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Review: Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War [Xbox]

Developer: Gray Matter
Publisher: Activision
Released: May 6, 2003
Completed: March 1, 2020
Rated: M for Mature

Before we get started, let's acknowledge the elephant in the room: with the Xbox itself now being 20 years old, it could technically be considered a "retro" console.  As someone in their 40s, I refuse to acknowledge such a thing because it makes me feel old.  Cool? 

Anyhow, the original Woifenstein 3D (or 3-D, if you want to get really technical) was a groundbreaking game.  Everybody knows this.  True, it wasn't the first FPS, but it put the genre front and center for PC gamers.  Always at war with the console heathens, the PC Master Race could point to Wolf3D as something consoles could never do in a million years.  Eventually consoles did do it, though the Super Nintendo port was... not great, but still, for its time there was nothing like Wolfenstein 3D. 

As big of a hit as it was, it's strange that it didn't see its first proper sequel until 2001, leaving a nearly 20 year gap between entries.  There was Spear of Destiny, an entirely new set of episodes, but I always felt that was more of an expansion pack than a true sequel (or prequel, if you want to get really, really technical about all this).  It seems strange to think the series lay dormant for so long, now that it's been revived by MachineGames, but in the interim there was a little game called DOOM that the guys from id put out.  Not much is known about it, unfortunately, and it kind of came and went without much fanfare.

Before you grab the pitchforks and torches, I am very obviously joking.  DOOM was a tectonic shift for not only the genre, but the entire gaming industry.  Wolfenstein 3D looked positively archaic by comparison, despite only being about a year older.  This is a long walk to say that people forgot about Wolfenstein when confronted with DOOM, but luckily for us, the folks at Gray Matter remembered.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein, or RtCW, is one of the finest shooters ever put out, in my humble opinion.  In its original PC incarnation, it's a blisteringly fast, challenging, and beautiful (for the time) game that improves upon the foundation of its forefather.  It leans heavily into the occult themes introduced in Spear of Destiny, creating an intoxicating blend of Nazi killin' with a touch of horror.  It was worth every day of the long wait.  On the Xbox, it's... actually not terrible.

I'd go so far as to say it's pretty damn good, really.  It's nowhere near as pretty or as silky smooth as the PC version, but the core experience is intact.  Other than the visuals, there's no concessions made to the game.  Levels, weapons, and enemies, they're all here and then some with the Xbox version having an exclusive set of prequel levels leading up to the capture of series protagonist William "BJ" Blaskowicz that, to my knowledge, have never been ported or remade for the PC by the modding community to this day.

None of this is to say this is the best version of the game.  Given the choice, I'd still go for the PC version any day, given the increased sharpness of higher resolution and the mouse/keyboard control combo.  But if you didn't have a PC beefy enough to run this one back in the day, or you don't feel like fiddling with it to make it work on a modern system, the Xbox version is a reasonably good representation of the game.  (The PC version is available on GOG.com if you want a relatively no-fuss, no-muss way to play it on a modern system.)

There's no polite way to say that the framerate is unstable, but it's not bad enough to ruin the experience.  The PS2 version, subtitled Operation Resurrection, is far worse off and features longer, more frequent loading times.  Here it dips and dives like it's learning to play dodgeball, but it's perfectly playable with the help of auto-aim to compensate for the lack of precision afforded by dual analog sticks. 

RtCW isn't made much easier by this inclusion.  It was difficult on PC, and it's still difficult on Xbox.  Enemies are crack shots, and their bullets will eat through your armor faster than I go through a pint of Ben & Jerry's.  Thankfully, the PC version's save anywhere feature is retained, and I strongly advise you get used to using it.

Though it's noticeably blurrier than its PC counterpart, RtCW doesn't look bad on Xbox.  The lighting is still great, the environments are generally impressive, particularly the namesake castle itself, and the weapon and character models were on par with their contemporaries.  The other side of the presentation, the audio, doesn't suffer at all.  The addition of 5.1 surround sound is a welcome one, and the appropriately epic score sounds fantastic with its brass and big timpani drums booming.

Again, the control and the framerate are going to be the most divisive factors. Neither break the game, but there's no denying they pale in comparison to playing this one on PC.  Nearly every button on the Xbox controller is used and there are multiple configurations to suit your needs, but having to cycle weapons will never be as effective as simply pressing a number on your keyboard to get right to your desired gun.

