Top 10 Playstation 1 Games

The Playstation 1 will always have a special place in my heart.

It was the second console I owned (after my Sega Saturn broke when I was just 3 years old),

and from 1995 to 2001, this was the console which gave me my childhood memories.

It's taken a lot of thought and game replaying, but here is my top 10 Playstation 1 games:

10. Gran Turismo 2

Synopsis:
No plot or storyline. Just race, compete and win!

My review:
Gran Turismo 2 features a total of 27 race tracks, 650 + cars and realistic driving controls.
In terms of graphics, they're fairly decent and you can see how close to detail the developers have tried to make this as close to looking like the real car as they can. Aside this, the tracks and the surrounding scenery are also well detailed, and I should also mention that light reflections are also placed within the game i.e. sunlight reflects off of the bonnet.
Sounds are also very well implemented in the game. The developers somehow managed to create the envrionment sounds in such a way, that it makes you feel like you're inside the car.
A perfect example of this would be when a car overtakes, you hear the engine of the other car slightly muffled (like it would be if you overtook in reality). It's all clever stuff which is often overlooked!
Now for gameplay and controls. These are very easy to pick up and learn, however (again like reality) you need to adjust for the feel of the car. i.e. driving a Toyota Yaris is a good starter car, however, should you then purchase or win a Toyota GT-ONE...you're going to need to give it a few practise runs first to get used to the handling. Overall, the cars available in the game are a great selection and controls as a whole are fairly easy to master

Overall:
8.0 / 10

9. Medievil 2

Synopsis:

Set in London, UK, A sorcerer named Lord Palethorn discovers Zarok (the previous games villian's) spellbook. Palethorn casts a spell of great darkness over the entire city of London, and takes a demon like appearence.

Zarok's spell wakes Sir Daniel Fortesque from his eternal rest and together with the aid of Winston the ghost, professor Hamilton Kift, and later princess Kiya, you must stop Palethorn and disspell the city of London from it's great darkness.

My review:

It has a great storyline, improves on the first game, good graphics, sounds and animations, and above all...doesn't take itself too seriously.

The graphics and animations in this game are very well done. I won't say that they're amazing or "realistic" because the game wasn't made with this in mind. However, what it does deliver is great colours and vibrance with comical characters and superb animation.

In terms of sounds, again these weren't done with realism in mind, but they are of good quality and simple. The soundtrack is what really does justice for me. It really sets the mood and creates an atmosphere which accompanies the level well. An example is that in the museum, it creates a sense of mystery, loneliness and scare. However, it's not dramatic, meaning that it's only light hearted to remind you that the game isn't purposely trying to create any seriousness or dramatic effect.

Moving onto controls and gameplay, it's super easy to pickup and get used to, at first it may take a newcomer a few minutes to get used to the inventory system and the combinations, but overall as mentioned before, the movement of the character and interaction is a doddle to pick up.

Overall:

8 / 10

8. Spiderman

Synopsis:

At a science conference, Peter Parker witnesses a spider-man imposter thieving Dr. Octavius' new experiment. Immediately, the public believe that spider-man has gone rogue, including Eddie Brock (who attempted to snap a few shots of the imposter in the act). When the imposter breaks Eddie's camera, his fear of being fired by Jameson builds, resulting in the Venom symbiote to take over...here begins the action and adventure.

My review:
Spider-man is very well constructed, has great scenery and environmental features, and above all packs in many of Marvels most popular heroes and villains.
Venom, Mysterio, Rhino and my personal favourite Carnage all make an appearance throughout the game, and along the way Black Cat, Daredevil and even Captain America are right there to guide and assist you through your missions.
We'll start again with the graphic detail in the game. It features good textures, smooth animation and nice lighting. As you progress through the game and swing from building to building, you'll notice that each skyscraper, character and other piece of environment has been rendered to utilize the PlayStation 1's hardware. This alone makes for a pleasing experience.
In regards to the sounds in the game, they're not realistic, but rather "cartoony". When you're in a fight for instance, you can actually make out a "whack", "thwack" or "smack", this is rather suiting for the experience as it makes the game feel as if you're playing through a cartoon.
Lastly, we'll quickly discuss the controls. Although it has a very basic control system of fight, sling, shoot web etc. it makes for a simple but enjoyable experience which as a whole makes this game fun, replayable and exciting. There's lots to discover, much to unlock and a great selection of costumes to change into and play the game again through.

Overall:
8 / 10

7. Tomb Raider - The Last Revelation

Synopsis:
Set entirely in and around Egypt, Lara mistakenly releases the Egyptian god of chaos and confusion "Seth", after removing the Amulet of Horus from a Sarcophagus.

My review:
Tomb Raider was always a hard video game series for me. It's history of large open areas, confusing puzzles, and nerve racking jumps made for a difficult game.
Tomb Raider - The Last Revelation, is no different to the previous of the games titles, however it does bring a new save feature (whereby you can save anywhere at anytime), updated graphics, an enriching storyline and many twists and turns.
With the updated graphics it looks fresh and more polished off in comparison to the previous games, which (despite how great they were) did come across as rather pixelated. The developers also placed some great looking environmental features as well as realistic artificial intelligence with the enemies and animals.
Accompanying the visuals is (as always with Tomb Raider) mysterious music which intervenes at tense moments, realistic weaponry sounds and great voice acting within the cutscenes.
Finally, the control system is a little more advanced than the previous installments, but this also brings more abilities, don't be put off by this...the hour long tutorial will get you up to speed!

