This is how you make a G.I.Joe game.

G.I. Joe on the Nes is one of my all time favorite games for that system. While it doesn't do anything remarkably new, it's action gaming at it's most refined. You start out the game with a nice pep talk from General Hawk, and are then thrust into the action from there. Your team consists of popular characters from the show including Duke, Blizzard, Rock n' Roll, Captain Gridiron, and everyone's favorite purple Ninja, Snake Eyes. Each Joe has his own unique abilities, and is in charge of his own level. Whichever team member is the leader is automatically chosen for you at the beginning of each level. However, you get the choice of who the other two members in the party will be.

Each of the game's levels a taken in three areas. Area one is just a simple run from right to left killing or dodging every enemy that comes your way and collecting power-up and ammo. In the second part of each level, you have to search an area to find little check marks painted on the walls for you to place C-4 detonators on. The third and final part of each stage is the escape after you plant the explosives and the final boss fight of the level. It sounds simple enough, but there are a plethora of, nasty baddies, bosses, and mid-bosses along the way, and each is all dead set on stopping you. Also, the levels themselves get more challenging, and the check mark locations harder to find as well.

Throughout the game you level up your weapons via powerups positioned throughout the stages in sometimes obvious sometimes hidden places. However, the addition of guns doesn't make this Contra. Your ammo has a limit. You can collect more via powerups, but for the most part it's better to use you character's punches (or in the case of blizzard and Snake Eyes, knife, and sword) throughout the level then to go gung-ho (Hey that was a G.I. Joe too) and run out of ammo before you hit one of the bosses. There's also a number of vehicles your Joes can use along the way.

Bottom Line: As I said before, the core gameplay has been done before, and since. It's nothing revolutionary, but the game has perfect balance. It's about as refined as games of this type get. In fact, I can't really think of one complaint about the game. It all melds perfectly. The controls are perfect, and the music is classic Nes fare. It's just one of those all around great games.

Has all the classic Castlevania Gameplay, but isn't as good as Super Castlevania IV.

Highly anticipated by Genesis owners at the time, Castlevania: Bloodlines, was the only installment of Konami's long running series to appear on Sega's 16-bit machine.

One striking difference that Castlevania fans will notice in this version is that the game lets you chose between two different heroes, and neither of them is a Belmont. John Morris is an ancestor of the Belmont clan (whatever that means) who uses the traditional Vampire Killer Whip with which to vanquish his enemies, and is given the ability to swing from ceilings with it. Eric Lecarde ditches tradition, and uses the Alcarde Spear which he can vault off of to do a high jump maneuver.

For those of you not familiar with the classic Castlevania games, they played through in stages as opposed to the newer games in the series which mimic the Metroid games. You start on the left side of the screen and move right while vanquishing hordes of tricky enemies, making platform jumps, and taking care of pesky mid-level and level-end bosses. Bloodlines is classic Castlevania in that everything clicks. the controls are great, and the graphics were a great showpiece of what effects the Genesis was capable of with some outright trippy stages (especially stage 6), The gameplay though challenging will keep you hooked. Bloodlines will challenge players, and force them to play with a certain amount of finesse.

The Castlevania series has always required the right amount of finesse. Whether it be perfectly timing your swing to hit a Medusa head, or timing your jump on a tough to reach platform, Castlevania is a game of perfect timing, and Bloodlines both requires oldschool gaming skills, and oldschool patience.
Bloodlines, in fact, is one of the harder games in the Castlevania series for the simple reason that, unlike it predecessors, it limits the amount of continues you're allowed. This makes the game a lot harder to get through then other games in the series, because it makes password saves less effective. You might have a password to make it through the first couple of levels, but that doesn't matter if you don't have enough continues to finish the game on. This however is a small complaint that can be remedied by either cheating, or by learning the game and making skillful runs through it's levels. The second option is perfectly doable (and is preferred by this author), but is made harder by the limitation on continues.

Another complaint is that, despite coming out after Super Castlevania IV, Bloodlines lacks a few gameplay refinements made in that game. This made Bloodlines seem like a step back in the series because it played more like the earlier games in the series. This is another small complaint, because Bloodlines is still great on it's own merits.

Bottom Line: Though not quite as good as Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Bloodlines on the Genesis is still a top notch adventure for those willing to partake in it. Be ready to be challenged, but also be ready to have some good oldschool fun.

Mostly enjoyable, but flawed.

This review was too long for GP's restrictions, so you can read the full version on my blog here

Bottom Line:
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a second chance game that I ended up enjoying despite it's flaws. That being said, those flaws will drive away everyone except hardcore Star Wars fans, and nostalgic N64 gamers. Anyone else who's looking for a quality third person shooter with a strong sci-fi influence on their N64's will be better off looking into Jet Force Gemini. Those looking for a good space flight game on the N64 should look into Rogue Squadron. The jack of all trades is truly a master of none, and the only thing Shadows masters is how to be average.

One of the most stunning technical feats on the PS1.

I have to admit that for years, even I just assumed that the N64 version of Quake II was the superior version of the game, so I overlooked the PS1 version. Boy do I feel dumb.

QII PS1 is a technical marvel considering how graphically intense the PC version was at the time requiring a top of the line 3D accelerator to run. How could they possible make a decent port to the PS1? They didn't even port the original Quake to the system because because they said it couldn't handle it, but yet they made Quake II, and It's a damn impressive port.

I'm not sure what Hammerhead did to get these kind of results out of Sony's old grey box, but the PS1 version of Quake II is the most impressive console port of the game (not counting the 360 port). It runs at a smooth 30 FPS with a little slowdown in a few areas. It also has better lighting effects than the N64 version, and fully polygonal gun models (QII N64 uses 2D sprites).