It's worth noting that even the game's multiplayer was ported over.  In addition to the standard deathmatch and capture the flag games, the entire campaign can be played cooperatively with a friend.  The Xbox Live servers were shut down ages ago, but you can still enjoy local multiplayer if you have friends.  As an aside, how did we ever play split-screen multiplayer on 4:3 televisions?  You kids don't know how good you've got it.

What matters most is that Return to Castle Wolfenstein is still a blast to play.  From the instant it starts, the music and action gets the adrenaline pumping.  The biggest disappointment is that the final boss is an absolute pushover, but reaching the final boss is no easy feat in and of itself.  The bottom line is if you haven't played Return to Castle Wolfenstein, correct that mistake however you can.  Even with its flaws, the Xbox version maintains so much of the PC version's greatness, I can't help but give it high marks.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein was completed on an original Xbox with no cheats.

Review: Max Payne [Xbox]

Developer: Remedy
Publisher: Rockstar
Rated: M for Mature
Released: December 12, 2001
Completed: December 9, 2017

There are a handful of games throughout history that I get the urge to replay, even in the face of my enormous and ever-growing backlog.  Chief among them is Remedy’s seminal action game, Max Payne.  From its gripping noir style revenge plot, to the exciting gameplay, and the cutting edge use of slow-motion effects, Max Payne has stood the test of time and is still a high water mark for the genre.  

Taking cues from John Woo's stylish shoot 'em ups, Max Payne places you in the shoes of the grizzled titular detective on his quest to avenge the murders of his wife and newborn child.  You'll shoot a variety of generic thugs, put high-ranking mafia members on ice, and uncover a conspiracy revolving around a designer drug named Valkyr and its connection to your family, and it's all told from Max's perspective via graphic novel style cutscenes and excellent voice work from James McCaffrey.

Right from the start, Max Payne means business, opening with arguably the greatest prologue in video game history.  Max is an optimistic detective with a beautiful family, but when he returns home from a hard day's work he immediately notices something is amiss.  Running through his house, he hears the frantic cries of his wife and child horrifically silenced by gunshots.  It's a brutal moment, made all the more impactful by the fact that the player is forced to actually play through it.  Many games would be content to convey their backstory via a cinematic, but instead Max Payne requires you to complete a sequence you simply cannot win.  No matter how fast you move, you cannot save your family, leaving you with a sense of helplessness that puts you in Max's head.

From there, Max kills his way to the top, leaving a trail of blood and bullet casings in his wake.  Utilizing a slow-motion gameplay mechanic borrowed from The Matrix, and then aped by dozens of games after, Max dodges bullets and cheats death by popping painkillers, but it's no walk in the part.  The game offers a steady challenge that makes each shootout a white-knuckle thrill.

For a game closing in on 20 years old, Max Payne has held up surprisingly well in nearly every respect.  The story is gripping and well-written, if a bit hammy and overloaded with metaphors.  It's a gritty, violent game, but it doesn't take itself too seriously either, balancing the serious tone with dark humor and a few genuine laughs.

The presentation is fantastic.  The comic style story panels do a great job filling the player in and don't suffer from the same aging problems as pre-rendered cinematics.  The voice acting is mostly excellent.  Many of the characters are stereotypical Italian mobsters, with equally stereotypical accents, Jeff Gurner gives a chilling performance as the psychotic, devil-worshiping Jack Lupino and McCaffrey absolutely knocks it out of the park as Payne.  His deep, gravelly voice has a world-weary yet hard-edged quality that nails the main character.  To this day, it's still one of my favorite performances by any actor in a video game.

The in-game graphics have aged a bit, particularly on the Xbox where you're locked to lower resolution than playing on a PC, but they don't look bad.  The scenery is still quite well done, and the little details Remedy added go a long way to making the game impressive to look at.  Bullet decals, the way Max's coat shifts when running or dodging, debris, graffiti on walls, a harsh snowstorm where footsteps leave visible tracks - it all paints a gloomy picture of New York for a gloomy story. 

It's not without its problems.  Even at the time of release, many jokes were made about Max's constant smirk - courtesy of the game and Remedy's head writer, the brilliant Sam Lake.  Though Lake's likeness would not be used for subsequent games, it's still the image I most associate with Max Payne, but there's no denying that it looks silly. 

The Xbox version also comes with some added, and inexplicable, stuttering during the graphic novel cutscenes.  As they transition from one to the next, there's a brief but definitely noticeable pause in the music.  These are not present on the PC version, but good luck getting that to run if you have any kind of modern PC.  It's a very minor issue, but it always puzzled me why it was even an issue for the powerful Xbox.

