Horror Games

2023 certainly seems to be the year for survival horror. Some fantastic remakes in play.

Dead Space has finally returned! Honestly this was an absolute blast to revisit this game. And the things Motive added made it feel alive than ever before, they did a hell of job and yet CRUCIALLY protected the story from the original game! Mess with graphics, mechanics, environments but leave alone what made the game great and Dead Spaces story was immense.

I still need to clean up a few things but I did my customary play it my way first! And it felt good, it felt like the old survival we all know and love, so EA if you read this as a fan and decided to redo Dead Space 2 then take it back to this, let Motive do this to Dead Space 2, keep it away from the action based and bring it back it back to just this, simple survival horror that keeps you on edge.

The just throw away Dead Space 3 make a whole new better game! I hated 3 so much so I’ve only ever played it once, I put it down and never looked back.

Callisto Protocol, yes I know it came out in December 2022, but I think it might find its footing. It is clearly based off Dead Space, after all its the original co – creator Glen Schofield who did this. It was nice to find a game that felt like an old school survival horror.

It was nice to play through and they broke the usual hold of the games side kick, I was genuinely surprised by that particular twist, it is also impressive to see a studio like Striking Distance shell out big money to bring in Josh Duhamel as the lead. Callisto almost plays like a movie at points. But keeps you wanting to see it through, though admittedly the ending is frustrating because it’s clearly set up that it isn’t finished yet, I will definitely look forward to DLC.

Dead Island 2 which of course I had an absolute blast through, and Riptide was a worthy addition. It’ll be interesting to see if they can match the hype and expectation of a decade of development.

Dead Island was one of those games that was just pure fun, hack up the undead in as creative and violent a way as possible, relied less on guns and more hand to hand. I truly do love this game. Always have and likely always will.

Resident Evil 4 truthfully still trying to wrap my head around this one, because even today RE4 still stands up as an incredible game and graphically isn’t too bad.

And you know they’re going to change certain elements and that’s OK, if they do what they did with Resident Evil 2, which for me is still the absolute standard for a remake (and I’m a Final Fantasy VII fanboy, but FF7R just isn’t a path on RE2), so long as they leave the story intact, update where it’s needed to include all the lore that’s come since. Honestly I’d love to get a look at the RE Game Bible that thing has gotta be magic by now!

Though personally they should have remade Code Veronica first!

Still probably one of the few that just wanted to shoot the presidents daughter for the sheer force of will it takes to not keep her alive!

Lollipop Chainsaw was just an absolute riot, like seriously I adored this game! It didn’t take zombie killing serious and that made it fun, Juliet Starling is among the most fun of heroes to play with.

Definitely looking forward to this one again.

Add to all of the above DLC for Callisto Protocol, Dying Light 2 and this year shapes up to be the very best in survival horror. There’s also the Silent Hill 2 Remake underway which it’d be nice to see the only real competition to Resident Evil back on the PlayStation find its footing again.

So if I could have 1 wish for a game to be remade sorry folks but its gotta be Dino Crisis, a what if the zombies were dinos and a hell of great game. So yes this is my want.

Zombies Ate My Neighbours Remake

So as you guys may (or may not) I loved this game as a kid, I also own records on it. But I wanted to take that experience and then put a little bit of modern on it.

Changes wont be huge, and wont affect the fun the game has always been, I just wanted to add things like a save system to replace the password system. Perhaps randomise the locations of the victims. We’ll see on the latter.

I wanted to keep the game though essentially exactly as it was preserve those childhood experiences but add the power of modern engine and graphics to it.

The primary alterations will be switching from the top down of the original to an 3rd person style camera system. As well as environments been  3D instead of the original 2D versions.

To follow this project feel free to check out the IndieDB page and vote for it. While this should be treated as a fan remake (which it is, everyone working on it played and enjoyed the original) it’s worth noting if we gain enough support we may be able to do something more official at a later date.