The PS1 version more closely follows the PC version than the N64 version. Instead of being a completely new experience, Hammerhead opted to try an include as many of the originals levels as possible (though there are some that are MIA), and it even retains the original music. This game just feels more like Quake II than the N64 version.

QII's design has expanded more from the get the key to open the door to a more objective's based gameplay. The level design feels like a precursor to Half-Life in some ways. There are what you could call levels, but they're huge and are divided into multiple areas that the game loads in. You can even, and actually will have to back-track to previous areas at points in the game giving it a more Half-Life than Doom feel.

It's not big on story, something about the Strogg (Borg-like creatures) invade earth, and your company is dispatched in a covert mission to the Strogg homeworld to try and kill the leader. That mission goes horribly wrong during the invasion, and you're separated from the rest of your company who is decimated by the Strogg defenses leaving you as the lone "Doomed Space Marine." It's a pretty typical story, and QII is more focused on action, so the only progression of that story comes in getting new objective sent you way from your command ship.

Quake II's gameplay is simple. You fight your way through hordes of Strogg baddies along your way to fulfill your objectives. The adrenaline pumping gameplay really makes you feel like the lone badass. No hiding like a sissy for your little shield to recover, just run and gun, and kick some ass, and pick a heath pack here and there if you're low on life. It's pure run and gun gamplay, and that what I love about it. It keeps it simple, and sometimes less is more. The shooters of today try too much to be these big cinematic experiences, but, sometimes, you don't care why you're doing it, you just want to shove you super shotgun up a Strogg Enforcer's ass and let the shrapnel fly. QII may be primitive in nature, but it's still a blast.

While, you won't find a control scheme that completely mirrors the dual stick control of today (though the "Right Stick" is the closest with movement w/ the d-pad, aiming with the R-stick, and firing with the L1 button), most of them work smoothly, and the game even supports play with the PS1 mouse.

Another great feature of the PS1 version is four player split screen multiplayer. I can't vouch for how smooth it is with four players, but I've played it two player, and have seen vids of three player matches, and the game still ran buttery smooth. There aren't many games on the PS1 that even support up to four players let alone many (if any other) FPS games. This is the PS1's best answer to Goldeneye for four player deathmatches, and it's a blast.

Bottom Line: Quake II on the PS1 is not just an impressive port, but a very fun game. Some of the newer FPS player will be turned off by it's oldschool gameplay, but those who love the old FPS would do well to pick up this PS1 port.

Don't play this game alone.

The Adventures of Cookie & Cream is an often overlooked early PS2 game that successfully blends puzzle with platform elements

C&C plays like what you may imagine a split screen mode on the PS1 Crash Bandicoot games. You control Cookie and Cream throughout a split screen platform game where what one of them does on their side of the screen effects what happens on for the other. When the path is blocked for one of them the solution is usually on the other one's screen. For example, Cookie's path may be blocked by by an impassible pit of water, but you notice that Cream has a catapult with a watermelon ready to launch. Upon launching the watermelon into the pit of water, a hippopotamus appears to claim the watermelon, and let Cookie ride on his his back across the pit. It's that type of mutual puzzle solving that makes this game shine. That's also where the puzzle element come into play. Each stage adds it's own assortment of two player puzzles to solve, and exact synchronization between the two characters is key. Not to mention that you have a time limit in each level, and every time one of your characters gets hit, it shaves off more time. This adds to the sense of urgency to complete each of the game's levels in a timely manor.

Upon beating all the puzzles in an area, you're treated to a boss fight. Each boss requires it's own unique challenges that also requires two player team work in clever ways. Some will be as simple as having cookie dodge a giant boss while Cream is on top of a wall pulling levers that send giant logs out to knock his legs out from underneath him, while others will require Cookie to pilot a vehicle while Cream throws projectiles. This element of team work is an integral part of the gameplay, and never feels like a gimmick because the game makes it work so well. This game is an absolute blast to play with a friend.

This however brings me to the weakest part of the game. Though it can be played as a single player experience, the only way to get the full experience is to play with a friend. Having to coordinate both sides of the screen is challenging enough with two players, but having to control both Cookie and Cream with one controller makes what is already a pretty tough game even tougher. It's a whole lot less fun playing by yourself. It's doable, but you just don't get the full experience without that second player.

Also, don't let C&C's kiddie graphics fool you, this is a very challenging game. As the game moves on, the time limits get smaller, and the puzzles get harder. Some of the later level require almost a perfect run, which will mean many frustrating restarts. This does, however, make it all the more sweeter when you finally conquer a level. that was previously impossible. It's also not always clear on what you need to do in a boss fight, because they give you no clues. It's for most part pretty easy to figure out, but there are a few boss fights that will be particularly frustrating until you find the easy solution.

The controls in the game are very responsive for the most part with two players. The game only has an action button, and a jump button aside from the analog control, but you will at times have trouble finding the spot you need to be in in order to perform an action on short notice. This can lose you valuable time. Playing the game on single player makes the game also considerably harder to control.

The game is also relatively short once you figure out how to complete each stage. A friend and I were able to beat in in one gaming session, but we had played it previously, and knew what to expect. There aren't a whole lot of levels, to play, and there's only one unlockable area to play via finding little puzzle pieces scattered throughout the game's levels. This adds a little bit of replay value to the game, but pretty much, once you're done, you're done.

To be continued in the comments section, because of the 4000 character limit.....