30th October 2009, 11:29 PM
Genesis
--
Crack Down -- $1 for a cart only copy of a solid Genesis game? How could anyone say no? I couldn't. :) I'd heard of the game before and seen some videos, and it didn't look very impressive so I was a bit hesitant about buying it, but after actually playing the game, it was absolutely the right decision! Crack Down is actually quite good. The graphics are an issue, the game essentially runs in a window that's about a third of the screen maybe, as it's permanently split-screen for the two player mode. In 1p mode the other side of the screen has a list of all the enemies you will face in that level, with their names and pictures), and there's also a big status bar section on the top of the screen above both windows, so the actual play window is quite small. The straight top-down view and early-gen graphics don't help either. The cutscene graphics look nice, though, and though small and top-down, the art isn't bad... the game looks decent, if simple.
The music, though, is actually great. Very good Genesis music here! And the gameplay, that's the best part... this is a good stealth-ish action game with some thought required. You can't just run around and blast everyone, you have to take cover along the walls, go out and shoot after they have, get enemies to shoot eachother (yes, they get hurt when they get hit by their allies' bullets! :D), and more. Pretty fun game. The one frustrating element are the movement puzzles. They'd be jumping puzzles if you could jump, but you can't, so the game has things like having to move between moving platforms over a pit and having to get past moving deathbeam things on the floor. These sections can be extremely frustrating, and in a few times I always die a lot in them. The collision detection's a bit iffy, sometimes I seem to die though I'm sure I'm safe. You need precise timing to get through. The rest of what I've played so far is a lot of fun, though. This looks like it'd be awesome in two player mode, too, I definitely want to try that sometime... it was obviously designed as a two player game first and foremost.
So yeah, if you see it for a few bucks, pick it up. Good game.
--
Crack Down -- $1 for a cart only copy of a solid Genesis game? How could anyone say no? I couldn't. :) I'd heard of the game before and seen some videos, and it didn't look very impressive so I was a bit hesitant about buying it, but after actually playing the game, it was absolutely the right decision! Crack Down is actually quite good. The graphics are an issue, the game essentially runs in a window that's about a third of the screen maybe, as it's permanently split-screen for the two player mode. In 1p mode the other side of the screen has a list of all the enemies you will face in that level, with their names and pictures), and there's also a big status bar section on the top of the screen above both windows, so the actual play window is quite small. The straight top-down view and early-gen graphics don't help either. The cutscene graphics look nice, though, and though small and top-down, the art isn't bad... the game looks decent, if simple.
The music, though, is actually great. Very good Genesis music here! And the gameplay, that's the best part... this is a good stealth-ish action game with some thought required. You can't just run around and blast everyone, you have to take cover along the walls, go out and shoot after they have, get enemies to shoot eachother (yes, they get hurt when they get hit by their allies' bullets! :D), and more. Pretty fun game. The one frustrating element are the movement puzzles. They'd be jumping puzzles if you could jump, but you can't, so the game has things like having to move between moving platforms over a pit and having to get past moving deathbeam things on the floor. These sections can be extremely frustrating, and in a few times I always die a lot in them. The collision detection's a bit iffy, sometimes I seem to die though I'm sure I'm safe. You need precise timing to get through. The rest of what I've played so far is a lot of fun, though. This looks like it'd be awesome in two player mode, too, I definitely want to try that sometime... it was obviously designed as a two player game first and foremost.
So yeah, if you see it for a few bucks, pick it up. Good game.