Diablo IV (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Blizzard

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Release Date:

2023

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Systems:

Win, Xbone, Series X|S, PS4, PS5

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at a game I said I would never buy due to its unnecessary always-online DRM: it's Blizzard's action RPG sequel Diablo IV!

So what made me change my mind in the end? Nothing, I didn't buy it, it was included with Xbox Game Pass so I thought I'd give it a try. Oh, I should mention that I played it way back in January, so this is going to be hilariously out of date. These regularly updated modern games are a bad match for my 'Eh, I'll finish the final draft later' work ethic. They're not a great fit for my 'Hey, here are some screenshots of retro games!' site ethic either, but I've found procrastination can actually solve that problem as long as I keep my articles on the back burner for a decade or so.

I had somehow managed to avoid learning anything about Diablo 4 before playing it, so if I seem entirely clueless, that's because I was. I'm still clueless actually. I'm assuming that there's something people don't like about it, some kind of controversy (because: Blizzard), but I haven't looked into what it is. Plus I did my best to ignore all the multiplayer stuff, all the microtransactions, and all the... whatever else it has. I don't even know what it has, I ignored it.

Though I did pay attention to the story, so there'll be SPOILERS for the first few hours of the game. Or at least what the game was like a few months ago.

Palworld (PC) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing a bit more about the Game Preview of Palworld.

In part 1 I managed to sort out my food, clothing and shelter so now I'm ready to head out into the world and discover what it is you actually do in this game. Aside from catching Pokémon I mean. I'm aware of that bit.

It didn't take long for Nintendo to became aware of the Pokémon as well, and I'm not surprised that they sent their lawyers after the game. I get the impression the actual Pokémon games haven't had to work too hard to sell copies lately because there's been nothing to challenge them. The last thing they need is serious competition from something ambitious that hits all the modern trends and gives Pikachu a Gatling gun.

Alright, like I said last time, I played the game back in January so this is a slightly ancient build and for all I know they've reworked game mechanics and redesigned the interface since then. I played it for about 9 hours in total and it apparently takes 39 hours to beat, but don't expect to see a whole lot of progress here.

Palworld (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Pocketpair

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Release Date:

Preview 2024

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Systems:

Win, Xbone, Series X|S, PS5, macOS

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing quirky Pokémon-inspired survival sim Palworld!

Actually there's no point in me pretending that this is something I've been playing this week, as you can see the version number on the title screen and I'm sure it's had a few updates since then. I wrote the "first draft" of this article back in January and I'm putting quotes around that because what I really mean is 'I wrote notes underneath screenshots and then left my future self to sort it out later'. Because that always works out great!

In my defence, it says "Game Preview" down on the other side of the screenshot, so technically the game isn't even out yet. I'm giving you an early sneak preview of a game in development... that everyone has already seen. Last I checked it was something like the second-highest played game on Steam.

A lot of people were a bit wary of this when it was announced, with its trailer full of Pokémon and assault rifles, and I can understand why they'd suspect it was going to be a bit of a janky mess. But I've actually played a bit of Pocketpair's previous game, Craftopia, so I went into this knowing that it was going to be a janky mess. I really liked Craftopia though; it was full of so much stuff and so many ideas, and it was weirdly endearing how none of it quite worked right.

Oh, before I start I need to mention that the desktop icon just says 'Pal' and that's adorable. Though I assume the original Japanese version would be labelled 'NTSC'.

Far Cry 5 (PC)

Super Adventures has been a bit quiet recently, due the huge pile of work I'm busy digging my way out of, so here's a picture of me sniping a Spitfire in Far Cry 5 to give you something to look at while you wait.

Super Adventures in Delisted Racing Games Part 3: Forza Horizon 3

This week on Super Adventures, I'm reviewing one last racing game you can't buy digitally anymore. First I played The Crew, then I played Need for Speed: Undercover, and now this one's a Forza game. Most of the Forza games are gone now, but I'm checking out Forza Horizon 3 specifically because I grabbed it just before it was delisted and then never quite got around to trying it.

