Top Releases:

• Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana (PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Jan. 7^th
• Sea Fantasy (PC) – Releases Jan. 7^th
• Reviver (PC) – Releases Jan. 8^th
• JUMP! The Floor Is… (PC) – Releases Jan. 10^th

Folks, we made it another year, hooray! I hope you all had a fantastic New Year’s celebration, I drank way too much Stone Cold Steve Austin beer, Broken Skull IPA. It’s bold, crisp taste makes it the perfect compliment to any meal, or if you’re just hanging out with the boys watching The Boys on Amazon Prime. Broken Skull IPA, available at any of your favorite beverage retailers; get stunned!

Anyway, there’s also a few new games coming out. Personally, I am the most excited for Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, a remaster of the 2005 PC game. Originally only released in Japan, the game would hit North America in 2010 on the PSP, before coming to PC worldwide in 2012. I’ve already played this game for several hours on PC, but I’m going to redo everything on my Switch copy because it’s remastered; REMASTERED!

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana (PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Jan. 7^th

Developed by: Nihon Falcom
Published by: XSEED

That’s pretty much it for big titles. Honestly, though, having an Ys game in the first couple weeks of January is huge. Do you remember last year’s top game? No peeking, if you can remember last year’s top title I want you to post it in the comments. There’s no prize though, your only reward is the satisfaction you’ll get for knowing the answer to something.

What was I talking about? Oh, new games, sure, whatever. Rounding things out are a trio of smaller titles. First up is the action RPG Sea Fantasy, which is all about fishing at the end of the world; literally, the world is ending. Unless, of course, you can catch the best fish and, like, do stuff with them. Not like, THAT kind of stuff, just like, you know, stuff. With a huge pixelated map to wander, dungeons to explore, and fish to catch, Sea Fantasy might be worth your time, pending the reviews.

Sea Fantasy (PC) – Releases Jan. 7^th

Developed by: METASLA
Published by: METASLA

If you want something cozy then check out Reviver, a narrative puzzle game where your choices drastically affect the lives of its dual protagonists. Maybe cozy isn’t your jam, perhaps you’re looking for something more hectic? Then you’ve got to check out JUMP! The Floor Is…, a frantic racing game where you must avoid the floor at all costs, lest you lose precious time in your effort to reach the goal before your opponents.

It looks like you can play JUMP! solo, but the real fun is likely to be had online against friends. I would not be surprised if this found a life on Twitch, but I suppose it will have to do with how fun it is and how good (or bad) the controls are.

Reviver (PC) – Releases Jan. 8^th

Developed by: Cotton Game
Published by: Cotton Game

JUMP! The Floor Is… (PC) – Releases Jan. 10^th

Developed by: GamesDoc
Published by: GamesDoc

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

Welcome back, everyone, to a brand new year of notable titles! If you’re new here, this is the section of my weekly column where I highlight three (sometimes four) games that all came out (roughly) the same week, 10, 20, and 30 (sometimes 40) years ago. Not only will we discuss the most notable video games, but we’ll also look at the most notable films and albums as well, giving us a nice snapshot of the pop culture that filled our lives in that moment. Without any further interruptions, here are your notable titles…

Games:

From 2015, we’ve got the game Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, a standalone expansion to 2013’s Saints Row IV. In Gat out of Hell, players take on the role of either Johnny Gat or Kinzie Kensington, two side characters from Saints Row IV, as they attempt to rescue “The Boss”, the main player character from SR IV, after he has been kidnapped by Satan. While you do not need to played SR IV to play Gat out of Hell, players who did will see “The Boss” as their own custom creation from that game; a fun little bonus.

The gameplay in Gat out of Hell is nearly identical to all previous Saints Row games, with players navigating an open world (an original location called New Hades), taking on quests, completing challenges, and collection various trinkets. However, while previous Saints Row games would have the story advanced by completing specific main story missions, Gat of Hell’s story is advanced by players doing tasks to fill up the “Satan’s Wrath” meter, which triggers a cutscene.

