Dig Dug 2 NES Review

While the concept of this game is kind of cool, the game is horrible.  I was and am a huge fan of the original Dig Dug.  This game is lacking the simplicity of the original.  Its like they tried to make it more challenging but at the same time made it too simple.  This version takes place above ground and on a tiny island which is different every stage.  You still have your air pump to pump up enemies and explode them.  You also have a drill like thing to drill cracks in four directions and try to take out sections of the island.  You can kill the enemies easier by just pumping them up.  If you drop a piece of island with enemies on it you get a higher score for the kill however.  The game is repetitive and boring and not very fun at all.  If you are going for score (which is the point of the game), it becomes a huge chore to even play.  Once a game becomes a chore, it is no longer fun.  Also, there are the same enemies from the first one.  Overall, I give this game a 2 out of 10.  Just a poor job on game, period.   

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.

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge

There are a multitude of racing games on the NES and most of them are pure crap.  This one is not too bad.  Number one, the music is awesome in this game, some of the best on the NES.  The game plays pretty well.  It is not overly hard or easy, very good balance.  I can't stand other racing games where you are in like 3rd place and you crash and are all of a sudden in like 26th place.  You have a variety of different tracks to race with each having its own challenges.  There are oil slicks on the track and a pit stop feature that is pretty cool.  The graphics are pretty decent for the NES and the music is great.  If I had to choose between a lot of the other racing games on the NES and this one, I would pop this one in if I had a racing hankering.  The only thing that bothers me is that it seems like the computer cars that you race against never have to use the pit stop.  Overall, I give this game a 7 out of 10 stars. 

Centipede Atari 7800 Review

Good ole Centipede.  This is one of the many arcade ports of this game for home consoles.  This one is pretty good.  Graphically it is a little weird and the screen is shrunk down.  It does however contain all of the elements of the arcade version.  It seems a tad bit slower to me though.  A nice feature of this one is that it has 3 selectable difficulty levels.  Novice, Standard, and Expert.  The game is pretty challenging on the novice setting.  I am not going to go through and tell you how the game is played because everyone should be familiar with Centipede.  Overall, I give this one a 7 out of 10 stars.  Solid arcade port on the 7800.

Jet Moto Playstaion Review

So this game is like a futuristic racing game.  I guess its like a cross between a jet ski and a dirt bike that hovers.  The graphics are what is to be expected from a 1996 Playstation game.  The music is pretty good but the game is not that great overall.  I found it very hard to control even after I got used to its touchiness.  The tracks are really boring and tedious and it just is a boring game overall.  I generally like racing games but not really this one.  Maybe if they threw in some power ups of booster panels on the ground?  I don't know, something is just lacking here.  Overall, it gets a mediocre 5 out of 10 stars.

Yars' Revenge Atari 2600 Review

This is a basic, simple game for the Atari 2600.  Atari 2600 games don't really get too involved.  Usually what you see is what you get.  This game is basically this screen and when you clear it, it goes to the next.  There is a screen with fixed blocks and a screen with moving blocks.  The point of the game is to fly your alien bug around and shoot holes in the wall to expose the "enemy".  If you touch the floating minus sign, you die.  It tracks you everywhere you go.  The colorful region in the middle is a safe zone which the minus sign cannot hurt you.  Every so often the "enemy" behind the wall will start spinning and shoot out after you.  You can scroll from the bottom to the top and vice versa.  The only way to clear the screen and move onto the next is to shoot a missile at the "enemy" and kill him.  The way to do this is to either peck at the wall or touch the enemy.  A missile will appear at the left of the screen and you can then shoot it at the "enemy".  The only catch is that the screen is moving up and down so you have to time it just right.  You can also kill yourself by being hit by the missile.  I am not sure if there is a way to finish the game or not.  I usually only make it to about the 5th screen before my game is over.  It does get harder and faster with every new screen.  Overall, I give this game a 7 out of 10.  Pretty decent for a 2600 game.  The sound is awesome!

Twin Cobra Sega Genesis Review

This game does not use any "blast processing".  It is a slow shoot 'em up.  Not too bad of a game in my opinion.  It reminds me of Raiden a lot, almost a sister game to Raiden.  I am not 100 percent sure but I think this is an arcade port.  There are not too many good shoot 'em ups on the Genesis but this one is pretty good.  It is your standard "you vs everyone else" style game.  Power ups are shot upgrades, bombs, and switchers that switch between bullets, lasers, and some weird blue plasma type weapon.  There is a configure option menu on the title screen that lets you switch difficulty, how many lives you start with, what scores give you a free life, and background music.  The music and sound effects in this game are pretty decent for the Genesis and the graphics are about what you would expect from an arcade port shoot 'em up.  This is not a game I would play all the time but is fun from time to time to throw in and play for about 30 min to an hour or so.  Overall, I give this one a 7 out of 10.  Check it out for sure if you love shoot 'em ups like I do, but don't get your hopes up too much because I wouldn't even put this one in the top 20 of shoot 'em ups.  

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Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf NES Review

This one is a port of an arcade game.  It is a pretty close port.  Where I don't like golf games at all, this one is not too bad.  I call it "dummy golf" because it selects the clubs for you and takes the guess work out of it.  It also doesn't let you move left or right to aim your shot, you have to hook it if you want to do that.  Graphically it looks almost identical to NES Golf.  The sound is OK and the game play is nothing special.  Just your average run of the mill golf game with nothing really interesting going on.  I guess a plus of the game is that you can select 2 different courses so that is 36 different holes in all.  Overall, I give the game a 5 out of 10 stars.  Just average.