Category: Written Reviews

Partly based on the early 1982 CGI film from Walt Disney Pictures, Tron: Deadly Discs places you in control of the titular hero Tron who must use his Deadly Disc to defeat the various enemies who appear on-screen, all the while avoiding their own brand of Deadly Discs. Now, my understanding is that this Atari 2600 game is basically a stripped-down version of the game that appeared on the Intellivision system, but since I’ve never touched an Intellivision in my life (the PS2 compilation disc doesn’t count), I can’t really make comparisons.

What I can tell you is that despite its bland appearance, this is actually a fun game that works rather well given the simple controls and play mechanics. Obviously, your main goal is to defeat your enemies by killing them with your Deadly Disc. You aim your disc by holding the joystick in the direction you wish to shoot and press the fire button. And this actually works well; it’s simple and to the point.

When you clear a wave of enemies, more will appear – each wave being much quicker and cunning than before. Although you have only one life per game, you can take five hits before being destroyed and bringing the current game to a close, but clearing the current wave without taking a hit before any more enemies respawn will restore a bit of your power. Likewise, you can use the portals on the side of the playfield to teleport to the other side, closing off the portals you travel through. It makes for interesting attack strategies and could either help or impede your progress against your many opponents.

While the graphics for Tron: Deadly Discs is bland and boring to look at, the game’s sound effects are actually done rather well and do a good job of enhancing the overall mood of the game. Quite possibly the best part is that there is no music to torture either the player or those watching the gameplay. The 2600 had a few games with decent music, but the majority of those with musical pieces had terrible music. So it’s nice that Deadly Discs avoided that snafu and went the silent route outside of the final death wail, which sounds appropriate to say the least.

Whether or not you are a fan of the Tron film, Deadly Discs is certainly a great game that is actually pretty fun to play and a good challenge to be had for those looking for one. What it lacks in appearances, it makes up for in great gameplay, appropriately programmed sound effects, and pure fun. Recommended.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 5/10 (single-color objects, rather bland appearance)
Sound: 8/10 (some decent sound effects on the 2600, no music a big plus)
Gameplay: 9/10 (simple premise, controls great)
Challenge: 7/10 (moderate difficulty based on reflexes)
Replay Value: 6/10 (bland visuals might turn off some, but still fun)

OVERALL: 7/10

So you’ve heard of the Atari 7800, right? The console that never made it anywhere because people were too busy playing Nintendo? The console with a small library of 7800 games that was also compatible with a large number of 2600 games?

Yeah, that’s the one.

Ever hear of this game called Ninja Golf? The game where you assume a role of a ninja playing golf, but instead of a golf cart, you have to run through hordes of enemy ninjas, sharks, birds, and other dangerous creatures? A title considered by many game players to be one of the Atari 7800’s finest games ever made?

What?! You’ve never heard of Ninja Golf? Have you no honor? Do you not realize your dishonorable conduct by acknowledging your ignorance of this ancient sport?

Sit then and listen, as I bestow upon the secrets of Ninja Golf and why you should play it. For it may be the only way to restore the honor you never had…

Continue reading “GameFAQs Review – Ninja Golf (Atari 7800)”

Everybody’s played Pac-Man. Everybody knows Pac-Man. Everybody’s aware of Pac-Man. Pac-Man is everywhere, man. Even on the Neo-Geo Pocket Color. And I’ll be honest; the fact that Pac-Man was available on an SNK-developed system surprised me to say the least, since I don’t recall the standard Neo-Geo console having that many (if any) third-party games. And while that stance may have lightened up over the NGPC (with a Sonic The Hedgehog game having been released on the system as well), it was a matter of too little, too late for the system since SNK soon went into bankruptcy… but I’m sidetracking here. Let’s talk about the game.

The first thing that is immediately noticeable about the NGPC version of Pac-Man is that you can choose to play a full-sized version (which scrolls the screen) or a FULL VIEW version (which fits the maze onto the screen) of the game. In all the versions of Pac-Man on portable systems I’ve played prior to this release, I don’t recall such a feature existing as you would just play the full-sized version with scrolling. Regardless, it’s a nice option to have for those who want to see the full maze as was intended.

