Gaming On The Run (From Mother Nature)

 Sixteen years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck Southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As I was leaving for what I thought would be at most a week, I grabbed my PS2 and a few games. When it was clear that I wouldn't be going home anytime soon, I went to the Walmart in the town I evacuated to and got a small TV and on a whim I bought a new game, Killzone. The little tv had a headphone jack and I was able to quietly play video games and be grateful that my family was okay in the aftermath of that disaster. 

 

Fast forward sixteen years to the day and once again I was evacuating, this time it was Hurricane Ida. Just like in 2005, I brought a console (a PS4 this time) and a small selection of games, and just like last time I had a small tv so I could find a corner and game in peace. This may seem frivolous, but it gave me peace when home was surrounded in chaos. While there, I went to Target and picked up a few things, including the last copy of Hades in the store. That, plus the other games I brought with me, gave me normalcy.

For many, video games still aren't viewed as anything other than a kid's toy. Many gamers use what happens on their screen of choice to quiet the loudness that sometimes surrounds them and fills them with anxiety. Some may use something as mundane as Angry Birds or in my case at many points, a shmup like Giga Wing to help them escape the hamster wheel of their day to day life. While this may not feel okay to some, sitting on your couch with a video game in the same way many spend time with a book is not so different.

In terms of both storms, I was lucky. I know people who lost everything in those hurricanes. Little things like engaging in your hobby of choice can be the thing that keeps lots of people from flat out losing themselves in the fog of that uncertainty and grief. A game of Ikaruga or starting my first few runs of Hades kept me calm while I waited to hear from my family who had to escape the storm. Everyone is okay, and Hades has more than lived up to the hype and Game of the Year honors it received in 2020. It may seem childish to see a grown man bring a game console and games with him, but finding a way to be your own peace is absolutely priceless when nature is trying to reclaim it's space and you just want to get out of her way.

Stuff I Found While Out Hunting

I recently went out and picked up a few games.

Stretch Panic: The Strangest Thing You Should Really Play

Today, I'll take another look at Stretch Panic, Treasure's cult classic PS2 platformer.

Alien Hominid Hit Consoles A Decade Ago, And Changed Everything.

The early 2000s were a very cool time for the Internet. Sites that showcased flash based videos and games were really popular, and the most popular of those was Newgrounds. None of those has been as popular as a little homage to Contra and Metal Slug from a small team known as The Behemoth. When this game hit the site, it became wildly successful, so much so, that it was tapped as the team's first console release. That game was one of the most popular titles on Xbox Live Arcade for a time and is still one of the great gems released on the PS2 and GameCube. This game, Alien Hominid is still available in it's original form as a flash game, and after a decade, the console versions of the title hold up incredibly well to this day.

For those unfamiliar with this title, players take control of a little yellow alien who is simply trying to find his shtp and leave home after being shot down by the FBI. The little guy is armed with a simple blaster that also has a charge shot much like Mega Man's eponymous Mega Buster. There are also a number of weapons powerups and vehicular weapons that pop up during the game. All of the weapons are par for the course with side scrolling action games, but that's the charm of Alien Hominid. It doesn't need to do anything new or innovative, but it does everything well. Boss fights are a throwback to the days of Contra: big bosses that fight in patterns and die in huge explosions.

Graphically, it's a vibrant, colorful game in general. Not having voices doesn't distract from the characters in Alien Hominid bursting with personality. Even the little rats in a sewer stage are smarter than many main characters in big budget titles with a huge fanbase. Animation wise, it isn't particularly fluid, but it's definitely serviceable, and while parts of the soundtrack seem way too serious for the backdrop, it's pretty solid nonetheless.

Apart from the core game, there are a few interesting minigames that proved pretty awesome. There is a pretty solid challenge mode with different parameters, and play options. Also, a host of "PDA Games" which was a series of single screen platform jumping levels with puzzle elements and a level editor. Finally, there was Super Soviet Missile Mastar, an Atari 2600 flavored scrolling "avoid the obstacles and hit the target" with a Soviet invasion of America theme. None of them are incredibly deep, but they are definitely fun distractions from the core game.

