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VIDEOGAMES

ofsSJSw

THE ULTIMATE RETRO
COMPANION FROM

RETRO
GUIDES TO

Jurassic Park ■
Final Fantasy m
Resident Evil V
Blizzard ■

BOSSES

. MGS 2 ■

.Super Mario RPG ■
Marvel Vs Capcom ■
Treasure Hunter G ■

.T. j r.i '

It's hard to believe that it has been over 40 years since Pong was created. Though
it was by no means the first ever game, it was the first successful arcade game and
one that many credit with popularising the medium. The industry is a completely
different beast now, but we still enjoy looking back at the evolution of our favourite
games and seeing how we got to this point. In this book, we take a look at some
of the games that changed the way we play, from Knights OfThe Old Republic
to GoldenEye 007. Well also take an in-depth look at how some games came to
be, including God Of War, Donkey Kong Country and Wip3out. You'll also find
interviews with some of the industry's leading lights, as the likes of Kenji Kanno,
Jane Jensen and David Darling share their thoughts on their work and its legacy.
Throw in the likes of Tomb Raider, Gradius, Final Fantasy and Gran Turismo and there's
something here for every gamer to enjoy.

Imagine Publishing Ltd
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Ross Andrews

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Designer

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Retro Volume 8 © 2015 Imagine Publishing Ltd
ISBN 978-1785-461224

Part of the

IMAGINE

PUBLISHING

> CONTENTS

BEHIND THE
SCENES

■ The world's greatest
developers tell their story
about the making of your
favourite games

008

GOD OF WAR

058

WIP30UT

102

RUNESCAPE

126

MEDIEVIL

152

GHOSTBUSTERS

168

DONKEY KONG
COUNTRY

THE RETRO
GUIDE TO...

■ Ultimate in-depth guides
to y our r etro favourites

016 METROID

050 JURASSIC PARK

082 FINAL FANTASY
110 BLIZZARD

142 RESIDENT EVIL

FEATURE I
ARTICLES

■ Fascinating stories from
the world of retro gaming

036 GAMING FIRSTS

064 UNCOVERING
ATARI'S SECRET

120 THE RISE AND FALL
OF NEVERSOFT

GAME

CHANGERS

■ The titles that changed the
landscape of gaming forever

030 MORTAL KOMBAT

040 KNIGHTS OF THE
OLD REPUBLIC

070 THE LEGEND
OF ZELDA:
MAJORA'S MASK

092 GRAN TURISMO
116 TOMB RAIDER

138 GOLDENEYE 007
158 THE SIMS

WHY I LOVE...

■ Those in the industry share
their fav ourite games

022

GRADIUS

044

THE SECRET OF
MONKEY ISLAND

068

SID MEIER'S PIRATES!

124

JETPAC

150

MADDEN

174

SUPER MARIO 64

BEST BOSS

■ Gaming's greatest battles
blown up to e pic pro p ortions

034 TREASURE HUNTER G

056 METAL GEAR SOLID
2: SONS OF LIBERTY

074 MARVEL VS. CAPCOM
2: NEW AGE

096 SUPER MARIO RPG:
LEGEND OF THE
SEVEN STARS

BEST INTRO

■ Gaming's ground-breaking
intros brin g the nostalgia

028 POKEMON FIRE RED/
LEAF GREEN

080 ODDWORLD:

ABE'S ODDYSEE

108 SONIC THE
HEDGEHOG

132 CASTLEVANIA:

RONDO OF BLOOD

166 MEGA MAN 2

INTERVIEW

■ Industry legends talk their
greatest work

024 KENJIKANNO
046 JANE JENSEN
076 PICKFORD BROTHERS
098 KINGSLEY BROTHERS
134 DAVID DARLING
162 TIM SCHAFER

retro on our dedicated forum www.gamestm.co.uk/forum

0<3J

you

space car, or a furious half-naked demigod with chains grafted

to his wrists? God Of War director David Taffe reveals how

Kratos was a really anarv blessing for PlayStation 2

BEHIND THE SCENES

GOD OF WAR

m m m i

. « m m

WM|«T|in

BEHIND THE SCENES GOD OF WAR

■ MASCOTS COME IN all shapes and sizes,
m If there were some perfect creation process,
chances are the most successful gaming
heroes of all time wouldn't be an out-of-shape plumber
and a hedgehog that isn't even the right colour. No,
there's no science to it all, hence why we probably
shouldn't be all that surprised that Sony's unexpected
mascot for the PS2 era came in the form of gaming's
angriest man. The last great example of a platform
holder giving one of its studios almost full creative
control over a project could easily have gone so badly
wrong, but the history books tell us otherwise - God
Of War managed to make ancient history exciting for
a whole new audience, just as Clash Of The Titans
had done nearly 25 years earlier, with cutting edge
technology once again at the forefront of bringing
legends back to life and capturing the imaginations
of a generation. .

Strange to think, then, that God Of War might never
have existed had one of the other options on the table
at the time been given the green light first. Founding
father of the franchise, game director and personable
semi-automatic cuss rifle David Jaffe talks us through
some of the other options and, with all due respect, it
isn't hard to see why Kratos came out on top. "I was
looking at a game - we were calling it Dead Man
at the time - and it was an open-world first-person
game," he reveals. "It wasn't exactly survival horror
- it wasn't so slow-paced - but it was trying to do like
an action-adventure set in the Louisiana swamps and
bayou about voodoo and supernatural powers, so
the character would have these abilities and powers.
I liked the idea of doing an open-world, first-person
game and there hadn't been a lot of those at the
time." Given that Shadow Man never exactly took
off to the degree Acclaim would have hoped and the
technical limitations of PS2, we can't say we're entirely
surprised to hear that a game we only just heard
about was cancelled a decade ago.

"Another one that didn't get as far came from us
talking a lot about trying to create a way for gameplay
to evoke the same kind of emotions as watching Lupin

III, the one that Miyazaki did," Jaffe continues. "How
could we make a game that puts you in that same kind
of feeling of high adventure?" The spirit of this project
seemed to make it into the final game, even if the
original pitch never really got off the ground. Indeed,
there was always a clear front-runner for some of the
team, it would appear, and Jaffe confirms as much.
"Those were competing for the longest time but then I
think it was ultimately was Ken Feldman, who was the
art director on all of them, who said that out of all of
the ideas, it was the God Of War universe that we'd
best be able to realise in a really spectacular way.
That was when we finally said 'Fuck it, let's go with
this one'."

Hell, it wasn't even God Of War back then. "After
Twisted Metal Black shipped, we spent probably four
or five months iterating about four ideas - talking to
the team, seeing what they would be into, fleshing
out some of the concepts to see which one had the
greatest potential. From that, ultimately Dark Odyssey
- which became God Of War - won out, kicking off
with the high concept of ’What if Paul Verhoeven had
directed Clash Of The Titans'?' but we changed that
to 'What if Ridley Scott had directed Clash Of The
Titans ?' for the second document because nobody
knew who Paul Verhoeven was."

Lack of cinema knowledge on the production
team's end aside, it seems as though Jaffe and his
team had prepared concepts for God Of War that
differed radically from that original seed. "I still have
a document showing the very adult, edgy and violent
version of what this game could be, which is obviously
what it became, but also all the way down to sort of
Disney's Hercules... maybe we'd do something that
was a little more Mario," he tells us. "We originally
started out with the idea of doing first-person melee,
so God Of War was originally going to be first-
person. It didn't get very far - we talked to some of
the programmers about it and did a lot of research.
Dreamcast had a game out at the time that was kind
of the best in breed for first-person melee, called
Maken X. We studied that a lot trying to figure out if we

■ Unique combat moves while hanging and climbing made Kratos feel all-powerful.
There's no situation in which you're left without a way in which to ruin someone's day.

m oay©

DELETED SCENES

David Jaffe on the sequences that didn't quite make the cut

THE LIFT

r "We built a wonderful level

which you can see on some
■ of the behind-the-scenes

materials - an elevator
through the desert level.

' With that elevator level, we

couldn't figure out how to get the sand to
trap the elevator, so we had to table that."

THE WINGS

"We had the Icarus wings in the first game
too and even though I think they look
beautiful in the third game, I liked the way
we were talking about using them in our
game. It was more of a Joust mechani
more about full three-dimensional

exploring, combat and flying and less
about that kind of tunnel where you're just
dodging obstacles. But that's one fucking
beautiful tunnel in God Of War III."

THE LABYRINTH

"Tobin designed a level that I ended up
ripping off for Twisted Metal [2012]. It was
a maze that started with Kratos in this big
open environment, with the walls coming
up and down in real-time and changing
the level layout. So it was about being in
this space that was constantly changing
and having to adjust. So we ended up
using that for the arena level in Twisted
Metal on PS3, but I regret that not going
because that was such a cool idea."

Brutal finishing moves were the perfect way to end any
encounter, especially considering the extra rewards in the
form of Orbs. Man, that Kratos really loves his Orbs..

•S could make it work. And GTA III had just come
out, so we were kicking around the idea of
open world. So yeah, it really was a very broad initial
conceptual phase while we were looking at this idea
and a couple of others, and it just sort of evolved into
God Of War through a great deal of combat and
fighting and yelling at each other."

Even though Jaffe is clearly talking about the
design process there, he's done an equally good job
of describing the game the team ended up making
- loud, brash and with precious few pulled punches.
That said, the game's violent streak was all kinds of
intentional and for a number of reasons. "As a kid I'd
seen and read family-friendly Greek mythology, but I
was reading Edith Hamilton to research a lot of this
stuff before we went into development and the stories
themselves can be easily read to be very gruesome
and violent. It was definitely a good fit," explains
Jaffe. "It wasn't like we were saying we wanted to
do an ultra-violent Lego game - it was more about
taking that mythology and playing up the angle that it
was really violent, which seems to be something our
audience really responds to. It was just having the
awareness to spot that match and allow us a better
shot at retail."

■■■ HOLD UP A SECOND - did the games
industry's resident swear grenade just cough up
some retail jargon? Fear not, the decision to make
God Of War a bloody rampage wasn't entirely
written in dollar signs - it was as much a creative
decision as it was a commercial one. "I like violent
stuff, " Jaffe reveals, to the surprise of literally nobody
who has ever played a game the man has worked
on. "That's why I said Fhul Verhoeven in the original
pitch - 1 like that fun, over-the-top, acrobatic violence
in movies and games. But I remember being very
clear about the fact that we'd have to make sure
that this was brutal and intense because if we didn't
add that layer, it would look like you were just a dude
running around in a helmet and a toga."

And perhaps that's why this cultural vein hadn't
really been tapped at all during gaming's difficult
teenage years - good as the source material may
have been, nobody could find that angle to make it
exciting and fresh. That takes passion, which Jaffe
clearly has in spades. He has a deep-seated love
for the subject matter and, as evidenced by the best
historical shooters, wartime RTS games and even
football management titles, sometimes that's enough
of a spark to light up a classic. "Greek mythology

■ There aren't a huge amount of bosses in the original game
but regular enemies make up for this shortfall by often being huge.

I WAS HEAVILY
INFLUENCED - AND I'M
SURE I'M NOT ALONE -
BY RAY HARRYHAUSEN
AND HIS WORK

like superheroes - it's totally ready to go for
videogame creation, with all these amazing
powers, monsters, abilities and locations. And
very few people had trodden that territory at
that time."

Since nobody had done a proper
mythological adventure in quite some time,
it stands to reason that another would be
announced while Sony Santa Monica's baby
was still in the womb. "I remember once,
we were waist-deep in development of God
Of War and we saw a story online about a game. . .
what the fuck was that game called? It came and
it went and it got horrible reviews but to see it and
to see their concept art and to read their PR, we
just thought we were gonna be so fucking dead,"
recalls Jaffe. "They beat us to the punch, those sons
of bitches!" Fortunately for Sony, this is the games
industry, and not every title has the heavyweight
credentials or the vision to turn a great concept into
a great game, and Jaffe tells us about the moment
the competition stopped... well, competing. "We
saw it at E3 and breathed a sigh of relief - it wasn't
all that great, not to be disrespectful to the people

/ to a lesser extent, now that budgets on triple-A
/ games have gone daft) where lesser publishers
and developers will sniff out popular themes for
upcoming hits and try to outrun them. We can count
on one hand the number of times it has really worked
out, so maybe the budget hike has actually helped out
in that regard. But even so, how was it that God Of War
stumbled upon this content goldmine that every other
game just strolled past on the way to work each day?

"I guess it has to do with influences, right?," reasons
Jaffe. "I was heavily influenced - and I'm sure I'm
not alone - by Ray Harryhausen and his work. That
was always something that appealed to me and

God Of War
manages
to keep the
pace slick,
the settings
beautiful, the
action fresh
and the body
count high

NowGamer, 2005

THE SCENES GOD OF WAR

jjjj ,]f WHAT

THEY

SAID..

has been something that I've loved since I was in like
fourth grade," he shares. "Clash Of The Titans was
an extremely flawed, wonderful movie - when you're
ten years old and watching it, it's just, like... wow.
That was the summer of '81 when Clash Of The Titans
came out, Raiders Of The Lost Ark had come out, and
when you look at God Of War, there's clearly a great
deal of influence from both of those films. It's

who made it but clearly they were hampered by
budget issues."

■■■ WHETHER HE'S TALKING about Rygar or
Shadow Of Rome or any number of the nine million
other PS2 games we've forgotten is kind of irrelevant
- it's a classic scenario that we see to this day (albeit

■ S something I wanted to play with. It was around
■■■■ the time that we were doing God Of War that
we were starting to see a shift towards budgets
going up pretty significantly. There was that time
too when PSone was still out towards the beginning
of PS2 and development was still inexpensive
enough that you would see all these different games,
things like Second Sight and Psi-Ops - there was this
game on PSone, Tale Of The Sun or something,
about a fucking caveman! - which are the
kinds of subjects that are now more the
world of indies, because they're affordable
and you can take those kinds of chances. We
came at the end of that, when most games
had started having to play safe, whether it was
military shooters or, at the time, crime sims
like GTA. But Sony being Sony was always so
great about letting their developers explore things that
aren't just marketing-sanctioned safe genres and we
were still allowed to play in those waters."

Today's market, of course, is somewhat different.
Big name studios and publishers have shut up shop
and others have tightened purse-strings, while
unrealistic goals have seen successful games be
judged otherwise. "I think it'd be really hard and
expensive to compete today purely on spectacle,"
Jaffe nods. "But what's cool is that there are elements
of God Of War that have nothing to do with the
spectacle - level design, story, characters - that you
can do with two or three people with a copy of Unity
or Game Maker Pro. That's phenomenal and in that
way, the market is wonderful today. But I think if you're
talking about building a game where the total reason
for it to exist is spectacular setpieces. . . it's still doable
for sure but you have to have a lot of fuckfng money.

That was the reason I went away after that game and
moved onto more mechanfcs-based titles. You're only
as good as your tech on that day. I want our games
to stand up even after the visuals aren't as hot as they
once were, where the core mechanics are something
you could come back to ten years later and say 'Okay,
it's really rough but fuck, it's still really fun'. I don’t
think I've achieved that yet but working with that game

showed me that for me, that was sort of the North
Star to follow. If you just chase the spectacle, the
applause you get for it is pretty fucking cheap."

■■■ SPECTACLE MUST HAVE been fairly high on
the agenda in creating God Of War, mind. But were
there any examples of tech not being able to match
concept? "The game was so scripted that there wasn't
a lot," Jaffe muses. "When we asked for something
and they said they couldn't do it, usually that was
coming from production rather than tech." One issue,
though, would have given Digital Foundry a collective
heart attack. "There was the giant crusher at the
bottom of Pandora's temple and [the guys] just kept
throwing enemies in until it dropped to like 12fps. But
we all thought it was fucking awesome - we didn't
care that it was 1 2fps 'cause the idea was so cool and
it still worked. But then Tim came over and you'd have

I WANT OUR GAMES
TO STAND UP TEN
YEARS LATER

I'm

JHEY
SAID...

Difficult to resist
the urge to
simply genuflect
and be

humbled to be
in the presence
of such digital
divinity

Game Informer,

Issue 145 SSSS 3 SS 5
May 2005 in3|||]

BEHIND THE SCENES GOD OF WAR

+ > R GAMING EVOLUTION

Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver > God Of War > Bayonetta

Witches, angels,
swearing and
a bit of the old
ultra- violence. . .
Platinum's
hardcore action
game takes it to
the next level.

thought that his head was about to explode. We fought
about frame rate. I care about frame rate only when
it hampers the game. So we fought about that, but
there was one fight I did lose. I just couldn't convince
Tim and Mike and even to this day I'm like 'What the
fuck?' - I think he must have made a deal with the
devil saying 'I will make you a great programmer
but you must never use translucency in any game'
or something. I kept saying that we had to have the
environment go semi-transparent or we'd have to pull
the camera too far back, and we wanted to keep the

camera close so it was more dramatic. Almost every
other game out there was making the characters and/
or the environment go semi-transparent, but you'd
have thought I was asking him to go assassinate his
parents or something. It was not going to be done on
his motherfucking watch. It was fucking bad and even
to this day, you can tell I'm still a little annoyed by it,
because we could have had some amazing cinematic
moments in that game if it weren't for the fact that the
goddamn engine didn't support translucency."

For all that it may seem like God Of War might today
be a case of style over substance - especially with so
many unlikely usurpers in the likes of Revengeance,
Bayonetta and DmC strutting their hardcore action
stuff - that absolutely wasn't the case with the original.
Jaffe reflects on meetings of minds where gameplay
had to come first. "The guys at Santa Monica are some
of the best of the best when it comes to programming.
And whenever I asked for something or heard a great
idea from the team, most of the time a month later
it was in the game. They were a pretty impressive
group to work with." Have the special effects guys kill
the rainbows and the twinkly music, though - this is
Jaffe we're talking to, not Bono. "But they were a pain
in the ass to work with, and I'm sure they'd say the

■ Petrified? Worry not - escaping is as
easy as waggling an analog stick.

B J same about me," he admits. "Tim and I really
■SSS didn't get along very well. Me being American
and him being British, him being a programmer
and me being more of a high-level designer... just
one against the other, even just culturally, that can
sometimes be enough to break the camel's back. But
when you've got cultural and discipline differences
and you put those people on a project for three
years together? I'd work with Tim again, I don't know
if he’d work with me but I respect him greatly as a
programmer. We got along fine outside of it. But as
colleagues, I fucking wanted to blow his head off
every single day and I think he probably wanted to
do the same thing to me."

Internal struggles aside, it all looked rosy just as soon
as the Hydra demo hit and people got to experience
the game themselves. But even with that buzz going
around, there was still enough apprehension to make
the team second-guess themselves at every turn, as
Jaffe vividly recalls. "I remember being at the office
with Todd Ftapy, looking up at this giant poster of
Kratos that we'd had made for E3 - it still hangs in
the Sony Santa Monica office, actually - and thinking
'This is going to be fucking huge. But within a week,
I was in Gamestop and saw the God Of War 'coming
soon' box and it was stuck way up high on the shelf
out of the way. Nothing had changed - if anything,
the game had only gotten better as we got closer to
completion - but I remember thinking it was going to
fucking tank and be a disaster." But, as it happens,
God Of War was quite a good videogame (hence this
celebration) and such a success for Sony that it's now
easily one of the leading PlayStation brands. But there
wasn't always such confidence, even internally. "On
the day of release, a friend of mine texted me to say

■ Magic attacks help out in combat, but are most
memorable as showpieces for the PS 2 hardware.

■ Stabbing a cyclops in its one eye felt a bit mean
at first, but we'd soon come to revel in the carnage.

OOQO

ON LETTING GO

■ CREATING AN ICON

for a company you don't
belong to can't exactly
be easy, but David
Jaffe is surprisingly
upfront about how he
managed to avoid
forging bonds with
Kratos as a character.

"I feel an attachment
to the first and second

games," he tells us.
'The others are titles
that I have great
respect for - friends
of mine have worked
on them, some that I
hold in incredibly high
regard. I love to see
them succeed, and
as a company as well
given the investment.

But I don't feel an
attachment. I feel a
connection to the first
two titles but post-
GOWII, I've had zero
regrets. I've watched
them and cheered them
on from the sidelines
but I don't feel like it's
my character out there
or anything like that."

GOD OF WAR

BEHIND TH

■ Combining area attacks and more powerful linear strikes makes for a
versatile move set - one where mashing is fine but there's depth as well.

fi£ \

It's set in
Greece with
the mighty
Kratos...
and we
loved every
minute
of it

Play, issue 129
May 2005

there was a line out the door at the game store," Jaffe
tells us. "I thought he was full of shit but there totally
was this line out the door. We had days when
we thought we were onto something and days
where we sat around figuring out what our
next careers were going to be 'cause we were
clearly no good at this."

was we had focus-tested the shit out of that game and
it's a linear process so by the time we got to focus-

■■■ SOME CRITICS WOULD argue that there's
a case to be made for the latter, especially
in light of some of the game's end-game
sequences. "Well, Tobin did the spikes, " smiles
Jaffe as his new studio explodes with enough
laughter to level a small village. The accused
interjects. "You were just supposed to get knocked
down the spikes a little bit, just so you wouldn't get stuck
on them," explains level designer Tobin A. Russell.
"You weren't supposed to get knocked off entirely."
The problem, it seems, was born of over-confidence.
"The coders promised they were going to deal with the
collision on that, " Jaffe confesses. "But what happened

[HADES] WAS THE LAST
LEVEL OF THE GAME,
SO WE DIDN'T FOCUS
TEST THAT ONE, AND IT
BIT US IN THE ASS

testing Hades - which is where that area is, at
the end of the level - we were just like 'Nah, we
got it, we're good'. It was literally the last level of the
game so we didn't focus test that one, and that was the
one that bit us in the ass. I regret that section, because
it really was a shelf moment for a number of gamers."

Issues aside, it's fair to say that God Of War carved
out a template for a generation of would-be mascots to
follow. But, as it turns out, some of the biggest names in
the business can't tell you when they're onto something.
"It was all just a big fucking blur," Jaffe admits. "There
were a lot of nights where we were there until three
in the morning and those nights blend into the other
nights. There are people that you meet that you'd want
to work with for the rest of your career, then there are
people that I have wonderful memories of but won’t
speak to today. I can't fucking stand some of them
today and some of them I think are just amazing.
There are all these little moments that sort of add up
to give you a recollection of an experience that, in my
mind, was extremely hard but extremely fulfilling and
extremely worthwhile. We made something that
we're really proud of."

ff THE H«»RO GUIDE TO...

METROID

She might not be as well known as Mario or Donkey Kong, but Samus

Aran has certainly picked up a number of loyal fans over the past 28

years, games™ looks back at her impressive 11-game career

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... METROID

METROID IS ONE
of Nintendo's least
publicised franchises.
While there was a flurry
of activity in the early to mid
Noughties, there have been no
new games in four years. In the
space of 28 years just 1 1 main
games have appeared, a paltry
amount of releases when you
look at how quickly franchises
like Assassin's Creed and Call
Ol Duty are spat out - and yet
the adventures of Samus Aran
have shifted over 17 million units.

It's an impressive number, until
you realise that even low-tier
Nintendo franchises such as
Kirby have shifted over 34 million
units. These lower numbers and a
bigger focus on Western gamers
(Super Metroid was the last game
in the series to launch in Japan
first) might be why Nintendo has
been far more cautious with the
franchise's direction compared
to some of its others. And yet,
despite a lack of games, the
series has always managed to
feel fresh and exciting...

METROID 1986

SYSTEM: NES

■ Metroid arrived a few shorts months after The Legend Ol Zelda,
and like Shigeru Miyamoto's game, it made its debut on the 8-bit
Famicom. While both titles are adventure games at their core, their
approach couldn't be more different. Where Zelda opts for a fantasy
approach, with a sprawling game world to explore, Metroid delivers
a claustrophobic side-on adventure. Both games are classics, but
we'd argue that the journey of bounty hunter Samus Arun is far more
ambitious. The real beauty of Metroid is in the organic structure that
initially offers only small sections of the huge planet of Zebes to explore,
but as Samus searches for Metroids, she gains access to new items
and weapons that not only give the player new gameplay mechanics to
master, but also unlock previously unavailable parts of the game world.

Nowadays, backtracking in games can be a painful, laborious
process, but in Metroid it was encouraged. You didn't mind the endless
revisiting of past stages, either, because Samus' world just drips with
atmosphere, thanks to Metroid' s imaginative sprite design and evocative
soundtrack. Yoshio Sakamoto, who co-directed the game and worked
as its character designer, revealed the team was heavily influenced by
Ridley Scott's Alien, and while Metroid rarely scares you, it does make
for a surprisingly bleak, unsettling experience.

Metroid is also memorable tor its multiple endings and female
protagonist, although you were unaware of her gender until you
completed the game. It went on to shift just short of 3 million units, and
was re-released in 2002 as part of the GBA's Classic NES series. A
surprisingly effective 3D version is also currently available on 3DS.

METROID II:
RETURN OF
SAMUS 1991

SYSTEM: GAME BOY

■ After the sheer scale of
Metroid, its sequel had a lot to
live up to. Metroid II might not
have reached the same heights
as its predecessor, but it remains
a resoundingly solid adventure
and one of the best examples
of the genre on Nintendo's 8-bit
handheld. Where Metroid was
a more brooding, much slower-
paced adventure game, Metroid
II feels a lot more action-packed
- the Aliens, to Metroid s Alien
as it were. It still shares many
elements with Metroid, but the
need to clear a certain number
of Metroids before Samus can
move to the next stage makes
Return Ol Samus feel more
arcade-like.

SUPER METROID
1994

SYSTEM: SNES

■ For many, this remains the best
game in the Metroid canon. While
there's certainly an argument
for it to be placed behind the
astonishing piece of work that
is Metroid Prime, it's not hard
to understand why so many
consider Super Metroid to be
a 16-bit masterpiece. Notable
improvements over previous
games include the ability to
enable and disable weapons and
items via the inventory screen,
the ability to move backwards
and shoot (far more useful than it
sounds) and an extremely useful
mini-map. Super Metroid almost
undid the series, as Nintendo let
the franchise stagnate for eight
long years, seemingly unsure of
what direction to take it in.

METROID FUSION 2002

SYSTEM: GAME BOY ADVANCE

■ It's typical - you wait eight years for a new Metroid game to
appear then two come along at once. While Metroid games were
quite oppressive to play, due to their atmosphere, Fusion could be
downright terrifying. This was largely due to the introduction of a
deadly parasitic organism called SA-X that hunts Samus down at
certain sections of the game. Metroid games always made you feel
like an underdog (until you retrieve all your latent powers), but being
stalked through the dingy corridors by a virtually unstoppable
fully-armed clone of yourself was incredibly tense and could be just
as traumatic as the well-choreographed boss encounters. Fusion
was arguably one of the more challenging games in the series,
so it's handy that Samus received a number of useful new skills.
While she could grab onto ledges and climb ladders and railings,
her most useful new trick was the ability to absorb any nearby X
Parasites, boosting her health, missile and bomb supplies.

METROID: ZERO MISSION 2i

METROID PRIME 2002

SYSTEM: GAMECUBE

■ Metroid Prime could have been a mess. Nintendo had been struggling
to create a 3D Metroid for years, bypassing the N64 completely and
eventually setting its sights on the GameCube. Texas-based developer
Retro Studios was given the unenviable task of creating Samus' first
3D adventure and began work on a third-person action game. Shigeru
Miyamoto wasn't happy with the game's direction, insisting on a first-
person perspective and causing Retro Studios to virtually scrap all
its existing assets. Many developers would have quit right there, but
rather than give up, Retro Studios created one of the most astonishing
adventures to ever appear on Nintendo's diminutive console.

Metroid Prime is not in any sense a traditional first-person shooter.
Samus' ability to lock on to enemies and evade incoming attacks
immediately made it stand apart, while the carefully balanced controls
made the numerous platform sections incredibly easy to pull off. While
it's predominantly first-person, Samus' Morph Ball ability utilises a
third-person perspective, which is typically used for the few puzzle-like
elements found throughout the game. It features the same organic

"PRIME'S ENVIRONMENTS STILL

STAND UP TODAY"

exploratory approach of previous games, but introduces new gameplay
mechanics in the form of a number of different visors that Samus must
switch between. In addition to thermal imaging and X-Ray vision, Samus
can also scan pretty much anything she encounters, from enemies to
locations. Scanning not only reveals weak points in bosses, but also
slowly unlocks Metroid Primes well-crafted story, which is arguably
one of the best in the series. The constant switching is also found in
Metroid' s combat, with Samus changing between plasma cannons as
the game progresses.

In addition to its absorbing gameplay, Prime is incredible to look at,
with lush welcoming environments that still stand up today. From the
icy wastes of the Phendrana Drifts, to the gloomy depths of the Phazon
Mines, Prime is continually a joy to explore, with little touches like
explosions momentarily reflecting Samus' face in her visor only adding
to the atmosphere. A huge success for Nintendo, it also allowed linkage
to Metroid Fusion, unlocking a number of bonuses, including the
original Metroid.

SYSTEM: GAME BOY ADVANCE

This is easily one of gaming's best remakes, matched only by
Capcom's astonishing GameCube update of Resident Evil. It's
effectively a reimagining of the original NES game rather than a
complete remake, built with the Metroid Fusion engine after director
Yoshiro Sakamoto decided against porting Super Metroid. While
many sections will feel instantly familiar, there is enough variance
to the stage layouts to ensure that even veterans will find the return
to Zebes feels fresh and different. While some of Samus' later
moves have been retrofitted into the game, it's the final leg of Zero
Mission that makes the most impact. The ending of the original
NES game results in a brand new chapter, where Samus, captured
and stripped of her power suit, must sneak around with a weedy
pistol and fend off a swarm of space pirates. It might be short, but it
remains a fitting example of how to update a classic.

W r* ..r».

* iU.V'V

METROID PRIME 2: ECHOES 2004

SYSTEM: GAMECUBE

■ The big draw for Retro Studios' Prime sequel was the addition of a
much-touted multiplayer mode. While a nice idea, it makes for a clunky
experience due to the lock-on system used and paltry amount of
gameplay modes. In fact, it proves that the Metroid Prime
games aren't EPS games, despite the viewpoint.

Echoes has Samus switching between two
parallel dimensions known as Light and Dark
Aether. Samus' health continually deteriorates
while she's in contact with Dark Aether, causing
her to seek out the small safe zones found there.

It adds a little needed additional layer of difficulty
to an already tough game. It's a pity that Echoes
feels so tough in places, as the actual plot (which
continues directly on from Prime ) is extremely
strong, focusing on the Dark Samus created in
the closing credits of Samus' previous adventure.

. THE RETRO GUIDE TO... METROID

YOSHIO SAKAMOTO
INTERVIEW

The Super Metroid director on his Super Famicom debut

How did you come
to work on Super
Metroid?

My boss [producer
Makoto Kanoh] told
me that Metroid
was really popular in North
America, so he encouraged
me to produce a new Metroid
game with the high-quality
graphics that were becoming
possible thanks to the Super
Famicom. Of course I said, 'Yes,
I'd like to try doing that.' The
game design and concept had
already been established before
Metroid II was produced.

What goals did you have in
mind for the game?

When it came to making
another sequel, this time for
the Super Famicom, we really
wanted to see how far we could
push the SFC.

Was it an issue that only three
of the original Metroid team
worked on the project?

The rest of the [NCL side] was
made up of young trainee
developers. Of course young
people can be quite impertinent
- and those on the Super
Metroid team certainly were -
but I think that's quite important
in a way. These young people
had enough about them to
help us a lot. There were many
different personalities in the
Super Metroid team, which was
a good thing. It was a harsh
development environment,
so I'm sure that some of the
staff didn't enjoy the work, but
generally the team was full of
the 'Let's go for it!' spirit. I think
that was partly because of the
timing as well [with the SFC] .

Super Metroid was your first
Super Famicom game. What
hurdles did you face?

One problem with the shift
to the Super Famicom was
that it meant we suddenly
needed a lot more sprites
and artwork, so we shared
the map and enemy design
responsibilities throughout the
team, with everyone making
some input in those areas. But
then doing that resulted in a
complete mishmash of styles
because of each designer's
individual preference, so in
the end I had to ask [Tomomi]
Yamane to retouch everything
that had been submitted,
bringing it all together as one
consistent design.

How did you find working
with Gunpei Yokoi?

Yokoi-san, who at the time
was my section chief and who
always had fresh ideas, was
always angry when he saw
us all completely absorbed
and working crazy overtime
on Super Metroid. He came
in and said, 'Are you lot trying
to produce a work of art or
something?' Although he was
really unhappy with us, and
even though he wasn't the type
to dish out praise, Yokoi-san
was constantly playing Super
Metroid once we'd finished it -
he was hooked.

When other developers
brought their action games to
Nintendo, he'd always compare
them with Super Metroid
and invariably ended up
recommending the third-party
developer to 'go away and play
Super Metroid'. That's how fond
he was of our game.

"A METROID PINBALL GAME SOUNDS

RIDICULOUS UNTIL YOU PLAY IT"

METROID PRIME HUNTERS 2006

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

■ Metroid Prime Hunters gives you a good indication of what a N64-
based Metroid might have looked like. While it can't hope to match the
aesthetic brilliance of Prime, it looked mighty impressive on release,
showcasing the graphical grunt of Nintendo's new handheld. The plot
takes place between Prime and Echoes, and sees Samus embroiled
in a battle with six other bounty hunters. It feels more linear than the
Prime games, but still manages to pack a strong narrative punch. The
multiplayer is equally enjoyable, with each bounty hunter having unique
abilities that make them feel completely different to play. One of the
early showcases of the DS (a demo was given away at launch) Hunters
game modes and fast-paced action proved that a Metroid multiplayer
could work with a little thought. It's a pity then that Hunters is seriously
hampered by its various control systems, which, while capable, never
feel comfortable to use for extended amount of times. The excellent Kid
Icarus: Uprising would suffer from a similar problem six years later.

METROID PRIME PINBALL 2005

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

■ A Metroid pinball game sounds ridiculous until you actually play it.

The included GBA Rumble pack adds little to the fun, but the DS's dual
screens ensures that you can really appreciate the well-designed tables
that Fuse Games has created.

As with Metroid Prime, the aim of Pinball is to require 1 2 artifacts,
which are spread across four of the six available tables. Each table is
based on a specific area of the Tallon Overworld, and is filled with clever
ramps and scoring multipliers. A number of additional mini-games are
included, while many of Prime's boss encounters are replicated. The
ball's physics are greatly improved over Mario Pinball Land (another
Fuse Games effort) while the moody aesthetics of the GameCube
adventure are perfectly replicated.

mCGOTjQ

SYSTEM: WII

METROID PRIME: TRILOGY 2009

SYSTEM: WII

■ This entry seems a little like cheating, as it's effectively a collection
of all three Prime games. It's so much more though as the Wii's brilliant
controls for Corruption translate perfectly to Prime and Echoes, greatly
improving them in the process. Other improvements include shorter
load times, upgraded textures, bloom lighting and a general graphical
upgrade to already impressive games. Corruption's award system is also
retro-fitted into both titles, while the boss encounters from Echoes have
been made easier. It's a superb collection of games that now fetches a
relatively high price on auction sites. Interestingly, both Metroid Prime
and its sequel were released as separate games in Japan as part of the
Wii's New Play Control! series.

METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION 2007

■ Corruption was a suitably epic end for Retro Studios' Prime trilogy.
As its title suggests, gameplay mechanics revolve around Samus
becoming corrupted by the events that took place in Echoes. This
corruption comes in the form of the rather nifty 'Hypermode' that
massively augments Samus' powers at the expense of her health. It's
a fantastic spin on the risk vs reward mechanics of other games, and
really spurs you on to finish this excellent adventure.

It's the sublime use of the Wii's motion controls that really makes
Corruption stand apart from its peers though. They work amazingly
well, making you feel like Samus' arm cannon is an extension of your
own arm; easily silencing anyone who scoffs at Nintendo's choice
of control method, the motion controls add to the overall experience,
pulling you deeper into the beautifully constructed world that Retro
Studios has created.

SAMUS CAMEOS

Metroid's star doesn't just collect bounties

Samus Aran made her first
cameo in Famicom Wars. Since
then, she's appeared in a
variety of games, across several
Nintendo consoles. She can be
spied playing an upright bass
at the end of NES Tetris and
appears in the background of
the Game Boy's F-l Race.

Her ship turns up in Galactic
Pinball for the ill-fated Virtual
Console and she can be found
resting in a bed in Super Mario

RPG: Legend Of The Seven
Stars. She's cropped up in
numerous other games, from
Kirby to Animal Crossing and
Dead Or Alive Dimensions,
but it's the Super Smash Bros
series that many gamers will
recognise her from, despite her
own excellent games. She's
been in it since the original N64
game, with her alternate Zero
Suit incarnation debuting in
Super Smash Bros Brawl.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... METROID

METROID: OTHER M 2010

SYSTEM: WII

■ Samus' last adventure is something of a bittersweet one. While it
delivers the greatest action to appear in the series to date, it also turns
Samus into an extremely unlikable protagonist. Nintendo's heroine has
always been tough, and was typically someone who relied more on
action than words, but here's she's been reduced to a whiny petulant
child, unhappy with her lot in life and appears as if she's waltzed out of
a bad soap opera.

Still, if you can ignore the overly dramatic cutscenes and personality
transplant, you'll discover Other M to be a ridiculously rollicking
adventure that's filled to the brim with some of the best boss fights in
the series to date. Melee combat features quite heavily in Other M, with
Samus having access to a surprising range of moves. Turning the Wii
Remote to face the screen sees the action switching to first-person, giving
the player the ability to lock-on to targets and fire missiles. It's a neat set
of mechanics to switch between and makes the franchise feel incredibly
fresh. Here's hoping that Samus' next adventure continues to take the
series in new and exciting directions.

"HERE SHE'S BEEN REDUCED TO A

WHINY PETULANT CHILD. UNHAPPY

WITH HER LOT IN LIFE"

MORE METROID
CLONES

Loved Metroid? Try these for size

WONDER BOY:

THE DRAGON'S TRAP 1989

■ This delightful Master
System game sees Wonder
Boy getting transformed into
a dragon during the game's
opening boss fight. As the
game progresses he turns into
a variety of animals, which
in turn slowly opens up the
gigantic game world.

CASTLEVAN1A: SYMPHONY
OF THE NIGHT 1997

■ Symphony Oi The Night
was a huge risk for Konami,
as it deviated from both the
familiar Castlevania template
and was a 2D game in a world
that was obsessed by 3D. The
gamble paid off handsomely,
creating the metroidvania
sub-genre.

CAVE STORY 2004

■ This freeware PC game took
five years to create, being
crafted by Daisuke "Pixel"
Amaya in his spare time. It's
a delightful game with tight
controls, beautiful pixel art
and some very inventive level
design. Grab the 3DS version
if you can find it.

SHADOW COMPLEX 2009

■ This stunning effort from
Chair utilises the popular 2.5d
format to tell the over-the-top
adventures of Jason Flemming
as he searches for his missing
girlfriend. While it maintains
the exploration elements of the
Metroid series, there's a far
bigger emphasis on mayhem.

GUACAMELEE 2013

■ Recently released on Xbox
One and PS4, Guacamelee
is a superb metroidvania
that follows the exploits of a
humble farmer on a mission to
save El Presidente's daughter.
Its vibrant visuals and creative
Mexican theme sets it apart
from similar games.

WHY I

Gradius

JONATHAN GORDON, EDITOR, GAMES’

The arcade shoot-
em-up had plenty of
groundbreaking titles in the
mid-Eighties, but few can top
Gradius for its impact on the
genre. It played on expectations
right from the start and
began to set the template for
just about every game in this
field that would follow. The
tunnel gameplay design, the
environment packed with
threats and, of course, gigantic
boss ships at the end of a stage
to battle against. You can see
the beginnings of future classics
and many spin-offs in Gradius’
early concepts.

But perhaps the thing I love
the most about Gradius, that
actually keeps it as fresh and
interesting to play now as it did
on release, is the customisation
of power-ups. With its levelling
system at the bottom of the
screen, you could essentially
pick how you wanted to play
through sections of the game
by grabbing or avoiding a
pick-up. Do you want a shield
or a little extra firepower? Do
you want to equip a laser or
move a little faster? It’s pretty
basic really, but it has such an
impact on gameplay. A
really stunning piece of
game design.

You can see the beginnings of
future classics and many spin-offs in
Gradius’ early concepts

JONATHAN GORDON, EDITOR, GAMES™

■ ■■■■■ ■

| ■ ■ | 1 ■ ■ | ■ ■ | ■ ■ | ■ ■ | ■ ■ | ■ ■ | ■ ■

iVb d€0 w^vwv^w^w^vwwwvw

HAIL! HE'S
STILL CRAZY

Kenji Kanno is the man behind one of arcade gaming's
true greats: Crazy Taxi. We sat down with the Sega
stalwart for a good long chat

While he's worked on one
other title (1997's arcade-
only Top Skater), it's fair to
say Kenji Kanno is seen as
a one-series man. He's the
mind behind the original three
Crazy Taxi games, as well as
the PSP spin-off Fare Wars
and the latest in the series
- a free-to-play smartdevice
version known as City Rush.
Other than that, Kanno hasn't
been directly involved in
the creation of a game - so
it's a uniquely interesting
experience to speak to the
man. We did just that, trying
to find out what he thinks of
the series he has created and
what he thinks of its lasting
legacy with gamers.

Why, after all this time, have
you suddenly decided to bring
us a new version of Crazy Taxi ?
Despite the perpetual popularity of
racing games (and specifically open-
world ones), it seems like the revival of
Crazy Taxi has come out of the blue...

I had been thinking about it a while and
wanted to try something new in the Crazy
Taxi series. At the same time I had a
chance to have a conversation with Haruki
Satomi - he's currently the CEO at
Sega Networks, but I spoke to him
before he was CEO and he told me
he wanted to bring Crazy Taxi to
a smartphone platform. I've been
working with Hard Light Studio in
the UK, where City Rush was born.

Had you had something in mind
for a long time with the franchise,
or was it more of a spur of the
moment thing?

A couple of years after Crazy Taxi 3 was
released I tried something different [Fare
Wars on PSP], but after that I got feedback
from various people that they really
enjoyed the original Crazy Taxi games. So
I started thinking about what I could create
that would be new, to surprise people and
bring enjoyment to them.

Would you agree that smartphone and
tablet gaming bears a huge similarity to
arcade gaming, with their focus on quick,
casual play and so on?

There is a similarity between smartphone
titles and arcade games - you can play
the game for a short time, enjoying it very
quickly and casually.

Why do you think the Crazy Taxi series
is so enduring and popular? What is it

about the game that people love?

It's fairly difficult to answer that,
because I was in the middle of it all on the
team who created the game. So it's hard
to answer why it has been loved by fans for
such a long time. As well as the music on
the soundtrack, the style of game was very
new, making it very well accepted - that's
probably one of the reasons why it has
been loved for such a long time.

MY METHOD OF CREATION
IS TO DECIDE THE MUSIC
TRACK I'D LIKE TO USE
IN A GAME BEFORE
ANYTHING ELSE

KENJI KANNO ■■■■■

iff'

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SS£

■

r ELOPER HIGHLIGHT

- ■■■ITS ODD TO

-■■IT'S ODD TO

go back to 1999 and

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been anting quite to & a

super-iast »“S'““T'TpoW A to ] F<*>< B

Le up — - rynssible. DUiip^*

^n^4 ?ete9 “SB

ft Crazy Taxi lit up the

3 scene at the end ol

llennium.

ounro.aucaKiwa-fflcME

(< /

.■■■■ GGOO

When you first had the idea for Crazy
Taxi, was it easy to get Sega on board?

It wasn't that hard, because my boss was
very cooperative and open to creating
prototypes at the side of main projects. But I
think my boss must have had a difficult time
to present such a new concept to board
members and management, to get through
that and get a greenlight.

on where we should have done something
differently. When I wanted to have some
features in each title, they always came
from very deep in my mind and so I always
felt I had done the best I could. Having
said that, there are two things I wanted to
actually change - one; multiplayer, and
two; transition between day and night that
affects gameplay - passenger attitudes, the
whole atmosphere would change when time
transitioned. I couldn't put those elements in
the game for previous titles.

Is there anything in the first three
games that you'd want to go back
and change?

If you look at Crazy Taxi 1, 2 and 3
specifically, there isn't that much I reflect

here's no real thing as road etiquette in crazy laxi, u »

What was the attitude that you
brought - the thinking behind the
original game?

It's a bit of a philosophical answer, but
in the end, play is providing or receiving
the stimulation of fun. If you get the same
stimulation over and over, you'll get bored,
so my focus was to think about how I
could give new stimulation to users who
play games. So that's why it was sort of
a collaboration between the music and
the new game design. . . I was focusing on
creating new ways to stimulate for fans and
people who play.

Of everything you created with the first
game, what is it about Crazy Taxi that
makes you the proudest to look back on?

I get the chance to speak to people like
journalists who speak different languages
and come from different cultures, and I get

the chance to get positive feedback on the
Crazy Taxi games I created. I feel slightly
awkward - in a positive way - and at the
same time I feel happy and glad to receive
such positive feedback. When I visited the
United States and had a chance to speak
with developers in America and hear they
liked Crazy Taxi - 1 felt the same way:
awkward, but happy and glad. Hearing it
from people who don't speak Japanese. . . it
just makes me feel happy.

So do you still have the same passion for
the series as a whole?

Of course!

Looking back at the core trilogy, how do
you feel with the benefit of hindsight?

When I look back at the series I feel
creating something is difficult - in both
a good and bad way. Also if I look back
now I think, because it's the Crazy Taxi
series, you have to hold onto something.

But more than holding onto something
existing, it's more important to have the
courage to break something and create
something new. That's more important
to me now, looking back.

Of the titles released - not including City
Rush - which is your favourite Crazy
Taxi game?

If I'm asked that question, of course I'll say
I love every game equally. But having said
that it's not to do with me liking or disliking
certain games, but without a beginning, the
series doesn't have anything - therefore the
first one was important to me.

Have you ever wanted to branch out and
make different games?

Of course I'd love to make something
different. If I have got nothing I would like to
create, I will stop being a developer. But of
course I have something!

Are you happy with how the series is
seen by gamers?

As the creator of the game I purely feel glad
and happy to receive such feedback from
fans and users. There are some products
that aren't discussed or received well, but
Crazy Taxi has many people discussing
it and it was received very well - this was
very fortunate and it makes me very happy
as a creator.

/VWWWWWWWVWWWtt KENJI KANNO ■Vi

You're something of an elder statesman
in the industry - what are your feelings
on the state of modern gaming from a
developer's standpoint?

I have a feeling that something interesting
will happen - that's the feeling I get from
the current state of gaming. In the past,
there were clear lines - this is arcade, this
is console, this is something else - there
were clear lines between each section.
However, now there are fewer boundaries
and it feels more like something new. Of
course, there are chances you might
fail, but at the same time there are
more chances than ever to succeed.

Also, creators and consumers
are more flexible than ever - so
generally speaking I think something
interesting is going to happen in the
future of the gaming business.

other games are probably the least of
my inspirations!

In the UK, the arcade industry is all but
dead. Being as involved in some of its
best days as you were, how does this
make you feel?

The way people live is so different to how
it was a while ago - a long time ago there
were no mobiles, so people had to contact
each other on landlines, but just like that
changed, arcades have to change, too.

British developers. The most interesting
thing, I thought, was how the British team
thought up new ideas I didn't think I could
have come up with. British developers
think in a similar way to Japanese - it’s
inspirational. Hard Light is British, but I
have worked with a US studio before - I
found it interesting to see the difference
between how US and UK studios work.

THERE ISN'T THAT
MUCH I REFLECT ON
WHERE WE SHOULD
H AVE DONE SOMETHING
DIFFERENTLY

Did you have to consider this
flexibility when you were making
City Rush ?

I think the most important thing is to have
a solid idea of what I'd like to deliver, what
emotional reaction I want from players.

For example, when you think about giving
a present to your partner, you think 'how
can I please them?' Should you send a
text? An email? A letter? Go see them in
person? But the essence is the same - the
most important thing is to have a solid
idea of how users like to have fun and how
I'd like them to experience it emotionally.
From a business point of view, the way the
company charges is different, it's changing,
so it could be from a customer, it could be
from elsewhere. Companies get smarter,
but the most important thing in a game is
having a solid idea of what kind of feeling
you want to deliver to users.

What have you found to be your main
inspiration for your games?

