Aside from being a game where you run around a shopping mall murdering the living dead, the original Dead Rising from 2006 is a clownish satire of sleazy tabloid photojournalism. It expresses this by way of its scoring system, where you earn "Prestige points" for snapping pictures that fit one of five categories: "Brutal" scenes of characters being slain; moments of "Horror", such as the spectacle of an approaching horde; comical "Outtakes", like characters caught in bizarre poses; moments of "
Aside from being a game where you run around a shopping mall murdering the living dead, the original Dead Rising from 2006 is a clownish satire of sleazy tabloid photojournalism. It expresses this by way of its scoring system, where you earn "Prestige points" for snapping pictures that fit one of five categories: "Brutal" scenes of characters being slain; moments of "Horror", such as the spectacle of an approaching horde; comical "Outtakes", like characters caught in bizarre poses; moments of "Drama", such as people reacting to discoveries; and "Erotic" photos of women alive or undead, which range from snaps of exposed underwear to close-ups of cleavage.
The Erotica tag has, however, been chopped from the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, in what Capcom gingerly suggest isn't "a response to a changing cultural climate", but expressive of the view that earning points from such photos is not "an appropriate reward for survival and not a skill required of a journalist trying to stay alive".
The survivors in the upcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster - itself an update of the 2016 HD version of the 2006 zombie open-mall action game - are still idiots. I’m starting to regret giving Burt a gun, honestly. Every time he bumps into a magazine rack he starts screaming like someone’s eating his face, and the little circle above his name turns red to indicate he’s in danger. That’s a mannequin, Burt. They can’t hurt you. They’re actually known for not being able to move.
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The survivors in the upcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster - itself an update of the 2016 HD version of the 2006 zombie open-mall action game - are still idiots. I’m starting to regret giving Burt a gun, honestly. Every time he bumps into a magazine rack he starts screaming like someone’s eating his face, and the little circle above his name turns red to indicate he’s in danger. That’s a mannequin, Burt. They can’t hurt you. They’re actually known for not being able to move.
Aside from being a game where you run around a shopping mall murdering the living dead, the original Dead Rising from 2006 is a clownish satire of sleazy tabloid photojournalism. It expresses this by way of its scoring system, where you earn "Prestige points" for snapping pictures that fit one of five categories: "Brutal" scenes of characters being slain; moments of "Horror", such as the spectacle of an approaching horde; comical "Outtakes", like characters caught in bizarre poses; moments of "
Aside from being a game where you run around a shopping mall murdering the living dead, the original Dead Rising from 2006 is a clownish satire of sleazy tabloid photojournalism. It expresses this by way of its scoring system, where you earn "Prestige points" for snapping pictures that fit one of five categories: "Brutal" scenes of characters being slain; moments of "Horror", such as the spectacle of an approaching horde; comical "Outtakes", like characters caught in bizarre poses; moments of "Drama", such as people reacting to discoveries; and "Erotic" photos of women alive or undead, which range from snaps of exposed underwear to close-ups of cleavage.
The Erotica tag has, however, been chopped from the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, in what Capcom gingerly suggest isn't "a response to a changing cultural climate", but expressive of the view that earning points from such photos is not "an appropriate reward for survival and not a skill required of a journalist trying to stay alive".
The survivors in the upcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster - itself an update of the 2016 HD version of the 2006 zombie open-mall action game - are still idiots. I’m starting to regret giving Burt a gun, honestly. Every time he bumps into a magazine rack he starts screaming like someone’s eating his face, and the little circle above his name turns red to indicate he’s in danger. That’s a mannequin, Burt. They can’t hurt you. They’re actually known for not being able to move.
Read more
The survivors in the upcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster - itself an update of the 2016 HD version of the 2006 zombie open-mall action game - are still idiots. I’m starting to regret giving Burt a gun, honestly. Every time he bumps into a magazine rack he starts screaming like someone’s eating his face, and the little circle above his name turns red to indicate he’s in danger. That’s a mannequin, Burt. They can’t hurt you. They’re actually known for not being able to move.
It’s fair to say that the notion of remastering or remaking a title of any renown inhabits the same mind space as creating a new title from scratch. Sure, while you effectively have a source material of sorts to start from, versus nothing for an entirely new title, you still must wrestle with that same […]
It’s fair to say that the notion of remastering or remaking a title of any renown inhabits the same mind space as creating a new title from scratch. Sure, while you effectively have a source material of sorts to start from, versus nothing for an entirely new title, you still must wrestle with that same […]
Nintendo.co.uk microsite – Wikipedia page
Next year, I’ll be blogging for 15 years. I have taken a look at quite a lot of games. Now, if you go back to the start of this blog, you might notice that I only started in May 2013. The three years before that, I wrote a personal life blog in my native language. I have since deleted that for personal reasons and started blogging in English in 2013. On my Dutch blog, I wrote an article about Another Code – Two Memories, but I haven’t written one
Next year, I’ll be blogging for 15 years. I have taken a look at quite a lot of games. Now, if you go back to the start of this blog, you might notice that I only started in May 2013. The three years before that, I wrote a personal life blog in my native language. I have since deleted that for personal reasons and started blogging in English in 2013. On my Dutch blog, I wrote an article about Another Code – Two Memories, but I haven’t written one for my English blog. Yet, I have mentioned it in 2014 in a top 25 list of my favorite DS games of all time. I have written an article on the Wii sequel called Another Code: R – A Journey Into Lost Memories in 2013. While my old articles aren’t up to my personal standards anymore, I still leave them up to see the growth I have gone through over the years. Now, these two titles became classics in my eyes. When Cing went under, I didn’t hold up hope of these games ever seeing a sequel or a remake. But, we got a big surprise this year. Suddenly, both games were coming to the Nintendo Switch and not only that, they were remade from the ground up. Did these two games grow like I did in my writing, or is it something that should be better left to the past? Well, that’s what I’m going to discover with you in this article. Feel free to leave a comment in the comment section with your thoughts and/or opinions on the game and/or the content of the article, but now, let’s dive right in.
Editorial note: shameless self-promotion: if you want to see me and my buddy Klamath playing through this title… We started streaming it. So, more opinions can be found in the streams. Here is a link to the playlist.