Back to the good stuff, in addition to the mostly solid visuals, Max Payne's soundtrack and effects are excellent across the board.  The series' moody piano theme is played with a variety of motifs and instrumentation.  It's melancholic and tragic, setting the perfect mood for a revenge thriller, but more intense scenes are scored with harder edged rock music.  It all works great, and it's accented by a symphony of gunshot sounds that pack a punch.

The most important thing about Max Payne is just how much fun it is to play.  All these years later, it's still one of the best damn action games ever made.  The bullet-time mechanic is used brilliantly, giving the player just enough to strategically make fights easier, but still required skill and reflexes.  There's a surprising depth to Max Payne's combat, where barging through a door guns blazing is often a one way ticket to join your family, but jumping through in slow-mo gives you a chance to survey the room, take out an enemy or two, then scramble for cover in realtime.  Bullet-time is incredibly well-balanced, yet so many games that have come out since Max Payne still miss the mark when they incorporate it and it gives the player such an advantage that the game becomes too easy.

There are a few trial and error sequences in the game - a few blind hallways or staircases where there's no way to know there's an enemy who'll throw a grenade that will almost certainly blow up before you can dodge unless you have superhuman reflexes - but thankfully the game offers a quicksave feature.  It also trains the player not to rush into every situation, giving them pause before they descend that next staircase at full speed.

The one major problem with Max Payne's gameplay is the lack of full analog support.  I know it was originally intended for PC, and most gamers use a mouse and keyboard, but inching Max forward with an analog stick results in the game's most frustrating sequence.  Twice in the game, Max enters a dream state.  As he runs down the seemingly endless hallways that stretch out even as he traverses them, he eventually reaches a pitch black room with a thin trail of blood to follow as his baby's cries haunt him.  These sequences would be great if the controls allowed for slow, precise movements, but the path is so narrow and the movement so twitchy that you'll undoubtedly fall off or careen off course during a jump a few times.  Be prepared to quick save every couple of steps, and to listen to that baby cry for a while.

When it's all said and done though, Max Payne still feels unlike any game out there.  It nails the hard-boiled detective noir genre, and thrusts the player into a gritty, violent world drenched in gloom and guns.  It's so good you can hardly put it down once you start playing, and it's worth revisiting just to step into Max's blood-soaked shoes and experience the story again.  From it's engaging start to the thrilling climax atop a highrise, Max Payne is an epic John Woo-inspired thrill ride.

Max Payne was completed on an Xbox with no cheats.

Review: The Suffering [Xbox]

Developer: Surreal Software
Publisher: Midway
Rated: M for Mature
Released: March 9, 2004
Completed: October 9, 2017

When speaking of survival horror, two names synonymous with the genre are usually the first to be brought up: Resident Evil and Silent Hill.  It’s not without merit.  Both franchises redefined horror games in their own way, and are deserving of their praise.  The unfortunate side effect is that many other excellent games got lost in the shuffle.  Tecmo’s Fatal Frame received multiple entries here in the west, and a handful of spinoffs, yet hardly anybody ever talks about it.  Even lesser known is Midway’s The Suffering.  That’s something of a travesty because while The Suffering leans heavily into action, with less of an emphasis on the survival aspects, it’s still a spooky good time.

The setting is Abbott Penitentiary, and if that weren’t already an appropriately grisly place for a horror game, wait until I tell you the prison sits on Carnate Island.  You play as Torque, a silent protagonist accused of murdering his wife and children, but who claims to have blacked out and remembers nothing of the event.  As you’re led to death row during the game’s opening cinematic, chock full of hysterically bad voice-acting and copious over-swearing, a supernatural force rocks the prison walls and begins making mincemeat out of the condemned.

The Suffering brings a few unique twists to the horror genre.  It features a morality system, but it’s not explicitly laid out before you.  Every time you meet a survivor, Torque’s inner demons will try to convince him to murder the poor sap while the voice of his wife appeals to his humanity.  It’s up to you how you react, but there’s no big menu choice presented.  Should you spare the poor souls, they will often help you, although the companion AI is pretty lackluster and sometimes gets in the way.  In addition, Torque can unleash the beast within – quite literally transforming into a giant hulking monster – but the more you rely on it, the worse your ending will be.

