9/27/04

I hope you'll forgive the recent lack of activity on the site.  I've been trying to switch my computer over to Windows 2000, but the transition hasn't gone as smoothly as planned.  I can't seem to get the sound drivers installed, and sound is just something you can't live without when you're as fond of emulators as I am.  I guess I'll have to keep slumming with Windows ME until I can find a solution to the problem.

Anyway, I did make good on my promise to write a Crimson Tears review.  I must say that it's quite a change of pace for the Blitz, offering a review of a game that was just recently released.  Usually I wait until they're good and crusty before I offer an opinion of them, because, well... let's not mince words here.  I'm lazy!  Lucky for me, I can get away with that, because timeliness is hardly a concern when you're running a retro gaming site.

Before I go, is anyone else thinking that the upcoming movie Taxi was originally based on the game Crazy Taxi?  I'm watching the previews and I can't help but think that there's a connection... Taxi's got "less than faithful film adaptation of a popular video game" written all over it.  I also can't help but notice similarities between the lead character in Pixar's The Impossibles and failed Sony mascot Blasto.  Since The Impossibles are already scheduled to appear in a Playstation game, I can only hope that the two characters just look alike.

9/22/04

There's more solid information on the upcoming Nintendo DS.  It'll be available in America on November 21st, and will cost $149.  That's not too bad when you consider that it'll have everything from a touchscreen to wireless communication to Game Boy Advance compatibility to, um, a corkscrew and a toothpick.  Wait, were we talking about a game system or a Swiss Army Knife here?

Anyway... we've got a new review on the site, faithful readers.  Today, we're examining the Protector/Y*A*S*I combo cartridge for the Vectrex, designed by Alex Herbert and distributed by Mark Shaker.  Next week, we'll leave the past and head for the future with Crimson Tears for the Playstation 2.

9/20/04

I don't have any major updates to the site today.  I was attacked by a thug over the weekend, and spent the rest of it in bed feeling sorry for myself.  You'll find more information about this unfortunate incident on my LiveJournal, but let me just say here that when a homophobic cretin whose parents are cousins starts shouting insults from his car, just walk away and let him wallow in his own immense stupidity.

Well, enough of that.  You want to hear about video games, and I've played some great ones this weekend.  First up is Sly Cooper 2... I managed to get my hands on this one the day it arrived at my local rental store, and I must say that I've loved nearly every minute of it.  There's more stealth in Sly 2: Band of Thieves, and I normally don't have much patience for this style of gameplay, but Sucker Punch has somehow extracted most of the frustration and replaced it with fun and excitement.  The level designs are terrific, too... now, Sly and his friends work together to finish the longer, more difficult missions, and the objectives offer more variety than simply running from one end of the stage to the other.

I also received my Vectrex last Friday, and have spent hours of quality time with Protector and Y*A*S*I.  Protector, as the name suggests, is a clone of Williams' Defender, and an extremely accurate one despite the Vectrex's visual limitations.  Defender loses nothing in the conversion to vector graphics... its graphics were always pretty simple, and color didn't play a major part in the game, unless you were hunting down specific enemies in the radar.  You can still recognize them on the Vectrex... you just have to pay attention to their movement patterns and luminescence.

Y*A*S*I is a Vectrex adaptation of Space Invaders, and it's even closer to the source material than Protector.  The designer actually found a way to simulate raster graphics on the Vectrex, so the invaders look exactly like they did in the arcade game.  There is a bit of flicker as the vectors rapidly alternate to fill in the characters, but there's absolutely no slowdown, which means that the gameplay is absolutely perfect.  It's the best Space Invaders conversion since Opcode's superb Space Invaders Collection for the ColecoVision.  In fact, it would be incredibly tough choosing between the two games... on one hand, Space Invaders Collection offers both Space Invaders and its sequel, while on the other, Y*A*S*I features a variety of unlockable modes and looks more like the arcade game thanks to its bright monochrome display.

Lucky for me, I don't have to choose.  I've got 'em both, and I have no intention of giving up either anytime soon.  I DO have to bring Sly Cooper 2 back to the rental store, however, so I'll have to end this entry here.

9/14/04

Well, it's official, folks.  You've probably suspected it for a long time, but after today, you can safely say without any doubt that I'm a hypocrite.  That's right, I picked up a copy of Grand Theft Auto III for my Playstation 2.  Hey, I'm as surprised as you are, but I found the disc at a pawn shop for five bucks.  It's nearly impossible for me to resist any game for an actively supported console at that price. 

Besides, True Crime: Streets of L.A. isn't going to last forever.  Once I'm done with it, I'm going to want a second helping of that go anywhere, do anything gameplay, and Grand Theft Auto III ought to satisfy that craving... at least until True Crime 2 (which will hopefully be subtitled "Better Aiming, Less Snoop Dogg") hits the streets.

