Life Force
Welcome back! We're going to take it a little old-school today as we explore several different shmups this week. First up, Life Force, the sequel to the seminal Gradius, known to some as Salamander. Full disclosure: My first experience with this game was on the NES, and it was on its release, when I was 8 years old. I was only treated to one game per month, so when I chose this, it was with the knowledge that I would be playing only this for a full month. And I played the hell out of Life Force.
The story is actually pretty cool, as far as space shooters go: an ancient, giant alien galaxy-being is going around eating planets. As the Vic Viper (or as player 2, the Road British), you actually fly into the heart of the being, kill it and escape by the seat of your pants. The level design reflects this - the first stage you fly past giant teeth as you enter the mouth, and it goes on from there. The classic Gradius style - shoot enemies for powerups, cash them in for better and better tools, and the ever-present 'Option' are all there, and thankfully the game features instant respawns instead of having a checkpoint-based system like the first Gradius.
Graphically, the game holds up remarkably well, even today. While the monsters are simple two-frame sprites, the stages are the real stars, with suitably creepy intestines and brain matter fighting for screen real estate with more terrestrial design. Alternating between top-down and side-scrolling action also gives you a better idea just what the Vic Viper looks like. The bosses are grotesque, starting with the grasping brain-eyeball at the end of the first stage, and only grow more freakish as you go deeper into, literally, the belly of the beast.
The music is catchy but not fantastic, and unfortunately does suffer from its chiptunes roots compared to what we're capable of today. The sound effects are tinny, annoying and numerous; the game is an unapologetic arcade coinsink, and has the bleeps and bloops to prove it.
Given the limitations of a two-button controller, Life Force decides not to fight it and simply has one button fire all weapons simultaneously and builds in rapid-fire. The Vic Viper thus lays down a wall of firepower that looks fantastic and makes you feel like an actual space ace as you tackle the terror from beyond.
Once you play through the first stage enough to generate muscle-memory of where each powerup, enemy and safe route are, you'll be able to breeze through it, and die horribly three times very quickly at the beginning of stage two. And you'll love every second of it. This is as it should be; the tag Quarter Pounder is very applicable here.
Graphics: The enemies (other than bosses) are simple affairs, but the stage dressing is creative and fun, even today. 5.
Sound: Forgettable music and chintzy effects. 2.
Controls: Doesn't try to do to much, and is the better for it. 4.
Tilt: A balls-hard shmup with a creative setting. 5.
Overall (not an average): Tendrils' Top Pick.
Showing posts with label Quarter Pounder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quarter Pounder. Show all posts
Monday, June 21, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Frogger
Frogger
Frogger is exactly what it has always been: a very-low-input game about patience and exactitude. Digital Eclipse, the company largely responsible for these no-effort ports onto XBox Live's Arcade, basically did a sprite-swap, and despite looking a thousand times better than its original blocky state, they actually managed to make it worse.
The gameplay is the same: You're a frog. A frog who can't swim, but still a frog. And you're on a highway median. You need to cross a highway that is extraordinarily poorly designed, with traffic flow reversed from lane to lane, and vehicles that are clearly not street-legal (like bulldozers and salt-flat racers) zipping along. Then, turtles attempting to qualify for a synchronized swimming team will assist you in getting from log to log, and if you play your cards right, you'll end up at home with a little lady frog to make you some hot cocoa.
Where Digital Eclipse goes wrong is in offering an upgraded graphics option. While it's nice to have more detailed backgrounds and pretty sprites for the various objects, high-level Frogger play is about very exacting jumps, weaving between traffic with only pixels to spare. The "upgraded graphics" add just enough blurryness, just enough questionability to the range which is "safely on the log" versus the range that qualifies as "in the water, start over froggy" that you end up having to simply turn off the upgraded mode. The most frustrating jumps relate to the Frog Homes, which now have rounded-off edges that make judging the center much more difficult.
Overall, the game is a fun diversion, and while depth was never the strong point of early-80s arcade classics, you and George Constanza would both be well-served in giving Frogger a shot in this millenium, if only to piss off Jeff Minter.
As a side note, this will be the last dailyreview article until the last week of the year, as I am going on holiday to play a whole bunch of games and refresh my opinions on a few before posting reviews.
Graphics: Upgraded graphics are prettier (at least SNES quality), but destroy high-level play. 2.
Sound: Chiptunes and public-domain piano licks were weak 20 years ago. 1.
Controls: The left stick stands in amenably for an arcade joystick. 3.
