Happy Tuesday, everybody! It’s a pretty big week for games, with one of the most anticipated releases of the year hitting store shelves (and digital…shelves…). Wondering just what the big game is? Check out this video and find out:

Pretty funny stuff, huh? I’m fucking hilarious. Anyway, the top game of the week is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second entry in the FF VII remake trilogy. While 2020’s FF VII Remake mostly followed the original game’s story, it took a hard left turn near the end that seemed to play into this idea that we were maybe looking at some kind of multiverse thing, with Crisis Core protagonist Zack making a surprise return despite his, you know, death. I can not wait to dive into Rebirth and, with strong reviews coming in from all outlets, it sounds like we’re all in for a real treat.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) – Releases Feb. 29^th

Developed by: Square Enix Creative Business I
Published by: Square Enix

While I imagine most of us will be playing Rebirth, there’s still some other titles out there that are worth looking into. Devolver Digital…friend (subsidiary?) Good Shepard is publishing the interesting looking Dicefolk, a Pokémon-esque RPG where you fight other monsters and use dice for combat.

Dicefolk (PC) – Releases Feb. 27^th

Developed by: LEAP Game Studio/Tiny Ghoul
Published by: Good Shepherd Entertainment

From Spike Chunsoft we have the latest entry in the Shiren the Wanderer series, The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island. I’ve never been a huge fan of these “mystery dungeon” games, they usually come across as too simple and run the risk of getting stale, but they’ve had a major presence in Japan for close to thirty years, if not more.

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island (Switch) – Releases Feb. 27^th

Developed by: Spike Chunsoft
Published by: Spike Chunsoft

Fans of survival games should give Welcome to ParadiZe a look, where you use zombies to perform tasks at your base camp while you try to find a new home. The game looks very silly and has a kind of late 1990’s/early 2000’s charm that should make PC gamers of a certain age feel a little bit of nostalgia.

Welcome to ParadiZe (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Feb. 29^th

Developed by: Eko Software
Published by: Nacon

Finally, we’ve got two ports to talk about. One is a remake, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, while the other is a remaster, Star Wars: Dark Forces. Both of these games were well loved in their time, and it’s great to see that both of these will now be playable on modern consoles. I mean, did we really NEED a remake of Brothers? Probably not, but it’ll at least look gorgeous in 4k. The Dark Forces remaster has improved graphics as well, with all of the cutscenes re-done in a modern art style, removing the pixelated graphics that the original had. While I typically don’t like this (see the graphics update to Day of the Tentacle), the new art used in Dark Forces looks pretty good.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Feb. 28^th

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Feb. 28^th

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

That’s it for new stuff, time to go back to the past and see what we were playing 10, 20, and 30 years ago.

First up, from 2014, is the RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth, from Obsidian Entertainment and Ubisoft. The idea for the game came about in 2009 where South Park co-creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, decided that they wanted to make a truly great South Park video game. Having been disappointed with previous entries, such as the N64 first person shooter South Park and the party game Chef’s Luv Shack, Parker and Stone wanted to make sure they were heavily involved from start to finish and that they got a truly great team to work on the game. Being fans of RPG’s, Parker and Stone reached out to developer Obsidian Entertainment due to their work on Fallout: New Vegas, as well as countless other great RPG’s.

After the release of Skyrim in 2011, Parker and Stone wanted to make a South Park game that was just as big and epic, turning in a 500 page script. Parker and Stone would continually have meetings with Obsidian to discuss various aspects of the game, really just inserting themselves into it fully, and also investing quite a bit of money into the project themselves. When the show’s distributor, Viacom, got cold feet about publishing the game, the team reached out to other publishers, finally settling on THQ, despite their well known financial issues. With THQ on board, the game was given a release date of March 2013, but things didn’t go as planned.

THQ’s money problems just couldn’t be fixed and they were forced to sell off their assets in order to pay back their debts. The publishing rights to the South Park game were auctioned off, but not without Parker and Stone trying to sue to halt the sale, claiming that South Park Studios owned the full rights. A judge disagreed and allowed the sale to go through, the buyer; Ubisoft. From here, Parker, Stone, and Ubisoft executives sat down to discuss the game.

