The Apprentice Presents: Gaming in the 90s

[timewarpgamer]

1980s and 1990s games are my specialty. I haven't had time to review all of my top games yet, but I do have some carefully researched top games list for the 8- and 16-bit consoles. Check my site out at: http://www.timewarpgamer.com.

Seriously dude, this is The Apprentice's thread for his reviews and you don't even comment on his reviews!

Every single one of your posts so far has been a vehicle for you to mention your site and get people to click on it. Once or twice is enough, then just leave it in your sig.

And in case you hadn't noticed yet, this IS a retro gaming site, and we ALL are specialists in games from the 80s or 90s.

Sorry, doctorfugue and Apprentice. I'll cut the advertising plugs, and focus on the real discussions in threads.

Apprentice, I just read your Crue Ball review and I'm definitely intrigued, since I'm a BIG fan of the Crush pinball series. Thanks for bringing this game to my attention. I'm going to give it a try later.

[The Apprentice]

Cool. Thanks for your interest, guys. By the way, I havn't been reviewing lately because of the extraordinay workload for the exams coming up. I will probably post again this weekend.

[timewarpgamer]

Yeah, exams are rough. Can't say that I miss those. Don't think that I'll ever be going through them again, but my poor brother is, and I try not to distract him with video games too much...

By the way, I played Crue Ball last night, inspired by your review, and I'm glad that I checked it out. Thanks, man. Overall, I thought it was definitely a better than average pinabll game. I was really disappointed by the music, though. I figured that a game somewhat based on Motley Crue would totally rock out, but the music was extremely repetitive. The pinball table had some solid twists to it, such as some creatures that reminded me of the amazing Dragon's Fury, and I liked the triangular structure that rose out of the middle of the table (needing to be knocked down, but not before I croaked on that ball--doh!), but overall I found this to be more of a 75% to 80% title, rather than 85%.

Best of luck with exams, and I look forward to future reviews.

[The Apprentice]

By the way, I played Crue Ball last night, inspired by your review, and I'm glad that I checked it out. Thanks, man. Overall, I thought it was definitely a better than average pinabll game. I was really disappointed by the music, though. I figured that a game somewhat based on Motley Crue would totally rock out, but the music was extremely repetitive. The pinball table had some solid twists to it, such as some creatures that reminded me of the amazing Dragon's Fury, and I liked the triangular structure that rose out of the middle of the table (needing to be knocked down, but not before I croaked on that ball--doh!), but overall I found this to be more of a 75% to 80% title, rather than 85%.

I'm suprised you really did check it out. If you can't get past the first couple of levels, listen to some of the later songs in the sound test, which is what I did.

Today: Road Rash 3 - Sega Genesis - 80%

Okay, so I read RyaNtheSlayA's review of Road Rash 3, and I said I strongly dissagree on some points. The overall opinion of the game is universal- this game rocks. I haven't played Road Rash 2, which I hear is better, but I can say that this is my favorite in my collection, which has Road Rash 1, 3, and the Saturn game. One thing I'd like to express about this game is the superb animation of the player. I was amazed when one of my oponenents rode next to me, kicked my bike, and I went off the road and crashed into a road sign. I was sent through the air and tumbled, and all of it looked believable. Not that the man would fly as far as he did, but how he flew. It was very realistic. Another aspect of the game that I enjoy is the music. I'm not sure how far RyaNtheSlayA played the game, but if he only played the first two races, all he would hear is some generic beats in the background. Germany and Italy however, sound great when the music is cranked. The gameplay is a lot like the first Road Rash, but its harder to knock your opponents off their bikes, which is a little dissapointing. The riding in the game has been tweaked, and I like the control. This is a solid racing game, and any player new to the Genesis should have a Road Rash game in their collection.

