Series Review: Grand Theft Auto - Part 2

Game: Grand Theft Auto III
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: DMA Design
Release Date: 22nd October 2001

The first of many 3D Grand Theft Auto games, GTA III is the first game of the series to have many of the features that are taken for granted in modern games such as Vigilante, Taxi, and Ambulance missions, flyable aircraft, day/night cycling, weather effects, a mini map, drive by shootings, and smarter AI to name just a few. The game also featured 3 interconnected islands instead of 3 separate locations for gameplay, and more linear missions in which NPC's built trust with the player before giving them crucial missions.

Although there's no set pace for progressing through the game, the story is continued through taking missions from various contacts (more are unlocked as you complete further missions) until the overarching plot is resolved. Missions generally involve combinations of driving and shooting with other elements appearing less often.

One of the most notable additions to the series is the radio humour, with mock adverts and radio stations (mainly thanks to the involvement of Lazlow in the game). This was expanded upon in later installments of the series and has become a recognisable element of the games as a whole. This humour also continues to the characters and missions that the player encounters with various elements of political satire and references. There's a larger choice of weapons than any other series installment, with new melee choices like bats and knives as well as new types of gun.

Considering the game's 2001 release, there was an incredible amount of in game freedom compared to other titles of the time. A higher level of chaos than you could have imagined with GTA 2 was possible and with an even bigger city to roam, more characters to interact with and much more to do, it's not hard to see how GTA III became the basis for the modern installments of the game.

Graphically the game doesn't look so great thesedays, it can lose sharpness when the player is travelling at high speeds, and things take a while to "pop-in", but it still retains the atmosphere of a city. The graphics are good enough to be able to see what you're doing, and to recognise areas of the city and mission targets. One complaint of the game I have heard is that there's a lot of grey cityscape and not much else in its map, and it does at times feel like you're walled in by buildings. The advantage of this, however is that the game achieves the gritty, crime infested city feel that it's going for with the promotional material.

Soundwise, GTA III has a large library of songs on the radio, as well as adverts, speech and sound effects. I can't think of many times during the game when I was unimpressed and usually there's a few laughs to be had at lines of dialogue. Overall it's a fun sandbox game which was incredibly popular at the time of its release and to a degree still is. It introduced several elements to the series which are still in use today and although some aspects could have been better, it's a good template for the things that came after.

Rating: 84/100
Grade: B

Game: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Rockstar
Release Date: 27th October 2002

Vice City as a location is the opposite of Liberty City; a bright, vibrant and exotic locale where the rich folk of the GTA universe live. There's mansions dotted about the map, a golf course and several fancy clothing stores. For all of it's riches, Vice City has no less crime than any other installment of the GTA series. You find yourself ambushed in a drug deal gone awry, and needing to get back the money you lost. The only solution is to work your way up from the inside and work with those who ambushed you, before finally taking your revenge and exposing the island for what it really is.

Vice City's main gameplay is missions based, just like the other games in the series. You're allowed to free roam at any point outside of missions and there are other side quests and fun activities to find. There's not many additions to the gameplay from GTA III as it was built on the same engine, however you're now allowed to purchase companies which have associated missions and earn you money, and the police are a little more aggressive at times.

The story of this installment is one of the most impressive of the series, with regular twists and turns as it makes it way toward its ending. There's many characters who you interact with and for the first time in the series, it seems like you've got motives to be doing these favours rather than just blindly following instructions for whatever reason, as before. Cutscenes and voice acting in the game is good, with the first talking protagonist in a GTA game.

There's some missions in the game which I feel surpass those of GTA III, due to either new ideas or better execution of established ideas from previous games. There's a mission which involves planting explosives with a remote control helicopter which I found to be a particularly fresh idea for the series. There's still a lot of driving and shooting parts, but if there weren't I'd be disappointed.

Graphically the game is somewhat similar to GTA III, which does make it seem a little outdated when cars and buildings are looked at in detail. The brighter, more sunny style of the game helps towards a fresh feel for it., however. There's a lens flare effect that's used a little too often in the game for my liking which tends to put me off during missions or even when I'm just driving around. Soundwise the game's radio soundtrack doesn't feel quite as strong as that of GTA III; there's 2 talk stations which have less humour than Chatterbox FM, and the other music stations are a bit of a mixture.

Overall Vice City was more of a bright remodel of GTA III than a successor; it has good moments and an arguably better story than its predecessor but the fairly small map, slight adjustments to the driving style and lack of particular graphical improvement let it down somewhat. It's definitely worth a play though and I think Rockstar were right to issue the two games as a double pack on re-issue.