I watch drama a lot and I try to read a lot
of books - usually Japanese novels - and
I watch anime, and read manga. They're
my main inspirations. Out of those things,

■ Fortunately Crazy Taxi was moving too fast to
really focus on how similar the passengers looked. ™

But the arcade is where people can
r communicate in person, physically,
so it's important to think of something
new that can fit into how people live these
days, into the environment. I'd like to create
something new to fit into that new arcade
environment.

And what's it like working with a British
studio (Hard Light Games)?

It is very interesting working with

developer highlight

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Is it easy to keep the core experience
familiar to gamers when you're working
with these studios that have difference
working methods?

No matter if the development team is based
in Japan, the UK, wherever, it's always
difficult to create something. The most
important thing is to share ideas and why
each person thinks in a certain way, why a
certain person thinks a process would work
in a certain way. Matching up those ideas
between each party is the most important
part, so the overall approach has everyone
on - more or less - the same page.

One thing everyone wants to know: is
Crazy Taxi coming back to console?

I get that question all the time from
journalists, so now my internal gauge
is gradually increased. Such feedback
about bringing Crazy Taxi to console - if
I get more feedback like it - will fill up
the internal gauge, and when it reaches
maximum it'll come!

And finally, who chose that iconic
Offspring track for the original game?

I did. I chose The Offspring and the
soundtrack to use on the original Crazy
Taxi. First, I loved that music. Second,
originally I wanted to create an action
game. For action games it's important to
have the right tempo and rhythm to match
up with gameplay. So for Crazy Taxi it's
a game about driving around a city in a
crazy manner. . . My method of creation is
to decide the music track I'd like to use in a
game before anything else. With the action
game, the city, that kind of tempo in mind,

I went to record shops like Tower Records
and listened to a lot of music, bought a lot of
CDs. Out of all those I thought the Offspring
and Bad Religion tracks suited my
mental image best.

POKEMON FIRE RED/LEAF GREEN

GAME FREAK / THE POKEMON COMPANY,

[NINTENDO] GAMEBOY ADVANCE 2004

WE'VE USED THE Fire Red/Leat Green versions of Pokemon here for illustrative
purposes, but the 'best intro' label can be applied to all the Pokemon games, really - yes,
they're somewhat formulaic, but therein lies the charm: each new adventure takes your protagonist,
a professor and a mascot Pokemon for that generation and gives you a quick rundown of Pokemon
lore, always accompanied by the soaring and inspirational theme, comprised of a constantly evolving
four-note motif. Your high-resolution Trainer is subsequently shrunk down and plopped into the world - a
perfect bit of symbolism for how we, as players, are taken by the hand into the new adventure that awaits,
before we're offered the choice of a 'fire, water or grass' starter. As intros go, it doesn't get much more engaging.

GAME CHANGERS

HE3GOGO

MORTAL KOMBAT

Released: 8 October 1992 Publisher: Virgin (EU), Midway Games (US) Developer: Midway Games (Arcade), Acclaim Games (Consoles)

System: Arcade, Amiga, Sega MegaDrive, SNES

The original video(game) nasty, Mortal Kombat has had a much bigger impact
on the games industry than is immediately evident - we examine how a
game built in under a year shaped gaming forever

■ THERE ARE FEW games franchises as
q 2 2 notably controversial as Mortal Kombat - it
■ ■ ■ ■ was one of the first videogames to divide
gamers and the mainstream press, its bloody
depiction of one-on-one violence a step too far for
some of the more conservative commentators when
it was released in late 1992. Arriving first on arcade
machines, the game that would go on to spawn nine
proper sequels and a slew of licensed spin offs (and
some terrible movies. . .) almost wasn't made at all.

In 1991, Midway tasked developers Ed Boon and
John Tobias with creating a fighting game that
could be put together and ready for release within
a year - presumably to cash in on the hype that
Capcom's Street Fighter 7/had initiated a year earlier.
Ten months later, the game was ready - an initial
development team of four people taking on the bulk of
development. Impressive considering the whole game
is crammed into 8mb of data, with a 64-colour palette
and 300 animations per each of the seven characters.

On top of that, Mortal Kombat also introduced
its unique five-button control scheme that has
since become a standard in the series. A series of
incredibly basic light attacks are complimented by
launchers, low moves and supers - all of which use
simple left, right, up or down inputs, unlike Street
Fighter's quarter- and half-circles. This, along with
the relatively shallow move pools, made it far easier
for casuals to pick up than its genre rival: another
reason the game quickly gained mass popularity.

■■■ AFTER SUCCESS IN the arcades, Mortal
Kombat 1 s name began to circulate around gaming
circles and, inevitably, the media - it matched even
its inspirational peer, Street Fighter II, in terms of
popularity, by 1993. Of course, the ultra-violence and
over-the-top executions garnered the most attention;
with international press claiming the game glorifies
murder and violence. It's comic book violence, sure
- something the action movies of the time easily

GAME-CHANGERS MORTAL KOMBAT

THE ANATOMY OF MORTAL KOMBAT

I MORTAL KOMBAT HAS GONE ON TO INSPIRE A GREAT GLUT OF GAMES, BUT
I WHAT LEAD TO ITS CREATION IN THE FIRST PLACE?

STREET FIGHTER II

” 1 ' f t r— ’ rr> — —

JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY

★ Street Fighter II, Capcom's seminal
fighting game, directly caused Mortal
Kombat's creation. When Midway's
rival launched, Capcom went as far as
advertising Street Fighter as the superior
fighting title in an attempt to stem Mortal
Kombat's very impressive sales rush.

★ In the very early stages of the game's
development, the studio had named Liu
Kang 'Minamoto no Yoshitsune' - a name
later dropped by Boon because he "just
couldn't deal with the name". Goro, too,
came from a Japanese myth - based on
Rokurokubi: demons with stretchy heads.

C0>M!DWAY

MIDWAY'S SCHEDULE

★ The reason that Mortal Kombat had
such a short time in development (only ten
months) was because Midway only ever
intended it to be a stop-gap in its other
arcade plans... this then allowed Ed Boon
and John Tobias free reign on the project,
and, as they say, the rest is history!

outclassed - but being able to enact it yourself didn't
sit too well with a lot of people, especially the parents
of children who would wander into arcades and play
the game without any kind of supervision.

The press backlash against the game's trademark
'Fatality' finishers was in full swing by the time the
game was ready to move into the home console
market. For publishers, this was a tantalising
opportunity: all news is good news, and during
the Nintendo Vs. Sega console wars of the early
Nineties, Sega executives were licking their lips at
the opportunity to get one over on their Nintendo
rivals. Sensing the hunger for the blood and violence
Mortal Kombat offered in the now-maturing games
community, Sega cannily released the home version
on the MegaDrive with the 'Arcade Edition' dub:
something Nintendo's tame, bloodless, murder-less
version didn't on the SNES.

The result? Sega saw their market share climb
to 55% in 1993, the first time Sega had ever pulled
ahead of Nintendo in the console war, with thanks to
some particularly aggressive advertising on Sega's

MORTAL KOMBAT'S
BLOODY DEPICTION
OF ONE-ON-ONE
VIOLENCE WAS TOO
MUCH FOR SOME
COMMENTATORS

Mortal Kombat
mainstay Jonny
Cage was
supposed to be a
virtual version ot
Jean-Claude Van
Damme (hence
the 'JC' initials)
but the actor
dropped out during
negotiations. . .
leaving a parody in
his place

The game went
through the names
Kumite, Dragon
Attack, Death Blow
and Fatality! before
the developers
finally settled on
Mortal Kombat
after someone
mysteriously wrote
a K over the C on a
drawing board

Mortal Kombat
veteran Raiden
was based on the
character Lightning
in Big Trouble In
Little China

part ("Genesis does what Nintendon't" was a genuine
slogan used at the time). Sega had tapped into that
anarchic, 'screw the man' rebellious nature of the
Nineties with much aplomb.

■■■ TRANSIENT PROFITS ARE all well and good,
but the decision to release the game uncensored
would return to haunt Sega and Acclaim when
their game was taken to the Supreme Court under
accusation of being 'a menace to America's children'.
Sega executives believed the case was pushed to
court by Nintendo, though no solid proof of this exists.

Without Mortal Kombat bringing the 'problem'
with violent videogames to the attention of the
general public, we wouldn't have the Entertainment
Software Association (a body that started out as the
Independent Digital Software Association). From
lobbying in Washington to fighting censorship, the
ESA vowed to self-regulate, setting up the ERSB
ratings system - which influenced our European PEGI
(Pan European Game Information) - and even lead to
the creation of E3.

Since then, aside from a little in-fighting between
hardware manufacturers, the games industry has
been largely united in its drive to present games as
equal to other media. Without Mortal Kombat setting
a very graphic precedent in what games could get
away with, it's likely the industry might have travelled
a safer path, making smaller ripples before ever
hitting a level where the American senate had to
take them seriously as a form of entertainment. It's
quite ironic for a game built in ten months, really,
but without Mortal Kombat, this industry would be
nowhere near as developed as it is today.

GAME CHANGERS

* roooo

MORTAL KOMBAT'S
BLOODIEST MOMENTS

THE ORIGINAL MORTAL KOMBAT IS THE REASON OUR INDUSTRY IS
BOUND BY A SELF-IMPOSED RATINGS SYSTEM... BUT THAT GAME'S
VIOLENCE AND GORE WAS IUST THE BEGINNING. DON'T SCAN THIS
PAGE IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY HIGH-OCTANE NIGHTMARE FUEL...

SUB-ZERO'S SPINE RIP FATALITY

■ THIS FATALITY WAS actually referenced explicitly in the court
case brought against Midway and Sega in 1993. It even inspired
Senator Lieberman (opposing Sega) to quote "I was startled [. . .]
And at the end, if you really did well, you'd get to decide whether
to decapitate.. .how to kill the other guy, how to pull his head off.
There was all sorts of blood flying around."

KUNG LAO'S HAT SPLIT

■ WHEN DEVELOPING THE second Mortal Kombat, the
developers wanted to include everything they planned for the first
game, but didn't have time due to scheduling. As a result, new
characters, fatalities and stages were introduced. The best one
(and one of creator Ed Boon's favourites) was Kung Loa splitting
an opponent in half with his weirdly sharp hat.

FALLING INTO THE PIT

■ THE SECOND ITERATION of The Pit (it was the keystone stage
of the first game) was much more imposing and terrifying than
the first. It was the first time the Mortal Kombat series deviated
from its side-on view, instead opting for an overhead view as your
opponent plummeted to the ground, before that spine-shattering
crunch audio effect. . . which we can still hear today.

REPTILE'S ACID SPEW

■ AFTER HIS WEIRD cameo in the first game, Reptile graduated
to legitimate playable character by the time Mortal Kombat //hit
the shelves. His fatality involved spewing acid onto the opponent,
melting them to the bones. Because of this, the game was banned
in Germany and censored in Japan, the first time a Western game
was censored in the country.

GAME-CHANGERS MORTAL KOMBAT

KABAL'S TERRIFYING FACE

■ KABAL MADE HIS debut in Mortal Kombat III. He was
supposedly horribly disfigured, leading to his reliance on a
respirator and a mask that protects his face. One of his first
fatalities involved the removal of his mask, to reveal a face so
horrifying that it literally scares the soul out of his opponent.

EXPLODING YOURSELF, YOUR
ENEMY... AND THE EARTH

■ SMOKE HAS ALWAYS been strange, his whole existence
merged with the Sub-Zero moniker and the ninja brothers that
go with it. Smoke's even weirder moves culminate in him firing a
bajillion grenades out of himself and causing the world to explode.

MEAT'S VERY EXISTENCE

■ ONE OF MORTAL KOMBAT 4's hidden characters, Meat is
supposed to be an experimental subject that escaped Shang
Tsung's custody before whatever cruel intentions of the mad
sorcerer were fulfilled. Completing all Group Mode challenges
in 4 would make any character you select become Meat - so you
couldn't escape him and his rotting flesh and his hanging eye.

THE REBOOT'S 'X-RAY' MOVES

■ DURING THE PR campaign for what the media would come
to call Mortal Kombat 9, Ed Boon promised fans of the AWOL
franchise that when they finally got the new game, they'd bask in
its violent glory - promising it would be the most violent yet. Boon
wasn't lying - fatalities aside, the 'X-Ray' moves alone could
have satiated our gore-hunger.

THE LIVING FOREST STAGE DEATH

■ THE LIVING FOREST is a staple arena in the Mortal Kombat
series now, after being introduced in the second game. But it took
until the ninth instalment of the core series - which travelled to
a very self-aware 'reboot' timeline - for the game to allow you to
kick an opponent into the trees, getting them crunched to bits by
splintery wooden teeth. . .

QUAN CHI'S NEW FATALITY

■ WE ONLY NEEDED to see mere snippets of Mortal Kombat X
to get an idea of what to expect. The new graphics make all the
blood and gore look more real than ever, and the result is some
tremendously cringe-inducing fatalities. The worst so far? Quan
Chi summons a dagger and drags his opponent onto it with his
psychic powers, spins them round and splits their body in half.

W 4F1l I
111 \

W..--

TREASURE HUNTER G

SNES [SQUARE] 1996

■ MARKING THE END of a fruitful partnership between Nintendo and Square, Treasure
Hunter G is a SNES-exclusive turn-based RPG that (like so many of its ilk) never made it
out of its native Japan. But that doesn't exclude it from celebration, as anyone with a savvy
head about them will be able to find a translated version online. Among the deluge of memorable
imagery packed inside the SNES cartridge, it's the final battle that stands out as an artistic (and
somewhat disturbing) highlight. A fire -breathing reanimated dinosaur skeleton is always going to
grab a gamer's attention, but it's the smaller details of design that create the biggest impact; from the
fur wrapped loosely over its bones to the throbbing organs beneath its ribcage, it's one of the most horrific
creations from the studio in its early years. Make no mistake, the Bone Dino is Square at its darkest.

f r

i i

j* . JT

m QOTJQ

GAMING FIRSTS

WE LOOK BACK AT THE PIONEERING DEVELOPMENTS IN GAMES

history, left in the shadow of their successful peers

0X0

THOUGH THERE HAD been precursors which used computer
■ technology to play games, 0X0 is the first game to draw
graphics on an electronic monitor as is fundamentally required of
videogames - though it still utilised printed output in order to instruct
the player and provide updates on the status of the current game.
Written as part of Alexander S Douglas' PhD thesis, 0X0 employed a
room-sized EDSAC computer at the University of Cambridge to play
noughts and crosses, with moves entered on the dial of a rotary
telephone. Impressively, the computer could play a full game without
human aid.

1952

TENNIS FOR TWO

DEVELOPED BY WILLIAM Higinbotham as a demonstration for
• visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA, Tennis
For Two delivered on the promises of its title by allowing two players to
play a simple simulation of tennis, which ran on a Donner Model 30
computer using an oscilloscope display. Though it looks similar to Pong
in simulated screenshots, seeing it in action quickly reveals that the
game is a surprisingly accurate side-on representation of the real sport.
Utilising this viewpoint instead of the top-down one seen in Pong and its
variants allows the game to simulate gravity, and it does so quite well -
the ball arcs convincingly over the net as it's hit by the unseen players.

SPACEWAR!

CONCEIVED AS A way to demonstrate the power of the PDP-1

computer, Spacewar! was conceived by MIT students Steve
Russell, Martin Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen. The game features two
spaceships - each controlled by a single player - that must not only
destroy each other but also avoid colliding with the star at the centre of
the screen, which constantly influences movement with its gravitational
pull. It's a relatively complex design, and was reportedly adopted by
PDP- 1 manufacturer DEC as a test program due to its extensive use of
the hardware.

Aside from introducing the concept of destroying opponents with
projectiles, the major legacy of Spacewar! lies in its status as the first
videogame to receive wide distribution. The game was ported to other
machines during the Sixties and served as an inspiration to other
coders, who produced a variety of variations upon the game. Two of
those would go on to be milestone developments in their own right, as
we'll cover later.

: FEATURE GAMING FIRSTS

GALAXY GAME

A MERE NINE years after Spacewar! had been released, Bill Pitts

and Hugh Tuck harnessed an incredibly expensive PDP-11/20
computer to allow Stanford University students the opportunity to play
the game at their leisure. In doing so, they provided the world's first
coin-operated game. At a price of 10 cents per game (or 25 cents for
three), the hardware cost required the game to be played around
200,000 times to break even. That milestone was probably reached -
the system was upgraded to handle multiple simultaneous games in
1972, and would remain a fixture on campus until technical issues
retired it in 1979.

COMPUTER SPACE

WHEN NUTTING ASSOCIATES released Computer Space, it

became the first company to ever try to sell a videogame.
Computer Space was an attempt to take the Spacewar! phenomenon
and transplant it into commercial venues such as bars, where pinball
tables and other coin-operated amusements had seen success.

However, general audiences weren't familiar with the concept of
videogames at all, and failed to grasp the game, which entailed
controlling a rocket ship and avoiding enemy fire. Failure did not prove
to be much of a deterrent - the designers of the game, Nolan Bushnell
and Ted Dabney, went on to found a little company called Atari. You may
have heard of it. . .

MAGNAVOX

ODYSSEY

"BROWN BOX" MIGHT not be the most enticing codename of all
time, but Ralph Baer's invention would bring videogames into the
home for the first time ever. Prior to the release of the Odyssey,
videogames had been confined exclusively to research facilities and the
select few public places that bought Computer Space. Unlike later
consoles which used programmable ROM cartridges, the Odyssey's
cartridges connected jumpers and logic circuits to enable pre-
programmed games. With limited graphical capabilities and no sound,
players had to rely on screen overlays and keep score for themselves.
Magnavox was acquired by Philips in 1974, and enjoyed enough
success with the Odyssey to release a successor, known in North
America as the Odyssey 2 and in Europe as the Philips Videopac G7000.
The company left the console market during the 1983 market crash.

MAZE WAR

WHEN STEVE COLLEY decided that his maze navigation program

was too dull, his solution would make him an unwitting pioneer of
videogaming. Maze War took the first-person perspective of the maze
program, and added the ability to see other users, represented as
floating eyeballs, and shoot them. Movement was simple and tile-based,
but it was indisputably a first-person shooter. What is astounding about
Maze War is the sheer number of features it pioneered. It was the first
networked game, offering peer-to-peer network gaming across a serial
cable and later being adapted for play over ARPAnet, the forerunner to
the internet. Crafty players also realised that their client versions of the
software could be modified, thus allowing them to cheat.

1972

1974

« GOOD

HEAVYWEIGHT

CHAMP

SOMETIMES, IT'S POSSIBLE to get something right the very first
time. Such was the case with Sega's Heavyweight Champ - not only
was it the first game to feature hand to hand combat, it introduced the
common side-on perspective that has persisted through the genre's
popularisation and subsequent move to 3D in the Nineties. Less enduring
was the control system, which gave each player a boxing glove. These
could be raised and lowered to determine the height of punches, and
thrust inwards to strike. Confusingly, Sega would reuse the name for a 1 987
arcade game and 1 99 1 Master System game.

COLOSSAL CAVE
ADVENTURE

BORN OF WILL Crowther's desire to create a game to enjoy with his
■■■■ daughters, Colossal Cave Adventure reflects his background as a
caver as well as a professional coder. The game featured some light
fantasy elements, which would be ramped up when Don Woods discovered
the game at Stanford University. Woods significantly expanded Crowther's
original game, with more locations, a greater vocabulary and the inclusion
of objects. Many games can trace their lineage back to Colossal Cave
Adventure, thanks to its pioneering text adventure format and the inclusion
of Tolkien-inspired creatures that tie the game to the emerging RPG genre.

SPACE INVADERS

ONE OF ATARI'S key advantages over its rivals in the console

market of the late Seventies and early Eighties was its ability to
bring home the arcade games people loved. But when the Space
Invaders phenomenon swept the world, it was Taito reaping the rewards
- until Atari decided to break new ground by licensing the hit game.
Proving the power of brand names, Space Invaders turned out to be the
first killer app in console gaming. People didn't just buy the game - they
were buying consoles just to play it, with the Atari 2600's sales reportedly
quadrupling following the release of Space Invaders. Within a year of
release, it surpassed two million sales - prior to that point, no stand-
alone game had managed to even sell a million.

SPACE PANIC

HERE'S AN INTERESTING fact for you: in Germany, platform games

are typically called "jump and run" games. Amusing, as the first
platform game didn't involve jumping at all. Universal's Space Panic doesn't
allow the player to jump while they attempt to trap enemy aliens, but it does
provide ladders to allow players to move between platforms - a common
means of conveyance in early examples of the genre. Looking back at
Space Panic, it's easy to be struck by the fact that genres can evolve from
their early designs very quickly. Just a year after the game's release, Donkey
Kong revolutionised the genre by allowing the player to jump between both
static and moving platforms. As the result of Nintendo's monster hit, a
platform game that doesn't involve jumping seems ridiculous today.

FEATURE GAMING FIRSTS

SOFTPORN

ADVENTURE

gmXLi

• r >;

WARFARE AND VIOLENCE
came to videogames early, but
sex came a little later. On-line
Systems' erotic text adventure was
specifically marketed at adults only,
but wasn't tremendously sophisticated
- as you might expect from the game
that inspired the creation of Leisure
Suit Larry. The game was predictably

controversial - it was largely ignored
by the specialist press but highlighted
by TIME magazine, causing hate mail
to arrive at On-Line Systems. However
the game also sold well, partially as a
result of the controversy - reportedly,
retailers would order other On-line
Systems games to mask the true intent
of thefr orders.

1981

COMMODORE

VIC-20

COMMODORE FOUNDER JACK
Tramiel has been quoted as
wanting to sell computers to the masses
rather than the classes, and the VIC-20
was a breakthrough in achieving this.
The machine was aggressively
positioned at retail, being sold at an
affordable price through discount
retailers and toy stores, supported by
adverts starring William Shatner which
touted the machine's advantages over
consoles. This ensured mass market
success, while enthusiasts were drawn
to the machine's surprisingly capable
hardware. The VIC-20's success would
signal the start of a process which

saw stronger manufacturers pulling
ahead, reducing the number of
competitors in the hotly-contested
Eighties home computer market. It was
also the first widespread format that
allowed users to create their own
games, a prominent trend in Eighties
gaming. It was a short-lived success,
though - the VIC-20 was quietly
discontinued in 1 985 as it was eclipsed
by its more popular successor, the
Commodore 64.

1983

THE MUSIC MACHINE

DEVELOPED BY SPARROW for the
Atari 2600 and sold exclusively
through Christian book stores, this
game accompanied an LP of the same
title and plays much like Kabooml, an
Activision hit of the era. Though it is an
early example of an attempt to promote
beliefs through a game, the relfgfous

message is relatively light-handed
compared to later examples such as
Bible Adventures - instead of catching
bombs, you catch representations of
qualities such as patience, faith and
love. Due to the unusual distribution
method, the game is now a rarity which
fetches prices of up to $5,000 at auction.

FALSE FIRSTS

The hardware and software wrongly
credited with pioneering achievements

PONG

False Achievemen

Pong is very definitely not the first ever
videogame - Atari's Nolan Bushnell has
stated on record that he had seen a
similar game running on the Magnavox
Odyssey, though he claims not to have
thought much of it. However, Pong is still very much the
game that launched an industry - though it wasn't the
first commercially released videogame, it was the first
commercially successful one.

ATARI 5200

False Achievement:

First console to use analogue sticks as standard

While every home console since the
Nintendo 64 has included an analogue
control stick as standard, they had
been used sporadically since the early
Eighties. The Atari 5200 was the first
high profile console to use such a device, but an earlier
example is known: the 1292 Advanced Programmable
Video System, designed in 1976 by German manufacturer
Radofin, licensed throughout Europe.

GAME BOY

False Achievemeni

When handheld gaming finally came of
age in 1989, Nintendo was there leading
the charge with the Game Boy. But while
the primitive technology can fool players
into thinking it was a pioneer, the real beginning came
in 1979 with Milton Bradley's Microvision, a handheld
console featuring interchangeable cartridges. The black
and white LCD screen, the most commonly malfunctioning
part of the system, had a very low resolution of 16 x 16.

First console to include four controller ports

NINTENDO 64

False Achievement:

While it was nice to enjoy GoldenEye
007 and Mario Kart 64 without having to
dig out a multitap, Nintendo's console
wasn't the first to allow more than two
players to compete. The Atari 5200
had four ports in the early Eighties, and prior to that the
Bally Astrocade introduced the feature. The long-forgotten
pioneer was developed in 1976 by Midway then the
videogames division of Bally Manufacturing.

CHUCHU ROCKET

False Achievement:

While the Dreamcast was the first
console to support online play out of
the box, modem peripherals had been
available for many years prior - even
the Atari 2600 had such an item,
though it wasn't used for competitive gaming. The XBAND
modem, released for the SNES and Mega Drive in 1994,
was the first such peripheral to offer competitive console
gaming and did so across a variety of titles.

GAME CHANGERS

* roooo

STAR WARS: KNIGHTS
OF THE OLD REPUBLIC

Released: 15 July, 2003 Publisher: LucasArts Developer: BioWare System: PC, Xbox

Everyone has fantasised about being a Jedi or Sith. In 2003, BioWare and
LucasArts made that a reality - letting us live out our Star Wars dream

I STAR WARS: KNIGHTS Of The Old Republic
■ ■■ was 9 roun d-breaking for two major reasons
■ ■■■ - firstly, the game proved what a videogame
could do with the Star Wars property: it wasn't just
some cynical licensed cash-in (something that was
expected back in the early Noughties). It was also,
at the time of release, a cutting edge RPG - back in
2003, taking up 4GB on a hard-drive was unheard of.
But it wasn't just a necessity for BioWare to use this
much memory - it was also a statement of intent.

Knights Of The Old Republic was one of the deepest
RPGs ever made at the time of release. It also added
depth to other genres; there were sections of the game
that relied on tactical third-person shooting and even
first-person shooting areas, too. BioWare took the real-
time combat popularised by MMORPGs and applied
the mechanics to the single-player RPG, resulting in

a unique half-turn based, half-real time hybrid that
BioWare has since perfected across the Mass Effect
and Dragon Age franchises.

The idea behind this wholly new approach to
combat was to channel the inherent cinematography
that came with the Star Wars franchise and gamify
it; making encounters fast and action-oriented,
every encounter similar to something you'd see
Lucas himself orchestrate. It helped that BioWare
and LucasArts had a very fluid and understanding
relationship - considering how precious LucasArts
could be about its property, BioWare has gone on
record as saying 'very little' of its initial content was
changed. High praise indeed for a licensed game.

The game was noted for its technical achievements
- BioWare chose the Xbox as the game's leading
platform because of its compatibility with the PC

•GAME-CHANGERS STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC:

THE ANATOMY OF KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC ^

' KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC HAS GONE ON TO INSPIRE A WEALTH OF ™

OTHER RPGS, BUT WHAT INSPIRED THE GAME IN THE FIRST PLACE?

★ Wizards of the Coast's d20-based
roleplaying game was a Dungeons &
Dragons inspired tabletop game that
required players to choose a certain class
at the beginning of a story and then work
together to progress in the game. ..seem
slightly familiar?

K—

i_l

| BALDUR'S GATE

★ BioWare's previous games formed the
foundations on which Knights Of The Old
Republic would later be built - the iconic
combat system actually started out as
an exact carbon copy of Baldur's Gates
strategically-centred mechanic before
adjustments were made.

★ The development team looked towards
the revolutionary Deus Ex for inspiration
to see how a game could make the player
think about all the multiple paths its
protagonist could take through a single
level, and apply a roster's worth of skills to
solve the puzzle.

(which BioWare was already well-versed in, thanks
to Neverwinter Nights) and because the studio
could achieve its vision of a huge, open world on the
console. It was a vision that was well achieved; by the
time the game shipped, it had grass that reacted to
real-time wind, reactive dust on Tatooine and sand
that remembers a player's footsteps - all of which
were ground-breaking on console.

■■■ THE GAME WAS also the first in the industry
to weave a proper morality scale into the gameplay
- the choices offered to us moved beyond the
end-game 'kill or save everyone options offered in
action-RPGs before (with, perhaps, the exception
of Deus Ex). Knights Of The Old Republic took that
design philosophy to its logical conclusion; BioWare's
seminal RPG had iterative decisions that affected the
events in the story at pre-defined beats throughout
the narrative, beats that were less binary than the
law, chaos or neutral paths offered in Japanese
alternatives on the market.

rr WAS AN RPG ANY-
ONE COULD ENJOY
- FROM WEATHERED
ROLE PLAYERS TO
FRESH-EYED STAR
WARS FANS

Jennifer Hale

- who voiced the
female protagonist -
would go on to have
a very lucrative
relationship with
BioWare, eventually
voicing the female
Shepard in the
Mass Effect trilogy.

Each selectable
class in-game is
based on a leading
Star Wars character

- Bounty Hunter
(Boba Fett), Sorcerer
(Darth Sidious),

Jedi Knight (Luke
Skywalker) and
Smuggler (Han
Solo) to name just

a few.

The PC version's
additional location,
NPCs and weapons
were ultimately
added to console
via Xbox Live.

But what's the point in making us choose how
we want the game to play out if we don't feel like
we have a stake in the world? Enter BioWare's
biggest strength: character development. It helped
that Knights Of The Old Republic had the Star
Wars universe to provide an elaborate backdrop,
but BioWare was smart - it chose to delve into an
undeveloped part of Lucas' lore, some 4000 years
before the events of what would become Episode I.

This allowed the developers to establish its own
world, replete with countless opportunities to tamper
with Star Wars lore for its own ends. This lead to
characters on both the Dark and Light sides that
were fully fleshed out and human, something that
RPGs had rarely managed to do before. It helped that
each main character was fully voice acted, and acted
well, too; each reaction and response to the player's
actions catered and specifically directed to suit your
alignment. This was a labour of love at LucasArts
and BioWare - the voice recording took over a month
of solid work, with actors recording throughout the
day and night over five weeks to get enough lines to
account for the game's non-linear structure.

The result of this ambitious and multi-faceted
approach was a watershed moment for Western
development - during the early 2000s, there was a
rebellion against the stagnating RPG scene that was
starting to congeal in Japan. BioWare came along
and proved the RPG didn't have to be hidden behind
walls of text and inaccessible menus, spikey-haired
protagonists and battles with God: this was an RPG
anyone could enjoy - from weathered dice-wielding
role players to fresh-eyed Star Wars fans. BioWare
changed the world - it doesn't take a Jedi to see that.

mm rzctf'M 7\

8 OF BIOWARE'S
MOST MEMORABLE
COMPANIONS

BIO WARE MAY HAVE CARVED OUT A NICHE WITH ITS WELL-
REALISED CHARACTERS IN KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC,
BUT THEY WEREN'T THE FIRST (OR LAST) GREAT PERSONAS

THEY WOULD CRAFT

HK-47

■ HK-47 IS A Hunter-Killer assassin droid made by the Dark Sith
Lord, Darth Revan in KOTOR. His memory wiped, he's a nomadic
sociopath - a misanthropic machine motivated by a desire for
chaos, and an irrational hatred of organic life. His idea of love, for
example, is "making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometres
away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope."

GARRUS VAKARIAN

■ GARRUS HAS THE outward appearance of a cold, hard killer.
Like most Turians, he was trained in all aspects of military combat
by the age of 15. But a love for the order of things lead him to the
police force, where he meets your character in the first Mass Effect
Here, you slowly unravel the enigma that is Garrus - the confident,
loyal and mostly untainted good force in the Mass Effect galaxy.

GAME-CHANGERS STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC!

MINSC

■ THE HULKING TATTOOED ranger is passable on his own, but
it's his odd pet - Boo - that makes Minsc endearing. The 'miniature
giant space hamster' lets Minsc express himself in an unself-
conscious way by chatting nonsense to his pet. In Baldur's Gate II,
BioWare gave him motivation, making him even more empathetic.

MISSION VAO

■ THE STREET URCHIN turned Ebon Hawk crew mate, Mission
was a uniquely damaged Twi'lek in KOTOR - she's got a sunny
disposition despite a history of abandonment. Her relationship
with Wookie Zaalbar, is reminiscent of Han's relationship with
Chewbacca - and that's sure of getting into our hearts.

VARRIC

■ ONE OF GAMING'S most endearing rascals, Varric is an
important Dragon Age character due to his unique placement as
a narrator. Yes, he likes to elaborate, and yes, he likes to lace his
stories with a little self-aggrandising pomp, but he's a good friend to
your protagonist and, beneath it all, has a heart of gold.

THANE KRIOS

■ THANE IS AN assassin, but makes each assassination intimate,
memorable. He's got a photographic memory that lets him relive
each of his kills in detail - not helping his intense guilt complex. Oh,
and he's terminally ill, giving his whole arc a definitive ending that's
emotionally crippling by the end of Mass Elfect 3.

DR. LIARA T'SONI

■ BIOWARE ONCE AGAIN shows its ability to infuse characters
with unique personalities with Liara - it would've been so easy to
reduce her to being Mass Effect's science-toting hippy pacifist, but
that's just boring. Rather, Liara has serious mummy issues, with a
wistful naivety and confused feelings towards humanity. She made
you want to be a better Spectre in the game, and a better human.

ALISTAIR

■ IN A WORLD as brutal as Dragon Age's, it's important to have
someone to provide a little comic relief. Luckily, Alistair has this
incredible gift for relieving the tension when you most need it. It's
like he can surgically deliver the most reassuring line on a whim,
always with a self-aware smile. He's like Dragon Age's big brother
figure; it's a shame he isn't quite fit to be ruler of the kingdom, isn't it?

MHV I

The Secret Of
Monkey Island

JAMES GOLDING, LEAD ENGINE
PROGRAMMER (UNREAL), EPIC

My favourite game

ever is The Secret Of
Monkey Island - it’s such a
great mix of clever mechanics
and intelligent design. It’s
funny, too, which a lot of
games weren’t back then. It
wasn’t ever trying to beat you,
either, just entertain you. I
think there’s only one way
to die throughout the whole
game - it was about playing it,
rather than it playing you. It
felt like such a complete world,
too, and few games have
made such a compelling and
complete fantasy world
as that did. I will still find
myself humming the music
to myself, too, years later.
Everything about it just invited
you to come and play, and not
a lot of games have that
any more.

Nail

Give Pick up Use
Opep Look at Push
Close Talk to Pull

It felt like such a complete world,
and few games have made such a
compelling and complete fantasy
world as Monkey Island did

JAMES GOLDING, LEAD ENGINE PROGRAMMER (UNREAL), EPIC

«. ' " * v» 4<

tie HT
w%

R etrd

iTTpi

JANE JENSEN

Her Gabriel Knight adventure games stood out in the
Nineties for their dark, layered stories and mature themes.
Two decades later, Jane Jensen's Schattenjager re-emerges

from the shadows

Jane Jensen was an aspiring
writer and adventure game
fan when a short story she
wrote caught the eye of a
hiring manager at Sierra
On-Line. She went on to
become one of Sierra's
renowned game designers,
responsible for a trilogy
of supernatural mystery
adventures starring the
roguish Gabriel Knight — a
wannabe novelist turned
Shadow Hunter — and
his cynical assistant and
sometimes love interest,
Grace Nakamura. Though
she kept making games
after Sierra's 1999 shutdown,
Gabriel Knight remains the
prolific writer/designer's best-
known work. With the release
of the Gabriel Knight: Sins Of
The Fathers 20th Anniversary
Edition putting her beloved
Schattenjager back in the
spotlight, we caught up with
Jane to talk about her career
highlights and where she
hopes to take Gabriel and
Grace from here.

J You'd been at Sierra a few

ggg years when co-founder Roberta
• • ■ ■ Williams suggested you pitch
your own game — Gabriel Knight: Sins Of
The Fathers. How was that development
different to your work so far?

When I first started at Sierra, I was hired
to be part of the writer's block. We were
told, "You'll never be a designer, don't
have that ambition, don't get yourself
stressed about it because that's never
going to happen." Just sit here and write
dialogue and shut up, basically.

[laughs] But that's not the way it J J

worked out. •><

I had a huge sense of ambition “ “

and passion [on Gabriel Knight Vi

JJ. It was my chance and I really, R]

really wanted to be a game
designer. We had a passionate
team and we were just really
cranking on it. The game I did
previously was King's Quest VI,
which I co-designed with Roberta, and
I was basically the one who was in the
office every day, cranking out the "look"
dialogue and stuff like that. So Gabriel
Knight wasn't vastly different in terms of
what I actually had to do, but because this
was my own thing, and it was a darker,
more mature story, and it was a more

in-depth story, I cared about it a lot. I was
very anxious to see it turn out well.

At what point did you know Sins Of The
Fathers would be a hit?

We had taken the first day on floppy disk
as a demo to E3. We got such a positive
reaction to that, and by the time we
shipped we got a magazine cover from
Computer Gaming World, we'd sent out a
preview build that had gotten really good
buzz. So we kind of knew by the time it

I HAD HUGE AMBITION AND
PASSION. GABRIEL KNIGHT
WAS MY CHANCE AND I
REALLY REALLY WANTED
TO BE A GAME DESIGNER

shipped that it was a successful
title, and I pretty much rolled right on
to Gabriel Knight 2.

How did the vibe at Sierra change
throughout development of the Gabriel
Knight series?

At the time that I started at Sierra, [the
company] was really at its peak. After GK1,
Sierra as a whole started waning a bit. A

JANE ON MOEBIUS.- EMPIRE RISING

vvim MULtilUb, II was nice working with
a team [Phoenix Online] who were really into
adventure games and who in general were
very cooperative, trying to do anything that I wanted to
do. I really like how cinematic it is, and the voiceover
production was great, I love the actors. So all of that
sitive. The difficult part was the stress of managing the
[ways been the designer and creative director, I've never

1 ,

■ ■ "Gray Matters second development team was in Paris, and they had
amazing artists," Jane recalls. "They'd send me concept art and it was just
S| like, wow. Probably the best art I've ever had on a game."

ane's casual game series Dr. Lynch:
am an idea she had at Siena: It was an Agatha Chnstie isn,
azy British mystery with this hyper-cynical, skeptic guy whowc
ebunking this supposedly haunted archeology_she_^^

involved with a company doing casual
games [Oberon Media]. This was pretty
early on — there was Big Fish Games, and
Bejeweled had just come out, but this was
before hidden object games. So it was a
brand new market, and it was clear from
the statistics that it was a heavily female
market. Strategically I was thinking if I
could establish this company, then long-
term we could do adventure games and
this would be a good audience for it.
Because one of the things that was clear
to me about the industry was that big
publishers were mainly making games for
that 18-25 year old male market, and that
wasn't an adventure game audience.

The last E3 I went to, it was all
Stormtroopers and girls in bikinis,
and it was like, these guys don't care
about Gabriel Knight. This is really a
generalisation, but in general if you offer
an 18-year-old guy a choice between
Tomb Raider, or King's Quest, or Gabriel
Knight, he's not going to be choosing the
adventure game. And even on Gabriel
Knight I had gotten a lot of feedback from
people saying, "I played this with my
girlfriend and she loved it." It seemed like
I was getting letters like that constantly,
telling me that it was particularly
interesting to the female audience.

MATTER

lot of that was trying to figure out,
"What is the next big thing? How do
we get ahead of the curve?" With the FMV
[of Gabriel Knight 2], and then the real-
time 3D [of Gabriel Knight 3\, the company
itself was trying to figure out, "How do we
stay on top of the heap?" And eventually
it was clear that adventure games weren't
going to accomplish that.

as a whole it
felt like dragging a
boulder up a hill.

And it was clear to me, the last year
or so of working on it, that I was the only
real Sierra designer left. I was kind of
like the last dinosaur. The other teams
were doing totally different things,
shooters or whatever, and GK3 was the
last adventure game project. It was sort
of a fizzle, because at the end it was just
bug-pounding on various platforms and I
stopped going into the office. I had signed
off on the content and the producer was
basically just trying to get the technology
working correctly and the bugs fixed. It
seemed to be months of waiting for it to
ship. And then it did, and that was it. There
was never a day that was like, "Goodbye
Jane, here's your gold watch, thanks for
being with Sierra On-Line." I just never
went back, and they never called.

I did a couple of puzzle games and then
the hidden object genre started. I was
always trying to get in more story and more
adventure gameplay, like inventory items
and dialogue and things like that.

When did you realise that Gabriel Knight
would be the last of the series?

It was a struggle throughout that project.
We had a lot of turnover on the team. It
was three years in development, at least,
and it just didn't feel like the team was
that excited. I think I had three different
producers over the course of the project,
people coming and going. There were
individual people who were Sierra
adventure game fans who were into it, but

It's definitely true, if you look at hidden
object games now, they have a lot of
[adventure game] elements. Ours were
some of the first games to do that, in
that genre. The problem is it's a really
tough market... it was mostly price issues,
because Big Fish Games has the corner

Did you think there would ever be

another Gabriel Knight game?

I thought it was over. After that I worked
on a couple of novels, Millennium
Rising and Dante's Equation, so after
GK3 shipped I figured that was the end
of the adventure game part of my life
and I'd be doing writing on other stuff.

How did you get back into the industry?

It was probably three years later, I got

JANE JENSEN

on that market, they had dropped the
price to $6.99 or even lower, there's a new
one coming out every day, and we never
had enough sales to increase the budget.
So yes, I think that audience is very
receptive to more story and more adventure
gameplay, the difficulty is that the games
in that market are so disposable.

It was the first time I'd done
something completely different to
Gabriel Knight in an adventure game
and I was pleased with the design.

We were working with a German
publisher [dtp entertainment AG],
because they were one of the only
publishers who would even fund an
adventure game at that point. I was
happy to have somebody willing
to fund and produce the project. It was a
really difficult process — it started out with
Dreamcatcher, and they cancelled it, and
it was picked up by this little Czech team,
and that producer got the dtp producer
interested, and dtp moved it to one of their
teams in Paris, and it just went through
a lot of roadblocks like that. Ultimately,
because of all that stuff, we didn't have a
lot of money to finish the project, so that
was stressful at the end. I was talking to
those guys remotely and not super-involved
with that production.

In 2012 you returned to adventure game

development by starting your own indie
studio Pinkerton Road. What prompted
you to go to Kickstarter?

I was working for Zynga at the time, and
on the side we [Jane and her husband,
Robert Holmes] were doing the Lola & Lucy
iPad app [a kids' ebook], and thinking
eventually we'd like to have our own little
company doing apps and smaller games.

I was having some frustration at Zynga
because the game I was working on was
supposed to have a story, and they'd hired

me specifically to do a story, but some of
the people I was working with were like,
"Why does it need a story? How do you tell
a story? We can't have people talk" — it was
really frustrating. The guys I was working
with were having a hard time visualising
a story of any kind. I just felt like, "You
know what, I'm tired of explaining why
there should be a story. I just want to do an
adventure game."

When Tim Schafer did his Kickstarter
and it was so successful, that sort of

changed things, because originally
we'd thought, "We'll do this little
company, we'll get Lola & Lucy out,
maybe that'll give us enough money that
I can quit my job" — thinking about this
as a longer-term process of building this
little company. And then we realised that
if we did a Kickstarter we might be able
to fund a real adventure game and do it
all a lot faster. So we took the plunge. At
the time it felt like if we didn't do it quickly
then the window would close, because
there were probably going to be a lot of
other adventure game projects coming to
Kickstarter, and it seemed that the interest
would die off pretty quickly.

How do you feel about that in hindsight?

I would change how we went about it.

When we first went up [on Kickstarter], we
offered people a choice of games, and we
didn't have a demo or anything. We got
a lot of feedback on the campaign that it
wasn't specific enough, and we ended up
promising all kinds of crazy stuff. If I were
to do it again I would do it much differently.
At the end of the day, it helped us get

THERE'S A LOVE STORY,
AND THERE'S THESE
MURDERS, AND THERE'S
VOODOO... ALL OF THOSE
THEMES ARE TIMELESS

■ Sins Of The Fathers has more than 7,000 lines of dialogue.
"Even when I'm writing straight fiction, I always take a pass |
and read it out loud. I think dialogue 's always better if it's J
speakable and realistic," Jane says.

Moebius out and it helped us start our
studio, so I can't say that I regret doing it
necessarily. But it was way, way, way more
difficult and stressful — not only during
the campaign, but also during the product
development — than I ever anticipated.

During the Kickstarter, you and Activision
(the owner of Sierra's old properties)
reached an agreement for Gabriel Knight:

Sins Of The Fathers 20th Anniversary

Edition. How did that happen?

Activision contacted me. I don't know if
that would have happened if I hadn't been
out there on Kickstarter and very visible.
Basically, the Telltale games and the
growing casual market, the growing female
audience, Double Fine's Kickstarter — I
think all of that made certain people at
Activision interested in possibly doing
something with adventure games again.

Why a remake? Would you have preferred
to do a new Gabriel Knight game?

Initially my interest was in doing GK4, but
I think Activision made a good argument
that GK1 was always the pilot episode. It
explained who Gabriel is and how he got
to be that way, so remaking that for a new
era was a great idea, and hopefully would
enable us to kick off a new round of the
franchise and more new stories.

What do you like about the Sins Of The
Fathers remake, compared to the original?

I love the graphics. It feels so much
higher resolution — very New Orleans and
very atmospheric, I think it looks really
beautiful. It has a nice mood to it.

Are th ere things about it that make you
think, "That's so Nineties"?

Really just the setting. [The characters
have] huge CRT monitors. In Moebius, the
character's smartphone was a major part of
the UI, and we obviously can't have any of
that in Gabriel Knight. I'm definitely aware
of the period that we're writing in, but the
story itself really holds up well. I don't
think it feels dated, particularly. There's
a love story, and there's these murders,
and there's voodoo, and there's this whole
family thing, and I think all those
themes are timeless.

HRiSltn

eftRQ GUIDE TO

As the fourth Jurassic Park film roars in cinemas,
games™ looks back at the many games that comprise
the digital side of the franchise

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... JURASSIC PARK

FILM LICENCES CAN be
tricky things to master.
Some developers feel that
they can release a half-hearted
product, safe in the knowledge that
fans will buy the game regardless,
while others attempt to take
the licence in new and exciting
directions, directions fitting for a
videogame. Needless to say, most
licences are a mixed bag, mainly
because the games themselves
are often handled by multiple

developers across several different
time periods.

In this respect, Jurassic Park is
no different and it has its fair share
of great and terrible games. You
might not realise, however, that
among its park simulators, quite
a few genres have been explored
over the years, from platformers
to real-time strategy games. Join
us then as we look back at the
titles that have spawned from
Universal's billion-dollar franchise.

■ ■■■

JURASSIC PARK 1993

NES/GAME BOY

Ocean Software was the king of movie conversions, so it should come
as no surprise to learn it secured the coveted licence for Nintendo and
home computer systems. Cleverly, it tailored the games around each
system, so the NES and Game Boy outings are enjoyable top-down
shooters split into standalone levels, while the others are distinctly
different. Alan Grant must run around the park shooting or collecting
eggs, which will then turn into access cards (don't ask). He's then able to
access buildings and interact with the various park terminals. The Game
Boy version follows the same principles, but is greatly cut down in size.

JURASSIC PARK 1993

SNES

The SNES version utilises the same top-down view as its eight-bit
cousins but is a slightly slower-paced game with a greater emphasis
on exploration and a huge open world. It also zooms in on the screen
a little more, which can occasionally make it hard to avoid enemies. A
few puzzles have been thrown into the mix, but they're relatively easy,
requiring little effort to solve. Much harder is avoiding the solid array of
enemies that range from the ever-dangerous raptors, to giant dragonflies
and the T-Rex. Perhaps the biggest and best change is found with the
new mode 7 sections, which switches the action to 3D whenever you
explore the game's facilities.

The home computer versions play like a cross between Ocean's
console games. It has more elaborate puzzles than the SNES game,
dingier visuals (that suit the oppressive atmosphere quite well) and
several new dinosaurs. The AGA version is the best Amiga outing thanks
to smoother visuals in the 3D sections.

A QUICK
INTERVIEW
WITH GARY
BRACEY

Ocean's manager
on going after
Jurassic Park

Why were different versions
made for different systems?

We wanted to have a Doom-
style section in the game, but a
number of the systems weren't
technically capable, so we tried
to make appropriate levels for
the relevant platforms.

How difficult was the licence
to secure in comparison
with other films?

Not too difficult. Ocean already
had commercial credibility
in Hollywood so they were
happy for us to bid for the
game rights... and we paid a
shitload of money for them. I
think it was the first million-
dollar (advance) game licence
but we were so confident of the
film's potential success it was
a calculated gamble. We also
met with Spielberg himself as
I think he wanted reassurance
that the company would do

creative justice to the IP. That
was a fun meeting!

Why do some games share
plot points with the book?

I don't recall exactly which
parts you're referring to, but if
we found something in the book
that we felt would make a good
game mechanic, we used it.

