Visual Memory #2 – ‘God Hand’

Welcome to the latest Visual Memory, the monthly column exploring classic video games on extinct systems. This month, Christopher Bell thinks it’s time to re-assess a stone cold turkey…

In a market saturated by cookie-cutter first person shooters and awful movie tie-ins, it’s great to see a games company try something different. And while God Hand is remembered as the game that killed Clover Studios (the people behind the rather beautiful Okami), it did at least turn heads. Poisonous chihuahuas, a demonic Elvis, the ability to spank your female opponents…  I couldn’t make any of this up if I tried!

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Visual Memory #1 – ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap’

The Legend of Zelda celebrates its 26th anniversary next week but Christopher Bell is looking back, not forward, in the first edition of Visual Memory – a brand new monthly column exploring classic games on extinct systems…

Legend has it that the kingdom of Hyrule is protected from an ancient darkness by the Picori Blade, a sacred sword entrusted to the royal family by the Minish – a race of Borrower-sized folk who can only be seen by children. Every century, the people of Hyrule celebrate their victory over the forces of evil by holding a royal tournament, at which the winner is allowed to touch the sacred blade. It just so happens that this year’s winner is an evil sorcerer by the name of Vaati, who shatters the sword, unleashing a tide of monsters on the land. To make matters worse, he turns the young princess Zelda to stone. It’s up to her young friend Link to track down the mysterious Minish, re-forge the Picori Blade and restore the princess…

 

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Video Games Review – ‘Mortal Kombat’ (2011)

Beat-em-up classic Mortal Kombat rose from the dead earlier this year, looking better than ever. But, after almost twenty years and some bad mistakes (including those dreadful movies starring Christopher Lambert), has the game that launched a thousand headlines retained its power to shock? And, more importantly, is it any fun to play? Christopher Bell finds out…

I’ve been playing the Mortal Kombat series since it made its gore-soaked, parent-and-politician-bothering debut way back in the early 1990s and, considering that I’m now 27, that would put me at around nine or ten years old when MK1 first arrived.  Don’t panic; my folks were OK with it, and I didn’t become the ultra-violent little so-and-so that the naysayers claimed I would.

Skip forward to the here-and-now.  The digitised actors have been replaced by fully Unreal Engine 3 rendered, three-dimensional punch bags, albeit on a 2D plane; the ninja costumes are no longer re-colours (the original suit was white, and the colours changed depending on the character), giving a greater sense of visual identity and, last but not least, the series’ trademark Fatalities are much more grisly.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Because the biggest change is not merely technical.

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Video Games Review – ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’

Ready for a blast from the past? As SEGA’s champion celebrates his 20th birthday, video games industry insider Christopher Bell looks back to the game that started it all and wonders if Sonic can ever regain his winning streak. Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments section below!

June 23rd, 1991.  After an in-house contest to design a new mascot, SEGA finally had something that could give Mario a run (pun intended) for his money.  Poor old Alex Kidd was given his marching orders and replaced by an impatient, sapphire speed demon by the name of Sonic.  Although SEGA eventually lost the console war against Nintendo’s SNES, the once chasm-sized difference in market share narrowed to a spine’s breadth.  At one point, he was as popular as Mickey Mouse, with a huge range of merchandise (books, ring binders, plush dolls and even ketchup!), a Macy’s Day balloon and a gene (one that controls the development of your digits and organisation of your brain) to his name.

Now, 20 years later and on the verge of a Star Trek-esque anniversary reboot; Sonic the Hedgehog, this is your life…

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