n 3 º
11-13-2003, 03:23 PM
Saving the World From Our Robot
Overlords
Mega Man 2
Platform: NES |
Genre: Action
Publisher: Capcom | Developer: Capcom | Released: 1988
In 1987, when Capcom released Mega Man for the Nintendo Entertainment
System, the game was met with a largely indignant response. Upon inspection of the game's
box, it seemed like just another cheap, generic action shooter--which the NES was rife with at
the time. Those who actually took the time to play the game, however, found an enjoyable,
unique action adventure game with a nonlinear structure and the innovative ability to take on
the weapons of defeated boss characters. Still, the game never achieved any semblance of
commercial success in the United States, and some assumed that we would never again hear
from Mega Man. Only a year later, when Mega Man 2 was released, were those naysayers
proven wrong, and only then did the franchise gain the success it has since maintained for
more than 15 years.
Mega Man 2 was much like its predecessor in design, storyline,
and mechanics. You played as Mega Man, the heroic robot boy created by the good-natured
Dr. Light, embarking on a journey to defeat the vile Dr. Wily and his band of evil-minded robots.
At the outset of the game, you had the option of taking on whatever stage you preferred by
selecting from a list of the game bosses' portraits. You could beat them in whatever order you
liked, but the key was to acquire the right weapons which would more easily defeat other
bosses in the game. Each boss had a mortal weakness in one specific weapon. For instance,
Crash Man was highly vulnerable to Air Man's air shooter, while Heat Man could be easily
wiped out with a few shots from Bubble Man's bubble lead, and Metal Man's metal blades
were useful for, well, just about everything. Once you'd defeated Wily's cadre of robots,
you'd fight tooth and nail through his near-impenetrable fortress until facing off against the
man himself.
So, what exactly made Mega Man 2 so special? The basic play
mechanics were practically the same as the previous Mega Man game, and the storyline was
pretty much the same as well. What really made Mega Man 2 so superb can be summed up in
a single word: consistency. To elaborate on that, Mega Man 2 was consistently challenging,
inventive, and, most importantly, fun throughout the entire gameplay experience. Every level in
the game was a significant improvement over the basic concepts laid in the first Mega Man,
each with an impressive array of challenging jumps and tough bad guys that made it a unique
experience. All of the boss characters were impressively designed, as were their acquirable
weapons--well, except for maybe Bubble Man, but seven out of eight isn't bad at all. Add all of
these elements to the nicely upgraded graphics and the insanely catchy music scattered
through each level, and Mega Man 2 was a truly stellar package.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/sc
reens/mm2_02.jpg
You Don't Need Limbs
to Be a Hero
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Platform: PC, PS, N64, DC | Genre: Action
Publisher: Ubisoft |
Developer: Ubisoft | Released: 1999
Though 2D platformers were a dime a
dozen in the early 1990s, Ubisoft, a French video game publisher that had just recently gotten
into the design business, put out Rayman for the PlayStation in 1995. The following year,
Nintendo turned the platforming world upside down with its release of Super Mario 64, the first
true "3D platformer" and the archetype for those that followed. Most other serious platforming
franchises followed suit, but the majority of them were unable to handle the shift from 2D to 3D
with as much aplomb as the Italian plumber. That was until 1999, when Rayman finally
resurfaced in Rayman 2: The Great Escape. The shift to polygons was an effortless one for
Ubisoft's limbless champion, with the 3D sequel surpassing the imagination and innovation of
its predecessor by leaps and bounds.
The narrative of Rayman 2 is full of whimsy and
could easily be mistaken for a children's game at first glance, though there was some really
dark stuff that managed to creep in around the edges. There are some great characters, like
the bumbling, good-natured oaf Globox, the mildly terrifying Guardian of The Cave of Bad
Dreams, and, of course, the Teensies, who are the oldest and wisest beings in Rayman's
world. (They're so old, in fact, that none of them can remember which one of them is the
leader.)
Structurally, The Great Escape wasn't radically different from Super Mario 64
and the other 3D platformers that came before it, but the ingenuity of the level design and
Rayman's unmatched maneuverability left the competition in the dust. While the conventional
platforming sections of Rayman 2 were plenty fun, some of the more memorable sections
involved mechanics that simply hadn't been thought of before. Considering these
included--riding around on a two-legged rocket like a bucking bronco, riding a piece of fruit
down a river of molten lava, flying through the air on a lit powder keg, water-skiing behind a
snake, and using Rayman's ears as propellers to ride an updraft--it's not surprising that
Rayman 2 was the first to tackle them.
