The Path is a “horror adventure” game by developer Tale of Tales that acts as a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in modern times.  With absolutely no combat and a plethora of exploration this game definitely caries the indie torch.  But while there’s a lot to be admired about The Path, it occasionally sink into old video game cliches.

I’ve been looking forward to this game’s release for a little while now, but I can’t whole-heartedly say that it’s completely met my expectations.  This is mostly because The Path is trying harder than previous Tale of Tales entries to be like all the other games.  Item collection and a grade at the end for “how well you did” are typical cliches in the video gaming world, and definitely two of my least favorite.  While trying to gain a larger audience the developers of The Path have sunk to this level from their non-traditional origins.

I don’t use this lightly, because it’s a dirty word that should almost never be uttered, but The Path is (cover your children’s ears) pretentious.  The first sign is the game’s main objective “Don’t wander from the path.”  Well, you have to wander from the path or else you “fail.”  Because of that dumb grading system the only way you can actually “succeed” is by frolicking off into the wilderness, meeting a stranger, letting your little girl get raped, and then shuffling to granny’s pad a dramatized wreck.  The aforementioned pretension comes from The Path’s attempt to send out some sort of message about “forging your own path” or “making your own rules,” but I’m not sure that’s really what it’s about, because if I get raped in the end I’d be happier not wandering too far off.  The letter grade at the end of a play through is a tell-tail sign of generic, unoriginal thinking.  To put it another way, The Path tries hard to be smarter than it actually is.

A slow moving gameplay should alienate all but the most patient players, but there’s nothing wrong with patience.  The incredibly slow pace of the little girls can be exchanged for running while the camera shifts to an awkward overhead view, so the game really does want player’s to take things slow.  The environment is dark and mysterious, and fairly interesting to explore.  Music is creepy, making one dread every step they take away from grandma’s house.  So exploring the scary woods has just the right atmosphere to keep the player looking around nervously, while still intrigued.

The two biggest highlights of The Path are grandma’s house and the “wolves.”  The wolves are the people you’ll run into out in the forest, and at least every time I’ve met one it ended badly.  They’re intriguing, scary, and sometimes a little bit too creepy (i.e. don’t take cigarettes from that nice, handsome boy).  That stupid grade at the end of the game aside, the fun really does come from frolicking off into the wilderness, meeting a stranger, letting your little girl get raped and then shuffling to granny’s pad a dramatized wreck.  Then inside of grandma’s house the camera moves to first person and no matter what you press you’ll keep going forward.  This gives a fantastic feeling of helplessness.  And whatever fate you meet decides what grandma’s house will look like on the inside, and sometimes where you’ll go inside the house.

While The Path is an interesting concept and a unique play, it feels like Tale of Tales’ sell-out game.  So hopefully their next release will be a first person shooter with bullet time (OH BOY!).  But, even with all it’s weaknesses The Path is a lot more compelling than 90% of what’s out there.

Ten dollars on Steam is all it takes to get a copy of this game, and I think whether it’s worth buying is largely up to the kind of person you are.  If you love video games as a potential art form and have a lot of patience, I’m going to most certainly recommend it.  If you are the kind of person that just wants to have fun blasting the heads of baddies, please oh please do not buy.

A Final Thought: I would like to see more games trying to be daring and different, instead of seeing a company known for being daring and different trying to make something more like all the other games.

Oh, and Final Final Thought: You don’t always get raped.  Just sometimes…

Before we begin… I know we’ve already got a small review up for Link’s Awakening. But I feel that the post was more Battletunes oriented and presented only a brief overview of the game. Not to discredit that review, but this is a more in depth look at the story and design aspects of the game.

Zelda games have always rang true with me. An overall amazing series, and most of the games are pure gold (most! Phantom Hourglass can suck a dick). It happens to be my favorite series in all of gaming. I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time in each version of Hyrule, battling skultullas and rescuing Zelda for the millionth time, it never truly got old. But the game I’ve put the most amount of time into has to be Link’s Awakening.

I was a huge fan of A Link to the Past when it came out, and this game helped me rekindle all of those warm feelings all over again. Link’s Awakening is a Zelda game through and through, you’ll find familiar puzzles, enemies, tunes, items, and scenarios. But what turns this Zelda game into something special is the story and presentation of the whole thing. Its difficult to make a Game Boy game seem epic… You’ve got 4 shades of grey, a small screen, and very limited sound capability to play around with, but somehow, they did it. Instead of taking place in the Land of Hyrule, Link’s Awakening takes place in Koholint Island, a completely new world, completely separated from Hyrule. This gave the designers enough of a push to make a truly unique story. (Yarr… there be spoilers ahead!!)

Here’s a video with one of my favorite video game tunes of all time: The Ballad of the Wind Fish

Thanks to omdac714 for the video!

