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The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread


patiirc

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Using the new game picking system, the next game chosen is:-

 

Week 18 is Desert Fighter on Snes

 

A.S.P.-Air-Strike-Patrol.jpg

 

The Gulf War, but we dont need no stinking Helicopters to fight it. This game is also known as Air Strike Patrol (A.S.P)

 

The GameFaq page is here

 

 

Desert Fighter Reviews

 

Gamespot

 

Gamefaq Reviews

 

 

This game for the non discerning gamer is the 18th UKFF Retro Inspection.

 

We now have a week(ish) to play discuss and review the game. Both good and bad views are allowed if you hate the game or love the game all is equal in here

 

 

Happy Gaming!

 

 

Played To Date

 

Week 1: World of Illusion- Sega Megadrive

Week 2: Plok- Snes

Week 3: Pirates! Gold- Sega Megadrive

Week 4: Mega-Lo-Mania- Sega Megadrive

Week 5: Tiny Toon Adventures- Sega Megadrive

Week 6: Benefactor- Amiga

Week 7: Robocop Vs Terminator- Sega Megadrive

Week 8: Batman Returns- Snes

Week 9: Claymates- Snes

Week 10: Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck- Multiformat

Week 11: Fever Pitch Soccer- Sega Megadrive

Week 12: Skweek- Amstrad CPC

Week 13:Simon The Sorcerer 2: The Lion The Wizard, The Wardrobe- PC

Week 14: Super Fantasy Zone- Megadrive

Week 15: The Firemen- Snes

Week 16: Sonic Triple Trouble- Game Gear

Week 17: Clock Tower- Snes

Week 18: Desert Fighter- Snes

 

Upcoming Games

 

Final Fantasy V-Snes (rs)

 

 

Awaiting Nomination(s) From...

 

(AAA)

(MC)

(PB)

Edited by patiirc
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Ah 'Cracks Knuckles', a review. To the incomprehensible mobile, Batman!

 

So there is this game, its by Sega and is a (semi) sequel to Castle of Illusion, lots of people like it. I dont.

 

World of Illusion was first introduced to me by a Mean Machines Sega video that also had the delights of Streets of Rage II. the first thing that stood out was the repetitive and seemingly looping music, whilst the first level was demonstrated. Luscious graphics were also shown, but it was oh, so slow and my god did it look dull. It would be a few months before we would see the game in any form again.

 

The local video shop, bored out of my mind during one set of holidays, with nothing to do, I picked up World of Illusion and rented it for the week. After the short walk home. Placed it into my megadrive and fired it up.

 

First impressions were that it was still slow, still chirpy and had some weird playing card power up system that made no sense to my 'what the fuck is this game?' brain. So we set about to play it (by we. I mean me and me bro.) So you start off in a mystical forest and Mickey and Donald look like two gormless tourists who would give stupid people attending the worlds most stupid convention a run for their money. They then begin to move, through treacle! Or at least thats how it appears anyway. So its slow and wait, whats this a leaf goblin, a mofoing soldier thing comes towards us and then you can wave it away with a luminous cape of DOOM.

 

Well thats okay then. 'everybody' needs a luminous cape of DOOM! The only problem is that the cape comes in either a fetching blue or purple. Aside from that and that it isnt really a cape then everything's perfect!. So what does it do? Well, not a lot. The soldier becomes flower after a swipes of the 'cape' . A flower! This is for kids.. Soldiers. Become. Flowers. I know its a World or illusion, but does that include feeding LSD to minors to start all this trippy shit All this occurs whilst a fat bastard caterpillar looks on in the foreground and does nothing, not even so much as a 'how are you doing?' The cunt.

 

However, aside from the two player mine carts that completely ignore that inertia thing and have a constant speed, that first bit is really the highpoint of the game. Sure there are more forests, seas, bubbles and luscious graphics and treacle, musnt forget the treacle. It doesn't deviate significantly from the plan and by the time you've defeated the spider queen the game has already bored you to tears with it all.