The logo looks like it's saying "FIII" for Forza Horizon 3, but it's actually "FM" for Forza Motorsport, the main Forza series. It would've been such an easy edit to change it to "FH" but I guess it makes sense to have one logo for the whole franchise. (The E in The Crew isn't a 3 either).

Super Adventures in Delisted Racing Games Part 2: Need for Speed: Undercover

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still writing about racing games you can't buy digitally anymore. I was inspired by The Crew being shut down earlier this year, as it got me thinking about all the other racing games that have just disappeared over the years. Well okay, most of them are still in someone's game library, they still work (unlike The Crew), but you won't find them on the PlayStation store or on Steam.

It's a problem that affects this genre more than most because of all the licenced cars and music. Those licences have a time limit and when that's up the game can't be sold anymore. As far as I can tell, the first 18 Need for Speed games are all either gone now or never were, unless you can find them on disc, with only 2010's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit getting a remastered rerelease. And playing PC games off a disc has only become more of a pain in the ass over time.

Fortunately, I was able to buy a few of them before they vanished. In fact, I've already written about the first 10 years of Need for Speed games, going from Need for Speed to Underground, so now would be a good time for me to cover the absolute highlight of the sixth gen console era: the original Need for Speed: Most Wanted from 2005!

I can't be bothered going through the hassle of installing it though, so instead I'm downloading one of the most hated games in the series: 2008's Need for Speed: Undercover!

Super Adventures in Delisted Racing Games Part 1: The Crew

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing racing games you can't buy anymore, not online anyway. In fact, you can't even play The Crew anymore as Ubisoft shut the servers down last March! They just took a game people bought with money and made it entirely non-functional.

I struggle to write about racing games as basically all you do in them is get in a car and turn left or right. Sure the process of winning races is a little more complicated than that, plus I can talk about the types of races they have and their various features, but if I go down that route I'll pretty much end up writing an instruction manual and no one reads manuals anymore.

But screw it, this is my last chance to write about The Crew while it's fresh in my memory, so I'm doing it. Plus I'm throwing in Need for Speed: Undercover and Forza Horizon 3, because it's easier to see what makes something distinct when you put it next to the things that it's similar to.

Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine (MS-DOS)

Developer:

Rocket Science Games

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Release Date:

1995 (Sega CD 1994)

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Systems:

DOS, Sega Mega CD

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Today on Super Adventures, I'm checking out Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine, by the infamous Rocket Science Games.

Rocket Science was founded in 1993 with the goal to bring together some of the most talented people in the fields of video games and films to make some video games that are also films. With actors and everything. They were all-in on the idea of making FMV-based games and they thought that theirs could be the most visually impressive on the market. Not just because of the content, but because of the codec; their compression was among the best in the business, meaning more production value survived the process.

People took notice of how many high-profile designers and engineers were being hired, and investors began lining up to throw money at them. Interactive movies were sure to be the next big thing and Rocket Science had the talent and the funding to bring digital entertainment to the next level. But then all six of their games bombed, leading to them going out of business after just four years. And I mean really bombed, not just 'failed to meet sales expectations'. Loadstar released around the same time as their second game, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cataclysm, and it seems like by 1996 the two games still hadn't reached 8000 copies. With their sales combined. On all systems.

How is even possible that they made a dinosaur game in 1994 and failed to get anyone to buy it? That was the peak of Jurassic Park hype! Even Trespasser shifted 50,000 copies and that was straight-up broken!

Anyway, I'm playing the spaceship game, not the dinosaur game, and I'm curious now about why it didn't appeal to people at the time. Is it really that bad or were people just not into FMV? Am I going to be into the FMV? Will I be able to endure the amount of cheese I'm about to be exposed to?

WARNING: There will be a surprisingly graphic death sequence at some point. Also, I'm going to spoil the game's entire story.

Model Builder (PC)

Developer:

Moonlit

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Release Date:

2022

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Systems:

Win

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Model Builder! Well I'll be building stuff in it at least, I don't know if it really counts as gameplay. This is another simulator along the lines of Car Mechanic Simulator or PC Building Simulator, except with a bit more room for creativity... with any luck.