The Remembering Of A Remake
In this game, we follow the adventures of Ashley Mizuki Robins. In the first part of the game, Ashley got a letter from her presumed dead father to come to Blood Edward island to meet him on the day right before her 14th birthday. On that journey, she meets a ghost named D, who has lost his memories.
In the second part of the game, we fast-forward two years. Ashley takes a camping trip to a lake. When she arrives at lake Juliet, she gets flashbacks from when she was very little. Not only that, she meets a young boy whose father wanted to build a holiday resort at that lake but was blamed for the pollution of the lake.
Since this game is a point-and-click game and is quite story depended, I’m not going to talk more about the story than the two small blurbs above. In terms of the story, this game tells a very heartfelt story with very nice life lessons. The writing in this game is extremely well done. The build up towards the ending of the story is very natural and stays true to the themes of the game. The biggest theme in this game is memories and history. Overall, this game is quite relaxing, and the story is never really in a rush to move forward.
New in this version is that there is voice acting. While not the whole game is voice acted, most of it is and the non voice acted scenes have little grunts and vocalizations to indicate the emotions of what’s being told. I have to say that the voice acting in this game is fantastic. I wish the voice actors of this game had more of an online presence, since I had a hard time finding other works by these voice actors. The fact that these voice actors didn’t really promote that they worked on this game on their socials is a shame.
The voice acting in this game brings so much charm to the game. For this article, I replayed parts of the original DS and Wii game and I kept hearing those characters talk in the voice of the remakes. They fit the characters like a glove, which is a hard thing to do since when you have voiceless characters… Everybody has their voice in their head, and that doesn’t always match up with the official voice acting.
Now, in terms of differences between the original games and this remake… There are quite a lot of things. On the Cing wiki, there is a long list of changes. But I would highly advise you don’t read that before you finished the game. Since, it contains a lot of spoilers. I can say this without spoiling anything. The list of changes on the game article page has no real spoilers. If you haven’t played the originals, you won’t really notice a lot of the changes. Especially because most of the changes are done to improve the flow of the game and the story. Other changes have been done because some puzzles used the special features of the Nintendo DS or the Nintendo Wii in unique ways.
Arc System Works worked together with several members of the original development team, and I have to say that it really feels like this is the definitive way to experience these stories. Both stories now flow into each other, and it feels more like one big story. If you didn’t know better, you could think it’s just one huge game with those major chapters. They have done an amazing job of translating the story into a modern area without destroying the original messages and atmosphere of the story.
Fuzzy memories make imperfections
In terms of visuals, this game goes for a cel shaded look. This makes the remake of the original DS game look more in line with the Wii title. In the original DS game, the game was played as a top-down puzzle game, with some moments you could see a 2D scene that you could explore.
Visually, this game is quite detailed and looks amazing. Yet, I have noticed some rough models here and there. A book here, a window there. Some of them really stick out like a sore thumb. Now, I might be very critical on these things since I review games as a hobby. But let me tell you this as well. Overall, this game looks amazing. Timeless even. There are only a handful of objects that could use some touching up.
I have the same opinion on the animations. Overall, the animations are fantastic. Seeing the first game in 3D was breathtaking. It brought the game to life in such a different way, and I’m all for it. There were a few stiff animations, but if you aren’t looking for them, I can guarantee you that you won’t notice most of them. I especially love the comic book style cutscenes where the characters speaking go inside their own square next to each other. The animations in these cutscenes add some charm to this game, it makes the more relaxing nature of this game shine even brighter.
The controls of this game are excellent. Sometimes the motion control puzzles are a little bit wonky, but overall they work perfectly. The only thing I really don’t like is how, by the press of a button, you can see the orientation of Ashley. Now, what do I dislike about this? Well, it has a sort of build in walkthrough attached to it. This is something that’s too easily accessible, and I have pressed the button too many times.
Something I’m mixed about is how the additional lore spots are now somewhat easier to find. In the original DS game, you could find special cartridges with additional story lore on them. In this game, the hiding spot is located on your map. So, if you have missed one, you can quickly see on your map in which room you need to look. Now, some of them are hidden in very tricky places. During the stream, I have seen Klamath walk past two of them several times. If you want all the additional lore, you will have to keep your eyes peeled.
If you have played any point-and-click adventure game, you’ll know what to expect here. Personally, I compare this game quite a lot to Broken Sword 3, but without the platforming. You can explore the environment, and you have to solve various puzzles. Something unique is that you can also take pictures. And let me tell you, keep every mechanic the game teaches you in mind. The fact you can take pictures is something that is going to be quite helpful during the solving of the puzzles.
The only complaint I have is that solving some puzzles have a bit too much menu work involved. I especially remember one puzzle in the first part of the game where you have to weigh coins. Instead of them being all five on the table, you have to take them from your inventory each and every time. And the annoying part is that the last two you used, move to the last spot in your inventory. There are a handful of puzzles where some quality of life improvements would be very welcome.
Relaxing with puzzles
There are some amazing new features in this game as well. One of my favorite things is that you can access a big board where all the relationships between the characters are mapped out. Not only that, when you open the profile, you can read a small note about them. If you click on Ashley’s profile, you will read a small hint on what to do next. So, if you put this game down for a while, you can catch yourself up quite quickly.
Also, something I adore is the attention to detail in this game. For example, in one of the puzzles, Ashley digs into a building blocks box. After she found what she was looking for, you will notice a small building she built next to the box with the blocks she took out. There are various other moments like this, and it adds to the charm and realism of this game quite a lot.
The more relaxing nature of this game not only comes through the visuals and gameplay, but also through the music. The music in this game is a rather calming and relaxing soundtrack. The main motive is piano through the whole soundtrack. Other major instruments are violin and acoustic guitar. The soundtracks fit this game like a glove. Now, it is tense when it needs to be, but it never steps out of its lane. It keeps being that relaxing soundtracks that brings this game more to life, and I have no complaints about it.
The biggest strength of this game is the charm of it all. The writing, the music, the sound effects, the puzzles… It all flows together so well. While the game is only roughly 15 hours long, if you know what you are doing, it’s a very enjoyable time to play through. In this remake, the game also auto saves now but outside of cutscenes, you can save at any time in 15 different save slots.
