Tower Defense Time !
Yeah yeah, let us write the anecdote first...
So I have started gaming again, had a bit of a break and focused a bit more on real life stuff for a while. (yes, gf and work etc etc does make you lose touch with yourself at the start) But things have settled down quite nicely recently so about two months ago I started playing WoW again. This obviously lead to me getting in touch with the community again and as always it in the end, made me realise why I stopped playing WoW in the first place. Enough of that, getting less and less gametime with WoW made more time for other games. I went from WoW to CS to LoL and eventually back to Warcraft 3. If some of you are not aware of this, me playing Warcraft 3 = Tower Defense Time !
Yes, I love Tower Defense, and the best ones are easily the custom maps in warcraft 3. No flash knock-off will ever make the cut if compared to these wonderful maps.
So I figured, why not write some recommendations for someone who would like to know what I mean by the best TD's ever.
Here is a list of some of my most played and most favorite TD's ever. (Bear in mind that my maplist currently holds some 100 different tower defenses)
But first, for those of you who do not know what a TD is, I can tell you that there are essentially two different kinds. The premapped and the MIY (maze it yourself) maps. (I will not go into tower wars because these are not pure TD's). In both kinds your mission is to stop creeps (or mobs, or minions or whatever you call them) to get from point A to point B. This is done by using static defenses called towers which shoots or slows or does other cool stuff to kill the creeps. In the premapped version of TD you have a premade creep-path along which you should place various kinds of towers in the most effective spot possible, these premapped versions can appear in a gazillion different ways and they usually have some sort of twist in them to seperate them from the others.
The other kind of TD is one where you require a maze. The most basic form of MIY TD is simply a start and a finish for the creeps and a huge open field in the middle. Basically what you need to do here, is to create the longest or most damage effective (preferably both) path possible for the creeps to wander so that you manage to kill them before they reach the finish line.
Sounds simple enough yes ?
I think I will skip the list for this time and just go into some other common mechanics of TD's.
There are basically so many different TD's that work in so many different ways that you really have to dig in yourself in Warcraft and try to get ahold of one that you fancy. But I will try to describe the most basic functions, aside from the difference between a mazing and a premapped one.
Most TD's usually start with you having nothing but some resources, and a builder. The builder is your most vital unit, it can move around and build towers. Now, towers and TD's can work in a number of ways, but the two most important functions to differ between is the upgrade and the mass TD. An upgrade TD usually focuses on buidling basic towers at first and then upgrading, this is very common in pre-mapped td's since you don't have to mass your towers but instead focus on placement. A mass TD is more common when you have to maze, these TD's focus on a clever use of many towers. The exception being in TD's where you can use special "mazing" towers which are usually cheap but does not attack. Anyway, in a mass situation, the first priority is usually to get a maze up ASAP. So that you with your cheap towers can tackle quite heavy mobs due to the longer creep-path and the more opportunities your towers have to fire on the creeps.
These mechanics are quite commonly one or the other, and it is also usually quite clear which one is to be preferred. But in my own oppinion, the best TD's are the ones who mix these two mechanics. For instance: I need a maze, I could mass this maze with a huge amount of the cheapest towers I get. It works really well on all ground levels... but as soon as an air level comes (air levels ignore mazes as they fly over them) I get busted and my balls get sold off to the creator of the TD. What I should have done, is make a slightly smaller maze, or maybe build it slower. And make sure that I can construct some better or more damaging towers in the middle of the creep path so they may shoot on air. That is usually how TD's work, either the ground fucks you deep from behind due to a crappy or limited maze, or the air shits on you because they fly way above any cool maze you have and make silly 'LoL's' at you.
These are of course just a few examples of how the tactics in a tower defense work, but it is good to know the basics, always.
I will end this now with saying the following:
If you do not own Warcraft 3, go buy it.. it is a must have for all gamers, even though you hate strategy games I feel safe to say that the custom maps community of Warcraft 3 is easily the largest. (I am rooting for starcraft 2 to get even more)
However, if you fancy trying some TD's out anyway to get a feel of the concept. Try the following games out on http://www.kongregate.com
Cursed Treasure
Bloons Tower Defense 4
Gemcraft TD
Top Five Flash Games
You know those moments that those games on facebook are meant for ? You know those 20 minutes before you are off to the pub or while you are waiting for your chips to get coooked ? Well how would you like to actually spend those minutes on something that does not spam your friends facebook pages ?
That is why I am now introducing my top five flash games. (These games are of course free and can be played without registering almost anywhere, though my preference is kongregate.com )
1. Toss the Turtle (Newgrounds.com)
Toss the Turtle, simple as that.
Basically you get armed with one turtle and one form cannon as well as a weapon. The goal of the game is to combine height and distance in order to get as far as possible. The game features a multitude of "enemies" which can be used to hurl, bounce, crash or explode your turtle to go further. You may also upgrade your cannons and weapons, but not your turtle :(
Toss the turtle has saved me from many boring hours. Unfortunately once you complete the game (which basically requires you to have bought everything) it may not seem as challenging anymore.
2. Upgrade Complete ! (Armorgames.com)
Upgrade complete is a basic space invader game although you can upgrade everything ! literally everything ! from the frame of the game window to the graphics to the weapons of your ship, even the mute button is an optional extra. It is loads of fun and might perhaps be a bit more appealing to us olden gamers who have seen the development of graphics over the years. This is definitely a game to try if you fancy a classic space shooter with a twist !
3. Bunny Invasion 2 (Bubblebox.com)
Bunny Invasion is a classic shooter but instead of killing massive monsters you are defending a Pub against an invasion of various species of bunnies. Lots of upgrades and weapons mixed with a very good sense of humour as well as a few cruel or indecent jokes in the cutscenes. Nice and balanced, my favorite shooter.
4. Sonny 2 (Armorgames.com)
Is a turn-based RPG platformer, no stunning graphics or anything but well thought through and well-balanced. Quite challenging as well as interesting. Unfortunately after having done five or six areas you realise that it is all about repetition and nothing ever really changes throughout the game. Still you will get a couple of hours out of it in total. Comes complete with three different classes and different talent trees for each as well as loads of gear variations.
5. Bloons Tower Defense 4 (Ninjakiwi.com)
Unfortunately I am no huge fan of any flash tower defense I have every played, and I have probably browsed through quite a few over the years (none of them compares to the Tower defenses in Warcraft 3 however). Although Bloons Tower Defense 4 does offer a lot in the way of upgrades and varieties in towers and are also open to unconventional tactics. This game provides pre-tracked maps so there are no mazing capabilities.
And that is the end of my top 5 free time consumers. I hope it has helped someone through a few minutes or hours of boredom.
That is why I am now introducing my top five flash games. (These games are of course free and can be played without registering almost anywhere, though my preference is kongregate.com )
1. Toss the Turtle (Newgrounds.com)
Toss the Turtle, simple as that.
Basically you get armed with one turtle and one form cannon as well as a weapon. The goal of the game is to combine height and distance in order to get as far as possible. The game features a multitude of "enemies" which can be used to hurl, bounce, crash or explode your turtle to go further. You may also upgrade your cannons and weapons, but not your turtle :(
Toss the turtle has saved me from many boring hours. Unfortunately once you complete the game (which basically requires you to have bought everything) it may not seem as challenging anymore.
2. Upgrade Complete ! (Armorgames.com)
Upgrade complete is a basic space invader game although you can upgrade everything ! literally everything ! from the frame of the game window to the graphics to the weapons of your ship, even the mute button is an optional extra. It is loads of fun and might perhaps be a bit more appealing to us olden gamers who have seen the development of graphics over the years. This is definitely a game to try if you fancy a classic space shooter with a twist !
3. Bunny Invasion 2 (Bubblebox.com)
Bunny Invasion is a classic shooter but instead of killing massive monsters you are defending a Pub against an invasion of various species of bunnies. Lots of upgrades and weapons mixed with a very good sense of humour as well as a few cruel or indecent jokes in the cutscenes. Nice and balanced, my favorite shooter.
4. Sonny 2 (Armorgames.com)
Is a turn-based RPG platformer, no stunning graphics or anything but well thought through and well-balanced. Quite challenging as well as interesting. Unfortunately after having done five or six areas you realise that it is all about repetition and nothing ever really changes throughout the game. Still you will get a couple of hours out of it in total. Comes complete with three different classes and different talent trees for each as well as loads of gear variations.