Most of the games I cover on Super Adventures are about shooting things or punching things or crushing creatures underneath the hero's mighty boots, so this is unfamiliar territory for me. Wait a second, no it's not. I've never actually raced a Lotus Esprit, or travelled across the universe to defeat an alien despot, but I have put a model kit or two together, so I can compare this to my actual real-life experience! I hope I get to build a Spitfire, I liked making them.

I'm going to be spoiling a lot of the models you can make in the game, so if you want to be surprised when you play it yourself I suggest not reading too much. I mean, it's possible that you could play this right now and don't realise it. The game was given away on Epic a while back, so if you've gotten into the habit of claiming the free gift each week it may be sitting in your game library, forgotten.

Universe (Amiga CD32) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still playing 90s point-and-click adventure Universe, because I want to be done with it. I played the demo years ago, when I was young enough for it to be imprinted into my brain and stick there. But I never played through the full game so I have no idea how the story ends and I'm just as clueless about the middle.

I mentioned in PART ONE that I wasn't going to spoil the ending, but I've changed my mind. Because we all deserve closure on this. That means I should give you a SPOILER WARNING. Oh, you should also know that despite what it says in the title, most of these screenshots are from the MS-DOS version of the game, as I switched systems. Not that it makes much difference.

Universe (Amiga CD32) - Part 1

Developer:

Core Design

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Release Date:

1994

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Systems:

Amiga, CD32, MS-DOS

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Universe, by the makers of Rick Dangerous, Curse of Enchantia and later Tomb Raider. But Curse of Enchantia is the most relevant, seeing as this is a point-and-click adventure game.

Universe got fantastic scores from magazines back in the day, lots of 90s and high 80s... well, except for Amiga Power and Amiga Format, they both totally trashed it. Amiga Power gave it 21%! I've played the demo before so I have an idea of what my opinion's going to be, but I'll see if it changes as I get further into the story.

I should give you a SPOILER WARNING, as I'm going to be playing through a lot of the game. In fact, I'm going to try to finish it, though I'll try not to give the whole thing away. I'd suggest YouTube if you want to see the ending, I'm just showing off things that catch my interest and whining about the things that annoy me.

Crysis 2 (PC)

Developer:

Crytek

|

Release Date:

2011

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Systems:

Windows, PS3, Xbox 360

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Crysis 2, the second game in the Crysis trilogy. (Warhead's a stand-alone expansion so it doesn't count.)

I also played the original Crysis this week so you might be wondering 'Why the rush?' Well, the game starts on the 23rd of August 2023, so it actually takes place today. So I should really get on with writing about the game and stop wasting time with this intro.

Actually, there are a couple of things I should mention here. First, the game's story was written by Richard K. Morgan, author of the novel Altered Carbon. He also wrote the Syndicate shooter that came out the following year. Second, I want to mention how the game's theme is kind of one note. Well, two notes I suppose. It's like an alarm. It's one of a handful of songs on the soundtrack by Hollywood composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, and honestly I prefer Lorne Balfe's theme to that new Dungeons & Dragons movie, Honor Among Thieves.

Alright, I'm not going to be able to get away with just playing an hour or two of this like I usually do, so expect SPOILERS for the entire first half of the game.

Crysis (PC)

Developer:

Crytek

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Release Date:

2007

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Systems:

PC, PS3, Xbox 360

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm finally getting around to the notorious Crysis!

I thought about buying the game a while back, but I was put off by its pain-in-the-ass DRM and I just didn't think about it again until now. These days though it's a non-issue, with the DRM-free GOG release and the Steam version getting patched. Also, there's that Remastered edition... that I won't be playing. I want to play the legit original experience! Though just getting it to run at all would be nice.

Crysis is infamous for two reasons and the main one is its system requirements. Back in 2007 it was supposed to be the prettiest game ever made, and I can believe that. The catch was that people had to wait until PC hardware had caught up to it before they could put the graphics settings up.

