The Nerd Next Door

Ah October, pumpkin spice is in the air, spooks are abundant, and I even rebrand myself as Spookbringer to get into the season. Things have been a little tougher this year to get into the mood, what with the looming threats breathing down our necks come November, but I decided to do so anyway with two games, Luigi's Mansion and DOOM 64 . Now this isn't about Luigi's Mansion , chances are if you're a gamer who owns a Gamecube/can emulate on PC you'll know Luigi's Mansion is a classic so I'm not here to beat you over the head with that knowledge. No, I'm here to tell you about a Halloween classic you may have slept on, one that went largely ignored even in it's own series' fanbase until about, two-three years ago.  Yes, we're talking DOOM 64 for the Panasonic 3DO Nintendo 64, a game that is shockingly not just DOOM but on the N64, it's a wholly original game and a Halloween FPS classic. Now , DOOM 64 is sort of an inappropriate name,

  Halo 3: ODST , one of my favorite games of all time, has finally received a proper PC port so I felt it was time to talk about what made it so special. ODST stood out in the Halo series for changing the formula; new gameplay ideas, new design, throwing what a Halo game was on it's head, and focusing on more personal stories about the world you're in as opposed to the big epic scales one got used to. Over the years however, I've noticed one game that does the same thing in it's own series and stands out for those same reasons as ODST , the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask . Sure it's a different series and gameplay styles, but you'd be shocked at the common story these games share, right from inception. ODST and Majora's Mask both started out as other projects entirely, for ODST it was Halo: Chronicles , a failed project meant to be directed by Peter Jackson. When Jackson bailed however the team behind Chronicles were left with nothing to do. So,