Story Breakdown: Microcosm & Novastorm (Psygnosis) - Defunct Games

When you hear the name Psygnosis, chances are you either think of their early hits like Lemmings and Ballistix or their PlayStation classics like wipEout and Colony Wars. But in between the time they exploited suicidal rodents and were gobbled up by Sony, they stumbled around for a few years releasing poorly-titled platformers and middling games based on middling movies. They also dipped their toes in the on-rail shoot 'em up genre with two connected games - Microcosm and Novastorm. While the critics weren't exactly blown away by these two shooters, I enjoyed the roller coaster ride and the 23 pages of story. I think you'll agree. Turn back now if you don't want to know what happens next, because today we're going to spoil the stories and endings for both Microcosm and Novastorm. This is Game Over: The Early Years!
Defunct Games is on Twitter: / defunctgames
Defunct Games is on Facebook: / defunctgames
Defunct Games is home to thousands of reviews, articles, comedy pieces, podcasts, features and more:
www.defunctgames.com
#PlayStation #GameOver #Ending

[@rainasy1766]

i just finished novastorm on hard mode...after...dunno, 20 years? i always thought it is totally underrated and forgotten, the soundtrack is glorious and all fits very well together. the power up system is loads of fun. a truly hidden gem! thanks for covering that one.

[@GeographyKing]

To celebrate your 100th episode, you should do a 24-hour live stream of Getting Over It. Using Nintendo's tilt controls. With Lorne singing "I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again" on loop in the background. While drunk. Wearing a Link costume.

[@barry-allenthe-flash8396]

That first ending was confusing to me. Like, I understand conceptually it was just "remove the guy, let him expand, celebrate his return." But, visually, what a mess. Why did the robot need to inject it into a beach ball? Why was the beach ball hidden underneath a webbing of fungus shaped roughly like a dome? Was it necessary to even HAVE a robot, just so it could back up into a different room, like, 10 feet away? Why was that 10 second count much, MUCH longer than 10 seconds? Couldn't the dev team edit that ending properly and get it all timed out correctly? The mechanics to all that are very baffling to me. Music was dope though. That was one 90's-ass techno beat. Ahh, retro futurism. QOTD: Oh, I answered this one before on your Giraffe and Annika review where you accidentally reused the same ending card :P But y'know, I _did_ forget about Panzer Dragoon. _Orta,_ specifically - I didn't care for the (emulated version of the) first one on that disc, but Panzer Dragoon Orta was pretty baller with some spectacular moments. The one stage where your Dragon gets its wings injured and you spent it running through the beautiful alien snowfields while it's healing up, and then at the end of the stage when the boss appears and your dragon chases it by jumping off an unfinished bridge and pops out its new wings after a bit of a fall? Awesome stuff. Too bad I forgot about it :P And y'know what else? I'll freakin' say Core Design's Soulstar on the Sega (Mega) CD too. Just to give some love to titles besides Star Fox 64 and Sin & Punishment: Successor to the Earth, the two games I said before.

[@haircafekevin]

Did people in the 90s really think that by the 2050s we'd achieve interstellar travel and colonize other worlds?

[@omganotherun]

Makes me nostalgic for Silpheed on Sega CD and later the PS2. It was a long flight back to Earth, both times. Had a great soundtrack and I still fondly remember all the squadron radio chatter.

[@SpruceCampbell]

I owned Microcosm. Played about an hour....never again. Friend asked me what the worst game I ever owned was and I had to look this one up. Thanks for video proof.

[@Junior.illinois]

is That microcosm Dos version? Im trying many times over the years to reach the final stage and seen the ending....my god love it the music and the original story from that time. Psygnosis indeed did amazing like music and art work, really miss that company

[@hazy33]

I remember seeing Microcosm at an event for the hilariously ill conceived CD TV by Commodore. Even then it was obvious that the shooting over a poorly rendered cgi film was appalling.

[@JenMistress]

That guy who was talking to the doctor at the beginning of Microcosm, wasn't that Angry Joe? 😉😂 Just kidding, think Spoony made that same joke too. Anyways, both looked hard, but interesting endings. Granted, didn't bother reading the included novel that came with the games, but still. As for the question, maybe I'll say Starfox barrel rolls into my answer. See what I did there? 😉

[@cyberpunknut1099]

I had these two games for the Sega CD and never played them. Took a look at them and thought they looked like sewer shark and never played them. Only on rails shooter I played on the system was Sylpheed which was awesome. QOTD, favorite on rails shooter is Panzer Dragoon Zwei. The disc was in my Saturn up until I got a phoebe. I'm looking forward to the remake but being a bit cautious since some people that viewed it tweeted out some very unnice things about it.

[@DefunctGames]

Would Silpheed even be considered a rail shooter? I always looked at it as a fairly standard vertical shooter with a lot happening in the background.

[@cyberpunknut1099]

@@DefunctGames Eeeh i still put it in the on rails but i can see why it wouldn't be. There's several sections where there's some interaction with the FMV background and you can't control where you go.

[@Angellmbrr]

Favorite onrail shooter... mmmhhh.... NONE!