Shadowgate 64 - Nintendo 64 Review - Ultra HDMI - HD

the Nintendo 64 has a notoriously scarce library when it comes to role-playing games for every serged expectation such as the mother 3 announcement or final fantasy before is moved to the PlayStation you'd often get the feeling that sooner or later an RPG game announced on the n64 would be canceled yes there are shining examples such as Paper Mario on the system but early in the consoles lifespan many of us yearn for an engrossing experience like we had had on the Super Nintendo although you could loosely class shadowgate 64 as an RPG at the time many publications were pushing this as an RPG most likely to help garner some attention for gamers looking for that gameplay fix personally though many of us would actually classify this as an adventure game but whatever your thoughts on it genre are there's no doubt that shadowgate 64 is one of the more unique games on the console developed by TNS and infinite ventures and then published by chem Co in 1999 shadowgate 64 does all it can to bring a fresh experience to the console was also linking itself to the experience of the original 80 shadowgate for fans of the first title centuries after the first game where Lord JN defeated warlock shadowgate 64 C to re-enter the same Kingdom but with so much time having passed the actual Kingdom has changed somewhat it's become ravaged with thieves and bandits and as the game begins you'll see a caravan ambush that kills the peaceful tradesman this is all except for dell cottonwood a halfling whom you take control of throughout the entire game experience after being captured and taken prisoner by the bandits you end up in the infamous cells of Castle shadow gate this is where you take control in the first-person perspective of Dell and you test your mental matter against the Troublesome castle now the first thing that you'll likely notice about the game is the frankly subpar visuals there's no getting around this but the console was clearly capable of so much more the textures themselves are fairly low quality which is surprising as they often repeated over and over again as you progress throughout the game with the vast majority of the game taking place inside cramped and dingy walkways and rooms is hard to justify the lack of clarity here what emphasizes this further is up by the very nature of the game there's very little action taking place on the screen at any given time whereas first person shooters need the consul's power to power enemy movement and AI think of this like a first-person point and click game you do not have to avoid fast-paced enemies or worry about quickly firing off your weapons and so there's nothing here that's really putting any kind of strain on the system's capabilities saying that though there's something I really dig about the visuals the dark and grainy textures really help this game feel in place with the dirty medieval style setting nothing you look at or see we're actually feeling the game comes across with a warm feeling this is an extremely atmospheric game and when you combine the gloomy depressing look with the sense of claustrophobia it gives a fantastic setting when playing the game however I do honestly believe that you'll either love although the gameplay with very little actual action taking place this really is a game for those of you watching who prefer puzzle solving and logic but speaking of logic like most puzzle style adventure games there are many instances where logic is thrown out the window and you'll often simply use much trial and error to eventually find something that works for example early on in the game you will acquire a pickaxe and shortly thereafter you'll come across a crumbling wall now common sense would tell you to pick up with pickaxe and smash through the wall to make a hole however the pickaxe is actually used in another location to help you reach a higher ledge these moments can sometimes slow the game down to a crawl especially in the later parts of the game where things become more complex but if you reach that far then you're most likely ought to be hooked on the game another frustration for many will be the one mistake game over screens and there's many unique ways which you can die in the game naturally you'll want to save as frequently as possible as many times you'll fall into a false sense of security even if you fail in your in the most safest location throughout the game you'll also find hundreds of books and you really need to spend time reading them to not only fill out the game's backstory but also to help you with clues to the puzzles there are at times also other characters you come across from villagers to ghosts and so listen to their words wisely as without them you can end up getting stuck for hours there are many supernatural elements that a game which once again helped to bring the experience a little more life although I do wish that there were more characters to interact with at times in this frequently lonely experience perhaps my favorite element of the game is the fantastic music which surprised me is from reading reviews at the time this was often commented on merely as possible like the main game itself I found it to be quite unique and although not the best quality it does feel particularly in keeping with the games tones it's a really hard soundtrack to describe but if you think of period movies you couldn't go far wrong you have things like mandolins and organic symphonies which accompany your exploration in the flowers most importantly I never found out that the music would get distracting even if you're stuck in the most difficult areas for a prolonged period of time and some of the pieces of music will have you humming along if you allow yourself to focus on it I also believe that the effects are done very well and they use frequently throughout the game whether it's the flicker of pages as you pick up books the sound of tables randomly being flipped over by poltergeists or simply the eerie footsteps you make as you traverse the game's towers shudder gate 64 is wonderfully more underrated and lesser spoken of titles on the console perhaps this can be down to the extremely limited production among the game went through with around 70,000 copies being made worldwide is not one which you come across that often saying that those there are some big differences in terms of the number of copies in different regions the English language pal version is the most rare and highly sought after by collectors so be careful not to pick up the European pal version which doesn't contain English text as many unsavory resellers will try to cover up knowingly that they have a European copy I've seen eBay sellers put fake stickers on the cover saying that the game's english-language or completely ignoring questions from anyone questioning them whether the copy they're selling is the pal English version or the PAL European version for the rest of the world though you shouldn't have a problem in being able to pick up the game with tight controls an interesting storyline an excellent atmosphere shadowgate 64 is a great bridge between the previous generation and the time when the game was released yes it doesn't push the console even close to his capabilities or what it lacks in visuals and action it certainly makes up for in a challenging and engrossing experience a follow up title called shadow gate rising was in development for the console but it was ultimately cancelled as the studio simply ran out of time and realized that the GameCube would be released by the time they could finish the game it was due to take place centuries after shadow gate 64 and would feature a female lead character going up against the power of Cal to Lin once again it's unlikely that we will ever see a developer cart leak of shadow gate rising as the studio were actually developing the game on PC and using n64 emulators to test it rather than burning cartridges each time to play on the actual hardware the PC version 2 was also cancelled shortly after the n64 version and so we can look at these screenshots and dream as to what may have came from a late version of shadow gate rising really pushing the n64 console to its limits but as always those are just my thoughts and I'd love to know yours do you prefer the NES original or like me did you find something compelling about this peculiar n64 game for those who like this game I'd also like to know what improvements you were hoping for when the sequel was announced back in the day as always let's have any discussion in the comment section down below and until next time [Music]

Channel: N64 Glenn Plant

Views: 64,060

Keywords: shadowgate 64, shadowgate 64 trials of the four towers, n64, nintendo 64, review, hd, nes music, ost, soundtrack, amiga, deaths, death music, shadowgate nes review, mac, macventure, walkthrough, long play, lets play, guide, speedrun, sewers, cathedral, retro, nostalgia, top 5, top 10, best, worst, first person, first person shooter, adventure games, hardest games, easiest games, zelda, ocarina of time, legend of zelda, twitch, streaming, youtube gaming, kemco

Id: lLGN_g84uSU

Length: 8min 31sec (511 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 21 2017