How successful was the
game in the end?

Enormously. I don't know how
entirely happy we all were
with the game itself but the
company had made such a
significant investment in the
licence that it just had to be
released to tie in with the movie
launch, hence we had the usual
narrow development time and
inevitable crunch period. If
we had been given another
six months it could have been
amazing. Still, not bad.

JURASSIC PARK 1993

AMIGA/PC

hggogo

JURASSIC PARK

1993

MEGA DRIVE

Sega won the licence for its
home systems and again made
different versions that played to
the strengths of each console. The
Mega Drive version is particularly
intriguing as it's effectively two
games in one. One half sees you
playing Alan Grant, the other,
a hungry raptor. While both use
plenty of platforming, the raptor
section has a focus on combat,
while Grant must rely on some
underpowered weapons. It looks
a little dowdy, but it proves
surprisingly entertaining, if a little
hard in places.

JURASSIC PARK 1993

MASTER SYSTEM/GAME GEAR

Sega's eight-bit versions allow you to tackle levels however you wish
and typically comprise of two parts. The first has you in a Jeep, shooting
down enemies with an on-screen cursor, while the second half is more
run-and-gun based, with Alan Grant racing through the stages. It's pretty
tough at times but the solid level design and interesting range of dinos
ensures you'll fight on until the end.

JURASSIC PARK 1994

ARCADE

Sega's arcade game shares very little in common with its movie
namesake, but that doesn't really matter. It starts off with a thrilling
chase that has you pursued by the T-Rex and doesn't let up for the rest
of its running time. Along the way you'll fend off hordes off rampaging
dinosaurs, tear through all manner of different environments and even
race along the back of a brachiosaur. It's an insane, ridiculous treat that
impresses with beautifully drawn dinosaurs and plenty of variety. The
lack of weapons is a disappointment, and the choice of a joystick over a
more traditional lightgun seems odd, but you'll be having so much fun it
doesn't really matter.

"EVERYTHING TAKES PLACE

AGAINST A STRICT 11-HOUR

TIME LIMIT"

JURASSIC PARK 1993

MEGA-CD

This is arguably Sega's best home conversion of the hit licence.

It takes the form of an engrossing point-and-click adventure that
proves you don't need spills and thrills to create an engrossing
game. As with previous games you're hunting for dinosaur eggs,
but there are far more puzzle elements to be found. You have
panoramic views of the island and multiple paths are available,
meaning it's easy to get lost. Everything takes place against a strict
1 1-hour time limit, which adds to the general tension and provides
an interesting change of pace for Sega's quirky adventure.

JURASSIC PARK
2: THE CHAOS
CONTINUES 1994

SNES

Ocean's sequel has nothing to do
with either movie and takes the form
of a Contra-styled run-and-gun.
Sadly, while it allows you to tackle
levels in any order and caters for
two players (complete with a clever
health sharing mechanic) it's too
difficult for its own good.

JURASSIC PARK
2: THE CHAOS
CONTINUES 1994

GAME BOY

Ocean's handheld outing is
far more successful. It's another
run-and-gun but with far more
interesting mechanics (you can
swim for starters) and cute stylised
visuals. Keys must be collected
before you can leave a level, and
as the game progresses the stage
layouts get ever more complex.
Highly recommended, although it's
now hard to find.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... JURASSIC PARK

THE LOST WORLD:
JURASSIC PARK

1997

PLAYSTATION/SATURN

MEGA DRIVE

A QUICK
INTERVIEW
WITH BILL
HARBISON

Ocean's graphic
artist revisits
Jurassic Park
and the process of
turning a classic
movie into a game

Originally planned as a 3DO launch title, Jurassic Park Interactive is
a rather simple selection of mini-games that mainly revolve around you
running away from the T-Rex or taking out dinos with a taser. Ultimately
you're trying to ensure as many survivors reach an available heliport as
possible, but the bland gameplay and simple mechanics will most likely
send you into a state of torpidity.

Like Sega's earlier Mega Drive
game, The Lost World switches
between dinosaur and human
protagonists. There are a choice
of five this time, all of which play
differently to each other. While the
gameplay is inventive, the stodgy
controls and high difficulty factor
are off-putting. We'd recommend
seeking out the PlayStation's
Greatest Hits version instead, as
changes were made, resulting in a
more enjoyable adventure.

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK 1997

Initially this second game from Appaloosa fails to improve due to
some extremely bland overhead run-and-gun sections. Stick with it
however, as there are several technically impressive mini-games to be
found that range from capturing dinosaurs with tranquillisers and frantic
motorcycle chases, to fending off attacks while floating downriver on a
raft. Appaloosa clearly put some thought into its adventure and its late
release makes for one very technically impressive Mega Drive game.

How difficult was it to create
the 3D sections?

I wasn't involved in the 3D
section but I did witness the
dinosaurs being animated for
this section of the game. Ocean
had employed some animators
from Cosgrove Hall who had
worked on Dangermouse and
Count Duckula. This was
another humbling experience
because Craig Whittle, Helen
Smith and Mark Povey could
really do animation and their
skills were above and beyond
ours in the games industry. I
learnt a lot from those guys.

How did you know what
dinosaurs to use in the game?

The sketches we were sent
were concepts for the dinosaurs
that would be featured in the
movie so we could draw them
as sprites in the game. We
also got photographs of the
sick triceratops from the movie,
which I used to create the
background element in
the game. ^ (

V '*

Why do you think the movie
was so popular?

There was a massive hype
machine behind Jurassic
Park. The studio knew they
had something revolutionary
on their hands and put a
huge amount of money into
merchandising. The extent
of the merchandising wasn't
clear until we were sent a
video, which was sent to all the
companies who were involved.
It was basically a showreel for
all the Jurassic Park products
that were going to be released
and it was clear you would not
be able to move without seeing
something with Jurassic Park
on it.

Was there much excitement
knowing Ocean had secured
the licence?

Ocean acquired the licence for
Jurassic Park when it was still a
novel before it was announced
that it was going to be a Steven
Spielberg movie. This is when
the anticipation began to grow.
Soon we started to receive a
lot of production material to
help with the game design:
synopsis, costume design
photographs, and dinosaur
concept sketches.

JURASSIC PARK INTERACTIVE 1994

3DO

IIIGGOOO

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK 1997

GAME GEAR

Many won't have played this
Game Gear exclusive as it was only
released in the States. Like several
of the later Jurassic Park games, it's
a straightforward run-and-gun, but
with a more basic set of weapons.
There are some nice touches,
like being able to tackle levels in
different order, which add a nice
aesthetic, but it's otherwise pretty
forgettable stuff.

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK 1997

ARCADE

Interestingly, two versions of this game exist. The first features a
carnotaurus that was originally due to appear in the film and was quite
different to the movie. The large cabinet used for it was also relatively
basic due to time constraints. A later version released in 1998 changed
the level layouts, replaced the carnotaurus section with a new rampaging
T-Rex in a city and added upgrades to the cabinet, including blasts of
air to simulate the roar of a T-Rex. Regardless of which version you play,
they're both excellent lightgun games that feature simultaneous play and
some cool limited-use power-ups.

JURASSIC PARK:
CHAOS ISLAND 1997

Chaos Island marks another first for the
series, being the first real-time strategy
game. Most of the actors from The Lost
World reprise their roles, and are playable
throughout the game. One particular nice
touch is that their eyesight stat indicates
how they're affected by fog of war. The
1 2 levels are loosely based around the
events of the films and see you fending
off attacks from increasingly stronger
dinosaurs, and later, the film's hunters.

An excellent game that now commands a
high price online.

JURASSIC PARK: TRESPASSER 1998

Trespasser was massively hyped on release and promised to be a
ground-breaking adventure with 15-square kilometres of explorable terrain.
The end result, however, was so power-hungry that many PC owners at the
time struggled to run it properly. Those that could found an odd buggy mess
of a game that had lots of interesting ideas, as well as a needlessly sexist
health system (you check your vitality by looking at a heart-shaped tattoo on
your female character's breasts). Like more recent games, it ignores a HUD
in order to create a more immersive cinematic experience and promised
an innovative control system who's only real successor has been Surgeon
Simulator 2013. While it disappointed on release, Trespasser now boasts
an impressive modding community that continues to shape the game to this
day making it one of the franchise's most enduring games.

•• *

WARPATH: JURASSIC PARK 1999

PLAYSTATION

You're probably thinking that a one-on-one fighting game
featuring dinosaurs would be a terrible idea for a game. You'd
be right. Clearly inspired by Primal Rage, Warpath tries hard by
introducing a variety of interesting protagonists, but it's let down by
unsatisfying combat and some weak animation. Still, at least we all
now know who will win in a fight between a T-Rex and
an ankylosaurus...

JURASSIC PARK III: DINO DEFENDER

2001

This PC game is squarely aimed
at the younger end of the market.
Created by Knowledge Adventure,
it's a bright and breezy puzzle-
adventure game that revolves
around you moving crates and
other items while activating
switches, avoiding dinosaurs and
wearing a robotic powersuit. It's not
very challenging, but that's hardly
surprising considering its audience.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... JURASSIC PARK

JURASSIC PARK
III: DANGER ZONE

2001

Imagine Monopoly crossed with
Jurassic Park and mini-games and
you'll have a good representation
of Knowledge Adventure's second
game. One of two players take
it in turn to navigate the game
board, earning points and taking
part in various mini-games that
range from the fun to the banal.
Like Dino Defender it's squarely
aimed at the younger market, who
won't be put off by the irritating
announcer and the constant
games of Raging Raptors (which
is rubbish).

JURASSIC PARK
III: ISLAND
ATTACK 2001

GAME BOY ADVANCE

This isometric adventure is
one of three Konami GBA games
based on the third film. While
the viewpoint allows for some
rather huge dinos, the gameplay
itself is rather lacking and dull.

It's nice to see the developers
focusing on running away from
the dinos, but the introduction of
the flare gun does makes for some
exceedingly clunky combat that
only gets worse as the adventure
progresses. Leave it well alone.

JURASSIC PARK: OPERATION GENESIS

2003

PS2, PC. XBOX

After a disappointing Game Boy Advance effort, Konami made big
improvements to its next park builder. Tutorials are excellent, taking you
through every aspect of creation. It's also nice graphically, particularly as
your park grows in size. Missions ensure that there's always something
to work to, while the option to allow your dinos to run amok is also a
welcome addition. The lack of available dinos is disappointing and the
interface is clunky, but it's still the best park builder for home systems.

JURASSIC PARK: THE GAME 2011

VARIOUS

Sadly, Jurassic Park is proof that not everything TellTale Games
touches turns to gold. It has all the ropey engine issues found in many of
the company's early releases, but compounds it by being one of the least
interactive games in its back catalogue. It also doesn't help that the plot
itself is terrible, with cliched characters and uninspiring, unexciting set
pieces. A real waste of the licence.

JURASSIC PARK
BUILDER 2012

FACEBOOK, IQS, ANDROID

This is quite possibly the most
successful of the park builders that's
available. Missions rarely require
more than a few minutes of your
time, meaning you can dip in and
out whenever the need suits you.

As with many Facebook games,
it's designed so you can interact
with your friends, but it never feels
as intrusive as some titles. While
it does use microtransactions we
found that you don't need to spend
large amounts of money to ensure
your park flourishes. There's even a
Pokemon-styled battle arena thrown
in for good measure.

J URASSIC PARK
1RCADE 2015

ARCADE

Raw Thrills is one of the
arcade's biggest players and its
latest game proves why. Jurassic
Park Arcade is a stupendously
good on-rails shooter that boasts
stunning visuals, five meaty guns
and a plethora of dinos to take
down. Like the previous arcade
Jurassic Park games, there's little
substance to it, but the anarchic
action and effects will have you
constantly pumping coins into it.

LEGO JURASSIC
WORLD ’015

VARIOUS

Released only a few months
ago, the latest Lego game allows
you to play through all four
movies. You can expect over 100
characters to unlock, including
more than 20 dinosaur species,
unique abilities for each hero and
a whole host of studs and other
goodies to collect.

AND THE REST...

I JURASSIC PARK: RAMPAGE EDITION (1994) MEGA DRIVE
I THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) GAME BOY
I THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) GAME.COM
I JURASSIC PARK: DINOSAUR BATTLES (2001) PC
I JURASSIC PARK III: THE DNA FACTOR (2001) GBA
I JURASSIC PARK III (2001) ARCADE

I JURASSIC PARK: INSTITUTE TOUR (2001) GBA
I JURASSIC PARK III: SCAN COMMAND (2001) PC

I UNIVERSAL STUDIOS THEME PARK ADVENTURES (2001)
GAMECUBE

I JURASSIC PARK III: PARK BUILDER (2001) GBA
I JURASSIC PARK (2010) MOBILE

I LEGO DIMENSIONS: JURASSIC WORLD PLAYSET (2015)
VARIOUS

I JURASSIC WORLD: THE GAME (2015) IOS, ANDROID

H E T R □

METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY

PLAYSTATION 2 [KONAMI] 2001

IF YOU'VE SEEN Marvel movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, you might have

caught yourself suffering a little bit of deja vu when watching the opening sequence - a

bombastic setpiece that, while not entirely the same, illustrates how cinematic Snake's own

return was in his sequel over a decade ago. Emerging from the shadows and stowing aboard a

naval carrier, Snake sets about neutralising its entire crew against the backdrop of night, culminating

in a rain-lashed knife fight with Olga. Kojima's love of Hollywood tropes created a barnstorming

sequence of events that the series has yet to better, and while the ultimate twist was that Snake would be

taking a backseat to a blonde whining protagonist in Raiden, the opening minutes proved he was still a hero to

be reckoned with, even if we'd have to wait a while longer before he got his chance in the spotlight once again.

m GOGS©

BEHIND THE SCENES WIP30UT

BEHIND THE SCENES

WIP30UT

It may not have flown off the shelves

but Wip3out was the best of the game s

in the franchise to hit the PlayStation.

games™ discovers how it was made

Released : 1999
Forma Pla yStation
Publishei Psygnosis
Key Staff QgyidJeiferias
(programmer), Wayne Imlach
(lead design). Nicky Wescott

(lead graphics). Gary McKill

(music and sound). Alan

Raistrick (producer)

+ +

I WHAT IS IN A NAME? Quite a lot, if
that name happens to be WipEout, the fast-
moving, futuristic racer that had hearts
pulsating and fingers twitching upon its debut in
1995. Canny marketing by The Designers Republic
and its unique in-game styling produced a game that
transcended a still-young, nerd-labelled industry. In
doing so, it put WipEout centre stage in bleeding-edge
nightclubs and the rave-infested underground culture,
ensuring the game pulled in sackfuls of dollars.

In 1999, some three years after the sequel WipEout
2097, developer Psygnosis, which was by now under
Sony ownership, decided to revisit the game as a
PlayStation exclusive. It fiddled with the name by
reversing the letter E to produce a number 3 for the
European version - thus creating Wip3out - but the
game wasn't the third in the series. It was the fourth.
The third had been a Nintendo 64 exclusive put out a
year earlier called Wipeout 64. "It was seen as more
of a hybrid of WipEout & WipEout 2097 rather than a
standalone in its own right, even though it introduced
a bunch of game features unique to the N64 version,
which found themselves used in later iterations," says
Wip3out lead designer Wayne Imlach.

The success of Wipeout 64 showed how popular the
franchise had remained among gamers but the team
working on Wip3out at Psygnosis' Leeds studio was
afforded very few luxuries. It was hit with both a tight
schedule and a small budget because Sony needed
the game to be released before gamers gave up on
the PlayStation and moved to the PS2. But for many of
those involved, the opportunity was too good to pass
and so they threw themselves into the task in hand
with great focus.

As if to underline how tight the schedule was, the
team had just nine months to get the game on to shop
shelves (it was sold as WipEout 3 in the US). "It was a
very quick turnaround for a game, even considering
that we had a solid foundation to start with in the
previous title, 2097, " says Imlach. "Because of this, we
had to be careful about features - anything too new
or untried would be high risk and we couldn't afford
to slip much. So the innovations were small, and the
focus was put on refining what already existed. The
team was also quite small relative to other games."

The first task for the team was to identify any
niggles that had emerged with past games in the
franchise and right them. The main problem with the
very first game was its difficulty, an issue that saw
a great many gamer fail to progress further than a
couple of tracks before throwing their joypad down in
anger at yet another stalled run. "The first game was
seminal and groundbreaking, but a little rough round
the edges particularly with unforgiving ship handling, "
says programmer David Jefferies. To address this,
Imlach says the game balance was evened up, giving
it a "shallower progression" than the previous games,
"Yet retaining the insane skill requirements at the
highest levels."

Rather than write the game from scratch, the team
took WipEout 2097 as its starting point, pulling out
a development version of that game so that it had
something to work on almost immediately. Imlach
headed up a team of three level designers and his
job was to redesign the game's basic elements and
manage the circuit design and optimisation of the

m oay©

LISTEN UP

DJ Sasha seized control of the music on Wip3out

THE WIPEOUT SERIES had already
gained a reputation for its musical
excellence, drawing upon the
underground rave culture, which gripped
the UK at that time.

With Wip3out, DJ Sasha was asked to
oversee the soundtrack and, so confident
was the game's developer that people
would want to listen to the tunes, the

game's CD could even be played in a
standard CD player. "The music was
more cohesive - 1 think getting a single
individual to mix and direct the various
compositions gave the game a more
focused track list, without sacrificing the
techno/club soundtrack that defined the
series," says lead designer Wayne Imlach
on this revolutionary decision.

THE CHEMICAL
BROTHERS

PAUL VAN DYK

ORBITAL

UNDERWORLD

SASHA -Sasha
was the musical director
on Wip3out and he
dominated the game's
audio, contributing no
fewer than six of the 13
tracks including FEISAR,
Icarus, Auricom, Goteki
45, Pirhana and Xpander.
He also headlined a
club tour of the USA
sponsored by developer
Psygnosis. He told music
paper NME at the time:
"The series has always
had a huge underground
following - I'm certain that
the crossover between
the people who listen to
my music and those who
enjoy games like WipEout
is enormous."

MKL - With two dance
tunes - Surrender and
Control - MKL's decision
to switch from being a
drummer to the producer
of electronic music
certainly paid off.

UNDERWORLD -

This British electronic
group had its origins in
the Eighties, but it was
hugely popular in the
mid-Nineties thanks to the
success of Bom Slippy, a
tune made famous thanks
to the Danny Boyle classic
movie Trainspotting.
Underground contributed
Kittens to Wip3out.

ORBITAL - Brothers
Phil and Paul Hartnoll
made up the dance
music duo Orbital, which
recorded Know Where
To Hun for Wip3out. Paul
must have been struck by
the opportunity because,
following the break-up
of Orbital, he went on to
record tracks for the 2005
game Wipeout Pure on
the PSP

PROPELLERHEADS

- This big-beat musical
ensemble had already
included the song Bang

On! for Wipeout 64, so
giving Lethal Cut to
Wip3out was something of
a natural progression.

THE CHEMICAL
BROTHERS - No strangers
to the WipEout franchise,
The Chemical Brothers
had allowed Chemical
Beats to be used on the
first game. Wip3out saw
the inclusion of the tune
Influence as well.

PAUL VAN DYK -

German electronic dance
music DJ Paul van Dyk is
no stranger to videogames
today, having produced
tunes for FIFA, Need For
Speed, DJ Hero, Grand
Slam Tennis, Mirror's
Edge and more, but his
first taste of a gaming
soundtrack came with
Avenue on Wip3out.

game. His team was not only able to make
use of a set of recently released PlayStation
code optimisation utilities, but they were also able to
draw on years of experience that had given them a
strong insight into how far they could potentially take
the PSOne.

"We felt we could really push the technical
envelope of what was possible on the PlayStation,
adding some features that were missing, giving the
visuals a complete overhaul from The Designer's
Republic but keeping to the values of the franchise
so that fans of the previous games wouldn't feel
alienated by the new game," says Jefferies. Imlach
agrees. "One of the advantages of developing for
a mature system is the refinement that comes from
knowing the hardware inside out, hence the hi-res
without a sacrifice of frame rate which is something
that wasn't possible with the earlier iterations."

AS WITH THE previous versions of WipEout,
the game was written first and foremost for PAL
PlayStations running at 25 frames per second. It
was then converted for a NTSC audience at 30fps.
A side effect of this, says Jefferies, was that the
NTSC versions of the game ran a little quicker at
the expense of slightly lower resolution, but because
the game didn't perform any timing conversions, the
race clock ran faster on the NTSC version. "This
explains why your race times are 20 per cent faster
than your American friends," he exclaims.

But the team was also keen on using aspects
of the PlayStation that development teams had
previously avoided. "One of our priorities was using
the PlayStation's hi-def and widescreen mode which,
up to that point, had been considered unusable
by development teams," explains Jefferies. "By
optimising the Tenderer we were able to increase the
resolution of the game from the standard 256 x 240
to 512 x 256, which made for a much crisper image."

An interesting side effect of running the game
in a widescreen 512 x 256 was that the technique
allowed for the rendering of two perfectly square
split screens side-by-side rather than the usual top
and bottom. Each split screen was therefore 256 x
256, "Or to put it another way, they were both the
same resolution as single screen Wipeout 2097 and
running on the same hardware. Impressive stuff,"
enthuses Jefferies.

The split-screen functionality allowed for one-TV
multiplayer, an advance on the original version that
required players to connect two PlayStations via

■ The graphical boundaries of the PlayStation were pushed
with Wip3out, producing a game that was both high-res and fast.

BEHIND THE SCENES

□ □

BUT BRINGING THIS mode to the game
posed problems of its own. Taking a game
that wasn't designed for split screen and
adding it is a major undertaking because the
console needs to render two views when the
game is optimised to run at exactly 30fps in
one view. "With split-screen the game is still
rasterising the same number of pixels as a
single screen but it needs to transform twice
the number of polygons into 3D space before
doing the rasterising," says Jefferies.

Yet the Wip3out team managed to crack the issue
with a few optimisation tricks to improve the speed.
"Ships in the distance would be rendered at a lower
polygon resolution than ones nearby," Jefferies adds.
"Seeing as the polygon count of the ships was fairly
small anyway, this meant they turned into little wedges
of cheese in the mid-distance but with all the carnage
going on you rarely noticed.

The team was also able to refine the rasteriser to
eliminate the polygon clipping and seaming issues
that had plagued PlayStation games. According
to Jefferies, many of these issues were due to the
PlayStation having a 2D rasteriser and not a 3D
rasteriser as was commonly assumed. "It had
some hardware that would transform the
polygon vertices into 3D space, but
when it came to rasterise the
polygons, it discarded any

camera. Texturing and clipping problems were
particularly bad for racing games because having
a low-down camera travelling down a track at speed
exacerbated these issues. Our rendering engineer
Pete Bratcher did a great job in rewriting the Tenderer
that came with the Sony libraries to clip polygons
correctly and adjust for the lack of perspective in the
texture mapper."

While the programming
team got to

WE FELT WE COULD
REALLY PUSH THE
TECHNICAL ENVELOPE
OF WHAT WAS POSSIBLE
ON THE PLAYSTATION

disappear when they got too close to the

a serial cable in order to play against friends. "The
drawback with the old system was that you needed
two tellies, two PlayStations and two copies of the
game - all in one room, which limited the number of
people who could experience it, especially given the
weight of old CRT tellies back then - they were not
easy to carry around your friend's house," Jefferies
exclaims humorously.

■ It was possible to view the game from a first-person perspective, I
which actually made getting around the tracks much easier for many.

notion of depth and perspective and rasterised the
triangles as 2D textures," he says.

"It was this that caused the textures to 'swim'
unconvincingly as they approached the camera.
These artefacts were compounded by the hardware's
inability to clip polygons as they approach the camera
clip plane. This caused polygons to flick off and

jP *r WHAT
ILIL THEY
SAID .

■ ■MHM Ml*HM A, I.AJL/ • • •

WipEout 3 is the
most difficult
and intense
racing game
I've played. A
powerful effort
from Psygnosis'
Leeds studio

Gamers' Republic,

1999

RU I

m GQftO

STAYING ON TRACK

From 20 to 8: how the Wip3out designers chose the best courses

■ TRACK DESIGN is one of
the key elements to absolutely
any racing game, so it comes
as no surprise to learn that
the Wip3out team took it very
seriously. The artists produced
around 20 tracks in total, but
just eight of those were chosen
for the main game, a process

which entailed much play-
testing by the team to ensure
that the tracks were as perfect
as reasonably possible.

According to lead designer
Wayne Imlach, the criteria for
selection was not only down
to overall skill requirements,
"But to provide advantages

and disadvantages to the
different craft manufacturers
with tighter tracks favouring
the slower yet nimbler ships."
Once the tracks were chosen,
"They were worked up into the
final tracks with environment
and buildings and spot effects
and so on," continues Jefferies.

WHAT
THEY
li! SAID..

From the
tastefully
minimalist front-
end graphics
(laden with
Designer's
Republic
intervention
as in the rest
of the game)
to the flawless
injection-
moulded
smoothness
of the tracks,
supremacy of
construction
is in evidence
everywhere

j PLAY, 1999

team got to grips with the engine, the audio
crew began amassing the tunes. Wip3out took
a slightly different approach to the music and it
enlisted the superstar trance DJ Sasha to be the music
director. Why? "Well, 1999 was the year of trance after
all," says Jefferies. "He produced a selection of great
tracks for us to use in the game, including Xpander,
which did pretty well in the charts at the time. It was
great working with him and he came to Leeds and met
the team and got very involved. He went on a Global
Underground tour where he projected videos of the
game playing behind him as he DJed and there were
some great times going to see Sasha play his Wip3out
gig at Creamfields. Some of us even made it over to
see him play Space in Ibiza."

MEANWHILE, THE ART and design crew worked
on a new set of tracks. Nicky Wescott was the head
artist and she had been team leader on the first two
titles. Her boyfriend, who later became her husband,
was Mike Place who worked at The Desfgners
Republic and carried out the graphfc design of the
game. "So right from the beginning it was like
DR was on the team, which was massively
important," adds Jefferies.

The levels were initially built with no dressing
whatsoever - just basic polygon tracks floating
in space. The artists started "by lofting a racing
line in Softimage and exporting it into the game
engine," says Jefferies, of a draftfng technique
that allows for the generation of curved lines.

"You could race the tracks at this point but, visually,
they looked like a ribbon of track going through space
with no background."

Thfs was done because the team felt it was
important to get the racing aspect feeling right before
spending any time on set dressing, as changes to the
layout would be expensive once scenery was built.
"We spent quite a bit of time analysing the tracks
from the earlier games and we derived a short ’track

■ The visual style was similar to the previous WipEout games,
producing a cool, underground, almost Japanese feel to the tracks.

design bible' that highlfghted the pros and cons of all
the various track features you could include, including
items, such as the width of the track, angle of corners,
altitude changes, everything," recalls Imlach. "If you
put something into the track design, there was an
expectation of knowing to some degree how it might

THE TEAM HAD JUST
NINE MONTHS TO GET
THE GAME INTO SHOPS

affect the game before you tested it. We didn't
have time for random design. You needed to know
what you were doing and have a reason for every
corner, curve and crossover."

The artists dfstinguished the game from WipEout
2097 by using a different palette and cleaner lines,
helped by the hi-res mode, but the game still conveyed
the futuristic cityscapes and environments that defined
the look of the game. "I think it felt a little more mature
in terms of art style, which was appropriate as it was
the last of the series to come out on the generation of
consoles it was originally created on," says Imlach.
As a bonus, four more unlockable test tracks were
produced late in development "using the vector art
style as a cheap way to introduce more tracks
without the art overhead," Imlach adds.
Wip3out was also given a replay function
because the team believed that the high-speed
races deserved to be viewed from different camera
angles. Jefferies says the technical concept behind

BEHIND THE SCENES WIP30UT

> A GAMING EVOLUTION WipEout > Wip3out > G-Surfers

G-Surfers had
undisputed
parallels
with Wip3out
including a
two-player split
screen mode and
modern craft.

With its styling,
club music
and fast-paced
action, WipEout’s
futuristic

spacecrafts - and
insane difficulty -
became iconic.

■ The overall look and feel of Wip3out
was of a PlayStation 2 game. This was
important, however, in order to sell copies
at the end of the PSOne's life.

were sluggish. Not even a special edition released in
Europe in 2000 could make it into an overwhelming
success despite bringing different craft physics, older
courses and four-person multiplayer to the table. The
problem, says Jefferies, was the European-centric
nature of the franchise and also because attention
was switching to other, more advanced machines.

"WipEout was always a very European and UK
series and so the relatively low sales compared to
titles that sold across the world wasn't that surprising, "
Jefferies says. It didn't help, he continues passionately,
that Wip3out was the first PlayStation title to ship
with a new form of copy protection that meant even
legitimate copies of the game would not play on a
modded Playstation. "People who had modded their
console had no choice but to acquire a pirated version
of the game, which had the copy protection stripped
from it, " he says. "I don't know if this meant that we lost
lots of potential sales but later titles no longer used
that form of copy protection."

Of course, Wip3out wasn't the end of the franchise.
It became Sony's baby, spawning more sequels
including WipEout Fusion, WipEout Pure, WipEout
Pulse, WipEout HD and WipEout 2048. WipEout games
have since appeared on the PS2, the PSP the PS3
and the PS Vita and it will, we are sure, come to
the PS4 in due course, even taking into account the
closure of developer Sony Studio Liverpool before
the console launched. "Everyone loved WipEout,"
says Jefferies. "The slickness, the visuals, the graphic
design, the music and the club culture had
perfectly captured the PlayStation generation."

replays on the PlayStation was simple - "you recorded
each button that the user pressed on each frame and
then, for the replay you simply played back each
button press and the race would unfold exactly the
same as it did the first time round" - but, in practise,
retro-fitting replays to a game that didn't support them
proved to be an immensely fiddly and frustrating task.

"All of the physics, artificial intelligence and random
number generation had to be exactly deterministic,
which is never the case," he recalls. "If you feed
the same values into an AI system twice then you
might expect it to give you the same result each
time but, in practise, AI and physics systems have a
degree of randomness built into them to make them
unpredictable, so when you try and replay a race
it looks different to first time around. When you add
to this the fact that extensive randomness is used
throughout the particle systems - which are different
depending on camera angle (and of course camera
angle is different in a replay) - then it becomes a huge
spaghetti mess that you have to untangle to achieve
this feature."

■■■ NOT THAT THE end result suffered. Indeed,
replays looked great and the process was so efficient
that the team was able to use some of the spare
processing time to put some flare and trail effects on
the ships. The look and feel of the game was stunning
with the futuristic graphic design championed by The
Designers Republic and a render engine displayed
to its full potential. "The whole package ended up
working very well together and consequently the
game came away with the Best Design award at
BAFTA for 1999," says Jefferies proudly.

The game coincided with the advent of the analogue
controller and so, for the first time, the series was
able to benefit from added support for these sticks.
It had proven to be a popular control method and,
given Sony's influence on Wip3out, ft was something
the coding team could not afford to dismiss. Even
so, it was a controversial inclusion. "The nature
of analogue Input is very different to digital input
and it ended up making the racing easier because
analogue controls afforded the player more control
over the input," admits Jefferies. "This upset some
traditionalists who didn’t like us releasing a version
of the game where better times could be gained by
using the DualShock."

But it wasn't as if the game was easy. It did have
a difficult learning curve and this went down well
with reviewers who raved over the game in both the
specialist and national press which also praised the
title for Its graphics, split screen, new weapons
and soundtrack. And yet sales of the game

UNCOVERING
ATARI'S SECRET

IN A SPECIAL EDITORIAL FROM E.T. CODER HOWARD
SCOTT WAR SHAW, THE ATARI VETERAN UNCOVERS THE
URBAN LEGEND BURIED BENEATH A MEXICAN LANDFILL
AND CONFRONTS HIS MOST INFAMOUS CREATION

FEATURE UNCOVERING ATARI'S SECRET

IT IS AN interesting thing to witness
your past being dug up. . . literally!
There I stood amongst tractors and
backhoes, pelted repeatedly by the raging sand
storm. Waiting. . . watching. . . wondering what the
next scoop might reveal. Had I actually created
a game so devastatingly bad, so horrifically
shameful that Atari had no alternative but to truck
it ninety miles into the desert and bury it?

Whenever I make a game, my primary design
goal is innovation. I seek to create something
brand new or boldly expand the concept of some
existing design. Yars' Revenge introduced many
features which became industry standards.
Raiders Oi The Lost Ark was by far the most
diverse adventure on the platform at the time
and it was the first movie conversion ever. And on
April 26, 2014 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, I saw
E.T. (my third game) become groundbreaking in
a whole new way. A way I had never imagined
while coding it some 32 years earlier.

The day started with a twenty-minute drive
(during which we dropped 4,500 feet in elevation)
before arriving at the entrance to the area
containing the excavation site. Hundreds of
people were already queued up there, waiting to
be admitted to a garbage dump. Extraordinary.
As we approached the dig proper there were
camera crews and lights and food trucks
and lots of equipment. People were scurrying
around in every direction with facemasks and
bandanas to keep sand and dust out of their
lungs. When they opened the gates a human
wave descended upon the site. People came from
all over the country, apparently for two reasons.
One was to get autographs on any piece of E.T.

paraphernalia they could carry (or manufacture
in some cases). I signed cartridges, boxes,
posters, consoles, manuals, comics, E.T. dolls,
wooden E.T. cutouts and one automobile (Ernie
Cline's DeLorean)! The other reason they came
was to settle the truth of a long-standing urban
legend, to see if the desert would yield a few
copies (or a few million) of my infamous creation,
the E.T. videogame.

It was a wild day in the desert. The excitement,
the energy, the sand storm, the mayor, the
anticipation, the sound of heavy machinery,
cameras and boom mics everywhere you turn. It
was pandemonium. . . and it was awesomel And
all of this was happening because 27 July 1982 1
answered "Yes".

The question (posed by Ray Kassar, Atari
CEO) was this: "Howard, can you deliver a
game for E.T. by September 1st?" There was no
hesitation. It was a crazy notion but I knew I had
to do it. And three decades later, here I stand in
the middle of all this chaos, feeling incredibly
honoured to have created the basis of this whole
adventure. I'm so grateful I said "Yes" that day.

"PEOPLE WERE
SCURRYING AROUND
IN EVERY DIRECTION
WITH FACEMASKS TO
KEEP SAND AND DUST
OUT OF THEIR LUNGS"

G BGSO

MYTHBUSTERS'

Delving into the murky fog
between fact and fiction,
games™ takes a look at
four other game legends

1. The Mystery of Polybius

A mysterious cabinet titled Polybius
apparently appeared around
^ Portland, Oregon in 1981, said to be
part of a government experiment.

2. Dog Hunt

It might have started due to the fact
that it existed in the arcade iteration,
but NES gamers rumoured th at yqw
could shoot the dog in Duck Hunt.

3. Blowing Game Cartridges

The fact is that in blowing on the
cartridge, you'd release tiny traces
of saliva that, in the long run, would
corrode away the pin connectors.

Buried inside your Excel 95
spreadsheet lurks a secret
videocjame titled The Hall Of

Tortured Souls'.

And that was no trivial "Yes." I had accepted
the shortest schedule ever contemplated for a
videogame, by more than 75%! By the time Atari
and Steven Spielberg finished negotiations for
the E.T. licence there were only five weeks left to
create the game and still make the Christmas
market (there's no point in doing a game if it
misses that market). No one had ever done a
game in less than five or six months and I had
five weeks! From Tuesday, 27 July to Wednesday,

1 September. Okay, technically I had 36 days, but
it was already dinner time on the first day.

So I started working and I kept working. I
even had a development system moved into my
home. The only time I was more than two minutes
away from coding was driving between work
and home. It was the most gruelling five weeks
of my life, but I did it. What I did was produce
the videogame many consider to be the all time
worst. A game so bad it allegedly toppled the
entire videogame industry in the mid Eighties.
Well. . . you can't say my work hasn't had impact.

At one point I caught a moment between
interviews. I'm standing at the centre of a hoard
of fans and onlookers in this raging sand storm.
Everyone is fixated on the groaning backhoe,
relentlessly reaching deeper into the earth and
returning with the next bucketful of antiquity. . .
and that's when it hit me. I realized what I had
actually accomplished in that five weeks. A
game? Certainly. The worst of all time? Possibly.
A Herculean task achieved? Absolutely.

But the most significant thing I did by making
E.T. in five weeks was to create a piece of
videogame history. Undeniably, inextricably, for
better or worse till death do us part; E.T. and I
were forever joined as a legend in the annals of
gaming lore. I never really got it before. I certainly
never considered this possibility while I was
doing the game, and why would I? When I was
doing E.T., there was no videogame history. E.T.
was just "my next game." You have to remember,
videogames were considered by many to be
a fad in the early Eighties, and the big market
crash of 1983-84 seemed to prove that.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight and three
decades, we know there is a history. Now there
are "oldies" to revisit and explore. Back then they
were all newies. We weren't making history or
future nostalgia, so what were we doing? For my
own part, the goal was clear. My mission was

IXIISB2 HTH f: I

M E.T. may well be the worst game of all time, by the
creator's admission.

to relieve boredom, like the kind I experienced
as a teen. I was a member of the last generation
to grow up without videogames. Boredom was
the bane of my adolescence and I understood
the massive power of videogames to alleviate
that problem. I wanted to spare others what I
had endured. I wanted to prevent history from
repeating itself.

"AS A PSYCHOTHERAPIST
I KNOW ALL TOO WELL
THAT NOTHING GETS
RESOLVED IN THE PAST,
ONLY THE PRESENT"

History. That's what this is all about.

Reaching back to the past to answer questions,
verify legends and settle disputes. As a
psychotherapist I know all too well that nothing
ever gets resolved in the past, only the present
can provide that opportunity. And at present the
dirt and the garbage and the stench kept coming
up. . . but no games.

I t's a well documented fact I have always
doubted the truth of the myth. I never
believed it because it couldn't possibly
make sense. Why would a financially failing
company spend a lot of time, effort and money to
dispose of something presumably worthless? Of
course, when I say this I'm forgetting one of the
fundamental truths of that beautiful bygone era:
Whenever you expect things to make sense, you
are losing touch with Atari.

I was waiting for my order at a food truck
(my blood sugar was starting to crash after six
hours of all this) when suddenly a roar went up
from the throng. A huge crush of people were
pressing closer and closer to the fence around
the excavation site. One of the production
people ran over to me and said, "Come on, we
gotta go!" Then they literally got behind me
and started pushing very convincingly. Upon
wedging through the crowd and reaching the
fence, I saw Zak Penn (Hollywood luminary and
director of the documentary driving this entire
extravaganza) standing there with a microphone
in one hand and what looked like a somewhat
crushed but very discernible E.T. game box.

"We found it!" he proclaimed with great
triumph in his voice. There was a visible
relief in his demeanour as well, since his
film is much better off with a strike than
a miss. The games were there; I never
thought they would be. I have never
been so happy to be wrong!

It was a sign, an affirmation of
just how crazy Atari was. But by the
same token, that craziness made
Atari an incredible place to work and
an amazing place to be. Atari was
a hotbed of abject excess that could
never last and could never be replaced.

FEATURE UNCOVERING ATARI'S SECRET

Atari (as I knew and loved it)
evaporated in mid 1984 and soon
thereafter I left. But where do
you go after an experience like
Atari? Apparently you wind up
in a sand storm in the desert.

Everyone is cheering
and shouting and the air is
filled with excitement and
wonder (and dust)! And
here come the cameras and
microphones in my face,
"Hey Howard, what are you feeling now?"

And suddenly everything goes eerily quiet.

I feel things welling up inside me. I realise the
whole reason I made games was to entertain
and amuse people. To give them a break from
day-to-day life and to create wonderful moments.
And on this day, in the middle of the New Mexico
desert, my game is doing exactly that! A piece of
work I did 32 years ago is still creating a special
moment for hundreds of people. My heart swells
and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. And I cry
tears of joy.

I was seeing remnants of an old life, right at
the time as starting a new one. Atari was by far
the greatest job I had ever had, until now. As a
psychotherapist, this is the first time in 30 years
that my work is more rewarding and satisfying
than what I experienced at Atari. I always
believed I would get here someday, because I'm
an optimist, but this was a long time coming.

How interesting that this Atari news resurfaces
precisely now, just as I'm hitting my stride in a
bonus round of right time, right place in my life.

My musings continued as the heavy
machinery droned on, delivering scoop after
scoop of historic relics scattered amongst the
useless waste. Fortunately there were several

anthropologists on hand to clarify which was
which. Life has a funny way of coming full circle.
After 30 years the gaming industry is back to
making simple games for smaller screens.

I've come full circle too. Back then I catered to
hungry technophiles by entertaining them. Now
as The Silicon Valley Therapist I'm once again
meeting their needs, but this time in a deeper,
more meaningful way. My current life plan is
aggressive, just like the development of E.T. But I
do hope I get better reviews this time.

And speaking of reviews, I was asked about
NeoCompufers project to "fix the bugs" in E.T.

The reporter seemed a tad sheepish when asking
the question, but truthfully I am not uncomfortable
acknowledging playability problems with my
E.T. game. In other words, I am well grounded in
reality. I have played the updated version and
I believe it improves the game substantially. It
eliminates the biggest problem with the game
in my opinion: player disorientation. If I'd had
another day or two perhaps I would have made
those changes. . . but then again, if I had, we
might not be talking about it right now.

In the end, the burial was real but it really
wasn't about burying E.T. In fact, the majority of
the salvaged bounty was composed of hit carts,
top sellers like Defender, Centipede and Yars'
Revenge. There were consoles and peripherals
too. This was clearly a warehouse dump, not an
E.T. graveyard. So maybe it didn't make sense
to bury millions of E.T. games just to hide their
corporate shame, after all. But then again, what
sense does it make to create a legend around it?

After all the years of speculation, this much is
true: I've got one game in the New York Museum
of Modern Art and another in a hole in the New
Mexico desert. I faced the unearthing of my
past. . . and I totally dug it!

■ Even by 8-bit standards, the game comes across as
incredibly basic, with parts of it even unfinished.

■ Player disorientation is blamed as E.T .' s worst flaw,
and it's easy to see why. . .

"SUDDENLY,
EVERYTHING GOES
EERILY QUIET"

IAIN WILLOWS, 2K GAMES

Sid Meier’s Pirates! is
the one. If I had to go
back to something... I played it
again recently and it brought
back so many memories.

I’m not necessarily into the
pirate thing but it was the
immersion. You really got
into having your fleet of
ships, sword fighting was
excellent and I had a real bug
for treasure maps - you’d get
a snippet of a treasure map
and try and find the cross. It
was one of those games where
you could get hours and hours
of fun. All that time ago they
built this game that had so
much to it that you could
literally spend hours upon

FORCE

MORALE

COMMA*
2 65 ME

STRONG

IAIN WILLOWS, 2K C

lt>ER VE ARMAN
N 12 MEN

r SHAKEN

GAME CHANGERS

* roooo

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:
MAJORA'S MASK

Released: 2000 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo EAD System: N64

Succeeding one of the most critically acclaimed titles ever made, this more
nuanced Zelda entry is an example of a game that was way ahead of its time

■ DESPITE ITS BRILLIANCE, it almost seems
g J 2 anarchic to claim that Majora's Mask is a
■ ■ ■ ■ more forward-thinking and influential title
than its older sibling, Ocarina Of Time. Although
Ocarina revolutionised 3D gaming, tearing up the
adventure game rulebook in the process, Majora's
Mask was a work of experimentation and, ultimately,
innovation. Through building upon the wonderful
framework pioneered by the previous game, Nintendo
managed to push its 64-bit console to the limit and
in the process created a franchise entry with an
unprecedented amount of depth.

This depth arises from multiple junctures. Although
the basics of the game are the same as that of
Ocarina, Majora's Mask is more a manifestation of
creativity than a tour de force of mechanical design.
Seen in the game are various concepts that weren't
present in Ocarina Of Time, and so at its root it feels
more like a work of heart - a risky yet confident segue
into uncharted territory for the series.

Of course the exemplary gameplay and graphics
inherent in Ocarina Of Time had been brought
forward for Link's second N64 outing. The game
was built in the same engine as its predecessor
and utilised the same graphics package, therefore
enabling the development team to turn the game
around in only a year, compared to the four-year
development cycle enjoyed by Ocarina. The same
combat returned - complete with strange camera
mechanics - as did a focus on dungeon crawling and
elements of open-world exploration. However, this is
where the comparisons to Ocarina end.

In narrative terms Majora's Mask strikes a more
adult chord. Opening with Link riding through a misty
forest to search for a friend, the game introduces
the Skull Kid, sporting the game's eponymous facial
attire. This mask was stolen from the Happy Mask
Shop salesman, found in Hyrule market in Ocarina
Of Time, and he hints at an ancient apocalyptic
power that resides within it. Link enters Clock Town in

GAME CHANGERS: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK

ADVENTURE TIME I

MAJORA'S MASK PROVED ITSELF TO BE A MORE THOUGHTFUL
EXAMPLE OF THE ADVENTURE GENRE WITH THESE SPECIAL ELEMENTS

FAST TRAVEL

★ Unlike in earlier Zelda titles, Link is
able to fast travel in Majora's Mask, which
goes some way to mitigating the effects
of the real-time cycle. Although we are
used to seeing far bigger game worlds
nowadays, the land of Termina was pretty
large for its time and trekking across it
with only six in-game hours left is not
exactly a formula for fun.

★ The Zelda series has always done
a sterling job of providing moments
of emotional heft. These are littered
throughout Majora's Mask - from seeing
the Skull Kid embracing two fairies and
crying because he's lonely to the moment
when Link experiences a flashback to
talking to Princess Zelda, everything here
carries a certain weight.

• •

Ma«k«d Jungte W»rrtar

OOOLWA

BOSSES

★ The franchise has never been short of
excellent boss fights, but a couple of the
mayors in Majora's Mask really stand
out. Pictured here is the boss at the end
of Woodfall Temple, one of the four giants
that Link has to face to prevent the moon
from falling. The main event against
Majora's Mask on the moon is one of the
best in the whole franchise.

the land of Termina to find the moon will fall from the
sky after three days and destroy the world.

Link sets about conquering four dungeons and the
giants within in order to force them out of hiding to
stop the moon from falling, enabling him to go up to
the moon and face the Skull Kid and Majora's Mask
once and for all. This threat carries weight where
the likes of Ganondorf never could, as the moon is
visibly sinking lower in the sky with every second that
passes, and conversations with NPCs reveal their
thoughts on the imminent apocalypse.

Masks play far more of a role in the game than
they did in Ocarina, with a select few proving
necessary to progress in the game and allowing
Link to shape-shift. These few masks are simple to
obtain, however the larger proportion of the 24 masks
available in the game require very specific criteria
to be met, often at very specific times throughout the
game's three-day cycle. This feature still hasn't seen
a rival outside of the RPG space to this day. That
an action-adventure would display such intricacies
is still impressive 14 years later, and highlights the
astute nature of the game's design.

THE MOST
INTERESTING
CONCEPTS ARE THE
GAME S REAL-TIME
ASPECT AND TIME
TRAVEL MECHANICS

Majora's Mask
necessitated the
use of the N64's
Expansion Pak,
so rumours were
abound at the time
that it was originally
a project intended
for the 64DD.

At the beginning
of the game Link
is seen travelling
through a forest,
in search for a
friend that isn't
named. However,
it is considered in
all circles to most
likely be Navi from
Ocarina Of Time.

Many character
designs from
Ocarina appear
in Majora's Mask,
although not one
recurring character
recognises Link
and no explanation
is offered why they
now inhabit Termina
instead of Hyrule.

■■■IN TYPICAL NINTENDO fashion the art
direction is incredible and the series' ability to neatly
theme dungeons and areas around elemental factors
are no more apparent than in Majora's Mask. Most
surprising is the depiction of the moon's surface, as
when Link arrives it is revealed to be a vast, colourful
field with a lone tree at its centre - further proof of the
game's unwillingness to resort to the familiar.

However, the most interesting concepts at work in
Majora's Mask are the game's real-time aspect and,
in turn, its time travel mechanics as well. Due to the
game's aforementioned three-day cycle, it becomes
necessary for Link to use the Ocarina of Time to
travel backwards and forwards as he requires. The
entire three-day cycle in-game equates to around an
hour in real time and is one of the earliest examples
of an accomplished real-time system.

A ranch in the south-west of the game world is
obstructed by a large boulder, being hacked at
by a builder. Return on the third and final day and
the boulder has been removed in a tangible way
- it takes the builder two days to destroy it, and so
the ranch and its associated side-quests are only
available when his task is complete. In turn, heading
back into Clock Town towards the end of the last day,
the player will find it near empty, as most residents
have fled in advance of the impending apocalypse.

