I love Halloween. LOVE IT! I get excited at the end of September, and it is one of the few consolations I have to keep me buoyed up, as as the summer starts to fade and we tumble into Autumn...
As such, it's one of the very few seasons that can get me motivated to "put pen to paper" (so to speak) and whip up an article for the Saturn Junkyard. This is now the fourth year since we resurrected the Yard, so thinking of a set of titles that I've never mentioned in my annual Halloween epistles, is becoming harder and harder. The links between horror and gaming are getting more and more tenuous, the choices of games becoming more and more scarce... My rule of thumb thus far, is that I have to have played the game myself, rather than having simply heard of it, or watched YouTube videos about it. As such, I was going to start waxing lyrical about Frankenstein -Through The Eyes Of The Monster, or indeed Battle Of The Monsters, but i decided against it. I briefly looked at purchasing the afore mentioned game until I saw it's price tag... I think I will perhaps order a repro copy from the most excellent "Nightwing Productions", so I can perhaps report on it in my Halloween 2021 post.
So, on with this year's journey into the spooky world of Samhain, where we will rub shoulders with broom riding witches, crazed, blood thirsty monsters, brooding, growling ogres, antagonistic anal probing (probably) aliens, mutated, maximum security prisoners, demonic despotic prison bosses, howling crazed mental patients and... erm... anthropomorphic needles(!)
Cotton Boomerang:
WooOoooOoo.... WOOOoooOOO... Are you scared yet? No? Well I'm afraid this first game is merely dipping a green, warty toe into the slime infested swamp of Halloween. What we have here, is an early evening, pre-watershed, kid-friendly "cute 'em up" - in other words, a cute, cartoony, side scrolling shmup. The Halloween link comes from the fact, that rather than controlling a spaceship or WWII fighter plane, you control a witch on a broomstick... See? We're getting there... A cute witch... who isn't scary at all, but a witch, nevertheless...
The Cotton franchise is a series of multi-platform titles, developed by Tokyo based developers "Success Corporation", making it's debut in 1991 with Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, with the Saturn release of Cotton Boomerang arriving in 1998. The game consists of piloting your witch and her broomstick, through a series of magical and haunted worlds, battling mythical creatures, while all manner of projectiles - crystals, power ups and even Jack O' Lantern pumpkin heads - fly towards you. As well as your ability to fire regular or hyper-powered shots, you can switch between characters, each of which has different styles, attributes and abilities.
Despite it's cute visuals and cartoonish outlook, Cotton is not an easy ride. Fortunately, as is often the case with games of this genre, there are a plethora of 'continues' to access, and you should be able to progress nicely through each charming level, soaking up the magic of this ghoulishly charming game...
Gex:
Now hold on there Father! Are you having a laugh? Gex is a 90's, 'Tude-fest, TV themed action platformer! What on earth does that have to do with the spookiest time of the year????
Yes... I know, I know... I'm stretching it... but as I said, I have to have played each title - and whilst my Saturn collection is fairly large - finding five horror themed titles that I hadn't considered before on these very pages, was becoming rather difficult. Fortunately, during Gex's rather long and drawn out back-story, it becomes apparent that the stereotypically wise-cracking, Star Trek impersonating Gecko is watching a horror movie as he is zapped into the television, by the evil Rez. The object of each level is to find hidden TV remote controls, and by doing so, progress to the next...
Therefore! As we delve into the hub world of the game, we are treated to a level which is incredibly suitable for a bit of Halloween Saturn fun. We are in a graveyard, a suitably murky palette of colours and creepy zombie ducks(?) lumbering slowly towards you, arms out-stretched in classic undead style...
Gex was developed by Crystal Dynamics for the 3DO and ported to the Saturn in 1996. Critical reception for the games was good and the game is an entertaing platformer with a very satisying gameplay and a large dollop of humour, thanks to the character of Gex which was voiced by comedian Dana Gould.
As Gex, the bad ass, fun loving reptilian, you must wall walk, tail spin and bounce your way through the level, flicking out your tongue and munching golden flies... and that's it! I cannot tell you about any of the other levels, as I have consistently failed to find any of the remotes and therefore, have never progressed beyond the spooky horror themed hub world... therefore I always think of Gex as a spooky title. Good job really, as my selection this year was a bit thin on the ground, as mentioned earlier...
So... moving on swiftly, it's about time we ramped up the fear factor. Let's get to something a little less juvenile and a bit more adult oriented. Ladies and germs I bring you...
