Forthcoming games: nostalgia edition

I’m fussier buying games than books, and check the new releases every so often to try and see what’s coming down the track that might be of interest. Along with Skyrim, there are three games with some potential coming out in the nearish future.

Perhaps the least expected of these is Monkey Island: Special Edition. For people unfamiliar with Thundercats and mobile phones the size of a brick, let me explain. The Monkey Island series was a set of adventure games that first came out decades ago and they were tremendously popular. Monkey Island was/is an old-fashioned point and click adventure game starring Guybrush Threepwood, a would-be pirate. Unusually, the game isn’t packed with violence or serious dramatic tension. It’s essentially a comedy, a small genre in the world of gaming (The Bard’s Tale is the only other out-and-out comedy I think I’ve played).

The new game is very much an updated version of the first two games, so loyal to the original that you can press a button to seamlessly shift from the modern graphics to the old ones at any point. The music has been redone (in ye olden days ‘music’ was a series of electronic beeps) and the original cast rehired. I can’t remember how long the games were (I think I played one of them, loooong ago) but given the starting price is under £15 it’d have to work hard not to be value for money in terms of playing time. If you want to have a closer look at what it’ll be like the game’s website (http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland/) should make it clear whether you’ll be into it or not.

Money Island: Special Edition is out on the 9^th of September, for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Sticking with the nostalgia theme, there’s another Tomb Raider out. Unhelpfully, it’s just been entitled Tomb Raider. This is due for release in the Autumn of 2012, but there’s some info out already.

Sadly, Keeley Hawes (whose voice is perfect for the role) no longer plays Lara Croft, though the new actress’ name has yet to be revealed. Graphically, the game looks to be enormously superior to Underworld, (also for the present generation of consoles), and the premise is more original than is usually the case.

Lara is on a ship that gets struck by a bloody big storm, and ends up sinking. She gets washed ashore, with multiple wounds, and has to try and get off the island. Makes a nice change from breaking into tombs and nicking stuff.

I’ve played probably half of the Tomb Raider games, most recently Anniversary (for the PS2) and Underworld (for the PS3). I do wonder whether the series is beginning to run its course. I enjoyed Anniversary a lot, but Underworld less so. The Uncharted series is, in my opinion, better in most regards (Drake’s a more engaging character, the gun battles are more enjoyable etc etc). Anyway, we’ll have to wait and see whether the new game can reinvigorate the old girl.

Last in this little preview of forthcoming games is Dark Souls, from the lunatics who made Demon's Souls. I was very tempted to buy Demons Souls, which is (by common account) excellent, thrilling and bloody difficult. It’s still available for those who don’t mind a serious challenge (no, really, it’s reportedly incredibly hard but still very fun) at a knock-down price.

Dark Souls, out on the 7^th of October, also comes out in a limited edition form (which, weirdly, is under £40) for the PS3 and Xbox 360, which includes an artbook, Making Of DVD, official sound track CD and a (downloadable) guide to the game.

Dark Souls is not a direct sequel to Demon's Souls, although much of the same elements that made its predecessor such a hit will feature. The widely praised online features have been enhanced and there looks to be a large number of massive boss fights (as well as all the underlings). In terms of graphics and sound, the game looks solid, and given its predecessor’s high regard I’d be surprised if it didn’t sell very well.

So, very much a nostalgic feel to these games, with two (very) old favourites and a sequel. I hope Monkey Island does well. Maybe, just maybe, Phantasy Star IV might get a proper remake, if it does. A man can dream.

Thaddeus

Retro-review: Shadow Hearts & Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts Covenant are both fairly recent games from 2001 and 2004 respectively. They’re innovative RPGs, the first of which was initially planned for the original Playstation but ended up coming out on the PS2 (as did Covenant).

Shadow Hearts is set in the real world, in the early 20^th century. The protagonist, Yuri Hyuga, is half-Russian, half-Japanese and is not a typical hero, as the excellent starting cutscene makes plain. Not for Yuri the over-sized sword and kind-hearted nature of a standard RPG protagonist. He’s slightly messed up, a bit cheeky and obnoxious and has the ability to fuse with demons, becoming a range of powerful monsters. He also hears voices. (Well, one voice. And if he disobeys her he gets stabbing pain in his skull).

