I might look in to it~
I might look in to it~
Mega Man Legends should be a "Get it" but I'll admit the game didn't age well and he does control a little stiff. Still, everything else in that game is fun!
Originally published on 01.02.12
Late into the PlayStation's life, one of the games we received was based off the direct-to-video spinoff/prequel to the 1995 featured film, Casper. Casper: Friends Around the World kicks off with Casper playing with all of his friends when Kibosh, an evil ghost who runs a haunting school, is sickened by what he sees and casts a spell that sends Casper's friends spread out through the world leaving Casper with no choice but to find them all and bring them home.
Before I go any further, I hope you guys like hearing one person talk constantly because when you get to the title screen that's all you're going to hear. Every time you go to an option on the title screen you hear Casper speak. Every. Single. Time. It's like the video game designers were afraid kids would get bored if Casper didn't speak every minute or so.
You start off with a default map of Hollywood which represents the first level. The goal in each level is to find your missing friend and the map. There's a floating knob you can find that leads you to a mini game featuring Casper's uncles Stretch, Stinky and Fatso. The minigame plays like Ping Pong. Don't worry if you miss it because the game will bring you to it at the end of the level if you do.
Aside from that, it's your basic side scrolling game with 3D elements. You can jump, float, parachute, bounce, duck and shoot ghostly spheres at enemies. Casper has a life bar, extra lives you can find, and continues when you run out of those lives. Fall into something like say, water, and Casper life bar takes a dive. What is it with some games making water your enemy? Casper may not be able to swim, but the boy is a ghost! How does that hurt him? Oh, and if you think you can go through walls or doors in this game, forget it. If you find a closed door that needs opening you can't just walk through it. I know they don't want to make it too easy, but come on! What's the point of playing as a ghost if you can't even go through walls?
I don't have any complaints about the gameplay. The graphics and voice acting is decent. As for the story itself? It's so-so. Nothing great, but nothing flat out terrible either. It's a pretty straightforward premise, and you know right away what your goals are so there's not much I can see to pick apart. The game offers a reasonable challenge without going overboard with the difficulty. It's something that kids could enjoy, especially if they're fans of Casper. Heck, if you're feeling nostalgia for some Casper older people may enjoy it, too.
Try it
Oh man, I just watched a video of that Casper game and he makes Gex seem quiet. x.x
Hello and welcome to ToriJ's Video Game Reviews. Over the years superheroes have undergone a lot of retellings and reimaginings. One such example that stands out even today is Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson taking on a much darker side of the Dark Knight that comic book writer, Frank Miller made popular again.
With the popularity of the movie it only made sense to create a video game tie-in to profit even more off the success of the movie. This gave us video game adaptions on the NES, Sega Genesis, and the Game Boy, but today I'll be doing a Compare & Contrast of the NES and Genesis versions of the game to decide which one is the best. So, hang onto your seats because we're going to Gotham!
I'm Purpleman!
Gameplay wise both are pretty straightforward. The NES version has a button for jumping and attacking while allowing you to toggle between different weapons you pick up along the way. The Genesis version starts you off with batarangs right away and makes use of the C button to throw them.
While you don't get as many batarangs as the NES version, I fail to see how that's a bad thing. Nintendo gives you so many batarangs you'd have to go out of your way to run out of them, whereas the Genesis forces you to use them more sparingly to make each batarang count. It's more realistic in the long run as Batman doesn't just have a million of them to pull out of his ass any time he wants.
Chances are you're going to be punching a lot regardless of which game you play. On Genesis you'll be punching air because if you get too close to a bad guy he'll hurt you. But on the NES? You're going to be punching like a madman just to get at the enemy before they come charging at you and even then you'll still miss on occasion. They may as well call the game Batman Punch Out!
Another thing you're going to be doing a lot of is wall jumping. It's like the developers were playing Ninja Gaiden while making this. You need to get the jumping down precisely by level two if you want to get anywhere in this game. Some times you have to fall off a platform and then quickly jump off it to avoid danger. At least the Genesis version gives you a grappling hook! The Genesis version requires a lot less jumping.
You can't even go to the museum in this town without being shot at!
Both games are loosely based off the movie, but the Genesis version is closer to being a faithful adaption in level design. You get stages based around the chemical plant where the Joker is made, and the art museum the Joker and his men attacks. You even get to ride in the Batmobile and the Batplane.
In the NES version the stages are barely recognizable due to the limitations of the Nintendo and the enemies make no sense! You're fighting ninjas and robots. Since when in the hell did the Batman movie have robots? Is that supposed to be Firefly at the first boss stage? I'm fighting Firefly! Actually, that's kind of cool.
