PS1 Double Header: Actua Soccer and Caesar's Palace II

Game: Actua Soccer
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Gremlin Interactive
Release Date: 1995

I thought I'd seen the last of football games but it seems that I missed one in my football roundup post.  So this is a follow-up, in which I'll probably be referencing the previous review a little. Actua Soccer features 44 international sides which can compete in leagues, cups and friendly matches in both arcade and simulation modes with a variety of camera angles provided and commentary by Barry Davies. It claims to feature 22 players, each with 8 different skill levels, which is a little confusing when you consider that 44 sides should have at least 704 players including substitutes. I assume the developers meant that there were 22 player models on which members of each team could be based.

With the limited options you're almost forced to dive right into a game of football. The first thing that I noticed upon playing was the massive lack of control you feel when playing. Player's movements are directed via the d-pad which makes it difficult to run in specific directions, and even when they went where I wanted them to, I felt like they were constantly in danger of having the ball tackled from them. Added to this, despite the several camera angles offered, none of them allow you to see what's ahead of you all of the time. It's difficult to break for a counter attack if the camera is still focused on your goal .

Players shots will fire off in any direction as you're expected to manually aim for the goal whilst running toward it and the AI is a strange mix of incompetent and hugely skilled, depending on what you don't want them to be at the time. Graphically the game looks pretty poor despite the fact that the player models are made from polygons rather than 2D sprites. The crowd and advertising have visible pixellation and it's fairly unimpressive on the whole. The commentry is fairly poor also and adds little to the experience, being muffled under crowd noise most of the time.

Although most football games of the time were fairly lacking, I'd say that Actua Soccer seems to perform even worse than the average football title in 1995. There's a lot of flaws and moments which make you question whether the game was even playtested, little action to enjoy and a constant sense that you're not actually controlling the players on your team. All in all I'd strongly recommend avoiding this game at all costs.

Rating: 27/100
Grade: F

Game: Caesar's Palace II
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Interplay
Release Date: October 1998

Caesar's Palace II is a gambling game featuring 8 different types of casino minigames, most of which have different modes or types of gameplay within them. Obviously it's a niche game and if you're not a fan of casino games or gambling then you're not likely to enjoy this game, but for those that are there's a fair variety of things to do and games that aren't on other gambling simulators. You start with $2,000 in the bank and get to choose which game you'd like to gamble on first. I'll go through the games in the order they appear on the menu;

Blackjack is a fairly standard game on these sort of casino simulators and I'd be surprised not to see it on the roster of games. On the whole it works pretty well and there's room for up to 4 players to play at once. Craps is a nice inclusion to the collection as it isn't often featured on this type of game. With all of the real game's features included, it makes for an enjoyable minigame once you understand the rules. Roulette and Video Poker are two more games that are both fairly self explanatory and commonly featured in casino collections.

With a selection of slot machines including both gimmick based and more conventional models, there's a variety of slot based gameplay if that's your thing. I found some machines to be more fun than others but there's a good selection of fairly interesting ones. Mini Bacarrat makes for another uncommon game featured on this collection, which can be fun to play once the rules are understood, and the same can be said for Keno which is a little like wagering on Bingo. The final game featured is Poker Challenge, which asks players to pick their hole cards for Texas Hold 'Em and then deals the community cards, to see whether the player's final hand beats the other two options in the end. There are other variants of this game also but I found this to be the most fun.

Stylistically Caesar's Palace II is presented neatly and consistently with table games featuring nice visual effects. Graphically it does fairly well especially with the slot machines, but there could be more detail overall. The soundtrack to the game is jazz based and fits well with the casino theme, and even adds to it in my opinion. Controlwise, the game is fairly straightforward and it doesn't take long to get used to what each button does. Overall there's great variety within the games featured, and fans of casino games may well enjoy both the presentation and gameplay.

Rating: 65/100
Grade: C

Game Review: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Game: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 17th August 1990

As the first game to be released in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, this NES game was understandably hotly anticipated. If it was an enjoyable game, it would set the tone for future TMNT releases and join the ranks of other NES classics of the time. Having sold over 4 million copies, placing it as one of the best selling 3rd party NES games, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it achieved this goal. It seems, however that the excitement over the game was somewhat misplaced as many critics found it to be one of the most difficult and frustrating NES games ever released.

After a start screen which features an 8-bit theme which sounds a little like "Stone Cold Crazy" by Queen featuring each turtle's stats and weapons, the game begins with a top down map screen. The player chooses to enter buildings or open drain covers, inside of which there are platforming levels with enemies roaming around. At the end of these levels there's a boss, after which the player receives a health power-up and continues from an exit, further along then map than they were.

On first playing one of the platform stages, you'll notice that your attacks don't reach particularly far unless you're using Donatello who uses a bo staff as a weapon. As any of the other 3 turtles, you have to get almost close enough to be damaged by the enemy to even have a chance of hitting them with your weapon. Jumping is another strange element of the game; while holding it for longer makes your turtle jump higher (which is good), there are a lot of jumps which are made difficult by ceilings or spawning enemies on the other side of them. If you miss one of these jumps due to hitting a ceiling or not timing it correctly, you have to trudge through re-spawning enemies to attempt it once again.

In the middle of the very first platforming stage, there's a mini-boss who's exactly the same as a regular enemy on the level which seems pointless. The enemies and bosses all seem to be unrelated to the cartoon series, as you're faced with a variety of flying legs, insects and other crazy adversaries. Later on in the game there's other frustrating levels such as timed swimming through electric kelp, and driving around the city in the Turtle Wagon, trying to avoid being steamrollered. The overall plot seems pretty directionless and haphazard.

