Neverwinter Nights

Game: Neverwinter Nights
Developer: BioWare
Platform: PC
Release Year: 2002
Stephen's Rating: 6/10

Neverwinter Nights was BioWare's first foray into 3D role playing games and is the next game set in the D&D world of Faerun after the Icewind Dale series.

Basic Plot

The city of Neverwinter has fallen to a plague. The city is in turmoil. You play the role of a new recruit to the city watch who is sent by Lady Aribeth to collect reagents for a cure to the plague. Upon completing the cure, Desthar's minions storm the castle and he steals the cure. Desthar is sentenced to death and Aribeth's lover Fenthick is sentenced to hang, despite knowing nothing about Desthar's treachery.

The player then embarks on a quest to track down the cult who is spreading the Wailing Death plague. The journey takes them to Luskan, and eventually into the Source Stone pocket world to battle Morag. Depending on how the player handles the game, Aribeth may or may not join the cult and turn against you (becoming a fallen paladin).

Gameplay

Neverwinter Nights is a top down third person role playing game. The game world roughly follows the mechanics introduced in Icewind Dale including feats and skills. The character races and classes are based on the D&D world.

The player travels the world completing quests, fighting enemies, gaining levels and choosing skills and feats depending on their character class. The original story is broken into four chapters.

Positives

The game was groundbreaking in terms of putting an RPG in a 3D world. I found it quite jarring compared to the beauty of the Baldur's Gate series, but it had to start somewhere.

The game hung together pretty well when you consider the sum of its parts. It was satisfying to play, especially in the latter stages of the game.

Negatives

I found the camera quite irritating at times, and had to fiddle with the settings a lot before I found a mode I liked. 

The first (and quite large) section of the game is in the city of Neverwinter. This whole part of the game is arduous and painful. The first time I tackled this game I actually gave up because it was so boring. It involves completing some predictable quest in each of the four quarters of the city. The city itself is bleak and uninteresting, and the characters predictable and cliche. The game picked up a lot after this area but in terms of capturing the audience early on, this game failed miserably.

Unusually this game is actually superceded by its expansion packs. Each of them tell a better story and are more enjoyable to play than the original game.

Not unusual for an RPG, the story is pretty predictable and cliche. The characters and their dialogue can be quite painful to endure.

Memorable Moments

I had a friend who created his own level, and had his character battle a character he'd created in a previous BioWare game duel to the death.

Ricky Ponting Cricket 2005

Game: Ricky Ponting Cricket 2005
Developer: Swordfish Studios
Platform: PC (and others)
Release Year: 2005
Stephen's Rating: 6/10

Basic Plot

There is no plot. There are different game modes where you play games of cricket.

Gameplay

Ricky Ponting Cricket 2005 (also known as Brian Lara Cricket 2005 outside of Australia and New Zealand) is an action based cricket simulator. The player plays cricket matches and is directly controls players in batting and bowling, and is able to make decisions such as the position of fielders during the game.

Players could use pre-existing teams and players but could also create their own custom players who gained experience and could improve aspects of their bowling, batting, or fielding (eventually becoming uber players).

There were a number of game modes including individual limited overs or test matches, or playing entire tournaments or test series.

You could play two player on the same computer using either one keyboard or a keyboard and game controller (which we used). This added a whole new dimension to the game.

Positives

Unlike other cricket games I've played it was intuitive and easy to pick up. Batting and bowling were both very satisfying. Custom players was a nice touch. I created one for myself, my dad, and my best friend.

Negatives

I hated the way only Ricky Ponting was actually named in the game. When you played actual teams in the game (like India or England) they renamed all the players to be similar but different to the actual players and they looked different too. It was pretty frustrating and annoying because the names they chose were kind of... bad. They did it for licensing reasons.

My biggest qualm was the lack of variety. You could only hit the ball in one of 8 directions and bowling wasn't as varied and interesting as it could have been. Once I figured it out I found the game quite boring and repetitive.

Memorable Moments

I remember having some 10 over one on one competitions with some friends. The game is completely different than against the AI, we ended up mostly bowling full tosses which were well wide or ground grubbers which bounced many times before reaching the batsman. Hilarious.

I created custom players for myself (leg spin bowler), my dad (medium pace bowler) and my best friend (opening batter).

Grand Theft Auto

Game: Grand Theft Auto
Developer: DMA Design, Tarantula Studios
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1997
Stephen's Rating: 3/10

Basic Plot

The settings are three cities; Liberty City (based off New York), Vice City (based on Miami) and San Andreas (based on San Francisco). The goal of the game is essentially to steal cars and cause mayhem either randomly or by completing missions.

Gameplay

The game was a top down driving/action game with an element of free-form interaction. The player was essentially free to explore and interact with the cities within the game, but could also complete missions to progress faster.

The game involved stealing cars, killing people, and basically causing damage. Missions involved picking people up in taxis and delivering them to places on time, and other similar missions which involved driving.

The overall objective was to attain points. These could be obtained by completing missions, or just stealing cars and causing damage.

