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[img width=550 height=541]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-061/ms/U-061-S-01770-A.jpg[/img]
The original Playstation is one of the most important video game consoles in the history of electronics. Many changes to the way video game development was conducted took place during these years. While big budget 3D blockbusters were marketed to the sky and back, some other companies realized they could target lower price points. Before the Playstation, most lower priced games were re-releases of older, successful games, but the cheaper manufacturing and shipping costs of CDs and jewel cases persuaded some companies to just develop and release lower priced games, which would come to be known as a budget title. The PC gaming market had been doing this since its inception, but consoles could finally get in on the small priced release train. Lower the scope of the game, don't add too many features, and focus like a laser on what will be in the game, and these developers and publishers could release a rather competent game for $20. BursTrick Wake Boarding!! is one such game.
Continue reading BursTrick Wake Boarding!!
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.imgur.com/KG1RfJP.jpg[/img]
Every once in a while, a title comes along and really surprises you...really makes you want to play it start to finish. Golf Story on the Nintendo Switch somehow became one of those games. Golf Story is a golf/RPG hybrid game done in a pixel art style, but that barely starts to describe the adventure you are about to go on.
Continue reading Golf Story
[img width=700 height=392]http://www.rbigame.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/WrightSwing_FINAL3.jpg[/img]
Summer is a great time to get outside and play some sports. It's also a good time to stay inside and play some sports video games instead. For the past two years, I've taken the Summer as a queue to take a look at the landscape of sports games available on PC. In fact, I'm now going to call it a tradition around here. As a note, these outlines are not meant to be a thorough list of all sports games released in the year, but rather more of a guide to let you know about the best current options you can play for each sport. I've also intentionally left out the management sims like Out Of The Park Baseball, as those are really their own sort of sub-sub-genre. The 2016 edition of our survey actually has some pretty interesting entries that weren't around last year. But don't get your hopes up... there's still no Madden, and hockey and volleyball games are still nowhere to be found.
Continue reading The State Of PC Sports Games - 2016
[img width=550 height=494]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/J-060/bf/J-060-S-00195-A.jpg[/img]
Normally when I do a review I beat the game and then go about reviewing my experience with it. With RPGs it makes sense, since I'm investing at least two dozen hours into the recent ones I've been playing. Sega Rally Championship can be beaten in less than ten minutes. Its an arcade checkpoint racing game, one of the best of them in fact. I remember in the mid to late 90's when arcades died down to the point where it was basically nothing but these checkpoint racers, fighting games, and NFL Blitz. That was about it in my hometown, and by that time we had already lost one of the two arcades here.
I never did play Sega Rally Championship in the arcades, I did play a ton of Hydro Thunder. In terms of Sega I played more Daytona USA. Anyway, now I have a Sega Saturn, and Sega Rally Championship is one of the absolute cheapest games for the system. I paid $4 for my copy, and it was complete with an excellent, non broken case! But is this game cheap for the wrong reasons, or the right reasons? There's only one way to find out!
[img width=700 height=837]http://gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/Arcade/Cabinet/big/Sega_Rally_Championship_-_1995_-_Sega.jpg[/img]
When you first start the game you have a menu of choices like the arcade mode, time attack, options and other normal console game selections. Time attack is just setting a course record and then racing the ghost. Once you're in the arcade mode you can choose whether or not to practice individual tracks, or jump straight into the race. There are only a grand total of three tracks in the entire game. Now it makes sense why the game is only ten minutes long. There are also only really two cars to choose from, with each car having an automatic or manual transmission option. There is a third unlockable car though.
Once you get that picked you're off to the races! In order the tracks go Desert, Forest, and Mountain. Each one is harder than the last. Even though Mountain is smaller than Forest it is jam packed with quick turns that can throw you off and have you crashing into the walls repeatedly. Desert is designed as the easy track to help you get used to the game mechanics. The first time you play the game don't be surprised if you get a Game Over on Desert, this game is a bit harder to master than most racers.
