Game Review: Super Smash TV

Game: (Super) Smash TV
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Probe Entertainment
Release Date: 1992

Originally an arcade game with two joysticks for control (one for direction of movement, the other for direction of shooting), Smash TV was ported to home computers and consoles such as the NES, SNES, Master System and Mega Drive, so there's no shortage of versions. The version I have, for Mega Drive features the option to play with 1 controller (the d-pad controls movement direction and to an extent the shooting direction), 2 controllers co-operatively (like the arcade experience, one d-pad for movement direction and one for shooting), or 2 controllers versus, with the same control scheme as single player with one controller.

Personally I find the 1 controller mode more difficult than using 2 controllers, as the shooting is either in the direction the player is moving, the opposite direction or locked by holding the C button. Although this does work on a general level, using 2 controllers proves to be the superior method for me. With a friend, it can also be fun to control one half of the offensive action each, and it adds strategy and teamwork to the equation.

Before the title screen flashes up the game explains that in the future, the most popular gameshow is called Super Smash TV and you're the next contestant to face a wave of bat wielding challengers with a gun, in an attempt to win big prizes and beat the boss of each level. Challengers enter the levels from any of the four doors at the sides and your task is to eliminate them before they get the chance to do the same to you. Powerups for your gun appear often, and getting these is pretty essential to your survival. Present shaped boxes with toasters, vcr's and other luxuries also appear to increase the player's final score.

Among the different types of attacking enemy are the regular green men who attack en masse, large blue men who explode, distributing shrapnel across the level if they're not dealt with quickly, ufo's and other quirky enemies. The bosses range from a mutant tank man, to an oversized landmine, to a couple of snakes. The difficulty level can be pretty high at times, but there's a good number of lives and continues to make up for that.

Mutoid Man in the arcade version (there's very few Mega Drive screenshots it seems...)

Graphically the Mega Drive version works pretty well, there's not too much detail on the enemies or the players themselves even, but with hoardes of them on screen at the same time, its good to see no flicker or processing slowdown rather than a massive amount of detail. Soundwise, there's just the one track behind gameplay but it doesn't get too old with repeated play. Sound effects are good also, with shooting and powerup sound effects working well within the gameplay. The vocal clips are somewhat distorted as often happens on the Mega Drive.

I like this game a lot as a concept, and with a friend, or on your own with two controllers it plays really nicely and pretty different from many of the games you can play from the time. With a high level of challenge and an almost spammy level of opponents on screen at one time, it's the ultimate frenzied onslaught with comic relief presented in the form of the gameshow the game is based around. With good music and sound also, its a forgotten gem of the Mega Drive (and the other consoles it was released on, I would assume).

Rating: 84/100
Grade: B

Game Review: Sega GT

Game: Sega GT
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Sega AM1 (Wow Entertainment)
Release Date: 29th August 2000

Sega's answer to the Gran Turismo series plays somewhat like the very games it's attempting to compete with. There's race series and license trials to make your way through, with cars available to buy or unlock through winning races. Unlike the Gran Turismo series, you're able to race for a works team if you do well enough on your license test, and design and create your own driveable cars if you have the money to.

The career mode of Sega GT plays much like that of Gran Turismo for the most part, you start off by taking your basic tests and get a starter car, working your way up the ladder. The money seems to come in a lot more freely after a couple of race wins however, with even the most expensive cars being fairly easy to unlock if you know which races to enter. Another difference that Sega GT boasts is the ability to pick up sponsors by winning race series, who pay you on top of your winnings.

Controlwise, its a strange simulation experience unlike more recent Gran Turismo games. It feels somewhere beyond arcade, but at times you feel the influence creeping in as its easy to bounce from advertising board to advertising board without losing much speed. Collisions between the player and AI racers are also handled rather oddly, there's no damage to worry about but the physics seem somewhat unrealistic still. When creating cars in the Carrozeria mode, the choice between front, mid and rear engined designs has a big impact on the handling. While its nice to see that they thought of this, mastering any car on the game seems to prove difficult, let alone having many different styles of handling.

The Championship mode itself is pretty short, featuring 4 race series per vehicle class, 8 special races, 4 main series races and 4 single race cups to win. Overall you could complete it in a day if you stuck to playing and mastered the controls for a couple of the cars. As stated before, money is easy to earn and there's no shortage of cars to be unlocked from winning race events. In a way the game feels too easy, once you have a decent car for each event they're not particularly challenging at all.

Graphically the game is pretty good, although sometimes the textures used in certain places on track let the game down, with pixelation visible almost on cobbled stone and muddy floors. The cars are fairly well rendered and there's nice lens flare effects and other touches. Soundwise there's a funk/rock vibe to most of the backing which feels almost classic Sega; its enjoyable for the most part, although sometimes muffled by the louder car sound effects.

The car selection in game is fairly small when compared to its competitors, but the cars that the game features are varied and cover a comprehensive section of the market. The selection of tracks is almost poor with a lot of repetition between race series and events and no real world tracks featured. Although licensing official tracks might have been difficult, the tracks that were included could have been more interesting, especially as a lot of ovals and basic tracks feature in the game.

The fun of the game seems to be mainly in the ability to design and race your own vehicles as well as competing in works cups for beating lap times in license tests. Everything besides this you're able to do in Gran Turismo series games with more tracks, cars and series to choose from. Although a decent effort from Sega, a lot of the game feels like there's just not enough features and that its not fully fleshed out which is a shame. The handling could be better and the graphics could be improved but its playable and there's some fun to be had.

Rating: 66/100
Grade: C

Commodore Plus/4 Games Review #4

Game: Spectipede
Console: Commdore Plus/4
Developer: Tony Kelly
Release Date: 1985

Spectipede is an arcade type shooter, where the player takes control of a ship attempting to bring down the spectipede (a creature which roams about the levels with several sections) and its spidery comrades in order to advance to the next level. Bonus ships are given for every 10,000 points and all enemy targets have assigned point values, to be gained by the player if destroyed.

