Latest Haul (and Impressions): Icebreaker II
August 9, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Well, what’s this? A new 3DO release? That’s right… As I mentioned on one of the first posts to this blog, OlderGames.com was planning to bring us several new 3DO games. Well, the time is now. The Classic Gaming Expo has come and gone, the games are officially released, and everyone that placed a pre-order has the game in their hands.
All of the games that OlderGames has released were incomplete works-in-progress and are at various levels of playability. Powerslide seems barely playable. Decathlon is playable, but with a fair number of bugs. Onside looks quite stable, but doesn’t interest me much. Icebreaker II, on the other hand, feels like it was very much ready for an official release, and that’s why it’s the only one I decided to buy. The only thing that indicates the game isn’t finished is that there is space on the level select screen for 150 levels, but only 118 are present. (Oddly enough, levels 149 and 150 have been created even though 117-148 don’t exist.) On top of that, there’s a whole collection of small tech demos to play around with, outside the scope of the game itself.
So how is it? Was it worth waiting 13 years after the origial release for the sequel? Well, I guess it depends on how much you were actually anticipating it in that time. For someone like me, that hasn’t played the first and only found out there was an unreleased sequel a couple years ago, it wasn’t a bad wait at all! But I pity those who were waiting with baited breath (if any of you exist). Not that it’s a bad game, but rather… Why would you be waiting with baited breath for any game for 13 years? (Says the guy waiting for the NiGHTS sequel. D’oh.)
For the unfamiliar, I think the best way to describe Icebreaker is as a puzzle-slash-shooter game. The object is, as a floating white pyramid, to float around each level destroying all of the other pyramids. Most of the pyramids are static and can be broken either by running into them or shooting them. Some take more shots than others, some take more rapid shots than others, some turn into pools of acid, some turn into pools of lava. On top of that, there is a constant onslaught of mobile enemy pyramids closing in on you, so you have to negotiate destroying them while destroying the static pyramids.
Though I haven’t played much yet, I think I can confidently say I’ve never played another game quite like this one (of course, like I said, I never played the first game). From what I’ve seen, Icebreaker II is fresh and fun. The concept is unique and I really like the colorful, cartoon-like graphical style. Naturally, I’ll have a full review sometime in the future…
Impressions: Populous, Killing Time, Landstalker
July 28, 2007 by Tim · 3 Comments
I mentioned on the About page that I’m something of a lazy gamer. Or, at the very least, I’m not a very dedicated gamer. When I was younger, I could dedicate myself to a single game for hours on end, day after day. I just don’t have the attention span for that anymore. I think it happened when I started spending more time on the internet. So either the internet destroyed my attention span, or I just grew up a little, I’m not sure what it is. But either way, I play a lot of games, and I play a lot of games for a couple hours at a time.
Eventually, I’ll get around to playing each game long enough to properly review it. (After all, that’s the point of this site.) But in the meantime, I’m going to post quick impressions of the games that I’ve been playing lately but haven’t spent enough time with to properly review. So here goes:
- Populous (SNES): I’m not sure what it says about a game when its tutorial mode provides absolutely no instructions in any way. I bought the game used, cart-only, and was utterly lost. Shouldn’t a tutorial at least describe what all the buttons on the screen do? Once I found a transcription of the manual online, things fell into place. This is an unusual sim/strategy/god game where your main power is to raise and lower the land so your followers can farm, gain strength, and eradicate the followers of your rival deity. I’m going to have to spend a lot more time with this one before I really form much of an opinion of it, but I’ve found it intriguing so far.
- Killing Time (3DO): Another awkward early 3D game for the 3DO. It’s an FPS that does a few things right and a few other things horribly wrong. I love the seamless transitions between areas/levels, as if it’s one big environment I’m exploring, rather than segmented levels. I hate the ugly enemy sprites that repeat ad nauseum (there are only one or two different enemies per area). I’ve only played through the first few areas, but so far, it seems like a technically sound game with smooth controls being brought down by poor enemy variety and a total lack of ammo. In fact, I’m pretty sure I have to ditch my current save because I only have one bullet left and about four enemies to kill to advance any further. Argh.