Final Thoughts: I think the review sums it up. One of three great games in a series on the Genesis- owning the system means you are obligated to own one of the three.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

By the way, I played Crue Ball last night, inspired by your review, and I'm glad that I checked it out. Thanks, man. Overall, I thought it was definitely a better than average pinabll game. I was really disappointed by the music, though. I figured that a game somewhat based on Motley Crue would totally rock out, but the music was extremely repetitive. The pinball table had some solid twists to it, such as some creatures that reminded me of the amazing Dragon's Fury, and I liked the triangular structure that rose out of the middle of the table (needing to be knocked down, but not before I croaked on that ball--doh!), but overall I found this to be more of a 75% to 80% title, rather than 85%.

I'm suprised you really did check it out. If you can't get past the first couple of levels, listen to some of the later songs in the sound test, which is what I did.

Today: Road Rash 3 - Sega Genesis - 80%

Okay, so I read RyaNtheSlayA's review of Road Rash 3, and I said I strongly dissagree on some points. The overall opinion of the game is universal- this game rocks. I haven't played Road Rash 2, which I hear is better, but I can say that this is my favorite in my collection, which has Road Rash 1, 3, and the Saturn game. One thing I'd like to express about this game is the superb animation of the player. I was amazed when one of my oponenents rode next to me, kicked my bike, and I went off the road and crashed into a road sign. I was sent through the air and tumbled, and all of it looked believable. Not that the man would fly as far as he did, but how he flew. It was very realistic. Another aspect of the game that I enjoy is the music. I'm not sure how far RyaNtheSlayA played the game, but if he only played the first two races, all he would hear is some generic beats in the background. Germany and Italy however, sound great when the music is cranked. The gameplay is a lot like the first Road Rash, but its harder to knock your opponents off their bikes, which is a little dissapointing. The riding in the game has been tweaked, and I like the control. This is a solid racing game, and any player new to the Genesis should have a Road Rash game in their collection.

Final Thoughts: I think the review sums it up. One of three great games in a series on the Genesis- owning the system means you are obligated to own one of the three.

[/quote]

Hey good review, Ive beeten the game countless times but Italy did have some good music as well as the UK. I just feel that its not the best and could have been better, but the fact that it came out in 1994-5 its suprising it came out at all considering the Saturn and Playstation were right there around the corner.

[The Apprentice]

Yeah, I should have guessed that you had played it quite a bit since it is such an old game now.

Note: Enjoy today's review, I just got a cavity filled and it was incredibly hard to type with half my face numb.

Today: Road Rash - Sega Saturn - 60%

I heard a lot of praise for the 3DO version, so I decided to test it out on the Sega machine. I should have seen it coming: EA makes good game for 3DO, 3DO fails, good game is ported very slopily to the other systems. I found this game to be very hard to like, and this is because I liked Road Rash 3 so much. In its next-gen leap, gamers were treated to beautiful graphics, liscensed music (which was only played in the menues and cut-scenes, oddly enough,) smooth framerate and tightened gameplay. All these features have been nerfed in the Saturn port. The graphics are pixilated and hard to discern, the framerate is buggy, and choppy animation. I don't own a 3DO, but comparing the ports with youtube, the difference is incredible. Another problem with this game are the new styles of levels in the game. Remember all the close calls you had in Road Rash 3 when an opponent kicked you offroad? None of that in the new city levels. You get knocked off the road and you might as well just jump off your bike; collision with roadside objects is inevitable. Another new type of level features a steep cliff on one side, and a rock wall on the other. This looks nice, but the road is too thin. They also made it too hard to knock your opponent off their bike. In the original, just one or two good hits would do the trick, while here, in my last race I landed five concecutive punches on my opponent, and I just weakened him a little. My final complaint, would be about the "music" they play in game. I turned off the whiny bike noises, turned my TV almost all the way up, but the muffled garbage that this game spits out made me sick to my stomach. After all of this, I can say that, yes, the game is playable. Should you play it? If you have any Road Rash for the Genesis, leave this one alone.

Final Thoughts: I found this game difficult to enjoy. Play the earlier titles.

