This title is a reference that none of you will understand.
Welcome to the penultimate episode of Nerds Without Pants! It’s a shorter show this time around, as we take your super hero video game pitches, talk about a small handful of games, and find out who comes out on top between Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man (2018).
Tactical Espionage Action
“Elevator” and “action” aren’t words that typically belong in the same sentence. But lo and behold, Taito released an arcade game in 1983 that would pair a mundane function with the trappings of a spy thriller in the game Elevator Action. You play the role of a secret agent that finds himself at the top of everyone’s hit list. Avoiding certain death requires cunning, skill, and riding a lot of elevators. It made a big enough impression to become a cult classic that people remembered fondly.
Pull the pupper lever!
Ohai! This werk on the Nerds Without Pants Borkcast we have a heckin’ gud tym giving treats to the goodest bois, the bestest puppers, and the frendist doggos. Then we get sum chikem nuggs.
So dark. Much self reflection.
Welcome to Nerds Without Pants, a podcast where we start talking about video games we love, and then go super dark as we face some very uncomfortable truths about ourselves. Thankfully we have Friend of the Show John Gholson on board to keep things from descending into the true depths. This is a very raw episode, but a great listen, as well.
Fifteen years old but still fresh for newcomers.
As much as I love games, I dread the hours it takes to get over the hump of one that’s new and unfamiliar. When I finally get over it, I hope that I didn’t waste those hours on a game I won’t keep playing. So when I fired up Disgaea 1 Complete for the Nintendo Switch I wasn’t sure what to expect. Even though it’s been fifteen years since the game’s initial release, it was still a new and unfamiliar title for me. Thankfully, I’m glad to say that the hours spent getting over that initial hump were worth it.
A game about busy work.
Car Quest is one of those weird experiences that isn’t particularly fun or engaging, but can tap into your OCD tendencies and keep you playing even when you’d rather not. Its design is rather mundane - you drive around a world collecting an artifact at a time, which opens up a new area of the map where you’ll collect a new artifact, which will in turn open a new area of that map where you’ll collect… well, you get the point. This cycle is only broken on occasion where you’ll gain access to a portal that requires a certain number of batteries to get into. In the portal you’ll do more of what you do in the main world, just on a smaller scale, until you earn an artifact to use back in the main world, where the cycle continues.
Half of this episode is missing, too!
Gah! What the hell happened? Well, Julian will explain, but basically, this edition of Nerds Without Pants is problematic. Wait, that’s not the right phrase. It’s plagued with problems. Lots of problems! To quote The Doctor: “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Hopefully you power through the audio issues, because we have former PixlBit Features Editor Jesse Miller to talk about missing in action games. Please be gentle in the comments; Julian agonized over this one.
I expect better from you, WayForward.
I don’t know about you, but when I hear about an indie developed game sporting a pseudo-16-bit pixel aesthetic I find myself rolling my eyes. This goes double when said game is an action/exploration game (“Metroidvania” if you’re lazy). I just find these types of games to be played out. However, if you tell me that WayForward is working on the game you pique my interest enough to plunk down twenty bucks on The Mummy: Demastered, a game I hadn’t heard of. Was my curiosity rewarded? Ehhh…
Three fourths epic.
When I reviewed Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, I elected to tell a personal story of my journey through the game in lieu of a traditional review, since it best represented the strengths of that title. As I was playing through its sequel, Middle Earth: Shadow of War, I wanted to do the same thing. Unfortunately, there are enough complexities with this release that story time will have to wait for another feature. Shadow of War is simultaneously the most fun I’ve had all year and one of my disappointments for 2017.
Or: NWP Endurance Match
Egad, hope you’re ready for this hellacious edition of Nerds Without Pants: Halloween Havoc style! We are joined by Blake to talk about characters that spook us, movies that chill us, and podcast lengths that make us quake with fear. If you all get to the end of this, well…you’ll see.
