By the time you read this, I will have a copy of Final Fantasy XIII in my hands. So, since I don’t want to do a game for Quality Control that would take time that I could otherwise spend studying or playing Final Fantasy XIII, I’m picking UN Squadron for my Quality Control. Additionally, since this game is based on an anime and manga series (Area 88), I’m also going to do a review of the first OVA series (presumably the one that came out contemporary with the game). That review will, of course, come out later. First, though, we scramble for the review. (See what I did there? Fighter pilot joke). Read more
Moving on to our Nintendo Power recaps, we come to issue #30 for November of 1994, and our cover story is Final Fantasy II, otherwise known to the rest of the world (and most gamers today) as Final Fantasy IV. Oh, and the Chocobo on the cover, even though it is black, isn’t the wrong cover. It’s flying, and in Final Fantasy II/IV Black Chocobos are the ones that can fly.
Letters
This month they were asking for letters from people asking who they’d like to play multi-player Game Boy games with over the link cable. About half of them don’t specify a game, but a few do. A few writers specify the game they’d like to play against that person – usually something in the same “field” as the person works in. For example, one person wants to play Bo Jackson’s Baseball against Bo Jackson, NASCAR Challenge against Bill Elliott, NBA All-Star Challenge against Michael Jordan, and so forth. The semi-exception being one player who wants to play multi-player Tetris against Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev because, and I quote “I would like to study his strategy and maybe even beat him.” I like that. Read more
Alright then. We’re going back, after a long hiatus, to my Electronic Gaming Monthly recaps. This time we’re skipping ahead some to issue 75, for October of 1995. Our cover story is Mortal Kombat III for the Sony PlayStation and… Street Fighter: The Movie – The Game for the Sega Saturn. I can tell you right now which one I’d rather play.
Editorial
Danyon Carpenter has this issue’s editorial column. As the 16-bit generation comes to an end, it’s going out with some pretty impressive games. Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, among other games for the SNES. The Genesis on the other hand is getting Vectorman, Comix Zone and other good games. So, Danyon advocates hanging on to those soon-to-be oldies-but-goodies for your 16-bit systems, something that I can definitely agree with. Read more
When I was a kid, I picked up a used copy of Ghouls & Ghosts for the NES. I picked it up after hearing Adam Sessler, a game critic I respect immensely, gush about the game on Extended Play (which might have still been “GameSpot TV” at the time). I played it, found it frustratingly hard, and turned it in. When I came to the last issue of Nintendo Power which I did a Where I Read for (Issue #29), I decided now, with the aid of emulation, to give the 16-bit version of Ghouls & Ghosts another try. This way I’d actually stand a chance of beating a level and would be able to pass some sort of judgement about the game.
The Premise:
You are Arthur – King of the Britons. Queen Guinevere has been kidnapped by demons, and you must travel across the land trying to rescue her. Read more
Well, it’s a new year, and with the new year comes more opportunities to clear more titles off my Pile of Shame. First up is the spinoff of EA’s Battlefield series, aimed for the Consoles – Battlefield: Bad Company.
The Premise:
Private Preston Marlowe has screwed up. After going in a joyride in a helicopter, destroying a General’s limo in the process (along with the helicopter), Marlowe is assigned to B Company of the 222nd regiment, also known as Bad Company. The unit has the highest mortality rate in the Army, and is made up more-or-less entirely of bad apples. His squad is not an exception. It consists of pyromaniac George Gordon Haggard Jr., Terrence Sweetwatter, and Sgt. Sam Redford, who volunteered to be in the unit if it would get him out of the Army early. When the squad discovers that enemy forces in this war have hired the mercenary company “The Legionnaires” – an infamous mercenary company that is always paid in gold, they decide to go on a Payroll heist. Read more
So, I’ve previously reviewed Need for Speed: ProStreet and Carbon. Both were pretty decent racing racing games, putting aside the very significant and major flaws I pointed out in my reviews of both games. Well, in my review of ProStreet, I said I’d give GRID a try. As you can tell from the title of the review, I haven’t. What I have tried is Criterion’s more arcade style, open world street racing game Burnout: Paradise. I’ve basically made it through career mode (I’ve gotten my Burnout License), so it’s time to give my thoughts on the game.
The Premise:
No particularly story in this game. You complete various racing events in the fictitious city of Paradise City. As you complete racing events, you upgrade your license. As you upgrade your license you unlock additional cars, as well as unlocking cars by taking them out (by which I mean force them into a wreck) while driving around the city. Read more
This week’s Nintendo Power, issue #29 for October of 1991, finally has some better cover art – for Star Trek! Oh, and this is a good one too – they’re finally getting back up to speed. It’s original art too, not stock art from Paramount either. I can tell they’re using a model, but it still looks good anyway. It helps that they’re using the Constitution Class refit.