There are a few issues with this the main being of course licensing, primarily as it was published by Konami but created by LucasArts, in turn LucasArts was acquired by Disney and subsequently shut down. So chances are we’d have to go ask Disney for the rights to make this official. Of course this will be much easier with your support so if you want this to happen then we need you guys to help make it official.

Zombies Ate My Neighbours {ReMake}

So often with me as you guys know boredom does funny things, and this is no exception. Please take note of the title and understand this is a fan remake NOT an official one, it’d be nice but hey come on it’s unlikely.

So you guys know I love Zombies Ate My Neighbours, I did a full lets play not so long back.

But I kind of woke up one morning with the idea of building the whole damn thing in Unity, I also actually began doing just that a few days ago. So far I’ve got a code repo up and running held on Github. The reason I’m doing this is because for one I think it’s going to be mega fun, two it involved alot of systems that will be awesome to learn for me and it’s a concept I don’t have to create myself which means I can focus simply on the coding and 3D design aspects making the whole experience that much better for me.

So as of now with the exception of a few bits like the bookcase type things that will spawn items. The main level geometry is done and in place.

I’ve already had to solve a couple of issues, the first been cutting square holes into Unity terrain, it can’t be done and requires you to model in externals programs to do accurately, however I was able to create a work around by building a box style structure inside a pre cut hole for the levels swimming pool, this has worked quite well for me.

I will be altering some of the original design jut a little bit to make the game more like a 3rd person RPG, but other than that everything will remain the same. I want to try and create this as close as is actually possible to the original game.

Of course I don’t have an unlimited supply of cash so I’m having to scour the net and Unity Store for as many free assets as I can find to work the way I want them to. It’s likely that some Neighbour NPC’s will over go several iterations as we move along.

The game is also connected to my Unity Analytics account allowing me to keep an eye on the players using it. I will be altering the Analytic parameters later in the development cycle to aid with balancing the game such at a later date.

The game at the moment will be simple and free to play with the latest version held on Dropbox or GoogleDrive depending on size, you can download and play for free as long as you are willing to give feedback and allow the system to connect to the internet for the analytic to work correctly. Update Notes can be found on the Github Wiki Page for the project, I believe you can also submit bug reports and such here as well. The latest versions link is usually sent out via twitter the moment it is uploaded to the server. My twitter link can be found to the right of this page I believe so keep an eye on that as well. Also please note that Github DOES NOT contain a full project build only the code and data to set-up Unity, so if you join the project you will need to acquire the full archive from me before you can begin working on things, this is because Github has a higher limit on it’s repo sizes and also that I don’t want anyone pinching my hard work.

So for the moment I have a semi functional main menu, this will be updated and tweaked later tonight, the level is built so after the main menu I want to try and get some basic game play in place, at least the ability to shoot enemies and have them follow you. I also want to try and get some of the GUI in place.

So if you’re up for helping there’s a couple of things you can do, as I said I’m using free assets so 3D artists are welcome to join me in that aspect, Coders can probably build a better code repo than I can. But if you cant do 3D art or code and you still want to support me then you can make small contributions to the project to allow me to purchase bigger and better asset packages in Unity. This can be done via the donate button at the end of this post.

More Final Fantasy VII Remake Updates

Yea, I’m probably going to keep doing these until the new game comes out, but we found out Monday during Sony’s E3 conference that the long awaited and long wanted Remake is coming, since then small bits of information have trickled through.

While nothing is solid at this point, but what we do know is that Tetsuya Nomura (Original Character Designer), Yoshinori Kitase (Original Scenario Writer) and Kazushige Nojima (Original Script Writer) are all key members returning to the project.We also now know that production of the remake began late last year around the time when Square originally announced the enhanced PC port would be coming to PS4.

During and interview Nomura has let slip very little but we now know the game is going to be more than a simple graphic overhaul, they are approaching it as a whole new game for the current generation, so this leaves a lot of questions. He also implied their intent was to top the original, which has always been Squares fail safe many times stating we’ll do the remake when we top the original this of course has never happened unless perhaps you include FF14.

