XS Airboat Racing - PS1 Review

Another Mario Kart clone.  Very basic game that doesn't require much skill at all.  I am assuming after playing through this, that it was designed for young kids.  There are 3 main tracks to race on with 6 other recycled tracks.  You pick up power ups like missiles and bombs just like Mario Kart.  The graphics in this game are complete garbage for a late PS1 release.  Music is cheesy, repetitive MIDI style steel drums and bass tracks.  The game play is OK.  I guess it is what is expected.  Overall, I give this game a 2 out of 10.  I really wouldn't waste my time on it.  

Castlevania Legends - Game Boy Review

 

Yet another Castlevania game.  This one is not too bad.  Released in 1997 for the Gameboy with Super Gameboy enhancement.  You play the role of a female protagonist, with the main story being that she wants to bring peace to Transylvania.  I believe there are 5 stages, but there might be 6.  I only played through the first 2 stages.  The game plays like any other 2D Castlevania with a few quirks.  There are 2 power ups for your whip. The first increases the length, and the second will shoot a fireball.  The fireball from your whip will go through walls, which is very nice.  You can find items in the levels but it doesn't appear that you can use them.  I got an ax on the first stage but could not figure out how to use it.  The graphics for this game are pretty good for the Gameboy and the music is really good.  Game play is OK.  Honestly, it gets kind of repetitive after awhile, and the enemies re spawn if you go off the screen and come back.  Overall, I give this game a 6 out of 10.  It a bit above average, but nothing great about it.

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!