1st September 2012, 11:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 1st September 2012, 2:41 PM by A Black Falcon.)
Three new reviews. I added them to the first post too, but I'm reposting them below as well.
Duck Dodgers starring Daffy Duck - Duck Dodgers is a 3d platformer from Paradigm, and it's their only attempt at the genre -- their other N64 games were all flight or racing games. The game makes me think a bit of games like Croc or Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time (both on PC/PS1) -- it's a fun, but somewhat unpolished, game with a very Looney Tunes graphical style. Now, I love the Looney Tunes -- it's my favorite cartoon series by far. Duck Dodgers is a fantastic character, too. In this game you play as Duck Dodgers, of course, and have to collect fuel and such and defeat badguys helping out in Marvin the Martian's latest plot to destroy the earth. This game is inspired by the original Duck Dodgers cartoons, and predates the newer Cartoon Network show, so unfortunately characters that series added, such as the Martian Queen, don't appear here. That's too bad, but the classic cartoons are great too. The characters that are here are all fully voiced, which is nice; all of the voice acting is well done, and it's great that Daffy has a voice. It really does add to the game. The game is somewhat linear, as in each world, you'll go through a succession of areas. Each area is somewhat small, so this game doesn't have the scale of the system's top 3d platformers. Still, while small, the areas do have some good design elements and nice visual touches; as I said, this looks like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon gone 5th-gen 3d. It would have been nice if they were larger, though; these areas really are Croc-small. That's okay though I guess, and I do love Croc. Anyway, the areas are connected together with doors. When you enter an area, the game will show on screen how many fuel items there are left in the area. These serve as the game's stars or such. The other pickup are some blue crystal things. These respawn when you enter an area, and collecting fifty will get you an extra life. Run out of lives and it's game over, of course. The game over cutscene is quite amusing. The game starts out simple, but quickly gets more challenging. The controls here are somewhat flawed -- you don't have perfect control over Dodgers like you do Mario, or a Rare 3d platformer character. Jumps can be hard to make, and I found myself frequently missing them. Distance can be hard to judge, and the camera is mediocre at best. You can move it around, but good luck getting a perfect angle while zipping along on a moving mine car. However, the underwater controls are fantastic -- swimming with Daffy feels natural, and it's much easier to control him underwater than it is above. There's also a tiptoe button while on land, with the matching Looney Tunes sound effects. Still, most of the game is on land and you don't need to tiptoe very often. The controls are another reason why I compared Duck Dodgers to the games I did earlier, in addition to the visual style and mostly-linear-sequence-of-areas game design. Managing to get where you want, or WHAT you want, in trickier jetpack sections can be frustrating too. It's unfortunate that the controls aren't better; this game's good, but because of the controls, and somewhat simple level designs, isn't a match for Rare's great classics on the system. Still, Duck Dodgers is certainly worth a look. It's a decent game that many 3d platformer fans probably haven't played, and even if it has some problems, it does some things right too. And of course, it's a voiced Looney Tunes game on the N64, which is great. This game's better than most of the 16-bit Looney Tunes games too, I would say. If the controls were better this game would be a definite recommendation, but as-is, I would say that it's probably mostly for genre, or series, fans. I am a big fan of both 3d platformers and Looney Tunes, so I do enjoy the game for sure, but if you're not, the frustrating controls might well drive you away. Oh, and it's not the longest game either, certainly; Duck Dodgers is a bit on the short side. One player, on-cart saving.
Milo's Astro Lanes - Milo's Astro Lanes is a bowling game, as the title suggests. However, instead of being earthbound, this is a futuristic bowling game in space. Each lane has a different design, with obstacles and tricks to learn on the course. So yeah, the game has a decent concept to make things a bit more interesting than average. The graphics are basic, with lanes floating in space and very simple, small hub areas to choose levels in. The game looks okay, but it's quite simple for the platform. There are powerup icons on the courses too, and part of the strategy of the game is learning the powerups and deciding when to use each one. The bowling action itself is done well too, though. The ball and pin physics all work as they should. However, this is a very difficult game -- even the very first matches will require very high scores to complete. The game may seem simple at first, but you'll need to be very good to get beyond the second match. I find it maybe a bit too hard, actually... it's frustrating to score well but still lose. Apart from that though, it's good. I imagine that people good at bowling will have a much easier time with this game; I'm not all that good at it, clearly. The computer cheats, too -- it adjusts its play to match, and slightly exceed, yours, during matches. This makes winning frustratingly difficult. I can't compare this to the other bowling games on the N64, though, because I haven't played the other two for the system. Four player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving.
