Kinetica and XG2 Impressions

Hi everyone, Phil Fogg here.  In the most recent episode of The Game Under Podcast (Episode 75), I contributed to the body of lore surrounding Adam Orth and his contributions to the very first Sony Santa Monica game, Kinetica.

Tom Towers was disappointed that I had not yet tried the game, which is in my collection and includes a robust instruction manual and art book.

Feeling guilty I tried it out last night, along with a very similar game, Extreme-G XG2 for the N64.

The first thing I noticed about Kinetica, was that it had no online multiplayer, which was pleasantly suprising given Mr. Orth's commitment to always-on internet functionality being something that I had to "deal with". Which is a shame, since this game would have been more enjoyable if it was playable in a multiplayer setting.

Even now, 14 years hence, the menu's and overall introductory art was clear, thoughtful and suitable to the platform, as was the in-game presentation, including the audio design.

The game itself is essentially a mimic of Wipeout (the game, not the TV show). Personally, I'd have preferred a mash-up of both Wipeout's, or at the very least John Henson calling play-by-play for the game, but this was 2001, way before Wipeout revolutionized the form of television into what it has become today (no Wipeout, no Mad Men, no Breaking Bad).

The presentation of the game, in every aspect, is above average, but the inspiration and actual playing of the game is both rote and enervating. Pressing and holding the "X" button for an entire lap while mildly steering is not enjoyable, even on a base level.

It is baffling that Sony commissioned Santa Monica to make the game, when a full-fledged Wipeout was to be released the very next year. Possibly it was a training exercise, or a test of capabilities for the studio that would go on to make God of War and so many other truly original games.

All in all, I can see enjoying this at the time if I were a child with siblings, but even with that condition there were so many more superior racing games available (even futuristic zero-gravity type games).

In case you were wondering, Adam Orth was one of 22 QA testers assigned to the game.

 

 

Recording This Week

Tom Towers and I will be recording this week, we've both finished up Life is Strange Episode 5 and will be doing a non-spoiler run-through before going through a full spoiler-filled discussion at the end of Episode 75.

If you have not gotten into yet, we both suggest it is worth a look, and will certainly play some part in our Game of the Year deliberations. Available on PC and PS3/4 Xbox 1/360.

We are also both playing The Beginner's Guide from the creator of The Stanley Parable. So far it is meta-tastic.

I'll be giving final score on Undertale, and some first impressions of Super Mario Maker, and I'm sure Tom's got some games lined up as well.

Game Under Podcast Ep. 074

This Episode we have Undertale, MGS5 Online, Driver: San Francisco, Shovel Knight: Plague Knight as well as commentary on Horizon, the Killzone franchise, metal gear Twin Snakes, Gaming News as well as the return of our Back o' the Box segment (as stolen by game informer.com).

Thanks for listening.

Metal Gear Backlog

In the last episode of The Game Under Podcast, I went on and on about how I had not played much of the Metal Gear Solid series, but had somehow accrued a great deal of Metal Gear Solid.

So, that's four versions of 1, three versions of 2, two versions of 3 and a single version of 4. Which means, if you can follow a trend, my zero copies of 5 was easily predicted.

You can listen to Tom Towers' impressions of Metal Gear Solid V here.

Or go back and listen to Tom's Aural Review of Metal Gear Rising.

 

Game Under Podcast Episode 73

Thanks for Listening to the world's most over-produced amateur podcast.  This week we finally convince Tom Towers to talk about his Metal Gear Solid 5 experience, as well both hosts discuss the first episode of Blues and Bullets (XBO and PC).

We close out the show by talking about our experiences in Life is Strange, first with no spoilers, and then with quite a few.


I am big! It's the pictures that got small.

I'll get directly to it. Here is an image of my game inventory. The column with the numbers in it indicate the number of games I have for that console.

Yeah... Jaguar beats out 3DS.

Yeah... Jaguar beats out 3DS.

The encouraging thing about this presentation of data is that the PS3, of the dearly departed generation, at least made it into the top five, and the 360 made it into the top ten (this indicates no bias, the regional lock on the 360 stopped my purchases in 2008, upon my return to Australia).

The discouraging aspect though, is that this listing indicates an aging gamer, or alternately a lack of evidence of evolution. The best games should be the newest games right?

What balances out all of this is the rise of my PC collection. Since getting a real internet connection it has gone from 16 games to 132 in just over two years. The games that I've been exposed to on PC, mostly smaller-team games that tend to be more creative, have introduced a decline in my interest in the "published" scene of the consoles.  A similar happening occured when the DVD format was introduced to me for movies -- why go to the cinemas, when I can dig into a trove of more stimulating, off-beat and enriching content from the history of film?

Anyway, starting a new "small game" tonight Blues and Bullets, while I wait for the next episode of Life is Strange. And isn't it?

(Oh and, if you didn't know what the headline meant, Sunset Boulevard).

Game Under Podcast Ep. 072

Thanks for listening GUPpers. This show, Phil and Tom talk abuot Ernest Cline's new book Armada, Rocket League, Splatoon (final scores), Amnesia: Memories, Return to Obra Din, The Westport Independant and Mike Bithell's new game Volume.

Yes, Phil still doodles while recording. Paisley Mouse.

Yes, Phil still doodles while recording. Paisley Mouse.

Phil Fogg's Second Gaming Experience

Phil Fogg, co-host of the Game Under Podcast has been chided lately by Tom Towers for not updating what was supposed to be a series that started here, which Phil's first gaming experience.  Here is the next thrilling chapter in this tale of Fogg's willing surrender to escapism.

Summer Bay, Queensland, Australia - 1980-1983
I would spend most school vacations (ten weeks a year) with my Uncle Steve, Aunt Beryl and cousins Saul, Callie and Larry. Much of the time we played with toy Matchbox cars, walked on the beach making up stories or langushed in front of the two-channel TV that occasionally belched out a limited range of twenty year old cartoons and themore regular cricket matches wringed of any drama by the monotonous tones of Richie Benaud. 

All that changed forever when Aunty Beryl brought down an Atari 2600 from a tall bedroom closet and hooked it up to her master bedroom television. Uncle Steve had bought it for himself and not really known what to make of it.  Now it was our turn.

For hours at a time we would lie on their bed taking turns to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Demon Attack, Pinball, Fishing Derby and my favorite, Activision's River Raid. At our early ages each of us were entirely enveloped by the 16 or so colored squares that represented fish, planes, Egyptian warlords and spaceships. But we spent most of our time playing Carol Shaw's River Raid, endlessly.  Time away from the game was filled with long discussions of black helicopters, refueling techniques, who lived in the houses and why we could not bomb them as well.

When not my turn at the controls, I spent countless hours examining the fanciful manuals, and all the buttons and switches on the Atari that we rarely used. Even then I knew that not all games were equal. Atlantis looked cool, but was not.  This is perhaps where my Bioshock boredom began.

When I was not staying with my cousins I thought about being in Summer Bay, in part to be with my favorite cousins, but also to be in front of that 17" television with an Atari 2600 controller in hand.