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TV shows and Films to re-watch if you like HBO’s LOVECRAFT COUNTRY

Sam HaiNe — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:19:59 +0000

Lovecraft Country was a very nice surprise this year.

A very dark and imaginative series taking place during the Jim Crow era of America’s complicated history, lead by a very talented Black cast and the right mix of horror, gore, suspense, and character drama that is very fun and entertaining without hammering any agenda into your head. If you haven’t watched this series, I highly recommend you to watch it; especially members of the diaspora that are interested in developed original characters of color instead of the vapid pandering to people of color by Hollywierd looking to bait and switch audiences with black actors playing originally white characters. LOVECRAFT COUNTRY is amazing especially in its first four episodes.

That being said- I will recommend two TV series and two films that fall into the same pocket as Lovecraft Country. I was immediately reminded of these titles while watching the first four episodes and I know yous all will love them as well, if you can find them online or at any local business that sells dvds, blue-rays and the like.

ANGEL HEART (1987):

The neo-noir horror thriller directed by Alan Parker (The Wall) and based on the novel ‘FALLING ANGEL’ was released in theaters in 1987, starring Mickey Rourke and Robert DeNiro. And followed a private investigator hired by a mysterious client to look for a missing singer during post WWII America. Mixing classic themes of Satanism and Mysticism with elements of Voodoo (which is mostly benevolent) and filmed in NYC and New Orleans. My first recommendation for anyone looking for more of the same vibe similar to Lovecraft Country but more nihilistic with that Noir punctuation of “Everyone is fucked”.

Friday the 13th : the series (1987-1990)

The adventures of Micki & Ryan and Jack Marshak as they hunt for cursed items and safely store them in the safe/vault of their antique shop. The series although only related to the movie franchise by name only was a really fun series to watch on NYC channel 11 back in the late 80’s when primetime television was fun and ahead of its time. This was way before the X-Files aired on FOX and can be seen as a precursor to that show; the only major difference being Friday the 13th’s overall storyline was more coherent and not just a bunch of random events around a horror anthology.

Cast A Deadly Spell (1991):

A hard boiled detective story inspired by HP LOVECRACT’s Old Ones mythos and the Necronomicon starring Fred Ward, Julianne Moore, Clancy Brown and David Warner and produced by Gale Anne Hurd (Aliens, The Terminator). Originally aired on HBO in 1991 and was so likeable with its movie quality practical effects and story when it premiered(to a young 9yr old me). I still think of it fondly and will re-watch it whenever I feel the urge. A very good blend of all the elements with an EMMY award wining song featured in the film by Curt Sobel.
Cast a Deadly Spell starred Fred Ward as Harry Philip Lovecraft a hard-lined sleuth living in a fictitious Lost Angeles where the citizens not only are aware of Magick but use it in their mundane/ordinary lives… Everyone except Private Detective H.P.LOVECRAFT.
Playing somewhere on YOUTUBE, go find it.

Kolchek the Night Stalker (1974–1975):

You can’t mention Friday the 13th and X-files in the same article without mentioning the grandfather of both series, Kolchek.

The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it rapidly achieved cult status and has remained very popular in syndication.

Those are my recommendations folks. Now go and watch LOVECRAFT COUNTRY now playing on HBO and HBOmax.
Stay safe out there. COVID, the goons, the government and the aimless dregs are all out in the night where the wolves once fed. Before the bland and the blahzay blah had their say.
Stay safe out there. Stay cool. Keep your head up. Talk hard. and always keep your finger on that REWIND button.
– SamHaiNe

***SamHaiNe’s new spoken word album – ‘Natural City’ is out and NOW PLAYING
@ https://samhaine.bandcamp.com/album/natural-city .
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https://samhaine.bandcamp.com/album/natural-city

MANDY, Panos Cosmatos’ psychotic, violent, delightful, Stoner Metal Fantasy.

Sam HaiNe — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 07:50:14 +0000

It’s after one in the morning and I’ve just now seen the trailer to something that looks like a movie that is finally up my alley. Finally a movie that can keep my attention. “Sorry, To Bother You” was a great film, I loved it. But that was weeks ago and I’ve seen some disappointing features at the cinema since then. Hollywood is going down the drain folks. Down the drain in a spandex computer generated super-costume.