Ubisoft’s main concern was that the scope of the game was too ambitious and far, FAR too expensive and they were asked to start making drastic cuts to the game (this is probably why the ending of the game feels so rushed and underdeveloped). Obsidian was first given until December of 2013 to finish the game, before it was finally confirmed for a March 2014 release, with the game now titled South Park: The Stick of Truth. At a panel during San Diego Comic-Con (of which I attended), Park and Stone gave tongue in cheek answers, opening up the panel by demanding no one ask about Stick of Truth. It was here that Parker and Stone noted that their major inspiration on the game was Crash Bandicoot 2, before giving a serious answer; they wanted to make their own Earthbound.

With inspiration from Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, and Earthbound, Stick of Truth had a lot to live up to and, for the most part, it did. Critics were pleased with the final result, with the game looking, sounding, and feeling exactly like an episode of the show. All of the influences that Parker and Stone talked about could be felt in the game, from the grand, epic scale, to the top notch story telling, to the subversive nature of the game’s world, deftly skewering American life & pop-culture. The game world was so detailed that it forced Parker and Stone to map out the town of South Park, giving official locations to each boy’s home, as well as where the various shops and other building are in town.

While Stick of Truth was praised for its humor and world building, most of the criticism was pointed towards the combat, which critics found to be repetitive and somewhat boring (the combat would receive a major overhaul in the sequel game, The Fractured But Whole). Some critics found the missions to be tedious and that the game’s difficulty was, overall, fairly low. Despite the criticisms, the game was a huge success financially, selling well over 5 million copies, worldwide.

The game received several accolades at the end of the year, being part of multiple “Best of” end of year lists, and receiving multiple nominations for Game of the Year and RPG of the Year. Trey Parker would go on to win Performance of the Year at the inaugural Game Awards, beating out Troy Baker, Melissa Hutchison (Clementine in The Walking Dead), Adam Harrington from The Wolf Among Us, and…Kevin Spacey. The Stick of Truth is easily available today on modern consoles and PC, and is a must-play for both RPG and South Park fans.

Moving to 2004, we’ve got the action/adventure game Ninja Gaiden, a reboot of the series that was produced and directed by Dead of Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki. The game began development in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast but, after the failure of that console, it was slated to be a launch title for the PlayStation 2. However, Itagaki was able to experience the Xbox and came away very impressed by its power and capabilities. The decision was then made to make Ninja Gaiden an Xbox exclusive, stunning the video gaming world, as the Xbox was notorious for its failure in Japan. In a poll on Tecmo’s website, many fans had hoped the game would be a GameCube exclusive, but the series wouldn’t find its way to a Nintendo console until Ninja Gaiden 3.

This was Team Ninja’s first action game, having worked primarily on fighting games in the past. The initial build of Ninja Gaiden had very little in common with its NES predecessors, prompting Tecmo to ask Itagaki to re-work the game to appeal to a Western audience, where Ninja Gaiden was a well know and beloved franchise. To get Americas more interested in the game, Itagaki decided to increase the amount of hardcore violence and up the difficulty. While the series was initially not intended to be related to the NES games, story wise, Itagaki has since stated that he views the trilogy to be a prequel to the NES games.

Ninja Gaiden was very well received by critics when it released, with some calling it one of the greatest action games of all time. Critics believed that Ninja Gaiden set a new standard for third person action games and was easily one of the best games of 2004. Not everyone was pleased, however, with some critics upset at the game’s extreme difficulty and refusal to give any kind of help to players who were not hardcore gamers. Despite the difficulty, Ninja Gaiden sold over one million copies, cementing it as one of the best selling Xbox games of all time. You can still play this game today on modern Xbox consoles, with either a copy of the original disc (Ninja Gaiden Black version) or as a digital download. The game was also made available on PC, PS4/PS5, and Switch with the release of The Master Collection in 2021.

1994’s notable title is the point & click adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky. The idea for the game came up first at Activision, where the game’s creator, Charles Cecil, was employed. He had a meeting with comic book artist Dave Gibbons, best known for Watchmen, but Activision scrapped the plans and Cecil started his own company, Revolution Software. Having formed a friendship with Gibbons, Cecil once again brought up the idea for Beneath a Steel Sky and the two got to work on making it a reality.

