| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time | |||
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| Grade: B+ |
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Last modified 2007/3/16.
The overriding criteria is how fun the game is to play, although control, graphics, and sound are also taken into account. |
Screen shots courtesy of Video Game Museum, GameScreenShots.com, Video Game Advantage.
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For years I've wondered how light gun games got such a lousy reputation, but after playing through the arduously bad T2 Arcade Game, I believe the mystery has finally been unraveled. Set in a few uninteresting locations from the film, you move a cursor around the screen, blasting away at endless terminator endoskeletons and Arnold look-alikes. T2 was designed for use with the Super Scope controller - a poorly conceived, oversized light gun that looks more like a bazooka. I don't own one, and probably wouldn't admit if I did. Fortunately (or not), T2 can also be played with a normal controller or the SNES mouse. The control pad is terribly clumsy and inexact, so I opted for the mouse instead. Actually, I was able to control the cursor fairly well, but the sorry gameplay made the whole experience feel like a pointless exercise. The first stage is excruciatingly long as you mow down endless waves of terminators loafing around on a post-apocalyptic battlefield. Human reinforcements are always in the way, and they "yelp" pathetically when you accidentally shoot them. The stages are very uneven both in terms of length and difficulty, and a few feature "golden" terminators that look more like a bunch of C3POs! In one unintentionally hilarious stage, they run like chickens alongside a moving truck. Even Arnold doesn't look like himself, leading me to believe a less-beefy, digitized imposter was used instead. The explosions are awfully weak, with hulking vessels that shatter like glass when hit. T2 The Arcade Game was clearly just a weak attempt to cash in on the success of the film.
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Tecmo Super Bowl for the SNES plays like the original NES version, only with crisper graphics and clearer sound effects. But although the game was an institution on the NES, it barely made a splash on the SNES. To gamers who cut their teeth on Madden, Tecmo may look a bit outdated. The field is viewed from the side in 30-yard chunks. The players are small but nicely animated, making it easy to see plays unfold. The playbooks and controls are minimal compared to Madden, but Tecmo has an arcade sensibility that Madden lacks. You can knock down players on offense or defense by tapping the A button, allowing running backs to shake off would-be tacklers. On passing plays, cycling through receivers is fun, but you can't see those who run deep routes. One problem with defense is that once you select a player you can't change him after the play begins. Tecmo Super Bowl features cool cut-scenes that embellish kicks and diving catches, but what's the deal with that lame clown in the half time show? Where are the cheerleaders? Despite its flaws, Tecmo football is always a good time, and this is probably the definitive version of the classic game.
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This basketball game has a great look, especially compared to the chunky early EA basketball games like Bulls Vs. Blazers (SNES, Genesis). Tecmo Basketball's court and players are well defined, and its smooth (but slow) animation features plenty of nifty slam dunks. Unfortunately, the gameplay is marred by numerous flaws that drag down the fun factor. Your view of the action is from the side, but the camerawork is awful. When you bring the ball up the court, you can't even see whom you're passing to! In general, it's hard to tell whom you're controlling. The block button is the same as the shoot button (bad idea!), resulting in balls being inadvertently flung the length of the court! There's no "turbo" function, making it awfully hard to penetrate to the hoop. Referees call fouls even on minimal contact, and you can't adjust the foul frequency. Cut-scenes often flash during three-point shots or blocks, but these tend to be disorienting, interrupting the flow of the game. On a positive note, Tecmo Basketball provides a sweet half-time show with cheerleaders, and tracks player stats thanks to a battery backup. It's not a total loss, but basketball games have come a long way, and Tecmo Super NBA Basketball offers little reason to go back.
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Wow - talk about eye candy - this game looks fantastic! In this fourth game of the series, one or two players select from the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in this side-scrolling brawler. Its sharp graphics resemble a cartoon, with vibrant colors and smooth animation. The upbeat music is excellent and the control is remarkably tight. Only two buttons are used, but there's still a nice variety of moves. My favorite allows you to throw the enemy into the screen (towards the player!). It's a cool scaling effect, and it's actually necessary to defeat one of the bosses. Enemies tend to be generic ninjas dressed in different colored outfits, but the bosses are quite imaginative and well-armed with special attacks. The diverse stages locales include city streets, a sewer, the prehistoric past, and a pirate ship, to name a few. The action is fast and never lets up, but it does have a few faults. Although you can choose between four characters, there's not an appreciable difference between them. Also, battling the same ninjas over and over can get monotonous. All in all, this is a solid arcade fighter, but Turtles in Time is anything but deep.
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In case you haven't noticed, Nintendo is big on Tetris. They've released many variations of the game, so I put this cartridge in thinking the cow had run dry. As it turns out, I was wrong. This is yet another excellent Tetris-inspired puzzle game which will keep you riveted for hours on end! This time, you are presented with a mountain of blocks which rise as new rows bubble up from underneath. The only move you can make it to swap blocks that are side-to-side. Line up three or more of the same color and they explode. In sounds simple but the possibilities are endless. In the one player game, your goal is to keep the pile below a certain level, and in the two-player game you compete for score. Tetris Attack is easy to play but tough to master - a sure sign of a great game.