Rating: 85/100
Grade: B

Game: Grand Theft Auto Advance
Console: Game Boy Advance
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Release Date: 26th October 2004

Released 3 days before GTA: San Andreas in Europe, Grand Theft Auto Advance is almost like a 2D top-down version of GTA III with a different storyline. The place names are the same as those in GTA III, and from what I can tell, a lot of the same characters are involved. The story involves a gangster who is trying to get out of the city and away from the crime whose mentor gets killed as he's trying to leave. Vowing revenge before he gets out of the city, he takes on missions to find out who the murderer was.

The gameplay rather lets the game down, as I've said before about the series, most missions involve either driving, shooting or a bit of both. Unfortunately both of these elements of the game are pretty unenjoyable both compared to both the 3D installments of the series and even the earlier 2D ones. The driving features a camera which zooms out as you get faster, but when you hit other cars they roll over and do other strange tricks. Also if you take a corner too fast in a tall vehicle it's likely to lean over onto its side, but other than this the driving is similar to the other 2D games.

On foot, the gameplay is even worse; movement is controlled via the D-pad, weapons are switched with the select button, you can run with B and A is used attacks whether they're guns or melee. The problem here is that aiming is difficult, and with various foes attacking you it's almost impossible not to take damage. This makes the missions pretty difficult once they get to a certain standard. There's over 40 story missions in the game as a whole, which is a good number for a handheld version of GTA, but they do seem to be a lot of the same thing.

Graphically the game is less than impressive, I understand that it's on Game Boy Advance but at the same time vehicles literally turn into pixels when they explode, it's hard to see who's who on foot, and the map is difficult to use. The sound is alright on the game, with in-game radio clips (including a song from GTA 2 on Dreamcast), but disappointingly no voice acting. Overall this is a pretty poor experience, if only for the fact that Rockstar demonstrated they could make much better games for home consoles in the previous 2 installments. Compared to Grand Theft Auto on Gameboy Colour it's a little better I suppose, but that should be a given.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: D

Tune in next time for GTA: Liberty City Stories, and Vice City Stories!

Collection Review: Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 Part 2

With 6 games reviewed and 14 to go, it's time for some more impossibly difficult Capcom arcade action!

Game: The King Of Dragons
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1991

The first of quite a few fantasy style Beat Em Ups on this collection, The King of Dragons also features RPG style leveling elements as well as the opportunity to upgrade weapons and shields. Able to accommodate up to three players simultaneously, the game has 5 different classes of character to choose from, all of which handle and attack differently; there's Elf, Wizard, Fighter, Cleric and Dwarf. It seems best to choose a class and stick with it, although you're allowed the option to swap at various stages throughout the game, you can attain a higher level by continuing to play as the same class.

Gameplay is as you'd usually expect from a beat 'em up; full of enemies and opportunities to collect score, as well as to level up. You work your way through a land which has been tormented by monsters, controlled by a dragon Gildiss, who is the final boss of the game. There are 16 stages, some very short and others seemingly endless, through different locations and terrain. The 5 classes of fighter are fairly evenly balanced, although at points, some do have an advantage over others.

Graphically the game is once again reminiscent of the 16 bit era, as it was produced during that time and was actually released on SNES in Japan and North America. The soundtrack is another strong point of the game, with an organ theme throughout, it suits the fantasy style well. The difficulty on this particular game doesn't seem to be as high as some of the others on the collection, although you'll still find yourself taking a lot of damage. Overall it's a highly playable bit of fantasy fun which never made its way to Europe for home console.

Rating: 74/100                                                                                Status: Completed
Grade: B                                                                                         Continues: 11

Game: Knights Of The Round
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1992

Strangely never released in Europe, Knights of the Round follows the story of King Arthur, Percival and Lancelot in their quest to restore peace to England. Another fantasy beat 'em up game, it plays fairly similiarly to The King Of Dragons and I'd wager that it uses the same game engine. As either of the 3 protagonists, players can fight their way through 7 stages, levelling up as they collect score.

A rather major flaw in the game is the amount of damage enemies can do. In regular beat 'em ups you'll find that your health bar is only seriously depleted by bosses or very powerful enemies, but that's not the case here. Anything up to a third of your health bar can be taken away in one hit by regular enemies, which makes dying a far more regular occurrence. Bosses are even worse, as they hit hardest of all and take 30-40 hits to get rid of.

The option to have 3 players is a welcome one, and the gameplay on the whole is good, if a little repetitive. The game wasn't that hard to complete with infinite continues, but I wouldn't have got very far without them. The graphics in game are very similar to that of The King Of Dragons and are even a little reminiscent of Golden Axe, so pretty much standard fantasy beat 'em up fare. Musically the game has some interesting pieces but nothing especially impressive.

