Collection Review: Taito Legends 2 Part 2

Game: Bonze Adventure
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1988

Kicking off part 2 of 3, Bonze Adventure is a platforming game where players control a Japanese monk, guiding him through seven 'hells' to get rid of the evil spirit from King Emma-O. The game gets even stranger once play begins with spirits, ghosts and all manner of odd creatures attacking from every angle. The only weapon the player has to defend themselves with are rosary beads which can be thrown at demons to defeat them.

There's a certain amount of curve on the throw of these beads, and it can be hard to hit enemies which are low down and close to players, or on a different height level. From the beginning the game is pretty difficult, and one hit from an enemy spells instant death, so there's no let up either. Even with infinite continues, on easy mode it became pretty difficult to get past the fourth 'hell'.

Graphically Bonze Adventure looks great, in a cartoon like 16 bit style. The enemies and levels are interestingly designed and the mood of the game is consistently pleasing. Unfortunately the soundtrack isn't quite as good; some of the tracks are listenable and don't go too badly with the atmosphere, but the fourth level's theme literally sounds like someone washing up.

Overall the game is mediocre due to its mid-to-high difficulty, forgettable platforming and lacklustre soundtrack. It's not a bad game by any means, but there's plenty of this style of arcade game around from this era, so standing out is important.

Rating: 47/100
Grade: D

Game: Nastar
Console; Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1988

A sequel to the fairly popular game Rastan, Nastar sees players guide the titlar hero through castles filled with enemies as they hack n' slash their way to the end. The first thing I noticed when I began playing was how slow Rastan walks; he's probably one of the slowest platforming heroes I've controlled in a video game. This is frustrating, but the control woes get worse as there's massive delay on his jump, and the screen often lets you get to the far right hand side of it before actually scrolling so that there's no way to see what's ahead.

Assuming players don't instantly quit due to these issues, the game has a nice variety of attack options as well as three different weapons to choose from. Enemy death animations are very well done and have them exploding into a pile of guts, which makes things a little more satisfying, and the ability to defend from attack with the shield is another plus.

Graphically the game is a mix of impressive and not so impressive graphics. Animations are nice and smooth, but the lines around characters and some details look a little strange. Overall the colour and level design is good. Musically the game is at its best when there's no voice clips over the soundtrack, but this happens fairly often and can be offputting.

On the whole, Nastar's control issues make it far more difficult to play than it needs to be, and hack n' slash games that came a little later seem to do a far better job. If players do manage to reach the last level of the game, no continues are allowed past that point, meaning that there's a final frustrating factor to consider before picking up the game.

Rating: 33/100
Grade: E

Game; Raimais
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1988

From the outside, Raimais may look like a strangely named, brightly coloured Pac-man clone, but it's a little more than that thankfully. Players control a vehicle which picks up dots whilst travelling around a maze. Once all the dots have been collected, the gates to the next level will open. The player's vehicle is chased by enemies which will cause the player to lose a life if they collide. Scattered around the maze are powerups which can be used to defeat the enemies.

There are lots of levels to progress through, and even different endings depending on the player's skill level. The control is generally good, with the option to boost if needed although sometimes this can mean that players are travelling too fast past a turning to make it around the corner. The difficulty steps up after the first few levels and later on its almost impossible not to take a few hits.

Graphically the game is brightly coloured, if a little simple sprite-wise. The game looks more like an 8-bit title than a 16-bit one, but as a puzzler it doesn't matter too much. The music is the major draw for this game with many enjoyable and fast paced tracks accompanying the rapid gameplay.

Overall Raimais is an interesting action puzzler that controls well, but can feel a little too fast at times. With infinite credits, it's fun to progress through a batch of levels but there's not a great deal of progression in terms of the level design. Replayability is the feature this game lacks the most.

Rating: 63/100
Grade: C

Game: Cameltry
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1989

Cameltry is an oddly named puzzle game where players must direct a ball around a maze by moving the maze around the ball. It's also possible to shunt the ball upwards by pressing a button. There are four difficulty levels, each with their own set of courses, and the aim of each course is simply to get to the goal at the end within the time limit. Numbered blocks are dotted around the course and count down to the goal as players progress.

