Back in the mid-1990s, very few racing games could actually stand by any promise of realism. Outside of Test Drive and the early Need for Speed games, most racing games were based in fantasy. Fantasy is cool, but those looking for an actual driving experience (for whatever reason necessary) probably were left in the figurative dust of games of the era.
That was before Sega Rally Championship. This game understands driving and handling almost perfectly. This is remarkable, especially with the fact that this control, this near-perfect control, is done only on an 8 direction digital pad, without any sort of pressure sensitive buttons for acceleration. That's like Tony Hawk landing a 900 on a skateboard made from a broken, rotten 2 x 4 with a pair of roller skates strapped to the bottom with masking tape. But Sega did it.
There are only 4 courses.
But I don't even care about that
Because all 4 of the courses are great
Except for maybe the last one which is super hard.
Only 2 playable cars? Not even sort of a problem. You don't even need more than one. Despite the limited number of features, the near-perfect controls and courses make this a must-buy for anyone with a Saturn. Even if you don't have a Saturn, you should buy one and play this game.
Over the past year, I've really become interested in point-and-click adventure games. With the completion of King's Quest I, I have basically completed three of the first games that people tell me to try when it comes to point-and-click games. First, I played MYST, the game typically referred to as the game that killed adventure games in the '90s. Second, I played the Secret of Monkey Island, which essentially perfected the adventure formula. As of last night, I've beaten King's Quest. The first one. King's Quest was known as one of the original great adventure games.
This should be considered one of the most important games in the history of gaming. While some of the puzzle solving was confusing, (I had to use a walkthrough for most of the game) it was still a lot of fun to get through.
While my experience in adventure gaming has never exactly been great, (my first adventure game that I really played was actually Dark Seed II, a game that I probably shouldn't enjoy as much as I do) I know what a good game looks like, and King's Quest was just that.
Well, push has come to shove, and last night I took a shot at Super Bowl 28 in Tecmo Super Bowl. The opponent was (as was typical at that time) the Buffalo Bills. While they started off with a ten point lead, eventually, I was able to come back and it ended like this:
For one: Reggie White dominated throughout the whole game. It shows up there that Thurman Thomas ran for only about 26 yards. Weirdly enough, one of those runs was for around 50 yards, but the rest of his attempts were stopped by Reggie White. Also, Jim Kelly was injured in the 3rd quarter and he got replaced by Frank Reich, who proceeded not to do much.
On the other end, Favre had a terrible first 2 quarters. Aside from a 60 yard or so throw to Jackie Harris (Which I assumed would be intercepted) The passing game was dismal. By quarter 3, however, I started to figure it out, and I took the lead with 2 touchdowns. It was sweet.
Admittedly, this is the first time I've ever actually won a Super Bowl in a video game. I don't play many NFL games, but this is the one that I've played the most. I've probably had the most fun with Tecmo Super Bowl out of every football based game. While I'll never call this a great sports game, (because of the rubber-band A.I.) it's still a whole lot of fun. I'd say it is better when played in multi-player than single player, though.
This game has provided me some of the most fun that a game has ever given me. Unfortunately, the later games in the series decreased in quality, (even though I did like the recent "Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff" on XBLA) but this game, if you can find it, is one of the most enjoyable football games ever made.
The Monkey Island series was always a series that I wanted to play, but never was really interested in trying out. This past summer, however; I finally decided to give the XBOX Live Arcade release a try. This remake of "The Secret of Monkey Island" is just about as much as can be asked for from a company trying to rekindle interest in a franchise.
The remake gives the whole game a complete makeover, replacing the already great pixelated graphics with beautifully drawn art, as well as giving every character a voice and adding more ambience to scenes where it would apply. This provides a perfect example of how to remake a classic. For only 10 dollars, this game should be purchased and played by everyone.