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Not only is True Lies one hell of a game, but it does a fine job of staying faithful to the movie. The stages follow the storyline, and each is preceded with a digitized still image from the film. True Lies is basically an overhead scroller with endless shootouts in locations like a chateau, mall, park, and refinery. Fine-tuned controls include a diving roll and a strafing move that's incredibly useful. Harry is armed with uzis, flame-throwers, shotguns, and grenades. There's no shortage of ammo, and I like how enemies splatter with blood and fall to the ground when shot. Just be careful not to shoot three civilians, because then you're forced to restart the level. The background music is good, and the sound effects are remarkable. For example, when on the docks, you not only hear the water, but you can even hear the rats scurrying! Harry's partner (Tom Arnold) posts advice on the bottom of the screen and a password saves your progress. True Lies shows a lot of originality, and really captures the spirit of a great action film.
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U.N. Squadron is a terrific, old-fashioned, side-scrolling shooter that also taps into the system's slick graphic capabilities. You are the pilot of a jet fighter blasting waves of helicopters, tanks, planes, and ships. The objects on the screen are sizeable, and I love how enemy planes rotate into formation. You're equipped with rapid-fire cannons and a limited supply of devastating bombs. The first stage features desert bas with scenery that looks practically photo-realistic. U.N. Squadron's exciting brand of nonstop shooting and bombing brought back fond memories of Scramble, an arcade favorite of mine from the early 80's. Naturally, each stage ends with an obligatory "boss", but these are not terribly hard to defeat. Upon completing the first stage, you can select from a number of subsequent missions. The wide range of scenic backdrops include open seas, jungle forests, rocky gorges, and in the clouds of an intense thunderstorm. Granted, the water stages look somewhat cheesy. Certain stages require you to make several "passes" at a strategic target (like a massive battleship), which I found to be a very cool concept. Your firepower and weapon options increase with each new life, as well as each "continue". With its awesome firepower and frantic gameplay, I could play U.N. Squadron all day. Only a few notable flaws knock it down a notch. Much of the music has an inappropriate "happy go lucky" quality more suitable for a cute platform game. Also, the game suffers from terrible slowdown when things get hectic. Nonetheless, I still found U.N. Squadron to be instantly fun and satisfying.
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I happen to be a long-time fan of Ultraman, but this is a bad game of colossal proportions. As a child, I was fascinated by the poor-dubbed Japanese television show featuring men in rubber monster outfits (who knew?) wrestling around miniature cities. This video game adaptation not only fails to capture the grand scale of those battles, but it makes them seem incredibly boring. Ultraman is barely playable, and its only entertainment value comes from mocking its deficiencies. Now I admit that some of the monsters in the old show looked pretty silly, but a few in this game look as if they were borrowed from Sesame Street. I'm pretty sure I defeated a Snuffleupagus in one stage! The slow, one-on-one battles lack strategy as the stiff combatants struggle to execute basic kicks and punches. You have a "special move" (usually a projectile attack) powered by a special meter that charges over time. Once you deplete your opponent's energy, the word "FINISH" appears on the screen, providing false hope that the end of the match is at hand. But your foe can only be defeated by performing a special attack at full power. This usually means backing off while waiting for your meter to charge, and in the meantime, your opponent can still execute attacks and even regain his health! Take it from me - there's nothing more humiliating than being defeated by a monster with no life. This idiotic design ruins what could have been a perfectly... um... aw hell - it would have been awful anyway! There's no two-player mode (!), and the elusive option screen is accessed by holding down select while pressing start (real intuitive huh?). You have to wonder about the state of mind of the guy who authorized this game to be shipped. At the very least, Bandai could have incorporated the kick-ass theme song from the television show, but just like the fun, it's nowhere to be found.
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For those of you who slept through Astronomy class, a "vortex" is a celestial body of such high mass and density that its gravitational pull will literally suck the fun out of any game named after it. This cartridge has all the ingredients of a decent game, but they never come together quite right. Vortex's 3D graphics and explosions are comparable to Star Fox (they employ the same graphics chip), and the techno soundtrack is pretty bumpin' as well. While a basic 3D shooter at heart, you ship has the ability to "morph" between a jet, tank, walker, and protective shell. This provides a lot of potential strategy as you size up each stage and boss. Too bad this promising concept is wasted due to poor design. A good video game should "hook" the player from the start, and gradually draw him in with a reasonably ramping difficulty. The Star Fox developers knew this, but the Vortex developers apparently did not. The controls are daunting, with over 20 button combinations that will flummox casual gamers right off the bat. Then you have a bunch of time-consuming "training stages", which I found to be a serious turn-off. The first "real" stage is awfully boring, set in deep space with nothing but a fence (huh?). Worst yet, the first boss is nearly insurmountable, bringing any novice player to his knees. With shoddy design like this, Vortex never really had a chance. I'm sure there are a few dedicated players who will stick with Vortex long enough to see what it has to offer, but most will find themselves shouting "next!" after just a few minutes.