5. Bloons Tower Defense 4 (Ninjakiwi.com)
Unfortunately I am no huge fan of any flash tower defense I have every played, and I have probably browsed through quite a few over the years (none of them compares to the Tower defenses in Warcraft 3 however). Although Bloons Tower Defense 4 does offer a lot in the way of upgrades and varieties in towers and are also open to unconventional tactics. This game provides pre-tracked maps so there are no mazing capabilities.
And that is the end of my top 5 free time consumers. I hope it has helped someone through a few minutes or hours of boredom.
Good old Games (http://www.gog.com)
You tired of going to your used/old games store and picking up one of your most favorite games of all times and get home just to find that your OS (vista/XP) is not compatible ? Sure you can probably get some silly patches or set your compatibility back in order to make your game work but this usually comes with some quite annoying quirks such as game crashing every three minutes or that your brand new graphics card is too new for the game to recognise etc etc. I am sure most of us have experienced it.
But now Salvation is here !
It comes in the form of a new(ish) online store which specialises in good old games and allows you to buy (yes buy, for real !) most of your good old favorites. Sure there are some games missing (mainly from ridiculous multi-corporations such as EA ) but you are bound to find at least one of your great old games.
Some of the advantages about gog.com are the following:
-Very reasonable prices (yes they are!)
-Accessible from most countries (I would say 'all countries' but I am not actually sure about that)
-No ridiculous extra software required (Such as Steam or EA downloader)
-No limit as to how many times you can actually download the game (such as EA) and they do stress this issue a lot on their website, you actually do OWN the game, just not an actual physical copy.
-As far as I know and as far as I have heard their modifications* to certain games are incredible, granted due to lack of money I have not actually bought more than one game (Heroes of might and magic 3 including all expansions) but it works perfectly. Perfect as in they work like the original, it only crashes occasionally and due to the Autosave feature of HOMM 3 this is not an issue. This is actually quite a big deal since other online stores who releases oldish games (Steam) promises the same but does not always deliver.
*Modifications in this case is making the games compatible with XP and Vista.
I know that I at least am looking forward to going on a shopping spree as soon as I get some disposable income.
Also I love EA games, just not EA itself...
The High-End effect
Those of you who know me may also know that I fly quite a lot between England and Sweden, I did so today, started off in Sweden and took an early flight down to Manchester. I have done this so much in fact that I have recognised a pattern.
The early flights mostly hold business people going down to Manchester for a meeting or two and flying home again in the afternoon. Nothing wrong with that but the thing about business people is that they fly business or 'economy extra' class. Which basically means that they are packed up front of the plane with the other business people having to bustle around for room in the overhead compartments mainly due to the fact that they can't be asked with checking in bags. So they have close to oversized bags that would be better off in the bulk of the plane instead.
From my seat in the far back where I am having an entire row of chairs to myself they look like little sardines packed into a can just a little too small for them. You see Business people tend to be on the larger side thus giving them a fair reason to sit in business class so they can 'work' with their laptops on the two hour flight down. Only not much work ever gets done.
They sort of remind me of the Forerunners of MMORPG's. Those of us who have any experience with playing at the 'high end' of games such as World of Warcraft or any other MMO with respawn timers, limited numbers of mobs etc etc know that being a forerunner among the thousands of others, involve spawncamping mobs, spawncamping special mobs, spawncamping quest items and a lot of other spawncamping which is dull when you are doing it with about 20 other people who are on the exact same quest/stage as you. So why would you want to be a forerunner?
You will forsake an entire game just to be able to say 'I was the first who did this', but you never really get to that, do you? In the end you will have to amend your statements to say 'I was the first on the server', ' I was the first on the alliance side on my server', 'I was the first *insert class here*' , ' I was the first in our guild' etc etc you get the idea.
No one who did anything 'first' are ever remembered unless they do something 'first in the world' or do it repeatadly. So what if you were the first Warrior to hit level 80 when Wotlk came out? wow, a nice flashy achievement... good for you.
But was it really worth it?
The early flights mostly hold business people going down to Manchester for a meeting or two and flying home again in the afternoon. Nothing wrong with that but the thing about business people is that they fly business or 'economy extra' class. Which basically means that they are packed up front of the plane with the other business people having to bustle around for room in the overhead compartments mainly due to the fact that they can't be asked with checking in bags. So they have close to oversized bags that would be better off in the bulk of the plane instead.
From my seat in the far back where I am having an entire row of chairs to myself they look like little sardines packed into a can just a little too small for them. You see Business people tend to be on the larger side thus giving them a fair reason to sit in business class so they can 'work' with their laptops on the two hour flight down. Only not much work ever gets done.
They sort of remind me of the Forerunners of MMORPG's. Those of us who have any experience with playing at the 'high end' of games such as World of Warcraft or any other MMO with respawn timers, limited numbers of mobs etc etc know that being a forerunner among the thousands of others, involve spawncamping mobs, spawncamping special mobs, spawncamping quest items and a lot of other spawncamping which is dull when you are doing it with about 20 other people who are on the exact same quest/stage as you. So why would you want to be a forerunner?
You will forsake an entire game just to be able to say 'I was the first who did this', but you never really get to that, do you? In the end you will have to amend your statements to say 'I was the first on the server', ' I was the first on the alliance side on my server', 'I was the first *insert class here*' , ' I was the first in our guild' etc etc you get the idea.
No one who did anything 'first' are ever remembered unless they do something 'first in the world' or do it repeatadly. So what if you were the first Warrior to hit level 80 when Wotlk came out? wow, a nice flashy achievement... good for you.
But was it really worth it?
The Bejeweled Blitz Effect
So Popcap did it again, created a stupidly addictive game that you just can't get out of your head.
This special version of Bejeweled features a 1 minute game time in which you will want to score as much points as possible through various combinations.
The good thing is that you don't have to calculate your gems because you will never be able to run out of a certain type and you will never get what was most annoying in the original Bejeweled "You are out of combinations - Game Over".
I have always disliked time-limited games, but in this case it actually does work, it makes the perfect distraction when waiting for an especially slow or large download, or when you are just waiting for your mates to get ready for that party you are going to. Unfortunately it is also the perfect distraction when you are trying to do something important, like uni-work.
Bejeweled blitz has also connected to me on a more personal level, you know how people tell you to count sheep when you are having trouble sleeping?
I go over Bejeweled combinations, it is perfectly distracting and allows you to rather swiftly fall into that nice little pre-REM state of sleep where you are still concious but you just know that any minute now you are going to fall into a dreamless state of sleep that will allow you to wake up all rested.
Isn't that just great ? although extremely weird I admit.
My top 10 - NES villains
So here we are, after a long break due to an increased amount of interest to actually do well in my studies this year.
Sad to say I have been losing my touch over the last few weeks so it is time to get into writing things for fun again, therefore I present to you my top ten of NES villains.
10. Ganon
Ganon is the powerhungry evil maniac who is chasing after the triforce in order to bestow the world in darkness. While his name has changed over his generation of apperances in the various Zelda games his ultimate goal has not, Ganon is a great figure for evilness and is today known by almost everyone, albeit his name has been bastarded into ganondorf in the latter games. Ganons first apperance on the NES was in the game 'The Legend of Zelda'.
9. Shredder
The classic turtles villain, everyone knows him and everyone loves to hate him. Being first present in Turtles as the final boss and later on in turtles 2 as the not so final boss.
8. Gradius Final Boss
There really is not a lot to say about this one, despite being a bit of a gradius fan I have never seen him and probably never will seeing as I find it close to impossible to reach him. Although rumor is he is one of the easiest bosses ever.
7. Mr. Dream (Mike Tyson)
The nemesis of everyone who has ever played 'Punch Out!' or 'Mike Tyson's Punch out!' for the NES. In the schoolyard you were something of an authority if you had actually kicked Mr. Dreams ass.
6. Dracula
We know him as a bloodsucking vampire, with a weakness to holy stuff and garlic. And that is also what he is in Castlevania, the legendary NES game which has followed us all the way to present day.
