Loaded (video game)

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Loaded
Boxart
Developer(s)	Gremlin Interactive
Publisher(s)	Interplay Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Release date(s)	USA January 1, 1996 PAL February 1996 [1] JPN March 15, 1996 [1]
Genre(s)	Top-down shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	Mature
Media	CD-ROM

Loaded (known as Blood Factory^[1] in Japan) is a science fiction-themed top-down shoot em up or run and gun video game that was developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Interplay. Loaded was released in late 1995–early 1996 (around New Year time) on both the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The game had origins in DC comics and more notably the more adult-orientated Vertigo Comics, and there was a small graphic novel based on the game. The six playable characters of the game are a combination of villains, anti-heroes, psychopaths, perverts, mutants, and flamboyant murderers. They are, however, the last hope to stop the intergalactic supervillain code-named F.U.B. and save the universe. The characters were created and designed with contributions from Garth Ennis of Vertigo Comics and Greg Staples of 2000AD.

Later in the same year the game spawned a sequel using almost entirely the same characters and the same game engine, albeit one with mildly improved graphics, named Re-Loaded. Re-Loaded was released on the PlayStation and PC at the end of 1996. Although it did not enjoy as good sales as its predecessor, it did however have an acclaimed soundtrack which included music from Pop Will Eat Itself (as did the first game) and the game discs of both games could be played as audio CDs. Both games were notorious for their macabre sense of humor, over-the-top violence and extreme gore.

Contents 1 Loaded 1.1 Origins 1.2 Comic book connections 1.3 Plot 1.4 Gameplay 1.5 Soundtrack 1.6 Reception 1.7 Controversy 1.8 Playable characters 1.8.1 Mamma 1.8.2 Fwank 1.8.3 Bounca 1.8.4 Vox 1.8.5 Butch 1.8.6 Cap'n Hands 2 Re-Loaded 2.1 Overview 2.2 Plot 2.3 Reception 2.4 Controversy 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Loaded

[edit] Origins

Loaded was developed by Gremlin Interactive, a British software house based in Sheffield which had previously had a successful run in developing games. Loaded and its sequel Re-Loaded would be among the last games developed by Gremlin Interactive, before it was acquired by French giant Infogrames for £24 million, and the studio in Sheffield closed. The game was internationally published by American-based Interplay.

[edit] Comic book connections

Loaded was an interesting marketing gimmick when released: considering that the main character design and graphics were done by a host of comic book illustrators like Les Spink and Greg Staples (of 2000AD fame). The games publisher Interplay collaborated with DC Comics (Batman, Superman, Doom Patrol) to create a small 12-page novella illustrated with the game's artwork to promote it and introduce the characters and the game premise. The book was published bundled with DC's works at the time and DC signed adult-orientated Vertigo Comics star Garth Ennis (Preacher, Hellblazer, Hitman, Judge Dredd, etc.) to write it. The novella is now considered a collector's item.^[2]

[edit] Plot

The game is set in the distant future, long after mankind has discovered faster-than-light flight and has since colonized most of the inhabitable worlds across the galaxy. F.U.B. was once a pretty uncultured and incapable catering officer with questionable sanity in the Sector Marines, often screwing up the field kitchens and dropping jars of Plusgrial fnart jiz powder into the cooking pot. F.U.B. (which stands "fat ugly boy", a name he was never able to escape) finally lost his mind on a barren desert front during a relatively minor skirmish of the last 40 years. Not wanting to let "the boys" down and unable to find any meat, F.U.B. amputated his own legs, cooked them and served them up to the soldiers in a hot broth. Despite it being the best dish he had ever created, F.U.B. was given an unconditional discharge and asked never to show his face again. Vowing to get revenge on the worlds of man for his banishment and exile, F.U.B. replaces his legs with mechanical, hydraulic-powered replacements and becomes a feared and egotistical space pirate, attracting other fragile minds to his cause. He undertakes a dramatic, bizarre and insane appearance; wearing furry dice, smoking Havana cigars and tattooing a target on his portly belly.