Another point in the Genesis version is there are a couple more stages and challenging boss fights in it. Even if you're doing a speed through of the game you get ten more minutes of game time than you would in the NES version.
What the hell is that green thing supposed to be? An alien? A robot? A demon from the lowest depths of hell?
When it comes to graphics, it isn't a fair comparison. The Genesis wins hands down. Better all around console and they just rendered everything with more detail. Batman looks like he does in the film, the backdrops are clearer to what they represent, and when they do show clips the images look like they were ripped right out of the movie.
I realize that the Genesis version doesn't have as many cut-scenes as the NES, but what the NES has isn't that great to begin with. We get some animation of the Batmobile and them overusing the “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight” line, and that's mostly it. The Genesis version cuts to the chase and the few cut-scenes you do get are a lot more enjoyable.
Case in point, you get to knock the Joker in some chemicals. What more could you ask for?
At the end of the day, Batman is one of the few video game adaptions of a movie that's actually good. Batman looks great, the stages are all inspired by the movie, and you get a kick ass final boss fight with the Joker. If you really want to experience Tim Burton's Batman movie in video game form, then you can't go wrong with the game on Sega Genesis!
NES Batman: Skip it
GEN Batman: Get it
Out of curiosity, do you think that Batman on the NES would have been a better title without the license?
Also, as an aside, every time I see the boxart for these games I can't help but remember . . .
I loved that stuff as a kid.
That was real?
And maybe. Still would have reminded me of Ninja Gaiden more than anything.
A couple of things:
A) Did you manage to beat the Joker on the NES version? I think this is one of the hardest games I've ever beaten in all honesty. There were a few parts where I was having to spam my projectiles and I was actually running out of them during the game, so getting the Joker was pretty difficult for me. That fight was pretty crazy if I remember right though.
B) What did you think of the music? This is one of the things I really like about Batman on the NES. I haven't played Batman on the Genesis, but I'm sure I'd probably like the music there too. I just generally like the soundtracks on those old Sunsoft games.
A) Didn't get that far sadly. I'm only aware of how the boss fights play because of the longplays I sat through.Originally Posted by Scotty_ffgamer
B) I actually don't remember anything about the Genesis' soundtrack. Both opening songs are the same and the NES' music stuck with me more. I don't usually talk about the music in things I review so it got left out.
I spent days with my NES left on so I wouldn't lose my progress while I tried to get to the end and beat Joker, haha.
I know you don't tend to comment on music, I was just curious what you thought. The soundtrack was what original drew me to the game. I've been wanting to check out a bunch of other Sunsoft games just because I think they tend to have good soundtracks.
Speaking of Batman reminding you of Ninja Gaiden, I still need to try to beat the first one. I got pretty close to the end, but I haven't been able to play my NES in quite a while now.
Originally published on 01.09.12
Harry Potter. Does this even need an introduction? Screw it, I'll give one anyway. Harry Potter is a book series about a young boy wizard written by author J.K. Rowling. The first book was published back in 1997 in the UK before being brought over to America a year later. It would soon be followed up by sequels and its very own Movie Franchise in 2001. Since then it has integrated itself into our culture. With the growing success of the series it was only natural for it to expand other mediums. This brings us back to 2001 for the PlayStation release of:
The first in a long line of video games based on the Harry Potter series would be published by EA Games. The plot? Well, everybody knows the plot. Once upon a time there was this really bad dude who did bad things to good people.
Lord Voldemort
I'm going to kill you now.
Lily Potter
NO!
Harry Potter
Momma!
Lord Voldemort
I'M MELTING!
In his attempts to kill Harry something happened, something that nobody knows, and Harry Potter got out of the incident with nothing but a scar (why is it lighting shaped?) and Lord Voldemort was no more. With his parents dead, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, took the young Harry Potter to live with his only remaining non-magical (otherwise known as Muggle) family.
Professor McGongall
Dumbledore, why are you leaving him with these people?
Albus Dumbledore
Because they are the only family he has.
Professor McGongall
But they're douchebags! Mark my words they'll have him living in the cupboard under the stairs!
Albus Dumbledore
Oh, don't be silly.
Eleven years down the line Harry Potter is miserable, go figure, but that all changes when he gets his invite to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Since his Aunt and Uncle tries to fight him on it they have to send Big Foot to get the kid.
Hagrid
You're a Wizard, Harry!
Harry Potter
Will I get to pull a bunny out of a hat?
Hagrid
No.
Harry Potter
Saw a lady in half?
Hagrid
No.
Harry Potter
Make my Aunt and Uncle disappear?
Hagrid
No.
Harry Potter
Do I get a wand?
Hagrid
Yes.
Harry Potter
Woohoo!
