And buggy boy was pretty cool too! It has that same sprite scaling that Outrun does. The difference is the asthetic. Buggy Boy reminds me a LOT of the original Mario Kart. The sprites are colorful and the animations are smooth. Not a bad game at all.
Next up: The Legend of Zelda
Sunday, January 29, 2017
#0128 Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Well that was quite a surreal expeience. It was exactly what it said in the title. You like Mario? Well here's some Mario levels that you never played. They reskinned some of the textures, added a couple touches here and there, but other than that, it's still the same game. It's like playing a level of Mario Maker made by the creators of Super Mario Bros themselves.
Not only did they redo the sprites, they redid the difficulty. This game is WAY harder than anything in Super Mario Bros 1. I had a hard time getting to the first castle.
So yeah, it was strangely nostalgic and strangely new at the same time.
Next up: Buggy Boy
Not only did they redo the sprites, they redid the difficulty. This game is WAY harder than anything in Super Mario Bros 1. I had a hard time getting to the first castle.
So yeah, it was strangely nostalgic and strangely new at the same time.
Next up: Buggy Boy
#0127 Space Harrier
I guess they forgot about this game huh? This is 1985's Space Harrier. A SHMUP from Sega that combines traditional SHMUP tropes with the sprite scaling of Outrun.
The added dimension to the game is very clumsily handled. You ahve no idea where you're firing at any given time, and this tends to rear it's head at the least oportune times. But it's hard not to get sucked in by it's incredible sense of energy and fun. So while I can't say it's a good game, I certainly enjoyed it.
Next up: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
The added dimension to the game is very clumsily handled. You ahve no idea where you're firing at any given time, and this tends to rear it's head at the least oportune times. But it's hard not to get sucked in by it's incredible sense of energy and fun. So while I can't say it's a good game, I certainly enjoyed it.
Next up: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Saturday, January 28, 2017
#0126 Thrust
Today I played Thrust. It was good... Yeah... It's fine...
Okay, so it's a gravity based SHMUP where you have to collect fule and energy pods for a galactic rebellion. Your ship is affected by gravity, momentum and inertia.
The game itself is fine. Controls are simple, physics are believable. It's just a nice fun arcade style game.
My real issue is the book praises is it as "One of the most important titles in the history of physics-based gaming" And... Why?
We've had physics based games since the 70s. 1979's Lunar Lander, which I reviewed here. And the almost identical, and I'd argue superior Gravitar from 1982 which I also reviewed here. If you're going to give credit for The Most Important Title in Physics-based Gaming, give it to Asteroids, they were the first to pioneer those types of thrust based controls.
Like I said before, the game is fine. It's just a Gravitar clone.
Next up: Space Harrier
Okay, so it's a gravity based SHMUP where you have to collect fule and energy pods for a galactic rebellion. Your ship is affected by gravity, momentum and inertia.
The game itself is fine. Controls are simple, physics are believable. It's just a nice fun arcade style game.
My real issue is the book praises is it as "One of the most important titles in the history of physics-based gaming" And... Why?
We've had physics based games since the 70s. 1979's Lunar Lander, which I reviewed here. And the almost identical, and I'd argue superior Gravitar from 1982 which I also reviewed here. If you're going to give credit for The Most Important Title in Physics-based Gaming, give it to Asteroids, they were the first to pioneer those types of thrust based controls.
Like I said before, the game is fine. It's just a Gravitar clone.
Next up: Space Harrier
#0125 The Sentinel
This game took me by surprise. I was ready to be unimpressed like a lot of the games lately, but I found myself oddly drawn to the game.
This is Sentinel, a First Person Strategy Stealth game. It's one of the first home games to use filed in color vector graphics. This gives it the look of very early polygon games. Like Starfox. It looks amazing, even on low-end machines.
It's a game of using and absorbing energy. There's two characters, you and The Sentinel, which as soon as you move, will slowly start rotating towards you. If it sees you, it'll start absorbing your energy. Your goal is to absorb the sentinel before it can absorb you.The problem is, you can only absorb things that are on your same field of vision or lower. If you can't see the tile it's on, you can't absorb its energy. And the sentinels are always placed very high above you. Basically, if you can't see the tile its on, you cant absorb it. You also can't move on your own. You can only transfer your essence between synthenoids. You absorb the energy of nearby trees and rocks, to create synthenoids. You'd think this would be constrictive and tough to deal with, but the game compensates you for your lack of mobility for being able to basically teleport. See, These synthenoids can be transfered to at any point so long as you can click on them. Even if they're all the way across the map. So it becomes a game of transferring yourself around the board, reaching higher and higher ground until you're high enough to absorb The Sentinel. It requires a lot of thought and is a lot of fun.
Probably the best part is, it's played almost entirely with the mouse. you only use a couple buttons to create various things, but otherwise, you look around like you would any other FPS using the mouse. It's incredibly relieving that the mouse is finally being utilized in games.
I highly recomend this and is probably a game I'll be going back to soon.
Next up: Thrust
This is Sentinel, a First Person Strategy Stealth game. It's one of the first home games to use filed in color vector graphics. This gives it the look of very early polygon games. Like Starfox. It looks amazing, even on low-end machines.
It's a game of using and absorbing energy. There's two characters, you and The Sentinel, which as soon as you move, will slowly start rotating towards you. If it sees you, it'll start absorbing your energy. Your goal is to absorb the sentinel before it can absorb you.The problem is, you can only absorb things that are on your same field of vision or lower. If you can't see the tile it's on, you can't absorb its energy. And the sentinels are always placed very high above you. Basically, if you can't see the tile its on, you cant absorb it. You also can't move on your own. You can only transfer your essence between synthenoids. You absorb the energy of nearby trees and rocks, to create synthenoids. You'd think this would be constrictive and tough to deal with, but the game compensates you for your lack of mobility for being able to basically teleport. See, These synthenoids can be transfered to at any point so long as you can click on them. Even if they're all the way across the map. So it becomes a game of transferring yourself around the board, reaching higher and higher ground until you're high enough to absorb The Sentinel. It requires a lot of thought and is a lot of fun.