D:
This is a strange one. A two disc opus, brought to us by Warp, again originally developed for the 3DO in 1999. The game is more of an interactive movie and features the protagonist and "digital actor" Laura, who featured in a number of games by Warp, In this one, Laura finds out her father, a respected medical practitioner, has gone insane and murdered all of his patients. As Laura, you must enter the hospital to investigate what has happened. As soon as she walks through the door, her world begins to morph and mutate and she finds herself in a gothic looking building, with strange instruments of torture and mutilated bodies scattered around.
The mood is dark and mysterious, Strange events, psychedelic visions, shifting dimensions and surreal happenings are triggered as you move through the building. You have two hours to complete the game, with no opportunities to save.
Whilst the game is interesting and atmospheric, it is far from linear, and can be very difficult to navigate easily to the end of the experience. You might find yourself, as I did, struggling to progress at pace, finding yourself wandering and backtracking fruitlessly. Although I liked what I saw, it was not enough to keep me going, and after an hour or so, I became frustrated and bored. Watching a walkthrough video would not be conducive to the "search and reveal" nature of the game, but by the same token, unless I get some hints, the experience will stagnate and dissipate. Perhaps that is the most horrific element of the game. Certainly the biggest nightmare I faced within it's clutches...
So, from one moody gothic mansion to another... this time you're really going to be scared. In fact you're going to...
Quake:
There's not much of a backstory here. You find yourself in a dark and foreboding castle. Outside, as glimpsed through the arched gothic windows, black clouds race across a deep purple sky. The dark, dank corridors and subterranean dungeons are patrolled by a variety of foes including gun wielding "grunts" and hammer wielding ogres... there are health, armour, weapon and ammo pick ups scattered throughout the levels. The scares come from the enemies, who pop up and attack you when you are least expecting it...
Developed by Lobotomy Software, the Saturn version of Quake was the first console release of the popular PC first person shooter. The game utilises the SlaveDriver engine, first developed for the excellent Powerslave/Exhumed/1999. As such, this is not so much a port as a game built from the ground up...
The Saturn version boasts an exclusive hazard (the void) and an exclusive, very un-FPS unlockable - "Dank and Scuzz - a voice acted story set within the Quake world. The game has been oft praised for the textures, colours and lighting effects, which to some extent surpass the original. The brutal Nine Inch Nails provide the soundtrack, which is unsurprisingly dark, menacing and drive the game forward.
This one really IS a good one for the Halloween season and like it's cousin Powerslave, is a quality title which fits the mood of the season perfectly...
Area 51:
Not too long ago, in a pre-Covid world, gangs of slightly insane nerds, gathered at the US military installation known as Area 51, poised to do "Naruto runs" headlong towards the armed military guards, with the hopeless intention of busting in, and subsequently seeing the alien bodies and captured saucers that have been held there since the greys crash landed into the Roswell desert in 1947...
Thanks to Atari Games, Saturn light gun enthusiasts do not have to compromise their personal safety, in order to observe the interior of the Groom Lake facility. All they have to do, is load up this title, pick up their Stunner and get ready to go...
In a matter of seconds, all the aliens in the facility will start to jump out in front of you in order for you to shoot! How very accommodating of them! Seriously though, this is not a bad game. It has it's roots in the arcade and whilst it is no Virtua Cop, it far outstrips last year's offering Corpse Killer!
You are a member of the STAAR (Special Tactical Advanced Alien Response) Team, along with your colleagues Lieutenant Stephanie Grant and Sergeant Major Marcus Bradley, you are tasked with activating a nuclear self destruct button...
Hang on a minute??? Who the hell is going to sign up for that???
As well as aliens, you are also faced with mutated zombie soldiers, meaning it conveniently gets a pass for our Halloween selection... the presentation is better than our other Halloween light gun favourite, House Of The Dead and this is a better graphical spectacle, utilising digitized video - enemies, innocents and explosions are 2D digitized sprites. The vehicles and levels are pre-rendered 3D. I'm saying that like I have a clue what it means, when in reality I just nicked it all from Wikipedia.
Overall, the game is a winner, and if you've had enough HOTD for one year, you should definitely give it a blast!
So there we have it... Five titles that will take us through till, this time next year, when I will have invested in some proper horror titles to report on!
*( Last minute honourable mention goes to Loaded... a top down 2D shooter, based around a maximum security prison. I'd always thought it was a bit shit, but having persevered, I have to say I rather like it!
Put it down as next year's first on the list...)
1 comment:
Still a great article to this day.
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