The gameplay was great, but, truly, it was the
presentation of Rayman 2 that brought the whole package together. This was a game created
by artists, not technicians, and its use of crisp, clear, beautifully crafted textures over relatively
simple 3D objects is a testament to that. This isn't to say that Rayman 2 wasn't technically
impressive at the time, because its massive 3D environments proved it certainly was that, but
the creators of Rayman 2 wanted to awe you with the surreal, vivid world they had created,
instead of showing you some nifty technical tricks. The lush, slightly off-kilter musical score
certainly helped perpetuate this dreamy reality, as did the nonsense languages that the
inhabitants of The Great Escape spoke.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape is more than
the sum of its parts, though its parts are admittedly a bit impressive on their own. Its European
roots show through--as do Rayman creator/designer Michel Ancel's interests in Nordic and
Celtic mysticism--and lend the affair a flavor that has not been replicated since. Simply put, you
will not have another video game experience quite like Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which is
why we chose it as one of the greatest games of all time.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/sc
reens/rayman2_01.jpg
Kneel Before the
Power of My Sprite Army
Dragon Force
Platform: Saturn | Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Working Designs | Developer: Sega |
Released: 1996
The strategy genre has always been a tough one to break out
to the masses. On paper, the chance to direct armies in epic battles against enemy forces
certainly looks appealing. Unfortunately, strategy games rarely deliver such a heady
experience in practice. Venerable strategy franchises, like Koei's Romance of the Three
Kingdoms, end up offering deliberately paced experiences that are heavy on menus and text
and low on action. However, back in 1996, Sega bucked that trend with Dragon Force, a
strategy game for its Saturn console that blended the visceral pleasure of seeing massive
armies clash in real time with the more cerebral resource management typical of the genre. A
first-party release in Japan, the title would've missed a US release had it not been for Working
Designs, longtime publisher and champion of the fan favorite import, who released the game in
the US later the same year.
Dragon Force's story was pretty typical for an RPG but
not so much for a strategy game. The massive continent of Legendra (you just have to love
those old-school names) is in a bit of a bind. The ancient and evil god Madruk is trying to
escape his magical prison just when a war is brewing among the eight major countries. The
game lets you play as a general from one of the kingdoms and charges you with "uniting" the
land in order to stop Madruk from escaping. In this case, "unite" means "beat everyone into
submission until they agree to help." It seems the key to keeping Madruk imprisoned lies with
the eight leaders coming together. While that's a tough order, given their interpersonal strife,
it's nothing a little overwhelming military force can't cure.
At first blush, the game
looks a lot like any other old strategy game, with its menu-driven interface and mandatory
interaction with your advisers (where you managed your forces between the various territories
you occupied). But when you moved around the world map and tried to take a property, things
changed drastically. While you weren't able to take direct control of your military forces in
battle, you could change their formations. The array of warriors you could assemble was a nice
assortment of normal and mythic creatures. You'd find standard human soldiers and cavalry,
along with dragons, mages, and harpies, among the ranks of potential fighters. The contests
took place on themed battlefields that let you get a good look at your army, which could grow
to be up to 100 strong. You had the option of involving your general in the fight (a man who
ordinarily stood immobile at the back of his forces) by executing different attacks that inflicted
serious damage to the opposing forces. Best of all, if the opposing armies finished each other
off, the generals in charge of each force would duke it out one-on-one.
The graphics
in Dragon Force followed the same deceptive tack as its gameplay. The world map and menus
were pretty unremarkable, but the graphics for the battles were incredibly cool. The opposing
armies were displayed in massive formations of animated sprites that you would see attack and
advance. The battles were always an extremely cool roll of the dice as the various
soldier-types had a rock-paper-scissors relationship to each other's attacks. For example,
archers were the spectre of death to harpies, who themselves were devastating to standard
soldiers. There was nothing better than seeing wave after wave of enemies drop because your
troops had the advantage over their forces. At the same time, there was nothing worse than
the beginning of a fight wherein your proud army of harpies was about to engage a horde of
archers. Toss in the dramatic special attacks by your general, which caused all kind of
onscreen mayhem, and you had a fine blend of strategy and visceral gameplay that was
eminently satisfying.
In the end, Dragon Force stands as the rarest of strategy games.
