The Gamer's Quarter

[Dracko]

GoldenEye: Plays better this way, that's for sure. I always found it hilarious how everything, absolutely everything, explodes in this game. It's good fun, but honestly, I wouldn't pay for it. Compared to the rest of Rare's catalogue, it feels like a fluke, where the license reigned them in from being mind-skinningly stupid. Just look at Perfect Dark, by contrast: You've only got a couple of interesting maps, the rest being exactly the sort of corridor garish bullshit you'd expect from other N64 shooters, with barely any shift in mission objectives or the like. And the plot is just awful garbage. For a spiritual successor, it has surprisingly little in common. The concept of a cyberpunk super-spy story is grandiose, but they turn it into alien invasion crap. Poor show, guys, poor show.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

IIRC correctly, most of the Goldeney team left after they finished the game and a bunch of other people created Perfect Dark. You can tell!

Also yes, everything explodes! It's just like an action movie!
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[Winged Assassins (1984)]

Possibly the only thing that could make Goldeneye more action packed would be guns that explode when shot at and badguys that do backflips when standing five metres away from any explosion.
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[kirkjerk]

Rare had some cool titles like Blast Corps and Diddy Kong Racing.
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==/\/ >_ kirkjerk.com

[Lackey]

Shooting an office chair until it explodes in a plume of smoke and fire is a cherished memory.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[Harveyjames]

[Dracko]

Beat it in 00 Mode! 007 Mode allows you to edit enemy stats, such as health, damage done and accuracy.

And yeah, Rare are pretty awful. Donkey Kong Country 2 was alright though, in spite of the obnoxious collectathon element.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[kirkjerk]

[Scratchmonkey]

Aside from R.C. Pro-Am, Snake Rattle and Roll, Solar Jetman, Sabre Wulf etc. were pretty good. You could make a good argument that Rare "peaked" on the Spectrum/Commodore 64 and then into the NES era.

[Harveyjames]

[kirkjerk]

[Dracko]

No, no, retarded. Just look at Banjo Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day. Or Perfect Dark, come to that. So British in the worst sense of the word. By which I mean trying to come off as the worst parts of Americana.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Winged Assassins (1984)]

I don't like Rare because they didn't port the arcade Battletoads game which is a really silly reason, not liking them because they didn't port one game, but that's just me.
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[dessgeega]

the thing about rare is that once they started developing for consoles, their work became more and more ruled by formula and imitation. donkey kong country is a parade of rehashed mario ideas, dressed up in the prettiest clothes they could manage. banjo-kazooie does the same with super mario 64 and the mantra of "more, more, more" so you're collecting a hundred dingly gizmos at every turn, and the game suffocates under its own weight.

goldeneye was the only genuinely interesting thing rare turned out in that era, and it was developed by an outside team they grabbed out of school.
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[Cycle]

Rare have been very hit and miss for me (mostly miss, lately). I love some of there games, and hate some others with a passion.

Banjo-Kazooie was actually a very solid Mario 64 clone, but nothing special, Conker was lots of fun despite lots of humour that fell flat, Blast Corps is excellent, as is Goldeneye... their other N64 games ranged from medicore to crap.
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[Harveyjames]

What bugged me about Donkey Kong 64 was there was no meat to it. All the areas that led off the hub were basically just more hub areas. Leading off those were a bunch of minigames, usually about driving minecarts around the inside of a giant barrel. So there's no actual core to the game where you get to just have fun being a monkey. All your monkey abilities you slowly accumulate serve little purpose except to act as keys, allowing access to previously inaccessible minecart barrel minigames. E.G. Funky Kong's handstand that lets you get up a slope. That's all that fucking ability does. It's not like Mario's wing-cap which ostensibly does allows access to other areas but more importantly gives you the thrill and freedom of being able to fly- this just lets you get up a slope while walking slower than you usually would. The ability and what it is useful for seem to have no logical relationship, either. I haven't tried it but I think I'd be less able to get up steep slopes if I was doing a handstand.

Also, while I'm at it, there is something else that never gets brought up when discussing Rare, for some reason. It's like not only is there an elephant in the room that no-one's talking about but a naked emporer is riding it, so here goes: RARE'S CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE FUCKING TERRIBLE






The funny thing about Kameo is that it appears to be some kind of attempt at making a Zelda game which just leads one to think 'wow, you guys don't get it at all'.