But at 2a.m. I couldn’t have picked a better movie to throw $6.99 at for a 24hr PPV rental.

Mandy is a definite 80’s homage to midnight cinema but, more rooted in 70’s arthouse and grindouse films with some Argento sprinkled over it. Simple storytelling that can be summarized in seconds but, unraveling for a justifiable two hours. This film is indeed influenced by Heavy Metal; both the magazine and the music genre with the main title bleeding across the screen in Black Metal font. Its music vibrating and injecting mood and suspense throughout a obvious work of art, the last film to be scored by Jóhann Jóhannsson.

The opening title sequence was when my eyes melted into my television and I immediately knew this movie was made by people that are in sync with director Panos Cosmatos’ vision of the script. The film opens with an overhead view of the films setting, THE SHADOW MOUNTAINS in the year 1984 A.D. The slow creeping ‘Starless’ by Kind Crimson (from the RED album) starts playing.

There’s a limited but beautiful color palette all throughout this film.. Anyone who obsesses over early Michael Mann films will recognize the blues and red immediately. As well there’s moments that can easily be associated with other classic retro films especially one scene that just feel so much like it’s from Ridley Scott’s LEGEND. There’s a little bit of this and a lil bit of that movie but this is no friggin ripoff R. Zombie collage.. This is its own very vibrant and voluptuous tapestry.

Say what you want about Nicholas Cage. Many times, critics and casual movie goers will repeat some nonsense from the internet about Cage being the worst of the worst when it comes to film, I disagree. People said the same thing about Keanu Reeves yet are impatiently waiting for that third John Wick film. Keanu is a good actor when he is utilized correctly and the same is true with Nicolas Cage like in the films: Raising Arizona, Wild at Heart, Leaving Las Vegas, Bringing Out the Dead, 8mm and Adaptation. I’m still a fan of his tiny role as a pimp in his directorial debut, “SONNY” starring James Franco.

The rest of the cast is perfect. Andrea Riseborough reminds me of specific women that I easily fell for – down a love canal of vinyl records, band shirts, late-night B movies, pajama and chill nights; and shared cigarettes. There are scenes like one where her face is only lit by a bonfire where her facial features neckline and endless gaze invokes classic Psychedelic Metal drawings of Frank Frazetta women.

But I agree with other critics that one performance that must be talked about is Linus Roache (History’s Vikings and Batman Begins) who plays the leader of the Children of the New Dawn. A small Manson family like cult of hippie freaks and acid trippers. The bi-polar nature of his character is entertaining, unhinged, pathetic and vile.

The plot is simple – Bad group see girl, they hire some of the most disturbing bikers I’ve ever seen on camera to find them, they do some really messed up things and our hero must forge his weapon in the fire and seek vengeance like a blue collar Conan the barbarian.

This movie is awesome. I can’t wait to get it on BLUE-RAY. I want the poster on my wall next to my album art. I need more weapons in my house. I miss the forest. I miss the cold. The chill that comes in-between the seasons. This film is everything you could ever want. I haven’t been this hyped bout something since I saw: “Hobo with a Shotgun”, “Bronson”, “Good Time”.

Basicallly Panos has joined the list of my favorite directors, with only two films under his belt. That is significant. He’s nestled among the talents of Denis Villanueve, Nicolas Refn Winding, the Safdie Bros., the Coen’s, Michael Mann, Sam Esmail and others.

If you haven’t seen this movie yet or you live in a town that can’t carry it, I suggest you rent it through your cable provider or purchase it at your local Best Buy. Cult Movies like this usually get distributed to Best Buys fairly fast. So Go watch it. I insist.

Tune in next month when I review Panos Cosmatos first film “Beyond the Black Rainbow”. A psychedelic science-fiction thriller that’s David Cronenberg meets 2001 and Altered States.

Keep cool, Keep warm, Stay chill and always keep your fingers on that Rewind Button.

