PO'ed Definitive Edition Review

PO'ed Definitive Edition

Developed By: Any Channel/Nightdive Studios

Published By: Nightdive Studios

Date of Release: May 16, 2024

Price: $19.99

Ahh, the humble chef. Perfectly at home in the hottest kitchen and the most frigid of walk-in freezers, this majestic beast can make a masterful meal out of any adversary. Who would be better suited to fight off an invasion force of freakish aliens when the badass space marines have all failed? Such is the plot of the 3DO classic PO'd, a First-Person Shooter from developer Any Channel released way back in 1995 for Panasonic's ill-fated console. And now Nightdive Studios have seen fit to let their mad genius KEX engine developer Kaiser helm a remaster of this absurd culinary killfest.

As usual for a Nightdive release the first thing that has been updated to modern standards are the controls. In the original game you had to contend with the bloody 3DO controller (which is basically an subpar genesis controller with shoulder buttons tacked on) to control the game, and it was a pretty tough experience. Thankfully the modern controls make up for ALL of those shortcomings, which I am thankful for as PO'ed has a lot of first-person platforming to contend with. The added precision helps so much in that regard.

The visuals and sounds have also been brought up to modern standards, and though the game engine is very simplistic, it gets the job done with some really batcrap insane level design. There's a lot of verticality to these levels, which wasn't a common thing in first person shooters of the time. The sheer wackiness of the enemy designs really stands out in a positive way. Where else are you going to get to fight walking butts that fart in your general direction?

Nightdive has certainly proven once again that no matter the age of the game, the absurdity of its subject matter, and the general unplayable jankiness of the original gameplay are all obstacles they can overcome quite handily with their KEX engine. All in all PO'ed Definitive Edition is fully worth experiencing, as it was one of the best FPS games on the 3DO. I'm thankful for the resurgence in 3DO games lately, it truly was an underrated system, and I'm looking forward to Nightdive's upcoming remaster of Killing Time.

PO'ed Definitive edition gets 9.35 farting butts out of 10

System Shock Remake Review (Xbox Series X)

System Shock Remake (Xbox Series X)

Developed by: Nightdive Studios

Published by: Prime Matter

Date of Release: May 21, 2024

Price: $39.99

Back in the mid 90's when I was still quite young my grandparents took me to Walmart to pick out some PC games for my birthday, as they had a massive bin of clearance titles. I ended up with quite a haul... Final Doom, Electro Man, Ultima Underworld 1&2, Syndicate Plus, and this one game with a rather creepy looking cyborg on the front... "System Shock". The other games ended up being pretty good, but none sucked me in quite as much as Looking Glass's sci-fi magnum opus. Now here we are in the year 2023, and System Shock has at last been updated for modern times.

The gaming industry has seen its fair share of remakes and remasters over the years, but few titles have generated as much anticipation and excitement (not to mention salt over the Kickstarter campaign!) as the remake of System Shock. With it's original release in 1994, System Shock was a groundbreaking game that blended elements of first-person shooters and dungeon crawling RPGs, pretty much birthing the immersive sim genre. Now, Nightdive Studios has undertaken the ambitious task of revitalizing this beloved classic and porting it to the Xbox Series X. In this review, we delve into the intricacies of the System Shock remake to see how it measures up to the original and whether it successfully captures the essence of, and lives up to the reputation of the iconic cyberpunk adventure.

Diving right in you'll notice that one of the most noticeable improvements in the System Shock remake is its visually stunning presentation. The developers have transformed the dated graphics of the original into a modern, immersive experience. The updated environments are rich in detail, featuring intricate textures (with a glorious retro pixel aesthetic baked in), dynamic lighting, and impressive special effects. The revamped Citadel Station now feels that much more alive and foreboding, effectively creating a sense of isolation and dread. The best part about all this is on the Xbox Series X it runs at native 4K60, and stays rock solid. Furthermore, the developers have paid great attention to enhancing the dark and atmospheric tone that made the original so memorable. From the flickering lights and haunting audio cues to the eerie sound design, the remake expertly captures the unsettling ambiance of the original game. Exploring the station's twisted corridors and encountering its horrifying inhabitants is an intense and chilling experience, just as it was in the original.

While the remake remains faithful to the core gameplay mechanics that defined the original, it also introduces several improvements and modernizations to enhance the overall experience. The controls have been perfectly adapted to suit the Xbox controller, providing fluid and responsive movement, making combat and exploration feel just as intuitive as the PC version. The inclusion of modern conveniences like quick-saving and an improved user interface and inventory system inspired by the sequel System Shock 2 also streamline the overall gameplay experience without sacrificing the challenge and depth of the original. Moreover, Nightdive Studios has taken the opportunity to refine certain gameplay elements. The combat mechanics have been reworked to provide a better balance between gunplay and melee combat, ensuring that players have viable options in dealing with the station's threats.