[Cycle]

The problem with DK64 was that it sucked! Apart from the reasons you cite, there is also way too much character switching. Like, different coloured bananas, and only certain characters and grab certain bananas. I mean seriously, to hell with that shit, amirite!

Also, I wish I could find that image detailing Rares character design philosphy.
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[kirkjerk]

[Cycle]

yeah i also dont get why everyone is ignoring blast corps, it was one of the golden games for the N64 in my opinion!

kirkjerk lets start a club

i call vice president
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[kirkjerk]

[dessgeega]

actually, blast corps seems pretty interesting. i've never played it.
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[Cycle]

well maybe you SHOULD.
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[Slonie]

I like Rare because they made Cobra Triangle (and Wizards and Warriors!).

As others said before, Rare was frigging prolific back in the NES era, with ports and original titles alike. I'm rather inexperienced with their work on other platforms of the era such as the ZX, since, you know, America.

Back on the FPS topic, Conker's Live component on the Xbox version was all-new to that game, right? (or not right). I played it at E3 and was confused as to why these adorable critters were engaged in NEXT-GENERATION CLASS-BASED TACTICAL FIRST PERSON-STYLE SHOOTER ACTION WITH VEHICLES.

But actually it was pretty fun. I want to try it again, and the rest of the game as well.
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-Slonie

[dessgeega]

i played cobra triangle with slut last week for the first time. the boat felt really pleasing to steer.
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[Cycle]

that game sure was difficult, as with the other RARE nes games. I think I only survived five - six levels.
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[kirkjerk]

[Mr Mustache]

Banjo Kazooie kind of surprised me. Initially, it seemed both stupid and ugly, but there's something endearing about it. That, and there are a number of inspired locales.

Aside from hitting the bee king with the frying pan, and the incredible zombie/vampire portion of the game, my favorite aspect of Conker's Bad Fur Day, was that Conker consistently seemed about as unamused by the game's sense of humor as I was.

. . .

Rare's N64 output was obviously pretty patchy, but there is enough to like. Even Donkey Kong 64 had some neat moments. Banjo Tooie was absolute shit though.
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Straight up

[kirkjerk]

[Cossix]

Conker's Bad Fur Day is on my list of games to play before I die.

Kameo was a goddamn character design abortion. Everything that was vaguely humanoid looked like it was just modelled in Poser and the monsters were all kind of dumb looking. Ugh.

I really thought they did pretty well in Viva Pinata, though. All the pinata in the game are utterly beautiful and they really all just look like, well, pinata. Zooming out to the overhead view and just watching them all run around your little garden, it's just pretty. I was really impressed by the game though, and it seems like a lot of people really didn't like it at all. It's so busy!

[Harveyjames]

[kirkjerk]

[Cycle]

hey excuse me while i talk about marathon, but should any of you wish to paly through the original game anytime soon, i suggest using the music tracks from this site in the game as they are pretty swell, though some are better than others (i wish he removed the jazz piano or whatever the hell it is from a couple tracks for one thing, and was all synths):

http://www.eigenhat.com/marathon

just backup the tracks folder, make a new one and put these tracks in.

my friend did a cover of the first track in the game (landing, one of my favourite tracks) that I also really enjoy:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/upggic
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[parkbench]

[Winged Assassins (1984)]

[Cycle]

well i'm still working on this article about the game which is putting me off talking about it, possible ever again!

also I think i'm pretty comfortable with saying that this article is never going to get done. i keep arguing with myself and find new things to dicuss that i didnt realise five minutes ago stupid marathon why did you have to be EVER SO DEEP AND COMPLEX.

right now its at 2,500 words. i'm gonna have to cut a lot of fat, always the most painful part of writing, i didn't want it more than 2000. not too bad considering it's covering three games though, i guess.

rero what would you like to know about marathon, i shall answer
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[kirkjerk]

[dhex]

cycle due to your st. paul like devotion to marathon i toy with the idea of installing the pc patched versions again but man it's such a weird low resolution it's hard to tell what's going on.
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[kirkjerk]

[Cycle]

If you want a game like DooM, the original Marathon is the way to go (though it's not as good an action game as DooM). The second Marathon was less about engineering set-pieces for the player to go through, and more about creating a world and exploring the immersive qualities of videogames, though there are some very action intenstive levels when the story picks up, such as If I had A Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Someone Pay which is one of the best levels in any FPS ever.

