Toy Commander: The most local multiplayer fun you’ll ever have (that isn’t an FPS) July 22, 2009
Posted by Sharny in : Entertainment, Essay, Fun, Gaming , 1 comment so farThe Dreamcast is in many ways considered to be a failed console, and indeed, it did spell the end for Sega in one way or another. Many say it failed due to a huge amount of the market wanting to wait till the PS2 was released. Still, it was the first console to have online multiplayer features and it was the first new console I ever received and therefore will always hold a special place in my heart.
Toy Commander has a similar personal connection. I can’t remember where or when I got it, only that I had liked the idea behind it from when I first heard about it and was willing to pay the above average price for a Dreamcast game to get it. It certainly was worthwhile. As a single player game it held up very well, the missions were interesting and varied, even if a few could get a bit frustrating. For a game of it’s time though, it was very well done.
But the real strength came in the multiplayer, me and my best friend played that game to death in two player battles. How we managed to remain interested in it for as long as we did is a complete mystery to me but really says something about what a fantastic multiplayer game Toy Commander was and still is.
The reason I’m writing this post is because recently the topic of retro games and old games that had a strong personal connection to us came up in conversation, I remembered Toy Commander and how awesome a game for multiplayer it had been but more I remembered how I had longed for another two controllers as I thought the fun would be multiplied greatly with two more people. So I went on eBay and had a little look around for Dreamcast controllers, they seemed pretty inexpensive and I picked up two of them for just £8.50 with free P&P.
When they arrived we immediately cracked out the old games, Toy Commander at the forefront and experienced the fun it brings.
What is so fantastic about it is that it’s a completely different game to any other of the games we’ve played local multiplayer on in the past. For one, it’s not a first person shooter. Mostly though, it comes from the pretty simple system combined with wonderfully intricate and detailed levels. The thing about normal flight combat in games is it takes place in massive areas which are all pretty much the same, there are no obstacles as you’re out in the open. Toy Commander brings the dog fights inside, into your living room or bedroom. Fights take place dodging behind chairs and curtains, into cupboards and under tables, around ceiling fans and through fire places. It is this aspect that really gives Toy Commander it’s wonderful originality and fun.
As with every great game, it’s easy to pickup and start playing but difficult to master. There is no other game like it. Which is really why I’m now imploring the game industry – someone please pick up the rights for a remake/sequel. This game would work so well on modern consoles and PCs. If it were done well, the levels would be expanded and more fun details added and the missions would retain their fun whilst hopefully losing some of their unclear instructions and frustration. Moreover, the game would work fantastically well online, with either Xbox Live or regular PC online gaming being perfect. I can just imagine the possible fun having a toy commander battle with 8 or even 16 players. The dog fights would be so tense, the battles could be raised to an epic scale. The fun would be multiplied even more.
I know the chances of remake or sequel are minute but it would be truly such a great game. It was a fantastic concept and I have no idea how it possibly dyed with the absolutely awful Toy Racer, what seems to be one of the most rushed games I’ve ever played. Even to just see it appear on the Xbox Live Arcade would be awesome, even in it’s original form. I’d love to see how my skills match up to others around the world.
Really, if you have a Dreamcast and don’t own this game you need to try and get your hands on a copy, it is THE most fun multiplayer experience on that console, if not any console ever made and probably the most original and fun multiplayer game you’ve ever played.
Musical musings July 16, 2009
Posted by Sharny in : Entertainment, Music, Ramble , add a commentSo, I say right up there in the tag line that I talk about music, but short of a few gigs and bits and pieces on Opium Toad I haven’t done much. Over time, I’ve really come to learn what makes good music for me although still new things open up and make me think in different ways.
