A couple arcade games I appreciate.
Oct 22, 2006 4:03:09 GMT -5
Post by ed on Oct 22, 2006 4:03:09 GMT -5
Two games to discuss today.
One, The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy.
This is a pretty exotic title. It's a platformer...no wait, you can't move into another screen, it auto-scrolls...it's a scaling hardware game...what IS it?
It's...
*gets distracted by "A Hundred Miles on Wheels"*
Anyway, imagine Super Castlevania IV. Now make things much faster, let Simon jump-kick and roll attack, add Nazi-like enemies jumping into the screen from all over the place (such as off DaVinci-inspired improbable contraptions) and amazing setpieces (the first stage is a personal favorite - all of it really). Just like Simon, you can hang onto things, and you can also hang onto some ledges and flip up over or under them.
Oh, and add an incredibly bizzare scoring system (the counter counts DOWN), an awesome car, and a very athletic hero...er, I'm repeating myself.
It's a fun game but a bit too chaotic to immediately "get." In fact I'm still trying to learn how to play it correctly. Fun when you know what you're doing, though - did I mention I love that car? You can jump it onto enemies, kick out the door opposite you to hit an enemy, swing the back of the car around to do much the same, tilt it onto two wheels, duck inside to miss knives aimed at your head, and even stand up to use the whip attack.
Good game, but the difficulty of latching onto things and the bewildering range of motions makes it hard to know exactly what Edward is going to do at any one time. Oh, and he'll jump out of bottomless pits (or anything, actually) back into the action, at the price of a bit of health.
Rating: ??????? of ???
Devastators
The Japanese title, Ga-ru-ka, rhymes with Kon-to-ra. This is no mistake. Take the "underpass" levels from the original arcade Contra, take away jumping, add homing rocket launchers and grenades, and bullets that splash into the dirt at ten feet - that's Devastators, essentially. Despite this description, it's one of my favorite games (I've passed a score of 600 on one credit) of all time.
It gets very crazy with lots of bearded enemies constantly rushing you (contrary to popular belief, regular humans are just as capable of acting like stupid Contra former humans - although it should be mentioned that these guys will be invulnerable against bullets when they duck or crouch to shoot), throwing grenades, and occasionally shooting.
The first thing you'll notice is the three dimensional perspective - this game is a bit like a proto-G.I. Joe (just without the free cursor). To make up for the lack of free cursor, you'll get grenades (which travel in a nice arc) and homing missiles to shoot at vehicles and some guard towers (don't bother with the towers, they're only worth one point).
Well, that's enough of me talking. Go play these games and find out for yourselves how they are.
Rating: 8 RPGs of 8 Stingers
One, The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy.
This is a pretty exotic title. It's a platformer...no wait, you can't move into another screen, it auto-scrolls...it's a scaling hardware game...what IS it?
It's...
*gets distracted by "A Hundred Miles on Wheels"*
Anyway, imagine Super Castlevania IV. Now make things much faster, let Simon jump-kick and roll attack, add Nazi-like enemies jumping into the screen from all over the place (such as off DaVinci-inspired improbable contraptions) and amazing setpieces (the first stage is a personal favorite - all of it really). Just like Simon, you can hang onto things, and you can also hang onto some ledges and flip up over or under them.
Oh, and add an incredibly bizzare scoring system (the counter counts DOWN), an awesome car, and a very athletic hero...er, I'm repeating myself.
It's a fun game but a bit too chaotic to immediately "get." In fact I'm still trying to learn how to play it correctly. Fun when you know what you're doing, though - did I mention I love that car? You can jump it onto enemies, kick out the door opposite you to hit an enemy, swing the back of the car around to do much the same, tilt it onto two wheels, duck inside to miss knives aimed at your head, and even stand up to use the whip attack.
Good game, but the difficulty of latching onto things and the bewildering range of motions makes it hard to know exactly what Edward is going to do at any one time. Oh, and he'll jump out of bottomless pits (or anything, actually) back into the action, at the price of a bit of health.
Rating: ??????? of ???
Devastators
The Japanese title, Ga-ru-ka, rhymes with Kon-to-ra. This is no mistake. Take the "underpass" levels from the original arcade Contra, take away jumping, add homing rocket launchers and grenades, and bullets that splash into the dirt at ten feet - that's Devastators, essentially. Despite this description, it's one of my favorite games (I've passed a score of 600 on one credit) of all time.
It gets very crazy with lots of bearded enemies constantly rushing you (contrary to popular belief, regular humans are just as capable of acting like stupid Contra former humans - although it should be mentioned that these guys will be invulnerable against bullets when they duck or crouch to shoot), throwing grenades, and occasionally shooting.
The first thing you'll notice is the three dimensional perspective - this game is a bit like a proto-G.I. Joe (just without the free cursor). To make up for the lack of free cursor, you'll get grenades (which travel in a nice arc) and homing missiles to shoot at vehicles and some guard towers (don't bother with the towers, they're only worth one point).
Well, that's enough of me talking. Go play these games and find out for yourselves how they are.
Rating: 8 RPGs of 8 Stingers