By introducing the three-day cycle Nintendo
incorporated a wonderful narrative framework and
a means to cram a vast experience into a cartridge,
as the predetermined environmental occurrences
are allowed to repeat themselves infinitely when Link
travels back to the dawn of the first day, requiring
less memory. Through all of these elements Majora's
Mask rivalled the acclaim of its predecessor and
remains a challenging and curious experience.

GAME CHANGERS

m roooo

MAJORA'S MASK BROUGHT UNORTHODOX TIME MECHANICS
TO THE TABLE, BUT SEVERAL OTHER TITLES OVER THE YEARS
HAVE BENT THE RULES OF TIME AND SPACE

BLINX: THE
TIME SWEEPER

■ A GAME THAT was
billed as an essential early
exclusive for the original
Xbox, Blinx allowed players
to slow down, speed up and
stop time altogether using the
titular character's vacuum
cleaner. What was interesting
here was the time limit of
ten minutes for each stage,
nudging the player into the
position where the game's
time mechanics weren't just
a gimmick, but essential
to progression. Outside of
these mechanics, however,
Blinx: The Time Sweeper
didn't particularly inspire,
amounting to a slightly above
average platformer with
action elements.

FI 2013

■ AN INTERESTING ADDITION to this list, yet FI 2013 uses time
mechanics to fix your problems. Having hurtled off the track after a
frantic manoeuvre through a corner, players can rewind the action
to correct their mistakes. Although the amount of times this function
is available is limited, it feels like a strange addition. The FI games
are known for being hardcore, and by adding this mechanic
Codemasters may be guilty of acquiescing to accessibility.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA:

OCARINA OF TIME

■ THE PREDECESSOR TO Majora's Mask, Ocarina Of Time
allowed players to manipulate time. By heading to the Temple of
Time in Hyrule Market Link can remove the Master Sword from its
pedestal to travel forward in time. This pushes the narrative forward:
by replacing the sword you can return to being a child, affecting
what happens in the future, and completing specific side-quests.

GAME CHANGERS: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK

4 *

•V

CHRONO TRIGGER

■ ANOTHER INNOVATIVE TITLE, and an even earlier example
ol time travel as a gameplay element. Square's RPG was highly
experimental; its time travel component allowed players to travel
to dilferent locations and eras, with past events alfecting the
future. Despite achieving huge success in Japan, a European
release for the SNES never happened.

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

■ UBISOFT'S ACTION-PLATFORMER was a success upon its
release in 2003. Controlling the titular prince, players were faced
with dungeons rife with chasms to traverse and enemies to defeat
- but the player can rewind time to avoid death. The prince can
also use the Dagger of Time to slow time down when attacking
enemies, placing the outcome of the fight in the player's hands.

LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL
FANTASY XIII

■ THE FINALE OF the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy features a real-
time aspect. NPCs are found in different areas at different times,
necessitating the need to learn their patterns to maximise their
respective side-quests. At 6am on each game day, Lightning can
extend the game clock by a day if prerequisites are met, buying
the player precious time before the game clock winds down.

BRAID

■ JONATHAN BLOW'S PASSION project became one of the first
'indie darlings' upon its release back in 2008, and played with
time in a way that had never been seen before in a side-scrolling
2D platform game. Players guide Tim through screens solving
platform puzzles and have the ability to reverse time, even after
dying. The effects vary across chapters, resulting in a deep game
that became the highest-rated game on Xbox Live for some time.

BIOSHOCK INFINITE

■ ELIZABETH COMSTOCK'S ABILITY to open tears between
dimensions and time periods not only serves as a narrative
device but also adds a new dynamic to the gameplay. The
stunning FPS deals with particle physics, religious fervour
and crippling guilt, but towards the end of the story Elizabeth's
mind-bending abilities come to the fore, resulting in the game
wandering off down several separate timelines.

TIMESHIFT

■ PUBLISHED BY SIERRA Entertainment after the project was
passed on from Atari, TimeShift charted the actions of Dr Krone,
a scientist who travels back to the Thirties and assumes control
of society. The player travels back to 1939 to confront Krone and
restore natural order, eventually defeating him. The player-
character has a time-altering arsenal built-in to the suit the
protagonist is wearing, allowing him to slow time, stop it or rewind it.

MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2: NEW AGE
OF HEROES DREAMCAST 2000

■ Fighting game bosses are infamously difficult to get right, and Marvel Fs. Capcom Zs
Abyss trod the line between well thought-out monstrosity and cheap, shape-shifting irritant.

Hellbent on sending the Earth back into a primordial stew, Abyss was more than just a boss,
he forced you to learn how to execute all of Marvel Fs. Capcom s different mechanics. His first
form required you to master hopping and jumping to avoid his armour suit's slow, sweeping attacks,
while his second form (a green humanoid thing) requires ranged attacks to counteract his paralyzing
projectiles. The third and final demon Abyss (pictured) relies on brute strength and spamming energy
beam attacks - twitch guarding and taking advantage of recovery frame-rates is the only way to dominate
here. Abyss can be a horrible experience, but if you know how to pick him apart, he can be taken down hard.

O GO

INTERVIEW

THE PICKFORD
BROTHERS

With more than 25 years of experience in the industry
Ste and John Pickford have seen it all. Having worked for
themselves and for others, they discuss their careers so far

It was a partnership that
started almost by accident.
Ste had ambitions to pursue
a career as a comic book
designer while older brother
John had been taken by 8-bit
computers and was becoming
an accomplished coder.
But with Ste finding himself
working at the same games
development company as
John and with both becoming
disillusioned, they decided to
collaborate in October 1986. So
one of gaming's most enduring
sibling pairings formed.
The duo have been credited on
dozens of games including Zub,
Rasterscan, Plok and Magnetic
Billiards. They've worked for
Rare, Software Creations and
Binary Design and set up three
of their own studios: Zippo, Zed-
Two and Zee-3. Having been
part of the thought process
behind industry body TIGA, the
Pickford Bros are coming up
with great ideas to this day.

J Ste, you started 'life' as a
■ ■■ comic book designer. Why did
® ® ® ® illustration interest you?

Ste Pickford: I just wanted to be a comic
artist as I was a kid. I loved comics. It
started with the standard British humour
weeklies and DC Comics like Superman
that our local newsagent stocked, then I
was captivated by the Marvel UK black
and white reprints of Spider-Man, Hulk,
and Star Wars. In my early teens I
was much more interested in comics
like Warrior and Swamp Thing than I
was in computer games.

How was it that you first got
involved with computers?

SP: I always wanted to get on John's
computer and I did a bit of programming
when he'd let me on his Spectrum or
Amstrad. I drew some pictures using a
drawing package' he wrote but I had no
career ambitions to work with computers.

When did you get your first computer, John,
and what fascinated you about them?

John Pickford: I got a ZX81 for Christmas.
Back then, just having control over the

image on a TV was an amazing thing
(I'm thinking, the original Pong style
videogames) so to actually type and
program was like something out of science
fiction to me. I don't recall ever wanting to
do anything other than make games.

John, you went to went to Binary Design
first and Ste followed later. What was it
like in those early days?

I DONT RECALL EVER
WANTING TO DO ANYTHING
OTHER THAN MAKE GAMES

SP: John was hired to be one of the
programmers forming the very first
team. I went there for work experience
about a year later.

JP: It was a lot of fun, hard work and a
great learning experience. On the first day
I had to pluck up the courage to ask my
boss, Mike Webb, a question which would
have revealed I didn't know Z80 assembly
language all that well. Thankfully, Mike is

THE PICKFORD BROTHERS

and it was

^ediorMa^

together.

both Ste

developer

-BASED OCEAN SOFTWARE

■ Magnetic Billiards is the Pickford Brothers' most
recent acclaimed game. It was nominated at the
gaming BAFTAs in the Mobile & Handheld category.

GRIND: 71

G3GO

Produced in 1992 at Software Creations,
the game reworked the Pickfords'
abandoned Fleapit coin-op title.

■ The brothers have a penchant for cute character design.
■ Their style defined much of their output during their heyday.

B J a really cool bloke and an amazing
■SSS coder and he didn't bat an eyelid.

He just helped me out and everything went
pretty well after that. I was proud of the fact
that my version of the game, DeathWake
on Spectrum, was the first to be completed.
1 think it took about 12 weeks. Might have
been a bit longer. 1 don't recall ever not
being a bit late.

SP: I loved it at Binary Design. I was
messing about with pixels all day,
drawing pictures on the screen or daft
little animations. I found the work really
interesting as there was lots of problem
solving and inventing of systems and
processes. If tools and platforms and
pipelines ever become stable, and there's
no need to invent anything in order to
make a game, that's the point when I'll lose
interest in making videogames.

What sort of games did you enjoy playing?

SP: There weren't strict genres of games
back then, so games were much more
interesting in many ways. Each new game
- or each good one - was practically
inventing a new genre, or at least inventing
elements of a genre. I just enjoyed anything
that was good. Standout games for me were
probably Lords Of Midnight, all the Ultimate
Games, the Hewson Spectrum games,

the Costa Panayi Spectrum
Games, Elite, Tir Na Nog... Well, the list
could be endless.

JP: r ve never been good at twitch games
so I think the ones I enjoyed most had an
RPG element. Elite is an obvious choice
but I think my favourite was Avalon (and
Dragontorc ) by Steve Turner. Amazing
atmosphere in that game. I remember
being fascinated by Tir Na Nog, which also
had a quite magical feel, but I don't think
got anywhere or solved a single puzzle.

Did you find that gaming was a lucrative
industry to get into?

SP: While I was still at school I worked on
Ghosts'n Goblins as a freelance project
for the programmer of the game, Nigel
Alderton. I think he paid me £50, which
made me feel rich. But I was paid £5,500 a
year when I started work in 1986. That was
brilliant for a 16-year-old school leaver. I
originally planned to work in games for
a year, then go to art college
and head off in the direction of
comics, but after a few months of
being loaded, and being able to
buy whatever I fancied and go to
the pub whenever I wanted, there
was no way I was going to go
back and be a skint student, so I
just carried on with the games.

Software were just round the corner, and
my manager, David Whittaker, took me
round to meet the owner, Phil 'English' as
we used to call him, one lunch time. Phil
used to give me little graphics jobs for
his games that I'd do in the evenings or
weekends for an extra £100 here and there,
so yeah, it felt lucrative to me as a teenager.

The first game you both collaborated
on was Zub. How did you find working
together? Were there any sibling rows?

SP: I don't recall any rows, but it was odd
that we hadn't worked on a game together
before that. I think by that time we'd both,
separately, had experiences where things
hadn't gone quite as we’d hoped with the
artist or programmer we'd been working
with so with Zub it felt like we were both
good at what we were doing and we could
make something really good together.

And then Zippo Games. Was it a big leap
from designer to company owners?

SP: Yeah, we started to understand that
just making a good game wasn't enough.
We got direct experience of the snide
ways that publishers would rip you off and
dick you about, and what a weak position
game developers were in the business
environment of the time. And today, really.

That was the way, then, wasn't it?

Talented programmers and designers
going their own way.

SP: We were probably later than most. I
think a lot of the big name 8-bit game devs
were freelance or worked for themselves
or ran little studios. John and I were just
employees at a work-for-hire studio, which
was actually more unusual than working for
yourself or running your own business. So
I think by going our own way after Binary
Design, we were doing things backwards.

Which consoles did you enjoy playing on
and developing for?

SP: We formed Zippo Games partly
because we wanted to work on the fancy
new 16-bit machines - the Atari ST and the

I If it wasn't weird, it wasn't the Eighties.

Did you do work 'on the side' too?

SP: There were loads of
opportunities for 'foreigners'
once I'd started at Binary. English

John Pickford did not actually program t
Created after Zub, John's role was to design the
game for others to code.

THE PICKFORD BROTHERS

Amiga - so that's where our interest lay
initially. It was when we went to see Rare
that we were introduced to the NES, and at
first we weren't impressed. It seemed like
an underpowered Commodore 64 in some
ways and felt like a backwards step.

It was Tim and Chris Stamper who
converted us into console fans - and
Nintendo fans - by impressing upon us
how much more polished, well designed,
playable, bug-free, and just plain more
fun the games were than anything on the
Amiga or ST. We were sceptical, but after
sitting down with Mario and Zelda and RC
Pro-AM and Excitebike and a few
others, we had to agree that these
games were head and shoulders
above what we were making.

state of the industry and we all got on
great. The moment we were employees
the meetings stopped, and we'd be sent
'directives' from Twycross telling us things
like 'no Walkmans are allowed on desks'
and other bizarre rules that were related
to how their internal office politics were
working. It instantly became miserable.

You worked for Software Creations. By
now you were very well respected and
people watched out for your games.

SP: I think John and I were well known within
the Manchester game dev scene but I'm

I STILL LOVE THE
PROCESS OF MAKING

You worked for Rare too. Which of
your games did you feel stood out?

SP: I think Solar Jetman is probably
our best from that period. I was very
hopeful that Wizards And Warriors
3 would be something special, and I did a
ton of design work that I was very proud of,
but I left the studio before it was complete. I
think it was a bit rushed towards the end, so
I'm not sure the end result was what I was
aiming for.

JP: We got to work on Rare’s prototype coin-
op hardware, the Razz Board. That was a lot
of fun and the game we made - Fleapit - was
the basis of what became Plok on SNES.

Why did you sell to Rare?

SP: We were skint and completely reliant
on them. We didn't so much sell to them, it
was more that we couldn't keep the studio
running on what they were paying us, so
they took us over and took on our financial
obligations in order for us to keep making
the games they wanted.

Did you feel you lost some control?

SP: Their attitude to us changed overnight,
it was really funny. When we were a
separate studio we'd go down for meetings
with Chris and Tim, talk about our projects
then discuss games in general and the

VIDEOGAMES, BUT IT S
BECOME TOUGH TO
MAKE A LIVING

F ' not sure our fame went anywhere

beyond that little world. We were hired
by Creations to work on their new SNES
devkit and make their first SNES game,
Equinox. It's a real shame what happened
with that project, as it was a massive missed
opportunity.

What happened?

SP: We designed a full RPG, halfway
between a Zelda game and a proper RPG
like Dragon Warrior. We had towns and
NCPs, loads of dialogue and quests and
funny running jokes. Game development
was tracking about two or three months
late which was hardly surprising as we
were learning a new platform, so the brutal
decision was made to chop out all of the
RPG layer of the game, even though it had
all been designed, scripted, translated
and was ready to implement. Each town
entrance on the world map became just
a dungeon entrance, skipping the NPCs
and puzzles in the town that would have
eventually revealed that entrance, and we
had to bodge these 'ghosts' on the world

■ Puzzle title Wetrix was the first game
by the Pickfords for their Zed Two studio.

map bridges to box off areas of the world
map that would have been controlled by
more interesting puzzles and NPCs. It was a
real hatchet job, just to stop the game being
about three months late.

This new RPG game was delayed further,
wasn't it?

SP: A problem with Nintendo approval,
related to the isometric 3D, sprite priorities,
and a bug in the SNES hardware meant
the game was delayed by Nintendo for
over a year in submission hell before it was
released. So we could easily have got the
full RPG in there without actually impacting
the release date. What makes it such a
shame is that if the game as designed had
come out, it would have been Sony's own
RPG franchise. This was before PlayStation.
So, when PlayStation launched, we would be
the guys making Sony's main first-party RPG
games. That's typical of the luck we've had.

Why did you leave SC to form Zed 2?

SP: We wanted to form a small team to
focus on making good games, which was
very different to the direction Creations
was going in. They were doing big FIFA
conversions for EA and that kind of thing.
We tried to form a group within Creations to
do that, but they wouldn't go with it, so we
left to do it anyway as our own studio. It was
pretty much the exact same reason why we
left Binary Design to form Zippo.

At Zippo, you worked on 8/16-bit games.
How did you find creating for consoles?

SP: It was still just about possible for little
studios to make console games when we
did Wetrix, before the doors were closed
to the little guys for a long time. Only in
the last few years, with online stores and
downloadable games is it possible for tiny
studios to get their games on consoles.

You've had some amazing successes
recently. Why has Magnetic Billiards been
so acclaimed, do you think?

SP: Haha, we haven't had any success at
all! Magnetic Billiards has been critically
acclaimed, and a lot of people like it, but
it's not been anything like a commercial
success. Just the opposite so far. . .

JP: This time next year, Rodders!

Andrew

WM«T|in

ODDWORLD: ABE'S ODDYSEE

PLAYSTATION 1997

"THIS IS RUPTURE FARMS," says a nasal voice, resigned and forlorn. A mournful and
haunting soundtrack plays in the background as industrial machines rumble, bloody cuts
of meat are torn apart, bonesaws cut at splintered ribs. Lines of Mudokons - the enslaved race
of the protagonist, Abe - stand like automata, performing their tasks with resignation, some with
mouths or eyes sewn shut. Abe explains the entrapment of his people under the capitalist Glukkon.

Abe reflects on the delicious snacks Rupture Farms have created, before stumbling upon a secret that
would turn his world upside-down forever - that the Glukkon intend to make Mudokons into a new line of
savoury treat. . . The industrial and modern-gothic themes enacted by the striking intro to the Oddworld series
set up the themes for what would become one of the PlayStation's most iconic (and hard as nails) series.

FINAL

FANTASY

The leading name in Japanese RPGs, Final Fantasy has enjoyed
a rich and varied run, spanning nearly three decades, and
serving up some genuine all-time classics along the way

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... FINAL FANTASY

IT'S AMAZING TO think
that one final act of
desperation on behalf
of a developer losing faith in
gaming as a medium managed to
spawn one of the longest-running
franchises, but that's exactly what
happened. Today, Final Fantasy is
the biggest franchise in the JRPG
arena and one of Japan's most

successful ever gaming exports,
enjoying a level of success that
few other series can boast. The
upcoming Final Fantasy XV might
suggest that only 14 games have
come before it, but the actual
number - as you're about to
discover - is significantly greater.
Hop on your chocobo and let's get
this epic quest underway. . .

FINAL FANTASY 1987

SYSTEM: NES

Squaresoft's Hironobu Sakaguchi had long been petitioning his bosses to
let him make an RPG, but it wasn't until Enix saw success with Dragon Quest
in 1986 that Squaresoft finally saw that there was indeed a market for console
RPGs and green-lit the project. While it shared a lot tonally and in terms of
setting with Dragon Quest, Western influences from the likes of Dungeons &
Dragons and Wizardry offered deeper character progression and combat
elements that would go on to become staples of the franchise, as well as
introducing many to the outstanding scoring of Nobuo Uematsu. The game's
title reflected not only Squaresoft's financial instability at the time but also
Sakaguchi's own sentiments - had the game flopped, he reportedly planned to
leave gaming altogether. While its failure could have taken its parent company
down with it, the game's initial print run of 200,000 copies had to be doubled to
meet demand. It has since been re-released no less than 17 times across various
platforms, finally arriving in Europe for the first time in 2003 on PSone.

FINAL FANTASY II 1988

SYSTEM: NES

After the unexpected success of the
original game, Sakaguchi and his team
were tasked with turning around a
speedy sequel in order to fully capitalise
on its popularity. Despite arriving within
a year of the first game's release, FFII
still managed to take some bold strides
forward - battle scenes were no longer so
heavily windowed and felt more dynamic
as a result, while franchise staples
such as chocobo mounts and recurring
character Cid also made their debut
here. Since the US release of the original
was something of a flop commercially,
this sequel would not be localised for
the first time until 2003, for PlayStation
compilation Final Fantasy Origins.

FINAL FANTASY III 1990

SYSTEM: NES

Clearly onto a winner in Japan, Square continued to churn out
sequels but again, this was far more than a simple cash grab.

FFIII further refined the series' battle system, doing away with
damage details as captions and instead working them into the
visual representation of the fight, in turn allowing more space for
the improved combat graphics to shine. The original's job system
was greatly improved by allowing all playable characters to switch
between multiple roles unlocked as the game progressed, lending
players a degree of customisation and personalisation they had
not enjoyed up to this point. It was also the first game to feature
summons. Once again, though, no localisation was available until
long after release - in this case, it took until the 2006 DS remake for
an official non-Japanese version to be launched.

FINAL FANTASY IV 1991

SYSTEM: SNES

Here's where it starts to get a little
complicated. With only the original
game having been available in
the US, this SNES debut instead
released as Final Fantasy II so as to
avoid confusion. Working with new
hardware proved to be a double-
edged sword for the team - the
overly ambitious script came in at
around four times too long for what
the capacity of the cartridge would
allow, although the improved fidelity
would allow character emotions to
be conveyed visually to a degree
and it was largely cut without

omitting any intended story beats.
FFIV marks the shift from simple
turn-based combat to the series'
trademark Active Time Battle system,
although its implementation is
basic in comparison to subsequent
titles. The job system was simplified
once again to lock characters into
a single role, but these roles were
better defined thanks to the addition
of class-specific abilities and
commands. Mode-7 effects were
employed for the first time to make
airship travel and spell effects even
more impressive.

FINAL FANTASY VI 1994

tSSOGGGO

FINAL FANTASY V 1992

SYSTEM: SNES

The job system flip-flop continues as fixed classes are done
away with once again to make room for the most complex and
intricate version of the system seen to date. That's largely why the
game didn't get to leave Japan too, mind - it was seen as being
far too hardcore for the Western market and at least three known
attempts to localise it under different names all fell through. It's
such a shame, since the awesome job system and refined ATB
mechanics (progress bars were added to show who would be
acting next) have since led to this being a series favourite for many
the world over.

FFV WAS SEEN AS BEING TOO

HARDCORE FOR THE WESTERN
MARKET - THREE KNOWN ATTEMPTS

TO LOCALISE IT FELL THROUGH

FINAL FANTASY MYSTIC QUEST 1993

SYSTEM: SNES

Vastly improved visuals and a simpler character development system
meant that this would not be denied a US visa as its forerunner so
rudely was, but that only caused more confusion - VI was actually
released in the US as Final Fantasy III to maintain numbering
traditions. It's here that we first see a lot of the complexities that later
become commonplace in the series, such as events where several
parties must be formed and used separately, and choice as to the order
in which certain scenarios play out. Widely regarded as the best game
in the series, FFVI is unquestionably as good as 16-bit RPGs get so if
you haven't played it, get on that - mechanically, it holds up brilliantly
even by today's genre standards, the sprite-based visuals are timeless
and Uematsu's score is simply god-tier.

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

The first spin-offs came a few years previous on Game Boy, but this was
the earliest one released on a home console. Almost the antithesis of FFV,
it's a hybrid of Zelda-esque action RPG elements and a simple turn-based
combat system where you never have control of more than two characters.
In fact, you only actually have one by default
- the game takes control of partner
characters unless you switch
to manual override. An entry-
level JRPG and not a true
Final Fantasy title, but still
fairly entertaining.

FINAL FANTASY VII 1997

The leap from 16-bit to 32-bit
hardware was one of the greatest
the industry had ever seen and
few franchises had a greater
degree of ambition and potential to
truly come of age here than Final
Fantasy - sprawling epics like
V and VI came in at under 4MB
a pop, whereas VII would span
three 700MB CDs. Characters
made the jump from sprites to full
3D models, while backdrops were
pre-rendered CG as was popular
in games at the time to help them
punch above their weight visually.
The first FF to reach Europe is
respected for other reasons, too;

its setting, characters, themes,
narrative and score are all
benchmarks that modern RPGs
have struggled to match for years
and the ingenious Materia system
offered all the depth of FFV s job
system and more for those who
wanted it, while at the same time
being simple enough on a base
level to allow anyone to bluff their
way through with enough old-
school grinding. FMV sequences
gave us a truly cinematic way to
understand and engage with these
characters, which is a huge part
of what makes this the FFmany
swear by to this day.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... FINAL FANTASY

FINAL FANTASY IX 2000

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

Sakaguchi's final entry as producer couldn't carry his unique style
and approach any more proudly - it's little wonder he has been known to
cite this as his favourite FF. A return to classic fantasy, this also saw the
series go back to designated roles for each character rather than having
a Materia or Junction-style system that opened up options for players.

It's a little simpler as a result and while we'd suggest that this makes it
the weakest of the PlayStation trio, there are plenty of fans who would
like to Ultima us right in the face for suggesting such. So yeah, try it for
yourself - the stylised looks help it hold up better today than FFVIII from
a graphical standpoint, at least.

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS 1997

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

Trading the traditional RPG action for another 16-bit staple, Tactics
laid on 3D grid-based arenas in which to do battle in line with strategy
RPGs such as Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem and Super Robot Wars that
had proven popular in Japan. In fact, a large chunk of the Tactics Ogre
team actually worked on FFT, making it easy to see where similarities
came from. Still, the in-depth job system and interesting twist on the
main series' ATB mechanic lent this its own personality, leading to a
number of indirect sequels. The game's world, Ivalice, would also go on
to be the setting for FFXII.

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

FFVII was the series first step towards realistic visuals but VIII took
that a step further. The result is a game that feels less stylised and as a
result arguably doesn't hold up as well today, but it's still a popular pick
in 'Best FF' polls. It's perhaps the first truly divisive game in the series,
however - many couldn't get on with the unique Draw/Junction system for
earning spells and upgrading characters, nor with the diversion from more
traditional fantasy themes seen in older games. Whatever your take on the
game itself, though, the Triple Triad card game still remains the best mini-
game to ever have featured in the franchise. The infectious music (and
impending threat of the Random rule spreading) still haunt us to this day.

SAGA OF MANA

The unexpected success of the NES
original in Japan and the sudden uptake
of the Game Boy led Square to quickly
turn its attention to the system and while
the original plan was to create an RPG
for the handheld (it didn't have any at the
time), this would lead to the first handheld
Final Fantasy game thanks to a name
change for the Western market. Makai
Toushi Sa-Ga, despite its localised name,
would kickstart the SaGa RPG series, while
Final Fantasy Adventure ( Mystic Quest in

Europe), arriving once again on
Game Boy only a year later, planted I
the seeds for the Mana series. With
only one overseas success in RPGs <<_
at the time, Square elected to slap
Final Fantasy labels on everything. Legend
got two sequels, again carrying the FF
brand ( SaGa as a franchise never really
took off outside of Japan), while the more
action-based combat of Adventure would
find a new home on SNES via follow-up
and all-time favourite Secret OF Mana.

FINAL FANTASY VIII 1999

FINAL FANTASY
CRYSTAL
CHRONICLES 2003

HOODOO

FINAL FANTASY X

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION 2

Another generation leap
brought with it huge potential
for change and, once again,
Square embraced the
challenge. Results, it must be
said, were somewhat mixed,
though the game itself is strong
enough to carry it regardless.
Full 3D environments replaced
the rendered backgrounds
of old, while characters were
far more detailed on the new
console than ever before. Both
FMV sequences and audio
quality also saw improvements,

although the switch to fully
voiced dialogue was both
too much for many that
loved imagining classic RPG
character voices as they would
the faces of characters in books
and also a weak link in general
- one scene in particular is
laughably bad (pun very much
intended), but the general
budget anime dub feel of the
rest still jars somewhat with the
otherwise stellar production
values. Also, Blitzball. So
much Blitzball...

FINAL FANTASY XI ONLINE 2002

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Having seen the popularity of Western MMOs at the time. Square
was keen to deliver its own alternative and had just the brand with
which to do it. While having a main series title deviate so radically
from the solo JRPG template upon which its storied legacy was built,
one of the main things fans came to love about the game was how
much lore from and love for previous FF titles was evident. XI boasts
many firsts - first 'proper' console MMO, first cross-play MMO, first
Xbox 360 MMO and first online Final Fantasy, to name but a few - but
the one Square will be most interested in wasn't announced until 2012,
when it was revealed that FFXI is the most profitable game in the entire
series. Yeah, a decade of recurring subscriptions and an addictive
gameplay model will do that...

SYSTEM: GAMECUBE

Given that Nintendo's pint-sized
console didn't have the online
clout for an MMO or the storage
capacity for a full-on epic RPG,
Square had to get a little creative.
This four-player spin-off relies on
far more action-heavy combat
than main series games had
previously, while also offering
some ingenious new features to
make multiplayer the best way
to play - by charging attacks or
spells with the right timing, you
could combine multiple attacks
into a single far more powerful
blow, making coordination among
players crucial to success.

FINAL FANTASY

X-2 2003

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION 2

The game that started a
dangerous trend for Square. We
can't say that we particularly
wanted a direct sequel to FAX’ but
even if we had, we're not sure this
strange playable Charlie's Angels
anime would have been entirely
what we were after. Odd though it
may be, the Dress Sphere system
(for switching jobs by changing
outfits, naturally) works well
enough and the monster training/
battling mechanics, while hardly
Pokemon, are also fit for purpose.
It's just a shame that intro put so
many people off what is actually
a decent, if unremarkable, Final
Fantasy spin-off.

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADVANCE

2003

SYSTEM: GAME BOY ADVANCE

What a smart play this was. Spotting
that the GBA was the first handheld
powerful enough to run and display a
modern SRPG and that the Tactics formula
was a perfect fit for handhelds, Square
served up a near-endless strategic delight.
Judges invoke Laws, which change the
way each battle must be played, making
it impossible to rely on the same handful
of overpowered characters or abilities in
all circumstances - it's all about thinking
on the fly, which is precisely what you want
from a tactics game.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... FINAL FANTASY

FINAL FANTASY XII 2006

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION 2

You can tell just from playing it that XII is a game created by a team
with MMO experience - to all intents and purposes, this is a single-
player MMO in much of its approach, design and combat. The Gambit
system grows in strength as the game goes on, starting out as a way
to have struggling characters quaff Potions in a pinch but ultimately
developing into a system of such complexity that you can pretty much
code your party to act independently and rarely even require your
input. Many design decisions showcase a time where developers were
trying their best to prevent trade-ins while retailers looked to upsell
with guides and such - in one of the rudest RPG missables of all time,
Vaan's ultimate weapon can only be obtained if you leave a handful
of select chests around the world unopened, something that probably
wouldn't have been discovered to this day if it weren't for the official
strategy guide. Japan got a greatly enhanced version of the game in
the form of the International Zodiac Job System version, which we'd
love to see localised in HD form as the team has done recently with the
updated versions of X-2 and the Kingdom Hearts games.

DIRGE OF CERBERUS: FINAL FANTASY

VII 2006

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION 2

CRISIS CORE: FINAL FANTASY VII 2006

SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

A far more fitting tribute to the FFVII legacy than Dirge Oi Cerberus,
this PSP action-RPG does a great job of fleshing out the back-story of
the PSone classic. With Zack stepping into the starring role, you're able
to experience first hand what it's like to actually be a SOLDIER badass,
which proved to be enough of a hook to keep us playing. It certainly
didn't hurt that it was one of the best-looking games on PSP, and strong
sales reflected both that and its core quality.

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

It worked well enough on GBA,
so why not do it all over again
on DS? While still solid, A2 was
faced with stiff competition on
the immensely popular Nintendo
handheld, the likes of Disgaea,
Front Mission and Advance Wars
already staking their claim on
the system around the time the
FF sequel rocked onto the scene.
Iteration rather than innovation is
core here - it's basically the same
great strategy game, only with a
few tweaks.

FINAL FANTASY
XII: REVENANT
WINGS 2007

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

In a world where sequels to
mainline Final Fantasy games
were considered okay, a follow-
up to hugely successful PS2
swansong XII was always on the
cards. Few could have predicted
the form it would take, though -
this curious RTS neither looks nor
feels like the game it supposedly
follows on from, although
summoning armies of Espers
proved pretty neat even when
taken in isolation.

ANOTHER GENERATION LEAP
BROUGHT WITH IT HUGE POTENTIAL

AND. ONCE AGAIN. SQUARE

EMBRACED THE CHALLENGE

The less said about this the better, so we'll keep this brief. Missing the
point of both newly appointed lead character Vincent Valentine and VII
itself, this turgid shooter made it abundantly clear that the old adage
is indeed true - you can't please all the people all the time. Series fans
were let down by janky gameplay with only loose ties to FF canon while
shooter fans were left raising their eyebrows at the wildly convoluted
narrative and bizarre structure. Nobody had a nice time, basically.

FINAL FANTASY
TACTICS A2:
GRIMOIRE OF THE
RIFT 2007

BSgSflGGGO

KWEH AS

It didn't take long after their
introduction for chocobos
to go front supporting
characters to starring roles,
with the global success of
Final Fantasy VII kicking
off a wave of bird-based
spin-offs. The Fushigi no
Dungeon series started off
as a Dragon Quest spin-off,
so it's somewhat fitting that
Square should send its own
RPG brand to copy Enix's
once more. But Chocobo's
Mysterious Dungeon was

■ CHOCOBO'S MYSTERIOUS DUNGEON
YEAR: 1997 SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

■ CHOCOBO'S DUNGEON 2
YEAR: 1999 SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

■ CHOCOBO RACING

YEAR: 1999 SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

■ CHOCOBO COLLECTION
YEAR: 1999 SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION

■ CHOCOBO ON THE JOB

YEAR: 2000 SYSTEM: WONDERSWAN

■ CHOCOBO ANYWHERE
YEAR: 2002 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ CHOCOBO LAND: A GAME OF DICE
YEAR: 2002 SYSTEM: GAME BOY ADVANCE

■ CHOCOBO ANYWHERE 2: ESCAPE! GHOST SHIP
YEAR: 2003 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ CHOCO-MATE

YEAR: 2003 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ CHOCOBO ANYWHERE 2.5: INFILTRATE! ANCIENT RUINS
YEAR: 2004 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ CHOCOBO ANYWHERE 3:

DEFEAT! THE GREAT RAINBOW-COLORED DEMON
YEAR: 2004 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ CHOCOBO DE MOBILE
YEAR: 2006 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ FINAL FANTASY FABLES: CHOCOBO TALES
YEAR: 2006 SYSTEM: DS

■ FINAL FANTASY FABLES: CHOCOBO'S DUNGEON
YEAR: 2007 SYSTEM: WII

■ CID AND CHOCOBO'S MYSTERIOUS DUNGEON
YEAR: 2008 SYSTEM: DS

■ CHOCOBO AND THE MAGIC PICTURE BOOK
YEAR: 2008 SYSTEM: DS

■ CHOCOBO PANIC
YEAR: 2010 SYSTEM: IOS

■ CHOCOBO'S CRYSTAL TOWER
YEAR: 2010 SYSTEM: MOBILE

■ CHOCOBO'S CHOCOTTO FARM
YEAR: 2012 SYSTEM: IOS

FOLK

» H

just the start - PlayStation
owners had dungeoneering
sequels, bizarre kart racers
and even PocketStation
mini-games before the
chocobos went off to graze
in new pastures like the
WonderSwan, mobiles and
later the DS and Wii. There
have now been almost 20
Chocobo games spanning
all number of genres -
here's how it all played
out for the unlikely critter
heroes. Kweh!

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL
CHRONICLES: RING OF FATES 2007

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

A handheld prequel to the GameCube title, Ring Of Fates shares
much with the game it so clearly emulates. Played alone, it lacks a lot
of the depth of the original but it won some respect back by extending
the multiplayer component across oceans via Wi-Fi play. Sadly, with
Nintendo shutting down online support for original DS games, you'll
need to find a group of other owners to play locally to enjoy that side of
the game today.

FINAL FANTASY IV: THE AFTER YEARS

2008

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

The sequels keep on coming, although it's
clear that less effort went into this strange
episodic effort than into many of the others.
Assets are largely reused from the various
remakes of the SNES game and despite
a few interesting new mechanics (such as
a lunar cycle that affects combat), it's still
an extra chapter to a book many would be
happy to simply leave closed or read fresh.

DISSIDIA FINAL
FANTASY 2008

SYSTEM: PSP

What if all of the most famous
characters in Final Fantasy
history were to get together for
some arbitrary reason and have
a big fight? That's the question
posed and, to a lesser degree,
answered by Dissidia, a curious
mix of arcade brawling and RPG
mechanics. It looks great and
plays well enough, but it's best
seen as entertaining fan service
- it's basically Final Fantasy's
answer to Smash Bros., and you
likely already know if you'd enjoy
that or not.

FINAL FANTASY
CRYSTAL
CHRONICLES: MY
LIFE AS A KING

2008

SYSTEM: WII

A download-only title that does
away with the idea of being a hero
in favour of placing players on the
throne and getting others to do the
dirty work for them. It's slow-paced
but it sort of works, if only as a way
of seeing quests from a different
point of view. Interestingly, it
wasn't planned as an FF game at
all - Crystal Chronicles' engine
was apparently used to prototype
the game and it eventually picked
up the title as well.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... FINAL FANTASY

FINAL FANTASY XIII 2009

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Or, 'The moment it became cool to hate Final Fantasy. There's a
lot wrong with XIII, make no mistake about it - the cast is among the
weakest in core series history, the pacing is poor and complaints about
its linearity are not misplaced. But where many other JRPGs attempt
to disguise their linear structure, you have to sort of respect Square's
decision to have XIII wear it on its sleeve. If anything, it makes the big
third act reveal of the huge Gran Pulse area all the more impressive,
plus the Paradigm battle system (a strange hybrid of custom job
systems and fixed character roles, with line-ups that can be changed
on the fly) is certainly more involved then many similar menu-driven
efforts. We'd have a far easier job trying to defend it if it didn't end with
a Leona Lewis song, though...

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL
CHRONICLES: ECHOES OF TIME 2009

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

It wasn't broken, and it didn't get fixed.
Echoes Of Time offered more of the
same for Crystal Chronicles fans, this
time allowing cross-platform play locally
between the Wii and DS versions. Still not
really worth the effort for solo players to
pour hours into, but multiplayer proved
once again to be an amusing distraction
and another great proof of the ways in
which the Final Fantasy series could break
into new realms of gameplay without losing
its core values and charm.

FINAL FANTASY:
THE 4 HEROES OF
LIGHT 2009

SYSTEM: NINTENDO DS

While XIII showed a Square
desperately trying new things
to keep the JRPG afloat, this DS
release instead saw the company
fall back on what it knows so
very well. As traditional a JRPG
as you're likely to find in the 21st
Century, this is perhaps most
notable as the game that spawned
the excellent Bravely Default as a
non-branded follow-up.

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL
CHRONICLES: MY LIFE AS A
DARKLORD 2009

SYSTEM: WII

If My Life As A King was a stretch for fans with its city management
gameplay, this tower defence title is some full-on Plastic Man
nonsense. A simple yet effective rock/paper/scissors system
determines the effectiveness of each trap or monster on a given
unit and the side-on viewpoint and vertical structure are welcome
changes to the usual standards, but we're not sure to this day why
this even has 'Final Fantasy' in its title.

r *

Mira

Say your prayers, puty

•vfi /ftn t i i r A r r I TKn fA* p ^

SYSTEM: WII

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL
CHRONICLES: THE CRYSTAL BEARERS

2009

The nail in the Crystal
Chronicles coffin, this
multiplayer-only action title
did away with not only the
co-op gameplay that made its
forerunners enjoyable but also
with the levelling system and

character progression you might
expect from a decent RPG. If you
thought My Life As A Darklord
completely missed the point of the
Final Fantasy series, you should
check this title out. Only don't,
because it isn't very good.

BSgSflGGGO

FINAL FANTASY XIV: ONLINE 2010

SYSTEM: PC

Another MMO was always on the cards
after the insane success of FFXI, but the
initial launch of XIV wasn't the second
success story Square likely had in mind. No
MMO ever has a particularly good launch
but this was poor - console-style menu
interfaces, patchy visuals and server issues
led many to stick with XI instead. Square
would need something drastic to fix this
mess; its imminent updates did just that.

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 2011

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Given the backlash to FFXIII, you have to wonder what Square was
thinking in announcing a direct sequel to arguably the most hated
game in the entire series. Still, XIII-2 made almost too much progress
from its linear progenitor - its entirely open-ended structure spanned
both space and time to deliver the most confusing map screen and
some of the most ludicrous time-hopping quests yet seen in the series.
Monster recruiting and training, seeing the same locations in various
time periods and the bizarre paradox endings rate among the highs,
with characters once again disappointing.

FINAL FANTASY
TYPE-0 2011

SYSTEM: PSP

Monster Hunter and its myriad
clones cemented the PSP as the
hardcore handheld of choice, so
this action-leaning title proved to
be right at home there. Despite
being widely regarded as one of
the best-looking PSP games and
the best non-mainline FF titles
in its native territory, the game
would not be granted permission
to leave Japan. Well, until very
recently, anyway...

DISSIDIA 012
FINAL FANTASY

2011

SYSTEM: PSP

Both Dissidia and the PSP
enjoyed wild success in Japan,
so this oddly-named sequel
(that second word is 'Duodecim',
apparently) was to be expected.
More playable characters, more
stages and more content all
presented fans with a reason
to upgrade and if you're new to
Dissidia, you can just jump in
right here for the best experience.

THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY 2012

SYSTEM: NINTENDO 3DS

If you adore the music of the Final Fantasy series, then congratulations
on having ears that work. Uematsu's compositions and indeed some
of his understudies' works are among the most recognisable in all of
gaming, making a rhythm action game that uses them an exceptional
idea. Dividing tunes into Field, Battle and Event stages, each with
different mechanics, Theatrhythm was a superb title that has since been
rendered basically redundant by Curtain Call.

UEMATSU'S COMPOSITIONS AND
INDEED SOME OF HIS UNDERSTUDIES'

WORKS ARE AMONG THE MOST

RECOGNISABLE IN ALL OF GAMING

FINAL FANTASY XIV: A REALM REBORN

2013

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Developers, take note - this is how you fix a broken game. Changes
across the board from GUI to basic gameplay made this reboot
effectively a brand new game, and just in time for its PS3 launch too.
Square would go on to refine it further still in time for a PS4 release that
enjoys near parity with the PC version, with cross play supported across
all three formats. With new content added almost every month, A Realm
Reborn is destined to evolve yet more as the years roll on. We'd be
surprised if this doesn't outgross XI in the next couple of years...

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... FINAL FANTASY

LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL
FANTASY XIII

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

If you didn't want one sequel to Final Fantasy XIII then it seems
unlikely that you'd have wanted two. An odd marriage of the
Paradigm system from the core game and X-2's Dress Sphere
mechanic, this action-heavy twist on the usual combat made
switching outfits at the right time the key to victory. With a goal of
saving as many people as possible within a restrictive time limit,
it's all about making the best possible use of your time and the
combat is actually pretty damn tech - just watch some YouTube
exhibition mode stuff and try to claim otherwise.

THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY:
CURTAIN CALL 2014

SYSTEM: NINTENDO 3DS

Yet another update, but yet
another welcome one. Curtain
Call brings the total song count to
over 200 (with yet more available
as DLC, if that's still not enough),

adds a host of new characters
and refines the Chaos Note
system of the original into the
much tighter Quest Medley mode.
Pretty much essential for fans.

FINAL FANTASY
EXPLORERS 2014

SYSTEM: NINTENDO 3DS

Stop us if you've heard this one before...
this is an action-RPG where four players
can team up to slay monsters, earn loot,
craft better gear and repeat that cycle
until they have stumps for hands. Yes,
it's a Monster Hunter clone, but we're not
going to say no to a slice of FF-flavoured
hunting. Out now in Japan, it's expected
to arrive over here some time this year.
Maybe. You never can tell with MH clones.

FINAL FANTASY TYPE-0 HD 2015

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

We've omitted most remakes and reissues on account of how little
they changed, but this makes the cut purely due to its interesting
circumstances. Despite no localisation of the PSP original (or indeed
a Vita upgrade, as was rumoured for a time), a HD version of Type-0
is coming to PS4 and Xbox One. Cynics may see it as a vessel for the
FFXV demo and nothing more, but we welcome the chance to enjoy the
unreleased game in English.

FINAL FANTASY XV TBC 2016

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Originally announced as Versus XIII back in 2006, this incredible
looking FF title only recently got bumped up to main series standing. It
looks deserving of such a promotion, to be fair - redone for current gen
consoles (it was initially planned for PS3), it's one of the best showcases
we've seen so far for the new hardware. The car, the questionable
English dub, and the dudebro vacation theme are all doing their bit to
quash excitement, but it wouldn't be a forthcoming Final Fantasy game
these days if people weren't hating on it. We can't wait.

m 0000

GAME CHANGERS

GRAN TURISMO

Released: 1998 Publisher: Sony Developer: Polyphony System: PlayStation

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In an era where arcade racers were king, Sony went down a
different route and ushered in the dawn of true simulation racing games

■ EXITING THE PITLANE late in 1997, nobody
■ ■■ cou ld have predicted the impact that
■ ■■■ Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo was going
to have on the racing genre, not just on the then
contemporary PSOne but also on Sony's follow-up
consoles. A labour of love by Polyphony's visionary,
Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismo introduced virtual
racers to a whole host of features rarely seen on
console games before, producing an experience that
still lingers long in the memory, thanks to both the
original game's success and its pivotal role in creating
the formula for later games in the series.

Beaten to the European market by Codemaster's
exemplary TOCA Touring Car Championship, Gran
Turismo was up against stiff competition on the
starting grid, yet where TOCA s graphics, fully-
licenced championship, damage, and handling had
wowed us in November 1997, GT suddenly changed
the boundaries when it was released to European
gamers in May 1998.

On first startup, the menu design seemed
confusing and mildly uninspiring, yet these
underwhelming emotions were quickly washed away
when you realised the breadth of automotive exotica
on offer to drive. Over 140 cars sat waiting for their
turn with you behind the wheel, all officially licensed
versions of their real-world counterparts. By today's
standards it may sound rather lacking in variety, but
before the turn of the millennium, never before had
such choice been offered to motorsport enthusiasts.

If that ample selection of chariots wasn't enough
though, Gran Turismo also introduced us to a
range of performance upgrades. Exhausts, engine
components, and tyres could all be modified to boost
your cars' performance. What's more, aftermarket
wheels from a range of real-life brands could be
fitted, along with a small selection of Japanese
tuner-style rear wings to help customise the look of
your fleet, long before the Need For Speed franchise
offered such extensive in-game services.

GAME CHANGERS: GRAN TURISMO

OFF FOR A SPIN I

GRAN TURISMO SPAWNED ONE OF SONY'S BEST EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISES,
WITH SUCCESS FROM THE SCREEN TO THE TRACK OVER THE LAST 17 YEARS.

★ Every generation of Sony
console has seen two Gran
Turismo releases, with GT
through to GT5 selling a
combined 57,500,000 units.
GT3 has been the series' most
successful title, with sales of
14,890,000 units on its way to
becoming the PS2's second
biggest selling game.

★ The franchise has transcended
the world of virtual racing with
its GT Academy programme.
Choosing the fastest racers
from an online time trial,
drivers are then pitted against
one another in knockout rounds
until a victor is picked. Winners
have gone on to race at events
like the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

★ As well as polished racing
games, Polyphony Digital is
notorious for making us wait to
get behind the latest set of new
wheels. From Gran Turismo
2's delay of a few weeks due to
coding issues, to the infuriating
eight-month holdup before
Gran Turismo 5's launch, GT
fans are a patient bunch.

★ Porsche? Not to be found
in any GT games due to EA's
recently ended monopoly on
the 911 makers. However, the
inclusion of German Porsche
tuners, RUF, helped to cement
the latter into the consciousness
of the public. If you want official
Stuttgart metal you'll have to
head to Forza though. . .

Of course, all this cost money, and starting the
game's main Simulation mode with just 10,000 credits
meant that your first car was likely to be more suited
to a Sunday run to the shops than a flat-out blast
around one of the game's 11 fictional race tracks.
Inevitably this meant that to find anything mildly
impressive, we were sent searching the Used Car
Lot. The cars on offer were regularly refreshed after
a few races, but to progress, money was the name of
the game and to earn it you had to grind.

Early races in Gran Turismo brought little reward,
but to rise up through the ranks you needed to
complete the sometimes infuriatingly difficult and
long-winded licence tests. From simple accelerating
and stopping tests to full-lap time trials, these
challenges often had us screaming at the screen in
frustration, such was their penchant for challenging
even mildly imprecise driving.

Yet, while the hardcore nature of the career
progression turned off some, it was hard not to play
Gran Turismo just for its sheer beauty. The on-screen
displays, such as speed and gear selection, may
have seemed, even in the late-Nineties, straight out

THE AGE OF TRUE
SIMULATION WAS
DAWNING AND
GRAN TURISMO HAD
ALREADY MARKED
ITS PLACE ON TOP

With 10.85 million
units shipped
worldwide to date,
Gran Turismo is the
original PlayStation
greatest hit. This
cemented racing as
one of the console's
key game genres.

It is claimed that
during the five-year
development period
of Gran Turismo,
Yamauchi only went
home for four days.

