Random Game I've Never Heard Of #3

Motos (1985)
By: Namco  Genre: Action  Players: 1   Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 11,700
Also Available For: Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

Whilst I still think it was a good idea, I don't seem to have had much luck with this 'Random Game' feature so far. The first two I chose both turned out to be worse than finding a dead mouse in your hamburger, but surely I can rely on Namco to buck the trend? Actually, seeing as it is by Namco, and an 80's arcade game, I'm rather surprised to find that I hadn't already heard of Motos, but a mystery it was. Happily, first impressions were good. It's a simple game and so was quick and easy to get to grips with - each single-screen stage features a grid floating above the vacuum of space. Starting in the middle of each is a small bumper-car type craft, about the size of one grid square, which you can move around the grid at will, each of which is also populated by numerous enemies.

Film Review #28

Hanna (2011)
Director: Joe Wright  Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Jessica Barden, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng

Certificate: 12A  Running Time: 111 Minutes

Tagline: "Adapt or Die"

There's been a lot of revenge films released over the years. When done well they're a pretty damn entertaining, not to mention satisfying kind of film to watch, so it was with interest that I approached this one. It doesn't take a genius to determine that the story focuses on Hanna, but who is she? Well, Hanna, as the trailer will tell you, is a very special girl. The film opens on a snowy wilderness. Before long we see a figure stealthily hunting a deer with a bow and arrow, taking it down with a single shot. This figure, we soon learn, is Hanna (Ronan), a 16 year-old girl living in a secluded cabin in a remote part of Finland with her father, Erik (Bana). Here he has been training her as an assassin and teaching her about the world in which she has yet to step foot, and he's done a good job - she's clearly highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and adept at handling various weapons. When she announces to him that she's 'ready', he reluctantly gives her a transmitter that will reveal their location. But what is it that she's 'ready' for?

Early Driving Games #3

Super Cycle (1986)
By: Canvas / Epyx  Genre: Driving  Players: 1   Difficulty: Easy
Featured Version: ZX Spectrum  First Day Score: 17,042 (retired)
Also Available For: Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64

In my quest to find good driving/racing games on retro systems, I thought that this time I'd return to one I've enjoyed previously to see how it holds up today. Of course, when I say 'enjoyed', I don't mean I loved the game - I have an abiding memory of it being far too easy for one thing, but enjoyable games of this type were few and far between on the poor old Speccy so it held my attention for a while. It can be thought of as a budget homage to Sega's great Hang On since both are motorcycle-based, and the objective is also the same - to keep going. Your bike has three gears to get you up to speed and from that point on your only job is to steer left and right, taking care to avoid the other riders. There are no positions though so they're only there to get in your way.

Golf Games #2

Neo Turf Masters a.k.a. Big Tournament Golf (1996)
By: Nazca Corp  Genre: Sports  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: SNK Neo Geo MVS
Also Available For: Neo Geo AES & CD
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

I've never really been a fan of the fiddly, drawn-out games that seemed to exclusively populate this genre for the first decade or so of its existence. I've always preferred the arcade style approach, so the first golf game that I got into, or even played for more than a few minutes, wasn't one of the famous Leaderboard games on the 8-bit micros. Nor was it one of the many, many technically-impressive Links games that swamped the PC in the early-to-mid-90's. I know what you might be thinking now but it wasn't even this game for the Neo Geo. No, the first golf game I played at any length was actually the mini version of this game that was released for the console's little brother, the Neo Geo Pocket, so I'm more than a little interested to see how this version compares.

PC Engine Platform Games #2

Liquid Kids a.k.a. Mizubaku Daibouken (1992)
By: Taito  Genre: Platform  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16  First Day Score: 64,470
Also Available For: Arcade, Saturn, Amiga (unreleased)
Download For: Wii Virtual Console

During the late 80's and early 90's there were quite a few software companies churning out games of varying quality and one of my favourites was Taito. Many of their platform games released during this time went on to achieve legendary status but for some reason Liquid Kids is one of their lesser-known titles. Perhaps it's because it follows a similar routine to so many other games from that period. Platform games certainly were at the peak of their popularity around this time but anyone dismissing it as 'just another cutesy platformer' missed out on a great game! Taking a little inspiration from some of their earlier games, Taito still managed to create another interesting adventure, and it featured a new character too. The star of the show is Hipopo, a rather squat-looking hippopotamus who's on a quest to defeat the evil Fire Devil and recover... you guessed it - his missing friends, and ultimately his girlfriend too!