Survival mode on the 360 port is also a good way to go if you just want to shoot shit.

Hey guys, did I mention I'm the number one marathon deathmatch player in the world? Because I totally am.
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[Cycle]

[Cycle]

now i'm playing the original game again since its been a couple months since i last finished it, this is probably a bad idea
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[Cycle]

why doesnt anyone want to talk about marathon with me
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[Dracko]

It sucks.

By which I mean I haven't played it in a while. I still need to finish Infinity, like, for real.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

WHAT.

Infinity has one of the best endings to any videogame trilogy ever! If you understand what's going on!

Dess and I e ven made a banner from it!

FINISH IT.

Though, it is the hardest game in the trilogy by a longshot. Play it on easy!
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[Dracko]

I remember getting pretty far, actually, but the levels just kept on getting more and more confusing.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

yes the levels in infinity really did get pretty crazy. i know them like the back of my hand now though, so it's hard to relate to people who aren't as used to the game as I am. I remember co-opping marathon 2 with someone on xbox live and he was consistently amazed how i could clear most levels in under 60 seconds because i just knew where to go.
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[Dracko]

Yeah, by contrast, I've replayed Durandal a number of times.

I'll get round to Infinity again soon, I'm sure, on an easier difficulty. Best start fresh too to get the full story. What I saw was staggering.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

Maybe I'll forget playing through the original game and start playing Infinity instead.

Once I get my router, perhaps we can even co-op via A1! I remember it being playable when I played with two guys, one in the USA and one in the UK, but my shitty router always caused connection problems (especiallyl if I was hosting). Hopefully the netcode is still decent.

Infinty feels like the game hates you with a fiery passion, with all it puts you through, but it's actually full of love! Look at all this stuff which makes this game totally awesome:

* CO-OP CARNAGE FESTS

Infinity has two secret levels designed for co-op. The first level can only be accessed with two or more people, and is a large open arena level full of guns and ammo and infinitely spawning aliens, giving co-opping players a break from the real game and just fuck shit up. It also gives players the chance to load up on guns they wouldn't normally get until much later. There is also a computer chip on this level which can be picked up, and it's only possible to exit the level with two players. This is important, because it's been proven you can access this level alone via an incredible amount of difficulty, but you'd just strand yourself in the level if you did manage to pull it off.

ANYWAY, in another level you find a place to put said chip, which opens up a passage in the level which leads to a second secret level, again full of aliens to kill and lots of ammo! Well, it was supposed to work this way, but you can access the secret passage without the chip due to an accident on Double Aughts part. I still wish they would fix this for the freeware release! Oh, and both secret levels have fun terminal text.

* HATS OFF TO 819

On the first level, you find a terminal with seemingly meaningless hex code. On the final level, which happens to take place at the same time and location as the first level, there is another terminal with the second half of the hex code. Put it together and it creates a map that can be played in Infinity. It even has a terminal featuring a shorty story set in the world of Double Aughts (canned) follow-up game!

* VIDMASTER CHALLENGE

As with the bungie terminal in Marathon 2, there is a Double Aught terminal hidden on the final level of Infinity. Not only does it have messages from the team, but it takes you to the vidmaster challege! No plot or objectives, just remixed versions of the toughest levels in game, made even tougher. Just kill everything then exit, with a lovely congratulations message from the team if you pull it off (I have! The second level is really fucking hard!)

Ok I have to go to work and must wrap this up, but yeah, Infinity is awesome and a great gift to fans. I would understand people hating it if it was the first Marathon game they played, though.

Interestingly enough, Infinity was the first one I played, but just the demo. I played the full games in order.
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[dessgeega]

i really want to see infinity ported to xbox live arcade, because it's super hard and i'm much better with the xbox 360 pad than i am with a keyboard and mouse.
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[Cycle]

also the multiplayer in infinity is about ten million times better than that in marathon 2.
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