Retro Game Review #1: Spyro The Dragon, Gateway to Glimmer, Year of the Dragon

Spyro may be a small purple dragon, but he has a massive place in my heart due to the hours upon hours I’ve spent making him glide, charge, and plummet to his inevitable doom – but I don’t just mean as a child. Yes, Spyro The Dragon was one of the first games I’d ever played as a kid, but his legacy remains as intact as my old PS1 because I urge myself to play this masterpiece annually to this day. “But Jay!” you bellow at your screen, “This game is positively ancient! What on Earth would possess you to actively play it 17 years later?”. Well, allow me to begin my Spyro trilogy review back where it all started– right after you stop bellowing, it’s a quiet room. Thanks.

As soon as you surpass the nostalgic melodies of the PS1’s splash screen, after a quick cutscene filled with Insomniac Games’ witty, comical humour, we dive right into Artisans – the first of the six homeworlds. Immediately, the game looks vibrant – lush colours will dart into your eyeballs and you’ll love every second of it. This eccentrically colourful art style remains consistent throughout the trilogy, and even diffuses into Ratchet & Clank – Insomniac’s subsequent project after selling the Spyro franchise. It also becomes very apparent that Spyro was created to rival Crash Bandicoot – Naughty Dog’s prominent franchise at the time (and PlayStation’s mascot). Two cute anthropomorphic animals forced on an enduring quest to save the world, it’s no wonder they joined forced in GBA titles Crash Purple / Spyro Orange.

Let’s not forget that this was 1998. Video games couldn’t afford to include grand orchestras for their soundtracks – they were stored on CDs back then, so they had to be catchy and short in order to serve their purpose and take up as little space as possible. But who needs orchestras when you have Stewart Copeland – the drummer from The Police(!) to compose your game’s music! What an excellent decision that was. Copeland synthesises a beautiful melody for each of the game’s levels, giving them their own distinctive identity. Seriously, Spyro 1-3 win the award of my favourite ever video game soundtracks – and I’ve played Ape Escape. Listening to any of them unleash a flood of memories from my childhood, whether it’s getting 117% in Spyro 1, climbing to the top of Autumn Plains for that final orb in Spyro 2, or throwing my controller in frustration at trying to collect all the dragon eggs in YotD.

It’s difficult to describe what type of games the Spyro trilogy are. The goal of each level is to platform, charge, glide, or flame your way to the end portal. In reality, it’s much more fun than that. Gems are the main collectable, much like wumpa fruit from Crash Bandicoot. If not to fuel your game completion percentage, they unlock new abilities, unlock new portals, and set free new characters – although this is only in the second and third games. Fortunately Moneybags didn’t exist in Spyro 1. They were happy times. Peaceful, even. Moneybags is an arse. The end.

The sheer variety of levels in this game is also slightly insane. One minute you’re helping a vocal wizard save his land from a yeti, and the next you’re trying to beat a leopard in a manta ray race. However, Spyro 3 was the first to introduce new playable characters. Sheila, Sgt. Bird, Bentley, and Agent 7 all have their own respective levels in each of the four homeworlds. Don’t forget the abundance of bonus levels available, including the famous skateboarding minigames found in Year of the Dragon. If you haven’t played any of the old Spyro games yet, please do. They’re over 15 years old, but they stand up astonishingly well today. It’s merely a simple joy to glide around the several unique immersive worlds the game throws at you, and one that will always remain a part of my gaming life.

Godspeed, Spyro. May Activision be gentle with you in the future.

Why I Love PS2-era Textures

This is probably going to be a weird article. It might not make sense. My brain might be severely distorted. But these are my (weird) opinions.

Yesterday, I went back to play Hitman 2 on PS3, and one thing really struck me – I adore the graphics. It’s hard to explain, but the blurry, stretched PS2 textures really immerse me in this fictional world (despite being upscaled to 720p).



At first, I thought it was some sort of nostalgia section of my brain opening up for old PS2 memories, but that makes little to no sense. I, like many others, declare Sony’s Playstation 2 as the greatest console of all time, but I remember the graphics being super realistic – as I’m sure everyone else does. Textures never particularly stood out as being blurry and low-res.

