After a barnstorming debut, ON Games Magazine has something of a reputation to live up to. Can the second volume achieve the high standards of the first?
As before, this copy was sent for me to review. What follows are my own thoughts and opinions, and ON Games Magazine has had neither input in to this appraisal, nor foreknowledge of its contents.
I received the rather fetching Pikachu cover, and since the volume itself is of the same high quality as the first, let's get straight into the features.
Keith Stuart starts proceedings with a highly readable retrospection on 1990's horror games and how a maturing gaming audience was well placed to enjoy the benefits of 3D graphics, CD-ROM storage, and developer inspiration from other mediums. Cinema, literature and television had, over the previous couple of decades, redefined the concepts of what "horror" was, and the 90's saw a perfect mix of cultural awareness and technological advancement deliver genre-defining gaming experiences. This is something that is still happening to this day and one can't help but wonder if someone could grab the rights to BBC's Ghostwatch and make a VR title out of it. There again, the original broadcast scared the hell out of me so for the sake of my heart, maybe not...
Path-making in games fall under Christian Donlan's gaze, inspired by a trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Wait, just hold on, there are pertinent points being to be made and the author picks up the baton with aplomb. The reader is taken on an at times personal journey as to how in-game pathways reflect both real-world conditions as well as defining how players interact with the virtual world. This is especially important in open-world titles, and the article got me thinking about two "go anywhere" games that I still drop into every now and again: Saints Row IV and Halo Infinite. Yes, I am one of those. I feel no personal shame. The text is accompanied by some lovely map-work - and as a map-nerd, this made me very happy.
Following that is a funky vignette comparing the mission The Target from Driver: San Francisco with Christopher Nolan's films. All I'll say is yes, I get it.
The once hugely popular rhythm game genre is picked apart by Jen Simpkins, and this one had me reaching for the library and online searches. Many will have heard of Beatmania, Vib Ribbon, and Rez. But Sayonara Wild Hearts (not those Wildhearts, Eddie. Leave Ginger out of this!) and Rhythm Heaven were new ones for me. Aside from Rez which I played on my Dreamcast back in the day, most of these games are not my Vib(e), but learning about them means that maybe one day, I might be tempted to seek one or two out. Knowledge is a powerful thing, after all.
Ah, now here's one for the tin foil hatters out there: Pokemon myths. Chris Tapsell's deep dive into the urban legends, half truths and outright lies that have surrounded the Pokemon games since their arrival is a fun and ever so slightly absurd voyage of amateur detective work and extremely niche online communities. Don't take that as a sneering comment though. These are passionate people finding connections to people across the globe within a shared love of a decades-long franchise (feel old yet?). As someone who was slightly too aged to be truly beaten by the Pokemon bug in the closing months of the last century (seriously, how old do you feel now?), this very much a thirty-something's tale. The interviewees are an interesting bunch, and the subject has been approached with respect and much affection. Detours to Xevious and data-mining, as well as the reticence of developers in letting things slip, add to the air of mystery.
The article should also make the reader very much aware that since video games have been a cultural touch point for some fifty plus years now, there are many valid personal histories relating to gaming experiences and such tales should never be disparaged simply because they are not "your" memories.
Speaking of which, Caelyn Ellis has the article that resonated with me the most - the brilliance of the original PlayStation and the author's personal gaming (and employment history). As a declaration of love for the little grey box, I have not read better, and being (almost) part of the same generation, their enthusiasm for the machine is palpable. It helps that arguably there had never been to that point, and never has been since, such a leap in gaming technical capabilities. The walkthrough of classic games that defined the console could literally define the term "Greatest Hits", and it would be a lie to say I didn't feel all nostalgic with the memories of buying my first PlayStation using my WH Smith staff discount. Now that was a Christmas temp job!
The take wouldn't be complete without the prevalence of copied games and the chipping that enabled them, and the addition of the author's PlayStation 2 experience is a cherry on top of the article.
Andrew P Hind offers a brief interlude on the design concepts behind the magazine, before Jeremy Peel takes an off-kilter view of the history of video games as defined by the Wolfenstein series. Beginning with the Apple II's Castle Wolfenstein, and finishing with 2019's Youngblood, the links to the changing nature of the industry are put forward succinctly and eruditely. Of note is the way the author adds depth to the subject in how the series and its developers have affected, and been emblematic of, gaming in general.
The final piece is once again left to Yussef Cole, this time centring his attention on the Stalker series, the second game in particular, and the connections between the origins of the series and the real-world location of its inspiration and development. It's a timely reminder that gaming does not exist in a vacuum, and that reality does take its toll on the medium. (cough, EA, cough)
All told, this is a brilliant successor to the first volume, and reinforces my belief that longer-form content still has a physical place in the world of videogames. I have signed up for updates on volume three, and I shall be placing an order as soon as it's available.
You can pick up a copy of volume two direct from the ON Games Magazine website, and you can follow them on the following social media sites:
Instagram: ongamesjournal Instagram
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ongamesjournal/videos
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/ongamesjournal.bsky.social
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