I also just received my copy of Protector/YASI for the Vectrex.  This cartridge offers conversions of two great arcade classics, Defender and Space Invaders.  Since I haven't actually gotten my Vectrex yet, I can't tell you how the games play, but from the instruction manuals alone I can already see that a lot of work was put into them.  Both games have battery backup, and YASI, the Space Invaders clone, has the extra special bonus of voice effects, provided you have a special adapter.  I don't know WHY you'd need voices in a Space Invaders clone, but hey, they're in there.  You know, come to think of it, such a peripheral also opens up the possibility of a Vectrex port of Gorf.  Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss this as a silly gimmick...

Another big surprise is that the designer has cleverly used the vector graphics of the system to emulate a raster scan display.  That means that the invaders are made of pixels, rather than lines.  The amount of processing power needed to reproduce this effect may also mean that the game's got even more flicker and slowdown than Spinball!, but again, I couldn't say for sure until I actually have the chance to play it.  Stay tuned to the Blitz and I'll let you know if the game is a technological marvel... or just a well-intentioned but overly ambitious blunder.

9/9/04

There was some talk on another message board about observing the fifth anniversary of the Dreamcast by spraypainting swirls and pro-Sega slogans on run down buildings throughout the country, and possibly the world.  As much as I like that system, I probably won't participate in this well-intentioned but still very illegal vandalism.  Nevertheless, I'd like to find some way to celebrate the fifth birthday of this most excellent game system.  Perhaps I'll limit myself to playing nothing but Dreamcast games today in rememberence of its debut.  Heaven knows I've got enough of them to keep me entertained.  Besides, I'm curious to see how well its graphics have held up after all these years.

In not-so-cool game system news, I spent my Labor Day weekend with a couple of Playstation 2 titles that I'd rented from a local video store.  I didn't really NEED to do this, since I had plenty of other games at home, but I was overwhelmed with curiousity when I saw an unfamiliar Capcom release called Crimson Tears.  When I discovered that it was designed in part by Spike, the creators of the Fire Pro Wrestling series, I absolutely had to try it.

You're probably wondering what the heck Crimson Tears is, so here's the scoop.  Remember the quest mode in Ehrgeiz for the Playstation?  The computer would make random dungeons for you, and you'd take your character into them, fighting vicious monsters and collecting a wide array of weapons and items.  Crimson Tears is pretty much just like that, except with a futuristic gloss that's more reminescent of Phantasy Star Online and its sequels.  If you're not familiar with any of those games, you've probably played SOMETHING that's pretty close to Crimson Tears.  It's at the very tip of a family tree that includes such titles as Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, Fatal Labyrinth, and Gateway to Apshai.

However, while most of those games featured turn-based fights, Crimson Tears features more exciting battles that take place in real time.  At first, you'll be kicking and punching your way through crowds of bad guys, which range from ferocious green striped dogs to soldiers who bear a suspicious resemblence to the Master Chief from Halo.  Eventually, one of the enemies will drop a weapon, or an item, or a power-up, and you'll be able to either equip them right away or bring them back to your home base to enhance your characters' abilities.

As a 3D fighter, Crimson Tears gets passing marks.  The combat does get repetitive after a while thanks to the limited variety of enemies and the lack of a two player mode, but the animation and some of the attacks are spectacular.  Just put two swords in Amber's hands and you'll be mesmerized by the way she dances through each room, taking out enemies with every graceful step.

However, Crimson Tears is almost guaranteed to disappoint fans of RPGs.  After playing ten years of increasingly complex Square-Enix titles, they've come to expect a lot more depth from the genre than this game can possibly offer them.  Players can piece together weapons from the parts they've found in the dungeons, and the option to rescue fellow party members left stranded in the levels after being defeated is a welcome feature.  Unfortunately, nothing else in Crimson Tears is going to be much of a surprise or a challenge to anyone who's spent more than a few hours with other RPGs.

It may not be the best game Capcom released this year, or even this month, but the ten hours I spent playing Crimson Tears would seem to indicate that the game's got something going for it.

9/7/04

I'll be doing some maintenence on the site this week, adding ad banners to all the currently active pages and removing all the outdated ones.   Just to warn you, you'll probably see see tons of pop-ups on The Gameroom Blitz until the folks at ZTNet make the proper adjustments to the site's advertising script.

Until then, my advice to you would be to download Mozilla Firefox and use that as your primary Internet browser... not just to visit this site, but for all your other favorites as well.  Nothing's better at blocking pop-ups and all the other online irritations that you had come to expect from Internet Explorer.

Anyway.  Later this week, you can look forward to new reviews from Tony Bueno and John Roche, The Gameroom Blitz's most prolific contributors.  Maybe I'll toss something into the pot as well, if I'm feeling up to it.