3DS eShop Double Header: Urban Trial Freestyle and Space Lift Danger Panic!

Game: Urban Trial Freestyle
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Strangelands Ltd.
Release Date: 27th June 2013

Essentially a 3D version of those BMX flash games from years ago, Urban Trial Freestyle allows players to freestyle their way through obstacle courses by motorbike, controlling both the speed and balance of the rider. Of course there's some radical jumps and opportunities to do tricks on your way through the courses, and set records for the highest jumps. Players can choose to play in Time Trial or Stunt mode, the latter of which is judged on stunt score as well as the time taken to complete the level.

To control the bikes, players use the A button to accelerate, the B button to brake and the Y button to reverse. The rider's balance can be tilted with the control pad, which works very well, when compared to the rudimentary arrow key controls of the aforementioned flash games. While its still possible to get stuck or have a little difficulty with some of the courses, the progression of difficulty and gameplay overall is good.

Graphically the game looks pretty good on the whole; the backgrounds and locations have some nice themeing and detail, but a closer look at the rider, especially in the menus shows that the textures used are fairly low quality. Musically the game features a kind of pseudo rock/drum and bass soundtrack that fails to be anything other than background noise, especially with the engine sounds added into the mix.

Overall Urban Trial Freestyle is the type of eShop game that recycles an old concept, slaps on some presentable graphics and a couple of game modes and then asks players to buy it, rather than playing the slightly simpler versions available online for free. While it's probably worth the £1.69 sale price for an hour or two of fun, it's hardly a substantial addition to the eShop library.

Rating: 51/100
Grade: D

Game: Space Lift Danger Panic!
Console: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Springloaded
Release Date: 15th January 2015

From the developers of Heart Beaten comes another retro styled minigame based title, available for just 69p on the eShop. With that kind of price tag, it's hard to know what to expect; Heart Beaten was around the £2 mark and only featured a few minigames based around breaking hearts. There are 40 missions in total in mission mode, in addition to a survival mode which allows for endless play as long as no lives are lost.

The concept of the game, and indeed the only real gameplay featured involves saving falling citizens by creating portals which stop them from falling onto spikes. The number of citizens falling varies from level to level, as does the pattern in which they fall, but on the whole very little changes between any two missions. Players tap the screen to create portals below falling citizens and save them, once all of the citizens for that level have been saved, the game moves on. There's a written plot snippet to read before each level, but it's not particularly interesting on engaging and so is best skipped.

Graphically the game is simple and fairly stylish; the backgrounds change between levels and the pixel based characters and coins stand out well. 3D is an unnecessary feature for this game, but is still included just in case. Musically there's some fun electronic tunes that accompany the menus and gameplay, but it's not enough to improve the complete game experience.

Overall Space Lift Danger Panic! suffers from the fact that it's basically a minigame style game with a single minigame that gets harder. If there had been other Space themed games included in a similar style to Heart Beaten's minigames, then perhaps there'd be more replayability and interest to the game as a whole. As it is, once you've played 5 or 10 levels of this, there's really no need to complete all 40. It may well have been trying to emulate the style of Atari 2600 games with its digital packaging (available to see in the menu), but it also has all the variety of one.

Rating: 38/100
Grade: E

There's definitely some good games up for download on the eShop, however it may seem. They just take a little longer to review, so expect some actual recommendations soon!

Master System vs Mega Drive: Mercs

Game: Mercs
Console: Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1991

Originally a Capcom arcade game, Mercs was brought to home console on most of the computer based systems of the time (CPC, C64, Amiga, ST) as well as the Mega Drive and Master System. The aim of the game is to make it through 7 rounds, shooting at everything in your way including the end of round bosses until the 'Mercs' team's secret mission is complete. Players have at their disposal both regular shots that can be upgraded, and a special attack which causes a large explosion.

Although levels start out fairly short, they increase in both length and difficulty as the game progresses, with new types of enemy appearing also. In certain sections, players are allowed to drive vacant enemy cars and boats to advance through levels and there's some novel ideas for the run and gun genre. The overall time needed to complete the Mega Drive version of the game is around 30 minutes, though completing it on a first try may be difficult as players are only awarded 4 continues.

In addition to the arcade mode of the game, there's also Original Mode which offers some alternative levels and gameplay with the same basic controls as players earn points in order to upgrade their weapons and speed. It's a nice little inclusion and definitely gives the game some replayability, which it needs considering the short length of arcade mode. The game's option menu features three different difficulty settings for both modes, but there's not a huge amount of difference between them; I only got one level further on whilst on easy mode.

An interesting choice is that of taking up a quarter of the game's screen with a stats bar which shows the current mission, score, time remaining, life and special attacks left. While this wasn't in the arcade version and could easily be depicted with icons at the top of the screen, freeing up valuable space, it's not the worst idea ever, especially as the stages seem to be designed with a vertical arcade cabinet in mind.

Graphically the game is good but nowhere near as good looking as the arcade version. Explosions and other effects are noticeably watered down from the arcade too. The variety of environments is fairly impressive as players progress, and there's also a good deal of different enemies to neutralise. Musically the game has an enjoyable and fitting soundtrack that gets a little lost in the action of the game, and takes a few listens to actually process.

Overall Mercs for the Mega Drive retains most of the fun of the arcade version with tight controls, enjoyable gameplay and a good soundtrack. Original mode adds a touch of replayability and changes up the formula somewhat. For a run and gun game it's pretty easy, but not so much so that it's easily completed; practice makes perfect. I'd recommend this as one of the better army themed games of the time.