Yamauchi
believed that,
despite the depth
and breadth of GT,
the original game
only forced the
PlayStation to work
at 75 per cent of its
maximum capacity.

The game's
soundtrack set a
precedent for future
sequels with a heady
mix of Japanese
lounge music and
contemporary
pop songs.

of an arcade booth, but the cars were pixel perfect
at the time. The polygon count of the original may be
orders-of-magnitude less than the current offerings,
but at the time this was a game with stunning clarity

■■■ YAMAUCHI AND HIS five-strong team ensured
that each car was true to its real-life counterpart. The
handling physics were groundbreaking, setting a
new benchmark for a whole generation of games.
Each vehicle possessed a weight and momentum that
other titles had, until that point, failed to match. The
effect was the first console game to truly deserve the
genre of a driving simulator.

The 1 1 markedly different circuits all required
finesse and real skill to navigate quickly; you couldn't
just pick up Gran Turismo and drive like a world
champion, and it took time to learn your craft. Yes,
handling could be fine-tuned in a myriad of ways,
but ultimately this was a game about perfecting your
driving style.

Perhaps, it was this that led the AI to be slightly
disappointing. Each computer-controlled rival
was tricky enough to prove a challenge - although
difficulty was non-adjustable - but each grid was
composed of just five fellow virtual racers. Along
with this, the sound of each car could have done with
some extra development time, proving that while it
was the best of the bunch, Gran Turismo still had
room for improvement in the coming generations.

Despite this, it's challenging, expansive gameplay
provided plenty of hours in front of a screen for racing
enthusiasts, topped off with an excellent in-game
soundtrack of contemporary pop songs. The age of
true simulation was dawning and Gran Turismo had
already marked its place on top of the podium on its
the way to becoming an international phenomenon.

GAME CHANGERS

* roooo

THE EVOLUTION OF
THE DRIVING SIMULATOR

GRAN TURISMO WAS BY NO MEANS THE FIRST CAR
SIMULATOR, BUT IT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL
GAMES OF THE GENRE, WITH MANY OTHER CONTENDERS
LOOKING TO GT FOR INSPIRATION

TOCA TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP 2

■ CODEMASTER'S FIRST TOCA release since Gran Turismo saw
the number of cars available was noticeably expanded, and a
few fictional circuits joined the excellent real-world examples. The
focus was still on racing rather than purely driving, but the game
was all the better for it. The AI was excellent, while the damage
simulation was top notch. Handling wasn't up to Gran Turismo's
level, but this is one of the greatest racing titles ever.

BURNOUT

■ CRITERION GAMES' OVER-the-top crashfest for PS2, Xbox,
and GameCube grabbed people's imagination and made quite
a few fall in love with driving games again. Burnout was about
as far from a driving simulation game as you could get without
discarding the driving element altogether, but, in an age of ever-
improving realism, it showed that simulation wasn't the only path
you had to take to get your automotive fix.

FORZA MOTORSPORT

■ AFTER RELEASING THE Xbox to rival PS2, Microsoft needed
a killer driving game. Coming after two GTlaunches, Turn 10
Studios had some ground to make up, but its opening effort was
admirable, already showing hints of what was to come. Sound
was a step above the achievements of Polyphony, while the
inclusion of mild damage simulation made some fans of the genre
overlook the slightly less realistic handling physics.

GRAN TURISMO 4

■ FEATURING OVER 700 cars from 80 car manufacturers, GT4
was possibly the zenith for the franchise. It's stunning graphics
showed what the PS2 was capable of, while the breadth and
depth of the game kept racers' hands busy for literally days. The
introduction of the Nurburgring Nordschleife and the Circuit de
la Sarthe were excellent real-world additions, ensuring that GT4
would go down as one of the greatest simulators of all time.

GAME CHANGERS: GRAN TURISMO

RFACTOR

■ EVER SINCE GEOFF Crammond's series of Grand Prix titles,
PC has been the medium 'true simulation enthusiasts' gravitate
to, thanks to its greater graphical clarity and processing speed.
rFactor popularised this conception mainly because it still is a
really great example of the genre, due to its GT-rivaling dynamics
and the huge choice of community-developed car packs.

IRACING

■ THIS SUBSCRIPTION-BASED racing simulator is the current
benchmark for the genre. PC-only, the large monthly payments
ensure that a host of real-world tracks are constantly being laser-
scanned, producing mind-blowingly accurate environments.
Handling physics were taken above and beyond what the Gran
Turismo series had ever achieved and the graded online racing
ensures that races are always challenging.

GRAN TURISMO 6

■ NOT RELEASED OUT the blue, but certainly without as much
hype as previous games from Yamauchi's studio, Gran Turismo
6 saw one last Polyphony release for the PS3. Graphics were
polished, though the premium/standard car divide still remained.
The handling gave much better feedback whether using a wheel
or a pad, while the menu was improved, making this the best GT
game yet, but ultimately too similar to previous releases.

FORZA MOTORSPORT 4

RELEASED IN 2011, Forza 4 marked the moment where Xbox's GT
rival finally made the overtaking move after years of flashing its
headlights. The gameplay was more enjoyable, and while there
were fewer cars on the disc, each was re-created beautifully. Car
sounds in Forza 4 were incredible, while the constant stream of new
car and circuit packs meant the game was constantly evolving.

NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT 2

■ THE NEED FOR Speed franchise's general focus on the
modifying scene and street racing had never given it the realism
or handling dynamics to truly take the fight to Polyphony. That
was until the SHIFT sub-brand was unveiled. Shift came close as
a legitimate rival to GT5 on PS3, but it wasn't until Shift 2 that EA
could truly lay claim to GT's title. Car sounds were beautiful and
the range of cars was excellent.

PROJECT CARS

■ FORGET DRIVECLUB, PROJECT CARS looks like it is going to
be the must-have driving simulator on next-gen consoles. Making
use of the PS4 and Xbox One's PC-like architecture, the current
in-game screens are easily mistakable for real-life. It looks
like there will be plenty of exotic real-life metal to test on a host of
accurately modelled tracks. This could be a seminal moment where
console simulation finally becomes a true rival to the PC.

SUPER MARIO RPG: LEGEND OF
THE SEVEN STARS SNES [SQUARE] 1996

■ Let's address the glaring inaccuracy first: Bundt isn't even a Bundt cake. While we're at
it, he also appears to be alive, has a face and can fire a series of razor-like snowflakes. But
more importantly, Bundt personifies the tone of Square's brief dalliance in the Mario canon:
an idiosyncratic creation rich in humour that bridges the Nintendo's licensed characters with
Square's design sensibilities. The boss battle itself is rather elementary. You fight against a pair of
French chef stereotypes who slowly begin to realise that the cake they're protecting is moving, running
away when it springs to life. Then you fight the three-tiered wedding cake until all that's left is its base
sponge. While it's not the most challenging or technical encounter, the unusual, charismatic nature of the
boss battle and Bundt's unique design make it one of the most memorable in the history of Mario adversaries.

oorjD

INTERVIEW

JASON & CHRIS
KINGSLEY

There are many famous gaming siblings, but Jason and
Chris Kingsley are two of the most successful. Still running
Rebellion 22 years on, we look back at their finest moments

Although they had their roots
in the Eighties, the Nineties
were far kinder to Jason
and Chris Kingsley. Years
of freelancing made for a
precarious early career but, in
deciding to found Rebellion in
1992, the pair have achieved
much stability and prosperity
since. With Alien Vs Predator
catching the eye of gamers
following its release on the
Atari Jaguar and having
bagged franchises as varied
as The Simpsons, Asterix
and Star Wars, Rebellion has
gained a reputation as a
strong developer-for-hire. But,
with the creation of Sniper
Elite, which launched in 2005,
it has also been shown to
see the value in its own IP,
with this game in particular
becoming a popular, well-
received franchise. Not that
they are likely to rest on their
laurels. The brothers have
snapped up many smaller
developers and they have
grown their company into one
of the UK's largest...

J What got you interested in
■ ■ ■ computing and gaming?

® ® B ® Jason: I've always been interested
in games and making up rules in games
for others to play. My first memory of
gaming is with traditional board games
and making variants of them like Nuclear
Monopoly. Writing adventure game books
came next along with Tunnels and Trolls, a
paper-based role-playing game.

Chris: I was always into programming and
I built my first computer myself from
a kit - it had a whopping 16 bytes of
memory and for graphics it had a
two-digit hexadecimal display.

was a clear favourite. But we both spent a
lot of time coding in BASIC, and I coded
in machine code and learnt about how
the graphics system worked and how to
make action games using Player-Missile
Graphics - Atari's terminology for sprites.
Then there was an Atari ST and this had a
fantastic monochrome screen - sharp and
high resolution and was much better for
long programming sessions.

Which platforms were of most
importance to you when you
were younger?

Chris: At home we had an Atari
VCS and played a lot of multiplayer
games like Combat and Air-Sea
Battle, as well as Adventure. We probably
played Space Invaders the most on
the VCS though. After that we got a 16k
Commodore PET, and I learned 6502
machine code as I found that BASIC was
too slow for arcade-style games - it was all
hand-coded though and relative branches
had to be worked out on paper. Next
came a 48k Atari 800 and Star Raiders

AS A CONSOLE THE
ATARI JAGUAR WAS
VERY POWERFUL, BUT
COMPLICATED AND
TRICKY TO PROGRAM

F What prompted you both to create
Rebellion in 1992?

Jason: We wanted to make our own
games and be able to at least in part
influence their direction.

Your first release was Eye Of The Storm in
1993 for the Amiga and DOS...

Jason: It was. The team on Eye Of The
Storm consisted of three people: two

DEVELOPER COMMENTS

£ S ■■■ JASON AND CHRIS

kk a pair of talented,

™ brothers who set 1
—• the late Eighties after
Through their p~ — ■ —
were able to grow Rebellion into o
game development studios. It's not always been
c ever guys and have found ingenious ways of m
and tribulations of an ever-changing industry.

We met them in the late Nineties and became
we realised we shared so many experiences anc
challenges. One of our first joint projects, with so
too, was to set up the trade industry Vw-j,, a

are great examples of
1, creative and very ambitious
up a UK games company in
graduating from Oxford University,
passion, creativity and leadership they
of the leading UK

iiiiiiiiiii: JASON & CHRIS KINGSLEY::::::!

OOTDO

SBE-E-0

22§M

BuSliTilQM

M3
[LfiP 2, GMD^3

offices in
Slough to meet with
Alastair Bodin and showed him a new
demo for a 3D dragon flight game we were
working on. Alastair had the biggest office
I've ever seen, and he thought the demo
was so good that he got Bob Gleadow, the
CEO of Atari Europe, to come straight down
to see it. Bob then said: "That would be
great for our new Jaguar console!" To which
Alastair replied: "What new console?" It
was the first that Alastair had heard of the
Jaguar too. We were quickly invited to visit
the Flare guys in Cambridge and got hold
of a machine to play with - the Jaguar was
designed in the UK so that made it a bit
easier for us to get started. We eventually
got a two-game contract with Atari for Alien
Vs Predator and Checkered Flag. That was
the catalyst for us to move out of our
basement office into a proper office,
set up Rebellion and to hire some staff
to work for us - we couldn't fit enough
people in our basement.

Why did it take four years before your
next release, Klustar?

Jason: We were working on some
other games for Atari on the Jaguar -
Skyhammer and Legions Of The Undead
- but they were eventually cancelled by
Atari, though Skyhammer did see the
light of day in the end. We also worked
on a mad-as-a-brush PC game called Mr

■ Licences have been a big part of Rebellions fib . it -appedj
up 2000 AD, making Dredd its own in a senes of games.

■■ programmers, Chris Humphreys and
■■■■ A1 Perrott, and one artist-designer-
producer - me. I designed the whole game
and created all the 3D graphics myself. The
only 3D tools I had at the start were graph
paper and a text editor and of course the
maximum number of polygons for each
object was in the low 10s, so it was a big
challenge but it was a great discipline. The
one tool I did have was Deluxe Paint which
I used for the 2D art and the texture map.

To my knowledge Eye Of The Storm was the
first 3D game on PC with texture mapping
and curves in it.

Checkered Flag and Alien Vs Predator
came next for the Jaguar. How did you get
involved with Atari?

Jason: When Atari announced its new
Falcon home computer - basically a more
powerful ST - Chris and I went to Atari's

Tank. Oh, and there were some other titles
beside, and then of course we were very
busy on Aliens Vs Predator with Fox.

1999 was a busy year - were you rapidly
growing at this stage?

Jason: Sometimes game development
is like buses - no matter how hard you
plan to have a sensible overlap of games
with a decent gap between launches they
often seem to concertina up and come out
around the same time. That was the case
with 1999 - it was, perhaps, a defining year
for us. We were growing, and learning, and
we both had to spend less time making
games and more time on making the
business work. Our growth at that time was
entirely organic and based on our ability to
pitch games to publishers; having titles of
the quality of AvP helped a lot, of course.
We were very much in the work-for-hire
mindset which, at the time, was great for
cashflow but didn't provide much upside.

One of the things we were seeing were a
lot of licenses. How did you attract them?
Chris: We had always been big fans of
the Game Boy and had worked on various
iterations of the hardware over the years.

I had put together my own hardware and
software tools for the Game Boy from
off-the-shelf tools: Dataman's S3 and S4
EPROM programmers and Crash Barrier's
METAi assembler development system.
Infogrames asked us to work on Asterix
after we did Mission: impossible on the
Game Boy Color for them - that was
really fun because we also created some
special spy-tools in the game: a message
transmitter, a calculator, an address book
and an infrared TV remote controller. I
think we were the only game to ever use the
infrared port on the Game Boy Color. Tiger
Woods was part of a multi-project work-for-
hire deal with Destination Software.

The Noughties was a busy decade too:
Rebellion set about snapping up many
gaming developers such as Core Design,
Strangelite and Awesome Developments...

100

JASON & CHRIS KINGSLEY

lason: Publishers were resistant to
outsourcing so to be successful you had to
be big and the only way to do this was to
acquire other developers. To a large extent
our acquisitions were opportunistic, as
some publishers were looking to close them
and we didn't want to see them close.

Did it lead to any tension - did any group
feel a little put out by the takeovers?
lason: Most of the takeovers went well
but in some cases things just didn't work
out. I'd say that for some people
a takeover by Rebellion was seen
as a good thing but for a few
others it wasn't seen in the same
light. There's always some level of
tension, and in fact that's healthy for
development, because you need a
range of differing opinions to cover
all angles. Ultimately, as a work-for-
hire developer, it comes down to the
relationships between your development
teams and your publishers - it is the
publishers that call the shots.

But you were also buying IP. Rebellion
owned a fair few publishing companies,
acquiring the rights to 2000 AD in 2000,
giving it the rights to Judge Dredd, Halo
Jones and Strontium Dog...

Jason: We've always believed in the
importance of IP even during the times we
were a work-for-hire developer. Buying 2000
AD got us a lot of notice as more than just
a developer and I guess you could say it
propelled us into the elite super-developer
category - I think it really surprised a lot
of people in the games industry. MCV said
it was 'undoubtedly one of the boldest and
most imaginative moves made by anyone
in the games business in living memory.' I
couldn't have put it better myself!

Did it help you make better games?

Jason: It allowed us to quickly create and
test new IPs, learn about alternative ways to
tell stories, and develop worlds with detail
and depth.

Were you big 2000 AD fans anyway?
Jason: Yes! We have both been reading
2000 AD from the day it was launched
in 1977. We still remember the Biotronic
stickers and the space spinner. . .

What was your main direction in the
Noughties?

Jason: It was a time of significant growth
for us, and the industry as a whole. Game
budgets were going up but so were the
expectations of the players. We were

focused on the work-for-hire model
' and we worked on a lot of licensed
titles, but we still managed to create
some of our own new IPs like Sniper Elite.

Sniper Elite is big for you right now. Where
did the idea come from and were you at all
surprised by the success?

Jason: We're very grateful for the success of
the Sniper Elite series. The idea has grown
from the earliest ideas that were thrown
around by the team and others. As we
owned the brand, it has meant that we're
able to make a new game with similar
themes and to build on what we made in
earlier versions. Sniper Elite is not only
big for us as a development studio, but it is
becoming a pretty big contemporary games
franchise across the world.

How does Sniper Elite III compare with the
other versions?

Chris: It has a higher number at the end!
Seriously it's building and expanding on
the positives and addressing negatives of
feedback we've received. We've worked
hard on the openness of the gameplay

I HAVE TO REPEATEDLY
EXPLAIN TO MY US
COLLEAGUES THAT THEY
DO NOT HAVE TO CALL
ME SIR

and the AI in particular but pretty much
everything is bigger and better then before.

Have you found yourself becoming
removed from the company in any way?
Jason: As the company grew even larger,
our roles did change over time, and we
constantly had to learn new things. In fact,
we are still learning to this day. But that's
the nature of the games industry; it is
dynamic and fluid, constantly changing and
innovating, never standing still.

In 2012, you were awarded an OBE - how
did it feel?

Jason: Very pleased indeed and slightly
nervous about the ceremony. I also have
to repeatedly explain to my US colleagues
that they do not have to call me Sir, even
though I have my own real and well-used
suit of armour.

The gaming industry in Britain is so
important to you both that Jason is the
chairman of TIGA. How did you get into
that role?

Jason: Many years ago, we met with a
group of other developers, including the
lads from Blitz and Kuju, for dinner at E3. As
usual at these sorts of things the talk got to
publishers and the industry in general and
the way that developers were treated. We
all agreed that something had to be done
to improve our lot and make the games
industry a better place for all. What was
different this time was that Chris and I
decided to actually do something about it!
When we got back to the UK we met with
various people in the government, I found
Fred Hasson and persuaded him to become
CEO of this new organisation, and together
with the other founding developers we
helped get TIGA going.

What do you feel the UK is bringing
to gaming?

Jason: What it has always done: creativity,
innovation, technology and vision, along
with an appreciation of both the mainland
European aesthetic and the North American
one. We always seem to have constraints of
one sort or another on the titles we create
and constraints allow for, and often
force, creative solutions.

101

BEHIND THE SCENES

BEHIND THE SCENES RUNESCAPEi

RuneScape is one of the biggest names

in MMOs and helped shape the way the

genre evolved over the years, games™

looks at how the legacy began

Released _2001
Forma PC

Jagex

Developei In-h ouse
Key Sta Andrew Gower.
Paul Gower. Mark Oailvie

I CONSIDERING THE HISTORY of the MMO

genre, you'd expect to have seen far more

innovation over the years. It's a fairly stagnant
genre, but there's always been one game - spanning a
huge player base, even to this day - that remained constant
in its own core design tenets. RuneScape, in fact, set a
precedent for a lot of what would become staples of the
genre, namely an emphasis on accessibility to open up as
wide a group of players as possible.

In actuality RuneScape began long before the term
'MMO' was even conceived, back when 'MUD' was the
go-to definition. Multi-User Dungeons had been around
since as early as the late Eighties and continued in
various forms of popularity into the late Nineties where -
with technology pacing forward - it became increasingly
apparent that the future was in graphical MUDs. It was
inevitable, and at the beginning of the millennium it became
a race to dominate this otherwise fairly limited market. The
technical issues involved were vast, but whoever managed
to crack it had almost guaranteed success.

"The first requirement for the game was that it needed to
be quickly accessible from computers with pretty lightweight
hardware and internet speeds," says Mark Ogilvie, design
director on RuneScape. "The founders were frustrated that
at university they would use different computers in libraries
all over campus and have to install their current favourite
game from a physical disk. That process would cut into
precious gaming time, so they decided to make something
themselves based around their early RPG and tabletop
experiences, which they could play with other people at
the same time. One of the founders loved making systems
and engines, the other loved making quests and designing
worlds, so it all fell together rather nicely."

This mobile boot file would later become one of
RuneScape s key innovations. Though it wasn't the first
to the GMUD market, it provided an accessibility that
would later entice millions. Preceded by Ultima Online and
EverQuest, the Gower brothers wanted to create their own
equivalent, with Andrew handling the systems powering
it and Fbul designing its world. Most of all Andrew had
wanted a game that was at once easy to access and to
get into, but offered the same kind of depth and interaction
that came from popular tabletop FlPGs. But there were
unexpected positive side-effects to Andrew's streamlined
design - despite being graphics-focused, RuneScape
managed to remain svelte enough that changes could be
made quickly and efficiently.

This was a small operation, however, and Jagex was still
being run out of the Gower's parents' home in Nottingham
while they studied at university and so the early days
required everyone to pitch in. "Everybody turned their
hand to art," explains Ogilvie. "They got a few sketches
from a friend for some ideas of what a goblin or a dragon
might look like; the whole family got involved - [the Gower
brothers'] mum created bears, their little brother made
a bat. . . all sorts. Only much later did they even consider
actually hiring people to create assets! In the beginning it
was still very much a bedroom project for fun and for them,
not for an audience with expectations on quality.''

RUNESCAPEWAS NOT set out to become a success,
but instead a means for the Gower brothers to make
the games they wanted to play and little else, a facet
that still remains true at Jagex to this day. Ogilvie even
adds that the original sketches created for the early
incarnation of RuneScape are the very same ones that "act
as a foundation for every dragon, goblin or bear rework
we consider". It's a humbling story for such an important
MMO, and it all began with that focus on speed to make
better use of limited time at library computers.

RuneScape originally released in beta form in January
2001 and, later that year, Jagex would be formed.
Within that year RuneScape s popularity began to rise,
particularly among students and schoolchildren who,

103

m oay©

A TIMELINE
OF RUNE SCAPE

The journey of one of the first MMOs to find
mainstream and widespread success

JANUARY 7

2001
RuneScape is
released from
development and into
beta phase, acting as
a soft launch for the
new graphical MUD.

SEPTEMBER ?

2002

More than a year after the
launch of the beta, Tutorial
Island is added to the game,
giving newcomers a place
to learn the mechanics in a
relatively safe environment.

OCTOBER

2002
After a string of new
quests, a new update
tweaked gameplay,
added in a new
town and spells, and
improved monster AI.

2001

2002

7 DECEMBER ^

AUGUST

2003

RuneScape 2 enters

RuneScape s 50th

beta, with new RS2

quest update is

servers being added

added to the game,

to those willing to test

celebrated by being

the newest version of

the longest new

the game.

quest yet.

JANUARY

2003

A brand new mini-game
is added, 'gnomeball'.
This is a variant of
American football, but
with a focus on melee
combat too.

2003:

12003:

2003:

MARCH 2004

RuneScape 2 is
officially launched,
with players being
given the option to
switch their account to
the new game.

7 JUNE 2004

JULY 2005

In-game player

Farming is added to

moderators are

the game to allow

added, allowing

players to grow

respected members

their own goods,

of the community to

and assist in their

ensure the game is
played fairly by all.

crafting professions.

2004

2005?

7 NOVEMBER

? MAY 2007 9

2007

In-game

The Grand Exchange

Achievements are

is added to the game,

added to the game,

giving players a

initially restricted

place to buy and sell

to a particular zone

their most valuable

and later expanded

items.

upon.

MAY 2006

Player-owned
houses are added
to the game, giving
everyone who can
afford it a place to
call home.

2007:

2007!

2006:

OCTOBER

2008

PvP worlds are added
to RuneScape, special
servers that have PvP
enabled - and if you
die you'll lose all your
items.

JULY 2011 1

? FEBRUARY 7

Clan Citadels are

2013

added to the game,

Old School

the oft-requested

RuneScape is

feature allowing

live, with players

clans to meet up in a

taking to it in their

location they can call

thousands to relive

their own.

the nostalgia.

: 2008 :

2011

2013

bereft of their own computers, needed a game
that was quick to install yet compelling to play over
multiple sessions. By making a game that appealed to
themselves and their own needs, the Gower brothers had
indirectly made something that would, as a result, draw in
thousands more like them. It was the engine that powered
it all that was RuneScape ' s secret to success.

"It was homemade," says Ogilvie of RuneScape s
engine. "It we needed to change things, we could. All of
our systems were bespoke and if we needed more, we
just made more! Because the game client was so thin, any
additions we did make could be done very quickly and
with an almost unnoticeable effect to the download. Our
server downtime would be minutes, at most, every week."
This was another boon that appealed to the masses:
there were no long, drawn out server maintenance and
any problems that were discovered could be quickly
resolved. It helped build a fanbase that became reliant
on this consistency and - as a result - the fanbase grew.

The demand for new content continued to grow, but
RuneScape s streamlined engine meant this wasn't such
a grand undertaking like so many early MMOs. "We have
always been about creating new content," claims Ogilvie
of RuneScape s approach to gameplay. "Our big selling
point aside from the accessibility was (and still is) the
rate of content updates to the game. We always looked
forward to the new rather than reflecting on the old, which
eventually caused us a few problems, having to dedicate
lots of time on reworking older content." The type of
content that was added was vast, too, not just a handful
of new quests. Items, skill updates and many more were
developed quickly and implemented even quicker to
sustain the increasing demand from fans. "The rate of
updates was full on, and the appetite from the players
was immense, as they were expecting new content every
single week." To Jagex's credit, that was a demand it more
than crimed to meet.

■ The steady stream of updates meant there was always something new.

■ New professions, skills and areas are opened up all the time.

BEHIND THE SCENES ESCAPE

■ Though new art is created all the time, the original design sketches for
the various beasts of RuneScape are still used as reference for this day. I

WHAT

THEY

SAID...

Unlike most
MMORPGs,
Runescape
doesn't give
the illusion of
listening to
the players -
Jagex actually
does take user
opinions into
account

MMORPG.com

Because of this demand RuneScape became a varied
game. Jagex was free to explore different ideas with each
new update to see what would stick and what would fail.
This led to a very freeform approach to development - at
least in the early days - with design documents that were
more "brief concepts" than traditional planning. For the
early days of RuneScape and Jagex, it was more about
working dynamically and fluidly to produce the content
needed to satiate fans. It helped keep RuneScape fresh,
but moreover it kept the problems to a minimum. "The
limitations were pretty light too," explains Ogilvie,
"creating the rich tapestry of themes and ideas
that we see now." RuneScape has since touched
on a wide range of design directions and themes,
expanding on the medieval fantasy setting that
remains core to the game even now.

RUNESCAPE ENJOYED A year of
phenomenal success and with the player count
rising, newly formed Jagex needed to look for
funds. Initially it had been done so through
in-game advertising, paid-for banners that helped
pay for the servers to keep RuneScape. It soon became
increasingly apparent that everyone involved was going to
need to work on the game full-time to ensure the stream of
content could be created. But advertising on the internet was
becoming scarcer by the day; the online craze was waning
and soon Jagex was not getting enough from advertising. In
February of 2002, the model was changed, and RuneScape
implemented a monthly fee: "the dotcom bubble burst and
advertising revenue reduced considerably" says Ogilvie,
"so the only alternative to closing the game was coming up
with a subscription service with 'premium' content."

Though there were concerns that it would be widely
despised, the team at Jagex knew that without the extra
income it could provide the game could not continue
otherwise. "Any risks were far smaller than the possible
threat of the game closing completely. Nobody was sure
how popular it would be, but over the first week there were
enough subscribers to cover the costs, and to actually hire
a full-time member of staff."

The march of content continued unabated and with it
the numbers of subscribers. The addition of the monthly
fee was a success, with fans turning up to enjoy the
new locations, quests and items on a regular basis. I
RuneScape has proven anything to the MMO world it's that
if you can sustain your players with new content, then they'll
continue to play, to subscribe and to stick around for more
in the future. It's a hard challenge to face, and one that
Jagex managed to handle ably with RuneScape. It didn't
need to change anything or release huge expansion packs

/ to draw in the crowds; it simply had to maintain the
' ones that were already playing. "Whilst I don't think
we ever played it safe," Ogilvie tells us, "most of our
updates focused around adding new content, rather than
changing anything existing. Some of our largest increases
in community size over the years have followed significant
additions to the game. When we have made changes to
existing content, small or large, it has the potential to cause
friction with the community."

In later years it's this very approach that has seen many
other MMOs fail. Even World Of Warcraft fails to appease
its most regular and veteran players courtesy of the vast
shifts in design that occurs with each expansion pack.
RuneScape did not - and does not - need to change
anything, simply provide more. Which made approaching
RuneScape 2 all the more daunting. In 2003, Jagex was
considering an upgrade to the RuneScape engine; its early
graphics were the game's weakest elements, and many
knew it. Jagex intended to create a sequel - but rather than

OVER THE FIRST WEEK
THERE WERE ENOUGH
SUBSCRIBERS TO HIRE
A FULL-TIME MEMBER
OF STAFF

105

m GOQO

■ HuneScape has gone through several iterations and updates,
being one of the few long-running games to keep up with its audience.

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Despite the
presence of
some history
and a fairly
thorough
mythology the
world is pretty
damn generic
and somewhat
'dorky' in its
approach to the
fantasy genre

; jeuxvideo.com

cast aside all the work already done, it was decided
this new version would be designed to simply replace
the one that was already there. In essence is was a swap
for improved visuals. It was a risk; the fans might not want to
upgrade, or see this as an unnecessary change of direction:
"We didn't want to split our community, but equally we didn't
want to force migration over to RuneScape 2. The main
challenge was getting players to understand that it was still
the same game, it just looked and played a lot better, and
gave us greater scope for content in the future."

The solution to the problem was elegant; provide players
the opportunity to move everything aver, and if there were
those who didn't want to they could stay right
where they were. "We had a grace period that
allowed player to move their 'bank' from Classic
to RuneScape 2," says Ogilvie, "but eventually they
had to choose where it would stay. Getting players
to decide which version they wanted to play was
difficult - the promise of a better future versus the
comfort of what they knew. It's the same challenge
with any significant engine development or rework
to a system. In addition, we didn't want to slow down our
update rate too much, so it was a busy time for us."

On its release, RuneScape 2 was named simply
RuneScape, while its older version became RuneScape
Classic. The uptake in this grace period was impressive, and
hardly a surprise - the game was now better looking than
ever, and it was futureproofed for fans. "We made it clear
that new content would only be added to RuneScape 2,"
adds Ogilvie. "I found it fascinating to learn about features
the players had grown to lave and rely on versus those things
in game we knew were - to us - badly designed and in need
of improvement." The development of the two was symbiotic,
with any new content also going into the new RuneScape.
With its success and the large number of players moving to
the upgraded version, all future content endeavours were
moved onto the enhanced version of RuneScape, with "staff
only maintaining and bug fixing Classic".

The new engine rolled out in March 2004, with only
a month later Blizzard's own MMO World Of Warcraft
being released. Though the viewpoints and art design
differed, the visuals were comparable and it was clear
WoW was going to shake the foundation of the MMO world.
But RuneScape remained stoic in the face of Blizzard's
behemoth. Its approach - to focus on accessibility over
everything else - meant its fanbase had no interest in
departing. Were there any concerned at Jagex about
WoW's release? "Surprisingly not," says Ogilvie. "Update
frequency and accessibility were still our trump cards and
actually our audience weren't that interested in Wo W. I think

/ it did affect the rate of new customers, but frankly we
were struggling to hire staff and build new servers fast
enough to deal with the rate we did have, which was still
tens of thousands of new accounts every single day."

JAGEX HAD FOUND success in the simplest of things;
despite having a team of only 50 people it was still producing
content faster than any other MMO on the market, and even
the might of Blizzard wasn't able to compete. Its fanbase was
loyal and RuneScape, it was clear, wasn't going anywhere.
By this point there were millions of players, and as Jagex
set about expanding into France and Germany it was
only going to become tougher to maintain such a huge
community of players. "Incredibly rewarding, challenging,
exhausting and satisfying, all at the same time," explains
Ogilvie when asked how the team handled such a large
playerbase. "So many people with so many opinions might

MUCH OF THE CONTENT
WAS INSPIRED BY
FORUM POSTS

106

BEHIND THE SCENES RUNESCAPE

> GAMING EVOLUTION EverQuest > RuneScape > World Of Warcraft

Blizzard's success
with WfoWwas
making it a world
players wanted
to explore with
no boundaries,
but making it
accessible too

One of the earliest
examples of
MMOs, EverQuest
set the foundation
for a lot of the core
elements we'd
come to expect
from the genre

sound daunting, but with each opinion came an idea. So
much of the content in the game was inspired by a forum
post or an in-game conversation. Football managers often
refer to the crowd as their 'twelfth man on the pitch' - our
community is no different."

RuneScape is still going strong today but controversy
struck as recently as 2012 when it was announced that the
game would be updated to feature microtransactions. It
might be every gamer's most despised word - second only
to 'season pass DLC’, perhaps - but RuneScape fans felt
particularly embittered by the news. Microtransactions had
previously been described by Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard
as a 'stealth tax' - so the news that the MMO would soon
implement them became a point of contention for the
outspoken community. "It was a new - and additional
- business model for RuneScape, so we naturally
had lots of reservations," says Ogilvie. "However, the
introduction of microtransactions was a way for us to
increase our investment in RuneScape s development,
raise its production values, and explore new technology.
It certainly wasn't a reaction to the rest of the industry's
move towards microtransactions, more a way of ensuring
that RuneScape would continue to grow and evolve as it
always has. It was a big change for us but actually it didn't
result in a drop in subscribers. Of course, there were some
in the community at the time who were reticent about the
introduction of microtransactions, but over time they've

CALL OF
THE WILD

■ THE WILDERNESS
has had something
of a chequered past.
This was the collective
name for the PvP
zones implemented
into every RuneScape
server (outside of
the later-added PvP
worlds), and was a
high-risk location
where other players
could fight one
another. The winner
of a PvP bout would
be able to claim their
opponent's items
as reward, which
meant it was a very

difficult place to visit.
As problems with
bots and real-world
trading began to
rise, however, the
Wilderness became
a headache for
Jagex, who didn't
want to remove the
PvP functionality but
understood that its
inclusion was giving
the problems a place
to fester. It's had a
lot of development
attention over the
years, and had even
been removed entirely
at one point.

seen that they don't fundamentally change
the game they've always loved."

From its very inception, RuneScape has
had a very core ideology running through
it; to make it accessible to everyone and
to produce content quickly and efficiently.

It takes a lot to remain relevant in the MMO
genre, but RuneScape does even after all these
years. More than that, however, Jagex released
Old School RuneScape in 2013, proving the worth
of its original creation even with the announcement
of an enhanced, modem equivalent in RuneScape 3
(released in June 2013). Combined with RuneScape 3
the player count across the franchise each month
rests in the millions, but alone the original RuneScape
- now known as a separate entity named Old School
RuneScape - tallies up thousands upon thousands of
players, with a daily average of between 10,000-20,000
simultaneous players. The industry's focus on technology
often means posterity is rare, but Jagex has proven the worth
of maintaining older servers.

Few games - least of all MMOs - can boast an active
community more than a decade after its original release, but
then this is a testament to the value it has kept on to all these
years. But has the release of Old School RuneScape and its
success informed Jagex of anything? "ft's taught us that while
as designers we might want to fix everything that appears
broken in a game, " explains Ogilvie, "people love that game
and love its quirks and complexities. If anything, they want
more like that, not less. Never underestimate the
power of a comfort blanket."

107

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

SONIC TEAM [SEGA]

SEGA GENESIS/MASTER SYSTEM 1991

ALONG WITH A funky, attention-grabbing soundtrack (something that would go on to be a
steady Sonic trope), the opening screen of the very first Sonic The Hedgehog perfectly summed up
what Sega was gunning for with the Sonic franchise; Sonic's furrowed brow, cheeky smirk and gentle
finger wag showed attitude and captured his personality straight away, while the scrolling background
showed the parallax 16 -bit graphics in all their tropical splendour - evoking feelings of escaping, holidaying.
The clear Sega logo, amongst the stars and stripes (and wings) of the splash screen, was designed to appeal to
a distinctly American audience - and if the success of the first four Sonic games is anything to go by, it worked.

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THE H e T R □ GUIDE TO

As World Of Warcraft prepares to celebrate its tenth
anniversary, games™ decided it was the perfect time to look
back at Blizzard's impressive back catalogue

prA

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... BLIZZARD

NOWADAYS IT'S HARD
to imagine PC gaming
without thinking of
Blizzard. It's responsible for three
of the most important franchises
on the platform - World Oi
Warcralt, Diablo and Starcralt -
and has had phenomenal success
with its WoW spinoff Hearthstone.

Once upon a time though,
things were very different for the
fledgling developer. Originally
formed in 1991 by Frank Pearce,
Allen Adham and Michael
Morhaime, Blizzard was originally
known as Silicon & Synapse
and started off creating Amiga,

PC and Mac ports for a range of
games, including Battle Chess
and Castles. That all changed
with the release of RPM Racing,

its first standalone game for the
Super Nintendo. Other console
releases quickly followed,
including Rock n Roll Racing,

The Lost Vikings and The Death
And Return Ot Superman, but it
was the release of the real-time
strategy hit Warcralt: Ores &
Humans that saw the Irvine-based
developer turn its focus to the PC
market. The move was a shrewd
one, with Blizzard Entertainment
now being one of the biggest
players in the market thanks in no
small part to its groundbreaking
success with the likes of Diablo III
and World OI Warcralt.

Join us as we celebrate this
gaming giant and look at its key
releases from the past 23 years.
How many have you played?

RPM RACING 1991

| SYSTEM: SNES

Competent is the best way
to describe Blizzard's first
original entry in the world of
videogames. It's essentially a
remake of Electronic Arts' popular
Commodore 64 game Racing
Destruction Set, and allows you
to race around your own courses,
or compete in premade ones with
a variety of different vehicles.
While the racing itself is rather
average, it's worth visiting as it's

one of the first SNES games to
utilise the console's distinctive
High Resolution Graphics Mode.
While the aesthetics give a good
indication of the technical success
that would mark many of Blizzard's
later games, the uninspired
gameplay and tiny playing window
made RPM Racing needlessly
difficult. Oh and that's an acronym
for Radical Psycho Machine but
you already knew that. Right?

THE LOST VIKINGS 1992

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Now this is more like it. The Lost Vikings is clunky and a little
awkward to control at times, but also a great example of the
imagination and creativity that would form the hallmark of many
later Blizzard games. A bizarre mishmash that incorporates puzzling,
platforming and strategy, The Lost Vikings sees you managing your
time between the titular Nords: Erik, Baleog and Olaf. Each has his
own unique abilities - Erik runs faster and can jump, Baleog utilises
close and long range weapons, while Olaf can use his shield to block
enemies and projectiles. The Vikings themselves are full of character,
while its success on the SNES saw it moving to numerous other
platforms, from the Amiga CD32, to the Game Boy Advance.

ROCK N' ROLL RACING 1993

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Blizzard learnt quickly from the mistakes of RPM Racing, delivering
a better sequel that is immense fun to play. Out came the high-res
visuals, more weapons were introduced, the plinky-plonky soundtrack
was replaced with a selection of heavy rock riffs, while the handling
and track design was greatly improved. The end result is an
entertaining racer that offers convincing physics, fierce competition
and a great sense of progression. It's the superb renditions of rock
tunes that many will (rightly) remember Rock n Roll Racing for.

BLACKTHORNE

1994

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Although The Lost Vikings hinted
at Blizzard's interest in exploring
game worlds, it was this effort that
proved the developer was able to
create interesting game worlds.
Blackthorne is an epic, brooding
adventure that calls to mind the
likes of Flashback and Prince OI
Persia. Protagonist Kyle is able in
the platform stakes but packs a
mean punch thanks to the meaty
shotgun he carries. Gameplay
is similar to the aforementioned
Flashback, with shadows of the
SNES port of Alien 3.

Ill

JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE 1995

HIGGOGO

WARCRAFT: ORCS

SYSTEM: DOS. MAC

Warcralt certainly wasn't the
first RTS game, but it was one
of the first to really realise the
possibilities of the still fledgling
genre and help take it in new
and exciting directions. The most
notable difference to its peers is
the distinctive fantasy setting.

The sci-fi elements found in the
likes of Command & Conquer
and Dune 2 are entirely missing,
instead focusing on an age-old
battle between humans and ores.
It features similar resource
management to its peers; the

HUMANS 1994

ability to group together small
parties and has a surprisingly
slick interface for its age.

There's no denying that it feels
rather clunky to play now, but ■
the ability to host matches
between Mac and DOS players,
compete in different scenarios
and use spawn installations
felt incredibly fresh at the time.
This was a genuinely excellent
strategy game and in fact was
the title that's largely responsible
for making Blizzard the success
it is today.

Blizzard's sequel to its first strategy hit was another big success
eventually shifting over 2 million units. That's a lot of Ore slaying.

Like the original game, Tides Ol Darkness consists of two separate
single player campaigns, one for Ores, the other for humans. It also
boasts the same brilliant resource gathering and controls that made
the original so popular to play. Simply replicating a past classic isn't
enough for Blizzard though, so it introduced an insane amount of extras
that further enhanced its fantastic original.

The landlocked gameplay of the original is expanded with the
introduction of flying and seafaring craft; new races can be aligned
with; it is possible to build a huge number of new structures, while
the base resources of gold and lumber have been swollen with the
introduction of oil. The Fog Of War mechanic has also been
tweaked, making for a far better balanced game. In fact

everything about Tides Ol Darkness screams
improvement, from its fantastic

cartoony looking visuals to its slick
and versatile interface. The
console versions have new
control systems and include
the expansion Beyond The
Dark Portal.

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THE DEATH AND RETURN
OF SUPERMAN 1994

SYSTEM: MEGA DRIVE, SNES

Well this is an achievement. Against all odds, Blizzard made a
Superman game that wasn't terrible. Based on the popular comic
strip, Death And Return is worth playing because it allows you
to control five different characters: Superman, The Cyborg, The
Eradicator, Superboy and Steel.

They all feel fairly different to each other, but there's no denying
that this is nothing more than a game about hitting things and
hitting them hard. Now we're normally fine with this, but the
combat of Death And Return is fairly run-of-the-mill and the lack of
a multiplayer means that anyone other than a Superman fan will
soon get bored. Still, being able to fly - albeit for limited periods -
is a rather nice touch.

SYSTEM: MEGA DRIVE, SNES

There's a reason everyone forgot Blizzard's Street Fighter //-inspired
one-on-one fighter. It's rubbish. Okay, rubbish might be a little harsh,
but there's no denying this is a very forgettable brawler with few
redeeming features. The sprites look decent but hitting your opponent
rarely feels satisfying, while the difficulty is all over the shop. Kudos to
Blizzard for making Aquaman as capable as every other hero here, but
this is pretty dire stuff. In fact, we were right the first time. It's rubbish.

"WARCRAFT II BOASTS THE SAME

BRILLIANT RESOURCE GATHERING

AND CONTROLS THAT MADE THE

ORIGINAL SO POPULAR TO PLAY"

WARCRAFT II: TIDES OF DARKNESS

1995

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

112

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... BLIZZARD

DIABLO 1996

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Diablo is another example of
a Blizzard game that takes a
well worn genre and turns it into
something far more exciting.

At its most basic Diablo owes
fealty to the likes of Dandy and
Gauntlet, early dungeon crawlers
that allowed you to descend
into the underworld and duff up
a seemingly endless supply of
monsters, but it feels far more
epic. This in part is due to the
three fleshed out characters:
Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer
that all play differently to each
other and in turn offer plenty of
replay value once the game has
been completed. It's the story that
really sets it apart from other
games of the time, that and the
sheer amount of loot you can pick
up as you play.

While Diablo has a fresh take
on the war between heaven and
hell, it also allows you to find
a huge selection of insanely
powerful items. While you'll fear
exploring the deeper sections
of Tristram (the village where
Diablo is set) the sheer power
be found there will spur you on
- often to your inevitable doom.

It clearly plays best with four
players, but Diablo still works
extremely well when playing solo.

THE LOST VIKINGS 2 1997

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Blizzard's sequel is a rather unsatisfying one. It was released five
years after the original game and straddles generations (the Saturn,
PlayStation and PC versions were handled by Beam Software).

The structure of The Lost Vikings 2 is the same as the first game: use your
Viking's unique skills to traverse the puzzle-like levels. Unfortunately, the
addition of two new characters, Fang the wolf and Scorch the dragon,
make the game feel a little messier. While you still only ever control three
Vikings at a time, the new abilities - Fang can climb walls and Scorch
can fly and throw fireballs - don't gel as well together and it feels like
Blizzard's game is trying to do too much. It works far better on the 32-bit
systems, due to a lack of competition on those platforms at the time, but
age has not been kind to it.

AN INTERVIEW
WITH DAVE BREVIK

Diablo's co-creator on how it came to be

What inspired Diablo ?

There were many, many
games that influenced
Diablo's design, but if I had to
narrow it down to a handful,

I would say that Moria - a
Unix-based text game - and
Waiciaft were the biggest.

Diablo isn't like many
traditional RPGs. Why
is that?

I was never a big fan of elves,
unicorns and dragons. I
thought that a zombie-infested j
game with demons was a
far more attractive prospect
than the Tolkien-esque stuff. :
We wanted a far grittier
atmosphere to the game. I
never really set out to make
it strictly for a more mature
audience, but we made it the
way we found most interesting !
and different.

Why create an action RPG?

Because of the mechanics
of Diablo's real-time
environment, we had to
change how the numbers
worked for this sort of game.
Diablo had to be balanced in
such a way that it was action
packed and involving tor
players. With pen and paper
RPGs, fights can take a very
long time, because each round
can last ten to fifteen minutes
in a normal-sized group. As
a result, the numbers are
different. You don't want
there to be 25 rounds, but
you might want that out of a :
Diablo boss monster.

Is it true you wanted to
make Diablo as accessible
as possible?

We joked that Diablo needed
to pass the 'mom test', so
we asked ourselves: is it
simple enough that my mom
could play it, or will she not
understand it? If it was too
complicated then we either
changed it so that it wasn't,
or introduced it over time in a
step-by-step fashion so that
complex concepts were broken
down over time. We made
the game extremely easy to
use and accessible to a wide
range of gamers. This was
done to widen the audience
and make it more of a mass-
market kind of game.

Why did you create random
dungeons?

I love random content,
because you never know
what's going to happen. With
planned-out levels, you can
balance the game easier and
create certain situations you
want the player to go through.
But once the player goes
through that content once,
it's far less interesting to go
through it again.

Why did you implement the
multiplayer mode?

Blizzard's president
proposed Battle.net. This was
clearly a good idea and we
agreed to it even though it
meant extra work. We had to
go back into the code to retro-
fit much of multiplayer into it.

•V,

113

St*»(

♦

3900

STARCRAFT 1998

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

The beauty of Blizzard's hit RTS lies in the sheer diversity of
its three races: the Protoss, Terrans and Zerg. Unlike many real-
time strategy games of the time, each race has its own distinct
abilities, making them stand apart from each other and lead to
different styles of play. Despite these differences, the game itself is
beautifully balanced, ensuring that no one faction has the upper
hand. While the single player campaign mode is huge, consisting
of 30 stages, it's the finely tuned multiplayer and level editor that
helped Blizzard's game build a huge fanbase. The controls are
great, with Blizzard taking everything it learned from Warcraft and
creating a system that's fast and flexible.

DIABLO II 2000

SYSTEM: WINDOWS, MAC

Everything about Blizzard's sequel
was bigger and better than the first.
Graphically it was sensational, with dark
gloomy locations that contrasted greatly
with the limited environments of Diablo.
The character roster has also been
revisited with five new heroes: Amazon,
Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress and
Paladin. As with Diablo, each plays
completely differently to each other, while
their skill trees allow for an impressive
amount of customisation.

WARCRAFT III:
REIGN OF CHAOS

2002

SYSTEM: WINDOWS, MAC

Another smash hit for Blizzard.
The most obvious change is that
there are two new races, Night
Elves and Undead, with their own
distinct skill sets. Creeps - hostile
AI units that will attack anyone
- are also a big addition to the
game, adding an additional fear
factor and making the mining
of gold and other resources
particularly dangerous. A day
and night cycle has also been
included, which changes the
gameplay as creeps fall asleep
at night, making scouting all the
more effective. By far the biggest
change is the introduction of
heroes, powerful units that level up
and unlock a range of useful skills
and spells. Add in an expansive
world editor and it becomes hard
to see how Blizzard could possibly
improve its classic in the future.

In a similar vein, no new Warcraft
games have been released since
The Frozen Throne in 2003.

WORLD OF
WARCRAFT 2004

SYSTEM: WINDOWS, MAC

We won't focus too much on
Blizzard's game changer as it's
pretty obvious to all why it's so
important, but let's just say it
changed MMORPGs
One of the most
noticeable aspects of WoW
was that it wasn't massively
original. Instead it
simply took many of the
elements from other
similar games and
added a level of polish
that immediately
made it stand out
from its peers. Talent
trees, quest systems,
immersive lore and a
near bug free launch all
helped Blizzard's game
on release, while its
general easiness and
accessibility ensured
it picked up a huge
number of new players
who typically didn't
play MMORPGs.