5. Super Drunk
The last boss... kind of, in Bubble Bobble, a big fat and annoying badie which will go down with a lot of luck or some intelligence and skill. In my youth when luck was a lot easier to get than skill and intelligence I did beat my head bloody against this one from time to time.
4. Goomba
Unlike the other 'people' we will find on this list the goomba is not a boss. It is not even hard to beat. It is just very very numerous and annoying. First seen on the NES in Super Mario Bros. He is the first creature encountered and if you feel like you have played SMB a lot of times and wants to rush through the levels, you will know that if you do not take the first one just right, the second one will kill you :)
3. Motherbrain
A legend and hatred for many a NES gamer. After withstanding the excrutiating mazes of Metroid you will finally meet with the motherbrain.
2. Koopa
Yes I know, two monsters from the same game? I do not care, due to SMB's one hit kill policy I believe almost all the villains are worth mentioning. Koopa is the boss you encounter last in all the castles in SMB and while he is farily easy to beat his ability to reincarnate makes him somewhat annoying.
1. Dr. Wily
Yes, I know, those of you who know me will also know how much I worship megaman. But bear with me, look at this guys brilliance? He built robots capable of doing almost anything. He is also a worthy adversary at the end of each Megaman Game. And this is why Dr. Wily deserves the number one position on the NES top 10 Villains list.
Sad to say I have been losing my touch over the last few weeks so it is time to get into writing things for fun again, therefore I present to you my top ten of NES villains.
10. Ganon
Ganon is the powerhungry evil maniac who is chasing after the triforce in order to bestow the world in darkness. While his name has changed over his generation of apperances in the various Zelda games his ultimate goal has not, Ganon is a great figure for evilness and is today known by almost everyone, albeit his name has been bastarded into ganondorf in the latter games. Ganons first apperance on the NES was in the game 'The Legend of Zelda'.
9. Shredder
The classic turtles villain, everyone knows him and everyone loves to hate him. Being first present in Turtles as the final boss and later on in turtles 2 as the not so final boss.
8. Gradius Final Boss
There really is not a lot to say about this one, despite being a bit of a gradius fan I have never seen him and probably never will seeing as I find it close to impossible to reach him. Although rumor is he is one of the easiest bosses ever.
7. Mr. Dream (Mike Tyson)
The nemesis of everyone who has ever played 'Punch Out!' or 'Mike Tyson's Punch out!' for the NES. In the schoolyard you were something of an authority if you had actually kicked Mr. Dreams ass.
6. Dracula
We know him as a bloodsucking vampire, with a weakness to holy stuff and garlic. And that is also what he is in Castlevania, the legendary NES game which has followed us all the way to present day.
5. Super Drunk
The last boss... kind of, in Bubble Bobble, a big fat and annoying badie which will go down with a lot of luck or some intelligence and skill. In my youth when luck was a lot easier to get than skill and intelligence I did beat my head bloody against this one from time to time.
4. Goomba
Unlike the other 'people' we will find on this list the goomba is not a boss. It is not even hard to beat. It is just very very numerous and annoying. First seen on the NES in Super Mario Bros. He is the first creature encountered and if you feel like you have played SMB a lot of times and wants to rush through the levels, you will know that if you do not take the first one just right, the second one will kill you :)
3. Motherbrain
A legend and hatred for many a NES gamer. After withstanding the excrutiating mazes of Metroid you will finally meet with the motherbrain.
2. Koopa
Yes I know, two monsters from the same game? I do not care, due to SMB's one hit kill policy I believe almost all the villains are worth mentioning. Koopa is the boss you encounter last in all the castles in SMB and while he is farily easy to beat his ability to reincarnate makes him somewhat annoying.
1. Dr. Wily
Yes, I know, those of you who know me will also know how much I worship megaman. But bear with me, look at this guys brilliance? He built robots capable of doing almost anything. He is also a worthy adversary at the end of each Megaman Game. And this is why Dr. Wily deserves the number one position on the NES top 10 Villains list.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2 - Review
Title: Heroes of Might and Magic II
Genre: Turn Based Strategy
Platform: PC
Publisher: New World Computing
My Grade: 4/5
Players: 1-8
Homm II holds great memories for me, not only because the game was something new and exciting but because of what was happening around me while I was sat by an ancient laptop fiddling with it. The first 30-40 times I played Homm II I only had a demo with two scenarios, but I played those scenarios to death.
Story:
In the campaign you will be faced with a choice, two brethren are competeing for their fathers throne, you may choose from the good-hearted who holds nature, law and order above all. Or you can choose to support the evil brother who contorts with the blackness of dragons, the fury of the barbarian tribes and the indifference of the undead.
Then there are Scenario games which all holds their own story.
Gameplay:
Homm II is a 2d strategy game set in three different stages. You have the castle where you can build recruiting grounds for creatures, this is also where you make some of your money and recources required to buy troops and contructions.
You also have your hero who is the commander of armys assigned to him, he/she travels the map fighting monsters and taking over recource centers in order to make you richer and more powerful.
Then there is the combat phase. Combat is based on ancient style combat where the armies group up on two different sides of the map :D. You will then start to move your characters in some very clever and tactical ways to deal as much damage as possible and take as little as you can. There are both melee and ranged characters and some of them has special abilities like double strike or first strike. Your hero's role in combat is to cast spells, he can cast anything from buffing you to damaging your enemy.
There are of course a number of races in the game all with their unique creatures and castles. These will be a lot mroe fun if you explore on your own. :D
What I think:
Well since I have such a wonderful history with this game I may not be the most objective observer. The only few negative things about Homm II is probably the boring multi-player option, it is hard enough to wait for the computer to make their moves (takes about 10-15 sec). Imagine having to wait for other players who might take up to a minute!? crazy boring. And that is probably why I won't give tihs game a 5. Aside from crappy multiplayer options everything else is brilliant. Despite what everyone says, the balance between the races is great, the AI is incredible ( this game was published in 1996).
Thank you and goodnight ! (gonna go wait for Haven and Hearth to reset)
Genre: Turn Based Strategy
Platform: PC
Publisher: New World Computing
My Grade: 4/5
Players: 1-8
Homm II holds great memories for me, not only because the game was something new and exciting but because of what was happening around me while I was sat by an ancient laptop fiddling with it. The first 30-40 times I played Homm II I only had a demo with two scenarios, but I played those scenarios to death.
Story:
In the campaign you will be faced with a choice, two brethren are competeing for their fathers throne, you may choose from the good-hearted who holds nature, law and order above all. Or you can choose to support the evil brother who contorts with the blackness of dragons, the fury of the barbarian tribes and the indifference of the undead.
Then there are Scenario games which all holds their own story.
Gameplay:
Homm II is a 2d strategy game set in three different stages. You have the castle where you can build recruiting grounds for creatures, this is also where you make some of your money and recources required to buy troops and contructions.
You also have your hero who is the commander of armys assigned to him, he/she travels the map fighting monsters and taking over recource centers in order to make you richer and more powerful.
Then there is the combat phase. Combat is based on ancient style combat where the armies group up on two different sides of the map :D. You will then start to move your characters in some very clever and tactical ways to deal as much damage as possible and take as little as you can. There are both melee and ranged characters and some of them has special abilities like double strike or first strike. Your hero's role in combat is to cast spells, he can cast anything from buffing you to damaging your enemy.
There are of course a number of races in the game all with their unique creatures and castles. These will be a lot mroe fun if you explore on your own. :D
What I think:
Well since I have such a wonderful history with this game I may not be the most objective observer. The only few negative things about Homm II is probably the boring multi-player option, it is hard enough to wait for the computer to make their moves (takes about 10-15 sec). Imagine having to wait for other players who might take up to a minute!? crazy boring. And that is probably why I won't give tihs game a 5. Aside from crappy multiplayer options everything else is brilliant. Despite what everyone says, the balance between the races is great, the AI is incredible ( this game was published in 1996).
Thank you and goodnight ! (gonna go wait for Haven and Hearth to reset)
Diablo II - Review
Title: Diablo II (Expansion: Lord of Destruction)
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC (generally)
Publisher: Blizzard
My Grade: 4/5 (dont want to waste my 5's)
Players: 1-¿
So I never played a game with more than 4 players but I know you can play many many more.