Graphically it's hard to assess whether the game is good or not. Obviously it's in the classic 8 bit NES style, but some of the choices for platform textures and enemy sprites are questionable. The choice to include the overhead Turtle Van stages was also perhaps not as wise as other parts of the game. Musically, there's not a whole lot to enjoy, besides the Queen sounding intro screen song, and the sound effects could use some improving also.

Overall the game's controls and level design make it frustrating and difficult to enjoy, adding to the lack of characters besides the turtles from the cartoon series. The plot itself also seems fairly unrelated to anything that ever happened to the turtles, and the fact that you only have 4 lives to complete each area before you're forced to start over doesn't help. Konami could have done a lot better with this game, and it's sequel ended up setting the precedent for the next few Ninja Turtles titles, featuring more Beat 'Em Up orientated playstyles.

Rating: 36/100
Grade: E

Mega Drive vs PS1 Review: Street Racer

A sort of Mario Kart clone released for every imaginable system between 1994 and 1997, Street Racer features a cast of racers not unlike those of the Wacky Races cartoon. There are weapons and powerups on the track which players can use to their advantage as well as a punch that can be thrown eitherside of the player's kart to knock opponents off course. I'll be looking at the original Playstation and Mega Drive versions of the game today, although it was also released for SNES, Amiga, Saturn, Gameboy and PC.

Game: Street Racer
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Vivid Image
Release Date: 1995

We'll start with the Mega Drive version of the game which graphically seems to be a mix of Mario Kart and Super Hang On, or Outrun. The track speed toward you much like the latter titles, but the sprites of the racers as well as bonus items and power-ups are reminiscent of the former. There's Practice, Head to Head, Championship, Soccer and Rumble modes to choose from in the main menu. Championships consist of 6 tracks and points are awarded for finishing positions as well as a point for the fastest lap, and most stars collected.

Soccer mode sees all 8 racers attempting to score the most goals within a time limit, or a certain number of goals depending on the options chosen. It works decently although the view of the field is somewhat odd and I much prefer using the overview map at the side most of the time. The ball is obtained by either driving over it when no-one else is in possession or using the punch control to steal it from another racer. To score a goal the player must release the ball with the punch button into the goal, controlled by the computer.

Rumble mode is a little like one of the battle modes on Mario Kart titles; all 8 racers start inside of an arena with lanes of varying speeds. Travelling on the inside will cause the player to go slowly and the outside allows much faster travel. The barrier at the edge of the arena slowly crumbles away, allowing the elimination of players via punching them at the correct moment, so as to make them drive off the edge where there is no barrier. Although this can work well, it can take a while before there's enough barrier missing to eliminate anyone, and on the whole the game expects you to do most of the eliminating.

The best way to describe the controls of the game is to say that most of the time it feels like the track is moving under you, than the other way around. Things feel more fast paced than the first few Mario Kart titles, and the game borrows ideas such as holding down the accelerator at the right time when the race starts and using power-ups, although here they're scattered on the track and more difficult to distinguish between. When added to the faster gameplay, this makes for a tough challenge.

Graphically Street Racer has some nice moments, especially backgrounds on certain levels, and even the racer sprites work well in a cartoon style. Musically the game's general style is very much Mega-Drive era sounding, with influences of funk and rock which goes well with the game, without being particularly impressive or memorable. The sound effects feel more suited to the Master System in general and there's not really much to enjoy from the tyre squeal and engine sounds.

Overall the game is best played on Easy difficulty, and still there'll be one racer who is always getting ahead of you (just like Mario Kart). Unfortunately it's more difficult to get ahead of the rival than in Mario Kart and even on easy mode, second place isn't unusual. Street Racer feels like it's trying to put too many elements into a Mario Kart type game with the movement style of Hang On, power-ups on the track and characters who could well be out of the Wacky Races. It's playable but probably best with two players.

Rating: 61/100
Grade: D

Game: Street Racer
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Vivid Image
Release Date: 31st October 1996

The Playstation version of the game features a few changes from its Master System counterpart. The graphics have been updated and soccer mode removed. Races are now made up of 10 laps of short circuits rather than 5 of slightly longer ones, power-ups are still scattered about the track but a little less so in the racing line of the cars, there are new special attacks which the players have 2 each of, rumble mode has been revised and a there are lot more turbos to be collected on each stage.

Other than this however, much of the old game remains, championships are scored in much the same way, and all of the characters are the same. Many of the old problems still exist too; the track still feels as if it's moving around the cars, it's almost impossible to finish 1st but too easy to finish 2nd, the computer waits for you to eliminate it in rumble mode, and the sound effects are still not particularly impressive.

Graphically the game seems to outclass the Mega Drive version despite only having an updated version of the 16 bit graphics. The backgrounds, racers and animation are all impressive and there's a nicer map displayed in the top left. Musically also the game seems to have improved featuring a variety of interesting pieces, including a version of Ride of the Valkyries for the final stage which was quite enjoyable.

Overall if anything, this version feels like Street Racer +; an update to the Mega Drive version which refined some aspects but didn't fix many of the gameplay issues. Even having replaced all of the old tracks with new ones, difficulty issues remain meaning that its almost impossible to win a rumble match against the computer or even come first in a race on the Easy difficulty. If anything the turning on this version is worse than that of the Mega Drive version, if a little smoother.

Rating: 61/100
Grade: D

In the end both of these games play in pretty much the same way, the PS1 version isn't as much of an update to the Mega Drive version as I'd have liked and lacks the soccer feature and the ease of racing, but looks better and solves some of the problems at least. My advice would be to play whichever version you can get your hands on if you're that desperate to do so, otherwise stick to Mario Kart.