Reception to Gat Out of Hell was mixed. Critics praised the game’s new setting, unique weapons & special abilities, characters, and story. However, the game’s short run time (which, I mean, might be a positive today), poor graphics, and repetitive nature, made it fall short of greatness. Overall, Gat Out of Hell was a fun, original title, but it lacked depth and variety. Gat Out of Hell is, effectively, the final game in the original version of the franchise, with 2022’s Saints Row rebooting things (as a note, that game was a flop, leading to the closure of Volition). As of this writing, no further Saints Row games appear to be in development.

Looking back at 2005, our notable title here is the Game Boy Advance title The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Talk about a great way to start the new year, Minish Cap is one of the best Zelda games of all time, featuring a unique mechanic where Link can shrink himself access areas of the game map that he otherwise couldn’t while full size. To accomplish this feat, Link must use the magical powers of a talking cap, named Ezlo, that stays with him on his journey.

Chronologically, Minish Cap is the second game in the series (despite being the 12th release) and, like its chronological predecessor, Skyward Sword, tells the origin story of a famous sword, the Four Sword, and is also the origin story of Vaati, the main villain in Four Swords Adventures. The gameplay in Minish Cap is similar to all 2D Zelda games, though it does contain a few new weapons/tools: Mole Mitts, which allows Link to dig through certain walls, the Gust Jar, which sucks up enemies/objects, and the Cain of Pacci, which flips certain objects upside down.

Minish Cap was both a critical and commercial success. By March of 2005, the game had sold over one million copies worldwide and, by the end of the year, was the seventh best selling game of 2005. In a strange bit of business, Nintendo released Minish Cap in Europe before it hit North America as they did not want the game to cannibalize sales of the Nintendo DS (or its software) in the U.S., opting to push the game out in January instead.

As for the critics, Minish Cap received some of the best reviews of the year, being praised for its graphics, gameplay, dungeon design and, above all else, its excellent music. Like our 2015 notable title, Gat Out of Hell, Minish Cap was criticized for its short length, about ten hours, but I would personally call that a huge positive in a world where we regularly get games that take well over 100 hours to finish.

Playing Minish Cap today is very easy, if you own a Nintendo Switch, as the game is featured in the GBA Nintendo Switch Online collection. The critics were not wrong here, Minish Cap is, without a doubt, one of the finest Zelda games of all time and, it should go without saying, is one of the greatest Game Boy Advance games of all time; giving that handheld one final bow before it would be replaced by the DS.

Our notable title from 1995, Heretic, is a bit of a cheat, here, as the game was originally available in a shareware state on Dec. 29th, 1994. However, you can think of that as “early access”, because the full game was not available for purchase until January of 1995, so that’s the date I’m gonna go with, alright? Alright.

Heretic is a first person shooter developed by Raven Software, that uses a modified version of the Doom engine, and was published by Doom creators id Software. Initially, Raven wanted to make a first person RPG, similar to their first title, 1992’s Black Crypt, but at the suggestion of id’s John Romero, who was also the producer on Heretic, the game was modified to be Doom in a fantasy setting.

While the gameplay is nearly identical to Doom (levels, keys that unlock doors, switches that activate walls), Heretic was able to differentiate itself by adding three major components. The first is that the game featured environmental features, such as rushing water that could push the player. The second was an inventory system, where players could collect various items, such as health potions or magical totems that could turn enemies into chickens. The third difference was its biggest, players had the ability to fly.

Discovered by accident, the “fly” feature is actually a hack. One of Heretic’s programmers, Chris Rhinehart, was looking for a way to move the horizon line up and down. In the process, he discovered that moving the horizon line also moved the player camera’s location, giving the illusion of flying. This was a huge moment for the team and allowed Heretic to find a gameplay mechanic that turned the game from a Doom clone into something wholly unique.

