Currently Playing...

Gauntlet by US Gold / Atari (1990) - Master System

I've been a fan of Gauntlet for many moons now. I first discovered it on my trusty Speccy thanks to... I can't remember what, actually. I thought it was the 'Giants' compilation but a check reveals that it only contains the second game. Oh well, I had it on my Speccy somehow anyway, and then, a little later, I was lucky enough to find the ultra awesome arcade version with simultaneous four-player support. All I needed was three friends and I was off (chortle!). A little later still and it made an appearance on my beloved Master System and I vowed to buy it henceforth.

Buying console games wasn't that easy at that time, however, as I was still at school, and by the time I could buy games for myself, Gauntlet IV had been released for the Mega Drive which was a conversion of the first game as well a new adventurey thing too. No matter how good the MS conversion might be, the MD one would be better, surely? That was my reasoning at the time, and it was very wise reasoning for it was indeed a very excellent version of the game, but as these many years of men have passed, and much that once was has been lost, my yearning for Gauntlet MS-stylee has remained undimmed by the passage of time. And now, I'm happy to say it finally graces my MS collection!

Currently Playing...

Tetris Worlds (2002)
By: Radical Entertainment / THQ Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Featured Version: Microsoft Xbox
Also Available For: PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC

Despite good old Nintendo being knobbers about the license back in its early days, virtually every system since the early 90s has had a version of Tetris, so when I was having my 'cheap Xbox game splurge' a few years back and saw a Tetris game was available, I thought why not? After all, any game with 'Tetris' in its name is a pretty safe bet, surely? Especially one called Tetris Worlds. It's a name that conjures an image of a vast and timeless game with lots of depth and options, and the more Tetris we can get, the better, no? There is a backstory, somehow. It is some sort of nonsense to do with 'unlocking the secret of the Tetrions' who were apparently a long-forgotten spacefaring species. The only evidence of them is the existence of special Gateways which orbit distant stars, and they can only be opened by those intelligent enough to unlock the secret of the falling blocks. There is more too, something about a mechanical species called the Minos and terraforming various planets, but does anyone really care?

Currently Playing...

Ninja Princess by Sega (1985) - Arcade

As anyone who owned or even just played on Sega's mighty Master System in its day will probably know, one of it's too-infrequently-celebrated gems is The Ninja. Many believe it to be a Master System original but it's actually a mostly-accurate conversion of an arcade game released the previous year under two names - Ninja Princess in Japan and Sega Ninja over here in the West. I've long been a fan of The Ninja so I've been intending to give the original a try for some time now and have, as you may have guessed, finally gotten around to it!

For those not familiar with the MS version, the game places you in control of the mysterious assassin of the title some time during Japan's Edo period (17th century-ish) with the aim of taking down an evil warlord and restoring peace to the land. With fire in your heart and nerves of steel (hopefully), it's your job to guide this heroic saviour through a number of unforgiving vertically-scrolling areas on foot, dispatching all the immediately-hostile enemy combatants (mostly other ninjas, as well as a few horses, naturally) who rush onto the screen at the appropriate moment or pop up out of their hiding places. Defeat the boss at the end (or 'top') of each stage and it's on to the next area, each of which poses its own unique challenge to test your mettle.

Currently Playing...

Hang-On by Sega AM2 (1985) - Master System

If you are visiting this blog intentionally there's a pretty good chance your days of console gaming go back as far the 80's, perhaps even late 70's. My first was Sega's magnificent Master System which remains one of my favourite systems. The version I was fortunate enough to have featured two built-in games - Safari Hunt, to make use of the bundled Light Phaser, and the mighty Hang-On for those times you don't fancy shooting poor rabbits, bears, and armadillos!

