Retro, 8-Bit Team Fortress!

Just recently I gave Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead a whirl, and I really liked it, despite moments of frustration because of my noobish-ness. Well, I liked it so much, I went and tried out Pixel Force: Team Fortress Arcade. Let me just say, it was excellent. It felt like a pretty well made side scrolling, classic shooter, much like Metal Slug and other "run-n'-gun" type affairs of yore. This is something that if you found it in an arcade, it wouldn't in the least look out of place. The visuals are well executed and has that nice, retro graphics look, excellent explosions and animations.. Me gusta!
I mean, just look at it!

Die, robot-scum!

It also feels and controls pretty well, despite the controls being a little goofy. You have access to the regular cast of characters like you'd find in Team Fortress 2, each with their own special guns and abilities and varying stats. In my run-through, I played as the scout, the spy, demo, and heavy. Naturally, scout is fast, maneuverable, and has a nice double jump, but low health. Conversely, heavy is rather slow, can't jump for crap, but a large amount of health. He also wields his mighty chain gun which decimates. The spy was interesting to play as also. Though he only wields a pistol, he can also turn invisible and "one-shot" most enemies with his trusty butterfly knife. Last and certainly not least, I played as the demolitionist. He was especially fun to play as. With his grenade launcher, he can shoot sticky mines which are detonated with the jump button and if you're on top of said mines, they'll launch you into the air for a kind of super jump. It's a really excellent way to both avoid enemy fire, and blow them up with. It felt pretty satisfying. Heh heh heh...
Definitely give this a whirl! If you haven't read the previous post for Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead, that and this were made by Eric Ruth games, a budding game developer. Check out his work. He deserves kudos for sure, so click the pic above. (It's secretly a link.)
Below is my video of myself playing this bad boy if you need some extra convincing to try it out. :]

RPG Maker and Story-Telling in Games

I'm sure by now a lot of you have at least heard about To The Moon. For those whom haven't, it is a game with SNES-era RPG style graphics by Freebird Games, and it puts many big studio games of today to shame. It puts them to shame not in terms of graphics of course, or gameplay (the little slide puzzles between memories was a little out of place, I thought), but in terms of it being a rich narrative in what is a very story-driven game. So good so, it outbeat bigger titles for Best Story from Gamespot in 2011. Others in the running were Portal 2, Xenoblade Chronicles, and others. Also worth mention, it was nominated for best music too!

Ah, so full of the feels..

What I'm getting at is that there seems to be an emergence of a movement towards better story-telling, albeit an underground one. Of late, some really great story-experiences have been coming out. One such experience was Journey, which is such a well-crafted experience. It is able to tell a whole story without a word of dialogue or text throughout the entire game, which built up to quite an ending. Also worth mention, the recent episodic game series that was The Walking Dead. It had such a rich and fantastic character development and delivery, it's able to make you give a rat's arse about them. It's games like these that give me hope for the continuing idea of video games being considered an art medium. Especially after story-telling travesties that was Gears of War and others. You played it, right? I pointed this bit out the other day to someone, but the section of the game where you find Dom's wife in the second game (spoilers!!)? That was horrendous. I laughed out loud, quite literally. The whole "lore" itself behind the games is just sloppily done, almost as if it were an after thought after all the graphics work, the character models and aliens, the game play (which is solid), the doses of ultra-testerone machismo, and so forth.
I won't ever say it was a bad game though. Just as everyone else did, I thoroughly enjoyed chain-sawing through my enemies, but the story is just ridiculous and full of cliches and piss-poor dialogue. If I were a professional reviewer I'd give the game play itself an arbitrary, numerical score of 4.75/5 and the story a "did you just complete a fiction writing course at your local community college"/5. (Granted, I realize that last rating is technically alpha-numerical, but shut up. :P)
I know not everyone will agree with me, but to me, a story is just as important as the game play feel. Not only do I want to enjoy what I'm doing whilst progressing through a game, but it's also important to me to have a well-crafted story that sucks me in and is able to get me to care about and emotionally invest in the characters. I absolutely adore a game that can do this as it sets a part a game from others that are merely entertaining diversions.
This is why I thoroughly enjoy the recent rash of games made through RPG Maker, like the afore-mentioned To The Moon. Despite the old-style JRPG type graphics, many of these games are very well done in terms of story. These games are often very thematic, ranging from the surreal to the sublime. To The Moon was a fantastic story about ambitions, personal tragedy, and the desire I think we all have to right things we've done in the past. Put simply, it was beautiful.
This relatively new medium for gaming are even capable of horror elements, with the right setting of mood. Don't believe me? Try One Night, by Dark Gaia. Mad Father is another good one. They do well to set that horror tone, even without the cutting edge graphics.

