Game Review: Sonic The Hedgehog

Game: Sonic The Hedgehog
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 23rd June 1991

I've been waiting a while to review Sonic The Hedgehog; partly because it's a much loved video game and I wanted to give it the proper care and attention, but also because it can be pretty frustrating to reach the end of, and the 3DS re-release by M2 has a stage select option to overcome any silly mistakes. Having played both the original Mega Drive and 3DS versions, there's really not a lot of changes in the updated version except for a 3D effect (which looks great, but doesn't add anything in terms of gameplay). There's some options to enhance the game, such as including the spin dash, and changing the region, but I kept these off for the purposes of this review. There is a level select option on the original cart also, but the portability of the 3DS really helped me stay motivated to review this classic.

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Sonic the Hedgehog is speed. 3D games in the franchise have relentlessly reminded us of Sonic's speed, and Green Hill Zone; the first stage in this game would have you think that the rest of the game will be a speed-fest, but later levels have some real puzzle platforming to them, and require players to slow down and think about what they're doing to progress. Some later stages even seem to require a little memorisation to complete, with traps and enemies becoming ever more devious.

There are 6 levels in total in the game, each with three acts. At the end of the third act, there's a boss battle with Dr. Robotnik which once beaten leads to the next level. There are some interesting themes for the levels in the game; it begins on a bright and sunny beach in Green Hill Zone, passing through lava filled underground acts in Marble Zone, a casino theme in Spring Yard Zone, the ruins of ancient civilizations and water in Labyrinth Zone before finishing up with some metallic and industrial levels in Star Light and Scrap Brain Zones. There's a good amount of variety, with new enemies and plaforming challenges introduced in every level.

Bosses too are well varied, with many different strategies required to beat Dr. Robotnik on each level. Every now and then there'll be a part of a level which has been specifically designed to catch players out, and these can be frustrating but the level design on the whole is great. The controls too are very responsive, and any deaths can only be attributed to player incompetence. If players manage to collect 50 rings on any given act, they can reach a bonus stage where a chaos emerald can be collected.

There's no real explanation of the game's plot, as simple as it is and so the chaos emeralds can easily be missed, and the true ending missed out on. With 7 chaos emeralds collected, the game can truly be completed and the final ending seen. The game's overall difficulty is somewhere in the middle for the era; it's not terribly hard at any stage, but certainly won't be completed in a single sitting without some serious study of the later levels. This provides some old school replayability and can be fun for a challenge, but will mean that players end up knowing Green Hill Zone like the back of their hand.

The items dotted about levels in the game are useful and include invincibility, speed shoes, extra rings, and a shield. While this isn't a huge amount of items, there's something to be said for keeping it simple. Items are sometimes well hidden, and in this way exploration within the game is rewarded, with some hidden passages containing goodies. For a game where the only real controls are moving and jumping, there's a lot of nuance to the gameplay.

Graphically the game has many different colour palettes and themes across its stages, but always manages to look impressive and intriguing. The mechanical stages reminded me of  Donkey Kong Country a little, and I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo's franchise was even slightly influenced by them. The soundtrack is great and almost every zone has a memorable and enjoyable theme which adds to the ambience and tension of the level.

Overall Sonic The Hedgehog is a brilliant platform classic which launched Sega's incredibly competitive period with Nintendo. With its 6 zones it takes players on a journey, chasing the ever elusive boss, Dr. Robotnik, with platforming puzzles that require different ways of thinking and speeds to solve. While it can be frustrating to get through in places, and was clearly designed to be that way, there's an undeniable charm to the first game in the Sonic franchise. As much as I'd like to give the game an A grade, it lacks any story elements and would benefit from a slightly greater collection of levels.

Rating: 87/100
Grade: B

SNK Double Header: Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury

Having recently taken a look at an SNK arcade collection, I decided that now would be the perfect time to compare the console versions of some of the games to their arcade counterparts. Originally I was going to review King of the Monsters on Mega Drive also, but for now the cart doesn't seem to be working, so it'll just be the two games featured below. 

Game: Samurai Shodown
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: SNK
Release Date: 1994

Samurai Shodown is a fighting game featuring combatants all wielding swords of some variety, featuring light, medium and heavy attack options as well as special moves for a fairly standard, but enjoyable fighting game experience. What sets Samurai Shodown on the Mega Drive apart from its arcade version is the adjustable difficulty and settings provided in the menu. Since SNK games are known to be fairly difficult, it's nice to be able to play around with the settings and find a level of difficulty at which the game is both fun and challenging.

There's a good amount of variety between the game's 11 characters and their movesets, providing replayability and options if players get stuck. The fighting action featured certainly isn't the fastest ever, but it's at least similar to the speed of combat in the arcade version, if a little less smooth. The controls map well to the Mega Drive controller's 3 button layout, and combos can be pulled off without too much difficulty.