The player is allowed to move in the four basic directions around the playing area, with the spectipede moving diagonally and the spiders moving horizontally and vertically. There's also an enemy ship, which when hit will send a beam back at the player at high velocity. The player dies if hit by a spider, the ship or its beam, or the spectipede itself at any point.

Gameplay is fairly entertaining with basic but enjoyable and responsive controls, and animation. It's easy to move around and avoid being hit by enemies but the pace of gameplay is so quick that its hard to know where is safe to hide. As the levels progress, not much changes in terms of the level layout save for more spiders and sections on the body of the spectipede.

Soundwise, there's basic sound effects and the explosion sound when you lose a life is more akin to the destruction of a small planet than your ship. Graphically the game is kept very simple and although its easy to tell what is what due to the colours used, its not the most advanced game of the time by any means.

Rating: 41/100
Grade: E

Game: Treasure Island
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Commodore
Release Date: 1985

Treasure Island is more playable than most Commodore Plus/4 games in the sense that there's multiple screens to explore, and enemies to kill with cutlasses (although oddly all killing is done via throwing of cutlasses rather than any stabbing with them). The player's aim is to collect all of the treasure without having too many cutlasses pierce their flesh.

Although it has some fairly advanced features for a Commodore Plus/4 game, the actual gameplay remains simple and with some rather unfortunate cutlass walking animations (look them up) the game seems more like an old timey joke than something that's particularly enjoyable. I can see how it'd have entertained compared to the selection of games on the Commodore though.

Graphically it's fairly impressive for the system, looking almost like something the NES might have tried to show you. The humorous implication of the player's cutlass walk aside, the animation is also fairly well done. Soundwise there's not a lot to go on, besides a little theme tune on the title screen and some sound effects, but they're really not that special eitherway.

Overall I'd rate arcade type games on Commodore higher since they retain greater replay value today, and although this was a great effort at the time, it still gives about 5-10 minutes of interest before it gets repetitive. I'd recommend this game if you're looking out for Commodore titles, but I don't actually know of anyone who is.

Rating: 33/100
Grade: E

Game: The Magician's Curse
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Gremlin Graphics
Release Date: 1986

The Magician's Curse is a sort of epic adventure quest game, set within the constraints of Commodore Plus/4 software. With 48 screens including forests, streams, cottages, a church and a graveyard, there's plenty of exploring to do, and to complete the game the player must collect seven talismans whilst avoiding the attacks of bats and apples falling from trees.

The game is fairly exciting for a while, the player can find a key to unlock a house with powerups inside, and there's items scattered, including the talismans needed to complete the game. The player is able to walk around and jump, but that is the extent of their actions. Although the game attempts to make the playable area feel big, the repetition does interfere with that perception a little, as far as I can see.

Graphically, the game is only just above something that you could draw yourself in Microsoft Paint, and although this is a game for the Commodore Plus/4 and not a later system, it's still fair to say that its not the best looking game that was around in 1986. Soundwise there's not a lot of great effects, being damaged sounds a lot more painful than it looks, and there's no real musical accompaniment either.

Overall with some practice the game is fairly easy to complete although its not the most interesting thing to be doing. It's more fun than Treasure Island for adventuring but without any real attack options, you're left somewhat defenseless in a world out to kill you. Worth a try, its something you'll easy get bored of.

Rating: 28/100
Grade: F

Game: Petals Of Doom
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Gremlin Graphics
Release Date: 1985

In Petals of Doom, you're an astronaut tasked with protecting outer space flowers from the threat of being attacked. You can move around the screen and shoot at enemy forces, the less of them there are, the more chance that the flowers will grow to their maximum height, which allows you to move on to the next level. Each level features more enemies and flowers to protect than the previous level, making it harder than ever to move on.

Conceptually, the game is pretty fun and the style of the graphics is also a plus; the flowers seem almost Aztec in design, as do the enemies attempting to destroy them. The game is colourful and the sound effects are kept to the minimum with only shooting and taking damage making any noise. With a bit of practice, progressing is pretty easy, and the game is entertaining if only for a short while.

Rating: 35/100
Grade: E

Series Review: Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition and Runabout 3: Neo Age

Game: Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Climax Entertainment
Release Date: 28th October 2000

With earlier editions on the original Playstation, the Runabout series focuses on short driving missions in which the player is set an objective and rewarded with various unlockable cars for completing the objectives in a certain time limit, and with other damage conditions. The third game in the series, San Francisco Edition for Dreamcast features 2 scenarios each with 8 missions (6 main and 2 hidden). In one scenario you play as a poor family who own a repair shop and in the other, you take control of the police.

There's plenty of cars to choose from, with 4 unlocked on each scenario at the beginning and the missions are varied with objectives such as collecting items scattered about the city, chasing down enemies and delivering items about the city. The game is set in San Francisco as the title would suggest with a large amount of open road on which to travel and explore.

 The gameplay in Super Runabout is often fast and frantic, with a time limit applying to most missions and not a lot of room for error especially on harder difficulty modes. The cars handle a little loosely, sometimes feeling as if they're floating as opposed to actually being driven on the road. By far the most annoying part of the game however, is the collision physics. More often than not when you crash, you're sent flying, flipping or spinning in a random direction, losing valuable seconds of mission time and damaging your vehicle more than you'd have thought fair.

If a vehicle takes too much damage in a mission there's a warning which flashes up informing the player of "Damage Max" and on which tyre. If that spot is hit again, there's a good chance that the mission will be failed. The problem here is that in such a fast paced game where some missions require you to hit items or other cars, it's often difficult to regain control after a collision (not to mention that some cars are actually attempting to hit you and send you off course).

