Bloody Bashing: Hotline Miami

 In March, "Hotline Miami" finally came out for Mac platform and this week, I downloaded the blood-soaked retrofit to experience the carnage for myself. Set in steamy Miami Florida, Hotline promises classic graphics, overhead (early GTA) style gameplay and a host of aesthetically pleasing elements involving euro-synth scoring, dark-psychadelic imagery and a mutual decent into insanity from player to main character. 

The trailer (below) gives you the same sort of feeling that the movie "Drive" does... Emotionally detached psychopath, placed in a supposedly "beautiful" landscape where nothing but horror and murder prevail. So far so good...

In playing Hotline, I realized that the best part of this game is the teachability of it. The learning curve for this game (Mouse and WASD controls) is sharp but given the unlimited life restarts available, players can pick up the how-to's pretty quickly. Witchy house music blasts as you make quick movements from room to room, picking up an array of weapons and executing your marks in an almost Hitman-like fashion. Blast your way through and suffer the consequences, or sneak up behind most of your enemies with a crowbar and kill them one-by-one...

Players are awarded points based on accuracy and execution of kill and once everyone is dead in the room, you move on. Masks are unlocked for different bonuses and secret weapons/upgrades are awarded for kill points. Pretty simple. The levels become harder as you progress from mission to mission and the bumps/breaks in between levels become more interesting. Who is the bearded man in EVERY break? Who is leaving messages on your phone?? Why even do these mediocre activities in the first place??? Hotline Miami reveals the answer to each mystery after a few mission accomplishments and keeps you wanting SO much more. This is a near-entheogenic, heart pounding hit of a game. I really couldn't stop.

One thing I wanted more of from Hotline was the ability to act out during breaks. In the pizza shop I wanted to do something destructive, in the bar I wanted to lash out at the fat guy covered in puke...I WANTED 100% CARNAGE! In these moments, your attack controls are left neutral and become pick up commands. Something that I think limited the game a bit. 

Aside from that, I haven't gasped harder or jumped higher out of pure fear and surprise than while playing Hotline Miami. This game is completely addictive and utterly thrilling. I will play it again and again to beat old high scores and talk about it with friends over drinks.

Get your Mac download here:

[Free MAC Download]

Epic. Fall of Rauros most recent work...

[Falls of Rauros-"The Light that Dwells in Rotten Wood" Full album]

Epic Yes. What a show.

[Gorgoroth live @ Wacken 2008]

Music spotlight: Miami Nights 1984

Seductively dark, heavy synth mixes with arid dance beats to create a soundscape right out of the techno-pop era of American scifi known only as the 80's. Similar to Kavinsky or Cliff Martinez's score work. Especially good for playing Contra. 

[Miami Nights 1984 bandcamp]

Kong Off 3 is coming!

So if you haven't seen "King of Kong", the documentary about Twin Galaxies' original Donkey Kong competition and the nutty characters which qualify as the DK competitive circuit, buckle up.

This November, the top DK players from around the world will convene in Denver, CO for what some would call an imminent threat of a Donkey Kong kill screen. 

"The Kong Off 3 will feature 22 machines for gameplay. The Top 12 Twin Galaxiesranked players, as of 10/25/13 will have their own dedicated machine for gameplay beginning on Saturday. Machine selection for the top ranked players will take place at 5pm, Friday November 15^th." 

No word on whether or not games will be streaming live, but you can bet your asses that The Basement will have it up if they do. 

And now a film for those completely in the dark...

[King of Kong- Part 1]

[King of Kong- Part 2]

[Follow Youtube links for the rest]

Play.

[Woods of Desolation- "Torn Beyond Reason" Full]

[Full Album]

Lol and awesome.

Some rare footage of Immortal on a 1994 tour in Germany titled "Fuck Christ"

I love the internet.

[Immortal- "Pure Holocaust"]

[Immortal- "Unsilent Storms In The Northern Abyss"]

Super Smash Land

Trying to get this on Mac, unavailable so far. Looks pretty sweet though.

HACK: Rockman II: No Constancy

Hack weekend continues with Rockman II: No Constancy.

This game is excruciatingly hard. Made in 2007 by IKA, this hack features all the original sprites with some tweaks, and revises MM2 for those of us who have beat it time and time again. Boss attacks are different, levels are rebuilt/recolored and (unfortunately...) you are still left without a charge up. It's a challenge, but fun all the same. Check out the walkthrough vid, start with Bubble Man and play on!