Top Five Lakes

No one really knows how many lakes there are in the world. It depends on your definition of a lake really. Some put the number in the hundreds of millions, others say far fewer. However many there are, a majority of them are found in high northern latitudes. Indeed, around 60% of them are in Canada alone, and some smaller countries like Finland can boast many tens of thousands too. With such a huge number, I could easily make this a list of the Top Five Hundred most noteworthy lakes, nevermind a mere Top Five, so those examples listed below are instead just five that I personally find particularly interesting.

5 - Caspian Sea
(Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan)

As by far the largest lake in the world, the salt-water Caspian Sea has to be included! It's one of several seas and lakes in Europe and Western Asia which are remnants of the ancient Paratethys Sea and contains 40-44% of all lake water in the world. It's also home to many rare and interesting animals and plants but numbers are dropping thanks to heavy chemical and biological pollution by the numerous nations that lay claim to it. Would be higher on the list if it wasn't for the stupid humans messing it up.

Overhead Racers #9

Toobin' (1988)
By: Atari  Genre: Overhead Racing  Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Arcade  First Day Score: 25,752 (one credit)
Also Available For: NES, Game Boy Color, Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX

By the late 80's, overhead racing games had been around for a while. Various companies had tried their hand at their own versions and some might say Atari had lost their crown. So what did they do to rectify the situation? Make another Sprint-based game? No, not exactly. Their next game was one which scarcely even fitted the genre. Atari invented the genre though, they can do whatever the hell they want with it surely? Indeed they can, and accordingly their next game of this type was a water-based one. Not featuring speedboats though, as may be your first thought, but 'radical tube riding dudes' instead! The game takes place on various rivers and waterways of the world which you, and either a second player or computer controlled opponent, must successfully paddle to the end of.

Exploring the Atari 2600 - Part 1

The most famous console ever? Certainly if you're my age or older, but it's one I have very little experience of. However, unlike my situations with the Commodore 64 and NES, this time it's not because I was an owner and fan of the competition. The Atari 2600, or VCS as it was originally known, was a bit before my time you see. I was a mere two years old when it was first unveiled, and by the time I had developed an interest in video games, it was on, what were at the time, the modern machines.

Whether I was there to witness it or not, however, there's no question of the enormous impact the VCS had on the industry, for both good and ill. I think it's also the console that most gets its former owners all misty-eyed until they finally play it again and wonder how they used to enjoy the games! For the most part though, I don't have the problem of any of its games having to live up to precious childhood memories. For all intents and purposes, these are new games to me, so however well they may or may not have aged, I can look upon them with a largely impartial eye. Which games to choose was another matter. Unlike my Exploring the NES series, I don't count many VCS fans as friends. Instead, I've decided to split this feature into two parts.

Computer Platform Games #1

Rick Dangerous (1989)
By: Core Design / Firebird  Genre: Platform  Players: 1  Difficulty: Hard
Featured Version: Atari ST  First Day Score: 8,760
Also Available For: Amiga, PC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

There's not too many games I've played on Atari's most popular home computer but one that I did play is Rick Dangerous, so what better way to kick off my coverage of the great ST! It's notable for being the first release from Core Design, who would later create the Tomb Raider series of course, but for their debut release they took inspiration from the Indiana Jones films. Their own hero is a British agent and is clearly based on Dr Jones, at least aesthetically. He comes complete with fedora and six-shooter (although no whip, oddly), but it remains to be seen how extensive his archaeology skills are. Indeed, it's a game that pretty much everyone has an opinion of, and not necessarily a good one either.

Top Five Movie Moments #4

#4 - The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

There's really not much point in me reviewing this film. There's no question that it's an all-time great. It currently occupies the coveted #1 spot on IMDb's Top 250 and moreover, I don't think I know a single human who doesn't already love it. Well, except, inconveniently, for my good friend Luke, who thinks it's too much of a downer (I'm not sure you 'get' the film, buddy!), and my wife, who thinks it's too long. This pretty much means I have to watch it on my own most of the time. I don't have a problem with this though, and I have indeed watched it alone at least 30 times by now, so there's no question that I know it well. You'd think that would make it easy to pick my Top Five Moments, but that was far from the case!

Spoiler Alert: the Top Five Movie Moments featured here obviously assume that you've seen the film in question or don't mind knowing about its most prominent moments so don't come whining to me if they ruin a film that you haven't seen yet!

5... The Sentencing

The film opens with a shot of a lusty couple entering a room and getting busy. Sitting outside in a car is a young man holding a gun. Then we cut to a court room where the same man is being questioned as the accused in a double murder. He pleads his innocence but the evidence, circumstantial though it may be, looks overwhelming. The jury finds him guilty. Soon after, the judge sentences Andy:

Judge: "You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne. It chills my blood just to look at you. By the power vested in me by the State of Maine, I hereby order you to serve two life sentences, back to back, one for each of your victims."