EXPANDING The many Blizzard expansions

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FROM: WARCRAFT II j

FROM: DIABLO

FROM: STARCRAFT

FROM: DIABLO II

FROM: WARCRAFT III

FROM: WOW

YEAR:

The first expansion

Interestingly, this

Starcraft's first

This is notable for

This expansion

Blizzard's first WoW

for a Warcraft game

expansion wasn't by

expansion was a big

the addition of its

features four

expansion sold over

introduced two new

Blizzard, with coding

one. It diminishes the

fifth act, two new

campaigns, new units

2 million units on

campaigns, new

duties falling to

success of rushing

classes: the Assassin

for each available

release day. It adds

multiplayer maps and

Synergistic Software.

tactics, has a bigger

and Druid and a raft

race and several

the Draenei and Blood

10 new heroes. Oh

It introduces a new

focus on strategy and

of gameplay changes

neutral heroes. It also

Elves, upped the level

and it was developed

character, the Monk, as

introduces seven new

to the core game,

reintroduced some

cap to 70 and includes

by the defunct

well as two hidden ones

units and augmented

including new items

sea units last seen in

the Shaman and

Cyberlore Studios.

(Barbarian and Bard).

AI when playing alone.

and weapons.

Warcraft II.

Paladin classes.

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... BLIZZARD

STARCRAFT II: WINGS OF LIBERTY

SYSTEM: WINDOWS, MAC

Excitement for Blizzard's sequel was so great that it sold over
three million copies in its first month on sale. The excitement was
well placed, as Starcralt II is arguably one of the best examples
of the genre to date. Unlike the original game, the campaign of
Wings OI Liberty focuses largely on the Terrans and is largely
non-linear. It's also packed with variety, constantly challenging
what you'd expect from a typical example of the genre and
making it fresh and exciting. Wings OI Liberty delights in throwing
curveballs at you, but also makes you think on your feet thanks to
many of the returning units having new skills to master.

HEARTHSTONE: HEROES OF
WARCRAFT 2014

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Blizzard's latest game has been a resounding success. Like Magic:
The Gathering it's a collectible card game, but unlike its digital peer,
Hearthstone is not trying to gouge you at every possible opportunity.
Granted you'll have to start spending a bit of dosh if you want to
compete in the big leagues, but it's possible to build up respectable
decks without spending. Based on the Warcralt universe, Hearthstone
features 10 characters, each with their own unique spells and abilities,
from Warriors to Priests. The addition of these heroes works far better
than the similar Planeswalkers of Magic, while their large number of
unlockable cards ensures you'll be dipping in for more. As well as one-
on-one duelling, Hearthstone also offers a drafting option called The
Arena. You draft a deck of 30 cards by selecting from a choice of three
each turn, then take on human opponents until you lose three times.

DIABLO III 2012

SYSTEM: VARIOUS

Despite setting a new record on release
for selling 3.5 million units on its first
day of sale, things haven't been easy for
Diablo III. It was beset by internet issues
on release due to Blizzard's insistence on
it being always online, while its Auction
Houses proved so controversial they were
eventually shut down earlier this year.
Early issues aside, Diablo III is quite
simply the best game about hitting
monsters you're ever likely to play.

HEROES OF THE
STORM 2014

SYSTEM: WINDOWS. MAC

Still in Beta, Blizzard's first
MOBA already looks like it's going
to solve one of the genre's biggest
problems: accessibility. It eases
you in, with easy-to-understand
rules and great presentation. It's
a free to play game, supported
by micropayments, delivering a
product full of Blizzard's usual
deft touches.

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HEART OF

REAPER

LICH KING

PANDARIA

THE SWARM

OF SOULS

FROM: WOW

FROM: STARCRAFT II

FROM: DIABLO III

YEAR:

Ooh, your characters

This was the big one

This expansion

The first expansion

There's a lot of new

can now hit level 80.

as it helped usher in

raises the level cap

for Starcralt II focuses

stuff on offer here.

Other additions

a complete overhaul of

to 90, introduces

on the terrifying and

A new class, the

include the ability

WbWs playing systems,

a new continent.

ruthless Zerg faction.

Crusader is available,

to explore the icy

from major class

Pandaria. It also adds

It follows directly on

there's a fifth chapter,

continent of Northrend

changes to a complete

Pandaren (a group

from Wings OI Liberty

the level cap is now 70

and a new hero class

overhaul of the talent

of anthropomorphic

and features a number

and Adventure Mode

in the form of the

system. The level cap

Pandas) and the

of new units for each of

lets you explore every

Death Knight.

here hit 85.

Monk class.

the races.

region in the game.

115

GAME CHANGERS

* roooo

TOMB RAIDER

Released: 25 October 1996 Publisher: Eidos Interactive Developer: Core Design

L J

Released back in 1996, Tomb Raider unleashed Lara Croft on the world -
who would become more than just a protagonist, but a legitimate celebrity

■ CAST YOUR MIND back to 1996 - in the world
J of gaming, 3D was new. It was unknown
■ ■ ■ ■ ground and a lot of console developers were
still testing the waters. Moving away from the pre-
rendered backgrounds and the isometric views of the
early PSOne games, Tomb Raider was arguably the
first action-adventure game to do 3D properly. The
original instalment of Tomb Raider hit a laser-focused
sweet spot in the blooming Nineties games industry
- it presented a good, well-made, innovative game,
while simultaneously appealing directly to the teen
and young adult market. Tomb Raider observed what
Super Mario 64 was doing with 3D platforming, and
took the genre to PlayStation's gamers - a move, it
would turn out - that would cement Tomb Raider and
Lara Croft's place in gaming history forever.

Tomb Raider's release came six months after Super
Mario 64: a game that was, for a lot of people, perfect.
It introduced watertight 3D mechanics and presented
them in a familiar and accessible way. Tomb Raider
went the exact opposite direction, appealing to
the PlayStation's more hardcore audience. Rather
than applying to the cutesy, family-friendly template
Mario had set out, Tomb Raider focused on violence

and exploration - taking its cues from the myriad
action-adventure films that popularised Hollywood
during the early Nineties. Tomb Raider was an
archaeological fantasy - a benchmark game in the
evolution of action platforming and woven deeply into
the DNA of the likes of Uncharted, the recent Prince
Of Persia games and even more action-orientated
affairs like InFamous. Lara moved incredibly well for
a character designed in 1996; her acrobatics were
expertly designed and everything always felt natural
- flipping, jumping, side-stepping, scaling walls: it
was all a pleasure to do. Supported by clear visual
language - you always knew where to climb, what
to grab on to or how far to jump - Tomb Raider truly
brought platforming into a safe 3D realm.

The structure of the game was simple - explore
this, solve this puzzle, fight these enemies. Rinse,
repeat. But therein lay the game's success - it
didn't overcomplicate things, it didn't push its core
mechanics too far. The game introduced you to a
few abilities and created puzzles in which every
ability was fully explored. Tomb Raider had a sense
of skill progression that made the player feel smart
for manipulating, even though it was mostly scripted

116

GAME CHANGERS: TOMB RAIDER

THE ANATOMY OF TOMB RAIDER I ^E^T^LAMINTHEFIR^P^ACE?

THE CITY OF DERBY

★ Core Design's offices in
the Midlands city of Derby
actually played a big part
in forming the basis for the
design of Croft Manor - one of
the most iconic places players
come across in any Tomb
Raider game. The city of Derby
honoured Lara's legacy by
renaming one of their main
roads 'Lara Croft Way'.

★ Surprising exactly no-one,
Lara was originally developed
to be similar to a female Indy -
even her name bore the
same roots, starting out as
Laura Cruz. As Core Design
began fleshing Laura's
character out more, they
decided she needed to be
more English - specifically 'a
proper English lady'.

★ Lara's (in)famous bosom
was the result of a modelling
accident: when playing with
Lara's model, designer Toby
Gard accidentally moved the
bosom measurements up to
150 per cent of the placeholder
size. The other designers saw
the alteration and encouraged
Gard to keep it - the entire six-
man team 'loved it'.

INTERNATIONAL

MYTHOLOGY

★ By having Lara spelunk her
way through caves and tombs
around the world, Core had the
licence to include all manner of
legendary beasts, from Greek to
Egyptian. By tapping into more
questionable parts of ancient
history (re: Atlantis), Core could
also handily invent mythologies
to throw into the mix.

- the illusion of this much control made everyone
playing the game feel brilliant for solving this
fiendish puzzle or taking out this ridiculous enemy.

Tomb Raider's other strength laid in its ambitious
environments - looking back now, the textures and
blocky objects seem amateurish, but at the time,
the visuals were breaking new ground. From the
claustrophobic confines of stone corridors and
cave routes to grand, expansive halls forgotten for
millennia, each location seemed relevant and logical

- the world building in the game was masterful.

■■■ THE CONSIDERED ARCHITECTURAL approach
to building the game sat alongside smooth animations,
impressive loading speeds and movement, advanced
lighting and application of colour - all these elements
combined to produce a game that was not just pleasant
to look at, but was technically sophisticated. Compared
to the low resolutions and primary colours of Mario,
Tomb Raider was a visual masterpiece.

The game's treatment of Lara as its protagonist
was both groundbreaking and controversial - Lara
was the first female action hero the games industry

THE GAME'S
TREATMENT OF
LARA AS ITS
PROTAGONIST WAS
GROUNDBREAKING
AND CONTROVERSIAL

Tomb Raider
turned the fortunes
of Eidos around -
the year before the
game's release, Eidos
suffered a $2.6 million
loss. After Tomb
Raider, profits soared
to $14.5 million.

There was never
a cheat code on
console games to
unlock 'nude Lara' -
but there was a patch
for PC that applied
the naked skin to
Lara's model. Eidos
sent out a cease and
desist to all sites
hosting the patch.

The game was
originally developed
on Sega Saturn
development kits,
but Tomb Raider
would eventually
find success on
PlayStation, and
the first instalment
was the only Saturn
game in the series.

had seen and, while the original itself took care to
treat her job as a protagonist seriously, her sexualised
appearance and infamous proportions were also
clearly marketing tools (albeit ridiculously successful
ones). Lara straddled an uncanny middle ground:
she was daring, inspirational and ferocious, but she
also ran around the jungle in hotpants and a low-cut
top. Lara's physical presence caught the attention of
Timberland and Lucozade - whether she liked it or
not, she was pushing gaming into mainstream media
in ways the previous gaming mascots never could.
Lara wasn't for children; she was an advert for adult
gaming, something the console market hadn't had the
luxury of showing off before.

Lara's character was always admirably set up,
though; where Eidos could have thrown Lara at
you and said 'Look: sexy action lady!' it didn't, for
the most part, opting instead to humanise Lara in a
realistic and emphatic way. Lara was an upper-class
millionaire, living in the lap of luxury and knowing
little of struggle. When her plane crashes on her
return from a skiing trip, Lara becomes a survivalist
- her return to civilisation bores her, so she sets out to
globetrot, seeking treasure and excitement.

Chances are, back in 1996, you'd never been
plonked in the middle of a jungle and been given
the simple 'Survive!' goal before. You and Lara were
going through these learning curves at the same
time - and that narrative conceit made you associate
more with her situation, bringing you into the game
more. Lara was a determined lady, out for herself, out
for plunder and glory. She was Nathan Drake before
Nathan Drake - the Indiana Jones of videogames,
both in terms of legacy and iconic status. And that,
more than anything, is why Lara remains so strongly
rooted in gaming's collective consciousness.

117

GAME CHANGERS

m roooo

THE 10 SPELUNKING LESSONS
TOMB RAIDER TAUGHT US

■S LARA'S SHEER DISREGARD FOR ANY HEALTH AND SAFETY
■■■■ RULES REMAIN INSPIRATIONAL TO THIS DAY HERE ARE THE 10
BEST LESSONS LARA TAUGHT US ABOUT THE ART OF SURVIVALISM

A T-REX IS NO MATCH FOR A
HANDGUN (TOMB RAIDER [1996])

■ LARA TAUGHT US that if you come across an enormous T-Rex
in the middle of a clearing in a thick, tropical jungle - don't panic.
Merely pull out your handguns, sink a couple of magazines into its
flank whiles strafing about, and you'll be just fine. Just make sure
you don't get too close - those teeth are sharp.

GARDEN ASSAULT COURSES ARE THE
WAY TO GREATNESS (TOMB RAIDER II)

■ THE FIRST TOMB RAIDER only let you explore the interior
of Lara's not-so-humble-abode, but once the sequel came out,
you realised the sassy spelunker had a whole training ground
in her back yard. That made us think: if we had those resources
available to us, we'd be an invincible tomb raider too, surely?

NEEDY BUTLERS CAN BE DEALT WITH
(TOMB RAIDER II)

■ WINSTON - LARA'S LOYAL butler that would follow you
around, wherever you went - could be seen as a little needy. If
you felt that he needed to 'cool off' a little, you could just lead him
to the freezer and lock him in. Sounds cruel, but Winston always
turned out okay in the end, right? Right?

EXPLODING YOURSELF IS BAD
(TOMB RAIDER II)

■ WALK ONE STEP forward, one step back, turn around three
times and jump forward. BANG: Lara is exploded into a blocky
spatter of body parts and flies around the screen. We tried re-
creating this bizarre sequence in real life and it just looked like a
weird interpretive dance. Don't try this at home, kids.

118

GAME CHANGERS: TOMB RAIDER

■jt

SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER TOJUST
STAY AT HOME (TOMB RAIDER [2013])

■ AFTER YOUR STUDIES, do you fancy blowing off responsibility
and travelling the globe? Maybe you want to find yourself, or
visit that country you've loved all your life? 2013's Tomb Raider
taught us that a gap year isn't always what it's cracked up to be
especially if you end up heading to the Dragon's Triangle.

LONDON'S UNDERGROUND IS FULL
OF FREAKS (TOMB RAIDER III)

■ A LOT OF DIFFERENT narratives take a guess as to what really
dwells beneath London's cobbled streets, but Tomb Raider III
saw a catsuited Lara delve into the depths of our capital to find
a group of narcissistic troglodytes that burnt away their flesh in
search of eternal youth.

YOUNG EXPLORERS LOVE BUNCHES
(TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION)

■ WHEN WE GET a flashback to young Lara in The Last
Revelation, we see that she's got her hair tied up in bunches in
place of her trademark ponytail. Maybe she was being extra-
cautious - or maybe it was just Crystal Dynamics saying, "How
do we make Lara look younger? . . .Bunches!"

WHEN UNDERWATER, DON'T ALWAYS
HEAD UP (TOMB RAIDER II)

■ AFTER STRIPPING DOWN and changing into a wetsuit in front
of a po-faced Tibetan Monk, Lara dives down into a cave pool
to chase a submarine. After the pilot of the vessel is chewed up
by a shark, you're given 30 seconds to find air. You have to fight
against instinct, though: going up will only lead to a watery grave.

MIDAS' TOUCH IS A REAL THING
(TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY)

■ DEMONSTRATING SOME OF Tomb Raiders most original
puzzling and interesting level design, the hand of Midas is a
death trap waiting to happen. Anyone who is familiar with the old
Greek myth will know that Midas turns anything he touches into
gold. Apparently, this also includes Lara.

THE GRAPPLE HOOK IS YOUR BEST
FRIEND (TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND)

■ AS OF TOMB RAIDER: Legend, the technology had advanced
enough to allow Lara a lot more animation freedom. As a result,
she handily came across the grapple hook, which allowed her to
wall run, create pulley systems and play with the game's physics
to get her to new destinations and secret passages.

119

The studio that
brought the
Birdman into
our homes.

slapped
Bruce Willis
on a PSOne
and kept the
Guitar Hero
dream alive is
no more. We
look back at
the ups - and
downs - of
Neversoft

AFTER TENS OF millions of sales, some
of the highest-rated releases of all time (at
least according to Metacritic) and handling
some of the biggest licences in gaming, Neversoft
was simply folded up and incorporated into Infinity
Ward. True to form, the studio didn't go out quietly,
as a cathartic burning of the Neversoft logo-cum-
mascot - a skewered eyeball - was hosted outside the
studio's office. And that was that. It was a sad end for
a studio that, at one point, was involved in titles that
pretty much everyone who has touched a videogame
had played at some point. In the late-'90s there was
hardly a party that went by without someone breaking
out a version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - and some
years later the same was true, this time with one of the
numerous Guitar Hero titles Neversoft developed.

But a studio doesn't close for no reason. Its people
aren't deemed more of a fit integrated into another,
different studio unless there's something wrong. If
Neversoft of 2014 was the same Neversoft of 15 years
prior, this wouldn't have happened. Because, as with
most stories of this ilk, Neversoft was a developer that

■ After 20 years of making games, Neversoft was merged with Infinity
Ward. Former staff marked the event by burning the studio logo.

flew way too close to the sun - and while its ambition
and quality of output was rarely in question, it wasn't
enough to avoid that plummet.

It was different in 1994, when Neversoft came into
being. Malibu Interactive was a shrinking studio and
Mick West, a programmer at Malibu, was asked by
coworker Joel Jewett if he wanted to create a new
studio: "It was Joel's idea", West told gamesTM, "We
were all at Malibu Interactive, and lots of people were
leaving to start their own companies, and it seemed
like an obvious step. Joel approached me, and I
suggested Chris [Ward]."

■■■ SO IT WAS that the three came together and
formed Neversoft - one American (Jewett) and two
native Yorkshiremen. "It helped with communication",
West laughed, "although Joel couldn't understand
what Chris was saying half the time at first." These
communication issues didn't stop the new team from
grabbing its first contract - a licensed game in 1995,
based on the Skeleton Warriors cartoon. There's a
reason you don't remember the game. Or the cartoon.

It took two years for Neversoft's next project to hit the
shelves, and this wasn't even an original creation - just
a port of the PC version of Shiny's MDK, bringing the
shooter to PSOne. Then... nothing. Until fate smiled at
the faltering studio, in the shape of Bruce Willis and
his guming mug.

Apocalypse released in 1998 to some fanfare - the
star power of Willis and the fact it was a decent game
meant it sold in the range of half a million copies. Not
bad for a game Neversoft had turned around in a mere
nine months. "It was originally an internal Activision
project with one of its studios", West explained. "They
had tried to do something very ambitious with an AI
character following you around, [with] big levels and
they had this complicated way of building everything.

120

iC FEATURE WERSOFTi

RIDING

SUCCESS

Neversoft's fortunes
rode the wave, but
was it all smooth
sailing?

■ SKELETON WARRIORS -
80.000

■ APOCALYPSE - 450,000

■ TONY HAWK'S
SKATEBOARDING -

8.460.000

■ SPIDER-MAN - 3,660,000

■ TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER

2 - 7.250.000

■ TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER

3 - 8,050.000

■ TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER

4 - 5.750.000

■ TONY HAWK'S
UNDERGROUND - 6,470,000

■ TONY HAWK'S
UNDERGROUND 2 -

4.920.000

■ TONY HAWK'S AMERICAN
WASTELAND - 4,420,000

■ GUN -2.190.000

■ TONY HAWK'S PROJECT 8 -

2.500.000

■ TONY HAWK'S PROVING
GROUND - 2.100.000

■ GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS
OF ROCK - 16,200,000

■ GUITAR HERO: AEROSMITH

- 4.170.000

■ GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR

- 9,870,000

■ GUITAR HERO: METALLICA

- 2.620.000

■ GUITAR HERO 5 - 4.770,000

■ BAND HERO - 3,200.000

■ GUITAR HERO: WARRIORS
OF ROCK - 2,460,000

■ CALL OF DUTY GHOSTS

- 22.040.000 [Neversofl developed

Extinction Mode only]

*A11 sales figures are approximate,
from VGChartz.com

■■H "IT WASN'T REALLY working out so Activision
asked us if we could repurpose some of our stuff that
we were, basically, shopping around because we
didn't have any work. We took on Apocalypse and got it
done in about nine months. . . It was a simple, fun, solid
game that made money, and was the first solid step on
the road to Neversoft's success."

After that came the game Neversoft is known for to
this day, Tony Hawk's Skateboarding (or Pro Skater
outside of PAL territories). While it would be a push to
say what happened to Neversoft next was luck, there
is the admission from West and numerous coworkers
that, going into work on Tony Hawk's Skateboarding,
there wasn't actually much idea as to what the studio

was doing. "When we were doing Apocalypse j

we knew we were doing a running-around
shooting game", West said.

"We knew how to make people run around,
jump and shoot. But skating was very new.

It was having an open-ended, a more open-
world, a trick system where you could score
points. The concepts were alien to people
working on the game." But by bringing in
the Birdman Tony Hawk himself and with the
full support of Activision - whose initial idea
the game was - Neversoft ended up creating
a cultural phenomenon. It's the worst-kept secret in
the history of gaming, but the formula to the original
bunch of Tony Hawk's games was their simplicity. "You
hold down the X button to crouch and you release to
jump. It's very tight, you feel like you're controlling it,"
West explained. "It's not like you're pressing it and
something happens a tenth of a second later. . . It was
fun to simply skate around and jump off things without
really doing anything because it felt so responsive."

It was the perfect storm. Skateboarding was the new
cool; the game had accessible and fun multiplayer
(and compulsive single-player) action and a fantastic
soundtrack. The first game sold just under 10 million
copies worldwide and topped the charts pretty much
everywhere. "It felt very good, because two years
earlier the company very nearly closed", West said.

But before Neversoft got to releasing the second
Tony Hawk game, it had to go about doing another

seemingly impossible thing: bringing out a licensed
superhero game that wasn't absolute tosh. Spider-
Man on the PSOne was that very game, and using the
power of the Tony Hawk engine (and judicious use of
fogging) gamers were presented with a genuine great.
Neversoft could do no wrong.

■■■ THIS STORY REPEATED itself for the next few
years, with 2000 to 2002 seeing the Tony Hawk series
expanded and improved upon in countless ways. The
games kept getting better and better, but the increased
complexity - along with the general jadedness of an
audience seeing the same name on a game every
year without fail and skating's fall in popularity - saw

/ the series' sales take a downturn. Neversoft
' dropped the number and the series was reborn
as Tony Hawk's Underground - a skateboarding
adventure game that allowed players to dismount
their board, speak with other characters, take part in
an overarching plotline and even drive cars. Oddly, it
wasn't terrible. But this generation, even though it was
hopped up on skate culture offshoots Jackass and Dirty
Sanchez, didn't buy into Underground. It didn't even
really buy it, and sales continued to fall.

A brief segue into a decent, but forgettable western
adventure in the form of Gun was all the original,
non-licensed output seen from Neversoft in this period.
The game was appreciated at the time for offering a
pr e-Fted Dead Redemption 'GTA in the Wild West', but
it wasn't a sign of things to come and Neversoft didn't
create any more original IP So the studio went back to
Tony Hawk, and for the second time there was a rebirth

"I STILL MEET
PEOPLE THAT TELL ME
THAT TONY HAWK'S
WAS A HUGE PART OF
THEIR YOUTH''

121

NEVERSOFT'S FIVE BEST

Even though consistency was the studio's
hallmark, there are still a few standout titles...

1999 [PSOne, N64, Dreamcast,
Game Boy Color, N-Gage]

Skateboarding was already
popular, people already knew
who Lagwagon and Dead
Kennedys were and skating
games had been released
before. But somehow, Tony
Hawk's Skateboarding - Pro
Skater outside of PAL regions -
felt like something completely
new. A total game-changer.

TONY HAWK'S
SKATEBOARDING

SPIDER-MAN 2000 [PSOne,

N64, Dreamcast, PC, Game Boy Color]

You have the Tony Hawk engine, you
want to make something else. What
do you do? Make a Spider-Man tie-in,
obviously. Better than that, you make a
brilliant Spider-Man tie-in. It wasn't as
open as later games - and oh god, the
fog - but Spidey's Neversoft adventure
was undoubtedly great.

GUITAR HERO 5

2009 [PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360]

It took Neversoft a few tries to get to
grips with what was originally Harmonix's
baby - but when it did, it did it hard
(rock). Guitar Hero 5 was a brilliant mix
of the fantastic, established mechanics
with refined and improved elements
everywhere else. Just don't mention the
whole Kurt Cobain thing.

TONY HAWK'S PRO
SKATER 3

2001 [PSOne, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox,
GBC, GBA, PC, N64, Mac]

Every game based on the Birdman
brought something new, but the revert in
Pro Skater 3 changed the combo system
forever - and the Hawk series with it. Now
combos could be ridiculous. And that
increased the fun quota by 900 per cent.

TONY HAWK'S
PROJECT 8

2006 [PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP]

Tony went off the rail for a few years,
but Project 8 brought back balance to
the grind. The magic of the originals was
long gone, but there was a back-to-basics
approach that resonated with players
old and new. And it was a lot better than
sequel Proving Ground.

of sorts. Tony Hawk's Project 8 - the eighth in
the series, natch - came out in 2006 to criticial
acclaim and an enthusiastic response from all
those who bought it. But, again, the number of those
picking it up had dropped once more. It was clear
for all to see that the series needed a huge boost
to stay relevant - a true redesign that went beyond
a bit of spit and polish. As West admitted: "I don't
think things went wrong, but it's hard to innovate
indefinitely within a franchise. All great things come
to an end, it's just a matter of when."

2007 saw the release of Tony Hawk's Proving
Ground, which proved to be Neversoft's final shot
with the Birdman. But while the series had wavered
in quality - and was nowhere near as popular as in
its heyday - this wasn't a decision to strip the studio
of the licence. No, it was a necessary move to free up
resources so Neversoft could focus on its new main
project: the Guitar Hero franchise, which the studio
had been working on since 2006.

It was a peculiar coming together that foisted
the peripheral-based shredding simulator into the
hands of Neversoft, with the story going that Jewett
met RedOctane's founders at E3 in 2006 and told
them of how the first Guitar Hero game had got the
team through some stressful times while creating
Tony Hawk's Project 8. That was all the founders
needed to hear - Neversoft was a studio with a
proven record of quick turnaround and high-quality
games. It wasn't actually as strange a decision to

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■ Hidden characters galore in the Tony Hawk games
of old - and not a microtransaction in sight.

■ The licensed Guitar Hero (and Rock Band) tie-ins haven't
been bad, on the whole. Metallica was a particularly good one.

■ Well before Red Dead Redemption, Gun moseyed into town around

the launch of Xbox 360. It was decent but unspectacular.

122

Image: Mick West

FEATURE NEVERSOFTI

RoboModo, where it became another peripheral-
based game and absolutely tanked before being
euthanised with extreme prejudice. Neversoft instead
became the custodian of a different yearly franchise
- but this time around, things didn't get better and
better as they went along.

Sales for Guitar Hero dropped for the fourth main
game, World Tour, to around 10 million - and they
never got that high again. While public opinion had
warmed to Neversoft's approach for 2009's Guitar
Hero 5, the sales didn't reflect this - and when
Warriors Ot Rock released in 2010, shifting around
2.5 million copies, Activision wound up its Guitar
Hero wing and shut down the one-time world-leading
franchise. Neversoft was, through no fault of its own,
without anything to make.

There hasn't been a full game released with
Neversoft's badge on it since that last-ever Guitar
Hero, and the studio was pretty much forgotten
by gamers across the globe - no longer a name

"APOCALYPSE WAS A
SIMPLE, FUN, SOLID
GAME THAT MADE
MONEY, AND WAS THE
FIRST SOLID STEP
ON THE ROAD TO
NEVERSOFT'S SUCCESS"

hand Guitar Hero to the studio as it might
have seemed at the time.

■■■ BUT WHILE THE team at Neversoft hit the
ground running as they often did, managing
to get Guitar Hero III: Legends Ot Rock out
in the same year as Proving Ground, there
was stiff competition from the get-go: Guitar
Hero's original developer Harmonix brought
the much-more technically accomplished
Rock Band to market less than a month after
Guitar Hero III hit. Immediately Neversoft's
game looked - and felt - outdated.

Over the next few years it was hard to shift this
perception, with reviewers and online commenters
alike voicing the opinion that Neversoft's games just
weren't up to the standard the Harmonix team was
putting out. But none of Neversoft's initial Guitar
Hero titles received a bad score and sales were,
well, phenomenal. Guitar Hero III was, according
to Activision, the first game to bring in over a billion
dollars - and it racked up sales figures of around the
16.2-million mark.

So it was that Neversoft stopped being the Tony
Hawk studio - that franchise was passed on to

/ synonymous with joyful parties, now just a
name only ever said after the words 'whatever
happened to...' It surprised a number of people to
see Neversoft's involvement in Call Ot Duty: Ghosts,
but its contribution - in the form of the alien-blasting,
Left 4 Dead-aping Extinction mode - was excellent
and a highlight of an otherwise formulaic game.

■■■ EIGHT MONTHS AFTER Ghosts' release,
Activision announced it was bringing Neversoft into
the Infinity Ward fold as a result of its stellar work
on the COD title. It wasn't as swift a death as studios
have experienced before under the big publishers,
but it still saw a bittersweet ending to one of gaming's
fallen kings.

With all that came to pass - and West leaving the
company in 2003, before the Gun and Guitar Hero
years - it was still good to hear he was proud of what
Neversoft had done. "[I am proud] that we created
a new genre of games and set new standards for
gameplay. I still meet people all the time that tell me
that Tony Hawk's Skateboarding was a huge part of
their youth. That makes me feel proud."

Bottled lightning. We're unlikely to ever see another
studio like Neversoft, seemingly making it up as
it went along and striking very big indeed, being
handed the keys to one of the biggest publishers'
biggest licences and ending up an atrophied shadow
of its former self. But it's not a sad story - it's pure
punk rock: just the way Neversoft would have
wanted it to be.

123

1UP 2*
004-995

WHY I

Jetpac

MICK WEST, NEVERSOFT ENTERTAINMENT
CO-FOUNDER

a I look back to when I
played games on the ZX
Spectrum and one game in
particular I remember is Jetpac.
It was a little guy with a jetpack
and you flew around the screen
shooting aliens, then you’d fly
onto the next screen and repeat.
I was 14 or 15 years old and that
seemed like the best game in the
world. Then, when I discovered
programming, I realised I could
make games like that - one of
the first games I tried to make
was a clone of Jetpac. When I
think back to that time in my
life Jetpac is the game
that springs to mind.

FUEL

One of the first games I tried to
make was a clone of Jetpac

MICK WEST, NEVERSOFT ENTERTAINMENT CO-FOUNDER

2UP

000000

BEHIND THE SCENES

MEDIEVIL

Conceived by Millennium Interactive in

1995. the MediEvil concept proved so

popular with Sony that the Tapanese

giant bought the Cambridgeshire studio

after claiming exclusive rights to the 3D

hack-n-slash adventure. Two decades

on. games™ returns to the pioneering

world of Gallowmere

■ LISTENING TO MEDIEVIL creators
Chris Sorrell and Jason Wilson chat about
videogame development in the Nineties is
like listening to two friends reminiscing about the good
old days. Although now miles apart, they still share
fond memorfes of the tfme they spent working together
at Sony Cambridge Studio, which is well-reflected in
some of the storfes they have to tell.

"I remember one night we'd all had our curry,
which we often did working late," explains Sorrell
of the laid-back attitude within the team at the time.
"We were just sitting around talking about ants for
some reason, about how they were such fascinating
creatures. The next day we decided we were going
to have an ant cave level in [MediEviH . We then came
up with some crazy fiction about how you'd get shrunk
down, and we made it. That was something you'd
never be able to do in a big-budget game these days."

Wilson chuckles in the background - as if recalling
the punchline before Sorrell finishes speaking. "Better
still, we ended up populating the ant cave with
Cockney fairies, because, well, you know."

Although unorthodox, understanding this working
ethos isn't difficult. Listening to Sorrell and Wilson
affectionately recall an era of wonder and possibility
conjures imagery of a development team very much
enjoying its work while on top of its game. Storfes like
this seem to be rather fitting. Sony Cambridge Studio,
as it was then, now exists as Guerilla Cambridge - a
branch of Guerilla Games, responsible for 2013's PS
Vita shooter Killzone: Mercenary, as well as an as-yet
unannounced PlayStation 4 project. Prior to this, SCE
Cambridge was known as Millennium Interactive -
where Sorrell and Wilson first joined forces.

"I JOINED MILLENNIUM after finishing James
Pond 3," explains Sorrell. "I'd been working with them
for a few years when the opportunity came up to work
on something new. They asked me what I wanted to
make and said I’d need to be working with someone
on the visual side. Jason happened to be freeing up on
whatever projects he was working on at the time. So
we met up and started working on MediEvil."

Like Sorrell, Wilson had worked elsewhere -
"another child of Eighties development," as he puts ft -
before a conversation with Millennium's development
director, Ian Saunter, led him to taking a full-time post
there. "In early 1995, Ian convinced me to help Chris
start MediEvil," he says. "I'd met Chris before when I
was a freelancer and we both loved horror movies and
zombies and stuff like that - way before it was popular.
It was a very good match." In those days, says Sorrell,
developers who were already actively making games,
were often offered the chance to champion their own
projects further down the line. With the esteemed
James Pond series and its spin-offs under his belt,
Sorrell more than met this prerequisite and begun
laying the foundations for MediEvil in late-1995.

While pulling together a demo to showcase to
publishers, the team operated in the smallest possible
configuration: a programmer for each platform, as

Entertainment
SCE Cambridge

Studio

Chris Sorrell (Producer
Director). Jason Wilson (Game

Designer, Writer), Martin Pond

(Writer), Andrew Barnabas
( Composer) , Paul Arnold
(Composer. Sound Effects)

■ Jason Wilson continued to work on the
MediEvil series right up to Resurrection.

126

127

MediEvil Revieiu

■ Given that he's dead, missing an eye, and missing his
entire jaw, can you blame Sir Dan lor being so angry? ■

The real stars of
MediEvil though
are its variety,
story, and
difficulty level.
As mentioned
before, the
diversity found
from level to
level adds
a lot to the
game, as does
the wide and
varied arsenal
of weapons.

The storyline is
also strangely
engrossing

i Gamespot (October

! 23 , 1998 )

well as two or three artists with Wilson on the
art and design side of things. Although having
worked on several titles up to this point, Millennium
was not in great health financially, and sought to
secure a publisher for MediEvil as soon as possible.

■■■ SEGA AND MICROSOFT showed initial
interest and demo versions for the Saturn and
Windows 95 were rolled out in the first year
of production. After delivering what Sorrell
declares the team's "best pitch ever", though,

Sony got behind the MediEvil IP with one
caveat: that it be a PSOne exclusive.

The team obliged and within six months
of working together, Sony bought over
Millenium Interactive - SCE Cambridge
Studio becoming Sony's only other UK studio
besides its London office in July 1997. With
Sony's input came more manpower, more
structure, and crucially, more funding. Yet as a
group of keen and ambitious twenty-something-year-
olds, cash was never at the forefront of any of their
minds. Instead, it was the complexities of designing
games in 3D - a style that the industry was only just
getting to grips with.

"I guess we were all young and naive in terms of
budget stuff, " says Sorrell. "We just wanted to make
the games that we wanted to make, and I was
always focused on making as big and as cool
a game as I could. For me it was always that
mix of Ghouls 'N‘ Ghosts, combined with a
Tim Burton art style, and also doing all of
this in 3D, which at the time was a relatively
new thing. It was no foregone conclusion
that each game would be 3D, so really it was
the fusion of all of those things that was the
starting point for MediEvil.

"It was a huge learning project for all of us
as it was our first 3D project. It was very much

us finding our feet and deciding on all the things we
wanted to do that we didn't really know if we could.
We were just trying things out and learning a lot from
other games at the time, like Mario 64."

"Yeah, we didn't really have much going in," adds
Wilson. "When we started out with MediEvil, it felt like
really pioneering days of 3D technology and polygons
and so on. I remember Chris and I in our little skeleton

/ crew - no pun intended - working all manner
/ of crazy hours and getting an actual 3D model on
screen at, say, three o'clock in the morning, and it
being this really momentous moment.

"You couldn't really get that nowadays because
everything is possible, and everything has been done
in a strange technical sort of way. Every little step we

WE WERE JUST TRYING
THINGS OUT AND
LEARNING A LOT FROM
OTHER GAMES AT THE
TIME, LIKE MARIO 64

128

BEHIND THE SCENES

made was like, 'Wow, that's so cool!' The good thing
about Chris is that he allowed me to design some
of the technology that we'd need to drive the art, so
it was a really good relationship between the tech
guys and Chris and myself. 1 look back at some of the
documents of the things 1 wrote, or I drew - actual
crayon drawings, little polygons of an environment,
things like that - and it felt like pre-Photoshop, pre-
Maya, and all these amazing packages we have
nowadays. Instead, it was gluing things together
and bits of string and literally bits of paper, and
then trying, struggling desperately to get something
that looks half-decent on screen. It was really small
beginnings, but it was great!"

From the outset, it was clear Sorrell and Wilson
were on the same wavelength. An affinity for all
things horror, particularly that of Tim Burton's kooky
gothic range, drove much of MediEvil's aesthetics;
and The Crow's tale of undead avenger seeking
revenge for murder loosely mirrored the game's
narrative. At prototype stage, MediEvil went by the
name of Dead Man Dan, a nod to the game's one-
eyed protagonist Sir Daniel Fortesque, but it wasn't
until much later that Dan's story was fully realised.

PRIOR TO TF!E Sony takeover, MediEvil posed
a simple tale about a skeletal knight who'd hack
and slash his way through hordes of zombie armies
with little purpose or meaning, so when external
scriptwriter Martin Pond suggested redemption as a
core theme Sorrell and Wilson happily went with it. In
turn, flesh was added to the bones of the concept and
Wilson was able to craft more cohesive environments
around what was now a more intuitive story. The rest
of the character ensemble was born from necessity,
designed to revolve around Sir Dan's central role.

Although Wilson admits games like Mario 64 and
Zelda influenced MediEvil's makeup, he is proud
of the unique worlds he and his team were able to
create within the Kingdom of Gallowmere. Like much
of Burton's work, MediEvil's Gothic landscapes make
it instantly recognisable - the distinguished settings
often playing as big a part as Sir Dan himself.

"One thing I really liked about MediEvil, which I
don't think was ever captured again in any other
Sony Cambridge game, was the sense of the
environments," he explains. "[They] were based
heavily on German Expressionism, which is what Tim
Burton based a lot of his early stuff on - that means
lots of wonky, weird angles to the environments. We'd
build villages and towns on domes, so that all the
buildings were all coming off the central axes. The
camera would be orchestrated to move over this dome,
creating rolling environments, and adding some really
strange otherworldly cameras and perspectives to the
world. We could orchestrate enemy attacks and what
we wanted to show at various points, while giving the
player a degree of control over the camera. We were
very ambitious when I think back to it."

This ambition, coupled with a unique sense of
humour, is what drove Sony Cambridge Studio forward
with MediEvil in its formative years. Videogames to this
day have largely struggled to convey humour with
any level of finesse, yet MediEvil captured charming
slapstick comedy like none other before it. Better still,
each joke was a natural reflection of how the team
worked behind the scenes, as opposed to a vetted
process at the commanding hand of a publisher.
Sorrell labels the comedy as a "happy accident" and

LIGHTS. H

ACTIOtf.

CAMERAS!

Creator Chris
Sorrell explains
the importance of
finding the right
camera angle

ON GETTING
IT WRONG:

■ "I never thought about
how difficult the idea of
following a character
around was until we
actually came to do it.
Initially we went for a spline
camera - where the view
is very much in the artist's
control. I was becoming
increasingly irritated by
how this style gave you
no freedom to feel like you
were exploring the world. I
was fighting to get rid of it
as soon as we had it."

ON GETTING
IT RIGHT:

■ "That's one of the cool
things you get in 3D that
you just don't have in 2D: a
sense of exploring. What's
behind that, or in that box,
or on top of that cliff? That,
for me, was part of the
experience that I wanted
to make in the game. We
changed it to a more
free-form camera and it
just worked."

129

« GGGO

RATS THAT GO SPLAT

The twisted humour of the MediEvil team

■ WHEN MEDIEVIL RELEASED

to the masses in 1998, the
majority of reviews at the time
remarked on the game's unique
sense of humour. Creator Chris
Sorrell admits he injected
comedy only where it felt
appropriate, and that it wasn't
necessarily a conscious thing.

"We had a programmer
working with us who was the
lead on the project," tells Sorrell.

"He came from a business
background... I guess he always
struggled a bit to match the way
that the rest of us were making
the game and our perspective
on things with his slightly stuffy
business background.

"He was a big fan of rats. He
loved his pet rat, he was always
going on about them. This is a
bit of sad story in a way, but
towards the end of the project

we'd drifted apart in terms of
how much he enjoyed working
on a project that wasn't quite
being made the way he was
used to making them. He
ended up leaving us about
two months before the end.

We [made] it so that you could
squash the rats. I guess that
comes from a slight feeling of
betrayal. We did have a lot of
good times with him, though!"

0/0 1

IH 3 WHAT
LTHEY
§ SAID...

As you might
have guessed,
the designers
obviously had
a distinct sense
of humour that
permeates the
game, and, at
times, has you
laughing out
loud. In the end,
what we have
here is one of
the cleverest
platform games
ever made

GameRevolution
(October 1, 1998)

that no one set out to make the game funny, per
se. Instead, if the opportunity to inject humour
fnto the scrfpt presented itself they simply took it, and
MediEvil became all the better for it. "The humour
within the team itself was natural because we were
such a coercive little tight group," says Wilson. "We
were all youthful and silly, who liked bizarro horror
movies and slapstick comedy - it was just a
natural extension of our personalities, I think.

We certainly didn't overthink it."

The determined but laid-back attitude of
the MediEvil masterminds is perhaps best
outlined by the Sony takeover itself. In the
close-knit, personable days of Millennium
there was no such concept as a staff
conference, so the formal, business-like
approach of Sony became quite intimidating
for Sorrell and Wilson. Although they both
considered themselves professionals, the boardroom
ethos of the Sony execs they were dealing with had
them occasionally second-guessing themselves.

Although Sony's acquisition of Millennium had
essentially come from the Japanese tech giant's
interest in MediEvil, the takeover also brought about
a distinct level of expectation on the MediEvil team.
If Sony was devoting quite so much interest and
resources to this game, it naturally expected a return
on its investment.

"It sort of came home to me when we first had
a big staff conference, which was a totally alien
concept," recalls Sorrell. "Sony would actually get
everyone together from all the studios and fly you off

somewhere - I think we went to Tenerife for the first
one - and they'd expect you to stand up and talk in
front of everybody about what you were doing and
things. That was like, 'woah, we’re not in Kansas
anymore!' It was a strange thing.

"I also got to go to a few meetings early on where
all the Sony producers got together and it all felt

THE END RESULT WAS
SOMETHING THAT WE
WERE PROUD OF AND
WE HAD A LOT OF FUN

vfc.

Life’s

A BITCH AND
THEN VOU DIE.

and then

YOU WAKE UP
g- 100 YEARS LATER
AND life’s snu.

A BITCH.

Sony Cambridge Studio's unique sense of humour I
even bled mto MediEvils marketing campaigns.

suddenly like we were part of a big project by
that stage and the stakes were so much higher.

I'd never worked as part of a big studio before, so
it was a bit of a wake up to realise there were all
these people who were actually really experienced
in all these positions and really knew what they were
talking about - it made me question 'do I know what
I'm talking about? Do I know what I'm doing? Should
I be here?' But yeah, we got through it."

AT THE TIME, Sony was relatively unproven on
the world stage as far as videogames were concerned,
and Wilson points out that it was very much learning
at the same time then Sony Cambridge was. Granted,
expectations were high, but the Cambridge team
suddenly had so many state-of-the-art facilities at its
fingertips. As the new kids on the block, both Wilson
and Sorrell commend the proportionately stand-offish
approach Sony took with them at the time.

"MediEvil definitely benefitted from not being
a designed product," continues Sorrell. "It wasn't
designed to start a franchise or any of the pretension
that is there with any big modern development
nowadays. I actually caught the end of someone
doing a playthrough of [ MediEvil] recently at the end
part where Zarok has been defeated and he's doing
his final spell curse. Suddenly a rock falls from the
ceiling. It's still ridiculous and stupid, but I don't think
anyone would do that kind of thing now - they'd be
thinking of keeping Zarok around for the sequel."

130

BEHIND THE SCENES

> GAMING EVOLUTION

Mario 64 > MediEvil > MediEvil 2

In the mid-90s,
3D games were
still finding their
feet but Mario 64
showed just how
the transition
from 2D should
be done.

fn 2000, MediEvil did receive a sequel, but when
the original released in 1998, Sorrell was admittedly
" MediEvil' d out". He went on to work on PlayStation
2's Primal, although the intervening period made
him regret leaving Gallowmere behind quite so soon.
Wilson continued with number two and recalls seeing
the same underlying ideas from different perspectives
as strange but interesting in equal measure.

In 2005 an entirely new team took on a PSP remake
named Resurrection, and while Sorrell and Wilson
offered advice and consultation, it was done so at
arm's length and without any sense of ownership -
something that didn't sit well with Sorrell. Although
able to accept some of the changes the new team
had made, he felt that he and his team's MediEvil
vision was what made the series - a fact accentuated
by the glowing reviews the original received seven
years prior.

Which is why, ten years on, speaking of MediEvil' s
legacy with Sorrell seems a touch bittersweet. He
appears glad it was left behind before it had the
chance to evolve into something too unfamiliar, yet
he'd also love to revive the series in some way or
form given how much fun he had while developing
it - a process that began two decades ago. The IP is
now very much under Sony's control though, so the
chances of this ever happening are most unlikely.

In the meantime, Sorrell and Wilson have long
since left MediEvil behind. Sorrell lives in Canada
and is working on his own indie title, while Wilson has

Seeing what
worked in other
games, MediEvil
introduced us
to Gallowmere
- a brilliant Tim
Burton-inspired
nightmarescape.

returned to his first love: illustrating comic books. Yet
MediEvil marked some of the most exciting years of
their careers to date.

"I think you feel nostalgia for the development
ethos more than the actual game itself, even though I
really like the game," says Wilson. "It's just that time
of possibility and naivety. I think sometimes the more
companies can inflict process and knowledge on you,
the less you know; the more you know the less you
know, in a way. You become more fearful of creativity
and question yourself. When I look at MediEvil, I see
naivety and joy and the enthusiasm of making games.

"Also, it's really strange - I remember when I used
to love sci-fi movies and TV shows and you think
about all the little things in the stories and the trivial
information you dwell upon. There are forums about
MediEvil on the internet where the users debate every
detail of the game. Half the things we just made up on
the spot! It just proves to me that lots of things are just
made up in TV and movies, but other people end up
taking them really seriously."

Both Sorrell and Wilson speak so fondly of their
time at Sony Cambridge Studio that working on
MediEvil truly seems like the highlight of their games
development careers. "Yeah, I'd say it was," agrees
Sorrell. "That sort of feeling of team that we had then,
we all got on really well, we'd all had highs and lows
together working long hours. Overall, though, the end
result was something that we were all proud of and we
had a lot of fun making it. You can't get much
better than that."

■ Sir Daniel Fortesque is a cocky
protagonist for a dead guy with no jaw and
one functioning eye.

■ Tim Burton's influence can be seen unashamedly
throughout MediEvil s crooked and wonky architecture.

131

CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD

PC ENGINE CD 1993

RONDO OF BLOOD never saw a Western release on the PC Engine CD - the
earliest we saw it was on a Virtual Console release in 2010. And that's a damn
shame, because the game was one of the better Castlevania games released in
the early Nineties. The intro we've printed here is actually three stages of animated
opening showing the 19-year-old protagonist, Richter Belmont, hurl his chained Vampire
Killer whip at a skeleton under Dracula's control. It's a great way of showing you that Rondo
Of Blood is abiding to some key Castlevania tropes - mainly that the main character is a
Belmont, that he has a whip, and that you'll be battling the undead in a side-scrolling adventure.
It's also a showcase of the gorgeous colours and sharp edges the CD was capable of rendering.

QOTjQ

INTERVIEW

CODING BACK
THE YEARS

Best known for co-founding Codemasters, David Darling
has had a hand in some of gaming's best-known games,
in a career spanning over three decades

Dubbed "whiz-kids" in
the Eighties by a national
press still coming to terms
with a home-computing
revolution, the Darling
brothers, Richard and David,
made their name - and
money - producing simple
but easily marketable budget
games. Having originally
sold their ever-growing
number of titles direct to
the public via mail order,
they went on to work for
developer Mastertronic
before leaving, with the
backing and help of dad Jim,
to found Codemasters. David
became the corporate face
of the company, his business
acumen helping to steer
the publisher from budget
to full-price, delivering
iconic brands from Dizzy
to Micro Machines to Colin
McRae Rally in the process.
Now heading up iOS game
developer Kwalee - as well
as having been awarded a
CBE - he is ready do it all
over again.