Currently, I’m over midway in the second part of the game and I have been enjoying it quite a lot. While the game has it’s minor shortcomings like some rough object models and some annoying menu’ing during puzzles… I’m falling in love with these titles all over again. If you would ask me if the remakes or the originals are better, I’d have to say both. Both versions still have their charm but if you want to experience both these titles, I’d really advice to go for the Switch version. Since, it brings both titles together in a lot better way.
I mostly have minor complaints about these remakes. Like how silly it is that you can only have ten pictures saved and deleting them is a bit too fincky. But overall, the issues I have with this game are mostly minor. Maybe a bit more time in the oven or a polishing patch will bring this game to perfection.
A lot of other reviewers are giving this game lower marks since it’s slower paced or it’s a remake of a rather obscure duology. I personally disagree with these lower scores. These two games deserve another chance in the lime light since they are quite amazing games. I personally don’t mind the slower paced gameplay, since it’s refreshing to be able to wind down with a slower game. On top of that, if you look at the care the developers put into remaking this game and bringing it to modern audiences while not chaging too much to alienate fans of the original is such a fine line to walk on… And they never fell off that line in my opinion.
I can totally understand that this game isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. But, the complaints that this game is linear and doesn’t have a lot of replay value, I find ridiculous. I mean, does every game need to have a lot of replay value and let you explore a wide open world? No, it’s okay to play a game where you need to go from point A to B. It’s okay that the story looses some of it’s charm because you know how it’s going to end. It’s how that experience impacts you, that’s what matters.
The reason why I’m so happy to see remakes of these DS and Wii titles is because we now have remakes of amazing titles like this one and Ghost Trick for example. Now, because these two games have been remade, I’m holding out hope that Cing’s other titles like the amazing Hotel Dusk and it’s sequels are being remade as well. And if they are, I hope the same team is working on them since the love and care they placed into remaking these two titles is amazing.
I remember Klamath’s reaction when I suggested this game for streaming. He was worried that it was going to have low numbers and not a lot of interest. But, after our first stream, he started calling this game a hidden gem. I mean, if this game can have that kind of an impact on somebody who loves point-and-click games and the fact that we had a very high number of viewers watching our streams, it must mean something.
This game has a lot of impact and I hope that others who enjoy puzzle, adventure and/or point-and-click games give this game a chance. It’s something different especially since it’s slower paced but if you let it take you by the hand and if you walk along the journey, you won’t regret the powerful journey you are going on. It’s a journey that will stick with you and sometimes a memory will pop back into your head. You’ll remember the fun and relaxing times you had with this game. While the game isn’t perfect, the positives far outweigh the negatives and it’s one of those games where going along with the ride is the most important. Since, the ride of this game is one of the best point-and-click games I have ever played.
And with that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I want to thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m curious to hear what you thought about this game and/or the content of this article. So, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section down below. I also hope to welcome you in another article, but until then have a great rest of your day and take care.
Crash Bandicoot's N. Sane Trilogy - which comprises the remasters of the first Crash Bandicoot, as well as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped - has certainly not crashed and burned.Last night, the Crash Bandicoot team revealed that the trilogy has now sold through 20m copies worldwide. "Whoa! Thank you to our community of Crash players for this memorable milestone," the team wrote on social media platform X. To celebrate, a number of Crash Bandicoot games are now
Crash Bandicoot's N. Sane Trilogy - which comprises the remasters of the first Crash Bandicoot, as well as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped - has certainly not crashed and burned.
Last night, the Crash Bandicoot team revealed that the trilogy has now sold through 20m copies worldwide. "Whoa! Thank you to our community of Crash players for this memorable milestone," the team wrote on social media platform X.
To celebrate, a number of Crash Bandicoot games are now on sale on PlayStation, with deals running until 3rd July. For example, you can currently scoop up the Crash Bandicoot - Crashiversary Bundle for £43.99. It usually retails at £110.
Gamecube classics Baten Kaitos and its sequel have appeared on Steam with no warning, marking the first time they've ever been on a non-Nintendo platform.
Gamecube classics Baten Kaitos and its sequel have appeared on Steam with no warning, marking the first time they've ever been on a non-Nintendo platform.
Legendární System Shock od studia LookingGlass je bylo jedním z mých herních restů, za které jsem se styděl. Hra, která před 30 lety položila základy dalším kultovním titulům jako série BioShock či DeusEx, se před rokem dočkala remasterované verze na PC. Letos se vylepšená verze dostává i na konzole PlayStation a já obrán o jakékoliv výmluvy jsem neměl na výběr a vydal se zjistit, kdo že je ta Shodan a proč tak touží po naší smrti.
Recenzovaná verze: PlayStation 5
Ještě než jsem se ale do hraní
Legendární System Shock od studia LookingGlass je bylo jedním z mých herních restů, za které jsem se styděl. Hra, která před 30 lety položila základy dalším kultovním titulům jako série BioShock či DeusEx, se před rokem dočkala remasterované verze na PC. Letos se vylepšená verze dostává i na konzole PlayStation a já obrán o jakékoliv výmluvy jsem neměl na výběr a vydal se zjistit, kdo že je ta Shodan a proč tak touží po naší smrti.
Recenzovaná verze: PlayStation 5
Ještě než jsem se ale do hraní pustil, musel jsem si udělat menší průzkum, abych si trochu připomenul do čeho jdu. A dobře jsem udělal. I díky tomu jsem hned viděl ty nejmarkantnější rozdíly mezi verzí z roku 1994 a tou aktuální. U všemožných remasterů či remaků značnou část hráčů samozřejmě nejvíce zajímá to, jak hra vypadá. Vývojáři se v nové verzi vydali cestou, která sice vylepšuje veškeré textury a nahání frame-rate do výšin, ale přitom zachovává stylizaci hry, na které tolik hráčů vyrostlo. Všimnout si toho můžete již v úvodu hry, kdy se hlavní postava snaží hacknout sít TriOptimum.
