The Guardian Legend - NES Review

 

Do you like Zelda style adventure games?  Do you like shoot em ups?  How about both combined into one?!  The Guardian Legend combines both genres into a masterpiece of an 8 bit era game.  This has remained one of my favorite NES games since I was a child.  I have replayed though the game at least 20 times.  I just got through with another play through that took about 4 hours.  You control a spaceship when you first start the game.  After you beat the first shoot 'em up stage, your ship transforms into a person.  Once transformed, you can walk around and explore the surface of the "star" you are on called Naju.  The premise of the game is to find the self destruct mechanism and blow up the "star." You will run into mini bosses along the way that will drop power ups and special weapons when they are defeated. There are tons of bosses in this game! There are shops that you can buy weapons / power ups at.  The game also has a feature whereas when your score increases, you power up the width of your normal shot.  There are a lot of special weapons and you will find yourself only using about 1/3 of them ever.  Be careful using power ups however because they consume "Chips" and your normal shot will decrease in width. The graphics are pretty decent for the time on the NES.  The sound and music are above average with some catchy music along the way.  The game play is outstanding, especially if you like shoot 'em ups, and top down adventure games with RPG elements.  Replay-ability with this game is high up on the scale.  If you don't want to do the adventure part of the game and just want the shoot 'em up levels, enter TGL for the password.  Overall, I give this game a perfect 10 out of 10.  This game for sure is one of my favorite games of all time and has stood the test of time.  The only thing that I could think of that is a negative thing is that there is no battery in the cart for saving the game.  It unfortunately uses a password system that really sucks (I hate all password systems though to be fair).  I highly recommend that you pick this game up and play it now! 

Sigma Star Saga - Game Boy Advance Review

This is a unique game.  It's a shoot 'em up, adventure, and RPG combined.  There is a story tied to the game that is actually pretty good.  When you are walking around exploring, you will get random battles where you go into shoot 'em up mode and have to eliminate a certain number of enemies to win the battle.  There are plenty of upgrades for weapons that you will find while adventuring.  Graphics are decent and on par with the GBA and sound is pretty good.  Some of the music gets repetitive after awhile.  The game play is pretty good, but you will find the game to play really slow at times.  Sometimes you have to play a level 5 or 6 times to learn it before you can beat it and move on to the next stage.  There are experience points in the game and you can level up to make your ship stronger and more powerful.  Overall, I give this game a 7 out of 10 stars.  I recommend that you pick it up and play it.  You can get a loose copy on ebay for about $10.

Duck Tales - NES Review

Not your typical platform game for the time.  Most platform games that came out then were linear and scrolled from left to right only.  This game is more of an adventure platformer.  When you start the game, there is a difficulty select, easy, normal, and hard.  I think the difficulty just sets the amount of damage that an enemy will deal when they hit you.  When you start, you have to select between six stages.  The whole purpose of the game is to beat all six bosses and get their special treasure.  The cool thing about the game is that you explore every level trying to get the most money in treasure.  Their are lots of hidden rooms to find and secrets in this game.  The controls are pretty good, and you will find yourself pogo sticking on your cane for most of the game.  Most enemies can be killed by jumping on top of them.  The graphics in this game are great for the NES and so is the music / sound.  The game play is also very good and fun.  Overall, I give this game a 9 out of 10 stars.  Even if you don't like platform games, try this one, its awesome.

Maximo Ghosts To Glory - PS2 Review

Released in 2002 for the PS2.  This game can only be described as a 3D Linear Platformer Adventure if that makes any sense.  Almost a direct copy of Ghouls and Ghosts but in a 3D form.  The music is even almost the same for the opening stage.  This game reminds me of a suped up Medievil, if you remember that PS1 classic.  Game play is fun and the music and graphics are pretty good.  Basically a hack N slash game with some minor adventuring thrown in.  Fun to play and see how far you can get for sure.  Overall, I give this one 6 out of 10 stars.  A little better than average but not spectacular. 

