Down Time Action

So, here I am, sitting outside my next classroom, which the class that will take place inside doesn't start for another hour. This is what college people call down time, which is a fancy word for bad scheduling.

My thoughts came to this: I have a laptop, I have nothing (better) to do, so, I have spun the wheel with a might force, and it was good.

Battlezone

Anyone who is keeping score will notice I dropped the in-depth info about the games pretty quickly. That is, after only one game. It's just to cumbersome for a casual blog. So, just names it will be.

Now, for anyone who played it in the Arcade or a PC, Battlezone was one of the funnest games to play. The weird green wire mesh, the paranoia of not knowing where the next enemy was, or if they were behind you, which you didn't know until you were dead. It made for a very compelling game, if you ask me.

This classic was, to no surprise, ported to a popular home console after its rise of fame in the arcades. Though, this didn't usually translate well. Just look at the Pac-Man port to the Atari 2600. It's atrocious and degrading to the original. Does this 2600 port do the same to another classic?

Well, yes and no. What Battlezone for the 2600 does well is convey a 3-D world that is truly astounding to think existed on a home console in 1983. What it does different from its arcade predecessor is actually fill in the vector world of the the original to give it, somewhat colorful, but very blurry world, compared to the originals crisp, albeit very green, world.

Now, I don't know if it's just been a very long time since I have played the original Battlezone but this version both seemed unnecessarily hard at the start, and painfully easy after you got the mechanics down. What I mean is, my first three lives in the game were taken away within minutes as I could not dodge any bullets from the enemy tanks, not to mention the UFO type crafts which swoop and dodge faster than you can even fire. But then, I realized all I had to do was drive in a large circle, firing at my enemies when my reticule lit up, causing a kill for all tanks, and allowing me to dodge mostly everything, taking away all fun.

Now, that brings up the question, is the game bad cause I was able to break it's rules so quickly? I would have to say yes. As a game developer, it is your duty to make the game as fun and engaging as possible, without letting the player exploit it. Tons of games did it before Battlezone, and tons did it after.

Gametap says 5.3. I agree, with a 5.0.
As fun as it kinda is, I want that space for something better. Which can be considered a diss being the game is only 0.008 MB. You decide.
31 of 987 complete.

Pac it Up Pac it In

So, a few weeks ago, I bought the stellar Pac-Man Championship Edition for the Xbox Live Arcade (which if you have Live and don't have it, go get it now), and would have to say it is probably the single best version of Pac-Man I have ever played. Now what does this have to with anything?
Well, I was spun to Super Pac-Man and.... wow...

Super Pac-Man

What happens when you play the best version of a game? What happens is all other version feel... lacking.

In Super Pac-Man you, you guessed it, avoid ghosts and eat things, including the ghosts. The twist in this one, considering Ms. Pac-Man added the amazing ability to go from one side of the screen to the other, is you have to eat keys to open pathways to pellets, super pellets, and fruits. Not to mention for some reason you turn around 5 times larger, I never found out why. Didn't care to much. As the game felt seriously flawed compared to the original, whose perfect elegance outshines every sequel (including Pac-Man CE).

But does this make Super Pac-Man a bad game? Not by a long shot. This, compared to many other games on Tap, is actually very playable and fun, if not flawed as stated. I do indeed.

Gametap says this game is a 7.3, I agree, with a 7.
But, it is a delete.
30 of 987 done.

A return with Honor and Ninjistics!

So, here I am, nice weekend of relaxation at home. Decided to come home on a whim from college for no reason!

Brought my new lappy with Gametap on it sooo....

HIT THE MUSIC!



Ninja Commando
Neo Geo
SNK, 1992

Ok, new setup. Seems cumbersome giving all that info. We'll see if I keep it. But hey! There has never been a more totally radical name than Ninja Commando EVER in the world.
Good name.... good game?

Eh... not so much. What Ninja Commandos is is basically just a shmup (shump, whatever) on feet. You have complete control of your characters as they run up to the top of the screen, advancing the level. What is unique to this game above others I have played is this one has a sort of "speed combo." The faster you can press the fire button, the stronger the attack. It doesn't work to well on a laptop keyboard, let me tell you that. Now if I had my 360 controller or even the original arcade cabinet it might've worked well. But as it stands, it gets tiresome very fast.

Other than that, it's a competent shump-action hybrid, has its fun for a bit, but gets boring after a while.

Gametap says 5.6, I says 5.
Deleted. (Assassinated?)
29 out of 987 complete.

This is why I can't have nice things!

Or blogs....

Ok, this blog is not dead, I swear to you.

But really, I am total scatter brain. I find one thing to do, do it, drop it, find something else to do. I wish I could be more focused, it's something I have worked on for years.

But, suffice to say, I have BioShock now which is destroying all my time, as well as WoW and the Call of Duty 4 beta which I just got into.

Now, where does GameTap fit in to all of this, AND college? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that I truly and honestly want to finish this project, as daunting as it seems to me even now.

That is my oath, to this blog, to me, and to any readers.

College Life

Yup. Back at college for my Sophomore year. So if updates get erratic or few and far between, this is the reason.

Once I settle into life here once again, and learn the ins and outs of my classes, things should run smoother.

Thanks!

Buster is Right

I love Overlord. I really do. Who wouldn't love a game that is a mix of Dungeon Keeper, Pikmin and with a dash of Fable's sense of style and humor?

First off it is something I have always wanted, a twisted Tolkien-esque world. It takes things so very Tolkien, such as Hobbits (called Half-lings exclusively in this game) and turns them into the greedy self serving creatures of the world whom reign terror over the humans. Did I also mention there is a town called Spree? Yeah. Totally a twisted version the loved Middle-Earth. And, as I said, I love it.

The game's plot revolves around you, the newly instated Overlord of a Dark Tower (Stephen King?) after its previous owner was killed by a legion of seven heroes. The Majordomo of the tower revives you from what appears to be a hibernation. He quickly walks you through the fairly simple controls (even simpler if you have a 360 controller, which automatically formats it to the 360 version's controls, which is super convenient). After that, it's off to the races.

The game from then out, as far as I've gotten at least, is mostly a series of hack and slash dungeon crawlers, all revolving around the redemption of your good (bad?) name and to kill off the Seven Heroes one by one. Over the course, you slowly rebuild your Dark Tower to its once grand standards, return powerful spells, find a dark queen fitting of you, new and super spiffy armor and weapons, and just all over reign of the land.

All in all, I'm supremely happy that Overlord is on GameTap and this game, one of many games that come out that the general population never pick up and try. The fact of the matter is, that is why I loved GameTap. It's like a foster home for lost games, where ones whose quality shone brightly but were overlooked for even shinier games. My advice, go out and adopt an Overlord of your own, for the good of us all!

GameTap says 9.4, I say 9.

28 out of 976 games complete.

So very kept.

Go download now!

Over..loard?

Ok, Overlord is out today and I have been anticipating this moment ever since I heard it was coming to the Tap. First off, I played Overlord for the 360 as a downloadable demo and loved every second of it. I am, however, a poor college kid. So, my dreams of owning it were dashed.

HOWEVER! It is now in my grasp, and my next post WILL, and mark my words here, BE a review of Overlord.

It may be a while... I really wanna get sucked into this game.