Letters: Our themed letters this issue are based around parents who hyjack their kids console, in that they’re gaming enough that the kids have to try (and fail) to chase them off the NES.
F-Zero Guide: We have notes on the games controls, and which tracks you’ll have to race on which circuits. We also have notes on the various vehicles and their pilots, including Captain Falcon. Read more
This week’s issue of EGM, #64 for November of 1994, is a doozy – 398 pages (including the cover), just short of 400 pages. We’ve also got one heck of a cover story, the 32X version of Doom. Now, due to the length of this issue, I may end up skipping a few games if they’re games that just don’t interest me. In particular, I’m going to skip the sports section entirely, and for the system specific coverage I’m going to skip games that were reviewed earlier in the issue (and possibly games that don’t interest me).
Editorial: Since this is, basically, the second-to-last issue of 1994, it’s time once again to speculate at where the video game industry is going, particularly considering that the game industry going to enter the 32 bit era soon. Read more
Well, I tried to beat this game. I couldn’t. This game is very hard. That said, I made it through Tatooine, with the help of the map in Nintendo Power, and I made it through the asteroid sequence through what I guess is dumb luck. However, after arriving on the Death Star, I ran into a brick wall. Well, not literally, but figuratively. I couldn’t find where to go next. That said, I do feel that I experienced most of the pieces of the game experience, at least enough so that I feel comfortable rating the game. So, let’s get started
The Premise:
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away… oh you know the whole plot already. Seriously, the game sticks fairly close to the basic plot points, though it embellishes on them to bring the game to a length that would be acceptable for a commercial release. Read more
This week’s Nintendo Power recap finally takes us into the 16-bit era, with issue #28 for September of 1991 and our cover story is Super Mario World for the SNES. I’m strongly considering dropping my “no classics” restriction for this game. However, let’s see what else we have this issue first.
Letters: We get a bunch of suggestions for future contests.
Super Mario World Guide: We get coverage of Mario’s new companion, Yoshi, as well as the game’s power-ups. We also get notes on some of the enemies in the game, along with some of the over-world maps. We also get notes on what levels are where, but we don’t get detailed level maps – which is kind of unfortunate, as this is the only mainstream Mario game I’ve gotten lost on. For the record, I also got a little lost in Super Mario RPG, but that’s a slightly different matter. We also get some notes on finding the Star Road – but again, they don’t get in a lot of detail on anything. Read more
This week we continue with our EGM recaps with issue 63 for October of 1994. Our cover story for this issue is Donkey Kong Country for the SNES, one of Rare’s latest games.
Editorial: Well, last issue, Steve Harris teased an announcement this issue about Capcom’s responce to their lower review for Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Well, this issue we learn Capcom’s response – they blacklisted (at least where Advertisements are concerned) EGM to “make a statement” in the words of Capcom’s director of marketing. Steve Harris says that the only statment coming from Capcom here is that they don’t have faith in their products, and I can’t help but agree. Further, I’d expand on that by saying that any game publisher or developer who engages in the journalistic equivalent of the Tarkin Doctrine only succeeds in making them look like the bad guy to the gaming press. If they blacklist a blogger or web site, then they’re picking on the little guy. If they’re blacklisting an established bastion of games journalism, then they’re making a Nixon-esque enemies list. Further, this is only aggrivated when they’re doing the blacklisting for a review that isn’t particularly bad. The Street Fighter II series had been pushing perfect scores in EGM for most of its run. This is the first game that didn’t, and thus they get upset over it. Read more
Video Games Live 2008-2009 Tour Poster (courtesy of videogameslive.com)
So, I’m doing a break in my usual reaps with a review of a concert I went to today. To be specific, Tommy Tallerico and Jeff Wall’s tribute to video game music – Video Games Live has finally come to Portland, and I’ve finally seen it. So, what did I think?
The Premise
Tommy Tallerico & Jeff Wall lead (in this concert) the Portland Philharmonic and the Pacific Youth Choir in a performance of music from various video games, including the Kingdom Hearts series, the Final Fantasy series, Mario, Legend of Zelda, and other games. Read more
The GamePro Recaps have hit issue 50 for September of 1993. Our cover story is Mortal Kombat, the latest fighting game (as of this issue) to rock the arcades. The cover art though, isn’t so hot, but that’s to be expected.
