The indie games rule this week, as all of the big game companies have seemingly taken some time off to go grab a corn dog or something, I don’t know. That’s okay though, because as year’s past have shown us, sometimes the best titles of the year are from independent developers who have to rely on stellar gameplay instead of flashy graphics or established characters. If indies aren’t your thing, well, I guess Madden is coming out soon.

 

Top Releases:

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break (PC/PS4/Stadia/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 21^st

We all love a good car crash. There’s something cathartic about watching things get destroyed, isn’t there? The twisting of blood & steel is horrific, but when it’s happening to something (or someone) else we get this immediate sense of relief that we’re safe and sound. Games like Burnout really understand this concept, as do the developers of Rock of Ages, who are putting out the third entry in their long running, rolling ball physics simulator. Aside from the standard game, players will now get to create their own levels and share them with friends and strangers alike. It’s a lot of smashing and bashing, but with a funny little twist; just like a car crash.

Panzer Paladin (PC/Switch) – Releases Jul. 21^st

Taking inspiration from several 8-bit era classics like Blaster Master, Contra, Mega Man, and a multitude of others, Panzer Paladin looks super rad but, like most retro inspired titles, the make or break moment for this game is going to be the controls. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they’re solid and tight.

Creaks (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 22^nd, recently released on Apple Arcade

From Amanita Design, best know for their point & click adventure title Machinarium, comes their first puzzle platformer. Players take on the role of an unnamed protagonist as they explore a strange, subterranean world filled with monsters called “Creaks”. These monsters can be stopped by shining a light on them, and most puzzles revolve around this mechanic. It’s gotten some solid buzz after releasing on Apple Arcade, and between this and the recently released Beyond A Steel Sky, Apple Arcade’s $5.00 a month price tag is definitely worth checking out, if only for a month or two.

Carrion (PC/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jul. 23^rd

Fans of the film The Thing will likely recognize the premise of this game, in which a shape shifting alien takes over a small outpost and wreaks havoc on the scientists who work there. Where it differs, however, is that this story is not told from the perspective of the humans, but rather from the point of view of the alien. Using your powers, you must get through this outpost alive, using all of your trickery and might to get revenge on the scientists who have trapped you. The concept seems similar to a Devolver Digital game that came out in 2019, Ape Out, and that is now one of my all time favorite games, so Carrion has both a lot going for it, and a lot riding on it to meet my expectations.

Roki (PC) – Releases Jul. 23^rd

Creaks isn’t the only puzzle adventure game this week, there’s also Roki, a thrilling tale inspired by Scandinavian folklore. With a heavy emphasis on storytelling and narrative, Roki will do its best to tug at your heartstrings as you face an unforgiving Winter. If only it could be Summer for eternity…

 

Ports and Re-releases:

Dragon Marked For Death (PS4) – Releases Jul. 22^nd

Released in January of 2019 for the Switch, Dragon Marked For Death was kind of lost in the hype surrounding Kingdom Hearts 3. PC players got a chance to experience the game back in April of this year, and PS4 players, who have had well over a year to get through Sora’s fever dream, can now give some of their time to the crew in the Dragonblood Clan. In this 2D side scrolling action RPG, you and up to three other friends can hack and slash your way to glory using the powers of the Astral Dragon. I HAVE THE POWER!!!

Crysis Remastered (Switch) – Releases Jul. 23^rd

There’s a running gag among PC gamers about the quality of a machine if it is capable of running Crysis, leading to lots of very well thought out jokes and shit. Well now the most “underpowered” game console on the market can run one of the most visually intensive games ever made, and according to pre-release buzz, it does it pretty well. While the Switch version is isn’t going to look as stunning as the highest quality PC version of Crysis, you can’t really take your PC on the subway. You could set it up at a Subway, I guess, but then it’d just smell like their yoga mat bread.

 

Notable Releases from 10, 20 and 30 (and sometimes 40) years ago:

It wasn’t just 2020 that took this week to give the gaming world some indies, developers in the past took this week to introduce all of us to some amazing worlds, test our wits in mind bending puzzles, challenge our perspectives, and allow us to indulge in one of the oldest forms of entertainment. Here it is folks, notable games from 10, 20, 30, and now, 40 years ago.