The car selection is good and there's a lot of fun vehicles including ATV's, HGV's, tanks, and a pig but it seems that there's not much these bonus vehicles are good for. Missions are usually best completed in one of the more simple starter vehicles and although the challenge of unlocking all of the bonus cars is fun, there's no real point in doing so. The missions themselves are good on the whole, some more difficult than others and there's features that could be improved in most, but the game's physics usually prove the most irritating part.

Graphically the NPC cars are blocky, and pedestrians are shockingly two dimensional. The player's cars are in slightly better definition and although the buildings in game are also rather two dimensional, the ones with glass parts that can be interacted with and broken have a nice effect. Musically the game features a lot of rock style instrumental both in the menus and behind the game, which fits in with the style of the game but isn't memorable on the whole.

Overall its a fun game which can get incredibly frustrating at times due to the collision and driving physics. Completing and all of the missions would take a lot of patience and unlocking all of the cars, even more so. It's a good concept which was pulled off in a pretty average fashion and although I'd reccomend playing it for as long as you can stand, I was quitting out of frustration after around an hour even though I enjoyed the game immensely in earlier years of my life.

Rating: 63/100
Grade: C

Game: Runabout 3: Neo Age
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Climax/Bam! Entertainment
Release Date: 1st November 2002

What technically should have been Runabout 4 if you number every game in the series follows more of the same driving mission formula, this time with 3 missions to choose from per level all of which need completing. Again there's a wide variety of mission types, as well as cars and new paint jobs and moves to unlock. The controls have been improved somewhat from the Dreamcast version, and although they're not perfect there's slight tweaks which have helped.

The missions themselves seem to be the worst part of this game, in the first two levels there's not one which I'd say was as fun as any of the missions in the previous game. There's a tedious tailing mission which takes upwards of 11 minutes of careful driving to maintain a 10-100m range behind the wife of a UN chief, and a mission which tasks you with stealing back money from bank robbers, made difficult by the crash physics.

Graphically the game has some improvements from the Dreamcast release, cars and structures look nicer I'd say, especially NPC vehicles. The city itself seems smaller with less choice of roads in missions, but perhaps that's more a reflection on New York than a mistake. Soundwise the game sticks to the same kind of instrumental rock soundtrack as its predecessor, the only real complaint with that here is that when the missions drag on, so does the soundtrack.

In a lot of ways this game is more like an expansion pack to the San Francisco game on Dreamcast. Slightly updated graphics and different (albeit boring and unimaginative) missions, in similar but slightly changed unlockable cars in a different city make the game feel as if its just an add-on. The physics engine is still pretty broken and car handling has been only slightly improved, so its not as if there's any new features to boast there.

Its hard to choose a game to recommend between this and the installment on the Dreamcast since one has frustrating gameplay and the other remnants of that gameplay mixed with less inspired missions. If this series had a better tuned driving mechanic and physics engine, more varied and interesting missions mixed with fast paced gameplay and unlockable cars actually useful for something, we'd be onto a real winner. Until then we're stuck with what we have.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D

Console Review: Sega Master System

Console: Master System
By: Sega
Release Date: September 1987 (Europe)

With just one game to go before I've reviewed every Master System game I own, I thought it was time to take a look at the console on which I've been playing. Introduced 9 months after the NES it was technically superior but failed to gain a significant market share in Japan or North America. With 318 games released for the system (the NES had 709) there was a fairly wide range of choice with both game cards and cartridges available for some games.

The NES sold more than five times more units than the Master System despite its technical edge. Part of the reason for this was the NES reaching Japanese, North American and European markets first but also the game lineup for the NES was strong and due to legal agreements third party titles were exclusive to Nintendo for at least 2 years. Using Alex Kidd as the main mascot for Sega at the time, it was difficult to compete against Mario and although Sonic games were released for the Master System once the Mega Drive game was out, they were technically inferior to the earlier versions on Sega's new console.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World, for Master System

Sega published a lot of games for the Master System, including arcade ports and later on in the console's lifespan backports of games, or versions of games which were on Mega Drive. Among the games released for the console were Yu Suzuki's arcade hits; Space Harrier, Outrun, Afterburner and Hang-On. Some of them were better replications than others but being able to have the experience of the arcade games in your home was a somewhat new thing at the time. 

A fair few ports from less graphically able consoles also came to Master System; things that had been on the Commodore 64 or the ZX Spectrum that were being ported. Although popular in the times before, these sort of games seem like nothing when compared to Metroid, Super Mario Bros. and other titles released for the NES. Although the NES also had its fair share of bad games, the good games it did have were licensed to be exclusively for their system.

Just like the NES, there's a lot of great games to be found for the Master System if you can be bothered to wade through some of the worse games. A lot of the ports from other systems and backports to the Master System failed because they didn't take advantage of its processing or graphical power in the correct ways, and we inferior versions of other titles. Games that were produced specifically for Master System, however seem to be the best kind. 

From the games I've reviewed for the console so far, this is my top 10.

1	Sonic the Hedgehog
2	Fantasy Zone
3	Sonic the Hedgehog 2
4	Shinobi
5	Space Harrier
5	Fantasy Zone II
7	After Burner
8	G-LOC
9	Outrun
10	Strider II

These are the games that I'd say take best advantage of the Master System's abilities and are the most fun to play. Interestingly, save for one game they were all a product of Sega's development teams. Somewhat unsurprising that they were the company who knew best how to develop for their console though. 

Graphically and in terms of processing, the Master System was ahead of the NES and it shows more in some games than others. Comparing the SMS version of Sonic the Hedgehog to Super Mario Bros will give some indication of the difference, but playing games like Ms. Pac Man and Super Tennis, you may as well have been on an Atari 2600 really. Soundwise, a lot of the games seem to perform poorly and this is one area where I'd say the NES did slightly better. 