[LINK TO WALKTHROUGH/RUN]

[Play HERE]

HACKS: Donkey Kong 2 makes me want to throw stuff. Barrels mostly..

I think this hack came out on Newgrounds in 2008, and ever since then I have really liked it. The new elements to Mario's playability (fence climbing n' such) have me pretty much spellbound by this newer, some would say more challenging take on Donkey Kong classic. There are SO many shitty hacked classics out there, it is really nice to see a good one. Not much of an explanation needed for the gameplay of DK2, just move with your arrows and jump with space. I prefer to use a midi-gamepad for this game because the space bar jump can be a little touchy. Nothing more frustrating than getting to the top and then having Mario decide to jump right the fuck off.

Donkey Kong kill screen coming up if anyone is interested...

[PLAY HERE]

Anxiously awaiting the Samurai Gunn release!

Local multiplayers have reserved their space in everyone's hearts. Hours spent on games like Contra, Battletoads, TMNT Arcade and even later into the Goldfinger era were always joyous. A game has been in the works for a few years now by the artist and indie gamer Beau Blyth (aka Teknopants) which takes notes from these old locals and packages it in a fun, simple shootout which will no doubt debut in the Basement when they finally release it.

Players of Samurai Gunn are given a sword and (you guessed it) a gun with three bullets per life. Careful, speedy slicing and lightning fast blocking can win you a round, hacking away at your environment (bamboo forests, blocks, etc) will reveal new platforms from which to attack. From the reviews I have read, players begin in a fury and by the end of their time with SG develop a quiet, methodical way of sneaking up on their prey. In true appreciation of Samurai melee.

Nothing out yet, but check out some vids and Teknopants' site. 

Dragon Quest- The music.

The Dragon Quest/Warrior games are some of the most iconic Nintendo/Enix RPG's of all time. One cause to their rise to superstardom was the unbelievably beautiful music that kept you exploring through the realm of Alefgard. Koichi Sugiyama, who composed these masterpieces, was the first video game composer to record his music with a real, living orchestra. He recorded with the London Philharmonic, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo City Philharmonic to name a few. Listening to any of the Dragon Quest scores is like going on an epic journey of the imagination, like watching a film that hasn't been made yet. I throw these into the Basement for your enjoyment...

[Dragon Quest I]

[Live(ish)]

[From DQ2//Personal fav]

[[Link to full catalogue]]

Haunting Depressive BM from Greece...

Cry of Silence- "In my Dreams"

[FULL album here]

Fauna- "The Hunt"

[Full Album available on Bandcamp]

Setherial- "A World in Hell"

Excellent vid by Swedish BM band, Setherial.

Echtra- "A War for Wonder"(2008)

[Full album]

Abobo's Big Adventure

No comments. Just ass kicking.

[Play it here]

Super House of Dead Ninjas. Epic Win.

This brutal return-to-classix platformer is one of my favorite projects of the last year. Moderately difficult yet infinitely challenging, SHDN is a bloody race to the finish line that remedies all the frustrations I had with the Gaiden series. Definitely some inspiration there. There are multiple bosses, weapons, upgrades, and extra-game features which why I put SHDN at the top of my creative revisited classix list. The developers even wrote a comic book to go with the game, which ushers you into a full understanding of characters, their legend and why the beasts in this game are running amok. Gameplay is smooth and fast. Enemies are not very difficult but in great number. The joy of killing is really celebrated here...Truly awesome. 

[Play it here]

Prince HarWHO? Yes, there is a Mario anime full length...

[Prince Haru, before Nintendo told him to get fucking lost]

Yeah, that's right. I am going here. Princess Toadstool was engaged to this dude(ish) named Prince Haru and he made ONE appearance within the franchise, then disappeared forever. He was apparently the Prince of "Flower Kingdom" and was probably offed in his sleep by one of Mario's cousins. Who knows.

 "Super Mario Brothers: Mission to save Princess Peach!" is a gem for many reasons. Obviously Prince Haru's surprise intervention is a shocker, but stuff like Luigi dressing and acting like Wario the entire movie, the horrific Japanese musical numbers, and the casual cursing from all parties is enough to merit some lols. The whole thing is pretty much just ridiculous from start to finish, but worth the watch. Dust this one off and press play...

Wolves in the Throne Room - "Two Hunters"

2007

[Full Album]