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    #31
    Originally posted by Wil View Post
    It was never billed as exclusive and I remember fighting against the review status on the cover. I (along with other jornos from Future and EMAP and other countries) went over to Germany for a few days to play a finished version in some 'living' museum with NOE. Everyone else played it a bit and took a disc with a few screenshots on it. I played until they had to prise me off the machine, made pages of notes and took over 300 screenshots. It pretty much was a review of the game but as we hadn't finished it and felt it wasn't right to actually score the game, we had a proper 'all the team' review with a score the next issue but I defy anyone to find a UK mag that had as much Ocarnia stuff as we did in that Xmas issue and couldn't work out just how great it was without a number at the end. There was no cheap trick about it and there's a boxout on the first spread that explains just why there isn't a score.

    Sorry but I begrudge it being insinuated that we tried to fool readers for sales. The only time I've ever really disagreed with how stuff was done on N64 was with Turok 2. I was the designer on the mag but I bust a gut each month trying to make sure the content was great, too.

    Apologies for the rant.
    I was an avid reader and the lack of a review didn't piss me off at all. In fact, it was clearly explained why. Good job N64 Magazine! (great mag in the same standing as Zzap! and Superplay for mine).

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      #32
      Yup can't say i thought it was a cheap tactic either, i was just pleased to be able to get so much info on zelda & boy it was an information blowout. I already knew the game was special so no review score meant sod all to me.

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        #33
        Originally posted by Wil View Post
        The only time I've ever really disagreed with how stuff was done on N64 was with Turok 2.
        Pray do tell. I'm playing the two Turok games at present and would be interested to hear your thoughts on the second game.

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          #34
          Had a bit of a blast on Shadows of the Empire. Too hard. Had to change to Easy mode. Still too hard. I had a pitched battle with a chicken walker, with me on foot - it took about 40 minutes. There are crates that can be destroyed for potential ammo or health (I had to figure that out for myself, the game tells you NOTHING, not even what the fricking controls are, which is quite an oversight; they only change EVERY GOD DAMN LEVEL). These crates disappear permentantly, even if you die and respawn, and the heat seeker missiles they contain are presumably the intended way to take out the chicken walker. However, the seekers are less than useless, and pretty much all missed. So rather than restart the ENTIRE LEVEL just because there was no ammo left, I spent the next half an hour running around in circles, shooting at the chicken walkers legs with my pea shooter laser gun, which has to recharge after every shot, like this is sodding R Type or something. It reminded me of nothing so much as fighting a gigantic and very slow movingg chicken. Take a moment to digest the irony.

          Later I got the the level where you ride the junk yard train. For some reason I had decided to collect as many of the challenge points as I go along, to save having to replay all the levels again. I don't even know what they do. Anyway, I had almost reached the end of the level, when I died falling off the train for the billionth time. Whilst I respawned, I took a moment to adjust mt tv, during which time I knocked the N64 from my bed. It landed upside down and crashed the game!

          The game isn't all bad, but more than anything it's making me want to play Pod Racer. And Mario 64 is making me want to play Ocarina of Time. It's somthing about those lovely N64 visuals. Anyway, back to Shadows!

          Oh, Wil, I was wondering - how come you didn't do original artwork for all the magazine covers, like with Super Play? Was there a special reason, or did you just have enough on your plate at the time?

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            #35
            Yes, Shadows is more miss than hit I'm afraid. The only truly decent level is the first one on Hoth. I played the whole game right up to the end but, if memory serves, I cheated from start to finish. It's got this ludicrous debug mode that is almost impossible to pull off by a single person. You have to hold down buttons with the controller in the home position (hands on both outside prongs) and tilt the joystick in half-directions using your chin/mouth.

            I like the train level purely because it's the first time I heard the Hyperspace piece from the films. Every time I hear it I think of that level.

            EDIT: on my travails with Turok... It really is of labyrinthine design. You have to collect the keys to all the levels, which can be played out of order if the keys have been collected. You mission is made more taxing by the twenty-foot visibility and samey environments. Even with the map open (which blessedly appears over the playing view) it can be very easy to become lost. It really started to do my head in yesterday.
            Last edited by egparadigm; 05-09-2010, 15:54.

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              #36
              Oh my christ! I'm am mad now. I just did the whole train level, and then IG-88 killed me instantly right at the end with some kind of electric death spunk bubble gun. **** this noise! How do you kill him? And does anybody know what the challenge points do? Am I wasting my time? I mean, obviously I'm wasting my time, but will it unlock anything?

              EDIT: ok, I just looked it up and, no, it's not worth it. If you beat the game on Hard mode and get all the Challenge Points, you unlock invincibility? What is the point of that? If you beat it on Hard mode you're already invincible.
              Last edited by noobish hat; 05-09-2010, 16:01.

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                #37
                Son of a frog! This game is getting right on my raving titties now, I tell thee. It got a lot more enjoyable once I got hold of the jetpack. Why didn't they just make Boba Fett the main character, and base all the gameplay around the jet pack? Maybe I should just switch this crap off and play Pilotwings! I've been killed by Slave One too many times now. Crappy hit detection. There's like one tiny spot on the ship you have to hit, and it's smaller than a wasp's nipple. Non-respawning ammo is also a HUGE problem. What's the point in wasting my time playing through a battle with nine lives if I only have ammo during the first?