There will be SPOILERS here for a significant amount of the game's story and they start right now. That's because the second thing that the game's infamous for is the twist that the gameplay takes in the second half. I'm usually happy to show off the first hour or so of a game and then quit, but it doesn't seem right for me to write about Crisis and not bitch about the alien levels.

Lotus Turbo Challenge Games

This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a trip back to the past... back to the early days of Super Adventures, when I thought it was acceptable to cover a bunch of old-school arcade-style sprite-based racing games in one article. I'd give them each three screenshots and write things like "Dodging cars is hard!" and "Hey, I got first place!" underneath.

I eventually learned my lesson and realised that these kinds of games weren't going to give me much to work with. You have a sprite of a car and you slide it left and right to get around the other cars and obstacles, while also trying to avoid flying off the track on the turns. There, I just described all of them.

But I could never resist showing off screenshots full of art, and it occurs to me that I never got around to covering the biggest stars in the genre. No Out Run, no Road Rash, not even Lotus 1-2-3. Uh, I mean Magnetic Fields' legendary racing trilogy, not the legendary spreadsheet software. Speaking of spreadsheets, did you know Lotus made a car called the Excel?

Anyway, I'm going to play some Lotus games and I'm going to show off all the artwork, and if I can find anything to write about them, well that's a bonus. Screenshots will be from the Amiga 500 versions unless specified otherwise, though I will have a look at some of the ports as well. These games made their way onto all kinds of systems, like the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, C64, PC... though not the NES or SNES for some reason. I've no idea why Nintendo got left out.

There was another game called Lotus Challenge released on the PS2 in 2001, but that's entirely unrelated so I won't be playing that one.

Dusk (PC)

Developer:

David Szymanski

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Release Date:

2018

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Systems:

Win, macOS, Linux, Switch

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at indie first-person boomer shooter Dusk! I've been meaning to get around to this for a while now. Partly because it's a critically acclaimed, highly recommended game in a genre I love, partly because it was a present and I should probably play the games I've been gifted!

I've been avoiding learning anything about the game so I'm going in fairly blind. I didn't even know it had a multiplayer mode called 'Duskworld'. Though it doesn't feature co-op or bots and I think I'm going to stick with the single-player mode. The regular one I mean, not 'Endless' mode, which seems like it'd take a while.

Not that I'm planning to finish the whole game. I'm just going to stick with it for an hour or so to see if I'm satisfied with its shooting.

Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)

Developer:

DMA Design

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Release Date:

2001

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Systems:

PS2, Xbox, PC, Mac, Android, iOS, Fire OS

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm finally getting around to legendary sandbox crime simulator Grand Theft Auto III! I wrote about GTA 1 in 2014 and GTA 4 in 2016, but since then the site has suffered 7 long years of GTAlessness.

A few things have happened during that time, like GTA 3 getting reverse engineered by fans so they could enhance it for modern hardware! Take-Two weren't keen on this though and shut the RE3 project down. Then they delisted the game from online stores and replaced it with the Definitive Edition Unreal Engine remake, which was hilariously half-assed and broken. At this point you can't buy either version in Steam, as they're selling it for the Rockstar Games Launcher instead.

I've played GTA 3 before, but I've never actually finished the game and it wasn't for a lack of trying. I beat Vice City, San Andreas, GTA 4, The Saboteur, Sleeping Dogs and all the old Saints Rows, but this was just a little too tough for me. Back then anyway. Can I actually manage to reach the ending this time and finally get some closure on the GTA that got away? The answer is... no, because I'm only going to play it for an hour or two. Sorry!

Also, I'm going to be playing the classic PlayStation 2 version of the game, so if you were hoping to see some hilarious Definitive Edition screenshots I'm going to have to disappoint you. I ain't paying that much for a bad version of a game I already own. But is the PS2 game the good version? Is any version of the game still worth playing in 2023? I'm probably the wrong person to answer that last question as I'm obviously unstuck in time, but I'll see what it's like and share some screenshots as I go.

Octopath Traveler II (PC) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing some more about Octopath Traveler II!