The most distinctive characteristic of the game are its monster designs.  Designed, at least in part, by the late, great Stan Winston, The Suffering’s freakshow ghouls will make your hair stand on end.  As metaphors for execution methods, they’re a little on the nose and lack the subtlety of Silent Hill’s natives, but they get the job done.  There are enemies that represent death by hanging, firing squad, good old fashioned prison justice (e.g. – getting shanked), and horror-of-horrors, lethal injection.  The latter particularly creeped me out because of my strong aversion to needles, which they have COMING OUT OF THEIR GODDAMN EYE SOCKETS.

Also unique is the ability to switch between first and third person views at any time with the push of a button.  I found myself playing in third person exclusively because it offered a better view of my surroundings, and where enemies were in the environment, but first person is a perfectly viable way to play the game. 

Which brings me to my next point: The Suffering is definitely more of an action game than its more famous brethren.  Resident Evil relies on jump scares and the early Silent Hill games relied on psychological horror, but The Suffering doesn't do either of those things particularly well.  It's very generous with supplies, be it ammunition or health pickups, and there isn't an option to run away or avoid enemies due to the game's linear nature.  In fact, the final stages are a constant barrage of enemies as you fight your way to the final boss.

On the flip side, the focus on combat is what sets The Suffering apart.  All three franchises offer completely different horror experiences.  The Suffering is the least outright terrifying of the three, but it's still creepy in spots and the action is very enjoyable.  Dodging monster attacks and blasting them with your shotgun is a lot of fun and the responsive controls make it easy. 

I was also really impressed with the boss battles, which all feature some puzzle elements instead of brute force.  In a battle with an electrocuted ghost, you have to shut down the electric chair before you can damage him.  Another boss requires you to funnel his poisonous mist-like spirit into a furnace.  These were the moments where I felt the game really shined, and I just wish there were a few more.

The graphics have held up fairly well.  Character models are expectedly blocky, and their mouths just open and close like anime characters, but they animate well enough otherwise.  The monsters still look fantastic, and the environments are... whatever you'd call the inside of a prison and the surrounding woods, catacombs, and whatnot.  The color scheme is lots of drab browns and grays, but again, it's not a trip to a theme park.  I especially loved the blood splatter that covers Torque after each encounter.  It gradually dissipates, but after each battle his face, hands, and clothes are soaked in gore, which fits the mood of the game very well and looks cool.

The audio has also stood the test of time.  Some of the voice acting is awful, but there are also a couple of really exceptional performances - mostly from the game's antagonists.  The weakest part of the audio package is the music which, honestly, I couldn't tell you what, if any, there was.  I wanna say there was some hard rock and metal guitars during some of the big combat moments, but it's so generic I can't remember. 

I'm not saying The Suffering is on par with the likes of Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or even Fatal Frame, for that matter.  As horror experiences, all three of those franchises are superior.  However, The Suffering is an overlooked and mostly forgotten gem that does something different with the genre, and it does it very well.  What it lacks in scares, it makes up for with pure entertainment value.  The combat is fun, the puzzles aren't as obtuse as the competition's but they're solid, and the story is fairly captivating, even in spite of some suspect voice acting.  Both Suffering games are available on the PS2, Xbox, and PC for next to nothing, so do yourself a favor and check them out.

The Suffering was completed on a real Xbox with no cheats.

Review: Hunter the Reckoning [Xbox]

Developer: High Voltage Software
Publisher: Interplay
Rated: M for Mature
Released: May 21, 2002
Completed: September 17, 2017

Hack and slash games are a dime a dozen, and I typically like most of them.  There's something about mindless monster slaughter that's cathartic.  Hunter the Reckoning, based on White Wolf's pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, is among the better games in the genre.  It offers a fun mixture of melee and ranged combat against hordes of zombies (or "rots," as they're called in the World of Darkness), vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and these goddamn little spider-like things called Skitters that are the most annoying enemies ever, GOD I HATE THEM SO MUCH...

Ahem

Getting back on track: Hunter the Reckoning premiered on the original Xbox and Gamecube.  Oddly enough, the sequel, Wayward, was a PS2 exclusive, while the third and final game in the series, Redeemer, would only grace the Xbox.  With such strange marketing choices, it's no wonder the series faded into obscurity.  It's a shame, too, because all three Hunter games are a blast to play, especially with friends.

