Gaming Memories - Part 3

Soon after arriving home from the family holiday mentioned in 'Gaming Memories - Part 1', I was suddenly obsessed with the videogames I had previously had little interest in. Chief among my obsessions was the amazing OutRun. It wasn't long before I discovered that this 'Sega' company who made OutRun also had available a home console, much like the Atari VCS I had briefly flirted with at a friend's house. After some investigation I found that there were three variants available - the Master System, the Master System Plus, and the Super System.

Apparently this flashy-looking console also had some flashier-looking accessories. Namely, the 'Light Phaser', which, excitingly, looked like a blaster from Star Wars, and the '3D Glasses' which looked cool even before I found out what they were for. The basic Master System pack was just the console with a control pad and a built in-game. The Master System Plus also came with the Light Phaser and featured an additional built-in game. Lastly, included with the Super System was both the Light Phaser and 3D Glasses, and a built-in game that took advantage of both. Naturally, I decided I wanted the latter! The day I found all this out was an exciting one. I stayed up all night trying to work out how I could have this great console. I didn't want to wait for Christmas, I wanted it straight away! After some pretty brain-bending calculations, I discovered I could pay my parents back £3 per week from my paper-round if they bought me the console I so desired. After a hard fought campaign, they finally relented. Unfortunately the Super System was unavailable but they did buy me a Master System Plus with three games, and some 3D Glasses separately. Two years of paper rounds then ensued, all proceeds going to this cause. It didn't matter though - I had Outrun!

My trusty Master System would go on to keep me entertained for many years. It even persuaded my best friend, Luke, to buy one of his own, and he was lucky enough to get a proper Super System! Before long we were spending a lot of our time at each others houses, challenging each other at our favourite games, with both of us becoming firm Sega fanboys in the process, an allegiance which it took the SNES to break, and even then our hearts always remained in the Sega camp. Luke and I both have our favourites on Sega's first console offering (outside Japan), but after my visit to the late, great Microland with my parents, I came away with the following games...

Safari Hunt (1986)

Eager to try out my fancy new Light Phaser, this was the first game I tried when I finished unwrapping my shiny new Master System. It was built into the console itself but was also available separately on a combination cartridge. It is essentially the Master System's version of Duck Hunt and sees you shooting various innocent-looking creatures over three different single-screen settings which repeat over and over until level 69 (giggity). Well, apparently - I never played it that long! The object is to shoot as many creatures as possible before you run out of bullets. If you've surpassed the required score you'll progress to the next screen. If not, game over! Despite its horrifying un-political correctness and extremely limited nature, this was actually good fun in short bursts and I played it often. Light-gun games didn't really hit their stride (in the home, at least) until the 32-bit era (with Virtua Cop, et al) so this was one of my few experiences with them, but I have happy memories of it.

Hang-On (1985)

This conversion of the hit coin-op was impressively released in the same year as its parent and was another game that came built into my Master System. The object is simply to keep racing for as long as possible without running out of time. There are four different backgrounds that the game cycles through (including a nice night-time stage) and the road is packed with other racers, although they're only there to get in the way - there's no actual race positions or anything. It's still great fun though - it's fast, addictive, and requires skill rather than luck to progress in. I probably ended up playing this one more than most of my cartridge games and it's still highly enjoyable. Top stuff!

Snail Maze (1986)

I had been using my Master System for a good few months before I got around to reading the instruction book that came with it, and upon doing so I was surprised to discover there was another game built into it! It seems that on certain models of the console, if you turn it on with no cartridge inserted whilst holding Up and buttons 1 & 2 simultaneously, the result is the now famous Snail Maze! It's a very simple game - simply guide the small snail through the complex maze to the exit within the (very) strict time limit. There are twelve mazes in total and if you fail to reach the exit of any of them within the time limit you'll be dumped back at the start of the whole game. It's a bit of a trial and error, memory-test kind of game really, but again, it's fun in short bursts and that bloody tune will drive you insane!

OutRun 3D (1989)

Ah, the very reason I had a Master System! I had the choice between this and the standard 'non-3D' version of this game in Microland on purchase day. I naturally assumed they would be the same, aside from one making use of the 3D Glasses and the other not. I was incorrect. I didn't play the non-3D version until later on Luke's MS but it turned out it was a lot faster and harder! This version plays nicely enough though and, despite being a bit too easy, was very enjoyable at the time. The 3D effect was quite impressive too and handily the game had a 2D option as well, and the Master System's sound chip does its best to replicate the iconic music of the arcade behemoth. It's not the greatest driving game of all-time but hey - it's still OutRun!