Drifting around Medium, Hairpins, and Fades are absolutely essential. Even on some of the Easy turns you'll need to do a bit of drifting. Don't worry, the game literally tells you what kind of turn you're getting close to and how long it is. The ones you have to be even more careful on are the turns where the announcer says "Maybe" at the end. He's not lying, "Long Easy Right... Maybe" might just make you hit the wall hard.
[img width=512 height=384]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/e/4/9/gfs_60367_2_6.jpg[/img]
The music in the game, at least the Saturn port, is just there. Its good but its there as a background noise instead of something to bump the speakers to. There's a lot going on in this game in terms of audio, so not having too much too much to focus on at any one time seems like it was a smart move overall. The bad part is that the Saturn port of the game has music played by Joe Satriani, and its just there in the background.
If you do get a game over, well, then you're treated to the greatest game over screen in the history of gaming. Its so nice that it just makes you want to keep playing not because you're angry, but because it kept you happy. This game is not trying to rub your failure in your face and make you feel worthless because you couldn't get to that checkpoint in time, it makes you want to try again!
To really beat the game requires mastery of it. These three courses are much deeper than they appear, and memorizing the layout is only one half of the equation. The other half is learning how to properly take these memorized turns and practice it until you can do it in your sleep. Actual execution is just as important as track memorization. These two features mesh well together and working on perfecting turns and the drifting mechanics after memorizing track layouts is actually fun and rewarding when switching between modes like ghost racing in Time Attack.
Sega Rally Championship is a game worth every penny. Even though it can be beaten in a few minutes it will take hours to master, and almost every second will be enjoyable. Any annoyance is pressed onto yourself for not having perfect control. If you have a Saturn and haven't picked this up and played it, and are mildly interested in racing games or arcade games in general, this one is worth every single penny and then some.
This week I go ABC Wide World Of Sports up in here and break out one of the best bowling games Ive played in some time. Check it out.
I'm not a big fan of golf. I've watched Happy Gilmor with Adam Sandler and really liked it, but unfortunately golf just isn't the same as its portrayed in the movie. What's worse, you can't train at the mini putt with the laughing clown face. Obviously I have no experience with the sport and to only until recently used to confuse Jack Nicholson and Jack Nicklaus.
Well, today I decided to put all that behind me and have a go at NES Open Tournament Golf.
[img width=509 height=386]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/Titlescreen.jpg[/img]
A plumber who's off to hit the links? What could go wrong? If Fleach is on the sticks, the possibilities are endless.
Continue reading FreshNES Part 3: I'm a Gamer, not a Golfer
I finally purchased a tube TV to play my fabulous NES titles on. I eagerly hooked up the console and took the time to choose a couple games. With the intension to keep things light and easy I decided on 10-Yard Fight and Blades of Steel.
I inserted the first cartridge.
Nothing. Just the nightmarish blinking red light and a steadily flashing gray screen. I was devastated.
"Not to worry," I thought, "I have a back-up NES."
I unplugged the first console and hooked up the other. Same thing, I was zero for two.
Eventually this happened:
[img width=700 height=388]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/DSCF2458.jpg[/img]
Surely the Internet would yield some kind of answer to my trouble. Apparently the 72-pin connector needs replacing. Alas, being impatient as I am, I continued to scour the web for a makeshift solution. It turns out that if you gentle wiggle the cart once its inside the console the connection can be improved. So wiggle I did and sure enough I was greeted by the 10-Yard Fight title scrren.
I know that this is not a real solution, but until a new 72-pin connecting comes in the mail there isn't much I can do.
OK! Time to toss the pixelated pigskin!
[img width=700 height=388]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/DSCF2462-1.jpg[/img]
10-Yard Fight simply put is a fun little football simulator. The player controls one of two teams. The control scheme is easy to master after a couple of minutes. While on the offense the A button initially passes the ball to the quarter back, then can be pressed to perform a long distance pass, whereas the B button executes a quick lateral pass. When playing on the defense the player first must select one teammate to control with either A or B then the gameplay begins.
What I really liked about the game were the sound effects. The players running across the field sounded a lot of horses galloping over the wide steppe. Even the rhythm resembled galloping. I also enjoyed watching the player sprites; they looked like they were doing some kind of cossack dance.
