Gaming off the Beaten Path

Lode Runner 3D This week its back to the Nintendo 64 for yet another game I have no recollection of ever purchasing in another genre that we haven’t touched yet.  We have our first puzzle game and its a surprisingly good one. First, a little bit about the Lode Runner series.  It goes all the way back to 1983, when the original game was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, VIC 20, Commodore 64 and PC.  It would soon find itself ported to the NES, making it one of the first third party games for the system.  The concept was simple: gather gold, avoid monsters, break blocks and reach the exit.  It was primitive and simple, but simple. It also featured a level editor, a major novelty at the time.   The game went on to spawn about 1.2 trillion sequels and spinoffs, mostly for the PC.  Most console games in the series were Japan exclusive, with this version appearing on the N64 in 1999.  The core premise is still the same, but its (obviously) in

NFL Gameday 98 Sorry for no post last week, got a little busy.  Figured I would get back into it with another genre I haven’t touched yet, sports games. Yes, there used to be football games other than Madden.  Way back in the old days, we had options.  Tecmo Super Bowl was the first king of the digital gridiron, but that didn’t last past the 90s.  In the early 'aughts, the NFL 2K series (which I find to be massively overrated) scared EA so much that they decided to buy exclusive rights to the NFL license, essentially cornering the market on football video games.   Of course, this exclusivity wouldn’t apply to first party developers.  It’s how Sony was able to keep making “MLB: The Show” titles after 2K sports bought exclusivity to the MLB license as a measure of revenge against EA.  They could have continued making Gameday titles as well, but decided against it.  Why?  The PS1 era Gameday’s were widely considered to be superior to the Madden titles

Unlike most of the games I have talked about so far, I have played quite a bit of this week’s entry. I was never the most social gamer, often eschewing multiplayer staples for individual gaming experiences.  When friends came over, my collection of two player co-op games offered slim pickings, so we played a lot of Doom Troopers.  Of course, that was a long time ago and once we moved on to other systems, this game sort of fell by the wayside.  I figure now is a good time to revisit it. I remember being excited about this game when I got it, as the “Doom” in the title led me to believe this would have something to do with, well, “Doom.”  It could have less to do with the FPS juggernaut, but it does take place in the Mutant Chronicles Universe.  Ever heard of it?  Yeah, neither had I.  It’s a post-apocalyptic pen and paper RPG from the 90’s, which actually has a pretty cool storyline.  My guess is the game was part of a larger merchandising play, as it came out a

Dark Rift, N64 So after last week’s stinker, it’s time to mix it up a bit.  This will be our first N64 game AND our first fighting game. Fighting games are kind of hard to review in my opinion.  You can describe the controls in a platformer or FPS and its usually pretty easy to convey what you like or don’t like.  That’s harder in a fighting game as, at least for me personally, its really hard to understand control flaws unless you play them yourself. In addition, a lot of elements of other genres just aren’t that important in fighting games.  Most fighting games have nonsensical or non-existent storylines and Dark Rift is no different.  You have a collection of fighters competing for something called the “Core Prime Element,” all for their various reasons.  It doesn’t get much beyond that, but in a fighting game that’s okay. I should also mention this is a pseudo-sequel to another 3D fighter called Criticom, which I had never heard of before I di

I knew it was bound to happen when I started doing this.  After a few weeks of mediocre to good games, it finally happened.  I dug one up.  And this one really, really stinks. Yet, I am grateful.  “Brothers in Arms” epitomizes why I began blogging about games again and my feelings on the industry.  A quick web search of this game will come up with some pretty great aggregate scores. You will see reviews where its called “brilliant” or “a masterpiece.”  But a quick look at user reviews tells a different story.  They didn’t hate the game like I did, but still there is a significant difference when compared to critic reviews. But why is that?  One need only look at the bottom right corner of the box to find out.  Look down there and you will see “Ubisoft” and “Gearbox.”  A-level developers and publishers.  I am sure this game would have been similarly praised had it had “Rockstar” or “EA” in that corner.  But if it didn’t, I am positive it wouldn’t have the r

Joe & Mac, NES After taking baby steps back through gaming history, its time to jump in head first and go back to the Stone Age.   Well, I guess the NES would technically be more like the Bronze Age or something like that.  Of course, it did have its share of games based on cave men, including the subject of our post today. It should be noted that this is a port of an arcade game.  That was pretty common at the time and even the best ports fail to live up to the arcade experience.  I will only be discussing the NES game because, well, that’s the version I played.   I should also note this is a Data East game. The now defunct gaming company made some pretty good arcade games in the 80s and 90s, but its console offerings were usually pretty terrible.  We are talking like LJN level.  I can think of at least one that I plan on reviewing at some point.  Anyway, this meant my expectations were low going in.   I feel like Joe & Mac was pretty popul

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence I must say I have never been a diehard Castlevania fan.  I really liked Symphony of the Night, but I always found the SNES and NES games too slow and plodding.  I recognize their quality, but in a world of Mario’s and Mega Man’s they could never really hold my interest.   Besides, it seemed like the series died out on home consoles after SOTN.  Sure, there were tons of them on handheld consoles, but I never really owned handhelds.  I think it had a lot to do with how poorly the N64 ‘vania games were (and make no mistake about it, they were bad).  That leads us to Lament of Innocence.  I don’t remember it getting much hype when it came out and I don’t remember it being reviewed too well or too poorly.  I also didn’t remember having it in my collection, but here we are.   I guess we will start with storyline and presentation.  For those that care, this is the first game in the franchise chronologically.  It tells the stor