TRAILER:

The Neverending Story – Michael Ende (1979, Tr. 1983)

Amonne Purity — Mon, 15 May 2017 23:37:03 +0000

“Profanity of words” – the phrase for today. Unnecessary sentences and paragraphs served as additives, which suddenly begin to host a curved hump of a “c” in the very center of their now addi-c-tive ‘vicinity’. All the letters scribbled about their next of kin eventually fall under this highly ambivalent category. These secondary, even tertiary mirages, echoes and aftershocks of something which has already been written, these passages made out of crumbling plaster, casted in a mold capable of enduring liquid wolfram, titanium and gold, seem to play many different roles, the most valuable ones being: highlighting, encouraging, popularizing, informing, simplifying, etc., but, unfortunately, every rose has its thorn – they can also: bore, outrage, disconcert, exaggerate, flaunt, and so on. On rare occasions (are they really that rare?), the sacrilege conveyed by the derivativeness of texts about texts hits the critical level. Ever since the speech and its penned down twin – the writing – have been held in silver esteem, the only solution applicable to their blasphemous superfluity was to repent and dip our pens in an ink of silence, which has always been thought of as golden in color (indeed, it is the most pregnant element of language to this day). But what would happen if we could get someplace via neither silence nor words, where we would not only break free from the chains of letters riveted to the hoary chestnut called Profanity, but also stimulate our imagination to synthesize genuinely trailblazing ‘platinum’, which would simultaneously retain the possibility to get desecrated, defiled, sullied, yes, but only in a positive manner? We would have to set out on a journey throughout Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story.

As much as children literature is considered a genre, which has often delivered portrayals of something from a domain of human life that exists and should exist (tightening knots of friendship, overcoming hardships, handling and reciprocating gratitude, etc.) by means of things which simply do not (unicorns, enchanted castles, powerful wizards and the like), as opposed to the traditional fiction, which has been focused more on creating stories about things in various ‘modes’ of existence (e.g. mysterious relations overlooked in the everyday hurly-burly, perplexing sensations, bewildering chains of events, ontologically unlikely characters, etc.) using ‘cogs and sprockets’ of a narrative exhibiting real, palpable, down-to-earth consistency – their blend, which a well-crafted attempt is The Neverending Story itself, may be perceived as a pretty unusual nexus. That is why Ende’s most renowned novel parades without any complexes among such seminal titles of prepubescent literature as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh and Peter and Wendy, although being much younger than its classic ‘siblings’. It also would not look immature, if we shelved it next to some C. S. Lewis’ novels or J. D. Salinger’s short stories. Nevertheless, the splendor of strut undoubtedly overshadows the maturity of presence. So what distinguishes The Neverending Story from its ‘underage’ peers, then?

A hunch is whispering in my ear a plausible prompt that the certain ‘area of expressions’ undertaken by German author is what stands out here the most. Alice’s wonderful exposure to and exposition of linguistic, temporal and spatial playfulness, Pooh’s delightful silliness and Peter’s adventurous raucousness can be counterpointed with Ende’s genuine inclination towards literature and all the multi-dimensionality it denominates, a longing for an endless escape to infinity or maybe for an infinite escape to endlessness and a deep allegory about growing (not necessarily up), going astray and being saved by self-redemption (with a little help from kind friends). All of this is seasoned by an absolutely unpretentious, almost hidden morals we are obliged to crystalize on our own and a quintessential flavor every solid fiction should be saturated with – the sweetness of sheer magic.

The novel tells a story of Bastian Balthazar Bux, a bowlegged, chubby, rather clumsy, somewhat disillusioned, often neglected by his widowed father and definitely bullied by school hoodlums ten-year-old boy, who, under the it-just-turned-out-this-way circumstances, steals a novel entitled “The Neverending Story” from an antiquarian bookshop owned by a man called Carl Conrad Coreander. Being pricked by his conscience and ridden with a feeling he has nobody to turn to and nowhere to go, Bastian decides to lock himself up on the school attic, where he can read his randomly obtained loot. However, after several chapters, our little avid reader, name ‘generator’ and storyteller (his only irrefutable skills and virtues) finds out that The Neverending Story is not just another ordinary story, which could be stolen from a second-hand bookstore, and experiences first-hand even more than literally, what it means to be totally gripped by and get into the plot…

