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  Learning Minecraft #5 - The Nether

  By Pete Worth on Monday 13th May 2013

  The horror! The horror! I should not have done it. I’d been transported to a Lovecraftian Place That Should Not Be. The Nether. I’d opened Pandora’s Box – ‘let’s make a cool Nether Portal’, I’d thought, completely without attention to consequence. The place was a terrible vision of inhospitable distress. A cavernous subterranean nightmare land where no sunlight would ever penetrate. Contrasting sharply with the ominous dark volcanic rock, orange lava flowed from overhead into a massive lake of scorching magma. Rocky islands hovered in the sky, unaffected by gravity. The awful pig-mutants lurched around me, their eyes seeming to infer ‘if this were survival mode - you’d be trampled under trotter in seconds and fed to the dark god Snortious.’ I struck out and killed a few of these beings, but this only enraged their number.

  

  I turned on fly-mode and attempted to survey the surroundings. The place was menacing at every turn. What could be built here? What could be mined except for agony? Sounds I didn’t want to hear rang out in the dark. A white jellyfish creature glided through the air, spreading fear effortlessly with its otherworldly movements and eerie voice. The visual, physical and audio pressures were mounting. I was an unwelcome visitor to this dimension. I’d left the real world behind and gone somewhere horrible, like a psilocybin mushroom trip gone awry. I had to get out, but where was the portal I’d entered through? Gone. No doubt eaten by some unseen and cackling spectre, a pair of glowing eyes watching my distressed circle-running from the shadows.

  

  I constructed another Nether Portal and jumped through, hoping it’d take me back to the sweet land of terrestrial terra firma I’d left behind. I materialised on the other side and found myself in a disused mine. It was swarming with cobwebs and spiders but, compared to what I’d just experienced, it felt like a king-sized bed with firm pillows and an electric blanket. I wasn’t ready for The Nether but it was ready for me. The next time I travel there I shall be a skilled Minecraft survivalist, and I’ll be prepared. I hope.

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• 

  The Fallout Bible

  By Pete Worth on Friday 19th April 2013

  Are you a Fallout fan who greatly enjoyed the first two games and wants to know more about their background? Are you a fan of the new Fallout games and are keen on learning the series’ backstory? Have you ever read The Bible and thought, ‘this thing needs more mutants?’ If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions then the Fallout Bible undoubtedly comes recommended. Originally a series of fan questions posed to and answered by Chris Avellone back in 2002, the Fallout Bible is a compendium of all the background information, design documents, character stories/fates, omitted elements, rules and lore from the Fallout universe you could ever ask for.

  

  Even if you believe you’ve hammered the originals so much you couldn’t possibly learn anything else, you’ll be surprised upon delving into this massive digital data collection. This is seriously detailed stuff; including facts and topics to obsess over for years. There’s a list of all the known vaults (there was well over 100) and their fates, a massive timeline of all the events leading up to World War 3 and then carrying them over through the series, and a detailed history of how the FEV virus came into existence and forever ravaged the wasteland.

  

  As a Fallout fanatic, I can’t believe I haven’t gotten round to reading this sooner, although it’s a large slog to take in at once, the tome is split down into several parts for ease of digestion. Reading only a few of the pages (either available as downloadable documents on Duck and Cover here or on the Fallout Wiki as data pages here) will greatly enrich your experience of the first two games, and the new ones by virtue of their linear connection, a great deal. Finally, always remember this: “not even the carrion eaters are interested in your irradiated corpse.”

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• 

  Star Wars Pinball

  By Stuart Edwards on Wednesday 17th April 2013

  There’s an expectation that any low-profile release branded with the Star Wars name; official licencing of one of entertainment’s most prolific brands can instantly convert mechanical mediocrity into financial profitability. As an expansion for 2010’s charming Pinball FX 2, Star Wars Pinball smartly sidesteps this most common of pitfalls, allowing complete focus to be placed on creating a novel experience for the target demographic of the brand’s enthusiasts.

  

  Whilst fundamentally an expensive piece of downloadable content for a three year old game, these three tables are dangerously addictive and a rare case of tactful licensing. A simple combination of classic sound effects, character props and bespoke table design produces a purchase that gradually justifies its entry price of 800 points.

  The three tables provide enough entertainment, but the Bobba Fett level is the most memorable. Depicting the iconic opening moments from Return of the Jedi onto a single table is an achievement in itself. An animated Bobba Fett attempts to strike down your three balls by shooting overhead, under the supervision of Jabba the Hut. From a cynical perspective, this is nothing more than a needless aesthetic overhaul intended to divert player attention and provide a moment’s respite. In reality however, it’s these shameless implementations of the license that will attract the majority of players – the core game has enough content for pinball enthusiasts.

  

  Star Wars Pinball is a quaint little piece of downloadable content that, whilst more at home on its Android release, provides undeniably high levels of fan service with minimal risk.