I have already taken a look at the decent arcade version here at Red Parsley but this MS version was the first one I encountered and it remains my favourite. Obviously it's taken a bit of a hit with regards to its visuals. The biker sprites are smaller and less detailed here, there are far fewer on-screen colours, the roadsides are more spartan, and it's not as fast, but it's not a bad effort all things considered. That nighttime stage still looks super cool too! The audio is more or less the same as the original, although that's mainly because the arcade version had very little - there's no in game music and few spot effects as you race. The aesthetic differences were irrelevant for me at the time anyway though, as I'd never played or even seen the arcade game.

Currently Playing...

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (2002)
By: Krome Studios / EA Studios Genre: Platform Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Microsoft Xbox
Also Available For: PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC

Let's face it, as much fun as most of them were, the heyday of fuzzy animal game characters was definitely in the 16-bit era. By the time the PS2 and Xbox arrived with all their almost-realistic human characters and corresponding blood and violence, controlling a cute animal seemed a little childish didn't it? I guess that's down to personal preference but they certainly weren't seen as often. One of the more recent I've come across (outside of indie gaming) is this effort by Krome Studios which was actually the first part of a trilogy starring their feisty marsupial.

It's interesting that they've actually gone for an extinct animal for their game but the Australian setting in which he dwells immediately opens up a number of possibilities. The story is as silly as you might imagine and involves Boss Cass, an evil cassowary (a kind of bird if you didn't know) who wants to become the supreme ruler of Australia. This, he will apparently achieve, by activating 'the Dreamtime' for which he has stolen the five mystical talismans. While attempting this, Boss Cass traps all but one of the thylacines (Tasmanian tigers) in a portal to the Dreamtime before his plan is foiled and the talismans are scattered across Tasmania. Unfortunately, this still leaves the thylacines trapped, however.

Currently Playing...

Elemental Master by Techno Soft (1990) - MegaDrive

Much like the recent Raiden Fighters post, this is another one I'm a tad late with (not that it takes me ages to get around to everything of course), and was in fact the very next game I played as part of the Shmup League. Unlike that previous toughie, however, I had actually played this one before (I've even reviewed it - check here!) so I had hopes of putting in a better performance. Sadly this was only marginally realised (I finished 9th out of 12 - chortle) but it did also give me the opportunity to play it properly again for the first time in a rather startling five years.

The first thing I noticed when playing it this time is that it's harder than I remember. I guess that's often the case though, when you're long out of practise, but I found that Laden (the character you play as) seemed larger and slightly clumsier to control that he used to, and unsurprisingly I didn't get particularly far! To start with at least, but practise pays dividends as they say, and I gradually gained a degree or respectability (without ever threatening the upper half of the league of course, which consisted pretty much exclusively of 1CC scores). I soon polished off the first four stages, any of which can be selected from the start of the game, but it here that I again ran into problems.

Currently Playing...

Raiden Fighters by Seibu Kaihatsu (1996) - Arcade

Actually I'm a bit late with this one as I've now finished playing it (chuckle), but I was playing it as part of a small 'shmup league' over on Facebook. My participation in this score-based league is infrequent, owing partly to my rather slouchy nature but more to the sad fact that generally speaking I suck arse at video games. This is painful to acknowledge but it's also true for the most part - while I could quite easily run rings around some random bunghole, my limitations become immediately apparent when placed up against 'proper' hardcore gamers.

With this in mind it's probably a bit strange that I decided to participate in the league at this stage - the Raiden games are hardly renowned for their ease after all - but I've had a Raiden Legacy icon staring at me from my PC's desktop for a while now so I figured this was a good opportunity to put it to use. Raiden Legacy, you see, is a bargain-priced compilation of some (though not all) of the Raiden games, but luckily it does include Raiden Fighters which I can't seem to get working anywhere else (grrr!). I reviewed the original game some time ago here at Red Parsley and, while it's clearly a stylish and well-crafted shmup, it also made me much angrier than it should, so I was kind of expecting the same sort of thing from this sequel.

Currently Playing...