Overall:
8 / 10

6. Crash Bandicoot 3 - Warped

Synopsis:

Set straight after the previous game (Crash Bandicoot 2), Uka Uka (the criminal mastermind behind Cortex's plans) is released and almost immediately, Aku Aku detects that an evil presence has been unleashed on the world. Soon you must travel in a time machine to various locations and find the crystals, defeat cortex's allies and put a stop to Cortex and Uka Uka.

My review:

Fun, adventurous, comical and absolutely packed! with great missions and blundering bosses. 

Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped is a game full of wonderful gameplay mechanics, vivid colours and beautiful platforming scenery and animation. As per the rest of the Crash Bandicoot series, you run, jump, spin and collect wumpa fruit and extra lives, all the while progressing through the level and either dodging or attacking the enemies. However, included in this third instalment is the ability to play as Crash's sister Coco, a chance to do air combat in a biplane and an experience to ride a jet ski. This game is literally packed with such fun and immature humour...it makes itself (like it's predecessors) in the "Top 10 Playstation 1 Games".

The visuals in this game are stunningly bright and beautiful. There is no realism in this game, and because of this the designers stuck to a cartoon look and coloured the environment with such vibrant colours. This of course makes the game a real bit of "eye candy" to play. Sounds next, and wow what a fantastic and upbeat soundtrack the game has. As you travel through time the music begins to reflect the current time period and level environment. A perfect example of this is the medieval level where the instrumental is designed to sound like something from the dark ages...but in a fun way and modern way. There is no depressive music throughout the games audio score which again makes this game such great fun and a real joy to play.

Briefly, the sounds from the enemies, crash bandicoot and objects are also not taken seriously. Instead, they take an immature and light hearted approach to try and make the game more enjoyable. Just to make a case for what I explained, instead of a typical "thud, ouch or whack" sound when an enemy is hit, should Crash spin into them when attacking, it will make a "peeowwn" sound as they go flying into the distance...simple, but yet entertaining. Lastly (as I see I've written a fair chunk of writing for this game), the controls are very simple and it's a great game to just pick up and play. Overall, it's not serious and doesn't try to be...it's just simple, immature fun.

Overall:

8.5 / 10

5. Driver

Synopsis:
You're an undercover NYPD cop named John Tanner. Your previous experience as a race car driver puts you at the top of the list to work covertly for a criminal group and to gain the trust of the gang's leader.
What plans of the gang will you unveil and discover?

My review:
Driver begins in a grotty underground parking lot where you must prove to a bunch of low life gangsters that you've got the driving skills necessary to work for them. The first mission then begins in Miami.
Aside the campaign, there is also the option to do individual driving games such as Pursuit, Getaway, Cross-Town Checkpoint, Trail Blazer, Survival & Dirt Track, as well as also just taking a "free ride" where you can go around Miami (and later San Francisco, Los Angeles & New York...these maps are unlocked as you progress through the game).
Visually, the game has OK graphics. They aren't fantastic and it's not all that easy on the eye.
However, the other little details in the game such as the reflections of the car, the pedestrians moving and even the wheel trim flying off when turning too fast have been included, which makes up where scenery detail lacks. Accompanying the game well is the funky 70's soundtrack as you play. It really helps to set the scene when playing through the levels and to me personally, reminds me very much of shows such as Starsky & Hutch and Miami Vice. Alongside the soundtrack of course are the sounds of the vehicles and environment.
The car itself has near-realistic sounds such as the engine working, performing a burnout, tyres skidding etc. and furthermore when police cars approach, the sirens are loud like they would be if a cop was tailing you (hopefully many of you won't have experienced this!), and when you begin outrunning them (again I hope none of you readers have done this!) the sirens begin to fade. It may be basic but it makes for a great game!
Lastly, the controls on the game are extremely simple and it's safe to say that Driver is a game you can pick up and play any time and get used to within minutes!

Overall:
8.5 / 10

4. Syphon Filter

Synopsis:

Working for a secret sector for the US government known as "the agency". You play agent Gabe Logan, who together with another agency agent "Lian Xang" must work together to prevent terrorism, and find out information on a dangerous weapon known as "Syphon Filter".

My review:

Syphon Filter is an absolute classic! it has a rich intriguing storyline, massive 3D environments, a decent level of missions and objectives, and puts you at the heart of the operations.

Graphically, this game is excellent. It somehow managed to feature fast moving gameplay, fairly well detailed objects and keep the frame rate at good pace. Alongside the graphical detail, it is also clear to see that the AI in the game has been done extremely well. For example, enemies jump over walls, take cover, run toward you etc. and generally just have a mind of their own! This makes for interesting and varied gameplay each time.

Sounds in this game are proper and realistic. The gunshot sounds from each gun vary and stick close to how it would sound in reality, and the objects in the game such as glass shattering and a subway train again are designed to sound like the real thing, and rather just blend in nicely with the game.

Now for controls, unfortunately the game doesn't have a tutorial, so new players may have to refer to the manual or (like I did) just jump into the game and figure it out. It's not a difficult control system to master, and once you're used to the game, it's easy to play. Overall, this game will (without fail) have you hooked until the end...what's more? there's 2 more Syphon Filter titles available for the Playstation 1!

Overall:

9 / 10

3. Toy Story 2

Synopsis:

Woody is kidnapped after mistakenly being advertised for sale at the family's garage sale by Al.

Buzz and the rest of the gang set off on an adventure determined to bring home Woody.

My review:

As a child of the 90's, the original Toy Story and it's sequels are close to home. I was fortunate to be able to play this game when it was released, and to this day it's one of my favourites in my collection.

Toy Story 2 is a game that has aged well and will always be remembered...