Jako hráč, kterého původní hra zcela minula, jsem byl na začátku slušně řečeno zmaten. Kolegové a kamarádi mě varovali, že se jedná o velmi náročnou hru, ale s ohledem na odehraná léta jsem jejich varovaní nebral příliš v potaz. První momenty na orbitální stanici Citadela tak byly nervózní a zbrklé. Nedělal mi problém soubojový systém a s prvními nepřáteli jsem si poradil bez problémů. Trable mi ovšem dělali první rébusy a především orientace na lodi. Můj průzkum a snahu se ve hře zorientovat potají sledovala Shodan pomocí všudypřítomných kamer, což nejenže pomáhalo stupňovat mou nervozitu, ale budovalo to i creepy atmosféru, kterou jsem docenil až o několik hodin později.
Hratelnost je obecně jedním z nejdůležitějších aspektů videoher a tak mě zajímalo, jak se hra popasuje s dnešními standardy. Dlužno uznat, že převedení hratelnosti se vývojářům povedlo a třeba takový pohyb či míření nepůsobí ani zdaleka kostrbatě. Větší problém jsem měl ale s pohybem v inventáři. Hra vám totiž nic nevysvětlí a neprozradí ani to, co dělají různá tlačítka. Několikrát se mi tak na začátku hry stalo, že jsem si inventář nechtěně vymazal. Zatímco melee souboje mě příliš neoslovily, tak střelba je v System Shocku skvělým retro zážitkem, a to myslím upřímně. Střelba a řešení rébusů mě na celé hře totiž bavili nejvíce.
Zpět ale ke grafické stránce hry. Ta už z podstaty remaku prošla výraznou proměnou a k vidění jsou pochopitelně vylepšené textury, nasvícení scén, stínování a v neposlední řadě také vyšší rozlišení. To vše a mnohem více přispívá k atmosféře, která na Citadele vládne. Vše je atmosférické a místy dokonce klaustrofobické. Za každým rohem na vás číhá nebezpečí a onen pocit napětí je společně s grafikou dalším faktorem, kterým si hra získá nové hráče a udrží pozornost navrátilců.
System Shock ale není jen o strachu o vlastní život, ale také o příběhové kampani, jejíž hlavní záporák byla ve své době neskutečně originální postava. Hra je plná dialogů, které je radno pozorně poslouchat a číst. Váš „vztah“ se Shodan se totiž neustále vyvíjí a je tak potřeba mít se na pozoru. Shodan vám bude hraní často znepříjemňovat a psychologickým nátlakem vás terorizovat, takže jsem si užíval každý okamžik, kdy mi její mrazivý hlas nezněl v uších.
Celkově pro mě byla hra vítaným zážitkem. Největší překážkou na cestě k novým hráčům a širší veřejnosti může být zmiňovaná obtížnost. Pokud se do System Shocku pustíte, tak po vás bude hra vyžadovat neustále soustředění a slušnou dávku trpělivosti. Problémová může být především orientace na vesmírné stanici, u čehož jsem nejednou upouštěl páru pomocí sprostých slov. Ano, co se týče obtížnosti tak je System Shock old-school gamesou, která umí být frustrující a i pro zkušené hráče je bezesporu výzvou.
System Shock je intenzivní zážitek a vývojářům se v tomto remaku podařilo extrahovat to nejlepší z původní verze a s citem to navléci do modernějšího hávu. Hra si ponechala svou stylizaci, atmosféru a převzala i nemilosrdné zacházení s hráčem. Abyste Shodan zabránili k Zemi vystřelit smrtící paprsek, tak se budete muset hodně ohánět, a taky si dávat pozor, abyste ten paprsek nespustili vy sami…
Last year, it was revealed that the masters of remasters at Nightdive Studios have taken on the task of bringing the beloved 90s classic Star Wars: Dark Forces to modern audiences. The remaster is set to release February 28 on PS5 and PS4, nearly 30 years after the release of the original game from LucasArts in 1995.
Similar to Nightdive’s previous endeavors with titles like Quake II and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster honors the strong foundation of th
Last year, it was revealed that the masters of remasters at Nightdive Studios have taken on the task of bringing the beloved 90s classic Star Wars: Dark Forces to modern audiences. The remaster is set to release February 28 on PS5 and PS4, nearly 30 years after the release of the original game from LucasArts in 1995.
Similar to Nightdive’s previous endeavors with titles like Quake II and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster honors the strong foundation of the original while updating it for modern consoles through the studio’s proprietary KEX engine, allowing the game to run at up to 4K resolution at 120FPS on PlayStation 5.
With this, fans of the original as well as a whole new generation of gamers, will be able to experience Star Wars: Dark Forces and appreciate what made it such an essential title within LucasArts’ (now Lucasfilm Games) impressive catalog. Further honoring the work that went into its initial development, it’s been revealed that Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster will feature a special Vault jam-packed with never-before-seen content from the making of the 1995 original!
With improved spritework and remastered cutscenes, those looking to dig deeper into a truly unique story within the Star Wars galaxy will be able to enjoy a visually pleasing narrative experience as they join protagonist Kyle Katarn, a defector turned mercenary for hire working for the Rebel Alliance, in foiling the Galactic Empire and its secret Dark Troopers Project.
As much as we’d love to continue gushing over why this has been such an exciting project for Nightdive and must-play title for fans and newcomers alike, let’s dive deeper into the fascinating history and behind-the-scenes work of breathing new life into Star Wars: Dark Forces with Nightdive’s Project Lead and Producer, Max Waine.
Exploring The Vault
PlayStation Blog: What was the most exciting challenge you faced while working on Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster?
Max Waine: For me, it was bringing something new and worthwhile to existing fans of the game. Our way of tackling that was by bringing in The Vault. It was imperative that I find and present interesting snapshots of the development of the game. From there, it was a lot of coding to make it all work, conversion of various assets to be able to load in the remaster, and a great deal of text to write for the titles and descriptions; balancing being informative of what I did know from the development files without drifting into speculation proved exceptionally difficult.
When diving into the Remaster, what details about the original LucasArts spritework stood out to you from a historical development perspective?