Like most hack and slashers before it, Hunter offers a choice of four characters and supports four player co-op.  Each of the game's titular Hunters are human beings imbued with special supernatural powers that aid them in their quest to eradicate the undead.  The characters follow the genre archetypes pretty closely - the burly warrior, the well-rounded character, the nimble but weak one, and the one that excels at magic - which means the game's difficulty can be drastically affected by your choice of Hunter.  I had originally beaten this game with Deuce, the slow and powerful Avenger, but I found I had a much easier time playing as Samantha, the Valkyrie-like Defender.  Her quick movement speed and health restoring magic spells allow you to stand back and thin out the herds of enemies with her Magnum.

The plot is kind of silly.  A bunch of stupid teenagers hold a rave at an abandoned prison, disturbing the tortured souls of those who had been executed.  Vengeful spirits flood into our world and only the Hunters can stop them.  It's kind of ludicrous, but in fairness if you've ever lived in an apartment, you know how annoying it can be when the person upstairs plays their music too loud. 

The locales are mostly dank urban environments - city streets, the prison, the requisite sewer level.  Even the more unique stages, such as the mansion or the hospital, look a little barren and bland.  The levels lack detail and offer few opportunities for exploration.  I suppose this was done to compensate for the pretty impressive amount of enemies the game crams on screen, but going back and playing it today, I was definitely less impressed by the visuals than I remembered being when the game came out. 

The more memorable aspects of the game are its boss fights.  While the majority of the game is spent cutting down innumerable rots and avoiding those rat-bastard Skitters, there are a handful of truly epic boss fights.  They still boil down to shoot or slash it till it's dead, but the larger, quicker enemies offer much greater challenge.  An early fight against a giant, demonic teddy bear is one of the game's standout moments, as is the fight against the mysterious Carpenter, a creepy antagonist wrapped in bandages who never really reveals himself to be friend or foe. 

Each Hunter has their own unique melee and ranged weapon, but you're able to collect limited use armaments as well.  The machine gun is effective against large hordes of enemies, and especially faster ones like vampires.  The shotgun does massive damage if you're close enough to use it, and the rocket launcher is a must for the boss fights. 

Though lots of enemies will mob the player, most of them drop health or magic orbs when killed, and continues are easy to come by.  You earn the latter for rescuing innocent civilians in the stages, and even though the game depicts them being attacked by monsters, I don't think they can actually die.  As I said before, the game's challenge partly boils down to which Hunter you pick, but there's a thin layer of strategy in the combat where taking risks and engaging in melee combat will yield more health and mana before it starts to dissipate, or you can stand back and blast away at enemies until they eventually stop spawning, but the drops may disappear before you can reach them.

Throughout the game, your Hunter's skills will improve.  The game automatically upgrades you at certain points, increasing your damage output, accuracy, or granting you new spells (called Edges), and while it does a good job doling out the points, I would have preferred to have more control over my character's progression like in, say, Gauntlet Legends. 

As previously stated, the graphics aren't particularly noteworthy.  Some of the character and monster designs look OK, but the levels themselves are just kind of drab and boring to look at.  The story is told through pre-rendered cutscenes that are heavily compressed, creating a very blurry, blocky look.  On the plus side, the animation is pretty smooth.  Your character looks a little funny while aiming, as they spin their arms around wildly like they're possessed, but most actions are pretty fluid.  The game does often force your animation to play out, however, so you will frequently get stuck hacking at thin air while monsters get in some free hits on your backside.

The audio does a much better job than the visuals.  The distinct noises of rots spawning in get louder the closer they are to you, helping your gauge where your enemies are coming from and how far away they are.  You'll quickly learn to hate the sound of Skitters clicking across the ground, but the game generally does a good job of alerting you to an enemy's presence so you can take a second to whip out your weapon of choice.

Control is a mixed bag, however.  The shoulder buttons attack and jump, and it's not ideal in a game where you have to constantly hammer the attack button.  The Xbox's analog shoulder buttons weren't built for that sort of rapid use, and my fingers did get tired after a while.  Jumping is practically useless in the game, and I really only found myself using it just for the hell of it.  The face buttons are reserved for switching between your default and special weapons, and selecting and using your spells.  There's also a taunt button that does absolutely nothing and could have been dropped altogether. 

Unfortunately, there's not really a better control option as the right analog stick aims your attacks.  The game operates like a twin-stick shooter, and as such you couldn't really use the face buttons to attack or else you'd have to take your thumb off the right analog stick.  Such as it is, it works, but it can definitely be tiring over time.