The Master System controller itself features 2 buttons and an 8 way directional pad. The d-pad feels nice and is easy to use, and the 2 button setup is similar to the NES, but without a start or select button there's no way to pause games without getting up and hitting a button on the console itself. Also in some games you're asked to press both buttons at once to function like a 3rd button, due to the lack of buttons. Its only a small complaint, but sometimes it'd have been nice to have more than just the 2 buttons on the controller. 

Unlike the NES, Master System games came in cases which could hold the game and so there's many more boxed games around nowadays whereas a lot of NES games have long since had their cardboard packaging thrown away. This is a trend that continued with the Mega Drive and Saturn when compared to the SNES and N64 and as a result I have many boxed Sega games compared to my one Nintendo game from those systems.

Master System Games I'd like to aquire;

Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alien Syndrome, Golden Axe Warrior, Populous, R-Type, Sonic Chaos, and Wonderboy.

Overall the Master System was a console with strong potential, some of which was realised. With a fair lineup of games worth playing and some solid arcade conversions it held promise, and competed with the NES for a sign of things to come with its successor. I wouldn't reccomend buying one today, purely based on the fact that the worst games are least expensive for the system, and their relative rarity puts them at a high-ish price point. Worth a play if you can get a go on someone else's they hark back to a simpler time of gaming but also point to the future. 

Master System Triple Header: The Flintstones, Bonanza Bros. and Spy vs Spy

Game: The Flintstones
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Tiertex
Release Date: 1993

Licensed games based on famous series for Master System (NES, and Mega Drive, for that matter) are terribly hit and miss with some games benefiting from the increase in attention from the developers in a effort to try and sell more copies, and others being fairly obvious cash-ins on famous names, catchphrases and intellectual properties. The Flintstones game for the Master System is the second type of licensed game, featuring gameplay almost unrelated to the cartoon series in places, and having no real purpose in existing.

The above may sound harsh but upon starting the game, you're greeted with an 8 bit rendition of the Flintstones theme tune. The objective for the first level sees Fred painting the wall of his home, to fulfill a promise to his wife, so that he can go out bowling with Barney. You'd have thought if they were going to make a game based on the Flintstones, they could have picked a story that didn't seem so ordinary.

The gameplay in the first level involves using a ladder to cover the entire wall with white paint, whilst making sure Pebbles doesn't escape her playpen and ruin your painting. If you fail to complete the job in time, the game makes you start again until you paint the whole wall. Once this is done, Fred and Barney head to the bowling alley in their vehicle. Instead of what could have been the best stage in the game (a driving stage with the ability to dodge obstacles, up and down), we are given only a jump button to help Fred and Barney avoid rocks on the road.

Hitting the rocks results in the back wheel coming off, and Fred having to jack the vehicle up and put the tyre back on. There's only enough time to do this twice before you'll fail the level for taking too long and its one of the most frustrating stages of the game. The bowling stage isn't terrible, you can adjust angle, aim and speed in an attempt to beat Barney over 10 frames and progress to the final level. As with the other stages, failing will take you back to the beginning of the stage to try again.

The final stage sees Fred rescuing Pebbles from some sort of building site, in a platforming environment. There's a mixture of harmless enemies and ones that will hurt Fred so it's confusing as to whether some paths are safe to take. Overall none of the stages stand out as particularly good and although the developers probably thought that the varied gameplay was a strong point, really its just a mess of broken ideas and simple but monotonous gaming.

If you can stand to listen to the 8 bit Flintstones theme on repeat then the music is bearable, I personally cannot and chose to turn the music off before starting the game. There's one soundclip used when the player wins a level; a vocal sample which cuts off early to the effect of "Yabba Dabba D-". Needless to say I wasn't particularly impressed there. Graphically, the game isn't actually too bad, with recognisable characters and discernable locations.

Overall its a boring but not terrible game, which is at its most fun when you're watching friends frustrated by it. I personally think Tiertex could have done a lot better with this game, but were probably bogged down in hardware constrictions and the fact that the Mega Drive was already out and time was not on their side.

Rating: 31/100
Grade: E

Game: Bonanza Bros.
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1990

Bonanza Bros is a shooting platform game, where the player controls one of two thieves (or cops depending on which translation you believe) whose goal is to take items from inside various locations including a mansion, art gallery and casino. Once all items have been taken, they make their way to the rooftop to catch a blimp in order to get away from the pursuing guards in the level.

The player has the ability to jump and shoot as well as moving, and there are many different types of guard. Some have shields and can shoot and others merely have close range weapons with which to apprehend you. The treasures which need to be collected are spread throughout the levels which span multiple floors, and sometimes roofs and basements.

The game plays well and there's some fun to be had from working your way through the ever more fancy establishments. The Mega Drive version of the game had 2 player functionality which is a big advantage since this game is definitely more fun with 2 people working as a team. The levels designs can get a little repetitive after the first 6 or so, but with lots of different types of guards and an ever increasing amount of treasure to steal, there's enough to distract you.

Graphically, the game looks great for Master System, although its simple in places its easy to see where you're headed and what's what. Musically there's a rock influenced sound to the backing track and the only thing that really lets the game down is the vocal sample which plays whenever you manage to swipe a treasure.

Overall this is a good example of a game which is simple in approach yet holds a good amount of fun and replay value. The stealthy heist feel to the game is good, and goes well with the soundtrack and although the Mega Drive version of the game is better overall, this really isn't a bad effort.

Rating: 51/100
Grade: D

Game: Spy vs Spy
Console: Sega Master System
Developer: First Star/Sega
Release Date: 1988

Spy vs Spy made its way onto several platforms in the 80's and its a fairly simple game involving finding items around a house and avoiding any bombs placed by your nemesis played by another user or the computer. You can move around and search for the items required to make your way to the airport, the entrance to which is also hidden in one of the rooms.

Gameplay is limited to searching around the house for the 4 items and planting traps for your nemesis to find in empty hiding spaces, unless you've met him in a room in case you can proceed to kick and punch him into the afterlife. For the game's simplicity, it's amazing how they managed to make the controls frustrating. It's hard to know quite what you're doing at any given time, and whether you've picked up and item and/or placed a trap.

