Player Reviews

The Good
- Sokoban-style puzzles - The addition of a magic bubble that can be doubled up to push the "box" (a flame-like thing in this game)

The Bad
- I've no idea why there are "lives" in this game. Once you hit game over, you just continue from where you left off... why not just have unlimited retries?

The Bottom Line
A quality sokoban puzzle game.

The Good
The up-close graphics are fine

The Bad
Terrible draw distance, controls are stiff.

The Bottom Line
A racing simulation game about Formula 1. This features real racers and tracks, and a lot of options in terms of customising your car. You can play through a entire Grand Prix (10 laps per race, with qualifiers to improve your start position), individual races or time trial. It was the N64’s first racing simulation game.

The biggest problem with F1 Pole Position is the draw distance. You can never see much of the track, so you can’t see upcoming turns at all. It’s also very distracting as stands and buildings appear out of thin air. The up-close graphics are well detailed for the N64, but it doesn’t mean much when it hampers the gameplay severely. To make matters worse, your icon on the minimap is not very clear and blurs in with all the others.

The driving feels a big sluggish and unresponsive, too. It doesn’t feel broken, it just isn’t a lot of fun. I’m not very familiar with the history of racing simulation games (all I know is that this was shortly before Gran Turismo), so I can’t comment on how this fared for the genre, but it’s not really a game that needs to be looked back upon.

The Good
The drums were amazing In the soundtrack.

The Bad
Terrible hit detection/hitboxes on enemies.

The Bottom Line
I'm glad I finished It. but It was a true slog.

The Good
The visuals have a charm about them. A relatively short game.

The Bad
Poor hit detection. Extremely annoying boss fights.

The Bottom Line
One for completionists to play. Not much else to recommmend.

The Good
Excellent gameplay. Good selection of weapons.

The Bad
Not a lot to be honest.

The Bottom Line
A classic of the genre that should be enjoyed by everyone.

The Good
It's not the worst it could have been

The Bad
Confusing objectives, poor platforming.

The Bottom Line
Doraemon is a very popular anime/manga character. I’ve definitely seen the robo cat’s design before. The first N64 outing took inspiration from Super Mario 64 – to the point that multiple reviewers at the time suggested it was close enough for Nintendo’s lawyers to get involved. While it looks a bit like Super Mario 64 (especially the first level, with trees looking like they were stripped out), but it doesn’t play like Mario. Doraemon is a 3D platformer and is a lot like Mario, but different in many ways. You have access to five different characters (plus a bonus one after beating the game) – Doraemon himself and the kids he hangs out with. There’s a girl that jumps higher than the rest and throws bombs, there’s kid that looks like Tommy Pickles that punches and does more damage, while Doraemon has an arm cannon. Interestingly, the title character, Nobita, is just a poor gameplay clone of Doraemon, so there’s no reason to ever use him. You can swap between them at will, but the game never makes use of this mechanic. Then there’s the actual movement. Mario had a wide moveset, in Doraemon you have one kind of jump. It’s stiff and clunky and to make matters work, your character comes to a complete stop when you land. When the movement of a platforming game is dull, it makes the whole game dull. There are a few minigames thrown in, such as a racing game and a scrolling vertical shooter, but these are similarly boring to control. The story is something I had to rely on Google translate, which baffled me as the first line came out as “Is it coronavirus?”, it turned out that the King’s name is “Korona”. Anyway, an ancient danger has awoken, the princess is sent to get help from another world because Doraemon has a magical pocket. The pocket gets stolen, but you get it back early on, but the objects are missing. Oh, and there are some fairy stones that you also need to collect pieces off to defeat the ancient evil. The stones are simple, as they’re just at the end of levels, but the other objects are hidden in chests across the world. Some are optional, some are required, and you have to do some really random things for some, including repeating previous levels (but only some). Doraemon isn’t atrocious, there’s just nothing good about it. The levels all feel random with no stand out visual design to them, and the gameplay itself is just boring. Japanese speakers who are fans of the show might get something out of the (fairly generic) story and random objects (I’m just guessing that they might be references), but it would still be tedious to play through the game.

The Good
Destroying things is immense fun

The Bad
The Backlash takes a lot of getting used to

The Bottom Line
This game takes a silly concept and just has a ton of fun with it. The story is simple: there is a nuclear missile being transported on an automated truck. The truck malfunctions and heads to a location in a straight line. If it collides with anything, it will explode. Your mission is to destroy everything in its path.

At its core, Blast Corps is an action-puzzle game. You have a limited time to destroy everything in the missile’s path (the game will highlight vital buildings), but while it starts off as simply ramming into everything, the game will introduce new elements in the way of different vehicles, using TNT for large buildings and also filling up gaps. Some levels are straightforward, while others will require you to explore the level to find the vehicles you need to proceed.

The vehicles have a massive variety, with cars, weaponised bikes, dump trucks, various mechs and some with specific uses – such as the Sideswipe which shunts panels sideways or the Skyfall, which has a sturdy undercarriage that requires you to use jumps to land on buildings from above. Some of them – like cars and trains – aren’t used for damage, but more to solve puzzles and to get between different vehicles.

Then there’s the Backlash. A dump truck that is the most difficult vehicle to use. When ramming, it does very little damage, instead, it causes damage by hitting stuff with the rear end – but reversing is too slow. You need to use its “slide” ability to drift the back of the truck into buildings, which is extremely difficult to get to grips with. I did get competent enough to get through the game, but I still didn’t enjoy it as much as other vehicles.

Once you’ve cleared a path and beaten a level for the first time, you can return to complete the remaining objectives. With no timer, this part of the game is a welcome relaxation to contrast the frantic main mission. You need to demolish other buildings (the game claims you are rescuing survivors), activate little light bacons and search for beacons to unlock bonus missions. You also need to scour some of the levels for hidden scientists.

One this is over, the game isn’t over. You can now try to unlock medals. The levels are restored and now you have to try and beat them as quick as possible (although the time from the first playthrough counts, so you don’t need to do it again if you were already fast enough), which unlocks a few bonus challenges across different planets.

Blast Corps is immensely fun to play and there really hasn’t been anything like it since. It took a fun, simple concept and did a lot with it, focusing on the gameplay and enjoyment. There hasn’t been anything quite like it since it game out, and that’s a massive shame. While you can get the game on Rare Replay, Blast Corps definitely deserves a spruced up remaster.

The Good
Graphically the game is decent with realistic scenes and settings, some weather effects, shadows, and good textures for water, fire and smoke. Music that accompanies isn't too much, but otherwise okay. Included in between missions is a historical narrative for those interested. And that is all it has to offer, no surprise there.

The Bad
The entire gameplay is pretty much an obstacle due to the sluggish movement of the player character, the slow and patient reloading of ammo, the very short stamina level, the red screen dragging on when trying to recover, and the wastage of ammo when reloading due to reloading in clips and mags instead of individual bullets. The dumbest decision for the game is having both a melee weapon and a dedicated melee button. Likewise there is the ability to select your grenades or use the dedicated button to throw them. Having both types of mechanics serve only to confuse you when you're trying to fight the enemy.

The objectives you get don't feel at all interesting variety wise. You're basically hitting out at the enemy and making a run for it with only the occasional covering fire. With very little in the way of ammo pickups, you'll find yourself scavenging arms from fallen foes. So in a nutshell, this is nothing less than a vicious cycle of hit-run-hit-run-hit-run. It becomes the polar opposite in some missions, which really isn't a good formula.

The Bottom Line
The game is slow is so many ways, it will quickly put off many shooter gamers. Often when one tries to emulate real life war in a video game to the full extent, the game's code tends to put the worst restrictions from making it a fun shooter. If anyone says or thinks Call of Duty is better, then enough has been said. On the other hand, it does feel like the precursor to the modern story-driven Call of Duty World War II games with bad execution. It doesn't really matter how historically accurate or inaccurate it is, this one is so forgettable. Just keep this title well out of your ironsights.

The Good
Character move sets. Great fun trashing up shops.

The Bad
No story at all. Lots of reskinned bosses. Some really annoying enemies.

The Bottom Line
May all your fights be burning.

The Good
Good soundtrack. Characters you know and love.

The Bad
Have to be accurate with attacking enemies. Very short game.

The Bottom Line
A good yet short game.

The Good
Comic book style and humour. Level variety. A good selection of cool moves. Excellent boss variety. Good soundtrack as well.

The Bad
Getting squashed by enemies. Can be quite dull and grindy.

The Bottom Line
Fuck off bottom line.

The Good
Nice move set. Nice to play.

The Bad
Terrible enemy variety. Weird intermissions between levels.

The Bottom Line
It should be experienced. A fairly fun time will be had.

The Good
In-depth RPG mode seems interesting.

The Bad
CPU is far too good, language barrier very high.

The Bottom Line
Another Japanese only baseball game, this time from the long running Power Pros series, with its bobblehead style design and rather charming graphics. I am vaguely familiar with this franchise due to a baseball player in this style appearing in the great Konami Krazy Racers on GBA.

Right off the bat, this plays very much like King of Pro Baseball, aiming your bat with the analogue stick (although the cursor is much, much better) while the batter aims without a cursor. I could actually hit the ball much more, although not consistently enough to get a run.

This isn’t helped by how great the computer is at fielding. Their fielders are extremely quick, so will get to your base to get your out, and that’s if they don’t catch is outright, which is a very common occurrence. I do wish these games had more practice modes where you could practice hitting as long as you want.

One major feature of these games is one that has a bit too much text for me to keep up with: the success mode. This is a RPG-like mode where you pick choices for training and relaxing as you slowly become a successful baseball player. It was definitely an interesting mode, but one with a big translation barrier – for Japanese-speaking players, this is probably a great mode.

The Good
One of the best in the genre.

The Bad
Dated graphics if that bothers you.

The Bottom Line
Awesome game, classic arcade fighter.

The Good
Fun gunplay, enhances the game in a faithful way.

The Bad
Tedious levels, lots of ambling about looking for hidden stuff.

The Bottom Line
The Nintendo 64’s first first person shooter is in some ways what you would expect from first person shooters in the early N64 days – something along the lines of Doom and Quake, but focusing a bit more on movement. I played this as a child but never got far, even using cheats I never quite understood what I was supposed to be doing. That’s because Turok isn’t just a shooter: it’s a platformer game where you have to find collectables.

The version I’m playing is the remaster of the game – it still has the look and feel of the N64 game, but with a few improvements, the biggest one being fog. Due to the detail of the original game, the render distance was extremely low, so fog was added to hide the lack of level. The PC version moves the fog much further away – it doesn’t remove it completely as the levels were designed with the fog in mind, so you’d just see all the broken geometry the fog was removed completely.

Even with the increased view, navigating the levels isn’t easy. They’re very maze-like and you get warped between different parts, with no reference point to help you get your bearings. It doesn’t help that the levels have little graphical variety within them. You’ll need to scour these levels in order to find keys to unlock later levels, so most of the game will be ambling around, fighting respawning enemies.

The gunplay, at least, it a lot of fun, with a great variety of weapons and lots of different enemies. The story (which you’re not told at all in the game) involves an area of space where things from the past and future exist, so while you start killing tribesmen and dinosaurs, you’ll work up towards aliens, robots and dinosaurs with guns. Enemies to become more bullet sponges as you progress, though, so you need to use more ammo.

Movement is an important part of Turok and it provides a great sense of speed. You run around and jump in a very fluid way. For navigating the main parts of the levels, it’s a lot of fun, but then you reach the many platforming segments of the game, and it all fall down (or you will at least, a lot). The movement feels great when there’s leeway, but it doesn’t feel precise enough for jumping on the many pillars the game requires you to jump on – and with the game’s checkpoint system, some of these jumps can be a good distance away from the last one.

Turok was definitely great when it came out, but I can’t really recommend it now. but it is a game well worth remembering. It has a lot of flaws, but the flaws are also what make the game unique. Turok is very much a product of its time, but is also a piece of gaming history, especially with environments that are much more 3D than previous first person shooters.

The Good
Fun gameplay like the other two GBA Castlevanias. The DSS system is pretty cool, even if you likely won't use or even see all of them unless you grind. DSS gives variety to you attacks even though you are restricted to the class whip plus special attacks.

The Bad
The movement is a lot more stiff than Aria and Harmony. Which is not the worst, but I ended up playing Circle last of the trio and I hated the lack of movement tech like a backdash. Of course this is from someone who sucks at these sorts of games, but I personally hate just how annoying it is to grind items and just how rare and scarce they are.

The Bottom Line
Not as good as the other two, however it is still fun and also unique in its own way and completely worth playing.

The Good
Fun gameplay, responsive and fluid movement. Love the aeathetics of the both games.

The Bad
Getting the bad endings is ridiculously easy, and the true endings are obscure. At least to someone like me. Also the clocktowers are terrible as expected.

The Bottom Line
Real fun, though I had to use a walkthrough to figure out the true endings.