Rating: 66/100                                                                                Status: Completed
Grade: C                                                                                         Continues: 31

Game: Last Duel
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1988

Last Duel is a space-shooter type game which seems to be too hard for it's own good. With an array of bullets, enemies and other obstacles on the screen, losing lives is inevitable and although the game doesn't play particularly fast, it's still very challenging to survive for even a minute under these conditions. There are shooting powerups and shields to be collected which can aid the player's survival but even so they're not of much use overall. The story of the game flashes up quickly before the title card, it's a generic space wars type plot as you'd expect.

The graphics are probably the most impressive part of the game, as they're rather advanced for 1988. There's not really any slowdown with multiple enemies and projectiles on the screen and levels have a nice range of backdrops and music in them. Overall if it had been a little easier, this game would have made a great arcade space shooter. Unfortunately losing a life every 5 seconds does take some of its appeal away.

Rating: 49/100                                                                                Status: Gave Up
Grade: D                                                                                        Continues: 52

Game: Magic Sword
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1990

Magic Sword is a 2D platforming type beat 'em up where you attempt to traverse 51 floors of a tower to reach the final boss. The player must collect keys to climb the floors of the tower, as well as to free prisoners, who will fight alongside him (although you're only allowed one at a time to do this). Not only is the game fairly difficult, the fact you're expected to complete 51 levels, however short they are makes it feel like a big undertaking.

The game itself is fairly simple, moving along either to the left or right of the screen, freeing prisoners and looking for the next flight of stairs up. Every now and then, there are boss battles which allow you to get a better sword. If you take damage, the hero will drop his sword and you'll have a very short amount of time to collect it before you're forced to use the next sword down (which can't be dropped).

The levels themselves can take anywhere from 20 seconds to 2 minutes to complete depending on what's in them. The bosses are of a good difficulty and are fairly fun to fight, but regular enemies are weak and tend to swarm you so that it's hard not to take damage. The player is given a good amount of health to begin with, which is a bonus with a difficult game such as this.

The graphics and sound for the game are good and really help to shape the experience. It does however look a lot like the other fantasy beat 'em ups included on the collection, even if there are gameplay differences. Overall this has decent appeal, but I dislike the way it's laid out with 51 short levels to explore. I'd much rather have 10 or 15 longer ones, and even then that may be too much for this type of game.

Rating: 55/100                                                                                Status: Halfway
Grade: D                                                                                        Continues: 12

Game: Mega Twins
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1990

If Cute 'Em Up is a genre with bright graphics and cartoon-like enemies that need shooting, consider this a Sweet 'Em Up. With most of the content of some of the earlier fantasy games, but in a bright cartoony world, Mega Twins is half Beat 'Em Up, half platformer. In a few ways it plays more smoothly than the other similar games featured on the collection. The objective is to make it though the air, land and sea worlds, through a castle and back out to defeat the final boss.

There's still a fair amount of difficulty to the game, despite the child-like graphics; bosses and stages require some strategy and quick thinking. It's less taxing than most of the games on the collection though, and somewhat more fun at times since you're not as harshly bombarded with things to avoid. The limited use special attacks work pretty well and are useful in tight situations.

The sound in the game lets it down somewhat; there's a really annoying noise that plays whenever you're below half health, and a lot of the other effects could be better. The graphics are nice despite their cartoon nature and the game is a whole lot brighter than the other fantasy games. The bosses and enemies are nicely designed and remain in line with the theme for the game as well as being cute and cartoon like.

Overall it's a game with fun parts which is fairly short and let down a little by it's music and sounds. There's good themeing and character design and it's one of the easiest games on the collection. It's a nice break from the more serious side of fantasy Beat Em Up and platforming games also.

Rating: 60/100                                                                                Status: Completed
Grade: D                                                                                        Continues: 18

Game: Quiz and Dragons
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1992

The last fantasy type game for this review and the penultimate one of the collection, Quiz and Dragons is a quiz game styled around the dungeons and dragons board game. The player rolls a die and moves to a square which represents an enemy which must be defeated. There's a certain number of points required to defeat the enemy, which can be achieved by correctly answering trivia questions. It's a strange concept for a quiz game, but also an intriguing one.

The graphics are fairly impressive yet somewhat wasted on this type of game; afterall there only really needs to be the text for questions and answers. Each character type has their own advantage whilst playing the game, my favourite one is the Amazonian's ability to have less options to answer from, thus making it easier to get a correct answer.

Where the game begins to feel flawed to me is first is its largely American bank of questions. As can be seen above, there's questions that people outside of the US will struggle to answer. Secondly some of the answers are even wrong or out of date (the second of which can be expected from old quiz games), so it's a little unfair on the player also. Added to the fact that quiz games aren't exactly the most exciting of things, it makes for a rather dull play experience, despite the D&D theming.

