FEATURE: Pretty Bad, But Mildly Fun Games # 4 - Super 3D Noah's Ark (SNES)

The unlicensed gaming scene is very strange to begin with, but it's rare a game this bizarre comes along.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Developer: Wisdom Tree

Publisher: Wisdom Tree

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Release: 1994

Console: SNES/DOS

------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, a little background on Wisdom Tree - during the early to mid 90's, they decided that more video-games should be made focusing on religious ideologies, specifically under Christian faith, so what did they do? Release a bunch of unlicensed games. As you do. FEATURE1

One of those games was Super 3D Noah's Ark - one of the most infamous games as its practically a copy of ID's Wolfenstein 3D, with different sprites, graphical changes and music replacements to suit the Christian audience, which meant no Nazi's or Hitler in a robot suit - instead we have Ernie the Elephant and Carl the Camel.

As you enter the first stage, there's this prelude explaining the story of Noah and his ark, but with a twist - all of the animals are out of control and it's up to you the player to put them in their place.

Instead of collecting treasures and jewellery, Noah collects fruit and instead of killing enemies..I mean friendly animals, he simply puts them "to sleep" with his pet feed, as opposed to bullets.

See it to believe it, those goats aren't dead, they're just sleeping.

But honestly, the gameplay itself isn't bad at all - but that's due to the fact Wisdom Tree essentially stole the code from Wolfenstein 3D, so credit is due to...ID software for this game's core gameplay. This is getting weird.

All of the animals you expect to make an appearance do, including Goats (so many goats), Sheep, Camels, and so forth - with a total of 30 levels, this game has its fair share of fun to be had, exploring each level seeking out hidden passages, just like I did in Wolfen...nevermind.

In terms of graphics, it looks just like the Super Nintendo version of Doom, making for awkward and difficult gameplay when it comes to actually seeing what's in the distance. With that said, the animals have to come close to you in order to deduct any health, so keeping your distance and shooting your pet feed is probably the best way to go.

The animals....what did you do Noah!?

At the end of the game, you'll come across the "final boss", a notion that usually indicates an intimidating opponent that will require all of your skills used in the game so far - nope, not in this game, instead we get hold of a Watermelon throwing device in order to defeat Burt the Bear....

Burt the Bear, the final boss - with a huge watermelon coming his way.

There's no sugar coating it, this game is a clone of Wolfenstein 3D, just with a little Christian added. Saying that, the game isn't bad at all - I have been playing the SNES version so awkward controls were a given considering FPS games on consoles back then weren't too great to handle, however the DOS release is probably much easier to play.

The game is generally rare to find these days, more the SNES version than DOS - expect to see it on ebay for up to £100 or more, and that's just for the cartridge. Wisdom Tree still has a website up and running, which looks like its straight from 1998, either way check it out, maybe you'll find your next favourite game.

NEWS: Flashback Remake Coming to Steam - October 1st

Remake of the 1992 "classic" Flashback will be making its way to Steam this coming October 1 - already released on the Xbox LIVE Arcade back in August.

Originally, the game was released on the Amiga and sprouted multiple ports including Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, MS-DOS, 3DO, Mega CD, and quite a few more systems.

Steam users can be pre-purchase the game at the price of £7.99 and will include the original game from 1992.

FEATURE: The Games I'm Currently Playing - Volume 1!

Games include the 1992 SNES game Pocky & Rocky right up to the recently released Skyrim.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

System: PlayStation 3

I think this is on everyone's "now playing" list, picked it up yesterday on launch, got home equipped with energy drinks to keep me awake (I previously had 3 hours sleep the night before) and started playing the hell out of this game.

I've nearly clocked 12 hours in-game time, and in just that short amount of time, I've managed to do a lot of stuff that isn't even to do with the main quests at all - the sheer scope of this game is absolutely astonishing and I don't believe any game can beat it any time soon...unless Elder Scrolls VI came out tomorrow.

Like previous Elder Scrolls titles, the sense of freedom you get after the initial opening story sequence is immense and over-whelming; I sat there in my chair just wondering what should I do? - pursue the main quest, go in any direction of the world and see what happens, seek out side-quests, join a guild, and so on, there's just so many options, it's hard to never not do anything.

In the first 12 hours played, I've felt like I was in this massive immersive world with limitless things to do and I can't wait to play more tonight! I will be writing a full review once I've clocked at least 50 hours as I want a thorough review.

Resistance 3

System: PlayStation 3

In between my massive Skyrim sessions, I am finding myself playing Resistance 3 for the multiplayer, it's a nice break and relatively fun, when I popped in the disc, there was quite a large update for the game and it was definitely for the best

Online multiplayer has been updated quite a bit, there are maps that I've never played before in it, the experience system is a lot more generous now (I levelled up almost 3 times in one match), and something just feels generally better about the flow of the gameplay. Either way, I like it. A lot. 

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

System: PlayStation 3

I have actually finished this game recently, still a little confused about the ending cut-scene after the credits but I'll figure it out I'm sure.

However, I am still playing this game - I want to go back to each episode and collect any missing gems, weapon upgrades, etc that I missed the first time through, there are a lot of trials that need finishing too. 

Ratchet & Clank

System: PlayStation 2

I finally found a copy of this in a used-item shop for just 99p - an absolute bargain for such a classic (thank God these types of shops don't know how to price games properly).

I had always played this at a friends when it was first out (2002, maybe?) but never got around to actually finishing it so I decided for a game this cheap I can't go wrong, I'm about half way through it and I'm having a lot of fun - the game has aged very well with gameplay that flows perfectly.

Pocky & Rocky

System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System

This is actually a game that's part of my "SNES Alphabet-A-Thon" that I'm doing with a friend on Backloggery, in which we take turns picking a letter, choosing the game with that letter and then completing the game, then continuing onto the next letter.

Either way, this was his turn to choose and he chose a strange, yet very fun game - I'm currently only at the 2nd stage, and actually having problems getting past it, but I'm sure I'll persevere eventually. Definitely need to make time to carry on with this. Feature1