The game managed to walk the fine line between offering an experience that featured a good
amount of strategy and resource management with accessible gameplay. As an added bonus,
cool visuals captured the charm of massive armies clashing. It's an achievement that's rarely
been accomplished on a console, and it's is one that has yet to be matched on a current
system, which is why Dragon Force is one of our greatest games of all time.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/sc
reens/dragonf_01.jpg
Overlords
Mega Man 2
Platform: NES |
Genre: Action
Publisher: Capcom | Developer: Capcom | Released: 1988
In 1987, when Capcom released Mega Man for the Nintendo Entertainment
System, the game was met with a largely indignant response. Upon inspection of the game's
box, it seemed like just another cheap, generic action shooter--which the NES was rife with at
the time. Those who actually took the time to play the game, however, found an enjoyable,
unique action adventure game with a nonlinear structure and the innovative ability to take on
the weapons of defeated boss characters. Still, the game never achieved any semblance of
commercial success in the United States, and some assumed that we would never again hear
from Mega Man. Only a year later, when Mega Man 2 was released, were those naysayers
proven wrong, and only then did the franchise gain the success it has since maintained for
more than 15 years.
Mega Man 2 was much like its predecessor in design, storyline,
and mechanics. You played as Mega Man, the heroic robot boy created by the good-natured
Dr. Light, embarking on a journey to defeat the vile Dr. Wily and his band of evil-minded robots.
At the outset of the game, you had the option of taking on whatever stage you preferred by
selecting from a list of the game bosses' portraits. You could beat them in whatever order you
liked, but the key was to acquire the right weapons which would more easily defeat other
bosses in the game. Each boss had a mortal weakness in one specific weapon. For instance,
Crash Man was highly vulnerable to Air Man's air shooter, while Heat Man could be easily
wiped out with a few shots from Bubble Man's bubble lead, and Metal Man's metal blades
were useful for, well, just about everything. Once you'd defeated Wily's cadre of robots,
you'd fight tooth and nail through his near-impenetrable fortress until facing off against the
man himself.
So, what exactly made Mega Man 2 so special? The basic play
mechanics were practically the same as the previous Mega Man game, and the storyline was
pretty much the same as well. What really made Mega Man 2 so superb can be summed up in
a single word: consistency. To elaborate on that, Mega Man 2 was consistently challenging,
inventive, and, most importantly, fun throughout the entire gameplay experience. Every level in
the game was a significant improvement over the basic concepts laid in the first Mega Man,
each with an impressive array of challenging jumps and tough bad guys that made it a unique
experience. All of the boss characters were impressively designed, as were their acquirable
weapons--well, except for maybe Bubble Man, but seven out of eight isn't bad at all. Add all of
these elements to the nicely upgraded graphics and the insanely catchy music scattered
through each level, and Mega Man 2 was a truly stellar package.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/sc
reens/mm2_02.jpg
You Don't Need Limbs
to Be a Hero
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Platform: PC, PS, N64, DC | Genre: Action
Publisher: Ubisoft |
Developer: Ubisoft | Released: 1999
Though 2D platformers were a dime a
dozen in the early 1990s, Ubisoft, a French video game publisher that had just recently gotten
into the design business, put out Rayman for the PlayStation in 1995. The following year,
Nintendo turned the platforming world upside down with its release of Super Mario 64, the first
true "3D platformer" and the archetype for those that followed. Most other serious platforming
franchises followed suit, but the majority of them were unable to handle the shift from 2D to 3D
with as much aplomb as the Italian plumber. That was until 1999, when Rayman finally
resurfaced in Rayman 2: The Great Escape. The shift to polygons was an effortless one for
Ubisoft's limbless champion, with the 3D sequel surpassing the imagination and innovation of
its predecessor by leaps and bounds.
The narrative of Rayman 2 is full of whimsy and
could easily be mistaken for a children's game at first glance, though there was some really
dark stuff that managed to creep in around the edges. There are some great characters, like
the bumbling, good-natured oaf Globox, the mildly terrifying Guardian of The Cave of Bad
Dreams, and, of course, the Teensies, who are the oldest and wisest beings in Rayman's
world. (They're so old, in fact, that none of them can remember which one of them is the
leader.)
Structurally, The Great Escape wasn't radically different from Super Mario 64
and the other 3D platformers that came before it, but the ingenuity of the level design and
Rayman's unmatched maneuverability left the competition in the dust. While the conventional
platforming sections of Rayman 2 were plenty fun, some of the more memorable sections
involved mechanics that simply hadn't been thought of before. Considering these
included--riding around on a two-legged rocket like a bucking bronco, riding a piece of fruit
down a river of molten lava, flying through the air on a lit powder keg, water-skiing behind a
snake, and using Rayman's ears as propellers to ride an updraft--it's not surprising that
Rayman 2 was the first to tackle them.
