Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Pulp in video games

Good morning world... This is Doctor Lightning with a list of games which were inspired by pulp and its sub-genres and those which are obviously pulp oriented.





Crimson Skies is set in an alternate 1930s universe, in which the United States has splintered into several independent nation-states as a result of an increasing regionalism presence in American politics, crippling the authority of the federal government.[12] These nation-states are in a constant state of war with one another, and thus an interstate highway system never developed. This in turn caused the primary means of transportation and commerce to shift from the ground (cars and trains), to the air (planes and zeppelins). In the process, gangs of air pirates formed, raiding zeppelins and cities everywhere. The story of this game centers around one such pirate gang, the Fortune Hunters, and its leader, Nathan Zachary.

The game allows the player to assume the role of a combat pilot named William Crowe as he experiences the various phases of the Pacific War with Japan, beginning with the Pearl Harbor attack. There are six game modes: Campaign, Instant Action, Single Mission, Historical, Training, and Multiplayer. One or two players can play simultaneously on the console or up to eight players can play on the network via Xbox Live or using a Playstation 2 with network adaptor. There are two different control schemes for flying the planes, Arcade and Professional. The Arcade control scheme allows for easier control of the plane via a single joystick with automatic * rudders. There are also multiple difficulty levels: Rookie, Pilot, Veteran, and Ace. The higher difficulty levels allow more upgrade points, which can be used to upgrade your aircraft, after missions are accomplished.

The player assumes the role of Ramiro "Ram" Cruz; insane criminal turned Drug Enforcement Agent. He has been sent into the Mexican border city of Los Toros and its surroundings by his twin brother Tommy, who wants him to find out who killed their father Ernesto. The player will be tasked with infiltrating and taking down the biggest drug cartel in Mexico and battling it out with dope dealers, banditos, corrupt Federales and Mexican Army, loco luchadores, zombies, guerillas, and other asorted bad guys. Between story missions the player can do optional challenge missions as he or she wishes, exploring Los Toros and gathering bonuses to rack up a high score.
GUN is an Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the Xbox 360, Xbox, GameCube, PC, PSP and PlayStation 2. It is set in the American Old West in the early 1880s. The protagonist, Colton White, is a hunter who turns into a gunslinger when his murdered father, Ned, instructs him to go to Dodge City.

A 3D game like Lament of Innocence before it, Curse of Darkness differs from its predecessor in a number of ways, including a more complex, action/adventure style of gameplay, much like Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. Hector is not a member of the Belmont clan, so he does not use the "Vampire Killer" whip; instead he has the ability (much like Alucard and Soma Cruz) to equip a variety of different weapons ranging from swords, spears, guns, bombs and brass knuckles. However, there is an extra gameplay mode after finishing the game that allows players to play as Trevor Belmont, equipped with the "Vampire Killer" and the classic subweapons (knife, holy water, axe, etc.). The battle system is somewhat similar to that of Dynasty Warriors, Devil May Cry and Chaos Legion whereas one button is used for standard attacks (which can be strung together into a series of combos), and a secondary button is used for stronger "finishing attacks" after a singular standard attack or a combo of standard attacks. As the player acquires progressively stronger weapons throughout the game, the number of standard and finishing attacks the player can perform increase accordingly. Each different weapon type has a different set of combos that can be performed.

Sniper Elite is a third person shooter developed by UK based video game developer Rebellion Developments. The main character is an American OSS agent, Karl Fairburne, disguised as a German sniper inserted into Berlin in 1945, during World War II, with the objective of obtaining German weapons technology before the Soviet NKVD does.

Commandos: Strike Force is a first-person shooter computer game and the fifth installment critically acclaimed Commandos series. It is developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. Released during the first months of 2006, the game makes a departure from the first three games. Although the missions are set-up in a similar fashion (several different objectives, some to be achieved through stealth, others through use of force) and in most occasions the player is allowed to change between different characters, this is the first game in the series to apply a first-person perspective, like many other World War II inspired games, in contrast to the overhead view of the earlier games. Hence, the game is far more similar to the Medal of Honor or Call of Duty games than to earlier entries of the series.

Samurai Western is a PlayStation 2 game in which the player, a samurai named Gojiro Kiryu, travels to the Wild West in search of his brother Rando. On the way you must battle minions of a Tycoon named Goldberg, who is trying to create his own western kingdom.


Far Cry Instincts is a video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the Xbox console. It resembles the earlier PC game Far Cry. However, the gameplay is not as open ended as the former. It makes up for this by including extra multiplayer modes through the Xbox Live service, alongside new abilities (feral powers) and a map creator mode which allows the users to create their own maps for multiplayer.

Jericho Cross is an average outlaw in the old west. Finally deciding to take on one final big job before he retires, Jericho heists a train supposedly hiding a hidden "treasure". Once on board, Jericho begins fighting off the strange guards of the train, before making his way to the safe. He arms TNT, but Cassidy Sharp attempts to stop him. He blows it anyway, and releases Lazarus, the vampire king. Cursing Jericho to be a vampire forever. Cassidy tells Jericho that she is a part of the Darkwatch, an organization that is dedicated to the eradication of evil on Earth. Lazarus was the vampire king, and because Jericho set him free, Jericho must go get him. After being accepted into Darkwatch, Jericho begins his hunt for Lazarus, going everywhere from an abandoned town, a cemetery, a gold mine, and finally the Darkwatch headquarters itself. The final showdown between Lazarus and Jericho is a lengthy chase through the entire Darkwatch HQ. The ending is left ambiguous, as there could be a sequel.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (commonly abbreviated as LoI) is a video game created by Konami for the Sony PlayStation 2 console. It was originally released in Japan in 2003 and Europe in 2004 as Castlevania (キャッスルヴァニア, Kyassuruvania?). Lament of Innocence is set in 1094, making it the first chronological installment of the Castlevania series.

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is an action video game developed by The Collective and published by LucasArts in 2003 featuring cover art by Drew Struzan. The game is a new adventure of fictional archeologist Indiana Jones. The story is set in 1935, just before the events of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and is available for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Macintosh and Windows.


This is Doctor Lightning signing off...