Rating: 69/100
Grade: C

Game: Mercs
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1991

Mercs on the Master System is a rather different affair; while the levels and gameplay are rather similar to the Mega Drive version there are some changes which rather affect its quality as a game. Firstly original mode has been removed, leaving only the arcade mode, players now only have one continue, though the game is far easier than the 16 bit version, and there's no music except for when a boss battle is about to start, leaving the game to be accompanied by gunfire and explosion sounds alone.

The controls too feel much less decisive than the Mega Drive version and make it easier to wander into stray gunfire unintentionally. While there isn't a quarter of the screen being taken up by an information display, I'd rather have that than the delayed firing featured in this version of the game. While it's easy to see that the game had to be watered down for use on the 8-bit console, the gameplay does suffer a little too much for my liking.

Graphically the game is poor, with characters displayed as little more than blobs on the screen, and shots as circles. Even taking the console's limitations into account, this is a pretty poor showing from Sega. Musically there's not much to speak of either, as only the boss theme makes it into the game, leaving levels otherwise silent except for gunfire, which is a shame since the original soundtrack was pretty good.

Overall Mercs on the Master System is a shadow of the Mega Drive version, leaving in only the most basic of gameplay concepts and ideas, with much less polish in terms of control, graphics and soundtrack. Players looking for a good run and gun experience may well be better off looking elsewhere.

Rating: 46/100
Grade: D

Master System vs Mega Drive: Chuck Rock

 

Game: Chuck Rock
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Core Design Limited
Release Date: 1992

Originally a game for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, Chuck Rock found its way onto at least 7 other consoles including the SNES, Game Boy, Mega Drive and Master System. Today I'll be looking at and comparing the Mega Drive and Master System ports of the game. As the game is best known on 16-bit consoles I'll begin with the Mega Drive version of the game.

The story (explained in the game's manual rather than in the game itself) is that Chuck's girlfriend has been kidnapped by Gary Gritter, a dinosaur and his mission is to make his way through 5 levels (14 stages, with 5 bosses) filled with dinosaurs, rocks and other hazards to save her. The levels aren't particularly long and it's the challenging difficulty of the game that adds replayability rather than its length or any variety.

Controlwise the game is very simple as the B button is used to attack via a belly thrust, and the C button is used to jump. Jumping before attacking results in a flying kick, which can knock airborne enemies out of the air. There are a few puzzles which need to be solved in order to progress, but they're pretty simple in concept, mostly involving picking up and putting down rocks in the correct places in order to cross dangerous terrain or get higher up in the level. 

While the 5 levels are individually themed, there's not too much variety between them; prehistoric caves aren't all that different to prehistoric plains. The enemies that appear however, are pretty varied with different types in each level as well as some allies that guide Chuck through more difficult parts. Power-ups are scattered throughout levels offering score bonuses and health to Chuck, who has a 5 hit barrier before losing a life. 

Graphically the game is very impressive, with bright cartoonish colours and characters in front of interesting and scrolling backgrounds. Although the levels aren't particularly varied in theme, the overall themeing of the game is consistent and pleasing. Musically the game features a rock orientated soundtrack (somewhat of a pun on the game's name), which is enjoyable if a little ill-fitting with the prehistoric theme of the game.

Overall Chuck Rock is a short, but enjoyable platforming game with a novel theme and simple, tight controls. Things can get a little difficult at times, especially in the latter stages but this at least elongates the game somewhat as players only get one continue. Compared to other Mega Drive games, Chuck Rock falls somewhere in the middle of the road in terms of fun and complexity but has some great visuals and rockin' music.

Rating: 71/100 (Mega Drive version)

Grade: C

Game: Chuck Rock
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Virgin Interactive
Release Date: 1992

The Master System version of Chuck Rock is an excellent conversion of the Mega Drive game featuring all of the levels and layouts. The controls are just as tight as the other version and unlike many other conversions of Mega Drive games, it's just as playable on Master System. Gameplaywise there's almost no difference between the two versions, and players who've played this don't really need to try the other ports.

Graphically of course there's some shortcomings, and the cartoon look is somewhat lost with the 8-bit graphics and some changes have had to be made to fit the game onto a Master System cartridge. Another of these changes is the removal of all but the title music. There are some sound effects behind gameplay, but no "Unga Bunga!" to start levels, and definitely no music to accompany Chuck's journey which is a shame.

Nonetheless this is an entirely playable conversion of the game which allowed Master System owners to enjoy all of the fun of Chuck Rock without needing to own a Mega Drive, which was a rare treat considering some of the other watered down versions of 16-bit games.

Rating: 65/100 (Master System version)
Grade: C

250th Game Review Special: Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)

Game: Sonic The Hedgehog
Console: Microsoft Xbox 360
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 14th November 2006

For my 250th game review, I wanted to do something special; something universally known and understood as a video game. Released in 2006, Sonic the Hedgehog is universally known and understood as a bad video game, originally intended to revitalise the entire series and make a good start for HD consoles. With various problems plaguing the game's development from the outset (including the fact that Sonic Team were forced to split in two in order to produce this and Sonic and The Secret Rings for Wii), Sonic The Hedgehog is believed to have had very little in the way of quality checking before its rushed release.

Players choose from 3 storylines; Sonic, Silver and Shadow, and are able to control a total of 9 characters throughout the course of the game, before the "Final Story" which attempts to resolve the plot. Though each story focuses on one of the three main characters, there's still a large amount of switching between characters, which can disrupt the flow of stages somewhat. Each of the characters has a different control scheme, meaning that it can also be difficult to get used to those used for only a short period of time.

I'll begin with Sonic's story as it's the main focus of most people's attention, and the only thing available to play at the beginning of the game. The first thing players will notice when starting Sonic's story is that the graphical quality of the opening cutscene is very high, especially for 2006. After that high note, the quality of the visuals noticeably decreases as gameplay begins. The very start of Sonic's campaign features a tutorial of sorts, and some very easy free-roaming before any action stages which may well annoy fans of games like Sonic Adventure 2 where players are dropped straight into the main game.