From a development perspective, Dark Forces seemed to have a relatively typical way of approaching sprites for the time and genre. A combination of touched-up scanned models, hand-drawn sprites, and rendered 3D models (from 3D Studio) are ordinary fare. The software they used for spritework, DeluxePaint Animation, was also seemingly pretty standard. One interesting detail is that many of the human sprites seemed to be mostly hand-drawn but would use incredibly basic models to provide things like poses and such.
Design and assembly
What about the game’s cutscenes? Can you share insight into the work Nightdive has done to remaster these?
I integrated the new cutscenes into the game itself, with the help of Daniel Albano to allow for supporting different languages within the cutscenes. Outside of setting up the video player, I created a text-based format that could change the music in-sync with the video the same way the original did.
I’ll be paraphrasing Brendan McKinney here, who was our 3D maestro on the cutscenes. Beside Brendan, development was done with paintings of the new characters by Ben Chandler, ship models by Daniel Andersson, and guidance from Lucasfilm Games’ David Yee.
Due to the original cutscenes blending of different types of assets, the process of updating the cutscenes proved difficult. Initially the approach was to try to recreate the same cutscenes at a higher resolution, but this resulted in greater scrutiny being drawn to the differences in the disparate types of assets that could be provided in a cutscene.
The approach that was ultimately taken was to embrace the mixed medium spirit of the originals while still narrowing the divide so that, even at higher resolution, everything fit comfortably together.
This is where Ben Chandler came in, doing painted versions of characters like Crix Madine and Jabba, who were based on or fully taken from stills of the films respectively for their depiction in the original. Brendan recreated the environments in 3D, painting over them afterward to bring the composition nearer to Ben’s character work. The space sequences were approached with the intent to keep things simple, matching the feel of the original work.
Is there a weapon design unique to Dark Forces that you specifically like? What makes it interesting from a development POV?
It’s gotta be Kyle’s trusty sidearm, the Bryar pistol. The weapon just really looks the part. A lot of the weapons were rendered out from 3D models, and for some it can chafe against the technical limitations of the time, but the Bryar pistol just looks absolutely perfect as-is.
Adding to this, what can you share about the Phase 02 Dark Trooper character model from a developer standpoint?
The Phase 02 Dark Trooper as a character seemed to go through a fair bit of iteration from initial conception to what ended up present in the final game. Renders of the character model definitely appear to be what is used in both the original cutscenes and as a basis for the spritework. I can’t be exactly certain how they animated pre-rendered cutscenes with the Dark Troopers though, as we don’t have a significant amount of the 3D-related assets.
Honoring the original Dark Forces
What’s the most impressive feat accomplished with this game based on the time it was created?
Dark Forces is greater than the sum of its parts, and while I will point out key impressive aspects of the game, I want to emphasize just how strong it is as a cohesive whole. There are two things that jump out at me the most for the time period: support for 3D environments that allow for room-over-room, which was something that the Doom engine was not capable of; seamless integration of fully 3D objects within the environment (like Kyle’s ship, X-Wings, Mouse Droids, etc.).
Lastly, what do you think Dark Forces did to move the budding FPS genre forward during its time?
At a time where FPSs were largely abstract in locales, Dark Forces pushed the tech forward enough to be able to successfully realize familiar and more realistic environments. In addition to that it was able to tell a cohesive story, complete with fully voice-acted cutscenes. The sum total of this is a game that really pushed forward just how immersive FPSs could be.
We want to thank Nightdive’s Max Waine for the blast from the past experience we’ve had learning about the work being put into Star War: Dark Forces Remaster, including how it features The Vault, which packs in a wealth of behind-the-scenes visual content from the development of the 1995 original!
Additional features fans can look forward to with Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster are visual improvements, including advanced 3D rendering with realistic lighting and atmospheric effects, and up to 4K at 120FPS on PlayStation 5. Not to mention action-packed, first-person ground combat with 10 weapons and 20 enemy types!
Can’t wait to play the Remaster? Keep an eye out for Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster later this month when it releases on PS5 and PS4 on February 28.
Co-editing credit for this article goes to Nightdive Studios Community Manager, Morgan Shaver.
The remaster of the original three Tomb Raider games was released not that long ago. For PC users, there was a choice between purchasing it on Steam or Epic Games Store. However, there seemed to be some notable differences between the two versions, which the developer has now acknowledged.
According to a post from The Gamer a couple of days ago, fans began to notice that Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was different on EGS than on Steam. For starters, the Epic Games version had different skybox
The remaster of the original three Tomb Raider games was released not that long ago. For PC users, there was a choice between purchasing it on Steam or Epic Games Store. However, there seemed to be some notable differences between the two versions, which the developer has now acknowledged.
According to a post from The Gamer a couple of days ago, fans began to notice that Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was different on EGS than on Steam. For starters, the Epic Games version had different skyboxes in places like the Colosseum, and the Greece levels had "new light holes."
Since then, a post on the Steam page has noted that EGS had a build of the remaster that had "incomplete assets," and the download contained "some work-in-progress materials" that weren't meant for public consumption.
Update also imminent
Aspyr has now fixed the problem, uploading the correct version to Epic. However, some – such as a reporter from Eurogamer and the aforementioned The Gamer article – have noted this incomplete build had better-looking assets than the Steam version. This could suggest that the two downloads are not evenly matched, for whatever reason.
That aside, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is also getting its first update soon. In the same Steam post, the developer thanked fans for their "continued support, shares, and feedback" on the games, with an update said to be in the works.
We don't exactly know what's coming, but the studio says it anticipates sending this update out "in the next few weeks."
There's a lovely line in Rick Lane's review of Star Wars: Dark Forces. Actually, the piece has no shortage of lovely lines, but one stood out for me in particular. "The result is a game that looks sharp and fresh, but crucially, not new."Dark Forces is our Game of the Week, of course, and I think this line gets at why. It's an old game - 1995, so it's as old as Elastica's first album, for those of us who use that metric. A remaster has to bring it up to date without losing that thrilling sense
Dark Forces is our Game of the Week, of course, and I think this line gets at why. It's an old game - 1995, so it's as old as Elastica's first album, for those of us who use that metric. A remaster has to bring it up to date without losing that thrilling sense of oldness. The right kind of oldness, though. Complicated.