The easiest thing for me to write about would probably be where I am at now musically, and to do that I’m gonna consult my last.fm profile. My top charts from the past 6 months say a lot I think, although said a little more a month or two back. Here they are:
- Porcupine Tree
- Karate
- Ayreon
- Riverside
- Turisas
- Finntroll
- Clutch
- Seth Lakeman
- Kalmah
- Opeth
- Dark Tranquillity
- dredg
- Alestorm
- Eluveitie
- Paul Simon
- Anathema
Symphony X, Queensrÿche, The Sword, Megadeth, Pure Reason Revolution, Korpiklaani, Machine Head, Dream Theater, Blackfield, Kiuas, Orange Goblin, Show of Hands, Equilibrium, Ensiferum, Children of Bodom, Spock’s Beard, Jethro Tull, Metallica, Thin Lizzy, Down, Municipal Waste, Indukti, Annihilator, Taint, Arch Enemy, Bert Jansch, Primus, Edguy, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, Pineapple Thief, Afro Celt Sound System, AC/DC, Weather Report, Led Zeppelin.
The big ones right at the top there, PT and Karate. Porcupine Tree have to go down as my all time favourite band. Still when I listen to them now I love them as much as when I first heard “Where we would be” amazingly, a song that is very different to much of their work is what brought them to me and I love it. PT did actually drop to 2nd to Karate whilst I was still in the US and indeed Karate deserve a mention.
They are a band that came around at exactly the right time. “Some Boots” somehow captured me exactly as I was when I first heard it, listening to “Airport” in my guitar lesson, it’s smooth main idea just took me away, combined with lyrics that filled me with what I like to refer to as “future nostalgia” and a unique delivery. They are a band completely different to any other, I’ve listened to their number one similar artist on last.fm and they sound nothing like them. Spectacular. Indeed, “Airport” is currently the number 2 most played song in my iTunes library, the only song in the top 50 to have been added to my library in 2008. Every other song there is there because, yes, I love them but I listened to them over time. This is one of the only times I can say that a single song got me through so much but it’s true. It’s an absolutely magnificent achievement but I can only do so much to sell it to others. It has such a personal connection to me that I love it as much for the memories and comfort it gave and continues to give me than for the music itself (which is still very good).
There it is, for all to enjoy.
A shout has to go to Ayreon too, for the music of Arjen Anthony Lucassen has taken me on many adventures in the soundscape. I do really enjoy his music, as demonstrated by the number of plays he has. It’s also down to how much of his music I have due to his tendancy to always produce double albums and my tendancy to like all the songs on them.
Number four is a band that have captured my attention for a little while now but are still fairly recent additions to my regular listening; Riverside. Their style of progressive rock is one that I can really connect to and they do a great job of balancing good song writing with interesting musicianship. Somehow their music manages to be appropriate for being happy, being sad and everything in between. That in itself is a bigger accomplishment than I think many would realise.
Turisas and Finntroll remain strong as my favourite offerings that folk metal have. To me, these two are the quintessental folk metal bands. They have the perfect combination of folky melodies and rocking metal riffs that are what define the genre, as well as the little bits of extra epic cool fun that folk metal should be full of.
Clutch have been entertaining me with their breed of stoner rock for about a year now and I’m still loving it, “Blast Tyrant” remains an incredibly strong album, an unrelenting onslaught of rock. I haven’t delved much further into their offerings but do enjoy a good portion of “Pure Rock Fury”.
Then comes Seth Lakeman, the only indication of the oncoming of more folk influence into my spectrum. I was delighted to see a few BBC shows at the cambridge folk festival which introduced me to a few folk artists, the one that stuck being Seth Lakeman. I really struggle with folk because as a genre it’s just so varied. I absolutely love strong folky melodies and strong story telling vibes mixed with top notch vocals but so much of folk is just same old acoustic guitar chords with a bit of singing on top, just not enough for me. I want to hear violins and vocal harmonys, I want engaging stories not just crappy love songs that I can hear on any pop record. Seth gives me a great mix of the stuff I love and I’ve been continuing to listen to his music on a regular basis since seeing those tv pieces.
Wow, I seriously have waffled on here. I’m not entirely sure what this was supposed to be exactly, but I think it’s collapsed in on its self. Still, I put quite a lot of time into writing it so I mayaswell post it. You’d have to care quite a lot about my personal musical motives to really find it interesting though, and I get the feeling that audience is very small.
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