12/29/03
Aw, crumbs. I guess I'll have to retire the Christmas motif now, won't I? I think I'll keep it around until after my birthday... it's always tough for me to accept the departure of the holiday season.
I've been working all night on the Blitz, but I don't have much to show for it... at least, not yet. I've finished my half of a special article celebrating the Vectrex, a game system from the 1980's that's still actively supported by both its fans and hobbyists, who've designed their own Vectrex games. I just need to get the other half of the feature from an old friend of mine and tweak the layout a bit and it'll be ready to be published.
12/26/03
It's been a while since I've done any programming, but after several years of inactivity, I'm starting to get that itch again. There are a still a lot of games that haven't been ported to the Game Boy Advance, and it's become glaringly obvious that the only way those games are going to be translated is if I do it myself. If I don't get distracted with the site and other important matters, I may dabble a little with Dragon BASIC over the weekend. That way, I can determine if the utility is capable of producing something like this:
Gorf isn't the ONLY game I'd like to play on the Game Boy Advance, but it's pretty high on my list of priorities. In fact, I think it'd be fantastic in a collection with Omega Race, Wizard of Wor, Solar Fox, Satan's Hollow, and a handful of other Midway shooters which have yet to be converted to any modern day game system.
12/24/03
On the 11th day of Christmas, my web site gave to me... a new 26 Hunter page, a link to this great shooter, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Here's a little more information about the aforementioned shooter. It's called Dead Eye, and it combines the old-school alien annihilation of Galaga with the challenging point incentives of more recent shoot 'em ups like Ikaruga. The only flaws I've noticed is that it gets exceptionally hard (unfair, even) in later stages and that joystick control is absolutely impossible. Even handy utilities like JoyToKey don't seem to work with it. Still, I like it... the level designs are simple but brilliantly effective, and the same could be said for the graphics, which combine a colorful starfield with crisply drawn computer rendered sprites.
12/22/03
Here's something I forgot to mention in previous updates... a couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to play an N-Gage, and I didn't think it was that bad. I was a little disappointed, actually. After listening to my friends and countless reviews on the Internet, I expected a game console that was pulled from the bowels of hell itself, but the N-Gage is actually kind of impressive. It's the first phone with games that aren't laughably primitive, and the first handheld with solid 3D graphics. You might be able to pull off a game like Pandemonium! on the Game Boy Advance, but you'd have to push the console to its limits, or add a DSP to the cartridge, like Nintendo's old Super FX chip, to make it work.
Having only played one game for the N-Gage, I can't offer a fully informed opinion of it. However, from what I've played so far, I find it tough to hate the machine with the passion that I had before. Damn you, Nokia!
12/19/03
The worst thing about renting games is that eventually, you have to take them back. That's not much of a problem if the games you picked up stink, but when you get a gem like Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando, it's very hard to let it go. Somehow, Insomniac has taken an overdone genre and made it fresh and exciting... they really are to 3D platformers what Pixar has been to animated movies.
Anyway, there's a new Zoo Logic comic on the site. I'm happy with the way this one turned out, even if the subject material is a little dated. The way I see it, it's NEVER too late to bash Spike's VGA awards and its smarmy host David Spade.
12/17/03
I was really upset when I'd first heard that the official release of Half-Life had been cancelled for the Dreamcast, even though the game itself was entirely finished. Now that I've played it, however, I can't say Sierra's decision bothers me all that much. It's not just the mediocre graphics that turn me off... it's the insanely complicated control that has become commonplace in today's first person shooters. Moving your character requires not only the analog thumbstick and digital joypad on the front of the Dreamcast controller, but the face buttons as well, which are used as a surrogate second joypad. It quickly becomes obvious why games like Half-Life are more enjoyable on PCs... you really need a mouse and keyboard to precisely control both your character and his view of the world around him.
12/16/03
Somehow, I managed to muscle my way through most of Mega Man X7, even finding all the pieces of X's Glide Armor. It wasn't easy, but it did get more fun after I'd found enough hostages and items to change Axl from a fragile child to an android powerhouse. I never reached Sigma, but when I consider how incredibly frustrating he was in previous Mega Man X games, I suppose I should be thankful I didn't.