Perhaps the wisest way to describe the referentiality, the ‘texture’ of motifs and the interconnected meta-level composition of The Neverending Story would be to draw several in-depth comparisons with other texts of juvenile literature, which are extraordinarily prone to the above type of evaluation, mainly due to the axiological charge running through their ‘wiring’. Regrettably, or quite the contrary – without the slightest trace of remorse, I have been drugged by the vision of the ‘platinum’, towards which Ende’s opus magnum is paving way for all the letter profaners and future ‘sentencary’ saints out there. Besides, the book prevents us from judging it in the matter-of-fact assessment mode in the first place, because it has been dosed with the intensity of a full-blooded adult fiction, which tends to fluctuate, multiply and double-cross. We often forget that our protagonist or, shall I say, “protagonists” – for there is another youngster, Bastian’s ‘neverending’ anti-doppelgänger Atreyu (the prefix “anti-” taken very flexibly here) – are preteen fellas, especially when we are witnessing Bux’s metaphysically brilliant conversations with Grograman A.K.A. The Many-Colored Death or his Sisyphean task at the Minroud Mine. On the other hand, Atreyu does not fall behind with his spine-tingling confrontation with a dying werewolf Gmork in Spook City, surrounded by the oncoming Nothing. Their dialog, pumped up with a thinly camouflaged critique of an extensively sprawled ‘short-sightedness’ of our contemporary times (I should have used the term “blindness”, however I side with Atreyu, Bastian and Ende who all think, I presume, that the hope-crushing proposition “Life is like that” is a load of gibberish), makes you shed a tear with a platinum gleam inside. Or is it just a will-o’ the-wispy reflection of a marvelous filigree from the Silver City of Amarganth?

Reflections, ponderings, ruminations – another ‘nook’ of the book; this one reserved for adults and younglings, whose ‘juvenile’ eyes have been already blessed with a platinum insight and ‘outsight’ – form a gallery of thoughts, many of them tuning us in to amusingly speculative frequencies, not to mention lumps in our throats we are struggling to gulp thanks to their humane honesty. Some of our meditations are induced by frame tale narratives, varying from a single paragraph to a regular account, which have been studded throughout the whole book. A memorable example is Bastian’s tale “The Story of the Library of Amarganth”, which leaves us contemplating creative powers of the nomenclature or – if I may meta-wink a little at language myself – ‘the imagery of coinagery’ (when we invent a phrase, is it only a word or is there something more, ‘lurking’ behind this freshly concocted term? If there is something ‘out there’, what is it then? What could it be? Has it been there before? What is the ‘feeling’ of a difference between making up a portmanteau and forming an expression consisting of randomly picked letters? – these questions are only a warm-up, believe me!). Other notions, which are conjured up by the ‘choke-uppers’, the first-class tear jerkers (like Bastian’s stay in the House of Change with Dame Eyola), treat our hearts and souls as musical instruments, on which they play a slow jazz standard that resonates with the most fragile ‘strings’ of ours, which, for a well-known or a well-unknown reason, have been kept hidden, forgotten, ignored, mistrusted. Upon hearing their gentle weeps, we crack as easily as dreams from Minroud Mine. And then we cry as bitterly as Acharis, the ugliest creatures in Fantastica. It is during those moments that our eyes leach away platinum filaments, which forecast fantastic filigrees of forthcoming fonts and firmaments…

I know what all of you may be asking yourselves right now – what is this ‘platinum’ I have been obscurely (or even obtusely) hinting at all along? I am not sure. It may be something as straightforward (but absolutely not trivial!) as a feeling of being boosted by ultimate possibilities, whose unquenchable, child-like energy might still be attainable for everyone, despite the annihilating presence of Nothing. Or it could be something more complicated. For example our sincerest astonishment because we have found something unexpectedly cathartic in a totally unforeseeable place let alone ‘something’ from beyond the inexpressibility, which keeps hovering over neither silver platters of writing nor golden nuggets of silence. Or maybe it is, after all, only an addictive additive, a mirage, an echo, an aftershock of unnecessary letters, which give birth to nothing but a profanity (like the overzealously wordy one you have just read?). Yet tell me, My Dear Platinum-eyed Reader, if it is conceivable for the never-ending divinity of letters to corrupt or get desecrated? And is it possible to forget the story which never ends? I can already sense the shine of your platinum smile…