Once inside of the the action stages, the controls and overall gameplay take a turn for the worse (although it's probable that players will have already noticed whilst freeroaming that things aren't quite right). Sonic often gets stuck on the smallest of obstacles, walls and other surfaces, has some trouble locking onto the things you want him to, and makes even the "classic" style 3D Sonic stages difficult to play.

Another type of gameplay that frequently features in Sonic's stages is the snowboarding sections, which prove fairly difficult to control as Sonic gets stuck on patches of ground for no reason, jumps inconsistently and requires precision jumping between rails. The final type of gameplay are the "Super Speed" sections which are probably the worst; Sonic runs automatically and players must dodge anything and everything in their way whilst trying to get an idea of exactly where the game wants them to go. Both of these additional types of gameplay are far less enjoyable than the classic 3D platforming, broken as it is in many parts of this game.

Another issue whilst playing levels is the loading screens between sections, inside of the level. Not just a couple of seconds, but a full 30 second loading screen after 1 or 2 minutes of play to load the next section. Considering that there's 3-5 sections in each level, that's a lot of loading screens to sit through, not to mention those endured after dying from glitches or poor level design. In fact, there's one point in Sonic's story which features a difficult trial, from a set of 3, in which players accept the challenge, wait for the game to load, hear a single sentence from an NPC, wait for the game to load again, inevitably fail the challenge, wait for the game to load a third time, and then repeat the process.

As well as Sonic's gameplay, his levels feature Tails and Knuckles (and Silver, oddly) completing certain sections. Tails can fly, and send out a blast of fake rings as his attack, and Knuckles glides and punches objects as well as being able to climb. While these sections have their own issues, related to those mentioned about Sonic's control and level design, they can be a nice break from the main gameplay and are definitely preferable to giving the support characters their own storylines as in Sonic Adventure.

Bosses that feature in Sonic's story are of varying quality, ranging from the frustrating and frankly unfair fight with Silver the Hedgehog to the Egg Genesis and Wyvern fights which (if players can stand to get that far) are reminiscent of Sonic Adventure bosses. With only 5 boss fights in total, the main emphasis is on the action stages and completing the option town missions. In terms of things to do in Sonic's story, the game has good variety even if it's choosing between two substandard experiences.

The game's plot seems to take a lot of criticism for featuring a love story between Sonic and a human princess, but besides this it's pretty standard for a game in the Sonic series. Dr. Robotnik's trying to take over the world, there's some stuff with chaos emeralds and Sonic and buddies have to save the day. There's various plot holes and horrendous voice acting (as always), but if players expected any different from a Sonic game by now, I'd be surprised.

Other than the issues I've mentioned above there's also various camera problems which can lead to players plummeting to their deaths, framerate issues that see the game shudder into slow motion if anything exciting is happening onscreen, and my least favourite part of the controls; the fact that Sonic can't be moved forwards after jumping/being launched into the air. Unless players perform a homing attack, he'll land exactly where he took off from, which makes several sections of the game needlessly difficult.

Although I didn't play through Silver and Shadow's stories as comprehensively as Sonic's (which I managed to 100%), I got a good idea of what they were like. Shadow's levels are most similar to Sonic's in playstyle, but with the addition of a combo attack used by pressing A several times after the homing attack. This makes it harder to attack with precision, but easier to do massive damage to stronger opponents. Many of Shadow's stages also feature vehicles which can be driven or flown to access new parts of levels.

Silver's controls revolve around his mind control powers and being able to levitate. His levels are far more puzzle based than the other two, and as a result are somewhat slower to play, unless you know what you're doing. Both Silver and Shadow's levels feature segments with other characters, for example Rouge appears in Shadow's first and second level, searching for keys in a Sonic Adventure 2-esque style, though there's no proximity indicator which doesn't help things. Another issue with Shadow and Silver's levels and bosses is that they're essentially in the same locations, and fighting the same characters as in Sonic's story, meaning more repetition than replayability.

Though it's often a frustrating and broken game, Sonic The Hedgehog isn't devoid of positives. There are often multiple paths through levels, giving players a choice of where they want to go (though I mostly discovered these thanks to the game not doing what I wanted it to). There are also a few references to moments in earlier games, especially Sonic Adventure, and as previously mentioned some of the bosses give off a classic 3D Sonic vibe.

Overall the difficulty comes mostly from poor controls and level design choices; super speed running sections and other slightly obtuse level sections make gameplay harder than it needs to be at points, and often trial and error plays a large part as players press on through the game. At various points, players are given hints for somewhat easy parts of the game and it feels like there's a poor balance between not getting help when it's needed, and being given hints when it's blatantly obvious how to progress.

Graphically the game features a mix between fairly impressive visuals in its pre-rendered cutscenes and the lower detail gameplay with its frame rate issues. It's also worth considering that Sonic tends to disappear completely at times, get stuck on kerbs whilst vibrating violently and Shadow's feet actually go through the floor in most levels. I'm not quite sure how to sum the visual side of the game up; perhaps it's best to say that 'It's good, when it isn't being bad'.

Musically the game is good, though not as good as other Sonic games in some places. There are some odd choices for music in some levels; a techno piece in the snow level, and more orchestral pieces than I'd have liked mean that the classic Sonic style hard rock that Crush 40 made a trademark of the series is difficult to find. The voice acting is particularly poor, and many of the cutscenes were unintentionally humourous.