Koholint Island doesn’t exist. Its all a dream world. The world exists in the dream of a sleeping creature called The Wind Fish. If the Wind Fish is awoken, Koholint Island, all the creatures, and all of the people contained within will disappear with the dream. This creates an interesting philosophical scenario. Is is morally right to wake the dreamer, escaping the dreamland, only to watch everyone you’ve met so far disappear right before your very eyes? Are the enemies really all that evil, trying to stop you from destroying the only world they’ve ever known? Are you even the hero of this story? Or do you merely server as a means to an end of the world? Though the game never directly brings up these questions, it does make for an amazing catalyst into moral and philosophical discussion. At one point, when you defeat a boss, the dying enemy begs you not to wake the Wind Fish, as his entire world will disappear. Its this writing, this kind of storytelling that separate this Zelda game from all the rest, and more importantly, this Game Boy game from all the rest. Give it a try, one of my favorite games of all time:

Game Boy – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

What’s the first thing you think of when I say “Download and Play”? Bad things I assume. Whether its the activation fiasco that occurred during the launch of Half-Life 2 or the horrible DRM associated with any Direct2Drive purchase, chances are, like me, you’ve given up on online purchases and stick to physical disks. Whether its DRM, the lack of service, the general disregard of support, or just not having a badass box to place atop your desk, most people have given up on digital downloads, and I don’t blame them.

But then, out of fucking nowhere, I find GOG. No… not God… GOG. Good Old Games.

Good Old Games is a website centered around the user experience. Never before have I paid so little for a game (well… two) and received so much. I went onto the website, created an account, and then proceeded to buy the Fallout Bundle. This pack (for the ever so special price of $10) contained Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 with no DRM, and completely repacked to work just fine with XP/Vista computers.

One of the huge problems with playing the older games is that most of the time, the computer you’re using to play the game is just too damn new, too damn different, or too damn fast to run the damn things correctly. Damn. GoG allows you to skip all the wonders of configuring, scraping around for old hardware, and scouring the internet for patches to get your oldy-time favorites to work with that shiny new box of yours, and it just works. You get a really simple, absolutely wonderful, double-click install to run, but the fun doesn’t stop there.

Under the game download link, there’s a little section called “Additional Content” and is by far the best part of the site. The Fallout series makes the most of this section, more than other games they offer, but by no means are you being ripped of in any way. I have the option to download, for both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2:

Game Manuals

The Fallout Bible

Quick Reference Cards

Avatars

PipBoy Avatars

High-Resolution Wallpapers

Fallout Series Wallpapers

Concept Artwork

and the Original Soundtracks

Yea, for free. Free. Like no extra charge free. Like straight mp3′s. Like no DRM. Like all of this, the first two full Fallout games, and again: No DRM. So what are you waiting for? Go hit GoG.com and find something you like. I would have to recommend the Fallout series, but there are so many great games here, even one two at no charge! Go try out GoG.com for free and download “Beneath A Steel Sky”, you won’t regret it.

http://www.gog.com

    The Adventures of Lolo… A classic adventure/puzzle game… Lolo was one of the more infuriating, yet satisfying games of my childhood. What started as a simple puzzle game quickly elevated into a mind-powered romp through stage upon stage of confusing, yet very smart puzzles.

    The Lolo games were released on the NES late in its lifetime, although the games enjoyed moderate success. You either play as Lolo or Lala, and make your way through the stages. Some enemies shoot fire that you can avoid, others are instant death. Lolo is just a classic game that’s worth playing for a couple hours.

    I know I’ve been slacking on game reviews, and that’s because this is finals week for intersession courses, and I’ve been doing the scholarly thing. Anyway… enjoy the rom, and I’ll try to find a more regular posting schedule over the Christmas week! Have fun!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/cWwSLPOPfKk]
Download this video in AVI (13.7 MB

Adventures of Lolo – NES (65 KB)

Kirby’s Adventure was one of those games filled with wonder and excitement. It’s no wonder why Hal Laboratory is regarded as one of the top game developers in the world. Kirby is an ever changing character, who inhales enemies and copies their powers. The game is filled with tons of enemies, and therefor, tons of powers to use. Kirby’s Adventure contains a healthy mix of action and puzzles. The game keeps a sense of wonder and adventure (Wow! How ironic!) throughout the entire length.

Being the second game in the series, Kirby has changed a lot since the first offing on the original Game Boy. Kirby couldn’t copy powers in the previous games, and it was rather short. Kirby’s Adventure is a rather lengthy title, especially for an NES title.

Kirby’s adventure contains three distinct save files, a rarity in NES games. This is one of the most memorable and unique games available for the NES. Enjoy this wonderful game, it brought me much enjoyment in my childhood days.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/-tvpz5sKFqY]

Download this video in AVI (19 Mb)

Kirby’s Adventure – NES