Graphically the game looks good, with colourful sprites and interesting destructible backgrounds. The animation is generally smooth although not as good as the arcade version. Special attacks seem to have the most exciting visuals in the game, with bright colours and large areas of damage. The soundtrack to the game is made up of various mostly Japanese sounding tracks, and sounds good on the Mega Drive for the most part

Overall Samurai Shodown is a fairly average, but interesting fighting game for the Mega Drive which has some good features but no real unique selling point. In nearly all aspects it can be described as 'good, but not amazing', leading to an generally positive feel without any real excitement. I'd recommend the game to players who like their fighting games, but it's not a must-have for the Mega Drive.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

Game: Fatal Fury
Console: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: SNK
Release Date: 1993

Fatal Fury on the SNES looks and sounds much like its arcade counterpart, but looking a little deeper will reveal that there are subtle differences. The game features the stages and characters from the arcade version, though the introductory shots of each stage have been removed along with their impressive 3D effect. Another removal from the game is the double plane feature where players could dodge into the background or foreground. While the Mega Drive version of the game kept this, there's only one plane in this version.

The difficulty level can be selected, but makes little difference to the overall gameplay as even difficulty level 1 results in a spammy and cheap AI opponent, whilst cranking it up to level 9 brings the game to a near impossible level. The controls have been converted in such a way that special moves are difficult to pull off, and throwing moves too are harder, leaving players with simply punches and kicks as their move options.

Graphically, the game is an approximation of the arcade version with many of the environmental effects and backgrounds simplified. The fighters too aren't quite as well animated, with some clunky movement in certain cases. The game's sound is probably it's strongest feature with enjoyable and fitting music improving the experience very slightly.

Overall, without its innovative two-plane approach, beautiful establishing shots of its locations and smooth animation, there's not a lot left separating Fatal Fury from any other fighting game of its day. After the release of Street Fighter II, the genre was full to the brim with acceptable but unremarkable games, of which this is just another.

Rating: 56/100
Grade: D

Series Review: Test Drive II, 4 and 6

While I don't yet own every iteration of the Test Drive series, it's a little unsurprising that I've managed to pick up only the evenly numbered instalments. The first Test Drive game was only for home computers, the third was only released for DOS and after Test Drive 6, they gave up with numbering the games, opting instead for subtitles.

Game: Test Drive II: The Duel
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Distinctive Software
Release Date: 1992

The concept of Test Drive games, at least at this point in gaming history was fairly unique; players choose from 3 cars which differ slightly in top speed and acceleration, and then race either another car or the clock through 3 sets of 5 stages set throughout America, whilst avoiding crashes which lose them a life. The cars have semi realistic handling, similar to that of Hard Drivin' and other early first person driving games, but overall the feel is far more enjoyable than that of other contemporary simulation style titles.

The three cars players can choose from are a Porsche 959, a Ferrari F40 and a Lamborghini Diablo. While there's not a noticeable handling difference between the three cars, their interiors are lovingly modelled for players to observe whilst driving. On their way through stages players will encounter the police, who can be slowed down for to avoid pursuit and possible arrest or players can chance their luck with outrunning them. For the most part the police aren't too much of a problem, but if players happen to accidentally overshoot or miss the gas station at the end of each stage, there's a 20 second penalty and it's far easier than it sounds to be penalised with one of these.

Graphically the game looks pretty good for its time of release, especially the car interiors. The terrain and tracks are generally good although there's times when it's a little difficult to tell what's the edge of a cliff and what isn't. Soundwise there's a choice of three tracks to accompany gameplay, as well as the engine sounds and other sound effects, and these are fairly entertaining on the whole.

Overall Test Drive II: The Duel is an interesting driving game for the Mega Drive in that it isn't in the style out Outrun, and it doesn't utilize a top down view, instead going for the first person almost simulation feel. While the challenge level and driving aren't perfect (often players are presented with impossible overtaking challenges as both lanes are blocked whilst attempting a pass), there's some enjoyment to be had with the game, and it's just a shame there's no 2 player option.

Rating: 64/100
Grade: C

Game: Test Drive 4
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Pitbull Syndicate
Release Date: 30th September 1997

Moving away from the forumla of Test Drive II a little, Test Drive 4 featured a more simcade handling style, with a choice of 10 cars and 4 cups to compete in against 5 AI opponents. Police are still a factor in the game, though they are rarely able to catch up to players, unless there's already been a crash up ahead. Petrol stations no longer feature in the series as players are allowed to continue to the end of races without filling up.