Diablo II is such a well established game with a huge fan circle that it still has a huge number of active players, and probably will for a while still. I have to admit I have not played Diablo II for very long, only the last 5 or 6 years and never played it before the expansion came out. That is why I inculde the expansion in this review.
Story:
Diablo has once again broken loose and is causing trouble in the world, it is up to you to track him down and once again banish him back to hell. This time however, he brought backup in form of his brothers Mephisto and Bhaal. Assist the Archangel with defeating them all and save the world stone from corruption.
Gameplay:
Diablo II is an RPG with different classes.
Druid: A diverse character which can be used as a melee fighter by morphing into a werewolf, a supporting hero through summoning various creatures to aid you and the party in a number of ways. And finally as a spellcaster using the elements of wind and fire to wreak destruction upon your enemies.
Amazon: A skilled marksman able to use bows, crossbows and javelins. She can also be used as a melee fighter but her specializations lie mainly at ranged combat. She is a versatile and challening character.
Necromancer: Using his skill of necromancy he can conjure up creatures of death to fight for him or protect the party. He can also be used as a caster specializing in bone spells and poisons or curses.
Barbarian: a fighter of brutal strength which is of vital importance for any party. He specializes in melee combat and has the ability to crush his opponents with very little effort.
Paladin: the Paladin is also a versatile character who can specialise in offensive or defensive combat as well as auras to aid himself and the party of adventurers.
Sorceress: The sorceress is the ultimate caster whose second name could be destruction and mayhem. She can specialize in the categories of Frost, fire or lightning, or why not all three?
Assassin: is the warrior of darkness among the characters, she has a number of abilities at her disposal and can specialise in straight out melee combat, combos to annihilate enemies in a various number of ways and also traps to destroy your enemies wave after wave.
All characters has three seperate skill trees where you can spend one point per level (and on some certain occasions you get them for completing missions).
the game has 5 different acts, each act conatins a completely new area with new types of enemies and missions. After completing the 5th act you get to restart the game and continue in a different difficulty with new tweaks to the enemies and also new loot.
Speaking of Loot, there is no way that I can go over all the loot in the game so I will refer you to a site used a lot by diablo fans: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/
Just let me say, there is a ton of loot adding yet another layer of interest for the dedicated player.
There is also a multi-player option in Diablo 2 which enables you to get on Battle.net and play with friends or just with random people. You can also play in the old fashion way through direct connect.
What I think:
Well, what can I say ? Diablo 2 is like most Blizzard games, bloody brilliant. There is hardly anything that is not done well. The story line is amazing, the gameplay is so well made its riddiculus and yet I have only given it a 4/5. I will tell you why, it is mainly due to the exploits that can be found in internet play.
Even though you cant use your internet character when playing single-player it is still way too easy to boost low level internet chars so that you can get the WoW farm syndrome. You get a high level character that cant play :/ anyway, its a small problem and hard to do anything about.
There is also a slight issue of imbaness, there are character builds combined with gear that can make characters so overpowered they cant be killed.
But hey, getting the items you want isnt easy so if you managed to become invulnerable you are more than welcome to it.
Thank you...
Genre: RPG
Platform: PC (generally)
Publisher: Blizzard
My Grade: 4/5 (dont want to waste my 5's)
Players: 1-¿
So I never played a game with more than 4 players but I know you can play many many more.
Diablo II is such a well established game with a huge fan circle that it still has a huge number of active players, and probably will for a while still. I have to admit I have not played Diablo II for very long, only the last 5 or 6 years and never played it before the expansion came out. That is why I inculde the expansion in this review.
Story:
Diablo has once again broken loose and is causing trouble in the world, it is up to you to track him down and once again banish him back to hell. This time however, he brought backup in form of his brothers Mephisto and Bhaal. Assist the Archangel with defeating them all and save the world stone from corruption.
Gameplay:
Diablo II is an RPG with different classes.
Druid: A diverse character which can be used as a melee fighter by morphing into a werewolf, a supporting hero through summoning various creatures to aid you and the party in a number of ways. And finally as a spellcaster using the elements of wind and fire to wreak destruction upon your enemies.
Amazon: A skilled marksman able to use bows, crossbows and javelins. She can also be used as a melee fighter but her specializations lie mainly at ranged combat. She is a versatile and challening character.
Necromancer: Using his skill of necromancy he can conjure up creatures of death to fight for him or protect the party. He can also be used as a caster specializing in bone spells and poisons or curses.
Barbarian: a fighter of brutal strength which is of vital importance for any party. He specializes in melee combat and has the ability to crush his opponents with very little effort.
Paladin: the Paladin is also a versatile character who can specialise in offensive or defensive combat as well as auras to aid himself and the party of adventurers.
Sorceress: The sorceress is the ultimate caster whose second name could be destruction and mayhem. She can specialize in the categories of Frost, fire or lightning, or why not all three?
Assassin: is the warrior of darkness among the characters, she has a number of abilities at her disposal and can specialise in straight out melee combat, combos to annihilate enemies in a various number of ways and also traps to destroy your enemies wave after wave.
All characters has three seperate skill trees where you can spend one point per level (and on some certain occasions you get them for completing missions).
the game has 5 different acts, each act conatins a completely new area with new types of enemies and missions. After completing the 5th act you get to restart the game and continue in a different difficulty with new tweaks to the enemies and also new loot.
Speaking of Loot, there is no way that I can go over all the loot in the game so I will refer you to a site used a lot by diablo fans: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/
Just let me say, there is a ton of loot adding yet another layer of interest for the dedicated player.
There is also a multi-player option in Diablo 2 which enables you to get on Battle.net and play with friends or just with random people. You can also play in the old fashion way through direct connect.
What I think:
Well, what can I say ? Diablo 2 is like most Blizzard games, bloody brilliant. There is hardly anything that is not done well. The story line is amazing, the gameplay is so well made its riddiculus and yet I have only given it a 4/5. I will tell you why, it is mainly due to the exploits that can be found in internet play.
Even though you cant use your internet character when playing single-player it is still way too easy to boost low level internet chars so that you can get the WoW farm syndrome. You get a high level character that cant play :/ anyway, its a small problem and hard to do anything about.
There is also a slight issue of imbaness, there are character builds combined with gear that can make characters so overpowered they cant be killed.
But hey, getting the items you want isnt easy so if you managed to become invulnerable you are more than welcome to it.
Thank you...
Commandos: Behind enemy lines - Review
Title: Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
Genre: small scale rts
Platform: PC (is what I played it on, I'm sure there are clones for consoles out there somewhere)
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
My Grade: 2/5
This is probably one of the most exciting games I have ever notplayed. I wasn't allowed to play it myself on our old computer some 10 - 14 years ago. But was more than welcome to watch my brother play it, and boy it looked like so much fun when he did it I just couldn't wait for my turn. Unfortunately, the genre is not something I enjoy, of course, I did not know that back then.
Story:
It's world war 2 and you are a group of soldiers assigned to sabotaging and spying behind the enemy lines of the nazis.
The story line is pretty thought through and if you stick to completing the missions you will see most of the nazi outposts and perhaps even the main HQ in Berlin....
Gameplay:
I would like to say that commandos reminds me a lot of a puzzle game. You have to move correctly and use the skills of all your characters in order to complete the various missions. Oh, yeah, you get to control an entire team of soldiers with various skills such as Demolition, Driving, silent killing, using boats, dragging bodies, using machine guns, throwing hand grenades.... and a hell of a lot more. The diversity of the characters is the key element to completing the game, you have to know how to use them right, and in the correct order. If you happen to blow up a bridge before you have taken out the guards who would have stopped the convoy that will pass the bridge after you blow.... well, you get the point.
What I think:
Well as you might have guessed I wasnt too impressed once I actually tried to play the game, but it looked cool. In an attempt to stay objective however I give this game a 3/5 because the idea is great, the thought behind the missions is brilliant and the diversity between everything makes for a very (I would like to say extremely here) varied and challenging game. I certainly hope I haven't scared anyone who would like to try this game, just to reassure you, there is a tutorial.
