Tag Archives: 50 great games

50 Great Games, #3: The Neverhood

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I’m happy to present entry number three in our 50 Great Games series, featuring art AND words from our recently interviewed and multi-talented amaze-man, Jess Smart Smiley!

My dad has introduced me to some pretty cool games. I piloted ships in X-Wing and Tie Fighter, I cried out of pure frustration over Archon Ultra, and I even went through a short Duke Nuke ‘Emphase. The game I remember most, though, and the game that still fascinates me 16 years later is a cult classic called The Neverhood.

The Neverhood is a clickable adventure game, way back from the days of CD ROMS. While the game was released by DreamWorks Studios, it is the brainchild of artist Doug TenNapel. There are so many aspects unique to the game and so much to love about The Neverhood that it’s difficult to find a starting point. We’ll start with clay, because that’s what the game is made out of. 2 tons of it, if I remember right. Everything in the game is made out of clay: the characters, the buildings, the televisions and trees. Everything is stylized in a colorful, funky cartoon vision and was nothing like I had ever seen before.

You play as Klaymen, who wakes up not knowing where he is or what to do. Immediately there are puzzles and games inside The Neverhood (also made of clay) that unlock doors and elevators, bridges and cities. The puzzles aren’t your typical move-a-tile-here-then-move-another-tile-there breed, either. These puzzles include things like spitting water into tubes and feeding monsters in the correct order. One of the puzzles involves navigating a car that runs on the sides of cliffs. Some puzzles don’t even appear to be puzzles, but a collection of symbols, or a series of doors. There are rarely any straightforward instructions on how to play, and the longest-running puzzle of all is learning how the world of The Neverhood works — its nature. Even the music is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Terry Scott Taylor has put together one of the most unique game soundtracks in existence and it’s filled with a dabble of splurting horns, bubbling dixieland scatting, and musical coughs accompanied by acoustic guitar. It’s something you just have to experience, so check out the title screen already and see what I’m talking about.

I loved The Neverhood because it was just as much fun to play as it was to wonder how such a thing was even made. Fortunately for players like myself, there were not only animated sequences that were unlocked throughout the game, but there was also a “making of” video included in the bonus content. In the video, we get to see TenNapel and the Neverhood crew at work, building sets, animating characters, and slathering everything with clay.

This game has been such a big influence on my art, and on me as an individual. It has given me permission to make pictures that I was never taught about in school, and the game has helped me to trust my instinct as a creator. I owe a lot to Doug TenNapel, and for me it all started with The Neverhood.

Words and illustration by Jess Smart Smiley

50 Great Games, #1: Dead Rising 2

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50 Great Games, #1: Dead Rising 2
We were gone for a bit of time, and now we’re back for a weekly feature on Drawn Words, titled 50 Great Games. This weekly post will feature, obviously, 50 great video games. This is in no order, no preference, and absolutely not a top games of all time post. This is strictly a weekly video game post in which we talk about our favorite video games by posting words and art dedicated to them. We’ll be adding other authors and guest artists to this article later on in the series, but for the intro, you’re stuck with just Estevan and I. Hope you enjoy this bit. 

There are possibly thousands of folks out there with a tremendous hate for this game. I have a handful of friends who just didn’t ‘get’ the Dead Rising series, and for a handful of reasons.

  • The time limit was annoying, to some.
  • The controls were shitty.
  • Certain weapons were difficult to use.
  • Guns were pointless.
  • Going from point A to point B is a very tedious task, especially with a time limit.
  • Fighting psychopaths and non-zombie folk was difficult.
  • Camera issues.
  • Lacking depth.
  • Terrible save system.

This sounds like a horrid game from these listed items alone, except it may also be part of the reason why I enjoy the Dead Rising franchise more than most other titles out on the market today.

Being a huge fan of b-movies and all things trash, I absolutely loved everything the game presented to players. Both the original Dead Rising and its sequel allowed gamers to use extremely ludicrous weapons to kill and fight off zombies, with Dead Rising 2 taking that step even further and letting the player combine two different weapons to make brand new, highly comical killing tools. You fought off psychopaths who threatened to kill you with their highly equipped shopping carts or roller skate/bear suit costume combinations. There were also multiple ways of completing the game, and if you chose to complete it the lengthiest way, there was still a handful of objectives and side missions you might’ve missed the first go ’round, to make you want to fiend for more of the game.

In the original Dead Rising, players fought a clown who duel-wielded chainsaws that he juggled in the air, and breathed fire at the main protagnist of the game, Frank West. Chainsaws and swords cut entire zombies in half, and the blood that spurted from those dead bodies were glorious red fountains. Gamers could also take photos with Frank’s camera to earn extra level-boosting points that were rated by how sexy, gory, or trauma-filled they were. Dead Rising 2 took some of the same scenarios the original title thought up, and expanded on some of those ideas.

The biggest reason why Dead Rising 2 shines brighter than other titles is a very simple fact about the franchise that I can say applies more to this series than any other: It’s just pure fun.

This game has a different feel to me. Nothing you attempt to do in this game feels like it’s punishable. Gamers are somewhat encouraged to create own scenarios and tackle the game in different ways than expected, and with different strategies, weapons, and stats. I felt like most players who had issues with this game didn’t like the amount of freedom provided, and thus, felt lost at points. The entire game might’ve felt like it was forcing players to rush through the sandbox that was given to roam through, while others felt like certain things they were missing were to be sought after on the second play-through.

The thing is with Dead Rising: The game never forces players to do much of anything, actually. You have complete freedom to tackle the game however you’d like. Honestly, if you’re looking for a breath taking, story gripping, epic adventure of a game, this isn’t it. All you’re getting with Dead Rising is a very non-serious game about mindless killing, survival, and playability. If you’re looking into this video game about a motorcyclist clearing his name from a zombie outbreak in a casino spot while plowing through zombies with an electrified rake seriously, you’re not looking at Dead Rising 2 with the right eye.

Written by Kevin Cortez
Illustration by Estevan Sanchez