Overall I'm on the fence as to whether Sonic '06 deserves to be quite as hated as it is. Once players are past Sonic's first stage and somewhat used to the brokenness of the game as a whole, there are glimpses of fun every now and then, between the frustration and swearing at the game. Although much of the stage design is generic and uninspired, and the locations are reused throughout the game, The three stories, and final uniting story seem like a mix of the Sonic Adventure games way of doing things, with appearances from many of the supporting cast, but also defined and character specific plots. While the overarching plot is fairly weak, it's not surprising for the Sonic series, and gives players enough incentive to continue, even if the gameplay doesn't particularly.

Obviously this isn't the best game in the Sonic series, in fact it may well be the worst (though there's plenty of candidates for that title). Had Sega taken the time to fix all of the glitches and bugs in the game, it might have been acceptable but the overall control and camera issues in the game are unforgivable. The glimpses of fun are just too few and far between to be significant and the game adds very little to the Sonic series as a whole, besides more doubt in Sonic Team's ability to produce good games.

Rating: 40/100
Grade: E

Simple Series Review: Police Chase Down

Game: Police Chase Down
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Tamsoft
Release Date: 17th February 2004

It's been a while since I last played a game from the Simple Series, but having found this gem recently I couldn't resist giving it a try. Players are challenged to take the role of a motorcycle cop protecting a VIP inside of a limousine which is under attack from bad guys on bikes and in vans. There are 10 missions in total which are set across the 3 locations featured; City, Highway and Desert. While there's a different road layout for each mission, the developers could clearly have tried a little harder with the theme of each locale.

Controlwise the game doesn't make it easy for players; steering wavers between complete understeer and turning on a dime, making any precision driving difficult, and all 4 of the featured characters bikes are slow to accelerate. Shooting is controlled with the R1 button, but it's anybody's guess as to where your character will want to aim; sometimes it's at the target, other times there's a strange curve on your bullets and it's hard to hit anything. Luckily motorcyclists can be knocked off their bikes with a simple collision and even the vans can be defeated with enough hits.

Graphically the game appears to use the same engine and assets as Motorbike King in some parts, and the overall quality is on par with that game (which is to say it's pretty bad). There's nothing particularly unforgivable in the visual department, but the animation and general feel is cheap as ever. Soundwise generic rock music is used to accompany the gameplay, which works stylistically but doesn't add much to the overall experience, especially as many annoying sound effects play over the top of the music, to alert players to anything and everything the game considers important.

Overall, with only the one mode to choose from (unless you count Result Mode, where players can see the grades they attained on previous missions), Police Chase Down is a classic example of a Simple Series game. Very little gameplay, fiddly controls, and an overall cheap feel. The difficulty isn't too high, but there are some moments when enemies pull out guns which can do a lot of damage, or you're asked to clear mines from in front of the limo that can be frustrating. On the whole, I'd avoid any Simple Series games as a rule, but this one is at least playable... for 10 minutes or so.

Rating: 30/100
Grade: E

Master System Double Header: Golden Axe and Smash TV

Game: Golden Axe
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1989

Best known on the Mega Drive, Golden Axe is a hack n' slash game where players make their way through various stages battling baddies, riding attack beasts and collecting magic to use in devastating special attacks. While the Mega Drive versions featured a choice of three characters, there's only one on the Master System, though each type of magic can still be chosen. The game is also single player only which is a shame, since beat 'em up/hack n' slash type games are usually better with a friend.

With only 2 buttons on the Master System controller, the controls are simple with Button 1 used for attacking, Button 2 for jumping and both together for special attacks. Players are also able to pull off a dash attack by double tapping a direction on the d-pad. The movement and action in the game is noticeably slower than that of it's 16-bit counterpart, but this doesn't make it too much less playable. What can make the game difficult is the way that enemies are able to surround players with ease, attacking from both sides. As it's hard to turn around and attack quickly in this version of the game, this issue can easily lead to loss of health.

Graphically the game is somewhat basic, relying on shading and colour differences rather than actual detail to give the impression of realism to its sprites. The backgrounds especially tend to be of low quality, and the animation is slow and jerky. Musically the game features some watered down versions of the classic Golden Axe tracks which are still enjoyable, even if they're not as easy to rock out to.

Overall while the Master System version of Golden Axe is clearly a watered down and simplified single player version of the Mega Drive and Arcade experience. This isn't enough to make it unenjoyable, but players will have to deal with slower gameplay, less advanced hit detection, and not being able to play with friends. Still, for an 8-bit console it's not a bad effort.

Rating: 52/100
Grade: D

Game: Smash TV
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Probe Entertainment
Release Date: 1992

Another game that was more famous on other systems, Smash TV came to the Master System even though the Mega Drive was becoming well established. The game is presented like a game show, challenging players to make it through various rooms full of enemies, avoiding being whacked by their baseball bats and other weapons whilst shooting hordes of them to death, and collecting cash and prizes such as toasters and holidays.

The main selling point of Smash TV was its control scheme as dual stick shooter; most systems allow players to connect 2 controllers, one of which uses its d-pad for aiming and the other using its d-pad for shot direction. Only the SNES managed to have a dual stick set-up with just one controller, allowing players to co-operate without the need for a multi-tap. The Master System version however doesn't seem to allow for 2 controllers, meaning that players must cope with the single controller setup of using the d-pad to aim and the buttons to either lock or reverse shot direction, thus making the game about twice as difficult.

Graphically the Master System of Smash TV is pretty much the worst I've seen on any system with low graphical quality and a general lack of detail. There also seems to be a slight issue with hit detection as enemies can hit you from further away than would seem possible, confusing matters somewhat. The music is based on that of the original and isn't a bad effort, even if it is simplified.

Overall this wouldn't have been a particularly bad conversion of the game if it wasn't for the control issues, which hinder the playability of the game in a major way. The fact there doesn't appear to be a two player mode is also a shame as it looks like it should be possible, judging from the second player score display in the top right. Even so, they'd have to use the poor control scheme too so maybe it's best to stick to a single player game.