So just for kicks here’s what I’d like to see them do. These are my own opinions and NOT official information.

Graphics obviously are getting and overhaul, but maybe it needs to go beyond that, I love the original, I still play the original and in most respects this game quite literally saved my life. But if they are going to top the original then they may not need to do something major huge to pull it off.

The summons are among the most powerful attacks on the game but graphically they look horrendous nowadays, but they are still gorgeous elements of the 1997’s classic, so we pull the graphics into this generation but some of the sequences we’re long and drawn out, so maybe we can skip them after we seen them half a dozen times? Let’s face it Sephiroths ultimate attack took almost 3 minutes to execute! Materia effects and spells should take an overhaul, today’s physics and particle systems can make the original effects look so much better.

The battle system seems to be the one that trips people up, the original turn based combat system IS part of the charm of the game but sadly in today’s day and age feels somewhat restricted, I can’t win here because I don’t want them to change it to me it would be breaking the very spirit of the game, but you can overhaul it, no longer is there a need for the pre-rendered backgrounds you can paint the battle right over the current scenery we have both the power and technology for it now. The single linear approach that your team takes can be changed now they can move about on the field take a more FFXII approach to the on-screen layout will take it away from the dated 1997’s look but still keep the charm of that same game.

The upgrade system doesn’t need changing, you buy better weapons in shops then modify the base stats using Materia, simple and allows for some fun combinations, you need not change the very system I first learned to play with, it was simple and it worked well. But adding new armour to a character could change their on-screen appearance, Cloud spent the whole time in that horrible purple singlet despite having kick ass equipment and weapons equipped. A little on-screen representation of what you have would work well or perhaps even an entire new equipment system, more equipment to play with but keep Materia to weapon and bracelet slots.

Voice acting of course in modern games is a must and most of the games cast of characters already has actors associated with them either from other games set in the FF7 universe or films.

The Chocobo breeding system needs to stay, it was part of the fun and of course the only way to unlock some of the high level Materia. And of course Chocobo Racing who didn’t enjoy that? Gold Saucer well there’s an opportunity to add even more crazy side games to while away those long hours or simply lose yourself in and have fun.

The translation of the game needs to be seriously corrected at times the game doesn’t make sense because of bad translations, some of the side games need to be better thought out. Extending out some of the background and adding in a few other bits may help the story flow better all round and add an extra layer of immersion as you discover the truth behind each character. Of course we know the basics of Cloud and co but we wanted to know so much more a bigger game can allow for that.

Emerald, Ultima and Ruby weapon need to remain they were the true challenges in Final Fantasy 7, it took more to beat those than it did to beat Sephiroth but we need a better way to track Ultima chasing him around the map was a pain in the ass at times.

So there’s a few things and I’m going wrap it up there feel free to throw your own ideas my way too maybe I’ll agree. While we know very little what we do know for sure is the plan is to top the original FF7 a tall order if I ever did see a bold statement but then with the original team been part of the project we know they may actually be able to do, whatever happens I will be getting this game and I will probably love it regardless of what they do, a fresh approach on a true gaming industry gem. I’ll be sure to stay on top of what we know and keep you guys informed with my own thoughts too.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

So back in May of 2012 I actually called this saying it would happen when the time was right.

I have to admit I turned into a little bit of a girl at this news, and I cannot wait to see my beloved Final Fantasy VII dragged into the next generation. I am also happy in the knowledge that key members of the original team are been drafted in to help with this, that should ensure the integrity of the original remains intact.

So what do they need to do to make this game better? In truth nothing, they just need to overhaul the graphics and leave everything else alone, better graphics, better visual effects but leave the experience alone, not doing so could damage the fabric of the game and indeed its very legacy, while I’m sure Square are aware of this you can’t help but feel they are going to “tweak” the formula in some way, while I don’t mind the newer active battle systems I yearn for the original turn based system that made Final Fantasy an awesome experience.