There’s something so immersion breaking about realistic graphics. No, no, hear me out. As much as I appreciate the uber realism of GTA V, I’ve never felt the sheer joy and immersion of exploring the simple, colourful PS1 Spyro titles (even replaying them the other week I found myself getting so glued to the screen). Realism in games is overrated, and the truth is – real life is boring. We play video games to escape reality, so making games more realistic only stunts the immersion I feel when playing them. It sounds insane, but the fictional, simple, low-res textures we had in old-school Spyro and epics like Shadow of the Colossus really helped me get lost in such a world.



Perhaps that’s why I get so drawn to indies nowadays. As innovative as most are, the charming nature of the low budget graphics creates a wonderful fictional universe that I love exploring – especially in 3D outings like Rodina.

Maybe I’m slightly biased, because I adore exploration games. Whilst 80% of the gaming market right now get all their entertainment from shooting each other’s online avatars in gritty (brown) realistic (boring) FPS-es, I can’t help but fall in love with traversing the lush environments of Just Cause 2 or the open waters of AC: Black Flag.



Just because I’ve spent a whole article talking about simple graphics and exploration, here’s a picture from No Man’s Sky. You know, that game that could never get released and still be everybody’s Game of the Year.

Top 7 Anticipated Games from E3 2014

WARNING: OPINIONS

7) BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT

To begin this list, I shall start with the final Arkham outing to end the legendary trilogy (we’ll just ignore Origins, shall we).

It’s not E3 without a brand new Batman announcement, except this time Rocksteady are going all out to bring us the biggest, baddest, most expansive Gotham yet!

Arkham Knight was announced at Sony’s conference, and it actually included gameplay – a rare wonderment for E3 – and it looks astonishing. From the few minutes we actually saw, a new Batman manor, the Batmobile, and the hugest free-roam Gotham ever seen was shown off.

You’ll be able to face off against the Arkham Knight him(?)self in 2015, only on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

6) SUNSET OVERDRIVE

As a Sony/Nintendo gamer, it pains me to say I’ll probably never get a chance to play Insomniac’s insanely chaotic ‘Sunset Overdrive’.

After Insomniac’s bland, forgettable attempt at a shooter ‘Fuse’, it seems like they’re going back to their roots with an action-packed, hilariously crazy open world third-person shooter, which was announced at Microsoft’s conference.

The love-child of Ratchet & Clank and Jet Set Radio will be blasting onto your Xbox One on October 28th 2014 (30th for UK owners).

5) FAR CRY 4

After Far Cry 3, it seemed like nothing was going to beat the lush open-world jungle filled with killer leopards and insane pirates. That was until Far Cry 4 was announced at Ubisoft’s press conference this year.

The gameplay video showed off the gorgeous capabilities of next-gen hardware, highlighting the breath-taking mountainous landscapes of Kyrat (fictional, yet stunningly similar to the Himalayas). All I could think about was the Nepalese section of Uncharted 2 (well, with added wingsuits).

In an earlier video, we met the crazy villain of Far Cry 4, and he is most certainly a match for FC3’s Vaas – taking a selfie with you within minutes of meeting you. If the elephants don’t kill you, those vibrant pants of his will.

You’ll be parachuting into Kyrat on November 18th 2014 (available for PS4, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC).

4) METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN

If you’d shown me this announcement 2 weeks ago, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, but I recently purchased the Legacy Collection. Consider me a fan.

Being a new fan, I haven’t looked into the plot. Like, at all. But from the trailer alone, it is definitely something I can get behind.

Graphically, it looks stunning, and with “Nuclear” playing in the background, I can’t help but get goose bumps for a game I know hardly anything about. And yes, I know, it was pre-rendered, but it still doesn’t mean it isn’t gorgeous.

I don’t know if this was planned, but The Phantom Pain is chronologically the fifth game in the series, as well as in release order. Taking place before Metal Gear, but after Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain is ready to sneak onto your screens on the…well… we don’t know actually.

It’s still in development, but be prepared if you own a PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 or an Xbox One.