Letters: We get a letter discussing improvements to game endings. Or, at least getting it something better than “Congratulations, You Won.” We also have a small string of letters discussing violence in games, and they generally agree is that some games are too violent for parents and they’re disappointed with Sega instituting a rating system because it would promote censorship. We also get questions about what systems might be getting what cheat devices. Read more
Darkman is, by far, my favorite Sam Raimi film. I like it more than his Spider-Man films. I like it more than Army of Darkness. In my mind it is one of the best masked avenger films, and one of the best superhero films. Everything about it is excellent, from the direction, to Liam Neeson’s performance. It’s just excellent. So, when I found out about this game in Nintendo Power, I wanted to give it a try. Yes, it’s a movie licenced game from Ocean, but it can’t be all bad, can it?
The Premise:
Peyton Westlake is a scientist working on a synthetic skin formula for burn victims. When Robert Durant, crime boss, burns down his lab and leaves him for dead, horrifically burned and scarred, Westlake swears vengeance, and takes his imperfect formula (which only lasts for 99 minutes when exposed to direct sunlight), and uses it to take apart Durant’s gang, piece by piece. Read more
Our Nintendo Power Recaps continue with Issue #27 for August of 1991. Our cover story this issue is a Game Boy game – Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge.
Letters: This issue our focus is on a Little League baseball team from the US that got to play in Japan, with a little help from Nintendo of America.
Ninja Gaiden III Guide: The Ninja Gaiden series comes to not its final installment – but the last one for quite some time. Irene Lew has been murdered, and Ryu has been framed, and now Ryu must avenge his her murder and clear his name. We get the powers, including all the new ninja arts and power-ups. We also get maps for Acts 1 through 7, with some storyline notes, and notes on beating the bosses up to level 4. Read more
The EGM recaps continue with issue #62, for September of 1994. Our cover story is, of all things, Primal Rage. I mean the game looked good, but it wasn’t that good.
Editorial: The internet… it’s spreading. Okay, that isn’t specifically the topic of the column this issue, which is from Steve Harris, returning to the editorial pages one more time. The topic this time is the response on internet message boards to the the editorial column from last issue, about the constant reiterations to Street Fighter being too excessive. To be specific, the internet fans defended Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and felt that the Game Boy game that recieved honors as the Game Of The Month last issue was unworthy. It goes to show that you can’t please everyone on the internet. That said, we don’t have the specific content of the posts, and since this is 1994, when internet use wasn’t as wide spread (and generally required dial-up), it’s likely that the posters used proper grammar, and didn’t resort to some of the more childish comments that you see on the internet these days (in part because you wouldn’t have had as many immature kids online in the US). Oh, and apparently Capcom did something in response to the reviews as well, which they’ll get into next month. Capcom USA didn’t blacklist them for failing to be appropriately deferential at the altar of Street Fighter, did they? Read more
This week, I’m taking a break from doing the featured games from this issue of Nintendo Power, to go with one of the Also Rans – a game that was featured in the “Now Playing” column, but didn’t get a full strategy guide. Specifically, I’m picking Over Horizon, a shump from Hot-B.
The Premise:
The game’s story is… nonexistent. You’re flying a star fighter and have to defeat a force of invading aliens. That said, the game does have as one of its features the ability to customize your weapons with traits from other weapon power-ups you encounter through the various levels.
The Good:
Finally, we have a shump which has enemies come in from behind, that also lets you shoot backwards without having to do any fancy shenanigans with your controller.
The Bad:
In order to view your score or see how many extra lives you have remaining, you have to pause the game. This is what HUDs are for class. Game Design 101 – remember?
The Ugly:
I couldn’t get past the first level. This isn’t because I suck at shumps (though I’m not great). This is because halfway through the level we have these vine like critters blocking your path through the level that I can’t get through. If I fly into them, I die. If I shoot them, nothing happens. In theory, I could die, and use my temporary invulnerabilty to get through it (which I did a couple of times) – but unless you have unlimited lives, I shouldn’t have to do that. And even if I do have unlimited lives, that’s bad game design. Again, Game Design 101 people.
The Verdict:
This game deserved to be among the Also Rans – I have to give them credit for that. Don’t play this game.
Well, our Nintendo Power recaps have reached our first issue without Howard Phillips – issue #26, for July of 1991. our cover story is another movie licensed game, Robin Hood: Prince Of Theves. It’s basically an intigration of a still from the movie with some artwork they did, and while it’s not great, it’s better then the last couple issues art. I’ll cut ’em some slack.