The Good
It's fun, In a mindless way.

The Bad
Very repetitive. Especially the music.

The Bottom Line
Avoid like the plague.

The Good
Everything but to a minimum standard level.

The Bad
Some of the bosses are annoying as hell. Turned Into a grind towards.

The Bottom Line
Worth a play. But be wary of the grind.

The Good
It has licensed teams, supposedly

The Bad
UI is awful, zero team management, slow and clunky

The Bottom Line
When I was younger, I used to be very much into football, the era of the football games I’ve been playing will have the players I remember in them. FIFA 64 has official licences for a few countries – although they do so little with it that I’m not sure why they bothered.

The players in FIFA 64 are horrific, nightmarish creatures with distorted arms and legs, and with no proper team management – you can only change formation, there aren’t even substitutions – the only time you ever see a player’s name is when scoring a goal.

While Perfect Striker only had a small amount of Japanese teams, it still feels like it had a lot more stuff than FIFA 64 in every other department. The HUD in FIFA 64 is dreadful, showing just the time (no score!), although you can get a picture-in-picture with a different camera angle that covers up far too much of the main screen. You can make the pitch “damp” but you can’t really tell the difference, there’s no rain effects.

The gameplay itself is equally dismal, being extremely slow and clunky. Even passing feels completely broken, as your players will often kick the ball backwards or just tap it forward slightly. Every match is tedious – which is probably why you can skip matches in the league mode (which seems pointless without any kind of management).

FIFA 64 is a very dismal football game and is not nice to play. It very clunky, looks ugly and the game pelts you with annoying sound effects as you play.

The Good
Accurate to the arcade, can be fun in very short bursts

The Bad
Almost nothing to the game, grows tiresome quickly.

The Bottom Line
The Nintendo 64’s first basketball is a straight up arcade conversion, which means there’s nothing to the game except matches and very few options. It’s a 2-on-2 basketball game where scoring is so east that most games will be back and forth of constant scoring from both teams.

With four players, you might find a bit of fun, but this is the kind of game best suited left in the arcades, as it’s something that can be fun for a quick go, but playing for more than a few minutes quickly wears thin. For an arcade game, it’s fine. For a console game, it’s pretty terrible. I know that some people love this game, but it really needed a lot more to it.

The Good
Very good conversion of Mahjong

The Bad
Not that many features.

The Bottom Line
In English speaking countries, Mahjong is known as a solitaire tile matching game. This simple game is actually just one of many variants of Mahjong, with traditonal Mahjong being a 4 player (no more, no less) game. This is Japanese-only game so I did read up a bit on how to play this style of Mahjong. I was still confused to begin with, but got the hang of it.

The object of Mahjong is a game where you’re trying to create sets (three/four of a king or a straight of three/four) in your hand, playing a “Mahjong” when complete (there’s usually a single pair in a Mahjong, other sets are bigger). Each turn, you pick a tile to discard and get a new one. As others play tiles, you have the opportunity to match them up with two more of your tiles – thankfully, Mahjong Master shows you when these are available.

In Mahjong Master, you join “South End” club and get introduced to the players there, most of them casual players of Mahjong. You can play individual matches or take part in tournaments as you move up the leagues, meeting more dedicated players as you progress. The characters also comment on actions in the matches, making it seem a bit more personal. I manged to win a tournament, although for true “completion”, you need to get to the top league and win tournaments for 12 months in a row.

There are a lot of options available that I didn’t mess with, and I also struggled with getting straights in one of the suits (others are self explanatory, but one is Japanese characters). There is also a quiz where you can answer questions about Mahjong, so there are quite a few options for fans of the game.

Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics has this flavour of Mahjong under the name “Riichi Mahjong”, which is a bit easier to understand with tutorials and numbering on the tiles.

The Good
Very solid gameplay, scenario mode is great.

The Bad
Not as good as other versions of the series.

The Bottom Line
Jikkyō J.League Perfect Striker is essentially the N64’s first version of International Superstar Soccer (a franchise from Konami later known as Pro Evolution Soccer). While a game with very similar gameplay did get released elsewhere as International Superstar Soccer 64, the games are quite different, as this only features teams from the “J.League”, Japan’s football league. The international version was later released in Japan as Jikkyō World Soccer 3.

The gameplay of Perfect Striker is solid. The controls are intuitive, with A and B being used for basic move and the c-buttons for lobs and quick passing back and forth. I haven’t been a fan of the sport itself for a while, but this is still an entertaining video game. Movement is fluid and, for the N64, lit looks nice and is animated well.

Outside of the regular single match and league modes, there’s a “scenario” mode. Each of the 16 scenarios put you in the middle of a pre-set match and you need to try and win. Sometimes this is maintaining your lead, while other times you have to win from a losing position. It’s a nice little extra for when you’re on your own.

Perfect Striker is a good football game.

The Good
Good idea for control scheme

The Bad
CPU players cheat all the time

The Bottom Line
Hey batter batter…or something. Baseball is a sport I know very little about, although the basic rules seem pretty simple to figure out, and quite similar to a sport I’ve played in school called Rounders. Hit the ball, run around the bases. If the ball ends up at a base before you do, you’re out. The N64’s first baseball game (of many) also happens to be a Japanese-only game.

The basic controls are simple to figure out, but difficult to master. The batter controls a cursor on the screen and swings to hit the ball. Your aim has to be extremely precise, though, and it’s extremely difficult. I only managed to hit it a few times. Pitching is very simple, though: move the stick to control a invisible cursor, if you’re too far off course, the pitcher will shake his head.

Fielding I found to be quite slow, while the CPU was spot-on (they caught everything I hit). Once you figure out selecting players, it isn’t too bad, but I still had the issue with the CPU being absolutely perfect.

King of Pro Baseball doesn’t have a lot of modes, but it does have an immense amount of options, which weren’t something I could really play around with due to having to use Google Translate and then not understanding Baseball terminology. I did get the impression that this was a decent baseball game and the basic pitching/batting were intuitive.

The Good
Very solid racer, great tracks

The Bad
Getting hit by many items in a row.

The Bottom Line
Part of me was dreading replaying this. I have a lot of fond childhood memories of Mario Kart 64, but is it’s something that still holds up today? Mario Kart has changed so much since then.

After actually playing Mario Kart 64 again, the amount of changes to Mario Kart over the years actually keeps Mario Kart 64 still hugely enjoyable – the newer games aren’t simply better, they’re all quite different. The simplicity of Mario Kart 64 really helps it stand out from the others, and the handing still feels great.

My biggest criticism of Mario Kart 64 is the lack of singleplayer modes, just GP races and time trial, you can’t even pick single races, but most Mario Karts have similar issues. There is a mirror mode to unlock (which has the true version of Toad’s Turnpike) by completing all GPs on the highest difficulty, but that’s about it.

Mario Kart 64’s true wonder is in the multiplayer mode, which is still a lot of fun. The weapons make it hectic, but also allow people to catch up. You can spend hours and hours just playing races and I really like that you just pick a race and play, you’re not forced to do a tournament or anything like that.

Battle mode was also amazing in this game, and has not been properly replicated since (with newer games favouring points-based rather than elimination). When a player has been eliminated, they turn into a bomb and can try and screw over a player of their choosing. This wouldn’t work in a more serious setting, but for Mario Kart, it’s perfect.

Mario Kart 64 is still an immense joy to play, and is still worth going back to due to how different other Mario Kart games are. It really does deserve a re-release with widescreen and nicer textures, but without changing too much.

The Good
The Hoth level is amazing.

The Bad
The 3D shooting is poor.

The Bottom Line
Shadows of the Empire was a big “Expanded Universe” multimedia event with this story getting a novel, soundtrack (for the novel), comic book, toys and, of course, a video game. Shadows of the Empire was released on the N64 on PC. I was originally going to use the PC version for this, as the game is identical, but it has video cutscenes with voice acting, but controller support is poor (and the HUD goes tiny). With the help of remapping buttons, I was able to create a good setup that uses modern using the strafe setup.

I played this as a kid and I do remember enjoying it.

The game starts off during the Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes back, with you controlling a snowspeeder. This section is great, with the snowspeeder feeling great to control and toppling AT-ATs with the tow cable is great. Unfortunately, the level isn’t very long and it’s the best part of the game (you may notice the large amount of lives – that’s more for the poor platforming in later stages). If the entire game was like this, it would be a great game, but most of the game is on-foot.

You play as Dash Randar, who in this game is essentially a Han Solo clone (the novel expands the character’s personality a lot). You’re armed with a blaster that recharges, and you can get special ammo for it (best saved for bosses). The game heavily relies on autoaim, which is especially necessary as you can’t really aim up or down in any reasonable way (the aim button lets you, but it’s far too sensitive).

Trying to setup so you can flee Hoth, you start by watching the Millenium Falcon leave (shouldn’t Vader be standing nearby?) then blast your way through the stormtroopers attacking the rebel base. The shooting isn’t very satisfying and the movement is wonky.

After blowing up an AT-ST, you make your way off Hoth and blast TIE fighters in an asteroid field in a dreadful turret section with awful controls. The game at least gives you plenty of time to react as the bombs from the TIE bombers are really slow, and you have infinite missiles – they just reload between batches of 5.

Hunting for Boba Fett, Dash heads to a junkyard planet to get information from IG-88. I absolutely hate this level as a kid due to the controls but I didn’t find it too bad – I think the ability to strafe helps a lot with lining up jumps, and I never figured that out the first time round. It’s still a very ugly planet, though – Shadows of the Empire was definitely ahead of its time for its use of greys and browns. At the end of the level you take out IG-88, who gives you information on where Boba Fett is.

This is where the platforming really does take a nosedive. Dash’s jump is incredibly floaty and not difficult to control, and the narrow paths of this level are built for you to fall off constantly. You get a jetpack half way through which helps a bit, but is not as fun as a jetpack should be due to being slow and only possible to use for short bursts.

You fight Boba Fett and the Slave 1 at the end. I ran out of ammo, but found a spot where Slave 1 couldn’t hit me, so was able to hit it a few hundred times to destroy it.

Some text explains that after this, Boba Fett escapes and an assassin tries to kill Luke, so it’s up to you to help protect him.

As Luke chills out at Obi-Wan’s home on Tatooine, Dash hears of a swoop gang heading to kill Luke. Speeding through this level is great, but it’s much better to go slowly to take out enemies. You find out information that an Imperial ship contains the necessary information.

As Luke waits outside in his X-Wing, Dash assaults the imperial ship on his own (this game makes Luke seem weak). Most of this level is messing with door switches in a large cargo hold. There’s some secrets to find, but you need to work your way, then fighting a big droid near the end. The jetpack you found earlier would have been handy, but Dash left it on his ship. On a side note, I do really like the Outrider.

In order to infiltrate a base, we need to go through a sewer. Dash has absolutely no issue diving though massive amounts of excrement as you have to find a few different items to progress. The boss fight at the end is a horrible experience, with respawning tentacles and the poor jetpack controls underwater.

Going through the base your job is to find a reactor to place charges to blow up a space elevator. Luke is also infiltrating this base to save Leia, but that’s just background information and you never get to see them during gameplay. This is another dull level.

After another bad ship turret section, we get to actually fly the Outrider, and it’s great. You don’t get to focus on shooting other ships, though: your mission is to shoot four turrets then fly into the base and blow up the reactor, Death Star 2-style. The game ends with Dash seemingly not making it (but then reveals his fate in the final cutscene).

Shadow of the Empire is not as fun as I remember. The genre has evolved a lot, and the controls are just strange and floaty. The full story is probably good, but this isn’t a good adaptation as important points are relegated to scrolling text.

The Good
Only one good track in the game.

The Bad
Controls are horrendous, graphics are bad.

The Bottom Line
The first road-based racing game on the N64. I remember this being panned in magazines, but surely not much can go wrong with something as simple as a racing game, especially one that Nintendo themselves published?

Unfortunately, there is a lot to go wrong. Almost the entire game feels exactly the same: driving along the same four lane roads, dodging the same few cars and turning over the slight bends – hoping that your card doesn’t decide to swerve too much. The handling is dreadful and everything just feels floaty, even collisions. The only distraction are the different backgrounds (which you can see loading in), and this is not enough to stop the game from becoming stale before you’re half way through it – which is an impressive feat when the game is less than 30 minutes long.

There was one level that stood out: a redwood forest level. Most of this is two lanes, with the roadside visuals up close and some large trees to drive under. In most racing games, it wouldn’t be a good level, but in Cruis’n USA, it’s the best by a long way.

If you really want to, you can complete the game on harder difficulties in different cars to unlock faster versions, but the first playthrough is so dull that there’s really no reason to do so. I can see this being fine in the atmosphere of an arcade, spending a few quid on it, but for a home console release, this is just bare bones.

The Cruis’n series had a few games on N64 and there’s even a new game on the Switch, so hopefully this series improves as it goes on.

