Many gamers know that the Clock Tower series single-handedly inspired many of the greatest horror games ever. In the interest of game preservation, Clock Tower: Rewind is here to offer a modern way to play the original 16-bit classic that was never released outside of Japan, so this is a win on multiple fronts. After almost 30 years, players can experience the Original Mode or the Rewind Mode and all manner of extras like motion comics, interviews, a music player, and more. Should fans of the original series and newcomers alike check out this revitalization of a horror classic? Let’s find out! An Impressive Package That Shows its Age As a massive horror gaming fan, I was excited for the chance to check out Clock Tower: Rewind. I had seen some gameplay of the series over the years and even played a few hours of the Clock Tower 3 PS2 entry, but I’ve never sat down to try the original. This is partly because it was never released outside of Japan but also because I was far too young to know how to import a copy when it was originally released. However, neither of these things is an issue now because Clock Tower: Rewind is widely available on both digital storefronts and in physical form from Limited Run Games. The story stars Jennifer Simpson and a group of orphan girls who the Barrows family has adopted. You arrive at an impressive mansion at the beginning of the game, but things quickly devolve from there. A stalker named Scissorman begins hunting the girls, and it’s up to Jennifer to find a way to escape, leading to one of several endings. The gameplay here is classic point-and-click adventure for better and worse. Clock Tower: Rewind features several new quality-of-life features like a rewind mechanic, the ability to run up and down stairs, and the capacity for Scissorman to actually chase you from room to room (though that’s really more of a benefit for him, I’d argue). These additions help the game flow a little faster, but Jennifer’s movement speed is still fairly slow regardless of whether you’re sprinting or not. Her health is also tied to her stamina, so you’ll need to take breaks if you don’t want to get caught off-guard and instantly killed by Scissorman. The controls translate fairly well to console, though the cursor movement can be a little finicky when you’re trying to select something specific in the environment. Given that the game plays in a 4:3 aspect ratio with either black bars or customizable borders, the somewhat unreliable cursor is even more frustrating since everything is smaller as a result. You can use both the analog stick or the d-pad to move the cursor, but instead of the d-pad warping you to clickable elements like other similar games on console, it just moves the cursor a set distance in every direction. This is all well and good for solving puzzles or trying to use items in the … Read More
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Review – Preservation at its Finest
We’re well past the point where games have been accepted as a form of art. While the greatest paintings, written works, and cinematic masterpieces have all been immortalized and preserved in museums or digital collections, game preservation remains a minimal focus across the industry. Thankfully, developers like Digital Eclipse are showing the rest of the world how it’s done. Their latest release is Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, an interactive documentary and collection of Jeff Minter’s catalog of titles from his time in the game industry. This type of preservation seems like an easy win, but does Digital Eclipse have the format down, or is there room for improvement? Let’s find out. A Near-Perfect Combination of Preservation and Education Over the last few generations, a few games blur the line between a documentary and an interactive experience. Some seek to tell the story of a historical event, while others deep dive into a specific region’s culture. However, Digital Eclipse has carved out its niche in this genre with games that preserve the history of gaming itself. Jeff Minter’s story isn’t their first title, but it does fall into their Gold Master series of games, and it creates a time capsule within the broader history of gaming. The game’s structure is divided into two parts. The first is a collection that includes nearly every single one of Jeff Minter’s games that are all playable and preserved to capture the moment of time they existed within. Fans of retro titles or Jeff Minter’s work will find this treasure trove with interesting concepts. The only notable omission from the list is Defender 2000 for the Atari Jaguar. Neither Jeff Minter nor Atari have the rights to the title, but the collection still feels comprehensive without it. However, the deeper meat of the experience is the chapters that chronicle the entire history of Llamasoft and its creator. These chapters are organized into timelines that include all manner of photos, cover art, video interviews, and, of course, playable versions of the games. It’s an excellent way to preserve history, allowing you better to understand the context around each game’s release. It also helps inform the design thinking that went into the titles, which makes them unique. This structure makes it easy for both fans of the games and newcomers to experience the full story and what makes the titles unique. Since all these games are from the same developer, you’ll naturally encounter similar ideas and gameplay concepts throughout the catalog. It can’t be avoided due to the collection’s nature, but it allows repetition to set in after extended play sessions. While it’s also part of Jeff Minter’s design and charm, some of the games and their instructions leave something to be desired because it is difficult to understand how to play the game. You’ll find scans of the original instruction manuals and controls for your platform of choice, but even with these things you may spend several minutes being confused each time you try a … Read More
PlayStation Launches Game Preservation Team For Titles Dating Back to 1994
With news emerging of the old Wii and 3DS eShops closing, numerous digital games are going to be lost forever. Even Sony caught flack last year when they initially tried to announce the closure of the PS3, Vita, and PSP stores. They’ve since reduced this to just the PSP store, but all of this has sparked a conversation about game preservation. I love digital downloads as much as the next person, but what happens when those servers are gone? Up until now, the games are gone too, save for that SD card or external drive you have, which in and of itself could go back. It’s scary to think about, but it got a little less scary in April of 2022 when news came out that Sony is starting up a game preservation team. Let’s dive in and see what the new team has planned! New PlayStation Roles Point to Game Preservation Team A tweet from a new PlayStation employee by the name of Garrett Fredley announcing his new role revealed the existence of this new team. This confirms other roles spotted on platforms like LinkedIn that pointed to the formation of a game preservation division. On a personal note, I’m not jealous at all. He describes the team’s focus will be preserving PlayStation IPs, and ensuring that “our industry’s history isn’t forgotten.” Today is my first day as a Senior Build Engineer at @PlayStation, working as one of their initial hires for the newly created Preservation team! Game Preservation was my first career passion, so I'm ecstatic that I get to go back to those roots 😊 — Garrett Fredley (@SomeCronzaGuy) April 25, 2022 PlayStation Studios’ global QA manager, Mike Bishop, hired Fredley and went on to further describe the new team in a LinkedIn Post saying “the day-to-day focus is on IP Preservation for the business, ensuring the titles of today are captured, catalogued, and secured for the games industry of tomorrow.” While the team seems to be in the early stages of hiring, the goal seems to be on preserving games from the entirety of the PlayStation catalog, dating back to 1994 when the first PlayStation was released. All of this comes as PlayStation recently unveiled project Spartacus, which includes new tiers of PlayStation Plus and access to classic titles via download and PlayStation Now game streaming. What do you think about game preservation? Are you a diehard fan who wants access to classic titles through means other than things like piracy and emulation? Let us know in the comments! Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 4/26/2022