The Tundra: Skies of Arcadia

Okay, so the Scurvy post is getting shelved for the time being. I really can't seem to write it in a way that's not just a rehash of what you could go find on Wikipedia, so it's gonna gather dust for a bit until I can make it more gooder. (If this disappoints you, please feel free to yell at me in that there pretty little comments section, and I may go ahead and post it anyway.)

So instead of your regularly scheduled scurvy post, we bring you an exciting episode of The Tundra!

This time, I'm here to talk about Skies of Arcadia, one of the most underrated and unknown RPGs I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Actually, its more than just an RPG. Skies of Arcadia combines many, MANY unique (at the time, at least) ideas into one stock pot of awesome, creating some kind of delicious stew of entertainment. Just like mom used to make, only with combat mechanics instead of potatoes.

Now, since I can't seem to think of a topic to start discussing that doesn't lead right into a tirade of why I think this game is so amazing, I'm gonna let this flow a little organically: I'll start discussing the basic plot, and we'll go from there. Afterwards, I'll talk about some of the unique gameplay mechanics present in the game, and then I'll wrap up with a general overview of my feelings of the game. So lets get started!

The Tundra: Mischief Makers

Every once in a while, a truly original game gets made. Every once in a while, someone decides to try something amazingly different and ends up creating something new, charming, and most importantly, fun. Every once in a while, someone makes a new kind of game... and it gets ignored.

I could go into the "why?" and "no, seriously, why?" of this trend, but for now, I'll just talk about a great example of this: Mischief Makers, for the good old Nintendo 64. Summing up what kind of game Mischief Makers is is a difficult thing to do. It's a platformer... kinda. It's a brawler... kinda. It's a shooter... kinda. Really, it's all of these things, and this is why it's so great. But of course, that statement is gonna take a whooole lot of backing up. So let's start with the number one question of the day: Just what the hell IS Mischief Makers?

The Tundra: Beyond Good & Evil

Welcome to The Tundra, my new series of articles that delve into some of the games that I absolutely love that were left out in the cold by the majority of gamers. I'll talk about the games a bit and discuss exactly why they're so great and why they didn't get the recognition they deserve, while also being as un-spoilerific as possible in case I do my job well and get you all to play these gems for yourselves. So let's start with a game that I consider to be both a prime example of video games as art and how executive meddling can ruin anything, Beyond Good & Evil.