I would not be happy with anything less, the core experience of Final Fantasy was what drew in me in, the amazing cut scene FMV was probably on par with PS3 graphics even back in 1997, which kinda sucked compared to the games actual graphics, but to see it come alive with today’s power of technology bring the game that was way ahead of its time in terms of vision into the future where it will exist quite happily I look forward to that day!

As of right now we know next to nothing except it is happening and it’s some key members of the original team, we were told to await further details this winter, but knowing it’s coming is one thing but wanting to know when may just kill us all in the end, until then we have the up scaled PC port to look forward to this winter, a treasure trove of trophies for me right there.

Blitzball 2012 Edition

OK so I wont lie back in 2002 when Final Fantasy X was first released I seriously despised this mini game, mostly because I simply couldn’t figure it out, try as I might have back then, however I don’t know if I’ve matured, learnt or am just plain better these but whilst playing the Final Fantasy X HD Remake I seem to have found my groove.

Firstly I managed to win the original game you play, I never managed to win this game ever because I don’t think you’re really supposed to win it, however I have found a few kinks that may help, firstly make sure you Jecht Shot when your on the boat to Kilika this is paramount to winning the match. Once this is done, switch the game manual control and it will allow you to manoeuvre Tidus into position much easier, the final tip is go for goal late when the Goers can do nothing to little about it, I scored toward the end o the first half and then again about 4.30 of the second half winning the match 2 – 1, they sadly scored early in the second half, simply pass the ball around and wind down the time until it’s time to strike.

Now when you have the ability to play and control of the airship again paramount to the winning of the game you can fly to Luca to do a little recruiting, I found Zev Ronso near Dock 4 and then Zalitz down near the Sphere Temple (the one where you buy viewing spheres) he was outside on the wall. I was also able to recruit Blappa shortly after he was released by the Al Bhed Psychs. all this allowed me a better play over all. With Tidus and Blappa up front I rarely miss a goal opportunity now. Zev Ronso sits nicely in the middle and then I fill the rest with Auroch team members. Life also gets easier once Keepa has the Super Goalie skill.

All this has allowed me to advance and win a tournament collecting one of Wakkas reels hopefully a second victory will allow me to collect the second set of reels. Of course its a fantastic distraction if like me you happen to be a trophy hunter, much less punishing than the 200 Lightening Strikes or the Win a Chocobo Race with 0 . 0. o, or even the Remiem Temple win. 3 Very tricky trophies two of which I currently posses the Thunder Plains been the exception to that statement.

But back to Blitzball with Blappa and Tidus up front you seriously need move closer then take a shot and most of the time you will find the goal. This makes life somewhat easier in many ways over all.

Now back to it I go. Hope this guide helps even just a little. I have another tip which is most of the time all you have to do is wait until a team releases a player then go hunt him down and recruit him. This is what I did with Blappa who of course is in the Cargo Hold of the Airship. So there ya have it guys Happy Blitzing!!

Final Fantasy VII – Memories

So been the big Final Fantasy fan I am I recently picked up Final Fantasy VII from the Square-Enix site (Only for 2 days later they released it on steam) Still I got the game for the achievement side of things as I wanted another reason to play, if you’ve followed the blog you’ll remember that I’m doing a sort of video guide to run side by side with the guide I wrote several years ago.

But as I search for various things or even just visit raptr gaming page, I notice how much negativity there is about this game, I mean fair enough it has been re-released a few times now. But the truth is it still plays as beautifully as it did back in 1997, it set the standard for 3D gaming back on the PS1 and Square have continued to deliver decent Final Fantasy games since, granted VIII was far too easy (I hit level 99 with all my characters before I left the first disc without too much extra work) IX was a step back to Final Fantasy roots but still as much to do, the annoying thing was the guide with all the codes which square took the site offline years ago so now you can’t find half the content to the book. X was good and one of the better stories, lots to do and see and great graphics, looking forward to the re-release HD version. X-2 wasn’t so hot just lost the Final Fantasy and became more about chasing objectives, still a tonne of fun though, hopefully with the re-release I’ll finally get that secret ending! I honestly never played 11 and only played 12 to completion, my PS2 died shortly afterward so I never got to do my do everything completely run. 13 in my view was far too linear, I’m just used to having the freedom to do as I want, I spent a total of 240 hours on this game achieving the platinum trophy. XIII-2 was a little more open but my god it was irritating in places!! If I never see Academia again it’ll be too soon!