Rally Challenge 2000 - Rally Challenge 2000 is Imagineer's fourth and last N64 racing game. Released in Japan in 1999 and the US in 2000, this game has the best graphics and most content of the four. Yes, it's an Imagineer racing game which actually looks decently good! Nice work. I like the graphics in this game; they're not amazing, but they're quite solid for the system. Each track looks different, and the car models are done well too. Rally Challenge 2000 has nine cars and nine tracks as well, so there's more content here than in their previous games. The tracks have no shortcuts, as you'd expect from a rally game, but they're all fairly well designed. There are no tracks anywhere near as bad as most of GT64's tracks, for instance, thankfully. I came into Rally Challenge 2000 with low expectations, because the game has average review scores of around 6/10, or maybe 6.5 on the high end, but it surprised me -- this game may not be great, but it certainly is fun! The racing is done well, controls are good, graphics are solid, and the track designs are good, too. The game does have some flaws that do hurt the game, but it is good overall. For modes, there are three -- Arcade, Championship, and Versus. Arcade mode was inspired by Sega Rally. Here, you choose one of three sets of tracks. In each set, you'll go through three tracks, doing one lap on each course, just like Sega Rally. Try to catch up to the computers and win -- and yes, like Sega Rally, it'll be quite tough. There are nine cars in each race, one of each of the nine in the game. The game will save your best lap time on each track. Arcade mode is fun. Versus mode works as you expect -- choose a track and go. The game does have four player support, unlike the other Imagineer games. Championship mode has more problems, though. The basic concept is your standard points-based championship that goes through all nine tracks and allows saving between races, so this mode is more involved than the others. You do three laps per race in this mode too, not just one. There's more added than just that, though -- this mode also adds car customization and car damage. Customization allows you to adjust four different sliders, for the gear ratios, tire type, etc. I have no idea what to do with these, I know nothing about such things (though there is a guide on GameFAQs with some good suggestions for what settings to use in the game; quite helpful). You can save three car customization settings. The car damage element is probably the toughest thing about Championship mode, though -- your car will wear down as you drive, so by the third lap your car will be harder to drive. Tire type does affect this, but it'll be there at least somewhat with any of them. Championship mode is, as a result, MUCH more difficult than Arcade mode -- while I've finished in the top three in all three Arcade mode championships, I can't get above seventh in Championship mode races. It's just brutal. Still though, this game is at least average, and is a fun game. Four player multiplayer, on-cart and Controller Pak (2 blocks) saving, both required. The on-cart part will save the options, car customization settings, and your best time in each track, but you'll need to make a 2-block file to save your progress in the 9-race championship mode.
Duck Dodgers starring Daffy Duck - Duck Dodgers is a 3d platformer from Paradigm, and it's their only attempt at the genre -- their other N64 games were all flight or racing games. The game makes me think a bit of games like Croc or Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time (both on PC/PS1) -- it's a fun, but somewhat unpolished, game with a very Looney Tunes graphical style. Now, I love the Looney Tunes -- it's my favorite cartoon series by far. Duck Dodgers is a fantastic character, too. In this game you play as Duck Dodgers, of course, and have to collect fuel and such and defeat badguys helping out in Marvin the Martian's latest plot to destroy the earth. This game is inspired by the original Duck Dodgers cartoons, and predates the newer Cartoon Network show, so unfortunately characters that series added, such as the Martian Queen, don't appear here. That's too bad, but the classic cartoons are great too. The characters that are here are all fully voiced, which is nice; all of the voice acting is well done, and it's great that Daffy has a voice. It really does add to the game. The game is somewhat linear, as in each world, you'll go through a succession of areas. Each area is somewhat small, so this game doesn't have the scale of the system's top 3d platformers. Still, while small, the areas do have some good design elements and nice visual touches; as I said, this looks like a classic Looney Tunes cartoon gone 5th-gen 3d. It would have been nice if they were larger, though; these areas really are Croc-small. That's okay though I guess, and I do love Croc. Anyway, the areas are connected together with doors. When you enter an area, the game will show on screen how many fuel items there are left in the area. These serve as the game's stars or such. The other pickup are some blue crystal things. These respawn when you enter an area, and collecting fifty will get you an extra life. Run out of lives and it's game over, of course. The game over cutscene is quite amusing. The game starts out simple, but quickly gets more challenging. The controls here are somewhat flawed -- you don't have perfect control over Dodgers like you do Mario, or a Rare 3d platformer character. Jumps can be hard to make, and I found myself frequently missing them. Distance can be hard to judge, and the camera is mediocre at best. You can move it around, but good luck getting a perfect angle while zipping along on a moving mine car. However, the underwater controls are fantastic -- swimming with Daffy feels natural, and it's much easier to control him underwater than it is above. There's also a tiptoe button while on land, with the matching Looney Tunes sound effects. Still, most of the game is on land and you don't need to tiptoe very often. The controls are another reason why I compared Duck Dodgers to the games I did earlier, in addition to the visual style and mostly-linear-sequence-of-areas game design. Managing to get where you want, or WHAT you want, in trickier jetpack sections can be frustrating too. It's unfortunate that the controls aren't better; this game's good, but because of the controls, and somewhat simple level designs, isn't a match for Rare's great classics on the system. Still, Duck Dodgers is certainly worth a look. It's a decent game that many 3d platformer fans probably haven't played, and even if it has some problems, it does some things right too. And of course, it's a voiced Looney Tunes game on the N64, which is great. This game's better than most of the 16-bit Looney Tunes games too, I would say. If the controls were better this game would be a definite recommendation, but as-is, I would say that it's probably mostly for genre, or series, fans. I am a big fan of both 3d platformers and Looney Tunes, so I do enjoy the game for sure, but if you're not, the frustrating controls might well drive you away. Oh, and it's not the longest game either, certainly; Duck Dodgers is a bit on the short side. One player, on-cart saving.