 

I am all for intriguing and slower paced gaming, see Decap Attack, Kid Chameleon, Flink, Puggsy and countless others, but not at the expense of graphics, and even then they aren't even that good! Don't believe me? Jump on the flower stems later on in the first level and see those juddery, unfinished leaves break off in to a stair case. This isnt the only thing that's knackered either, graphically.

 

The whole game suffers from pacing issues and also an all round smugness that's hard to describe making appear that all it has to do is turn up and it's won. It doesnt help people revere it because it is Disney and they liked Castle of Illision either. Thsi makes it untouchable if you want to slag it off for being shit but, shit game it most definitely is.

 

Overall, there are plenty of better games, even Disney ones, on the Megadrive see:- The Lion King, Alladin, Toy Story, Pinocchio, Donald Duck In Maui Mallard, Quackshot and Mickey Mania among others. This game is bile in its purest form. Over-rated over-hyped and criminally, a mess. Avoid

 

2/10 (Graphics are generally good apart from the glitches, but thats about it. Ive not even started on the music. My god its worse than raking a chalkboard with your nails)

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I can't believe you only gave it 2/10. You mentalist. Though I guess this will be half the fun of this Retro thing.

 

World of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

 

230px-World_Of_Illusion_box_art.jpg

 

One of the greatest, truly co-operative games of all time. World of Illusion is one of my fondest memories as a childhood. You probably know by now i'm a huge fan of platform games, so naturally I have a history with this game.

 

I'll start with the Graphics. They are pretty amazing for a Megadrive game. Aside from the AAA titles like Sonic, the Megadrive had some pretty ugly graphics sometimes. This is not one of those games however, as not only are the graphics really lush, but also varied. The levels in this game take you from enchanted forests, through caves and the skies, to Wonderland and the graphics never back down.

You'll recognise half of the levels from other Disney films and cartoons, as levels are set in places inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and The Little Mermaid. If you love Disney, you'll enjoy the levels on this.

 

You can play as Mickey or Donald, or both if you have a friend. The best thing about this is that all 3 runs through have different levels so if you think that playing alone means you miss out on something, it makes up by giving you two seperate run-throughs. The co-op is where this game is at though.

They both have unique aspects such as Donald's rump being too fat to crawl through gaps, so Mickey has to pull him. You also have to use things such as ropes and see-saws to help each other make it through the level. The Gameplay is top notch. The characters handle fine and accurately when it comes to moving and jumping. Your main attack is your magic cape which turns the baddies into animals and flowers when you hit them. The enemies vary between each level and can range from forest soldiers to sharks and cowboys.

 

Despite everything else in the game being of such good quality, it's the music that I enjoy most. I still hum the 2nd level's music every now and again. This one -

 

 

For a Megadrive game, they did a great job of hiding the capabilities of the sound and produced one of the best Platform game soundtracks on the console that wasn't named Sonic.

 

There's not an awful lot to go into when it comes to older games like this. They don't have all the frills and fancyness of the newer consoles, but you know which games stand the test of time and this happens to be one of them. It's a shame that there isn't any newer generation games like this one, or that it hasn't gotten a Live Arcade release.

 

Also, Pat. The cards are health, not "powerups". My opinions are pretty much the exact opposite to yours! :laugh: . Love the graphics, love the music, love the pace of the game and variety of stages.

 

world-of-illusion-ftw2.jpg

 

World_Wonderland.gif

Edited by TripleA
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Haha, now you mention it, i can vividly remember that preview video you're talking about, after never having given it a single thought since the time. It's funny how much seemingly forgotten pointless shit stays in your mind. It had Sonic 2, Greendog the Surfer Dude, Alien 3 and some stupid James Pond Aquatic Olympic games on it too.