Anyway, you'll find a review of the game here. I'm also thinking about bringing back Zoo Logic, but if I do, the comic won't be ready for at least a couple more days.
12/11/03
I've been playing Mega Man X7 over the past couple of days. Since Capcom has apparently forgotten what is and is not fun, I'll remind them with this handy list...
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12/10/03
We're celebrating an Ikaruga Christmas here at the Blitz. We're not only serving up a fresh review of the game, but this fun animation as well...
12/8/03
And you probably thought I forgot all about Christmas, huh? Well, that ain't gonna happen, folks... the most wonderful time of the year is getting the recognition it deserves on this site.
I've played a few new games over the weekend... I'm still in the process of writing reviews for them, but in the meantime, here are some brief thoughts about all three games:
BLOODY ROAR 4: It's time to drag this one to the pound and put it out of its misery, Hudson. The series took a big dip in quality with the third installment and hasn't been the same since. The bright, colorful graphics that made the first two games so appealing have become dark and indistinct, and the brisk gameplay feels less precise. Worst of all, Hudson has ignored players' complaints that the animal forms are too powerful, making them even stronger than before. It's gotten to the point where playing as a human has become a liability, rather than a fun challenge. Another irritating flaw is that the designers keep adding characters with alternate forms that aren't necessarily animals. What the hell is a Spurious, anyway? Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure I've never seen one at a zoo.
PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME: Yep, I made good on my promise to play this one. I practically had to try it, because Ubi Soft's constant advertisements left me overwhelmed with curiousity. So, is The Sands of Time a worthy sequel to the original Prince of Persia? Actually, I think it's BETTER. The first game in the series was infamously difficult, but the ability to rewind in The Sands of Time helps reduce its level of frustration and encourages the player to experiment with their surroundings. The fighting is more rewarding as well... now, you can fight multiple enemies at once, and your hero can use his agility as a weapon against the swarms of foes, rather than just his sword. Finally, in an unusual twist, The Sands of Time has better control than the 2D Prince of Persia games, which felt stiff and demanded careful precision from the player. The Sands of Time has only one serious flaw... limited visibility. The playfields are rather dark and the camera sometimes obscures important details, making it tough to figure out just where to go next.
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: THE BATTLE FOR BIKINI BOTTOM: I know what you're thinking... it's just another crappy Nicktoons game, right? Not this time. The developers brilliantly captured the silly fun of the cartoon... The Battle for Bikini Bottom has all the humor of the popular cartoon series and even many of the original voices. The gameplay's not too shabby, either. It reminds me of the Crash Bandicoot series, except with larger, less restrictive playfields that give Spongebob and his friends more freedom of movement.
I also tried the demo version of Go! Go! Hypergrind. Ren and Stimpy creators Spümco and extreme skateboarding seem like an odd combination, but I'm pleased to say that it works surprisingly well. The game plays very much like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, but in addition to doing tricks, you can guide your character into cartoony hazards which spindle, fold, and mutilate them. You're actually ENCOURAGED to do this, as the injuries increase the points you'll receive from tricks until your skater recovers. The most shocking thing about this game is the artwork... the cel-shading in Go! Go! Hypergrind actually has the intended effect of making the graphics vibrant and cartoony. Spümco also did a fantastic job with the character design, particularly the animals which really stand out. I'm not sure what to think about the Johnson Brothers, a pair of stacked together siblings with phallic noses, but I can't really complain, as they're still infinitely more tasteful than those awful new episodes of Ren and Stimpy.
12/5/03
Dear readers, allow me to make you an offer. I've got two Working Designs RPGs which I'd like to sell... Alundra and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, both for the original Playstation. Both games include every disc, and all the discs are in good, working condition. The only things missing are Lunar's instruction manual and silly promotional items like the Nall plush toy, which former Working Designs employee Zach Meston will tell you makes a better dog chew toy anyway.
If you'd like to make a reasonable offer for either of these games, send me an e-mail and we'll discuss details like pricing and shipping.
Oh yeah... there's just one more thing. Anyone who's still dancing to the Saikyo groove will be happy to know that I've refreshed the Dan Hibiki tribute page. I noticed that the move list in Saikyo Crusher wasn't entirely accurate, and that the joystick motions for each move were somewhat difficult to read, so I fixed the errors I'd made earlier and replaced the text with more intuitive arrows.
