Dear Avault Reader,

Recently two independent events took place that reminded me of an article on gaming and violence that was published on our website back in 1997. The first event was the announcement and marketing, of the soon-to-be-released Duke Nukem Forever. The second was the enlightening chat with Penn State Professor, Ali Carr-Chellman on the Avault Podcast. The subject of violence and its potential relationship with video games is as relevant (and unresolved) today, as it was 14 years ago.

So without further ado, we present to you once again our take on this sensitive subject, written by David Laprad and aptly named The Children of Doom.

- Angel Munoz

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: December 27, 2002

If I had a nickel for every time I rolled my marble off the edge of a platform while playing Marble Blast, I’d be less apprehensive about whether or not Social Security will be in place when I retire. Still, here I am, able to write about the game using the same keyboard with which I played it. This is quite an accomplishment, as I’m unreasonably brutal to my computer peripherals when things aren’t going my way. Somehow, Marble Blast bulldozed my quick-tempered nature and replaced it with an iron-willed perseverance that saw me through to the end. Kudos for me, I suppose, when all you’re wondering is whether or not the game lives up to its name. Let’s see if it does. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: October 8, 2002

The concept of friendship is generally lost on modern computer games, most of which are obsessed with blood-spattered destruction. Yet camaraderie is one of the most important ingredients in a healthy life. Most of us would do anything for our friends, from standing beside them when the world is against them to helping them in times of need. So when a game comes along that’s based on one of the core concepts of friendship – togetherness – one can’t help but feel a slight tug at the heartstrings. Best Friends Forever, a charming new platform hopper from Retro64, is all about uniting Petey with Patty, two birds of a feather that get plunked down at opposite ends of over 70 obstacle-filled levels. By the time you complete the last map, you’ll have a good understanding of the lengths to which friends will go for one another. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: September 5, 2002

I get a kick out of the Flat Earth Society. Here’s a group that indulges the fanciful speculation that our planet is not spherical, but rather is a horizontal plane spinning through space. They laugh in the face of modern science, but so what? We’re all entitled to see things our own way. Monkeystone Games also wants us to believe the world is flat – at least in the case of its unapologetically two-dimensional PC game, Hyperspace Delivery Boy!. If you’re a graphical puritan who demands eye-popping 3D visuals, then stop reading. But if, during this age of rampant technological wizardry, you’ve managed to steadfastly cling to your belief that gameplay is important above all else, then read on. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: June 15, 2002

If, like me, your PC gaming experience began with Apogee’s shareware side-scrollers in the early 1990′s, then you owe it to yourself to play Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project. The game comes from developer Sunstorm Interactive of Deer Hunter fame and publisher ARUSH. Playing it, one can also picture the producers at 3D Realms standing over the shoulders of its creators, making sure every nuance is geared to entertain us. Initially set in New York City, Manhattan Project is a fully three-dimensional platform game played mainly from a side view. It offers yet another corny sci-fi storyline in which Duke pursues a power-hungry villain called Mech Morphix and, along the way, piles countless enemy corpses at his feet. But Manhattan Project‘s 3D technology is so uniquely cool and its gameplay so surprisingly good that you know the developers believed in everything they created. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: April 21, 2001

Serious Sam is the epitome of those old school first-person shooters in which a lone hero is cut from solid stone and then thrown into battle against insurmountable odds. It tells the saga of a man who’s larger than life, except for his intellect, and of the aliens who go to impossible extremes to stop him, who unleash enough firepower in his direction to demolish California, and who still manage to find themselves in hissing, popping, bio-mechanical heaps when the battle’s over. The game’s about brainless arcade combat, in all its dimensions and particulars, but the developers mainline the clichés and tired material with a blissed-out exhilaration that this genre has not seen since Doom II. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: April 7, 2001

A long time ago, I decided that no game could be all-bad if it allowed me to slap down zombies with a shotgun. All of us have guilt-ridden pleasures that crumble in shame when held up to the harsh light of criticism — and the sound of hot lead ripping through the undead is mine. Call me shallow, but there it is. So it was with a tingling sense of anticipation that I tore the plastic off the latest action release from Konami, a third-person arcade romp based on the popular Universal Studios’ film. The movie offered rousing summer action fare and did quite well at the box office. Audiences were unable to resist the sensational special effects, and Brandon Frasier was decent as the hero who stumbles upon an ancient tomb and, in the process, resurrects a rancorous old priest. Emblazoned on the game box were images of the same creatures that had filled multiplexes — complete with festoons of rotting meat hanging from decrepit limbs — and Frasier poised for action. So, when an internal voice suggested in clear, encouraging tones to give Konami’s game a chance, I thought, “But of course!”

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: February 19, 2001

Few in number are the developers who have had a profound impact on the landscape of gaming. id is such a group with its conception of the first-person shooter and as the originator of deathmatch. Even though gunning down an opponent in a 3D arena is now old hat, the Texas-based developers were the first ones out the door with a title that included this now popular feature. Since the release of Doom in 1993, the fertile deathmatch concept has spawned entire communities and professional competitions — and evolved into something much more elaborate than one-on-one battles. In part because of id’s generous distribution of code and support of user-created add-ons, team-based deathmatch and its boundless variations have become some of the most popular forms of gaming entertainment. So even though it’s strange to see id following a trend rather than creating one, I was intrigued to see what the Titans of Texas could come up with in a squad-based title.