Time to get drunk :D
Genre: small scale rts
Platform: PC (is what I played it on, I'm sure there are clones for consoles out there somewhere)
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
My Grade: 2/5
This is probably one of the most exciting games I have ever notplayed. I wasn't allowed to play it myself on our old computer some 10 - 14 years ago. But was more than welcome to watch my brother play it, and boy it looked like so much fun when he did it I just couldn't wait for my turn. Unfortunately, the genre is not something I enjoy, of course, I did not know that back then.
Story:
It's world war 2 and you are a group of soldiers assigned to sabotaging and spying behind the enemy lines of the nazis.
The story line is pretty thought through and if you stick to completing the missions you will see most of the nazi outposts and perhaps even the main HQ in Berlin....
Gameplay:
I would like to say that commandos reminds me a lot of a puzzle game. You have to move correctly and use the skills of all your characters in order to complete the various missions. Oh, yeah, you get to control an entire team of soldiers with various skills such as Demolition, Driving, silent killing, using boats, dragging bodies, using machine guns, throwing hand grenades.... and a hell of a lot more. The diversity of the characters is the key element to completing the game, you have to know how to use them right, and in the correct order. If you happen to blow up a bridge before you have taken out the guards who would have stopped the convoy that will pass the bridge after you blow.... well, you get the point.
What I think:
Well as you might have guessed I wasnt too impressed once I actually tried to play the game, but it looked cool. In an attempt to stay objective however I give this game a 3/5 because the idea is great, the thought behind the missions is brilliant and the diversity between everything makes for a very (I would like to say extremely here) varied and challenging game. I certainly hope I haven't scared anyone who would like to try this game, just to reassure you, there is a tutorial.
Time to get drunk :D
Doom 2 - Review
Title: Doom 2:Hell on Earth
Genre: First Person Shooter (FPS)
Platform: PC
Maker: id Software
My Grade: 3/5
Produced in 1994 Doom was one of the first in its genre (yes 3D was something awesomely cool back then, damn im old...)
With todays standards we would say that the graphics are horrible, the controlsystem even worse and the game not even worth mentioning. But back then....
Story:
The first doom game is ,just like the more recently produced movie "doom", played on a colony on Mars. The storyline is also kind of like the movie. There is no virus discovered by some crazy scientists. There are scientists but they are working on occult experiments. Something goes wrong and zombies, demons and worse spawns and guess who needs to exterminate them and close the gate to hell?. So you managed, guess what happens in Doom 2?
Gameplay:
Back in the days when Doom was played on a 50Mhz computer and an integrated Graphics card with some kind of 1GB disk space and god only knew what RAM was, I had never even heard of "strafeing". You played doom with one hand on the arrow keys (not the mouse) and the other hand on ctrl (for shoot) then on the numbers for the weapons. I actually tried to go play doom not long ago and realised that the custom settings were quite impossible to play with, I needed strafe, mouse turning and a wasd setup.
The levels in doom are quite numerous and sometimes a bit tricky, the further along you venture the longer the levels and the more monsters to kill, such a classic way of setting up a game. The levels also tended to be quite dark and slightly scary with some mazes around where you couldnt see around the next corner....
.... not that you actually needed to, the sound effects alone almost made me piss myself, the music is brilliant with an awesome sense of both dread and hardcore violence. You really do get pumped up from it. Furthermore the sound effects from the monsters are what makes this game scary for real. Imagine being in a badly lit up corridor that seems to have a few too many nooks and turns with dark corners and hear monster sounds as if they were coming from right behind you. Usually when you turn around there really isnt anything there, but sometimes you fly off the chair as you realise there is a pink fucking demon gnawing your flesh off! (sorry for swears).
What I think:
The grade is fair I think, doom really was the first FPS I played (did play Wolfenstein 3D but not till years after) and it was a completely new experience, an experience I may not have enjoyed at all times (never been much of an FPS-gamer). I actually did think the game was scary and more often than not I fantasised about monsters jumping out behind a corner when walking home from a friend or something. (Don't laugh, I was roughly 8 years old when I played Doom). It is a very straight-forward classic FPS with a bit of a trick to it since you have to find keys and such to progress levels etc, you can also run out of ammo etc. (no ammo = Knuckleduster time, its got spikes on it!! :D )
The only cheatcode I remember is "idclip" and I cant even remember what it does, I guess unlimited ammo or something.
That's all folk's.
Genre: First Person Shooter (FPS)
Platform: PC
Maker: id Software
My Grade: 3/5
Produced in 1994 Doom was one of the first in its genre (yes 3D was something awesomely cool back then, damn im old...)
With todays standards we would say that the graphics are horrible, the controlsystem even worse and the game not even worth mentioning. But back then....
Story:
The first doom game is ,just like the more recently produced movie "doom", played on a colony on Mars. The storyline is also kind of like the movie. There is no virus discovered by some crazy scientists. There are scientists but they are working on occult experiments. Something goes wrong and zombies, demons and worse spawns and guess who needs to exterminate them and close the gate to hell?. So you managed, guess what happens in Doom 2?
Gameplay:
Back in the days when Doom was played on a 50Mhz computer and an integrated Graphics card with some kind of 1GB disk space and god only knew what RAM was, I had never even heard of "strafeing". You played doom with one hand on the arrow keys (not the mouse) and the other hand on ctrl (for shoot) then on the numbers for the weapons. I actually tried to go play doom not long ago and realised that the custom settings were quite impossible to play with, I needed strafe, mouse turning and a wasd setup.
The levels in doom are quite numerous and sometimes a bit tricky, the further along you venture the longer the levels and the more monsters to kill, such a classic way of setting up a game. The levels also tended to be quite dark and slightly scary with some mazes around where you couldnt see around the next corner....
.... not that you actually needed to, the sound effects alone almost made me piss myself, the music is brilliant with an awesome sense of both dread and hardcore violence. You really do get pumped up from it. Furthermore the sound effects from the monsters are what makes this game scary for real. Imagine being in a badly lit up corridor that seems to have a few too many nooks and turns with dark corners and hear monster sounds as if they were coming from right behind you. Usually when you turn around there really isnt anything there, but sometimes you fly off the chair as you realise there is a pink fucking demon gnawing your flesh off! (sorry for swears).
What I think:
The grade is fair I think, doom really was the first FPS I played (did play Wolfenstein 3D but not till years after) and it was a completely new experience, an experience I may not have enjoyed at all times (never been much of an FPS-gamer). I actually did think the game was scary and more often than not I fantasised about monsters jumping out behind a corner when walking home from a friend or something. (Don't laugh, I was roughly 8 years old when I played Doom). It is a very straight-forward classic FPS with a bit of a trick to it since you have to find keys and such to progress levels etc, you can also run out of ammo etc. (no ammo = Knuckleduster time, its got spikes on it!! :D )
The only cheatcode I remember is "idclip" and I cant even remember what it does, I guess unlimited ammo or something.
That's all folk's.
Silver - Review
Title: Silver
Genre: Adventure (some would say RPG, I don't)
Platform: PC
Maker: Spiral House (Published by Atari)
Players: 1
My Grade: 3/5
So we dig deeper into the world of PC-games, it is quite apparent that I did swap consoles for PC's a long time ago. Saying that, I still had plenty of friends with various consoles so the nostalgic console game reviews are not over.
I played Silver for the first time a long long time ago, probably close to its release date, I liked it a lot, and yes, I did get addicted to it for a while. But only till I completed it :D
Story:
You are a teenager(young man) whose life is turned upside down when your wife(girlfriend?) is kidnapped along with other women by the evil emperor who is looking for a new wife/concubine something something. Naturally you decide to go after her to slay the malicious kidnapper and rescue your precious little lassie. On your journey you have a veteran of a grandfather giving you advice and training throughout the game.
Game Play:
I really really like the controls of Silver, your combat moves are based on holding a key on either the keyboard or the mouse and then moving the mouse in certain directions. There is something very appealing in a simple game control that is still very very versatile. Throughout the game you will gather new weapons and also magics plus some certain magical Items. There really isnt a lot to say about the weaponry, there's a certain number of weapons and a certain number of magics, the adventure is designed so that you are "supposed" to find everything by completion of the game. Silver is a third person, bird view, 3D adventure game. There are also some puzzle elements to the game, not as advanced as Monkey Island but still a nice break from the normal Fighting - Running routine.