- Landstalker (Genesis): Now this game is promising. It’s a fun action-adventure/RPG with platforming elements, puzzle-solving, and fantastic graphics that manage to look appealing despite the miniscule color palette of the Genesis. I was a fan of Dark Savior on the Saturn, so it’s no wonder I’m liking this one. I’m just having some doubts about the controls, though. It’s an isometric game, so you spend a lot of time moving in diagonals. I’m not sure yet if the controls are unresponsive or if the six-button pad that comes with the Genesis 3 just doesn’t do diagonals well. I think I’ll track down a different controller before making my final judgment, but so far so good.
What have you guys been playing lately? Have any quick impressions of your own to share? Hit the comments…
Ninja Spirit (TurboGrafx-16)
July 25, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
As your footsteps fall silently upon the floorboards of the ruined temple at which you were born and raised, you barely have time to contemplate the untimely and unjust death of your father and the vengeance which you have sworn to obtain. With swiftness and deftness that can only come with a lifetime of training, you dispatch foe after foe with ease. But they are relentless. Bombs, knives, and swords fly at you as your enemies swarm about, seemingly appearing from thin air. Where are they coming from? Why do they want you dead? Why did they kill your father? There’s no time to ask questions. There’s no time to think, only to react.
Your sword slices through your attackers and shields you from their bombs and knives, but it is becoming more and more difficult to handle each wave of aggression on your own. You defeat an unusual ninja in bright orange, and as if on cue, an apparition appears. But this apparition does not attack. Instead, you discover that it mimics your every move. You gracefully jump hundreds of feet into the air and drift softly to the ground. It follows you every inch of the way, without a hint of effort. You look closer, and on the face of this apparition, you see yourself. You see your anger, your hatred, your determination. This apparition is your spirit. It is invulnerable and has every drop of strength and skill that you have. It will protect you.
Virtua Cop (Sega Saturn)
July 15, 2007 by Tim · 2 Comments
Light gun games have something of a linear history. Virtua Cop may have shaken up the genre by bringing into the 3D era, but its gameplay is not nearly as revolutionary as its graphics were. In fact, you can trace the gameplay straight back to one of the earliest NES games — Hogan’s Alley. In Hogan’s Alley, you were a cop, wandering through a seedy area, shooting down thugs while trying to hold back your itchy trigger finger when an innocent appears. In Virtua Cop, you’re a cop, wandering through a seedy area, shooting down thugs while trying to hold back your itchy trigger finger when an innocent appears. 16-bit light gun games were much the same (see Lethal Enforcers) as are modern ones (see the Time Crisis and House of the Dead series).
But saying Virtua Cop sucks because light gun games are all the same would be unfair. It’d be like saying Soul Calibur sucks just because it’s a 3D fighter, or Streets of Rage sucks just because it’s a side scrolling beat-’em-up. The real question is whether or not I have fun playing it. And, quite simply, I do. It’s certainly not worth playing with the controller, but get yourself a Stunner, and you’ll be mowing down baddies left and right.
Streets of Rage (Sega Genesis)
What’s this? An early ’90s Genesis side-scrolling beat-em-up that doesn’t suck? I originally intended to review Golden Axe, but it was so awful that I just couldn’t bring myself to keep playing. (I’ll have to play it when I’m in a more masochistic mood, I guess.) So when I decided to play Streets of Rage instead, I had low expectations. It had been a while since I had played the game, so I couldn’t remember much and wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I had fond memories, but I had the sinking feeling that those memories were of Streets of Rage 2, not the original. Thankfully, it turned out I was right, and the game is pretty playable.
Streets of Rage is Sega’s response to Final Fight and is another entry in what used to be an extremely popular genre. Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Altered Beast, Golden Axe… What the hell were we thinking back then? I guess we really liked walking to the right and repeatedly pushing the punch button. Streets of Rage is no different. Like the rest of the group, it’s pretty much a simple button-masher with very little in the way of depth. You can walk, jump, kick, punch, summon special attacks, pick up weapons, and… Well, that’s about it. Oh yeah, occasionally you’ll grapple someone.