Test Drive Unlimited (2007)
By: Eden Games / Atari Genre: Driving Players: 1-Lots (online only) Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox 360

My apparent ambivalence towards the 'current' generations of gaming systems since the turn of the century (ish) has caused me to miss out on several 'new' subgenres of games, and one that I really shouldn't have neglected for so long is that of 'open world' driving games. Whilst perhaps not just mere driving games, strictly-speaking, I suppose it was the Grand Theft Auto series that popularised the style, but the first and (so far) only example I've played properly is Eden Games' evolution of the long-running Test Drive series.

I therefore wasn't sure how I would be 'thrust' into the action but the game actually starts at an airport. Here, you can select your character from a queue of people waiting to board a flight to Hawaii, and it is here that the game is based. On the island of O'ahu to be precise, which is where your plane lands. From the airport you'll need to hire a car (I went for a nippy Lotus Exige), then find some more permanent wheels as well as somewhere to live by driving to the nearby car dealer and estate agent respectively. Fortunately you start with a reasonable sum in the bank - just enough to buy a cheap car and basic place - and then you have the whole island to explore at your own pace, and it's a pretty big place...

Currently Playing...

Neo Turf Masters by Nazca Corporation (1996) - Neo Geo

I try to cover a decent range of games and systems here at Red Parsley but I really don't feature enough Neo Geo games - it is after all regarded by many as the ultimate hardcore gamers' machine - so, only a few nights past, I decided it was high time I looked at another of its fine titles. This was not, however, Neo Turf Masters which, as long-time readers may be aware, I've already reviewed!

When gamers visit the Neo Geo it's most often for one of its fine fighting games or shmups, but the game I've spent most time with is this one. I'm probably the only gamer in the world that can say that but I don't care, I have always been very keen on arcadey golf games and, aside from the mighty Everybody's Golf series, this one has long been my favourite.

That makes it easy to get distracted by it when I'm meant to be looking into some new titles to review! It features Match Play and Stroke Play options for one or two players, four decent, similar-looking courses based in USA, Japan, Australia, and Germany to explore, and six golfers to do it with - but this stuff is all par for the course with golf games really (pun definitely intended - chuckle!).

Currently Playing...

MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology (1999)
By: Climax Group / THQ Genre: Racing Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Microsoft Xbox
Also Available For: PC, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage

I must say, this fangled Xbox contraption may be bordering dangerously close to 'modern gaming' but it's been pretty helpful so far too. A couple of months ago I wrote about how I've played and liked very few 'flying games' over the years only to find a superb example on Microsoft's leviathan, and now I've found what certainly looks to be a top quality motorcycle game, another genre I've encountered few of (aside from Hang On).

Even though I hadn't played it, I actually thought I was already familiar with this series but, to my surprise, I've discovered there are two MotoGP series' running simultaneously - this one for the PC and the Xbox consoles and a separate one by Namco for Sony's consoles which seems a bit silly since they use the same logo and all. Hmm, oh well. I can't speak for Namco's game then, but this MotoGP game and is a rather splendid one. It's quite arcadey in nature, despite being officially licensed, and consists of Quick Race, Arcade Championship, Grand Prix Series, Training, and Time Trials modes as well as an Options screen which allows you to change stuff like the volume, number of laps, gear type, circuit map on/off, direction arrows on/off, etc, as well as change the controls, load or save a 'guest rider', and access a load of unlockable stuff.

Currently Playing...

Battle Squadron (1990)
By: Innerprise Software / Electronic Arts  Genre: Shooting   Players: 1-2  Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Commodore Amiga  First Day Score: 361,000
Also Available For: MegaDrive/Genesis
Download For: Android

My Sega fanboy-ness was never stronger (or more irrational, some might say) than in the MegaDrive/Amiga days and one game I often used to cite as a demonstration of the superiority of Sega's mighty machine was Battle Squadron. My review of the MD version a few years back was surprisingly impartial but the fact is I've always viewed it as the better version. My opinion has naturally been contested by various Amiga fanboys over the years but I have always remained resolute. Nonetheless, I recently decided to give their beloved version of the game another try anyway!

