Midwinter, Amiga - Part 1 - Overlooked Oldies

[Relugus]

Midwinter is an XBox360/PS3 game trapped in the body of a 16-bit game.

[JimPlaysGames]

@Relugus indeed, it was way ahead of it's time.

[HardWarUK]

Your sniper rifle uses heat-seeking bullets. Hence the explosions as thy hit engines and petrol tanks, etc. Plus great view of the snowy landscape at 12:45

[HardWarUK]

Do an LP using the DOS version,which is identical, as you can change the cycles and get the speed you want making the game even more fun!

[truelazerlight]

the pc version works so much better. even the atari st version, which is the first version i owned of this game back in the the day, i think worked way better than the amiga version. this is the first time i see the amiga version, but it looks like it's virtually unplayable. which seems odd to me since it came out later.

[JimPlaysGames]

@truelazerlight I tried playing the DOS version, but wasn't sure how fast to set the cycles. At faster cycles the 3D stuff happened too fast to make it equally unplayable. Maybe I was doing something wrong. This was pretty unplayable really. People had more tolerance for shitty frame rate back then I think.

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames Get a front-end called D-Fend, it makes it easy to change cycles and soundcard, etc. I would have thought if you set the cycles to auto in D-Fend, or manually at around 9,000 you would have a smooth as butter game - then and LP could be thought of, as you could hit things and go where you wanted! :)

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK I doubt I could keep it interesting for a full longplay. The game is pretty repetitive and long. It also doesn't really interest me too much. I think it would be better done by someone who really loves the game and played it back in the day for the nostalgia value.

[Relugus]

@JimPlaysGames I remember playing this and loving the concept, but being frustrated by the choppiness.. The problem was the game was too advanced for the hardware of the time. Imagine if this game were re-made on modern PC and XB360 and PS3; smooth framerate, detailed environments (now you would be able to actually see where you are lol) This game could be awesome on today's hardware.

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames I have just installed my Midwinter in DOSBox. I have the cycles set to minimum using a front end called D-Fend, this allows all sorts of tweaking. In any event, my game is running perfectly, just the right speed for the game. So I would definitely try the DOS version again as it is a great game! 90%+ almost everywhere back in the day must mean something! :)

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK nice one. I'll have to get hold of that front end and give it a go. Thanks :)

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames Feel free to PM me if you have any problems and i'll try to help, but works for me at the D-Fend default settings. if still too fast, go to CPU tab (in D-Fend) and on the right you can put in the number of cycles, so if that's too fast, put 2500 in the manual box and try again, if still too fast, change it to 2000 and so on! :)

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK thanks, that's most kind of you :)

I don't know when I'll be trying it though since I've got a lot of new games I'm looking forward to playing (retro and modern).

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames I never thought it would be in the next couple weeks let alone days! With D-Fend, you may not need any help and can just do it in your own time privately! :)

[Arjozof]

I've always prefered Hunter over Midwinter series, which were virtually unplayable and very awkward. As for remakes, I'd consider Just Cause and Just Cause 2 to be games directly influenced by Midwinter and Hunter classic games, which took the legend to a level unmet before...

[JimPlaysGames]

@Arjozof ooh Just Cause looks very cool. I'll have to have a go at it sometime.

I do prefer Hunter to Midwinter, seemed more intuitive and the game world was less sparse. I did a video about Hunter too.

[Relugus]

@Arjozof Midwinter was made too early; the hardware of the time could not match the game's ambition.

[DjayAmiga]

It seemed like you had read the manual or tested it out before hand, nothing wrong with that, but on your previous videos (overlooked oldies) you had no experience of the game and it was interesting to get your first impressions. Listening to your commentary about how you were working out what everything did and your surprise at a new feature you discovered made a more entertaining video..

..dont get me wrong, your videos are awesome all the same.

[JimPlaysGames]

@DjayAmiga yeah I do regret having to do it this way, but the recording I made the first time trying to play it without any preparation was literally just me saying "um, I don't know what I'm doing" a lot. That's why I put off doing the video for a long time. There was just no way of playing the game without reading the manual and getting used to the interface first. For Carrier Command, there was fortunately a bit of a review/tutorial online that made it easier, but little for Midwinter at all.

[DjayAmiga]

@JimPlaysGames i wrote a reply before you replied to my comment, lol... seriously, i wouldnt mind that you just had a video with you going "um, I dont know what i'm doing", i guess because i can associate with that as i played these games without manuals back in the day and that reminds me of how i felt when worked it out for the first time.