The gameplay was great, but, truly, it was the
presentation of Rayman 2 that brought the whole package together. This was a game created
by artists, not technicians, and its use of crisp, clear, beautifully crafted textures over relatively
simple 3D objects is a testament to that. This isn't to say that Rayman 2 wasn't technically
impressive at the time, because its massive 3D environments proved it certainly was that, but
the creators of Rayman 2 wanted to awe you with the surreal, vivid world they had created,
instead of showing you some nifty technical tricks. The lush, slightly off-kilter musical score
certainly helped perpetuate this dreamy reality, as did the nonsense languages that the
inhabitants of The Great Escape spoke.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape is more than
the sum of its parts, though its parts are admittedly a bit impressive on their own. Its European
roots show through--as do Rayman creator/designer Michel Ancel's interests in Nordic and
Celtic mysticism--and lend the affair a flavor that has not been replicated since. Simply put, you
will not have another video game experience quite like Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which is
why we chose it as one of the greatest games of all time.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/sc
reens/rayman2_01.jpg
Kneel Before the
Power of My Sprite Army
Dragon Force
Platform: Saturn | Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Working Designs | Developer: Sega |
Released: 1996
The strategy genre has always been a tough one to break out
to the masses. On paper, the chance to direct armies in epic battles against enemy forces
certainly looks appealing. Unfortunately, strategy games rarely deliver such a heady
experience in practice. Venerable strategy franchises, like Koei's Romance of the Three
Kingdoms, end up offering deliberately paced experiences that are heavy on menus and text
and low on action. However, back in 1996, Sega bucked that trend with Dragon Force, a
strategy game for its Saturn console that blended the visceral pleasure of seeing massive
armies clash in real time with the more cerebral resource management typical of the genre. A
first-party release in Japan, the title would've missed a US release had it not been for Working
Designs, longtime publisher and champion of the fan favorite import, who released the game in
the US later the same year.
Dragon Force's story was pretty typical for an RPG but
not so much for a strategy game. The massive continent of Legendra (you just have to love
those old-school names) is in a bit of a bind. The ancient and evil god Madruk is trying to
escape his magical prison just when a war is brewing among the eight major countries. The
game lets you play as a general from one of the kingdoms and charges you with "uniting" the
land in order to stop Madruk from escaping. In this case, "unite" means "beat everyone into
submission until they agree to help." It seems the key to keeping Madruk imprisoned lies with
the eight leaders coming together. While that's a tough order, given their interpersonal strife,
it's nothing a little overwhelming military force can't cure.
At first blush, the game
looks a lot like any other old strategy game, with its menu-driven interface and mandatory
interaction with your advisers (where you managed your forces between the various territories
you occupied). But when you moved around the world map and tried to take a property, things
changed drastically. While you weren't able to take direct control of your military forces in
battle, you could change their formations. The array of warriors you could assemble was a nice
assortment of normal and mythic creatures. You'd find standard human soldiers and cavalry,
along with dragons, mages, and harpies, among the ranks of potential fighters. The contests
took place on themed battlefields that let you get a good look at your army, which could grow
to be up to 100 strong. You had the option of involving your general in the fight (a man who
ordinarily stood immobile at the back of his forces) by executing different attacks that inflicted
serious damage to the opposing forces. Best of all, if the opposing armies finished each other
off, the generals in charge of each force would duke it out one-on-one.
The graphics
in Dragon Force followed the same deceptive tack as its gameplay. The world map and menus
were pretty unremarkable, but the graphics for the battles were incredibly cool. The opposing
armies were displayed in massive formations of animated sprites that you would see attack and
advance. The battles were always an extremely cool roll of the dice as the various
soldier-types had a rock-paper-scissors relationship to each other's attacks. For example,
archers were the spectre of death to harpies, who themselves were devastating to standard
soldiers. There was nothing better than seeing wave after wave of enemies drop because your
troops had the advantage over their forces. At the same time, there was nothing worse than
the beginning of a fight wherein your proud army of harpies was about to engage a horde of
archers. Toss in the dramatic special attacks by your general, which caused all kind of
onscreen mayhem, and you had a fine blend of strategy and visceral gameplay that was
eminently satisfying.
In the end, Dragon Force stands as the rarest of strategy games.
The game managed to walk the fine line between offering an experience that featured a good
amount of strategy and resource management with accessible gameplay. As an added bonus,
cool visuals captured the charm of massive armies clashing. It's an achievement that's rarely
been accomplished on a console, and it's is one that has yet to be matched on a current
system, which is why Dragon Force is one of our greatest games of all time.
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/sc
reens/dragonf_01.jpg