Rolan's Curse - Game Boy Review

This is a Zelda style adventure game.  It is very basic but fun considering it was on an 8 bit handheld.  You basically embark to save the world from monsters.  The game can get very repetitive and frustrating at times.  You have your sword which is used by the B button and you pick up secondary items such as potions to heal and axes to cut down dead trees that you can use with the A button.  Enemies re spawn making it easy to power up your hearts early in the game.  This is not a bad game, it's just not very fun after about 20 minutes or so.  Average at best, but good overall for a Game Boy adventure title. Overall, I give it a middle of the road 5 out of 10 stars.  Don't expect too much from this one.

X-Perts Sega Genesis Review

Late release Genesis game that in my opinion is pretty boring.  Released in 1994 and making use of the 6 button controller is X-Perts.  The graphics are pretty good but the rest of the game is lacking.  It is slow and sluggish, and the game play is terrible.  The whole point of the game is that you switch between 3 characters in real time and try to do missions where you disable computers and restart elevators, etc.  It gets boring and repetitive after about 10 minutes.  Overall, I give this game a 3 out of 10 stars.  There is nothing really special about it and it is really not even worth playing. 

Dragon's Curse TurboGrafx-16 Review

This is a platform / RPG / adventure game for the TurboGrafx-16.  It is an alright game, nothing special.  It has a password feature for continuing.  It is a pretty straightforward game although there is some exploring that you have to do in order to find items.  You can buy weapon and armor upgrades and there are plenty of power ups throughout the game that enemies drop or you can find.  The graphics are great for the TurboGrafx and the sound and music are OK.  Overall, I give this game a 5 out of 10.  It is just your basic adventure / RPG.  It is not something that I would regularly play but is cool to mess with every now and then.  

Equinox Super Nintendo Review

This game is the sequel to Solstice on the NES.  I try to give every game I play an honest chance.  This game to me is complete garbage.  It is an isometric game which I absolutely hate.  There are two modes in the game, overworld and underworld.  The point of the game is to collect coins and magic and fight bosses to advance to the end to save your father I think.  It is basically a puzzle game where you move blocks and jump on platforms and avoid enemies.  One of the main problems is the control.  It is almost impossible to control and to tell where objects are half the time.  Overall I give this game a 2 out of 10 stars.  It would have gotten a 0 rating but the graphics and sound / music are pretty awesome.  As for the game itself in a whole? Don't bother. 

Solar Jetman NES Review

A different kind of game for the NES.  It is pretty fun.  Very hard at first until you get used to the controls.  Actually, it is still hard after you get used to it.  There are 12 planets that you land on, each is progressively harder.  The goal of the game is to collect pieces to a Golden Warp Ship while also collecting power ups such as shields and missiles along the way.  The game is fun and challenging but can get very frustrating at times.  If you take your time and take it slow you will get farther.  This is not a game I would play all the time but it is fun to revisit from time to time.  It is one of those games you forget about and then rediscover.  The game play, graphics, and music are all average.  Overall, I give this game a 6 out of 10 stars.  Worth checking out. 

Bionic Commando NES Review

This game was not a favorite of mine back when I was a kid.  It is difficult and tedious.  There is no password or save feature, and when you first start, no continues.  Your goal in the game is to infiltrate the enemies areas and save a guy named Super Joe.  You start with a gun, a communicator and a Bionic Arm which you can shoot out and swing from things and go up to other platforms.  It takes a lot of practice to get proficient with the grappling arm.  There are times when this game is so frustrating that you just want to give up.  I can understand why I didn't like it too much when I was a kid.  Now, I think the game is awesome!  You travel to different areas by helicopter and sometimes run into convoys on the map.  When you run into a convoy, you have to fight them.  This fight is a top down, top scrolling, 360 level kind of like the original Commando.  This level is where you can get up to 2 continues per level.  This game has lots of weapons upgrades and although some of the levels are short, they are very challenging.  You can't just run through the game, you actually have to think.  You have to revisit some areas and also use certain special weapons to advance.  You also get bullets when you kill enemies which are like experience points.  If you collect enough of them, you level up and get another bar on your health meter.  Awesome concept to mix in RPG elements into a platforming adventure game.  Overall, I give this game a 9 out of 10 stars.  It would have gotten a perfect 10 if it had a password feature or a save feature and if it wasn't so damn hard.  Seriously, there are points in the game that are absolutely ridiculous.  I won't spoil the ending for you but it is awesome and challenging.  Pick this game up if you have the chance, I recommend it.