The six playable characters have notable differences and derangements, but what they have in common is that they are all psychotic mercenaries who have been framed for crimes actually committed by F.U.B. and are now serving life sentences on an inhospitable maximum security prison planet, the planet Raulf. F.U.B. has even taken on a new secretive identity, joining the intergalactic prison system and working his way up the ladder by murdering his superiors and taking their positions, and F.U.B. is now the warden of Raulf. F.U.B. has done this so that he can pin his crimes as a space pirate on other people, usually those who are psychotic anyway so as nobody will notice.

The player (or two of the game's six characters, in two player mode) must escape Raulf, chase F.U.B. and engage on a bloody odyssey across the strange worlds of the galaxy to exact revenge on F.U.B. The supervillain however is merely excited by this, seeing it as a challenge and a game, and to this end he steals the most advanced machine in existence - a machine which can toy with the very fabric of the universe, manipulate matter and even open doorways to other dimensions. With this machine F.U.B. plans to hold the universe to ransom, and sets up a prison break on Raulf to set things in motion. If he can defeat a group of the most feared individuals in the galaxy who are armed to the teeth and wanting revenge, he figures he can defeat anyone.^[3]

[edit] Gameplay

The game features levels across fifteen different worlds and has six playable characters: Mamma, Fwank, Bounca, Vox, Butch and Cap'n Hands. Two characters may be selected in co-operative mode to complete the game. A mission briefing will begin at the start of every mission, aided by a full motion video sequence. Loaded's gameplay is similar to that of Gauntlet, which requires the player to move room to room killing everything in sight, everything of which will try to kill the player also. Score can be increased by looting the bloodied remains of enemies. There are some puzzle and exploration elements, and power-ups and ammo can be found. The levels progress by collecting keycards capable of unlocking doors. The player can zoom in to their character by pressing R2, or zoom out by pressing L2. At the end of each level, the game tallies the player's greed factor, accuracy and body count on a 0%-100% scale in order to give the player's career prospects (ranging from as low as "social worker" to as high as "genocidal maniac", etc.) and final score.

[edit] Soundtrack

Loaded features 21 compositions by Neil Biggin, plus 2 tracks by Patrick (Pat) Phelan and 2 more by Pop Will Eat Itself (Kick to Kill and RSVP). The game was specially designed so that it could be placed inside a CD player and used as an audio CD (skipping Track 1 which contained the code for the game). This would then enable the listener to play the full soundtrack - including many hidden tracks. There are 25 audio tracks in total on the CD, the hidden tracks were brief demos and were never used in-game.

[edit] Reception

The game received mixed reviews, with critics noting that it wasn't exactly a cerebral game, but with others noting that it was nonetheless fun and addictive. Critics are still divided even today, which is evident in the reviews of the game on the GameFaqs website.^[4] However the general consensus was positive and Loaded currently has an 82% rating on MobyGames.^[5]

[edit] Controversy

Loaded was noted in many reviews for its violence; everything living encountered by the player must be killed, often resulting in explosions of gore. On June 29, 1996, Loaded was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS.

[edit] Playable characters

[edit] Mamma

The largest character in the game, a veritable giant, Mamma's real name is unknown and wears a diaper, baby bonnet, wooley hat and bunny slippers. However, both the guards and prisoners of the Raulf prison planet are all terrified of him, due the fact he has a tendency to crush to death anybody who comes near him in a mammoth, bone-cruching, organ-bursting bear hug, which to Mamma is an innocent gesture of friendship; he then believes the crushed bodies are asleep and he will go off looking for his next "cuddle". Mamma was abandoned as a babe in the busiest star port in the galaxy, a place where nobody has any time for anybody else. He is totally without education, manners and most of all the other things which are generally regarded as "civilized". He blunders through life using his very limited vocabulary to get him through all manner of circumstance. The only word he knows, and the only thing that keeps him going is the word "MAMMA!", lending him his name. Obviously he missed something as an infant. His lineage is therefore something of an unknown quantity, but one thing is certain - his mother was friendly with something large and simian. Quite a scary and unpredictable man to have around, even if you are scary and unpredictable yourself. Mamma's weapon is the Plasma Gun and his bomb is the Ripple Grenade, used when Mamma creates a wave through the ground that instantly kills a large amount of foes around him. This attack can travel through walls and doors. Mamma has a very good armor rating but a slow speed.

