If any English speaker knows the name YU-NO, it's probably from an awful hentai anime translated back in the late 90s. This was a bad way to get introduced to this game, a rather excellent visual novel with some outstanding music. The game's recently been fan-translated, so do check out this expansive article detailing why it's so fascinating. (And a vague NSFW warning on it, since it is technically an eroge.)
HG101 is normally a retro site, but occasionally we cover recent games that tend to get overlooked or are least worth addressing. This is the case with Alpha Protocol, Obsidian's action/stealth/RPG epic from last year. It definitely didn't hit the same level of success as Mass Effect did, but it does some rather clever things in regards to storytelling, even though the plot itself is fundamentally ridiculous.
Other articles this update include Quest for the Rings, a release for the Odyssey² that attempted to combine video and board games; The Fool's Errand, one of the first attempts to marry Games Magazine-style puzzles with a narrative, paving the way for The 7th Guest and Myst; and Revolution X, the incredibly stupid shooting gallery game starring Aerosmith. Your Weekly Kusoge is Xenophage: Alien Bloodsport, one of the many absolutely terrible fighting games developed for the PC after the success of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat in the arcades. And our spotlight article updates our piece on the Korean brawler Eojjeonji Joheun Il-i Saenggil Geot Gateun Jeonyeok and its sequel (and much more succinctly named) Storm.
And a quick reminder! Just a few more days to vote on the best Western VGM tracks!
"Since Alpha Protocol is a game made by Obsidian Entertainment aka ex-Troika Games aka ex-Black Isle..."
ReplyDeleteTroika were old Interplay people, the ones who made Fallout 1. Obsidian is ex-Black Isle (responsible for Fallout 2). They're very similiar, but different.
Well, that's not quite correct.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't say Black Isle Studions on the Fallout 1 cover because the name didn't exist yet, but it was the same team that made Fallout 2. After Black Isle closed the team then split into Troika and Obsidian (with lots of new faces, of course), but after the closing of Troika some folks eventually rejoined at Obsidian.
Troika's Mark Bremerkamp and Jesse Reynolds worked on Alpha Protocol, for example. Jesse Reyonolds' involvement goes back all the way to Fallout 1.