Rating; 46/100
Grade: D

Amstrad CPC Review: Roland Series

The Roland series is a strange one; concieved as a mascot for the Amstrad CPC, the 8 games bearing his name were all released in 1984, generally have very little relation to one another and appear to feature different protagonists graphically. This is because the games were developed before the mascot, and his name attached afterwards. As a result, it can hardly be called a series of games at all, but I have 3 titles bearing the Roland name for my Amstrad CPC, and I'd rather get them all over with together. I decided to play them in an order that made sense as a short story, rather than going by release date, as specifics were hard to find.

Game: Roland Goes Digging
Console: Amstrad CPC 464
Developer: Gem Software
Release Date: 1984

With the definite feel of a 1980s arcade game, Roland Goes Digging is an intuitive and easy to learn game. Players must dig holes in order to trap and subsequently kill a bunch of aliens who have invaded a building site. The motive we are given for doing so is that Roland is strapped for cash, and this is a means of earning money for him. Once every alien has been trapped and killed, the next level begins with a greater number of aliens.

Holes are dug in 3 button presses, and aliens trapped in half-dug holes become angry before escaping and moving faster than they were able to previously. Aliens who have been trapped in a hole, but not killed whilst unable to move also become angry in the same way. Roland can fall down holes he has dug without taking damage, and fill them back in once dug. If he touches an alien, however he loses a life, and after 5 deaths it's game over.

Graphically the game isn't much to look at; Roland's face is bright red for some reason and the aliens appear to be ovals with wings and red circles for eyes. That said, the Amstrad CPC's graphical capabilities are quite low anyway. Musically the game features an arrangement of "Hi Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves behind gameplay which isn't the worst thing ever, but isn't exactly original either.

Overall the game plays decently though a fair amount of time is spent waiting for aliens to fall into your holes, since they seem to wander randomly. Although the first few levels can be cleared fairly easily by isolating Roland on a platform and digging holes around it, later levels depend on the arrangement of ladders for their difficulty; still, this is a playable little arcade style game.

Rating: 42/100
Grade: E

Game: Roland In The Caves
Console: Amstrad CPC 464
Developer: Indescomp
Release Date: 1984

Having dug too far (at least that's how I imagined it) Roland finds himself in the caves, transformed into a bug with incredible jumping powers. To escape, he must jump from ledge to ledge, and find the exit whilst avoiding being caught by a pterodactyl and flesh eating plants. With a hugely powerful jump, Roland is able to fling himself around the caves either to the left or right, adjusting the difficulty by the length of button press on the keyboard.

The real issue with the game is that it's difficult to tell how much power to put into a jump and in which direction to travel. The pterodactyl is merciless in its pursuit of Roland and gives him no time to think about his route out. Playing the game for a short while resulted in a great many deaths for Roland, a little progress towards escaping that I found difficult to recreate on subsequent turns and exactly 0 points scored overall.

Graphically the game is colourful at least, with various features to its cave but there's very little to see due to the overall size of the playing area. Roland is a tiny purple bug in this instalment of the series, and the pterodactyl is the only other real character sprite. Musically the game uses "La Cucaracha" this time as a theme, which works arguably less well than the previous game's music.

Overall Roland in the Caves is difficult to progress with, hard to control and not even worth your time. It seems fairly hastily developed, lacking in features and ideas and devoid of much imagination, even for the time it was released. It's the kind of game that you only see on such early systems because at least they had an excuse.

Rating: 3/100
Grade: F

Game: Roland On The Ropes
Console: Amstrad CPC 464
Developer: Indescomp
Release Date: 1984

Possibly the most conventionally game-like of my Roland games collection, Roland on the Ropes features the titular character exploring a maze like arrangement of caves in search of treasures as he dodges attacks from ghosts, chameleons and other monsters. The game controls like a regular platformer for the most part; up is used to jump and the fire button is used to operate Roland's gun until it runs out of bullets.

This being said, the level layout is more akin to a maze than levels in most platform games with several dead ends and platforms to jump up to. The only real use for the jump function is to avoid small enemies on the floor, though this is difficult to pull off without taking damage. In fact it's hard to even progress to the next screen of the maze without losing all of Roland's health as ghosts are in abundance and are able to make their way through walls and other obstacles with ease.

Graphically the game is far better overall that either of the previous releases, and Roland actually looks as if he might be human. There's some nice detail on the blocks in the cave, and the enemies are easy to identify even if they're not easy to avoid. Music has been left out of the game in favour of sound effects, which seems to be a good decision overall with the longer format of this game, and the amount of times a musical theme would have to repeat within a turn.

Overall though Roland on the Ropes is fairly frustrating as the number of traps, dead ends and enemies far outweighs the amount of power-ups and exits, meaning that player's chances of progressing are greatly diminished. The game does feel as if it has potential though, and plays far more like later titles than the other two games I've reviewed.

Rating: 26/100
Grade: E

Series Review: Juiced

Game: Juiced
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Juice Games
Release Date: 13th June 2005

Juiced was the first game I chose with my brand new PS2 slimline back in 2005. Having seen many adverts for the game in the adverts breaks of 'Pimp My Ride' on MTV, I was convinced that this was the ultimate racing/tuning game, and that I had to own it. I've played through the beginning of career mode in the game many times in the past 10 years, and feel as if I know the game inside out, but I've never bothered to complete it fully.

In addition to Career Mode, there's an Arcade Mode which challenges players to complete racing series, but in essence offers a cross-section of play from Career Mode with randomized cars and opponents on gradually harder tracks. Career mode is based on gaining respect from each of 8 gang leaders, in order to be able to host racing events on their 'turf'.