Rating: 38/100
Grade: E

Game: Side Arms
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1986

There's been some pretty hard games on this compilation so far, especially the shooters which seem to have ridiculous amount of enemies and projectiles on screen at any given time. Let me introduce the hardest of the shooters so far; Side Arms. I'm pretty sure that the longest I went without taking damage in this game was around 10 seconds, it's incredibly enemy heavy; so much so that it'd be impossible without a great deal of continues.

As it is, even with infinite continues, you're damaged so often that it's hardly even fun to play. I'm aware that people have practiced hard enough to beat the game with just one continue, however an arcade game that kills new players after 5 seconds isn't going to make much money. As featured on the Capcom compilation with infinite continues, I'd much rather have turns longer than 10 seconds than a game I can feel proud of being good at, any day.

The game's graphics are great for the time, just another reason why it's disappointing that it's so hard. The boss design is another good feature, and the music is good also. There's really nothing that'll take your mind off the fact that you're dying every 7 seconds or so, however. Too difficult to get into, and not rewarding enough to spend time getting good at, this is a game I'd recommend avoiding.

Rating: 45/100                                                                                Status: Gave Up
Grade: D                                                                                        Continues: 50

Stay tuned for the last 7 games in the Capcom Classics Collection, so far I've used 294 continues across the 13 games (or around 882 lives). How much harder can it get?

Game Review: Streets Of Rage 2

Game: Streets Of Rage 2
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: January 1993

The first screen of Streets of Rage 2 explains the somewhat flimsy premise of the game's story, the criminal syndicate from the first game are back (for whatever reason). You're given a choice of 4 characters to play as in this installment, Axel and Blaze from the first game return, and are joined by Skate and Max. All of the playable characters have stats which affect their performance in battle. Max is slow but powerful, Skate is fast but weak, and Blaze and Axel sit somewhere in the middle.

Playing the game with anyone other than Blaze or Axel seems harder, as Skate doesn't do enough damage to make his speed useful and Max isn't fast enough to get away from sticky situations. You play through 8 levels just like the first game, although the enemies now have health bars to give you an indication of their proximity to death. The levels start out similar to the first installment of the series but at times they take unexplained turns, even in the middle of levels.

Other changes from the first game include larger sprites, and the removal of the one-use special attack, in favour of health depleting specials which can be use infinitely. There's also a special combo move for each player which doesn't drain your health. Overall the gameplay remains much the same, although it can feel more cramped than the first game due to the larger sprites. It's still fun to beat up the hordes of oncoming enemies and the health bars are a good addition to the game.

The difficulty of the game is somewhat unbalanced, although it does have an arc which gets more difficult towards the end of the game. The first 5 or so levels are pretty easy and they don't feel particularly challenging, save for some of the bosses (although using your special combo can make them easier), but once you reach stage 6 it's like a switch has been flipped and suddenly it's a far more difficult game. You're often crowded out and unable to fight back due to the sheer number of enemies surrounding you.

With two players the screen feels even smaller and there are sometimes places where enemies aren't quite where you thought they were. Getting mobbed by enemies in cramped conditions can also result in damaging your team-mate inadvertantly. While the original game featured 2 bosses per stage in 2 player mode, there's only 1 per stage in the sequel, meaning that only one of you can really take the fight to them at a time, which is disappointing.

Enemies often retreat to the sides of the screen and have to be lured back out so that you can finish them off. This seems to happen far too often in the game. It's not all bad though, I did enjoy playing parts of the game, and there's some clever bits along the way. What bothers me the most is that the gameplay in the original didn't have a lot of the problems present in this game.

Graphically the game is an improvement on its predecessor, the backgrounds and locations look nice and there's some nice effects with parallax scrolling and other fancy techniques included. The character sprites are also more detailed, for their size. The music of the game is generally good, and there's references to the first game snuck in all over the soundtrack. I'd say the audiovisual aspects of the game are the most pleasing.

Overall, I don't find Streets Of Rage 2 as fun to play as the first game in the series, the issues with difficulty, controls, and two player gameplay are too hard to overlook. It does have fun ideas in places, which weren't featured in the original but it could have been much better. Most people seem to prefer this game to the original from what I can see but I don't know what they see in it. Good graphics and sound, poor gameplay when compared to Streets Of Rage 1 unfortunately.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Game Review: Gran Turismo 4

Game: Gran Turismo 4
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Polyphony Digital
Release Date: 22nd February 2005

Think of a car, any car you like. Chances are that it's featured on Gran Turismo 4 somewhere in its lineup of over 700 cars. The large car list is what initally drew me to this game, tired of having 50, maybe 100 cars to choose from it seemed that the possibilities would be endless with so many vehicular options. There's also over 20 tracks to choose from, and full career, arcade, multiplayer and time trial modes.

The gameplay is as you might expect for a title in the racing genre, and although there's not as many types of race as an arcade racing title, the wider range of cars and tracks added to the simulation handling make for a more real racing experience. In "Gran Turismo" mode, you can buy cars, unlock and win championships, earn licenses and take driving missions to improve your skill.

