12th January 2011, 12:51 AM
Purchases since Sept. '10 reviewed in this post: Ballerburg: Castle Chaos, The Bombing Islands, Deathtrap Dungeon, Midway Presents Atari's Greatest Arcade Hits Vol. 2, Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary, Rayman, Spin Jam
Games I have bought since then that I have not yet played, will review once I try them: Alundra, Army Men Air Combat 2, Broken Helix, Chrono Cross, Critical Depth, Driver 2, Midway Presents Atari's Greatest Arcade Hits Vol. 2, Namco Museum Vol. 1, Namco Museum Vol. 3, Robotron X, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Spyro (3): Year of the Dragon, Street Fighter Collection 2
Ballerburg: Castle Chaos
Ballerburg: Castle Chaos is a port of a PC game released under several different titles, including Ballerburg and Castle Siege Ballerburg. It's a very late PS1 release from the last years of the system. Basically this is an artillery game, sort of Scorched Earth-style, crossed with some basic strategy game elements such as simple base-building. It's a low-budget game and it shows, though, with mediocre at best graphics and sound. Also, importantly, the controls are frustrating -- this game would be much better with a mouse! It's not a particularly good game, but because I like the theme and concept I find it a little enjoyable. Shooting cannons and catapults at other castles, aiming to hit them taking wind into consideration, and building up your fortress are fun, even if not implemented here nearly as well as they could have been.
The Bombing Islands
A puzzle game, this got some bad reviews. It stars Kid Klown, but unfortunately it's not nearly as good as his earlier platformers. The game's not terrible, but it's not that good either. You move around the field, trying to figure out where to move the bombs to so that they'll destroy all the bombs in one blast; somehow if they all go off at once you're safe, but if you fail to destroy them all you get blown up. Huh. It quickly gets hard and frustrating. Very mediocre 3d graphics too.
Deathtrap Dungeon
I'm only a few levels into it, but so far I actually like this game. It's a little bit like a fantasy Tomb Raider, but it's also enough different that it's its own thing. It's a fantasy medieval dungeon crawling game where you choose to play as a male or female character braving the dungeon. You explore dungeons, kill monsters (most die in just a hit or two, which is different, bosses excepted), solve puzzles, find switches, jump between platforms, and more. The digital-only controls are frustrating though, I really wish it had analog. The graphics are similarly iffy, it's not awful looking for its time and platform but, well, most 3d Playstation games haven't aged well, and this isn't one of the best looking ones. Still the good art direction does shine through, and the game has a good sense of atmosphere. I can see it potentially getting frustrating, as even in the early levels the puzzles can be tricky, but it seems pretty good really, I'm surprised.
Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary
Pac-Man World is an isometric 3d platformer. You view the whole game from the side, moving Pac-Man through various standard 2d and 3d platformer-style situations. Kill the enemies, collect the dots, etc. Graphics have decent style, but the usual awful Playstation 3d look that make them look not very good. The isometric perspective also can be tricky, some jumps are hard to determine thanks to the view. However, the game's not bad. It's definitely got some fun platforming, and eventually you get used to the perspective. I like the Pac-Maney touches like the areas where you stop and collect all the dots in a mazelike area, hunted by ghosts. It's an alright game that is some fun, graphics and controls aside. Still, the sequels are probably better games.
Rayman
Ah, Rayman... Rayman 1 is a classic 2d platformer from the mid '90s that was released on a variety of platforms. I got it for the PC back around ten years ago, and found it incredibly difficult and frustrating, but beautiful graphically and very well designed. It's the same on Playstation as it was on PC, a very nice looking game with incredibly difficult and frustrating gameplay. The limited lives and continues are also a real pain, sure you can save but eventually you run low and have to beat levels with very few lives, increasing the difficulty even higher. I've never got anywhere near the end of Rayman, it's just too hard. That's too bad too, because the concept, graphics, gameplay, and design are all great... they just went overboard with the challenge and frustration.
Spin Jam
Spin Jam is a simple, low budget puzzle game that rips off Bust-A-Move, but with its own unique twist. In the game you shoot bubbles at a spinning wheel centerpoint. The bubbles will stick to that point, but then by shooting 2 or more bubbles they will pop. When they do this, bubbles on the other side of the spinning wheel will fly off, away from the circle. Your goal is to get bubbles into the colored "petals" surrounding the spinning wheel. As a result, what you try to do is shoot the other side of the wheel from where you want to shoot at, when the bubbles are lined up right to hit the outer edge (I haven't played this in a few weeks so the details might be slightly off, but that's about how it works). The game's alright, but limited -- that's all you do in this game, and it just doesn't have the depth of better puzzle games like, well, Bust-A-Move. The graphics are pretty average too, the art's not exactly the best (it's European "anime-style" art, and has the questionable quality you expect from such things). It's a low budget puzzle game, though, so how much can be expected... this game does get repetitive, but it's okay I guess.