The biggest difference between the games is the handling of the cars; in Test Drive II, cars stuck to the road ahead and it was possible to weave in and out of oncoming cars, but in Test Drive 4 players are given the choice of either controlling acceleration with the X and Square buttons (my preference) and turning with the d-pad, or controlling acceleration with the right analog stick and turning with the left analog stick (my preference). There's no option to use the X and Square buttons in conjunction with the left analog stick, and this is a major factor in the game's poor handling.

Steering with the d-pad gives an on/off approach to turning; holding down any longer than a second or two will cause the player to spin out and crash, requiring players to pepper the d-pad around turns. Steering with the left analog stick is better, as players can input smaller turning instructions and adjust their direction in a more minute fashion, but accelerating with the right analog stick is very frustrating as it's harder to switch between braking and acceleration, which can lead to crashes and spinning out from going too fast around corners. Whichever control style you pick, you have a disadvantage.

The racing action is interesting as each car has its own strengths; picking a car with high top speed on a long and straight track will give a huge advantage, but on a later track with many turns, it can be a nightmare. With many different tracks in each cup, there's no way to pick something that'll excel in all areas. Unfortunately though there's no real variety in terms of the gameplay modes as there's only the 4 cups, drag racing and a single race option available.

Graphically the game looks blocky and undetailed; the cars and environments all seem to lack attention to detail and even though this is common in original Playstation racing games, there's no excuse when you're offering just 10 cars to choose from. Musically the soundtrack is fairly boring electronic stuff that never really gets going or fits the racing.

Overall Test Drive 4 is a bit of a disappointment as by 1997 there were already 3 Ridge Racer games for the arcade crowd, and Gran Turismo for those into Simulation. Even as an inbetween this is pretty disappointing and there were many other Playstation titles that were better in that field of racing.

Rating: 44/100
Grade: E

Game: Test Drive
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Pitbull Syndicate
Release Date: 31st October 1999

After such a poor effort with Test Drive 4, I'm assuming that Pitbull Syndicate really pulled it together in the following years as Test Drive 6 manages to impress from the start. There's an opening video featuring Gary Numan, after which players can begin a proper career mode, choosing a car to buy from a plentiful selection and then racing it in tournaments against the AI to earn cash and move up a performance class, buy another car and do it all again.

The driving is far more arcade style than in previous games, with cars sticking to the road for the most part and the brakes only needing to be used around the tightest of corners. This makes the racing far more action packed, and takes the focus off driving perfectly. There's a mixture of track circuits and road circuits with traffic on, both of which are done nicely, especially the road circuits for London and Paris.

In addition to the career mode there are time trial challenges for 6 of the city circuits, and a police mode where players must catch up to and stop other racers in order to earn money. Overall these modes come together nicely to form an exciting arcade racing experience. While the AI can be tough to beat due to rubber banding, they provide close finishes and nail biting action throughout races, even if sometimes the action is a little crash-heavy.

My only real complaint of the racing featured in the game is that traffic cars coming in the opposite direction tend to swerve out of the way (which is completely believable of course), in random directions and sometimes for no reason, leaving players at a disadvantage having tried to avoid whatever's coming their way.

Graphically the game is pretty nice for the late PS1 era, it doesn't push the console to its limits, but there's no trouble with recognising hazards, other cars or what's going on in general. The soundtrack is mainly electronic music, which is bearable, but there's also a Gary Numan track on there too which is fun to race to.

Overall Test Drive 6 is by far the best game in the series that I've played. There's a wealth of cars of different performance levels, a fun career mode with a nice gradual progression of difficulty, many nicely designed tracks that lead players through the landmarks of different cities, and a fun police chase mode to top it all off. If I had to sum this up in a phrase it'd be a PS1 arcade racing fun fest.

Rating: 81/100
Grade: B

Mainly Mega Drive Sports Games Roundup

Inevitably when you collect video games, you'll acquire games that may have fitted nicely into other series reviews, had they been purchased at the time. These are collection of such games that I've picked up since doing the perfect review series for them. Before we get into the Mega Drive titles, there's a Game Boy Colour game that I'd like to discuss.

Game: Nascar 2000
Console: Game Boy Colour
Developer: THQ
Release Date: 2000

I'm no NASCAR expert, but I've seen my fair share of NASCAR games here and there. Obviously being on the Game Boy Colour wasn't a good start for this game, as the other versions were on PS1, N64 and PC, but several other factors hampered any sense of fun that could have been gained. Firstly, even the title screen looks as if it's been put through several compression cycles and tinted an odd shade of green, and the menus all feature tiny text and options.