 

I'm not much use for this discussion as i can only remember it from the time, but fwiw i wasn't all that high on it in comparison to Castle of Ilusion which i loved. It looked nice and was mega-colourful, but was too slow and plodding when Megadrive owners were getting used to the Sonic games as the benchmark for platformers at the time. Of all those Disney games i played, my favourite was actually Quackshot. It was never considered one of the top games by the reviewers (I think it was generally reviewed around 80% whilst they were giving the likes of Castle of Illusion 95%) but i always found it more enjoyable, and the graphics were the most atmospheric with it's 'Indiana Jones' kind of feel.

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Okay, review time.

 

Despite being a rather well known platformer. I've never played World Of Illusion surprisingly enough, so I had no clue how the game itself actually handled.

 

Onto the game itself, I actually sort of knew what to expect thanks to an old video I had which showed previews for various games. So I sort of knew what the first levels would be like. (and it turns out up above the vid's been named, so thanks for that).

 

Controls:

Pretty easy to get used to, and aren't an issue in playing the game, however I wasn't a fan of having jump and run at opposite ends of the controller. Not that you ever really needed the run button except for when the roof starts lowering, and perhaps on the Alice In Wonderland levels.

 

Graphics:

For a Megadrive game they're pretty good, nothing that would make you look at the game and go rushing to buy it, but it's still relatively well done.

 

Sound:

Again, for what it was, the sound is pretty good. It's rare to get really great sounding music on the Megadrive (and off the top of my head I can only really think of Sonic, Streets Of Rage, and ToeJam & Earl as being great. Although the intro theme for Eternal Champions is still perhaps the greatest). So as a whole the music and sounds are well done.

 

The game as a whole was rather fun, if on the easy side. But as it's more geared towards the younger generation that's understandable. The only problem I really had was the damned shark boss, but then when I worked out the best tactic (just fire as rapidly as possible in his direction) he was ridiculously easy as well.

 

The biggest issue I had with the game is what I feel were just "filler" sections. Which were basically the magic carpet and the bubble parts (especially the transitional one screen bubble section which just served to waste time), those sections were generally dull and were easily rushed through, just serving to be annoying if you died in a later part of that level. The game would have been just as good without those levels in it, and perhaps actual platforming in their place.

 

It was actually a rather enjoyable game, if rather short, and while there's the option of playing as Donald and having some different sections in each level, or playing two players and getting different sections again, it's not really got any great replayability in it to make it worth me attempting to do so with Donald or dragging a friend into it. But as a quick one off play through it succeeds massively. Just don't expect to be struggling to complete it, or to be able to play it repeatedly after you've done so.

 

If I had to give it a straight out of ten... 6/10 it does what it's meant to do, however it's too short even for a game aimed at the younger generation, and has sections which just serve to delay you from getting to the good parts, both of which pull the game down.

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Also, Pat. The cards are health, not "powerups". My opinions are pretty much the exact opposite to yours! :laugh: . Love the graphics, love the music, love the pace of the game and variety of stages.

 

The cards were "power ups" though of a sort though? collect 52 for an extra life and the silver one makes you invincible for a bit if memory serves. Its as close to a shmup power up as you were going to get in that game.

 

Also re playing cards in the game

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

 

 

Level Codes

Mickey

 

Level 2: King of Clubs, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, King of Diamonds

Level 3: King of Hearts, King of Spades, King of Diamonds, Queen of Spades

Level 4: Queen of Hearts, King of Diamonds, King of Spades, King of Clubs

Level 5: King of Diamonds, King of Clubs, King of Hearts, King of Spades

 

Donald

 

Level 2: King of Spades, King of Diamonds, King of Clubs, Queen of Spades

Level 3: King of Clubs, King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Spades

Level 4: Queen of Hearts, King of Diamonds, King of Hearts, King of Spades

Level 5: King of Spades, King of Hearts, King of Clubs, King of Diamonds

 

2 Player

 

Level 2: King of Spades, King of Hearts, Queen of Spades, King of Clubs

Level 3: King of Diamonds, Queen of Spades, King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts

Level 4: Queen of Spades, Queen of Hearts, King of Clubs, King of Spades

Level 5: King of Clubs, King of Diamonds, King of Spades, King of Hearts

 

 

[close spoiler]

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Right Nominations Time

 

Have been advised to keep things to one post

 

So until Sunday will have a bit of a nominations thread here.