As per the norm, we'll begin with the graphics in this game. As you'd probably expect from a disney game, it's bright, colourful, eye catching and just overall appealing to viewers of all ages (much like their films). In regards to the characters designs, the developers have made a great effort to ensure that they're recognisable, and in my opinion they've done a great job at making them look as they do in the films. As an example, each and every bit of green and purple on Buzz Lightyears spacesuit have been included, as have the buttons on his chest...there's just been no skimping on design whatsoever. Following on from the graphics, the animation of Buzz and the enemies you encounter are fluid and dynamic, there's never a lag or any kind of annoyance when trying to move or do combat, and even other environmental motion such as hovering enemies, electric sparks, airplanes etc. run smoothly and don't slow the game as you play.

Now for my favourite part - the soundtrack and voicing. The voice acting was done by the original cast, and it's brilliant! whereas other games have hired cheaper voice actors to do games, Disney and Activision went the extra mile to include the original voicing...a small but noticeable factor to the game, which makes it just that little bit much better.

Now for the soundtrack, it is in one word "superb". The tunes included are extremely catchy, upbeat and "Disneyfied" (I know that's not a real word but it's the best way to describe a soundtrack that is clear that Disney was involved with).

To conclude, the gameplay is extremely fun, and each level has many different tasks presented from different Toy Story characters. Alongside this, on each and every level there's a huge 3D free roaming area to explore, with many of the areas being locked until you progress through the game and unlock such gadgets as the grappling hook and hover boots. This slyly makes the game more expandable and maintains the players interest and curiosity.

Overall:

9 / 10

2. Spyro 3 - Year Of The Dragon

Synopsis:

Celebrating "The Year Of The Dragon" with his friends, Spyro is then confronted with a woman and an army of Rhynocs who steal all of the unhatched dragon eggs and take them for the sorceress. The sorceress then scatters the eggs throught 4 realms, and Spyro, Spark, Hunter and other characters who you meet along the way all set out on a rescue.

My review:

As far as trilogy's go, Spyro 3 has definitely outdone it's predecessors and included more characters and features than the previous 2 installments.

The visuals in the game are relatively crisp and full of vibrant colours and smooth animation. To detail this further, when you charge toward an enemy or puff flames, the FPS rate is excellent and there's no lag present throughout. Alongside this (and well worthy of a mention) is the expanse size of the maps / levels!

In the previous 2 Spyro games, the maps were of course fairly large and each with it's own side missions, however Spyro 3 expands upon this and features mixed side missions, skateboarding, flying etc. to really pack more fun into the game!

The soundtrack was once again composed by Stewart Copeland who was a member of "The Police". (He'd previously done the instrumentals for the other Spyro titles). Again, the level compositions are upbeat, catchy and blend in well with the atmosphere in the level.

Lastly, the gameplay in itself is utterly fantastic and memorable to all those that have previously played Spyro 3, if you haven't played it yet, you need to seriously get onto a shopping site and order it!

Controls are easy and slick and there is so much crammed into this game that you will want to continue playing over, and over again...add this to the great storyline and it's almost guaranteed you'll want to play this for hours on end.

As a finale to the original Spyro the Dragon trilogy on Playstation 1, this was incredibly well done and finalised like such an icon as Spyro should be...shame about Skylanders ruining Spyro's image but we'll save that for another day

Overall:

9.5 / 10

1. Metal Gear Solid

Synopsis:

With the help of "genome-soldiers", a corrupt anti-terrorist group secure a nuclear disposal facility in Alaska with the intention of threatening the US government with nuclear intervention unless the remains of a former soldier named "Big Boss" is handed over to them.

My review:

Don't ever ask me to explain the storyline and characters in the Metal Gear Solid series, because I find it far to confusing. Having a Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Naked Snake etc. as well as being certain that I've killed a character or two and then they make an appearence in the sequels etc. just leaves me stumped.

However, I'll push this aside and stick to the main reason that this game is number one on the list...mystery, conspiracy, secrets and plot twists! MGS is cram packed with so much intrigue that you just want to keep playing for hours on end!

The graphics and animation in the game are just incredible and the level of detail in every single part of the environment has been greatly rendered, even underwater. To continue, the game features HUGE levels with limited areas to stay covert, meaning as you're playing, you have to really think hard about where you're going to pick and choose to hide to stay undetected and avoid any conflict...trust me, it's easier to stay a ghost than it is to get in a gunfight with the enemies.

The voice acting is another homage to what makes the game as great as it is, every voice actor which was present in this game took the role seriously and from my point of view, is some of the best voice acting in any game I've ever played! to accompany that, the sounds throughout the game such as the footsteps on the soldiers as they come toward you, the radio notifications or even the toilet flushing are all packed into the game and although it may sound to some a little silly, having even the most minor sound effect in the game makes it just that little bit more fun. Lastly, on the topic of audio, is the games soundtrack. From the very beginning with the brassy introduction theme, all the way to the intense and heart-racing audio scores when you really begin to delve into the games story, MGS has an incredible and memorable soundtrack to it, and it's one that really helps to set the scene.

Finally, I'll discuss the controls. For an inexperienced gamer, this may not be the best to start with as the control system can take a little getting used to, in fact it takes me about half hour to get to grasps with it again. However, when you're able to start playing effectively, you'll feel that you have a strong advantage over controlling Snake, and in no time at all, you'll be running, crawling and staying covert to uncover the many secrets and possible threats. Generally speaking, the controls are nice and fluid and again do the game justice, be prepared however that the controls can seem a little complicated and it's likely you'll make a couple of mistakes when beginning.

Overall:

9.5 / 10

Honourable Mentions

Medal Of Honor

Medal Of Honor Underground

Final Fantasy VII

Rayman

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2

Resident Evil Directors Cut

Resident Evil 2

Ape Escape

Hogs Of War

Dino Crisis 2

Pandemonium

Fear Effect

Fear Effect 2

Silent Hill

Spiderman 2

Spyro The Dragon

Spyro The Dragon 2 - Gateway To Glimmer

The Greatest Games Console Ever!