The Good
An attempt at doing something different.

The Bad
Ugly graphics, controls don't work.

The Bottom Line
The Glory of St. Andrews [Eiko no Saint Andrews] is a Japanese exclusive golf game set on “The Old Course” at St. Andrews. This isn’t the first Japanese exclusive game set on that golf course – the SNES had one as well (although by a different developer and publisher). As it’s only based on one course, it does mean we just get 18 holes.

Unfortunately, this means there isn’t much visual variety. The holes don’t feel very different when playing a video game and once you’ve played each one, it’s just doing it the same with different options. You can customise your character (although the looks are from a few options with the same face and different hats).

The swinging mechanic is interesting and uses the analogue stick well. you move it back to the power you want, then swing it forward to swing. In the bottom right, a red circle decreases in size before resetting and you want to time it to be as small as possible when you swing as this gives you more accuracy.

When putting, it’s difficult to see the shape of the green. The game gives you a few things to try and help. It gives the green a grid pattern, and it also lets you stretch the map of the entire level upwards to see the shape in more detail. None of this seemed to help much.

The Glory of St. Andrews is a fairly poor golf game with very limited options and only one course.

The Good
Includes practice and challenge modes

The Bad
Not a great deal to do in the game

The Bottom Line
As I mentioned in the Mortal Kombat Trilogy review, fighting games aren’t my kind of thing, so this will be opinions from someone who has no idea about balance or techniques. That said, Killer Instinct Gold feel much more like a home console game than the Mortal Kombat Trilogy, due to a few extra features.

The game has a nice look about it, with detailed sprites (based on really well made 3D models, like Donkey Kong Country) mixed with 3D arenas. It definitely feels like an N64 game and the sprites somehow don’t look too out of place in the maps. I found the gameplay to be fun, even though I’m absolutely useless at it, this feels slightly friendlier to newcomers.

One welcome feature is the practice mode, which lets you browse through all the special moves and select one to pin to the screen. The bottom of the screen shows all your inputs to help remind you which button “FK” is. There are also training modes to go through specific abilities, including a “focused training” mode which adds a timer. It’s something that will likely be good for people who have the capabilities of having skill with these games.

Killer Instinct Gold still have a few oddities. There’s no mode in singleplayer where you can select a specific opponent, and map selection is done via cheat codes. Still, this seems to offer a lot more than Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

The Good
Charming main characters, lots to discover

The Bad
Some grindy parts, not much to do in second act.

The Bottom Line
A Japanese-only point and click adventure for the N64, and sequel to a SNES game called Wonder Project J. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of this, but N64 magazine gave it a 55% and said that the main character was “Pinnochio-esqe”. Thankfully, there is a fan-made English translation patch available for this, so I don’t need to resort to other methods to try and read it.

You play as…yourself, a being from another world that the main character, Josette, can’t see. You communicate to Josette though a robot called “bird” and can point at things as well as say “yes” or “no”. Josette herself is also a robot, trying to learn how things work in the world. When trying new things, she will try something (often eating something) and you will need to let her know if this is right or wrong.

In order to solve puzzles, you will have to mess around with Josette’s teachings and moods. For example, in one objective, you need to teach her to be nasty to a cat so she gets scalded and learn that harming things is wrong. Movies can be uses to put her in a certain mood to help with certain activities. When out and about, Josette heads off on her own, giving you no direct input. It sounds boring, but it works really well, like trusting your kid to go out for the first time.

Wonder Project J2 also has a few 3D sequences. You can pilot a submarine and aircraft, with controls getting better the longer you stick with them. Underwater, you have to search for treasures and catch a lot of fish, while in the air, you shoot down unmanned aircraft of the oppressive army controlling the island. These segments are nice to begin with, but fulfilling everything is a bit tiresome.

Another 3D segment is a mine you can explore, trying to find some lost treasure, as well as mining for a special kind of stone – getting jobs and making money is a requirements to buy everything needed to teach Josette. Luckily, this part is quite short.

Through the wonderful animation, you can see Josette change throughout the game. She struggles at walking to begin with, falling over a lot, but slowly gets better and learns to run, dance and much more. It’s subtle and works really well, and Josette herself is incredibly charming (although you can be mean and force her to be more serious if you really want to).

There are 25 tasks to do, most are lovely little stories. One in particular is quite annoying: you have to improve Josette’s strength to fight a member of the army, but you can’t see Josette’s stats to fighting and losing is the only way to check if you’ve done enough. Everything else in the 2D style, however, is just incredibly charming.

You don’t need to complete all 25 achievements, but I did it anyway. A friend of Josette’s will get ill and helping her will trigger the events leading to the end of chapter 1. Chapter 2 is unfortunately not great. You get a long cutscene followed by a maze segment as Josette loses her memories. You walk around in circles answering questions about what you’ve on in the game.

After another long cutscene, you get captures and need to escape in another 3D maze, this time with guards chasing you. There are handy markers on the ceiling that gives you clues to the right direction. After this is done…well, sit back because the last 45 minutes or so of the game has no player input.

The story gets a bit odd towards the end, but still interesting. It definitely needs some playable moments, though.

For not expecting much from Wonder Project J2, I ended up loving it, particularly chapter 1, which is the majority of the game. The translation is great (apart from a few uses of negatives in questions where I responded wrong) and has made the game playable for people that don’t understand Japanese. This is a very unique game and I’m very glad that I’ve played it.

The Good
Very smooth gameplay,

The Bad
Can't select opponent

The Bottom Line
Sports games are a type of game where you get as much out of them as you want, providing you enjoy the core gameplay. Seasons can be incredibly long, and lots of these games are similar (especially yearly updates), so for the most part, I will be playing a bunch of matches and checking out different rules and settings.

My main knowledge of ice hockey is an EA game I played on the Mega Drive, but it’s a simple enough game to work out: get the puck into the opposing goal. I also picked the only team I recognized: the Mighty Ducks.

Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey is very smooth, fast paced and a lot of fun. The controls are simple to use and there’s nothing to complicate things. I mainly played with Arcade settings, but more serious players can use Simulation settings which add things like fouls and injury time. You can also choose to have more realistic size ice rinks and ul to 5 players.

The characters look a bit blocky, but in a way that is quite adorable these days. The game looks nice and clean, with the puck easy to see. There are also some nice silly little touches like the goalkeeper turning into a wall to signify a great save – with the voiced commentary making a reference to it.

You can play a single match, although oddly you can’t select your opponent without using a cheat code (the computer chooses at random). There is also a season mode which has a few options like half or full. Other than that, there aren’t a lot of nodes for the game.

Still, the core matches are a lot of fun and I can imagine it being great in multiplayer.

The Good
Accurate to the arcade

The Bad
Not adapted well to home consoles

The Bottom Line
I have absolutely no skill when it comes to fighting games. I have a terrible memory for special moves and I never know when to block or attack, so I’m not going to be a good judge for games like this. Mortal Kombat Trilogy is essentially Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 with some characters and stages from Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 added, although the aggression bar that makes you slightly more powerful is new.

I know a game isn’t for me when the character select screen is too difficult. Quite a few characters are just reskins of other characters, and there are no character names whatsoever on the character select screen. I tried to choose Sub Zero, pretty much the only Mortal Kombat character I know, but ended up with someone called Rain. Oh, and there’s a timer in the background so it will select whoever you are on when it tuns out.

I did manage to pull off one special move, and there are lots of fancy effects as punches and kicks are made. According to N64 magazine, though, it just simply isn’t as nice looking as the PlayStation version of the game. The N64 version also lacks a bunch of charaters.

There are a few multiplayer modes where you can select multiple characters, but there’s not a lot to choose from. In singleplayer, you can fight through four difficulties, each having more fights to get through.

Even setting things to “very easy”, I struggled to get the hang of this game. There’s no practice mode or move lists (that I could find in the confusing menu), other than using player 2 to stand there and do nothing.

Based on the comments from N64 magazine, there’s not much reason for anyone to play this version of the game. I did cheat my way though one of the campaigns to see different levels. I got to play a space invader clone at the end, which I enjoyed more than the main game.

The Good
Water effects are outstanding, even now.

The Bad
Difficulty curve is steep.

The Bottom Line
It took a few months for the Nintendo 64 for a new game, and when it game it met with glowing reviews. I do remember playing this slightly as a kid, and distinctly remember having a lot of trouble with it due to being awful at it. However, it was only short goes as it was a friend’s copy of the game.

Wave Race 64 is a jet ski racing game. Not only do you have to complete the circuits, but you have to pass buy buoys on the correct side. Miss one and you’ll lose some power, miss five and you’ll fail that race.

It’s difficult to get across the look of Wave Race in screenshots – the ocean and how it moves is the main impressive part of the game. The ocean moves in a realistic way and it still stands out as water in games is still not easy to do today – to the point that it’s really games that are entirely focused on water that have proper wave simulation (games like Sea of Thieves). The water is also not just for looks – it affects the movement of your jet ski and you’ll have to work out how to race using them to your advantage.

The levels in Wave Race also manage to feel distinctive, which is not an easy task for water based games. While I’ve just praised the waves a lot, one stand out level is Drake Lake – which doesn’t have waves. The level starts off foggy but clears up as you progress, with the lake having a silvery reflective surface. There’s something really beautiful about this level, even today.

Another very memorable one is Southern Lake. In this level, the tide is going out. Each lap, the obstacles will be different due to the level of the water. A big pier blocks the way on the first lap, but you can zoom through its supports on later laps. Unfortunately, the game only has 8 courses (plus a bonus training course)

There are three main difficulties in Wave Race, however the difficulty doesn’t just alter the enemy racers. Instead, the locations of the buoys are different, making navigating the levels much more difficult. You need to truly master the waves to succeed at the game and your reward is reverse mode, where you race across the tracks backwards, which makes the levels feel a lot different.

Outside of the main championship mode, Wave Race offers time trial and a stunt mode. You can set your own high stores in the stunt mode as you have to make it to the next checkpoint while hitting rings and performing tricks. The other main move is a 2 player race.

Wave Race 64 doesn’t contain a lot of stuff, but there’s so much detail in what it does do that it makes up for it. It’s a really fun game that rewards skill and offers a significant challenge. Wave Race got a sequel on the GameCube, but there’s nothing out now that’s quite the same.

The Good
The AI at the time was the best for this particular board game.

The Bad
No highlighting where places can move.

The Bottom Line
I knew when planning to experience all Nintendo 64 game that there would be some I would barely be able to play. In particular, Japanese-exclusive games. I don’t speak Japanese and, while some games have translation guides or even fully fledged fan translations you can patch into the game, there can still be some with difficulties.

Strongest Habu Shogi is an adaptation of the board game and features Yoshiharu Habu, the best Shogi player at the time. Shogi is a Japanese variant of chess, heavily modified and more complex. Some major differences are how captured pieces can be brought back onto the board, and pieces can be promoted to become stronger, with different movement rules.

One tool which is surprisingly handy for menus is Google lens, just point it at your TV and is will make rough translations. It’s not always perfect, but good enough for getting to the right modes and settings.

The biggest difficulty I had with Strongest Habu Shogi was identifying the pieces. They’re all the same shape with the name written in Japanese. Even using a picture of what each piece means and does, I found it very difficult to identify them, due to different fonts. To make matters worse, Strongest Habu Shogi doesn’t have any aids to show potential moves you can make, so I found it very difficult to play this version. I did try to practice using an online version of Shogi (with English pieces), but I was still utterly awful at that.

For people who understand Japanese and Shogi, this game did offer quite a lot of features. You can play against computers or another player, play a version where you only get 10 seconds per turn, play “reverse shogi” or play though the main campaign where you have to beat 18 other opponents of increasing difficulty. The AI is specifically tailored so that the same moves you make will result in the same responses, so there is a guide available that just lists moves that will make you win, although that’s not really beating the game.

It also has a bunch of teaching tools. One explains the rules (in Japanese) and there’s also a puzzle mode where you have to win matches based on the setup of a few pieces. There’s also a mode that lets you watch famous Shogi matches play out.

In Japan, Strongest Habu Shogi did not sell very well. It was one of three launch titles on the N64, but only 1% of N64 owners picked it up then. There are more shogi games on the N64 and the game is featured in Nintendo’s own Clubhouse Games series, with the Switch version featuring English letters to identify pieces as well as guides to show possible moves.

The Good
Flying feels smooth, lots of variety.

The Bad
Poor camera, best part of the game is hidden away.

The Bottom Line
Part of what made me want to play through all the Nintendo 64 games was growing up with Future Publishing’s N64 magazine. I only had a small number of games myself, but read about so many more. Pilotwings is one I remember getting mentioned a lot in the magazine throughout the years, and it always sounded fascinating. The image of a cannon and Mount Rushmore (with Mario’s face) was one I distinctly remember seeing a lot.

Pilotwings is an arcade-style flight sim game, although still requires a lot of skill to perfect, especially landings. There are three main vehicles, each of which have a series of challenges to complete, which then unlock additional modes.