Players compete in races organised by other gangs, or can host their own races and earn money in order to buy new cars and parts. Each gang is impressed by a different aspect of racing such as the player's performance, car collection, or betting. The more respect a player earns from a gang, the more they can interact with the gang's leader and their race events. The major respect milestones are attending and participating in regular races, being able to arrange pink slip races, and finally hosting races on that gang's turf.

Respect builds fairly quickly for the gangs which are impressed by the player's racing, but for those who want to see a large amount of betting/pink slip racing, it'd take an awful lot of each to reach a high level of respect (an estimated 25 pink slip races alone to host on that particular gang's turf). There's no real end to career mode, as players aim to get 1500 respect from each gang, but can continue indefinitely after this point.

Racing itself can be pretty fun; there's a wide variety of cars available in the game all of which can be customised in a decent amount of ways. Cars are arranged into classes with Class 8 being the least powerful, and Class 1 being the most. Races are contested within classes and as such, players end up developing a rather substantial collection of cars considering there are also team races which require 3 cars of a single class; to be completed prepared that's 24 fully tuned cars required.

The handling feels arcade-like and there's plenty of room for drifting techniques within gameplay. More powerful cars are far harder to drive, and this makes later races in career mode fairly irritating as the AI also struggles to control their vehicle and can ruin races by simply bumping the back end of the player's car. Having said this, each car seems to have an individual way of handling and there's a good sense of speed overall.

Car customisation is a large part of the game, and there's a good range of visual upgrades that can be applied. Each car has a choice of 3 different front and rear bumpers as well as spoilers, window tinting, under-car lights and metallic/pearlescent paintjobs. As for performance parts, these must be unlocked by racing the car that you want to unlock parts for and finishing in a good position. Completely unlocking the upgrades for each car should take about 6-8 race wins in total, but tuning a car too much can result in it moving up a class, and being ineligible for some races.

Another concept in the game is crew racing; as players make their way through career mode they'll receive offers from strangers to join the crew and race alongside or for the player. At first these drivers are unskilled and easily ruffled, but they gain experience with each race entered and are fairly easy to train into unstoppable machines for AI beating, especially in the high BHP Class 4 to 1 races.

Graphically, Juiced looks great for the era it came out it; I was particularly impressed with the lighting effects and general atmosphere of the game's tracks. There's nothing too special about the car visuals or other details, though they resemble their real life counterparts pretty well. Musically the game features a selection of fitting music for racing, most of which made its way onto other games of the time also.

Overall the game suffers from having a rather broken system of progression in its main mode. The respect system is easily exploited in the case of some gangs, and others demand winning several types of the same race to gain enough respect to be able to attend any races. Before I played Need For Speed Carbon, I was under the impression that Juiced offered a good range of visual customisation, but just 3 bodykit options aren't enough. Besides this it's a pretty average racer with little that's unique to set it apart from the crowd.

Rating: 63/100
Grade: C

Game: Juiced: Eliminator
Console: Sony Playstation Portable
Developer: Juice Games
Release Date: 28th June 2006

Juiced Eliminator can easily be described as a watered down handheld port of the PS2 original. It features 8 new gangs, all new tracks and a couple of new cars but this doesn't fix any of the issues with progression through the game, limited customisation options or the decidedly average racing. If I was being generous I could say that the PSP version has a lot of similarities to the original game, but it's the parts that are missing and that have been changed that impact most on the experience.

Firstly racing feels a lot less fun; the powerslide-based arcade handling is gone, and replaced with chronic understeer for almost every car. The AI is at about the same level of difficulty, but players are forced to bet with other gang leaders, which improves the performance of whoever you've bet with, making it harder to win. Crew Racing now only entails setting your crew's intensity level before a race; meaning that they either race too hard and spin out or don't try at all.

Graphically the game looks a lot worse; cars and textures have much less detail and many of the circuits just aren't as fun to drive around. There's a more limited amount of visual upgrades for each car, and on the whole there seems to be a lack of effort to make things look good. Musically there's an assortment of licensed tracks, which are different from the original game but work in much the same way.

Overall Juiced Eliminator shares many features with the original game and there's no real need to play it, if you own a copy of Juiced. It's definitely not the worst thing they could have done to the franchise, but the only real addition to the game is eliminator races, which have been a thing in Need For Speed for as long as I can remember. Perhaps a different experience for handheld users would have made more sense than essentially re-releasing the console game with atrocious load times.

Rating: 47/100
Grade: D

Game: Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Juice Games
Release Date: 17th September 2007

Juiced 2 is a fairly different game to its predecessors, abandoning the respect system in favour of a league system based around fulfilling various conditions to move upwards through the various leagues. Once players have completed the inital race and bet tutorial (similar to the first race in Juiced), they're asked to pick a car and can then upgrade it, both in terms of performance and visuals. Performance upgrades are unlocked via "challenges" which resemble the crew challenges from the original game, which previously had little purpose besides gaining respect.

Each league consists of a number of races, in which various targets must be met. Initially these targets include incredibly easy things such as "Compete in a drift race" and "Finish in the top 3" but as time wears on, they become harder to achieve. In a lot of ways it's similar to the respect system in that it forces players to concentrate on every aspect of the game at some point, but it's a definite improvement.

Another new concept to the series is that of "Driver DNA" which evolves as players continue to race. With each overtake, use of nitrous, and corner the player's stats improve though I'm not sure in what way this helps, as you're allowed to drive well from the beginning, despite having no record of Driver DNA. At most it helps players to compare themselves to the AI, which tend to be pretty easy to beat in most if not all early races, and some of the later ones. Drift racing is a new addition also, replacing showoff events, and working similarly to the Drift mode in Need For Speed games.