[edit] Fwank

Featured on the cover of the game, Fwank is a very heavily-built and thoroughly psychotic man donning a bank bag over his face with the bag painted, making him resemble a clown. Almost child-like in demeanour (although not so much as Mamma), he has a notable lisp, which causes him to mis-pronounce words (Rs are substituted with Ws), providing his nickname. Fwank killed his parents, and his "pwobation officer", when he was young, and the graphic novel explains that he was lobotomized at age six, although his true name is never revealed. His body is described as "that of a steroid-eating wilderbeest who doesn't shower". Fwank looks upon other lifeforms as toys for his amusement or worse, expendable cardboard targets at a fairground attraction. The only things he cares about is his collection of teddy bears, especially the one he calls Percy, and keeping his weapon well oiled. Fwank makes one concession to his fellow lifeforms; he ties a mood balloon to his back pack indicating the general ballpark of his demeanour (green for "chuckly", yellow for "I need space", and red for "I wouldn't ask if I were you"). Fwank's weapon of choice is a cannon that fires Neutron Spheres, and his bombs are Homing Teddies, a floating armada of teddy bears containing explosives that eviscerate nearby foes. This attack can kill enemies stationed directly behind a door, but cannot travel through walls and doors. However, the teddies can follow Fwank and stay in use longer to attack incoming enemies. Fwank has stats almost similar to Mamma; Fwank has a good armor rating but a slow speed.

[edit] Bounca

Not quite as big as Mamma, the tuxedo-wearing Bounca is nonetheless a mammoth of a man and still towers over most other lifeforms. He has spent his adult life as a security guard, personal bodyguard, and mostly as a bouncer. Certainly one of the most widely travelled and employed organisms in the history of the galaxy, he has seen amazing sights that even the most intrepid galactic explorers would go green at; hidden planets, lost continents and the like. Bounca has a slight problem though; he is incredibly thick. Not just a bit thick, enormously thick. All of his experiences amount to a big fat zero, because the only thing he finds interesting is "slappin some innocent geeza about a bit". You might as well have sent a baboon around the galaxy and then questioned it about its experiences, as it is probably more perceptive and definitely less likely to kill you for asking. He lost his lower jaw fighting an alien monster twice as big as him, who was trying to enter a doorway Bounca was watching over; Bounca won the fight, but had to have his lower jaw replaced with a giant, metallic, serrated muzzle. His weapon is a Missile Launcher and his bomb is the Frag Missile, a randomly-moving burst of shrapnel. This attack can not travel through walls and doors. The all-rounder of the group in stats, Bounca has a medium armor rating and a moderate speed.

[edit] Vox

The only female in the game, Vox is a former sound engineer, disc jockey, and glamour model, often called "The Siren" due to her mixed beauty and extremely sharp tongue and temper, and overall devastating sexy countenance. Vox uses modified sound and music technology to kill foes in the game, self developed with the aid of Gabbist Monks, an order who take the vow to never have a second's peace and quiet and are masters in the art of amplification. The device they collaborated on is slung across her back and has a number of "Rapmaster" microphones channelling sound to it via boom mikes on her visor. The sound waves created act as shock waves and are capable of turning Vox's enemies into bubbling pools of protoplasm. Her weapon is the Hail Flail and her ultra bomb is the Sonic Blast, an extremely potent and charged burst of lethal sound waves. This attack can travel through walls and doors. Vox is small and light, with a poor armor rating but is the fastest character in speed, making it easy for her to even dodge bullets.

[edit] Butch

A muscular, balding transvestite man that wears ladies' dresses in combat and dislikes those that find his cross-dressing funny. He brutally murders anybody who snickers at his attire. The game manual and also the graphic novel explain that it is not through choice however; every time he escapes he simply grabs the nearest item to hand, which unfortunately by a staggering twist of fate always happens to be women's clothing in some form. Butch's favoured weapon is a flamethrower named the "Flaming Queen", and his bomb is the Explosive Ring, the release of fireballs in all directions within Butch's radius. This attack can travel through walls and doors. Instead of splattering enemies into a bloody heap, the Flaming Queen and the Explosive Ring actually chars enemies' bodies on contact. He has a medium armor rating and fast speed, although not as fast as Vox, making him the second fastest character in the game.

