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Well, the summer here in the good ol' U.S. is almost at an end. As I type this a cool breeze is drifting in through my dining room window for the first time in months, and while it has not officially ended (per se), summer knows that it's annual time is drawing to a close. While there may be more high temperature days left (at least in Michigan), it is assured that the nights will be cool and crisp.
I've turned 35. I own a house, lease a car, and have a full-time job. I'm married to a beautiful woman and have two smart and adorable children (one who is demanding cheese and "pink" milk at my leg now). I am still a gamer. Those four sentences felt good to write together. I am a gamer. Not was, but am. This morning I fired up, much to my distaste, Total Recall on NES. Fifteen minutes later I rode down a bunch of fools on my warhorse wielding a flanged mace in Mount & Blade on PC. I am a gamer.
Originally I wrote a short article after I finished Ironsword, but neglected to post it. This procrastination bit me in the behind, as I lost the photos when my phone took a crap on me last week. Disappointing yes, but at least I finished it. I will be deleting the original article, but for the record I did enjoy Ironsword, but I ended up missing the Spectrum-colored ( or coloured, if you please) mess with minimalistic backgrounds that was the first game. C'est la vie.
With that I now call a close to my Summer Game Challenge. While it was a failure in the end I feel that I accomplished more in finishing NES games than I have done in years. I plan on finishing Ultimate Stuntman this weekend (I've pre-played this one and am calling it an early finish), but the others I'll call a draw for now. I think next time I'll try for more variety instead of picking just a few games from two different platforms.
On another note, I've almost finished revamping my game room. While it still lacks the aesthetics of many of yours, it does have quite a more functionality than it did previously. I now have a "main" gaming area with a couch (another "Basement Find") and "SD" consoles hooked up to a 40" CRT, and a "gaiden" gaming area for "HD" consoles (Dreamcast, GC, and original Xbox) hooked up to a fairly powerful 22" LCD monitor. I still need to consolidate the wiring into something more reasonable (utilizing my college-trained wiring skillz), but everything is functional.
Adieu, everyone. I plan on putting something together for a very early Halloween, but I won't call it until it happens, I think.
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Ironsword
Dr. Chaos
Total Recall
Ultimate Stuntman
Tombs and Treasures
Swords and Serpents
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Driver: San Francisco
When I first started this summer challenge I came had two simple goals:
1) Clear out my backlog
2) Play owned games I haven't touched before
The really expected to not have much fun with this. See, I'm a very chaotic person by nature, and I usually don't equate "fun-time" with structure. Structure is for the world of Information Assurance and Network Security, not free gaming time. With that in mind:
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Simply put, I love this game. Of all the NES games I've played in my life, very few have elicited a response that I would call "joyous." I've enjoyed many of them, but I only return to a select few. From this moment on, Conquest of the Crystal Palace (CCP) will be added to this list, right next to Clash at Demonhead, Final Fantasy, and Super Mario Bros. 3.
A quick look tells me that only about 5% of us actually own the game. I wonder just how many have played it...
At a glance CCP doesn't stand out too much. From screenshots and advertising videos one can see that it is a action/platformer in the vein of - well many other NES games. The hero has a sword and a companion dog. Shades of Mega Man? Not really. The difference, as they say, is in the details. Like many successful NES games, action is mixed up just enough to make it interesting. Each level offers some sort of time-limited weapon drop and generally (but not always) some sort of healing item. These will drop from certain enemies only, making it just enough predictable. Along with that, every enemy drops varying amounts of money that can be used to buy healing items and magic-style weapons (all time-limited) from Kim, a pink-clothed anime character. Bosses are, for the most part, creative, but not overly so, and even in some of the stages falling down a pit will send you to the last "checkpoint" instead of killing you. Also, unlimited continues. It was almost as if the creators intentionally made a game that most NES gamers of the NES era could pick up, play, and conquer. In fact, the game difficulty only ramped up during one portion of the game: the maze-like section before the final boss.
Humor (be it intentional or otherwise) is present in small doses, from the faux news reports that Kim does to the goofy Russian dance the main character does after a boss fight. But there are also touches of horror. Stage 3 sees the hero in a very horrible hell-like place, where the background, made up of grotesque arms and faces, constantly writhes and screams silently in pain. Although any horror at this is tempered by the strange frog-creatures that spin around of what appear to be stripper poles. Yep.
Overall this was quite nice of an experience, and one that I would recommend to anyone looking for an excellent action/platformer to beat in a few days. So, here it is (my LCD monitor is annoyingly reflective):
[img width=700 height=393]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/218/20120727185937446.jpg[/img]
Tip time. Yay!
- Don't forget you have a dog companion! You can select him (and the other items) by holding down and pressing "A". Just keep in mind that he has a finite amount of energy and if "killed" you will need to buy energy items for him at Kim's store.
- Having trouble with the some of the bosses? I played using my Advantage the second time through using Turbo. Made a world of difference. First game in a while I played through in one sitting (about an hour).
- There is a cheat available. Don't use it. Not that I have anything against that, but the game is easy enough without cheats.
- After you finish the game it starts you over in an "hard mode." Shades of Ghosts and Goblins? Who knows.
Next I think I'll tackle Ironsword. Despite the criticism I was a huge fan of the first Wizards and Warriors. Although Rare ditched the "super-contrast' color scheme in Ironsword and adopted Fabio as their mascot, I'm still curious. About the game, not Fabio.
For this entry
Conquest of the Crystal Palace
Ironsword
Dr. Chaos
Total Recall
Ultimate Stuntman
Tombs and Treasures
Swords and Serpents
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Driver: San Francisco
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This is bombatomba's Blog.
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So I'm an odd ball. So I am usually the last to post on a blog/forum. So I only post about weird games on weird platforms. So I have a strange relationship with commas and parenthesis. So what? Hey, at least you don't have to car pool with me to work, right? So have a heart, eat a blueberry, and don't forget to drop the empties in the box on the way out. I get deposit on those. |
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