The racing itself is pretty average; players gain nitrous by powersliding around corners so much of the game is spent attempting to powerslide around the game's tighter corners rather than actually taking a sensible racing line. Most of the circuits are built with this in mind, and although the cars handle a little differently to eachother, it's not quite as varied as in the original. Ultimately this is the most disappointing aspect of the game, as it makes the entire experience decidedly average.

Graphically the game is pretty poor, although some effort has been made with the cars and amount of decal options. Perhaps more effort was put into the 7th generation console versions, but on PS2, a lot of the textures and locations are sloppily put together and the constant motion blur effect is distracting. Musically the game features a large range of licensed music, with some good tracks nestled in there somewhere.

Overall Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights fails to continue the legacy of Juiced's concept and feel, but also fails to establish a new and original concept outside of trying to be like a Need For Speed game. By 2007 most racing games featured free roaming in their career mode with races dotted around a map, rather than a menu based progression, and Juiced 2 made me remember why we abandoned the old way. It's not awful but I'd recommend just doing yourself a favour and popping in Need for Speed: Carbon.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D

Arcade Collection Review: Atari Anthology Part 1

As part of my arcade review series, I'm going to be looking at a collection of Atari Arcade games which comes with Atari Anthology for PS2. The collection also includes some Atari 2600 games which I might review depending on how well they've been ported and/or emulated. Anyway, on to the arcade games;

Asteroids

Game: Asteroids
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1979

Asteroids is perhaps one of the most classic arcade games ever released, alongside Space Invaders and a few others from this collection. The goal is to use your ship to shoot all of the asteroids and, which break into ever smaller pieces until there's none left onscreen. The ship can be moved around, and it continues to move whilst coming to a stop, even after the player has finished pressing in the desired direction. As such, the ship feels as if it is in space.

As the levels progress, the Asteroids move ever faster and more appear at thee beginning of each level than in the previous level. It can be somewhat hard to progress in later levels thanks to the speed of the game, and the difficulty of keeping track of all objects as the screen. There are also flying saucers which appear from time to time that can fire back at players, and the option to go into 'hyperspace' and appear in a random position onscreen, though more often than not this results in losing a life rather than anything helpful.

The vector graphics featured in the game are quite stylish despite being basic, and have helped Asteroids retain an air of timelessness. Soundwise, there's not a whole lot of accompaniment save for a few basic notes behind gameplay and shooting sounds. This is typical of very early arcade games and bearable, I suppose. Overall Asteroids is an enjoyable blast from the past, and it's not too hard to see why this was one of the coolest things to play in 1979.

Rating: 71/100
Grade: C

Asteroids Deluxe

Game: Asteroids Deluxe
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1980

Featuring more of the same gameplay as Asteroids, with some slight tweaks, the most major change between the original game and its deluxe version is the backdrop featuring imagery from outer space and the change from white vector graphics to light blue. The hyperspace option has been removed and replaced with a shield which is far more useful and can help to extend player turns by protecting them from unavoidable collisions.

In many ways the background and colour contrast make it more difficult to tell what's occurring onscreen, despite being nice to look at otherwise. On the whole though, the game is pretty much the same as Asteroids and as such is almost like a forerunner to the HD re-releases of the present day which only change slight details of previously released games. The original Asteroids has the edge though, with it's cult status and ease of play.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Space Duel

Game: Space Duel
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1982

Just 2 years after Asteroids Deluxe, Atari realised that gamers still couldn't get enough of the rotational shooting action that the series featured (presumably) and released Space Duel, which is essentially another version of Asteroids but with some changes for the better. The background from Asteroids Deluxe has been removed, but enemies are now much more brightly coloured and move in more interesting ways. The shield feature and bonus life after 10,000 points also remains, but there are now bonus levels inbetween each main level which challenge players further by featuring ships which home in on them.

While graphically more interesting than Asteroids and Deluxe combined, the audio is still very basic and features only shooting sounds. It takes my pick for most fun of the series of 3 games, as there's more to do and the bonus levels add extra challenge, but they're all pretty similar at the end of the day and the original Asteroids maintains its classic appeal over the later 2 games.

Rating: 71/100
Grade: C

Battlezone

Game: Battlezone
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1980

Battlezone is a simple yet interesting tank simulation arcade game where players were given a set of dual two-way joysticks which were both able to move forwards and backwards. These were used to control the treads on each side of the tank and allow forward, backwards and rotational movement and everything inbetween. This range of motion isn't used to its full potential in game, but is sometimes useful for aiming and evading enemy fire.

The aim of the game is to destroy as many enemy tanks as possible whilst avoiding obstacles and the fire of enemies. If the player's tank is hit then a life is lost, and the screen displays a broken glass style effect. An interesting feature of the game is that enemy fire can still hit players even after the enemy that fired it has been defeated, so players must always pay attention. Avoiding enemy fire is difficult at times, and I've never been able to survive particularly long without getting hit, but it can be fun to try.

The vector style graphics are reminiscent of science fiction virtual reality headsets or something of the like, and work well despite the lack of detail and clarity at times. With what was available at the time, this was probably a wise choice as blocky pixel tanks firing at one another (a la Combat) is a completely different experience. There's not a lot to say on the audio front, but that's unsurprising given the year of this game's release.

Overall while not a particularly detailed or deep game, Battlezone made good use of the technology of the era and manages to be playable and interesting even in the modern age. It's not something I'd replay over and over, or even have a desire to get good at but there's a certain something which raises it above the mediocre games of the time.