[The Apprentice]

Today: X-MEN - Sega Genesis - 50%

The Genesis is loaded with platformer titles, but few of them are worth playing. I got my hopes up for this one, but it just wasn't any good. You see, you can choose one of four mutants to play as: Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Gambit; each of the characters has their powers from the comics, which should be fun to use in battle. The problem is that the powers are very hard to use. Nightcrawler's teleport ability seemingly takes you wherever it wants to, Cyclops's eye beams shoot like tiny blasts, like Fox's ray gun from Super Smash Brothers. All of the powers have a random gauge that tells you how much you can use them. Since when does Wolverine run out of claw? You can trade out characters mid-game, so you can fight as Wolverine and then teleport to the next area as Nightcrawler, which is very helpful. Another feature is the use of another four charaters to assist you, such as Iceman, who builds a bridge of ice over gaps. On my first playthrough, I somehow completely skipped a boss battle. On my second attempt, I tried to fight off the boss, the invincible Juggernaut. Just like the name implies- I couldn't kill him. With almost no life, I climbed up a tree to find a little safety. Then he went away for some strange reason. I went a little further in the game and fought the real boss, who killed me. On my final attempt, I ran from the Juggernaut, only to be killed by a spear-throwing enemy who was waiting off-screen. Which is another one of this game's problems: cheap hits. I swear, the most annoying thing in the world is to have a huge guy with giant metal claws be killed by a flying insect that he couldn't punch out of the air because it was flying just a little too low. For a game released in 1993, I expect more than this.

Final Thoughts: If you see this game at the thrift shop, do everyone a favor and stash the cartridge somewhere in the quilt section.

[The Apprentice]

Today: Crazy Taxi - Sega Dreamcast - 90%

"Alright, time to make some crazy money! Are you ready? Here we go!" What a terrific game this is! I first played Crazy Taxi when I was six, and since then I've owned three versions of the original (PS2, Dreamcast, and GBA). The Dreamcast version is my favorite, so its no suprise that one of my favorite games on my favorite system would land in the 90% range. Crazy Taxi is a game that puts you in control of a cab driver who will do anything to get the passenger to their destination on time. This means bashing through cars, driving on rooftops, and flying through crowded malls. Depending on how fast you get the costomer to their destination, you get a time extension so you can deliver more passengers. The graphics are awesome for such a processor-intense game, and the two cities in the game are giant. There's also the Crazy Box, a series of extreme challenges you have to complete in a set ammount of time, like Crazy Bowling, where you have to power-slide the taxi to knock down giant bowling pins. If you think the liscense tests in Gran Turismo are hard, you'll be blown away by some of the later tests, but it's extremely satisfying to beat the final challenge. Overall, the game plays and looks better than most from its time. Its soundtrack, however, gets repetitive.

Final thoughts: This is one of the greatest arcade games of all time. Definitly get it if you have a console it was released on, even the GBA had an awesome version.

[arion]

your review of Defcon 5 was spot on it was one of the first saturn games i bought and as much as i tried i could not make sense of it but it did get a little intresting if the aliens managed to infiltrate the base at least then there was something to do.

[The Apprentice]

Today: Rocket Knight Adventures - Sega Genesis - 85%

I remember seeing the main character in this game in a lot of places on the internet, so when I saw the cartridge at the flea market I went ahead and picked it up. That being said, I have no idea whats going on in this game, and I don't have the instruction booklet to explain it to me. Luckily, this game is easy to learn, but it seems to me there's much more to know about the gameplay than what I understand. Your main character, who looks like a mouse in a suit of armor, uses a sword to attack and the rockets strapped to his back to propell himself through the air. It's a very interesting concept and the developers thought up interesting ways to use it, like blasting yourself sideways to cross a huge gap. The enemies attack in a variety of ways, and its fun when you learn their weaknesses. The bosses are incredible; The developers thought of some completely new ideas for these things, and most of them use the Vectorman style sphere movement technique so they can be huge. The music is nice, and the graphics kind of remind me of Gunstar Heroes. Overall, this is a very good platformer for the Genesis. My only complaint is that the game is a little bit cheesy sometimes as far as presentation goes.

Final Thoughts: You might want to look on ebay for this one.