After Burner (1987)

Another conversion of an immense arcade machine (you have to call it a 'machine', it seems wrong just calling it a mere arcade 'game'!), and one even more impressive than OutRun from a technical point of view. The little Master System actually has a good go at replicating its parent and proved to be one of the better home versions of it. Piloting the iconic F-14 Tomcat, it's your job to blast your way through eighteen stages of anonymous enemy aircraft. Obviously the graphical detail has had to suffer a bit here, especially the ground scenery, but overall this is an enjoyable conversion of this classic, and even has semi-cheat feature enabling you to reach the later stages unscathed!

Altered Beast (1988)

If memory serves I think it was actually my parents that suggested I buy this one, perhaps for a bit of variety. I hadn't previously heard of it but it looked interesting enough, and for a while I quite liked it. Before long I discovered it was far from the pinnacle of Master System gaming, but I suppose it's not really a genre the MS is swamped in though, and it's not too bad. It does have one of the arcade version's stages missing (the third) and can be pretty frustrating, but how can it a bad thing to turn into a powerful human/monster hybrid? It's just a shame you don't get to spend more time in these forms, especially the first one - the fireball-throwing werewolf! Besides, I'll always have a soft spot for this game as I could actually complete it!


So, these were the games that kept me occupied for the first few months of my console-owning life, and great fun they were. They were of course gradually added to over the coming months with many titles now considered among the system's best, such as Fantasy Zone, Psycho Fox, Wonderboy 3, Power Strike, Shinobi, Spellcaster, etc, and my good friend Luke often brought his favourites to my house too. The Master System remains one of my most fondly remembered consoles despite the fact that it was soon superseded by the MegaDrive (another of my favourites) and I really can't recall any bad memories of this under-appreciated console which I still regularly enjoy now.

Platform / Puzzle Games #3

Circus Lido (1991)
By: Unipost Company Limited Genre: Platform / Puzzle Players: 1 Difficulty: Hard
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16  First Day Score: ??,???
Also Available For: Nothing

I've always been a big fan of platform/puzzle games despite not being very good at them, so I'm always happy to discover a new one, and this is a pretty obscure one! I've been able to find out very little about it but it appears to be a Japan-only release which could go some way to explaining that. As you probably hadn't guessed from the somewhat peculiar title, the star of the game is actually a chameleon! Under your control, it's his job to clear each of the single-screen stages of insects. To do this, he must lick them up with his long, sticky tongue, and then regurgitate them into one of the carnivorous plants that also populate the stages. The insects are of course scattered around the screen in some awkward corners which necessitates our hero clambering around the many platforms. The only problem here is that he can't jump!

I was stuck on this stage for a while...

Instead of jumping around the platforms, or even using ladders, our chameleon friend has a more novel approach - he can use his curly tail to pull himself up! He can only do this with certain kinds of platforms though (the smaller, spirally ones), and they are of course cunningly positioned, which is where the puzzle element comes in. Trying to work out how to get to certain parts of the screen can be a real test of the grey matter, even early on. Some of the platforms are moveable too. These are colour-coded and feature a small gap in them at which point the chameleon can climb up. Simply press the relevant button to move the platform left or right so the climbable gap is in the right place. Somewhat surprisingly (though mercifully), you are not burdened by a time limit here, and even more surprisingly, contact with the insects does nothing to our lizard friend. In fact, most of the insects will actively avoid him, but some are able to attack by firing or dropping projectiles. These do kill him, as does straying too close to the hungry canivorous plants that you have to feed the insects to, but the main challenge here lies in working out how to move around the screens.

Some colourful moving platforms...

And therein lies the both the good and bad sides of Circus Lido. It's a novel approach to the platform/puzzle genre, and has some great, pretty original ideas. The only problem is, it gets too hard, too quickly! I like to play games all the way through before I review them here, but I simply can't finish this one. In fact, I doubt I can get anywhere near the end of it! This, combined with the game's obscurity resulting in little online reference material, means I don't really know a lot about it. I've no idea how many stages it has, for example, and there may well be other things I don't know about the game that might make it easier. For instance, when you eat one of the basic blue insects (I think they're cockroaches or something), your chameleon can walk faster while it's in his mouth, so it's possible that eating the other kinds of insects bestows some sort of special ability upon him too, although my best efforts to test this theory have proved fruitless so far!

This stage is a sunuvvabitch!

With all this in mind, it's difficult to really know what to make of this game. Technically it's proficient enough, though hardly pushing the Engine to its limits. The graphics are quite dark for the most part, tidy and nicely detailed, but don't vary a great deal (as far as I've seen, at least), although the standard background style does at one point give way for a garish, multi-coloured one! The music is quite peculiar but catchy and enjoyable, and seems to suit the game well. As far as actually playing the game goes - I enjoyed it a lot... until I got stuck! Our lizardy friend moves rather slowly around the screen (much like a real one would, I suppose), and if you make a wrong move it can (and often does) result in the stage being unwinnable, so you have to give up and start again. Luckily each stage has a password though, so if you run out of lives you at least won't have to keep starting from the first stage. When I first played this game I really liked it. It's original, has some interesting ideas, looks and sounds fairly pleasant... It seemed like my sort of game, but it has just proven to be too hard. I'll keep trying it as it is very addictive, but unless any of you know any tricks I can try here, I'm not sure how much further I'll get!

