Alien Zombie Death

Pew pew pew, just like the good old days.

The 1001 list is a mostly chronological trip through video gaming. While it appears here and there to lump together similar games, more often than not it's a case of highlighting notable titles as and when they get released, allowing us to follow along with the developments and look back at where we've come from.

That basically means that we're not going to end on a carefully selected bang - not unless you're the type of person who loves the PlayStation Portable and the teeny tiny downloadable titles you could find for it, titles like Alien Zombie Death.

The controls are simple. The graphics are appropriate for the file size. The gameplay evokes titles from a long time ago. But I've come so far in this 1001 list that it'd be silly to end it like that. Let's fire it up and see what it's made of. Maybe we'll end with a bang after all.

PixelJunk Shooter

Is that a warm, welcoming glow, or a hot, dangerous one?

Source // PlayStation

Gravity. Love it or hate it, it's here to stay, and as soon as it could be modelled to any degree of accuracy in a video game, games were built around obeying its laws, including a great many that subtly taught generation after generation how to fly - and crash - spaceships.

Lunar Lander, Exile, Gravity Crash and more I'm sure have crossed this 1001 list as physics-based challenges involving spaceships shooting enemy forces, bombing infrastructure, and rescuing stranded companions, and these games just don't stop coming.

PixelJunk Shooter is the next in line, but the twist in this PlayStation 3 title is that gravity plays as much of a role in-game as fluid dynamics. Are you ready to safely wrap your head around a lava flow?

Space Invaders Infinity Gene

Intelligent design?

Source // Square Enix

The last time I played Space Invaders was extreme, by which I mean I played Space Invaders Extreme for the Nintendo DS, which turned a space shooter (remember when every other game on this 1001 list was a space shooter?) into a sort of musical instrument.

It also came with every other colour that simply wasn't possible when all you had available was white, so Extreme looked pretty cool as well.

Now, I'm well aware the screenshot above is a little lacking in the colour department, but that's not the case with every single part of Space Invaders Infinity Gene, an iOS reboot, I guess, that's heavy on evolving Space Invaders into the next big thing.

Sin & Punishment: Successor to the Skies

"There's no escape from the Nebulox."

Back on the Nintendo 64, there was an on-rails shooter by the name of Sin and Punishment that was incredibly weird but playable, despite being a Japanese-only release. The only reason I know of it is because of this 1001 list, and my conclusions after playing it were along the lines of "well, that's was fun, I guess, but I don't really need more, do I?"

Apparently, damnit, we do need more, because it has a sequel on the Nintendo Wii, Sin & Punishment: Successor to the Skies, or your regional subtitle equivalent.

Last time out, mostly because it was all in Japanese, I had to hit the Internet to learn just what on Earth was going on. This time out... well, I've got to do the same.

Half-Minute Hero

Time goes by, so quickly.

You learn an awful lot over the course of playing far too many videogames, and one of those things is that RPGs are just too dang long. Who wants to grind out levels or hunt down unique trinkets over a long afternoon when you can, instead, crank out entire quests in thirty seconds?

That's the thinking behind the PlayStation Portable title Half-Minute Hero - sort of. It's a little more complicated than that but intriguing enough for me to dive right in and waste no more time.

Gravity Crash

Those guys have got a rough deal.

Back in the early days of video games, you couldn't avoid a space shooter of one kind or another, be it Asteroids or Galaxian, or one of their many imitators. Throw in some physics to the gameplay and you've something like Gravitar and Lunar Lander, demanding precise input to float across the surface of another world, rather than slamming face-first into it.

Fast forward thirty years and developers are all nostalgic for those kinds of games, and we get something like Gravity Crash, a sort of twin-stick shooter, sort of physics sim.

Hopefully, we'll have learned enough about these genres by now to be good at it...