While there's a good selection of drivers and teams available in the game (presumably the same as the real life NASCAR lineup of the time), it's almost impossible to tell the cars apart save for a few specks of colour in the game, so players needn't bother spending too long considering who they'll choose. The racing is presented in a 3D view from behind the player's car (essentially the same as the NES classic Days Of Thunder), which is preferable to a top down point of view, but severely limits visibility into the distance.

Driving is difficult for the most part, and crashing into barriers is hard to avoid, not to mention other cars and AI pileups. For those lucky enough to be able to pass other cars without crashing into the back of them, it's pretty easy to gain positions, but staying in 1st can be a challenge. While some of the AI cars seem to drive defensively as if they were protecting their position, it's hard to tell whether this is intentional or merely a side product of them driving like complete baboons.

Graphically the racing sucks, it's hard to make anything out of the grey mess that is each track, and there's barely any difference between any of the circuits featured in the game. The music and sound effects are pretty poor also, and there's no point mentioning other gameplay modes since the insufferable racing affects every mode. There really wasn't a reason for bringing Nascar 2000 to the Game Boy Colour, but they did and this is what we got.

Rating: 30/100
Grade: E

Game: Summer Challenge
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: MindSpan
Release Date: 1993

Summer Challenge is an olympic style video game that allows players to compete in up to 8 events; Archery, Horse Riding, Kayaking, Hurdles, Pole Vault, High Jump, Javelin and Cycling. With such an odd combination of events, you'd think that the control scheme would be complex and hard to remember, but the game literally uses the d-pad and the B button only. Since there's a lot of events, I'll be running through this one as I play through a single tournament. I had a little practice on some of the events beforehand, but there's no telling what'll happen once the AI is introduced to the mix.

Archery was my favourite event in practice, and I quickly found my feet using the d-pad to aim and the B button to shoot an arrow when the reticle was over a good area. Finishing with 99 points, I got a gold medal which made this an early favourite event overall. In the Horse Riding, which had been a complete disaster in practice, I was able to jump the fences pretty easily for a few jumps despite the awful frame rate and Outrun style turns on the course. On the 6th jump though, I managed to miss and the game abruptly disqualified me. This minigame's a little too fiddly to be fun, and the jumps feel too difficult to estimate correctly.

Kayaking was another disaster, with a frame rate of 1 fps and difficult movement in the water, my attempts to pass through each gate were in vain as I accidentally hit a wall after a gate in the middle of the course and capsized. Amazingly I retained 3rd spot in the medals table after my archery win, so all was not lost yet. Hurdles proved just as difficult as the horse riding event to judge and I ended up headbutting the first hurdle and falling over, which ended the race. Annoyingly the Brazillian at the top of the medals table managed to add another medal to his tally here also.

Pole Vault was another hard to judge event, with none of my eleven practice goes achieving anything, and all 3 of my competition attempts also failing. It seems that wherever the player attempts to vault from is either too far or too near, and the faster they run, the less chance there is to estimate the vault distance correctly. Having cleared 1.70m in my practice attempt, I decided to aim low for the High Jump and managed to clear that height once again. After running into the bar three times at 1.80 I concluded that I would never be as good as my rival Brazillian.

Finally the javelin event came and something that I was good at in practice. I proved even better at it in the tournament, beating my closest rival by 10 metres. This game utilised a simple "Tap B and throw before the line at a good angle" approach, and had far less tight judgement to be done than the previous games, which aided my win. With 2 gold medals and no hope of catching the Brazillian man at the top of the medals table, I turned to the final event, cycling. The cycling event consisted essentially of mashing the B button and steering the bike a little around the track for 4 laps. With a sore arm, I took first place and the gold medal, giving me a total of 3 gold medals and 9 points in the medals table, with 2nd place overall, behind a certain Brazillian.

It's amazing that after being disqualified from 4 out of the 5 events I didn't win, I still managed to place 2nd in the medals table, but I suppose that's a characteristic of these type of Olympic games. If you can master a few of the minigames then you're pretty much set to win. I'm sure if I gave it a little more time I could work out some of the more difficult games, but there was definitely a recurring theme in these events, which was the challenge of actually judging when to press the button to avoid catastrophic failure.

Graphically the game isn't amazing, players can just about see what they're doing, but faces and animations are incredibly basic, and overall it feels much more like a home computer title. The pixel effect works well on some of the backgrounds of the game, but not for the action based sports. The music featured on the menu screen isn't bad, though it's a little short in terms of its loop. The sound effects are pretty basic, however.

Overall Summer Challenge is a pretty average Olympics game; it's pretty hard to compete in many of the events because of the technical limitations at the time of the game's release, but some of the events are okay, and the opportunity for up to 10 players to compete, albeit in turn taking multiplayer mode is somewhat of a bonus.