What I think:
Silver is a very appealing game both by the simple yet intruiging story-line and the "quick-to-master" combat control system. It is challenging but you still do not die very often making it slightly adrenaline pumping yet not frustrating at all. One thing that IS frustrating though is the incredible amount of bugs in the released game. Mind you, this was when online updates werent common at all and if there were any they werent large. Back then you were used to games without bugs so it was extremely annoying when you got stuck at some place because a mob wouldnt spawn or it would die without triggering the next event and stuff like that. This game would have easily deserved a 4 and possibly even a 5 if it had been perfect. Still it is definately worth playing through.
Now..... DotA time :D
Genre: Adventure (some would say RPG, I don't)
Platform: PC
Maker: Spiral House (Published by Atari)
Players: 1
My Grade: 3/5
So we dig deeper into the world of PC-games, it is quite apparent that I did swap consoles for PC's a long time ago. Saying that, I still had plenty of friends with various consoles so the nostalgic console game reviews are not over.
I played Silver for the first time a long long time ago, probably close to its release date, I liked it a lot, and yes, I did get addicted to it for a while. But only till I completed it :D
Story:
You are a teenager(young man) whose life is turned upside down when your wife(girlfriend?) is kidnapped along with other women by the evil emperor who is looking for a new wife/concubine something something. Naturally you decide to go after her to slay the malicious kidnapper and rescue your precious little lassie. On your journey you have a veteran of a grandfather giving you advice and training throughout the game.
Game Play:
I really really like the controls of Silver, your combat moves are based on holding a key on either the keyboard or the mouse and then moving the mouse in certain directions. There is something very appealing in a simple game control that is still very very versatile. Throughout the game you will gather new weapons and also magics plus some certain magical Items. There really isnt a lot to say about the weaponry, there's a certain number of weapons and a certain number of magics, the adventure is designed so that you are "supposed" to find everything by completion of the game. Silver is a third person, bird view, 3D adventure game. There are also some puzzle elements to the game, not as advanced as Monkey Island but still a nice break from the normal Fighting - Running routine.
What I think:
Silver is a very appealing game both by the simple yet intruiging story-line and the "quick-to-master" combat control system. It is challenging but you still do not die very often making it slightly adrenaline pumping yet not frustrating at all. One thing that IS frustrating though is the incredible amount of bugs in the released game. Mind you, this was when online updates werent common at all and if there were any they werent large. Back then you were used to games without bugs so it was extremely annoying when you got stuck at some place because a mob wouldnt spawn or it would die without triggering the next event and stuff like that. This game would have easily deserved a 4 and possibly even a 5 if it had been perfect. Still it is definately worth playing through.
Now..... DotA time :D
Baldurs Gate 2 - Shadows of Amn - Review
Title: Baldurs Gate 2 - Shadows of Amn
Genre: RPG
Platoform: PC (there are some conversions to consoles but not of this exact game)
Maker: Bioware
Players: Up to 6
My Grade: 4/5
It is time to leave the NES for a while and jump into something slightly more modern. I started playing BG2 in my early teens and basically got hooked at once. This was the first D&D based RPG I played and is also why I fell in love with this particular genre. Through the years I have spent way too much time on this game, it is one of the few games that beats my in-game time spent in WoW.
Story:
Baldurs Gate 2 is basically a continuation on Baldurs Gate 1, the story still surrounds the fact that you are a child of baal and some very powerful people take a very keen interest in your progress in this world. There is so much more to say about the story but there really is no good way of telling it without creating massive spoilers (sorry).
What I can tell you is that you start the game in a dungeon... :P
Game Play:
This is a real RPG (not fake like final fantasy and shit like that) which means the features of the game are very numerous. There is of course the mandatory character creation where you can choose between a number of races and then a number of classes including most things from Dungeons & Dragons. Since this game is based on Dungeons & Dragons it also has the features of being played in a "turn-based" environment. Time is measured in turns and you can pause at any time throughout the game in order to be able to choose movement, attacks, spells etc in your own time.
combat things such as Damage, Hit and Saves are rolled by Die (amazing feature is that you can actually turn on the dice rolls and see them in the combat log window, very cool and useful).
If you have never heard of Dungeons & Dragons there is only one thing to do to enable you to understand the combat system, just play the game, it is way too advanced to be explainable in a few lines. (Have you seen the actual rule book for D&D? massive mate... massive...) Thankfully, BG2 is easy to learn, just incredibly hard to explain.
When it comes to the freedom of the game I believe it is very free, you can not go anywhere you want, but you can do anything you want where you are. However you will also have to deal with the consequnces. Basically everthing in BG2 is based around you taking missions for various people and collecting either gold (you need gold in order to progress in some parts) or Items that may be needed for other reasons to progress in the game. But yeah, missions will take you all over the world and is the way to discover new areas, new areas may also bring even more missions. I have played through this game maybe 6-7 times and I doubt I have done them all.
What I think:
As I said, I am very much in love with the Genre and if I hadnt already given a five this week there would have been a 5 in store for this game. With the incredible amount of missions and the various ways of building, first your own character and then developing the entire party it makes for a very very varied game. Basically every time you play it you will have a different experience which is exactly what is missing in new games.
(Yeah im gonna kick new games in the nuts now) New games tend to have a ridiculous price tag, and be stupidly short making them extremely useless on a long term basis. This is not the case with BG2, as I said I have been playing it on and off for probably 6-8 years. And the last time I bought it (yeah I tend to lose discs) I got BG1 + Expansion and BG2 + Expansion for just 99 SEK (thats less than £9).
Thats it, time to go in-game and play my sorcerer for a few hours.
Genre: RPG
Platoform: PC (there are some conversions to consoles but not of this exact game)
Maker: Bioware
Players: Up to 6
My Grade: 4/5
It is time to leave the NES for a while and jump into something slightly more modern. I started playing BG2 in my early teens and basically got hooked at once. This was the first D&D based RPG I played and is also why I fell in love with this particular genre. Through the years I have spent way too much time on this game, it is one of the few games that beats my in-game time spent in WoW.
Story:
Baldurs Gate 2 is basically a continuation on Baldurs Gate 1, the story still surrounds the fact that you are a child of baal and some very powerful people take a very keen interest in your progress in this world. There is so much more to say about the story but there really is no good way of telling it without creating massive spoilers (sorry).
What I can tell you is that you start the game in a dungeon... :P
Game Play:
This is a real RPG (not fake like final fantasy and shit like that) which means the features of the game are very numerous. There is of course the mandatory character creation where you can choose between a number of races and then a number of classes including most things from Dungeons & Dragons. Since this game is based on Dungeons & Dragons it also has the features of being played in a "turn-based" environment. Time is measured in turns and you can pause at any time throughout the game in order to be able to choose movement, attacks, spells etc in your own time.
combat things such as Damage, Hit and Saves are rolled by Die (amazing feature is that you can actually turn on the dice rolls and see them in the combat log window, very cool and useful).
If you have never heard of Dungeons & Dragons there is only one thing to do to enable you to understand the combat system, just play the game, it is way too advanced to be explainable in a few lines. (Have you seen the actual rule book for D&D? massive mate... massive...) Thankfully, BG2 is easy to learn, just incredibly hard to explain.
When it comes to the freedom of the game I believe it is very free, you can not go anywhere you want, but you can do anything you want where you are. However you will also have to deal with the consequnces. Basically everthing in BG2 is based around you taking missions for various people and collecting either gold (you need gold in order to progress in some parts) or Items that may be needed for other reasons to progress in the game. But yeah, missions will take you all over the world and is the way to discover new areas, new areas may also bring even more missions. I have played through this game maybe 6-7 times and I doubt I have done them all.
What I think:
As I said, I am very much in love with the Genre and if I hadnt already given a five this week there would have been a 5 in store for this game. With the incredible amount of missions and the various ways of building, first your own character and then developing the entire party it makes for a very very varied game. Basically every time you play it you will have a different experience which is exactly what is missing in new games.
(Yeah im gonna kick new games in the nuts now) New games tend to have a ridiculous price tag, and be stupidly short making them extremely useless on a long term basis. This is not the case with BG2, as I said I have been playing it on and off for probably 6-8 years. And the last time I bought it (yeah I tend to lose discs) I got BG1 + Expansion and BG2 + Expansion for just 99 SEK (thats less than £9).