The next thing you’ll notice is that just about everything you’ve come to love about the original Pac-Man arcade game has been splendidly ported over to this portable format. The sound and graphical quality is up to par with the NES version of the game, which itself was a very solid port of Pac-Man. Nothing seems to have been dropped or replaced during the conversion and while there is no multiplayer capability, it’s not much of a major loss. No, they did a really nice job with this NGPC port… I have no real critiques about it. It’s very well done.

If anything, my sole complaint with this version of Pac-Man is that I have to use the NGPC’s control stick to guide Pac-Man through the game. Don’t get me wrong; I like the control stick when in use for games such as King of Fighters or Samurai Shodown, but it really doesn’t do Pac-Man justice. Oftentimes, the response time is somewhat delayed when I want to change directions and it’s real easy for your thumb to slip and cause you to change direction unintentionally… and this usually happens result in me colliding with a nearby ghost and losing a life. The stick tends to get slippery at times, but I suppose this is a minor complaint.

Overall, Pac-Man on the NGPC is a solid port of an arcade game that has seen its share of excellent ports as well as not-so-excellent ports. If you have a NGPC hanging around and don’t have this game, then it’s definitely worth a purchase even if you have any of the eleventy-million ports out there. For those who don’t have a NGPC, they used to sell them with six games for a few bucks. I suggest tracking down the bundle if possible.

As far as Pac-Man goes, it’s a great port. Recommended.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 9/10 (looks great in full-screen mode, looks near arcade-perfect in full-sized mode)
Sound: 9/10 (all the classic sounds nicely converted and preserve)
Gameplay: 7/10 (solid conversion of the arcade game hampered by NGPC’s control stick)
Challenge: 8/10 (easy at first, but gets harder quickly – a shame there’s only one maze)
Replay Value: 7/10 (Pac-Man is great fun)

OVERALL: 8/10

This is something of a quickie for a game that probably suits the more casual player than the usual gaming crowd. In fact, I have to say that this was my first DS game (mostly because it was the pack-in game at the time) and for the most part, I actually got a bit of gameplay out of it every day even when I started getting other games for the system. This is actually quite surprising since I’m not the kind of person who would normally play these kinds of games… although I think Brain Age 2 has one of the better Sudoku games out there, as it’s easy to get into and the game will even help you out with some hints to determine whether you’re doing good or not.

Despite the title, Brain Age 2 isn’t necessarily a sequel to Brain Age, but rather an updated version of the game, with revamped mini-games along with some new ones, a new set of Sudoku puzzles, and the hidden Virus Buster game, which is essentially Dr. Mario with a stylus. All of these games, for the most part, are pretty fun activities that make good use of the stylus and microphone features on the DS. However, there are times when recognition is rather wonky, as I would clearly draw a cross sign (multiplication) and somehow get a plus sign. Also, I’ve heard that microphone recognition is fairly hit-or-miss, but I never really used those.

Being that the game comprises simple skill tests and math problems, the graphic and sound capabilities of Brain Age 2 are minimal, with occasional lounge music and sound effects playing every so often during intermissions and menus. The graphical representation of the good doctor – the floating head on the top screen of your DS – is nicely rendered, but still a little rough. It seems that no improvements have been made from the original Brain Age to enhance or smooth out the polygon edges of the doctor. It’s not a major issue, but it does give the game more of a rehashed feel than some would care for. Of course, if you’ve never played the original Brain Age (as was the case with me until recently), then this shouldn’t be an issue for you.

The only main issue I have with this game is its longevity. While Brain Age 2 expects you to play with it for the entirety of a calendar year (or so it seems), chances are you’ll be abandoning it within the span of a couple months, as the offering of games are short and limited in their play value. Yes, there are hard modes that can be unlocked, but these don’t help to enhance the replay value of the game. Yet what makes Brain Age 2 interesting is its “conscious” state – it’ll react accordingly when you’ve popped in the game several days in a row or after a several-month-long break. It’s a rather interesting (and creepy) feature that gives the game some charm. Too bad there’s not much else to keep you around.