RKS Score: 6/10

Puzzle Games #3

Baku Baku Animal (1996)
By: Sega  Genre: Puzzle  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega Saturn  First Day Score: 17,250
Also Available For: Arcade, Game Gear, Master System, PC

After the unprecedented success of Tetris, a good few companies jumped on the 'falling block' puzzle game genre, and one of the biggest offenders was Sega. After buying the rights to Columns, it soon snapped up Puyo Puyo too. None of these addictive games, however, was to appear on their new Saturn console, so instead Sega came up with their own game, and quite an original one it was too! The King (of somewhere) is apparently looking to hire a zookeeper to look after the animal-mad Princesses pets! The game is basically a test at a job interview. If you win, you'll get offered the job! Like the games before it, the action takes place on a single screen, in this case divided vertically down the middle. Player one controls the action on the left side of the screen, and player two or a computer-controlled opponent controls the right. As is usually the case with games like this, the concept behind the gameplay is a simple one. Sets of two blocks drift down the screen, one after another. Pictured on each single block is either a food or an animal. All you have to do is match the food with the animal that eats it!

The first computer opponent - Gallopy!

There are five different animals in the game and each will eat only his favourite food when he lands on some (monkeys eat bananas, mice eat cheese, etc), but since food blocks appear more often than the animal ones it's best to group foods together as much as possible. This is the best way to play the game as chain reactions can occur this way resulting in not only larger scores for you, but will also see a load of random blocks dumped on your opponent's side of the screen! This will obviously not only screw up their attempts to do the same to you, but will also push them closer to the top of the screen which results in game over. The longer the game goes on for, the faster the blocks will fall down the screen. Occasionally, a pair of coins called 'BB Coins' will appear in place of a food/animal block. These will make any blocks they touch, and any other blocks of the same type on that player's play field disappear.

Player one wins! Poor old Gallopy :(

There are two play modes to choose from in Baku Baku (plus a secret third one) - Arcade and Ranking modes. Arcade mode is the same as the arcade version as you might imagine. Here, you will challenge a series of opponents until you get to challenge the Princess. Beat her and win the game! Arcade mode is also where the two-player action is to be found. The ranking mode is for one player only, and is more or less the same as the arcade mode except your opponents carry on forever. Beat as many as you can and then receive a ranking for your playing skills such as number of attacks, number of chain reactions, and the least amount of time elapsed. Also featured is a hall of fame and a movie viewer, both accessible from the options screen where it is also possible to alter the difficulty level and increase or reduce the number of different animal types.

Eeek!

As with most puzzle games of this nature, its simplicity means the technical strain on the host system is kept to a minimum. It's a nice, colourful, happy looking game though, and features a decent rendered intro detailing the story. The animals themselves are particularly amusing when they grow bigger to eat the foods! The music and sound effects are also suitably happy and upbeat (there's even a 'bangin' dance remix hidden on the disc), and that's pretty much the case throughout the game. You know what you're getting with games like this and, whilst there are no real surprises and the one-player mode won't last you long, this is still one of the best games of its type. Everything about it is top quality and it's a lot of fun, especially when challenging a friend. A novel and amusing take on the much-copied falling block game and one well-worthy of your time.

RKS Score: 8/10

Top Five 3DO Games

The poor old 3DO was hardly a run away success, was it? It was released during a difficult period. Change was coming, but not quite ready to be embraced by the gaming public. The fact that it cost as much as a car didn't help matters either, of course! Consequently it doesn't have the biggest of software libraries. With this in mind, instead of doing a genre-based Top Five for some of its games, I have little choice but to simply select the five best games on the system from all genres. Behold:

Games-Related Top Fives Disclaimer: I've traditionally stuck to the games I know and love so far, and these game-related top fives reflect that. One of the purposes of this blog is diversify my gaming experiences, to play games I haven't played before, so I will do new game-related top fives in a few years to see how different they are!

5. Return Fire (1995)

Released somewhat belatedly as a sequel to the popular Amiga strategy shooter, Fire Power, this fiendishly addictive game was among the best the 3DO could offer for two-player thrills. The move from Fire Power's overhead viewpoint to a slightly angled 3D perspective was slight but Return Fire looks a lot prettier, and it retained and expanded upon its prequel's enemy-flag-capturing fun. There are four vehicles you can employ to capture your enemy's flag - tank, jeep, helicopter, and an armoured missile launcher - and each is accompanied by it's own classical music! There are a good few stages, or 'maps', to battle through here, but the game was also later supplemented by a 'data disc' called Maps O' Death which contained 100 new stages too. Return Fire is good fun for the solo-gamer, and I've spent a lot of time playing it by myself, but it was always intended as a two-player game, and in this capacity it's one of the most enjoyable games I've played.