The game's more fun with a human opponent due to the computer's incompetence at low skill levels and utter unbeatability at higher skill levels since it knows where all the items are hidden. Also the feeling of getting your friend with a trap is superior to anything you could feel when pranking the computer player. Games are usually pretty short so there's the option to have multiple rounds.

Graphically the game is kept simple, mostly because it's come from inferior systems but also there's not much you could enhance in the game anyway. Musically also there's a simple 8bit tune playing through the game but other than that its not at all impressive for the time.

Overall Spy vs Spy is like a fun little mini-game that doesn't stand up particularly well on its own, especially in single player mode. With two players it can be a little fun if both players can get a hang of the controls, but there's other games that you'd be better off spending your time on, in my view.

Rating: 17/100
Grade: F

Commodore Plus/4 Games Review #3

Game: Number Chaser
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: A.S.K Software
Release Date: 1985

Also released under the much more fitting title of "Estimator Racer", Number Chaser is an educational game in which the player controls the lane in which a car is in, that relates to answering a mathematical question posed by the computer. Except you're not supposed to answer the question, you're supposed to choose the closest estimation to the answer. Which seems less educational than actually figuring out the answer since estimation skills are used in the first part of working out anyway.

Gameplay only involves changing lanes to lock in your estimation of the answer and game modes only change the speed and complexity of the problems. With the obvious option to add a fill in the blank mode, or something similar it seems rather simple just to leave it at this. Graphically the game is literally a simple pixel art version of a racetrack and the car seems almost flat. With hardly any sound effects, there's not much to comment on soundwise either.

Really this is hardly even a game, changing lanes to answer mathematical questions incorrectly isn't really my idea of fun when there's games like Speed King where you can (admittedly really crappily) actually race on a track. Realistically this is possibly the worst game I have ever played and its score should reflect that.

Rating: 1/100
Grade: F

Game: Xadium
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Mr. Chip Software
Release Date: 1987

Xadium has two levels; I'm afraid to say that I've only played one of them and I'll get to why in a moment. The first level has the player making their way through gates on the planet Xadium, pushing forward on the joystick to increase their speed and using left and right to direct them through gates. Missing or hitting gates results in a time penalty, taking precious seconds off a countdown which you must beat the first level by the end of. Except that its almost impossible to do so.

Every single effort I have ever made to beat the first level of this game has failed. I've had runs without making any mistakes, and I've had runs where I've gone as fast as the ship will go but I assume that some sort of elite skill is needed to combine these two types of run to reach the second level. I can't even find a playthrough of the second level anywhere so I'll have to assume its as hard as the first, and no-one else has beaten it.

From the looks of the second level, it seems to be a rather standard sidescrolling stage where you have to fit between gaps in the landscape and avoid hitting the ceiling or floor. Graphically, the game is simple but there's a nice choice of colours and it doesn't look too bad stylistically. Soundwise there's a catchy menu tune and a background engine sound in the stages.

Overall, the time limit on the first stage is too harsh and doesn't allow players to even get to the second level, but there's some fun to be had at least, attempting to do so. It's still a bit of a failure as far as games go, but the gameplay that there is, is smooth and a little enjoyable.

Rating: 15/100
Grade: F

Game: Savage Island Part I
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Tynesoft
Release Date: 1986

Savage Island is a two part text adventure for Commodore 16 in text only form and Commodore Plus/4 with pixel art of the locations. Both sides of the cartridge are playable although obviously the side with pixel art was intended to be the improved side, for Plus/4. The story follows a castaway on his quest to be rescued, facing such problems as aliens, bears and volcanoes as he uses the items at his disposal to make his escape.

The real problem with the game is that its very linear and only the exact correct action will allow you to progress. With the game being quite long, it's not always obvious what the next move is and its very hard to guess what needs to be done. the actions are also very specific as the game only recognises certain words so that "Dig Sand" is the only way to dig in the sand. Any other combination of words will not work.

Obviously I realise the challenges when programming a game such as this but somehow I feel it'd be frustrating to play even at the time of its release. The story only gets halfway before it requires you to insert Part 2 (sold seperately), and even judging the game by its storyline it seems contrived and fairly poorly written. The pixel art included on the Plus/4 version is fairly nice and helps the player to visualise the scene, however.

Rating: 8/100
Grade: F

Game: Number Builder
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: A.S.K Software
Release Date: 1985

Number Builder is almost Number Chaser's more educational twin. It features platformer like levels with ladders and functions to change the current number into a target number. Once this is done correctly three times the player has beaten a level and moves onto bigger numbers and more complex functions. The player can move freely around, only having to avoid drops where there is a gap in the platform and no ladder.

With selectable speeds of walking and level complexity, it's easy for players to find settings which work well for them. Although it is supposed to be an educational game, there's a little fun to be had from just playing the game as if it were a regular platformer. It takes slightly more mental power than regular platform games, despite its simplicity.

Graphically the game is very simple with simple tones to indicate when the player has won the level. Overall the game certainly isn't the worst thing on the Commodore and the concept plays fairly well. Its hard to believe that it was made by the same people as Number Chaser, even.

Rating: 19/100
Grade: F

Game Review: Stunt GP

Game: Stunt GP
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Team 17
Release Date: 8th June 2001

From the people who brought us the Worms series, there's an extreme remote control car racing experience for the Dreamcast. Stunt GP sees you in control of these re-chargeable mini monsters around some crazy tracks with the goal of unlocking the secret cars in arcade mode, and finishing a season of racing as champion in the championship mode. There's also exhibition, 2 player, stunt and time trial modes which are exactly what you'd expect them to be.