System Shock's narrative has always been one of its strongest aspects, told through the myriad of voice logs and data entries strewn throughout the station, and the remake manages to faithfully recreate the intricate and engrossing storyline. The game effortlessly weaves together elements of cyberpunk, horror, and science fiction to create a captivating and immersive world. The iconic antagonist, SHODAN, is as menacing and memorable as ever, and the remake successfully captures the sense of dread and unpredictability associated with this rogue AI. The voice acting and audio design deserve special praise, as they breathe new life into the game's cast of characters. The voice actors deliver convincing performances, adding depth and personality to the inhabitants of Citadel Station. Combined with the atmospheric soundtrack, the audio design serves to immerse players even further into the haunting world of System Shock.

When it comes right down to it, despite the extended development time and Kickstarter controversies, the System Shock remake is a labor of love that pays homage to a timeless classic while perfectly modernizing it for a new generation of players. Nightdive Studios has successfully captured the spirit of the original game, offering improved visuals, refined gameplay mechanics, and an immersive atmosphere. While some die-hard fans may have reservations about certain changes, overall, the remake stays true to the essence of System Shock, delivering a captivating and unforgettable experience. Whether you are a longtime fan or a newcomer to the franchise, the System Shock remake is an excellent port to the Xbox hardware, and an adventure that shouldn't be missed. I'm certainly glad I could be along for this wild ride.

Wrath: Aeon of Ruin review

Back in 2019 Killpixel and Slipgate Ironworks started work on a throwback FPS game, with a decently meaty early access version that gave a tantalizing taste of what would come. Well, since then it's been a somewhat long-ass wait but Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is finally finished and released. Developed over the span of nearly 5 years by Slipgate Ironworks upon the framework of the venerable Darkplaces engine based on the source code from the original version of Quake, Wrath really feels like a hearty callback to the early glory days of the FPS genre.

The Darkplaces engine definitely has the proper Quake look and feel, though it is capable of far more fancy effects and mapping techniques than the original 1996 vanilla Quake engine ever was. Even with all the extra engine modernizations though Wrath still has the heart and soul of Quake, and really feels like it was torn out of the late 90s and plunked down here in 2024. It just captures that certain zoomy feeling of momentum that Quake was famous for IMO. It's totally satisfying, and really effectively scratches the 90s boomer shooter itch.

The enemy design is varied and impressive, though a few more types would have been nice. The weapons feel really beefy and have satisfying alt-fire modes, even the first gun you find packs a massive punch, and don't get me started on the fangspitter, that thing is an ammo chewing beast that can rip through nearly anything. The gunplay is very satisfying and requires you to quickly switch between weapons to dispense the appropriate firepower to dispatch the foe currently in your crosshairs. 

Level design in Wrath is IMO very good, the exploration feels satisfying to me, and it has an excellent sense of scale and verticality, with a decent amount of secrets to find. The only complaint I really have is the save system is rather weird, relying on main checkpoints called shrines, and single-use quicksave markers called soul tethers. Although you can activate infinite soul tethers, it still feels a bit odd, but it does work in the end.

At the end of the say, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is an impressive entry in it's genre, and manages to stand out well enough from the competition. In my humble opinion it was definitely worth the wait, and I certainly hope that there will be more someday. It's certainly nice to see games using the original Quake engine, and forks thereof. I highly recommend Wrath to anyone who has a taste for such things.

Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster Review

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster

Developed by: Lucasarts, Nightdive Studios

Published by: Nightdive Studios

Date of Release: February 28, 2024

Price: $30

Way back in the early 90s, id Software blew the world away by releasing their smash hit Doom. That ground-breaking earthquake of a game quickly unleashed a tsunami of what the press dubbed "Doom Clones", and would eventually be known as First Person Shooters. Nearly everyone wanted to get in on the Doom Clone phenomenon, and the results varied wildly from amazing games such as Heretic to abysmal efforts such as Operation Bodycount. But then in 1995 Lucasarts tried their hand at it, applying the Star Wars license to their own in-house 3D engine, and what resulted was Dark Forces, an amazing Star Wars experience. And now 29 years later Nightdive Studios has given Dark Forces a loving remaster, and PC and console players alike can experience this masterful Star Wars title anew.