We all have our favourite games console, and each for different reasons.
Whether it's the console you first grew up with, the console you could actually take with you in the car and play or the console which you could always beat your friends at.

For me (and this may come as a bit of a surprise if you've been following the blog closely) it isn't a Sega console. Neither is it Nintendo, Atari or Commodore...

My personal favourite of all time is the Sony Playstation 2, and here is why I believe it is "The Greatest Games Console Ever!"

1. It played DVD's... Back in 2000 when the PS2 was released, most DVD players were still retailing from around £129+
For Sony to announce that it was including DVD playback capability within the console gave it a HUGE advantage against other competitors such as Sega's Dreamcast, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's XBOX (who unfortunately entered the market a bit to late). The DVD function didn't require any extra components or peripherals to be purchased to work (unlike Microsoft's XBOX), you could just pop in a DVD and use the Gamepad to control the functions.

2. It played PS1 games! Now when Sony announced that it's PS3 would also play PS1 games, I thought WOW! good on you Sony for showing the retro gamers a bit of love! However, when they announced that the next generation of PS3 consoles wouldn't support playing PS1 games...that love went. With the PS2 however, both the original and the slimline could play PS1 games smoothly and didn't require any additional components to get working.

3. It had exclusive to Playstation game series.
Ratchet & Clank, EyeToy, Buzz, Singstar etc. brought some great gameplay and multiplayer experiences to your living room. Though it looks dated now, EyeToy back in the 2000's was groundbreaking! to see yourself on the TV controlling how the gameplay flows was just utterly fantastic. Buzz and SingStar too, also brought fun christmas, family and drunken get togethers to your home at a budget. Hat's off for you all!

4. It has a huge library of games, after over a decade of being in the spotlight, the PS2 has accumulated a grand total of over 10,000 games.

5. With over 155 million units sold, the PlayStation 2 remains to this day the best selling home video games console to date.



What are your thoughts on the PS2?
Do you have any fond memories you'd like to share?

Game Boy Vs. Lynx Vs. Game Gear

Back in 1989 Nintendo released the Game Boy. A portable game console with a 2.6 inch LCD screen, built in sound, headphone jack and a scroll wheel to adjust the contrast of the screen. Despite looking (and weighing!) like a brick, there were some pretty great games released for it...Tetris, Mario or Pokemon anyone?

 

Aside this, it managed to survive in the market far longer than the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx...how?

Later in the same year, Atari released the Lynx. Known to be the first handheld games console with a colour screen! it didn't quite make as big an impact at the Gameboy...why?

Here's the big 3 reasons:

1. The Gameboy accepted 4 AA batteries and this would give you at minimum an average of 10-30 hours of play (later Nintendo released a seperate external battery pack that would charge over mains, but of course this was always sold seperately). The Atari Lynx on the other hand took 6 AA batteries...and would only last between 4-5 hours...gulp!

2. The Gameboy cost somewhere in the region of £55-£60 in the UK at the time of it's launch $89.99 if you're a US reader. Compare that with the Atari Lynx, which cost a whopping £110-£115 or $189.00 again if you're in the US...this seriously wasn't looking good.

3. Nintendo released the "Super Gameboy" which allowed for playing Gameboy games on your SNES! Atari, unfortunately didn't have any such adaptors for their home consoles.




OK so the Gameboy has pretty much killed off the Lynx.
However, in 1990 Sega unleash to the world...the Game Gear!

Boasting a full colour screen, built in sound, headphone jack and a backlight! (most handy for playing games after bed time) this still! did not manage to defeat Nintendo.

Again here are the big 3 reasons as to why:

1. The Game Gear was powered by 6 AA batteries, but again like the Lynx, you'd only get 4-5 hours worth at best! compare that against Nintendo's GameBoy which took 4 AA batteries, and in turn gave the player 10-30 hours of play, this was a big let down on Sega's half.

2. Price...whilst it was released for £99.99 or $149.99 and again featured a colour screen and backlight. It just wasn't enough to win over existing GameBoy owners or potential new customers.

3. The game library. It just wasn't as vast as what was available for the GameBoy.
Throughout the 90's, titles such as: Pokémon, Tetris, Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong, Zelda etc. were all being released for the GameBoy. For the Sega Game Gear however, it's biggest titles were the Sonic series. Whilst (from my point of view) it was brilliant to carry Sonic in your pocket as well as other favourites such as Streets of Rage 2, Columns, Shinobi etc. It just isn't enough and doesn't leave as much of a legacy behind as what Nintendo's GameBoy has.





At the time of it's release, Sega also created some (very) controversial adverts for the Game Gear.
Keeping in mind that the MegaDrive was advertised for the "more mature gamer", Sega decided to keep to the same approach, and make out that the GameBoy was just for youngsters.
Quite possibly the biggest mistake of Sega's advertising was that they tried so hard...really, really hard to make out that the Game Gear was far more popular and "cooler" to own.
Surprisingly however, this didn't negatively impact the sales of the Game Gear.



Overall, it seems that the Nintendo GameBoy continues to this day to leave a legacy...long live the GameBoy!

Today I bought...

This morning I had a quick browse through a few shopping sites...low and behold look what I found for sale.

Needless to say at £25 it was snapped up by me instantly!



With the seller confirming the screen being immaculate, it turns on and works, and both the headphone socket and speakers working...I couldn't be happier!!! (except of course for my future wedding day).



Share your stories below on what great bargains you've found...