The arcade mode has different starting tracks for each selectable car on a branching grid, and you work your way towards winning every final race, at the top of the grid with each one unlocking a new car. The choice between tracks in this mode is good, and there's quite a lot of cars to unlock. The target position it gives you for each of the four races goes incrementally from 4th to 1st in the final race. As a rule I'd prefer it to require all first places, as its not too difficult to do.

The tracks themselves are on the whole quite well designed, with jumps and places to do stunts in the air. Some tracks feature hills which are a little steep since the cars begin to struggle on their way up, and can fall off completely if they don't gain enough speed. The best tracks tend to feature either a lot of jumping sections or a mix of fast straights and challenging banked corners. The driving system doesn't work too badly, although the cars slide very easily and can travel quite a long way when bumped into by rivals.

The championship mode is probably the best experience in the game, as you are allowed to customise the parts for your car as you earn money from winning races. There's plenty of internal parts to choose from and making a balanced car which performs well with the resources available can be fun. Championship mode features more laps around tracks than arcade mode which can make races feel a little monotonous and give the player a distinct advantage as sometimes the computer players pit unnecessarily.

The real problem that this game faces in terms of gameplay is that the framerate suffers from a lot of slowdown during races, hovering between 20-25 fps most of the time which makes it difficult to control your car accurately. Added to this the camera angles can be a little strange at times, switching to unhelpful veiwpoints when you're stunting in the air, or going around a corner. Although these could be forgivable, they happen far too often and added to the somewhat slidey driving physics it disappoints overall.

Graphically the game isn't bad; its nice to see a remote control car racer feature a standard 3rd person viewpoint instead of that of Micro Machines V3, where its hard to see what turns are coming up. There a nice selection of cars which look good, and the backdrops are fairly detailed on most tracks. Soundwise there's a selection of funky almost elevator music to accompany the games, but its bearable on most tracks.

Overall the Stunt GP experience could have been better. With a fix to framerate issues and tightened driving physics it'd have been far closer to seeming like a finished product. With a lack of AI challenge and some questionable camera angles at times, its a game that seems enjoyable in concept and sometimes in practice whose negatives outweigh its positives. I used to play this a fair amount when a Dreamcast was the only console I had, but having been exposed to better racing experiences through other Dreamcast games and racing games on other consoles, it seems that I didn't know any better at the time.

Rating: 59/100
Grade: D

Football Games Masterpost

Having received 8 football games today, I decided that now might be a good time to do a review which I've been planning for a while. In total I'll be looking at 14 football games, with a short review on each, since anything too long would be boring and take up a lot of space. To help conpensate for this, I've got a little introduction below on what I'd like to see in each game, and how I'll be rating them.

What do I look for when playing a football game? Usually its controls that are easy to pick up with the option to do more advanced moves if I so wish. Realism is a plus; official licenses are good, but free flowing, good looking football that plays well is the ultimate goal. Different modes and competitions are a plus, also with things like Master League mode in PES providing more fun to gameplay. Commentary and other such features also weigh into the game, as well as sound effects and overall it's the combination of these factors that determines whether a game is good, or not.

When rating a game, I'll give it a score in these categories before giving it an overall score; Controls, Graphics, Gameplay, Sound, AI, Teams Featured.

Game: World Cup Italia '90
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega/Mastertronic
Release Date: 1990

Included on the first Mega Games compilation for Mega Drive, World Cup Italia '90 is played from an overhead perspective, and features all the teams from the 1990 World Football Cup, playing in the group matches they would have done in the real event. Graphically there's not much to say, as it's fairly poor, with very basic blobs for players and a generic picture displayed when a goal is scored. Controlwise, its very simple with the D-pad and just 2 other buttons, but it doesn't play particularly well and is very hard to win against the computer when you first play. There's no difficulty options, and Exhibition matches or a full world cup are the only options for gameplay modes. Time counts up very slowly in the game, adding to the tedium of it overall, and the sound effects are something like moving a waterbed every time the ball is kicked. Music plays throughout the match which does somewhat distract from the sound effects, but isn't very realistic in terms of simulating football.

Controls: 6.3/10
Graphics: 3.5/10
Gameplay: 2.1/10
Sound: 1.2/10
AI: 4.5/10
Teams Featured: 6.6/10

Overall, this isn't a great football game, and although it must have been hard to program a football game given the time and hardware, it could have been more responsive and sounded better, with better AI and gameplay. There's a decent amount of international teams featured but only due to pasting the world cup schedule into the game.

Rating: 32/100
Grade: E

Game: Sega World Wide Soccer 2000
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Silicon Dreams
Release Date: 1st December 1999

The Sega World Wide Soccer franchise began on the Saturn, with only 2 titles coming to Dreamcast. The first of these was this game, featuring national and club teams from all over the world, able to compete in leagues and tournaments with various adjustable options. The controls are pretty good, with skill moves included alongside decent pass and tackle controls, although slide tackling seems to work better than any other type in the game. Due to the this the game often plays quite physically, with a lot of tackling in matches as opposed to passing, and goalscoring is fairly easy but not too easy.

Sometimes the game can be a little glitchy, on a short run with it I managed to encounter a disappearing goalkeeper glitch as well as a complete game crash. Soundwise, the game has nice crowd and commentary sounds even if some of the comments can be a little redundant at times. The one and only soundclip used for slide tackles isn't great and by the end of a few games you'll probably never want to hear it again. Graphically the game isn't great, its somewhat blocky and characters aren't well defined.

Controls: 7.6/10
Graphics: 6.5/10
Gameplay: 7.7/10
Sound: 5.8/10
AI: 7.2/10
Teams Featured: 8.8/10

Overall it's an entirely playable effort at a football game that gets easy once you realise techniques to keep the ball from being touched by the opponent, and to score from most opportunities. This makes its replay value plummet somewhat but with a good choice of teams and decent gameplay it wasn't the worst thing to come out for the Dreamcast.

