Retro Game Friday: Indiana Jones The Infernal Machine

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game that I can barely remember playing. It’s Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine!

Plot Synopsis: The story of the game is set in 1947 and depicts archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones returning to his digging career after his involvement in World War II. Sophia Hapgood, an old friend of Indiana and now a member of the Central Intelligence Agency, visits him at his dig site in the Canyonlands, and informs him that the Russians are excavating the ruins of Babylon.

Plot: I’ll be frank I don’t remember much of this game. I remember having fun, but that’s about it.

Gameplay: I played the 2D version of this that was made for the GameBoy Color, so despite it being a port it was actually the full game. It was however really frustrating to die and have to restart a level, and I’ll be honest puzzle clues were pretty non-existent. These are pretty much the only things I remember, probably because I got so annoyed at the game.

Art: It was purely 2D so it’s aged alright, but it’s also not that amazing.

Music: I don’t remember it at all, sorry.

Overall: Probably worth skipping playing, but if you want the story you can probably watch a Let’s Play on YouTube or something.

For those who like: Puzzles, Frustration, Indiana Jones.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Star Wars KOTOR

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m going to cover a game I loved back in the day. It’s Star Wars KOTOR, or Knights of the Old Republic!

Plot Synopsis:  The story takes place approximately 4,000 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire. Former Jedi Darth Malak, a Dark Lord of the Sith and Darth Revan’s former apprentice, has unleashed a Sith armada against the Republic. Malak’s aggression has left the Jedi scattered and vulnerable; many Jedi Knights have fallen in battle and others have sworn allegiance to Malak.

The game opens with the player’s character—the player can choose a face and be male or female (canonically a male)—awakening aboard the Republic ship, Endar Spire, which is under attack by Malak’s forces.

Plot: The plot is pretty great, and I won’t spoil it for you if you’ve never played, but if you haven’t you really need to.

Characters: All of the cast is pretty good, but all I need to say is that HK-47 is the best. End of story, meatbag.

Gameplay: The gameplay uses a variation of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, which allowed turn based combat to flow relatively smoothly. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good. That being said, you could just power through the game using lightsabers once you got them, which is a bit of a bummer. The moral choice system though was quite innovative at the time however, and it fits the Star Wars mythos perfectly.

Art: It’s very dated, but it’s still pretty decent. Better than the N64 era of games at least.

Music: Classic Star Wars.

Overall: If you’ve never played this game and love Star Wars even a little, go do so now. You’ll thank me later.

For those who like: Star Wars, RPGs, Moral Choices, Excellent Plots, Fantastic Cast of Characters, Great Gameplay, Good Music.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Rogue Squadron 3 Rebel Strike

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering one of my favorite games on the Gamecube, It’s Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike.

Plot: It’s a Star Wars game, nothing else need be said.

Gameplay: The space battles were quite fun, and lived up to the excellent gameplay of the first game. The ground battles on the other hand, were not so great. There was also local co-op, which was quite fun to play with another person. The version I played, which was from the local Hollywood Video was also scratched up so bad me and my best friend couldn’t believe it was still playable. There was one part during the second Death Star battle where Lando would constantly be shouting “We need more time!” and it became a running joke between us. Surprisingly that was the only bug we encountered in that game.

Music: Again it’s a Star Wars game, nothing else need be said.

Art: Great for it’s day, not so much now.

Overall: If you can get a cheap copy it’s worth a few hours of play. Other than that move on with your life.

For those who like: Star Wars, Rogue Squadron Games, Flight Combat Sims.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Retro Game Friday: Star Wars Battlefront II

 

This week I’m going over my favorite Battlefield-style video game of all time, Star Wars Battlefront II.

Plot Synopsis: The game is told as an autobiography, with an unknown clone recounting the battles of the 501st Legion.

Plot: It’s a Star Wars game, watch the movies and read some of the books to get the plot.

Gameplay: Here is where the game really shined, in the gameplay department. You could play as six different classes, with four being generally the same as the opposing sides forces, with the added benefit of two specialized classes depending on your current team. For the Rebellion faction, the Bothan Spy and the Wookie; for the Empire, The Officer and The Dark Trooper; for the Republic, the Commander and the Jet Trooper; and for the CIS, the Magnaguard and the Droideka. Battlefront II also features heroes – a special class that allows the player to control iconic characters from the Star Wars universe.You could unlock them by being the top scorer or capturing the most objectives on your team. They were generally overpowered as hell and would take coordinated efforts to take down or the other team’s hero.

In addition you could pilot all sorts of vehicles ranging from speeders to spaceships. The main difference, and the reason I enjoy the Battlefront Series so much is that you can easily pilot any vehicle and it’s never very complicated at all; compared to more modern FPS games like Battlefront 3 and 4 where it’s stupidly hard to pilot vehicles without a special controller for your PC and if you are on the consoles you’re just flat out of luck.

Music: It’s a Star Wars game, it sounds just like the movies.

Art: Pretty good, and I really enjoyed the art for it’s time, but it looks aged now.

Overall: If you want a good Battlefield-style game you can’t go wrong with this game.

For those who like: Star Wars, Battlefield-style games, FPS games, Dogfighting in space.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

This week we are going over one of my favorite Star Wars games of all time, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

 

Plot Synopsis: The game begins with Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors investigating a supposedly abandoned Imperial outpost on Kejim. However, when they arrive, they find the base crawling with Imperial forces. They fight their way through the base, discovering a research centre studying cortosis crystals, which are similar to those used to power lightsabers.

Plot: It’s a Star Wars game take that for what you will, but I enjoyed this game’s plot more than any other other Star Wars games.

Gameplay: The big focus on this game is the ability to use the Lightsaber, and for the first time in this series in 3rd Person view. Once you gain a lightsaber you are pretty much unstoppable to any standard enemy, as they are nothing more to you than fodder. I still enjoyed playing this because it actually had you able to sever people’s arms and hands off. It was pretty fun for it’s time. You could also engage in FPS elements, but like I said you once you got a lightsaber you rarely if ever pulled out anything else.

Art: For it’s time the art was pretty good, but nothing spectacular.

Music: It’s a Star Wars game, it sounds like Star Wars.

Overall: If you want a good time cutting up Stormtroopers look no further.

For those who like: Star Wars, Lightsaber Combat, FPS games.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.