Eswat: City Under Seige Sega Genesis Review

This is a port of a decent arcade game.  This game however is not very good.  It is nothing like the arcade version at all.  They made it into a completely different game.  No score, no time limit, almost non existent power ups.  The game starts off looking and playing like the arcade game but then after about 2 minutes you realize it is not the same game.  It is very boring.  It was turned into a adventure platformer instead of arcade side scroller.  The point of the game is to clear stages and collect robot suit pieces to turn into the ultimate swat team robot.   There is an option menu at the start with a difficulty select between easy, normal, and hard.  There is also a sound / music test.  The graphics and sound are about on par with an early Genesis release, nothing special going on.  The game play is not too bad, its just not what you expect out of the game.  Overall, I give it a 3 out of 10.

Judge Dredd SNES Review

Adventure platformer for the SNES.  This is based off of a Sylvester Stallone movie of the same name which I have never seen.  I am not a big fan of hunt and search platformers which this game is.  It is an average game with decent graphics, music, and sound.  You walk around a level and search for objectives to fulfill a primary and a secondary quest.  You shoot a gun with unlimited ammo and you can also kick and punch.  You can arrest perps just like the game Narc and there are weapons power ups scattered throughout the level.  Playing this game gave me motion sickness.  I think it is due to all the up and down scrolling.  There is a password feature in the game so you can continue.  Overall I give the game 5 out of 10 stars.  Nothing really special about it, just an average game.   

H.E.R.O. Atari 2600 Review

It is very hard to find good Atari 2600 games.  99 percent of them are crap.  This game is in the 1 percent of good.  In fact this game is pretty awesome.  It is one of my favorites on the system.  Made by Activision, which in case you don't know made the best games for the system.  The goal of the game is to save trapped miners while avoiding bats, snakes and other enemies.  You have a propeller strapped to you back so you can fly up or slow your descent.  You have a laser beam that you can fire a short distance by pressing the fire button.  You start each level with 5 bombs which you use to blow up walls by pressing down to drop them.  The game is fast paced and challenging.  The game play is awesome and graphics and sound are awesome for the 2600.  The only drawback to the game is you play the same levels over and over again.  It would have been awesome if they could have randomized the levels every time you started.  The game would have been perfect if it were randomized.  Overall I give it an 8 out of 10.

Ironsword - Wizards & Warriors 2 Review

OK, first off, Fabio is on the box art and the cartridge label.  Why Akklaim thought that was a good idea, or that would be appealing to kids, I won't even try to figure out.  Anyway, on to the game.  I absolutely hate this game.  I hated it as a kid and I hate it now.  I tried to give it an honest chance, but I could not stand more than 10 minutes before I was done with it.  I will tell you the main reason why, the game play sucks.  The character / knights movements are so bad, it is hard to even control after you get used to it.  Another thing that sucks is that your little teeney tiny sword sucks and barley moves when you press the button to strike it.  You can jump and hit birds and enemies with the tiny sword but you have to be very precise down to the pixel.  I could find nothing good about this game.  I feel bad that my dad spent the $3 or so when I was a kid to rent this turd.  I give it 0 out of 10 stars for being one of the worst games on the NES.  If I am wrong, please let me know what I am missing because I have not seen anything except pure shit with this game.

Zelda 2 - The Adventure of Link NES Review

I remember eagerly anticipating this game after being a huge fan of The Legend of Zelda.  This game does not disappoint in any way.  The game is awesome for its time with lots of secrets and hidden areas.  This game is also very challenging.  A lot of people don't like it because it was a totally different game from the original, which in my opinion is how it should be.  I just played through the entire game again yesterday and it is still as cool as I remember it.  Very entertaining and arguably one of the best NES titles ever.  If you have never played this game, you need to now.  You will find hours of fun and challenge.  I would have to say it is my favorite in the Zelda franchise.  I have a lot of hours logged into this one as a kid.  Overall, I give it a 9 out of 10 with a great story and great game play.  Do yourself a favor, dig this oldie out and play through it again!