Captain Forever

[COM: (Farbs) Help me. Help us all._________________________________]

Out in the emptiness of space sits the Nemesis, a ship that cannot be destroyed, and its pilot desperately needs your help. Every time it should be the Nemesis' turn to explode, space around it explodes instead, taking everything in the vicinity with it. The only way to stop this from happening is to keep the Nemesis from exploding, and the only way to do that is to destroy other ships and harvest their parts.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? That's the premise of Captain Forever, a Flash game with a simple goal: survive. How? Up to you. Log in and get moving, pilot.

Space Invaders Extreme

Less 'Save the world', more 'Make some music'.

Space Invaders. Absolute classic. Nobody is going to forget it in a hurry. Thirty years later, though, and someone thought it needed to be extreme. Space Invaders Extreme is the result of mixing Space Invaders with Rez in a sort of psychedelic shooter sure to keep you playing until your thumb hurts.

I'm not sure what state the world is in, but I'm guessing this pilot doesn't care. Grab your handheld of choice and start shooting these aliens.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

Retro Evolved Harder?

Source // Microsoft

I played Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and had a mix of ups and downs before concluding that it was entertaining for the short while I spent playing it, but had no real intentions of ever putting more time or effort into it. For what reward? A higher score? More colours?

I didn't see the point, but would a more colourful sequel in the form of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 make me think again?

Super Stardust HD

Finally, an HD remake of an Amiga game.

Source // PlayStation

This must be the 'spherical worlds' section of the 1001 list, as Super Stardust HD comes in hot on the trail of Super Mario Galaxy to show you that you don't just have to guide a plumber around to have a good time. That didn't sound good. My point is that if plumbers aren't your thing, you could always pilot spaceships instead in space shooter Super Stardust HD.

Yeah. Well, let's get going then.

Everyday Shooter

I guess you could say it was... riffing on the genre... Hmm?

It's hard to find a more colourful shoot 'em up than Every Extend Extra Extreme, but it's easy to find one with a more pleasing soundtrack. How about electric guitar riffs that you can enhance and build upon with the actions you take while you're moving and shooting in Everyday Shooter?

And it's not just alien ships with guitars, but starkly coloured geometric patterns covered with chunky robots and explosive cubes and then the entire second level changes practically everything, rendering this description utterly useless.

It's probably time to dive right in.

Contra 4

"An experience so classic it's practically coin-operated."

That's not a quote from a reviewer up there. That's how Contra 4 welcomes you into the tough-as-nails side-scrolling shooter that is the first portable Contra for more than a decade. It's back with a bang on the Nintendo DS, kicking pushing to the floor and kicking them while they're down - unless you're good enough to actually make it through, of course...

We'll see about that.

Killer 7

"We're in a tight spot."

Why do all shooters have to be the same? They don't, right? Surely we can chuck something new into the mix. What about a ghost in a gimp suit? Wait, what?

Killer 7 is unusual, to say the least. An action-adventure to some, an on-rails shooter to others, but a game of its own for certain, and one I've not played. Let's change that, and see what it's all about.

Oh, and a warning for you, too:

Torus Trooper

Speed! More speed!

The 1001 list isn't perfect. It can't be. Nobody would be able to agree on the contents of the list if there were only 1,002 games in existence, such are our likes and dislikes across genre or difficulty. What it can do, if not definitively stamp a seal of approval upon 1,001 games, is highlight some of the many games that fly under the radar.

There was a time at school where some friends of mine would bring in copies of Zork to play on the school computers. I wasn't interested in Zork for very long, but when the likes of Geometry Wars hit the screens, now things were getting interesting. The Internet wasn't just beginning, but it certainly wasn't what it is now. Flash games were entertaining to a point, but when someone got an actual small game up and running, that was a talking point.

Nobody, to my knowledge, got Torus Trooper out to play, but it was the kind of free download that might well have done, if anyone had known about - or stumbled across - its developers humble little website.

Gradius V

I see you...

Another shoot 'em up, but this one - this one - is the one you've got to play. You've got to play all the others on this 1001 must-play list, of course, but it's actually Gradius V that you've got to play before all the others.

