Pete's Game Thread

[Pete]

A brief review:

HEXEN (Nintendo 64)

Produced by ID Software shortly after DOOM, Hexen is set in the medieval period and combines rpg (role playing game) elements with the first person shooter and, sadly, it's not very good. Unlike DOOM it's slow, the levels are boring and confusing and you're stuck with the same two weapons for ages. The only good thing about it is the graphics and audio.



(not my screenshots btw)

[Pete]

Games I've bought over the last 10 days:

games1.JPGgames.JPG

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is fantastic.

[Pete]

That's good to hear!

I'm not going to play it until I've completed Wolfenstein 3D.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Pete

That's good to hear!

I'm not going to play it until I've completed Wolfenstein 3D.

Its like the original Medal of Honour games with added scary shit.

[Pete]

Another ramble:

DOOM 64 (Nintendo 64)



Set after the events of Doom II, D64 sees the space marine on a mission to destroy a mysterious alien queen which is re-animating all the demons that were previously killed by you.

Despite being a success on the PC and practically every major console since it’s release in 1993, Doom surprisingly didn’t make it to the N64 until 1997 and by that time first person shooters had moved on considerably in the wake of Duke Nukem, Quake (which was also developed by ID Software) etc. So instead of simply converting the original game the developers created an entirely new version of Doom with 32 brand new levels (25 regular, 4 hidden and 3 'fun') exclusively for the Nintendo.

Though the gameplay remains pretty much the same - move forward, kill everything in sight, no looking up or down, no jumping, crouching etc almost everything else was changed; the graphics have been improved without ruining the Doom ‘look’ we all know and love. The enemies and weapons have been redesigned and look much better (the chainsaw now has two blades instead of one; the plasma cannon has a buzzing electric charge on top). There are fiendishly nasty booby traps which fire arrows or heat seeking balls of flame, a new extremely powerful laser cannon which when picked up it say’s ‘What the f*** is this?!’ (although it’s pretty useless without all three Demon keys) and a new end boss. Best thing of all though is the ability to save your progress, which you couldn’t do on the other console versions. (Yeah, there were passwords but you were ****ed if you didn’t have a pen)

I should also mention that this has possibly the hardest level on practically any game I've played: L32: Hectic. It's a nightmare to do, and you can't cheat your way through it because the invincibility cheat doesn't work on that level.

Unfortunately some of the enemies like the Chaingunners, Revenant’s (the skeletons who punch you) and Spider Demons have been removed for some reason. There are two minor irritations in that it's hard to strafe and the lack of a jumping ability is quite annoying.

Those things aside it's an excellent, underrated shooter and well worth your time.

[Nordicdusk]

What did you think of Doom 3. I know a lot of people didnt like it but i really liked it great atmosphere and really dark. They used shadows really well go scare the crap out of you. Nothing better than walking down a dark corridor and seeing the shadow of a massive monster round the next corner.

[Pete]

I've never played it. I kept meaning to buy it when I had the original Xbox but never got round to it because the Xbox broke.

I watched a few clips on Youtube and it looks great.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Pete

Nintendo 64 (as DUKE NUKEM 64)

Due to Nintendo’s family friendly policy, all sexual and religious references and swearing had to be removed from Duke 64 (‘Bastards’ was changed to ‘scum’; ‘I‘m gonna rip off your head and shit down your neck’ was changed to ‘In a perfect world you‘d already be dead!’). The levels Spin Cycle and Tier Drops were removed and there is no level music. However, to make up for all that the developers (Eurocom) expanded the original levels to include new areas, added new weapons (Dual sub-machine guns, grenade launcher, explosive shotgun shells, heat seeking missiles, plasma cannon) and elements from the ‘Atomic Edition’: the levels Duke Burger and Area 51 (which are both hidden), the expander cannon and the hard as **** to kill Protector Drones, which try to shrink you and crush you with their feet. The graphics are good but suffer slightly from that dull foggy look which affected many N64 games.

Another good thing about this version is the fact to you don’t need a link cable to play death matches. There is also a 4 player co-op mode and you can even play death matches against the computer.

So despite the censorship it’s still a top first person shooter

Going back to Duke 64 here are some comparison shots showing the censorship it suffered.

On the PS, PC and Saturn the cinema screen has a dancing woman but on the N64 it's a ufo:

(btw apols for the grabs, I have no capture device so I had to take a picture of the screen with a phone)

dukecinema.1.JPG dukecinema.JPG

The dirty book shop on level 2 is now a gun store. Also the level name has been changed to Gun Crazy instead of Red Light District. Cos apparently, Guns are ok but sex isn't.

dukepornstore.JPG dukegunstore.JPG

The strip club later in the level was changed to a loading area for 'Duke Burger' To make up for this the developers added a secret exit to the hidden level Duke Burger' which doesn't appear on the PS or Saturn versions.
dukestrippers.JPGdukestrippers.1.JPGdukestripper.JPG

dukeburger2.JPGdukeburger3.JPGdukesecretexit.JPG

Another no-no was religion so the chapel on the level Death Row was changed to a row of cells with one containing Hannibal Lector (A mangled Snake Plissken also makes an appearance too, which makes Duke say 'I guess he didn't escape from LA' )
(PS)
dukechapel.3.JPGdukechapel.JPGdukechapel.1.JPG


N64
dukeprison.JPGdukeprison2.JPGdukeprison3.JPGdukeprison4.JPG

[Pete]

Arrived today:

games.jpg

Completed RE this morning, took me 3h 36mins which isn't bad considering I hadn't played it for almost seven years.