Critical reception to Heretic was, unfortunately, not great for Raven and id. Despite trying to differentiate itself from Doom, the “clone” feeling of the game was not alleviated by the various changes. Critics felt that the game’s arsenal of weapons were all too similar and did not feel satisfying to use. The ability to look up and down was pointless, to most critics, as it did nothing to change the direction of your weapons, while the flying felt more like “flying”, operating more like a forklift that would pick you up and move you around. Like the weapons, flying was just wasn’t satisfying.

While Heretic would not find the same success as Doom and Doom II, this would not stop Raven and id from releasing more games in the series. Its sequel, Hexen: Beyond Heretic (also released in 1995), received much better reviews (more on that in October) and feeling actual progression the FPS genre. In total, four games in the series would be produced (the other two being Hexen II and Heretic II); not bad for a franchise that would only sell 500k copies in its first go around.

Today, ownership of the Heretic series is split between Activision (Raven’s parent company) and id, with Activision holding the development rights and id the publishing rights. There have been talks over the years about making a fifth entry, with the last known discussion happening in 2014, but it’s unknown if the series will ever be revived. However, I wouldn’t be shocked to see some kind of nod in the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages; you never know!

Movies:

Stepping into the world of notable films, 2015 saw the release of Taken 3, Liam Neeson’s third go-around as the bad ass killer, Bryan Mills or, as I like to call him “Taken”. In Taken 3, Taken visits his daughter, Taken’s Daughter, and has a conversations with Taken’s ex-wife, Taken’s Wife. As Taken and Taken’s ex-wife talk, Taken discovers that Taken’s Wife (who is Taken’s ex-wife) is having marital problems with her current husband, Stuart, who I refer to as Taken’s ex-wife’s husband.

The next day, Taken receives a text message from Taken’s ex-wife asking to meet for breakfast. Taken goes over to the home here Taken’s ex-wife and Taken’s ex-wife’s husband live, only to find Taken’s ex-wife dead, murdered. Two LAPD officers immediately arrive and attempt to arrest Taken for the crime they think he committed, the murder of Taken’s ex-wife. Taken is, of course, a fucking bad ass, and does his Taken shit to the LAPD and goes on a mission to find out who killed his ex-wife, Taken’s Wife. Critics hated this movie and this would be the last Taken film in the franchise; poor Taken.

From 2005 we’ve got the sports drama Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson and a who’s who of 2000’s young, male actors. Coach Carter is, what I like to refer to as an “almost prestige film”. What does this mean, exactly? Well, you see, in the months preceding the Academy Awards, you will sometimes get these movies that posit themselves as “prestigious”, but they are often critically panned and were pushed into January & February to capitalize on audience demand for more “artistic” movies as they prepare to watch the upcoming Academy Awards.

This sounds harsh because, well, it is harsh. Now, is Coach Carter a bad movie? No, not really, according to critics it’s an average, unremarkable film that, in the end, leaves you feeling good. While it may be audience pleasing and contain the necessary ingredients for a film, it ultimately does not inspire or attain greatness due to a lackluster, by the numbers plot that you instantly forget about.

However, Coach Carter was not completely snubbed by 2005 awards shows. It was a big deal in the African American community, where it was nominated in several categories, winning Best Director (for Thomas Carter, no relation) at both the Black Movie Awards & the Black Reel Awards, and Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (Samuel L. Jackson) at the NAACP Image Awards. In total, the film would receive 18 nominations over eight different awards shows.

Maybe my assessment of Coach Carter as an “almost prestige” film is wrong. Maybe, in a society where people of color are marginalized, a film like Coach Carter was unfairly dumped into January yet, like so many other things in the black community, it was able to overcome its obstacles and rise to greatness.

Moving about as far away from prestige, “almost” or otherwise, we’ve got 1995’s notable film Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight. Directed by Ernest Dickerson, a well known African America cinematographer who worked with Spike Lee (hmm, this was also dumped in January…), he found success with his two previous directorial efforts, Juice and Surviving the Game.