3) THE LEGEND OF ZELDA WII U

If I made this list directly after the announcement, it would be a lot lower on the list, but Aonuma recently claimed that the entire announcement video shown was completely gameplay.

Yes, the stunningly beautiful open-world cinematic of Link riding Epona away from explosions was not only running on the game’s engine, but was all actual gameplay. I imagine it’s something like the cinematic sequences of Uncharted 3, but with Zelda!

This is probably the most ambitious Zelda title yet, some already summarising it as a “cel-shaded Skyrim”.

If this isn’t a Wii U system seller, I don’t know what is. But if you’re prepared to get this game, then have a Wii U ready for 2015. This is gonna be good!

2) UNCHARTED 4: A THIEF’S END

I’m finding it excruciatingly hard not to just mash my keyboard in sheer excitement for this game.

Uncharted is by far my favourite video game franchise, and this new trailer made by heart skip 30 beats.

Nathan Drake, a now retired fortune hunter, is forced to get back in the game for personal reasons. Does this mean Elena’s been captured? Is Eddy Raja really dead? Will Sully ever get rid of his moustache? God, I hope not.

The title worries me, and also excites me. It could potentially mark the end of Nate’s adventure, or even Sully’s, and that terrifies me, but it might just be the epic send-off the franchise needs.

Nolan North has already mentioned that Naughty Dog are probably ending the series here, and I am completely okay with that. Each Uncharted game is an absolute masterpiece, so I’d rather Naughty Dog finish on a high note where they’re happy, than turn it into a yearly series like Assassin’s Creed.

Whatever happens, next-gen Uncharted can only mean great things. They already had fully simulated oceans in Uncharted 3, so god knows what to expect in A Thief’s End.

Hear one last “oh, crap” from Nate in 2015, with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, only on PS4.

1) NO MAN’S SKY

This game. This. Freaking. Game.

When I tuned into Sony’s press conference this year, I was expecting Uncharted 4, something from Ubisoft, and Metal Gear Solid V. Perhaps that’s what made this announcement all the more brilliant.

No Man’s Sky came out of nowhere – a gloriously vast exploration game made by a tiny indie game company.

This game promises a unique experience to every player with randomly generated worlds, animals, structures, stars, everything! You start out on your own planet, and you can explore anywhere. Think Minecraft, but 100x larger.

The gameplay video showed off dinosaurs, spaceships, outer space, different planets, enemy players, underwater traversal, unique structures. It’s every adventurer’s dream.

A procedurally generated open universe with infinite uncharted territories to explore await every single player who picks up No Man’s Sky – making its console debut on PS4 TBC.

 

That wasn’t too biased right?

Honorable Mentions:

• Tom Clancy’s The Division for the best game that lonely people aren’t allowed.
• LittleBigPlanet 3 for that cringeworthy announcement. Don’t worry, it wasn’t as bad as Mr. Caffeine.
• Dead Island 2 for the best misleading trailer. Let’s be honest, it’ll be nothing like that.
• Battlefield Hardline for the best Payday clone.

News–25/03/2014

He May Be Sentenced

On Valentines Day 2013, the south African sprinter Oscar Pistorius was arrested on suspicion of the murder of his girlfriend. 13 months later, the sprinter found out he would have to wait until (at least) May to be told of his fate. The delay in trial time was due to the prosecution not yet completing its case in the 4 weeks the trial has been happening. The trial will now give representatives from both sides an opportunity to rethink their witnesses and statements.

