Expendable

Phil12 · Post by **Phil12** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:38 pm

Whipped that out the other day...what a good game.

worstplayer · Post by **worstplayer** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:47 pm

I dunno, i couldn't play it for more than 10 minutes because of horrible controls.
(If we're talking about same game)

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:47 pm

if it's such a good game why haven't i heard of it LOL

pics plz

btw ur sig 2 big

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:48 pm

The Dreamcast game? It was alright. Not a shooter, though.

Phil12 · Post by **Phil12** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:54 pm

nah it was an old PS1 game. It was an underdog, but it was still cool.

Kaspal · Post by **Kaspal** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:01 pm

if we're talkin about the same game (the DC and PC one), i enjoyed it back in the day (about 8 yrs ago?)... but its more like contra than a shmup.

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:17 pm

WELCUM 2 SHMUPZ
DONT FORGET 2 RED DA STICKIES LOL

also discussions suck if nobody knows what you're talking about

MOAR DETAILS

YES

MAKE IT DRAMATIC

P_HAT · Post by **P_HAT** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:21 pm

lol bump on water.
but, it's 1999(!!!)

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:34 pm

Yes, bump on water in 1999

. That particular bump map looks more appropriate for cleared-off ice though.

P.s. this is a shooter, but is it a "shooter" shooter?

What an important and intriguing question.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:47 pm

I've moved it to off-topic. This is not a shmup, it's a shooter ala Total Carnage.

PS1, DC and PC are all the same game, with the PS1 having a huge drop on the GFX quality, obviously.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:38 pm

I thought arena shooters like Total Carnage and Smash T.V. were allowed in this year's voting! :O

Maybe you mean it's more along the lines of Mercs, Guerilla War, and Apocalypse (the Bruce Willis game), right?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:40 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:I thought arena shooters like Total Carnage and Smash T.V. were allowed in this year's voting! :O

Maybe you mean it's more along the lines of Mercs, Guerilla War, and Apocalypse (the Bruce Willis game), right?

Total Carnage is an arena shooting?

Yeah, it's more like Guerilla War and Mercs. Never played Apocalypse, but only heard good things about it. Seeing a game with Bruce Willis without being a movie tie-in seemed too weird to me.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:51 pm

Shatterhand wrote:Total Carnage is an arena shooting?

Oh, good point. I get thinking that way due to the Smash T.V. sequelness of it.

Never played Apocalypse, but only heard good things about it. Seeing a game with Bruce Willis without being a movie tie-in seemed too weird to me.

Apocalypse is decent while it lasts. Which isn't too long, unfortunately. Naturally the endgame is a letdown, to say nothing of the out-of-place ending. Willis was originally supposed to be the player's helper character, by the way - this mechanic still isn't ironed out in games, and they decided it was more fun to play as Bruce anyway.

LSU · Post by **LSU** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:05 pm

Ah... One of my friends from college worked on this game.

As already pointed out, the controls aren't so hot. It's also too easy, the bosses are kind of boring and it's quite repetitive after a while. Though it does have quite lovely graphics for it's day, I find it fun for a bit of brainless blasting now and then, but, it's really not a great game by any stretch of the imagination.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:33 pm

DC version didn't have the bump mapping...

I don't find it to be too easy at all; the last few levels in particular are quite a bitch. Good game in my opinion, in the same vein as (although not quite as good as) One for the PS1. Two player mode is quite unplayable, though.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:22 pm

it290 wrote:DC version didn't have the bump mapping...

Interesting, I automatically assumed it did, but now I realize that probably doesn't make sense compared to the rest of its library. How common was this technique on the DC, anyhow? I don't know all that much about its library, really.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:40 pm

The PowerVR2 does support the technique, but I don't think it was used very often. I seem to recall seeing it in Sonic Adventure at some point, but I might be mistaken.

Post by **nZero** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:06 pm

Kind of a bullet-point feature for rasterizers of that era. That is some plastic-y looking water.

I'm selling the game if anyone wanted to try it...

Phil12 · Post by **Phil12** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:34 pm

hey guys. sorry i posted something that wasn't a shmup. Hey can anyone tell me what a shmup really is since this doesn't count?

worstplayer · Post by **worstplayer** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:42 pm

Phil12 wrote:hey guys. sorry i posted something that wasn't a shmup. Hey can anyone tell me what a shmup really is since this doesn't count?

For start: In a shmup your input directly translates into character's position on screen. In Expendable, when you press up, character moves the direction it's facing.
In shmups, your progression through stage is fixed and you can't go backwards. IIRC it was possible in Expendable.

Arguments over what is or isn't shmup usually spawn huge arguments over here, but those two are defining characteristics i think we all can agree on

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:31 am

it290 wrote:The PowerVR2 does support the technique, but I don't think it was used very often. I seem to recall seeing it in Sonic Adventure at some point, but I might be mistaken.

And what about Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament?

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:04 am

I don't think Q3A uses any form of bump-mapping, even on the PC.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:40 am

Q3A does have dot3 bump mapping, aka normal mapping...eh. Not really the same thing, I know!

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:34 pm

I know the engine can support it, but does the actual game use it?

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Thu May 01, 2008 5:51 pm

Expendable was top notch without question. I still play it on DC all the time. However, I would not classify it as a shmup.

Now Incoming (made by the same company) is a ahmup...and is also of high quality and underated. Its is 20 different shmups in one...sort of a hybrid shmup.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu May 01, 2008 6:01 pm

it290 wrote:I know the engine can support it, but does the actual game use it?

On the PC, certainly (those shiny surfaces with apparent moving reflections = dot3 bumpz)

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu May 01, 2008 7:01 pm

Hmm, ok. Well in that case I believe that some DC games such as Blue Stinger and Sonic Adventure use a similar effect.

Skykid · Post by **Skykid** » Thu May 01, 2008 11:18 pm

Lol at defining shmups, and lol at discussing Expendable.

It was a poor mans Contra influenced run & gun and smelled a little bit like shit.

Not worth your time, and certainly not worth a thread.

Phil12 · Post by **Phil12** » Fri May 02, 2008 12:05 am

I thought it was good. It was pretty fun, too.

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Fri May 02, 2008 7:43 am

nobody cares what you think lol