The glider is first up and is definitely the weakest of the three main types. I can appreciate how it must have felt brand new, using a standard controller to control a game like this instead of a flight stick, not to mention the 3D worlds, which have lots of nice little details.

The challenges start out simple, and get more complex and difficult. There’s a nice variety such as quickly going through a string of rings, finding more widespread rings and finding certain objects to take photos of. You’re scored based on your speed and accuracy, and it all hangs on your landing, which is difficult but does feel like you’re in control.

The Rocket Belt (aka a jet pack) is immensely fun to fly. You have a strong thrust and a weaker thrust and will need to get across the map quickly, burst balloons, fly through a cave and land on platforms. Trying to avoid hitting the ground is difficult, even though the game tries to help by having a bar show up when you’re close to the ground.

I think the weakest aspect of Pilotwings was the camera, which was a challenge in early 3D games. This one is a bit strange as it pans the camera away from you rather than around your character, and reverts back when you stop pressing the c-button. Despite this, the jet pack is just extremely enjoyable.

The gyrocopyer is the third main one, and is equipped with rockets to blast targets with. This is much faster than the previous vehicles, so tend to use the whole islands, which are all really nicely designed with lots of little things to look at. I especially love “Little States”, a mini mainland USA with lots of details representing a few important locations. It would be lovely to see updated versions of these islands.

With the gyrocopter, you’ll have some ring challenges that feel like intense races and you get to battle a giant mech as it terrorises a city. The gyrocopter is a lot of fun, and is probably the easiest to land, although being accurate for a best score is still difficult.

As you complete the challenges, you’ll unlock bonus games. The first of which is a complete blast: human cannonball. You get three attempts at each target, with your best score out of the three being counted. This means that you have a few attempts to adjust your aim and power to account for the wind speed.

While it stars off simple, like the rest of Pilotwings, it gets really difficult, with some targets you can only see on the radar as they’re behind a mountain or below the cannon. It doesn’t stop the mode being enjoyable, though.

The second extra mode is skydiving. It starts with a rather wonky formation challenge above the clouds, but feels amazing when you get past and get full control of skydiving on the island. I wasn’t very good at the actual scoring, but the skydiving itself is really fun.

The last one I couldn’t get the hang of. They’re a kind of bouncing boot, but the controls just feel strange and I kept bouncing in directions I didn’t want to go and just fell over a lot.

My favourite mode of the game is locked behind getting a silver medal on all of these challenges, although you can temporarily try it out by finding hidden stars in the jetpack mode.

The Birdman mode is a free flight mode. You don’t have to worry about fuel and staying in the air is easy. There’s no challenges to complete, it’s all about enjoying the sights. It’s just nice and relaxing. The main mistake is how many people playing the game may never actually get to try it due to the game’s difficulty and needing so much to unlock it (I have to admit, I ended up using cheats).

Pilotwings 64 is a very interesting game and I really think it deserves another go. It did get a game on 3DS, but that just used Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort, which already had a plane more. I’d love a sequel that brought us the islands from this game in more detail, some new ones, plus all these modes and some new stuff. I’d also love just being able to choose free flight for any of the vehicles – having the challenges dotted across the maps would also be a great touch. A new Pilotwings could be a ton of fun.

The Good
Great controls and levels

The Bad
The camera is not nice to use.

The Bottom Line
Starting off with a bang, one of the Nintendo 64’s launch titles just happens to be a revolutionary game that’s one of the best games on the system. It didn’t just show the world how platform games could work in 3D, but it set the standard for movement in 3D as well. Despite it’s legendary status, Nintendo have never given us the port that this game deserves. Super Mario 64 doesn’t need a full remake, just a little bit of sprucing, widescreen and an updated camera.

The movement of Mario still feels amazing all these years later. His move set is brilliant with all of his moves (minus the special hats) available form the get-go, it’s just a case of learning it and figuring out the best way do move. Most people will start off ding taller jumps by doing the backflip, but then transition to the quick turn jump to get up to the tall platforms. Even now, it’s an absolute joy to control.

The camera from the original game is the main part of the game that now feels clunky. It was pretty amazing when the game came out, but it’s one aspect of games that has improved over time.

The levels are small, but it’s a style that really suits the game. They’re packed full of secrets, with six stars to find in each one (plus an extra star for collecting 100 coins). Once you collect a star, you’re thrown out of the level, which does mean you have to re-do parts of levels multiple times, but there are sometimes changed to the level depending on which star you collect. There is a mod that lets you remain in levels, but I feel like this alters the game too much, and is itself fiddly as you need to work out when you need to manually leave the level.

Each level has a very distinct feel to it and I enjoyed every level in the game, with the exception of two of the water levels. While some have generic themes (lava, water and ice), the levels are still built in unique ways, and even matching themes (like the two snow levels) don’t feel like a reuse due to the level design.

Other than a couple of stars that include the wing, metal and invisible caps, you can also complete levels before moving on, or just do a couple of stars and try somewhere else. You only need 70 out of 120 stars to complete the game (far fewer if you choose to do glitches), but it’s enjoyable collecting them all.

To unlock different sections of the castle (and access more levels), you need to complete Bowser’s levels. There are three in total (the last one being to save Peach) and these are much more linear platform challenges, which creates a nice change of pace. At the end of these you have to face off against Bowser, grabbing his tail and spinning him to throw him into bombs, and I’m still absolutely dreadful at aiming my throws.

The final section of the game has some outstanding levels.

Wet-Dry World is the third water level of the game, but this one stands out much more due to the mechanic of raising and lowering the water levels. There are different ways to move upwards depending on the water level, and you’ll need to make use of these to collect all the stars.

Tiny-Huge Island has you using pipes to swap between a giant Mario and a mini Mario. You get to see cute tiny goombas or have to fight ones that are much larger than Mario. It’s not Mario’s size that actually changes, but the level itself. It’s an absolutely adorable level full of joy.

Tick Tock Clock is actually a lot smaller than I remember, but is focused on well timed jumps. The unique aspect of this level is that the level entrance is itself a clockface, and where the minute hand points alters the speed of the objects in the level, or even stops them completely. I have quite strong memories of trying to figure out what was happening when this happened as a kid.

The final main level, Rainbow Ride, is more linear than most levels, with different segments connected via magic carpets. You’ll need to jump off the carpets to avoid obstacles, but if you take too long, the carpets will vanish. This level requires you to have learnt how to master Mario’s moveset.

Super Mario 64 is still an absolute joy to play, especially so with an updated camera. I think a full remake would alter the game too much, as the level design and movement is integral to its identity. It just needs a bit of sprucing up, and I really hope we get an official version that does this at some point.

This was an amazing start for the Nintendo 64. Not only was this game integral to the development of 3D games as a whole, but the gameplay and levels still hold up today. Games keep trying to be bigger and better, but smaller and varies levels are also a great approach.

The Good
What I appreciate in this game are the expressive FMV scenes, and the rock music.

The Bad
If you touch grass, snow, or rock, you will tumble. Although your biker gets back on the bike instantly, the AI bikers could still benefit to catch up or increase their lead.

The Bottom Line
VMX Racing may not be the best dirt bike racing game on the platform, but I certainly have fun playing it. Avoiding the aforementioned hazards on the sides of the track may seem quite tricky at first. But with persistence and keeping a positive attitude, you'll be adept with your maneuvers sooner than you think.

The Good
Nothing. 20 characters

The Bad
Everything. 20 characters

The Bottom Line
Don't play. 20 characters

The Good
Graphics, and audio are top notch. Especially the voice acting, which was a surprise.

The Bad
I would argue that this game Is not a beat 'em up. It was a gun only game.

The Bottom Line
I highly polished game that should still be experienced despite the false advertising. #NOTABEATEMUP

The Good
Pretty much everything Is of a high standard. Except.....

The Bad
.....the combat. Which Is literally one attack button with no special, combo attacks.

The Bottom Line
Very good game, or would have been If not for the mind-numbing combat.

The Good
Lots of fun and versatility with all the jobs and while it takes grinding, mastering a job is quite satisfying. I like space and the meteorites count... sorta.

The Bad
The content locked behind the end of the post-game makes no sense imo, all it does it require you to grind even more after getting powerful enough to defeat the final superboss.

The Bottom Line
The only Final Fantasy game I've ever wanted to (and have) 100% completed.

The Good
I would have liked this as a kid. I like shooters and this... counts I guess? I'm terrible at them so hey, at least I've found one I'm good at.

The Bad
Way too easy for me, which isn't a surprise. The problem is that the controls can be really janky during certain levels. In addition it's really easy to hit the wrong answer which hurts you and lowers your rating.

The Bottom Line
Fun to check out as a curiousity, but not worth beating unless you are stubborn about wanting to play the whole game. It is a slight shame the sequel got axed.

The Good
There are many good elements faithful to the Dark Forces series, including a decent variety of weapons, large and numerous levels, objectives to follow, a plethora of Empire enemies to gun down, well-hidden secrets, Force powers, some lightsaber fights, and of course Kyle Katarn himself. The innovative storyline draws you like a Force Pull to play the next level after the next, just so you can get more of that intriguing experience. After the first few levels of running and gunning, it feels rewarding to be a Jedi again. And as a Jedi, it feels so satisfying to slice the Reborn Sith in those dramatic slow motion moments. I’m not sure Force Grip and Force Lightning are in line with the Jedi way, but there you have it.

Adding to the impressive arsenal, you get a few nifty little gadgets such as miniature droids. And there are times when you get to actually be a droid to access places Kyle cannot. And while you have opportunities to fight AT-STs, there is a level where you can actually commandeer a couple of them. Every level has its own gimmicks, one of them being stealth if you could even call it that since you’ll end up killing enemies to progress anyway. Help from NPCs is welcome and does even the odds.

The Bad
While many of the controls are standard, the ability to lean left and right with the Use key is useless, because you can’t shoot while in this mode. It’s better to use the third-person perspective for a better view. The running and jumping feels very floaty and not in a good way. Often you’ll find yourself stumbling before you can make a successful Force Jump, leading to more unfair deaths than Anakin did to his victims. Falls are going to be your number one enemy throughout the game. Those problems were not abundant in the original Dark Forces, in which you had better movement control. The worst element in the game is the level that requires you to swim in zero-gravity which is such a broken mechanic that keeps getting Kyle killed.

And speaking of broken, the shooting in this game often works against you because when enemies move, you’ll miss a lot, a big problem if you’re accustomed to hitscan guns. And there are times when you fire while you’re up close to the enemy, but the shots don’t seem to connect, as if they are phasing through. If all else fails, just stick to using your lightsaber. And you’d better learn how to use the thermal detonators properly, because you’ll blow yourself up if you tap the right-mouse button too lightly. Lastly the Light Amplification Goggles are pretty useless due to the obscurity of your field of vision and running out of battery power relatively quickly. The Night Vision Goggles from Dark Forces were heaps better.

The levels themselves are not perfect. The action they pack is fine, but the real issue is some of the puzzle elements, which often put first time players in multiple “Where the heck do I go?” situations, because you need to perform very specific actions to progress with little in the way of clues on exactly what to do. These elements may work in a Lucasarts adventure game like Maniac Mansion, but this attempt to make the game more interesting, it doesn’t work in the same way a tomb Raider does. And with the number of hazards and ambushing enemies that keep hurting you, you’re going to slam the Force Heal power quite a bit, which hurts the fun factor. And I almost forgot the most obvious problem, you can’t skip cutscenes or even the end credits, adding to wasted time.

The Bottom Line
While the gameplay runs okay for most of the game, the physics have a lot to be desired. The combat mechanics and gadgets from Dark Forces weren’t very well emulated as they could have been. Even being faithful to the Star Wars lore and packed with the desired amount of action, it does feel like Lucasarts was trying too hard to make this game good. It shows through the numerous and differing levels. And in regards to baffling puzzles, if I wanted that in a game, I would have picked a point-and-click Star Wars adventure game, which sadly does not exist. One way or another, you’ll adapt to the game and learn to love it, especially if you like shooters and Star Wars. Battling the Empire and Sith never gets dull, so enjoy from start to finish.

The Good
C'mon, it's LEGO Star Wars.

The Bad
Obviously, since this is on a GBA, the experience is really quite watered down. The graphics aren't as nice, you can't rotate the camera, etc.

The Bottom Line
I'd give this a 3.5 out of 5 if I could. The console versions run circles around it, but for what it is on the GBA, it's quite fun.

The Good
Story is relatively simple imo, which is pretty commonplace for Pokemon games. May be a downside to some, but I'm personally fine with keeping it simple, gives more focus to the gameplay, which is fantastic. Moving and attacking in 8 directions, many locations to explore, boatloads of Pokemon to recruit, and a plethora of missions to complete.

