Gaming off the Beaten Path

This week, we are going to talk about a franchise that is near and dear to my heart: G.I. Joe. You could debate whether G.I. Joe is really “kid friendly” for days, but the iteration this game is based on would certainly qualify.  It had quite a bit of shooting for a kids show, yet no one ever actually got shot.  You would think the Joe’s and their nemeses Cobra would be more accurate, considering their status as an elite military unit and infamous terrorist group respectively.  I’m not sure parents nowadays would have been ok with their kids watching something that violent, but for me it was required viewing every Saturday morning. “The Atlantis Factor” was one of the first games I ever added to my collection.  I don’t remember where exactly it came from, but I was certainly glad to have it.  This is actually the second G.I. Joe on NES, but it was the only one I knew at the time.  To this day, I have still never played any of t...

So I have decided to do something a little different with some of these posts.  After my son was born a few weeks ago, I decided to pull out a bunch of games I had based on “kid friendly” IPs.  I am still going to review these games, but I will also add some commentary on whether the youngins could actually play or enjoy them. And we will get started with one my very first games, Mickey Mouscapade.  This game came with my NES, a hand me down from my cousin, way back in the early 90’s.  I don’t have too many of those games anymore, for better or for worse, but this one has sat in my collection since day 1.  It seemed like a good place to start with kid friendly stuff.     Full disclosure, I loved Disney when I was like, four, but I’m not one of those people that is Disney obsessed as an adult.  Now that I have kids, I may one day make a trip to the overcrowded, overpriced hellscape happiest place on earth that is...

Sorry for no post last week, but I was a little busy... I rag on modern gaming a lot, but it definitely has its positive aspects.  One of the biggest is instant access to low cost or free games via subscription services like PlayStation Plus or Games with Gold.  It’s almost to the point where I have too many games in my collection.  Not all the free games are great, but some certainly stand out.  Especially when those games are updated versions of classics like Sonic Mania. I don’t think Sonic the Hedgehog needs any introduction.  He’s Sega’s mascot and anyone who was a kid in the 90s has at least some familiarity with the blue blur.  His games from that era were classics and even his early 3D offerings were great playthroughs.  But that was 30 years ago and unlike his turtle stomping rival, Sonic has had quite a few missteps.  It’s not that every Mario game has been classic, but even at his worst, I don’t know if he ever ...

Rise of the Robots After a disappointing 90s fighting game, lets try and get back on the horse.   I mean, it’s not like there was a shortage of 1 Vs 1 arcade style fighting games in that era.  Few of them were going to match the quality of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but sometimes you just need a little change of pace. They already screwed up dinosaurs, but robots are cool too. How could you possibly screw that up?  Check out this add from GamePro back in the day.  Look at all these badass robots: But as we learned last week, just having a cool concept and shoehorning it into a fighting game wasn’t always a recipe for success.  Publisher Time Warner missed the mark a little bit with Primal Rage.  They missed it completely with Rise of the Robots.  I could say this game sucks, but that wouldn’t accurately convey how terrible it is.  I would call it crap, but I would never disparage fecal matter by comparing it...

Lets take a quick trip back to 1994. Bill Clinton is president.  Boys II Men and Whitney Houston are on top of the charts. George Foreman is world heavyweight champion and Major League Baseball is on strike.  O.J. Is on the run. Kurt Cobain is dead.  And I don’t care about any of it because I am six years old. It may have been an eventful year for the world, but my world revolved around video games and dinosaurs.  I knew more about dinosaurs than most people know about their own families.  The same was (and may still be) true of video games, especially fighting games.  I had grown tired of games like Mario and Duck Hunt, I was starting to get into RPGs, but at that time, I was all about Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.  When I heard they were going to make a game that was essentially Mortal Kombat with Dinosaurs, I lost my tiny little mind. It took a year, but in 1995 Primal Rage finally made its way to the SNES.  I...

Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet I have complained at length on this blog about popular gaming franchises receiving a pass for putting out lousy or even average games.  This is especially true of Nintendo’s first party standbys. In the 25+ years I have been playing video games, I can count on my hands the number of titles based on Nintendo IPs that received bad reviews.  If you don’t count the CD-I titles (and you shouldn’t), you could probably count them on one hand.  Take Mario Party titles out the equation and its down to one finger.  Look, Nintendo rarely makes bad games, but there are a number of titles from their extensive catalog that would have received an average at best reception if they weren’t Mario/Zelda/Metroid Etc.  All of those Zelda handheld titles come to mind.  Hell, the mainstream gaming media tried to convince us that Mario Clash was worthy of an 8/10 back in the day. Now that I’m done ranting, we ca...

For a lot of gamers, sports games are a love it or hate it affair.  Some gamers want jocks out of nerd culture, or think that playing a game about something they could go outside and do is a waste of time.  Yet others love the skill testing and competitive nature, or want an opportunity to live the dream of playing in the pros. Personally, I think franchise mode Madden is the most underrated RPG of all time.  I could go on as to why, but we aren’t here to talk about Madden or any of its simulation style brethren.  Today, we discuss arcade style sports titles.  Specifically, the long forgotten NHL Hitz franchise. Most gamers, both casual and hardcore, are familiar with NBA Jam or NFL Blitz.  Rather than focus on a realistic representation of their sports, these titles focused on insane plays and bone crunching hits.  Why make a perfect form tackle when you can German suplex the QB and then hit him with an elbow drop?  I...