As promised, here is the first in my two-part series of reviews of the works of Vision Scape Interactive. This is the first game that was released under that studio's banner. The back of the box promises, "Dino Fun on the Run!" read the review to see if the studio delivered on their claim. Link to the review.
Based on the credits the game was completed by a very small team, but like many indy games of today.
Entertainment site IGN writes of The Land Before Time Great Valley Racing Adventure, "Who knew that dinosaurs could race cars at all, let alone drive so professionally?" To which I ask, "Who knew you can’t spell ignorant without IGN?" given that this is a competitive running game, not a vehicular racer. They also list the developer as being TDK Mediactive (sic) when any visitor to (admittedly now-defunct) lbtgame.com knows that Vision Scape Interactive produced the game.
Only a team on their level could release (just six months later) Razor Racing, and then two months later release X-Bladez. For their final game, Vision Scape took their time and eleven months later released SeaBlade for the Xbox.
The company, founded in San Diego, California, by husband and wife team Tammy and Matt McDonald, had a knack for landing some bankable licensed games. The McDonalds continued to work at a number of game development houses after the studio closed and have kpet active up until very recently. Regardless of the quality of their games, the studio demonstrated a disciplined approach, which is likely why they were able to attract so much contract work.
Fortunately for you, dear reader, I have a copy of their first and last game, so I am dedicating a significant amount of time and energy into reviewing the bookends of this studio's work in an upcoming series.
Phil reviews Battlefield: Hardline, EA's attempt to broaden the FPS military segment of it's gaming line-up by offering up policework in place of insurgent hunting.
Click here for linkage. Important to note that Phil was playing Limbo for the first time when he went through Battlefield Hardline.
Actually that was probably in no way important to note.
Tom Towers reviews the final expansion of The Witcher 3. A fitting finale for the series, or an anticlimax? No, not for Game Under, for The Witcher. Durr (that's Australian for duh).
The despair of Geralt; or, Geralt in despair (second version).
Tom Towers coverage appears in normal case (strangely for him). Phil Fogg's coverage is in italics. All image captions are from Mr. Fogg.
Faster Than Light
Was it an angel that descended from heaven, live on stage at E3? Was it Lucifer, losing his wings halfway down? Or was it just Hideo Kojima?
Billy Jean, is not his lover, she's just a girl that says he is The One.
8-Views of Death Mountain
Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!
Zelda will finally fulfil the fantasies of the multitudes. Bullet points in place of a 30-year-old formula. But how exciting, how wondrous these bullet points appear to be when fully realised.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!
But let us not forget in our ecstasy the beauty of a single motif repeated. Each repetition revealing another aspect of the subject, or allowing us the opportunity to revel in the eccentricities of its author[s]; concentrated by the constraints of working to a formula.
Remember! Remember! Remember!
And let us ask, also, what constitutes Zelda? The aesthetic sensibilities, the mythology, the gameplay mechanics…or the formula itself? In retaining the aesthetic sensibilities and mythology sans the formula, do we serve any purpose greater than the gratification of our desire for nostalgic fulfilment?
Remember! Remember! Remember!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!
Amnesiac Chameleons
Apparently a series or two made a drastic departure from their roots. Apparently a few series were rebooted in a classical, yet contemporary style. But so closely did they resemble other games, I can scarcely recall what series they were.
It was nice, however, to see God of War 4 introduce a character that the majority of its fanbase could at last relate to.
Son, Get me a beer. I mean dear, get me a deer.
As the demographic of console gamer contines to age, Kratos, in his flabby-dad period of life, with his less than sensitive parenting style, spoke for the rising anger in the average (really) white male in bluntly un-ironically pulling his son away from his playthings to get him to go kill a deer, providing an aural mnemonic for the familiar refrain, "go get me a beer".
Besides that, bringing 40-year old Corey Barlog back onto the God of War team is greatly encouraging. He was present for the original and creative director for God of War II, arguably the best in the franchise. He left the studio under strange circumstances, and his return could only be capped by that of David Jaffe retaking the helm.
Moving God of War into an isolated natural setting with a companion at your side seems to be the Sony way these days, and surely God of War's reboot will not be the Last of These, judging by Sony Bend's new game.
The Tortoise and the Hair
Do developers not realise that beards are now a passé symbol of the hipster? Killzone 3 got the timing right. Broken Age got the contemporary depiction right. The former was released in 2011. The latter’s full-bodied beard was sported by a hipster lumberjack.
The millenial pioneers of beard.
Choruses from E3 (in conclusion):
The world is ending.
We want to be one of the lucky few to survive the world’s end, whether it is brought about by the Spanish flu, The Great War, technology, zombies, the unknown…or Ganondorf. Fulfilling this desire, videogames have now charted the extent of the decline of Western civilisation, going from the Not-Quite-As-Great-but-Still-Pretty-Good War, to The War on Terror and its echoes of The Cold War, to the cataclysmic beginning of the end: The Great War itself; complemented by a general sentiment steeped in the apocalyptical, present in much of the catalogue on display at this year’s E3.