The Bad
Difficulty can be pretty bad once you hit a certain point of the game and you don't know to be prepared. I won't spoil anything, but there is a section of the game where you are away from your base for an extended period of time going through dungeon after dungeon. As a kid this caught me off guard and I struggled through this section, fainting quite often.

Also, the fact that you need to fight through a dungeon each attempt at a Legendary kind of sucks, no save scumming to be had here.

Also monsters houses are the worst.

The Bottom Line
A fairly simple story that can still latch onto you emotionally while also providing great gameplay that is a refreshing change up from just playing the standard Pokemon RPG. A large amount of things to do and collect, which will keep you busy for a very long time.

The 5 stars might be a tiny bit biased.

The Good
Reservoir Dogs is probably my favorite movie, as well as the favorite of a few of my friends. It was a surprise to me that, around sometime last year, I found out that they release a game for it like 14 years after it was released.

The game's levels takes place in-between moments from the movie. Fills in some blanks between the heist and the end. I thought some of them were fun to see, like writing in what happened to Mr. Blue and driving around as Mr. Brown after getting shot in the head. The driving levels in particular are pretty fun to see since they incorporate some of the iconic moments like Mr. Orange getting shot and Mr. Blonde kidnapping a cop. I liked the more original stuff as well, like the tutorials were actually kinda nice since it was just the characters training Mr. Orange and bickering at each other.

The gameplay isn't anything spectacular, but it has some interesting mechanics. You can order around npcs by threatening them with a gun and controlling them with the right stick: they can be used to open doors locked from the inside, open safes, and enter codes into locks (otherwise you'd have to break them and sound an alarm). The hostage mechanics have a bit of depth to them: civilians can be threatened easily, security guards will only drop their weapons if you are holding a hostage, and police/swats will only drop their weapons if you beat your hostage. Every hostage has health that decays while you hold or control them, and drops when you beat them until they pass out. As little as it makes sense for an unbeaten person to just pass out by being told to move somewhere and open a door, it does keep the player from slowly dragging the same dude around for the whole level so I'm fine with it.

Something about this game that I wasn't expecting was that it had different endings (kinda). How do you achieve them? Playing every level will change your rank on a scale depending on how much you kill. If you kill as little as possible, you're a Professional; if you kill pretty much everyone, you're a Psychopath; in between the two, you are a Career Criminal. A somewhat interesting mechanic that adds some replayability, and the idea would be shamelessly stolen by Toby Fox 9 years later.

(Spoilers) The different rankings will give you 1 of 3 scenes during the credits, showing what happens to Mr. Pink after leaving the scene at the end of the movie. He either escapes, gets arrested, or gets killed. I thought it was kinda neat, since what happened to him in the movie was really vague, and it all of them could have potentially happened.

The Bad
The stuff I liked were executed in a pretty underwhelming way.

I liked the style and story of the driving levels, but some of them have pretty tight restrictions to beat, and they are REALLY hard to get any ranking other than "Career Criminal" on. I got the "Professional" rank on the Mr. Blonde level somehow, meanwhile I was "Career Criminal" on the first driving level after blowing up 30 different cars with my gun (a level where you don't need to shoot anything).

As interesting as the hostage mechanics are, they get REALLY stale when you're doing a Professional run. You just grab a guy, yell at other guys to get against the wall, smack your hostage on the head to make cops drop weapons, put the cops against the wall, rinse and repeat. It got so repetitive that I understood the mechanics to a T. I realized that hostages were like, a gun that shot invisible "put gun down" bullets at cops that penetrated, so I would line the cops up and fire the hostage at them. If you don't care to unlock all the cheats or see all the really brief endings, just play it like any 3rd person shooter.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of the movie, I'd say it's worth a shot. If not, you'll likely not care much for it. Don't expect anything groundbreaking or for it to be a hidden gem, it's more like a bit of quartz in a yard full of gravel. As a fan, I appreciate what it did.

The Good
The narrative does bright cyberpunk well with a fascinating commentary of identity and life for those who are terminally online as we all are in the 21st century. The scenery is gorgeous. A fresh concept. The memory sequences are fun, though not entirely deep they present a well executed story line that works a little like playing the movie Inception in game form.

The Bad
The combat while mostly good can get a bit repetitive or overly simplistic at times. Dontnod tried a lot of new things and most paid off here IMO. You may disagree though.

The Bottom Line
For a game titled "Remember Me" plenty of people overlooked or forgot about this gem. It is a fantastic game with a fresh cyberpunk world, game play similar to the also great Batman Arkham games, and an intriguing narrative that is only more relevant today than it was nearly a decade ago when first released. It poses some great questions and has a compelling message for those of us increasingly reliant on solutions from big tech, social media, and find ourselves searching for humanity and purpose in our lives.

The Good
Charming retro vibes from NES/PSX Old school style Final Fantasy gameplay Stylish The UI/UX of the battle system and DS work great together giving a fresh and fun take on the JRPG formula

The Bad
Can get really grindy at times Pacing isn't the best, it feels too annoying slow at times While typically great, the battle mechanics that assume they know your target(s) for actions can sometimes not do as you intended, causing frustrations

The Bottom Line
If you like the Bravely Default games, Octopath Traveler series, but missed out on this you owe it to yourself to check it out. If you can get past the stretches of slower paced parts and want a great retro styled JRPG this is worth a look.

The Good
Despite a rough first few hours, the game finally bears its gameplay-loop to the user. There are so many up-front options it was very difficult to see which actions would reward me, which ones I should leave until later. But eventually, I saw and understood and had a much better time exploring the various environments. Each is full of trash to vacuum, greenery to restore, animals to befriend, missions to complete. None of it largely mandatory, but it is nice to see an area restored to natural beauty.

If you like cute games, this has it in spades, letting you put hats on any of the animals you've domesticated or befriended. There's even a little heart icon denoting how much they love you, and how much they will give you in goods each day. It's an ideal world, where you may keep animals traditionally kept for meat, but here they offer other goods (pigs are good at finding truffles, for example).

There's a definite atmosphere of being in touch with nature, simple living, and the satisfaction of a hard day's work.

For a switch game it at least loads quickly. You go from home screen to running around in game in as little as a minute. Area transitions are also mercifully short (as there are a lot of them).

The Bad
Sadly in writing this, I realised I really had to think about the good points, and I had a to justify to myself giving this a 2/5. As you can see, I managed it, but you may think I was being polite and vague. I was.

Despite ample (and misspelled) text, the tutorials are conducted via the medium of icons and diagrams on a billboard. This is a rookie mistake in thinking pictures offer clearer instruction than the printed word. I didn't know what I was doing at times, not helped by the optional nature of each lesson: I didn't actually know if I was doing it right! Several hours into the game, I finally had to search message boards to find out how you actually make money in this game! It's of course explained in a throw away one line by a talking chicken at the beginning of the game. But if you're reading this: Jars (currency) == Preserved Food (ingredients or meals you chuck into the food preserver).

And this pretty much sets us up for the rest of the game: not as clever as it thinks it is. Characters are discovered in the world by unburying them from literal mountains of trash, but have the nerve to be snarky, and wont help you with your main mission until you've helped them even more.

Environmental puzzles are so simple they must have been a check-box exercise - some can even be bypassed by standing in the right spot because by default the Untiy game engine measures distance (including how far away a switch through a wire fence might be so you can flip it, for example) in two dimensions.

Upgrades and blueprints for kit needed to proceed are blocked by arbitrary requirements. For example, to unlock the basic beehive, you must be in possession of an egg-plant. What? Some even seem largely pointless and expensive if you've gone another route - after unlocking the Sprinkler for 3 jars of jam, why would I pay extortionate amounts to expand my portable water tank up to three times?

Enemies are basically just viscous, moving piles of trash, and dealt with in the same manner: either by vacuuming or drilling. They don't move once you've begun to attack them, so just hold down the button until they are dead.

But your real enemy here (certainly on Switch, but probably any console, and PC if using a game pad), are the controls. This plays like a budget Playstation 2 third person game. Movement if floaty, imprecise, yet switching to an action like sowing seeds is overly precise and inefficient. I suspect a mouse is expected, but there are so many games that can make this work on a controller. Planting trees or placing buildings is a pain thanks to some largely arbitrary placement rules, and frustrating due to the fact you can't build if anything is close to being in the way, like you or an animal.

The visuals, whilst looking nice in PC screenshots are very bare on the Switch. It doesn't help much as performance seems to wobble around 30fps even if you've cleared out all the (admittedly impressive) mountains of trash. Thanks to the paring down of graphic fidelity, the world actually looked better and more interesting before you cleared it up. Even after green grass returns to an area, it still just looks like a PS2 game on an emulator running at 720p. Playing in handheld mode may require reading glasses, as the text in conversations and in menus is tiny, with no effort by the developers to change the layout. I can't imagine it looking that much relatively bigger on a 50".

It's a little on the nose, with the whole world covered in trash, and you have to clean it up, but I appreciated the environmental theme the game was going for - indeed, that's what attracted me to play. unfortunately, pretty quickly this message is lost, as progress in the game can only be made by inventing new solutions to the waste and new way of life - which surely is what got them into that mess in the first place? It's a common enough idea amongst the most naive environmentalists - we can invent our way out of killing the planet. Sadly, no. Thus some real though-provoking questions are simply unasked.

Music and sound effects are forgettable. I've been playing it many hours today, and I couldn't hum a single bar of any track.

The Bottom Line
A mess of ideas and themes, lack of direction, and roughly finished gameplay sub-systems make this a game only worth playing if you've already played much the better farming or clean-up games.

The Good
Nice move set. Interesting animations.

The Bad
Some bosses are cheesy, and vice versa. The final boss I defeated with just sweep kicks. The sections between bosses just have no point whatsoever.

The Bottom Line
This Is a tricky one. I should hate this game because of the visuals, gameplay, visuals etc. But I found It to be one of the more satisfying beat em ups on my list.

The Good
Overall gameplay Is excellent. Fun characters. Animations, and a large move-set. P.S excellent soundtrack.

The Bad
Not a lot to speak of really.

The Bottom Line
A must-play If you're a fan of the genre.

The Good
Bright and breezy gameplay. Lots of dudes to kick.

The Bad
A relatively short experience.

The Bottom Line
It's very good. Play It.

The Good
Excellent use of film assets.

The Bad
It's way too short. Like, really short.

The Bottom Line
Worth a play. Because It won't last long.

The Good
- Grand Prix mode is somewhat fun

The Bad
- Controls feel wonky - Story Mode is easy to beat and not challenging - Not many card varieties - Customization of your Duel Runner is non-existent

The Bottom Line
Nostalgia hits hard with this, but other than that, not a great game. Sonic Chick is based though.

The Good
Bangin' soundtrack. Lions.

The Bad
Absolutely terrible enemy variety. Final boss Is a cunt.

The Bottom Line
Listen to the soundtrack, and watch someone else complete the game.

The Good
Looks, and sounds great. animations, voice acting etc.

The Bad
Poor enemy variety. Losing all lives Is equal to a complete game over and starting all over again.

The Bottom Line
Please note, I did not finish this game but felt compelled to report on such nonsense.

The Good
The feeling of hitting things

The Bad
The bosses are terrible. Huge difficulty spikes.

The Bottom Line
Be prepared to wiggle wiggle.

The Good
Generally strange humour.

The Bad
Not enough attack combinations

The Bottom Line
Should be experienced at least once.

The Good
Deeper controls than most games of It's ilk.

The Bad
Everything else. Superhuman enemies bouncing around like twats. Also resembling Dwayne Dribbly.

The Bottom Line
Don't play this......

The Good
Lovely big sprites. Pretty good music. Breezy game play

The Bad
Repetition of enemies and bosses.

The Bottom Line
Big robots. Smashy smashy. Have fun. Go home.

The Good
The game throws you into a maze where each square you move through has a chance to be a puzzle you need to solve. Pick the number between 10 and 30, guess a roll of the dice, remember a sequence of letters or do some simple addition in your head, but with a timer. Kill the zombies closing in on you by tapping keys 1 to 8 and hope you got the right combo. IF you die, its restart.

It's kind of entertaining until about the 15th death.

The Bad
This game seems to have been an apprentice job for someone who don't really know games but made a labyrinth. Each game is randomized, but the randomness is cruel, and the level is preconfigured so even if you make it to the last square before the exit, you'll die to a hail of poison arrows. Or fireballs.

The Bottom Line
A bad game which has shallow engangement for the player, and is very unfair in it's sudden death mechanic.

The Good
A generally good game In every aspect. But not spectacular.

The Bad
Overly pixelated character sprites. Poor animation.

The Bottom Line
A good 2/5. An average experience.

The Good
Games looks great. Nice large sprites. Special attacks look like they are out of an anime.

The Bad
Everything else really.

The Bottom Line
Serviceable gameplay, but you are playing this to experience the visuals. Nothing more.

The Good
Some of the boss designs. Transformations are cool.

The Bad
General gameplay. Getting animation stunned by enemy attacks.