The original release of Dark Forces had some very impressive cutscenes for the time, blending 3D animation with gorgeous hand-drawn character art and rotoscoping techniques worthy of it's film license. Lucasarts definitely took advantage of the CD-ROM medium to absolutely pack it full of gorgeous cinema goodness. However in this new remaster the cutscenes have all been touched up amazingly (all the originals are there optionally as well), with all new CGI done by Brendan McKinney (who also did the cutscenes for Nightdive's Quake II remaster) and 2D art done by Ben Chandler. On top of that the sprites and textures have all been touched up as well, resulting in the a presentation that is the best that Dark Forces has ever looked (you can swap between graphics modes at the press of a button to boot!.

When the remaster launched there were a few flaws in the music playback system, with weird delays in the music and missing notes, however as of the latest patch those have all been smoothed over, and to be honest it sounds as good as playing the original with a high quality GM synthesizer. There's also the option to use FM synthesis for those really old school beeps and boops. Just as with the graphics, the audio presentation in Dark Forces Remaster has been perfectly preserved and enhanced. As for the gameplay, everything is intact and the game plays just like it did originally, though with some lovely modern control accoutrements. There is also a lovely amount of extra content including making-of materials, and a completely restored level that was axed from the original game.

What it all comes down to in the end is clear proof that the folks at Nightdive really care about putting maximum effort into remastering these classics, and it really shows that the staff love these old games. At this point in time there is no better way to experience Star Wars: Dark Forces, on PC and console alike. I've seen so many people beefing on the steam forums that "oh, this is just a patch, it adds nothing, not worth it!", which makes me wonder if they're just blind. This remaster is worth every cent it costs IMO, and is a great example of how to do a Star Wars remaster right (for an example of wrong, please see pretty much any of the Star Wars games ported by Aspyr).

I give Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster 10/10 bacta tanks. 

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Switch Review

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

Developed by: XProger

Published by: Aspyr

Date of Release: February 14, 2024

Price: $29.99

Back in the good old days of 1996, PC gaming was really starting to enter the realm of real 3D games rather than the sprite based affairs of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. Games such as Descent and Quake had really made an impact, and proved the power of polygons beyond a doubt. Tomb Raider exploded onto the scene with it's third-person 3D exploration and action, choosing to show the main character on screen at all times, rather than viewing the game through their eyes as FPS games of the era chose to do. And what a choice that was, as the main character in question was none other than Lara Croft, who would immediately become the face of 3D action/adventure gaming for quite some time. With Tomb Raider II and III hitting the scene in the coming years, Lara's status in the 3D action scene was set in stone. And now Aspyr has brought that original trilogy to modern systems, with a decent glow-up for Lara to boot.

Here's the kicker though: Aspyr has been pushing out half-assed "remasters" for some time now, and they have all been pretty much colossal piles of jank, basically taking community-made patches incorrectly applying them to games that have been quickly and poorly ported to consoles without much thought to things such as graphical aspect ratios and proper optimization. A perfect example of such a scenario can be seen in their "remasters" of Star Wars Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, both of which took the games original 4:3 aspect ratio and simply chopped the top and bottom off of the image to make it "widescreen", losing quite a bit of the viewport and first person weapon model in the progress. Third person view modes are just as bad, cutting off visibility for the legs of the character models.

Fortunately however with Tomb Raider I-III Remastered that is not the case this time around, as Aspyr had wisely decided to hire someone who actually gives a shit to oversee the project for them. Thanks to the work of fan modder Timur Gagiev, AKA XProger and his team, the Tomb Raider Trilogy has actually been treated with the care and respect it deserves, basing the remaster on his previously unauthorized personal remaster project. It may be shocking, but for once Aspyr has not shat the bed with one of it's remasters. Tomb Raider is definitely the series to finally break the Aspyr curse.

All three games in the trilogy have been overhauled with upscaled cinematics, redrawn textures, 60fps gameplay and much needed modern controls (you can choose between modern and tank controls in the settings), however at the click of a button you can switch back to the original pixelated software-rendered 30fps experience at any time you wish. Comparing the old look to the new is very much impressive, with the character models and a fair amount of the level architecture getting an impressive boost as well. Add to that a photo mode that can be used to create some very interesting shots, and this is quite an impressive package, and one that is well worth the asking price. Anyone who is a long time fan of Tomb Raider should pick this collection up immediately, and those who want to experience Lara Croft's adventures for the first time would be hard pressed to find a better way to get started than this fine remaster.