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: February 13, 2001

3D shooters seem to mirror the gamer’s state of mind. For instance, the first generation beau ideal was drenched in hormonal glee. Aliens were punished for being, well, aliens, and it was the grizzled man-hero, drawing on his super-human strength, who brought justice to the world. Somewhere along the line, we became bored with this bombastic fable and started demanding “something different.” Although we were not quite sure what that would be, a veteran first-person designer named American McGee had the inspiration and the means to pull it off. In Electronic Arts’ Alice, which bears his name but is also the product of the under-praised talents at Rogue Entertainment, there is not a single alien to be found nor a shotgun to be used; rather, the hero is a girl born on the pages of classic prose who comes wielding a stash of razor-sharp cards. The familiar wine-red blood still gushes from fallen enemies, but the rapt designers and technicians behind the action aim to cast a gruesome spell such as we have never seen.

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: January 26, 2001

Pool is a beautiful game. I love entering a billiards hall, stopping for a moment and breathing in the atmosphere. There’s something calming in seeing the tables through the dull light and hearing the quiet tapping of balls. Just as enticing is the art of the sport, with its complex mechanics and clever strategies. I also get a great deal of pleasure from watching someone who is accomplished and understands the intricacies of the game compete. It has been a challenge for PC developers to produce an accurate representation of billiards for a number of reasons, including the aforementioned mechanics and the immaterial sense of atmosphere that is so difficult to capture. Despite this, one design studio has managed to remain at the cutting edge of pool simulations since the mid 1990′s: Celeris with their Virtual Pool series. Part 3 has just hit stores, so it’s time for another glance at this classic franchise.

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: January 22, 2001

The word “oni” in Japanese can be translated to mean “alone,” and in relation to Bungie Software’s new game, the title is a fitting metaphor for its isolated heroine. Here is another third-person action game in which a lone fighter — a central female character with an enigmatic past — must explore vast environments and engage in exciting combat. These assorted strands are woven together using a plot inspired at the hand of Japanese anime films such as “Ghost in the Shell” and “Bubblegum Crisis,” but this one comes with a twist. And an uppercut. And a foot in the ribs. Different from its tomb raiding and demon-shooting cousins, one of Oni‘s main ingredients is a large measure of hand-to-hand combat that draws from the mechanics of fighting games such as Tekken. Given these diverse elements, Oni could have been a piecemeal product, but it is not, in part because Bungie gives it a strong central heroine and a plot to match.

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: January 10, 2001

Ever watch someone deathmatching? It’s rare to see a person smile or laugh, even when they are winning. Players approach QUAKE III Arena and Unreal Tournament with an ironclad scowl that betrays an all-too-serious attitude about something that should be fun. Perhaps it’s not the players that are overly solemn, but the games themselves. It seems most 3D action releases these days are filled with either cheerless dungeons or corrupt aliens bent on universal destruction, the latter of which always seems self-defeating. Death always results in the player being reduced to a shower of gore as a thundering voice proclaims their failure to avoid being ionized with a rail gun. Sheesh. Acting as digital Prozac for depressed shooter fans is a comical new multiplayer title from Funcom called No Escape that aims to wipe that scowl off players’ faces. ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: December 27, 2000

I was dumbfounded when the first Frogger, released for the PC and original PS console, sold close to 4 million copies. The game was supposed to be a fizzing, bubbling tribute to the arcade classic, but instead inspired more PC-pounding rage than I care to admit. Full of bugs, riddled with unfair puzzles, and topped off with a third-person camera that had no sense of direction, I was unable to fathom how gamers had found the product entertaining. It was that bad. That said, Frogger was a tremendous success, and there was no second-guessing at Hasbro when it came to producing a sequel. Indeed, a follow-up was a no-brainer, though two questions remained: Had success blinded Hasbro to Frogger‘s problems? Or would the publisher fine-tune the all-important mechanics that separate good arcade games from bad ones? ( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: December 10, 2000

Going in, once again, to battle aliens and explore the textured corridors of another 3D shooter, I wondered what The Collective had done to distinguish its title. Some design teams are motivated at the hands of technical or creative innovation, while others choose to expand on an established universe using a familiar game model. Both can be great fun for us, and The Collective chose the latter, transporting the settings and characters of the “Deep Space Nine” TV show to the PC while attempting to retain the series’ antic sci-fi freshness. Fans of the show will find themselves on familiar ground: nefarious Cardassians on the war path, glittering laser battles, and the U.S.S. Defiant warping off for strange worlds are just some of the conventions that were incorporated into this action title. Hardcore gamers anxious for another bombastic futuristic romp will be attracted to the third-person perspective and the entrancing graphics of the Unreal engine. But is all the franchised appeal enough to get our spirits soaring, even for a rich and maturing license such as Paramount’s?

( read more… )

Review by: David Laprad
Published: November 9, 2000

Gamers in pursuit of low-down fun used to have a choice between good first-person shooters and bad first-person shooters. Times are changing, though, and the third-person viewpoint is now prospering along with stronger characters and intricate plot lines. Even so, the core mechanics of most games still entail using some sort of range weapon to shoot at a far-off opponent. This gets boring, and competing titles sometimes blend into a single, nebulous haze. Human Head contends that such an approach is for greenhorns; real warriors settle their differences in hand-to-hand battles to the death. To argue their case, the Madison, Wisc.-based design studio has brought high-octane melee combat to the table in the form of the third-person 3D action title, Rune. Instead of outfitting our hero with a shotgun and a case of shells, he is supplied with an armament of swords, hammers and axes, and is nudged into gore-drenched battles against a horde of nightmarish creatures. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.

( read more… )