The Bottom Line
A slog to play. It has not aged well for me.

The Good
Everything (To an average level)

The Bad
The boss encounters are infuriating.

The Bottom Line
Solid beat 'em up marred by bosses who knock you down with one hit. Playing this without emulation would have cost me a fortune.

The Good
Mankind has been enslaved by the evil Squarm, so off you go in your space fighter to defeate them.

There's a pretty good manual that you load in first, which explains the story and controls. You can also configure for Kempston joystick before loading the second half of the tape, the actual game.

Controlling your space fighter in a scrolling 3d starfield is an amazing experience. The cockpit shows a map of the system, a message display, and status to the right.

The system sectors is empty, have a planet, or aliens, if not both. You travel to each by selecting it with the L key and then J for jump.

You need to control speed and direction in vertical and horizontal space as you try to catch the squarm fighters - they look like Tie Fighters. It seems a bit difficult, but works like most flight sims, with 5 speeds to chose between.

You fire the lasers when the enemy is in the center of your screen, and they will change color as they take damage. Of course they shoot back, and you can try to swerve around their shots. If you take damage, your ship's subsystems will change colour from green and a few more until blue, dead. This is how you die in this game.

When all enemies are defeated in the sector, you can seek a planet and land for repairs. This can be done once per planet. Once repaired, you warp to the next sector with Squarms.

The end is also when you find the Time Gate.

The Bad
I can't find fault with the game, really.

The Bottom Line
I am pretty sure i would have loved it had I been able to play it back in 1982. This was the game that you would impress friends with if they wondered whether or not it was a Spectrum they should wish for Christmas. And it it is still a very good game. Recommended.

The Good
On such a small screen with 15-bit colors, the likeness of the arcade’s anime art and sprites are captured perfectly. The opening sequence looks very inviting. The layouts are also faithful to how the original game looked. With the difficulty levels to choose from, the gameplay is smooth and the controls are responsive, just right for the handheld. But when the getting seems good, pop goes the game.

The Bad
Of the sixteen characters that featured in the third game of the series, this port literally has only half of those characters being playable, no unlockable characters. There’s no discernible differences between those characters on the menu, no tarot number, and no ball pattern style, just the character name. And no matter how far you get into the game, you’ll never see the character’s ending. An utter letdown.

And while the gameplay is good, the variety is not. All you get is the endless mode and the two-player versus modes. There is just a boring black background in the game. That is pretty much all there is. Your only goal is to get a high score.so many features from the original have been stripped. It isn’t as if putting the full features of the arcade version into this port was impossible. With some lessons from Capcom’s Magical Tetris Challenge, they could have easily implemented the one-player versus CPU mode, plus the Magical Journey mode. All we got here is a super rushed port.

The Bottom Line
The portability of this game proved to be a liability. It offers far less than any of the other ports. While the Game Boy Color does have some limitations, this port dropped the magical ball. Maybe if this port was based off the first Magical Drop title, that would have been forgivable, but to base it off the third title bare-bone is disappointing. With the game retailing at an average of $20, it’s not worth the purchase. You’re better off spending that amount of money in quarters for the arcade version. Otherwise scrounge for some extra cash for one of the console ports. Not one of Data East’s best.

The Good
It is a fun game with great controls. The ball is controlled by entering a direction according to the clock (1 to 12) and a shot power between 1 and 100. Terrain is taken into consideration. On the greenway the ball is predictable, with some variation for each stroke. In the rough, the speed and direction can veer off a lot, and in the sand bunker the speed is just really low. IF the ball hits a tree, each stroke to get away will have a chance to hit a tree again, and the ball might rebound even further away. When the ball finally hits the fairway, the speed is much higher.

With randomized golf courses and challenging holes, Spectrum Golf is a good game. The variable courses also means it is a new challenge each time. Can also be played by 2 players, so for a 1982 title it is pretty solid.

The Bad
There isn't any height in the terrain, or choice of clubs, which would matter for the golf enthusiast. Also it doesn't look like you can replay each hole. Course is 9 holes only.

The Bottom Line
A good golf game for text-mode ZX and Spectrum. It as high replayability, as golf games tend to have, and a bit of randomness balances the fairly detailed control options, so it does not make it so easy that you'll go below par on each hole.

The Good
It is a fun game with great controls. The ball is controlled by entering a direction according to the clock (1 to 12) and a shot power between 1 and 100. Terrain is taken into consideration. On the greenway the ball is predictable, with some variation for each stroke. In the rough, the speed and direction can veer off a lot, and in the sand bunker the speed is just really low. IF the ball hits a tree, each stroke to get away will have a chance to hit a tree again, and the ball might rebound even further away. When the ball finally hits the fairway, the speed is much higher.

With randomized golf courses and challenging holes, Spectrum Golf is a good game. The variable courses also means it is a new challenge each time. Can also be played by 2 players, so for a 1982 title it is pretty solid.

The Bad
There isn't any height in the terrain, or choice of clubs, which would matter for the golf enthusiast. Also it doesn't look like you can replay each hole

The Bottom Line
A good golf game for text-mode ZX and Spectrum. It as high replayability, as golf games tend to have, and a bit of randomness balances the fairly detailed control options, so it does not make it so easy that you'll go below par on each hole.

The Good
Nice EGA graphics. Not too difficult. Has a Zombies Ate My Neighbors vibe.

The Bad
Yes, the keyboard controls are horrible but you can edit the KBD.KBD file using a hex editor to change the controls to your preferred keyboard scancodes. Here's my file which changes fire to CTRL (which also starts the game), bomb to ALT, pause to SHIFT, and quit to ESC. The arrow keys already control movement. Second player is changed to W,A,S,D,<,>: 48 50 4B 4D 1D 38 11 1F 1E 20 33 34 01 3C 1C

The Bottom Line
With a little keyboard tweaking this is an instant favorite.

The Good
So far this seems like a well polished game. I am still getting to grips with it but there is a lot in here and even more that I have not come across yet. Combat seems straightforward though at the moment I am losing regularly as the opponents are all much stronger than my party which probably means I've missed something. At this early stage the game is helpful too, for example I started a fight and it told me that I should put a particular character at the front because they could take the most damage - tbh it didn't help because they still died but I appreciated the assistance. However the fights at this stage are quickly resolved and easy to manage. The artwork is good. Initially I'd thought that this kind of third person point of view would make the characters difficult to see but that is not the case at all. The music is good and it is suitably epic, there must be plenty of it so far I have not got bored with it repeating the same tune over and over. As for the gameplay, well the game manages to put all the key elements into a tutorial and still tell the big story along with lots of little ones. This reminded me of the Fallout games where I could be on a big quest but along the way I'd come across a relic that told the story of someone who died long ago.

The Bad
I have no real criticisms of this game at all, however I don't see it as a game that I could pick up, play for ten - fifteen minutes and then put down. For me it is not a coffee break game.

I picked up the from the EPIC store recently but with Christmas being imminent and a few other things I did not get to play it. When I did I was thwarted by the need to install a chunky update to the game and that was followed by four more resource updates. I do not think this is normal but if it were then it could become a problem

The Bottom Line
I am still learning about this game but so far it has just about everything. It has a story and since I got the game additional content has been released. In the game I can make potions, craft weapons and armour, equip my party, manage my inventory, but & sell stuff, scavenge items from the land, steal from dragons, recruit extra heroes, and there's a strategy to the placement of my party when fighting.

So having tried it will I continue to play it? No, I will not. This is a good game and I have enjoyed playing it but it is an MMO/Co-Op game without a single player mode, something I missed when I downloaded the game, and I really do not play well with others.

The Good
The graphics within the game are clear and presentable, they could easily make what you see on screen look like a Sega Genesis game on a modern console. The little animations are so fluid and lively. It's really cute how PogoGirl's ponytail sways and wiggles in time to moving and jumping. And some of the enemies resemble foes from the Bubble Bobble series. The sound effects also seem match the old retro feel. Combined with the awesome energetic soundtrack, this is giving Sonic the Hedgehog reminders and feels. When diving in water, the music sounds sort of Low Pass filtered as if you've got water in your ears.

Gameplay is really easy to get into and comfortable to play. You get this gentle learning curve from helpful tips and simplified layouts, with the game getting fairly and progressively hard. For a pogo jumping game with this rad N' bad moveset, you feel like you're using a bouncy jackhammer for a pogo stick, giving you the powerful edge. And you can even bounce on water.

The Bad
The backgrounds tend to suffer from distortion as you move, which reduces the smoothness of the visuals. And the graphic tileset has that samey look as you go from level to level. The game could have done with different walls and backgrounds instead of the same ones in different shadings. It's a little irritating that your character dies in one hit, but the groovy moveset and adequate checkpoints more than compensate.

The Bottom Line
In this day and age, pixelated plaforms are getting a good amount of the respect as they had in the previous century. A fun little bump N' jump platformer that won't easily disappoint, especially if you relish those good old times. And if you're feeling daring and adventurous, seek to get all the achievements. Any planned sequel to the game could easily work as a 3D isometric platformer. This is how the newest Commander Keen game should have been instead of the disappointing mini-game that it came out as.

The Good
Is there anything nice you can say about this game? It has graphics, sounds, music, gameplay and a 3D perspective, which isn't really saying anything. Where's simplicity in a game of today, there's a simple HUD that doesn't cover the screen. Very desirable. Don't waste too much time trying to find good in the game.

The Bad
Graphically the game is a plain eyesore on every flat texture and colour surface. The rooms look like cheap knockoffs of Andy Davis' house from Toy Story. What makes those graphics so incomplete is hitting a ceiling allows you to see through the game's boundaries into the white emptiness of nothing. Talk about lack of gametesting. Even Ratyboy doesn't look cute at all, being the furless mouse person that he is.

What is bad at first sight is also bad at first noise. The one and only music track is just cranked up PC-Speaker like tunes straight from a corroded sound chip. To tie with the bad tunes are the most obnoxious and repitive sounds your console can discharge you: "Hup" jumping, footsteps, blips, more footsteps, it just repeats itself like it's the only broken record on the player.

Gameplay here defines the exact opposite of a zen meditative genre, simply called "laden unreflective". All you do is shuffle around like an accident-prone plantigrade trying to collect stars in big spaces and of course the one thing no house can resist - blocks and lots of cheese, no surprise there. Climbing and navigating around the giant furniture is not fun at all and requires very specific paths to get higher. It's obvious Ratyboy isn't a member of the Super Mario or Lara Croft clubs. With that summing up the game, what can you even do with all those controls on your Nintendo Switch? Easier to play this an Atari joystick.

The Bottom Line
There's bare minimum effort put into this game. It's more fun to use a Virtual Boy as an outboard motor. This one of dozens of house mouse games we've seen again and forever. When exactly do they wear out their welcome in your game collection? Hopefully the instant the trailer shows. If anyone wants a proper rodent perspective, that's what "Rat Simulator" is for.

You'd think games like those could only exist when 3D games were in their infancy in the 90s. This 3D mockbuster, makes early 3D games look amazing today. The Nintendo Switch deserves better games as opposed to a game that makes the console look awkward. It's no surprise that reviews are nowhere to be found on the internet, because this game essentially doesn't deserve one. You'll never cherish your money's worth in this one. Glad we didn't get a physical game card version of the game, cos it would be sure to waste space on your shelf.

The Good
Scratches that GBA isometric strategy RPG itch.

There are some differences to the FF Tactics (which I played the most). Like being able to heal downed members rather than doing nothing in-case they "died" before you were able to heal them, though that shouldn't be an issue since there aren't alternating movements based on stats. Rather, everyone on one side moves at the same time which does make the game easier.

I also like that you can set a default response to attacks for individual members without needing to learn it (defend, counter, or dodge). Also, you're allowed to use any combo of attack, move, or magic plus item as a free action which allows for a lot of flexibility.

While these things are different and do make it feel a little unique compared to FF Tactics, they do make it easier and more simple which some people will not like at all.

The Bad
Short game length and as previously mentioned, lacks overall depth.

One random issue I noticed is that if you attack a line of 2 enemies with a spear, if you target the one closest to you, it will only hit them whereas I'd expect it to hit both by default. So make sure to always target the further one.

There are 0 side missions and I was able to beat the game in about 12 hours including minimal grinding. It primarily goes from mission to story to mission. On certain occasions it takes you to a town. It is the only times you can buy items and weapons from a shop which really sucks that you aren't allowed to just waltz in anytime you want honestly.

The Bottom Line
It's okay and playable, it's not horrible but it could have been a lot better.

The Good
The Story and the Gameplay

The Bad
The epilogue is divide in 2 dlcs

The Bottom Line
One of the best videogames of the generation XBOX 360-PS3

The Good
Dozens of different types to beat up with various special skill. Multiple skill settings. Arcade mode. Crude humor.

The Bad
A lot of glitches (that do get repaired) but then that is part of the fun too.