Tilt: Disposable and cheap, just like a true arcade classic. 2.
Overall (not an average): 2.
Frogger is exactly what it has always been: a very-low-input game about patience and exactitude. Digital Eclipse, the company largely responsible for these no-effort ports onto XBox Live's Arcade, basically did a sprite-swap, and despite looking a thousand times better than its original blocky state, they actually managed to make it worse.
The gameplay is the same: You're a frog. A frog who can't swim, but still a frog. And you're on a highway median. You need to cross a highway that is extraordinarily poorly designed, with traffic flow reversed from lane to lane, and vehicles that are clearly not street-legal (like bulldozers and salt-flat racers) zipping along. Then, turtles attempting to qualify for a synchronized swimming team will assist you in getting from log to log, and if you play your cards right, you'll end up at home with a little lady frog to make you some hot cocoa.
Where Digital Eclipse goes wrong is in offering an upgraded graphics option. While it's nice to have more detailed backgrounds and pretty sprites for the various objects, high-level Frogger play is about very exacting jumps, weaving between traffic with only pixels to spare. The "upgraded graphics" add just enough blurryness, just enough questionability to the range which is "safely on the log" versus the range that qualifies as "in the water, start over froggy" that you end up having to simply turn off the upgraded mode. The most frustrating jumps relate to the Frog Homes, which now have rounded-off edges that make judging the center much more difficult.
Overall, the game is a fun diversion, and while depth was never the strong point of early-80s arcade classics, you and George Constanza would both be well-served in giving Frogger a shot in this millenium, if only to piss off Jeff Minter.
As a side note, this will be the last dailyreview article until the last week of the year, as I am going on holiday to play a whole bunch of games and refresh my opinions on a few before posting reviews.
Graphics: Upgraded graphics are prettier (at least SNES quality), but destroy high-level play. 2.
Sound: Chiptunes and public-domain piano licks were weak 20 years ago. 1.
Controls: The left stick stands in amenably for an arcade joystick. 3.
Tilt: Disposable and cheap, just like a true arcade classic. 2.
Overall (not an average): 2.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Arcade
TMNT 1989 Arcade
There's something about a well-crafted beat-'em-up that's just timeless. Endless goons, fun animations and a solid strategy that exists at a higher level if you want to find it, that makes for an excellent Saturday afternoon at the mall with a pocketful of quarters. Digital Eclipse get shit on a lot for no-effort ports to XBLA, but with the TMNT Arcade, they managed to get everything important right, and restore honor to this game after the terrible NES port all those years ago.
The plot is pretty straightforward, and should be familiar to any child of the 80's: Shredder has kidnapped April, and the titular turtles must rescue her and defeat Shredder. The colors are vibrant and there is no slowdown or clipping, remnants of the limitations of the NES port from days of yore. The sprites run around in 2.5-D, slashing and throwing Foot Clan soldiers on their way to the Technodrome. The bosses look great, colorful and oversized with their trademark voice samples intact.
The music is a faithful recreation of the original arcade's tunes, reworking the original TV series's thirty-second song into several compositions. Slashes and explosions are just as you remember them, too, but no mastering for surround-sound systems (a fault to hold against Digital Eclipse, I suppose). While the music is nostalgic and all, I can't help but wonder if another company with a little more effort might have created new arrangements to give each stage more of a personality.
Controlling the turtles on the 360 is a breeze, but there is no button mapping available. Thankfully, the attack and jump buttons are all you use, so there isn't too much fault to be had (unlike, say, TRON, which tried and failed to emulate a dial-wheel controller), and while oddly the netcode is unforgiving to HPBs and their dial-up connections, lag is throttled by a full-party pause rather than clipping and creating more problems.
There isn't too much to say about this game: the tight controls, solid beat-em-up street cred and nostalgia for a simpler age of play does what it wants, and does it well. 'Drop in-Drop Out' play would be welcome, but doesn't jibe with the 20-credits-to-beat-the-game plan the game lays out for you. Fun Fact: TMNT 1989 was the first Arcade game to have Secret Achievements, with 1 for 0 G ("In the Dark"). I wish I could give this game a 3, but it just doesn't innovate enough. A faithful port, but at the end of the day, it is exactly the game you played as a kid.
Graphics: Exactly as you remember them; top-notch SNES level sprites. 3.
Sound: Faithfully recreated, but doesn't try to do anything fancy. 3.
Controls: No button-mapping and occasional laggy netcode. 2.