Head to Head Review: Spirit Of Speed 1937 vs Golden Age Of Racing

Game: Spirit of Speed 1937
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Broadsword Interactive
Release Date: 31st July 2000

Published by our friends at LJN who are renowned for their terrible NES games, and generally considered the worst Dreamcast game in existence, Spirit Of Speed 1937 makes a lot of key mistakes as both a racing game and as a video game in general. The concept is simple; a racing game featuring old cars on old circuits for that nostalgic feeling of the formative years of formula one style motorsport. With 12 cars and 9 circuits, the game is more limited than a lot of other racers but that could have been excused with better overall execution of the game.

There's 3 modes to choose from; Single Race, Championship and Scenario, with no unlockables or rewards for winning any of them. The first two modes are pretty self explanatory, and scenario mode is pretty much single race with a set car, on a set track with a target finishing position. There's no story behind the scenario races, and most of them are fairly easy to complete.

None of the cars in the game control particularly well, the brakes hardly slow them down, getting going is far jerky and unrealistic and hitting anything results in the car spinning off wildly. The game manual says "the handling on these cars is primitive" but I doubt they made an actual attempt to recreate the old-style handling so much as just neglecting to actually make the cars control decently. Any corner that's more than a slight bend requires braking from as far away as you can see it, which isn't something the AI has to contend with. They seem to float around the corners just fine at speeds which won't allow the player to do so. In general however, the AI does stupid things when out of sight of the player. I've come upon rivals blindly driving into the advertising boards at the side, and trying to climb the steep sides of other race tracks.

As you race, there are gauges for petrol, oil and your tyre wear. All of these go down incredibly quickly and make pit stops a necessity on even 6 lap races. To pit stop you're required to drive into a small rectangle in the pit lane which is difficult with the braking as it is, in game. Graphically the game isn't much to look at, and easily could have been on the N64 or original Playstation. The scenery flickers incessantly and is in very low quality, the backgrounds look to be made out of cardboard and the cars look very basic also. There's a little jazz music from the period in the menus, but in races there's only the sound of the car engines and whatever collisions you may have.

Rating: 44/100
Grade: E

Game: Golden Age Of Racing
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Midas Interactive
Release Date: 2nd September 2005

If you thought that there was a lot wrong with Spirit Of Speed, then Golden Age Of Racing will show you how good it really is. Based on the same sort of retro racing concept but in the 1960s GP era this time, this game features 5 entirely fictional cars to race around 5 entirely fictional circuits. I can understand the developer not wanting to spend money on licensing real world cars and locations, but it doesn't seem to have been spent anywhere else either.

Just like Spirit Of Speed there's 3 modes to choose from, although this time they're Championship, Race and Challenge. Championship and Race modes play similarly to their counterparts in Spirit of Speed, but Challenge is more of a Time Trial mode. It gives the player a target time to beat and once that has been achieved, the player is rewarded with a plaque in the trophy room. The times are incredibly easy and can be achieved even when you've crashed twice or less on a lap.

Controlwise this is probably the worst racing game I've ever played; you're not allowed to brake and turn at the same time, and turning at any speed below about 20 miles an hour will cause the car to fly off the track. Colliding with other cars causes whoever gets caught on top (the cars tend to slide under one another) to fly off at an unrealistic speed and angle, usually flipping over as they go. Any circuit with sharp turns or a turn following a straight are unenjoyable due to the driving controls.

Graphically, Golden Age Of Racing looks a lot better than Spirit of Speed. Although it's still not the best it can be there's marked improvement, it's just a shame that the racing is so ridiculously unplayable. The frame rate drops in places in the game, and even the menu screen shows video of the AI struggling with driving on the circuits. This is a real mess of a driving game which deserves as little time to be spent on it as possible.

Rating: 30/100
Grade: E

Game Review: Spider-Man

Game: Spider-Man
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: 15th April 2002

On the face of it, a game based on the 2002 Spiderman movie for the PS2 looks like a good idea. With the console's much improved 3D graphics vs the original Playstation, and a critically acclaimed film plot to draw upon for storyline ideas, the game should have been an almost guaranteed success. With a few shuffles of events and additions to the film's overall story, the general aim remains the same; to stop the Green Goblin's plan and ultimately save the day.

The gameplay consists of individual missions with their own goals, such as making your way to a certain place, stopping robberies, and making your way through enemies to a final bigger baddie. The main problem with these missions is that in addition to not really giving you too much to do, anything particularly is shown in a cutscene instead of being playable. Each time the player completes a stage of the mission a cutscene plays, which really breaks the flow of gameplay.

Controlwise the game has several problems; Indoors it's hard to control what Spiderman does since he can climb on any surface, sometimes when you try to walk through a door he'll start climbing the wall. Also due to the way the camera switches to get almost movie style shots of the action, you can be running down a corridor toward an enemy and have the camera switch to facing you and begin to run back where you came from without even changing what direction you were holding. The combat controls are equally disappointing; You're allowed to lock onto enemies which locks the camera to them, but not Spiderman's movements. It's entirely possible to run straight past someone you're locked onto whilst trying to get close enough to hit them.

When you do try to hit enemies there's punch, kick, jump and web shot buttons, as well as combinations which must be unlocked before use. Enemies fall down after 3 hits and are neutralised after 4 leading to them falling straight back down after getting up most of the time. The combination moves aren't much better, as they're difficult to execute with the game recognising you've done so, as well as being pretty useless. Also enemies with guns stay back and let those who are unarmed get in your way of hitting them, allowing Spiderman to be shot as he battles the unarmed combatants.

Outdoor combat is just as unsatisfying, as you're swinging from your web (which miraculously attaches to nothing, and so makes web-slinging essentially flying with stricter controls), you're not allowed to punch or kick whilst doing so. This means your only method of attack is to fire web whilst swinging, which if your enemies are stationary is fairly annoying since you'll constantly be swinging past them at varying levels of altitude. As you swing through the city, Spiderman moves slowly upwards in addition to his vertical movements which can also complicate things.