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                  #38
                  Originally posted by monomaniacpat View Post
                  Pray do tell. I'm playing the two Turok games at present and would be interested to hear your thoughts on the second game.
                  I think the Turok 2 thing was the closest N64 ever got to over-scoring a game for an exclusive. It did look impressive at first, all hi-res and cerebal bore-ed up but it soon gets dull and repetitive with a dodgy framerate.

                  Oh, Wil, I was wondering - how come you didn't do original artwork for all the magazine covers, like with Super Play? Was there a special reason, or did you just have enough on your plate at the time?
                  It was just time. In the beginning Jonathan (Davies) was keen on each review being very individual which meant each one took a lot more work in the layout. Eventually we started getting very late with each issue (they brought in a woman to show me how to design more efficiently - which basically meant simplified - but her stuff was so rubbish I had to redo it anyway, which is when Andrea and her big stick came in to sort us all out. I did get a few covers in, though and had to do the PD ones when Rare had pretty much no promo renders to offer. I did the game guides in my spare time because I did a deal where I got paid in games for each one

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                    #39
                    Well it does look like the magazine took a lot of work, it was always really crammed with stuff.

                    Anyway, I finally finished Shadows of the Empire, after giving up and using the Wampa Stompa cheats pat mentioned - if I hadn't I would have ended up kicking my N64 through an electric fan. Even on Easy mode, it's just ridiculous. The controls can be really terrible, especially when jumping - Dash seems to veer off to one side for no reason upon landing, so making jumps is pretty much impossible if you have the audacity to attempt any lateral movements. Lack of strafing is something I cannot abide in 3D games. Please tell me Turok has strafing. Shadows of the Empire reminded me unpleasantly of the Phantom Menace on the psx, although it can perhaps be forgiven for being a much earlier game, and presumably with a smaller budget. I still say it should have focussed way more on the jetpack, because it was the most fun to be had in the whole game. I agree with the N64 Mag review - the fact that the game's style changes nearly every level means it was always going to be a bit hit and miss. I'm going to put this game behind me and look forward to Rogue Squadron and Pod Racer

                    Anyway, back to Mario 64, which although about as frustrating as SotE at times, is infinitely more enjoyable. Up to about 45 stars now! I've got to say though, I do prefer the more linear and abstract levels, like those preceding Bowser battles, compared to the free-roaming environments. They seem to hark back to Super Mario World, which is my favourite of the Marios.

                    One thing I want to say is that reading the magazine at the same time really brings home how revolutionary these 3D games were. It's difficult to grasp that fact, just by playing the games alone. It really does go to show Nintendo's mastery of game creation - there wasn't really a precedent for how to make a 3D world back then. Just like in the early days of the Famicom, Nintendo were writing a new rule book on gaming, which would be followed for the next few generations. I just think it makes these early games all the more impressive, when you think about it.

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                      #40
                      Originally posted by noobish hat View Post
                      Please tell me Turok has strafing.
                      It does. You control movement (including strafing) with the C buttons and aim/turn with the analogue stick. It works OK after a bit of practice, although it makes turning and collecting items a chore.

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                        #41
                        I must report that Turok has become somewhat more interesting as the game has progressed. Notably the number of life pieces (or whatever those diamonds are called) has steadily increased towards the end, which suggests the developers were aware enough to compensate as the game ramps up to its conclusion. The is also a pleasing degree of variety shown in the levels, although they are still mostly grey and green.

                        I also have to say that despite the labyrinthine design of the levels I have yet to hit up GameFAQs whilst searching for keys. If it were not for the low visibility it might have been positively enjoyable.

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                          #42
                          This whole project sounds like such a good idea, I bet you're gonna have great fun doing it. I'll definitely be reading the updates especially when you get to Bangai-O (if it's covered by the mag) as it's one of my favourite games of all time.

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                            #43
                            The penultimate level of Turok is a piss-take. First-person platforming without a double-jump is a joke. Got there in the end, but at the cost of all my lovely spare lives.

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                              #44
                              Well, I got a copy of Turok for £4, so I'm eagerly anticipating its arrival in the post! It got 91% in the mag, so one of best of the early games. I had a quick look at the next few magazines, so I know what games to keep an eye out for, and releases are a bit thin on the ground, so I may move on through the mags before I finish my current games. That way I can also make use of the guides and tips that appear. Got plenty to be going on with though - I still haven't even started Pilotwings, Mario Kart, and of course Turok is coming soon. I'm also looking to get Wonder Project J2, for a bit of wacky jap fun.

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                                #45
                                Ah, Turok. It was that game that got me to buy a PlayStation. I was holding out for a Nintendo 64, then I saw the launch line-up of three games I wasn't interested in, although I later owned all of them, and a game I'd never heard of, priced at seventy quid.

                                Disgusted, I bought the then 120 quid cheaper PlayStation and ten games for less than what it would have cost to buy the N64 and a game. I laughed so much at the price-cut a few months later.

                                Great machine though.

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