There is actually one immediately noticeable thing about that the Amiga version that is superior to the MD, and that's its box-art. That's (possibly) a subject for another post though. As far as the actual game is concerned, there are less dramatic differences. For all intents and purposes, they are both versions of the same game which, in case you haven't played it or seen the MD review, is a one or two-player vertical scroller which charges you with violently disassembling the evil Barrax Empire.

Currently Playing...

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (2003)
By: Microsoft Game Studios Genre: Shooting Players: 1-4 (up to 16 online) Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Microsoft Xbox
Also Available For: Xbox 360

So, flying games, huh? I've never really known what to make of them to be honest. The idea of them is almost always appealing but on the few occasions I've taken the chance and played one, I've nearly always ended up frustrated and/or disappointed (probably more my fault than theirs but still). A low price point helps though, and I happened to spot this popular Microsoft game for a ridiculously un-pass-upable 75p!

The back-story is actually quite detailed, taking place in an alternate-timeline version of the 1930's where the Americas have fragmented into many smaller nations who are in a constant state of war with each other. As a result, interstate highways were never developed and the main means of transportation is by plane and Zeppelin. Since the people have moved up in the world, so has the crime, and I was (pleasantly) surprised to find that you play as what basically amounts to one of these 'bad guys', albeit a dashing and heroic one, named Nathan Zachary, leader of Fortune Hunters air pirate gang - one of many such gangs that prey on the aerial commerce of the area. The game takes place in four regions starting with Sea Haven, an island off California.

Currently Playing...

Splinter Cell (2002)
By: Ubisoft Genre: Stealth Adventure Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Microsoft Xbox
Also Available For: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, PC, Mac, Game Boy Advance, N-Gage

Well, I suppose it had to happen eventually didn't it? My experience of all post-Dreamcast consoles has been limited, and I've intentionally avoided several genres including all these pesky 'stealth' games but, after the acquisition of an Xbox and the subsequent purchase of games for it, I soon realised I should at least try one of them, for blog purposes if nothing else. This game, the first in the series of the same name, was the first one I found and was available for a wallet-busting 35p so I figured it was a good place to start.

As expected, it's one of those games that thinks it's a film, and accordingly I found myself cast in the role of Sam Fisher, a veteran covert field operative, who's been recruited by the NSA and sent into Georgia (the country, not the American state), initially to investigate the disappearance of two CIA officers, but of course that quickly snowballs into a convoluted plot involving presidential assassination, a subsequent coup, genicide, and a potential war amongst many other things, and it's up to Sam (and only Sam) to save the day. In most comparable games that I'm already familiar with, that would mean charging around shooting the crap out of everything with an extravagant array of weaponry, but things here are very different.

Currently Playing...

F1 2012 by Code Masters (2012) - PlayStation 3

Now that the new Formula 1 season is upon us and already looking (though not sounding) more interesting than the last few seasons combined, I figured it was time to refresh my own racing skills. The last F1 game I played extensively was F1 World Grand Prix 2 for the N64 which is very good, but that was quite a while ago now so this was a good opportunity to see how the genre has progressed. Code Masters seemingly holds the official F1 license these days which of course means yearly 'updates'. However, owing to people's idiotic need to always have the most up-to-date release, I picked up this slightly older version for a very reasonable sum. As far as its play modes are concerned, little has changed. There are the standard Quick Race and Career modes, both of which are splendid, with the latter obviously being significantly more involving, but there are also two other modes called Young Driver Test and Season. The former is basically a tutorial mode but the latter is where I've spent most of my time so far. This consists of a shortened season of ten races during which you can pick a 'rival' who you then need to try and beat over a best-of-three mini-series.

Currently Playing...