There's many different types of championships in Gran Turismo mode, most with specific entry conditions based on each cars power, production date or country of origin. As the player progresses and wins races, they'll receive prize cars with which they can enter other events and championships. Although it's a repetitive formula for a career mode, in the context of a racing game it works well and there are many types of race available including endurance and rally.

Races all have their own point rating, based on which car you use to enter them. A 200 point race means you've chosen a car with a smaller chance of winning when compared to the AI controlled cars. There's no real reward for collecting these points, but it's nice to know how difficult the race you're entering will be. Also included is a B-spec mode which allows the computer to race for you. The more you use this, the more skill the computer player develops.

The handling on the cars can be a little hard to master for those used to arcade racing games, but for a simulation game, I found it to be good. Most cars feel pretty different from one another and you'll soon find favourites from the game's large selection. Unlocking every car in the game is perhaps more tedious than it needs to be, as you'll have to complete every license test with a gold time, every driving mission, win every championship and then buy every car that's not a prize car. I'm currently about 95% of the way to having them all, but it does make you feel like giving up every now and then.

The game's AI is sometimes rather predictable, it'll usually follow the racing line unless you bump it off course, and much of the time there's places where it makes silly mistakes. I'd say that it's easy to find the right difficulty level for your style of play, however since you're allowed to choose better or worse cars to enter in races most of the time.

Graphically the game's car modelling is quite impressive, with a large amount of detail on all of the vehicles and their features. Unfortunately this isn't the case for the scenery and tracks, some of which is decidedly 2 dimensional, and can look rather poor when travelling at very high speeds. Of course I'd rather the focus was on the cars, but there's room for improvement in this area. The game's soundtrack features a mixture of indie rock music and electronic tracks with some success, most of the songs are likeable, even if they're not something I'd listen to outside of the game.

Overall Gran Turismo is a great game if you're looking for something with a large car and track list, with a lot of licenses, races and championships to complete and simulator handling. It does what it's supposed to very well and looks and sounds nice on the whole. I'd say it's one of my favourite games in the racing genre and while it doesn't have the fun "pick up and play" appeal of arcade racing games, there's a sense of pride from mastering the game and unlocking all of the vehicles.

Rating: 86/100
Grade: B

Game Review: Euro Truck Simulator

Game: Euro Truck Simulator
Console: PC
Developer: SCS Software
Release Date: 6th August 2008

A somewhat different title from my normal reviews, I picked this game up cheaply wondering what it'd be like. Having updated it from version 1.0 to 1.3 (mainly so that I was able drive in Britain), I set off. The game is based around being a long distance truck driver, and picking up/delivering cargo to various locations in and around Europe. At first the player chooses a starting country (I chose the Netherlands), inside of which they can transport goods and make money. If there's only one city in the players country of choice, the smallest neighbouring country is also unlocked, so that there's somewhere to travel to.

The first order of business in the game is buying a truck; you only have enough money to afford a C class truck at the start but as your earn more, you'll be able to carry larger loads with other classes of truck. Once you've got a truck, you're shown how to look at the list of available jobs and choose one to fulfill. Upon arrival at your destination you're paid the agreed fee, minus any fines, or damages to the freight. It's a simple concept and essentially gameplay involves taking job after job until you run out of patience.

The controls in the game are decent, if a little sensitive on a keyboard; you'll need to constantly adjust the wheel left and right, and with buttons it's harder to do. With a controller plugged into the computer however, the game's control does improve to the standard of actually being pretty good. You have control of the vehicle's lights, indicators, acceleration, braking, steering, windscreen wipers and more. Although at first it may seem like there's too many controls to get used to, each one is used in game and after a while they seem natural.

To progress in your career as a truck driver, there's goals and achievements which need to be completed. Some are a simple as driving a certain amount of kilometers towing cargo, or buying access to different countries on the map, but one common theme is that achieving these goals seems fairly far off when they're first set. Considering that one trip from Amsterdam to Warsaw takes around an hour of real time driving, and you'll make about 10,000 euros if you're lucky, the goal to earn over 70,000 euros is 7 gameplay hours away when you first start the game, and it's only a 2nd level goal.

Graphically I found the game to be fairly impressive with realistic trucks, cars and textures, even though they weren't incredibly detailed. There were a few times when texture lighting would flicker and trees couldn't decide if they existed or not, however with the scope of the map and the overall look of the game that can be forgiven. Soundwise there's only music in the menus of the game, unless you add your own files to it's radio folder (I just played music from winamp whilst playing). The sound effects in game are good, although after a while you'll be pretty bored of just hearing a truck engine.