From the 3rd installment of One Night.

What many of them also do is to try and instill some sort of message and provoke thought. Misao, a popular one, has a very clear theme of the depths and horror of bullying that a victim and those around them can experience. I won't give away more than that, but it makes it worth at least a play through. Another that tries to tackle something bigger is Clock of Atonement. Quite honestly, it's kinda messed up but stirs up an internal discussion of morality and the ramifications of one's actions (or inaction).
Now I'm not gushing over any and all RPG Maker made game, as there are some that are less than good. However, seeing this indie and community driven push by passionate gamers and developers gives me hope that one day, many AAA titles will be, or strive to be, as rich and vivid and real as these grass-roots efforts.

Below are links to some of the games I mentioned as many are free, but worth checking out. :]

Clock of Atonement - http://rpgmaker.net/games/349/
One Night - http://rpgmaker.net/games/926/
To the Moon - http://freebirdgames.com/to_the_moon/     (Also on Steam.)
Misao - http://vgboy.dabomstew.com/other/misao.htm
Mad Father - http://vgboy.dabomstew.com/other/madfather.htm

Not mentioned, but one's that look interesting that I would like to try.

Space Funeral - http://rpgmaker.net/games/2430/
Corpse Party - http://www.memoriesoffear.com/games_corpsepartypc98/index.html

Retro, 8-Bit Left 4 Dead!

Yeah, that's what I said! Let me just say, I love it. Made by Eric Ruth Games in 2010, the Left 4 Dead concept is repackaged into a glorious 8-bit dream of classic visuals, sound and game play. Not only that, but it's also free! What's not to like? Be sure to click the pic below to check out Eric Ruth's site, because this guy deserves some real kudos. Not only has he done this, but he's also made an 8-bit Team Fortress arcade-style shooter which is very nostalgic and reminiscent of similar classic games of the same vein, and also an 8-bit Halo, DJ Hero, an Angry Video Game Nerd-inspired game, and others. It's all really awesome, but I digress. Back to the topic at hand, Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead.
Look at those gorgeous pixels!

Pills here!

In the game, you get the choice of the classic four characters, just as you did in the original incarnation of Left 4 Dead. You have your various weapons and item pickups, but they're only semi-persistent. For example, if you have the shotgun and you pick up the sub-machine gun, you don't drop the shotgun as you would in the original game, but rather, it simply disappears. You have your regular zombie baddies you have to fight off, but then there are also special zombies as you would find in the original as well. Let me just say, LEAVE THE WITCH ALONE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!! D:
And then there are also hunters and boomers in addition to witches (which is good because how could one reinvent Left 4 Dead, but not include a witch?). The game itself plays pretty well, but it can be pretty difficult. Either that, or I just was sucking it when I went and tried it out..? One annoyance is that if you have a zombie on top of your character, it's really hard to get away from them because there's no player-enemy collision and zombies follow you at or faster than the character's speed. This just sucks the life out of you and you can't shoot at it that close. Maybe there was a melee button that I missed though? You have to figure out the controls when you hop in as there is no tutorial. I still recommend trying this out. Despite it eventually getting frustrating, I enjoyed the game overall.
Below are highlights to a playing of the game I performed if you want a further taste of the awesomeness. But whatever you do today, go to the site and try it out for yourself. You won't regret it. Even if you get frustrated towards the end like I eventually do. :P
Let me know what you think! ;]