Remasters are on the rise. They have been on the rise for a number of years, as games have more and more history worth revisiting. But questions like this - of how to make a game look sharp and fresh, but not new, are going to get more important. Dark Forces hits the sweet spot perfectly, I think: look at the screens and it's clearly an old shooter, but your eyes don't reject it as being an interesting relic that's probably unplayable. Subtle tweaks have been made to ensure it looks modern-old rather than relic-old.
Dark Forces emerges from Nightdive's bacta tank refreshed and ready for action, combining classic FPS mayhem with thrilling espionage-themed missions."This is too easy" quips Kyle Katarn as he snatches the Death Star plans in Dark Forces' opening mission. What took Rogue One two-and-a-half ponderous hours to unspool, LucasArts' shooter pulls off in ten thrilling minutes. For Katarn, a cocky mercenary in tentative accord with the Rebel Alliance, stealing the Death Star plans is just another cont
Dark Forces emerges from Nightdive's bacta tank refreshed and ready for action, combining classic FPS mayhem with thrilling espionage-themed missions.
"This is too easy" quips Kyle Katarn as he snatches the Death Star plans in Dark Forces' opening mission. What took Rogue One two-and-a-half ponderous hours to unspool, LucasArts' shooter pulls off in ten thrilling minutes. For Katarn, a cocky mercenary in tentative accord with the Rebel Alliance, stealing the Death Star plans is just another contract. In, out, job done.
Katarn's confidence and competence is echoed both in Dark Forces at large and Nightdive's work restoring it. The remaster is a consummately professional overhaul, making the game look just how you remember it in a way that belies the work involved to get it to this stage. In doing so, Nightdive reveals a shooter that hits the brief like a proton torpedo, a Doom clone elevated by its vivid, imaginative expansion upon the Star Wars universe.
The release of Doom in 1993 changed the industry forever - and in its wake, developers scrambled to bring their own visions to life in first-person. Star Wars: Dark Forces is one such game, created in a genre completely different to nearly every other product developer LucasArts would release, but it nonetheless became one of the most interesting and inspired Doom-adjacent shooters of its day. Now, thanks to Nightdive Studios, Dark Forces has emerged from its DOS prison with a new remastered ve
The release of Doom in 1993 changed the industry forever - and in its wake, developers scrambled to bring their own visions to life in first-person. Star Wars: Dark Forces is one such game, created in a genre completely different to nearly every other product developer LucasArts would release, but it nonetheless became one of the most interesting and inspired Doom-adjacent shooters of its day. Now, thanks to Nightdive Studios, Dark Forces has emerged from its DOS prison with a new remastered version for all modern platforms, complete with new high-res assets and a host of other improvements.
This makes it a good time to take a deep dive on what made Dark Forces an important release back in 1995 - and how it improved on the epoch-making Doom. From there, it's onto the work of Nightdive itself in meticulously remastering the game for PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
When Dark Forces was released in early 1995, it occupied an unusual place in LucasArts lineup - having mostly focused its efforts on point and click adventures, action games were still a rare breed for the company. In fact, despite their associate with Lucas Film, as of 1995, the studio had produced very few Star Wars related games.
Last year, it was revealed that the masters of remasters at Nightdive Studios have taken on the task of bringing the beloved 90s classic Star Wars: Dark Forces to modern audiences. The remaster is set to release February 28 on PS5 and PS4, nearly 30 years after the release of the original game from LucasArts in 1995.
Similar to Nightdive’s previous endeavors with titles like Quake II and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster honors the strong foundation of th
Last year, it was revealed that the masters of remasters at Nightdive Studios have taken on the task of bringing the beloved 90s classic Star Wars: Dark Forces to modern audiences. The remaster is set to release February 28 on PS5 and PS4, nearly 30 years after the release of the original game from LucasArts in 1995.
Similar to Nightdive’s previous endeavors with titles like Quake II and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster honors the strong foundation of the original while updating it for modern consoles through the studio’s proprietary KEX engine, allowing the game to run at up to 4K resolution at 120FPS on PlayStation 5.
With this, fans of the original as well as a whole new generation of gamers, will be able to experience Star Wars: Dark Forces and appreciate what made it such an essential title within LucasArts’ (now Lucasfilm Games) impressive catalog. Further honoring the work that went into its initial development, it’s been revealed that Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster will feature a special Vault jam-packed with never-before-seen content from the making of the 1995 original!
With improved spritework and remastered cutscenes, those looking to dig deeper into a truly unique story within the Star Wars galaxy will be able to enjoy a visually pleasing narrative experience as they join protagonist Kyle Katarn, a defector turned mercenary for hire working for the Rebel Alliance, in foiling the Galactic Empire and its secret Dark Troopers Project.
As much as we’d love to continue gushing over why this has been such an exciting project for Nightdive and must-play title for fans and newcomers alike, let’s dive deeper into the fascinating history and behind-the-scenes work of breathing new life into Star Wars: Dark Forces with Nightdive’s Project Lead and Producer, Max Waine.
Exploring The Vault
PlayStation Blog: What was the most exciting challenge you faced while working on Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster?
Max Waine: For me, it was bringing something new and worthwhile to existing fans of the game. Our way of tackling that was by bringing in The Vault. It was imperative that I find and present interesting snapshots of the development of the game. From there, it was a lot of coding to make it all work, conversion of various assets to be able to load in the remaster, and a great deal of text to write for the titles and descriptions; balancing being informative of what I did know from the development files without drifting into speculation proved exceptionally difficult.
When diving into the Remaster, what details about the original LucasArts spritework stood out to you from a historical development perspective?
From a development perspective, Dark Forces seemed to have a relatively typical way of approaching sprites for the time and genre. A combination of touched-up scanned models, hand-drawn sprites, and rendered 3D models (from 3D Studio) are ordinary fare. The software they used for spritework, DeluxePaint Animation, was also seemingly pretty standard. One interesting detail is that many of the human sprites seemed to be mostly hand-drawn but would use incredibly basic models to provide things like poses and such.
Design and assembly
What about the game’s cutscenes? Can you share insight into the work Nightdive has done to remaster these?
I integrated the new cutscenes into the game itself, with the help of Daniel Albano to allow for supporting different languages within the cutscenes. Outside of setting up the video player, I created a text-based format that could change the music in-sync with the video the same way the original did.
