POrTAlTwO

I spent the last few days playing the 13 games from the "Potato Sack" sold by Steam. All of them include (temporally, I assume) exclusive Portal-themed DLC which ranges from the amusing to the amazing, with even whole new levels to play. If you followed some instructions described on the "Valve's PotatosFools ARG Wiki" you earned complimentary potato badges. After earning all the 36 potatoes and a final "golden potato" award, you were supposed to get a "a very special, non-hat-based reward" (Thank god! I hate the whole TF2 hats craze...)

Well, I was going to title this entry "I spent several days playing indie games and I only got this stupid XXXXX", but the thing is, Valve just silently added to my game list Portal 2. For free, on release day. Allegedly, all the Valve games are added, but I already had them.

Thank you, Valve. I have to admit that I didn't expect such a nice reward.

Retro gaming: Who Dares Wins II

Forget about Dragon Age II, because today we'll talk about Who Dares Wins II, an old game by Steve Evans (credited in the C64 version as Tommy Atkins). Who Dares Wins was initially a shameless Commando clone which was released two weeks before the real Commando. Elite sued WDW developer Alligata, so the game was immediately pulled from distribution... until Evans rearranged the content and the game was re-released as Who Dares Wins II.

WDWII was one of the first games I ever played, renamed for Spain (in the cover art, not in the game) as "Mercenario". The 8-bit Commando was a much more visceral experience, and insanely enjoyable, but WDWII was a great piece of design. Let's see why:

Amstrad CPC version < --- The one I played back then

Commodore 64 version < --- It looks similar, but it had scroll!

At first glance it looks like another Ikari Warriors-type shooter. You push forward with your soldier shooting all the enemy soldiers and throwing some grenades. (You can't ride a tank here, though) But after a while you realize that you are expected to make some tactical thinking.

-Enemies are limited. No infinitely spawning baddies, which is actually good. You can memorize the enemy placement so you won't suffer a nasty death. That was great to get a little further each time you played.

-There are some special rules: trenches stop bullets, water and almost invisible quicksand (you can see how it looks here) will drown you, you can only shoot entrenched enemies while they are peeking out (like in a modern cover shooter!), soldiers behind barricades and tanks flee when you are close to them, and you have to clear the last screen of enemies before reaching a new stage. It feels fair and it motivates you to plan your advance. Staying for a couple of minutes in a single screen trying to get rid of a few strategically-placed enemy shooters is as Un-Commando as it gets.

-I love the extra touches like the possibility of saving prisoners who are about to be executed or destroying passing vehicles. That was completely optional, but at the time you had to do that to "play right" (also, the extra points were useful to get more lives). I don't care about that style of playing too much anymore, but back then it was really important, probably because games only offered gameplay and not much else.

WDWII was an unexpensive game (being released seemingly as a cheap Commando knock-off), but it was legitimately great, and I would play it again in a heartbeat. Maybe I should try the C64 version to check out the scroll!

Sources:
Retro Gamer Magazine
Retroview (Spanish)

It's 1996 all over again

This looks insane... and awesome, too. A Greek Tex Murphy clone!
I hope it's better than the previous one.


Do you miss those 1990's games with actors in the middle of your 3D-generated world? Then you'll be pleased to know that GOG just released the amazing Realms of the Haunting.

But if you prefer old-school 2D, then go this way. Hey, no problem. I love both styles.