To guide you to where the action is happening in missions, there's a compass in the bottom right corner of the screen which must be used alongside the altimeter beside it unless you're a fan of swinging straight over where you were meant to be going. Spiderman has his own health and web meters which can be filled with powerups found throughout the city and indoor levels.

Graphically the game isn't too shabby, especially for 2002, the city feels pretty empty and you soon get to its borders which have invisible walls that Spiderman bounces off. It's a little strange that you can't go below a certain level of height to explore the city, but perhaps understandable due to technical constraints. The music for the game is fairly cinematic with tense instrumental pieces making up the majority of the soundtrack. It's not particularly memorable, but does make the game seem more similar to the film.

Overall this is game with a lot of problems; the plot can be confusing at times especially if you haven't seen the film, the movement and combat controls are difficult to use at the best of times and outright get in the way in the worst cases. The missions are generally short and uninteresting with lots of cutscenes between each part of them. At the time of its release Spider-man received fairly positive reviews, but I think this was due to the impressive new 3D techniques of the PS2 and new gameplay features which seem much less advanced now.

Rating: 58/100
Grade: D

Console Review: Commodore Plus/4

Console: Plus/4
By: Commodore
Release Date: 1984

Discontinued a year after it was released, nicknamed the Minus/60 in America and not really designed for gaming at all, you might think that the Commodore Plus/4 makes for a pretty uninspiring console. After all, it included word processing and spreadsheet software, and had no sprite capability for video games. It was intended as a replacement for the Commodore 64, however being almost completely incompatible with most peripherals and software for the system, it represented a significant financial investment. While the price was lowered to near-ridiculous levels at the end of its production, there was no doubt that it never really took off as a home computer or video games console.

In terms of its technical specifications, it surpasses the Commodore 64 with a faster processing speed, more ROM and RAM available to programs and more colours. The only areas it seems to be lacking in is sound and sprite capability, which obviously are rather useful when it comes to video games. The real problem for the Commodore Plus/4, however was that it was released alongside the Commodore 16, which was essentially a less powerful version of the Plus/4. While the Commodore 16 games were compatible with the Plus/4, most games produced were intended for the power of the Commodore 16, since it was the cheapest option of the new models available.

As the Plus/4 didn't get a whole lot of dedicated games, it missed out on titles which used its superior processing power. As a result, most of the Plus/4 game library is made up of Commodore 16 games which are compatible with it and the few games that were made specifically for the console suffer from its lack of specialization in gaming specs. After all this, you might wonder why I'd want to play or even own what is essentially a home computer that can play a few games designed for a lesser home computer, but I think games on these systems show an important step in gaming between Atari's 2600 games and the arrival of the NES.

(Bandits at Zero - 1987)

The games for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 came on cassette tapes which contained the data to load into the system's memory. Once this had been done, the tape's job was done, and unlike disks or cartridges could be taken out and put away while the player continued to play the game. The downside of this however was that the system first had to search for the data on the tape to be loaded, tell the system to do so, and then wait for the game to load before being able to play. In the best case, this takes around 5 minutes and some games I've played have taken even longer.

The datasette module which comes with the Plus/4 is used to load the data from the cassettes into the memory of the console. Aside from the slow load times and outdated nature of cassette tapes as a whole, it's not the worst way to store games although obviously there are risks such as contact with magnets which come into play with tapes. To save high scores players had to insert their own high score tape in to the machine when prompted and then record data onto it.

(Games on a tape? I couldn't believe it at first either)

The Commodore Plus/4 games that I own play mostly like arcade games with lives and simple goals to complete for each level, bu there were also text adventures and flight simulators released for the console. With a keyboard and/or joystick to control gameplay there were various control options for games, especially with the keyboard. As the joystick only features one button it's comparable to the Atari 2600 joystick although I personally prefer the movement of the Plus/4 one. As such most games with joystick control feature a single action for the button and movement with the joystick.

While the graphics are basic for most if not all original releases on the Plus/4, it has been proven in recent years that the system was capable of so much more in the right hands. Obviously the game developers at the time had no concept of the sort of graphics we see on today's systems, but with an continued underground popularity combined with the recent surge of interest in retro gaming, there continue to be games released for the system in some form. Making better use of the processing power and limited graphical capabilities, the more recent games for the Plus/4 would have blown minds back in 1985.

(Sabrewolf - 2012)

Counting games released for the Commodore 16 as Plus/4 releases, the best games of the time seem to be well executed arcade conversions or something that gives a clever edge to the usually basic and uninspiring games of the console. The best Plus/4 game I've played so far for the console, Ace: Combat Simulator had so many elements which were ahead of its time, that it stood out from the rest of the titles I had played as being more substantial both in gameplay and as a whole. My current top 10 for the console looks like this:

1.	Ace: Combat Simulator
2.	Exorcist
3.	Spectipede
4.	Petals of Doom
5.	Spore
6.	Treasure Island
7.	Icicle Works
8.	Space Sweep + Invaders
9.	Fire Ant
10.	Magician's Curse

All of these games displayed some sort of element that reminded me of a later game which had built upon it. There were good ideas and execution before there was really the console power to pull them off. I do intend to get more Plus/4 titles, both emulating and buying so this may be updated as I go along. 

(ACE Combat Simulator - 64kb version) 

On the whole, the Plus/4 isn't really as bad of a console as it may appear. Whilst most of its game library is simplified so as to also play on the Commodore 16, there are some truly interesting titles to be experienced as well as a sample of the worst that the gaming world had to offer at the time also. It's important to remember that the video game crash of 1983 was still having an effect on the market until at least 1987 when the NES restored faith in the industry. The generally low scores that the games for the system have received on this blog are a product of their simple nature and attempting to compare the increased complexity and programming of modern games.