Positives

For the time the player had a lot of freedom within the game, even in how they approached missions.

Negatives

This game was hard. Even the simplest missions I found nearly impossible to complete within the time allocated. The driving experience was very difficult with the top down perspective. It also seemed all pretty pointless without a good story. I think the game served as an experiment which wasn't to come to fruition until Grand Theft Auto 3.

Memorable Moments

None. I gave up pretty early on.

Heretic

Game: Heretic
Developer: Raven Software
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1995
Stephen's Rating: 5/10

Heretic is a first person shooter/fantasy game based on a modified version of the DOOM engine.

Basic Plot

I'll open by saying that when I played the game, I didn't even know there was a plot. Maybe I was too young.

The game is set in a fantasy world where three evil brothers called the Serpent Riders have turned the seven kings of the realm into puppets to do their bidding. The Sidhe elves are immune to the Serpent Riders magic so they declare them heretics and seek to wipe them out. They kill the Sidhe elves and they are forced into hiding.

The player takes on the role of one of the Sidhe elves, Corvus, as he seeks to destroy one of the Serpent Riders (the weakest of the three) called D'Sparil.

Gameplay

Visually the game looks similar to DOOM in terms of technology, but the world is ancient and magical with a lot more colour than the metals and dull walls found in DOOM. Heretic was the first first person shooter to allow you to look up and down.

At its heart the game is a first person shooter, with some elements of role playing. The game is broken up into levels, and keys are required to move to the next level. The player obtains weapons which are aesthetically different but functionally identical with the same key bindings as those found in DOOM.

One unique feature was the addition of items. The player can pick up items which serve a large variety of purposes from healing or damaging enemies, to enhancing your existing weapons.

I remember that crossbow.

Positives

It was refreshing to have a first person shooter that didnt' focus on big guns in a modern or futuristic setting. Although similar to DOOM this game had a "cool" factor which made me like it more. Aesthetically it was nice to look at (for the time).

Negatives

From my perspective the DOOM engine didn't serve the game. It was too gun/action orientated with just a layer of role playing added on as an afterthought. It would have been interesting to see what the game would have ended up like if they'd built the engine from scratch. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind comes to mind as an example of a first person RPG which worked well because the engine was built for the task.

In saying that, Hexen was pretty similar but had something about it which made it more... magical even though it was just a first person shooter at heart too.

Memorable Moments

None. Although I played this more, Hexen had a bigger impact on me. This game was too transparently like DOOM.

Ultima VIII: Pagan

Game: Ultima VIII: Pagan
Developer: Origin
Platform: PC
Release Year: 1994
Stephen's Rating: 8/10

Ultima VIII: Pagan is the penultimate game in the Ultima series.

Basic Plot

At the end of Ultima VII: Serpent Isle the Avatar is left floating in the void and is taken by the Guardian. He takes the Avatar to the world of Pagan, and banishes him there. Pagan is a broken world mostly covered by ocean and only a small landmass. The people of Pagan worship the four Titans:

• Lithos; the Titan of earth and death. Followers of Lithos are called Necromancers and can use magic of the earth and can raise undead.
• Pyros; the Titan of fire. Followers of Pyros are called Sorcerers and wield powerful fire magic.
• Hydros; the Titan of water. The royal blood line of Pagan contains the power of Hydros storms and a master of these abilities is called a Tempest.
• Stratos; the Titan of air and life. Theurgists are followers of Stratos and are healers and mystics.

In order to escape Pagan and return to Britannia the Avatar has to master the four schools of magic and defeat the Titans. He learns that the Titans were created by the Guardian. The Zealan Gods, who have been abandoned since the arrival of the Guardian, teach him of a fifth element and the Avatar becomes the Titan of Ether (whose school of magic is called Thaumaturgy). Using the five Titan artifacts the Avatar is able to re-build the Guardian's original black gate and leave Pagan.

A Necromantic ritual.

Gameplay

Ultima VIII is a third person role playing game. The game took a very different approach than the previous games in many respects;

• The Avatar travels alone in Pagan and never has companions.
• The Avatar is able to jump and fall down (the world is pseudo 3D) and the view is isometric. This was done to make the Ultima series more approachable to mainstream gamers (more action based). You can also climb up ledges.
• Combat was more hack'n'slash based with a lot of clicking (as opposed to turn based or automatic).
• Overall the game was smaller, less open-ended, and more bugged than even previous games.

The plot is largely linear in nature. You can only complete major plot components in a certain order.

The different schools of magic have completely unique methods of spellcasting. Necromancers place reagents in a bag and use the Key of the Caretaker to create small totems which can then be consumed to cast spells. This allows you to prepare spells in advance. Theurgists have a series of enchanted silver Focii which are used directly to cast spells. Sorcerers place candles and reagents on a pentacle to enchant a focus (wand, staff, etc) with a certain number of charges in a particular spell. Thaumaturgists use a traditional spellbook and reagents. The player cannot become a Tempest in the game but does defeat Hydros in the Ethereal Plane.

