TimeSplitters (PS2)

Developer:

Free Radical

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Release Date:

2000

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Systems:

PS2

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out a game I haven't really played before: the original TimeSplitters for the PlayStation 2! Not Time Stalkers for the Dreamcast, that's something very different. (Just to make it more confusing, in the EU the two games came out less than two weeks apart.)

TimeSplitters was created by Free Radical Design, a company that has had a bit of a rough time of things over the years, as it's been killed off at least twice. The first time was in 2014, after they'd spent some time in disguise as Crytek UK, the second was last year after the Embracer group decided it would be better for their shareholders if we didn't get a fourth TimeSplitters game made by the original founders.

Free Radical was originally formed in early 1999 by staff that left Rare during the production of N64 FPS Perfect Dark. So it's pretty impressive that they got this out in late 2000, just a few months after Perfect Dark came out, especially as it was for a brand-new system. Rare had been focused on N64 and Game Boy games during the latter half of the 90s, but this was a launch title for the PlayStation 2. So I guess I'm going to see what Dr Doak and the GoldenEye team could do in 16 months on unfamiliar hardware.

I won't be seeing it on any other machines though, as to this day the game remains a PlayStation 2 exclusive. It's a product of that horrifying period of history where first-person shooters sometimes never got a version with mouse controls, and unlike its sequels it never made it to a system supported by backwards compatibility like the Xbox.

Alright, I'm going to check out the single-player for a bit and see if it's still fun in 2024. Assuming it was ever fun. And assuming it even has a single-player mode. It's going to really screw up my plans if it doesn't!

Body Harvest (N64)

Developer:

DMA Design

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Release Date:

1998

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Systems:

N64

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I've always wondered why this space station has a skull painted on it. Up there at the top, next to the dish.

Anyway it's Super Adventures' 12th birthday today yesterday, so I figured I should write about a video game or something to celebrate. It has to be something a little bit special though, so I'm checking out DMA Design's notorious time-travelling alien-slaying action-adventure Body Harvest, on the Nintendo 64.

One thing I like about this era is that console designers were all making the leap to full 3D using different approaches, so you can tell an N64 game from a PlayStation game instantly just by looking at a screenshot. Even multiplatform games look different on each system. Body Harvest is a true N64 exclusive though. In fact it was supposed to be a launch title for the console, but original publisher Nintendo wasn't impressed with what DMA were coming up with. It didn't make it onto the system until two years later, when Gremlin Interactive bought DMA and published it themselves in the EU.

In fact it ended up getting released a month or so before DMA Design's other N64 game Space Station Silicon Valley. Except in America, where the two games were released a day apart! This was a bit of a problem as it meant they both came out right before The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Nintendo fans were saving their pennies for what was certainly going to be the safer bet. Then a year later DMA released Grand Theft Auto 2, which was the beginning of the company's 'making nothing but GTA games for the rest of all eternity' era. Well okay they released Manhunt in 2003 shortly after becoming Rockstar North, but aside from that it's been all GTA as far as the eye can see.

Okay I'm going to do what I always do: try the game for an hour or so, type my reactions under screenshots, and then write a long review at the end with an unearned tone of authority, as if experiencing an hour of gameplay is enough to really get what a game is like.

Day of the Tentacle: Remastered (PC)

Remastered -	Developer:	Double Fine	|	Release Date:	2016	|	Systems:	Win, Linux, OS X, PS4, PS Vita, iOS
Original Game -	Developer:	LucasArts	|	Release Date:	1993	|	Systems:	MS-DOS & Mac OS

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This week on Super Adventures I'm having a quick look at LucasArts' 1993 point and click masterpiece Day of the Tentacle! Though I'm actually playing the 2016 HD remaster by Double Fine, partly because it's the only version you can digitally download, but mostly because I want to.

I played Tim Schafer's latest adventure game the other day, Broken Age, and now I'm going back 20 years to his very first game as project lead! Well, co-project lead, with Dave Grossman. I wish I could say this is all to tie-in with the release of Full Throttle: Remastered today, but honestly I had no idea that'd come out until five minutes ago. The timing's pure serendipity.

Day of the Tentacle is the third of a trilogy of sequels released during the early 90s, back when LucasArts were the gods of adventure games. After a game inspired by a pirate novel and a theme park ride and another inspired by 30s movie serials, this time they went back to 50s sci-fi horror movies with a sequel to 1987's Maniac Mansion. Though you'd have to really squint to spot the name on the box and it's not written at all on the title screen. I'm not sure I even realised that this was a sequel back when I first played it. Well, until I found the original game hidden inside it in its entirety anyway. Hey I wonder if they remastered that Easter egg too.

(Click the screenshots to view them in a slightly more impressive 1280x692 resolution. Which incidentally is the aspect ratio of the original game, minus the box with verbs in it).

Immercenary (3DO) - Guest Post

Just for you, NINTONDO MAN.

I've never played this game before, but I can tell you exactly three things about it. It's for the 3DO. It's a first person shooter. And from the screenshots I've seen, it looks absolute complete and utter cack. Enjoy!

For folks who are interested in playing Immercenary at some point, I suggest you close this post immediately, if not sooner. This post is all spoilers... not plot spoilers, but game spoilers. If you've got Immercenary but haven't played it yet, play it. Don't even read the manual. Just play it.

Chrono Trigger (SNES)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 5:

Here's one you might have heard of. Today I'm checking out Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo, considered by many to be one of the best RPGs on the system. I've got no strong feelings about it though myself, mostly because I can barely remember anything about it.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

Super Adventures at Christmas 2012 - Game 2:

It took me forever to decide what shot to use from this title screen sequence.

Okay it's taken me a decade or so to get around to it, but today I'm finally going to have a look at Ocarina of Time, the fifth game in the main Legend of Zelda series. Actually to be honest I did play this back in the day, though not for long. It didn't exactly win me over then, but I think it's about time I gave it a second chance.

Lost in Time (MS-DOS)

Wow, that's a terrible looking logo. This is by Coktel Vision so I'll be surprised if it isn't an adventure game.

TimeShift (Demo) (PC) - Guest Post

In the early 21st century, Saber Interactive created a first person shooter named TimeShift for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Little did everybody know that this TimeShift was not the first. Before the 2007 game, another TimeShift was nearing completion, with demos of it released in early 2006. Shortly after, this TimeShift and its characters, setting, weapons and plot were all completely erased from history due to their being absolutely pants.

We are going to undo that event.

Doraemon: Nobita no Dorabian Night (TurboGrafx-16)

Seems like we're going to be visiting ancient Persia. Wow, what is up with that guy's eyes?

Time Trax (SNES)

Hey, I remember this TV series. Only joking.

Time Slip (SNES)

Not a great logo, but it gets the point across. We're playing as an action hero, who jumps through time and kills things. Probably.