The game is set in far future Australia, where the world has become a dystopian, cyberpunk nightmare. Taking on the role of Robert and his robot pal Joey, players will embark on a wild journey through a place called Union City. It’s here that Robert must expose the inner workings of an evil corporation who seems hell bent on retaining power and controlling the population.

Beneath a Steel Sky was highly praised for its world building and story, particularly for its humor. Critics found the game to be a good mix of Lucasarts silliness and Sierra’s earnestness. The game would receive multiple awards from various outlets at the end of the year, including Best Adventure Game and Best Writing, and would be a commercial success for Revolution Software, selling almost half a million copies worldwide. The game is easily available today on PC through Steam or GOG, and its sequel, 2020’s Beyond a Steel Sky is available on Apple Arcade, PC, and all modern consoles.

Movie time! 2014 gave us the action movie Non-Stop, which found Liam Neeson continuing to lean into his new role as an action star after the success of Taken. I found Non-Stop to be a stupid amount of fun, culminating into one of the most bonkers third acts I’ve ever seen in a film. Is it good? No, but it sure is a lot of fun. 2004 gave us the film Club Dread, Broken Lizard’s follow-up to their cult classic Super Troopers. Featuring none of the charm or wit seen in their debut, Club Dread is a dismal film that wastes the talents of all involved. Still, if you want to get high and eat some Doritos on the couch, Club Dread does hold some appeal.

1994’s notable film is the Ted Demme film The Ref, featuring Dennis Leary in one of his first starring roles. The Ref was written by Richard LaGravenese, who was just coming off an Oscar nomination for writing The Fisher King, and with the combined efforts of these three men it seemed like the movie was destined for…something, but it didn’t really pan out. Critics enjoyed the film but audiences practically hated it. Hoping for a Christmas 1993 release (because the movie is set during…well, Christmas), the film’s ending was so poorly received that the studio demanded re-shoots in January of 1994, killing any awards momentum the film might have had. It was unceremoniously dumped in the beginning of March where it was destroyed by Ace Ventura and Guarding Tess, with Leary blaming the studio’s inability to market the film. Oh, it also has Kevin Spacey who, I hope, didn’t sexually assault anyone on set.

Moving on to music, 2014’s notable album is the critically acclaimed Girl by Pharrell WIlliams, which featured the Oscar nominated song “Happy”. If you aren’t already hearing the song’s chorus in your head then you must have lived in a box, underwater, for the last ten years. 2004 saw the release of Cee-Lo Green… Is the Soul Machine and, man, we just can’t get away from sexual predators this week, huh? The album was a critical and commercial success, further cementing Cee-Lo as a bona fide solo artist after leaving rap group Goodie Mob. He wasn’t at the peak of his fame yet, but he was certainly on his way.

1994’s notable album is a great one, Mellow Gold by Beck. Having released an experimental noise album only a week earlier called Steropathetic Soulmanure, Mellow Gold was Beck’s breakthrough album, propelled by the hit single “Loser”. The album was decidedly “anti-commercial”, which is exactly why it was such a commercial success. The unironic irony, so to speak, of Beck was a huge draw to the multitude of Gen-X’ers that were beginning to shape the face of popular culture in the mid 1990’s.

Mellow Gold was praised for its folksy, nostalgic sound, in which Beck fused rock, hip hop, folk, blues, psychedelia, and country to create what he called a “satanic K-tel record”. K-tel was well known for its string of successful compilation albums in the 1960’s and 1970’s that featured a plethora of artists across multiple styles. Like hip-hop albums in the tail end of 1993, alternative albums were having a moment in the beginning of 1994 with the release of Green Day’s Dookie, Beck’s Mellow Gold, and upcoming releases The Downward Spiral and Superunknown by Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden, respectively. I’m sure we’ll have some more classics to talk about as the year goes on, what an exciting time it must have been to be a music fan!

South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC/PS3/Xbox 360) – Released Mar. 4^th, 2014: Wiki Link

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) – Released Mar. 2^nd, 2004: Wiki Link

Beneath a Steel Sky (PC) – Released Mar. 1994: Wiki Link

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