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  Quick Review: Arcadecraft

  By Calvin Kemph on Monday 15th April 2013

  Arcadecraft is just shy of being well polished. It comes from Firebase Industries, devs of technically showy XBLIG shmup Orbitron: Revolution. This time they’ve zeroed in on a purely mechanical focus over mere eye candy.

  Arcadecraft aims to capture the early-to-mid-’80s era of arcade games. It was a good period of innovation as the genres and way we play videogames were being shaped in the moment. Firebase captures the common love of this era shared by retro gamers and presents in a new way.

  

  “On the right path”It’s about amassing quality arcade cabinets. The available choices span all manner of genre and cabinet builds from traditional standups to more roomy racing sets, paying homage to all the familiar arcade classics. It’s a nice touch and only too bad they weren’t slightly more detailed or animated. The characters appear out of nowhere, hover over the static screen and vanish.

  Sadly interactions with customers exist only as revenue streams and their actions aren’t governed by their personality or interests, but the popularity of the arcade and each machine. As a result, when they provide feedback, their actions are at odds with their advice. They stand at the machine and dump a good thirty, forty dollars into the game of choice they only just decried as being a ripoff. So there’s no way to appeal to them directly and in these moments the arcades feel empty, frozen in time as Xbox Avatars fade in and out of existence.

  

  With only a bit more character, Arcadecraft could go from a very good sim to an excellent one. It’s on the right path, with promised updates to come, and is already a dangerously fun timewaster, while never being waste of time.

  The mechanics are in the vein of a social game but they have no reason to be and it has no social elements short of the leaderboards. Add town elements and payment walls and it could be a Zynga outing, although they wouldn’t have shown the same care or proper nostalgia.

  “A formidable XBLIG title”The core mechanics are simply setting the arcade machine and then harvesting money from them to buy others and stay afloat. Things either go all the way good or bad. At least for the first half, it’s uncertain, and keeps things gripping. There are also setbacks, like power loss across all units, coin jams that have to be slammed out, broken machines to repair, among other things.

  

  After many trying attempts, it’s clear Arcadecraft provides a similar appeal to Microsoft’s Game Room, with higher degrees of success, not getting tangled up in licensing or attempting to emulate the machines. Firebase’s effort more fully executes and proves a good concept. It’s almost entirely suited for Xbox Live Arcade, only held back by a few blemishes, and need for support.

  Arcadecraft is a formidable XBLIG title, one of the few great shots at simulation. Balancing time management and simulation, Firebase strike an agreeable middle ground with plenty to offer for the retro gamer in everyone.

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• Quick Review: Capcom Arcade Cabinet

  By Calvin Kemph on Friday 5th April 2013

  Capcom’s Arcade Cabinet is more of the same. The idea is to design a cabinet with select offerings from the publisher’s ’80s arcade catalogue. Sadly their best offerings from the era are non-options as well; only non-licensed works are included. So most wishlists can be scratched. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been rereleased several times over.

  Emulation is derived from Backbone’s Capcom Arcade Classics, a mix of Vol. 1 & 2. Titles are cut into tight packs. 1987 is first, a cheap way to play the simple and good 1943. 1943 also comes with Avengers and Black Tiger. It’s unlikely they get much play and they’d be forgotten alone. Avengers is a flawed overhead beat ‘em up that gets too much cache out of the unrelated comic book’s name while Black Tiger receives too little credit for the unclear attachment to Ghouls & Ghosts and Magic Sword.

  The packs will prove representative in later months, with Ghouls & Ghosts, Gun.Smoke, and Section Z early this month, for double the price. It’s likely to be the most worthwhile compilation. Ghouls & Ghosts is the formative thing, what would come to shape Capcom’s identity and the perception of what retro difficulty is like. It’s their defining success and the model for any lasting ones. Section 7 is a fair-to-middling retro Dark Void and Gun.Smoke isn’t the NES version but remains quality, if not far less necessary post Red Dead Redemption. The underrealized Red Dead Revolver was originally purposed as Gun.Smoke’s spiritual successor, after all, the original vision being a bit genre confused and unsure of its linearity.

  New features include YouTube capture (PS3 only; 360 gets FaceBook sharing) and online play. Generally nobody is sitting in the lobbies for these old games. There’s a good feature to search for matches and record while playing, but no real practical use for either.

  Capcom’s Arcade Cabinet feels like a minimal repackaging of rereleases after a quick buck. There’s potential for some replay in Localized rules, score attacks, videos, but despite having an affinity for a fair few titles, it’s too little new for what’s asked. It’s Game Room from Capcom, with narrower concept and nothing we haven’t received several times since release. Many are likely played more in rerelease than they were arcades or in the ’80s by this point. Have to wonder what the nostalgia’s for anymore and whether fans should care when Capcom doesn’t.

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