Like here's a fun fact: did you know that if you press that button it tells you to press on the title screen it turns the background clips from day to night? It's like how you can change the background of the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater title screen, it's great. It also replaces the ridiculously upbeat and adventurous main theme with a mellow piano version.

I'll be playing to the end of Temenos the Cleric's second chapter, but I'm going there the long way. It'll be a bit of a struggle to get through it alone so I'll have to travel the world and assemble a crew first. I'll be vague about events though as it'd be a shame to spoil such a story-heavy game.

This is the second half of this article. If you want to go back to PART ONE instead, click the text.

Octopath Traveler II (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Square Enix and Acquire

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Release Date:

2023

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Systems:

Windows, PS4, PS5, Switch

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing something that's relatively new for a change. In fact it came out only a couple of weeks ago. It's retro JRPG sequel Octopath Traveler II!

I typically like to write about the first game in a series before covering the sequels, but I've jumped straight to game #2 this time and there are two very good reasons for that. The first reason is, I've already played Octopath 1 and I couldn't get into it to be honest. I tried a few of the characters, hoping to find one that caught my interest, but I found myself skipping their cutscenes just to get on with it and once you start doing that in a story-driven RPG you might as well quit.

The second reason is that this was a surprise gift from an absurdly generous friend! I intend to be entirely honest about what I think about it, but if I say anything negative you should yell at me for being rude and ungrateful.

I usually play games for about an hour, but that wouldn't even get me out of the game's demo, so I decided to give it about 30 hours instead. If you're wondering why this article's so late, that's your answer. I've split it into two parts, with part 1 covering one character's first chapter, and part 2 jumping around some other stuff I thought was worth talking about. So you'll see some stuff from later on but I shouldn't end up really spoiling anything that isn't in the demo.

Oni (PC)

Developer:

Bungie

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Release Date:

2001

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Systems:

PC, PS2, Mac

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing third person action game Oni, by Bungie, the developers of the Marathon, Halo and Destiny franchises! You can tell they're the ones who made it as their name is right there in the corner underneath the title.

Though hang on, it says 'developed by Rockstar' all over every copy I own, and there's no one from Bungie credited in the manual. So that's kind of weird.

It was ported to the PlayStation 2 by Rockstar Canada, so it makes sense that the logo would be on that version, but I'm not sure why it's on the PC game. I get that the credits were complicated by Take-Two acquiring the rights and Microsoft acquiring the company, but that doesn't mean it was retroactively developed by someone else! It might explain why it never made it to digital stores though.

Unfortunately Windows 10 didn't want to install it off the CD, so I ended up having to use Universal Extractor to get the files out of the installer and then run it with the fan-made Anniversary Edition. The thing includes a bunch of fixes and a huge list of mods to install, so it seems like the game has had a lot of support from its fans over the years. But it also stuck the words "Anniversary Edition" on my title screen, so I switched to playing the OniX rebuild instead. They both seem pretty authentic though from what I can tell.

I wish I could warn you about SPOILERS, though I don't think I'm going to make it that far to be honest. I remember the game having some serious difficulty spikes, mostly involving lasers. I also remember it looking kind of bad for its time, though that's maybe less of an issue 20 years later.

Alone in the Dark (MS-DOS) - Part 2

Today on Super Adventures, I'm going to try to beat the original Alone in the Dark!

This is the second and final part of my two-part article, so you'll probably want to check out PART ONE first. I wrote all about all kinds of stuff, even mentioned Resident Evil a couple of times.

One thing I didn't talk about though, and it's fairly important, is that the game came out in late 1992... so this is its 30th anniversary! It's getting a remake soon to celebrate and from what I can tell it's the kind of reimagining where they take all the stuff from the original game and put it to one side so they can make up a bunch of other stuff instead. I feel like it'll probably have better combat though.

Okay this is the last part of my Alone in the Dark playthrough and I'm playing this with the intent to finally finish it, so beyond this point the SPOILERS will be extensive. With any luck. I mean I can't make any promises here, you can count the number of true survival horror games I've completed on one hand, with all the fingers severed, but maybe this will be the first!