Lots of game announcements this week. Along with the Apple iPhone Duo but who gives a fuck about that.
In general we’re seeing a lot of classic games getting remakes or updates. I think on the one hand this is kind of not super exciting, but on the other hand it’s also a necessary part of being a software maintainer. We don’t get mad at chess for still being chess. Games should be able to be played over time for many years, they shouldn’t go stale as a concept. Warcraft 3 is a solid game and it should be presented in a way that lets people see how solid it is (for example), and be available in format that makes it easy to access on current hardware*.
— Skip this paragraph unless you’re an absolutely insufferable nerd —
*Obviously there are other ways to solve this problem. We could make game kiosks that run specific games and never get updated to the point where they can’t (and also don’t accumulate all kinds of weird back compatible tech debt). But that’s not how most people use computers, and keeping the software up to date with modern systems is a necessary evil. For now. I could write more about this particular topic but that’s OUT OF SCOPE. This is a vibes based news recap.
The Good:
MK World Update – kinda diggin’ it
The update to Mario Kart World shows us two things:
- The geometry that’s already in the game can and will be used for new tracks. This was an open question until now, and I’m glad to have it answered.
- That Nintendo has figured out what makes MK World fun, which is chaining tricks. Despite all being remakes of SNES tracks (so, pretty flat), all of the new tracks have lots of trick bumps or geometry that rewards reading the track and finding the trick boost chains through the whole thing. At its core this is what makes Mario Kart World unique and is the mechanic that makes it more fun than MK8D. If they were just drifting tracks, they’d just be worse MK8D, and I think some of the original tracks do suffer from this problem.
- Now it’s three things! Nintendo also added in the split timings for time trials! Yay! Idk if that shows us anything but it’s important to me.
Metroid Ravenous – omg yes so good
MercurySteam delivers again with another beautiful Metroid game. It is a direct sequel to Metroid Dread, which is currently my favorite Metroid game, and they’re coming back with more of the same juicy smooth action exploration that makes Dread and Samus Returns so good. They’re also finally delivering on the X parasite allowing Samus to do creepy alien things, so that’s fun. Metroid has always been a horror game, but now it’s body horror on the protagonist specifically. My body is ready, personally.
Nintendo keeps paying them to cook and that is a wise choice. Do not touch the chefs, they know what they’re doing.
The Surprising:
Kirby and the World Beyond – Kinda excited for it tbh
Kirby. Oh Kirby. You were one of my first loves back when I only had an original brick GB, and I have had an on again off again relationship with you for many years.
I think the relationship is BACK ON, BABY.
What was shown in the trailer shows a game that is focused on exploration and mechanical mastery without gimmicks and THAT is a game I can get behind. A big open world Kirby game without any nonsense? Yes please, I will be finding every secret and jamming to absolutely sublime work that Hal Labs always brings. The way they mix responsiveness with sound design and atmosphere is the best in the business, and I love that it’s applied to a jiggly marshmallow.
Starcraft shooter – good storytelling for the trailer. Sad that it’s a shooter
To get my disappointment aired early: I don’t really play shooters. I’m not good at them, and I don’t really want to get good at them. So the game itself doesn’t really excite me, but who knows. Maybe my mind can be changed (probably not).
That being said, I LOVED the trailer. I felt like I was watching “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) but as a sci-fi story, which FITS the real Starcraft franchise so well. This was the vibe of the original game and Brood War. Brood War’s opening cutscene was literally a hopeless situation where the “air support” abandoned the grunts for inscrutable reasons. Starcraft is largely about the banality and inevitability of war and how that’s stupid and tragic. And also we get sweet one-liners from marines. It’s all of those things at the same time and I love that the trailer managed to capture that.
My favorite was the foreshadowing with the power armor that just trusted the viewer to be able to figure out the visuals without being beat over the head. This is respectful storytelling, something that Blizzard has been lacking (especially in SC2). The part where the technician removes the tusk/claw from the suit as he’s preparing it for the new meat was so good. Loved that visual.
Great job, at least to the trailer team!
Things that made me go hmmm (in a good way):
WC3 update – honestly the most exciting thing at Blizzcon
What’s going on here is the most simple and the most exciting. MS has people who can do RTS well already. They have Age of Empires 2, 4 and Age of Mythology all currently being supported. They just took a few dev cycles and a few staff members and pointed them at the botched WC3 reforge, bringing it up to par with their other 3D RTS offerings. Honestly, the Definitive Edition models look really similar to the Age of Empires 4 and Age of Mythology remake characters, but with a bit more Blizzard design. These are both good things.