I actually horribly lost the match 21-0. I'm terrible at football. But since I'm Canadian maybe I'd have better luck on the ice.
So, I laced up my skates, I mean, fired up Blades of Steel.
[img width=700 height=388]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/DSCF2465.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=388]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/DSCF2468.jpg[/img]
I used to like hockey games growing up so I had high hopes for this one.
Video games don't get any simpler than this. Rapidly tapping the B button enables you to almost always win the face off. With the puck in your possession B is used to pass, and A is pressed to shoot. Where the game gets interesting is when the opposing team crosses the blue line the player controls the goalie. I really liked that concept.
I was especially good at the most important aspect of hockey - fighting. The gloves were off and it was fisticuffs on ice!
[img width=700 height=388]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/DSCF2470.jpg[/img]
When one team scores the opposing team's goalie suddenly flails his arms like an angry troll. Very cool.
Of the games played today Konami's Blades of Steel was the better of the two. It did not have any clunky animations or controls. It felt smooth and flowed nicely even by today's standards. The voice acting was entertaining, albeit repetitive. The announcer's "with the cross!"booming from the speakers every time I passed the puck did get annoying after a while. However, the simulated sound of skates slashing over the ice was pretty decent. Overall, I thought it was a good game and one that I'll return to. That says a lot as I'm not really a fan of sports games.
I don't think there is much to be said about sports games. They're fun ways to pass the time and provide a bit of healthy competition between friends. The simple gameplay mechanics are easy to grasp making them enjoyable to play.
PS - Does anyone know how to take quality pictures of gameplay in action? I used a Fujifilm EXR for these snapshots.
[img width=300 height=300]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/7/920987_54857_front.jpg[/img]
The Summer of 1990 seemed like a pretty perfect time for a volleyball craze to sweep the nation. First there was the film Side Out -- a movie so awesome it only needs a one-sentence Wikipedia entry: "Side Out is a 1990 film about beach volleyball competition, featuring C. Thomas Howell, Peter Horton and Courtney Thorne-Smith." And then there was Malibu Beach Volleyball, a Game Boy game that can best be summed up by that neon monstrosity of a cover above. But alas, volleyball didn't quite gain the credibility it was after. Thankfully for those of us who feel the need to re-live the Summer of 1990 we can add Side Out to our Netflix queues (seriously -- I just checked!) and eBay surely must have a copy of Malibu Beach Volleyball floating around for next to nothing.
Now the truth is, I really have no idea I why I would have owned a volleyball game in 1990. I had very little interest in sports at that time. And let's be frank, volleyball is pretty low on the sports food chain. If memory serves correctly, I got it from a friend who didn't care for it, and most likely I just figured any Game Boy cart was better than no Game Boy cart. And that's mostly true. Mostly.
[img width=200 height=200]http://ui07.gamefaqs.com/838/gfs_54857_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui02.gamefaqs.com/33/gfs_54857_2_2.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=200]http://ui01.gamefaqs.com/1056/gfs_86311_2_1.jpg[/img]
Looking at Malibu Beach now, it's clear to see that it's not a very great game. It's an overly simple game (even if it is based on a sport that's really just Pong on a beach); the music is horrible; the hit-detection is shit; and if I tried I could probably come up with a longer list of negatives. But strangely I have some fond memories of playing this stupid game at the beach that Summer. And if that doesn't scream geeky kid, then I don't know what does. Though the game is boring almost before the end of the first round, I can't help but pop it in with the warm weather and remember Summer vacation felt like as a little kid.
Well, any classic Nintendo NES fan will know that, like other consoles, the NES has its own number of sports games, such as Slalom, and 10 - Yard Fight by Nintendo. There are even games from third parties such as Tecmo's Tecmo Bowl and Super Bowl. One in particular, Ice Hockey, is the one that I will be reviewing here. Starting off, you will notice the cartridge and box art are different than most Nintendo sports titles. Most come in the black boxes that we've all seen at one time or another. Strangely, Ice Hockey comes in a bright blue box with a picture of some random ice hockey player. This is the only Nintendo sports title that hasn't had the cartoony style characters on the box and cart.