Overall this makes for a good simulation of truck driving, there's fines and penalties if you drive badly and long streches of motorway inbetween destinations. It does suffer from a repetitive gameplay formula and general monotony after a while, just like real truck driving. The only mercy is that travel times aren't as long as the real thing. There's a sequel to the game out at the moment which seems to have improved on some of these features, but as it stands this is enjoyable for a while, then you'll want something with more action.

Rating: 59/100
Grade: D

Collection Review: Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 Part 1

Game: Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2
Console: Playstation 2
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 24th November 2006

This is an interesting collection of Capcom Arcade and Home Console games, a lot of which never saw the light of day in Europe. It features mostly fighters, beat 'em ups and shoot 'em ups, although there are some exceptions to that. I'll be giving a short review on all of the 20 games included, and since this is a collection which includes full games, I'll be rating the games for inclusion on my all time games list, rather than rating the collection as a whole since including 20 games makes it appear much better than it is overall. A lot of these, being japanese or arcade games are relentlessly difficult, however infinte continues are provided which makes things easier. So, onto the first game;

Game: 1941: Counter Attack
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1st February 1990 (JP)

The 3rd game in Capcom's 19XX series, 1941: Counter Attack is an incredibly fast paced vertically scrolling air combat shooter. There's tons of enemies on screen at any one time, against your one aircraft, and sometimes it can be hard to even see what you're doing with the number of shots, explosions and military vehicles crowding the long, thin screen. Your aircraft is able to shoot normally, charge a more powerful shot and use a special attack which takes one stripe off your health bar. 

With 6 ever more challenging levels, its a short but fairly difficult game which would have been expensive to complete in arcades. You can increase your rank by destroying lots of enemies throughout the levels, and this gives you more health, which gives a very basic stat/rpg element to the game. It looks great for 1990, and controls pretty well also. The sound effects are a bit overpowering at times, I was pretty sure I could hear some music behind them, but it wasn't easily discernable. 

Overall 1941 is a fun concept which looks and plays well despite it's difficulty and short length. I had fun beating the game, and although the gameplay was starting to become a little samey, at no point did it begin to feel boring. I'd definitely have tried this in arcades if I saw it, but it'd have cost a great deal to actually complete.

Rating: 65/100                                                                                                Continues: 22

Grade: C                                                                                                        Status: Completed

Game: Avengers

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1988

Avengers is a top-down view beat 'em up, where you aim to rescue 6 girls from the clutches of Geishita and banish him from your town. There are 6 different levels in which you fight enemies using either your punch or kick attack, both of which can be done whilst rotating in a circle. At times, however the game does make you wish there was more of a choice when it comes to attacks. A lot of the time your punches and kicks aren't enough to stop you from taking damage as you're swarmed with enemies. 

The bosses in the game are easy on the whole, the first 4 pose hardly any challenge whatsoever; much less than the regular enemies even. It's also easy just to walk through a lot of the stages, without taking damage due to some poor AI choices. The graphics are pretty advanced for 1988 and there's a good soundtrack, its just a shame that the gameplay lets it down, there's really not much fun to be had with this game, it gets monotonous fast. I gave up on the 5th boss as he was incredibly hard to even land any damage on.

Rating: 31/100                                                                                               Continues: 10

Grade: E                                                                                                        Status: Gave Up

Game: Black Tiger

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1987

Black Tiger is an incredibly difficult, not particularly rewarding fantasy platforming game. You guide a hero through a dark kingdom, fighting all manner of creatures and beasts, including the three dragons that plunged the kingdom into darkness, in order to restore light to the kingdom. The real problem with the game is that from the outset, you're given a difficult path to follow with many creatures attacking you, and only 2 hits worth of health. 

You're allowed to buy items from merchants who you unfreeze, but not only are they pretty expensive, considering the money you make from killing creatures, they only last until the next continue (which is inevitably 5 seconds away). It's difficult to appreciate games with such a high amount of challenge because there's frustration at not being able to progress, and they're usually just trying to compensate for their lack of length or depth. Overall it's not a bad game, but there's not much fun here, only pain and misery. 

Rating: 45/100                                                                                                Continues: 24

Grade: D                                                                                                        Status: Gave Up

Game: Block Block

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: October 1991

There's always at least one game on collections which doesn't impress as much as the others. In this instance, putting a breakout clone on a collection which features a lot of fast paced and fantasy based games seems like a strange move. While the game was only released in arcades just as the other games on the collection were, it doesn't control anywhere near arcade standard, in fact at some points, the ball goes right through the paddle, and it's difficult to move it precisely. 

There are 8 levels in the beginner selection and 50 in the normal selection. While each stage is different, just as with breakout, the gameplay is essentially the same. The game isn't difficult save for the controls being a pain, and the organ music behind the game is fitting. The real point for me here is that a lot of versions of breakout are better than this, and were released earlier. Especially as part of this collection, the game sticks out as of lesser quality and interest. 