If you'd like to thank me, make me an offer on those games!
12/2/03
I don't know how I missed this one, but I heard that Insert Credit and Square-Enix clashed over an unauthorized video of Final Fantasy XII. Insert Credit staffer Tim Rogers had taped footage of the game against Square's wishes, then snuck it out of a trade show and shared it with the rest of the world. In retaliation, Square sent a legal notice to Insert Credit, warning them (in the kind of clumsy English only an SNK fan could love) to remove the footage from their site. The editor of Insert Credit eventually complied, but not before having a little fun with the letter he received, inviting his readers to make Photoshopped parodies of it.
So what's my take on all this? Even though I'm a much bigger fan of Insert Credit than I am of Square or Enix, I think Tim should have respected Square's request and just kept his camera off. I don't really have any complaints about Insert Credit's making fun of Square's cease and desist letter, however. I can't count how many times people have done this with poorly translated video games, so why is it suddenly so wrong now? All of the hopelessly obsessed Square fans out there really need to learn to take a joke, rather than taking offense whenever their sacred cow is tarnished.
12/1/03
I went to Lansing over the weekend to visit some of my friends, and the trip did me a world of good. It not only lifted my spirits, but it gave me a chance to do a little catching up with the GameCube, a system I hadn't played since Super Mario Sunshine was released almost a year ago. I gave nearly a half dozen games a test drive, and although I didn't play any of them long enough to write full reviews, I can confidently share my first impressions of them here...
IKARUGA: Is Ikaruga really a sequel to Treasure's groundbreaking Saturn game Radiant Silvergun? There's really no wrong answer to this question. Although Ikaruga is heavily inspired by Treasure's first vertically scrolling shooter, it features play mechanics that make it an entirely different experience. Switching your ship's color from light to dark and back is as necessary as firing if you want to survive... in fact, you may want to play a couple of games without shooting at all just to get used to the concept. While Ikaruga is certainly one of Treasure's better games, it seems somewhat bland in comparison to Radiant Silvergun... you've only got one weapon and the graphics are rather drab.
MARIO KART DOUBLE DASH: Mario Kart is back, and this time, you can bring a friend along for the ride rather than just racing against them. Putting two characters in the same kart was a novel idea, but it doesn't seem to change the gameplay much... in fact, you'll rarely get the opportunity to switch drivers. Despite this, Double Dash is every bit as good as the other Mario Kart games, and it looks better than ever thanks to the GameCube's advanced hardware. Another nice touch is that anyone hit with a weapon will drop any items they're holding, giving the player even more incentive to steer clear of turtle shells and other road hazards.
P.N. 03: This was one of the games, along with Killer 7 and the critically acclaimed Viewtiful Joe, that Capcom had started developing last year in the hopes of creating popular new franchises. While I have to give them credit for exploring new ideas, they would have been better off making another Mega Man sequel than releasing this silly action game. Product Number 03, or P.N. 03 for short, manages to be even more ridiculous and sexist than the worst Tomb Raider game thanks to its main character, a dancing queen with skintight spandex that leaves nothing to the imagination. Although the action looks stylish, it's just not much fun because the control is so weak... you'll often find yourself cartwheeling INTO your enemies' laser fire rather than away from it. This product should have been recalled, because it's clearly defective.
WARIO WORLD: Since he was introduced in Super Mario Land 2 over ten years ago, Mario's demented evil twin has starred in a lot of games. Nearly all of them have been refreshingly innovative, but Wario World is missing the creative spark we've come to expect from Wario games. It's a simplistic side-scrolling beat 'em up with platforming elements... sometimes, you'll need to press switches to unlock secret rooms, but most of the time you'll just be punching and piledriving swarms of dinosaurs. I've heard that Treasure was responsible for this game, but it doesn't match their modus operendi... I would have expected something more clever from them.
I also played a few games of the recent Neo-Geo fighter Rage of the Dragons, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I didn't think the game was anything special when I'd first tried it, but after challenging a friend (namely, GRB staffer Carl Schafer) to a couple of matches, I'm seeing Rage of the Dragons in a whole new light.