Now, as you first boot up the game, you are treated to some quite cheerful music and some small hockey players on the screen. Like most NES games, Ice Hockey has the option of either 1 or 2 players. As you press start on the controller, you get a screen of several options. On this screen, you get to choose your team (USA, Canada, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Poland), your opponent's team, the speed of the game, and the length of the game, ranging from 7, 10, and 15 minutes. The last thing that you will set up before the game begins, is the setup of your team. You choose which type of players will be on your team. Once all of the options are selected, the match can begin.
As the game begins, you will start out at center ice to battle for the puck. The gameplay mostly relies on being able to pass the puck, shoot, and how you selected your team. From the get-go, none of the teams have a statistical advantage over the others. Before the game, each team has five players (a stocky player, 2 average players, and a skinny player). The stocky players are the best at shooting and bowling over other players (which is pretty entertaining), the average players are average all around, and finally, the skinny ones are the fastest but tend to be the ones that get bowled over the most often. Also, each team has a goaltender as well. The controller only controls the player that is selected, but it will also control the goaltender no matter which one is selected. Fights can also ensue, and will continue until the ref stops it and sends the starter to the penalty box. Goals can be kind of hard to achieve at times, but when you do score one, it is damn satisfying! One other thing to note is that, when the game is paused, the pause sound is the same pause sound from Super Mario Bros.!
As you can see, this is one of the greatest sports titles to be released on the NES, and is personally one of my favorite nes games of all time. I'll give this game a 9/10
[img width=200 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-087/bf/U-087-S-01360-A.jpg[/img] Ahh yeah baby feels good to be back in style with features that aren't crapily thrown together. This time, they are actually somewhat decent and will keep me from losing my position as a features writer. So all you people out there who hate me and my sarcasm and jackass attitude, hi.
Moving on, it's Mario sports week! Ahh yeah baby. Perhaps the most fun sports games of all are the Mario sports games, so why not celebrate in style by throwing a fiesta! Go round up some illegal immigrants and have them party with you! Have them play some Mario Tennis with you or maybe even make a Mario pinata and break it with them! Ahh yeah this is going to be one hell of a week if you do that.
Ehh hem, moving on seriously, I hate getting down to the business and doing what I'm actually supposed to be doing, the featured game is Mario Hoops 3 on 3. I like it, in fact I liked it enough to include decimals in the damn score. Any collaboration with Square Enix and Nintendo is good in my book, except like some crappy game where Peach gets captured and you play as Cloud Strife to stop whoever the final boss is in any Dragon Quest game with Cloud bitching the entire freaking game. That would probably suck. Anyway, the featured image is Mario Golf for the N64. I love that game. If you don't, you aren't American, and if you aren't American, then hi. Next the featured hardware is the wii remote, or the wiimote. Anyway it puts an interesting spin on Mario Soccer. Finally the featured collection is Magewout's because he won the 'Shimra randomly selects a user to be featured' contest. Congrats bud, congrats.
As always keep it tuned to Channel 3.
I finally got some time to fire up the Xbox this past week. I haven't really even looked at it in about 6 months, especially the last 2 months since my daughter was born. Well, I have found that 2 month olds like vibrant colors and motion, so I figured I'd give it a try... It worked! I played some NFL Fever 2002, yep one of the games I got with my system on launch day way back when...
I found that I had saved about 20 different dynasties and that most were pretty kick ass. I really enjoyed using my "My Guys" save and playing with a roster of players that I had spent far too much time creating (yep the whole rooster, every damn position!!!). I never bought another football game for the Xbox, but doubt I'd have much more fun with another one. Fever, for the $49.99 I paid on launch day, has been one of my best gaming investments.
I had thought of selling or trading off my Xbox collection, 100% boxed w/ inst, and the system box and even the original power pack (Microshaft sent me a safer, updated power cord a while back). I had considered trading it for a riding mower, for implements for my tractor, hell I even had a trade in the works for a 280zx sportscar that fell through (on my end - cold feet). I'm glad I kept the "old" system and plan on some Morrowind soon - gotta love having a kickass character and going on killing sprees!!!
Back in it,
Jag
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