J Since you were born in 1966,

■ ■■ you were still at school when
• ■ ■ • the videogame industry as we
know it was in its infancy. What is your
earliest gaming memory?

My family lived for a while in Vancouver
in Canada and we used to go from the
city to Vancouver Island on the ferry.

They would have arcade games on board,
such as Pac-Man, Galaxian and Asteroids,
and my brother Richard and I loved to
play them. My dad had also
bought us both an Atari VCS
and we loved to play games like
Adventure on it.

Did it lead to you wanting a computer of
your own?

It did, but my dad had a Commodore
PET. He was designing contact lenses
in a laboratory and the engineers were
working out the curvature of the lenses
and other things using pencils and paper.
My dad thought it would be better to do
it on a computer so he bought one. The
engineers didn't know how to program it so
they asked me and my brother if we could

Did playing these games make
you want to create your own
games at the time, or did that
come later for you?

I was learning to program because
our maths teacher had got a
computer, the name of which escapes
me, and we had to program it using
punched cards. It was laborious but it got
me into programming. I'd stay behind
at school to program it to use the only
keyboard available - it was the only
chance I got because there were around
40 children in the day all wanting to have
a go on it.

WE WEREN'T TRYING
TO PICK A FIGHT WITH
THE BIGGEST GAMES
COMPANY IN THE WORLD

help with the equations. We said we
would if we could borrow the PET at
the weekends.

What did you do with the PET?

We were really into D&D and we wanted to
make a D&D game so that's what we used
it for. We only programmed in a form of
BASIC and it was a text adventure just for
us to enjoy. We didn't sell the game.

DAVID DARLING

""•-■'■■■''-.v' l^x ' 0

5««E!£2

^ i h u Lr.+jLi !

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT

days, Codemasters
games would carry
glowing endorsements.
"WE'RE HOOKED" said The
Oliver twins about their own
game, Kwik Snax. David Darling provided
many of these self-congratulating quotes:

BRILLIANT!", he wrote for Mig-29 Soviet
Fighter, while "absolutely brilliant"
became a catchphrase. "I believed
our games were good and I didn't care
telling people", he says. "It may have
been unusual but that's never stopped us
doing something."

DAVID DARLING, CODEMASTERS CO-FOUNDER^ Jl

RICHARD
DHRLIFIG - r 5

E V THE
DLIUER

mins

135

IQOTDO

Why did you leave Mastertronic?

Richard, my dad and I had set up a
development house in a joint venture
with Mastertronic called Artificial
Intelligence Products, but we wanted
to control our own destiny. We sold our
shares, exited the firm and used the
money to start Codemasters.

■ Chiller was one of David and Richard Darling's first •
games. It was produced for Mastertronic and sold for £1.99.

What were Codemasters' early years like?

It was like a family, or at least a little
community and it grew fast. There was
Philip and Andrew Oliver, or the Oliver
Twins, and the Falcus Brothers, Darren
and Jason, as well as an artist called Andy
Graham and a programmer called Peter
Williamson. As things got bigger, we started
to run out of room in the Codemasters
office and so we had a small village made
up of portable cabins in the grounds with
different people in each one. It was like
a community of developers - not a hippy
community
but people
passionate about
computer games.

young Darling brothers, David and Richard, began coding
they were just 1 1 and started their first company at age 16.

■ ■ Did it whet your appetite for games?

■■■■ We had a friend called Michael
Hiebert who had a similar passion for
gaming and so we'd program together.
Then in 1981, I think, his family bought
a Commodore VIC-20 which we used to
create versions of Galaxian, Defender
and Pac-Man. But then my brother and I
got sent back to England to go to school
and we lived with our grandparents in
Somerset while the rest of the family lived
in Vancouver. We bought another VIC-20
but we kept in contact with Michael. We'd
have a competition with him over who could
make the best games. Over a few months
we'd managed to produce quite a few VIC-
20 games between us.

What led you to working for Mastertronic?

We'd saved up our pocket money to place
an advert in a magazine called Popular

Computing Weekly,
calling ourselves
Galactic Software. A

few days later we got tons of letters through
the post with cheques from people wanting
to buy our games. We stayed up all night
duplicating them and sending them out,
before getting a company involved to do
this for us when it all got too much. We
started to sell more and more eventually
Mastertronic saw one of our adverts and
asked if we would write games for them.

Did you enjoy your time at Mastertronic?

It was good fun. They were entrepreneurial
and their background was selling video
tapes, movies and short films. But they
wanted to get into the computer games
market. Back then, it was all full price
but Mastertronic saw an opportunity for
budget games. We made lots of games
for them. Chiller was a big game [it
sold around 280,000 copies] and BMX
Racers did very well too. I also wrote a
car game called The Last V8.

DEVELOPER COMMENTS

warn bmx

SIMULATOR WASN'T
the only game with
the S-word in its title. There
was Grand Prix Simulator, Pro
Boxing Simulator, Super Tank Simulator
Pro Powerboat Simulator and Fruit
Machine Simulator to name but a few.

Your Sinclair even created an Advanced
Lawnmower Simulator. "We'd noticed that
Mastertronic s best sellers were games
based on football or BMXs, where there
was a pre-existing popularity. We weren't
trying to create real simulators, just games
that reflected real life."

DAVID DARLING, CODEMASTERS CO-FOUNDER 1

BMX Simulator
was the Codies'
first game, right?

Yes. Richard
had written
BMX Racers at
Mastertronic,
which was
probably like
an endless
runner before
Temple Run - a
vertical-scrolling
BMX game. So
when we started
Codemasters, we
decided to do another, but this time with a
top-down view. We also wanted the game to
be more realistic and have laps. We used to
do some BMXing ourselves and a big part
of the fun was the bent corners, so we put
those in too. Then we added two players on
the keyboard and two on the joystick. It was
actually the first four-player game on the
Commodore 64.

That wasn't the only first for Codemasters.

No, it wasn't. When we came up with the
J-Cart for the Sega Mega Drive, we were
able to add to extra gamepad ports so we
were the first to introduce four players to
one console and eight with joypad sharing.

136

DAVID DARLINGi

You were certainly successful with your
games. Dizzy was huge. How did that
come about?

We were at a computer-game exhibition
in London and wanted to find some more
programmers to work with us. The Oliver
twins stopped by our stand and showed
us Super Robin Hood, which we agreed
to publish. We went on to publish Ghost
Hunters and we asked them to create
Grand Prix Simulator for us. A few
weeks later, they said they had been
working on an egg-shaped character
and I wasn't very enthusiastic. I
couldn't see what was interesting
about it, but we didn't want to stifle
their creativity so we said we'd go
with it. Dizzy was a much bigger
success than we were expecting.

Every time we published another one,
it seemed to build the audience.

And what about Micro Machines ?

Micro Machines on NES is still my favourite
game. It's good fun and you can get a
group of people together and laugh your
head off with them for hours. It worked
great when it was first released in 1991 and
Micro Machines V3 was brilliant on the
PlayStation too.

Not all of your innovations were readily
accepted by the industry though.

When you launched the Game
Genie, Nintendo objected and
Codemasters ended up in a legal
battle. Was it a difficult period?

Well, it wasn't a David and Goliath
battle - we weren't trying to pick
a fight with the biggest games
company in the world. We were
having a brainstorming session,
thinking of the best Nintendo things
we could do, wanting to explore
the electronics side. We didn't

have a licence to create Nintendo games
so we found a way of bypassing Nintendo's
lock-out chip and released games that way.
We had an idea of placing a switch on the
cartridge to add extra lives, weapons and
things like that. Then we made the mental
leap of saying that if we could do this with
our own games, then maybe we could build
an interface for other people's games too. It
was a game that morphed into an industry.

IT WAS LIKE A COMMUNITY
OF DEVELOPERS - NOT A
HIPPY COMMUNITY BUT
PEOPLE PASSIONATE
ABOUT GAMES

i nc*2o

GAMES

r::-:- £1.14

And Nintendo hated it.

t did. But we'd tested the Game Genie
l schools, patented it and put two years
of our lives into it. We went to Taiwan to
organise chip and cartridge manufacturing.
So when Nintendo said it didn't like it, we
had to carry on.

Could Codemasters have gone bust if
Nintendo had won and stopped you selling
the Game Genie?

I expect so, yes. It would have been a

massive setback and a
missed opportunity.
But the judge said it
was legal and that
Nintendo couldn't
stop it from being
sold. I don't think
we ever thought
we'd lose, though.

Was Codemasters
expanding quickly
during the Nineties?

We'd got off to a
flying start with
Codemasters and
our games were
going to number
one in the charts
straightaway. I
think in the first year we had 27 per cent
of the market share according to the
Gallup charts. Our biggest challenge in
the industry was more about transitioning
between platforms; movfng from the VIC-
20 to the Commodore 16 and Commodore
64, the Dragon 32, the Spectrum, the Atari
ST and the Amiga. Then later we had the
consoles - 3D with the PlayStation and
Dreamcast in particular. There was always
a danger that if you supported the wrong
format like the Atari Jaguar, that you would
risk a lot of development resources.

■ As was popular in the early Eighties, the
Darlings sold their games via mail order,
placing an ad - lor Galactic Software

- in Popular Computing Weekly.

How did you avoid that?

With a lot of attention to detail. We were so
close to the industry and so involved. We
weren't only creating games but playing
them so we had an intuition and a feeling
of the best technology. We'd work out what
would be too expensive, what would work
and what wouldn't. We had a strong feeling
the PlayStation would work in the mid-1990s.
It was a brilliant console and we had some
great successes like Colin McRae Rally,
which did well on the PS2 as well.

The 2000s were good for you personally
- you won the UK National Entrepreneur
of the Year Award in 2000 and you were
awarded a CBE in 2008...

It was good. It's always good to have
achievements.

But why call time on the Codies in 2007?

It was the right time, really. We'd grown the
company from the beginning of the industry
and it had become the largest developer
in Europe and one of only two big ones in
the UK - us and Eidos. We'd involved lots of
other people in the business and it was time
to move on.

What did you do?

I renovated my house, reflected on the
changes in the [gaming] industry and
explored getting into the design of robots,
but then I became excfted by the iPhone
and saw the potential in people's pockets,
[and] the way you could download games
and play them without discs, CDs or tapes.

I wanted to make games on the iPhone so I
set up Kwalee.

And how is Kwalee doing?

We have 20 people working at Kwalee
and we're investing in the company and
growing it. We're looking for more artists
and programmers and we want to make
games with bigger teams. The possibility
for growth is bigger now than it was in the
Eighties when it was basically a British
market. It's global now and a hit can go
massive. Gaming is as exciting now as it
was when making Spectrum games, and I
think it's in my blood because I got
involved at such an early age.

137

GAME CHANGERS

MM3GGGO

GOLDENEYE 007

Released: 1997 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Rare System: Nintendo 64

L J

More than just a movie tie-in, Rare's seminal first-person shooter rewrote the
genre playbook and provided Nintendo's console with a multiplayer classic

■ ARRIVING DURING THE golden age of first-
■ ■ ■ P erson shooters, Rare's GoldenEye 007 stood
■ ■ ■ ■ out from the overcrowded PC scene, landing
on Nintendo's doorstep in 1997 on a wave of critical
hype and acclaim. Until this point, many dismissed
console platforms as unsuited to first-person shooters,
instead sitting behind their PCs engrossed in Doom,
Quake and Wolfenstein. GoldenEye arrived with
an appropriate bang, highlighting consoles as a
viable FPS platform for the first time and contributing
significantly to the Nintendo 64's appeal.

With Martin Hollis in the director's chair, the game
was moulded by the same prolific collective that
would be responsible for Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie
and Conker's Bad Fur Day further down the line. Rare
was hitting heights that many developers would only
dream of, and generated some of the best output
of the Nineties. Members of the same team would
later form Free Radical, responsible for the equally
excellent TimeSplitters series.

From the more sedate beginnings of the Dam level
right through to the dramatic conclusion atop a large
satellite array, GoldenEye took you on a monumental
journey, fighting your way through Soviet control

centres, the streets of St Petersburg, the jungles of
Cuba and what looks strangely like a reclamation
site. The world that Rare built was a potent
influence on first-person shooters that followed, and
represented the first mainstream FPS with a truly
international feel.

■■■ THE FILM, RELEASED two years earlier,
obviously influenced the game's design. Hollis and
his team - thanks to the 64-bit power of Nintendo's
machine - managed to achieve high levels of fidelity
compared to the bog-standard output of the big movie
licensing boom of the Eighties. Never before had
there been a licensed game based on a movie that
looked so much like its counterpart, and there haven't
been many since then that have been as successful
creatively or mechanically. Rare had access to set
plans while developing, and due to this you can enjoy
direct parallels with the film. It is still a joy to this day
to jump from the dam at the end of the first level, for
example - If you know the film, you'll be aware that
it begins with Bond running and then performing the
iconic bungie jump. In the game, however, there is
an entire Russian compound that must be infiltrated

138

GAME CHANGERS: GOLDENEYE 007

FOR ENGLAND, JAMES

GOLDENEYE OFFERED A DEEPER EXPERIENCE THAN MANY
OF ITS PC COMPETITORS WITH THESE ELEMENTS

IMAGINATION

★ Martin Hollis and his team used the
movie as a strong basis for the action in
the game, but were unafraid to extend
and adapt certain sections to enhance the
experience. From being able to drop down
into the bathroom in Facility to fighting
Jaws in an Aztec temple, GoldenEye offers
a refreshing take on movie adaptations.

y -

LEVEL DESIGN

★ Ask anyone who played GoldenEye
back in 1997 where the hidden body
armour is in Cradle or where the RC-P90
is in Train, and they'll be able to tell you
in a heartbeat. Rare's levels are diverse
and memorable, borrowing directly
from the film and expanding neatly on
locations that the film brushed over.

WEAPONRY

★ Even now in the midst of the largest
FPS movement in history thanks to Call Of
Duty and Battlefield, GoldenEye s array of
weapons still stands out. This is no more
apparent than when the All Guns 1 cheat
is enabled, which not only provides you
with every variety of firearm available
naturally, but extras like a nifty taser.

before then. It almost gives the sense that the film
begins in medias res - that by playing the game
you're actually seeing the whole picture.

This is true with later levels too, thrusting Bond
(impressively rendered to resemble Pierce Brosnan)
into scenarios that were either only touched upon
in the movie or entirely built for purpose. There are
encounters in the Severnaya computer complex that
Bond never visits in the movie, instead watching
the facility be destroyed by an EMP blast from the
GoldenEye satellite. And after protecting Natalya
in Trevelyan's control centre towards the end of
the game, you pursue the former 006 through
some labyrinthine water caverns before eventually
encountering him on top of the satellite array, in
contrast to the film's simple jaunt in an elevator.

This willingness to adapt culminates in two secret
levels that can be accessed after you've completed
the game on Secret Agent and 00 Agent difficulties
respectively. These levels - Aztec and Temple -
showed a wider knowledge of James Bond, pitting
Bond against two old nemeses in the form of Jaws
and Baron Samedi. The Golden Gun makes an

NEVER BEFORE
HAD THERE BEEN
A LICENSED GAME
THAT LOOKED SO
MUCH LIKE ITS
COUNTERPART

GoldenEye was
intitially intended
to be an on-rails
shooter in the same
vein as Virtua Cop
and Time Crisis, but
thankfully this was
reconsidered.

Several levels
were designed
with the film sets
in mind. The best
examples of these
can be found at
the end of the Dam
level, the bathroom
and bottling room
in Facility, the
interrogation and
library areas of
Archives, and the
Cradle level where
you fight Trevelyan.

It is actually
possible to control
the game using
two controllers at
once, allowing for
first-person control
similar to that
which you would
find nowadays.

appearance. The temple is based on The Spy Who
Loved Me. Aztec is actually Hugo Drax's jungle base
from Moonraker. It shows a true love for Bond that
few games have ever managed, allowing the more
fantastical and tongue-in-cheek elements of the
franchise to creep in from time to time.

■■■ BY ADDING NON-linear objectives, Rare
further broke the first-person shooter mould, tasking
you with approaching levels in a more considered
manner on higher difficulties. On Agent difficulty
these objectives are fairly basic, but on Secret
Agent and 00 Agent it became quite testing. What's
interesting is the lack of hand holding - certain
objectives are either hidden away or more technical
in nature, requiring a higher level of care than
GoldenEye s FPS forbears.

It all purveys production values that weren't
really found in first-person shooters at this time,
and that's where you can easily connect the dots
between GoldenEye and modern shooters like Call
Of Duty and Battlefield. Protecting Natalya in the
control room, pursuing Trevelyan in the Cradle
level, rescuing hostages on board the frigate - these
elements were unexpected from a licensed game in
1997, and are common tropes of the genre today.

But GoldenEye s legacy isn't just found in
contemporary first-person shooters; it represents
an industry shift. Would we have such a huge FPS
player base today if it wasn't for Rare's masterpiece?
Probably, yes, but it's likely that it would have taken
longer to catch on. It also represents the pinnacle of
movie licensing. GoldenEye is still prevalent in the
hearts and minds of many players today, and for that
it is worthy of respect, reassessment and, of course, a
playthrough if you get the chance.

139

m roooo

GAME CHANGERS

GET AHEAD
IN MULTIPLAYER

WE MAY BE AROUND 17 YEARS TOO
LATE TO THE PARTY BUT REGARDLESS,
GAMES™ IS ON HAND TO GUIDE YOU
TO CERTAIN VICTORY IN GOLDENEYE
MULTIPLAYER MODE

CHARACTER SELECT

■ THE FIRST STEP on the path to multiplayer success is carefully
picking your character. It is worth noting that in some circles,
selecting Oddjob is considered to be foul play, Auric Goldfinger's
deadly yet diminutive henchman standing considerably shorter
than other selectable characters. It's highly recommended that you
avoid Jaws - as the tallest, and wearing a highly visible white shirt,
he is easy to spot and hit. Try and pick a character that's a little
more nondescript, such as Trevelyan, who stands at an average
height and whose black clothing blends in nicely with the darker
backdrops of some of the maps such as Temple and Caves.

LEARN YOUR MAPS

■ MUCH LIKE ANY modern first-person shooter, learning
GoldenEye s map layouts is essential if you want to embarrass
your friends at multiplayer. As well as getting to grips with the basic
layouts, it's also worth noting where secret passages and hidey-
holes are. Several of these secret pathways are key to success,
such as the vents that can be walked through in Complex and
the sliding walls that appear in Temple, Library, Basement and
Archives. These are all useful for the stealthier player, but if you
fancy being offensive-minded and fighting from a cover-based
position, then get yourself up on the raised platforms in Complex.

140

GAME CHANGERS: GOLDENEYE 007

ARMOUR UP

■ IT'S WORTH NOTING that body armour can be found on each
of the maps, and finding it and occupying areas near it are
surefire ways to get ahead. Refer to step two - body armour is
usually located in hidden areas, and so try to be experimental
as you traverse the maps. Body armour essentially doubles your
health, and in a one-on-one firefight it can be the decider.

THE GOLDENEYE STRAFE

■ NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE power of the strafe. As far as
techniques go this is imperative by holding the C-Left and C-Right
buttons you can strafe with ease, making it much harder for your
opponents to hit you. Try and be unpredictable; walking in a
straight line is a very modern concept - get crazy with strafing and
watch the bullets whizz harmlessly past you.

BE DISHONEST

■ WHEN ALL ELSE fails, just cheat. You're playing with friends
after all - it's quite likely that they'll forgive you. To do this
effectively, select Oddjob quickly and start the game before your
opponents know what's happening. Alternatively, beat the game
to unlock extra characters in advance, allowing you to select the
Moonraker Elite - she is as short as Oddjob, and with a non-
specific name, is easier to get away with.

The key technique for robbing a win with any character, though,
can be easily achieved once in the game. Hold down R to aim
and then rock back with C-Down to crouch. From this position, it
is near impossible for other players to hit you without using the
cumbersome aim button or crouching themselves. Get down low,
find the best weapon you can and then unleash Hell.

Caught out doing both of the above? Don't worry; your greatest
weapon is sight. Why waste your time looking at your own portion
of the screen? Instead, you should be looking at every screen
other than your own. No radar? No problem. If you've learned the
maps well enough, a quick glance at an opponent's screen will
enable you to ascertain their position and move in for the kill.

■ Above: Shorter characters always had the upper hands in a game of GoldenEye. With
vertical aiming a concept that was relatively uncommon at the time, characters like Oddjob or
Moonraker Elite were a fast track to success. Below: By much the same standard, crouching with
a standard character was also a great way of frustrating your opponent.

i;i

THE RE* RQ GUIDE TO

Resident Evil is arguably one of Capcom's biggest franchises,
establishing survival horror as a legitimate genre by
combining thrilling scares with tense action

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... RESIDENT EVIL

WHILE CAPCOM'S
SUPERB game didn't
really create the survival
horror genre, despite arguments
made by those who love the
series, it's arguably responsible
for creating many of the tropes
that gamers associate with it. The
franchise itself has gone through
some interesting twists and turns

since it was first created in 1996
and has gone on to become one
of Capcom's most successful
franchises, selling over 60 million
units. With the recent release of
Resident Evil HD and the incoming
episodic release of Revelations 2
we felt it was the perfect time to
revisit the popular series. Prepare
to enter survival horror. . .

RESIDENT EVIL 96

VARIOUS

Capcom's Resident Evil not only introduced some of the franchise's
most memorable characters - Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert
Wesker - but also cemented many of the mechanics that would become
integral to the series for years to come. Tank-like controls, hilariously silly
dialogue, careful item management, limited resources, A-to-B puzzles
and tense pacing all combined to deliver a satisfyingly mature game
that really helped Sony's console stand apart from the crowd.

The pre-rendered visuals created a creepily atmospheric vibe that
made exploring the Spencer mansion a terrifying experience. It's an
expertly crafted game from Shinji Mikami, who had previously cut his
teeth on various child friendly fare including Aladdin and Goof Troop.
Resident Evil (or Biohazard as it was known in Japan) arguably saw the
up-and-coming director grow up and the genre grew up right beside him.

RESIDENT EVIL:
DIRECTOR'S CUT

1997

PLAYSTATION

There are actually two versions
of Director's Cut - one that
supports DualShock and one
that doesn't. The game itself is
a solid update of the original
featuring a new Beginner's mode,
as well as an Arranged version,
which featured a new location
for key items, new clothes for
each character and a much more
powerful gun.

RESIDENT EVIL 2

VARIOUS

It's telling that the two best Resident Evil games both feature
Leon S Kennedy. Set two months after the events of the first game,
Capcom's sequel further establishes the convoluted plot that the
series would become famous for, but greatly ramps up virtually
every aspect of the game. The locations are larger, with the vast
majority of the game taking place in Raccoon City's police station,
while the visuals are greatly improved, matched by a simply
stunning soundtrack.

Resident Evil 2 focuses on two characters, Leon S Kennedy and
Claire Redfield and is spread across two discs. Interestingly, while
both scenarios are often set in the same locations, their puzzles
and storylines change dramatically, greatly adding to the filmic
atmosphere that director Hideki Kamiya wanted to create. Resident
Evil 2 also introduced support characters, including the infamous
Ada Wong, who appear at certain points of the adventure and
are occasionally playable. It's also memorable for being the first
game in the series to give you visual clues to your character's
current health status: handy, as it's not an easy game. Interestingly,
Capcom's sequel started off as a completely different game, which
was scrapped a good way into its development when producer
Shinji Mikami decided it was too boring.

RESIDENT EVIL 3:
NEMESIS

VARIOUS

Some consider Nemesis to be
something of a back step for the
series, but it introduced many
key mechanics, most notably the
incredibly useful 180-degree turn
and a handy dodge attack. Both
new moves are particularly useful
as you'll need as much agility
as you can muster in order to
deflect the continual assaults of
the Nemesis of the title, a huge
bio-mechanically created creature
that comes equipped with a rocket
launcher, absorbs bullets like a
cheap sponge and continually
chases Jill Valentine (the only
selectable character) during key
points of the game.

Yes it's more linear than the
previous games, but the assaults
of Nemesis, the ability to craft
ammunition and being able to
use oil drums to create explosive
damage to nearby enemies makes
the game far more action-packed
as a result. Oh, and it introduces
the mini-game 'The Mercenaries -
Operation: Mad Jackal'.

143

m oiqo

RESIDENT EVIL SURVIVOR 2000

PLAYSTATION

Survivor was Capcom's first spin-off from the main games and it's
not a good one. Unlike previous titles it's essentially a lightgun game,
but one where you have free movement. Things get slightly easier when
using a lightgun, but it remains a fiddly experience due to the clunky
controls. It's a pity the gameplay is so laborious, as Survivor actually
makes a good attempt at transferring the Resi universe into a first-person
world. Interestingly, the US version of the game lacks lightgun support,
meaning you'll have to rely on the piggish joypad controls.

because it was the first Resi game to not originally appear on a Sony
console. It's the first game in the series to use 3D backgrounds and a
movable camera and occasionally switches to first-person when using
certain weapons. While mechanically it's very much business as usual,
the ability to pick up and use herbs when your inventory is full does
make a huge difference, particularly as Code: Veronica is quite a tough
Resident Evil game. Like Resident Evil 2 it takes place across numerous
locations and features extras once the game is completed. In this case
it's the rather enjoyable Battle Game, which feels like an early precursor
to the excellent Mercenaries mode of Resident Evil 4.

RESIDENT EVIL:
CODE: VERONICA
X

VARIOUS

Despite the controversy of Code:
Veronica's Dreamcast release, it
wasn't long before the PS2 got its
own version. It's largely the same
game, with slightly improved
visuals and additional cutscenes
that focus on the increasing
popularity of Albert Wesker. It also
features an additional DVD called
Wesker's Report 1 , which delves
deeper into the shady character. It
received a HD re-release in 20 1 1 .

RESIDENT EVIL
GAIDEN

GAME BOY COLOR

Gaiden was predominantly
created by British developer M2,
making it the first title in the series
to be created outside Japan. It's also
nowhere near as bad as reports
suggest, thanks to a huge tanker
to explore, Barry Burton getting
some much needed limelight as
one of the main characters, and a
slick combat system that switches
to first-person whenever the player
engages zombies. Yes it was never
going to capture the atmosphere of
the PlayStation original, but Gaiden
remains a resoundingly solid
adventure game.

v V *

V »

RESIDENT EVIL SURVIVOR 2 CODE:
VERONICA

VARIOUS

The second Survivor game is a notable improvement, but still lacks
the sheer visceral thrills of Sega's House Of The Dead series. Based
on Code: Veronica, players control Claire Redfield or Steve Burnside
and can use both lightguns and joypads. In addition to featuring two
unique modes: Dungeon and Arcade, Survivor 2 also introduces partner
assistance, in the form of a computer-controlled player that will lay down
cover fire for you. There's also a timer that introduces the Nemesis from
Resident Evil 3 if players dawdle for too long.

RESIDENT EVIL REMAKE 2002

GAMECUBE

' » yjf

■ When Capcom revealed that its next brace of Resident Evil games, including Resident Evil

4, would be exclusive to the GameCube there was uproar. Capcom saved face, however,
with this astonishing update of the original game that remains one of the best remakes of
recent times. In addition to astonishing visuals, Resident Evil on GameCube is retrofitted
with many of the later Resi mechanics, including the 180-degree turn and the ability to judge
a character's health based on its onscreen actions.

It includes several new areas that were cut from the original game, equips Jill and Chris
with handy defensive weapons and introduces the dreaded Crimson Head Zombies -

^ Jiff Jr v

extremely fast and dangerous foes that replace those zombies that weren't fully destroyed
by the player on their first encounter. It was re-released on Wii in 2009, but adds very little

1 1 /C'm ,1

* » •]

1 * 5 ’

over the original GameCube release.

\ £

144

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... RESIDENT EVIL

RESIDENT EVIL
OUTBREAK FILE 2

2004

PLAYSTATION 2

Outbreak ' s sequel is awesome
because it features zombie
elephants. Okay, so it's not
incredible, but it's a far better
structured game than Outbreak
thanks to better balance, more
interesting scenarios and
numerous little tweaks to the
gameplay. The original eight
characters return and this time
PAL users got to experience full
online play. Despite both games
having their servers pulled by
Capcom, fans have kept the
Japanese versions going on
private servers.

PLAYSTATION 2

RESIDENT EVIL: DEAD AIM 2003

RESIDENT EVIL ZERO 2002

Many don't like Zero, possibly because it has a far more
insectoid theme than previous games, with zombies taking
a noticeable backseat to giant scorpions, giant centipedes
and other creepy crawlies. By far the best feature of Zero is its
excellent Partner Zapping mechanic that lets the player switch
between both characters at will. Rebecca Chambers is versatile but
weak, while prisoner Billy Coen is built like a tank and can use a
lighter and push heavy objects. Both characters' abilities must be
combined together to complete the many puzzles thrown at you,
making it a unique addition to the series. Originally planned for the
N64's ill-fated 64DD, it was switched to the N64, before eventually
resurfacing on the Cube. A lazy Wii port showed up in 2008.

RESIDENT EVIL
OUTBREAK

PLAYSTATION 2

Plans for Outbreak had circled
around the Capcom offices for a
good five years before the game
became a reality. It's an interesting
addition to the series, featuring
online play, a large number of
characters (eight, in fact) and five
unique scenarios to fight through.
Sadly, the ability to play with three
other players was completely
stripped from the PAL version of the
game, making for a horrendously
frustrating experience, as you
often find yourself ill-equipped
to deal with the large number of
zombies the game throws at you.
Mechanically it's exactly what you'd
expect from a Resident Evil game,
but the pacing, carefully placed
scares and strong boss encounters
are nowhere to be seen.

The last game in the Survivor series is easily the best, but it still falls
massively short of the quality found in the main series. It's the first game
in the series to combine both first-person and third-person views, but
is still hampered by the same grid-based control system that made
the earlier games such a pain to control. It certainly looks pretty, with
impressive visuals and the ability to move and shoot makes it stand
apart from many of the other games in the series, but it's still a bland
mishmash of genres.

"WHEN CAPCOM REVEALED THAT

ITS NEXT BRACE OF RESIDENT EVIL

GAMES WOULD BE EXCLUSIVE TO THE

GAMECUBE. THERE WAS UPROAR"

RESIDENT EVIL 4 2005

VARIOUS

■ Shinji Mikami's sequel is
quite possibly one of the most
important games of the last ten
years. In addition to breathing
fresh life into the series, it
reinvented action games
and the third-person shooter,
influencing the likes of Gears Of
War and Dead Space.

Mikami essentially
redesigned Resident Evil 4
several times before he settled
on the cocktail of action and
horror that appears in the final
game. Moving the camera
closer to Leon pulls you into
the on-screen action, while the
ability to specifically shot out
body parts makes managing
the large crowd of enemies you
face far tenser. Context-sensitive
buttons allow Leon to pull off an
impressive number of moves,
from roundhousing enemies
to kicking down ladders and
stabbing the necks of giants,

while the new inventory
system kept the tedious item
management of earlier games
to a bare minimum.

Resident Evil 4's set pieces
are still some of the best
around, while its dynamic
pacing, sheer variety and tense
shepherding of Ashley (who
Leon has been sent to rescue)
make it stand apart from its
many peers. It's arguably
more action than horror, but it
was just what the series and
the genre needed. And it still
managed to pull off a series of
incredibly gruesome scenes,
proving that while Mikami
was content to take the series
in an exciting new direction,
he hadn't forgotten what had
made it so popular in the first
place. While HD versions of the
game do exist, we'd argue that
the enhanced Wii port is the
definitive version to own.

RESIDENT EVIL: DEADLY SILENCE 2006

NINTENDO DS

Capcom celebrated Resident Evil's 10th anniversary by remaking the
game tor Nintendo's dual-screened portable. In addition to including the
original game it also features Rebirth mode, which introduces plenty of
clever touch-based additions that greatly adds to the overall gameplay.
Zombie slashing, CPR (by blowing into the mic) and shaking off enemies
all adds to the atmosphere, while the smaller screen also enhances the
creepy vibes of the classic game. Rebirth also includes a couple of mini-
games for up to four players that adds further meat to what is essentially
yet another remake of the PlayStation original.

RESIDENT EVIL:
THE UMBRELLA
CHRONICLES

WII

This was the logical evolution of the Gun
Survivor series and it works incredibly
well. The Umbrella Chronicles is a rather
enjoyable on-rails shooter that focuses on
the events found in the first three games
and Resident Evil Zero. It's possible to look
around the playing area with the Nunchuk,
but you're effectively mowing down classic
enemies as they continually assault you.
There are a large number of levels to
unlock and plenty of alternate routes,
ensuring that The Umbrella Chronicles
has plenty of replay value. A HD version
for the PlayStation 3 was released in 2012.

RESIDENT EVIL 5 201

VARIOUS

The first Resident Evil game for the then next-gen consoles was a
long time coming and quite controversial, due to all the racism claims
that surrounded it upon release. What's interesting about Resident Evil
5 is that it's essentially two different games depending on how you play
through it. Play on your own and Capcom's game becomes amazingly
frustrating because newcomer Sheva is utterly useless as a supporting
character. She constantly stumbles into trouble, easily gets herself
surrounded by enemies and rarely gives you help when it's needed.

Play with a second player, however, and the game transforms
dramatically. It lacks the well-structured pace of 4 of course, and the less
said about the lousy cover system the better, but it otherwise becomes a
lot of fun. There's something immensely satisfying about exploring the
African setting with a friend, while the online version of Mercenaries is
arguably the best version of the mini-game yet. There's a definite move
towards all-out action compared to 4 - it's as action-packed as Chris's
biceps are huge - and the final boss is a disappointment, but it's a solid
addition to the series.

RESIDENT EVIL: THE DARKSIDE
CHRONICLES

WII

Capcom's second Wii shooter is business as usual, although it offers
an improved story and enhanced visuals. It chooses to focus on Resident
Evil 2 and Code: Veronica, but it's more character-orientated than Tire
Umbrella Chronicles. A HD version was released on PS3 in 2012.

146

THE RETRO GUIDE TO... RESIDENT EVIL

RESIDENT EVIL 5: GOLD EDITION 2010

VARIOUS

Capcom released several pieces of DLC
for Resident Evil 5, including Versus, an
online multiplayer mode, various costumes
for Mercenaries and two standalone story-
based adventures, Lost In Nightmares and
Desperate Escape. Gold Edition combined
all this together, while also including
Mercenaries Reunion and PlayStation Move
support for the PS3 version.

RESIDENT EVIL: THE MERCENARIES 3D

2011

NINTENDO 3DS

Don't buy a second-hand version as it's impossible to wipe saves.
While the 3D isn't the best, Mercenaries proves to be a solid score attack
game, even if it brings little new to previous Mercenaries games. Despite
this it's a fun score attack game with plenty of memorable locations, a
host of recognisable characters (although Leon S Kennedy is nowhere to
be seen) and a small selection of brutally tough bosses. The maps are
well designed while the graphics really show off the power of Nintendo's
handheld system.

RESIDENT EVIL: REVELATIONS 2011

NINTENDO 3DS

Revelations was one of the first 3DS games to utilise the Circle Pad Pro
add-on. While it makes a good attempt at recapturing the early horror of
the PlayStation games, it feels quite budget in places, particularly when
the player is continually facing the same few enemy skins.

Like the later Resident Evil 6, Revelations' main campaign is split
between several groups of characters and takes in various locations,
from a deserted ship in the Mediterranean to an airstrip in the
mountains. It allows the player to move and shoot, but also introduces
Metroid Prime-style scanning and the ability to switch between three
weapons. The dodge move of earlier games returns, while StreetPass
support is also included. Revelations also introduces "Raid Mode", an
excellent new game mode that sees you battling through arranged
versions of earlier scenarios.

A HD version was released in 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC.
While it added various bits of new content, it also highlighted the budget-
like roots of the 3DS original.

AN INTERVIEW
WITH YOSHIAKI
HIRABAYASHI

Capcom's producer looks back at the
Resident Evil series

How many Resident Evil
games have you been
involved in now?

I think that the games remain
popular because they are
enjoyable - not just as survival

I've worked on five titles -
Resident Evil 4-6, Resident

Evil Zero, and the GameCube
version of Resident Evil.

horror games, but also through
the story, characters and
other aspects.

What do you feel Resident

What is it that drew you to
the series?

Evil HD will bring to the
series now?

I studied computer graphics
at college, and was invited by
Capcom to try interviewing
for a job there, so it was really
something that I got into
initially due to the situation at
Capcom when I joined. That

I think it's a great chance
for players to experience the
original Resident Evil title,
which is acclaimed by many
as a masterpiece, in amazing
HD quality.

was the team I entered and

I've been involved with the

series ever since.

Which of the Resident Evil
series is your favourite
game and why?

The GameCube version

What do you find most
satisfying about creating
Resident Evil games?

of Resident Evil - not just
because it was my first project,
but also because I think it was

Creating the games is such
a long process. With that in
mind, seeing players enjoy

a very well-rounded game and
a great survival horror title.

the games after they come
out is the most satisfying and

Who is your favourite
Resident Evil character?

rewarding part of the job, and
that goes for any game, not
just Resident Evil.

It's difficult to choose just
one, but I would say Ada. Her
mysterious presence in the
stories adds a certain extra

Why do you think Resident

Evil remains so popular?

something to the Resident

Evil series.

147

mcoorjo

RESI ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Capcom s Resident Evil series is easily
the most successful videogame licence
to appear on the big screen. While the
quality of the films ranges from okay
to "god, my eyes, my eyes" they're all
performed well at the box office. Paul W
S Anderson has been involved in all five
live-action films and is currently working
on Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Anderson's wife, Milla Jovovich is the
star of all six films and plays Alice, a
character created specifically for the

films. Despite their critical disdain, the
series has generated over $915 million.
Capcom has also released three anime-
based movies. The short film Biohazard
4D-Executer was released in 2000,
Resident Evil: Degeneration focused on
Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield and
was released in 2008, while Resident
Evil Damnation was released in 20 1 2
and follows Leon and Ada Wong. The
animated films are set in the same
universe as the actual games.

RESIDENT EVIL: OPERATION
RACCOON CITY

VARIOUS

Conceptually, Operation Raccoon City is a great idea, expanding on
the online mechanics first hinted at in Outbreak. Unfortunately, the game
itself is something of a mess due to atrociously bad AI, glitch visuals and
boring set pieces. Despite its overall shoddiness, gamers loved the idea
of a SOCOM-styled squad-based shooter and it went on to sell over
2 million units.

VOU MACTYDI

RESIDENT EVIL

2012

VARIOUS

Spread across four large scenarios and featuring an extremely lengthy campaign
mode, Resident Evil 6 is a bizarre, bloated triple-A game that tries far too hard. There
are plenty of great action sequences to be found and the combat is arguably the best
in the series, but there's way too much filler, which massively cuts down its enjoyment.
Like Resident Evil 5, it works far better with a second player, as the computer AI is prone
to hinder you as much as it helps. Each scenario is based around a specific character:
Leon S Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Jake Muller and Ada Wong and varies greatly in its
style and pacing, with Leon's being the most accurate to previous games. While the
main game divided critics, it still managed to sell over 5 million copies, meaning
it's only a matter of time before Resident Evil 7 is officially announced.

MOBILE RESIDENT EVIL

ill Capcom's franchise has
appeared on various mobiles
with varying degrees of success.
First up was Resident Evil: The
Missions, which was released
in 2003. Confidential Report
followed in 2005 and was a
turn-based strategy game - a
first for the series. Genesis was
a puzzle game that appeared
in 2008 and received a sequel,
Uprising, a couple of years later.

There have been social games
in the form of 201 l's Outbreak
Survive, and shooters in the
form of Assault The Nightmare
and Zombie Buster. The most
successful offerings have been
on iOS however, and include
cut-down versions of Resident
Evil 4 and Mercenaries. There's
also Degeneration and Afterlife,
which are based on their
respective movies.

"THERE ARE PLENTY OF GREAT

:THE Ejy^TRO GUIDE TO. RESIDENT EVIL i

RESIDENT EVIL HD

While it's essentially a HD update of the GameCube game, a
number of new features make it worthy of inclusion here. The new
widescreen mode does a great job of showing off the original's
spectacular graphics, while the free movement, makes the game far
more enjoyable to play (and quite a bit easier as a result).

VARIOUS

ACTION SEQUENCES TO BE FOUND

AND THE COMBAT IS ARGUABLY

THE BEST IN THE SERIES"

♦

<o>

*015820

JL0C6710

> Jill

022

=7CtMB*(>

02 ' 53 ' 78 .

fTiiiin

1C Chris

RESIDENT EVIL: REVELATIONS 2 2015

VARIOUS

While Revelations 2 is still under wraps we do know a few things
about it. Barry Burton returns as a playable character, it will support
co-operative gameplay and will be in episodic form, spread across
four parts and introduces Barry's daughter, Moira. Here's hoping it
can capture the atmosphere of the earlier games and not repeat the
overblown pyrotechnics of Resident Evil 6.

149

HHVI

The Madden
series

STEVE PAPOUTSIS, GENERAL MANAGER.
VISCERAL GAMES

One of the games I used
to get really excited
about when I was younger was
Madden. Before I worked at
EA, I used to drive up here to
the EA campus (I’ve lived in the
Bay area my whole life) and
call the shipping room and talk
to this guy, a day or two before
the general release of a Madden
game, and he’d come and meet
me at the reception and let me
buy the game. It’s quite different
then than it is today, but that’s
how much I love Madden,
y’knowl It was so influential to
me that I would drive, like, 25
miles from my house, go to this
cool videogames studio and pick
up a game. It was that moment
I thought, like, 'Wow, maybe I
can make videogames
at some point...’

— It was so influential to me that I —

■ would drive 25 miles from my house, -
. go to this cool videogames studio, and .
_ pick up the game

I STEVE PAPOUTSIS, GENERAL MANAGER, VISCERAL GAMES

BEHIND THE SCENES

This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most
enduring films from the Eighties, but with the title on the
cover pgge regding games™ rgther than films™, we look
back gt the ggme that gccompgnied it

BEHIND THE SCENES GHOSTBUSTERS

+ +

1984

Forma C omm odor e 64
Publishe r Activision

In-house

Key Staff:
D e-S i gn^. D gyid_C_rg n e
Additional Programming -

Adam Beilin
Graphics Design - Hilary Mills

SoundJ^esigiL^

Russell Lieblich

+ +

crippling production deadlines.

I WHEN IT COMES to iconic family films, few
decades have delivered more entertainment
13 value than the Eighties. Everything from the
perilous escapades of Indiana Jones in Raiders Of
The Lost Ark and the DeLorean delights of Back to
the Future to Spielberg's timeless E.T. The Extra-
Terrestrial and that dance from The Goonies. All of
these films received videogame adaptations - one of
them to the detriment of the whole industry - but even
though most of these games amounted to little more
than interesting curios at best and landfill fodder at
worst, there was still the odd glimmer of light in a sea
of mediocrity.

Released on 7 June 1984, the original Ghostbusters
film is as much a part of Eighties culture as The
A-Team, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The
Smiths. Its refreshing mix of comedy and supernatural
shenanigans set it apart from the other summer
blockbusters that debuted around the same time
and it soon spawned everything from comic books
to theme park attractions. But before Bill Murray's
quips and Ray Parker Jr's theme made it
on to the silver screen, a deal was struck
between Columbia Pictures and Activision to
make a Ghostbusters game that would launch
alongside the film.

The man who would make this Ghostbusters
game a reality was none other than David
Crane, the creator of Pitfall! and one of the
co-founders of Activision alongside Alan Miller,

Bob Whitehead, Larry Kaplan and Jim Levy. Crane
worked at Atari for two years from 1977 to 1979 and
was first credited on Outlaw for the Atari 2600, but far
from entering the industry as a programming novice,
he already had experience in games development.
" Outlaw was the first videogame I published, " Crane
reflects. "But I had designed games for years before
that - including an unbeatable Tic-Tac-Toe game
computer. I was also a pinball wizard and mastered
all the early arcade games."

Despite a love for pinball tables and arcade sticks,
Crane's primary hobby was tennis. "When I graduated

and took a job at National Semiconductor in one of
their Silicon Valley chip design divisions, I moved into
an apartment complex in Sunnyvale, California that
had tennis courts," Crane continues. "One of the other
tennis players at that complex was Alan Miller, who
was working at Atari. One night after an evening of
tennis, Alan showed us an ad he was working on that
was to be placed in the newspaper. He asked me and
the others to critique the language."

What began as a post-tennis proofread quickly
became an opportunity to break into the games
industry. "Atari was hiring game designers for the
2600 and the job looked interesting," Crane recalls.
"That night I typed up a resume on a computer that
I had built from scratch. I interviewed at 10am the
next morning and got a job offer by 2pm. Over the
next two years the four game designers who ended
up founding Activision grew into a close working
unit. When Atari failed to appreciate that the four of
us accounted for 60 per cent of their game cartridge
sales we left to form Activision."

I INTERVIEWED AT
10AM AND GOT A JOB
OFFER BY 2PM

■■■ THE RISE AND fall of Atari is something that
has been discussed at length in these very pages -
particularly by former Retro columnist, Howard Scott
Warshaw. But when Crane and company severed
ties with Atari to become the industry's first third-
party developer, they made sure that designers and
programmers got credit for the games they created.
This led to the Activision instruction manuals having
tip sections where the creator could offer the player
advice. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, for example, featured
some helpful quotes from Crane. These included:

153

m ooc©

TOOLS OF
THE TRADE

Everything a rookie Ghostbuster needs to
trap those pesky ghouls.

COMPACT ($2000)

Considering you start the game with $10,000, this VW Beetle is
reasonably priced. But with a top speed of 75mph and only room for
five items, it may be a case of false economy.

1963 HEARSE ($4800)

What better way to deal with the undead than with this classic coffin
courier? It's slightly faster than the Compact, has room for nine
items and has the authentic look of the film's iconic vehicle.

STATION WAGON ($6000)

With a top speed of 1 lOmph and the highest loading capacity in
the game, Ghostbusters Station Wagon is arguably more practical
than the flashier High-Performance for nearly half the price.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE ($15,000)

If you want to afford this pimp-mobile you'll probably have to play
through the game more than once. It can only carry seven items but
it's no slouch at 160mph and zips through the streets of NYC.

PK ENERGY DETECTOR ($400)

This inexpensive device will keep you informed of the city's PK
Energy level. It basically lets you know how much time is left before
the Keymaster and Gatekeeper get it on in the centre of the map.

IMAGE 1NTENS1F1ER($800)

Makes the Slimers appear less distorted when they appear. Not
essential to getting through the game, but certainly a useful device
when it comes to the trade of ghost busting.

MARSHMALLOW SENSOR ($800)

This gadget gives you some warning of when a Marshmallow Man
disaster is about to happen. That's something you need to know
about as he'll crumple half the city before you can say 'tea cake'.

GHOST BAIT ($400)

This is the only item that can stop the Marshmallow Man from
destroying a city block. It has multiple uses and you get $2000 for
every successful defence. A nice little earner for the business savvy.

TRAPS ($600)

Without Traps you can't catch ghosts. Simple as that. Ideally, you
need to be equipped with at least three so you can stay on the road
for longer without having to go back to HQ and restock.

GHOST VACUUM ($500)

As you drive between buildings you can suck up a wandering ghost
with this Poltergust 3000 precursor. This slows down the build-up of
PK Energy and makes for a fun mini-game in of itself.

PORTABLE LASER CONFINEMENT
SYSTEM ($8000)

Better keep a lid on this one! As the second most expensive item
available in the game, the PLCS is clearly a luxury. It handily
empties all your traps automatically but isn't a necessity.

! "don't get discouraged if a bat gets you
■ 0 whenever you go from a ladder to a gold bar."

The 1984 Pitfall sequel was the last game that
Crane worked on before setting his sights on the
Commodore 64 and Ghostbusters. "There had
been some spectacularly failed attempts by other
companies to make a videogame with a movie
tie-in," Crane confirms with a knowing look. "But
the categories were such a good fit that Activision
had people reading scripts, hoping to find the right
combination. Tom Lopez [former Vice-President of
Editorial Development] brought the Ghostbusters
script into the lab because he thought it was going to
be popular. We all read it and agreed."

Seeing merit in the script was no guarantee that the
film would be a hit, but regardless of whether it was
a flop or not, the pressing concern was the looming
release. "A game with a movie-theme has to be on
the market while the movie is still hot, which means
while it is in theatres," Crane stresses. "That meant
making a game with a terribly short development
window, which has always been the kiss of death
in games. I saw that I could make it happen if I
re-tasked game code I had been working on for six
months or so, and I accepted the challenge."