I’ll be paraphrasing Brendan McKinney here, who was our 3D maestro on the cutscenes. Beside Brendan, development was done with paintings of the new characters by Ben Chandler, ship models by Daniel Andersson, and guidance from Lucasfilm Games’ David Yee.
Due to the original cutscenes blending of different types of assets, the process of updating the cutscenes proved difficult. Initially the approach was to try to recreate the same cutscenes at a higher resolution, but this resulted in greater scrutiny being drawn to the differences in the disparate types of assets that could be provided in a cutscene.
The approach that was ultimately taken was to embrace the mixed medium spirit of the originals while still narrowing the divide so that, even at higher resolution, everything fit comfortably together.
This is where Ben Chandler came in, doing painted versions of characters like Crix Madine and Jabba, who were based on or fully taken from stills of the films respectively for their depiction in the original. Brendan recreated the environments in 3D, painting over them afterward to bring the composition nearer to Ben’s character work. The space sequences were approached with the intent to keep things simple, matching the feel of the original work.
Is there a weapon design unique to Dark Forces that you specifically like? What makes it interesting from a development POV?
It’s gotta be Kyle’s trusty sidearm, the Bryar pistol. The weapon just really looks the part. A lot of the weapons were rendered out from 3D models, and for some it can chafe against the technical limitations of the time, but the Bryar pistol just looks absolutely perfect as-is.
Adding to this, what can you share about the Phase 02 Dark Trooper character model from a developer standpoint?
The Phase 02 Dark Trooper as a character seemed to go through a fair bit of iteration from initial conception to what ended up present in the final game. Renders of the character model definitely appear to be what is used in both the original cutscenes and as a basis for the spritework. I can’t be exactly certain how they animated pre-rendered cutscenes with the Dark Troopers though, as we don’t have a significant amount of the 3D-related assets.
Honoring the original Dark Forces
What’s the most impressive feat accomplished with this game based on the time it was created?
Dark Forces is greater than the sum of its parts, and while I will point out key impressive aspects of the game, I want to emphasize just how strong it is as a cohesive whole. There are two things that jump out at me the most for the time period: support for 3D environments that allow for room-over-room, which was something that the Doom engine was not capable of; seamless integration of fully 3D objects within the environment (like Kyle’s ship, X-Wings, Mouse Droids, etc.).
Lastly, what do you think Dark Forces did to move the budding FPS genre forward during its time?
At a time where FPSs were largely abstract in locales, Dark Forces pushed the tech forward enough to be able to successfully realize familiar and more realistic environments. In addition to that it was able to tell a cohesive story, complete with fully voice-acted cutscenes. The sum total of this is a game that really pushed forward just how immersive FPSs could be.
We want to thank Nightdive’s Max Waine for the blast from the past experience we’ve had learning about the work being put into Star War: Dark Forces Remaster, including how it features The Vault, which packs in a wealth of behind-the-scenes visual content from the development of the 1995 original!
Additional features fans can look forward to with Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster are visual improvements, including advanced 3D rendering with realistic lighting and atmospheric effects, and up to 4K at 120FPS on PlayStation 5. Not to mention action-packed, first-person ground combat with 10 weapons and 20 enemy types!
Can’t wait to play the Remaster? Keep an eye out for Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster later this month when it releases on PS5 and PS4 on February 28.
Co-editing credit for this article goes to Nightdive Studios Community Manager, Morgan Shaver.
I come to you with an important question today, readers. Has there ever been an actually good sewer level in a video game before? I propose to you that there has not. Sewer levels are the worst. They have always been the worst, and will always be the worst. There is no redeeming feature that can make sewer levels good, fun or enjoyable, and I come to you today saying they must stop. No more sewer levels, developers. Please. I beg you. Especially you, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster. You're the
I come to you with an important question today, readers. Has there ever been an actually good sewer level in a video game before? I propose to you that there has not. Sewer levels are the worst. They have always been the worst, and will always be the worst. There is no redeeming feature that can make sewer levels good, fun or enjoyable, and I come to you today saying they must stop. No more sewer levels, developers. Please. I beg you. Especially you, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster. You're the chief offender in this whole mess, and both my nostrils and my sanity simply cannot take it anymore.
A long time ago on a desktop far, far away, my family once owned a demo disc for the original Star Wars: Dark Forces. I cannot remember for the life of me which level(s) it contained. My only surviving memory of it is having quite a good time blasting Stormtroopers and the chaps in black with the swoopy, knock-off Vader helmets, but also getting terribly lost and not really knowing what the heck I was meant to be doing. Now, playing Nightdive Studio's Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster as an adul
A long time ago on a desktop far, far away, my family once owned a demo disc for the original Star Wars: Dark Forces. I cannot remember for the life of me which level(s) it contained. My only surviving memory of it is having quite a good time blasting Stormtroopers and the chaps in black with the swoopy, knock-off Vader helmets, but also getting terribly lost and not really knowing what the heck I was meant to be doing. Now, playing Nightdive Studio's Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster as an adult probably close to three decades later, both these feelings have come roaring back, as this is very much a Star Wars FPS in the vein of Doom and other early 90s shooters (thumbs up). But it's one that leans so hard into its maze-like level design that it can regularly feel like a little bit of a tough hang in the cold hard light of 2024 (thumbs down).
Crucially, though, not to the point where it's best left consigned to the history books. This is still an enjoyable and worthwhile artefact in Star Wars' PC gaming history, and if your eyes (and general patience levels) can't quite stomach the 'Classic' and still available 1995 original, then this remaster is a pin-sharp glow-up for modern hardware.
Right after Epic Games removed Fallout titles from its free offerings for next week.
Bethesda has announced a new Fallout Special Anthology, which will be released on April 11. The collection will include seven Fallout games, and pre-orders for the Fallout Special Anthology are now live. There are several Fallout titles included in the collection, including Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3: Game …
Right after Epic Games removed Fallout titles from its free offerings for next week.
Bethesda has announced a new Fallout Special Anthology, which will be released on April 11. The collection will include seven Fallout games, and pre-orders for the Fallout Special Anthology are now live.