Milo's Astro Lanes - Milo's Astro Lanes is a bowling game, as the title suggests. However, instead of being earthbound, this is a futuristic bowling game in space. Each lane has a different design, with obstacles and tricks to learn on the course. So yeah, the game has a decent concept to make things a bit more interesting than average. The graphics are basic, with lanes floating in space and very simple, small hub areas to choose levels in. The game looks okay, but it's quite simple for the platform. There are powerup icons on the courses too, and part of the strategy of the game is learning the powerups and deciding when to use each one. The bowling action itself is done well too, though. The ball and pin physics all work as they should. However, this is a very difficult game -- even the very first matches will require very high scores to complete. The game may seem simple at first, but you'll need to be very good to get beyond the second match. I find it maybe a bit too hard, actually... it's frustrating to score well but still lose. Apart from that though, it's good. I imagine that people good at bowling will have a much easier time with this game; I'm not all that good at it, clearly. The computer cheats, too -- it adjusts its play to match, and slightly exceed, yours, during matches. This makes winning frustratingly difficult. I can't compare this to the other bowling games on the N64, though, because I haven't played the other two for the system. Four player multiplayer, Controller Pak saving.
Rally Challenge 2000 - Rally Challenge 2000 is Imagineer's fourth and last N64 racing game. Released in Japan in 1999 and the US in 2000, this game has the best graphics and most content of the four. Yes, it's an Imagineer racing game which actually looks decently good! Nice work. I like the graphics in this game; they're not amazing, but they're quite solid for the system. Each track looks different, and the car models are done well too. Rally Challenge 2000 has nine cars and nine tracks as well, so there's more content here than in their previous games. The tracks have no shortcuts, as you'd expect from a rally game, but they're all fairly well designed. There are no tracks anywhere near as bad as most of GT64's tracks, for instance, thankfully. I came into Rally Challenge 2000 with low expectations, because the game has average review scores of around 6/10, or maybe 6.5 on the high end, but it surprised me -- this game may not be great, but it certainly is fun! The racing is done well, controls are good, graphics are solid, and the track designs are good, too. The game does have some flaws that do hurt the game, but it is good overall. For modes, there are three -- Arcade, Championship, and Versus. Arcade mode was inspired by Sega Rally. Here, you choose one of three sets of tracks. In each set, you'll go through three tracks, doing one lap on each course, just like Sega Rally. Try to catch up to the computers and win -- and yes, like Sega Rally, it'll be quite tough. There are nine cars in each race, one of each of the nine in the game. The game will save your best lap time on each track. Arcade mode is fun. Versus mode works as you expect -- choose a track and go. The game does have four player support, unlike the other Imagineer games. Championship mode has more problems, though. The basic concept is your standard points-based championship that goes through all nine tracks and allows saving between races, so this mode is more involved than the others. You do three laps per race in this mode too, not just one. There's more added than just that, though -- this mode also adds car customization and car damage. Customization allows you to adjust four different sliders, for the gear ratios, tire type, etc. I have no idea what to do with these, I know nothing about such things (though there is a guide on GameFAQs with some good suggestions for what settings to use in the game; quite helpful). You can save three car customization settings. The car damage element is probably the toughest thing about Championship mode, though -- your car will wear down as you drive, so by the third lap your car will be harder to drive. Tire type does affect this, but it'll be there at least somewhat with any of them. Championship mode is, as a result, MUCH more difficult than Arcade mode -- while I've finished in the top three in all three Arcade mode championships, I can't get above seventh in Championship mode races. It's just brutal. Still though, this game is at least average, and is a fun game. Four player multiplayer, on-cart and Controller Pak (2 blocks) saving, both required. The on-cart part will save the options, car customization settings, and your best time in each track, but you'll need to make a 2-block file to save your progress in the 9-race championship mode.