[edit] Cap'n Hands

A pirate-like character with freakishly large hands and forearms, a cowboy hat and an exposed ribcage. Cap'n Hands has been around for centuries and nothing is known of his origins, although the rumors range from being a pirate who was operating in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy of the late 1600s, or even a cowboy from the Old American West of the 1800s. Up until recently, before he was captured by the authorities, Cap'n Hands was a leader of the feared and despised "Cirates", a group of cybernetically-enhanced space pirates. Only his head is an original part of his human body and that too is rotten to the core. The rest of his powerful frame is an old and out-of-date cyborg design which he could have replaced over 200 years ago when technology took a giant leap forward, but he likes it. Another reason he keeps this ancient and obsolete skeleton is for its amazing array of original art and engravings which decorate the majority of its panels, showing his numerous exploits and stories through space. He has kept the inmates of Raulf prison amused and beguiled for hours on end with stories of how he acquired them, and with his famous "dancing bare lady" design (only his close friends and people who are about to expire horribly generally get to see that though). The truth is, Cap'n Hands cannot remember who he was before he became a cybernetic, skeletal pirate, simply because it was so long ago, and his mind isn't what it used to be. His weapons are a pair of old flintlock muskets which he has customized for rapid energy fire, although he has made sure they still retain their trademark sound of old. His bomb is the Vortex Bomb, a curtain of dark energy that shreds enemies to pieces. This attack can travel through walls and doors. Cap'n Hands has an average armor rating, and moderate speed, being the third fastest character behind Vox and Butch.

[edit] Re-Loaded

Re-Loaded
Developer(s)	Gremlin Interactive
Publisher(s)	Interplay Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation, PC
Release date(s)	Late 1996
Genre(s)	Top-down shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature)

[edit] Overview

Less than a year after the original game was released, a sequel was released also for the PlayStation and the PC entitled Re-Loaded, developed and published by the same companies. It featured the same game engine, and even the game menus are the same, although it is a game engine with slightly improved graphics. Four characters from the original game are also in Re-Loaded, such as Mamma, Bounca, Butch, and Cap'n Hands. Vox, however, is not present in the game and is replaced by two new female characters: a pink-haired, cannibalistic sex symbol named the Consumer, and a malfunctioning android nun named Sister Magpie. Via cheat code, Sister Magpie can unlock hidden character Fwank from the previous game for use in Re-Loaded. If unlocked, Fwank is the best character in Re-Loaded, with the most speed and best armor. All of the returning characters have new weapons and/or variations of their costumes. There are twelve blood-soaked new worlds to annihilate, much bigger than the levels encountered in the previous game, and with the added bonus of being able to morph the surrounding terrain with high-powered weaponry and explosives.

[edit] Plot

F.U.B., the antagonist of Loaded, had his body destroyed at the end of the previous game, although his brain fled in an escape pod. Landing on a harsh desert world, Kee-Butt-5, his brain has been implanted into the body of a chiselled, bronzed young artist hermit named Manuel Auto, and then he murdered the loyal surgeons responsible for giving him a new body. Reincarnated and renamed "C.H.E.B.", which stands for "Charming Handsome Erudite Bastard", the former raving lunatic supervillain has taken on some of the aspects of his host body, the creative, artistic and thoughtful Manuel Auto. With his matter manipulation powers, C.H.E.B. plans to transform whole planets into "Works Of Art and Genuis", starting with his own body which he grows to the size of a small moon. Once again the group of blood-thirsty anti-heroes gather to bring him down once and for all and set off for Kee-Butt-5...

[edit] Reception

Re-Loaded, despite having notably better graphics then the original game, was not as well received and currently has a rating of 48% on MobyGames.^[6] The soundtrack however, this time entirely composed by Neil Biggin, was acclaimed as better than the original and indeed one of the best aspects of the game. Like the previous game, it could be played as an audio CD.

[edit] Controversy

On June 28, 1997, Re-Loaded was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS, like its predecessor.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Loaded at MobyGames
• Re-Loaded at MobyGames