I must admit though the concept on only having 2 players and using a monster as the third was quite a good twist to the overall mechanics, and I do in a lot of ways look forward to XIII-3, I also spent time in the Final Fantasy XIV Beta and you can read all about that in the linked post. So in just 16 years Final Fantasy has come along way.

Alas I’m leaving the purpose of the post, granted the new re-release is fraught with problems most of these are update side, the cloud save system works when it feels like it, the character booster is a waste of time in my eyes, yes it takes work to level up but that’s the whole point! I remember the work involved back in 1997.

I remember finishing this game and just as the end FMV started the electricity tripped taking out the game and almost an hours worth of battle time against Sephiroth – GUTTED wasn’t the word! I was low levelled as well so it was a hell of an epic battle against him in the end. I do personally believe Final Fantasy VII is one of the best entries in the series, I’m also working through Final Fantasy I to VI just so I’ve played them all.

But I think a lot of the abuse the game gets is unwarranted, I personally hate the first part of the game, but once I’m free of Midgar I’m a happy Final Fantasy player, the story is great and even emotional in places, but overall it has a good direction, some of the Weapon Battles are actually harder than the final boss!! Try taking out Emerald Weapon in less than 20 minutes without the underwater materia, unless your packing Mime & Knights of the Round you have no chance!! (I know if your super levelled it’s possible but I don’t believe in doing it that way!)

When I first played Final Fantasy VII, I actually had NO guide I did it all by myself exploring every inch and I still missed things, I didn’t get the Gold Chocobo that came years later, I never beat Sephiroth with Knights of the Round cause I never found it! If you remove the guide and spoilers from the equation it’s a much better game to enjoy on the whole.

Though without a guide it’s highly unlikely anyone would really ever figure out Tifa’s piano theme much less attain her final limit break manual! And as a character I think Vincent is among the best ever created. Though Dirge of Cerberus left a lot to be desired as a game!

There is so much to see and do that a guide is efficient to the point of taking away the fun, in a lot of ways I’m glad I played it the way I did and I think that’s part of the reason it always stuck with me, I can play this game til the chocobos come home, in most cases quite literally.

Is there really a market for a true remake? If the buzz generated when they debuted the PS3 tech demo of the title sequence then I suspect there is a serious market which Square aren’t actually that dumb to ignore, truthfully I believe it will come but only when the time is right, then there is the 20th anniversary closing in imagine the world coming to light that way, the guys at qhimm forums have done an amazing job with some hi res overhaul work and worth a look if you truly want to see the games potential at higher resolutions.

So there’s my ten cents worth on most matters, I have rambled on and on for some time with my own opinions but that’s why I run this blog to express my opinions as a whole.

I will continue my video guide which will be available to view on youtube.

Until next time keep on gaming folks!!

Resident Evil – What I’d Like To See

So before you go jumping down my throat about this being wishful realise I already know this fact, but here’s how I believe Capcom could deliver something complete and brand new for the Resident Evil Franchise.

Firstly the game does need to be taken back to its roots, back to what scared the crap out of me at “am on a cold dark night back in 1999. So here goes.

Lets go back to what made Resident Evil, the game we all remember lets go back to Raccoon City, set the game between the events of the Mansion from RE and before they blow it to high hell in RE: Nemesis. But lets go big let’s make it open world, let players explore the WHOLE of Raccoon City as they fit, I mean think about it, there’s always been rooms and buildings players wanted to explore, I know back alleys and allotments always intrigued me but the damn edge of map got in the way and stopped me nosing around!