Games I have bought since then that I have not yet played, will review once I try them: Alundra, Army Men Air Combat 2, Broken Helix, Chrono Cross, Critical Depth, Driver 2, Midway Presents Atari's Greatest Arcade Hits Vol. 2, Namco Museum Vol. 1, Namco Museum Vol. 3, Robotron X, Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, Spyro (3): Year of the Dragon, Street Fighter Collection 2
Ballerburg: Castle Chaos
Ballerburg: Castle Chaos is a port of a PC game released under several different titles, including Ballerburg and Castle Siege Ballerburg. It's a very late PS1 release from the last years of the system. Basically this is an artillery game, sort of Scorched Earth-style, crossed with some basic strategy game elements such as simple base-building. It's a low-budget game and it shows, though, with mediocre at best graphics and sound. Also, importantly, the controls are frustrating -- this game would be much better with a mouse! It's not a particularly good game, but because I like the theme and concept I find it a little enjoyable. Shooting cannons and catapults at other castles, aiming to hit them taking wind into consideration, and building up your fortress are fun, even if not implemented here nearly as well as they could have been.
The Bombing Islands
A puzzle game, this got some bad reviews. It stars Kid Klown, but unfortunately it's not nearly as good as his earlier platformers. The game's not terrible, but it's not that good either. You move around the field, trying to figure out where to move the bombs to so that they'll destroy all the bombs in one blast; somehow if they all go off at once you're safe, but if you fail to destroy them all you get blown up. Huh. It quickly gets hard and frustrating. Very mediocre 3d graphics too.
Deathtrap Dungeon
I'm only a few levels into it, but so far I actually like this game. It's a little bit like a fantasy Tomb Raider, but it's also enough different that it's its own thing. It's a fantasy medieval dungeon crawling game where you choose to play as a male or female character braving the dungeon. You explore dungeons, kill monsters (most die in just a hit or two, which is different, bosses excepted), solve puzzles, find switches, jump between platforms, and more. The digital-only controls are frustrating though, I really wish it had analog. The graphics are similarly iffy, it's not awful looking for its time and platform but, well, most 3d Playstation games haven't aged well, and this isn't one of the best looking ones. Still the good art direction does shine through, and the game has a good sense of atmosphere. I can see it potentially getting frustrating, as even in the early levels the puzzles can be tricky, but it seems pretty good really, I'm surprised.
Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary
Pac-Man World is an isometric 3d platformer. You view the whole game from the side, moving Pac-Man through various standard 2d and 3d platformer-style situations. Kill the enemies, collect the dots, etc. Graphics have decent style, but the usual awful Playstation 3d look that make them look not very good. The isometric perspective also can be tricky, some jumps are hard to determine thanks to the view. However, the game's not bad. It's definitely got some fun platforming, and eventually you get used to the perspective. I like the Pac-Maney touches like the areas where you stop and collect all the dots in a mazelike area, hunted by ghosts. It's an alright game that is some fun, graphics and controls aside. Still, the sequels are probably better games.
Rayman
Ah, Rayman... Rayman 1 is a classic 2d platformer from the mid '90s that was released on a variety of platforms. I got it for the PC back around ten years ago, and found it incredibly difficult and frustrating, but beautiful graphically and very well designed. It's the same on Playstation as it was on PC, a very nice looking game with incredibly difficult and frustrating gameplay. The limited lives and continues are also a real pain, sure you can save but eventually you run low and have to beat levels with very few lives, increasing the difficulty even higher. I've never got anywhere near the end of Rayman, it's just too hard. That's too bad too, because the concept, graphics, gameplay, and design are all great... they just went overboard with the challenge and frustration.
Spin Jam
Spin Jam is a simple, low budget puzzle game that rips off Bust-A-Move, but with its own unique twist. In the game you shoot bubbles at a spinning wheel centerpoint. The bubbles will stick to that point, but then by shooting 2 or more bubbles they will pop. When they do this, bubbles on the other side of the spinning wheel will fly off, away from the circle. Your goal is to get bubbles into the colored "petals" surrounding the spinning wheel. As a result, what you try to do is shoot the other side of the wheel from where you want to shoot at, when the bubbles are lined up right to hit the outer edge (I haven't played this in a few weeks so the details might be slightly off, but that's about how it works). The game's alright, but limited -- that's all you do in this game, and it just doesn't have the depth of better puzzle games like, well, Bust-A-Move. The graphics are pretty average too, the art's not exactly the best (it's European "anime-style" art, and has the questionable quality you expect from such things). It's a low budget puzzle game, though, so how much can be expected... this game does get repetitive, but it's okay I guess.
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