Total Eclipse (3DO)
July 1, 2007 by Tim · 2 Comments
Like with my first Saturn review, I spent some time debating what I wanted to cover first for the 3DO. There are some great games for the system, but most of them are overshadowed by the overwhelming amount of crap that is available, too. I wanted to pick something that I felt properly represented the spirit of the 3DO, and I think Total Eclipse does that. It’s not because Total Eclipse is a particularly good game (or a particularly bad game). I think it’s just a good representation of the games that are available for the 3DO — it’s prototypical for the system.
Total Eclipse is a fantastic technical feat for its time. The terrain and enemies are all rendered in crisp, clear 3D with a slick, smooth frame-rate. It features CD audio, pre-rendered cut-scenes, and does a great job of making loading times virtually transparent. Unfortunately, it’s just not a very exciting game. The first couple of worlds drag on without much of interest to report. You’ll face straightforward terrain, easy enemies, and a soundtrack that alternates between dull, tired sounding guitar riffs and cheesy soap-opera-style saxophone.
Frankly, the whole time I was playing Total Eclipse, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was just playing a polished but generic version of Star Fox. They’re very similar games — both are futuristic rail-shooters where you take on the role of a fighter pilot heading off to save the solar system. But while Total Eclipse excels in many of the technical areas of game design, it just doesn’t match Star Fox in terms of fun.
Sonic R (Sega Saturn)
June 24, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I debated for a while over which Saturn game I would review first. The Sega Saturn is one of my favorite platforms of all time, and I felt like it needed a worthy introduction. Would I pick one of its well known classics for a glowing review? Or one of my favorite lesser-known titles? Or something absolutely terrible so I could have a little fun with the review? In the end, I decided I’d take a look at a fairly well-known game where I might have a different view than most.
Most of the time, when people talk about Sonic R, (or Sonic 3D Blast or Sonic Jam) they start off by lamenting a bit about how the Saturn never got a true 3D Sonic adventure, and how, if it had, things could have been so much different. Well, I don’t want to talk about that. For one, it’s cliché and been done to death. On top of that, we’ve seen how the 3D Sonic games have turned out since then, and frankly, I don’t think we missed much. And most of all, I think taking all that into consideration taints the view of the game itself. How could you possibly enjoy a Sonic racing game if you’re harboring resentment that it’s not a platformer the entire time?
With that viewpoint explained, I feel confident enough to say that, quite simply, I like this game. If you strip away all the baggage that came with its release, (especially the fact that the Saturn was really struggling at the time) you’ll find an entertaining game underneath. It’s a simple but engaging game — bright and cheerful almost to a fault — and a nice technical demo of the kind of horsepower the Saturn actually had.
Marble Madness (NES)
June 16, 2007 by Tim · 2 Comments
It seems there have been a plethora of marble-based maze games in the last several years. I think the recent trend started with Super Monkey Ball and was soon followed by Mercury, Marble Blast, Kororinpa: Marble Mania, and others. Well, they’re all rip-offs. Every last one of ’em! Marble Madness is The One True Thing and will always be the game that the others are compared to. And for good reason, really: it rocks.
Bonk’s Adventure (TurboGrafx-16)
June 12, 2007 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I find it interesting to think about the 16-bit era and look at how the success of each console’s mascot parallels the success of the hardware itself. Mario and Sonic were bitter rivals, but ultimately, I’d say Mario proved to be the stronger mascot. Likewise, the SNES and Genesis were bitter rivals, with the SNES winning out in the end.
And then there are Bonk and the TurboGrafx-16. Poor little Bonk. Poor little TurboGrafx-16. Though he’s appeared in many games on several different platforms, Bonk’s spiritual home is the TurboGrafx-16. Unfortunately, he just didn’t have the star power to carry the system. In the bitter playground wars of Mario vs. Sonic, Bonk was the oft-forgotten third player. And, likewise, the TurboGrafx-16 was largely overlooked.
Was it poor marketing by Hudson and NEC? Was Bonk just not an appealing enough character? Or were his games just not good enough? Poor marketing could be a solid argument, but I don’t think that tells the full story. And Bonk, with his big head and goofy smile, is certainly appealing enough to sell games, so that theory is out, too. That just leaves the games.
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