Body Harvest(N64) The forgotten classic

The Freeman

I was just over on gametrailers.com checking out the list of games that will be out for the 3ds when it launches over here in March.
It seems Nintendo have taken the 'Genius' angle again of bringing out classics from a previous generation on to the handheld format(RE5,Street Fighter 4 3d, Zelda and Starfox).smart in the way that this appeals straight to the markets of 1.handheld and 2. the people that have already fallen in love with the games.
They are going to release in the new format

The last one got me thinking of classics I loved on the N64 and which ones i would like to see brought out on the the 3ds and in 3D, Starfox 64 was one along with ISS64 and this forgotten gem...Body Harvest.

Forgotten how great it was really,it was a very rare type of game that captured the sense of 'one man against the world'(perfect to play when you are a teenager:p),basically you were fighting aliens/very very large bugs in waves in a sandbox environment.

The soundtrack was amazing for the time, and listening to it on the video below i can def see where the Halo Compusor got inspiration along with Darren Aronofsky for Requim For A Dream(sounds like a mish-mash of the two)

It was also one of the first free roaming(to an extent) environments and to a certain extent was an inspiration for the Dan Houser for GTA 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnocQS1maqg

Interesting to see what ye guys would like to see on the 3DS when it comes out in march, can't wait for it myself as Nintendo never fail.

Stercus Accidit

It was made by DMA who also did GTA 1 and 2, as such it is the prequel to GTA 3 pretty much, and one of the best arcade alien super boss free roam puzzle based time travelling games, its probably the only one too.

Love it.

Retr0gamer

DMA did all the GTA games including the latest ones, they just changed their name to Rockstar North. They've said that Body Harvest was pretty much the inspiration for GTA 3

The Freeman

Retr0gamer wrote: »

DMA did all the GTA games including the latest ones, they just changed their name to Rockstar North. They've said that Body Harvest was pretty much the inspiration for GTA 3

I see, well that makes sense. cheers Retro.

Kurtosis

Bringing back serious memories watching that Youtube video, I really loved that game, the atmosphere really made a lasting impression. I don't know if I just had a buggy copy or didn't know how to save properly, because I seem to remember having to start it over a few times!

tman

The Freeman wrote: »

The soundtrack was amazing for the time, and listening to it on the video below i can def see where the Halo Compusor got inspiration along with Darren Aronofsky for Requim For A Dream(sounds like a mish-mash of the two)

OT, but I thought that was Clint Mansell?

This is yet another game that I've been meaning to play for years, but just never got around to it... Might have to bump this one up my list a bit!

Canis Lupus

Never was a big fan of it. If I remember it was a little on the taxing side for the N64 as well and suffered ****ty framerate issues.

Grimebox

Good idea but poorly executed imo. Rather redious at times

Retr0gamer

Canis Lupus wrote: »

Never was a big fan of it. If I remember it was a little on the taxing side for the N64 as well and suffered ****ty framerate issues.

But it's not an N64 game without ****ty framerate issues?

Canis Lupus

Retr0gamer wrote: »

But it's not an N64 game without ****ty framerate issues?

I remember the hell that was Turok 2.

briany

Body Harvest was an absolutely excellent game. It was probably the first sandbox style game that I can remember playing back in October of 1998 and it blew me away at the time. Now I never finished the game until 2001 because I had only rented it a couple of times but then got a loan of a copy. Tedious? No way. It had atmosphere,quite vast levels, fun combat, a feeling of urgency, a feeling of freedom and tons of vehicles to choose from including cars, trucks, tanks, artillery, planes and a flying saucer. It was let down slightly in the graphical department with a lot of blurry textures but I didn't really care at the time. And when you're enjoying a game in spite of it's graphical failings, that's a sure sign you're playing a great game.

NunianVonFuch

Loved the game! Especially one of the later levels where the bugs had messed with a nuclear reactor and unleashed zombies on the populace. You go to the nearest farm and talk to the owner:
"Those FOOLISH zombies ate my shotgun shells. Use my combine harvester to SHRED THEM!"

So you have to drive over the zombies to harvest the shotgun shells from their undead corpses! Brilliant stuff!

Nehaxak

Could always get yourself a copy of the N64 emulator called Project 64 which allows you to play the N64 roms and a host of other nifty features and improvements, including upgrading the resolution to whatever your gfx card can support along with filtering and anti aliasing

Nice for some nostalgic gaming.

Retr0gamer

Nehaxak wrote: »

Could always get yourself a copy of the N64 emulator called Project 64 which allows you to play the N64 roms and a host of other nifty features and improvements, including upgrading the resolution to whatever your gfx card can support along with filtering and anti aliasing

Nice for some nostalgic gaming.

It's really not the same as playing it on the original hardware though especially considering that any N64 emulators I've used are no where near perfect and can't reproduce the look and feel of the originals.

briany

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's really not the same as playing it on the original hardware though especially considering that any N64 emulators I've used are no where near perfect and can't reproduce the look and feel of the originals.

Agreed. It feels weird mapping the N64 buttons to say, an Xbox/Windows controller. It just isn't right. The N64 controller was quite unique in it's day and still is really, with the four C buttons and analogue stick in the middle of the pad. Poorly designed? Maybe, but it came about at a time when a demand for increased control over games led to game pads hybridizing with joystick type controllers and that had not really been done in a practical fashion ever before.

Retr0gamer

It's not just the gamepads, everything I've played through an N64 emulator just looks plain wrong.

Nehaxak

:eek: I dunno, all working perfect for me. If anything they're better as there's no fps lag, in fact I have to limit FPS they play so well.

dreamers75

N64 pad was perfection, kinda saddened theres no wiireless version.


Body harvest was one of greatest games ever, the puzzles and action everything about was brilliant. it had its flaws but tbh without it a ****load of games nowadays wouldnt exist.


Often i ponder would a remake do it justice and i honestly think it wouldnt, i would like an exact remake with just ironing out the wee control bugs but it just woudnt work now 12 years on.


Best parts of that game when the army dude gives you access to the Howitzer, worst parts when you realize you cant cross the river with it

Srsly wtf is up DMA/rockstar and water????? I think posted on here years ago that one of them was terrified of water.

Mr. K

I remember playing through Body Harvest, good times. It was a pretty tough game, but there was lots of a fun to be had in it.