Alien Hominid was born in 2002, hit consoles in 2004, and cemented The Behemoth as a pretty big deal among indy developers. They have grown to make some pretty amazing things happen and it all started with this game. Here's to celebrating the console release of one of gaming's most unlikely success story.

Beats, Rhymes, and Uppercuts: Ten Years Of Def Jam Fight For New York

The relationship between video games and Hip Hop has always been peculiar, with game developers
relegating Hip Hop strictly to the soundtrack of most games. Electronic Arts struck gold with Def Jam Vendetta, and when gamers began to ask about a sequel, EA actually decided to go in a slightly different direction, and in 2004 They released Def Jam: Fight For New York. Fight For New York, unlike it's older sibling, was a fighting game. While it wasn't Street Fighter III: Third Strike, it was a solid game with tight mechanics, a fairly decent story, and pretty deep character creation engine.

 At a glance it shouldn't be as deep a game as it is gameplay wise, but with the ability to blend up to three fighting styles, it's easy for gamers to find some surprising depth in their character's play style. On top of the "play as yourself (if you're a guy)" story mode, there's also a pretty large roster of characters encompassing a wide berth of popular names in hip hop at the time of the game's release. There was a pretty fun, albeit silly, storyline to back everything up, and the soundtrack is superb, as expected.

Ten years after it's debut, and Def Jam: Fight For New York is still a quality fighting game. It's blend of Power Stone's frenetic multiplayer brawls and Def Jam Vendetta's knock out centered wrestling based gameplay were a great marriage and would have been an amazing send off for the series. EA had to run a good thing into the ground though, and Def Jam: Icon was released in 2007, effectively killing the series.

Was Fight For New York created to be a major player in the world of fighting games? Probably not, but it did prove to be a marvelous fighter that is still a lot of fun to play despite the majority of the rappers in the game being widely irrelevant now.

Latest Pickups, Donations, And A Few Shout Outs

This video is a little late, but it's my way of saying thank you.

Stretch Panic: It Might Be Too Weird For You

So, I figured I wanted to touch on a really "different" game in my collection that some of you probably have never heard of. So I started looking...and for a minute, nothing stuck out to me. Nothing, that is, until I remembered Stretch Panic nuzzled gently against Alien Hominid on my game shelf. You might say, "What about Katamari Damacy?", but Katamari isn't that original. It was basically a lot of item collection and took major inspiration taken from games like Super Monkey Ball and Marble Madness. Stretch Panic, however was a platformer where the player had to play with the level's elasticity in order to traverse the landscape. It could be frustrating to folks not into thinking out of the box with their video games, and Stretch Panic didn't sell particularly well, but I dig it.

Stretch Panic puts players in the role of a little girl who is essentially a punching bag for her sisters. Each sister has some bad habit that reminds me of the seven deadly sins. Anyway, a box is delivered to their house, and the older sisters tear into the box. The box releases a demonic presence into the house, and transforms the sisters into monstrous creatures. being knocked away from the box, the little girl is not affected, but her scarf is. The scarf becomes possessed (kinda like the guy's hand in Vampire Hunter D), and becomes her weapon against the demons that have invaded her house and stolen her sisters.

The first time I played this game, it stuck in my mind because of the first enemies you fight. When you land in the first level, you are confronted by a group of women with breasts bigger than their bodies. They moved slowly, and if they fell, they would use the boobs like helicopter blades to fly back to their position. To say the least this made Stretch Panic a cult hit among people I know who played it, and was forever dubbed, "The Titty Game". I'll let that giggle you just developed settle for a moment before I continue.

All in all, this a fun game, but it's not for those without imagination. If all you're into as a gamer is what somebody told you is required gaming, then this isn't your cup of tea. If, however, you can get with a little girl fighting off crazed demons with a possessed scarf, then Stretch Panic might be a good fit for you. I'm more than certain you can find this game cheap, since I got it it brand new around 2005 for under $20, so there's no real excuse to miss out on it.