For a console not really intended to be used for gaming, without sprite capability, I'd say that the Commodore Plus/4 does pretty well. Hopefully I'll be able to check out more modern games that people have developed for it too in the near future.

Commodore Plus/4 Games Review #6

Game: Fire Ant
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Commodore
Release Date: 1984

In Fire Ant, you play as the last surviving ant of a colony whose mission it is to rescue the queen ant from scorpions. You have to negotiate 6 chambers with locked doors, keys and obstacles to reach the end. The eggs which scorpions lay are your only food supply and must be eaten to keep your strength up. It's somewhat of an odd concept on the face of it; scorpions and ants aren't usual enemies as far as I'm aware but the game works decently as an exploration based puzzle idea. In some chambers there are special powers which clear a way for you to progress.

Graphically the game is fairly primitive (although it was release in 1984 so I can cut it some slack) and objects are only as detailed as they need to be to recognise what they represent. The walking sound effect can be irritating after a while of playing but most of the other effects are bearable. Gameplay revolves around getting keys to unlock doors and avoiding scorpions, mainly. Overall it's fun for a little while, although simple.

Rating: 29/100
Grade: F

Game: Icicle Works
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Commodore
Release Date: 1985

Icicle Works is a puzzle type game with a Christmas theme, in which you play as Santa, dodging snowballs and collecting presents in order to make a vehicle in which to escape levels. Once you've collected enough presents, the rest turn to bonuses on screen and you're allowed to exit the level through one of the doors which lead to other levels. As you progress more and more parts are needed for each vehicle and the level designs get harder.

Graphically the game has a simple style which retains the winter theme with both the colour scheme and scoring font. If a player loses a life, the screen turns to snowballs before resetting. There's music throughout the game which is a nice change from most Commodore titles, and it's bearable. Overall it's a fun little puzzler that gets pretty hard in the end and can frustrate, but retains a high level of playability for a Commodore Plus/4 title.

Rating: 31/100
Grade: E

Game: Crazy Golf
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Mr. Micro
Release Date: 1984

Pretty much scraping the bottom of the gaming barrel, Crazy Golf for the Commodore Plus/4 is perhaps the most frustrating sports game ever created. To hit the ball you have to select from 8 compass directions with left/right, and the power you want to impart on the ball with up/down. Invariably the ball will go either way too far, or stop far too soon, and it's very difficult to even putt the ball once, let alone finish one round. There's no real way to aim shots so that they go into the hole, most of the game is guesswork.

Graphically I'm not even sure what's going on in this game: the ball is a small yellow dot, the hole is a white circle and the rest of the course is a mystery. Whatever the squiggles and boxes represent, they act like impenetrable walls that the ball must be guided around. Save for the odd bleep, the game is devoid of music, and fairly boring. Overall this is one of the worst titles for the system in my opinion as it borders on unplayable.

Rating: 3/100
Grade: F

Game: Mayhem
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Mr. Micro
Release Date: 1984

In Mayhem you play as a space captain, transporting a ship full of "Blibbles" to a new planet which actually has room for them (unlike their home planet, according to the game manual). There's a problem though; the Blibbles are attempting to escape from the cargo bay, and are headed for sure destruction as they move toward the transporter ray. Your task is to save them by trapping them before they vaporise themselves into oblivion. Once 10 have been let through to the transporter, you've lost the game.

Graphically the game is rather basic; that white thing in the bottom left is a Blibble and you're represented by the reticule in top centre of the screen. The crate in the top left can be dragged to anywhere on the screen, and if it touches a Blibble then they're saved from a nasty fate. The sound effects for the game can best be described as noise, and are probably its worst aspect. Other than the soundtrack, the game's fairly fun for as long as you can stand to stop Blibbles from killing themselves.

Rating: 22/100
Grade:  F

Game: Ace: Air Combat Emulator
Console: Commodore Plus/4
Developer: Cascade Games
Year: 1985

Possibly the most advanced game on the Commodore Plus/4, Ace: Air Combat Emulator plays a lot like later flying games, such a Afterburner and G-LOC, but makes use of both the keyboard and joystick to control the plane. The player can choose what sort of targets they'd like to destroy from planes, ships, or ground targets as well as a combination of those. The main aim of gameplay is to destroy all enemy forces onscreen.

The graphics are fairly basic, but for a flying game they're just as good as other early titles. Impressively the game plays just like later flight simulators, with roll and pitch indicators, altitude and the freedom to move anywhere you want to on the map. It may sound like I'm getting excited over things that are pretty much standard nowadays, but for a Commodore Plus/4 game this is extremely impressive. Overall this is possibly the best Commodore game I've played; not only is it enjoyable, but it feels like it has ideas way ahead of its time.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

So there we are, that's all the Commodore Plus/4 games I currently own. I do plan to buy some more at some point but until then, watch out for my review of the system itself coming up very soon.

Game Review: Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun

Game: Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA
Release Date: 28th November 2003

As a game fast approaching its tenth anniversary, Medal Of Honor: Rising Sun doesn't seem all that old (at least not to me). Its certainly a game that I picked up cheaply at the end of the PS2's life and never got around to playing until now. As I had suspected from its title, the game focuses on the American campaign in the second world war beginning with Pearl Harbour and continuing on through Asia to feature missions in Singapore.

The game's protagonist, Joseph Griffin is shipped out to fight in the far east after the Pearl Harbour attack. He meets up and quickly loses contact with his brother, Donny who comes back to feature later on in the plot. There's a fun mission where you're tasked with infiltrating an Axis summit whilst impersonating a German officer, at which point he bursts through the door in his underwear to reveal your true identity. Overall the missions featured in the game are fairly varied, despite the general objective of every level being to shoot Japanese soldiers.