I mean, it says Definitive Edition on the cover. What other evidence do you need. This is just how MS handles RTS games. The dedication to maintenance is a virtue itself. There is absolutely value in blue water new IP, but maintenance of existing software and making sure it’s available on current systems is also very valuable, especially as systems have evolved from being kind of limited to being more and more general. HOPEFULLY the underlying system architecture is more stable at this point than it was in 2002 so an update like this won’t be necessary ever again and this can just be the actual “Definitive Edition.”
Also I have to say I’m kind of a Sylvanas hater, but I LOVE the Scarlet Crusade. They were some of my favorite bad guys in WoW classic, so to have a campaign focused on them fills me with glee.
WoW Forever – Wait. What. Is this trauma or euphoria
I have really complicated feelings about this one. Like so, so many people, World of Warcraft was a huge part of my life from about 2005 to 2012 (Pandas. Didn’t hate it, just didn’t care). I was never one of the people who could socialize easily and join the big guilds but just soloing and doing five mans and being part of a game where other people were playing at the same time as me and I could see what they were doing was enough. That was so fun and made me feel like I actually was part of something even if I wasn’t one of the “main characters.”
And vanilla and BC were my favorite versions of the game. I liked that they did WoW classic, but the fact that they don’t lock it to a specific version and were creeping through the expansions toward what they think was their “best version” kind of got on my nerves. For me, the best version was pre xp compaction Burning Crusade. I think every player has a different “best version.”
Which is why it’s so interesting to think that they’re going to release a totally contained version of the game that exists to be the shared classic version that doesn’t “advance” in the traditional sense. By mixing in the QoL improvements that matter and graphical updates to make the game feel more current, they’re presenting a game that can stay the way people who enjoy the classic game like it without sacrificing the stuff from later versions of the game that were actual improvements.
The question I have is this: how long can they maintain that? How long before they feel like they have to touch it, to improve it, to make it “better,” even though everyone already agrees it’s good enough? Hopefully the whole point of the game is to be a place where that impulse doesn’t have to be. That’s what retail WoW is for. That energy can go over there. I hope that’s how it works. I have doubts.
Warcraft going forward:
That being said, WC3 gets an updated story, WoW gets rebuilt to integrate that story and present a complete version of the franchise that is focused on the setting, not individual “heroes.” The trailer showing an actual divergence, a fork in the path, the dwarf takes from the original WoW opening. To me this points at the POSSIBILITY of a rejuvenation of the Warcraft franchise. I’m not saying it’s going to lead to Warcraft 4, just that it feels closer than anything before. It could at least lead to a series of single player RPGs. Like a western Final Fantasy, or Elder Scrolls in Azeroth. I’d be down for that too (especially since Bethesda has abandoned us and there is no God).
But Warcraft 4 would be rad and Microsoft has shown that it’s willing to invest in RTS as a genre. They might even be trying to corner that market segment, which is an interesting move.
Things I did not like:
OoT – Unnecessary and kind of hurts my feelings
I have always had a bit of a love hate relationship with Ocarina of Time. At first it was that I hated that I didn’t have an N64 so I couldn’t play it. Then I loved it when I could. Then I realized that for a lot of people “Zelda” means OoT, and I hate that (what, is Link to the Past chopped liver to you people??)
For me, there is no “best Zelda game.” And the fact that OoT is getting ANOTHER release. After the N64. After TWO Gamecube discs. After the 3DS release. And the N64 virtual console release. You could already play OoT on something you own. There was already a better version on 3DS. It signals that OoT is special. In a way that it’s NOT SPECIAL to me.
And what does this remake bring? It boils away the graphical constraints of the original game by adding all kinds of material texture via some kind of Nintendo brand PBR and DLSS. It adds voice acting and an expanded Hyrule, that, let’s be honest with ourselves, really doesn’t need it. OoT was a very well completed game to begin with and adding more isn’t maintenance, it’s bloat. It’s chasing an audience thinking “well they like VA now. They like DLSS now. They like open world games now. They liked OoT. Let’s just combine them.” It doesn’t show stewardship. It shows a lack of vision for what Zelda is.
(Honestly, it shows the same disease that made retail WoW shitty).
Conclusion:
All in all, a great week for game news. If you wanted new IP, well, maybe not so great, but if you are a fan of games that you already like continuing to work moving forward then you should be ecstatic. If nothing else we’ll have tons of things to fight about. Is Blizzard resurgent at MS? Will OoT vindicate itself to this one hater? Will I continue to have an unreasonable crush on Samus? The answers: time will tell, and YES.
Also fuck Apple and the iPhone Duo. Who gives a shit.
Todd's Corner 