Letters: We get a couple letters of parents who got NESes and Game Boys from their kids, but more or toddlers playing (or trying to play) their parents NESs. We also get another letter about the invulnerability of the Game Boy. A soldier serving in Iraq had his Game Boy badly damaged in a fire, and he’d sent it in to see if he could get a replacement. They’d planned to send a new one out anyway but they tried the damaged Game Boy (which they show pictures of) to see if it worked. In short, it worked! I’m impressed! Read more
Okay, our EGM recaps continue with issue number 61 for August of 1994. Our cover story is Super Return of the Jedi, and this issue weighs in at 181 pages in length. Well, then, let’s get started.
Editorial: Our Editorial this issue is from Ed Semrad, and covers the latest incarnation of Street Fighter II. The general consensus is that in the EGM offices the thrill is gone out of the relationship with Street Fighter II. Nobody’s playing it in the EGM offices anymore. To be fair, there aren’t particularly any new characters in the game, the stages are pretty much the same, and the moves are pretty much the same. All in all, they don’t think it’s worth the $70-80 it would cost (in 1994 dollars) to get this game new, and for future reviews, they will be taking into account re-releases of the same content with a fresh coat of paint – like with the Street Fighter II re-releases. Read more
The GamePro recaps continue with issue 48, for July of 1993. This issue’s pretty short, only 156 pages long, and our cover story is Jurassic Park. Oh, and the cover art is still bad, though this issue’s had some of the better covers in a while.
Editorial: We’re not totally re-iterating the table of contents this time. This issue we get a discussion of licenced games and how wonderful they are. Just wait a few years, you’ll (hopefully) change your tune.
Letters: We get demands for the mail section getting an expansion. We also get complaints about cheap AI, and we get questions about the use of “Final” in the titles of game series with lots of sequels (referring to Final Fight, not Final Fantasy, as people like to be snarky about now). Read more
So, in honor of Howard Phillips last issue of Nintendo Power, I’m reviewing the game for the last installment of Howard & Nester – The Lone Ranger from Konami.
The Premise:
You play as the Lone Ranger, the last of a group of Texas Rangers whose posse was murdered by Butch Cavandish, the notorious outlaw. You, along with your side kick, Tonto, go forth to avenge their deaths, and rescue the president, who Cavandish has kidnapped! Read more
The Nintendo Power recaps continue today with Issue #25 for June of 1991, with our cover story of Battletoads. Just to say right now, I’m not picking Battletoads for my Quality Control pick. I’ve played it before, it’s really freaking hard, and it’s a classic – which is all the more reason to check out what came out around the same time. This issue clocks in at 108 pages and the cover art is unfortunately crap. This is doubly unfortunate as this is Howard’s last issue with Nintendo Power. Who will be writing the letters at the end of the issue next? Who will Nester team up with? What will happen at Nintendo of America’s offices without somebody wearing a bow tie?
Letters: This issue it’s all about pets and gaming, particularly cats with a fixation on gaming equipment, and video games themselves. Unfortunatley, we don’t have any particularly Lolcat worthy pictures. Ah well. Read more
We’re now at EGM #60 for July of 1994, with our cover story being more stuff on Mortal Kombat II. I have to say that the art isn’t fantastic. It’s great – but not fantastic. The issue weighs in at 194 pages.
Editorial: This issue’s editorial is from Danyon Carpenter, eulogizing over the death of the last 8-bit console system, the NES, as well as contemplating the glut of systems on the market.
Letters: Speaking of gluts, we have a letter about the growing glut of bad games on the market as we come to the end of the 16-bit generation, and the dawn of the 32-bit generation. Though, as a general rule of thumb, while we get some good games in the transitional period on occasion, a lot of times major developers have their best teams working on the launch titles for the new upcoming hardware, so they can try and get something good out of the new system. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the developers and teams who aren’t putting out launch titles (and thus don’t have dev kits for the new systems) can’t be necessarily quite as ambitious, as whatever they put out won’t necessarily do as well on the market once the next gen starts building up steam. Oh, and then there are companies like LJN which put out shovelware on a regular basis anyway. Read more
Another week, another GamePro. This issue is issue number 47 for June of 1993. Our cover story is a puzzle game – Yoshi’s Cookie! The issue isn’t too long, only 163 pages long, which is nice. Oh, and just to remind you that this is the 90s, and we’re starting what will become a long series of bad video game films, we have an ad for Super Mario Bros. the movie. “This ain’t no game” indeed.
Editorial: This issue has a whole a new look, and with it they’re discussing the future of gaming again, and apparently the future of gaming is Virtual Reality! Goggles, headsets, gloves, the works! Hah! It’s 15 years later and they still haven’t worked that out!
The Mail: We get some questions about some of the previously pictured Sonic The Hedgehog zones that didn’t make it into the game. There are also questions about support being phased out for the NES and about the growing Video Game Violence debate (with more mention being given to Mortal Kombat than Night Trap). Read more