Incidentally, The Last of Us and Tomb Raider were really very successful.
Game Under’s (Tom Towers) Game of the Show: Forza Horizon 3
We at Game Under love the way Australia separates earth and sky. Go horizon! Go! Go!
It actually did look quite good, and I enjoyed that for the first time since Midway's Cruis'n' The World, that Australia is being depicted in a racing game, albeit sans kangaroos. Horizon: Zero Dawn was actually a game that came closer for my E3 GOTY, but ultimately I am most anticipating Detroit continuing David Cage's vision of gaming.
We'll have much more to say, including my views on Microsoft's approach, in the next episode of the Game Under Podcast.
A long time ago, in a opaque e-mail to Phil which I regret, and he accepted with a wow, I'll have to return to this (though he, thankfully, never did), I revealed both the size of the lesions in my brain and the blood supplied to the same organ, by way of describing how they had recently shrunk or flowed rather than grown and ebbed.
Feebly, and foolishly, I wrote and partially edited what are now the final instalments of the Tom Towers Reads series, a work documenting the return of my literacy (some semblance of successful short term memory creation and processing) yet the absence, still, of my ability to recall long-term memories without some prompting, and the perpetual sense of paranoia and déjà vu which resulted.
The series, as a whole, was an autobiography made and presented in the wrong medium. A Pater prose poem, not a Poe. In fact, it is one in the mode of the latter (recounting an earlier such shrinking and flowing) that haunts the style of these supposed reviews; part of a work rendering everything that I had written, post-lesions, up until that point an impotent impression of the whole of the work itself, its festering maggots gnawing their rotting prose.
Writers who disavow their own work, beg their benefactors to burn it on their deathbed, but do not burn it themselves, are cowards. So if I am not to move these to the recycle bin (and they are backed-up in so many folders, hard drives and clouds that I can hardly hope to eradicate them completely; as with most infestations, one is at its mercy no matter what one tries) then, out of shame, let me disparage them and publish them in their present—and chronologically increasingly unedited and underdeveloped, as the realisation of their futility slowly dawned upon me,—state, in the internet's very own outhouse, GameUnder.net; where only those whose brains are as damaged as mine are likely to find them...
Which is also our new slogan: Game Under, for those whomse brains are as damaged as ours..."
- Tom Towers
"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. Until I beame a bobble-head doll, and then it all made sense." - Edgar Allan Poe
Phil and Tom talk about Sunset Overdrive (this months Games for Gold offering), Treasure's Gunstar Heroes, their understanding of Sony (and others) attempts to fill the generation gap, as well as a much anticipated review of Killzone: Skyfall from Tom Towers.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, struggling to comprehend the new Towers Scoring System.
A long time ago, in a opaque e-mail to Phil which I regret, and he accepted with a wow, I'll have to return to this (though he, thankfully, never did), I revealed both the size of the lesions in my brain and the blood supplied to the same organ, by way of describing how they had recently shrunk or flowed rather than grown and ebbed.
Feebly, and foolishly, I wrote and partially edited what are now the final instalments of the Tom Towers Reads series, a work documenting the return of my literacy (some semblance of successful short term memory creation and processing) yet the absence, still, of my ability to recall long-term memories without some prompting, and the perpetual sense of paranoia and déjà vu which resulted.
The series, as a whole, was an autobiography made and presented in the wrong medium. A Pater prose poem, not a Poe. In fact, it is one in the mode of the latter (recounting an earlier such shrinking and flowing) that haunts the style of these supposed reviews; part of a work rendering everything that I had written, post-lesions, up until that point an impotent impression of the whole of the work itself, its festering maggots gnawing their rotting prose.
Writers who disavow their own work, beg their benefactors to burn it on their deathbed, but do not burn it themselves, are cowards. So if I am not to move these to the recycle bin (and they are backed-up in so many folders, hard drives and clouds that I can hardly hope to eradicate them completely; as with most infestations, one is at its mercy no matter what one tries) then, out of shame, let me disparage them and publish them in their present—and chronologically increasingly unedited and underdeveloped, as the realisation of their futility slowly dawned upon me,—state, in the internet's very own outhouse, GameUnder.net; where only those whose brains are as damaged as mine are likely to find them...
Which is also our new slogan: Game Under, for those whomse brains are as damaged as ours..."
- Tom Towers
I'm 'enry the eigth I am.
Tom and Phil give their first impressions of The Walking Dead's latest iteration, Michonne. Phil gives a score for Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One, and both hosts lay down a score on The Order: 1886.
Beyond that we give our usual kaleidoscopical view on the world and gaming, we hope you enjoy Episode 89.
This was one of the comments left in response to one of Tom's Reviews. Seriously.
Tom and Phil decided to breakout their spoilercast of Life Is Strange (first aired in Episode 75).
It was a very important game when we came to our Game of the Year Considerations, but it was buried deeply into Episode 75, so we agreed it should get it's own half-show.
If you have not finished Life is Strange, Please do not listen to this show. But we both encourage you to finish (and obviously listen).