Think about it, that block of flats a house could be hoarding a decent ammo stash, but then again there could be dozens upon dozens of undead waiting to ambush me, (Or a super breed packing a damn chainsaw –  I also know they aren’t Zombies, beside the point I’m trying to make). I could be clearing out room by room but are they dead? I punched a full clip into that big zombie only for him to ambush me as I walk back along the corridor to head up to the next level.

Adding to this you see something skitter over the busted floorboards above is it a dog? We all remember our first encounter? Maybe worse still it’s a licker creeping, stalking waiting for you or worse yet those darn hunters waiting to bite you in half. Either way you have to go up if you want that ammo? Who knows maybe Nemesis is waiting for you?

But you see the horror is not only going up but coming back as well (as mentioned just because they look dead, doesn’t mean they are), unless you fancy jumping off the roof? Open world would add a lot more to the game, there could be a story of the survivors banding together creating random moments of co-op, or Claire and Leon teaming up to escape again, the idea is endless with the characters over all the series.

Stick the crack team trying to end you into the mix (aka Agent mode from RE: 6) and you’ve got a whole new level of game play. Allotments, houses, blocks of flats, the police station, the hospital we all enjoyed these locations. A broken down bar (There’s one in 3 right?) Even add an element of ferrying survivors to an extraction point for the military to extract them, before they consider Raccoon City a loss at least. The options are endless.

I believe Capcom can learn lessons from their own games, including their Dead Rising Series. If your out of ammunition your not going to scrabble about for ammunition in weapons you don’t have, you’re going to pick something hard and heavy and bludgeon those dead things to dead. At least before diving into that house over the road with the light on.

I’m sure fans have an endless trove of ideas that can be added to this but there it is my idea! Bring back the survival and the horror will bring itself.

The Long Debated Final Fantasy VII Remake

So I’m annoyed by a certain friend who never bothers to pay attention to anything I say these days, and his more than superior attitude starts to grate after a while, so I’m going to rant and vent into a topic I feel especially free to share with you folks.

This been the debate of the Final Fantasy VII remake, me personally would love to see this as would several hundred thousand other fans in what would surely be an epic money maker for Square Enix? I’ve seen copies of the orginal game still going for retail of £60 and above even so high as to see several for over a whopping £150 makes sense to buy the cheaper PC version in most cases but thats a whole different issue, you see in truth we have already seen what an upped polygon count can do to the age old graphics of Final Fantasy VII, take Final Fantasy VII – Dirge of Cerebus in which the vncent model was made and updated or the re modelled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, and of course the Final Fantasy VII opening sequence that was done using the PS3 engine all proving it can be done should Square-Enix choose to.

But then you have to look at other points such as the man power required would endoubtedly take talented developers away from other more pressing projects as they must continue to move forward, and if you look they would probably have to redsign the game from the ground up as so many things have changed, but they remade Final Fantasy V for the DS so this proves they are willing to do the work.

I personally though FInal Fantasy VII was the best in the series once I eventually got my head around so many things to consider, I enjoyed the story, I felt pained when poor Aeris dies, I felt elation going into the final battle with Sephiroth, dealing the final stirke to start the end movie after an epic 37 minute tactical battle and … my power tripped out feeling lost and hurt I refused to play the game for about a month after that. Had I not have taken the time off I wouldn’t have discovered my love for Resident Evil.

Anyway my point been the game engages you and it’s stood as the corner stone of Final Fantasy for 15 years now. Again giving square enix a chep cash in point as a remastered 15th anniversary edition  There are so many things going on it’s easy to get lost I spent over 130 hours in my second run of the game in which I collected every bit of materia including all master materias.

We should lay of Square in pressuring them for a remake but we all want it, we all know we want it and personally I think it’s an under the radar project that is well under way as they know without a doubt it will sell and break records, it would bury Call of Duty, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto sales record without so much as batting an eye lid. Square KNOW it will make them money and make them money quickly, but they have to focus on other projects for the moment, with Final Fantasy XV just around the corner and the reboot of Tomb Raider in hand Square are still findamentally one of the most solid game developers in the world.