4. Gex (1994)

Poor old Crystal Dynamics. They clearly put a lot of effort into this game but it went virtually ignored by most gamers who were presumably awaiting all the 'next generation' games they'd been promised. I suppose most weren't really looking for yet another 2D platformer after the deluge the MD and SNES received, but if they'd actually played Gex, they'd have discovered a superb game. Starring Gex, a lazy, television-obsessed Gecko who gets sucked into his TV, the game consists of five TV-themed levels, each split into several stages, through which Gex must travel before he can defeat Rez (no, not the Dreamcast game) and escape. Featuring sumptuous, varied graphics, some great music (although the frequent quips uttered by Gex can soon grate), a huge game world, and a perfect difficulty curve, Gex really is one of the most enjoyable 2D platformers around. Forget the fact that there's no FMV or polygons and give it a go!

3. The Need For Speed (1994)

There's a good chance that around 9 out of 10 gamers have played at least one of the Need For Speed games, but how many know that the series started here on the 3DO? Not only that, but many fans still consider this the best game to bear the name too! Most of the many NFS games have been unrealistic, arcade-style games, but this original was designed to be as realistic as possible right down to the vehicles sounds and dashboards, and it worked too. Rarely has a driving game made it so enjoyable to simply drive. Nevermind the racing, the admittedly superb crashes, or anything else, cruising along the coast in a Supra or Ferrari, or any of the other real cars depicted here is a hypnotic experience. The Saturn and PlayStation conversions added more courses and a two-player mode amongst other things, but never has the series matched the enjoyment of the driving in this original.

2. Star Fighter (1996)

The previous three games on this list, whilst all going on to appear on other systems, all debuted on the 3DO. This game did not, but it's by far the best version of it. Converted to the 3DO after first appearing on the Acorn Archimedes of all systems, it was subsequently ported to the Saturn and PlayStation, but both of these conversions are horrifying, which is a mystery considering their superior power. So, this version remains the best, and what a game it is! It was my first experience of a free-roaming, 3D game world and still one of my favourites. Set on a variety of planets, and even in space, it's a mission-based strategic shooter which sees you up against a sizable enemy military, largely on your own! Yes, it looks a bit ropey today, but it's a game with enormous scope and creativity, not to mention a fantastic soundtrack, which I still love to play today. Just make sure you avoid discovering the atmosphere-destroying story!

1. Star Control 2 (1994)

The winnah! Could it be anything else? Anyone who knows much about me would be expecting this - not only is it my favourite 3DO game, but my favourite videogame of all-time! It doesn't look like much from screenshots, nor from watching someone play it, but this space-exploration adventure is epic and drew me into its world, captivated me, kept me playing, like nothing else ever had, and it continues to do so. The story is deep, twisty, and really is enthralling, with details revealed, clues released, little by little as you play through the game. With a huge game universe to explore featuring 25+ races, each with their own territory, mannerisms, and hours of speech, this is a game that literally lasts for years. And that's before you've even tried the Super Melee, two-player battle mode! A stunning game that still enjoys a strong following, and it's free to download now too!


So, that's my personal 3DO Top Five. It was hard to leave out some other great games such as Road Rash and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (the best versions of both games in my opinion), but the games I did select are not only superb, but also mostly not so well-known. If you agree or disagree with the list, let me know!

F-Zero Series - Part 2

F-Zero Grand Prix 2 (1997)
By: Nintendo EAD  Genre: Racing  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Super Famicom Satellaview  First Day Score: 23,900
Also Available For: Nothing

You know, it can be really frustrating, but Japanese gamers so often seem to get a much better deal than European, or even US gamers, frequently receiving extras that the rest of us have to do without. A good example of this was the Satellaview system for the Super Famicom (SNES). Looking much like the proposed SNES CD-ROM add-on, the Satellaview was a device that allowed Super Famicom owners to download updates for some of their games, or even new games altogether. They were usually released in weekly installments, and one of the highest profile games to receive the Satellaview treatment was the mighty F-Zero. Initially, a limited 'remix' of the original game was released in several installments via the service, but before long a 'proper' sequel became available too.

New heavy damage areas with mines down the middle...

As F-Zero fans will already be well aware, the first game consisted of fifteen courses divided into three leagues - Knight, Queen, and King. F-Zero 2 features a new league - the Ace League - which features five new courses. Some are based on courses from the first game (such as Mute City IV, Big Blue II, Silence II) but with new course layouts, whilst the other two (Sand Storm I & II) are seemingly based on the Sand Ocean stage from the first game, thematically, but are completely new. In keeping with the league structure from the first game, the new courses are probably the most difficult ones yet too. Each features many more hazards than were found in the fifteen F-Zero courses such as damage areas, more ice, magnets, and many ramps, often in highly inconvenient positions! In addition to the courses, the four selectable craft, or 'machines', are all new too. Well, saying that, they're just aesthetically new really, but are welcome all the same.