Also dotted around the maze are powerups and time penalty blocks. Powerups give players either points or more time to complete each course, while penalty blocks take time away. At the end of each level, a time bonus is added to the time remaining, and this is how much time the player has to complete the next course. The level design is very good, especially in the later, more difficult courses and the only one that feels impossible is the final level of the game.

Graphically Cameltry displays some nice textures and backgrounds, despite its simplicity. The bright colours and fast paced gameplay go well with eachother, and penalties/bonuses are easy to spot. While there's not many tracks that accompany gameplay, the few that do are of a good standard and fit well with the mood of the game.

Overall I'd reccomend this as another fun action puzzler that reminded me a little of Marble Madness in its execution. The physics and controls work very well and are simple enough for anyone to master. My only complaint is that there's little reward apart from score for finishing a level, and there's no real story or background as to why players must guide this ball through the maze.

Rating: 69/100
Grade: C

Game: Don Doko Don
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1989

Don Doko Don is a platforming game where the aim is to smash enemies with a hammer before picking them up and throwing them either into other enemies or to their death elsewhere. If players touch enemies before they've been smashed, they'll lose a life, and if players aren't quick enough to pick the smashed enemies up, they'll recover and begin to roam the level once again. There are various levels in the game, including bosses every 10 levels which require a little more practical thinking to beat.

The controls for the game are simple, and allow players to move around the level, jump and smash with the hammer easily. To pick smashed enemies up, all that's needed is to collide with them. Once picked up, smashed enemies are thrown with the hammer button. While the controls work well, by the fifth or sixth level there are many enemies roaming the stage, and some levels aren't particularly well designed, making progress difficult at times.

Graphically, the game is one of the best so far with some parts which reminded me of the original Playstation, alongside the 16-bit overall feel. Things can get rather chaotic at points, but on the whole it's pretty easy to tell what's going on at any given point. The music for the game is largely forgettable although I quite liked the boss theme's fast paced sounds.

Overall Don Doko Don could be more enjoyable; with better level design, less overcrowding of enemies at points and more boss fights interspersed with the action it could have been very enjoyable. That's not to say that it isn't fun at points though, and it's notable for some good graphics along the way.

Rating: 48/100
Grade: D

Game: Insector X
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1989

Insector X is a shoot 'em up with an insect theme, challenging players to progress through its levels, killing insects with their gun, the power-ups provided and the bug spray special weapon. The power ups give players double shot, increased shot power and increased speed which are extremely useful.

The game is pretty difficult for a number of reasons; the first is that there's usually a fair amount occurring onscreen at any one time, but also when players lose a life (and you only need to get hit once), they're returned to a checkpoint in the level, rather than being allowed to carry on until they lose a continue. This means than any particularly difficult sections must be cleared in one go rather than sacrificing a few lives to get through.

Graphically the game is in a cartoon style, with bright colours and interesting background. The character designs for each insect and animal are well executed and many have different expressions within the same species, giving a sense of variety. Once again the music is pretty standard and isn't particularly good or bad.

Overall Insector X seems to be a game for fans of shoot 'em up games only, as a lot of skill is required to get past even the first level. While there's never a huge amount of bullets or enemies on screen, the one-hit deaths and being returned to checkpoints upon losing a life add to the difficulty quite a bit. With a few changes, this could have been a really enjoyable title.

Rating: 61/100
Grade: D

Game: Violence Fight

Console: Arcade

Developer: Taito

Release Date: 1989

With one of the most generic game titles I've ever seen, Violence Fight does exactly what it says on the tin. Pitting two fighters against one another in a series of bouts to determine a winner, that's pretty much all there is to the game. The strangely named fighters (Bad Blue, Lick Joe etc.) each have different attributes and excel in either punching, kicking or general agility.

The gameplay is clunky and difficult to control with any certainty. The best way to win fights seems to be mashing the punch button whilst moving towards your opponent, at least against the computer. If players manage to win two rounds in a row, they earn a bonus round against a tiger which if beaten increases their stats. This is incredibly difficult though, and the final bout even more so.

