Living Proof That There's No Such Thing as Too Much German Metal Posted November 30, 2012
If you ever were in the mood for a good solid Judas Priest in their glory days replacement, look no further than
Tyran' Pace. Frontlined by the wailing vocalist
Ralf Scheepers who started it as an unapologetic
Judas Priest ripoff band, arguably even influencing the direction Priest went in later. Just full-on balls-out
German speed metal. Later Ralf started the great band Primal Fear that cranked the dial up even further, but
there's something to be said for the classic metal sound of these guys ala old Scorpions. Raw guitar sound with enough room in
the sonic envelope to fit audible bass into. No Wall-of-Guitars sound here. Have a go! Warning : Dangerous to drive to (Read as "Fun").
If you've ever asked yourself what would happen if Doom and a Flight-Sim hooked up and produced a beautiful
baby bastard child, I present to you... Hold for the curtains opening... What're these things broken?......
Descent.
Descent was released after Doom, but years beforeQuake and was the first full-3D Texture-mapped environment. Yes,
That means the good stuff; floors over other floors and huge environments. It also means the bad stuff; terribly hard to navigate
labyrinthine levels with an equally retardedly difficult to use map. But brave those elements and you've got
one hell of a game. Games of this era were typically advanced and this would be no exception.
Case-in-point : The various mini-bosses you fight are like legless mechs with this lumpy cam sound like a late 60's/early 70's
muscle car. In car terms, the lumpier (read as "blub blub" sound) the cam, the greater the horsepower.
Watch this and listen. And these mechs follow that rule. The nastier they are, the lower frequency the sound.
Ok, they just sound frickin scary, all right? Of course it helps that the AI in this game was also downright devious. In fact
the developer Parallax toned down the AI when they patched the game because it was just too god-damned hard.
Enemies pull hit-and-run tactics. They'd hide until you came out and surprise attack you. They'd charge you. You name it. If it sucks for you the player, they'd do it.
And the first mech-boss I was mentioning earlier... Oh dear god! You'd hear his horrible low-frequency rumble, he'd slowly appear,
and instantly, he's got a Smart Missile lock on you forcing you to fly away for dear life. Once you managed to get a hit
on him, he'd turn invisible, teleport somewhere behind you, and get missile lock again. And this is on the second-easiest difficulty setting labelled "Rookie".
Beating him is a genuinely nerve-racking experience. But what an accomplishment! Watch the video included where this guy makes short work of it.
Sadly, this will probably not be you. Not being a pessimist, just stating facts. This game will teach you the meaning of the word earn. You will earn your victories. No free lunches here.
The game has an innate quality of something that's a work of genius. Like most works of genius it has it's flaws. Yes, it's hard to play somewhat due to actually
being able to move and rotate in all 3 dimensions at once. Really, the only way to do it well was the
SpaceOrb 360 controller which was probably otherwise the weirdest controller ever.
Imagine for a moment a black rubber tennis ball attached to a joystick. That's it. That's the end. You're right that
it sounds bizarre and people will invariably say "What the fuck is that??" if you break one out. But when they play Descent
before and after with it they will understand why you shelled out $100 for one. It makes playing Descent as natural as
breathing. But, it's still doable with keyboard and mouse. Even better with a good flightstick. Either way though...
You just can't seem as savvy as SpaceOrb players. It was literally made for games like this.
Descent spawned 2 sequels, a number of level packs, and even a commercial level editor, but ultimately faded out of the
mainstream only to be picked up in spiritual successor terms by the game Forsaken.
Try it out, especially in high-res. You'll be addicted. Trust me.
If there is a more appropriate choice of metal band for Halloween other than maybe King Diamond, I don't know of it.
When your name is a combination of hell and the best frickin holiday ever, you've got to bring your A-game musicianship-wise.
Fortunately, they do just that in typical German style, with perfect solos, great riffs, and quality lyrics.
Best of the breed guitarist Kai Hansen and legendary singer Michael Kiske help that formula out a bit. Among the top-tier of power metal bands.
Their mascot is a pumpkin-headed dude. Oh, and they even have a song about Halloween. Yeah, beat that!