Amonne Purity

Swords and Serpents (Interplay, 1990)

bryan.eddy@newretrowave.com — Mon, 15 May 2017 14:10:50 +0000

For the hundredth time, I’ll repeat myself: I am deeply, deeply into the fantasy shit. In particular, I am really into anything that even remotely emulates Dungeons & Dragons. There’s just something about a band of adventurers descending into caverns, ruins, and other dangerous places to hunt for loot or die trying… it’s the stuff legends are made of. Well, legends or bloodbaths, I guess. Either way… *puts on dumb helmet and picks up ridiculously huge axe* count my ass IN.

I mean, how the fuck does this not scream “awesome?” (This is the box art by the way, by Boris Vallejo, one of the inheritors of Frazetta’s legacy.)

in 1990, the whole concept was still pretty hot in popular culture, at least hot enough to try and sell some NES cartridges. Interplay strapped on its gear and lit its torch to bring us Swords and Serpents, a game that takes the general premise of D&D (as well as some of its terminology) and crunches it down ever-so-gently so it can be presented in an 8 bit format. There’s a lot to like about this game, but there’s plenty I wish were different as well. It’s a visually beautiful and carefully authentic dungeon-crawl that stays very true to formula, but it’s still got some holes in it.

NOTE: I would like to stress that this game bears no relation to the identically titled Intellivision game, and at no time am I talking about that game. In fact, I have had almost no exposure to the Intellivision, except I know a He-Man game came out for it and I’m forever pissed that Mattel was so exclusive with its licensing back then. But that’s an axe we can grind some other day…

The game starts up and you’re presented with the choice to make your own group of heroes or use the default one. Do what you will, but the default one’s really not bad and choosing it saves you a little time diddling around. You’ll want the same basic setup anyway: two characters who can beat the shit out of monsters by way of weapons (warrior and thief, really just two different styles of murder), and two magic-using people (who can both do some hurting and some healing). Minor details don’t factor in. Besides, you’re probably just going to see them all die.

AKA: Who you tryin’ to send to the grave today?

Let’s talk about that… palette swaps and all, Swords and Serpents has a surprising array of monsters who are more than happy to mechanically separate you like they worked at the Tyson plant and you were chicken meant for dog food. Skeletons, spiders the size of tanks, wandering asshole wizards… I’ve provided as much of a visual bestiary as I felt I could without just making this article one big gallery of scary shit. The lavish and horrid detail in which some of these creatures are rendered not only impresses me (since 8 bit graphics do tend to constrain more than release an artist’s details) but also provides a bit of a visceral shock when some of them crop up.

As you can see, plenty of these screenshots show (by way of the convenient bar graphs representing the party’s life/magic meters) my bold adventurers getting their asses handed to them by undead, mutant bats, trolls with switchblades, and whatever the hell that ghastly sneering thing is on the bottom middle.

However, the first thing you encounter is an old lunatic with pretty useless information.

“Adventure, or, you know, getting your buttholes destroyed by trolls… destiny is a tricky thing. Now get in there, and best of luck to you!”

Once he leaves you alone, you’re free to wander and find your way into certain goddamn death. I found that biding my time and carefully picking battles weighed in my group’s favor (and fleeing like a fucking coward when outmatched) was a capital strategy early on. I was actually able to get fairly far in the game on my first go, and not just because I’m so intimately familiar with dungeon-crawling that it hurts. You also want to keep everyone as healthy as you can with your magicians’ healing spells, because… well, there’s something in RPGs called action-economy, and you don’t want to be wasting time DURING a fight casting a spell you could have cast BEFORE it… but you’ll still have to do that plenty anyway. Division of labor is the rule of the day… have your whackers whack and your healers heal. To reiterate… YOU MAY STILL JUST GET WIPED. The dungeon, she does not forgive, nor is her kiss a gentle one.