Graphically the game looks pretty good, and is even reminiscent of Street Fighter II at times although it's gameplay couldn't be further away from SFII. At times comic book style onomatopoeia will appear behind an attacking player as he downs the opponent, which gives play a nice effect. The sound effects used don't vary enough as I wasn't sure who was getting hit when listening just to the voice clips. 

Overall Violence Fight is a short and fairly simple fighting game with poor controls and general gameplay, as well as an unimpressive stats system and sound effects. There was a sequel to Violence Fight, so it'd be interesting to see how many of the faults have been fixed. On the whole though there's far better arcade fighters out there. 

Rating: 30/100

Grade: E

Game: Euro Football Champ
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1990

Euro Football Champ is one of the more interesting football arcade games for a number of reasons. Firstly there's the ability to "Play Rough" when not in possession of the ball. This option includes shirt pulling, punching, kneeing and kicking other players while the referee isn't near enough to see what's going on. Besides this, slide tackling is the "safer" option for players to get the ball off opponents with.

Passing and shooting are the available options when players are in possession, and for the most part these are responsive and work almost as well as in later football games. Scoring goals can be a little difficult as the goalkeepers have incredible skills, especially at higher difficulty levels, but it's definitely possible. My only complaint of the passing in the game is that sometimes players will pass to teammates who are inexplicably off the edge of the pitch, resulting in a throw in.

Graphically the game looks very nice, with a 16-bit feel and some 3D effects here and there. An especially amusing event occurs when the ball goes wide of the net, as photographers are stationed either side, and can be knocked down by the force of the ball. The music featured when a goal is scored is enjoyable, but other than this there's no music which accompanies play.

Overall Euro Football Champ is a fun little arcade soccer game which gets a little too hard due to the opposing team's defensive capabilities in the latter stages, but features many interesting touches. It'd definitely be interesting to play a home console version of the game, if it handled as well as this does.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Game: Growl
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1990

When I first read the plot of Growl as it scrolled up the screen in the opening of the game, I didn't quite know what to make of it. Essentially players are tasked with stopping poachers and hunters from harming animals. As the game is a beat 'em up, there's plenty of enemies to beat and there's also plenty of weapons to beat the with. Controlwise players have an attack button, a jump button and control of their movement, although depending on where an enemy is in relation to the player, different attacks will be used onscreen.

There are four different characters to choose from, each with different attributes (although it didn't seem to make much difference). Their designs were fairly interesting, but there's no information about who they are. The action takes place across three main stages, but each of these have a number of sub areas. Each sub area, and main area leads seamlessly onto the next, meaning that weapons can be taken with players through the course of the game, if desired. The fact that there's absolutely no loading once the game begins is impressive.

From the outset, its clear that the game will be full of weapons and explosions as you're given a rocket launcher as the game begins, and many enemies have grenades to aim at the player. There are also guns, whips, swords, rocks, barrels, and boxes which can be used as weapons. An interesting feature of the guns is that once they're empty ammo wise, they can still be used as melee weapons, which can come in very handy.

Bosses appear through the course of the game, and some can be pretty difficult. Overall though the difficulty is manageable, and experienced players should be able to get by on 10 or so credits. At certain points during levels, animals will come to your aid and trample enemies for you. This can be especially helpful when there are up to 16 enemies onscreen at any one time. There's also a platforming stage appearing in the middle of the game which breaks up the fighting action and challenges players in a slightly different way.

Graphically the game is impressive both stylistically and in the fluidity of its animations. There's a great range of attacks for only having a single attack button, as the player character will often interact differently with enemies depending on the situation. The music for the game is also enjoyable, with a soundtrack that matches the intensity of the action. There's a little bit of voice acting at some points, but the less that's said about that, the better.

Overall Growl is an excellent arcade Beat 'em Up with a great variety of weapons, plenty of explosions and enemies to kill, a good amount of challenge, and some impressive little touches which make it a cut above the rest. A version of this game came out for the Sega Mega Drive, and after playing the arcade version, it's something I'm keen to pick up.