Thats it, time to go in-game and play my sorcerer for a few hours.
Gradius - Review
Title: Gradius
Genre: 2D Action
Platform: NES (originally)
Maker: Konami
Players: 1 - 2 (individually)
My Grade:
2/5
Gradius and I had a very deep love-hate relationship, I loved the first two levels because they were easy and you could basically gather weapons rendering you almost invulnerable... unless you fly into something...
The first gradius game was apparently an arcade game, I played the first console version of it on the NES, one of the few games we actually owned. (yes game cartridges were seen as being ridiculously pricey). I never ever ever read the in-game story and I'm not even sure there is one.
Gameplay:
You fly a ship...in space.. it can move in all 2d directions...
ok, it's not quite that simple. (even though it looks like it on the first part of the first level)
We have already established that you can move, there are of course enemies in various shapes with a whole bunch of different movement patterns. When you kill enemies you gather points, probably a remnant from its Arcade era because they are useless for everything unless you like to sit with a pen and paper and record your score. Certain enemies (or if you kill a cluster of the same kind of enemy) will give you power-ups. The power ups can be used to select various upgrades for your ship. there are 6 different upgrades:
Speed Up - costs 1 power and can be selected multiple times for increased speed.
Missile - costs 2 power, it enables your ship to shoot missiles towards the ground when you shoot your normal weapon.
Double - costs 3 power, Gives you normal shots in a straight line and slightly upwards, overwrites laser.
Laser - costs 4 power, Gives you laser that shoots straight forward, this is incredibly powerful, it also continues through enemies when they die. overwrites Double.
Option - costs 5 power. Option gives you a sort of wingman that shoots when you shoot, it travels in your path so with a bit of practice you can position it as you want. The wingman is an exact copy of you when it comes to weapons. Option can also be selected twice (Imagine three lines of lasers... *drool*)
"?" - costs 6 power, the "?" is not called "?" in the later games, there it is known as "shield" which is precisely what it does in this game as well.
What I think:
As I said above, Gradius and I have a love-hate relationship. The first levels are relatively easy and you can pretty much gather every weapon you want, after that, you are pretty much invulnerable to enemies. But the issue is that you tend to run into walls a lot more than getting shot at by enemies. And the reason I hate this game is... when you die, you lose ALL your weapons. This is the single most annoying feature of this game, I could have accepted losing one, two or maybe three powers (like the laser, missiles and an "option") but all of them ? I just spend an hour carefully navigating these "easy" levels to stand a chance against the later levels... but no... one crash and you may as well start over from the beginning.
Gradius still deserves a 2 though because it IS a good game, and I'm sure players who are way better than me likes it a lot more (since they either don't need the weapons, or they simply never crash). Gradius is also a very nice looking game, with varied obstacles and a creative way of coming up with challenges.
Genre: 2D Action
Platform: NES (originally)
Maker: Konami
Players: 1 - 2 (individually)
My Grade:
2/5
Gradius and I had a very deep love-hate relationship, I loved the first two levels because they were easy and you could basically gather weapons rendering you almost invulnerable... unless you fly into something...
The first gradius game was apparently an arcade game, I played the first console version of it on the NES, one of the few games we actually owned. (yes game cartridges were seen as being ridiculously pricey). I never ever ever read the in-game story and I'm not even sure there is one.
Gameplay:
You fly a ship...in space.. it can move in all 2d directions...
ok, it's not quite that simple. (even though it looks like it on the first part of the first level)
We have already established that you can move, there are of course enemies in various shapes with a whole bunch of different movement patterns. When you kill enemies you gather points, probably a remnant from its Arcade era because they are useless for everything unless you like to sit with a pen and paper and record your score. Certain enemies (or if you kill a cluster of the same kind of enemy) will give you power-ups. The power ups can be used to select various upgrades for your ship. there are 6 different upgrades:
Speed Up - costs 1 power and can be selected multiple times for increased speed.
Missile - costs 2 power, it enables your ship to shoot missiles towards the ground when you shoot your normal weapon.
Double - costs 3 power, Gives you normal shots in a straight line and slightly upwards, overwrites laser.
Laser - costs 4 power, Gives you laser that shoots straight forward, this is incredibly powerful, it also continues through enemies when they die. overwrites Double.
Option - costs 5 power. Option gives you a sort of wingman that shoots when you shoot, it travels in your path so with a bit of practice you can position it as you want. The wingman is an exact copy of you when it comes to weapons. Option can also be selected twice (Imagine three lines of lasers... *drool*)
"?" - costs 6 power, the "?" is not called "?" in the later games, there it is known as "shield" which is precisely what it does in this game as well.
What I think:
As I said above, Gradius and I have a love-hate relationship. The first levels are relatively easy and you can pretty much gather every weapon you want, after that, you are pretty much invulnerable to enemies. But the issue is that you tend to run into walls a lot more than getting shot at by enemies. And the reason I hate this game is... when you die, you lose ALL your weapons. This is the single most annoying feature of this game, I could have accepted losing one, two or maybe three powers (like the laser, missiles and an "option") but all of them ? I just spend an hour carefully navigating these "easy" levels to stand a chance against the later levels... but no... one crash and you may as well start over from the beginning.
Gradius still deserves a 2 though because it IS a good game, and I'm sure players who are way better than me likes it a lot more (since they either don't need the weapons, or they simply never crash). Gradius is also a very nice looking game, with varied obstacles and a creative way of coming up with challenges.
Super Mario Bros. - Review
Title: Super Mario Bros.
Genre: 2D Platform
Platform: NES, GBA, Wii-emulator
Maker: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
My Grade: 3/5
It is time to dig into something so classic that I myself feel unworthy of giving it a review that explains how legendary this game is. I will of course give it a try anyway.
Story:
When the Italian plumber Mario realises that his Princess has been taken by Koopa (I think he was called that back then) he runs to the rescue. Simple as that.
Gameplay:
While this is one of the earliest games for the NES it really sets the type for what future games would try to replicate. Super Mario Bros. was also the most common game to be included when buying the Console itself. As it says above Super Mario is a platform game of its most basic kind, it features various interactable items. The most basic Item is the brick, often found floating in the air you can break it by jumping into it from beneath (yes that does mean head first). Note however that you can only break them while being large from a mushroom or having the Fire Flower. The second most basic item is the (?) brick which can give you anything from coins to stars of invulnerability. There are also pipes, some of which you are able to enter thus transporting you to a different place or area.
Super Mario Bros features 3 different powerups available to you throughout the game.
1. The mushroom makes you grow big therefore enabling you to crush bricks, you also take two hits from enemies before you die.
2. The Fire Flower is only available when you are big or already under the effect of a fireflower, it enables you to shoot balls of fire.
3. The invulnerability star makes you invulnerable for a short period of time, this means you do not take damage from enemies and can knock them out through just running over them. word of advice while under the effects of a star: Don't get drunk with power, you can still fall into a pit and die (happens to me all the time).
There are also various enemies and other kinds of obstacles you need to get through in order to rescue the princess. The game features 8 levels with 10 parts to each level, most of them are varied and challenging.
What I think:
Basically, this was the first game I ever played for the NES, it has given us a lot of great times both individually and in some aspects family-wise as well. I used to love to watch my dad play it and kind of move the controllers instead of the control pad when he was about to fall down into a pit or got caught in a tight spot. Hilarious.
Anyway, the game IS challenging and the levels are varied in a number of ways, however after playing it over and over again it does get slightly boring. One huge contributor to this is the lack of a password system which could have enabled you to continue where you left off. This was very frustrating when you have limited game time and especially with multiple players wanting to start from the beginning all the time.
Finally I would like to say that this game deserves a good mark simply because it was such a revolutionary Idea, this is the game that plowed the field for a generation of sequels, I mean, everyone has heard of Super Mario, right?
Genre: 2D Platform
Platform: NES, GBA, Wii-emulator
Maker: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
My Grade: 3/5
It is time to dig into something so classic that I myself feel unworthy of giving it a review that explains how legendary this game is. I will of course give it a try anyway.
Story:
When the Italian plumber Mario realises that his Princess has been taken by Koopa (I think he was called that back then) he runs to the rescue. Simple as that.