The axe man is so pretty… so, so pretty… but don’t be fooled.

You’re able to go into characters’ inventories and access their spellbooks fairly easily, and the menus aren’t clumsy or counter-intuitive like can happen so often in this genre of video games. The only thing that bothers me from an aesthetic standpoint is that there is no “you.” That is to say, the adventuring party is not represented at all, really; Swords and Serpents shows you only the first-person and top-down representations of the space you’re invading… and anything that’s trying to murder you.

Flight. Listed below and very separately, so you know it’s for running away like a bitch.

The end goal is to make it down to the titular Serpent, who is every bit as doleful and horrible as some of the other monsters. He is also capable of constantly, FREQUENTLY attacking without much delay or space between, so you’d better have a plan going in and be buff enough to handle this shit. I never made it anywhere near this far but the playthrough I saw showed me the default strategy: dump everything destructive you have on the Serpent while doing your damnedest to keep everyone not-dead.

I mean for starters, he’s not thrilled you just invited yourself in. Can you tell by his horrible fucking face and soul-destroying gaze?

The music is pretty kickin’. It’s nothing worth gushing over for too long, but the tunes do get stuck in your head. It’s good RPG music. It fits really well and is probably the best part next to the grotesquely awesome monster graphics.

I’m going to be cruel on Swords and Serpents and give it 6/10. It’s visually impressive where Interplay chose to pour that magic into it, but it lacks depth in terms of immersion and really can get tedious after too long. It’s a game you definitely can’t play for long spans, but it’s fun if you frequently save and take breaks. It’s a worthwhile entry into the NES’s RPG library, and worth a look if you’ve never played.

That’s all for this one, folks. See you at the end of the month for more!

Cadash (Taito, 1989)

bryan.eddy@newretrowave.com — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 16:28:36 +0000

It could be said that if you wanted to make a good profit with a video game, be it now or in the 80s or 90s, the “dragons and wizards” angle has never been a bad way to go. This is a culture that embraced Conan the Barbarian in film 46 years after his original author-creator’s death (the film came out in ’82, while Robert E. Howard died in 1936), and it’s the same culture that’s currently obsessed with Game of Thrones. My personal favorite medium for the genre, Dungeons & Dragons (which I never fail to mention whenever there’s even a remote reason to), is in its 5th edition of rules and still has a strong base of adherents. Barbarians, trolls, demon princes, and magic swords are perennially totally cool.

Ad for the TG-16 version, complete with absolutely lush fantasy art.

So is Cadash, a game I’d only heard of in passing, but that was mentioned to me in a recent conversation by a friend who has a distant interest in retro gaming. “If you’re into D&D but you like Golden Axe, too,” he said, “check out Cadash. It’s basically a mix of both.”

He wasn’t entirely on point, but his heart was in the right place. Cadash hit the arcades in 1989, so it was kicking around them the same time I started to; what surprises me more is how I missed the Genesis port in 1992. It was also released for the Turbo Grafx 16, which is how I recently subjected myself to it (since nearly every MAME32 emulator runs like utter shit on my computer). It’s a pretty fantastic game for its time, combining elements of the RPG and the platformer with some gnarly graphics. It’s got some pretty good sound to boot, but the arcade version seems to come out ahead in that regard.

From the intro of the Genesis port. The King demands that you kneel, but it’s no big deal if you have your sword out.

Cadash‘s story isn’t very complex, and you really wouldn’t want it to be: A demonic warlock born of a human woman has rallied the monsters of the underground kingdom, who have never forgotten their banishment by the humans. The overworld is nearly in ruins, and this warlock (called, with various spelling variables in the three versions, the Balrog) has kidnapped the daughter of the King of Dirzir to use in a ritual that would truly solidify his evil power and doom the human world. Of course, in the custom of video game RPG kings, the ruler of Dirzir has promised you his entire realm if you can save his daughter and finish the Balrog once and for all.

The 4-player cabinet. Ideal for corners, I guess.