Probably the best part is, it's played almost entirely with the mouse. you only use a couple buttons to create various things, but otherwise, you look around like you would any other FPS using the mouse. It's incredibly relieving that the mouse is finally being utilized in games.
I highly recomend this and is probably a game I'll be going back to soon.
Next up: Thrust
Saturday, January 21, 2017
#0124 720°
Hhhh. Tired of all these underwhelming games. Played 720° today. It birthed a genre and paved the way for skateboarding games in the future, but... I just couldn't get into it. The controls were much too confusing and unintuitive. Especially for an arcade game. It was kinda boring to be honest. I can see the merit, for what they were trying to do, but I just couldn't get into it. At least it was fun seeing what skater culture looked like back in the 80s. The only glimpses I ever got of Skater culture was at the turn of the Millennium when I think the X games were a thing. Lots of baggy pants and graphic Tees.
Up next: The Sentinal
Up next: The Sentinal
#0123 Super Sprint
Just played Super Sprint. Finally, a decent game. This is a racing game from 1986 that features, one pedal, and one screen that all three players share. Meaning that the wheel turns you in direction in relationship to the way the car is facing, which can sometimes get confusing. Honestly, it's not a serious racing game, but it's not supposed to be. Since it has to be crammed into one screen, the tracks have to be very creative, often crossing over one another. It's a lot of fun, and something I'd love to play with others.
Next up 720°
Next up 720°
#0122 Rolling Thunder
Today I played Rolling Thunder. A Side Scrolling SHMUP from Namco.
Ya know, for all the praise this book gave this game. I gotta say, I'm really not seeing it. It's really underwhelming, esspecially for an acrade game. The book says this game was "Explicit by even today's standards" and praises the game in its uniqueness.
Not only is this game not unique, (it's basically Green Baret with guns), it's really not good. The very first level, there's a series of boxes that are too high to jump over, and seemingly no way around them.
I was about to say, until I actually went and took a look at the arcade cabinet. Right on the cabinet it tells you how to jump onto the upper ledges. Had the game not had this, it would have been one disaster of the game. So I went back and played the game again, with this new knowledge and... It's still okay. Honestly, I really wanted to give it a chance, see where this "Shocking explicitness" was coming from, but it's just very underwhelming. The controls are simple, I suppose, but there's really no depth that I see to the game, and the difficulty curve is intimidating. I must have tried playing that game a dozen times and was never able to even get past the first level. That's not a sign of a good arcade game. If there is something of value to this game, then I didn't see it. And unlike Defender of the Crown, the fact that it didn't hook me within the first couple minutes isn't my fault, it's the developer's fault. If you're going to make an arcade game, you have to make sure that it's engaging to the auidence from the moment you start playing, otherwise they're going to move on to other games. Simple as that. Oh well.
Next up: Super Sprint
I was about to say, until I actually went and took a look at the arcade cabinet. Right on the cabinet it tells you how to jump onto the upper ledges. Had the game not had this, it would have been one disaster of the game. So I went back and played the game again, with this new knowledge and... It's still okay. Honestly, I really wanted to give it a chance, see where this "Shocking explicitness" was coming from, but it's just very underwhelming. The controls are simple, I suppose, but there's really no depth that I see to the game, and the difficulty curve is intimidating. I must have tried playing that game a dozen times and was never able to even get past the first level. That's not a sign of a good arcade game. If there is something of value to this game, then I didn't see it. And unlike Defender of the Crown, the fact that it didn't hook me within the first couple minutes isn't my fault, it's the developer's fault. If you're going to make an arcade game, you have to make sure that it's engaging to the auidence from the moment you start playing, otherwise they're going to move on to other games. Simple as that. Oh well.
Next up: Super Sprint
#0121 Defender of the Crown
Today was Defender of the Crown. Finally. This was easily one of the hardest games I've ever tried to get running. For whatever reason I just could NOT get an Amiga Emulator up and running for the longest time.
But once I finally did get Defender of the Crown running, it wasn't bad. It was okay really. Controls are confisuing. Even the manual does a poor job of explaining how exactly to play the game. It's one of the few games I've played so far that I felt could use a tutorial.
But from what I could understand from the game it was alright! I mean, not the best, but It's a lot like Risk only with more to it. I honestly feel if I were to take time, sit down and really hammer out how this game works I'd be much better off. But considering what I went through to get it up and running, I'd save the mastery of the game for a rainy day. Does that make me a poor game critic? Maybe, but nobody reads these anyway, so it's okay. So long as I gave it a chance, it's good to go.
Next up: Rolling Thunder
But once I finally did get Defender of the Crown running, it wasn't bad. It was okay really. Controls are confisuing. Even the manual does a poor job of explaining how exactly to play the game. It's one of the few games I've played so far that I felt could use a tutorial.
But from what I could understand from the game it was alright! I mean, not the best, but It's a lot like Risk only with more to it. I honestly feel if I were to take time, sit down and really hammer out how this game works I'd be much better off. But considering what I went through to get it up and running, I'd save the mastery of the game for a rainy day. Does that make me a poor game critic? Maybe, but nobody reads these anyway, so it's okay. So long as I gave it a chance, it's good to go.
Next up: Rolling Thunder
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