Hunter the Reckoning is one of those games that I have fond memories of.  It's what got me into White Wolf's World of Darkness universe, and led me to the mostly enjoyable Hunter novels (of which there are seven).  Going back and playing it today, the graphics haven't aged very well, but the gameplay is still a mindless good time.  It's a shame the series didn't get more recognition, despite having two sequels, because this is the kind of game that would've been great online.  Though it was surpassed by the later entries, the original Hunter the Reckoning is still one of the Xbox's best hidden gems.

Hunter the Reckoning was completed on an original Xbox with no cheats.

Review: Otogi: Myth of Demons [Xbox]

Developer: From Software
Publisher: Sega
Rated: T for Teen
Released: 27 August 2003
Completed: 25 June 2017

 

 

 

I truly loved the original Xbox.  The PS2 may have dominated the console market during the early 2000s, but the Xbox was home to some truly unique games, most notably a host of titles either developed or published by Sega after they left the hardware business.  Between games like Jet Set Radio Future, Gunvalkyrie, and Panzer Dragoon Orta, and it's cutting edge online platform, the Xbox felt very much like a successor to the Dreamcast to me.

These days From Software is best known for their brutally difficult yet incredibly rewarding Souls games, and the similarly tough Bloodborne, but before they became a household name for gaming masochists and the hardest of the hardcore, From produced two excellent action games for the Xbox - both published by Sega.  Otogi: Myth of Demons, and its sequel, Immortal Warriors.

The plot of Otogi is admittedly somewhat cryptic.  It's steeped in Japanese lore and involves Raikoh, a warrior trapped between life and death sent to exorcise demons in exchange for absolution of his sins in life.  I have to admit, I didn't fully grasp it, not because it's complex but more because it's just kind of garbled.  It's mostly told through shots of Raikoh standing in a black void with a rambling voiceover.  The voice acting isn't particularly bad, but that doesn't make the words any easier to understand.  Still, if you tell me, "an ancient Japanese warrior kills demons," you've already got my interest. 

I've always loved the Japanese mythology aesthetic in video games, and it immediately drew me to Otogi.  I remember seeing it for the first time on an in-store demo disc for our Xbox kiosk when I worked at Best Buy, and I was blown away.  Raikoh appears in each stage in a swirl of cherry blossom petals, environments crumbled under the might of his sword, and the stage had an eerie vibe that stuck with me. 

The first thing you'll notice about Otogi is just how goddamn gorgeous it is.  Even today, it's a pretty stupendous looking game, thanks to its aesthetic and some stunning lighting effects.  This was an excellent demo for the power of the Xbox, with tons of effects on screen at any given time, fluid animations, and highly destructible environments that could be replayed in either pre- or post-destruction states. 

Every ethereal stage is a treat to behold.  There are caverns, forests, and villages to explore.  There's an opulent golden temple, a boat that carries you through a graveyard of sunken ships, and snowy bamboo thickets where you'll battle a ferocious swordsman.  The stages are relatively short in comparison to most games, but each one is so unique and fun to play, you won't even mind having to occasionally replay them to farm for experience and gold.

Yes, Otogi does have some very light RPG elements.  Raikoh levels up by killing monsters, and gold is used to purchase and repair weapons, accessories, and even a few magic spells.  More gear can be found by meeting certain criteria in specific stages, ranging from killing X amount of enemies, beating a stage under a certain time, or getting a 200-hit combo (which is easier than it sounds with the right weapon).  This adds additional incentive to play stages for completionsists looking to unlock every weapon.  There are also spirits trapped throughout each stage's destructible scenery.  Freeing all of them in the game unlocks an incredibly powerful weapon for a second playthrough, if you're so inclined. 

Combat is the meat of Otogi.  It's a hack and slash game at its core, with light and heavy attack buttons, and a third button for magic spells.  Raikoh can unleash a handful of devastating combo attacks, double-jump, dash on the ground and in mid-air, and even launch enemies into the air with certain attacks.  Having the right combination of equipment is key to your success in certain stages, adding a light strategy element.  Players who fail a particular stage, especially multiple times, should be able to analyze the root cause and adjust accordingly.  It's not super deep, but it's satisfying when you conquer a stage that's been giving you trouble by planning and executing an entirely new approach based on what didn't work before.

Generally speaking, combat is a fast-paced and enjoyable affair.  Raikoh's attacks feel like they carry weight, especially when you send an enemy crashing into the scenery with a heavy attack.  Be careful, because some enemies can do the same to you, however.  Raikoh isn't as fragile as a Souls protagonist, but some enemies can knock a life orb or two off in a single hit if you let them touch you.  You must also carefully manage your magical energy - the purple half-circle in your life meter - which you can replenish by slaughtering enemies.  As long as you have energy, Raikoh will heal physical damage, but when it runs out not only does your physical life force drain, but you're unable to cast spells or even dash.