Tilt: It's a relaxing stroll through the Turtles world, but offers little replay. 3.
Overall (not an average): 2.
There's something about a well-crafted beat-'em-up that's just timeless. Endless goons, fun animations and a solid strategy that exists at a higher level if you want to find it, that makes for an excellent Saturday afternoon at the mall with a pocketful of quarters. Digital Eclipse get shit on a lot for no-effort ports to XBLA, but with the TMNT Arcade, they managed to get everything important right, and restore honor to this game after the terrible NES port all those years ago.
The plot is pretty straightforward, and should be familiar to any child of the 80's: Shredder has kidnapped April, and the titular turtles must rescue her and defeat Shredder. The colors are vibrant and there is no slowdown or clipping, remnants of the limitations of the NES port from days of yore. The sprites run around in 2.5-D, slashing and throwing Foot Clan soldiers on their way to the Technodrome. The bosses look great, colorful and oversized with their trademark voice samples intact.
The music is a faithful recreation of the original arcade's tunes, reworking the original TV series's thirty-second song into several compositions. Slashes and explosions are just as you remember them, too, but no mastering for surround-sound systems (a fault to hold against Digital Eclipse, I suppose). While the music is nostalgic and all, I can't help but wonder if another company with a little more effort might have created new arrangements to give each stage more of a personality.
Controlling the turtles on the 360 is a breeze, but there is no button mapping available. Thankfully, the attack and jump buttons are all you use, so there isn't too much fault to be had (unlike, say, TRON, which tried and failed to emulate a dial-wheel controller), and while oddly the netcode is unforgiving to HPBs and their dial-up connections, lag is throttled by a full-party pause rather than clipping and creating more problems.
There isn't too much to say about this game: the tight controls, solid beat-em-up street cred and nostalgia for a simpler age of play does what it wants, and does it well. 'Drop in-Drop Out' play would be welcome, but doesn't jibe with the 20-credits-to-beat-the-game plan the game lays out for you. Fun Fact: TMNT 1989 was the first Arcade game to have Secret Achievements, with 1 for 0 G ("In the Dark"). I wish I could give this game a 3, but it just doesn't innovate enough. A faithful port, but at the end of the day, it is exactly the game you played as a kid.
Graphics: Exactly as you remember them; top-notch SNES level sprites. 3.
Sound: Faithfully recreated, but doesn't try to do anything fancy. 3.
Controls: No button-mapping and occasional laggy netcode. 2.
Tilt: It's a relaxing stroll through the Turtles world, but offers little replay. 3.
Overall (not an average): 2.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tron
Tron
Tron is another movie tie-in game, but this one actually makes sense, since the movie it's tying into is based on playing videogames. It's circular logic at its best, but unfortunately the chiptunes and nostalgia don't hold up under the withering gaze of today's discerning gamers.
There are four minigames to play, each of differing levels of interest, representing the different tasks in Tron. In order, their enjoyability is thus: Light Bikes, Tanks, Spiders, and MCP Core. Light bikes are just plain fun, and although the computer is predictable and beatable, it's still fun to zip around on the board. Tanks takes a little strategy but has its moments. Spiders is not a terrible difficult game, but neither is it fun. MCP Core is completely inoffensive, simple and quick.
Graphically, it's very faithful to the arcade it came from in 1983, representing a massive missed opportunity. Digital Eclipse is known for its, shall we say, "faithful" ports, and they don't disappoint. Nothing is missing, and nothing is added. This is definitely a 25 year old video game. There's nostalgic beeps and bloops around, but nothing to stir the heart on the sound side, either.
In the original, which I spent at least $50 on when I first encountered it, the control scheme was unique and fun- you were given a flight stick that glowed blue and a spinning wheel like Arkanoid to work with. Unfortunately, the XBox 360 controller, for all its positives, has nothing that can remotely support this, and so playing certain stages (notably Tanks) is a chore because you aren't fighting the enemy, but the control scheme itself. The "half-spin, then directions reverse" setup is the reason Tempest is an unplayable mess on the Arcade as well.
For $5 Tron is a fine addition to the Arcade - it stokes nostalgia, offers a quick diversion with local and online multiplayer (although lobbies are expectably dead) with a unique "Pressure Cooker" game mode that allows you to pile on the difficulty to a faltering opponent to knock him out of the match. But you get what you pay for, and Tron is unashamedly a bare-bones port of a 25-year old quarter pounder.
Graphics: Servicable, but Digital Eclipse upgrade nothing from the 1983 original. 1.