Being a first person shooter, there's not too much to explain in terms of gameplay; you have a health bar at the bottom-left of the screen which is depleted when you're shot by enemies, and also shows where damage is coming from. On the bottom-right your current weapon and ammo selections are displayed, and in most missions there's a choice of at least 2 weapons. Most levels feature a preset path through enemy infested territory, with objectives scattered throughout. Once all main objectives have been completed and the end of the level has been reached, the game shows a cutscene explaining the relevance of the next mission to the war as a whole.

Most missions take around 30 to 60 minutes to complete depending on their content and the playstyle of the gamer. Sometimes they can drag on a little, such as in the case of missions with area after area of enemy troops without any interesting breaks in play. The most exciting missions tend to be those where you're either taking control of a large vehicle based gun (such as those in Pearl Harbour) or where you feel that you're making a large difference to the war effort as a whole (such as the aforementioned Axis summit mission).

The control scheme of the game works well as it's easy to use the dual analog sticks to move and aim, with weapon switching, grenades and crouching all easily in reach. There are three main problems I found with the gameplay as a whole; the first is that although the locations and levels give the impression of choice as to the routes the player can take, in truth most of the options are dead ends or lead to locked doors. The true mission route is usually very linear and getting lost along the way can result in a frustrating search for the correct path which isn't always obvious.

The second main problem lies in the AI, specifically that of your comrades who tag alongside you in a majority of the missions. Although invincible they often get in the way of your shot at enemy soldiers, hang back when you'd rather they move forward and vice versa. Neither your comrades nor enemy soliders are particularly intelligent and will stand around getting shot from behind for far too long without realising it.

The final problem seems to be worse in later levels of the game. I'm aware that the game uses a body part hit system to determine how many shots it takes to kill an enemy, however I found at times that three shots to the heart or head just weren't enough. In levels with many Axis soldiers this became frustrating as I had 100 or more enemies to kill, who each took 3-4 shots to actually neutralise.

Graphically the game is between realism and early PS2 graphics and as a result doesn't look amazing in the modern day, but there's no problem with recognising soldiers from bushes or anything like that. The biggest graphical issue I encountered was certain areas which looked clear but were actually invisible walls which couldn't be shot or walked through. The soundtrack to the game features an orchestral score with an almost generic war game sound, but it sets the tone for the game as a whole.

Overall Rising Sun has its problems; the searching for which route to take, combined with rather unintelligent soliders who seem to be able to withstand a great deal of damage makes for a somewhat unrealistic vision of the life of a solider at war. The game does feature a lot of excitement with an entertaining storyline and large choice of weapons and missions. It also shows its age at points both graphically and in overall game pacing. As a war game there's fun to be had with it, if you can stand the flaws.

Rating: 71/100
Grade: C

Classic Handheld Games Review: Tetris and Breakout

Game: Tetris
Console: Nintendo Game Boy
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 28th September 1990

As a launch title for the original Game Boy in America and Europe, Tetris helped to popularise Nintendo's handheld console by going on to sell over 35 million copies. The game is well known worldwide and has had several different versions across various consoles including a Sega Mega Drive version which recently appeared on eBay for a whopping $1,000,000 without any takers.

From the options menu you're given the choice of either 1 or 2 player mode (2 player requiring a link cable between 2 Game Boys, both with copies of the game). Once you've chosen single player, there are 2 modes of play (the first being regular tetris play, and the second giving a total of lines to be cleared for a high score). When playing these modes there's a choice of 3 different pieces of music or if you'd prefer, silence.

I doubt there's much need for me to explain the basic gameplay of tetris, other than saying that the game is about stacking blocks of various shapes so that they fill lines and disappear. With such a simple principle to the game, there's not much more to gameplay than attempting to play for as long as possible in order to get a high score. As the number of lines that a player has cleared increases, so does the speed of the falling blocks.

Graphically the game isn't much to look at although you wouldn't expect it to be. The blocks are easy to see and identify and that's all they really need to be with gameplay as it is. Musically, the game features the classic Tetris jingle in addition to 2 other songs of slightly lesser notability. Overall despite technological and graphical advances, this is still the defining version of the game as there's not much to change; it's basically perfect as is. The only thing letting it down is its simplicity.

Rating: 82/100
Grade: B

Game: Tetris DX
Console: Nintendo Game Boy Colour
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1st July 1999

With new modes, saved player profiles and more included in this update which was released almost 10 years after the original, not much has changed gameplay-wise but the most noticeable difference is that the game is in colour. From the title screen onwards there's many brightly coloured boxes and shapes which appear throughout the game and its menus.

After choosing one player mode there are four options for play, twice as many as the original game. Marathon is the recognisible classic variant of Tetris, Ultra challenges the player to accrue as many points as possible in a 3 minute time period, 40 Lines is a race against time to clear 40 lines from the screen with the high score being the shortest time, and V.S. Com mode pits the player against varying difficulties of computer opponent in a head on battle.

Gameplay is fast and colourful, working in exactly the same way as the original game. The new modes provide extra fun, and high scores can be saved via the cartridges internal battery. The controls themselves feel just a little smoother than the original version in places although not by much. For the most part the two games are one and the same.

Graphically the main difference is in colour, which does help to differentiate and identify the varied types of block occasionally. The music featured in the game is catchy and generally funk based, without a rendition of the classic theme. While this may disappoint some players, I'm glad that new themes were written as it would have been very easy to fall back on just the classic accompaniment. Overall both games are Tetris, but this has some new and colourful options.

Rating: 84/100
Grade: B

Game: Super Breakout
Console: Nintendo Game Boy Colour
Developer: Morning Star Interactive
Release Date: December 1998

The third and final classic in this review unfortunately didn't fare as well in its transition to handheld console. Anyone who's played Breakout before will know that it's basically Pong against a wall of breakable blocks instead of an opponent. You're given a limited number of balls with which to break the pattern of blocks before you, and in a lot of versions there's various powerups such as larger paddles and multiball.

