S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

"Get out of here, Stalker."

As of 1986, 'Chernobyl' means only one thing, and it doesn't matter when you were born, you know what that thing is. The exclusion zone is still home to life but not quite as we know it, and the mysterious nature of an entire city being effectively frozen in time and swamped in radiation inevitably leads to other-worldly stories.

Video games are no stranger to the call of Chernobyl. We've already gone through the eery stillness in one of the greatest levels in video game history in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and now, sort of via a book and film, comes S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, an alternate reality first-person survival horror game set in a region where nothing is quite as it seems.

Do we have what it takes to survive?

The Darkness

"t̸h̶r̴o̵u̵g̶h̷ ̴y̶o̴u̸,̴ ̴i̶ ̶a̷m̴ ̶b̶o̸r̵n̵.̶"

Source // PlayStation

In the early days of the PlayStation 3, there were demos. Lots of demos. My first downloads from the PSN store were demos, and one of the first would have been (or certainly feels like it, anyway) The Darkness, a first-person shooter with a little bit of a horror twist, in the form of you playing a character possessed by the Darkness, and sprouting demonic eels out of your shoulders, hungry for hearts.

There's a bit to explain, I feel, so turn out the lights and we'll begin.

SingStar

Bo-re-me-for-the-las-tiiiiime

Source // PlayStation

When your mates kick you out of your Rock Band, fear not, Sony has your back, so long as you've got some microphones and/or a camera and a copy of SingStar, and a desire to have machines and code judge your warbling for all within sight of the TV to see.

I don't, of course. Neither the desire, nor the microphones, nor SingStar in any form, of which it's hard for me to pin down just what it is. It doesn't quite look like a standalone game, certainly not in its latest form. Looks like more of a service where you pick and choose what to 'sing along to' according to your own tastes.

I bet the moneymen love that. Let's find out what I'm missing, then.

Rock Band

Clackclackbashclackbashclackbash

Source // Nintendo

By 2007, Guitar Hero was, unquestionably, a rather large success. The sequel proved that, and the stage was set for the actual next step in rhythm-based gameplay: Multiplayer, with multiple instruments.

Guitars? Two flavours of those. Drums? Gotta have a bald guy at the back making a racket. Microphone? Well you don't expect this band to get anywhere without someone wailing about life's troubles, do you?

All I need know are three willing friends to gather around the TV, plastic peripherals in hand and... what's this? Oh, no, that's unfortunate. It's 2020, and there are no indoor household visits. What? Play in the garden? No can do, it's winter. It'd be a washout. Think about Glastonbury? Listen, I'm not playing Rock Band, alright?

Space Giraffe

It's not Tempest.

We've tried to play a couple of Tempest games for this 1001 list, but I don't know why I mention that because Space Giraffe is not Tempest. It even says so in-game, look:

So while it looks a little like Tempest and plays a little like Tempest, and may even sound a little like Tempest for all I can remember of Tempest, Space Giraffe is absolutely NOT Tempest.

What is it then?

Retro Game Challenge

Taking a step back to see how far we've come.

While I wasn't there at the dawn of home consoles, I'm old enough to remember a time where multiplayer gaming always took place in the same room, game magazines were always worth a read, and a game was played over and over and over because it was the only one you had available.

I'm glad those days are over, in some respects, but there's much to be said and remembered about those good old days, and Nintendo DS title Retro Game Challenge is here to show you what it was like. Scrambling over the carpet to get a new game from the shelf, your friend encouraging you to do better from the sidelines...

This was how it was, and how the Demon Arino will have it be until you complete his challenges.

Quadradius

3D Space Checkers on Crack

Does Chess need a bit of pep? Some abilities dropped onto the board to introduce new ways of playing, new strategies to master? If you think it does, you're not alone. There are untold numbers of Chess variants out there to spice things up. I up a couple of physical variants myself, and the 1001 list wants to take you back in time to the days of Flash and Quadradius.

Chrome and the Internet of 2020 have other ideas, however...

Portal

I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

When you impress the boss at Valve with a little puzzle game called Narbacula Drop, you get rewarded with a new job and the resources to make it truly shine. When Portal is completed a few years later, it's boxed up with a bunch of other Valve titles in The Orange Box as a side attraction for those who have finished Half-Life 2 or are frustrated by Team Fortress 2, where it somehow becomes the talking point of 2007.

The Cake is a Lie. Now you're thinking with Portals. The Weighted Companion Cube. Still Alive. You didn't have to even play Portal to know what these were, or how some of the lines to Still Alive go. This stuff was everywhere, as inescapable as GLaDOS would have you believe Aperture Science Labs were.

What do you mean "What's GLaDOS?"

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

"Teleporter cannons always make my sprockets tingle."

Source // PlayStation

I have just said that while I consider myself a Ratchet & Clank fan, I trailed off during the PlayStation 3 games. Perhaps I had seen it all before, or found entertainment elsewhere and had just moved on. Well, after playing Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction I can confirm that I didn't trail off during the PlayStation 3 games - I never touched them in the first place.

After finding great success on the PlayStation 2 and seeing some spin-offs hit the PlayStation Portable, the HD era came calling. Can you imagine what a Ratchet & Clank title would look like in HD? How Pixar-movie-like it might feel? Can you honestly say you weren't expecting what you saw when it was time to see what the future held?

Tools of Destruction kicks off the Future series, a not quite soft reboot, not quite next chapter in the adventures of Ratchet and Clank, and it makes sure to shower players will all the graphics.

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters

Tiny enemies - Big, big trouble.

The PlayStation Portable, and I suppose the PlayStation Vita too, has quite the following amongst players who dove right into them and make sure to get their moneys-worth from a system that would never reach the heights of whatever Nintendo would put out.

While it didn't seem to catch on with a casual audience, those who had a PSP knew that was a beefy little machine capable of portable gaming the likes of which couldn't really be found anywhere else - not to this degree, at least. It was a tiny little PlayStation 2 in your big pocket. 

How do you show off its capabilities? How about by taking a much loved new IP and demonstrating that it can run on the PSP just like it could on the PS2. Sort of.

That IP was Ratchet & Clank, and the demonstration was Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. Does it matter? Let's find out.