Top 10 Sega Dreamcast Games

 

OK, so to mark the second day of the opening of this blog, I've decided to write about my personal top 10 Sega dreamcast games. Hope you enjoy...

10. Resident Evil - Code: Veronica

Synopsis:
The opening credits start with Claire Redfield invading Umbrella Corporation in Paris, France. The whole aim of the invasion was to discover information about the whereabouts of her brother, the famous Chris Redfield. After being captured by guards you're taken to a prison on a remote Island, known as Rockfort Island. You wake up and this is where the game starts...

My review:

First of all, a huge shout out to the graphics on this game! they are incredible, and every bit of detail is included. For example when you walk into a dark room with just a small desk lamp, only the light illuminates and spreads as far as it would in real life, meaning if there's a zombie in the room, he's blended in with the darkness until the light touches them...this means that it'll be too late to save yourself!

The sounds and musical score also does this game justice. Faint footsteps can be heard, followed by groaning and it increases as they get nearer and nearer, picture this followed by a tense but lively musical score...it certainly plays with the players emotions.

Gameplay as an overall I would rate at very good. The controls seem to be much more of an improvement than the releases for the Playstation 1, and as mentioned before the combination of graphics, music as well as the cutscenes and discoveries along the way make this one of the best releases not only for the Dreamcast, but for the Resident Evil series.

Overall

8.5 / 10

9. Crazy Taxi

Synopsis:

Whilse there is no actual storyline to this game, the objective is to pick up a customer and drop them to their chosen location (like a real life taxi driver would).

My review:

Why is this game so fun? for those of you that've never played Crazy Taxi, the sound of picking up someone and driving to a place for 2 minutes to drop them off sounds boring doesn't it?...think again!

This game was a port of what was once an Arcade game release, and if you know anything about the original release, it was fantastic! and this is definitely one of the most successful ports to console Sega have done.

Graphics? these were very good at the time, however they now appear fairly dated, so overall I'd rate it as good. They're bright, colourful, cartoonish and vibrant (all the factors that catch your eye in the arcade).

Sounds on the other hand are loud, catchy, and full of beat. The soundtrack in one word is "awesome" and even featured scores from the Offspring and Bad Religion. Combining this and driving as fast as you can narrowly avoiding cars, trees, walls etc. with such an upbeat rock soundtrack pretty much "make" the game.

The controls are nice and simple, and a certain button combination which allows a "Crazy boost" means you'll max your top speed which just adds to the entertainment brilliantly.

Other aspects of this game that deserves a mention is the in-game advertising.

KFC, Pizza Hut, Levi's etc. make it feel more close to home and mixes the real world with the virtual together nicely.

Finally, Crazy Taxi also featured mini-games which made this game even more playable, and featured some pretty difficult challenges

Overall:

7.5 / 10

8. Sega GT

Synopsis:

There is no plot or storyline to this game, just get in the car and win!

My review:

Gran Turismo, meet your strongest competitor! (at the time anyway). This game literally is packed with factors more advanced than Gran Turismo 1 and 2 (Gran Turismo 3 was released the year later).

As well as the many factors this game presents, it also worked closely with the car manufacteurers so the programming of all 120 cars were designed to feel like the real things!

When you pick a car (Subaru Impreza for me...If I could afford one and the costings of the insurance and fuel in real life...I'd have one in a heartbeat), you compete by racing on one of the 22 tracks available for first place. Then your times could be uploaded on the web so that other players can try to beat it! For the year 2000, this was way ahead of it's time!

Graphics - flipping spectacular! these even to this day are outstanding and each curve and shaping to the car shells are perfectly matched to the real thing, combine this with the detail of the track and the surroundings make this a beautiful game to play.

Sounds - the noises from the cars are overall very good, but not quite as true to the real car as the graphics are, they also mask the soundtrack quite heavily (though the soundtrack isn't something to shout about or remember anyway). This is perhaps the biggest letdown of the game.

Controls - I'd rate it as good, I personally don't have much of an issue with the controls but you will sometimes encounter sloppy or stiff turning (though if it's true to the car in reality this is expected), for this reason I wouldn't lower the score of the overall rating of this game (You can't honestly expect a Peugeot 206 to corner easily at 60mph...those of you that own this car DO NOT TRY IT!).

Overall:

7.5 / 10

7. Silver

Synopsis:

You are a man named David who is trained by his Grandfather in combat, when your wife is captured and an imminent threat of evil will be unleashed, you are forced to get going and start fighting to save not only your wife, but the people of Jarrah and the other 7 islands.

My review:

First of all I usually suck at RPG's (and still do - I sometimes as a last resort have to look up a walkthrough). However with this game I picked it up for £7 and thought I'd give it a go...I'm not dissapointed. What I bought was a game with weird but wonderful camera angles, good quality voice acting and a combat system unlike any other. Let's start again with Graphics, wow! the quality of the graphics on this game are absolutely incredible. The background is 2D but the characters are 3D, this may not be the first time in gaming history that this has been done, but it's certainly in this instance done extremely well. The characters are well detailed and colourful, the textures are drawn to (what would've been back then) perfection, and some of the scenery throughout the game is breathtaking.

As for sounds - remember I mentioned that the voice acting is very well done and is crystal clear?Weaponry sounds i.e. the swords, arrows, magic etc. which is used is no different and is matched closely to how it would sound in reality.

Finally the soundtrack...it's suitable and blends in with the game, however it's not memorable. By that I mean if you compare it to some of the scores from other RPG's, it doesn't leave quite as much of an impact.

As for the games controls, the general maneuverability and combat of the character is easy and basic enough to get to grips with. However as you progress you may need to review the manual and/or online for how to equip, shoot arrows and use magic, but once you've got the hang of it, you've got the hang of it.