The Bottom Line
My favorite game on the Atari VCS.

The Good
Completely addictive gameplay. This game starts out hard but you get progressively better the more you play. This is not true with some of the Recharged series games.

The Bad
Bad ergonomic choice for the action button functions.

The Bottom Line
Of the now over 100 games on the VCS, I rank this as one of top 4.

The Good
The best part is the leaderboards. This game was made for score chasing.

The Bad
It really doesn't capture what struck me about the original Berzerk. The taunting robots are very subdued and they didn't even bother to add new lines. Otto comes out very quickly early on as if the whole game was about him.

The Bottom Line
Still fun to run around and shoot robots.

The Good
The game starts with a fairly well done anime-style cinematic, within the options menu we have the possibility of selecting which level and what part of it we want to start the game. This gives us the chance to play the entire game without having to deal with its difficulty. Its main positive aspect is the inclusion of a mechanic in which after advancing the action and platform sections we will unlock new combat skills in 1v1 mode.

The Bad
Practically everything, the graphics section looks bad with basic sprites and overly generic scenarios, the animations are crude and with few frames which generates a rather unpleasant feeling of slowness. The sounds are scarce and of poor quality, the soundtrack, without being completely bad, has little to offer and falls into mediocrity. The worst thing about the game is its mechanics which are not polished at all, uncomfortable controls that take forever to respond, making combat simply a constant mashing of buttons without any type of strategy. The collision boxes work very poorly and in many cases it is extremely difficult to land a hit. Finally, the difficulty is excessively high, combined with the poor functioning of the controls and hitboxes, making this game an exasperating experience.

The Bottom Line
The game starts well with a well-done intro that reminds us of the great mecha animes of the time, unfortunately after the cinematic everything falls into disgrace. The graphics and sound section is bad, the controls have an excessively slow response, making the title practically unplayable. Although the idea of combining action and platform scenarios with one-on-one combat is interesting, the final result ends up disappointing in both scenarios. Another good wasted idea is to acquire skills as we progress in the adventure, without any type of indication of how to execute these commands it is indecipherable how to use the new skills obtained. I do not recommend this game at all, it is better to avoid it at all costs, without a doubt one of the worst games I have played in my entire life.

The Good
The graphics are fantastic, as is the sound design.

The story (character-driven) is well-written and each character is developed fabulously.

The Main Character is one of the best female leads I've seen in RPGs from that era (and even more in recent ones). If today's "strong women" tropes were a third of what she was, no one would be complaining.

The vibes between the main cast is great. By that I don't mean they're always buddy, but that the game doesn't drag any of its characters down the mud just so a different one can shine more like they did with Tidus (X) and Vaan (XII), for instance.

The Bad
Most importantly, this is a terrible PC port of the game, filled with performance issues and some weird bugs. Thankfully, this can all be fixed with a simple and free mod.

The battle speed could use a "speed up" function, especially in the late game.

They overuse a certain dialogue line about being enemies of a certain place to the point it was a bit annoying.

A certain character's VAs (her name starts with V) sound a bit too lewd. Especially for a character that looks that young.

The Bottom Line
Final Fantasy XIII is a fantastic game, and I truly do not understand the hate it gets thrown at it by some FF "fans".

I've been playing the franchise since the Super Nintendo era, and always had a very prejudiced and misinformed vision of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy due to other people's reviews (in the FF groups and whatnot).

This year, I gave it a try, and boy was I wrong. The characters grew on me so much that this game entered my top 5 FF games EASILY.

I think most of the hatred comes from the terrible PC port. That's truly the only thing I can think of (other FF games were more linear than this one, or had slower battles, or worse characters, worse gameplay and so on)...

Regardless, if you are reading this, go give Final Fantasy XIII a shot. Don't let some FF "fans" keep you from paying this fantastic game.

Oh, and if you're a Final Fantasy fan like me that has played the franchise from the start, you're not going to be disappointed. Especially if you liked FF X.

The Good
Improving on the already existing elements of the game.

Reigniting the flame with a bit updated visuals.

New Campaign

The Bad
Balancing issues. Doesn't stick to the original theme. Lackluster campaign. Do not understand why it doesn't get the same treatment as Age of Empires II for example.

The Bottom Line
A game that reignites the nostalgic feeling of Age of Mythology. Unfortunately that's all that it has going for it. On its own it does little to almost nothing or unfortunately even destroys certain elements of the original games: bad balancing.

The Good
old memory, eazy game and refreshing game

The Bad
not bad, is game 100% best game of my life

The Bottom Line
FINWICK BEST GAME FOREVER

The Good
.................................

The Bad
.......................................

The Bottom Line
same as pes 5 ...........................................................................

The Good
Baccarat online đã trở thành một trò cá cược phổ biến và được ưa chuộng trong cộng đồng người chơi sòng bạc trực tuyến. Trò chơi này thu hút người tham gia không chỉ bởi cách thức chơi đơn giản mà còn bởi cơ hội lớn để giành chiến thắng đầy hứa hẹn. Sự kết hợp giữa quyết định chiến lược và may mắn tạo nên một trải nghiệm chơi đầy lôi cuốn và hấp dẫn cho các người chơi.

The Bad
Baccarat online đã trở thành một trò cá cược phổ biến và được ưa chuộng trong cộng đồng người chơi sòng bạc trực tuyến. Trò chơi này thu hút người tham gia không chỉ bởi cách thức chơi đơn giản mà còn bởi cơ hội lớn để giành chiến thắng đầy hứa hẹn. Sự kết hợp giữa quyết định chiến lược và may mắn tạo nên một trải nghiệm chơi đầy lôi cuốn và hấp dẫn cho các người chơi.

The Bottom Line
Baccarat online đã trở thành một trò cá cược phổ biến và được ưa chuộng trong cộng đồng người chơi sòng bạc trực tuyến. Trò chơi này thu hút người tham gia không chỉ bởi cách thức chơi đơn giản mà còn bởi cơ hội lớn để giành chiến thắng đầy hứa hẹn. Sự kết hợp giữa quyết định chiến lược và may mắn tạo nên một trải nghiệm chơi đầy lôi cuốn và hấp dẫn cho các người chơi.

The Good
For a game released in 2000, it is impressive how more modern games fail to replicate realism and driving a car in real life. F355 is not just a game, but a simulator, and the fact that it includes only one car and few tracks (a very good selection of those, however) proves that the developers had a blind confidence in their product and, oh, boy, it was justified. First of all, the fact that there is only one view and you can not change is one of the best things ever in a video game, not only because the realism but because it also keeps you concentrated on the road without temptations of changing the view over and over again, just to see how cool the car looks, no, here, you get straight to the point of the game, which is driving.

The training mode is quite helpful. I manage to have decent results if I do not use it, however, they improve if I use it.

The replays, although not so breathtaking, comply with their duty, which is letting you see the race.

The driving data is always cool to look at to see how good you are, see your results and say "Yay that's me".

The Bad
It does not in anyway make the game boring, because it takes its time to be mastered enough to achieve podiums and, or wins, but I think that some more circuits will be nice, specially taking into account that Ferrari does indeed run, as in the game, its own single maker championship (or spec-series if you prefer) and they use much more circuits than those in the game.

The replays are, in my opinion, excessively abridged and have not options to change the replay view, and, while not being able to change the view is something good for the race, I would like to be able to do so during the replies.

The Bottom Line
I saw this game for the first time in one of the most prestigious and older car magazines in Spain (Automóvil), in 2001, and I was impressed. 22 years on, in 2023, I am still impressed. A must have for Dreamcast.

The Good
Much better than the Saturn version. Simple controls. Simple game gaming. Or, to sum it all up, simple fun. The game runs flawlessly, unlike the Mega Drive and the Saturn versions. Also to note is the fact of including three types of racing cars, that is, Formula One, Sport-Prototypes and last, but not least, stock car racing quite reminiscent to NASCAR. Addictive as hell. Before selling my Mega-Drive mini I had it there also, but I still keep playing it in my computer via emulators.

The Bad
It could have had more circuits considering what Sega was known to be able to do and that we saw later in Sega Rally, the crashes, as usual in this series, are usually exaggerated, and while it is funny to see the car doing barrel rolls after you crash, and even if I know it is an arcade game, I do not like the fact that when you crash with non-racing elements, that is, places on the road, protections, and this kind of stuff, well, that brings the car to an almost complete hall and that messes up your race.

The Bottom Line
Everything is almost perfect, and personally, again, but this has to be repeated to future and/or potential players, this 32X version is much better than the Saturn one. Saturn is a great platform and my favorite from the 32 bit era, but this game is better on the 32X.

The Good
The graphics were stunning, clearly the SVP made its job and allowed Mega Drive to exit the market in style. Polygonal graphics do look better in Sega than in Nintendo. Nintendo's Super FX may have given less pixelated results and therefore graphically superior. But Sega's VR for the Mega Drive clearly makes better use of the big S reply to Nintendo, the already mentioned SVP. The game runs smoothly for what the Mega Drive was capable of.

The Bad
Even though the company excelled itself with this title, we're talking 1994 here and therefore, the machine was squeezed through its limit, which therefore makes its years to be felt, rendering the game at a less fast-paced rhythm than what I am used to when it comes to racing games from Sega. Therefore, the bad point would be a lack of speed sensation.

The Bottom Line
Last, but not least, do not know who was the genius, however, that decided to sell this cartridge at $100, keeping in mind that the salaries back then were not like they are now.

The Good
pretty unique physics for a game released in 1958 i guess, the trails that follow the ball around are also cool i guess

The Bad
very boring in design, not much to latch onto other than pressing the serve button

The Bottom Line
Overrall Decent for the time

The Good
the fast paced shooter, close combat and great story

The Bad
Nothing in mind, it's a old game so it's limited to what it can do at the time.

The Bottom Line
You gotta get the emulator for PS2 and play this game, brings childhood memories alive.

The Good
It's stay true to the source material.

The Bad
Not that many things to do.

The Bottom Line
Overall okay experience

The Good
The game is so beautiful, the audio, the banshee, the immersion with Pandora. Voice acting is top notch.

The Bad
NPCs are a too generic and helicopters don't look great when you shoot them down. I want to see debris burning on the ground. NPCs can find you too easily. It makes it so difficult sneaking around. I wish we could customize the na'vis more, bigger Teedees and etc.

The Bottom Line
One of the most beautiful graphics I have ever seen in a game and a fantastic flying experience. A must for Avatar fans.

The Good
c;ean and working UI (user interface. things are plaaced where expected and intuitive. the ai's are we;; designed and challenging.

The Bad
some thing are only understood after readubg thefreakin manual! so grab it and read it. the ais can sometimes stomp on you, there is no easy way to dumb down the ai's.

The Bottom Line
overall a good/great game if you like the rts game genre.

The Good
I really want to give this game the credit that i think it deserves in being somewhat ahead of its time.

Keep in mind this game came out only about 1 year after DOOM released and i have to commend the Developers for trying to make a Third Person Shooter with cover mechanics and a completely original Indie Grunge Soundtrack (have to say, whatever you think of the quality of the music, it is definitely the most "1994" soundtrack ever for a game), all of that is very ambitious for the time, and of course i am not saying it's THE FIRST or even a good early example of a Third Person Shooter but they did try and they even put it out on a console! And i want to give them that.

The Cover art is quite nice in representing the idea of the game, and while i dont think any of the levels are really "good" Level 2 of Marine did surprise me with having human? (at least human-like) enemies with some nice cover shooting level design. It felt more like this game where i was a Rockstar in the 2050's shootin' shit up! It wasnt that good but it did surprise me. Only other thing is the Haunted House stage uses snowy fog as a way to mask the poor draw distance (a-la Silent Hill) but the Haunted House is no silent hill... as we will get into shortly with the many overweighing negatives.

The Bad
Let me be perfectly honest, i am not all that antiquated with older Shooter controls, first time i went in i tried WASD before remembering this was before the days of games like Quake, but really i was confused on how to shoot without the manual, which i didnt have as i played this game online, i could get around the anti-piracy screen thanks to a commenter and i found some of the controls VIA a blogger called "Super Adventures in Gaming" but aside from Tab being the way you can use some items, i couldn't pull up the map. Controls are basically the arrow keys to move, which this game uses tank controls, which to be fair were quite common during the 5th and early 6th generation of Third Person games so its not unusual to expect that, but the game feels quite sluggish making movement less intuitive than other 3rd Person games from the 90's, another problem is the strafe controls, instead of using the left and right arrow keys or holding down, lets say "Left Shift" to enable strafing with the left and right arrow keys. You have to use the comma and period keys to strafe left and right respectively, which isn't exactly comfortable.