Originally written in 1987, the script went through several hands, including being seen by directors Tom Holland (not THAT Tom Holland) and Mary Lambert, who made Child’s Play & Pet Sematary, respectively, as well as the b-movie studio Full Moon Features. Ultimately, the script landed in front of producer Joel Silver, and the decision was made to film Demon Knight as the first movie in a Tales from the Crypt horror trilogy.

Before production began, two scripts were written; in the low budget version, the demons were disguised as yuppies in business suits selling bibles, while the standard budget version had them being, well, full fledged demon monsters. The film’s distributor, Universal, was worried that seeing a bunch of well dressed white men in business suits get killed might not be a good look (for their investors, probably). They decided to pitch in some extra money to get the fancy demon suits made and the “low budget” script was tossed.

While the film’s lead protagonist, Frank Brayker, is the major focus of Demon Knight, it’s a black, female character, Jeryline (played by a young Jada Pinkett) that ultimately saves the world from a demon invasion. Director Ernest Dickerson felt it was important to have the savior of Earth be a black woman, as they are, generally, one of the most marginalized groups around the world.

Despite some fun thrills, gory effects, and a kinda/sorta positive racial message, Demon Knight was savaged by critics who said that the film was neither scary enough to be a horror movie, nor funny enough to be a comedy. Other critics referred Demon Knight as “trash”, “sick”, “a direct-to-video movie sent to theatres”, and “without conviction”. The last, gasping words of a dying generation of film critics.

Audiences, on the other hand, felt much more positive about the film. It grossed $21 million on a $12 million budget and found a larger life on home video. In retrospect, the film is much more well beloved than it was at launch, and looks even better when compared to its abhorrent follow-up film, Bordello of Blood. Demon Knight wasn’t the best movie of 1995, but it was certainly a fun way to start the year.

Albums:

In notable albums, 2015 saw the release of Meghan Trainor’s major-label debut, Title, a doo-wop classic that gave us the smash hit “All About That Bass”. The album was a phenomenon, spurred on by “All About That Bass”, which would go on to become the best-selling song of the 2010’s by a female artist. Critical reception to the album was mixed; Entertainment Weekly called it pop from a “real-girl” and felt it was full of charm and sass. Other critics felt the album was too repetitive with every song sounding like a different, worse, version of “All About That Bass”.

With a debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200, Trainor was a major force in American music. Critics, however, just weren’t impressed, assuming the singer would follow a similar popularity trajectory as Duffy, another “throwback” artist, as Trainor didn’t have any of the “star power” or “authenticity” as the ultimate “throwback” singer, the late Amy Winehouse. The album would receive two Grammy nominations, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (All About That Bass), failing to win either. Trainor, for what it’s worth, still has a very successful career, with every single one of her albums debuting on the Billboard Top 200, though none have ever reached the heights of Title.

2005 didn’t really have a lot of albums to choose from when I looked them up, settling on Cass McCombs’ second studio effort, PREFection. Received about as well as his debut, A, PREFection got a positive review and write-up from Pitchfork, the arbiters of good taste in music (obviously). I have a few of the songs from this album in my digital library; they’re alright, I guess.

Finally, from 1995, we’ve got the album Do You Want More?!!!??! from hip-hop group The Roots. Their second studio album, Do You Want More?!!!??! is often recognized as one the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time, though it was not much of a commercial success in its day, only reaching Gold record status in 2015.

With socially conscious lyrics and a penchant for live instrumentation, The Roots carved themselves a niche audience in the hip-hop world, catering to individuals with eclectic tastes. Still, the muted reception to Do You Want More?!!!??! led to the group adopting a harder, more broadly appealing sound on their next record, 1996’s Illadelph Halflife, which helped bring them closer to a mainstream audience. Grammy nominations wouldn’t happen until 2000, and they would achieve their greatest mainstream success after becoming the house band on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon and, eventually, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Saints Row: Gat out of Hell (PC/PS3/PS4/Xbox 360/Xbox One) – Released Jan. 20^th, 2015

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA) – Released Jan. 10^th, 2005

Heretic (PC) – Released Jan. 1995

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