DETAILED ACCOUNT OF MURDER TRIAL – DAY 15

Debris Sparks Hope in the Baffling Mystery of Malaysian Jet

Over three weeks since the disappearance of flight MH370 which has dumbfounded the international community since its signals fell of the radar, it seems some promising evidence has been unearthed. In a search spread in an arc from the North West of China to the Indian Ocean just off of Australia, five countries have deployed leading search jets in the hope they will find an indication of what happened to the Malaysian jet. Over the past week, three potential sightings of debris from the jet have been discovered by the Australian search team, making the area the focus point of the search. Debris over 20 metres long was detected by satellite and aviation professionals have indicated that this debris has potential strong links to discovering the fate of the plane. Despite some scepticism over the debris, with certain professionals claiming it is unlikely that a part of the plane 20 metres long would stay intact after impact, Australia PM Tony Abbott is hopeful about the sightings in the southern corridor of the Indian Ocean: "There is increasing hope that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft". Unfortunately, not all involved in the mysterious disappearance of the airliner shares the Prime Minister’s hope. Family frustration has engulfed this story over the past week with families of the missing passengers accusing search teams of lackadaisical efforts. Families are angered that after three weeks there is still no conclusive evidence of indication of whether they are safe or not and in recent press conferences globally, frustration has become uncontainable. We continue to sympathise with these families and keep all of those affected by this mystery in our thoughts.

Mystery Shrouds Vanished Jet

The whereabouts of the vanishing Malaysian plane has been a topic on everyone’s mind since it’s unexplained disappearance one week ago. Now missing, 239 passengers were aboard flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing including 2 passengers with stolen passports. Speculation about how these two passengers managed to board the flight has been rife, and recent developments have provoked even further conversation. It was revealed today that signals from the plane were ‘deliberately disabled’ in a statement from the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. A plane then suspected, but not confirmed as MH370, turned back on its course before all signals were lost. Subsequent to the loss of radar contact, the plane continued for some 7 hours before altogether vanishing into the mystery encompassing the flight for the past 7 days. Theories from hijacking to crash landing have been surfacing in the international news; however Mr Razak could neither confirm nor deny any of these speculations stating in his speech earlier today that ‘all possibilities’ were being explored. Teams have been deployed to search for any wreckage or indications of the plane’s fate in the Indian Ocean and the globe stays strong in hope for any news about the wellbeing of the missing passengers. However, in a search that has been compared to looking for a needle in a haystack, conclusive developments look unlikely in the immediate future.
Thanks to Rachael Griffiths for the post.

THE NEW OJ SCHEDULE

Tuesday – Media/Music
Thursday – Sport/Science
Saturday/Sunday – General News

Also every Saturday at the start of each month we pick the Gamer of the Month!

Sony @ Gamescom 2013, Kerrigan's Debut, and Space Communication

Gamescom 2013 Highlights - SONY

During Sony's conference at Gamescom 2013, they covered a lot of ground, including the news that the PS4 had reached 1,000,000+ pre-orders already.

• The PS4 will be able to send live tweets including game screenshots. 
• New games were announced including Gran Turismo 6, F2P LittleBigPlanet Hub, GTA V, Murasaki Baby (VITA), Big Fest (VITA). 
• Indie titles announced: Rogue Legacy, Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, N++, Volume, Guns of Icarus Online, Wasteland Kings, and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Full list here.
• Twitch.tv was announced for the PS4.
• Sony Music Unlimited announced for PS4 from Day One. Lets you play games and stream music.
• New PS4 owners get free 14-day PS Plus.
• AC IV: Black Flag gets Remote Play with VITA.
• Watch_Dogs gets bonus PS4 content, and a movie is in the works.
• Minecraft (previously an Xbox One exclusive) is confirmed for PS4 release.
• PS3 12GB bundle price drop to $199.
• Certain cross-gen games give you a discount for owners of PS3 copies. (Buy it on PS3, get discount for PS4 version).

Kerri-gone

Sure to say it was a rough introduction to test cricket for Simon Kerrigan. Many people saw it as a strange decision to start Kerrigan but nevertheless were excited to see the Lancashire spinner in action. What they got was a horrible 2 over burst of full tosses and short deliveries which saw him leak 28 runs, and finish the day with figures of 8 overs no maidens 0-53.


Communicating using a space walky-talky

There have been many highlights over the past few weeks when it comes to space and science, as well as a lot of hard work for the people involved, but the work and preparation will all culminate in the space walk to take place at 11:40am BST when Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin will leave the international space system to take a walk into space.
On this walk into space, the two will be working on a communications device that will improve communications with the Earth from the station, and allow the crew to interact with the whole of the Earth's 7 billion residents to share all the advancements that are happening on board as we speak.
The space walk will last for more than 4 hours so there are plenty of opportunities to watch for those interested. You will be able to watch the coverage in its entirety on NASA TV.