The roadsides here are covered in ramps...

This release was obviously fantastic news for any Japanese F-Zero fans but it went practically unheard of in the West, which is a bummer - I'd have loved having this available during the peak of my obsession with F-Zero but I only even discovered its existence a few years ago! It may have less to it that its prequel (due, no doubt, to the limited service it was made available on) - there's just a straight grand prix mode, for example, with no time attack or practise modes on offer - but as a supplement to the original game rather than a separate game in its own right, it's great. The new courses are really nicely designed and the features on them (a couple of which are shown in the screenshots) are a great touch, adding a unique feel to the game. It's particularly nice returning to two of my favourite course settings too - Big Blue and Silence.

It's been a pleasant surprise discovering this. I can't help wishing it was available in the West before emulation became widespread but I'm sure glad I can play it now. Admittedly, aside from a few cosmetic changes, it is of course the same game we've known and loved all these years. Only harder! It won't last you as long as F-Zero but it's a thrilling ride while it does last!

RKS Score: 7/10

Film Review #12

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
Director: Floria Sigismondi Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Clifton Collins Jr

Certificate: 15 Running Time: 91 Minutes

Tagline: "Life's a messy business"

There are a few films that, rather than ease you in with a plot-teasing hook, instead go for the explosive opening to drive home a point. This is one of those films. The point it demonstrates? That death can be messy! The film opens with a normal, middle-aged, respectable-looking white guy who, after spraying breath freshener in his mouth, calmly walks into a gun shop of the type that are so prevalent in the US, asks to see a specific type of shotgun, and proceeds to spray the contents of one of its shells into his mouth as well. The resulting mess, we learn with the help of police detective, Mac (Zahn), is hard and time-consuming to clean up. Enter sisters, Rose (Adams) and the younger Norah (Blunt). The former is a single-mother and part-time cleaner who life hasn't really worked out for, and the latter is a lazy waster who hasn't really tried to work out life.


Rose and Norah arrive at their first job...

Having just been fired from her latest dead-end job, Norah is reduced to babysitting for her sister while she sneaks off for some rumpy pumpy with Mac, her high-school sweetheart who ended up marrying someone else. It's here during some post-coital natter that Mac casually mentions to Rose that there's a lot of money to be made cleaning up crime scenes. Almost immediately she lines up her first job and arrives, sister in tow, ill-equipped and completely unprepared. Rose soon starts to realise this and, with the help of one-armed supplies wholesaler, Winston (Collins Jr), begins to actually learn the trade. Norah, meanwhile, is busy meddling in the lives of the recently deceased, particularly the daughter of their first 'job', Lynn (Rajskub). All the while, their wacky father, Joe (Arkin) is busy looking for the next get-rich-quick scheme while babysitting Rose's son, Oscar (Spevack).

Winston and Oscar hit it off...

It's certainly an original premise! I'm personally a big fan of this kind of US indie. You know, the kind that's hard to categorise. The kind that, if you explained it to the average person, they'd think it sounds weird, boring, or both! One of the things I like about films like this is the kind of actors they often attract, and Sunshine Cleaning is another - it has a fantastic cast including rising stars, Adams and Blunt, both of whom I've liked since I saw them in Junebug and My Summer of Love respectively. They both give great performances here as they try to get their lives back on track, with Blunt in particular, who now appears to be challenging Zooey Deschanel for resident indie 'kooky outcast', being particularly impressive. Alan Arkin pretty much continues his Little Miss Sunshine role (by the same producers, coincidentally), but that's certainly no bad thing. Mary Lynn Rajskub (24's Chloe) is also good as Norah's new friend, Lynn, although she seems to be continuing her run of 'most screentime without smiling'.

Great performances aside, there's a lot to like about Sunshine Cleaning. It's subject matter gives the film the potential to be much darker than it is, and some opportunities for jet-black humour went begging, but it remains a highly enjoyable, feel-good film with plenty of quirky comedic moments.

RKS Score: 7/10

3DO Games #2

BattleSport (1995)
By: Cyclone Studios / 3DO  Genre: Future Sports  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: 3DO
Also Available For: Saturn, PlayStation, PC

Future sports games have been around a good while now, but it's a funny genre. It's bound by practically no rules, unlike most 'real' sports games, and so has almost limitless potential. Imagine the possibilities of not only creating a new sport from scratch, but having it use technology that hasn't even been invented yet! There's almost nothing that you couldn't incorporate, realistic or not. So how is it most of them suck ass? There are a few exceptions, of course, such as Speedball 2 (although I never got into it personally) and others, but the genre has few offerings of note. BattleSport, for a short time a 3DO exclusive, was one of the first to try things in 3D, but did it work?