For those who enjoyed the original Brain Age release or other similar titles, then Brain Age 2 should serve as a nice addition to your collection, as it’s more of the same you’ve come to expect from Brain Age and perform a little more. Fans of Sudoku or Sudoku-based video games will also enjoy the game’s 100+ puzzles included in the game. For the more “hardcore” crowd, though, I can only suggest you give it a shot to see if it suits your interests.

Either way, your brain will thank you for this game… but only for a couple months.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 5/10 (pretty minimal – although the head looks quite nice even if rough)
Sound: 8/10 (also minimal – crisp, clear, unannoying)
Gameplay: 8/10 (wide variety of activities, but sometimes stylus recognition is wonky – hidden Virus Buster is fun)
Challenge: 7/10 (a fair amount of challenge in the various skill tests – Sudoku is quite fun)
Replay Value: 4/10 (good enough for the casuals, but will last you a couple months at most)

Dragster… the epic drag-racing game that swept the nation upon its release on the Atari 2600. The most exciting brand of… oh, who am I kidding? This game is not very good, it’s not very long, and as a whole, the fun is virtually non-existent unless you’re three years old or drunk. Probably both.

The premise of Dragster is as follows; two dragsters race to see who reaches the other end of the screen. Planning on holding that button? Don’t; you’ll blow your engine that way. You’ll have to tap your button to keep the car moving while keeping the engine from overheating. It’s actually pretty inventive gameplay and it makes for good times, but once you really start getting the hang of it, the game ends. And with the experienced gained from the first few playthroughs, future rounds of Dragster will likely last you less than ten seconds. You have a few modes here, but they do little to extent the play time or enjoyment of the game. You’re still racing across the screen; no variations, no extra tracks, nothing to keep this game from collecting dust on a shelf.

I guess that explains why the visual presentation and sound is below par even by Atari 2600 standards. This has to be one of the least visually-appealing games on the system, as the drag racing vehicles look more like the lower half of a black lawnmower than actual cars. When your engine blows, the car melts and that’s it. No exploding pixels, no flying blocks of debris, none of that. I would think that if I were going to buy a game that essentially had ten seconds of gameplay per game, I would expect the game to look good, even by Atari 2600 standards. Alas, this is not to be.

As for the sound effects, they’re mostly tolerable, but not much more than that. Even so, they’re not enough to save Dragster from being a colossal failure.

The game is readily available on the Activision Anthology that was released on PS2 many moons ago and that’s probably the best place for Dragster these days. For all of the many great games Activision had put out on the Atari 2600, this is clearly not one of their better efforts. Anyone looking for a good racer on the 2600 has more than enough options on the system that can be considered better than Dragster. Considering you’re not getting enough bang for your buck with Dragster, it’s definitely not worth the money. Avoid.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 2/10 (minimalist graphics)
Sound: 3/10 (tolerable, but not much more than that)
Gameplay: 4/10 (neat concept, doesn’t last long enough to be worthwhile)
Challenge: 3/10 (don’t blow that engine and you’ll be fine)
Replay Value: 1/10 (very little to keep you from playing better games)

Overall: 2/10

Anyone who has ever played Atari is remotely familiar with Asteroids, the line-based arcade that was so popular they need bigger coin boxes. As such, Asteroids became the latest in a long line of popular arcade games to be ported to a whole bunch of consoles, most notably the long-popular Atari 2600 VCS.

Being that the Atari 2600 is an underpowered machine by the time it became really, really popular, it would be impossible to bring the pure Asteroids arcade experience over to the woodgrain console. So rather than white outlines, the asteroids are now solid colors that vertically in a single direction. While this isn’t necessarily a huge game-breaker, it does make the game less fun and actually quite easy once you get the hang of it and learn the pattern of the asteroids. Of course, back when this was first released, it probably would be considered the best thing ever. Nowadays… not so much. I mean, it feels more like Asteroids Jr – nowhere near as developed as its bigger arcade brother.