Rating: 45/100                                                                                                  Continues: 11

Grade: D                                                                       Status: Completed (Beginner's Mode)

Game: Captain Commando

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1991

Ever wanted to take on a legion of intergalactic supervillains as a baby in a robotic suit? Now you can! With up to 4 player support, this beat 'em up is a great addition to the collection. Not only does it have a high retail price for both SNES and PS1 which it was ported to, those versions are reportedly less enjoyable. In the same sort of vein as Streets Of Rage and Final Fight, this is a fast paced ultra-violent ride through space, taking on a whole host of different enemies with guns, rocket lauchers, robotic suits and more. 

The four characters featured in the game (Captain Commando, Mack The Knife, Ginzu the Ninja, and Baby Head) all control slightly differently, with advantages and disadvantages to their styles. All of them are able to do short and long range attacks as well as throws and weapon attacks (akin to the playstyle of Streets Of Rage). The graphics in the game look much like 4th generation consoles of the time, and are presented well. 

With a harder difficulty than a lot of the console Beat 'Em Ups, the infinite continues provided on the collection is welcome. My only real criticism of the game would be its difficulty as loss of health is a regular occurrence and there's not many food power-ups. The soundtrack to the game is as catchy as it is fitting, fast paced and exciting; it really sets the mood for the fighting that is portrayed and works well. 

Overall this is the first game to really impress me out of the collection and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to play it (as mentioned before the other only options are costly SNES or PS1 versions). This really is a great Beat 'Em Up despite the difficulty. Adding in some friends will add to the fun, and allow you to experience the true arcade excitement of the game. 

Rating: 83/100                                                                               Status: Completed

Grade: B                                                                                       Continues: 16

Game: Eco Fighters

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release December 1993

The final game in this part of the collection review, Eco Fighters is a shoot 'em up based on saving the environment from an evil corporate dictator who is farming land for its worth and leaving "death spheres" in place of planets. You pilot a strange looking ship with a rotating arm, which can fire all sorts of weapons and attempt to take down all of the henchmen before meeting with the final boss and putting a stop to his eco-terror for good. 

The game plays pretty smoothly, and like 1941 there's a lot going on onscreen at any given time. It's difficult to avoid all of the attacks aimed at you, so you should find yourself going through continues fairly quickly. Apart from this though the game plays well, the controls are simple and once you have the hang of the arm rotation it's actually quite an inventive way to play a shoot 'em up. You're also allowed to upgrade your weapon via the jewels collected from destroying enemies which adds another dimension to the game.

Both graphically and stylistically the game is fairly impressive with 16 bit style graphics and a very mechanical feel to enemies and upgrades. The music in game is fast paced and generally enjoyable, with more tense pieces used for boss battles. With 6 levels, like most of the other games it feels pretty short, but any longer may begin to feel monotonous, so Capcom got pretty much the right length for the game. 

Overall it's not quite as enjoyable as games such as Fantasy Zone, which feature slightly less frenetic action scenes (although just as many enemies), but it has a fun feel to it, and if you don't mind working your way through several deaths it's pretty rewarding. 

Rating: 70/100                                                                               Status: Completed

Grade: C                                                                                       Continues: 37

Series Review: Grand Theft Auto - Part 1

Grand Theft Auto is such a large series that it'd be almost impossible to review all at once. I've already reviewed San Andreas on its own as it's probably my favourite game of the series and so there's 6 main installments that I own left. I'll be looking at the 2D versions in this review, the main series 3D games in the next part, and finally the two "stories" installments for the PS2.

Game: Grand Theft Auto
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: DMA Design
Release Date: 30th June 1998

Looking at the title screen for the first game in the series, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd got hold of some sort of cheap imitation of the game. Originally titled Race'n'Chase it isn't the well oiled, high budget production we're used to, having played the more recent games in the series, but it's always nice to explore the origins of such a big franchise. Upon selecting a new game, you're given a choice of 4 characters (there's very little difference between them) and placed in Liberty City to begin your reign of crime and chaos.

The game kindly provides you with a car and tells you to make your way to some phone boxes in "South Park" to accept jobs from Bubby, the local crime boss. These jobs usually involve driving to somewhere, to kill someone, pick up some sort of goods and deliver them somewhere or cause some kind of chaos for the benefit of a gangster. You're rewarded with points for completing missions and after earning enough points, you're allowed to move onto a new city.

There are 3 cities featured in the game, which will be familiar to fans of the series; Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. These aren't anything like their later installment counterparts, but they do feature some rather amusing district names and fairly large street maps for this kind of game. There's a few different types of cars, and even motorcycles on the streets (which is impressive considering the 3D games didn't get motorcycles until Vice City). The handling whilst driving is something you have to get used to, its neither good nor bad really, although being able to see a little more of the road whilst driving might be helpful.