Rating: 87/100
Grade: B

Game: Gun Frontier
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1990

Gun Frontier begins with an overly long explanation of the setting for the game, especially for a shoot 'em up. Once onto the first stage though, the action is fast paced and enjoyable with plenty of enemies to shoot down as you'd expect. There are power ups which increase the number of bullets players can fire at once, and bomb power-ups which players can collect to increase the power of their bombs.

As the levels progress the game gets harder until the point where it's not as much fun because death occurs almost instantaneously after restarting. This is another shoot 'em up where you're reset each time you're hit, rather than at each continue. There are some interesting parts in the first three levels, and the enemy ship designs are interesting and fit the concept well.

Graphically the game seems a little weak for the time, but it's not bad. Enemy bullets are easy enough to see onscreen and explosions are handled nicely, despite a little slowdown in places (though I'm unsure if that's the PS2). The music for the game is very well done and easily one of its strongest features, it certainly overshadows the sound effects which are pretty average.

Overall Gun Frontier is a 'by the book' shoot 'em up with no real unique selling point. It gets pretty hard after a while, and apart from being decent gameplay wise, players shouldn't expect to be wowed in any department except the soundtrack. Unless you're a huge fan of shoot 'em ups, there's better ones out there.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D

Game: Liquid Kids
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1990

Liquid Kids is a water based platforming game which seems to be aimed at children or at least a younger audience, from looking at its visual style. Players must rescue their kidnapped friends by making their way through stages, and stunning enemies with water balloon style projectiles. If more than one enemy is hit at one time by the water balloon, a score bonus item for the player appears once they've been defeated.

The game isn't particularly hard, especially if players throw water balloons around incessantly and move through the level at a reasonable speed. It's possible to make the balloons larger by holding down the attack button before releasing it, although this isn't necessary in too many places. Even the bosses featured in the game hold little challenge, as they have slow moving and repetitive patterns and are very easy to hit.

Graphically the game is very nice, featuring a cute visual style based on various animals, and items based on cakes and sweets. The music too seems very much aimed at younger audiences, and because of this it can be hard to take seriously. Overall Liquid Kids is an interesting piece of arcade history and perhaps something that enticed some younger players into gaming. Perhaps if I'd encountered this at a younger age, it'd hold some nostalgia for me.

Rating; 50/100
Grade: D

Game: Super Space Invaders '91
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1990

Space Invaders is probably one of the most well known gaming franchises ever, with a release of some kind on almost every console up to the 6th generation. Super Space Invaders '91 is the 5th instalment in the arcade series and features some major changes to the Space Invaders formula which include far more interesting background, different attack patterns, bosses, powerups, and a shield feature.

There are over 50 different "rounds" to play through, and with each the attack pattern of the invaders changes. Sometimes invaders drop downwards when shot, meaning that it's more difficult to clear the bottom row, other times they expand when there's nothing next to them, and they're shot. This keeps gameplay far more interesting and varied than the original game.

Graphically the game seems a little behind the times, espeically in terms of the backgrounds and sprites which are almost inbetween NES and SNES era graphics. Musically the game is good especially when fighting bosses, but the sound effects are still the same as the original game which is a nice throwback.

Overall I'm not sure 1991 needed another version of Space Invaders, but at least its a definite improvement on previous instalments. There are 2 later versions of Space Invaders still to come in Part 3, so it'll be interesting to see what further changes are made to the series. All in all, it's still Space Invaders at heart, but with plenty of interesting changes to keep players amused for far longer.

Rating; 67/100
Grade: C

Game: Metal Black
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1991

A sequel to both Gun Frontier (reviewed a little earlier) and Darius II, Metal Black is a side scrolling shoot 'em up. Players can collect neutrons to charge their laser which can then be fired at enemies as a special attack. Bosses appear at the end of each short level and take far too many hits to beat, to the point where players have to charge and use the special attack laser fully at least three times, while shooting the boss constantly, to win a level.

Graphically the game is nice in places, the larger explosions when bosses are beaten give a sense of achievement, but other than that there's nothing particularly impressive. The music for the game fits the action well but isn't something that'll stay with players for long once they've finished with the game. Overall Metal Black is a standard shoot 'em up that lacks any real distinguishing features and ends up being rather uninteresting.

Rating: 59/100
Grade: D