is fantastic, just like it always was, and I think this game has the most 'hits' (or, to put it in other words, less forgettable tracks) than the rest. I've once beaten it overnight, and it was a lot of fun - I'm actually planning to do a Let's Play on it. The only gripe I have with it is the uneven difficulty - it may be just me, but the second level I think is the hardest in the whole game, while even the train level (oops, spoilers) felt like a breeze. Oh well.

#7. Quake 2

Just take a wild guess on what makes this Quake different from the others - and I mean really different. That's right - first and foremost, Quake 2 has a story. It revolves around a group of soldiers descending upon the planet Stroggos, leaving only one survivor in a process, whose mission is to singlehandedly shut down the planetary defenses, rescue the comrades and ultimately, prevail in an epic one on one duel with Makron, the Strogg leader. Again, unlike the fantasy setting of Q1 and the WTF cartoony psychedelic limbo of Q3, this game is littered with rusty corridors, decaying machinery and, to quote TCRF.net, 'the best Borg wannabes late 1997-era technology could render'. The multiplayer was also a massive update, although it did blow chunks compared to Unreal Tournament release 2 years later, but that's another story. Add the amazing industrial rock soundtrack to the mix, and you got a timeless shooter, where, for the second and last time in the Quake franchise, single player was just as fun and engaging.

#6. Cyber Org

I can't imagine why Squaresoft didn't bring this outstanding action RPG to the West - hell, they already had half the text and speech in English! But oh well. Cyber Org tells a story of three space mercenaries, T.J., Gigante and Fosis, who once are assigned to escort some sort of a VIP and find their ship trapped inside a space superstructure named Bahram (iirc). From that point, all three of them have to fight their way through, cleaning up the dungeons room by room, sharing the inventory and using the shortcuts via the intricate area map system. Despite all the story messages and item descriptions being in Japanese, it is still playable and fun, although at times, the difficulty makes you wanna throw the console off the roof. Also, it has an unbelievably intense intro cinematic and kick-ass cover art!

#5. Gunstar Heroes

This colorful scrolling shooter was the best-selling Megadrive game in Japan, and all for right reasons. It was created by Treasure, a group of ex-Konami employees (whose previous work included Contra: Hard Corps among the rest), surely known for their innovation within traditional genres. The fun challenging adventures of Gunstars Red and Blue were ripped off in Rapid Reload (aka Gunners Heaven) on PS1 and got a remake/sequel on Game Boy Advance, called Gunstar Super Heroes, not to mention it's constantly released on all the 'Best of Sega Genesis' compilations for all imaginable platforms. I personally have it legally bought on Steam, XBLA and PSN (not to mention the PS2 bootleg and the obligatory Genesis emulator ROM) - it's that good. Also, quite recently I've tried playing it with my friend and the other day with my GF - we had a blast; I swear it's beyond fun and playable even to this day.

#4. Crusader: No Remorse

I've reviewed this masterpiece already, so to put things brief, it's a great isometric action adventure with gritty graphics and violence, fun challenging gunplay, puzzles, stealth elements, live action cutscenes and the legendary soundtrack by Andrew 'Necros' Sega and friends. Check it out!

#3. Super Metroid (aka Metroid 3)

Check out my elaborate review for the details, but in short, this is not only the best game in the series (doesn't say much, since only Other M is a notable stinker within it), but a groundbreaking piece of software in itself. It inspired many games, challenged many players and in 2007 got the Best Game Ever title from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Rightfully so.

#2. Contra: Hard Corps

Four playable characters? A storyline? Non-linear progression? Several endings? In my Contra?! Yeah, and it worked so well! Basically, Konami took the classic Contra formula and made everything bigger, badder, darker and creative. It never bores you, always throwing interesting twists in your face, has two secret endings (additional to the four available ones) and creates four characters that may be difficult to master, but equally awesome to play as. Also, the graphics are some of the best seen on the Genesis - unlike the bright and colorful Gunstar Heroes or Turrican 3, Hard Corps is dark and intimidating, with lots of freaky enemies and bosses you have to blast on your way. I especially like the chase/flight section where you're racing in front of a city full of Tyrell Corp-style pyramid skyscrapers. Nice touch.

#1. The Marathon Trilogy

I BET YOU'RE SURPRISED... NOT! Of course, how can my all-time favorite game not make this list? Landing on the first place, no less! What can I say that hasn't been said about it? Probably, just reprint my comment that I left for Top 10 FPS Games. Here:

To me, Marathon 2 is The Best Game Ever. Or, if you mean that it doesn't have proper evaluation... the whole Marathon trilogy has a solid and complicated storyline (some say it's ridiculously complicated for an FPS, but still it's refreshing to see something deeper than 'USA won WWII!!1 Maximum nanostrength!') that not only is exposed via Terminals, but integrated into the maps themselves, amazing hand-drawn sprites, dual-wielding (including shotguns), and overall stimulating and engaging gameplay, totally unlike Doom/Duke3D - it's slower and, like Unreal, relies heavily on ambiance. Marathon 1 is dark and creepy, M2 is bright and colorful, Marathon Infinity is arthouse and surreal... I like sequels that do not rip each other off, I like deep complex stories, I like 2,5D shooters, and to me, Marathon 2 is top notch among the trilogy... and among all games. :) Plus, they're all free and open source!

You can't beat a rocket launcher called SPNKR. You just can't.