The on-foot controls also take some getting used to, as you have to rotate your character in the direction you wish him to go, before making him run directly forwards or backwards. It's not so much a bad control scheme as one that's not often used by games in this day and age. Using weapons is fairly easy, with the circle button being used to shoot in the direction you are facing, and L1 and L2 swapping between the weapons you're in possession of.

There's a lot of missions featured in the game, perhaps even too many since there's not a whole lot of variation in what you're required to do. You're allowed to take some time out from completing missions and cause chaos around the city, as with the other GTA games, which is good for exploring the map and testing the limits of the game. Graphically there's a lot of pixels visible in places, and most items and vehicles don't have a whole lot of detail to them, but this would have been even worse, had the developers tried a 3 dimensional approach. The sound in the game is generally good when in vehicles, the radio stations give some humour and entertainment, but when you're without the radio (roaming the streets, etc.) it feels a little empty.

Overall there's a good amount of fun to be had with both the missions in the game, and attempting to cause massive amount of chaos. The controls are outdated but not impossible to master, and the missions whilst samey do provide some entertainment. It's easy to see why this became popular, even if it's not the refined version that we know and love today.

Rating: 64/100
Grade: C

Game: Grand Theft Auto
Console: Nintendo Gameboy Colour
Developer: Tarantula Studios
Release Date: November 1999

When I first saw that there was a release of the original Grand Theft Auto game on Nintendo's Game Boy Colour, I had presumed it'd be a terrible watered down version of the Playstation game, as a lot of conversions are. In one respect I was correct; a lot of the gore, profanity and adult themes have been removed from the game to leave it rated Teen instead of Mature, however it features the exact same maps and missions as the PS1 version, 4 female characters in addition to the male choices, and most of the other game features from the original.

This version isn't without it's faults; for a start there's no punch command, no music outside of vehicles whatsoever, a lot less traffic on the roads, incredibly slow running and possibly the most difficult challenge in the game is getting into cars (you have to press select and A, whilst at the correct angle to the car), but for a Gameboy version of a PS1 game to be as close as this gets to the original is quite an achievement.

Obviously the graphics are more basic and the sound is also watered down, but the game plays smoothly, you can complete missions as if you were playing the original and the city is just as big. Overall its almost a worthy alternative because while a chunk of the humour is missing, you can play it on the go and the original isn't so advanced that you miss too many of its features.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D

Game: Grand Theft Auto Mission Pack #1: London 1969
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: DMA Design
Release Date: 30th April 1999

Just under a year after the original GTA for Playstation came the 1969 London mission pack, which featured a new map, missions, vehicles and soundtrack. It's definitely more of an expansion than a sequel, as the graphics and gameplay remain almost the same as the original. There's a lot of London based humour featured in the games such as British accents, themed missions, cars and place names.

Funnily enough the first difference you'll notice from the original is that the cars are on the other side of the road, which takes a little getting used to. The missions themselves seem more engaging, perhaps due to the theme overall, I'm not sure they're any more interesting in what you're being asked to do. The locations have some recognisable landmarks, moreso than the original which was based on New York. The selection of cars and characters in the game are good and I enjoyed it more than the original.

(The car selection in GTA London: 1969)

Overall, I think the themeing helped the game, which was already fun achieve new levels of entertainment both for people who had played the original and who were new to the series. A slight graphical upgrade and better soundtrack resulted in a more enjoyable game overall, with much the same features and mission types as the original.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Game: Grand Theft Auto 2
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: DMA Design
Release Date: 30th April 2000

The final 2D game of the main series, GTA 2 made its way to the Dreamcast as well as Playstation, PC and Gameboy Colour. While the formula remained basically the same as that of the previous games, there were some new additions such as the respect meter, and gang areas in different parts of the cities. The missions have more variety than any of the previous installments, with added humour much like that of the London Missions Pack.

The controls for Dreamcast are superior to those on the Playstation, as the analog stick is used for directional movement and so is more precise. The left trigger is used to fire weapons, making it easier to fire and aim at the same time. The graphics are also impressive compared to the original and the Playstation counterpart of GTA 2. I haven't heard the radio stations from the Playstation version, but they're very impressive in the Dreamcast version with good music and radio hosting, even if they do still reset when you get in and out of cars.

With more explosions, mayhem and carnage than the previous installments, GTA 2 was a great send-off to the 2D games. Although the gameplay is similar in all 3, there's a sense of progression and the game becoming more refined from the original to GTA 2. As a player there's still a lot of fun to be had with this game, whether or not you're a fan of the franchise. It's admittedly more basic than the games on the Playstation 2, but at the same time there's an unrivalled sense of chaos. Overall these are all worth checking out, especially GTA 2.

Rating: 74/100
Grade: B