Sound: Nothing of note here. 1.
Controls: You'll fight with the lack of a scroll wheel, but it's not too damning if you select control scheme "C" (Absolute) from the Menu. 2.
Tilt: A trip down memory lane, but also a sober and welcoming reminder that things have gotten better and there wasn't a halcyon day when every game was good. 2.
Overall (not an average): 2.
Tron is another movie tie-in game, but this one actually makes sense, since the movie it's tying into is based on playing videogames. It's circular logic at its best, but unfortunately the chiptunes and nostalgia don't hold up under the withering gaze of today's discerning gamers.
There are four minigames to play, each of differing levels of interest, representing the different tasks in Tron. In order, their enjoyability is thus: Light Bikes, Tanks, Spiders, and MCP Core. Light bikes are just plain fun, and although the computer is predictable and beatable, it's still fun to zip around on the board. Tanks takes a little strategy but has its moments. Spiders is not a terrible difficult game, but neither is it fun. MCP Core is completely inoffensive, simple and quick.
Graphically, it's very faithful to the arcade it came from in 1983, representing a massive missed opportunity. Digital Eclipse is known for its, shall we say, "faithful" ports, and they don't disappoint. Nothing is missing, and nothing is added. This is definitely a 25 year old video game. There's nostalgic beeps and bloops around, but nothing to stir the heart on the sound side, either.
In the original, which I spent at least $50 on when I first encountered it, the control scheme was unique and fun- you were given a flight stick that glowed blue and a spinning wheel like Arkanoid to work with. Unfortunately, the XBox 360 controller, for all its positives, has nothing that can remotely support this, and so playing certain stages (notably Tanks) is a chore because you aren't fighting the enemy, but the control scheme itself. The "half-spin, then directions reverse" setup is the reason Tempest is an unplayable mess on the Arcade as well.
For $5 Tron is a fine addition to the Arcade - it stokes nostalgia, offers a quick diversion with local and online multiplayer (although lobbies are expectably dead) with a unique "Pressure Cooker" game mode that allows you to pile on the difficulty to a faltering opponent to knock him out of the match. But you get what you pay for, and Tron is unashamedly a bare-bones port of a 25-year old quarter pounder.
Graphics: Servicable, but Digital Eclipse upgrade nothing from the 1983 original. 1.
Sound: Nothing of note here. 1.
Controls: You'll fight with the lack of a scroll wheel, but it's not too damning if you select control scheme "C" (Absolute) from the Menu. 2.
Tilt: A trip down memory lane, but also a sober and welcoming reminder that things have gotten better and there wasn't a halcyon day when every game was good. 2.
Overall (not an average): 2.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Feeding Frenzy 2
Feeding Frenzy 2
Everything Feeding Frenzy did, Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown improves upon. The graphics are far more varied and interesting, and there are little touches everywhere, from the shimmering wakes your fish leaves in the water as he moves to the tiny wiggle animation of clamshells before they snap shut. Gameplay remains wholly unchanged; you still zip around a screen, eating up everything smaller than you until you grow big enough to devour everything on screen.
For some reason, there's a story in the main campaign mode, based around unravelling the mystery of the shadowy new fish in the cove, but it's as irrelevant as the first Feeding Frenzy's "Dethrone the Shark King" storyline. FF2, however, adds in twenty additional stages, several multiplayer modes and an "Easy" mode, though the main game is once again easy as pie for an experienced gamer.
If you never played the first, this game exceeds it in every way, and if you did, the new graphics, longer music score and new abilities (Jumping out of the water! Summoning Fishing Lures!) give you enough to justify this buy. Still no on-line co-op, but local co-op features a few simple minigames, nothing special but better than nothing. The game is so simple, though, that online co-op would basically be "Private Chat + Some Fish Game."
Graphics: Massive upgrade over the original. Fish are bright, colors are rich and the whole game exudes fun. Nothing next-gen, but points for improving over the original. 3.
Sound: More music, but still not too much going on. 2.
Controls: Crisp, but the simple controls aren't something that needs a lot of work. 3.
Tilt: Improves in every way on the original, this is the definitive "fish eating game" on the 360. 4.
Overall (not an average): 3
Everything Feeding Frenzy did, Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown improves upon. The graphics are far more varied and interesting, and there are little touches everywhere, from the shimmering wakes your fish leaves in the water as he moves to the tiny wiggle animation of clamshells before they snap shut. Gameplay remains wholly unchanged; you still zip around a screen, eating up everything smaller than you until you grow big enough to devour everything on screen.