Rating: 54/100
Grade: D

Game: UEFA Striker
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Infogrammes
Release Date: 31st May 2000

UEFA Striker has a slight graphical improvements on 1999's SWWS game, but the gamplay suffers somewhat from a slightly broken ball possession system. Overall it feels loose and as if the player isn't quite in control. Also when the computer controls your teammates, it's hard to successfully locate a pass forward without having the opposing team steal the ball. There is a training mode where you can attempt to better your play, but there's only a certain degree of polishing you're able to do before the control system gets in the way.

There a decent choice of modes and teams, although there's no international teams or ones outside of Europe. Scoring in the game is another thing that doesn't feel quite right, unless you get very close to the goal, the only way to find the back of the net is to cross a pass in, and have a player shoot it into the goal. The goalkeepers seem to have immense skill to save any other type of shot to come at the them, and so this makes it somewhat less realistic.

Controls: 4.5/10
Graphics: 6.9/10
Gameplay: 6.4/10
Sound: 3.3/10
AI: 6.5/10
Teams Featured: 6.8/10

With fairly boring commentary and only graphical improvements to praise, this game doesn't rate too highly on my list of Dreamcast soccer games, let alone ones on any system. The detail on player's faces and kits is still pretty low and generic, and the AI only plays well because it doesn't have to master the control system. Sega Worldwide Soccer plays better than this, if only because you can make players do what you want them to, and not have a difficult time scoring a goal.

Rating: 48/100
Grade: D

Game: European Super League
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Virgin Interactive
Release Date: 3rd March 2001

European Super League features 16 of the best European teams (at the time anyway), which isn't many for a football game. There's also no commentary whatsoever, and only a few game modes (although that's to be expected with that many teams). The football itself doesn't play too badly, with decent controls and moves although its a little too easy to spin past opposing players with skill moves and scoring doesn't take too much effort. Graphically the game could be more impressive and the fans definitely just look like a blur in the stands instead of even people from a distance.

The action becomes somewhat boring without commentary or much AI challenge and without a great deal of teams or competitions to choose from, there's little replay value. One of the worst Dreamcast soccer games in my opinion, it doesn't have much new to offer and the Super League gimmick feels uninspired.

Controls: 6.7/10
Graphics: 5.6/10
Gameplay: 6.5/10
Sound: 2.0/10
AI: 5.4/10
Teams Featured: 3.5/10

Rating: 42/100
Grade: E

Game: 90 Minutes: Sega Championship Football
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Smilebit/Sega
Release Date: 25th October 2001

The latest Dreamcast football game I own comes from Smilebit, the division of Sega that brought us Jet Set Radio, but the quality isn't even comparable. The main reason the game fails is due to the speed settings in the game; the default game speed is slightly too slow and increasing it makes the game animations look worse and sometimes results in jerky motion and game slowdown. The controls themselves are pretty good, and goalscoring works well, but finding a speed that works is difficult. Some things in game are difficult to do, compared to other games; passing and turning around on the spot don't work well at any speed.

Graphically the game isn't great and sometimes its hard to tell what's going on, especially with the aforementioned speed complaints. The AI is pretty decent also and has adjustable difficulty levels, within its fairly varied game modes which feature licensed national and club teams. 90 Minutes features a single commentator, whose voice clips weren't arranged very well. A lot of the time he'll say "is passing" without mentioning a specific player and vocal redundancies such as "In the first half remaining, there are five minutes of the first half remaining". This does bring the game down somewhat when combined with the aforementioned complaints.

Controls: 7.2/10
Graphics: 5.6/10
Gameplay: 5.8/10
Sound: 4.4/10
AI: 7.5/10
Teams Featured: 8.2/10

With below par graphics, passing, commentary and speed issues, 90 Minutes is hard to enjoy. It seems like it could have played well with a bit of fixing but in the end it was rushed into production at the end of the Dreamcast's commercial lifespan. What is a shame is that such a decently capable console never received a football game that made full use of its capabilities. I could pick up Virtua Striker 2 for Dreamcast but by all reports, that's not much better.

Rating: 44/100
Grade: E

Taking a slight shift from chonological order, I'm now going to look at the PES franchise and FIFA franchise seperately, with the games I have for them.

Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 2
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 25th October 2002

The bridge between old and modern football games came about as the PES franchise transferred onto Playstation 2 (as did the FIFA franchise) although the games were still being released on Playstation also at the time. The result of this is a game that looks much less visually pleasing than both its counterpart on Playstation 2, and most of the games released for Dreamcast, which was a next generation console at the time.

The gameplay however surpasses that of the Dreamcast titles in many ways and although it's not quite up to par with later PES titles, its on it way towards being the kind of gameplay we see in PES 4 and 6. There's not a whole lot of teams featured in this game, mainly national sides with a few unliscensed clubs to play against in Master League mode which is a great addition to give it another one over the Dreamcast titles.

Controls: 7.8/10
Graphics: 4.5/10
Gameplay: 7.0/10
Sound: 6.0/10
AI: 8.0/10
Teams Featured: 6.4/10

With slightly unbalanced AI and sparse commentary, PES 2 wasn't the finished article yet but it seems to me that its the nearest thing to modern football games that was around at the time. It's not exactly a joy to play but Master League mode adds a new dimension and makes way for improvements along the way in the next series titles.

Rating: 52/100
Grade: D

Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 4
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Konami/KCET
Release Date: 1st February 2005

The first game in this review to truly feel as if you're in control of a side playing football, rather than trying to play a flawed football game comes in the form of PES 4 by Konami. That's not to say its perfect, but in the 4 year gap between games I'm reviewing, a lot seems to have changed. For a start, the ball possession mechanic is good, with players usually being able to maneuver the ball around as you ask them to but are still able to lose the ball to good tackles or more skilled players challenges.

There's a good range of teams featured (although PES lost out on most of the licenses to FIFA), and Master League mode is a great addition, allowing you to play through as many seasons as you wish with the same club, or an original club of your choice. The commentary is fairly accurate and good, if a little repetitive and graphically, the game is fairly impressive.