[JimPlaysGames]

@DjayAmiga The first experience of a game is of course the hardest to recapture and I think watching someone have that first experience is one way to try to do that. I've seen a few let's plays that were in that style too and I find those the most entertaining, so that's what I was going for. Davidr64yt was a big inspiration for me, since he does a lot of first time playthroughs like that. His Eversion video is hilarious and brilliant for his reactions as are so many of his videos.

[DjayAmiga]

I have to say that your Overlooked Oldie videos offer something to different to the bazillion Let's Play or Longplay videos that exist for every single game. Your Turrican 2 video was really funny, i was thinking hold the fire button down and do the squirly thing and then by accident you did it, not only was your reaction funny but i felt like you achieved something.... i personally dont mind that you dont know the controls or get it all wrong to begin with, its what makes your videos different

[ligurmatic]

Smashing up a vehicle within seconds of getting in it is my overriding memory of Midwinter. Yet it's still an all-time favourite and always at the top of my "games that should be remade" list.

[JimPlaysGames]

@ligurmatic yeah a remake would definitely be a good idea, although it would be made too easy I suspect. I bet they could do some nice things with snow effects, like creating avalanches with dynamite to damage enemy positions. That would be cool (pun intended).

[kakabixlis]

Hey Jim!!thank you for putting Midwinter mate here!!Appreciated highly*hugs!*hehe reminds me good old days i spent many many hours with it,it was a serious fun!I hope all is well with you mate and you are healthy!!!

[JimPlaysGames]

@kakabixlis yeah I'm good thanks mate, hope you're doing well also. Glad you enjoyed the video :)

[HardWarUK]

Got this and Flames of Freedom in their big boxes from when I bought them on their release days and the manuals were excellent as were the games. On PC I can run them in DOS and get them to a perfect speed for game playing! Really immersive and why not - they were written by Mike Singleton of Lord of Midnight and Doomdark fame!

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK they really put more effort into the manuals and packaging and stuff back then didn't they? You just couldn't go without reading the manual for a game like this. Although an in-game tutorial is something I do like about modern games that would be nice here.

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames You took it for granted you had to read the manual first, and you didn't mind. because that meant content! Today, the main reason you don;t need to read the manual and they can have an in game tutorial, is there's not much they have to teach you! To be fair though, many games did have tutorials, but they were in the vein of easy starter dungeons or first couple missions, etc. It was different, and to my mind better. I.e.STALKER was all the better for telling so little at start!

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK yeah I enjoyed reading the manuals after bringing the game home. Particularly I remember the stuff that came with Elite 2. Some games still retain the tradition though. I remember the manual that came with Civilization 4 was really thick, and only in one language. The big downside of buying downloadable games is the lack of any physical manual or maps and such. Although Good Old Games try to sweeten it a little with some nice extras, which I like.

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames When I tell you there is only about 5 games on GOG I don't have the original of, and that's because I don't want them, you'll realise how extensive my collection is! Not because I buy games on ebay, but because I have never sold a single PC game I have bought over the last 25 years or so! :). hence I have the originals of all the Civilizations, X-Com's & Elite's etc. I still have my Commodore 64 and 300 games, So have the C64 original of Elite too! Overall Microprose were best!

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK nice. I wish I'd kept it all. I don't even remember why I don't have so much of it any more. But I've never been much of a collector.

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames Maybe I am just a hoarder generally! :)

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK well whatever floats your rubber ducky :)

[HardWarUK]

@JimPlaysGames I kept the best for last. Still have my Amiga 512 with 1meg memory and about 15 games, like Mindwheel and Mindfighter, that came with 160 page plus novels that precluded the adventure (graphic/text adventures), Hard Nova (RPG), Strike Fleet (strategy/simulation), Sim City, Populous, Lemmings and Elite Frontier II, etc! That's me, a man of many colours! :) LOL!

[JimPlaysGames]

@HardWarUK I like most genres of games too, except for sports games.

[Trusteft]

The game world is much larger than remembered lol.

Great to see it again. I am going to watch the rest of the series. :)

[slenkar]

john stark is tougher than chuck norris, he can take a missile to the face and emerge with nary an injury,

I played this game quite a bit back in the day, but as usual I didnt have a clue what was going on.

The running man muscle power thing reminds me of the krypton factor, how boring was that show?

[JimPlaysGames]

@slenkar it did take a while to figure out what to do. It's certainly not intuitive. Also I preferred the Crystal Maze :)

[Fawltykog]

Thank you! Very much appreciated esp as i ain't seen this game being played since god knows when!

Keep 'em comin'!

[JimPlaysGames]

@Fawltykog you're welcome, glad you liked it :)