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Despite what other critics say, Wayne's World will go down as one of the greatest movie-related video games of all time. NOT! This piece of crap is barely playable; it's a complete waste of a movie license. The ordeal begins with a semi-animated episode of the Wayne's World public-access television program. Most of the dialogue is conveyed through word "bubbles", and the few actual voice clips sound as if they were recorded at the bottom of a well. "Dream sequences" are used to segue into the stages of the game. Instead of using locations from the movie, the five stages are weird, surreal worlds that I hate with a passion. There's a record store with attacking musical instruments, a donut shop where you fight food-shaped monstrosities, and some kind of drug-induced suburbia with houses floating in the sky. None of these are interesting or funny, and their overall designs are painfully monotonous. Assuming the role of Wayne, you shoot at monsters with a guitar and perform tedious jumps between platforms. The controls are anything but exact, and perpetual cheap hits force you to fire non-stop. Wayne's digitalized face looks impressive, but you'll tire of his one liners in a hurry. The few lame references to the film include a "No Stairway to Heaven" sign in the music store, but in general the game does a miserable job of capturing the spirit of the movie. Even the music is weak, mainly consisting of generic guitar noise looped over and over. To say Wayne's World is "not worthy" is an understatement. If I have to play it again, I may spew.
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I recall this one-on-one fighting game getting a lot more advance press than it deserved. With preview screen shots depicting blood and decapitation, parents were anticipating this to be the next Mortal Kombat, but it never happened. The characters in Weaponlord are barbarians that slug it out with weapons. The scenery has a surreal medieval appearance - sort of a cross between Mortal Kombat and Primal Rage. The characters look great standing still, but in action they can be hard to make out. Hits are accompanied by a splatter of blood, and blocking results in a satisfying clank sound. Weaponlord's gameplay is pretty mediocre, and all the moves are weapon based: thrust, slash, and strike. To be honest, there's not much difference between them. There are some special moves and throws, but the throws do minimal damage, and the action is slow compared to fighters like Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Some might appreciate the slowness since it fosters a more deliberate, calculated approach as opposed to button mashing. You can decapitate a defeated opponent, but the lousy animation makes it hard to see what's going on. As far as fighters go, Weaponlord is unusual but not exceptional.
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This awesome shooter places you in the wild west with cowboys, saloons, horses, trains, and... robots? Yeah, nothing spices up a history piece like some giant mechanical behemoths, and they make great bosses too! Wild Guns' gameplay is rather unique. You view the action from behind your cowboy (or cowgirl), blasting everything in sight by aiming a cursor. Thugs, cannons, and mechanical creatures fire large, slow-moving projectiles your way, but you can avoid these by moving sideways or jumping. Power-ups upgrade your firepower, and smart bombs are also available. The action is intense, and there's even a two-player simultaneous mode! The stages (selectable after stage one) feature all sorts of western locations, including trains, mines, and saloons. Best of all, Wild Guns is super fun and easy to play. This is one shooter that should not be overlooked.
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Mutant Apocalypse is an impressive side-scrolling platformer. Embarking on individual missions, you control five X-Men including Wolverine, Cyclops, Psylocke, Gambit, and Beast. Your ultimate goal is to free mutants from an island where they are being held by the evil Mighty Apocalypse. Despite using only two buttons, the game offers about seven or eight attacks for each hero. The stages exhibit great variety and showcase the X-Men's individual talents. For example, Wolverine can climb walls and Beast can walk on ceilings. The characters are huge, backgrounds are interesting, and the huge bosses are exciting. Even the sky high difficulty won't prevent you from coming back for more superhero action.
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In this lighthearted shooter Konami parodies a number of classic horror films to good effect. Playing as a boy or girl, your character must rescue a certain number of civilians from rampaging monsters in a series of imaginative overhead stages. Released at a time when Nintendo did not allow blood in their games, Konami made the graphics appear cartoonish and whimsical in order to tone down the violence. You'll make use of unconventional weapons like water guns, pop sickles, and exploding 6-packs. Items you can collect include a potion that temporarily transforms you into a super-monster. Zombie's graphics are beautifully detailed, and each of its 50+ stages boasts its own unique theme. There's a mummy-infested pyramid, a school invaded by aliens, and a mall loaded with zombies, just to name a few. Creatures include a wide range of movie monsters ranging from the Creature from the Black Lagoon, to little Chucky the doll, to a chainsaw-wielding Leatherface. The game is expertly programmed, and the controls are super responsive. Another feature worth mentioning is the catchy music that plays throughout each stage. I would love to have the soundtrack to this! A two-player simultaneous mode is included, but that requires cooperation to keep both players on the screen, which is more confusing than fun. Overall Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a winner that will especially appeal to horror movie buffs.
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