Controls: 8.5/10
Graphics: 7.4/10
Gameplay: 8.8/10
Sound: 7.0/10
AI: 7.9/10
Teams Featured: 8.0/10

In harder difficulty modes, the game will defend much more tightly and at times it feels like it may almost cheat you out of goals, but there's a good amount of unlockables and customisability to this installment of PES, and when added to the good gameplay and graphics, I think it's a very good attempt at a football game.

Rating: 66/100
Grade: C

Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 6th February 2007

This game plays a lot like an update of PES4, with slightly better AI and the obvious teamsheet changes from season to season. It also seems that Konami agreed the sharing of some major club licenses. Other than this however, the games play much the same and so I won't be going into too much detail with this one.

Controls: 8.5/10
Graphics: 7.6/10
Gameplay: 8.9/10
Sound: 7.2/10
AI: 8.3/10
Teams Featured: 8.0/10

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 26th October 2007

Released just 8 months after PES 6, this game feels again like an update of its predecessor. In this installment however, I felt less in control of my players than in the previous two games. A good addition to the series is the World Challenge Mode where you have to complete various challenges against national teams. The other game modes remain basically the same, and obviously there's the updates team rosters.

Graphically there's not much change from PES 6, but the commentary seems to have received a few new phrases which is nice if you play a lot of these games, since you'll have heard basically everything the commentators have to say.

Controls: 8.2/10
Graphics: 7.8/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Sound: 7.5/10
AI: 8.2/10
Teams Featured: 7.9/10

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 17th October 2008

Although apparently there have been updates to the gameplay system, they seem very minor upon playing the game. Most modes have remained the same, with only the addition of "Become a Legend" mode which is the equivalent of FIFA's Be A Pro. Challenge Mode hasn't even changes its victory conditions so you're basically playing last year's mode with this year's teams. Although I didn't expect the game to be massively different and its a bit of a cliche to say that football games are the same year after year, that's basically what PES 2009 offers.

Controls: 8.2/10
Graphics: 7.8/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Sound: 7.5/10
AI: 8.2/10
Teams Featured: 7.9/10

Rating: 68/100
Grade: C

Now I'll move onto the FIFA Franchise. I did have a FIFA Street game, and the 2006 World Cup game to review but it turned out that the discs were too scratched to do so.

Game: FIFA 07
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA
Release Date: 25th September 2006

EA's game features sharper graphics and better sound than its PES counterpart of the time, but the control system isn't quite as good in my view. While it feels as if you're in complete control with PES, there's a lot of times when I feel FIFA 07 could be better. Modes wise there's a nice manager mode included which puts it a little ahead of the PES series (and saves you buying a football manager game). The choice of modes is a little spartan with a lot of the game revolving around online play.

Overall if you want to feel the football experience, both graphically and soundwise with a large number of licensed teams and leagues to choose from this is a good bet. The gameplay engine does work but when compared to that of Pro Evolution Soccer, I feel there's definite room for improvement.

Controls: 7.5/10
Graphics: 8.9/10
Gameplay: 7.9/10
Sound: 8.0/10
AI: 6.7/10
Teams Featured: 9.2/10

Rating: 63/100
Grade: C

Game: FIFA 08
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA
Release Date: 28th September 2007

FIFA 08 has a few notable additions; first of all the new system to switch between players for throw ins and corner kicks works nicely, there's enough control to set up some quite advanced moves, secondly the option to control the goalkeeper in tight spots is another worthwhile addition, and lastly pinpoint passing helps with the feeling of control.

I still don't like the play engine quite as much as that of PES, but this is an improvement that brings the game closer to my opinion of that game. The commentary and graphics remain good, and the selection of teams once again expands for the best realism in a football game.

Controls: 7.9/10
Graphics: 9.0/10
Gameplay: 8.1/10
Sound: 8.2/10
AI: 7.0/10
Teams Featured: 9.3/10

Rating: 64/100
Grade: C

Game: FIFA 09
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA
Release Date: 3rd October 2008

FIFA 09 is the first game in this series that for me works better than PES in the controls department, whilst bringing its huge list of licensed teams and leagues to the table. Between FIFA 09 and PES 2009 there's really not much and the two franchises seem to be growing toward eachother in terms of features and gameplay. Keeping it's great crowd and commentary sounds from earlier series games, the AI feels that much smarter and the graphics slightly nicer to gain the lead.

Controls: 8.2/10
Graphics: 9.0/10
Gameplay: 8.6/10
Sound: 8.4/10
AI: 8.1/10
Teams Featured: 9.6/10

With improvements to the gameplay coming every year it was almost inevitable that the FIFA series would overtake PES with it's superior list of licensed teams and competitions. With just one installment of FIFA left to review I'll have to see whether this is the peak of the series or whether their yearly improvements are working toward the perfect simulation of soccer.

Rating: 72/100
Grade: C

Game: FIFA 10
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA
Release Date: 2nd October 2009

The final game in this marathon review, and its the best due to its controls, realism, atmosphere and team selection. Basically you can play any type of football you want, with added season mode there's the opportunity to live life as one club for an entire season, without worrying about finances and managerial issues. This, alongside other slight changes tweaks FIFA 10 to make it the best football game I own.

Controls: 8.3/10
Graphics: 9.1/10
Gameplay: 8.8/10
Sound: 8.5/10
AI: 8.5/10
Teams Featured: 9.6/10

Rating: 75/100
Grade: B

So to conclude, although I don't play a great amount of football games, I can see that their yearly releases seem to be heading toward the perfect football experience. My question for EA and Konami is how will they know when they are there? This dynamic seems to be set to continue almost indefinitely and that suggests infinite improvement which is not possible. As for me, I'll stick with FIFA 10, and in a way I can disregard all other football titles as they're worse permutations of this experience.