Said to be playable and enjoyable for both fans of the genre and newcomers alike, Gradius V is another solid 2D shoot 'em up to test your reactions out with. What else does it offer? I've no idea. I suppose I should just play it already.

R-Type Final

"The drifting specks of light soothe the darkness in my heart..."

You just can't keep the space shooter genre down, can you? There's not a console in the world without an entry, it seems. It must have its fans, as it keeps cropping up on this 1001 list time and again. But how does it fare on the PlayStation 2, in the form of R-Type Final?

This isn't the first R-Type game I've played, thanks to an earlier entry on the list, R-Type Delta. What has another generation of consoles allowed the developers to achieve? Where can you push the genre without compromising on the gameplay? Will this waffle end and the gaming begin already?

Yes. Yes, it will.

Jak II

"For every age there is a time of trial."

Source // PlayStation

When I made the decision to stick with Ratchet over Jak, I knew that I was making the right choice. For me. I was more into the Ratchet universe, and once hooked, no amount of 'yeah, but, look what this Jak game offers!' could get me to turn my head. I was only ever vaguely aware of what the competition was doing, I never knew the details.

But I knew Jak II was different. I knew it was darker and moodier and took a few cues from Grand Theft Auto III, of all things. To me, that didn't sound great. Whether it was still humorous or not was almost irrelevant, because I wasn't attracted to the idea of Jak turning all emo on everyone. And besides, back then, I never played Jak and Daxter outside of its demo. I didn't know how good that game was until much, much later.

Now, it's time to dive into the sequel, which hopefully doesn't spoil too much of the first game...

Hidden & Dangerous 2

We're not going to be described as either, are we?

When I started this challenge for myself, I went through the whole 1001 list multiple times, checking out which games I had, where I had them, which titles I would need to look out for, which would be easier to emulate instead, which ones could only be emulated... the possibilities for playing more than a thousand games are quite considerable.

Wishlists were filled, and charity shops would interrupt anything else going on in the area, just in case a bargain could be snapped up for later down the list. I was on top of things, and given the number of times I'd gone through the list, there was eventually a reasonably good chance of me knowing whether a game I saw somewhere was on the list or not before I even checked. Sometimes you just know, you know?

And then I blogged about Viewtiful Joe and had a look at what was next. Hidden & Dangerous 2. What the hell is Hidden & Dangerous 2? PC, squad-based, third-person, Second World War... why haven't I got this? It's been on Steam for years. It's been in all the sales. Why has it escaped my sights for five years?

I can't answer that at all. It just happens, I guess. The SAS sneak up on you out of nowhere, before dispersing into the silence once more. Or will this game make some noise?

Freedom Fighters

In Soviet Russia, countries invade U.S.!

Source // Moby Games

When someone says 'Freedom Fighters', someone else replies 'Where's my sequel, IO Interactive?'

A lot of people care about this third-person shooter, set in an alternate history U.S. that has been invaded by the Soviets, full of squad-based firefights, guerilla-war style tactical approaches to crucial objectives throughout the city, and a literal underground resistance movement taking back the streets for the citizens.

If it's not the gameplay that fans love, and it's not the setting, then it'll have to be the music, sung by a Hungarian choir for that foreign feel. Something - maybe everything - about Freedom Fighters appeals to an entire generation of gamers that grew up with the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PC, and I certainly count myself in that number. This game is excellent. At least that's what I remember it to be...

Has it aged well? Is it still worth demanding a sequel? Should it be left untouched, as a brilliant highlight of the past?

I am looking forward to firing it up again and finding out.

Ikaruga

We'll meet again someday soon.

The shoot 'em up genre may not grab everyone's attention, but it still manages to see some stellar-looking video game releases that put up quite the challenge for newcomers and veterans alike. The latest in the long list of entries on this 1001 list is Ikaruga, a multiplatform offering whose name I'm sure I know but whose content I certainly don't. Apart from ships and bullets, I suppose.

I'm not too hot on shmups, so let's see how far my credits will take me.