The intro seems him on a train, rescuing a very sweet Christian girl (with a rather short skirt) from an English gentleman in a top hat who has murdered half the passengers. A cuddly, cutesy RPG this is not.

Compelled by the voice in his head and Alice’s short skirt, Yuri travels with Alice to find out why the gentleman (Roger Bacon) wanted to capture her. They begin in the Far East, where they meet some new party members including the entertaining Zhuzhen, the spy Margarete, an amusing vampire named Keith and an annoying kid called Halley.

The game takes place first in the Far East and then Europe, and sees not only the mystery of Roger Bacon unravelled but the deepening relationship between Yuri and Alice. The dark undertones, excellent writing and three-dimensional characters really do make it stand out.

In particular, the sound is great. There’s no voice-acting outside of cutscenes, but the music is absolutely top notch. The graphics, however, are below par and it’s not hard to see it was originally meant for the Playstation rather than PS2.

Gameplay is excellent. Each of the characters is unique, with Alice wielding holy magic, Zhuzhen more offensive spells, and so forth. An especially innovative and excellent feature is the Judgement Ring. Basically, a character has to hit sections within a circle as a marker moves around it. It sounds simple (and it is) but it also adds a great element of timing and fresh opportunities for status effects. If the player is tired or a bit rubbish at timing it can be turned off, but the opportunity for critical hits (achieved by hitting the last few degrees of a coloured section) is lost.

There are two endings to the game, and a New Game Plus option (the same applies to the following game).

Shadow Hearts: Covenant is a direct sequel, and also on the PS2. Yuri returns but none of the other main characters from the original game are playable.

World War One is well underway, and a certain village in France is protected by a ferocious demon, which is, of course, Yuri. However, a German officer and a man from the Vatican manage to curse him and he and his companions (a puppeteer and Blanca the wolf) are forced to flee. The German officer switches side and joins them. There are a further four characters that join the party, some of which are more, er, interesting than others (the gay vampire superhero being far more original than the rather tedious Lucia, for example).

The first part of the story is about Yuri overcoming his curse and wreaking vengeance upon those who caused it (which is handy, as the same people want to rule the world). Amusingly for a game that starts off with the standard “Any resemblance to events or people living or dead is purely coincidental” message it features Rasputin, Tsar Nicholas II and a few other historical characters.

Later the story shifts from Europe to the Far East, where the party must prevent the destruction of the present timeline and the rewriting of history.

The graphics are a clear step up from its predecessor, the music remains very good and there’s more voice-acting. Something which is a bit niche but I loved was the varying language options, and I used this game to practice my German. The game also has a lot more quirky/surreal/silly humour than the first, and although it has darker moments the tone is generally lighter than its predecessor.

The Judgement Ring is improved upon, with the ability to add new areas for more hits in a standard attack or widen areas. Each character has a unique set of abilities and means of improving them. I especially liked Blanca’s, which involve fighting and defeating other wolves to gain new abilities.

I didn’t include Shadow Hearts: The New World in this retro-review as, although it’s part of the series, it isn’t really a direct follow-on, Yuri isn’t the protagonist and it isn’t as good.

Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant have sharp writing, fantastic music, an innovative and brilliant combat system and are two of the best modern RPGs there are. It’s a damned shame the series ended after The New World.

Thaddeus

Women in fantasy

A dilemma facing authors in fantasy is how to balance roles for women in terms of realism and modernity. Most fantasy is set in a Middle Ages type world, or something comparable, when almost all women lacked serious power and were definitely not soldiers.

If you’re opting for something that’s as realistic (in a fantasy-based context) as possible, that’s probably what you’ll go for. A while back I did some groundwork for a military fantasy (think 300 meets The Black Company) and it had almost no female cast members at all. [For those wondering, I decided to go with my present, and almost finished, book instead of pursuing The 300 Company].

Modern women are told, rightly, that they are quite capable of doing the various things chaps can do, such as leading large companies, running countries and committing heinous crimes. However, it was not always so. The only woman I can remember being mentioned in the entire Second Punic War, which lasted for decades, was Sophonisba, and that was because she slept with two Numidian kings and then got executed.