Rating: 65/100
Grade: C

Game: Black Widow
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1982

Black Widow is a surprisingly deep and enjoyable arcade game, considering its time of release; players take control of the titular spider and use twin stick shooter controls to shoot various onscreen bugs, all of which must be shot (or avoided in some cases) to beat a level. Once shot different types of bug will turn into different things; the most basic bugs will turn into a score bonus, but some also lay eggs if score bonuses aren't collected fast enough, leading to more difficult types of bug roaming the screen. Before hatching eggs can be pushed off the side of the web for points.

There are 10 different types of enemy in total, and assuming players are fairly competent it's easy to get to at least the 10th wave of bugs within the first few turns. Gameplay is fast paced and exciting and honestly feels like some of the best arcade action of the early 80s Atari games. Controls and movement are fluid and intuitive, with a rapidly climbing difficulty curve as in later parts of the game, different areas of the web are sectioned off and must be factored into player movements.

Graphically the game is colourful and interesting despite the lack of detail and restrictions of the early hardware. On the whole it's easy to see where enemies are and distinguish between their various types, even with many onscreen at any given time. Soundwise there's only the ring of player shots to accompany gameplay, but due to the frantic nature of play there's no time to notice any audio deficiencies.

Overall Black Widow is one of the best early arcade games thanks to the depth its multiple enemy types, progressing difficulty and ease of control allows it. It's pretty addictive and never feels as if it's dragging thanks to the fast pace of gameplay. While this may not be the most well remembered arcade game of the 80's, it certainly deserves to be included with the other often mentioned classics.

Rating: 82/100
Grade: B

Game: Centipede
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1980

Centipede is another early Atari game with a painfully simple concept that when combined with simple controls and intuitive progression is a lot of fun to play. Players control a turret, shooting from the bottom of the screen upwards at a centipede which is descending. On the first level, each segment of the centipede is connected until shot, but as levels progress more and more segments become independent until the entire centipede is single segments.

Onscreen there are mushrooms which reverse the direction of the centipede; if a segment is shot then it will turn into one of these mushrooms. Players are allowed to move within a small player area at the bottom of the screen, and in this way are able to avoid any descending segments of the centipede that reach the last row, by moving upwards a number of rows and waiting for the segment to begin ascending again. Players lose a life if they collide with any segment of the centipede, or an oscreen enemy such as the spider, flea or scorpion.

With colourful, if a little basic graphics and only the sound of player shots to accompany gameplay, it's easy to tell from an audiovisual standpoint that this game is from the early 80s, however the lack of detailed graphics and audio accompaniment detract very little from the overall effect, fun and classic feel of the game. After 35 years, it's still as fun and challenging to play as ever.

Rating: 82/100
Grade: B

Game: Millipede

Console: Arcade

Developer: Atari

Release Date: 1982

As the sequel to Centipede, Millipede suffers the classic Atari arcade sequel issue of being far too similar to its predecessor. While there are some changes to the powerups and enemies included, the core gameplay is exactly the same with only a highlighted player zone to visually differentiate it from the last game. The concept is still fun, but with the feeling that nothing has changed, it's hard to find motivation to continue playing.

Millipede is just as good as Centipede to play, but I'd have to recommend choosing one or the other, over both. Original Centipede arcade cabinets can be converted into Millipede ones with a little work, and that's testament to how similar the two games really are.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Crystal Castles

Game: Crystal Castles
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1983

With trimetric graphics and a playstyle similar to Pac-man, Crystal Castles is a strange little arcade game. Players control Bentley Bear, on a mission to collect all of the gems in each of the game's 37 levels. Unlike Pac-man however, enemies can collect gems too, and the more they get, the less points players score. The game was also one of the first games to have warp zones, and a legitimate end-point rather than repeating levels or a kill screen.

Progressing through the levels isn't particularly easy as any contact with enemies loses one of your three lives, and many enemies move quickly and in patterns that are hard to avoid whilst collecting all of the gems. Many levels have interesting features such as tunnels and stairs which can be used as shortcuts. Bentley Bear also has the ability to jump, which can stun enemies but is a little difficult to time at first.

Graphically the game isn't much to look at, maintaining a simple style even with the trimetric 3D effect. Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, including trees, skeletons and other things I'm not even sure of. Soundwise the gameplay is accompanies by bloops and beeps as gems are collected by both players and enemies. There's a short musical clip depending on which bonus is won, but this seems to be all. On the whole the game is mildly interesting, if somewhat pedestrian in concept and gameplay. The secret passages and ability to jump add some differentiation from most other arcade games, but it's not enough to reach the level of fun offered by Pac-man and other 'collecting' style arcade games.

Rating: 51/100
Grade; D

Game: Gravitar
Console: Arcade
Developer: Atari
Release Date: 1982

The final game I'll be looking at today is Gravitar, an interesting combination of gameplay styles from Asteroids and Lunar Lander amongst other inspirations. Players start on a overworld screen, with a ship which is much the same as the one in Asteroids. In the overworld there are several planets which can be visited; doing so changes the screen to a side-on perspective of the planet and there are quite a few objectives and goals between all of the planets featured.

Gravity plays a large part in the game, dragging players towards destruction in the overworld and towards planet's surfaces in the side-on sections. Exploration is key and visiting every planet in a solar system allows players to move onto the next. The controls are similar to all versions of Asteroids and its derivatives, and the game is generally easy to pick up for beginners.

Graphically the game is simple and takes some imagination to represent the outer reaches of space. Even the planet surfaces are represented by coloured lines, and despite being an early game it feels as if it could have been at least sightly more detailed. There's very little in the way of music, and the sound effects are as basic as the graphics, leaving the whole experience feeling somewhat low tech.

Overall Gravitar is a great concept for an early space exploration type game, which combines some of the best elements of other popular Atari games. While the gravity mechanic can take a little bit of getting used to, and mastering the game takes some time, it's one of the more in-depth arcade games of the time.

Rating: 64/100
Grade: C