Let's talk a moment about Ports... Video Game Ports, that is.

Ports can, in some respects, be a good thing. A game that shows up on more than one system means that you don't have to own any one system to play it... you can just play it on whatever system you own. In that way, a port can be a good thing...

Another way a Port can be a good thing is if the game is improved before it reaches another system (if there is a Release Date gap of time). For example... Burnout originally released for PlayStation 2... the PS2 copy had analog buttons (which were bad, in an Arcade Racer without a way to turn them off). Also, it didn't have the analog sensitivity of the GameCube. Overall, the decrease in loading time, prettiness, and (mostly) the analog sensitivity made the game better overall on the GameCube.

Now, a final way that Ports can be good is when a game comes out for a simplier system at the same time as the system it was designed for. This can cause the designers to push the technology further than you might think it would be able to go. Examples of this that pop right into my head are NBA Showtime and San Fransico Rush 2049. Both games were designed for the Dreamcast... but they were Ported to the Nintendo 64... in so doing, you were able to experience a game of good quality, only lacking a few things.

Showtime, for example, was missing numbers on the Jerseys and big pan-around 3D replays for some dunks. Rush, on the other hand, was intact except that some of the levels woud have massive framerate issues... the game still went as fast as it did on the Dreamcast, but on Track 6 (I beleive), you couldn't always judge how to take a corner due to your speed.

But here also begins some of the downsides to Porting games. One such problem is outright leaving things out. Rush 2049 is a quick example of this because the Arcade version of it had Alcatraz in kickass future-sweetness. The console versions did not.

Also along these lines is another powerful example of leaving things out. Played the SSX series? I hope so... but I've got news for you... if you play the GameCube versions of the games... all the tricks that would be on the PlayStation 2's L1 Button just are not there. Sure, there's not a button there on GameCube, but the X-Box only has L and R itself... it uses face buttons for the other shoulder buttons... the same could be done on the GameCube... and it wouldn't be so excessive if Tricking wasn't such a major part of the game... but since all the shoulder buttons are used for different combination of moves... and the GameCube version has a whole "multiplier" of tricks completely left off... the game is inferrior on that alone.

Oh, but there's more (of course)... let's look at a game I really and truely enjoy... Prince of Persia: Warrior Within... I've played (and own) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and this game is a good sequel, even if I perhaps didn't agree with them trying to make it more mature...

Now, I played The Sands of Time on PS2 and X-Box, and they were nearly identical ('cept for the Box having occationally horrid framerate)... and I'm told the same is true for the Cube version... but this is not the case for Warrior Within... far from it. The game is plagued from beginning to end with ungodly amounts of shitty porting... where do I start?

Let's start with the main problem... the Audio throughout the whole game is FUBAR... sometimes fight music wont go away (even Boss music) after the fight... and nearly everytime that the Dahaka gives chase to you, the music (either game-specific or I Stand Alone) will play for about five seconds and then cut out... leaving entire chase scenes with only your sounds and the Dahaka's voice...

Ah, the Dahaka... the PS2 copy, once or twice, caused your vision to go Dahaka -amber at times when he wasn't around or was no longer around, but it was rather rare... on the Cube version, this happens more often than not... and futhermore, the Dahaka (a scarey presence on the PS2 copy), isn't nearly as creepy on the Cube version because his eyes don't glow white!... they don't glow at all, and in fact they're just black and hardly noticable for the entire game, 'cept the cinema-scenes...

...also, when you rewind time, usually the Dahaka doesn't speak foreward. Originally, I though this was left out entirely... but once near the end of the game I did hear it.

Oh, but there are random other things... things that didn't happen on the PS2 but once or twice (on three play-throughs) happened to me repeatedly on a single play-through on the Cube copy. Things like not being able to climb up from a ledge due to some invisable wall you know isn't usually there... not being able to run up a wall because some invisable ceiling is keeping you from doing so... crushed by the wall blocks so hard that you are shoved through the edge of the world to fall into oblivion... WtF!?

At one point near the end of the game, and entire hallway of sawblades was FUBAR because they were all showing up about six feet (relative to the Prince) on the screen further down than they should. Some were down in the spike pits instead of along the walls, one set was along an opposite wall instead of the one they were supposed to be upon, and another set wasn't present, but I could hear them... making me beleive that they were going back and forther under the walkway I was standing on.

...with things like doing the first portion of the Garden Tower and not having the turn-cranks come up to be able to open the passage to the next section... some of these things are even game-breaking... worse yet, I'm told they save!... like the glitches in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City... luckily, I'd saved before that portion of the Garden Tower, but still... even when I got it to work, the animation for some of the water wasn't pouring into the pools of water, even though it was obvious the puzzle completed and let me keep on going...

I'm so happy I played the PlayStation 2 copy first, or the whole game would likely have been ruined for me... not to mention some of the cut-scenes loose Audio as you're watching them, so if you turn off the Subtitles, you'll have no clue what the fark is going on...

It's like reading a post that someone didn't proofread, you know? Didn't anyone play this fuckin' copy before the game shipped? It's not just my game, either, because I already had it returned once... it's brand new.

Things like this, and all manner of other things happen when a game is moved to a system it's not designed for. I mean, if you get RenderWare involved... a utility that allows you to make a single game and have it be created using each system's specialties, then you're all set. That's effectively like you made one game three different times, once for each system... not made a game for one system and then "Patched" it so that it would run on other systems... that kind of porting is just sloppy and, frankly, cruel...

...And that's your Huntermun Knowledge for today.

See you in the Future,
—Huntermun

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