Speaking of enemies, the designs are usually excellent.  Ghostly lions covered in ethereal flames, skeletons and floating skulls, and giant cyclopean ogres are some of the demons you'll face.  Enemies usually gang up on you in numbers, making combat frenetic, but this also leads to the game's biggest shortcoming.  Beyond the obvious inescapable hits you'll suffer when surrounded, the bigger issue is the game buffers your inputs.  This will lead to you swinging at thin air, waiting for Raikoh's attack animations to play out before you can dash to another enemy, and it can have a disruptive effect on the game's most powerful combo where you can unleash a fully charged magic attack after three light attacks.  Too often I'd press the button one time too many in the heat of battle, or I'd consciously try to delay my button presses, only to miss my opportunity to unleash the spell. 

Otogi is nowhere near as hard as a Souls game, or even From's own King's Field franchise, thankfully.  Deaths will come, but the stages are usually so short that having to restart isn't a major punishment.  The biggest exception is the ship graveyard, where you're tasked with keeping gelatinous blobs off the rickety boat lest it sink under the added weight.  Unless you've farmed for some additional levels to make eliminating the creatures easier, this stage can be a real chore. 

One of the hardest things to get used to for me was the blasted camera, which seems completely backwards from how you'd expect it to react.  It's almost like a flight simulator where down pitches the camera up, but pressing left or right also seems to be inverted from traditional camera controls.  It's tough to explain, but when you play it, you'll know exactly what I mean.  You can center the camera by clicking the left thumbstick, but it's an imperfect system and there's no way to change the behavior in the options menu, despite several control layouts.

I've come this far, but I can't finish this review without mentioning the superb, surreal score.  Like the visuals, the music in Otogi is very Eastern in nature - loopy flutes, lone violins, taiko drums, and finger cymbals.  The track that accompanies the Palace of Gold stage is downright creepy with its staccato bass that almost sounds like backwards speech.  It's all so perfectly moody and atmospheric I couldn't imagine anything else while playing.

Otogi is one of those truly hidden gems on the Xbox.  It's a game I hardly ever see anyone talk about, yet it must have done well enough because it spawned a sequel.  Sadly, the series has been all but forgotten - a shame, because I'd love to see how it would look on a more modern console.  The upside is that the games are still relatively cheap, so if you own an Xbox and love action games, you can pick them both up for about $50 total.  They're well worth your time and money.

Otogi: Myth of Demons was completed on an original Xbox with no cheats.

Retro-Review: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth [PC]

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Xbox/PC

Developer: Headfirst Productions
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Rated: M for Mature
Released: 2005 (Xbox)/2006 (PC)
Completed: 16 May 2015

I have never had such a love/hate relationship with a game as Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.  Based on the seminal horror mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft, Call of Cthulhu weaves an intriguing narrative that stays true to the spirit of its inspiration, but numerous game-breaking bugs ruin the experience.

 Set mostly in the 1920s, you play as Jack Walters, a private investigator sent to the fictional town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts to investigate the disappearance of a local grocery store manager.  This may not sound like a very good catalyst for a video game, but trust me, things quickly get interesting.

The entire first half of the game is based heavily on Lovecraft's classic novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth, pulling many characters and events straight from the work.  Though it takes plenty of liberties with the story, Lovecraft fans will most likely love meeting Zadok Allen and Brian Burnham, not to mention exploring the eerie port town that intentionally cut itself off from the outside world.  Most of Innsmouth's inhabitants are hostile folk with an ugly, amphibious appearance and gurgling speech patterns.  It's unsettling in the best way for those of us who grew up reading bone-chilling tales of creatures so horrific, they could not even be explained. 

Dark Corners of the Earth starts off very much as a first-person adventure game.  There's very little combat, and some fun puzzles to solve as you discover the truth behind Burnham's disappearance.  Stealth segments are handled surprisingly well, and the game is very forgiving should you be spotted.  To make the experience as immersive as possible, there is no heads up display.  The player must manually keep track of how many bullets remain in their gun, and injuries are usually noted by visual and aural cues such as blood spatter, a pronounced limp, heavy breathing, and color fading from the screen.  You can heal yourself using medical kits scattered about, but while you're immobile during this period, the enemies are not so you must find a safe place to do so.