Hmm, this is a nicely-coloured arena...

Well, the intro certainly gets you pumped up for the game! It shows a rendered representation of the final moments of an apparently epic BattleSport match! For BattleSport is a 'sport', played over three two-minute periods in a large, self-contained arena. In this arena is a ball, which is where the 'battle' part comes in. Each match is contested by two players, both piloting a hovercraft/tank type vehicle equipped with lasers and missiles. Using these armaments, the players must fight for control of the ball which is used to shoot at a floating goal. A successful shot will result in a goal! You can collect a loose ball simply by flying into it. Once you gained possession of it, you'll have only a few seconds to find the goal and shoot before you 'fumble' it. It's also possible to force an opponent into a fumble before he shoots the ball by shooting him with your lasers/missiles! Of course, they will also try this tactic on you as well!

That's the goal in the middle of the screen...

Before you start a match, you can select from six different tanks, each of which varies with regards to its armour, speed, firepower, cornering etc. They can also perform small jumps, which are used primarily for avoiding enemy missiles, and they are also equipped with a radar which shows the location of the ball and your opponent. Each tank has an energy meter which is depleted by laser and missile fire. When this happens, the craft will be disabled for five seconds or so giving the aggressor a few precious seconds of peace to grab the ball and line up a decent shot. However, the goal can be found in different places depending on which arena the combat is taking place in. It generally hovers above the ground, but it can be of several different types. The easiest to score in is the standard four-sided goal. Variations include two and one-sided goals, moving goals and spinning goals. Scoring is achieved, simply by shooting the ball into the goal but considering you often have to take your shot while moving or under fire, it can take a lot of skill!

It's a standoff!

Selection of the arena you battle in is random during competitive play, but you can choose your own in a 'quick match' or two-player match, and there are some fifty to choose from. Some of them take place in the day, some at night, and they come in three sizes (small, medium and large, believe it or not). Each is also home to different obstacles, power-ups, hazards and rewards. Talking of the power-ups, there are a large number available. Some can be found lying around arenas and others can be bought in the equipment store, and they come in many forms. They can include offensive/defensive items such as super missiles, super shielding, double damage, ECM's (confuses enemy's targeting system), and heavy lasers. Others can affect the outcome of a match in a different way such as adding a period to the game, goal freeze, ball freeze, ball attract, flight, health restore, invisibility, super speed, and radar jammer.


If you read through all of that, you're pretty dedicated to finding out about this game! It is at least a little noteworthy, though, what with being one of the few good games (or one of the few games, for that matter) to appear on the ill-fated 3DO system. Graphically, it's not the prettiest game on the 3DO and there's not a lot of variety, but it doesn't look bad. The sound is pretty good though, with some decent effects and suitably dramatic music, not to mention an ultra-hyped commentator! Like most sports games however, future-based or otherwise, BattleSport is essentially a two-player game. There is a tournament mode but it gets hard really quickly and the computer predictably favours itself, so it can prove pretty frustrating, but I'm sure this was designed as a two-player game anyway. The tanks can prove hard to control at times, but since this is a problem that effects both players equally, it doesn't detract from the game too much, and it's very entertaining to play against a friend. It doesn't really have a lot of competition on the 3DO, admittedly, but if you have one and a friend, give this a go.

RKS Score: 7/10

Run 'n' Gun Games #1

Atomic Runner a.k.a Chelnov (1992)
By: Data East  Genre: Run 'n' Gun  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega MegaDrive / Genesis  First Day Score: ???,???
Also Available For: Arcade, X68000
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

Having recently looked at an 'on foot' vertical scrolling shmup in Elemental Master, this seems like a good opportunity to look at a horizontally scrolling game of the same type, and it's a game that got off to a some- what dubious start. Originally released as an arcade game titled Chelnov in 1988, it seemed to take its inspiration from the Chernobyl nuclear incident! After surviving a catastrophic explosion at a nuclear power plant, Chelnov, a coal-miner, finds himself highly irradiated and the recipient of some new abilities. Seeking to harness his new abilities for their own questionable ends, an evil organisation attempts to capture him. In order to evade their clutches, Chelnov must fight, using his abilities to defeat the organisation. Needless to say, this story didn't really go down too well, particularly in light of the game featuring Soviet iconography too!

The first mid-level boss...

After the furore of its Japanese arcade release, the game saw quite a few changes upon its MegaDrive release four years later. Now known by its original subtitle of Atomic Runner, the story was changed to a more formulaic alien invasion-type scenario which saw Earth's major cities attacked and their residents mercilessly slaughter- ed. Hiding in an underground laboratory, Chelnov's dying father explains that the aliens have been on Earth before and designed an 'Atomic Suit' for the Pharaoh's. Using the design-schematics found in an ancient pyramid, he was able to build a suit which provides Chelnov with super- human strength, agility, and apparently the ability to throw various weapons out of his hands! Using these handy features he must do his best to rid the world of alien scum!