So, he goes off to Hogwarts, is sorted into Gryffindor, and we begin the game!
None of the actors from the movie reprise their roles in this game, but some of the voices they do get does a pretty good job at impersonating them. Namely Harry, Ron, Neville, and Snape. I couldn't hear the difference much when I was a kid. The game does a good job of making the characters look like the actors from the film and even incorporates things from the books that were left out of the movies, like Peeves. Although, Hermione Granger's hair is so bright it looks blond. You know what? I think that is blond! Yeah, because you all remember how J. K. Rowling described her in the books with locks of blond hair, or how for the movies Emma Watson had to dye her hair blond? No? Of course not. Because her hair is brown!
The various mini-games found throughout can go from fun to annoying depending on your preference. Flying is basically Harry Potter going through rings (I'm having Superman 64 flashbacks), a race the clock challenge to get to class, pressing the buttons on the controller the Professor points at during class, a shooting range (what?), oh and for a boss battle we have Draco Malfoy throwing firecrackers at you. I'm not even kidding. Yes, they're given the label of Wizard Crackers, but bottom line is, Malfoy is trying to kill you with firecrackers! Why be sly, cunning and manipulative, when you can blow up your rival in broad daylight!?
In closing, if you're a huge fan of Harry Potter then chances are you'll enjoy this game. If you aren't, why would you get it in the first place? This is ToriJ signing off.
Try it
Last edited by Ayen; 07-05-2015 at 06:04 PM.
The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse
Hello and welcome to ToriJ's Video Game Reviews. Allow me to introduce to you Disney's Month! A time set aside where we look at various video games through the years based on memorable Disney's characters that we all know and love. And what's better way to start than with the mouse that started it all, Mickey Mouse!
The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse is the first entry to the “Disney's Magical Quest” franchise developed by Capcom for the Super Nintendo. We were going to get a Sega Genesis version, but for whatever reason that got abandoned. Next time, baby. Next time. Until then, let's see what Mickey has to offer us.
I think the bird could have chose a safer place to sleep.
Mickey Mouse is your basic 2D side-scroller where you can collect points and there's a time limit on each stage. At first all you can do is jump on enemies and grab objects, but once you get the other costumes you can unlock more variety. There are four costumes overall: Default, Magician, Firefighter, and Mountain Climber. As a Magician you can shoot magic, Firefighter can put out fires (duh), and the Mountain Climber can scale up obstacles to get to high places.
You can switch between the four costumes at any time during the game (once you have all of them that is) and each one provides their own advantages, but it's only the final stage where you need to switch between them a bit more. Otherwise, the game makes it obvious which one you need at what time. Certain bosses are more vulnerable to a set costume and there's a magic and pump meter for the Magician and Firefighter respectively.
I'm the king of the world!
The game has six stages that are divided up in four parts. Some of the stages have mini bosses you can fight and then the main boss that comes alive in part-4. Despite the difficulty levels there to force you to invest more time to it, the game is still pretty short. I was able to beat it in less than a day and it was only my first time playing. That's short even by retro game standards.
First couple of levels are kind of generic, but serve their purpose. Level design picks up at the third level when it feels like you're descending into the bowels of hell! And knowing Disney that's probably intentional, the sick smurfs. Then you have the mountain and ice levels which are a lot of fun. The final stage with the castle gives me Mega Man vibes since you can run into a lot of the bosses you already faced.
Emperor Pete? Yeah, that's a name that inspires fear into the hearts of your enemies. Pete.
Our story centers around Mickey's dog Pluto being kidnapped by the evil Emperor Pete, and it's up to the mouse himself to rescue him. Points for not making the damsel the girl in this, but I have to ask... Who kidnaps a dog? Seriously. Is Emperor Pete that desperate for companionship he couldn't chip in for his own pet?
Apart from that, and the occasional scene with the wizard in the image above and Goofy, there isn't much story as you're most likely to expect. The game has a lot in common with Mario in terms of gameplay, and it wouldn't surprise me if Capcom used those games as a point of reference. Even the plot is more or less the same, but at least nobody says, “Your dog is in another castle!”
I hate this boss with a passion, and apparently so does Mickey. Just look at how angry he is! He knows this stage is pure bulltrout.
Most of the bosses you encounter are creative and as fun as they are challenging. The first couple of bosses aren't much to look at, but once you get to stage three things get interesting. You encounter a monster who shoots fireballs at you and raises up the lava to ram you into the spike ceiling above.
Stage Four has a giant bird that charges at you from the background and you have to literally hang on for dear life to survive. You also need to take away her eggs and use them against her before they hatch and create baby birds you have to worry about. Reminds me of Queen Gohma a little bit.