The look on Andy's face says it all...

Cover Art: Master System - Part 2

It may have been my first and still most treasured console, but games for the poor old Master System hardly had the flashiest-looking covers around. Considering the head-start Nintendo had with the NES, you'd think Sega would want their products to leap off the shelf at prospective new customers, not remain largely invisible! Oh well, the vastly superior cover art didn't really do much for the console's performance in Japan I suppose, but I still had a lot of fun with the first part of this feature. It seems a lot of you liked it too, so here's another selection of fine and not-so-fine covers from the Master System's back catalogue:

Space Harrier (1986)
As one of the early flagship titles for their console, it's a wonder that Sega didn't make more of an effort for its cover outside of Japan. There's a lot of empty space with the green dragon merely peering around the edge of the cover and getting a blast in the face for his troubles! That said, it is at least recognisable to fans, but just look at that Japanese cover - it's fantastic! It features a nice representation of the landscape, a couple of great-looking dragons, and even that splendid mammoth fellow from the title screen!

Puzzle Games #5

Mr Driller (1999)
By: Namco  Genre: Puzzle  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega Dreamcast  
Also Available For: Arcade, PlayStation, Game Boy Color, WonderSwan Color, PC, iPhone

Love it or loathe it, Dig Dug is (correctly) regarded as an all-time classic arcade game and, despite being converted to a large number of home systems, it has not been one of the franchises that Namco has furnished with a large number of updates or sequels. It received a rather anonymous second instalment in 1985, but the series wouldn't be revisited for another fourteen long years. Originally intended to be Dig Dug 3, the transition during its development to Mr Driller also included a change in the protagonist. The hero of Dig Dug was Taizo Hori but taking his place here is his son, Susumu Hori! As the highest ranked Driller in the world, he was the first one the panicked people called when the cities became overun by mysterious coloured blocks rising from underground...

Film Review #27

Thor (2011)
Director: Kenneth Brannagh  Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Colm Feore, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Idris Elba, Jaime Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Joshua Dallas, Tadanobu Asano

Certificate: 12A  Running Time: 114 Minutes

Tagline: "Courage is immortal"

Marvel have got a hell of a lot of characters they can potentially promote to the silver screen but as they work their way through the roster, the characters will inevitably be more and more obscure. For example, how many non-comic fans knew anything about Thor before this film appeared? That's not to suggest that they will be any less entertaining, of course. It could even work in their favour. Fans and non-fans alike are bound to have certain amount of expectation of a Spider-Man or Hulk film, for instance. Thor is more of an unknown quantity, and on top of that - he's a God! The journey into his fantastical world is one that has near-infinite possibilities, and sure enough, we are first introduced to the character around 965 A.D. when he is a mere child, the first son of Odin.

Survival Horror #1

Blue Stinger (1999)
By: Climax Graphics / Activision  Genre: Survival Horror  Players: 1  Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Sega Dreamcast  
Also Available For: Nothing

As game systems get more and more powerful over the years it's only natural that the games played on them will evolve to make better use of them too, and occasionally new genres appear. One such genre was arguably started by Alone in the Dark which appeared in 1992 for the PC but I don't think anyone would deny it was the arrival of Capcom's Resident Evil series which really saw it take off. This genre came to be known, of course, as survival horror, but it's one that's never really taken a hold of me. Despite this, I bought Blue Stinger at the Dreamcast's launch and looked forward to exploring its world. Is that because it promised something more than existing survival horror games, or would I once again fail to be ensnared by this burgeoning genre?

Thunder Force Series - Part 7

Thunder Spirits a.k.a. Thunder Force AC (1991)
By: Toshiba EMI / Techno Soft  Genre: Shooting  Players: 1  Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Nintendo SNES  First Day Score: 65,210
Also Available For: Arcade, MegaDrive (variation)

Wherever you stand in the whole MegaDrive vs SNES war, if you're level-headed and of sound mind, you can't possibly think that either system wipes the floor with the other. I was and remain a huge MegaDrive fan - 'Sega 4 Life' and all that - but I can humbly acknowledge that the SNES is still a pretty awesome console with some fantastic games. It's true that Sega's machine is better for some genres, while Nintendo's is better for others, but one area I always thought they were pretty close was shoot 'em ups. Both systems have some great examples of this technically-demanding genre but there are surprisingly few that appear on both machines so a direct comparison is not often possible. One notable example, however, did eventually appear on both systems. It was a much revered game on the MegaDrive whose name was, and still is, uttered with the utmost reverence. It has once again undergone a name change but it's still a game whose name begins with 'Thunder'...