For some reason, there's a story in the main campaign mode, based around unravelling the mystery of the shadowy new fish in the cove, but it's as irrelevant as the first Feeding Frenzy's "Dethrone the Shark King" storyline. FF2, however, adds in twenty additional stages, several multiplayer modes and an "Easy" mode, though the main game is once again easy as pie for an experienced gamer.
If you never played the first, this game exceeds it in every way, and if you did, the new graphics, longer music score and new abilities (Jumping out of the water! Summoning Fishing Lures!) give you enough to justify this buy. Still no on-line co-op, but local co-op features a few simple minigames, nothing special but better than nothing. The game is so simple, though, that online co-op would basically be "Private Chat + Some Fish Game."
Graphics: Massive upgrade over the original. Fish are bright, colors are rich and the whole game exudes fun. Nothing next-gen, but points for improving over the original. 3.
Sound: More music, but still not too much going on. 2.
Controls: Crisp, but the simple controls aren't something that needs a lot of work. 3.
Tilt: Improves in every way on the original, this is the definitive "fish eating game" on the 360. 4.
Overall (not an average): 3
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Feeding Frenzy
Feeding Frenzy
There's a certain point where you totally zone out and no longer realize you're even engaging in inputting commands, simply reacting to the events on the screen. It's a rare state, one desired by combat fighter pilots, and comes effortlessly to those of us who slammed quarters and tokens into pressboard and plastic cabinets filled to the brim with bits and bytes of digital stimulus.
Feeding Frenzy taps into that, with a game that is completely primal, twitch-based gameplay. You play a small fish, eating smaller fish until you get bigger, and can now eat the fish that previously would have eaten you. That's it, and the game would be lessened by the inclusion of anything else.
This is classic, classic gaming. The modern-day graphics are colorful and expressive, and the music inoffensive, but in the transfer to a home console, minus the unstated purpose of drawing quarters out of your sweaty hand, the challenge scales way, way down. Without the danger of completely unfair enemies and cheating AI included solely to get you to put in more change, the game evolves beyond a mere twitch-game into some sort of Zen-like experience, where the goal shifts from "Win" or even "Get a High Score" to simply "relax and have a good time."
While the lowered challenge bar can make it an uninteresting interactive aquarium screen saver, the game does offer the high-end "keep your combo up" type gameplay that can entice the more competitive to grind through this game more than once to get higher on the leaderboards.
Graphics: No better or worse than a fancy screen saver - colorful but clearly done on the cheap. 3.
Sound: One short. relaxing riff that seamlessly replays, and simple sound effects do no wrong, but don't stand out either. 2.
Controls: Crisp response time makes this eat-em-up not a chore to play. 3.
Tilt: The game can meet whatever expectations you have, but it's doubtful that it will exceed them. 3.
Overall (not an average): 2
There's a certain point where you totally zone out and no longer realize you're even engaging in inputting commands, simply reacting to the events on the screen. It's a rare state, one desired by combat fighter pilots, and comes effortlessly to those of us who slammed quarters and tokens into pressboard and plastic cabinets filled to the brim with bits and bytes of digital stimulus.
Feeding Frenzy taps into that, with a game that is completely primal, twitch-based gameplay. You play a small fish, eating smaller fish until you get bigger, and can now eat the fish that previously would have eaten you. That's it, and the game would be lessened by the inclusion of anything else.
This is classic, classic gaming. The modern-day graphics are colorful and expressive, and the music inoffensive, but in the transfer to a home console, minus the unstated purpose of drawing quarters out of your sweaty hand, the challenge scales way, way down. Without the danger of completely unfair enemies and cheating AI included solely to get you to put in more change, the game evolves beyond a mere twitch-game into some sort of Zen-like experience, where the goal shifts from "Win" or even "Get a High Score" to simply "relax and have a good time."
While the lowered challenge bar can make it an uninteresting interactive aquarium screen saver, the game does offer the high-end "keep your combo up" type gameplay that can entice the more competitive to grind through this game more than once to get higher on the leaderboards.
Graphics: No better or worse than a fancy screen saver - colorful but clearly done on the cheap. 3.
Sound: One short. relaxing riff that seamlessly replays, and simple sound effects do no wrong, but don't stand out either. 2.
Controls: Crisp response time makes this eat-em-up not a chore to play. 3.
Tilt: The game can meet whatever expectations you have, but it's doubtful that it will exceed them. 3.
Overall (not an average): 2
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