On the fifth stage as seen above, you have this guy who will skate from the left and right platform shooting snowballs at you. You can jump on top of him for a hit and either freeze or dodge the snowballs. The thing is he always spends more time on the left platform, but you never know when he's going to stand on the right.
He skates over to the right only to go back to the left, and when he finally does land on the right it's too late for you to react. You keep getting hit every time. You can also run out of energy for the pump and only have the Magician left, but magic doesn't do jack trout against this guy. All you have left is the jump and good luck with that.
Then there's Emperor Pete himself. Holy smurf, this guy is tough. It's like he heard all the jokes you made at his name and was hell-bent on making you pay for each one. First of all, there are minor enemies that attack you during that provides power ups when you beat them, and Pete fires electricity trout at you.
I lost count of how many times I had to hit this asshole before he finally went down. I wasn't even sure if I was causing damage as he kind of just flickers in and out. For all I know that was a glitch or just a regular effect or something. It wasn't until he started changing color that I knew his health was going down. After you beat him you find Pluto and the game comes to its conclusion. Let's check out the ending.
A dream? A dream!?
The last couple of hours I spent chasing that stupid dog around was all just A DREAM?! I ran across an entire world map for that dog! I literally made a descent into hell! I climbed a mountain! I went ice skating and kept falling off trout! I went through a castle, ran out of water pump, and had to start the whole level over again! I spewed out so many profanities that every single church in my city burned to the ground! And you're telling me that it was all just A DREAM?!
SMUUUUURF YOUUUUUUUUU!
Okay, I might have overreacted just a tad – Smurf you! Smurf you! Smurf you – I am at peace. I'm on a sunny beach with birds singing and blah, blah, blah!
The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse! What more can you say? It's fun, it's challenging, it's a disturbing insight into what goes on in Mickey's head. If you like Mickey then you may enjoy it, but if you're looking for something a little longer you may be left disappointed. I'm ToriJ, and I haven't even gotten started. See you all next week!
Get it
I really need to play this game again.
That game brings me back to that mega issue of Nintendo Power I had where they published reader's designs for potential Mega Man robot masters! The cover was Mickey with that Fireman stuff on!
Originally published on 01.16.12
SimCity 2000 is a simulation, city-building game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It was originally released for the PC, as all Sims games are, before being ported to a wide-selection of platforms through the years, eventually making it way to the Sony PlayStation.
Right off the bat I have to comment about the box. For some reason the box is made to contain three different discs, but there's only one. Is there something I'm missing? Why can't it just be a regular case? What does it need all the extra space for?
You know how when you get a new game, you're excited and you put it in without even touching the instruction manual? Yeah, you're not gonna want to do that with this game. This is the kind of game where you're gonna want to read the instruction manual before playing, otherwise you're going to be lost. Fortunately, the manual has a boot camp that doesn't take very long in order to learn the basics.
If you don't feel like creating your own city you can load up one of the many pre-made ones. No matter where you are you'll have a cursor you can move around. While in your city you can move this up to the many different icons (these are your tools) on the top, left, right and bottom parts of the screen. Highlighting one will show you a set that goes with it.
As Mayor, you are responsible for the health, wealth, and happiness of the Sims living in your town. In order to do this you'll want to plan your strategies well. You'll want to keep tabs on things like water, power, and transportation. Provide government services, education, recreation, work on the city's budget, taxes, and land manipulation. Don't worry about building houses, stores, factories, or other buildings as the Sims will take care of that themselves. They're almost like people that way.
There are several menus in the game you can check out any time. Speed, Options, Disasters, and Newspaper. Speed allows you to change the speed of how things run, options let you edit sound, music, budget, have it automatically go to an important event in the city, and turn off disasters. Disasters range from fire, flood, airplane crash, tornadoes, earthquakes, monsters, hurricanes, and riots if you really want to be mean.
With the Newspaper Menu you can have a Subscription, which delivers a newspaper to you twice a year. You'll receive an extra copy only during reports of important occurrences, inventions, and major development. Depending on how large the city is affects how many Newspaper selections you have.
When you get into building your own city you can choose the difficulty setting and the year. Depending on what year you choose will affect the tools you can use. At any time you can edit the map through the Edit New Map option on the main menu. There is also a Load Scenario selection on the main menu, which is actually recommended before going through boot camp.
All in all, this is definitely a thinking and patience game. If you're not big on patience or just looking for a game that doesn't require much thinking, this is definitely not something you'd want to pick up. If you are a patient gamer and like to be challenged intelligently, this is the game for you. I'm not sure if it matters which port you get it on, but I'm going to take a leap of faith and say the PC version is probably superior, but there's nothing wrong with the PlayStation version if you'd rather play it on that.
Try it
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