Rating: 45/100
Grade: D

Game: Brian Lara Cricket
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Audiogenic Ltd.
Release Date: 1995

Starting with a grammatical error ("This game [in] not endorsed by any team or player other than Brian Lara"), Brian Lara's Cricket doesn't exactly inspire confidence in players from the word go. Nonetheless there don't seem to be any further errors of this proportion as all the players and teams have their correct names (unlike later Brian Lara's games). The options offered by the game are somewhat limiting but fair for a game of this age.

All matches are played in a test match style, with breaks for lunch and tea (even if it's just a 10 over game per side); players can choose from 1 or 2 innings of 10, 20, 50, 55, 60, 90 or unlimited overs. There's also a difficulty setting which has three levels to set the AI at. There's also the option on the main menu to play a Test Series which is already preconfigured, leaving players to simply choose their teams from the pool available (all test playing nations from 1995).

Gameplay is fairly simple for batting and bowling. Whilst at the crease, players choose their shot direction with the d-pad, and type of shot with the A button for a regular hit or the B button for a harder but more risky shot. For bowling, players aim a dot on the pitch, and then set the Power/Spin and Speed meters as desired. On the whole the simple gameplay dynamic works well and allows players to do as they wish whilst bowling and batting. Fielding is the only exception to this, as it's a little more complex but luckily there's an automatic fielding option to save any bother.

Graphically the looks very much more simple than later cricket games, but still manages to contain as much information and clues as are necessary for a fun game of cricket. The sound is a bit of a let down; I wasn't expecting commentary but complete silence until the crowd decides to applaud isn't that impressive either. Overall Brian Lara's Cricket is a decent game for the time, and a good stepping stone towards later cricket games.

Rating: 55/100
Grade: D

Game: FIFA Soccer 95
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Extended Play Productions
Release Date: 1994

The second game in the now all too prolific FIFA series, and the only console exclusive instalment out of all 23 main series titles, FIFA '95 is an interesting look at football games of the past. While there's Action and Simulation modes, both play fairly similarly with the action focusing on rapidly shifting possession and long range attack rather than strategic plays and movement. It's certainly not the most serious of simulation football games ever; fouls can be turned off, and the cheats menu is only a few codes away, but this lends a sense of fun to the title.

Players can choose from playing a single game, a league, or a knockout tournament. The game features national teams and club sides from a surprisingly large number of countries for the time. As someone who remembers playing a Dreamcast game from 2000 with just 16 European teams, having complete leagues from France, Germany, England and more would have been quite the treat in 1994.

Gameplay can be a little chaotic at times as the ball is catapulted around the field from player to player between teams in search of the ball. There's not often too much of an opportunity to shoot as enemy players crowd you for the ball, often with an iron defence. The controls are fairly simple, though doing anything strategic or advanced might be a little more difficult. On the whole things are intuitive and easy enough to use.

Graphically the game features a good camera angle for the time; some games were still in overhead view, and others completely from the side, but this seems to work nicely. The sprites and players aren't as impressive as they could have been, but do their job well enough most of the time. Soundwise, the game is fairly average apart from the ability to spam your opponents with the word GOAL! and horns upon scoring. Overall FIFA 95 is a fun orientated football game, and that's the best way it could have been considering the technology of the time.

Rating: 62/100
Grade: C

Game: Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: The Bitmap Brothers
Release Date: 1991

Speedball 2 is a fantasy sports game, set in a future where the only sport is a violent and fast paced goalscoring game. Players compete for possession of the ball, which they then hold onto until their either pass, score or it's knocked out of their hands by the opposing team. The game is controlled with the d-pad and just one button, as all the mega drive joypad buttons have the same function in game. The button is pressed to pass, shoot, tackle, slide or do anything else that's possible.

Gameplay is difficult to process due to the high speed at which the action takes place. Only a small section of the pitch is displayed at any one time, so players can't prepare for hazards of any kind, nor strategize in order to get a shot on goal. It also feels like there are too many players on the pitch at any one time, so things get a little crowded.

The worst issue with this game is that the computer automatically swaps between players for you, so often you'll be running completely the wrong way before realising that there's been a swap, or worse score an own goal accidentally. There's an upgrade mechanic presented before and after games, but the format is incredibly convoluted and there's no way to tell whether what you're doing is right.

Graphically the game is okay, if a little basic. My main complaint is the amount of pitch on display at any one time; other than this there's not too much to worry about. Soundwise, there's some nice musical accompaniment, but nothing particularly exciting. Even after a few games of Speedball I wasn't exactly clear on the rules; scoring gives a team 10 points, but extra points are available for hitting targets at the side of the play area (I think).