Graven Review

Graven

Developed By: Slipgate Ironworks

Published By: 3DRealms/Fulqrum

Date of Release: January 23, 2024

Price: $24.99

Long ago in the dusty early days of PC gaming there was a series known as the Serpent Rider Trilogy. Coming from Raven Software long before they were sent off to toil in the CoD mines, the Serpent Rider trilogy of Heretic, Hexen and Hexen II were amazing medieval first person RPG affairs. Heretic and Hexen were both built on a heavily modified Doom engine, and Hexen II was built upon the monumental Quake engine. They all shared a dark gothic ambiance that really has not been matched to this day, and stood out quite a bit from the rest of the doom clones of the era. For many years I've hoped that the series would make an epic comeback but that has yet to happen. Thankfully Slipgate Ironworks has come forward with the magnificent Graven, which is certainly a worthy spiritual successor.

Graven is a grand first person RPG that definitely hearkens back to the days of old, both in gameplay and looks. Though it is built on the modern Unreal Engine 4, the pixelated textures and low-poly graphics evoke memories of the past, particularly of games such as Hexen II. Through its graphics and sound presentation, Graven does a masterful job of invoking the rich ambiance of the classic Raven adventures while still managing to maintain it's own impressive identity. The soundtrack definitely hearkens back to my many hours of playing Hexen.

The level design in Graven is vast, varied and sprawling, with the first hub alone taking over 5 hours to complete. The details of the first decaying swamp town and it's surroundings are meticulously crafted with so much fetid detail that you can almost smell the burning corpse piles and peat bogs, and the following hubs keep up the quality for sure. There are plenty of secrets to find, and enemies will respawn occasionally to keep things interesting. The weapons you use to fight said foes are quite interesting as well, and the limited inventory slots serve to make you really think about what tools you need at any given time. 

All in all, Slipgate Ironworks has crafted a fine experience here. The gameplay loop overall is quite satisfying, however I must lodge a complaint in the fact that the game severely lacks an automap feature. Eventually after much trial and error I did memorize the locations, but it would have been a lot easier to get around with a map. It's certainly not enough of an issue to affect my enjoyment however. I would definitely recommend Graven to anyone who is a fan of the classic raven adventures.

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered Review

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered (Switch)

Developed By: Iguana Entertainment/Nightdive Studios

Published By: Nightdive Studios

Date of Release: November 30, 2023

Price: $29.99

The year was 1997. First person shooters were slowly proving their dominance as they took over the PC gaming scene. However consoles were often considered a poor platform for the genre, as they were generally underpowered compared to PCs, and the control options were definitely ill-suited for the gameplay. That all changed with the Nintendo 64 and its bizarrely shaped analog controller. The first successful FPS game on console would be Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, made by Iguana Entertainment and licensed from the Valiant comic book series Turok: Son of Stone. The N64 had the hardware OOMPH to render the lush 3D worlds of Turok, and proper analog control to boot. Turok walked on the N64 so that Goldeneye and further titles could run, and pave the way for modern console FPS titles for years to come. Turok soon had its first sequel in 1998’s Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, which also did quite well. 

However that brings us to the current topic, Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion. Turok 3 directly continues the series story, following the Fireseed family’s quest to protect the world from evil. Released close to the end of the N64s life in the year 2000, Turok 3 was by far the most advanced in the original N64 incarnation of the series, with a gameplay and storytelling structure almost reminiscent of PC FPS classics such as Half-Life. It absolutely pushed the system's hardware to its limits, and was certainly a high note for the series to end on. Until this day however it’s never seen a re-release, but that has changed with Nightdive Studio’s Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered. 

Released on the PC and all major consoles, they've taken Turok 3 in all it's glory and done their usual refinements such as improved visuals and controls, and they've also restored a shedload of cut content as well. All the usual care that Nightdive puts into their remasters is on full display here, and they've brought Shadow of Oblivion fully into the year 2023. With the reworked cutscenes, remastered soundtrack, and general improvement on the environment design with all the little details and greebles they've added, not to mention going back to the source on the textures for a full rebuild, it really makes Turok 3 feel brand new again. The Switch version as well has some amazing gyro controls, and makes that version quite fun to play.

The only thing really missing from this remaster is the multiplayer from the original game, which is certainly a sad omission to see. However it's certainly understandable considering how much time it would have taken to get everything working. The sheer amount of work they put into the campaign makes the package well worth it IMO. It's nice to have closure to the trilogy, and to be able to play them all on the go with the Switch now is a great experience. I would definitely recommend this remaster to all Turok fans new and old. Here's hoping they decide to follow this one up with a remaster of Turok Rage Wars!