Duke Nukem 3D remains the Duke’s magnum opus. With inventive weapons and unprecedented interactivity, it fought on the front lines against id’s fully-3D Quake. With the recent release of Duke Nukem Forever, the Local Ditch takes a look at Duke Nukem 3D.
Back in the day, the local software shop had packaged, boxed software lining the walls, while an inside aisle held racks of 5.25″ floppy disks, almost all of which were branded shareware. The concept: you pay for the price of the disks ($1 for a 1-disk piece of software, $2 for a two disker…) and get to use the program as much as you want. Only there’s a catch: you don’t get the entire program. If you liked it, you were encouraged to buy the rest of it. If not, you just gave the disk to someone else.
Duke Nukem was sitting on the shelf with the rest of them. On its disk was Episode 1: Shrapnel City. In the intro, there’s a brief dialogue between Duke and the game’s antagonist, Dr. Proton, ending with Duke promising to get home, “in time to watch Oprah.” (more…)
Earthworm Jim arrives on the XBox 360 with enhanced graphics and extra play modes. After all of these years, how does the 16-bit platformer hold up? The Local Ditch finds out.
Oh, Xbox Live, how you’ve enabled me to relive the missed games of my youth. Welcome to the club, Earthworm Jim. Back in the 16-bit days, I had EJ2 for my Genesis, but never the first one.
So, how do I view it with modern day eyes? I really had to step back and get in the right mindset to play this one. I’ve grown accustomed to the auto-saves and constant progress of modern games. It’s a bit of a blast from the past to go into a game that’s designed to last for a few hours and be played from the very beginning every time that it’s started. (more…)
Another trek down missed memory lane via XBOX Live gives me the chance to finally put some time into Perfect Dark. Do the high resolution graphics make up for the antiquated game structure?
Another trek down missed memory lane via XBOX Live gives me the chance to finally put some time into Perfect Dark. Sure, I think I’d played it before with friends at one point or another, usually ending with me swearing profusely about getting my ass kicked in the multiplayer.
But now, this digital remastering of Perfect Dark gives me a chance to prove that had I actually properly put time into the game, I wouldn’t be so rubbish at it. No, I don’t believe what I just said either. (more…)
Dead Space, the 2008, third-person, sci-fi shooter, is a solid contribution its genre, but it continually reminds me of other games.
Hey, wasn’t Dead Space 2 released just a few days ago? When I finally got a hold of an XBOX over the summer, I had to get a couple of games. Those were Burnout Paradise and Dead Space. In hindsight, I’m not really sure why I chose them. I think a large part of it was that I wanted to experience what the PS3/360 generation had brought to the gaming world.
So, I started Dead Space and I couldn’t read a goddamn thing on the screen. (more…)
In the world of plastic instrument games, there’s Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III, Guitar Hero V, Band Hero, DJ Hero, and of course, the Rock Band series. The Local Ditch takes a look at what is special about Rock Band 2.
Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero 3… Rock Band. RB was the game changer in the rhythm genre. Drums, vocals, guitars, bass – it was all here in one package.
I didn’t play Rock Band. I was late to the party. Instead, I had just been exposed to the plastic instrument craze via Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock for the PS2. Yes, 2007 was a big year for me, finally getting a PS2 and jumping, or so I felt, into the modern world of games. (more…)
Ever get the urge to just shoot the shit out of over-the-top, cell-shaded rednecks in a post-apocalyptic world? Then Borderlands is the game for you.
Borderlands – Time killer of the year? Possibly. The stat-based desert shooter first captured my attention with its art style. Then, the winter bombardment started. Much like the rest of the world, I’d seen too many holiday commercials showcasing the game’s psychotic inhabitants while blaring Cage the Elephant in the background. Regardless, I was still interested. The Steam sale, however, was what finally pushed me over the edge. (more…)
While most sites are putting together their ‘Top Ten of 2010’ lists, I’ve run into a problem. I didn’t manage to play 10 games that were released in 2010. So instead, here’s a quick rundown on what I did play.
Oh 2010, how we hardly knew ye. It’s the time of year to look back and reflect, to remember and revisit all of the great accomplishments and achievements of twenty ten, to peruse past time and celebrate it.
Or it would have been a month ago.
Typical for the course, The Local Ditch is fashionably late to the party, although less so than usual. While other sites are running down their favorite releases of 2010, I’ve run into a problem. I didn’t actually play that many games that were actually released in the past year. What to do? Why, of course, ramble on about the games that I did play.
So, over the next few days, I’m going to throw up a quick post about what I’ve played. Guess what? It wasn’t a whole bunch of Interstate ’76.