In this version for Game Boy Colour, however there seems to be a few problems. For a start within seconds of starting a level, the ball gets up enough speed to easily escape your paddle and cost you a life, the paddle gets smaller as you break more blocks which increases the difficulty and there are no powerups in the game whatsoever. Lives don't reset between levels and you're lucky to reach the 2nd one with the way things are.

With five game modes you'd think there might be a little more fun, however even the multiball of Cavity mode, and the double paddle gameplay of Double mode fall flat due to the gameplay problems. Progressive mode features blocks that move toward you which hardly helps matters, and Practice mode is just Normal mode with 5 more lives. As no game is likely to last more than a minute of so, whatever mode is selected it's sort of irrelevant as to which mode is more fun anyway.

Graphically the game almost could have been on the Atari, the Game Boy Colour could and did do a whole lot better than this in other games. Although its as simple concept wise as Tetris, this just seems way more lazy on the graphical side of things. Another disappointment is that there's no music in the game whatsoever. Just a choice of block breaking sound effects, none of which are particularly impressive and make you wonder why you even get to choose. Overall this game's not even deserving of being in the same review as Tetris.

Rating: 13/100
Grade: F

Collection Review: Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 Part 3

Game: Street Fighter
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1987

With limited home versions on the Turbografx, Commodore and Atari ST, the best known version of the first game in the Street Fighter series was the arcade one. The series didn't get much attention until the second installment, however and in a way you can see why when playing this. For a start, only Ryu is playable in One Player mode with Ken joining him in multiplayer, the fighting seems very basic and jerky and although the graphics are good for the time, the backgrounds don't move particularly smoothly either.

In the game, you fight two opponents per country in a total of five countries. Only a few of these opponents ever appear again in the Street Fighter series, and they all have the same voice clips after the fight upon winning or losing. The reason Street Fighter II was so successful was because it stood out from other fighting games as a class above. Unfortunately this game doesn't do that as well as its sequel.

In terms of difficulty, enemies seem to do more damage with their attacks than you are able to do with yours. This is somewhat irritating in "normal" mode, and perhaps something you'd expect to find on harder difficulties. It just doesn't feel like a fair fight when an opponent can beat you in 4 moves, yet you need to hit them 10 times to win. Overall it's a messy fighting experience at best and its only real value is for those wanting to see the origins of the series.

Rating: 32/100                                                                                Status: Gave Up
Grade: E                                                                                         Continues: N/A

Game: Strider
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1990

If you've read my Strider II review for Master System, you'll know that Strider was a game series that featured a protagonist with a sword and climbing hooks who could scale walls and flip to higher heights than conventional adventurers. The original arcade game features the main character making his way through 5 different levels to save the Earth. With just a sword attack to defend himself, the player must play their routes carefully through the levels.

The gameplay is generally enjoyable, with elements of platforming and exploration coming together with the storyline to see the player fighting off robotic and human enemies. It's also possible to aquire robots which fight on your side, against the enemy. Sometimes it's not overly clear where you're supposed to go, and there are some hard moments here and there, but generally the difficulty is better than most in this collection.

The graphics are very impressive, much better than those of the scaled down Master System version of Strider II. All of the enemies and levels have interesting designs and this compliments the level design of the game also. Musically there's an action style soundtrack which fits well with the game. There are a lot of good ideas in the game, mixed in with some more questionable features. Overall it's worth checking out for sure.

Rating: 62/100                                                                                Status: On Final Level
Grade: C                                                                                         Continues: 25

Game: Super Street Fighter II
Console: Arcade
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: 1993

One of the most disappointing inclusions on the collection, Super Street Fighter II features great graphics, smooth gameplay and all 16 of the characters from the arcade version. The problem is that even on the easiest difficulty, it's hard to win a round, let alone an entire fight. I'm aware that arcade versions of fighting games are usually harder so as to make more money off paying customers but there's literally no fun in constantly getting beaten up.

With the home console versions of this game I was able to make it to the end, so I don't think it's a problem with my skill level. At least in those versions there was gameplay beyond hoping to win both rounds of the opening fight. Unfortunately this rather taints the experience and while others may argue that it's an arcade perfect port of the game, I'd have given up on trying to win a fight if this was in an arcade, personally.

As I mentioned graphically the game is stunning and much better than the home console versions, the music too is spot on and if it weren't for the difficulty, the fighting would also be smoother and more enjoyable than any home version. Unfortunately there's no escaping this negative side to the game, and so its score must reflect that.

Rating: 30/100                                                                                Status: 2nd Fight
Grade: E                                                                                         Continues: 10

Game: The Speed Rumbler

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1986

The Speed Rumbler is a shooting/driving game set in a futuristic society where vigilantes with cars and guns rule the streets, and you're tasked with making your way through these violent towns and rescuing innocents from captivity. There are 7 locations that you're expected to clear of enemies, and you're given just over 20 minutes to do so. Every time you die, 5 seconds is added onto your time and yo're not allowed to take over 4 minutes in any one area. Personally I think having both of these time limits is somewhat silly because if you adhere to the 4 minute rule, you'll adhere to the overall limit. The only situation it prevents is getting near to the end and then running out of time, which is suppose could be annoying. 

The main issue with the game is that the control is confusing, if not downright terrible. Sometimes pressing left will steer the car left, other times its forward and I can't seem to work out any pattern to this. Enemy cars are increasingly persistant in crashing into you and damaging your car so that it blows up and you're forced to start from a checkpoint. Added to this, most things take a couple of shots from you to destroy meaning that you either attempt to speed through levels taking damage, or go slowly and run out of time. Overall the concept is good, but the execution leaves so much to be desired that the game is hardly fun to play at all. 