Graphically speaking, it’s simple fair. Like I said, everything in the game are now solid objects as opposed to white outlines, which is nice because I prefer blasting solid objects over white outlines. However, there’s virtually no animation; asteroids move in place without ever rotating or anything and UFOs are single-frame affairs. The only semblance of animation is when you’re changing your fighter’s direction. Also, your score and lives display is displayed in such huge block numbers that it almost takes up the entire top of the screen. Good for people with poor vision, bad for people who are easily distracted by big numbers during an intense round of Asteroids.

On the plus side, the sound is fairly good and bares a nice rendition of the Asteroids “theme”. In all honesty, though, I think I find this to be a better iteration than on the 7800 version, which came after and did a better job of recreating the arcade experience. Controls seem to be responsive as well despite the lack of buttons on the 2600 joystick, so there’s really no complaints in that regards. The game is completely playable and that’s what counts.

In conclusion, Asteroids on the 2600 is a fairly good game for what it’s worth, but really pales in comparison to the many other iterations out there. Unless you have absolutely NO other console that bares a version of the game, it’s probably worth a purchase. Otherwise, there are better versions of Asteroids to be found and you needn’t waste your money on this one unless you’re an avid collector. It’s still a decent game, but not the best one out there.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 5/10 (colorful rocks, huge numbers, not lively enough)
Sound: 7/10 (simple background drone gets annoying, but sound is okay)
Gameplay: 7/10 (controls fine, but game not varied enough)
Challenge: 6/10 (not as frantic as arcade version, but alright)
Replay Value: 3/10 (quickly gets old after a couple rounds)

OVERALL: 6/10

Anyone who has ever played Atari is remotely familiar with Asteroids, the line-based arcade that was so popular they need bigger coin boxes. As such, Asteroids became the latest in a long line of popular arcade games to be ported to a whole bunch of consoles, most notably the long-popular Atari 2600 VCS and the under-appreciated Atari 7800 ProSystem, which is the version we’re covering today.

The 7800 version of Asteroids, developed in 1984 but released in 1987, retains the leisurely-yet-frantic gameplay mechanics of the arcade original (already a step up over the 2600 version) and takes it a step further by replacing the outlined space rocks of the arcade game (or the blobs of the 2600 version) with brand-new animated space rocks, complete with different colors and their own surface craters. While this doesn’t add to the gameplay at all, it’s an admittedly nice touch to the package and the new asteroids do animate rather smoothly.

The sound in this game does take a hit. While they really tried to make this game distinguishable from the 2600 version by adding a couple “alien-like” sound effects into the mix, the poor sound quality really fails to bring that otherworldly feel to the game. Unfortunately, this is a flaw with almost all 7800 games, which uses the sound processing of the 2600-based hardware.

Other than that, it’s your usual fare of Asteroids fun, where you guide your spaceship around and blast away at all the asteroids, with each hit splitting the bigger rocks into smaller ones (leaving behind small bits of debris with each hit – nice touch!) until they’re at the smallest and fastest. Clear the current wave of space rocks and a new set appears so that the fun never ends… until your timely demise. As before, the UFOs will appearances and attack you, but you can attack back for bonus points! For the most part, the controls are responsive and serviceable. You’ll probably jump into hyperspace by accident at times by pressing down, but other than that, the game’s fully playable even with the stock 7800 controller.

There’s also a difficulty select; a feature that is standard on most 7800 games, but a nice feature nonetheless. If a game is too hard for you on the default difficulty, bring it down a notch. No one will know.