As you can see, the background graphics are lovely...

Anyway, now that all that multi- story shenanigans is out of the way, onto the game! Whilst more of a run 'n' gunner than an out-and-out shoot 'em up, the focus of Atomic Runner is still very much on shooting, and unlike most run 'n' gunners, it uses forced-scrolling more akin to a traditional shmup. However, the seven levels do feature various platforms around which Chelnov can jump, and some parts even feature (admittedly limited) multiple routes. There are twenty different kinds of standard enemies populating the levels, including both mid-level and end-level bosses, and they must all be either avoided or eliminated in one of two ways - either by using Chelnov's energy weapons or by jumping on their heads, Mario-style, believe it or not!

Trying to take out a mini-chopper on the Mayan stage...

It is however easier, not to mention far more entertaining, to blast the crap out of them with energy weapons, and there are six kinds: Laser (which you start the game with), Boomerang, Light Ring, Spiked Balls, Morning Star, and Homing Missiles. Each of them has differing rates of fire, range, and power, and you can only have one of them at a time. Each is more suited to certain parts of certain levels but they appear frequently so you can chop and change between then as often as you like. Each weapon can also be powered up, and in three different ways, by collecting 'UP' icons. These come in three colours - yellow increases shooting range and bullet speed, red increases bullet size and destructive power, and blue increases bullet count and rapid-fire ability. If you repeatedly die on the same part of a level, a super-power-up appears which increases all three of these attributes fully, in one go. Other power-ups include one which increases Chelnov's jumping height, and two for bonus points - one for two thousand, and one for five thousand.

The Egyptian level is a strange mixture of styles...

These power-ups are usually found being carried by the flying skull/spider things, who drop them when shot, and the scenery features flaming torches which also release them. When Chelnov loses a life he will lose all power-ups collected so far, but luckily they are plentiful so it doesn't take too long to power back up again, and each level has numerous restart points too. That doesn't mean that this is an easy game however - given the forced-scrolling nature of the game, Chelnov's movement around the landscape is a little limited. He can shoot in eight directions as he runs through the levels and you can marginally increase and decrease his speed as he goes by pushing forward or backward on the controller, and he can jump also straight up or forward, but that's about it.

Might be worth doing some looting here!

The levels are set over a diverse range of landscapes and are one of the most appealing aspects of this game. They are titled Atomic Laboratory, Mutant Plant Zone, Mayan Jungle, Egyptian Desert, Treasure Room, Siberian Snowland, and New York, and all look fantastic - this is among the prettiest run 'n' gunners I've played with regards to the backgrounds and scenery graphics, and the sprites, weapons, etc, aren't half bad either. The music is pretty decent too, with some tunes being more memorable than others, but it's all very nice, presentation-wise. It does occasionally seem like the collision detection is a bit off and Chelnov sometimes seem a little sluggish to respond to a command, but there's no major problems. Having said that, it is possible to get trapped behind an item of scenery and crushed by the scrolling! But that's the key to this game - practise. Enemies often appear from behind you, so if you stay to the left of the screen you're likely to die often, but play it enough, get used to controlling Chelnov, and learn the enemy patterns, and it proves to be a challenging and reasonably fair game. There's not too much else like Atomic Runner around, and for that reason alone it's interesting, but it's a very playable, if sometimes frustrating game regardless, and well worth a try.

RKS Score: 7/10

Bomberman Series - Part 1

Eric and the Floaters (1983)
By: Hudson Soft Genre: Action Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: ZX Spectrum  First Day Score: 1,240
Also Available For: Nintendo NES, MSX, Sharp MZ-700, Fujitsu FM-7, NEC PC-6001, NEC PC-88


A very informative title screen...

There can't be many people that haven't played a Bomberman game at some time or another. The series has gone through many iterations and changes over the years, some good, some bad, but if you asked the average gamer, you'd probably get nothing but praise for the series. Known primarily as crazy multi-player extravaganzas, the Bomberman games are a curious mixture of action and strategy and are among the most widespread of any game series, appearing on pretty much every system ever made, and most of them are fantastic fun too! The series now numbers over 60 games, but where did the it originate? Many gamers would probably count the first PC Engine game to be the origin of the series. However, while this release and its sequels may have popularised the series, they weren't the first. More astute gamers may even name the NES version as being the first, but even this wouldn't be correct. As hard as it is to believe, the genesis of the great Bomberman series was a Speccy game called Eric and the Floaters!