Overall:

8 / 10

 

 

6. Virtua Tennis

 

 

Synopsis:

No storyline, but the career mode is to travel the world and win the championships (singles and partners).

  

My review:

I'm going to admit how wrong I was when I thought to myself "I don't want to play a tennis game".

However, I picked this up cheap and thought one night I'd give it a go out of curiosity to see why so many people sweared by this game.

After selecting Tim Henman (my favourite tennis player back when I was a kid) I soon found myself running frantically across the court, lobbing other players, diving to hit the ball and hitting the ball with as much force as I can. Aside that, after a 3-4 minute constant ball rally (hitting the ball back and forth with no scoring) when I did manage to get a cheeky shot in and score against my opponent, I felt like a weight was relieved and clenched my fist (like Henman onscreen) in success. I mean this game (still to this day) holds your nerves and either makes you feel like a pro when you score, or will make you sigh in dissapointment when you lose.

Graphics in this game are superb, they capture and model the characters (again I'll use Henman as the example) exactly like they look in reality and sculpt the faces to perfection. The scenery i.e. the court, the centre net, ball boys / collectors and crowd are also fantastically rendered.

Sounds - spot on! they capture the ball bounce and racket strings exactly like it should be and mixing this with the usual upbeat and vibrant Sega soundtracks create a real feel of energy when you're playing.

Finally, the controls (although basic) justify this to be a great game and it's easy to move, hit and dive to hit the ball. It is overall very well presented and to this day remains a huge Dreamcast hit and leaves behind an everlasting legacy, Something I think we'd all agree is that many sports games haven't and can't do.

  

Overall:

8 / 10

 

 

 

 

 





 5. ChuChu Rocket

 

 

Synopsis:

Control the mice around the board and lead them away from the cats!

 

My review:

This is another of those games where I thought "how can people honestly find this sort of game where you control mice fun?". Once again, my hands are in the air and I admit after reluctantly giving this game a go, I found my eyes (in particular) and my hands desperately trying to keep up and lead the mice to safety.

Graphically, the game has great dynamics, fluid gameplay and fun 3D characters which interact together. The animation and attention to detail which the developers put in, make it clear that they'd tried hard.

Sounds in the game aren't special, it's just one piece of background music along with various squeaks from the mice. However with a puzzle game like this, there's not much more you really need, and because of this it excuses itself from lowered overall score ratings.

As for controls, again it's very simple all you do is control the mice in running left, up, right, down.

You may be thinking after reading this is "What's making this game as great as it is?", the honest answer is just the fact that it's different to most puzzle games, was included free with the dreamcast (for Europe only), and was the first Dreamcast game with online support. Put simply, Sega made a very simple game that was addictive (and remains to be), along with the ability to game against other players online.

 

Overall:

7.5 / 10

 

 

 

 

 

4. Ecco The Dolphin - Defender Of The Future

 

 

Synopsis:

Many years ago, an alien race known as "The Foe" had attacked Earth. However, they soon found themselves defeated by the resistance of Humans and Dolphins. Now, "The Foe" are back and with a new destructive intention - destroy the guardian (the sacred crystal which shields the Earth). Though they managed to penetrate the guardians shields and destroy half of the crystal, part of the guardian makes contact with Ecco and explains that it's all in his hands (or rather flippers) to save Earth.

 

My review:

I was a little sceptical about the storyline, aliens attack Earth but yet it's dolphins that are the main resistance? sounded to me a bit...alright definitely ridiculous!

However, I thought that it'd be worth a go and decided to purchase it for a little over £6.

After playing for 10 minutes I was truly captivated. The graphics and level of detail put into the scenery was truly breath-taking. Each animal has realistic looks and bright vibrant colours (so bright you actually use a certain group of fish to light your way through darkened caves!).

Aside from the animals, the developers really put a lot of thought into the rocks, sand, darkened caverns, plantation and the ocean. A good couple of examples that truly demonstrate this would be the barnacles and moss found on the rocks, or going through the darkened cavern to meet the giant octopus...the graphics are so detailed and it's clear that a lot of time was put in to perfect them.

Sounds? Well there's not just a single word that describes how flipping (no pun intended) fantastic both the soundtrack and the noises from the animals are!

The soundtrack is truly incredible. It's peaceful, calm, mellow and is overall a great game to play when you want to truly relax.

As for the sounds from the animals, Ecco can emit a sonar and when another dolphin hears this it will come toward Ecco and they'll begin talking by clicking and squeaking. (Thankfully there's subtitles to translate what they're saying!)

but this just adds to the realism and again has been so rounded to perfection.

Gameplay on the other hand (and I hate to say this) can get a little bit dull as it's limited as to what you can do. Sure it's a huge ocean and you can free roam, do tricks above water and interact with dolphins, turtles, whales etc. but you are at the end of the day a dolphin.

Controls are simple enough to master, and overall there is plenty of fun to be had playing Ecco.

Overall, the graphics, sounds and ease of controls make this game very enjoyable.

 

Overall:

8 / 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. House Of The Dead 2

 

 

Synopsis:

Just 14 months after the 1998 curien case (featured in the first of the HOTD installments), strange occurrences are now occurring in Venice. Coincidentally, this is also the last known whereabouts of the former DBR Coproration CEO Caleb Goldman (the main protaganist in the first of the series' installments). You take the role of AMS agent James Taylor, and try to find out who is behind the attacks and to put a stop to it all.

 

My review:

It has a solid storyline complete with a recurring enemy (who doesn't love that?).

As ports to console go, some get it right, some get it wrong...Sega however always seem to get it spot on! (except for the HOTD 1 port to Sega Saturn...let's move on from that shall we).