Fantasy is often rooted in history, but it is the case that throughout time there have been occasional and glorious women who have forced their way out of the home and into politics or onto the battlefield. A very early example was that in the navy of Xerxes there was a female ship captain, who was his particular favourite. The rebellious (though ultimately unsuccessful) Boudicca in Ancient Britain is another fine example, as is Zenobia, the ruler of the Palmyrene Empire who had the misfortune to face Aurelian.

Powerful women also played a significant role in the Byzantine Empire. Unusually, the wives of the emperors had a real, defined political role, almost like the First Lady of the United States, but in an imperial setting. Due to the surprisingly high number of very rubbish Byzantine emperors they quite often played significant roles helping the empire when the nominal man in charge wasn’t up to it. It’s worth mentioning also that quite a few of them were a bit, er, frisky and sometimes meddlesome, as the wife of Justinian the Great was.

The reasoning behind the lack of female warriors is, I would argue, more to do with demographics than anything else. Until quite recently childbirth was very, very dangerous, and huge numbers of women died giving birth. Because the number of women define the potential size of the next generation more than the number of men (a man can have, theoretically, thousands upon thousands of children, women cannot, especially when childbirth is risky) it as vital for the future prosperity of a city or nation that women survive. In short, men were more expendable.

It’s also true that, generally, women are weaker than men (not just in raw strength but also in terms of resilience when bearing a heavy load for a long march).

Of course, the fantasy writer does have an easy get out clause if he or she wants to have plenty of lady warriors. A race of Amazons solves the problem at a stroke, and women can also be put into positions of spiritual or arcane power.

Thaddeus

Incest, murder, rape, infanticide: how far is too far?

The trend in fantasy is definitely towards gritty and even gruesome realism (in a fantasy-based context). Gone are the days of Tolkien, when almost none of the main characters end up dead despite ever present mortal woe and numerous fights against huge odds.

To be honest, I rather like the approach of modern authors such as Abercrombie, Martin and Lynch. Important characters should have a genuine risk of being killed off, and villains (not necessarily the principle antagonist) ought to have a horrid side. This doesn’t have to be explicit. A very recent, and excellent, example of this is the relationship between Ramsay and Reek in A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin. Terrible past instances are referred to, but in the present the writing is riveting not due to explicit horror but because of the terror Reek feels and the psychopathic way Ramsay has screwed him up. It’s all about mentally ruining somebody and manipulating them.

We live in an age mostly free of deformity and pox scars, rotten yellow teeth and club feet, which makes it easy to forget that in the roughly Middle Ages world most fantasy occurs in that sort of thing was shockingly common. Not only can adding a few pox scars or cataracts be an easy way to give a chap some character, it also helps build up a more immersive world.

There is, of course, a potential pitfall. Going too far when it comes to magic or how fantastic dragons are will make a fantasy silly (which can be forgivable) but if you go too far with gritty gruesomeness it can end up being a bit sick or even repulsive.

I suspect most things with adults can be gotten away with. Abuse of children, on the other hand, is probably something that should be handled with care (if used at all). Brent Weeks uses this* (not in explicit terms, more as a threat that’s alluded to by someone written as a despicable character) in The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy book 1). It’s a pretty severe idea, but because it doesn’t actually happen it does serve a useful purpose and moves a character from merely horrible to the-reader-wants-him-to-die.

*I read this a year or two ago and haven’t checked, but my memory is that this was well-handled by Mr. Weeks. Apologies if I’ve made a slight error, but I’m pretty sure I’m mostly correct.

Although recently the shift has been from worlds where few main characters die to ones where they die, and get raped, mutilated and thoroughly abused, the question of quite where to draw the line isn’t a new one.

I would not recommend buying Ovid’s Metamorphoses as, although there are some good bits, it’s generally a bit of a slog. However, one excellent episode does stand out.

Tereus, Procne and Philomela features a man, his wife and his sister-in-law. It involves rape, mutilation, false imprisonment, infanticide and what might be termed incestuous cannibalism (so, fun for all the family). It’s also one of the highlights of the Metamorphoses, partly because the harshness of the miniature plot makes an indelible mark upon the mind of the reader.

Thaddeus