Overall, Asteroids is a nice little rendition of an arcade classic and an extremely fun game that is easy to get into without much fuss. While the limited controls does hinder the game somewhat, it doesn’t ruin it and it’s not always an issue. If you enjoyed the Asteroids arcade game and own a 7800, then this is a no-brainer purchase. Recommended.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 8/10 (smooth animation of those asteroids, looks good too)
Sound: 6/10 (tolerable but not great – downside to all 7800 games)
Gameplay: 9/10 (superb gameplay, controls good but not perfect)
Challenge: 8/10 (includes skill select, moderately challenging)
Replay Value: 7/10 (good for quick fix, never gets old)

OVERALL: 8/10

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600 video computer system recreates exactly one scene from the movie it’s named after: the Battle of Hoth. In said battle, there were roughly three or four Imperial AT-AT walkers swatting down a bunch of snowspeeders defending the Rebel base. In the game, it’s one lone snowspeeder (with multiple lives) defending the Rebel base against an almost limitless supply of AT-AT walkers – apparently the Galactic Empire had a bigger budget in this universe. And unlike the movie, this speed has no harpoons or force powers in this game, but a single laser cannon of downing an AT-AT in roughly forty hits.

Exciting…

The Empire Strikes Back lacks any semblance of what people would consider sophisticated graphics. This is obviously understandable since we’re talking about the Atari 2600, but at the very least, you can make out the mountains in the background/foreground as well as the imperial walkers that magically change colors as you wear down its armor. And that gray thing you control is a fair approximation of a snowspeeder, so at the very least, the game has the details right if they’re not heavily detailed.

The sound is your usual offering of blips, beeps, and static noises that the Atari 2600 was known for, but on occasion, you’ll hear a fairly nice rendition of the Star Wars fanfare. Whenever you hear this play, you’ll be granted invincibility against the fearsome power of the AT-AT. Which means your chances of surviving a head-on assault against a walker are that much better…

…a good thing since a head-on assault is the stupidest thing you could pursue. Because while AT-ATs take roughly forty hits to die, you only take two or three. This means having to go for hit-and-run tactics quite often unless a weak point appears on the walker for you to exploit. This doesn’t happen often, but when it appears, all it takes is one well-aimed shot to take down the beast. Oh, so satisfying.

And then you move on to the next walker and repeat the whole process again. Once you’ve killed your third or fourth walker and begin to understand the mechanics and pattern of the game, the boredom starts to kick in and that’s when you go for a beer and get drunk to retain the feeling of fun and excitement when you’ve just obliterated your tenth AT-AT in a seemingly endless supply of them.

And that’s the thing. The game never ends; there’re no extra levels, and no other means of extending the game beyond this basic premise of slaying AT-ATs. The game ends three ways; when your last life is exhausted, when one of the walkers reach the rebel base, or when you decide to call it a day and shut the game off.

It seems like I’m harping on the game quite a bit in regards to its gameplay, but I actually enjoyed ESB. I found it to be a fun game. But that’s just me. While I have no problem shooting down AT-ATs for thirty minutes without end and find it to be an enjoyable activity, I do recognize that the overall monotony of the concept can turn a few gamers off. With that said, though, this is a solid addition to your Atari 2600 library and is one of the better Star Wars games on the console. There’s not much substance here to keep it from being a quick play, but play in moderation and you’ll be fine.

BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 7/10 (simple shapes resemble the vehicles they represent)
Sound: 7/10 (your usual 2600 sounds plus a nifty Star Wars fanfare)
Gameplay: 8/10 (solid controls, easy-to-understand, but gets old fairly fast)
Challenge: 5/10 (once you learn the patterns, it’s not too tough)
Replay Value: 2/10 (good for quick plays and nothing more)

OVERALL: 7/10

Mortal Kombat was a popular arcade game that eventually got some home ports. The Super Nintendo version was the best-looking one, but is generally considered to be a subpar port due to some altered gameplay and the lack of the blood and violence that made the original arcade game famous. The Genesis version was the low-resolution, tinny-sounding version that included the gore as a hidden feature and ended up selling more than the SNES version. And then there were the handheld versions for Game Boy and Game Gear… the less said about those two, the better.

And so, some time later, Acclaim released a version of Mortal Kombat for the Sega CD system. Advertised as being Bigger, Better, Louder, and Meaner, the Sega CD version promised to have an arcade-quality soundtrack, solid graphics, and the bloody action you’d expect from a Mortal Kombat game. Did it deliver? Well…

Continue reading “GameFAQs Review – Mortal Kombat (Sega CD)”