Again we'll start with graphics, and to be perfectly honest they're not fantastic. The background details is blurred and pixelated and overall the best way to describe the graphics in one word would be "grainy". However, the detail of the characters and the objects that they interact with (for example the boat), is perhaps the most polished off.

Sounds through the game vary but they're not memorable for being good (quite the opposite in fact). The soundtrack starts spooky, then gets very energetic as you begin to defeat a boss, however on a positive note, it does seem to integrate quite nicely with the game.

Voice acting...absolutely hilarious (in a bad way) "don't come, don't come" and "Don't care who it is no-one is gonna get away with this". It is absolutely terrible! but in the same sense it's funny, it makes you laugh and it's weirdly entertaining. If you don't believe how bad the voice acting is do a Google for "House of the dead 2 bad" you'll see (as of writing this) that "voice acting" is second in the list.

Gameplay and controls now...easy enough to master, just aim, shoot and reload. All the movements are done for you on set paths.

You're now thinking "the graphics are grainy, the sounds are bad...why is this in the top 10 - let alone number 3!"...well, the game is just addictive! it's a great port to console, provides plenty of laughs and is a great shoot em up! it's just one you know you should hate but it's just so brilliant!

Overall:
8 / 10

 

 

 

 

 2. Headhunter

 

 

Synopsis:

Set in the near future in a large US city, the story takes place where criminals are now punished by a prison sentence and forced to have their internal organs removed if they lose in a fight (set in an underground arena). You play Jack Wade (a Headhunter) who enforces the law alongside the Anti Crime Network (the ACN)

My review:
I'm going to start with a bad experience myself and others have had...there's a huge...and I mean HUGE great game break right at the end. Set in the Biotech labs, you go down an elevator, through a cryochamber and activate a crane. However, should you die the crane will no longer activate the next time meaning you can't finish the game. If you buy this game (I wouldn't have a dreamcast without it!) My advice would be to create 2 save games (one before you go actually get to the Biotech labs and one that you can save regularly as you progress). This way if you get to the game break you can at least start from the entrance (long winded I know but worth it). Now onto the good...no let me change that... great parts about this game.
Graphically, this game has brilliant artwork. The characters, objects and scenery are very well done and it is very enjoyable to play. Not sure if anyone else experiences this when playing a game, but in Headhunter, the weather is sunny and this means that most of the scenery is bright and inside buildings are light...it makes you feel as if you're there and although to some it may sound silly, it makes the mood of the game brighter and happier. I think if the game was set in rainy weather it would be quite a depressing play!
Sounds and the soundtrack are also very well integrated within the game. The soundtrack sometimes gets very tense and through one mission where you have to defuse bombs scattered across the city, it begins a very patriotic and "proud" musical score (courtesy of Richard Jaques and recorded in Abbey Road studios, London, England). The sounds of the voice acting, motorbike, footsteps and weaponry are also good. They stick true to how it would sound in real life and again it's clear that the developers devoted their time to get this right.
Gameplay and controls are up next, and boy have I got a lot to talk about this.
Where to start? You are an agent with a sports motorbike (courtesy of Angela Stern - an allie) which you ride and gain skill points, you stealthily invade the premises owned by the wolfback, you solve puzzles to progress, you visit the headhunter training facilities to upgrade your tactics and weaponry available, and unravel many secrets about larger corporations etc.
Aside this, there's multiple villians and "bosses" to confront, secret HQ's, bad guys turn into good guys etc. and mixed in with all that are some "I never saw that coming moments!"...The list is just endless!

Overall:
9 / 10


 

 

1. Shenmue

 

 

Synopsis:

You are Ryo Hazuki, your father has been murdered and you seek to find the killer.

You're in Yokosuka (a coastal fishing town in Japan). On your quest you must talk to people to get more details and clues as to the location of the person responsible for killing your father.

 

My review:

Mentioned in the "Silver" review, I'm not usually a fan of RPG's. However this is without doubt the biggest exception!

As usual we'll begin with the graphics of the game...they are unbelievable! the level of realism put into this game to make Yokosuka look like it does in reality is just outstanding. Frequently when walking around the town I stop and look around to see how well detailed the scenery, buildings, characters and objects are. By today's standards it may look a bit dated, but for those of you that are able to appreciate that the year was 1999 at the time of it's release...it has certainly aged well.

Sounds in this game are in everything, even from fruit hitting the floor there is a sound...I mean who on earth though "we must put the sound of a lemon hitting the floor in"? Although it sounds bizarre, it makes the game outstandingly more realistic. As for the soundtrack, it's been released seperately so you can buy the audio CD on most major retail shopping sites...need I say more? OK well the soundtrack is phenomenal (and that's not a word I use lightly), in fact if memory serves me well, there was a concert dedicated to playing the soundtrack back in the early 2000's.

Control and gameplay? well, the controls firstly are simple to get your head around and navigate (and you'll be doing plenty of that). Gameplay? again it's not very easy, but it's not extremely difficult. It's...just right. It's enough difficulty to keep you continuing on through the storyline, but not overwhelmingly hard that you think "stuff this". Throughout the game you'll be talking to characters, fighting, and taking part in fun minigames such as motorbike or forklift racing, bar fights, running through the streets and alley's etc.

This is definitely a game you should get when buying a dreamcast, there's hours of mystery, seeking and fun to be had within Shenmue (and the sequels almost equally as good)...let's hope a Shenmue 3 will be on it's way soon...

 

Overall:

9.5 / 10

Why Sega (Realistically) Won't Make Another Console

I do a quick Google sometimes and see what I can find along the lines of "Will Sega make a comeback" or "Will Sega make a new console".
It's full of people like me, people who grew up in the 90's playing on a MegaDrive (Genesis for those of you out of the UK) Saturn and (my personal favourite console of all time Dreamcast).