The arcade version, if configured the right way, could handle up to four players, but the console versions were 1-2 player games. The players choose one of four classic fantasy RPG roles: the fighter, mage, priestess, or ninja. Each one has its ups and downs, but the game’s pretty approachable with any of the four. Single players might have a better time with the priestess though, as she’s got a good reach for her weaponry and a lot of defense-oriented powers. The fighter and the mage have a lot of offensive power, although the fighter’s much better early on and harder to kill. The ninja’s, well, a ninja. He moves very quickly and has some neat tricks up his sleeve. Sadly, the Genesis port has only the fighter and the mage, so if that’s how you experience Cadash, I hope one of those suits you.

Fighter has perfectly conditioned and brushed hair, but not one stitch of armor to speak of. At least everyone else brought their shit, Fabio.

Regardless of who you pick, you use gold from slain monsters to gradually beef up your equipment, and your capabilities increase as you gain levels as well. All of this progress is fueled by killing monsters, but you can’t just wander idly and do that all day (at least not in the arcade version)… there’s a time clock you have to keep feeding. This can be done with rare item drops or by dumping heinous gold at shops where you buy other stuff. This element adds another layer of strategy to the game, where a player or group must measure the clock against their need to level-grind. There’s not really a dull moment in Cadash.

Screenshots from various versions, offering a sample of what’s constantly trying to murder you beneath the ground. Click to enlarge.

The five areas of the game represent the already-conquered territory of the Balrog’s forces; you must fight your way through all of this, and not always in the most linear way either. For instance, at one point you have to double back and save a mermaid from a kraken to get an item that lets you breathe water… and then you can keep moving ahead by swimming through a flooded area. All said, none of it’s very confusing, and the action’s pretty engaging. You can swing your weapons in various directions, which is handy since there are a lot of foes who will come at you from above or below. A lot of the monsters bear superficial resemblance to the orcs, goblins and other standbys of fantasy media; others are just weird. You move through environments mundane and strange, from caves to villages to places where the whole floor is just crunched-up bones. The world of Cadash has heavy hitters too; periodically there’s a boss monster waiting to add your name to the hero obituary.

Satan’s seen worse than your Mardi Gras beads and your nightgown.

The graphics are very crisp and colorful, and seem to translate well to the console ports with very little loss of vibrancy. With an original palette of 4,096 colors, it’s not a drab game by any measure. Cadash also has decent sound, although SFX are sparing; the music is respectably well done, but sometimes seems a bit meandering. Some loops can even be a bit maddening, but that almost seems appropriate. Nitpicking aside, it’s worth exploring the soundtrack for the handful of good tunes in it.

Cadash merits a strong 8 out of 10. It’s a title I’m sorry I missed in arcades, but the gameplay I’ve seen for the arcade original leads me to believe that my experience on the TG-16 is pretty authentic. It’s a great melding of action and RPG elements, it’s got a lot to keep players engaged and sweating, and its over-the-top fantasy elements make it memorable among its contemporaries of the time.

Thanks, RetroFans! See you later in September for more!

The Elder Scrolls: Arena (Bethesda Softworks, 1994)

bryan.eddy@newretrowave.com — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 02:50:19 +0000

For the past couple of years, all I hear about from my friends is how great Skyrim is.

I mean, they’re right. It’s a graphical and gameplay masterpiece. It outshines the previous two installments in the Elder Scrolls series, and even screenshots of it are breathtaking. It inspired me to buy Morrowind again recently, off of Steam, and play it through from the start. I was glad I did; It seems that Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls saga is consistently incredible.

But did you ever play the first one?

A modest beginning for what would become one of fantasy video gaming’s iconic franchises.

In 1994, 3D and first-person were really hitting their stride. These concepts were being applied with a wide brush, and all kinds of games were being developed to exploit the new jump in technology. It only stood to reason that someone would develop an RPG using the scope popularized by games like Doom and Quake; First-person 3D worlds simply begged for exploration. Bethesda Softworks, then a small company in Maryland, decided to tackle the task. Though they’d been around since 1986, Bethesda’s biggest notoriety up until then had been developing the first physics based sports simulator, Gridiron, for the Atari ST. They had also made DOS and NES games based on the first Terminator film, and the DOS version contained some 3D elements.