Immersion is one of Cthulhu's strongest suits early on.  The rooftop chase, cribbed from the novella, is brought to life in an exciting sequence that will leave your palms sweaty.  Sneaking past guards is always a tense moment.  Uncovering clues about the mysterious Esoteric Order of Dagon is genuinely intriguing.  Then it all falls apart when you encounter one of the game's many glitches.

As an extremely late release in the Xbox's life cycle, it's obvious that Dark Corners of the Earth was not given the proper time for playtesting and polishing before being shoved out the door.  Indeed, shortly after the game's release, developer Headfirst Productions closed up shop, leaving two potentially great sequels lost to the world.  It's admirable that Bethesda still spent the time and money to publish the game, but it could have benefited greatly from another few months of testing.

My first encounter with a game-breaking glitch came at the tail end of the game's first half.  Desperately trying to escape Innsmouth with Burnham and his love, Ruth, I carefully clambered across ceiling beams to avoid the armed goons below.  Ruth was trapped on the other side of the expanse, on a rotting wooden platform and before I could reach her, it gave way and she fell to her death.  In theory, the game is supposed to let you continue, but on my Xbox version Brian Burnham stubbornly refused to continue, insisting I rescue his already-dead fiancée.  To make matters worse, my most recent saves were all mid-glitch, after Ruth had perished, so I had no choice but to go quite a ways back in order to continue and hopefully avoid the glitch.

Faced with the prospect of replaying a large chunk of the game, I opted instead to switch to the PC version and take advantage of the higher resolution graphics, as well as a fan-made patch that supposedly fixed many of the glitches.  It may have had some effect, but as the game progressed, I still encountered bugs too numerous to count.

In fact, the entire end segment of the game was so badly glitched, I had to revert to an earlier save once again and plow through multiple sections without saving, just to avoid a known corrupted save bug that renders the game unwinnable.  Multiple, smaller glitches also saw me backtracking in order to do some minor action just to progress, and if clipping through the scenery counts as a glitch, then this game deserves a world record for its apparently insubstantial walls. 

The second half of the adventure isn't quite as good as the first and focuses more on action, which is clunky.  The lack of any aiming reticule takes some getting used to, forcing the player to use their weapon's iron sights for precision.  It's a nice, immersive touch once you get used to it, but combat is made more difficult by enemies that run to and fro with little rhyme or reason, and some jittery animation.  Still, the two big set piece boss fights - even with the horrible glitch in the final one - are clever and fun.

Graphically, Call of Cthulhu doesn't look particularly hot on either PC or Xbox, but the PC version definitely has sharper visuals.  The Xbox version is extremely blurry and lacks definition.  Both versions feature an in-game brightness modifier, but the Xbox version's caps out much lower than the PC's.  Normally, this wouldn't be a big issue, but at the default settings the game is exceedingly dark to the point where sections of the levels become nigh invisible. 

Character models all look odd as well.  It's fine for the Innsmouth folk, who are supposed to be creepy anyway, but the human characters all look slightly off, as though the symmetry of their faces is wrong.  The lip-syncing is also little more than open/shut mouth movements, which is a bummer since the game features mostly good voice acting. 

There isn't much music, but it's largely very good whether appropriately atmospheric and ominous, or exciting and pulse-pounding for the game's faster paced segments.  Sound effects are serviceable, with the guns standing out with just the right amount of punch.

The game is fairly linear, and does feature a few frustrating segments (even without bugs), but the narrative pushes it along without overstaying its welcome and turning into a slog.  I was always anxious to see what happened next, due in part to my affection for Lovecraft's work, but the constant fear of another impassable glitch left me more afraid than the thought of ancient creatures rising from the depths of the ocean to reclaim the world they once inhabited before us. 

By the end of the game, I'd suffered just as much sanity loss as my in-game counterpart, courtesy of the wretched, untold programming horrors.  There are things no man should have to experience, lest he welcome the comforting embrace of madness.  Like Jack Walters, I began to yearn for amnesia so I could forget the things I had endured.  It's a shame because Dark Corners of the Earth is a really good game underneath the technical monstrosities.  This is a game for devoted Lovecraft fans with a lot of patience.  The adherence to its source material makes this a fantastic tale of cosmic horror with some truly thrilling and memorable gameplay moments, if you can just stomach (and, most importantly, get past) the bugs.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was completed on a PC with no cheats.