Overall Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe offers what can definitely be called a fast paced and violent futuristic sports experience. It's probably some fun to play against humans as both players will struggle to get the game to do what they want, but with the AI there's no leniency at all. For me, this game was pretty much unenjoyable, though it might get better with a lot of practice, I simply don't have the time for that.

Rating: 45/100
Grade: D

Game Review: World Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

Game: World Of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1992

While Disney games are usually of high quality on the Mega Drive, I never seem to be particularly motivated to give them a go. However, once this had been recommended to me as a friend's fondest Mega Drive memory there was far more reason to try it out. World of Illusion is the sequel to Castle of Illusion and the first in the Illusion game series not to have a Master System/Game Gear port. The game offers single or two player mode, with a few differences between the two as players make their way through the World of Illusion, collecting magical spells to aid Donald and Mickey's escape.

The intro to the game explains that the two main characters have found a box, belonging to an evil magician who sends Donald and Mickey to the World of Illusion. Each level has several sections before its boss battle, after which a new magical skill is learned. The magical skills are appropriate to each area of the map, for example conjuring air bubbles allows players to breathe underwater, and a magic carpet allows for travel through the clouds.

Both Mickey and Donald have the exact same single attack which is their only real line of defense against the various enemies that appear in the game. A sheet is spread from the attacking character, and some magic dust is produced either damaging or stunning the enemy depending on how far away Mickey or Donald is from them. Any other contact with enemies will damage the player and reduce their life meter in the top left of the screen which consists of cards, to go along with the general magic theme in the game. Scattered throughout levels are sweets and cakes which can replenish player's health after being damaged.

The levels featured in the game have a variety of themes, though they're based more on outdoor areas like forest, sky, mountain and underwater than actual themes. The only level with a strong theme outside of this is the final level which has somewhat of an Alice in Wonderland feel to it. In single player mode the game is fairly uninteresting, with easy levels and very little innovation for a platform game of the time. With 2 players, there's some co-operative parts to levels which an enhance the fun a little, but the game is still incredibly easy to beat if you have around an hour to spare.

Graphically the game exudes the Disney style in its visuals and is probably one of the best looking Disney games on the Mega Drive. There's some memorable touches in some levels such as jumping on staplers to get a height boost or the piano in the sky (pictured above) which gives out power-ups. Soundwise the game isn't overly memorable, but the music provided fits well with the visuals and Disney theme.

Overall World of Illusion can be fun if you have a friend to complete it with, and a little time to spare, but as a Mega Drive game it's nothing particularly spectacular or boundary-pushing. The visuals and overall gameplay are enjoyable, but without any real challenge as far as beating the final boss of the game goes, there's little replay value or real variation in the game.

Rating: 70/100
Grade: C

Mega Drive Double Header: Columns and Blockout

Game: Columns
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 29th June 1990

Listen to the game OST as you read! (for the Nostalgia)

Sega's answer to Tetris, Columns was one of many puzzle games released after the former became a phenomenon in gaming. Many of these puzzle games were fairly unremarkable, simple clones or low quality attempts at emulating the gameplay of Tetris, however Columns was interesting in that it's pretty different to Tetris in a lot of aspects and due to being produced directly by Sega, where many of the other games came from less reputable game makers (although the original concept was merely purchased by Sega, rather than being developed).

Columns features gems, combinations of three of which must be placed on a grid, and colour matched in order to get rid of lines of 3 or more of the same colour either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Strangely for a game of this type, the gems given to players can only be placed vertically, so many strategic options cannot be explored. What seems to be particularly difficult is clearing the board back down without the use of super gems which eliminate all of a single colour from the board and appear periodically.

There are two game modes included; Arcade and Flash. Arcade mode lets players start with a blank grid, and build from Level 0, 5 or 10 (the latter two give a points bonus for a more difficult start). As player score increases, the level will increase over time and play ends only when the gems reach the top of the board. The music becomes more frantic as the gems pile up towards the top of the screen, but overall gameplay only speeds up as time progresses, rather than any other kind of progression.

Flash mode starts players with a goal gem trapped at the bottom of the grid, and an adjustable number of rows of gems on top. Players must attempt to get down to the trapped gem and match it in a 3 or more gem combination to win the round, and register a time. There are far more selectable options in Flash mode, and even the music can be changed.

Graphically Columns is very simple, its backgrounds and grid are fairly understated and contrast with the bright colours of the gems. The overall theme seems to be Greek, with the title screen, and song titles bearing many hallmarks of Greece. Musically the game is enjoyable, with some memorable tracks, although more thematic than tuneful.

Overall as a puzzle game, Columns comes up a little short despite its two modes and various options. Not being able to rotate blocks of gems means that strategizing is fairly one dimensional and the most I've ever been able to play of Columns before giving it a rest is about 5 games in a row. It lacks real replayability and it's not something addictive enough to be worth getting good at. While classic, it's important to recognise the game's glaring shortcomings.