First of, many people like to hope that Sega will make a comeback (myself included), but realistically speaking can they actually do it?

Answer: YES

Sega for the past years have been making money solely from Sonic, Football Manger, Rome Total War and from releasing old classics such as Sonic onto the Google Play Store / iOS.

Strictly speaking, Sega can indeed afford to do it...but I know what you're thinking, there's going to be a but... you're right.

the but is... it would take a lot (if not pretty much every single bit of capital) that Sega has meaning that it'll be a make or break for Sega i.e. no "if this fails we can go back to software like the last few years". As a logical thinker, this is one of the biggest reasons I don't think they would do it, it's a HUGE risk.
Moving on, I'm surprised this hasn't popped up on any posts (that I've found anyway)...


Who out of today's generation knows who Sega are?

If you say to a 12 year old "Do you know who Sonic the Hedgehog is"? They'll mostly respond with "Yes". Fair enough, you're now thinking why did I post that?
Well If I said "do you know who makes Sonic the Hedgehog?", again I would think that a 12 year old would say "It's Sega isn't it?". Again so far my original argument of "today's generation won't know who Sega are" isn't looking to great, but then think about this...

If I said "What games are you playing these days?" to a child or teenager aged between 12-16, they'll most likely turn round and say "Call of Duty" or "Grand Theft Auto" or perhaps even Halo, Assassins Creed or Skyrim. Now at this point I can almost guarantee you're thinking that these games are all 18+ but when you're next in a game shop or a car boot etc. just look around and you'll see that due to the marketing, their friends, older siblings or perhaps even parents etc. They'll know about these games (or at least of their existence), and from what I've witnessed first hand for the last couple of years now, is that most of today's released games designed for an older audience i.e. 18+ are what really captures the younger players eye.
Coming back to the original point...Sonic, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Sega Rally etc. are these the sorts of games that the youth would still be interested in? or are they just amazing game memories stuck in my generations past.

To conclude with this point, would games that are adventurous, fun, arcade and overall generally an easy-going pick up and play game appeal to today's audience? If not, it would again mean that Sega (supposing they released a new console) would immediately flop, as who would want to play Sonic Adventure 3 instead of an online multiplayer shoot em up?


Could Sega compete with the likes of Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation?

My honest opinion...No, not a chance. Microsoft's original Xbox was OK, not amazing, not ground breaking, not wow this is superior to the PlayStation 2 etc. but just OK.
However, when Microsoft released the Xbox 360 in 2006, this made them go from the new guy in the console wars to the top guy in the console wars.
Pretty soon it was clear that PS2 graphics went from hero to zero, as the new generation of consoles had arrived. I remember the first time I played on an Xbox 360, I played Just Cause and when parachuting and looking down on a golden beach, crystal clear blue water with rippling and wave effects, lush green foliage etc. I knew this was going to blow peoples minds...the graphics were just incredible!

Years later and there's questions on "Who's graphics are better" still to this day.
Getting back to the title question, could Sega compete with the likes of Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation? well...as I said at the beginning, from my point of view definitely not.
Again since 2006 Microsoft and later Sony (when releasing the PS3) have dominated the console wars, no longer is it Sega Vs. Nintendo, but now it's Microsoft Vs. Sony.

Xbox and PS3 all make games with incredible graphics, realistic features, lifelike simulations etc.
Seeing Sega pop it's head up and saying "hey, we've made a new console 14 years later and here's a new Shenmue game exclusive to our own console"...umm, hooray for those that have been waiting years, here's 1 million sales. Then what? how could Sega enter the market 14 years later with many of today's youth not knowing who they are fully and offer Sonic, Shenmue and other Sega exclusives AND regularly maintain the same 6-7 year lifecycle for their console?
The other thing is that if Sega did think "We need to appeal this to the original generation" Then (again from my opinion) if Sega (like Xbox and PlayStation) targeted the culture of today's generations love of  more violent and shooter games to be on their platform it would make me think (personal opinion remember) that they were just sell outs and lose all respect for what was once the giant of gaming. On the other hand (welcome Nintendo for the first mention in this post), if they decided to be like Nintendo and be targeted for family, youngsters, youth and adults (overall an all round audience), they could again see themselves be on a rocky road. Sure it'd be great at first like the Wii was (Wii Sports, New Mario Bros, Zelda) etc. but where has the Wii got to now? it's depreciated in cost value faster in comparison to the Xbox and PS3, and again a lot of today's youth don't want Mario and Zelda, they want Call of Duty and GTA because it's what all their friends and family play.


What could a new console bring?

Megadrive - brought 16bit home gaming, exclusive games and my personal favourite... a built in headphone jack complete with volume slider.

Saturn - ported arcade classics such as House of The Dead, Die Hard Arcade, Virtua Cop etc. as well as a built in CD player

Dreamcast - First console with online play, a VMU, the best graphics (at the time of it's release).

New console - ?

What could a new console from Sega bring? what more could you want from a video game console?

Introduction

Hi All,

Welcome to my new blog (RetroBlog). It's a new home and a new area for me to post about one of my favourite hobbies...retro gaming!

I'm a huge lover of Sega...more so than any other big gaming giant.
But I'm not completely one sided, I do have a Gameboy Advance SP still with (what started out with a few games in a tub and now is overflowed) and still play Pokémon despite being 21 now...is that bad?

In this blog I'll be posting about games from the 70's, 80's, 90's (my favourite), and the early 00's.

Hopefully I should be updating the blog at least once a week (I'll try for more). Hope to see you soon!


Ash