Tomb Raider: Legend - The Legend Trilogy is a bit of a blind spot for me, and by that I mean I never played the original CORE developed series and skipped right to Crystal Dynamics' second reboot of the series known as Tomb Raider 2013. The team's first reboot of the franchise was actually in 2006 with Legend, which is the only Tomb Raider game on the original XBOX. This is one of my favorite games that I have played in a long time. Crystal Dynamics took what was great about the original series but made it more accessible to more casual players such as myself. The game is somewhat linear but there are many opportunities to explore and find collectibles. The graphics look great, even though I wouldn't necessarily recommend playing this particular version as it is available on more modern consoles. Oddly enough one of my favorite things about this game were its ease of use features. For example the time from booting up the game to jumping back into your game is mere seconds. Also, the game checkpoints constantly, which is a strong contrast to the next game I'm going to talk about.
[img width=450 height=546]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-005/gs/U-005-S-04820-A.jpg[/img] No, nothing on a Threshold Reboot/Remake. One can dream.
If memory serves (and at my age, sometimes memory drops the ball and just kind of wanders aimlessly) I think the first "shmup" I ever played was Threshold on my C64. It was on a combo diskette with headliner Saboteur, and I only got to Threshold out of curiosity after clearing Saboteur a few dozen times. When I finally did, I was hooked! Something about Threshold still really clicks with me. There are plenty of other favored games of its ilk from the early eighties, from granddaddy Space Invaders to other favorites of mine such as Spider Fighter. Yet there's always something about your first, right?
Today I'm reviewing a horizontal scrolling shooter for the Genesis that has a bit of an easier pace than most games in the genre but also a great sense of style. It's Trouble Shooter!
We went a little different route with the Top 20 list this month. In the past, we've looked at the top games for specific systems or time periods, most recently looking at Sony's PS2, and Nintendo's GameCube.
This month, however, I thought it would be fun to have it be about some of the games that were the biggest disappointments. After all, the submission forum dropped on April 1st, tradtionally a day devoted to pranks and fools. And let's face it, everyone's been let down a time or two by a gaming experience. And while this type of list doesn't lend itself crossovers and rankings, it does make for some great conversation about game expectations, and a fun place to share some interesting stories.
In this month's episode of the Playcast, Rich (singlebanana) and Shawn (GrayGhost81) tackle a lesser known, but apparently, widely disliked RPG for the original Playstation, Eternal Eyes. Join them as they discuss this Pokemon-like, magic heavy title, and breakdown the gameplay, story, graphics, and sound. In the ConcertCast, the guys reveal their Top 10 R&B and soul songs of the 1960's, and of course, there are a few honorable mentions. Do you fancy Japanese body pillows? And is Eternal Eyes a game you should add to your collection, or is it as awful as its North American cover art? Tune in and find out!
As always, we are happy to hear your thoughts on the games we play on our discussion page (linked below). We will respond to your comments and are always happy to discuss the games in detail. Please be sure to rate and write a review of the show on iTunes and/or Podbean to help us increase our listenership. Thanks for the listen, we hope you enjoy the show!
I just bought a Nintendo Playchoice 10 arcade machine, with the dual monitors in April of 2021. I plan to bring it back to life some, because it certainly has seen some neglect. This is my first actual arcade, I have a Street Fighter Arcade 1UP but that is a lot smaller and modern. This thing was a beast to transport, having the two monitors made it that much more heavier than the single monitor Playchoice 10
In life, we often have big dreams. Some of them revolve around family, some of them are career goals, and others dream of financial independence. Most of us, when we're kids, have lofty goals of what we're going to achieve when we finally reach adulthood, which always seems so far away when you're young. In my case, I probably wanted to be an astronaut at some point, though that notion faded quickly. When I hit high school, I wanted to be a singer in a band, and become famous. At this point in my life, I can see how silly that dream was, given my introverted nature, and I don't exactly have the looks, either.
Thankfully, as we age, and hopefully attain some measure of wisdom, our dreams become more grounded in reality. I went from wanting to be a rock star to becoming a hot shot video game programmer/designer, and then settled into a comfortable life in Information Technology, which is at least adjacent to what I wanted to do when I went to college. Once I reached adulthood, and the reality of dream chasing set in, my goals became much smaller, and began to include collecting games. Of course, as a child of the 80's and 90's, that was naturally going to include the expensive, elusive, Neo Geo.
Back in the ancient time that was the 1990s, Mortal Kombat brought the video game franchise that shocked the world with its goriness to the big screen. It wasn't necessarily a good movie, but by staying true to its source material and not taking itself too seriously, it's managed to remain one of the very best examples of what a video game movie should be.
Now, over 15 years and several sequels later, a Mortal Kombat reboot film is here. Is it a worthy successor to the franchise, or will it be remembered with the likes of train wreck films like Doom and Battleship?
In Episode 033, Addicted and MetalFRO dig into a relatively new indie shooting game, with a decidedly old school look, feel, and sound. Demonizer brings a 16-bit, early 90's arcade aesthetic to the table, but does it bring the fun? Listen to our thoughts, as we talk about the game.
Role playing games and dragons, name a more iconic duo. Breath of Fire was Capcom's first foray into the realm of role playing games. They made a fairly memorable splash at the time and ended up turning the Breath of Fire series into one fondly remembered among gamers who have been around since the 16 bit generation. Breath of Fire was originally released on the Super Nintendo in Japan in 1993 and North America the following year. Capcom self published the game in Japan, while they contracted Squaresoft to localize and publish the game in North America. A Game Boy Advance port of the game was released in 2001. This time Capcom published the game in both Japan and North America, while Ubisoft would release this version in Europe.
If you do an internet search for "original XBOX hidden gems," chances are you'll see The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay mentioned on most, if not all of the lists you read. This game is often noted for its high quality in spite of being a movie licensed game. Although I do have an XBOX copy of this game on my shelf, I decided to play the remastered version on the PS3, which is included on the disc of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, also developed by Starbreeze. Butcher Bay is a first person stealth focused shooter with action-adventure elements. As Riddick, voiced by Vin Diesel, your goal is to...wait for it...escape from the high security prison known as Butcher Bay.
Up until October of 2000, video game consoles were just that, systems used almost exclusively for playing video games. However, that month Sony released a system that would change consoles from video game players to home entertainment systems, as well as progressing the world of online console gaming, the Playstation 2. Those features, in addition to backwards compatibility with its predecessor, helped make the PS2, as it is commonly referred, the highest selling video game console ever in terms of units sold worldwide.
With that success came a plethora of games, with nearly all genres represented. NA markets saw the release of more than 1300 games, and there are estimates of more than 3800 games released worldwide.
For us gamers who grew up between the 70s and the 90s, arcade machines often have a special place in our hearts. Fast forward to now, and there's never been a better time for fans of retro arcade games! For years (in some cases, even decades) some of these were only accessible to a few surviving arcades and those with decent computer know-how. As a teen, I couldn't imagine that my adult self would be able to literally go to a Walmart and buy a slightly scaled-down version of the four-player Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cab.
Today I'm reviewing the only Castlevania game made specifically for a Sega console. Is it a good entry in the series? How does it compare to its Super Nintendo counterpart? I have a number of criticism about how it looks and some of the control limitations, but I had a lot of fun while playing it.