There are several Fallout titles included in the collection, including Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3: Game …
Apogee’s iconic, and absolutely insane first-person shooter returns in remastered form, with Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition.
Let’s get ludicrous
Have you ever heard the term ‘ludicrous gibs’, and wondered where it came from? Well if you did, then you’re obviously unfamiliar with Rise of the Triad. From classic PC developer Apogee, the first-person shooter pioneered that term with its (at the time) crazy blood and gore.
Aside from the exploding enemies, the game has also been b
Apogee’s iconic, and absolutely insane first-person shooter returns in remastered form, with Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition.
Let’s get ludicrous
Have you ever heard the term ‘ludicrous gibs’, and wondered where it came from? Well if you did, then you’re obviously unfamiliar with Rise of the Triad. From classic PC developer Apogee, the first-person shooter pioneered that term with its (at the time) crazy blood and gore.
Aside from the exploding enemies, the game has also been billed as a spiritual successor to the grandfather of the genre, Wolfenstein 3D. Originally, that might’ve been the intent, though it’s worth noting that its final form only vaguely fits that bill. Even though it features a somewhat WWII(ish) arsenal, RotT takes place in (presumably) 1994. The villains aren’t Nazis either, but cultists. Also unlike Wolf3D, it was completely and totally insane… and yes, I realize I’m calling Wolfenstein ‘sane’.
Whatever the case might’ve been though, the classic shooter is back, remastered by the retro-masters at Nightdive Studios. This latest version of RotT is packed as well, and seeks to be the marquee version of the title. Though even with all that, Rise of the Triad remains something of a niche experience, and most definitely an acquired taste.
The story thus far… wait, there’s a story?
Rise of the Triad originally came out in 1994. That was after Doom, just after Doom II, and before Duke Nukem 3D came along to truly evolve the genre. So with that in mind, you can kind of understand that RotT is more akin to the Dooms of the world than more modern FPS’ in terms of story elements (among other things).
Things start off with the arrival of HUNT, which stands for High-risk United Nations Task-force, on the shoreline of a remote island. This isn’t a vacation spot though, as it’s home to a strange cult that, as mentioned, may or may not have links to the bad guys from WWII.
And… that’s just about all there is. After they get there, the good guys and gals’ boat is destroyed, taking their only means of escape with it. As you might’ve guessed, that leaves plunging into the enemy facility and taking on its army as their only option.
Players can choose between five different members of HUNT in the game, and shockingly it actually does matter who you pick. Each character has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, which even today is something fairly unique.
The Ludicrous Edition of RotT includes the original game that we’ve been talking about of course, but you get a heck of a bang for your buck here. Additional content includes a bunch of extra mission packs, highlighted by the “Return of the Triad” campaign.
That’s basically a completely different, fan-made game built with GZDoom. This is going to be a hot take, so fair warning, but it’s much better designed than the main campaign. Return is a ton of fun and a lot less… weird, though I did have some pretty epic crashes with it. So just a heads up there.
One of the wildest FPS’ of all time
While the Ludicrous Edition is the most complete Rise of the Triad ever issued, in any form this game is an acquired taste. I don’t think anyone who’s played it would argue that point, even its biggest fans. Unlike in that previous section, it’s not a controversial take. RotT revels in its weirdness too, and that includes both the design of its maps and its gameplay.
We’ll get to the latter in a second, but I’ve gotta talk about the design first, as I ended the previous section with it. Rise of the Triad has no native verticality, so its levels are limited in build. That’s to say, it is at first blush. Once you actually start to play though, you’ll see inventive workarounds for the engine’s flaws.
Those include floating platforms, which are totally out of place for the themes of the game, and other tricks to give the impression that things like elevators actually function. The stages are loaded with traps like spikes from the floors and jets of flame too. It’s stuff that would feel more at home in a side-scroller from the 8bit age than in an FPS from any era.
As to that gameplay though, it’s solid stuff starring some quality shooting action. You can chew through foes with unlimited ammo, and more strategically blast them to little bits with heavy duty hardware in showers of… ludicrous gibs. But as with everything else in RotT, it’s got some ‘weird’ chucked in for good measure. Power-ups give players everything from tripped-out visuals to flight, and there’s even a dog mode.
The arsenal is also handled a little on the unconventional side. There’s a small core of traditional hardware, but as you read above, it all has unlimited ammo. Then on top of that, there are bazookas (with different ammo types) and even magic, but with the twist that you have very limited shots.
Great retro looks and sound
Unlike everything else, Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition’s AV package is sharp all around. It’s ‘retro’, so don’t go expecting modern flash, but Nightdive Studios once again proves it just ‘knows’ how to do quality remasters. I’m a huge fan of the development house, and with a reason, as everything that spins out of it is (typically) on target.
That’s not to say that Rise of the Triad’s Ludicrous Edition looks all that much different from the classic game however, because it doesn’t. This basically is the original, as it was meant to be, just with some little touches here and there thrown in.
Players will find the levels and digitized (I think?) enemies all present and accounted for, and all looking like they did in decades gone by. If you’re a fan of the game to begin with though, that’s a good thing indeed, as its overall look counts for a good deal of Rise of the Triad’s charm.
If you’re a fan of Nightdive as well, and you haven’t played RotT before though, just be aware of what the game serves up. You’re probably not going to play through it and think about some big set piece or cool little detail in a stage. While the overall design is a standout in the genre, it’s all kind of same-y too.
Overall
If you can’t tell, Rise of the Triad didn’t really hit the mark for me. But I mean that as a game, not as a retro package. And that’s how the Ludicrous Edition is going to be scored, as a “retro package”. In that latter way, the Ludicrous Edition is a tremendous deal, and is loaded with content for those who are long time fans.
I think you’d have a pretty tough time trying to fond some official piece of content that’s not included. Heck, even a great formerly-unofficial piece of content is included. Bottom line, if you’re a RotTer from way back, you probably don’t want to miss this game.
Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition Releas date: July 31st, 2023 Platforms: PC (reviewed) at the above date, also out now for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch Publisher: Apogee, New Blood Developer: Nightdive Studios, Apogee Software MSRP: $19.99 USD