NOTE: For instruction on the MEGA STATISTICAL REVIEW SYSTEM, check here
Look out, here comes another awful port. DOOM may have the
worst history with bad porting in all of gaming’s history. It was incredibly
popular on the PC in the early ‘90s, and so console ports, understandably;
followed. Many of them were of subpar quality. Is this one of those?
The suspense mounts. But yes.
CURRENT POINT TOTAL:
50 POINTS
Mechanic: The
mechanics of the original DOOM are very good. The 32X is okay at using them
correctly. The only real problem that the 32X faces is the fact that, due to
hardware restrictions, enemies only have sprites that face forward. This takes
some of the strategy away from the game, as it is impossible to surprise
enemies by sneaking up on them, and they cannot be made to fight against each
other. Also, due to the 32X’s limited cartridge, only 17 levels are available
for play from the first two episodes. Other than those, the gameplay actually
works fairly well. Level movement, while it isn’t as fluid as the PC version,
is much better than it could be.
Score: +5
CURRENT POINT TOTAL:
55 POINTS
Presentation: DOOM’s
graphical and auditory elements were severely limited by the 32X’s hardware.
While this is unfortunate, this never could have happened without the addition
of the 32X. The audio is certainly lacking. While the sound effects are clean
enough, the music is severely hurting. All of the musical tracks sound like
low-quality versions of the original PC Midis. This hurts the atmosphere of the
game (and I’ll get to that later.) The graphics, if you couldn’t tell, are
muddy to the point of actually hurting the gameplay. It can be difficult to see
where you’re going and who you’re shooting at. On top of that, the actual
gameplay only takes up a small window of the screen. The rest of the presentation,
menu and HUD-wise (HUDweiser, coincidentally, would be the basis of a great pun
if I could think of one) is actually alright. The Doomguy face is still great.
Score: -4
CURRENT POINT TOTAL:
51 POINTS
That mess of pixels there in the center is your enemy.
Control: Using
the Genesis controller is pretty awkward for a game like DOOM. For one,
movement is controlled by the D-Pad, allowing only for forward and backward
movement, along with rotation to the left and right. Shooting, on the other
hand, is very responsive. The lack of ability to strafe is a little annoying,
but other than that, it works fairly well. With a six button controller, the
player can use the mode button to quickly change between weapons. The
development team made do with what they had, and it worked out decently for
them.
Score: +1
CURRENT POINT TOTAL:
52 Points.
Design: As
previously stated, the first sixteen levels from DOOM are present in this
version. These levels are designed very well. That’s about all I have to say
about it. They’re great.
Score: +7
CURRENT POINT TOTAL:
59
Atmosphere: One
of the things that made the original DOOM so great was the atmosphere. It was
dark, claustrophobic in some cases, and legitimately unsettling at many points.
Not much of this transferred over to the 32X. The graphics, as already stated,
are muddy and blurry in some cases, which hurts the atmosphere because the
excitement and unease given to the game is nearly gone when the player can
hardly tell what is going on. The music probably takes a bigger hit, as the
reduction in quality on many tracks strips most of the intrigue and suspense
away.
It just doesn’t work like the original did, sadly; and it
probably takes more away from this port than it would have if DOOM wasn’t a
classic.
Score: -6
CURRENT POINT TOTAL: 53
EXTRA CREDITS:
GOING ABOVE AND
BEYOND: Though there are only seventeen levels in the game, the programmers
still had the presence of mind to code the BFG into accessibility. It can only be accessed via cheat code,
apparently; but it is there. +2
ACCOUNTING FOR LAZY
PLAYERS: The first fifteen levels are accessible directly from the menu.
The sixteenth level must be unlocked, however; and if the game is completed
starting from anywhere other than the first level, the player gets the bad
ending. +3
FINAL POINT TOTAL: 54
Realistically, this port can be fun in some cases. Unfortunately, the rating that this receives (54/100, basically terrible), gets swayed negatively by the great legacy that the original PC version holds. When it comes to DOOM ports, you could go worse, but you could go much, much better.