Rating: 11/100                                                                                Status: Level 5
Grade: F                                                                                         Continues: 21

Game: Three Wonders

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1991

With three games in one, Three Wonders is like a collection, within a collection. There's Midnight Wanderers: Quest for the Chariot which is a platforming shooter, Chariot: Adventure to the Sky which is a space shoot 'em up sequel to the first game and Don't Pull which seems to be an entirely unrelated puzzle game. While it's odd to have two directly related games next to a completely different one, they're all of good quality and make for one of the gems of this collection. 

Midnight Wanderers features a quest through 5 areas where the protagonist, Lou fights various enemies based on various astrological features, to get the chariot for defeating Gaia. Stylistically the game looks a lot like Rayman for PS1 in its earlier stages, which shows how good the graphics are for 1991. While still more difficult than conventional platformers, the game is easier than a lot of others featured on the collection and features a much more conventional difficulty curve throughout the game.

Chariot: Adventure Through The Sky is the best shoot 'em up on the compilation, featuring a range of powerups, bosses based on signs of the Zodiac and a much more sane level of difficulty than the other games. It features the same characters as and some themes from Midnight Wanderers, as it's a direct sequel. The only real downside of the game is that you're forced to fight each boss one after another before the final boss, but this is a feature in other games I've reviewed also (House of the Dead, Streets of Rage). Overall though it's a very enjoyable shoot 'em up with an interesting astronomical theme. 

Don't Pull is a fairly fun puzzle game where you play as a rabbit, crushing enemies with blocks that you push into them. There are 20 levels in total, and it gets a little repetitive but on the whole the gameplay works well and it features some good ideas. What's strange about this game is it's inclusion on Three Wonders, since the other two games feature the same characters, and ideas in different styles of gameplay where this is strikingly different.

Overall Three Wonders has some great gameplay and graphics featured in its three titles, and a good variety of ideas, enemies and things to do. The first two games have more lasting appeal than Don't Pull, but that's not to say it isn't a good inclusion so much as a weird one. Musically, all three of the games feature an impressive amount of good tunes and sound effects. I'd reccomend playing all three games, since they're some of the best on the collection.

Rating: 72/100                                                                                Status: Completed
Grade: C                                                                                        Continues: 57 (all 3)

Game: Tiger Road

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1987

Tiger Road is a run-of-the-mill challenging sidescrolling Fighter/Platformer. There's lots of enemies and obstacles on screen at any one time and gameplay usually goes something like this: If you move you get hit by something, and if you don't move you get hit by something. The main way of progressing through levels is usually to wave your sword about whilst pressing right and hope that your character has enough energy to get to the end of that room, so that when the game restarts you at a checkpoint, you're at the next one. Otherwise there's not much hope of getting anywhere. 

There are some levels which have slightly better ideas than just moving left to right, but unfortunately the number of enemies and awkward controls make it difficult to enjoy these. Being swarmed with enemies whilst trying to make a difficult jump doesn't seem like the most fun you could be having. There's 4 stages in the game, but I got stuck in each one of them, and restarted in the next. 

Graphically, the game's not all that with graphics slightly better than that of 3rd generation consoles. The in-game music is alright, but the sound effects and voices leave a lot to be desired. Overall it's pretty average for the collection, it's playable until you get stuck somewhere and the difficulty means that's pretty often. There's not really much reason for anyone to play this thesedays, as something like Revenge of Shinobi far outclasses it in the same genre. 

Rating: 15/100                                                                                Status: Played
Grade: F                                                                                        Continues: 15

Game: Varth: Operation Thunderstorm

Console: Arcade

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 1992

Another game in the vein of the 1942 series, Varth stands out by featuring a defense system which includes pods circling the player that deflect enemy fire, thus making the game somewhat easier. The levels are also shorter, but there are more in the game overall (a total of 30). The game seems to focus more on skill and dodging attacks whilst shooting enemies rather than the blind all-out action of some of the other games in this style on the collection. This means that there's a better difficulty curve throughout the game also. 

Graphically the game is impressive to a degree, although having been released in 1992 it's not far off the systems of that time. Gameplay is generally fun and I only had to continue around once per level in playing. There's a small array of powerups and special moves that the player is able to use to their advantage, but after a little while repeating enemies, and gameplay style leads to the game being somewhat repetitive. Overall though, it's a slower paced shoot 'em up which lends itself better to western audiences and those looking for an enjoyable game on the collection.

Rating: 60/100                                                                                Status: Level 10
Grade: D                                                                                        Continues: 10

So with that, I've played all 20 of the games on the Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2. With an average rating of 50.6 out of 100, it's fair to say that they're a mixed bunch ranging from failed ideas for new types of arcade games to quality beat 'em ups. In total I used 432 continues, which is approximately 1296 lives or the equivalent of 144 cats. There's no doubt that Capcom's arcade games were pretty difficult on the whole, and this collection won't really appeal to anyone who dislikes losing.

Overall as a compilation, the games you'd think would be impressive (SSFII, Street Fighter etc.) are somewhat of a disappointment, and games never released in Europe or outside of arcades seem to be hidden gems (Captain Commando, The King Of Dragons). It's got some decent titles, worth owning since they're not available anywhere else, but anyone expecting a large amount of variety in the 20 games will find a large amount of Beat 'Em Ups, Shoot 'Em Ups and fantasy themed platformers.

The collection also features bonus tips, music and art for all of the games featured which is unlockable through completing certain in-game objectives. As well as being an incentive to try every game it gives the opportunity for the player to learn more about it. Other bonus features include a tutorial on Super Street Fighter II, a Capcom quiz in the style of Quiz and Dragons and the credits for the game.

Although I don't include collections such as this in my overall game rankings due to the fact that they're hard to rate against other single games, I will give this a score which will appear on the video game collection ranking table.

Rating: 75/100