I personally hadn't even heard of it until recently and I'm a big fan of the series, but yes, this is the first ever Bomberman game! However, rather than taking control of White Bomber, or indeed a bomberman of any colour, you must take control of Eric, an explorer attempting to plunder treasures from ancient underground caverns. At least, that's the story with regards to this version, the only one to find a release outside of Japan. Patrolling these caverns are the Floaters of the title. However, they are not the kind of floaters you may immediately think of - they appear to be balloons, although if later iterations of the game are anything to go by, they are actually balloon-like creatures of some sort. The quantity of Floaters increases as you progress through the levels, and contact with them is deadly. To progress to the next stage, you must blow them up!

The stages consist of soft blocks, which can be destroyed by bomb blasts, and solid blocks which cannot. Hidden beneath one of the soft blocks is an exit, and under another some hidden treasure for bonus points. Eric can lay a bomb in any unoccupied space but he must be sure to escape the blast or he'll kill himself too! Even later Bomberman games are hardly the most complicated games around, and this one is the simplest one of all, as you might expect. Obviously, given the evolution of the series over so many releases, it has aged somewhat - the graphics are basic, the sound restricted to a few simple effects, and there's very little variety between stages - but the core gameplay remains intact and this remains an interesting and addictive title. It's always at least intriguing to discover a long-running series' roots, and this is no different. I'm sure 99.9% of gamers would opt to play a later Bomberman game if given the choice, myself included, but it's still fascinating to see this.

RKS Score: 5/10

Top Five Pasta Shapes

I'm pretty sure there can't be many people out there who don't like pasta. I'm a huge fan, which could be why I have a huge waistline, and as long as it's not desecrated with disgusting cheese of any kind I'll rarely turn it down. There is, however, a great variety in the shapes that pasta comes in and this can be instrumental in its preparation and enjoyment. I expect everyone has their favourite shapes/styles. Here are mine:

5 - Spaghetti

4 - Farfalle

 3 - Fiori

2 - Cavatappi

1 - Fusilli

Yeah!

Budget Games #3

Deviants (1987)
By: Players Software Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: ZX Spectrum  First Day Score: 57,360
Also Available For: Nothing

After recently playing Impossible Mission as part of my 'Exploring the Commodore 64' piece, I found myself remembering this little-known Spectrum budget title. Although it was a proper budget release, I originally received on a cover-tape provided by the ever-kind chaps at Sinclair User, which was nice as I probably wouldn't have discovered it otherwise! So what has it got in common with the much more famous Impossible Mission? Well, besides both being flick-screen platform games, they both feature puzzles that I can't work out how to solve! In the case of Deviants, the prologue explains that the titular race have been confirmed as the source of an attack on a colony world, 'Krause'. A squad of 'Star Warriors' were sent to the asteroid from which the attacks originated to plant thirty bombs. However, their mission was only a partial success - they planted the bombs, but were killed before they could arm them. So, it's your job to make your way through the asteroid complex and arm the bombs.

The start screen sees you stood atop a teleporter...

In order to accomplish your mission, you must locate and arm each bomb whilst avoiding or shooting the green, zombie- like creatures (presumably the Deviants themselves) wandering around, going about their dastardly business. The rapid- fire assault rifle-type gun you're equipped with takes them out within a few shots (which sees them crumble to the floor in a pile of dust) but it has a finite supply of ammo, so keep an eye out for the extra ammo icons dotted around here and there. Contact with the Deviants reduces your energy level but luckily there are regeneration booths here and there too, which will top up your reserves. It's the arming the bombs that I have trouble with, however. When you touch one, the screen switches to display six 'activator valves'. Some are open, some are not. To arm a bomb you must open all six valves, but rather than make things simple, each switch is connected to one or more valves, so you must try and work out which keys to press to open which valves, and all within thirty seconds!

That blue, lampost-like thing is a bomb...

The key to arming the bombs lies in deciphering the 'logic puzzle' of the valves. Unfortunately, I'm not a Vulcan and logic is sometimes an alien concept to me, so herein lies my only problem with the game. Even with having to stumble my way through the bomb sequences, however, this is still a highly enjoyable game. The graphics are really nice with several colours being used to good effect and it's a big game too, with getting on for 200 screens of platforms to explore. It's very addictive as well - I remember playing this game a lot on my Speccy, but avoiding the bombs and just exploring and shooting the Deviants, so imagine how much I'd have liked it if I could activate the bombs too! Since rediscovering the game for this review, I have worked out the puzzley bits (kind of) and gotten addicted to it all over again!

One of the pesky bombs. Grrr...

Considering it was originally released for a paltry £1.99, I'm surprised Deviants wasn't better known. I've certainly played a lot of full price games that weren't as enjoyable as this and it hasn't aged at all. I've really enjoyed rediscovering this budget classic. It's not perfect by any means but it does what it sets out to very well and I recommend any Speccy fans reading this to give it a go.

RKS Score: 7/10