Rating: 60/100
Grade: D

Game: Blockout
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: California Dreams
Release Date: 1991

Have you ever wished you could play Tetris in 3 dimensions? Tired of average Tetris rip offs like Tetrisphere that seem almost there but not quite? Well now your wishes have been granted! Or they were in 1991, with the release of Blockout. While it doesn't only feature the standard tetrominoes, Blockout allows players to drop Tetris style pieces into a 3D pit, and rotate them around all 3 axis. Once an entire layer is covered with pieces, it's removed but any gaps can't be filled with sneaky rotation as they can in regular Tetris, so there's a lot more thinking to be done.

With a concept like this, it'd be easy to overcomplicate the screen and mechanics of letting players know which pieces are on which level. Luckily Blockout features a very simply designed game screen with the pit in the centre and colour coded levels which appear both on the chart at the side and on the blocks in the pit as they're dropped. Black signifies the bottom of the pit, with red, orange, yellow, green, light and dark blue signifying the next 6 layers upwards. In a standard game there are 12 layers to the pit, so the colours simply repeat as the pieces get closer.

There are three main game modes; standard which features a 12x5x5 pit, and only flat shapes. This is the optimal experience in my view, and will challenge fans of Tetris to think three dimensionally about their block placing. While it may look complex at first, and the 3 axis button rotation takes some getting used to, once playing the game soon becomes addictive. I was able to have a good long game on my first attempt and will definitely be playing more of this mode in the future.

The other two modes featured in the game are a little different; 3D mode gives players a 12x3x3 pit to place shapes which can span 3 dimensions into. Because these are harder to plan for, this game gets advanced pretty quickly, and with limited pit space, it can be difficult. Lastly there's the most difficult mode which has a larger pit in which to place the most complex shapes the game can muster. These modes might be interesting for masters of the game, but I much prefer the Flat mode. Users are also able to set a custom mode by choosing the size of their pit and the block types which fall.

Graphically the game is simple in presentation with gridlines to help players guide their pieces in each dimension within the pit. The colours too are simple, but very helpful when it comes to illustrating which level each piece is on. There's no music to accompany gameplay which is a shame, but silence seems to aid concentration on the game, so maybe that's what they were going for.

Overall this game seems to get a lot of undeserved bad reviews, stating 3D Tetris simply doesn't work or isn't fun, but I'd disagree entirely; this is the best version of 3D Tetris you're likely to ever see. Anything more graphically complex would be distracting, and the addition of a few extra pieces helps out when in a 3 dimensional pinch. I'm not sure what anyone who dislikes this game, but still wishes for a better 3D version of Tetris is hoping for; this is a great brain workout.

Rating: 74/100
Grade: B

Pinball Games Quadruple Header

A while back I posted a Pinball Games Roundup, but since then a few more pinball games have come to my attention. I'll be playing them in chronological order of release;

Game: Pinball Wizard
Console: Amstrad CPC 464
Developer: Sagittarian Software
Release Date: 1985

Pinball video games released in the 8-bit home computer era are never going to be perfect; even NES pinball isn't all that, since it was particularly hard for programmers of the time to code a smooth running pinball table with a good amount of interactive features and ways to score points with the amount of tape/cartridge space available.

Pinball Wizard seemingly chose to have smooth running gameplay over an abundance of feature on the table. The only real point of interest are the Hi/Lo switchers, which change the amount of points awarded for hitting bumpers on either side of the table. The letters at the top which spell Sagittarian give a bonus when they're all illuminated, and other than that the idea is to keep the ball in play for long enough to score points. The user manual says "With practice, scores over 20,000 can easily be achieved!". Which is fair enough, though scoring 1,000 points is hard enough and takes only a minute or so to do.

Graphically the game's choice of colours was limited by the CPC, but still is difficult to look at for too long. The table itself is pretty bare and reminded me of NES Pinball. Sound effects are lacking and there's no real excitement to gameplay. The only real redeeming feature is that the ball speed can be adjusted and the game runs smoothly no matter which speed is selected. It's not enough to make it particularly notable, or enjoyable though.

Rating: 37/100
Grade; E

Game: Dragon's Fury
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Technosoft
Release Date: 1992

Listen to the game's OST as you read! (it's pretty awesome)

Originally released for the Turbografx 16 as Devil's Crush, Dragon's Fury features pentagrams and other eerie occult themes throughout its main table's three sections, its six bonus tables and the final battle. Gameplay is fast paced and there's lots to do on each section of the table. The overall objective is for players to clear all of the bonus tables in order to face the final battle and beat the game. To reach bonus tables players must clear objectives on the main table, such as transforming the face in the middle from a maiden to a serpent and hitting the ball into the serpent's mouth.