Forza Motorsport by Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Game Studios (2005) - Xbox

My introduction to Xbox gaming came recently with Ninja Gaiden which was good but far too difficult for a wussy like me (it must've been designed by Chuck Norris) but regardless of its quality it was never going to take me long to buy a racing game for my green box o' tricks and, very splendidly, I found this, the first game of the Forza series, in my local second-hand shop for a mere £1.50! Unusually for me I even tried it out as soon as I got home from work. I selected a mighty Aston Martin DB9 and went for a spin on the arcade mode only to find that... this game is also difficult! In fact, it reminded me of the hardest racing game I've yet played - F355 Challenge. Both are closer to racing simulators than arcade-style games and as such both have numerous driver-assist options which are all active by default. Here these include anti-lock brakes, traction control, stability control, and an on-circuit racing line (complete with braking zones). I tried turning them off which obviously made things more difficult (though not nearly as much so as F355) but even with them turned on I was having trouble staying on the track for more than ten seconds at a time! Nonetheless, I soon also gave the career mode a try since most of my time would be spent there anyway.

Currently Playing...

Ninja Gaiden by Tecmo (2004) - Xbox

As was gloriously revealed last week I recently became the owner of a spiffing green Xbox thanks to my beloved wife and, prior to leaving for our New Year holiday (on the way to the airport, in fact), I bought this very game with which to try out my new console when we returned. It's been sat in the glove box of our car in the freezing airport car park for two weeks but, upon returning to the UK I ate a pizza, then got some sleep, but my next priority was... to slash stuff up ninja stylee!

Like the earlier platformy games to bear the name, you take on the role of master ninja, Ryu Hayabusa, who is slightly miffed to discover that his clan has been slaughtered by the evil Vigoor Empire. He of course vows revenge which, unlike the earlier games, takes the form of a 3D action adventure. The quest for vengeance begins in a mountain pass where it's immediately apparent that Ryu is somewhat more agile than before. As well as a sword to swish around, he can fling shurikens, adopt a blocking stance, unleash a special attack, and, as you would expect of such a character, he can also perform all manner of leaps and acrobatic tricks.

Currently Playing...

It probably won't come as too much of a surprise to readers here at Red Parsley to hear that I spend fair amount of time playing video games. A vast majority of this time, however, is spent playing them for blog-related purposes (i.e. to review them or grab screenshots). This leaves me very little time to play a game simply for the enjoyment of playing it, but I do manage it now and then. The latest example is:

LocoRoco by SCE Japan Studio (2006) - Sony PSP

I had been without a PSP for over a year after getting rid of my original model with the intention of buying a more up-to-date model for emulation and stuff. It ended up taking me over a year but I finally received one, from my video game-hating wife no less! I was therefore rather pleased that I'd kept all the games I had bought the first time round and one of these - the game I bought a PSP for to begin with, in fact - was LocoRoco; the happiest game of all-time!

For the uninitiated, it's a crazy platformer, but almost certainly unlike any you've played before. Here you don't have control over any actual characters but rather the planet on which the game takes place! Using the shoulder buttons you can tilt it left or right, rolling the little LocoRocos around its surface, or press both buttons to jolt them into the air. Using this simple interface it's your job to guide the spherical creatures around their world collecting flowers and berries and all sorts of other stuff, but also to help them fight the evil Moja Troop. The result is a very unusual game but also a tremendously enjoyable one.

It's quite easy but there are tonnes of things to collect, all sorts of weird locales to explore, and millions of secrets to find. Add to that the immensely appealing graphics and catchy soundtrack (featuring a language made specially for the game) and you've basically got a happy pill in video game form! If you haven't played it yet, you really should - it's worth buying a PSP for (unless you're allergic to happy, cutesy games). I'm currently playing it all the way through again, from beginning to end, and I'm loving every minute of it! Japanese insanity at its best!

RKS Score: 9/10

See full review of LocoRoco here...