Some kickin’ box art, in the glorious tradition of classic fantasy. Babes, wizards, knights… you knew you were in for a fantasy epic when you grabbed this off the shelf.

Elder Scrolls: Arena is an oft-overshadowed ground breaker in terms of both first-person RPGs and the “open world” concept. The player creates a customized character using the now-familiar races and classes, and can pursue the game’s main plot while also doing side quests. There is also the (then) novel option of just poking around the land of Tamriel and seeing what turns up. But first… you must make it out of the initial dungeon.

Hunting MacGuffins, hobnobbing with royalty, battling wizards and skeletons… welcome to Tamriel.

Arena‘s plot involves the betrayal of the Emperor by his battlemage Jagar Tharn. Tharn imprisons the Emperor in a pocket dimension, and uses magic to assume his form. Tharn also kills his apprentice, Ria Silmane, because he knows she cannot be corrupted. Silmane sends her spirit to you as you languish in the dungeons beneath the Imperial City, and sets you free by helping you find a key to open your cell. You find a smattering of helpful equipment and progress through what seems to be a set of sewers, slaying rats and goblins as you seek the exit. You then emerge (if you are lucky) in a random part of the Empire… and the story begins. The objective is to assemble the parts of a magic staff that can be used against Jagar Tharn, and confront him in the Imperial City once you have become powerful enough to stop him. There are many other quests you must undertake in the meantime: rescuing people, delving into ancient ruins, and other typical (but exciting) fantasy adventures.

Arena presents you with literally the entire Empire, and you can visit each province. While the graphics are understandably limited, it is a vast game for its time. A great deal of information is packed into one game world, and while the taverns and shops all look the same, everything is worth exploring and there are tons of unique locales dotting the world of Tamriel.

All this could be yours… well, not really, but you do get to explore it all.

And they are full of monsters. Orcs, skeletons, monstrous hounds, minotaurs… there are even vampires and undead wizards (called liches) running around in some of these forsaken places you’ll discover. And of course, you’ll occasionally run into rival adventurers and agents of Jagar Tharn. Tharn himself will occasionally harrow you in your dreams, once he knows you’re assembling the magic staff.

You can also steal things from people and generally be an asshole, if that’s what you’re into. That’s kind of what I’m into.

Almost all of the well-known class choices are available for you during character creation, and while the Argonians and Khajit look far more human than you may be used to, the only race missing is Imperial. You can go for stealth, magic, brawn, or a combination thereof. I had the most success as a melee bruiser, but it’s fun to throw around magic fireballs and float in midair too. It also helps to be able to pick locks. Finding good loot is half the fun when poking through the places your quest will take you; gold can only buy so much, and everyone knows the best toys are lying undisturbed for centuries in the ruins.

Blue means it’s probably magical. Sometimes it behooves you to mismatch armor, or wield a sword that looks like it’s made from uranium. Just do it. Heroism is never easy.

The game’s soundtrack, while a far cry from its sequels’ scores, is still rich and appropriate. It is a little repetitive, but one hardly notices. The graphics are perhaps more grainy and pixelated than something like Doom; with so much to pack into a game world (and a disc), the detail had to be a point of compromise. Nonetheless, you’ll find that the textures and sprites are adequate. The only other point to pick at is that Tamriel, in its first incarnation, is quite a flat realm. No inclines, hills, or soft curves exist. Again, one must remember that this is the grandpappy of what became a legendary set of games. Some gentleness must be shown in judging what really is a stellar release for 1994. Besides, the cinematic cut scenes are obscenely cool. Especially the ending.

I give Elder Scrolls: Arena 8 out of 10. I do so through the gilded lens of hindsight, and to acknowledge that its genetics are very much alive in games like Skyrim. I spent many an hour plugging away at the Quest to assemble the Staff of Chaos, and while I never finished that mighty undertaking, it was worth all the time invested. As a man who adores the fantasy genre, it has always stood out in my mind as a game all too easily forgotten. Especially since it spawned such incredible sequels and helped jump start a now monolithic company!

And thankfully, there were many more. Thanks for reading, RetroWizards!

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