The difficulty level of the game is medium on the main table as its pretty easy to reach bonus tables and have a fulfilling turn, but the difficulty of bonus levels and the final boss are far higher, almost as if they were specifically designed to cut short any attempt to beat the bonus stages. Once all 3 balls have been lost by the player, a final chance is given for an extra ball if players can match the last digits of their score with a bonus counter. This is a nice feature and adds an extra chance around 50% of the time (if players are skilled at stopping the bonus counter).

Graphically the game features dark and eerie colours throughout its levels, with some brighter visuals in its bonus levels. There's a lot of occult iconography and monsters on the main table, with an array of different characters making up the bonus level bosses. Musically the game is great and the scene is definitely set by the fast paced horror/classical influenced soundtrack. The sound effects are minimal and take second place to the music in the mix, which allows players to enjoy the soundtrack.

Overall Dragon's Fury is a lot of fun as a pinball game on the Mega Drive, if a little frustrating to actually progress in. The table is particularly interesting and its bonus tables are fun, if a little small compared to the main table. The theme of the game is probably its main draw, but it works well as a pinball game and has something to offer both casual and more serious players.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Game: Crüe Ball
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Electronic Arts
Release Date: 1992

Listen to the game's OST as you read!

The band Motley Crüe and pinball don't seem like the most natural combination, but somehow EA were inspired to make a pinball game based off the band. Players work their way through 9 "volume levels" which change the layout of the table, and relative difficulty. The game features many themed elements such as knocking down the words Rock and Roll, or Headbanger for bonus points, and in later levels there are guitar amps which can be knocked down also.

The game features three songs by Motley Crüe, as well as music for each of the 9 volume levels. with the soundtrack composed by Brian L. Schmidt who wrote music for Mutant League Football as well as a few other Mega Drive games. The gameplay is fast paced and particularly easy on the first volume level, allowing players to get acquainted with the feel of the game. In some levels, the ball bounces back up into play if it falls down the edge of the table, unlike many other pinball games. Another interesting feature is the choice to use 4 balls instead of the usual 3. 

Graphically the game is bright and interesting, featuring an electronic theme alongside the musical one. The table has plenty to do, as it's split up into 3 sections, and the middle section changes with each volume increase. Progression to higher volume levels is fairly easy and the game only gets harder from around volume level 5. Musically the game features many high energy tracks to accompany gameplay, and this works well to deliver an exciting experience for gamers.

Overall Crüe Ball offers a fun and engaging pinball experience, even for those who aren't particularly skilled at pinball games. The band's endorsement could be a selling point for fans, but the gameplay is a far bigger aspect for me. There's some fun bonus levels to be accessed and the controls are particularly responsive. 

Rating: 80/100
Grade: B

Game: Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire

Console: Nintendo Game Boy Advance

Developer: Jupiter Coporation

Release Date: 26th August 2003

The second game in the Pokémon Pinball series, the Ruby and Sapphire edition adds many Pokémon from the 2nd and 3rd generation to bring the overall total up to 201 catchable Pokémon. The concept and many features of the table are much the same as the first game, but with better graphics, overall gameplay and pinball physics, this game is an improvement in almost every sense. Players choose from the Ruby table or the Sapphire table at the beginning of the game, and normal or slow ball speed. The main objective of tables is to catch Pokémon by initiating one of the many catching bumpers on the table. An example of these would be hitting a Cyndaquil 4 times until an egg falls down from above and hatches, or getting your Pokéball inside a Wailmer.  

On both tables there's a mart at which to buy items, and bonus games which earn players points and coins once completed. Players can catch up to a maximum of 3 Pokémon in any one area (displayed at the centre of the table) before needing to hit the travel bumper 3 times and launch the Pokéball into the travel hole to move onto a new area and begin catching more Pokémon. The aim of the game overall is to fill the Pokédex and own one of each Pokémon in the game. 

Graphically the game features bright and cartoon style graphics as we've come to expect from the Pokémon franchise. The animations and movement of sprites and the Pokéball itself are on par with the rest of the Pokémon series, and unlike the first game, the ball physics are a lot more predictable. The music featured in the game fits well with the rest of the Pokémon series, and is a good accompaniment to gameplay.

Overall Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire is an improvement on almost every aspect of the original game, and has far more replayability thanks to this. The tables have an array of features and things to do, and for any Pokémon fan, there should be more than enough excitement.

Rating: 80/100
Grade: B

Master System vs Mega Drive: Mercs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 69/100
Grade: C

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 46/100
Grade: D