Summoning Pyros.

Stats were gained by completing activity. For example; reading books improved intelligence, and fighting or simply attacking the air improved strength and dexterity.

Magic weapons and armour were unique and rare. Each item had a specific power. For example the mace "Slayer" has a percentage chance of instantly killing anyone you strike with it.

Positives

There is no doubt that the story and the game are intriguing. The game is epic, if you manage to complete it you'll feel pretty good (except that the endgame credits are... disappointing).

The schools of magic are a fun mechanic to explore. Each one is unique and fun to discover.

Negatives

This game is dark. It lacks a lot of the humour and light hearted fun in the previous games. This really dimished the attachment I had to the game world.

The isometric view and the movement style were a little confusing. When I first played I often died just trying to jump from stone to stone over water.

The one major area of the game which links everything together is the Catacombs. They are a set of tunnels under the earth filled with traps and enemies. The entire Catacomb system looks very alike and is very confusing to find your way through. I found this pretty frustrating, and it actually gets quite boring looking at the same grey walls over and over again.

The kind of rock terrain typical of the Catacombs.

The whole game was lacking some of the magic of the Ultima VI and Ultima VII games. There was just something missing which I missed. It felt like a game in a different series entirely, and I think this was done to try and make it more approachable to the main stream.

Despite all the negatives I played this game in its entirety and explored everything about it. I have fond memories of the game and it remains one of the most influential games of my early life.

Memorable Moments

I remember the Catacombs... trying to find my way around without dying. The music that played as I approached the Zealan Gods temple was pretty awesome. I remember being really disappointed that I couldn't become a Tempest, but really enjoying the other schools of magic.

EVE Online

Game: EVE Online
Developer: CCP Games
Platform: PC
Release Year: 2003
Stephen's Rating: 4/10

EVE Online is a highly complicated space-based MMO.

Basic Plot

The story is set 21,000 years in the future. When Earth's resources became depleted humankind began colonising the rest of the Milky Way. It was during this period a wormhole was discovered (name EVE) which led to an entirely new universe named "New Eden". Many people traveled to New Eden in search of resources, but then EVE collapsed stranding those who had gone through in New Eden. Now the lost colonies have remained in New Eden and as time has passed have no memories of their Terran history.

Gameplay

Players are divided into "races":

• The Amarr; a militant theocratic society.
• The Minmatar Republic; former slaves of The Amarr.
• The Gallente Federation; economic and trade based with a liberal slant.
• The Caldari; economic and trade based corpratocracy.

Each race has an extensive backstory and unique traits in terms of the technology available.

Inside a space station.

The game involves owning a ship (or ships) and flying around completing tasks. This can be hands on such as engaging in combat or mining an asteroid, but also often involves talking to or trading at a space station. There is very little "direct" contact with other players. You can chat to them easily enough, but you very rarely engage with another ship in space.

The universe is huge. There are over 5000 star systems to visit and 2500 randomly accessible universes using wormholes.

Skills are obtained over time passively. This requires waiting real world time which can be frustrating if you intend on "catching up" to players who've been playing for 9 years.

The economy is largely player run. NPC characters sell some parts and also plans for new ships and ship systems. Players gather and create most of the components required to build these. This ends up being like a vastly larger and more complex version of the trade house in World of Warcraft.

I'm not going to go into more detail because I don't understand myself but some of the other features include corporations and alliances, and different classes of ship.

Flying your space ship around.

Positives

There is a kind of beauty about the universe the game is set in. Roaming empty space in a little ship is kind of relaxing and peaceful if you just forget the rest of the game for a second.

The planned game Dust 514 is a first person shooter which links into the EVE Online universe. Players from EVE will be able to hire mercenaries in Dust to complete missions for them. I LOVE this idea and think it has huge potential. It will change the way games are developed in the future. I've often thought this would be excellent for a game like StarCraft. Have hero units which are controlled by someone who is playing a first person shooter.

Negatives

The game is way too complex and asks too much of the player to be accessible by the general public. Video games need to take advantage of the fact that the computer can calculate a lot for us, otherwise there is no justification for being a video game; it may as well be a board game or a series of spreadsheets which need maintaining. Overall, it didn't offer me enough for me to want to play for more than two days.

One guy I met in game sent me this image to explain the game...

I can see that this is the perfect game for some people, just not for me. I'm not going to knock the game too much, it is pretty unique and has some really good features.

Memorable Moments

I remember some guy contacted me and asked to join his corporation. I pretty much said "This is too complex for me, I'm not interested" but he was very insistent and I could tell he took the game very seriously.

Robocop VS Terminator

Game: Robocop VS Terminator
Platform: PC
Stephen's Rating: 1/10

I have no details of this game, and can't find any record of it online (only a SNES 2D game which isn't the one I am referring to). I bought this from a magazine called Simply Shareware in the early 90's. It was a terrible, terrible pseudo 3D first person shooter. Badly designed, terrible user controls and interaction, just awful all round.