That game was an automobile action title that
was originally envisaged without proton packs in
mind. " Ghostbusters would never have happened if
not for Car Wars," Crane reflects. "In a sense, Car
Wars gave its life to make Ghostbusters possible. It
was a game where players equipped their cars with
various weapons and then battled head-to-head on
the highways. It would’ve been one of the first action
games with an in-game economy. Car Wars gave
Ghostbusters the economy, the car customisation
and the driving scene where the player could
vacuum up ghosts. New screens included the city
map and the ghost capturing screens."

Playing Ghostbusters on the Commodore 64
today, it's impressive just how much content Crane
managed to piece together in such a short space
of time. You begin the game by taking out a loan for
your new ghost-busting business, and after stocking
up on necessary equipment and one of five vehicles
- including the Beetle-like Compact and a 1963
Hearse - you have to keep an eye on the city map
for paranormal activity. When one of the city blocks
starts flashing, you have to capture the offending
ghost by carefully manoeuvring two Ghostbusters
armed with proton packs before releasing a trap.

If you succeed, you'll earn money that can be
spent on better vehicles and improved ghost-busting
equipment, but if you activate the trap at the wrong

■ The longer it takes you to capture a ghost the
more backpack power you'll lose in the process.

154

■ The window for dashing between the Marshmallow Man's
legs is incredibly tight. Thank God for modem save states!

WHAT

THEY

SAID...

All you have
to do is stop
the 100ft
Marshmallow
Man from
getting in the
fridge.

Your 64, Issue Six
February 1985

time or make the mistake of crossing the streams,
you'll get slimed and lose a Ghostbuster for your
trouble. You also have to make periodic trips back to
Ghostbusters HQ to empty your traps, recharge your
batteries and recruit more Ghostbusters. The aim of
the game is to earn as much money as you can before
the city's PK Energy rating (which rises automatically)
reaches its peak of 9999, at which point you have to
close Gozer's portal.

One thing that's interesting to note about this
tie-in is that it didn't get caught up in the plot. It
was more about turning an interesting premise into
compelling gameplay. "We had the script, we had
some storyboards and we had camera-ready art for
logos and such," Crane shares when asked about
Columbia Pictures contribution to the Ghostbusters
game. "We didn't have a licence to the characters'
likenesses, so the actors had no stake in what we were
doing. The studio left us alone. At the time, Activision
was the gold standard in videogames, and we
were trusted to make the best game possible."

That being said, no amount of trust between
Columbia Pictures and Activision made the
limited development time (allegedly six weeks)
any less frantic. "I don't remember how many
weeks were available, but it was insane,"

Crane ponders. "In the game business, when
you have to work 16-hour days you simply do
so. It was worse because I was about to get
married and run off on a honeymoon, and the
game had to be finished the night before my
wedding. If you believe that is it bad luck to
bride before the wedding, schedule a game deadline
at that time and it won't be a problem."

I checked out, it was all on him to fix bugs, etc. He
must've done a good job."

Concrete sales figures for Commodore 64 games
are hard to come by, but considering the Atari 2600 port
of Ghostbusters sold approximately 450,000 copies,
it’s fair to say that it was successful both critically
and commercially. Even so, Crane still wonders what
might've been. "Car Wars would've been ahead of its
time with many innovative features," Crane muses.
"Making Ghostbusters was fun, but I've always felt
some regret when I think about all the things I could’ve
done with Car Wars given a reasonable schedule.
There is little doubt in my mind that Car Wars would've
been the better game."

One thing that wouldn't have made it into Car Wars
was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. This iconic
creature started showing up once the city's PK Energy
rating exceeded 5000, and the only way to stop him
from destroying a city block was with a well-timed

ACTIVISION WAS THE
GOLD STANDARD IN
VIDEOGAMES, AND
WE WERE TRUSTED TO
MAKE THE BEST GAME

the

HISTORY HAS IT that Crane made it to his own
wedding without incident, and although we have no
idea who qualified as best man, Adam Beilin deserves
credit for keeping Crane sane. "In the last few weeks
of the project, a young programmer named Adam
Beilin was brought on board to help," Crane explains.
"His role was primarily to back me up once I left. He
took a crash course on how my code worked and
stepped in to write some modules. As of the night

Ghost Bait. "The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
was cool so he had to make it into the game,"
Crane enthuses. "He took up valuable resources
but making him a boss and using him as the basis for
a little bit of new gameplay helped justify the effort."

The Michelin Man’s less traction-conscious cousin
also functioned as the game's final boss, although
the challenge was no greater than timing a run
between his legs as he hopped back and forth.
"Victory scenes have always been a problem with
limited game systems," Crane contemplates. "All
resources, including disk space, RAM, schedule and
staffing were constantly shuffled around. We were

m GGOO

BANK ROLLING

■ Curiously, the aim of the
game is less about rescuing the
city from paranormal invasion
and more about paying back the
$10,000 you have to borrow to
start up your own ghost-busting
business - hardly the journey
of heroism Venkman, Stantz,
Spengler and Zeddemore
endure during the movie. If you
make it to the finale without
being at least $10,000 in profit,
the game will end and you won't

get an opportunity to close the
portal. The trick is to capture
as many ghosts as you can
while paying close attention
to the Marshmallow Man's
whereabouts on the map, and
if you finish the game in profit,
you'll receive a code that can be
used to start again with more
money. Entering no name and
an account number of 458, for
instance, will start you off with a
whopping $1,000,000.

WHAT

THEY

SAID...

There are few
programs more
pure fun to play
than this one.

It substitutes
the excitement
of living the
movie for the
ego boost of
surmounting
a truly
demanding
challenge.

i Electronic Games

! March 1985

■ always reluctant to put too many resources into
■SS! something only seen once, opting instead to
dedicate resources to the gameplay. A similar issue
would be a big explosion when you crash your ship.
Why dedicate a lot of resources to something that you
only see when you do something bad?"

It's a question that feels out of time when applied
to modern development studios, the kind that invest
untold funds and hours into a single set-piece that
might only be experienced once per play-through, but
looking back at the era when Ghostbusters was made,
this uncompromising attitude towards gameplay first
and foremost is what made sure that Activision's first
film tie-in didn't become the next E. T. disaster. But now
that three full decades have passed since the game's
release, are there any secrets that Crane has kept
close to his chest after all these years?

"The only thing that comes to mind is how the
Gatekeeper and Key Master perform a random turn
at each intersection," Crane reveals. "Theoretically, if
the random numbers line up they could both reach the
temple block shortly into the game and trigger the end
game. I locked them out of doing so for some
minimum amount of time, after which they
could go in. So the length of the game varied
randomly beyond that minimum. It was not
common for a game to have a defined ending
point." But to also have that ending point occur
at a random time was pretty much unheard of.

No retrospective on the original
Ghostbusters would be complete without
some mention of the karaoke feature. It busted out

the titular song through the Commodore 64 's humble
SID chip while scrolling through all the lyrics. "Once I
had the idea, I felt it had to be implemented," Crane
reflects. "I'd developed speech for the Commodore
64, Russell lieblich [musician and former Activision
designer] made a great arrangement of the theme
music and Hilary Mills [former Activision senior artist]
did a great logo. Those were all so good that I felt they
needed to be accompanied by a follow-the-bouncing-
ball sing-along."

Most developers would've called it a day at this
point but Crane found the time to expand this bonus
feature into a makeshift mini-game. "I enlisted the
aid of Garry Kitchen and his group at Activision's
Eastern Design Centre to program the bouncing ball
and scrolling lyrics," Crane explains. "I stole a bit of
time away from the game programming to implement
the 'Ghostbusters!' yell. That's how the title screen
became a playable feature in the game. And before
you ask, no, I don't remember who did the yelling."

The spoken speech was limited to just a couple
of phrases, the most memorable of which was "He

ONCE I HAD THE IDEA,
I FEET IT HAD TO BE
IMPLEMENTED

slimed me!" whenever a bust went bad.
Crane would push the speech capabilities of
the Commodore 64 even further with Transformers:
The Battle To Save The Earth in 1986, but not before
Ghostbusters was ported to other home computing
platforms. "I was almost never involved in ports,"
Crane confesses. "I was off making the next original
game concept. When porting, a programmer can use
the original game as a perfect specification, and they
can find the answer to any gameplay question by
simply playing the game."

■■■ LOOKING AT THE ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC,
MSX and Atari 2600 versions of Ghostbusters - all of
which were released between 1984 and 1985 - it's
clear that the ports were handled with a reasonable
degree of care. They contained most of the original

156

BEHIND THE SCENES GHOSTBUSTERS

> A GAMING EVOLUTION Pac-Man > Ghostbusters > Project Zero

As far as ghosts
go, they don't
get much more
old-school than
Blinky Pinky,
Inky and Clyde
in the original
Pac-Man.

The

Marshmallow
Man may be a
tad creepy, but
he's got nothing
on the ethereal
nightmares in
Project Zero.

game's features and did a solid job of recreating
its presentation. But when Ghostbusters was ported
to the Master System and NES in 1987 and 1988
respectively, little effort was made to enhance the
game beyond some ill-conceived shooting sections.
This is especially true of the woeful NES version that
received a well-deserved grilling at the hands of The
Angry Video Game Nerd back in 2007.

The fact that the NES version was handled so
poorly is further testament to what Crane achieved
on the Commodore 64. "The Commodore 64 was
certainly more capable than the Atari 2600, but it still
had limited capabilities," Crane stresses. "The best
games were designed to work with the limitations.
Enter the movie. It pre-exists with certain expectations.
It has characters and storylines that make it what it is.
The tendency is to design a game that follows the
movie without considering the console's limitations.
That's a failure waiting to happen."

Hardware limitations became much less of a
problem once the industry pushed past the 8-bit
generation and delivered everything from Dune on the
Amiga and Blade Runner on the PC to The Warriors
and Ghostbusters: The Video Game on more modern
systems. And yet, film adaptations and tie-ins still
account for some of the worst games. "It's far better
to step back and design an original game that takes

place in the same universe as the movie," Crane
states. "You can sprinkle in iconic imagery or props
from the movie, but you're designing a game that
should be fun to play whether it's a movie tie-in or not."

As far as design methodologies go, it almost sounds
like Crane is stating the obvious. But when you look
back to the other tie-ins that were released around the
same time, there are few instances where the developer
put the game before the licence. Ghostbusters may've
been cannibalised from a vehicular combat game
with a novel yet seemingly ill-suited economy system,
but by focusing on the concept of the film rather than
trying to turn the game into an interactive script, it
succeed in doing what so few tie-ins accomplish. It
complemented the film and it held up as a game when
you looked past the iconic logo.

Following his time at Activision, Crane went on to
work at Hasbro Entertainment and co-founded both
Absolute Entertainment and Skyworks Technologies.
Today he works as an independent game developer,
and if he had the opportunity to work on another
Ghostbusters game, he'd still stick to his principles.
"The approach wouldn't change," Crane confirms.
"I'd design a game that was fun to play that just
happened to involve some aspects of the movie." In
the end, that was the secret to a compelling >
Ghostbusters game.

■ The only time you can buy upgrades is at
the start ol the game.

■ Without the aid of the Image Intensifies
the wandering Slimers are harder to spot.

■ Faster vehicles shorten the time it takes
to travel on the road.

157

GAME CHANGERS

* roooo

THE SIMS

Released: 31 March, 2000 Publisher: EA Developer: Maxis System: PC

Who'd have thought that a simulation based on your mundane duties in real
life could be so fun? Well, EA and Maxis, it turns out. The Sims became one of

the biggest PC games ever made. . .

a ■ WHAT WOULD YOU do if your house burnt
■ ■ ■ down - if all your possessions were taken away
® ® ® ® and you had to rebuild your life? For designer
Will Wright, the answer to that question was simple:
make a game out of it.

After the Oakland firestorm of 1991 destroyed all
of Wright's possessions, the designer was inspired
to create a virtual dollhouse to try and share his
experience with the world.

A year later, Wright - who had previously worked on
SimCity, SimEarth and SimAnt- pitched the idea of an
architectural design game (then called Home Tactics)
to Maxis, a company he co-founded, but the board of
directors wasn't wholly enthused by the idea. Yet when
EA bought out the studio in 1997, Wright's daydream got
a second chance. E A wanted to rebrand the game to fit
in with Wright's already-successful brand and work on
the product could start.

158

iGAME-CHANGERS: THE SIMS

THE ANATOMY OF THE SIMS

YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT THE RIDICULOUSLY IN-DEPTH LITERATURE
AND THEORY THAT WENT INTO MAKING THE SYSTEMS THE SIMS RUNS ON...

A Pattern Language

Towns Buildings Construction

A PATTERN LANGUAGE

★ Written in 1977, this book outlines the
importance of people's own designs on the
spaces they inhabit: houses, communities
and so on. Wright included many of the
principles in The Sims' world-building tools.

★ The American psychologist is famous
for thinking up the 'hierarchy of needs'; a
pyramid-based system that leads to self-
actualisation. Wright applied this model to
his Sims' morale and happiness systems.

★ Charles Hampden-Turner's Maps Of The
Mind charts and conceptualises the mind
and its processes in a flowchart-like way,
and was the foundation for the artificial
intelligence that powers the Sims.

From such personal and humble beginnings grew
a giant - one of the first truly mainstream games of
the new millennium. The Sims was massive - it would
run on most families' home computers, it had universal
appeal, and nothing quite like it had ever existed at
the time. It was peculiar - when Wright first pitched
the game, the Maxis board claimed 'no-one wanted
to play with a virtual doll's house [. . .] because that
was for girls, and girls don't play games'. EA had
more foresight than that, though, and it's thanks to The
Sims that a lot of younger players in the Noughties,
both male and female, had their first experience
with videogames.

According to EA's figures, female players make up
approximately 60 per cent of The Sims' playerbase.
While its immediate impact wasn't necessarily felt,
we'd like to hope it woke up many in the industry to the
fact that women were actually playing their games, as
much as they may have ignored them.

■ ■ ■ THE REASON THE Sims became so popular
- and got so very quickly - comes down to three core

THE GAME IS

PRACTICALLY

UNWINNABLE...

AS SUCH, THE SIMS
ENJOYS INFINITE
REPLAY VALUE

Two years after
its original release,
The Sims had sold
over 11.3 million
copies worldwide,
easily surpassing
the best-selling PC
game ever at that
point, Myst.

The Sims licence
was picked up by
Hollywood in 2007,
but script issues
have prevented any
actual progress
on a cinematic
adaptation of it.

Lead designer
of The Sims,

Will Wright, was
a Robot Wars
champion and is
an active space-
flight enthusiast.

Prior to

approval, some at
Maxis apparently
referred to it as
'The Toilet Game'.

design tenets; first, the game is practically unwinnable
- there are no conditions for victory, no goal can really
be achieved. As such, The Sims enjoys practically
infinite replay value - it's a game about keeping your
Sims on the right track, interfering with lite-AI elements
and, basically, playing God.

Second, the game includes an advanced
architecture system - thanks to its original shape as
Home Tactics - and can be used as an educational
tool. There are people on the games™ team that
actually went on to read architecture at University
thanks to initial exposure to architectural theory in
its simplest form in The Sims. The game managed to
make learning fun for kids - something that you can't
really put a price on.

Third, the game became a psychological
phenomenon; various sects of players began to evolve
from the initial playerbase. A hardcore audience grew
almost instantly, forming a very strong community that's
still alive and well today, while other players discovered
darker sides to themselves and ended up enacting
sadistic and violent acts upon their own creations.

Because of how simply the diametrically presented
in-game assets looked and handled and interacted
with the 3D models of The Sims themselves, people
began to project their own lives into their avatars. At
its core, whether you torture the little guys or not, The
Sims is wish fulfilment, and it's presented in such an
interactive way that we can create entire narratives -
establish entire universes - within the toolbox Maxis
gives us. Combined with a gentle visual experience
and the soft 'Simlish' muzak that played constantly, The
Sims was seen as a therapeutic tool as much as it was
a videogame.

159

8 MORE GAMES
TO INSPIRE YOUR
INNER SADIST

THE SIMS MAY HAVE BEEN MADE WITH DOLLHOUSE RELAXATION

IN MIND, BUT BURNING, DROWNING AND MURDERING SIMS WAS A
COMMON PASTIME. IT MADE US THINK ABOUT ALL THOSE OTHER
TIMES WE'VE BEEN TRULY AWFUL TO OUR CHARACTER

SHOOTING NATALYA IN GOLDENEYE

■ NATALYA IS AN infuriating nuisance in Rare's game-changing
shooter. She gets in the way of your rather dangerous gunfire, or
finds it hilarious to stand in doorways and block you off. On the
upside, she's a true bullet sponge. How many times can you shoot
her before it's game over? For us, testing her durability became a
large part of the game.

SLAPPING WOLVERINE

■ DEADPOOL IS ALL about chaos, and it's the most realised
when you crash the X-Men's airship, rendering the rest of the cast
unconscious. There's an achievement for slapping Wolverine 50
times, but we must have continued for a good half hour, laughing
at the nonsense Deadpool spouted on each hit. "That's for being
so ugly. That's for being so beautiful. That's because I felt like it."

160

GAME-CHANGERS: THE SIMS

MISLEADING MUDOKONS

FEEDING LARA TO THE WOLVES

■ IN THE ORIGINAL Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, we were appalled
to find ourselves directing fellow Mudokons into meat grinders, into
mines, or into bottomless pits. Once we 'accidentally' electrocuted
one of the meat puppets to death, we knew we couldn't get the good
ending, so we had fun using the fools as meat shields. . . the usual.

■ THE POINT OF the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, we're sure, was for
us to empathise with Lara. The intention wouldn't have been for us
to find everything that can kill Lara, just to see what it does. 'Will I
die if I leap off this cliff?' Yes. 'Will this suspicious trip-wire cause
something to crush me?' Yes. 'Will this wolf tear off my face?' Oh yes.

SACRIFICING YOUR SPOUSE

■ THE CENTRE POINT of this Fable II temple is a giant device titled
The Wheel Of Unholy Misfortune - a torture machine you could use
to sacrifice civilians in order to curry favour with the dark lord. Kill
enough people and you can collect the most powerful weapon in
the game. . . but only if you offer up our husband or wife first.

PUTTING DOWN THE SURVIVORS

■ DEAD RISING 2 had two primary objectives - find a cure for your
daughter and rescue a slew of abandoned survivors. Thing is, those
survivors are whiny idiots - some don't get on, some wander off, and
they're universally dumb. We enjoying feeding them to the zombies,
using them as bait so we could get further into the city complex.

HARVESTING LITTLE GIRLS FOR DRUGS

■ WE NEVER THOUGHT we'd write that headline. But thanks to
Ken Levine and BioShock, here we are. We assume Levine wanted
players to avoid harvesting the kids for precious Adam, but we're
pragmatists - we knew harvesting would provide us with more of
the magical juice, and what's one girl's life when compared to, let's
say, having bees living in your arms?

PLAYING TURRETS OFF

■ WE NEVER THOUGHT it was possible to have an emotional
attachment to a turret, but Valve humanised the automated killing
machines and made them adorable. That didn't stop us setting the
things to attack each other, though, laughing at their cutesy death
cries and empty threats. When we dropped one on top of another,
destroying them both. . . that's when we were thinking with portals.

161

OOQO

TIM

SCHAFER

Double Fine's attention is focused on its new
point-and-click adventure Broken Age, but ten years ago
it was Psychonauts that was blowing minds. . .

Tim Schafer has one of
gaming's most enviable CVs.
Most developers would be
happy having created the
The Secret of Monkey Island
but Tim can also note Full
Throttle, Day Of The Tentacle
and Grim Fandango among
his incredible successes. In
2005, he added Psychonauts
to the list, cramming new
concepts into a finely honed
and polished platform game
collect-em-up that used
psychic abilities to enter the
minds of enemies in order
to battle against their inner
demons and fears. Dumped
by Microsoft before it was
released, it nevertheless
remains one of Tim's most
overlooked gems. Here, on the
10th anniversary of its release
- and in the same month as
Double Fine's new point-and-
click adventure Broken Age
is released - Tim tells us
more about this sterling piece
of work.

■ So you left LucasArts in 2000 to
in create Double Fine Productions.

■ ■ ■ ■ I almost can't take credit for the idea
of leaving LucasArts. Friends of mine there did
a napkin map and said we should leave and
make PS2 games because we could make a
lot of money. I was kind of wary. I didn't want
to leave because I had a sweet gig there. A
lot of things were taken care of and I
only had to worry about the games and
making them as good as possible.

Were you excited about going it alone?

We started with three people figuring out
how the fax machine worked and fixed the
plumbing; the basic stuff that seems romantic
when you are starting out a company and
you're in a warehouse and there's no heat and
it's awesome. It doesn't seem that romantic
when you are at crunch, though.

How did Psychonauts come about?

Psychonauts was a mutation of ideas.

Some of the themes and the concepts
had been in early game pitches I made
at LucasArts. The idea of dreams went
as far back as Full Throttle. I always wanted to
work with interactive dreams and visions and I
was interested in the idea that there are things
in your head that you do not consciously know.
But it's funny because someone walked into
the office and said, "Tell me about that thing
when you go into other people's heads", and I
was like, "No, no, it is going deep into your own
head". And I thought 'Wait, that's better; that's
totally better'. Someone's misunderstanding
of an early pitch helped me come up with this
idea of Psychonauts.

AT FIRST I WAS TRYING
TOGO WITH A CHARLIE
BROWN KIND OF THING
WITH REAL KIDS

Did you prefer being in control?

LucasArts was a great place to work, with
' tons of super talented people. It was a unique
company with an amazing ranch and we got
so much attention so it was a safe place to be.
But it had to make Star Wars games and make
money for George. I wanted to work on original
projects and control how the team was treated.

Why did Psychonauts take five years?

You know the saying that bumblebees
shouldn't technically be able to fly if you look at

TIM SCHAFER

*41

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%u:

las

rap

■

# ( lr»

b.t

REMAKING THE ORIGINAL

a MM I WOULD LIKE to remake

Psvchonauts in HD but most o ®

ofgi»alffl-» el “'- P r£S«

ta» =» a* ,£ t ta d

to. We've tad people reantaa te a '

drives have crashe , d it wou ld be really -

“r*"»o* n f ar ia

wTre going to do that, we think we ■■
Ihould just make another game. JJ

* 43 *+

KS&V5S

of barbed wire fence that you couldn't get over
and there was a cabin down there. We'd say it
was where Hatchet Mary lived - someone who
hacked your parents apart - and we'd dare
each other to go down there. It's an excitement
about going where you are not supposed to go
and crossing a line. It was something we tried
to capture in the summer camp of Psychonauts.

A stand-out part of the game was the
excellent voice acting by Richard Horowitz,
who played Raz. Why choose him?

At first I was trying to go with a Charlie Brown
kind of thing with real kids. We had some come
in and read out some lines but they didn't have
the right acting experience. With Richard we
could say, "Okay, can you do it again but a bit
faster because you don’t know the bad guys is
bad yet?" and he would say "Gotcha", and do it
about eight different ways. Some little kids can't
change their performance and often just read
it the same way again. Yet Richard had this
hilarious audition tape. He's one of those guys
who is always changing his voice, like Robin
Williams. It was great to have him.

The locations were truly mind-bending, with Raz expected to
ttle against some bizarre enemies such as the brain-powered
1 Blueprint Brain Tank in the Brain Tumbler Experiment.

B J the aerodynamics or the weight of them?
■■■! If you told that to bumblebees, they'd
drop to the ground simultaneously. The same
was true of us. If we knew of the obstacles in
the way of making Psychonauts, we probably
wouldn't have summoned the gusto to do it.

It was the first time we had made a platform
game and we had junior people working
on their first game. We were working with a
publisher - Microsoft - that had just launched
the Xbox. We were feeling this thing out.

Why make a platform game; wouldn't it have
been easier to stick with what you knew?

I was inspired by 3D platform games. I liked
the 3D environments of them, exploring and
swimming and having fun. But I felt they were
missing the depth of adventure games so I
wanted to do something that felt submersive
but had unusual settings and non-typical
characters and a deep storyline.

How did you
develop the
characters?

I was trying to
write a document
about the various
kids you see at
Summer Camp,
looking at their personalities, what they
believed in, what their parents were like and
that kind of thing. I was spending a lot of time
on the social network Friendster - on which
I actually met my wife - and I was like, wait
a second, I'm going to make fake Friendster
profiles for all of these camp kids. It helped
me decide who was friends with who, what
they might post on each other's walls and
what pictures they may put up to represent
themselves. It was really helpful.

Are back stories important?

I am a big believer in them and that's the secret
I think to making characters that really stand
out. But I believe in not sharing those back
stories by laying them around a world in the
form of books. I wanted the characters to reveal
little bits and pieces of a back story as they talk.

THE LONG GAME

// ■■■ IT WAS ALWAYS a bummer
| to see Psychonauts in the list
of the top five games that you
didn t play. It was seen as a flop but in the
early days it sold 400,000 and on digital
distribution it kept selling. When we got
the rights back, we put it on Steam and
included achievements. It started to sell
again. It's not a game that nobody played
but it's one that needed the
longevity that digital distribution
could provide.

Psychonauts drew on your past adventure
games as well, though, didn't it?

We had dialogue trees, an inventory and
straight-up puzzles. It was how I knew how to
make a game. But I also drew on life, so we
had paranoid milkmen and bacon and stuff
like that. The idea for
bacon came from a story
someone told me about
getting rid of tapeworm.

If there is a worm in your
stomach or your intestines
and - sorry, this is gross -
you hold a piece a bacon
in front of your open mouth
and the smell of the bacon
will get to the worm. You'll
see its head popping up at
the back of your throat so
you grab it and pull it out. I
thought it was so funny that
bacon is so delicious that
even a tape worm can't
resist it. Ford Cruller couldn't resist it either.

Why have Psychonauts lead character
Raz run away from the circus to sneak
into a summer camp packed with
youngsters with psychic abilities?

I wanted to make a game about childhood
where players could explore secret areas
and I think wandering around the woods is
something a lot of kids have fond memories
of. It’s timeless and doesn't age.

Was that a hallmark of your own childhood?

I remember being ten years old and
exploring areas where I knew I shouldn't
be. At our camp there was a bordering edge

I One of Psychonauts major strengths was its vrhrant character^rtiom hfere
Jesee Jasper RoEs, the inner critic of insane actress Glona Von Gouton.

164

it#

TIM SCHAFER

IF WE KNEW OF THE

And the soundtrack was the fine work of
Peter McConnell, who you had worked with
for years...

He worked on Money 2 and Day Of The Tentacle
- he wrote the theme for that. We called him in
for Psychonauts and he did an amazing job. He
has also been involved with Broken Age.

one point that we were shutting down and
that Wednesday's pay check would be the
last one. Then two weeks of money came in
from a random source and we signed with
Majesco so it worked out. When you are really
dependent on a publisher for your future, it can
be very dicey.

character didn't feel right because we hadn't
emphasised Raz enough. At some point we
got a task force together of people from every
discipline to look at Raz and how he felt and
played. We looked at how Raz grabbed
ladders and tightropes and how he walked
and how he stopped walking, how he turned
and stuff like that. I think the big lesson was to
do that first before you do the rest of the game.

You have said before that Psychonauts came
out at the wrong time, when the market had
changed. Do you stick with that?

Yes, it was very near the end of the Xbox life
cycle. The reason it got cancelled at Microsoft
was because they were not going to fund
any more Xbox games from the start of 2005
because they were bringing out the Xbox 360.
We came out in February that year. I was like,
"Were two months, just two months over that
year" but it was just a little too late.

Was that a stressful time?

We had the company riding on it. It was our
only game and to think it could all come
crashing down would have been a waste.
Nobody would have seen it. It would have
just disappeared and I would have
retired from games. It would have
been devastating.

Did you really think of quitting?

No. [laughs] When I get on track with
something, I see it through. I made that
game and I put so much into it that I
would not have accepted any possibility
of not finishing it. It's like with Broken Age.
Three years in the making and I'm sure some
people thought that we had stopped working
on it but no, we're just about done.

Was it touch and go?

We were so close to the end of our money. I
made an announcement to the company at

OBSTACLES IN THE WAY,
WE PROBABLY WOULDN'T
HAVE DONE IT

F T Looking back on it all, would you

have done things differently?

Yeah. We didn't know what we were
doing at the time. The fact it was good
was because we kept plugging away and
learning. The levels took a lot of designing
and redesigning and for a long time it wasn't
fun to play. It had crazy backgrounds but the

Some dismissed Psychonauts as a children's
game, didn't they?

Day Of The Tentacle had the same problem.
We got a call once from Steven Spielberg
who wanted a hint for his son Max. The first
thing he said was it was great that we made
games for kids. I wanted to say, "Ahh, it's a fun
game for kids to play in that it doesn't have
bad content in it - except for microwaving your
hamster and stuff - but it's not just tor kids".

I've just always been drawn to cartoon-like
humour, and stylised artistic visuals. I grew up
with Ren & Stimpyand Warner Bros cartoons.
They always had adult content. I just assumed
everyone loved that kind of thing too.

Will you ever make a sequel?

Yes. I think the time has to be right and we
have to have access to the right kind of money.
It has to live up to the first game.

In 2012, Minecraft creator Markus Persson
tweeted that he would fund a sequel. What
happened there?

It was a nice offer but I think the actual price
tag of what it would cost was not what he was
expecting. The first game cost $13m, so not
exactly cheap. It was an exciting moment and
I would still like to do it. But he's probably got
plenty of people asking for money.

Are you surprised at the cult following?

Of course not, it's awesome [laughs].

Do you feel vindicated for having made the
move, then?

[laughs] Yes. Vindicated. I win. [laughs]

165

MttKtRa

MEGA MAN 2

NES [CAPCOM] 1988

OFTEN THE MOST memorable openings in videogames are the ones that display the most

elaborate visuals, which is why contemporary games are often celebrated loudest - case in

point: BioShock ' s maiden descent into Rapture. But even within the limited capabilities of basic

console hardware (in this case the NES) developers found increasingly distinctive ways to create

dynamic visual moments for players to marvel at. Mega Man 2 does just that with only a few lines

of text, flawlessly setting the scene for the ensuing experience; the camera sweeps up a skyscraper as

the music swells, revealing Mega Man standing proudly atop. It's one of the most rousing moments in the

history of gaming, one that can't fail to make gamers ridiculously pumped-up about what lies ahead. As far as

heroic entrances go, all other videogame icons should take note.

BO NG
COUNTRY

It's been 20 years since British studio Rare rebooted one

of Nintendo's first mascots, giving us the ideal excuse to

uncover the history of this smashing SNES title

NES

:ONG COUNTR

Released: JJS94
Format: SNES
Publisher: Nintendo

(Designer). Tim Stamper
(Producer). Chris Sutherland

(Lead Programmer). Brendan

Gunn (Programmer). David

Wi s e ( Mus i c )

+ +

■ PRETTY MUCH EVERY game development
studio of note has a title in its back catalogue
that can be seen as a pivotal point in its
evolution and growth. Valve has Half Life, id Software
has Doom, and Square has Final Fantasy, these
games provided the momentum that has propelled
such esteemed companies to global stardom,
and without these significant successes, it's highly
plausible that such famous code houses might
not even exist today. UK-based Rare is no
exception to this rule. While the firm wasn't in
any danger of falling into obscurity during the
early Nineties, it's hard to imagine that it would
have become quite as big as it is today without
the propulsion provided by the 1994 SNES
smash-hit Donkey Kong Country.

Today, Rare is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Microsoft Game Studios and operates out
of a purpose-built, high-tech HQ in the idyllic
Leicestershire countryside, but prior to reviving

the Donkey Kong brand, it was based in the rather
less-modern surroundings of a Grade if listed
farmhouse, just a few miles up the road from its
current residence. Despite the lack of swanky
offices, it was just as fascinating a place to
work as legend might have you believe.
"Rare was an amazing place back then,"
recalls Brendan Gunn, who was employed
as a technical programmer on Donkey Kong
Country and had previously worked on the
NES classic Captain Skyhawk. "ft was quite
a small company with a real family feel.
Games were created in a very organic way,
not planned out in detail in advance. We were
always free to just try out ideas. Whatever
worked would stay, and if it didn't feel good, we
just ripped it back out again. In those days, it was
not uncommon for entire games to be shelved if
they didn't show enough promise. I think this was
key to keeping the quality high."

Following a string of commercial successes ^
during the late Eighties and early Nineties, the
Stampers faced an uncertain future - as did the
industry in general. The next generation of systems
had started to arrive in the form of the 3DO, Amiga
CD32 and Philips CD-i, but owners of existing 16-bit
consoles seemed curiously reticent to upgrade,
thanks largely to the unproven nature of CD-ROM
systems and the high cost of new hardware. Sensing
that the current generation still had some life in it
but simultaneously mindful of an exciting new era
just around the corner, the Stampers began to invest
heavily in new graphics tech with the ultimate aim of
creating one of the most advanced code houses in the
British Isles.

It was a risky strategy, which involved great
expense and temporarily limited the development
output of the studio, but it was one that ultimately
paid off; encouraged by the work being undertaken in
Twycross, publishing partner Nintendo decided it was
time to invest in the firm and promptly purchased 49 per
cent of the company. "Rare began experimenting with
creating 3D-rendered characters with our expensive
new Silicon Graphics computers," Gunn explains,
likening the situation to a perfect storm of events.
"Visitors from Nintendo were suitably impressed by
what we were working on, and Rare became a
second-party developer. Rare had already impressed
Nintendo with some excellent games, several of which
Nintendo had actually published themselves. The
obvious potential of pre-rendered 3D graphics would
have sealed the deal, especially as the SNES was
nearing the end of its life, and Nintendo was a little

WHATEVER WORKED
WOULD STAY, AND IF IT
DIDN'T FEEL GOOD, WE
JUST RIPPED IT BACK
OUT AGAIN

behind the competition in developing the next
generation of 3D-capable consoles."

■■■ NINTENDO'S EXECS WERE so taken with what
Rare had achieved with its shiny-new Silicon Graphics
workstations that it effectively opened up its vault of
properties and allowed the British company to take its
pick - within reason, of course. "At this point, the door
was open for the Stampers to push for the use of some
existing Nintendo II?" Gunn says. "Obviously, they
wouldn't give us a treasured character like Mario, but
Donkey Kong had been largely abandoned for some
time, and this was a chance to give him a new burst
of life." Indeed, save for a few cameo roles, the mighty
Kong had been largely dormant for the best part of
a decade; his last outing was 1983's Donkey Kong
3. Ironically, during 1994 another Kong game would
hit the market in shape of the Game Boy title Donkey
Kong '94 (see "1994's Other Kong"), but it was more
of a retooling of the 1981 original than an entirely new

169

1994'S OTHER KONG

With two Kongs around, 1994 marked the battle of the apes

WHILE RARE MANAGED to kick-start
Kong's career with Donkey Kong Country
and turn the massive, bumbling primate
into a household name once again,
it wasn't the only title he starred in
during the bumper year of 1994. June
(September in Europe) saw the launch
of an all-new Donkey Kong adventure
on the monochrome Game Boy system
that is often referred to as Donkey Kong
94. Based loosely on the original 1981
arcade machine that started it all, it
begins with the coin-op's first four levels,
but quickly changes pace with 97 all-
new stages that take the core gameplay
seen in Kong's debut and turn it on its
head with all manner of enhancements
and improvements. Our hero Mario (who
reverts back to his not-so-Super guise
for this release) can swim, climb ropes
and even catch incoming barrels, and
there are boss fights to contend with
as well. While the arcade game was a

score-based venture, this portable outing
is blessed with a battery back-up facility
so that players can retain their progress.
All things considered, Donkey Kong 94
is a fantastic update to the coin-guzzling
original and rightly received critical
acclaim on its release; however, hitting
the market in the same year as Rare's
legendary title perhaps dented its chances
of long-lasting fame, and it has been
rather overshadowed in the years that
have followed. Thankfully, it hasn't been
totally forgotten and is currently available
on the 3DS Virtual Console, where it is
well-worth investigating. One final point
of interest is that Kong is wearing a red tie
in this title, an item of clothing that Rare
would factor into its own interpretation of
the famous character - an interpretation
that, it should be pointed out, has become
the accepted norm on this infamous
character since the launch of Donkey
Kong Country.

adventure, and its release did little to detract
■■■■ from Rare's grand vision.

Gunn's role on Donkey Kong Country was a
technical one, and he had to come up with the code
that would make everything sing. His contribution
was an incredibly important one, but even so, he
was unprepared for the first time that he laid eyes
on Rare's fresh interpretation of gaming's most
famous ape. "I was really amazed the first time I saw
a 3D-rendered Donkey Kong model on screen," he
recalls more than twenty years later. "It looked so
different from traditional hand-drawn graphics, and
far ahead of what consoles would be able to render
in real-time for many years to come. It was very
exciting and inspiring to work with these graphics.
All my previous games had been solo projects in
terms of programming, so Donkey Kong Country
was different in that I could spend all of my time
focused on the visuals, leaving the gameplay to Chris
Sutherland. For me, that was a bigger difference
than the pre-rendering. I was able to put a lot of
time into really optimising the use of video RAM to
get a lot of variation in the graphics. We didn't want
it to look like there was a lot of repeated images on
screen. I also spent a lot of time adding lots of layers
of parallax in the backgrounds, and adding the day-
to-night transitions and weather effects."

Those familiar with the geography of the English
Midlands will be aware that Rare's HQ isn't the
only thing that the small and rather sleepy village
of Twycross is famous for - it also boasts an
internationally renowned zoo, which houses the
largest selection of monkeys and apes in the western
hemisphere, making it the ideal research target for
a game studio creating a title showcasing plenty of
hairy primates. That's what you'd assume at least,
but sadly the trip that occurred during the creation
of Donkey Kong Country would prove to be a waste
of effort. "I was not involved in the zoo visit, but I
understand it was ultimately fruitless," Gunn smiles.
"The animators tried making Donkey Kong move like
a real ape, but it just didn't look right in the game and
he finished up moving more like a galloping horse."

■■■ DONKEY KONG COUNTRY was designed
from the ground up to be a ground-breaking visual
spectacle, but like so many titles of the period,
it took inspiration from one of the oldest SNES
games: Super Mario World. Kong is able to jump
onto the heads of enemies - just like Mario - and
collects bananas instead of coins; he also traverses
a massive overworld map and is able to move
freely between stages using connected pathways -
something that was popularised by the Super Mario
series. To call this slavish cloning might be a little
overzealous, but few would deny the fact that Rare's
prestigious Nineties output benefited greatly from
ideas generated by the Japanese company with
which it shared a very intimate relationship. "Rare
has made a lot of original games," starts Gunn,
"But when it comes to working on familiar genres,
we always looked to Nintendo for inspiration. Why
not learn from the best? We always tried to put our
own spin on things - not simply copying Nintendo's
games - but they often found brilliant solutions to

BEHIND THE SCENES

With such a
strong replay
value, Donkey
Kong Country
is sure to be a
colossal hit this
holiday. If you
want to hit an
ape ball in the
side pocket,
you'll recognise
DKC for what it
is: the gorilla of
your dreams

on making the games to the best of our abilities.

I understand that in the early stages of development,
Miyamoto was very keen to exert some control over
the look of the Donkey Kong character, as Tim had
pushed his design a long way from the original. The
final look was a great compromise - and I'm pleased
to see that Nintendo hasn't deviated very much since
then." Indeed, Donkey Kong today sports a look that
is based more on the SNES titles than his previous
adventures - an admission by Nintendo that Rare
created the most aesthetically pleasing iteration of
the great ape.

ie map screens hold a hidden regret for Gunn,
who wishes he'd spent more time on pathways.

common problems, so it would be foolish not to copy
a few ideas."

That's not to say that the team designing the
game didn't come up with a few unique notions
of their own - one of these being the use of Post It
notes to plan out level designs, which resulted in
some particularly memorable stages. "We wanted a
process that allowed us to visually build up the level
plans and also allow fast iteration at the initial design
stage," Gregg Mayles tells us. Mayles worked
as the main designer on the game and is still
employed at Rare today, making him one of
the studio's longest-serving staffers. While
creating level layouts on paper certainly isn't
anything innovative in the games industry, Post
Its permitted the designer to switch scenes
and change the plan quickly and effortlessly,
rather than having to redraw entire portions of
the level. "Drawing things on bits of paper that
could be shuffled around, reworked or replaced
was ideal," continues Mayles - who, like Gunn, is a
local lad and was born just a few miles from Rare's
Twycross HQ. "Someone suggested these bits of
paper could be Post It notes and it all went from there.
It was a real revelation at the time and I still use Post
Its at the heart of my design process today."

Given that Nintendo was bankrolling the
creation of this new title - and that it used one
of the company's most famous faces - you might
assume that the Japanese veteran was quite hands-
on with development. Gunn explains that even if such
meetings took place - and only the Stampers really
know the truth on the score - the team was kept well
away from any distractions that could possibly impact
the final product. "We had a great deal of creative

■■■ THE STAMPERS HAVE since left Rare to pursue
other projects - it was recently revealed that Tim has
founded a smartphone game studio in Nottingham
called FortuneFish with his son, Joe - but their impact
on Donkey Kong Country cannot be understated.
"They were a huge influence," says Gunn. "In
particular I remember Tim was a great motivator as
well as a very talented artist. He would spend a lot
of time with me, always pushing me to take things to
the next level. For example, just having it rain wasn't
enough. It should rain way in the distance first, and
then gradually bring it forwards until it's raining in
all the layers of the screen." This graphical flourish
is one aspect of the game that Gunn is particularly
proud of. "My favourite bit is the combination of the
weather effects and multi-layered parallaxing. I really
enjoyed hearing other engineers trying to figure out
how we crammed so much graphical variation in each
level. Look at Super Mario World for comparison; its a
lovely game, but I see so much obvious repetition in

DRAWING THINGS ON
BITS OF PAPER THAT
COULD BE SHUFFLED
AROUND WAS IDEAL

the graphics."

Speaking of Mario,
it was reported at the
time of development that
Shigeru Miyamoto was
less than impressed with
Rare's efforts, allegedly
bemoaning the fact that
gamers of the time were
dazzled by visuals and
not gameplay. Miyamoto
himself has publicly refuted

this stance in recent years - stating quite correctly
that as Kong's daddy, he was intimately involved with
the production of the title - but could the graphically
stunning Donkey Kong Country have caused the

WHAT

THEY

SAID...

freedom," Gunn enthuses. "As an individual, I felt free
to try anything that could make the game look better,
and as a company, I think Rare was allowed to make
Donkey Kong Country very much our own product.
Tim and Chris would always shield the team as much
as possible from outside influences so we could focus

famous designer to feel a little jealous, given that he
was working on the more visually simplistic Super
Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island at the time? "I only
really know what's been reported on the internet,
and we all know that's the best place in the world for
finding opinion rather than fact," laughs Gunn when

1835

Microsoft, Rare would port Donkey
Kong Country- and its sequeb

to the Game Boy Advance.

of producing such
amazing visuals.

Wen after being sold to

Two SNES-based
sequels would follow,
and Gunn worked on
both - yet he freely admits that he doesn't hold the
same level of affection for them as the trailblazing
original. "I worked on both of the SNES sequels, as
well as Donkey Kong 64," he recounts. "Again for the
SNES sequels, I was focused on the graphics, and I
continued to refine some of the techniques I'd used

■ Barrels were put to good use in the game, offering
everything from a friendly ape to rocket propulsion. I

kK *\ * '

' J L

■ Rideable allies was another aspe ct that was |
borrowed from Super Mario World.

WHAT

THEY

SAID...

Who needs 32
or even 64-bit
when Nintendo
can keep
pulling marvels
out of the 16-bit
hat? Donkey
Kong Country
is simply
mind-blowing
EGM, 1994

I KNOW MIYAMOTO
WAS PASSIONATE
ABOUT THE GAME
DURING DEVELOPMENT

so often dictated by the purchasing habits
of players, and Rare was working to a strict
schedule with Donkey Kong Country - the
game had to hit store shelves during the
lucrative holiday season in North America.

Gunn admits that the team was able to fulfil
its objectives in time for launch, but even so,
there are things he would like to have spent
more time on. "No project ever really feels
complete," he says. "I could always go back
and keep improving things, but at some point you just
have to draw a line under it and let it out into the world.
Having said that, the only thing I'm really unhappy
about in Donkey Kong Country is in the map pages.
We have these beautifully rendered map screens with
winding paths linking each area of the game, and I
just did a lazy straight line path for Donkey Kong to
walk along instead of accurately following the path.
I'm a little embarrassed by that."

■■■ THANKFULLY THE GENERAL public didn't seem
to pay any notice to the lack of winding pathways, and
Donkey Kong Country became a runaway hit, shifting
almost 10 million copies worldwide and effectively
delaying the onset of the next-generation revolution;
the game assured SNES owners that there was little
sense in dropping an insane amount of cash on a 3DO
or Jaguar when their current console was capable

S in the original. I was particularly pleased with

I the 3D effect inside the flooded ship - I can't even
remember whether that was Donkey Kong Country
2 or Donkey Kong Country 3. The dripping honey
effect in Donkey Kong Country 2 was quite satisfying,
too. Although the sequels were more polished in a
number of ways, I don't look back on them with the
same fondness as the original. I just don't really like
retreading old ground."

Nevertheless, Gunn's involvement with the Donkey
Kong Country series would have a dramatic impact
on his life thanks to the bonus scheme that Rare
operated during his tenure with the company, which
ensured that staff benefited from their hard work
should their games turn out to be big sellers. Is it fair
to say that these releases changed his life? "Donkey
Kong Country and its sequels were pretty lucrative, but
'life-changing' is perhaps a little strong," he replies

.J asked about Miyamoto's comments. "I know
.... Miyamoto was passionate about the game
during development, and so were all the people
at Rare, but that doesn't mean we all wanted the
same things. Japanese games have some very
distinct differences from games in the west, and the
brilliant Shigeru Miyamoto has been a big part of
the Japanese style. I'm sure he would have made the
game very differently, but I'm confident that he must
also appreciate some of the qualities that made it
stand out from his own games."

Deadlines in videogame development are

172

+ > A GAMING EVOLUTION

Super Mario World > DK Country > Clockwork Knight

•X 99 \

Shigeru
Miyamoto's
seminal 16-bit
smash hit was
a massive
influence on
practically every
2D platformer.

Sega's Saturn-
based 2D
platform epic
took the 3D
rendered visuals
of Donkey Kong
Country to the
next level.

with a chuckle. "I'd definitely say 'life-enhancing'!"
Gunn now works outside of the games industry with a
design firm in Ashby-de-la-Zouch - a small town just
minutes away from Rare's Twycross HQ and the place
where Tim and Chris Stamper originally founded the
company back in Eighties, under the moniker Ashby
Computers & Graphics - and remains very proud of
the things he achieved during his time with the studio.
"It was great working with so many talented people
over so many years, but for me Donkey Kong Country
was the pinnacle. The best part was working
with such an amazing team."

CONTINUATION '
OF KONG

The line of Nintendo's infamous ape didn't end with Rare

When Microsoft purchased Rare it drew
a line under the studio's involvement
with the Donkey Kong character it had
done so much to revitalise. However, it
thankfully didn't mean the end of the
Donkey Kong Country series, as in 2010
Nintendo enlisted Texas-based Retro
Studios to create Donkey Kong Country
Returns for the Wii. It was a critical and
commercial success and managed
to capture much of the magic of the
originals - a remarkable achievement
when you consider that Rare wasn't
involved in its production. The game
would be ported to the Nintendo 3DS
in 2012 by Monster Games, and Retro
would return to the series in 2014 with
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
on the Wii U.

I ■ During the game's memorable
intro, Kong performs his own dance
re being caught in a CGI explosion.

HHY

SUPER
MARIO 64

TIM WILEMAN, ASSISTANT PRODUCER,

TT GAMES

a I’ve been playing games
for a number of years
now, but one of the games that’s
inspired me the most... well,

I was a young man looking
to get a job in the industry,
working in a videogames shop
and the Nintendo 64 had just
come out, and Super Mario 64
was released. Well, that just
changed the world for me to be
honest - the graphical style,
the colour and vibrance of the
game... it blew my socks off.

I’ll never forget it, you know?
Nintendo managed to create
this fantastic world and it
had so much cool gameplay,
so much excitement... it was
the transition from 2D to 3D,
it was a really special time for
games. I know that’s kind of
cliched to say now, but there’s a
reason people say it, you know?
Nintendo, at the time, they
just really did tap into
something magical.

Enjoyed
this book?

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