Limbo (Xbox 360) – Released Jul. 21^st, 2010: Wiki Link

Danish video game company Playdead was founded in 2006 by two designers named Arnt Jensen and Dino Patti, a partnership that began amicably but would eventually sour. Limbo began as a series of sketches created by Jensen around 2004 while he was working at IO Interactive, and after starting on some programming after securing a government grant, he realized that making the game would take more than just himself. He sent out a teaser of the game using his art, which led to his meeting with Patti, and while things were going okay for a little bit, it became clear to the two men that they’d require a larger team as the game grew in scope and ambition. After meeting with investors, the two men started up Playdead and hired a small team, bringing the total to eight. Limbo took longer to make than the team had anticipated, mostly due to the engine which they was their proprietary invention, causing them to not just build a game, but also build the engine that drove it (generally not a good idea). While the game’s art design was initially driven by Jensen’s original vision of a minimalist world, the team’s graphic artist, Morten Bramsen, was ultimately responsible for adapting it to the 3d realm, giving us one of the moodiest, darkest, striking pieces of video game art that I think I’ve ever seen. The game’s look did not change very much between early trailers and the finished product and is, I think, one of its biggest draws. Along with the minimalist visuals, the audio was itself fairly modest as well. Composer Martin Stig Andersen would take recognizable sounds and distort them, a trick that director David Lynch is also known for doing. The effect gives you a sense that these are sounds you recognize, but something is wrong, something is off, and it causes you to feel dread or uneasiness, even in situations that, on the surface, appear calm and under control.

Reception to Limbo was overwhelmingly positive, with many critics praising the game in just about every facet, from gameplay, to art, to the sound design. In a world that was fixated on 3d shooters like Gears of War and Halo, it was a breath of fresh air to see something on the Xbox 360 that was quiet, subdued, and emotionally riveting. Detractors of the game were out there, with some critics and players put off by the bleak world and abrupt ending, which, some critics declared, came way too soon. There was a lot of talk when Limbo released around the cost to playtime ratio. With an average playtime of 2 to 5 hours, it was seen as not being “worthy” of the $15 price tag (never mind that most NES games were regularly $70 and could be finished in less than an hour). This was not a deterrent to most critics, though, who said that the run time was more than adequate for the story the developers wanted to tell, and it even led to several indie developers to come out in support of Playdead and Limbo, decrying this notion that games need to be a certain length to justify the price tag. Their argument stated that we don’t place this same kind of “time/cost ratio” on the length of a film or television show, so why do it to video games? Limbo would be an Xbox 360 exclusive for about a year, releasing on the PS3 in July, 2011 and for PC in August, 2011, eventually making it to modern game consoles in subsequent years. As for Jensen and Patti, well, from what I can gather it seems they had a classic artist vs. businessman rivalry, with Jensen more concerned with the passion and Patti more concerned with running a successful company. After the release of their second game, Inside, Patti decided to leave the company which he saw as a well oiled machine that no longer needed his guidance to succeed. A Danish newspaper conflated the news and claimed that Patti was leaving due to a rift between himself and Jensen, which in turn caused Jensen to announce his resignation from the day to day operations, yet still hold an executive seat. Patti, confused by the resignation letter, removed Jensen from the Central Business Register (sort of like the Danish version of a business license, or executive board, something like that), causing Jensen to seek legal counsel, ultimately leading to Patti having to return roughly $7 million dollars worth of shares in Playdead. Like I said, what was once an amicable partnership had turned into something sour, all due to a series of unfortunate misunderstandings.

Builder’s Block (PlayStation) – Released Jul. 12^th, 2000: Wiki Link

Builder’s Block is an isometric puzzle game in which players must slide tiles across the playing board in order to create towering structures. Originally released to Japanese arcades in 1998, then ported to the PlayStation in 1999, the game was first known as Landmaker before coming to North America in July of 2000. Played similarly to Bust A Move (AKA Puzzle Bobble), you are tasked with clearing the board of all the colored tiles. Where it differs, however, is that you are given a particular task before you can move on. Played over a series of abstract stages, players would have to create buildings for a growing town, using very specific measurements. Sometimes you would be tasked with creating a 4×4 square, or two 3×3 squares, it would vary from level to level. Like most puzzle games, there was a fixed amount of space that you could not encroach upon, and like Bust-A-Move, since the player controls the speed of the blocks a timer is put on each stage, moving you closer and closer to the edge until you finish your task. Critical reception to the game was positive, calling it addictive and fun, with a steep learning curve. I agree with them, as it took me quite a while to learn the mechanics of the game and really get into a groove. Once you learn it though, you can fire blocks off with rapid speed and complete tasks in no time. Coming so late in the PlayStation’s life, and not being part of a recognizable franchise, are the likely reasons why this game has been forgotten over the years, with no re-releases that I can see. If you happen to come across it in a secondhand game store (or you stumble upon a ROM somewhere…) I highly recommend you give this game a chance.

Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll (NES) – Released Jul. 1990: Wiki Link

To call Rare one of the most prolific NES developers is an understatement. Between 1987 and 1992 they would release an astonishing 47 games for the system including some all-time classics like Wizards & Warriors, R.C. Pro-Am, and 1991’s upcoming notable title, Battletoads. With so many titles under their belt I wouldn’t put it past you to have missed a couple, but if you were like me and slept on Snake, Rattle ‘n’ Roll, well, you fucked up. Regularly regarded as one of the top games ever made for the NES (and Rare as a whole, for that matter), this isometric puzzle platformer is an absolute delight. In this game, players take control of a snake named Rattle, who must eat little balls called “Nibbley Pibbley’s” (Rare is from the UK, in case you didn’t know) in order to get heavy enough to ring a bell, ending the stage. Using the full power of the NES, Rare was able to create faux 3d graphics using an isometric view and forced perspective. The result is one of the more visually striking games on the NES, and again proved that Rare were some of the best programmers in the business. Created by Rare co-founder Tim Stamper, and one of their mad genius programmers, a man named Mark Betteridge, who was obsessed with making the smallest file size for an NES game as possible. Taking cues from their port of Marble Madness, Betteridge was able to streamline things and make them look better than before, an astounding feat that even had the editors of Nintendo Power magazine questioning how it was even possible. Like I mentioned above with Panzer Paladin, these older 8-bit games lived and died by their controls, and Betteridge used his considerable skill to give Snake, Rattle ‘n’ Roll really tight controls for a a 3d game controlled by a d-pad. Critical reception was overwhelmingly positive, with the reviwers praising the game for all the things I noted above, graphics, control, gameplay, but also being drawn in by the rock & roll soundtrack by David Wise, which was noted as a real highlight. Several gaming outlets would call the game one of the best of 1990, however this critical praise was lost on the general public. It’s unclear why Snake, Rattle ‘n’ Roll didn’t catch on with most gamers, perhaps it was the odd title, maybe the faux 3d looked too complicated to control, or perhaps, as most critics assumed, there was a lack of recognizable/marketable characters (now the characters in Battletoads make more sense). Whatever the reason people stayed away, it doesn’t matter now, because this game is so rad, like, one of my favorites of all time rad. Thankfully the game is easily available on the Xbox One through the Rare Replay collection, and like Limbo and Builder’s Block, I can’t recommend this game enough, you HAVE to play it.

Boxing (Atari 2600) – Released Jul. 1980: Wiki Link

Well here we are ladies and gentlemen, we all knew it would eventually come to this, we gotta talk about video games that are 40 years old now. I don’t expect this to be a regular entry but, according to my notes, we are at the cusp of when notable titles started to rear their ugly heads up. I don’t really want to give you a history of the Atari 2600, there’s probably 20 YouTube videos that’ll do that for you by guys (and yes, it’ll be guys) named things like “Mike the Atari Nerd” and “The Crusty Gamer Punk” or whatever; you look that shit up. If you are familiar with the Atari 2600, however, you’ll know that most of the classic titles didn’t come from Atari themselves. Instead, a large amount of the hits came from an indie developer named Activision. Yeah, that Activision, the Call of Duty guys (and yes, it’s mostly guys), the bane of video gamers across the globe, the ones who destroyed rhythm games and Tony Hawk, that same Activision. Released in July of 1980, Boxing was developed by Bob Whitehead who, like many other Activision employees, used to work for Atari, where he had created a similar game in 1978 that never got out of the demo phase. The premise was simple, two men enter the ring, they beat the shit out of each other, and then someone wins. There really isn’t a whole lot to this game, you can play against the computer or a buddy, with the game ending once someone scores 100 points or two minutes are up. After that, you hit reset, and go again, over and over and over. This simplicity, which might seem quaint now (and is certainly not worth the length/price ratio that had so many Limbo critics up in arms), was seen as a positive in 1980. Critics found the lack of confusing inputs to be refreshing, praising the developers decision to the let the computer decide what hand you’d punch with. By today’s standards, the game is a bit of a bore, and I do not share their thoughts that allowing the computer to decide which hand I use is a good thing, but to look at the game in their 1980 eyes I can see the appeal. Imagine having the boys over (and yes, it was mostly boys playing this shit), you grab some beers, turn on the Atari in the rumpus room, throw down a bowl of pretzels and just wail on each other for a couple hours, laughing and having a good old time. We’ve been doing this ritual for 40 years ever since, be it Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Fatal Fury, Super Smash Bros., or any fighting game, dudes (and yes, I can not stress this enough, it is ALWAYS dudes) love to beat the shit out of one another while drinking beer/Surge/Mt. Dew/Monster.

 

If you like what I’m doing here consider supporting me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2512811