But what about the "Shooter" part in "Third Person Shooter"? how do you shoot? Well you hold down the space bar and then your guy crouches to shoot, you can at the very least turn while he does this but its not exactly the best in more fast paced levels, which mainly seemed to be in the Haunted House and Marine stages. But before we get into the levels (at least the ones i played) i should mention that not only is there no mouse support but also no visible crosshair, so you just gotta shoot and hope for the best, luckily there doesn't seem to be an ammo mechanic so you can just blast away til you get it. Alright, with the control talk out of the way we can talk about the levels

There are as previously stated three individual Stages/Worlds (whatever you want to call them) in the form of: Mars, Haunted House and Marine. I'm thinking that the other 2 stages were put in as two extra harder stages for replay value, or maybe Mars tired me out that i thought the other two stages were harder but basically Mars is the default stage, you can select the other 2 but by default this is the stage you are likely to play first and its obviously there because of DOOM. So starting out you are put into the first level and you'd better know the controls! (to be fair without the internet you would need the manual to get past the crack protection screen) Or else you're gonna be dead quick! The enemies here are Spiders, Bats, Giant Spiders and Robots with turrets. Now i had to go to wikipedia to see a summary of the story so apparently you're a rock star who shoots up shit in VR in the year 2055 and the reason this matters is Why are the enemies in VR Mars random animals from earth? The Robots i understand but really? C'mon! At the VERY LEAST could they be Robot Bats? Cyborg Spiders? Oh well! So you akwardly shoot these formidable foes (if you can see them that is, as your draw distance is about 5 feet) and you wander around the levels shooting up checkered balls for power ups and items (including my favorite, the explosion one where you press tab to explode very nearby enemies in the area) until you find a key and then reach the exit, all while that "Original 1994 Indie Grunge Soundtrack" plays in the background, so how is that soundtrack?

Well you can find the band's (Thai Dyed Suicide) songs from this game on youtube and as i've said before the best way to describe the type of music in the game is if you tried to make the most "1994" kind of music ever. But while the band isnt completely terrible, i feel like one of the developers brought in their little brother's high school rock band in to write some songs for the game. (At least on the title track, which is my favorite) the lead singer is doing his best Billie Joe Armstrong impression whilst the band stays in sync together for 98% of the song, honestly i wouldn't be surprised if the singer had braces or something. Now i did quite like some of the songs but mainly due to the whole datedness factor. Just think if a bunch of kids from 1994 listened to a bunch of Green Day, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Helmet and just decided to practice and write some songs in about a month or so. Charming but not good.

by about level 5 or so of Mars i was getting tired of the game, so eventually i stopped and tried Haunted House. How is Haunted House? Well i did like the atmosphere more than Mars, it certainly is more original than Mars! Plus you start outside the mansion in the snow which honestly helps the quite poor draw distance feel more atmospheric, so now the enemies in the first level of Haunted House are giant snowballs, a corvid (probably a raven or a crow) and Frosty from Clay Fighter... Again why these choices? Why are giant snowballs trying to kill me? And Corvids??? I know Crows and Ravens are extremely intelligent birds who can hold insane grudges against people but what did my character do to them? And really? Evil snowmen? No Robofrosty? C'mon why set this game in the 2050's if there isnt any cool Futuristic enemies? But after level one you enter a maze where there are more snowballs trying to kill you and some dude on a motorcycle. A motorcycle in the snow? Eh we'll let that slide, that is more believable in 2050's VR than Evil Snowballs... But those damn snowballs, you can shoot them and they'll be killed in 1 hit but compared to how slow your character is, they just keep coming at a rapid pace that i just kind of got tired and didnt bother finishing the level.

And now the final stage, Marine starts out on a beach full of indestructible turrets, seagulls and crabs! At least the turrets seem appropriate for a futuristic VR game... except they look like they're from WWII or something, and you need to get past two in a corner to get the key to level 2, but wait a second. If the turrets cant be shot down then how do you get past them? Simple! At least i THINK it's simple! because i used my beloved explosion powerup randomly and then the turrets stopped firing, i remember beforehand i saw a similarly colored button on a pole thingy next to a few turrets so my guess is you have to destroy that. (whilst avoiding the turret's gunfire and the surprisingly dense ammount of Seagulls and Crabs, i swear i've seen like 8 crabs and 3 seagulls on screen at once.) so then i made it to Level 2, remember when i praised Level 2 of marine? Well i never said it was a good level, it was just the one i liked most in the game, basically after you get the key in level 1, you open this latch to go inside this secret base thing full of little RC robot enemies, guys with guns and SNAKES... because of course this virtual reality base in 2055 has a snake infestation! But notice how they seem to be the only random animal enemies i've seen? thats why level 2 is most memorable... It feels like something... it feels like a concept of what third person shooter games could be, it's still crap and very poorly aged but taking cover whilst dodging gunfire in hallways, slowly advancing til i can make those guys eat lead is honestly promising, but still that promise wasn't delivered with anything all that fun, and so after a bit of that i had to stop to write my review.

The Bottom Line
Virtuoso is terrible, its a dated, poorly controlled, early-to-mid 90's time capsule of a Doom Clone that fails at capturing what made doom fun in the first place. But i wouldn't be lying if i didnt say some aspects of this game impressed me, by no means do any Third Person Action games like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, MDK, etc have to owe a single ounce of Credit to this thankfully forgotten mess of a game. But i can't help but to give Virtuoso a slight glance for trying to do third person shooting, without basically everything that made a third person action game let alone a shooter good in the first place. God Speed Virtuoso... (or i guess in virtuoso's case, "Tank Control Turning Speed"...)

The Good
The guns are varied and satisfying, the graphics look really good.

The Bad
Serious Sam feels like something a ten-year-old would make right after downloading a Quake level editor. It consists of simplistic, very linear levels and almost constantly throws wave after wave of enemies at the player without any design concept or actual sense of progression. Even though some enemies are actually interesting to fight when they're first introduced, they become utterly tedious as you fight them again and again in almost identical circumstances. The entire experience becomes simply tiring already in its first half.

Croteam probably meant to create something that would reject the more complex gameplay mechanics of newer action games at the turn of the century and return to the '90s classics. The thing is, games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, and Unreal are not just pure mindless violence. Intricate level design is an essential part of their identity, absolutely crucial to how engaging they are - something the Serious Sam developers seem to have completely forgotten.

The Bottom Line
Serious Sam is a tiring and tedious FPS focused on endless enemy spam. 3/10 (officially Worse Than Daikatana)

The Good
The Moon Sliver is the type of game that grows on you. It may not seem like much at the very beginning, but as you gradually immerse yourself in what it has to offer, its atmosphere and storytelling grow stronger, finally leaving you with an experience that will probably stay with you for a while.

The thing that stands out the most about The Moon Sliver is the structure and mechanics of its storytelling. It doesn't rely on reading exposition in scattered notes or on lengthy monologues. Instead, it provides third-person narration appearing on the screen depending on where your character stands, which is a clever way to make the storytelling more natural and immersive. The execution of this idea may be a little awkward at times, as some "hitboxes" for each piece of narration are too big or too small, but the overall outcome is still really effective.

While The Moon Sliver deals with a similar overall theme as Szymański's earlier indie hit Fingerbones - the way a very small group of people would deal with a vaguely post-apocalyptic world - the approach is very different. Where Fingerbones went for shock value, The Moon Sliver genuinely explores its characters. Where Fingerbones failed at mixing deliberate understatements and direct attempts at disgusting the player, The Moon Sliver slowly but surely immerses you in mystery. It's delicate, but not bland.

Another thing The Moon Sliver gets right is the atmosphere. The island where the events take place feels hopeless, lonely and desolate from the get go - and as the story progresses and dusk approaches, it becomes genuinely unnerving. Towards the end of the game, there is also a short but intense maze-like sequence which effectively builds tension with dark, unwelcoming corridors and a vague yet constantly present sense of danger.

The Bad
Apart from minor technical issues related to how and where the text displays, The Moon Sliver's biggest problem is that its slow burn might just prove too slow relative to its short length. There's not that much happening in the game and fully appreciating its storytelling and atmosphere might take some players two separate playthroughs even though the story progression is completely linear.

The Bottom Line
The Moon Sliver is a subtle game with a novel approach to story presentation, a lonely and unnerving atmosphere, and an interesting, mysterious narrative. 7/10

The Good
Unwelcoming, desolate worlds? Check. Surreal, uncanny landscapes? Check. Monochromatic palettes? Check. Two people stuck with each other against their will, isolated from mankind? Check. Remains of a cult-like community worshipping the moon? Weirdly specific, but check. Narrative-oriented exploration with minimal gameplay? Check. If you've played Pit, Fingerbones, The Empty World, and The Moon Sliver, you will find The Music Machine very familiar. It feels a bit like a "best of" compilation, borrowing narrative themes and presentation concepts from other early David Szymański games, except this time with a more noticeable gimmick. The game's colour palettes are entirely monochromatic and each location has a specific tint, which creates a highly unique, fascinating aesthetic. The visual style is definitely The Music Machine's main selling point.

The Bad
Unfortunately, other aspects of the game aren't quite as strong. The Penumbra-esque concept of two different entities sharing a mind and having silent conversations throughout the story is pretty interesting, but isn't really used as well as it could have been. The conversations between Haley and Quintin are mostly limited to one fact: Quintin wants Haley to suffer and die because of something that happened in their past. We only get very minor glimpses of their personalities, which in turn limits the character development. Their reactions to the bizarre locations they explore are rather basic. There's simply not much for the player to hold on to and connect with.

The worldbuilding feels underdeveloped as well. The pieces of information you get about locations your travel through and what happened in them before are fragmentized and purposefully vague. The developer probably meant to make the player use their imagination more, but with how little we know about both the characters and the world, The Music Machine just feels empty and underwhelming. Especially if you've played The Moon Sliver, as the link between between those two games is established, yet not properly explored at all.

One thing the worldbuilding in The Music Machine does get right, though, is the way some of the locations are designed. They have this uncanny air of some entity trying to recreate the human world without actually understanding it. This feeling is directly connected to one point towards the end of the story, which shows the game's world design can be genuinely smart and well-thought-out.

The Bottom Line
The Music Machine is a beautiful game with an unique, fascinating aesthetic, but it fails to properly explore its themes and concepts. 5/10

The Good
Top Simulation, zugängliches Spielprinzip, Original Vereins- und Spielernamen, Mordsspaß im Mehrtspielermodus

The Bad
wenig Optimierungen gegenüber der shareware Vorlage KICKER; Grafische Darstellung der Spielszenen unterdurchschnittlich

The Bottom Line
mehr Infos gibt es auf der wohl einzigen Fanpage auf https://kicker.weigand.xyz

The Good
I missed this back in the day because I didn't find the original Gunship very engaging, and now I completely regret it. I played it for the first time in 2022, and was blown away by the variety, the gameplay, the immersion, basically every dang thing. This game has so much content, so many ways to play, it's a marvel.

Like a lot of classic Microprose sims of this era, you're able to tweak the difficulty on a per-mission basis, meaning you can make the game as easy or challenging as you want. While the initial gameplay in a solo helicopter is great, it's when you get promoted and can command multiple helicopters that the game really...ahem...takes off.

Your pilots get promoted, just as you do, and their skills increase, just as yours do, so you'll want to take VERY special care of them. This makes the game go from a solo helicopter sim to something of an RPG/strategy game hybrid, as you're managing your fellow pilots and moving them around the (amazing) map interface in order to complete their objectives.

Marry this with a mix of single players and early dynamic campaigns, all of which are randomized in a variety of theaters, such as Europe, the Philippines and even Antarctica, and you can play this for literally years.

I've played a lot of helicopter sims, and there are many I've loved, I think this might've edged out Hind as my favorite. I mean the variety of helicopters ALONE add to the variety. Apaches, Comanches, scouts and the venerable Blackhawk allow you to pick the best machine for the job (if it's available).

There's just so much to love about this game, I can't recommend it enough if you're into helicopters.

The Bad
Being a game from 1991, the graphics and audio aren't super great, but if you have a MIDI unit, that helps.

The Bottom Line
I can't gush enough about this amazing game. This is my first review on Mobygames, and I felt compelled to write this one because I just love the game so much. Track down a copy of the CD-ROM version, which has all the campaigns, as well as the wonderful strategy guide, and you'll be set for a long, long time.

The Good
It has a lot of content and activities that most mobile games at the time didn't have.

The Bad
The demo leaves you wanting more. So the full game is the best way to go

The Bottom Line
Buy the game and play it you won't go wrong especially if you love Hip Hop

The Good
- Career is nice
- The art is good, menus, music, overall athmosphere
- Damage and destructable road objects
- Locations are nicely done, with traffic and police
- Freeroam is present in test car, chase and checkpoint race

The Bad
- Collisions are bad
- Graphics are more spritey
- 60% of the tracks are not accessible in quick race
- The locations are not fully opened for free roam

The Bottom Line
The more you play it, the less you pay attention to it's issues. It is obvious that the devs got some creative freedom, and it tells. Also they lacked some time to fix and fulfill everything needed, but still the game is very good and memorable.