Outcast: Second Contact - Outcast remake

[ERYFKRAD]

and the walking and jumping animations looked like your character was permanently constipated

It's just the same animations as all the aliens, just mapped to a dude skeleton.

 

[Carrion]

It was clunky by then's standards too. It was like the only game using a Voxel engine, felt very experimental (ran at outcast resolution 512x384 max, no 3D acceleration support, also lagged on my CPU) and the walking and jumping animations looked like your character was permanently constipated:

While that is true, I don't think it has much to do with how the thing actually plays. The voxels give it a pretty unique feel overall, making the game somehow feel both older than it is and also kind of timeless. Well, that and the fact that it really is a one-of-a-kind game.

It's the "modern standards" bit that triggers me, every time. I think I first played Outcast around a decade ago, and it was like discovering an oasis in a desert of cover shooters and cinematic action-adventures.

 

[gurugeorge]

This is on a deep cut at £2.09 at the moment on GOG, if anyone's interested. I just snagged it. I've always wanted to play the thing as I had a toaster at the time and couldn't play it properly, though the little I could play seemed amazing.

 

[gurugeorge]

I'd forgotten how lovely the background music is. You really feel like you're in some Edgar Rice Burroughs type of 1940s s-f movie (but in glorious colour) with a Hans Zimmer score soaring and undulating in the background.

It's clunky, but serviceable, and more than the sum of its parts. It really captures the feeling you had when you were a kid watching TOS, reading comics and s-f on sunny days and contemplating being a "spaceman."

It's amusing to contemplate the difference between this and something modern like The Outer Worlds - despite all that technological advancement, TOW is just a hollow, mechanistic experience compared to this.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

I'd forgotten how lovely the background music is. You really feel like you're in some Edgar Rice Burroughs type of 1940s s-f movie (but in glorious colour)

Didn't that dude just do Tarzan movies in 40s?

with a Hans Zimmer score soaring and undulating in the background.

Hans Zimmer? The only thing that really strikes me about the music is this one change it uses constantly, and it doesn't come from Zim Zimmer (who got the keys).
It's this whole accoustic orchestral I to bVI thing that's also reminiscent of the two major chords that are 4 half-steps apart from Goldfinger, and if I remember correctly, the first locaton in The Outer Worlds, and it absolutely stinks of...

this here G# to E.
Which seems to fit the whole presentation of the game, no? And considering the release date of the movie, and development time for a game, I'd say we're dealing with much more than a coincidence.
But then my music ear ain't what it used to be.

 

[gurugeorge]

I'd forgotten how lovely the background music is. You really feel like you're in some Edgar Rice Burroughs type of 1940s s-f movie (but in glorious colour)

Didn't that dude just do Tarzan movies in 40s?

with a Hans Zimmer score soaring and undulating in the background.

Hans Zimmer? The only thing that really strikes me about the music is this one change it uses constantly, and it doesn't come from Zim Zimmer (who got the keys).
It's this whole accoustic orchestral I to bVI thing that's also reminiscent of the two major chords that are 4 half-steps apart from Goldfinger, and if I remember correctly, the first locaton in The Outer Worlds, and it absolutely stinks of...

this here G# to E.
Which seems to fit the whole presentation of the game, no? And considering the release date of the movie, and development time for a game, I'd say we're dealing with much more than a coincidence.
But then my music ear ain't what it used to be.

I was imagining a John Carter of Mars movie being made in the 40s

I mean it's not as if a lot of music in either movies or games is terribly original, they use themes, chord progressions and orchestrations derived ultimately from late 19th century chromatic Romantic music, that easily elicit feelings and moods, pull on emotional surges and tides, so it's all a bit Pavlovian. But I think the Shamazar theme in particular is actually quite original and beautifully orchestrated. It's not much related to what you're talking about, and is probably the bit of music most people remember from the game (since it's what you hear through most of the early part of it):-



In terms of game music, this stands on a par with the lovely stuff Soule did for Oblivion and Skyrim. The feeling of the heart soaring is just right for exploration games (cresting the hill to a sunrise or sunset, wandering through a sun-dappled forest, etc.).

 

[luj1]

Anyone know what are the actual gameplay differences and content differences in second contact as opposed to original?

 

[luj1]

In terms of game music, this stands on a par with the lovely stuff Soule did for Oblivion and Skyrim.

It stands on par with Soule's best works

Reminds me a bit of the movie Stargate with Kurt Russell and SWKotOR also

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anyone know what are the actual gameplay differences and content differences in second contact as opposed to original?

Insofar as I have played a bit of both(cleared shamazaar- the green hill zone in the first and mucked around for hours in the remake) the differences seem mostly QoL changes. The camera zooms in a but when you're aiming or fist fighting, dude's got a side roll move executed by sprinting sideways or double tapping strafe buttons, that sort of shit. And some UI changes with a couple of minimap displays that look clearer than the original game and all that. This is from a while back so my memory might be trolling me here and there.