Gameplay:
While this is one of the earliest games for the NES it really sets the type for what future games would try to replicate. Super Mario Bros. was also the most common game to be included when buying the Console itself. As it says above Super Mario is a platform game of its most basic kind, it features various interactable items. The most basic Item is the brick, often found floating in the air you can break it by jumping into it from beneath (yes that does mean head first). Note however that you can only break them while being large from a mushroom or having the Fire Flower. The second most basic item is the (?) brick which can give you anything from coins to stars of invulnerability. There are also pipes, some of which you are able to enter thus transporting you to a different place or area.
Super Mario Bros features 3 different powerups available to you throughout the game.
1. The mushroom makes you grow big therefore enabling you to crush bricks, you also take two hits from enemies before you die.
2. The Fire Flower is only available when you are big or already under the effect of a fireflower, it enables you to shoot balls of fire.
3. The invulnerability star makes you invulnerable for a short period of time, this means you do not take damage from enemies and can knock them out through just running over them. word of advice while under the effects of a star: Don't get drunk with power, you can still fall into a pit and die (happens to me all the time).
There are also various enemies and other kinds of obstacles you need to get through in order to rescue the princess. The game features 8 levels with 10 parts to each level, most of them are varied and challenging.
What I think:
Basically, this was the first game I ever played for the NES, it has given us a lot of great times both individually and in some aspects family-wise as well. I used to love to watch my dad play it and kind of move the controllers instead of the control pad when he was about to fall down into a pit or got caught in a tight spot. Hilarious.
Anyway, the game IS challenging and the levels are varied in a number of ways, however after playing it over and over again it does get slightly boring. One huge contributor to this is the lack of a password system which could have enabled you to continue where you left off. This was very frustrating when you have limited game time and especially with multiple players wanting to start from the beginning all the time.
Finally I would like to say that this game deserves a good mark simply because it was such a revolutionary Idea, this is the game that plowed the field for a generation of sequels, I mean, everyone has heard of Super Mario, right?
Megaman 2 - Review
Title: Megaman 2
Genre: Platform/Action
Platform: NES / Wii-emulator
Maker: Capcom
Players: 1
My grade: 5/5
Megaman 2 is one of the first games I ever fell in love with. Despite having a NES when I was younger I haven't actually owned it until recently when I bought my Wii and downloaded it. Regardless, my friends did stand fast to lend me their game once in a while, I guess this could have contributed to me never being able to play my interest in it to pieces.
Story:
Basically the story is the classic good guy vs. bad guy. The good guy is Dr. Light who built you (megaman) and is seen throughout the game when you complete certain bosses. He will then "equip" you with certain new abilities.
The evil one is called Dr.Wily and is the man behind constructing the 8 master robots to aid him in taking over the world. you will have to beat these robots in order to get a shot at the evil genius himself.
Thats basically it for the story of the game, nothing complex just pure awesomeness.
Gameplay:
In the true spirit of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Megaman is a platform game where you can Jump, Shoot, move forwards and backwards, climb ladders and ride on some moving objects. Nothing fancy.
Each of the 8 master robots has a theme-friendy course which at the end will lead you to the boss himself. Example Metalman has a factory, Heat man an underground complex filled with Lava and Bubbleman's course is partly under water. These courses also consists of theme correct monsters, (metalman has rolling gears, bubbleman Fish etc etc).
This theme naturally affects the bosses weapons as well, Quick man is fast and hard to hit, Bubbleman shoots Bubbles and Woodman shoots Leaves... Surprise.
After beating a Master robot you also absorb his powers which in the end will lead to you having besides your normal weapon, an arsenal consisting of 8 weapons with various abilities and 3 of what I like to call "support" powers which will aid you in a number of ways if you know how to use the correctly.
What I think:
As you may have already guessed, I love this game so much it borders on being too much, and I will now tell you why.
The game can be challenging, nowadays I can complete the 8 master robots in well under an hour, which was pretty much impossible the first few times I tried it. The game can be very "easy" if you take advantage of the powers you gain through beating the master robots, you can also insist on completing it with the standard cannon which makes it harder but far from impossible. In that case you have to rely more on movement and being able to anticipate the bosses moves.
Aside from the difficulty of the game I also love the layout, the courses are interesting and challenging in themselves without being too hard, easy, long or short. The fact that every course has its own theme is also a clever thing made by Capcom, it keeps things from being boring and repetitive, I mean who would want to see that same insanely hard crazy thing again after completing it with the adrenaline pumping through your veins... (yes I am thinking of Quick Mans insanely annoying course).
Thirdly something that makes me love all NES games, the music.
The music in megaman 2 is fantastic just as most music to NES games are. I even now find myself just standing completely still just before entering the boss room on Woodmans course just listening to the tunes.
and thats it for my first Review of my favourite NES-game.
Genre: Platform/Action
Platform: NES / Wii-emulator
Maker: Capcom
Players: 1
My grade: 5/5
Megaman 2 is one of the first games I ever fell in love with. Despite having a NES when I was younger I haven't actually owned it until recently when I bought my Wii and downloaded it. Regardless, my friends did stand fast to lend me their game once in a while, I guess this could have contributed to me never being able to play my interest in it to pieces.
Story:
Basically the story is the classic good guy vs. bad guy. The good guy is Dr. Light who built you (megaman) and is seen throughout the game when you complete certain bosses. He will then "equip" you with certain new abilities.
The evil one is called Dr.Wily and is the man behind constructing the 8 master robots to aid him in taking over the world. you will have to beat these robots in order to get a shot at the evil genius himself.
Thats basically it for the story of the game, nothing complex just pure awesomeness.
Gameplay:
In the true spirit of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Megaman is a platform game where you can Jump, Shoot, move forwards and backwards, climb ladders and ride on some moving objects. Nothing fancy.
Each of the 8 master robots has a theme-friendy course which at the end will lead you to the boss himself. Example Metalman has a factory, Heat man an underground complex filled with Lava and Bubbleman's course is partly under water. These courses also consists of theme correct monsters, (metalman has rolling gears, bubbleman Fish etc etc).
This theme naturally affects the bosses weapons as well, Quick man is fast and hard to hit, Bubbleman shoots Bubbles and Woodman shoots Leaves... Surprise.
After beating a Master robot you also absorb his powers which in the end will lead to you having besides your normal weapon, an arsenal consisting of 8 weapons with various abilities and 3 of what I like to call "support" powers which will aid you in a number of ways if you know how to use the correctly.
What I think:
As you may have already guessed, I love this game so much it borders on being too much, and I will now tell you why.
The game can be challenging, nowadays I can complete the 8 master robots in well under an hour, which was pretty much impossible the first few times I tried it. The game can be very "easy" if you take advantage of the powers you gain through beating the master robots, you can also insist on completing it with the standard cannon which makes it harder but far from impossible. In that case you have to rely more on movement and being able to anticipate the bosses moves.
Aside from the difficulty of the game I also love the layout, the courses are interesting and challenging in themselves without being too hard, easy, long or short. The fact that every course has its own theme is also a clever thing made by Capcom, it keeps things from being boring and repetitive, I mean who would want to see that same insanely hard crazy thing again after completing it with the adrenaline pumping through your veins... (yes I am thinking of Quick Mans insanely annoying course).
Thirdly something that makes me love all NES games, the music.
The music in megaman 2 is fantastic just as most music to NES games are. I even now find myself just standing completely still just before entering the boss room on Woodmans course just listening to the tunes.
and thats it for my first Review of my favourite NES-game.
Introduction
Ok here we go, I have been writing a few pages now on my regular blog (the swedish one) about how I get on with my training, it is mainly used for my own purposes as a sort of logbook but also as a kind of carrot to keep working.
It has worked well so far but I can not imagine it being very interesting for anyone but me to read through.
So my new plan is to start reviewing something that has become a kind of passion for me.
Namely: Games
Thats it for the introduction and I hope if anyone ever reads this they might find this new turn of events slightly more interesting.
It has worked well so far but I can not imagine it being very interesting for anyone but me to read through.
So my new plan is to start reviewing something that has become a kind of passion for me.
Namely: Games
Thats it for the introduction and I hope if anyone ever reads this they might find this new turn of events slightly more interesting.