 

Please continue to post any thoughts and a score for World of Illusion though

 

 

Nominations for Week 2 are thus far

 

Plok

Tiny Toons Adventures

Edited by patdfb
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I'd always wanted Plok when it first came out. It was well received review wise, and looked really original. Disappointingly after playing it I'm going to have to say I didn't enjoy it. I probably would have when I was younger, but the unfortunate fact is that Plok is now rather dated. The way you kill bad guys is pretty frustrating, and makes the game much harder than it should be. The levels are also pretty boring. There's not much variety in what you do, and although there are tweaks and twists that were probably clever and unique at the time they now feel bog-standard ordinary.

 

I really wanted to like this game, and I probably would have with the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia. As it stands I would give it a completely average 5/10 score.

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Well Ive seen it ,Ive read it reviewed. But Ive never actually played it until now.

 

First impressions are that its bright and bold. Reminds me of Wonderboy a bit and the large sprites are drawn and animated well enough

 

The Difficulty is ahem well odd. But I shall have a plow on

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Okay, I asked for it, so I should try and give a decent review of it.

 

We open with one of my favourite bits of intro music to a game ever. (OCReMiX have a great remix of it on their site as well for that matter), I absolutely adore the intro music to this game.

 

The basic story begins that someone has stolen the flag from Plok's house, and he spies it on another island. So off we go trekking to get it back. Nothing outstanding, and generally just your bare basic plot from the time it would seem.

 

The controls are easy, it's not hard to get the hang of fire, jump, and large jump. However the game has much more than your basic platformer in it, and I shall come to that later.

 

Sound

The music is brilliant, really gets you into the feel for the game, (and the boss music is amazingly well done as well). Each area of the game has it's own music as well, and they always fit the area and really help draw you into the game, and even the power ups have their own music that plays along with them to make it all the better.

 

Graphics

I still love these even today, they're bright, colourful and just all round fun. What's not to like?

 

Gameplay

The game is hard, it's aimed at the younger generation, and the first few levels are easy, but after the first boss the difficulty level spikes up something drastic, and just keeps getting higher the further in you get.

 

This thing is full of comical situations, right from the beginning you raise the first flag and find a pair of boxer shorts, and the game continues throwing comedy at you from then on, be it more stupid flags, comical stuff from Plok himself, or my favourite, on the Normal game when you get back to the house and fall asleep only to go doing Grand Pappy Plok's mini quest for the Amulet, leading him to dig up all sorts of strange items as he searches for it (and finally another fight with those damned Bobbins brothers, and this time there's three of them!)

 

But with the game being so hard to get through, the designers were kind enough to include secret bonus levels that, if you complete them fast enough, will warp you further forward (For an idea of one of them, just go to the first level and jump to the left into the water and keep going, you will land on an island with a fruit there, shoot the fruit three times, when it would normally explode (shoot these fruit twice to get maximum health gain from them).

 

Where normally they explode, this one warps you to a secret level where you have to fly a helicopter, these are useful in getting to grips with a few of the vehicles in the game because if you have the ability to get to the end of the game, each level requires use of a new vehicle (You have a motorbike, a tank, a unicycle, a UFO, and more).

 

You also have a variety of power ups available which transfer you into various guises, you have one that turns you into a fireman, allowing you to cause plenty of damage with ease, a rocket launcher guy that fires rockets in four directions, and a strange Sherlock Holmes looking one which fires a blunderbuss.

 

The main portion of the game however will be you trying to restore all of your flags to their former glory on the main island as, once you obtain your own flag, you find the fleas (yes, fleas) have taken your flags down and put their own ones up. It is up to you to eliminate every flea on each level and raise your flag up the pole once more. To do this you fire at each flea, which means firing your arms and legs at them each time.

 

The real trouble comes when you get to having to fire at targets to get to different areas, as when you do so you lose the body part you fired into the target until you can get to the hanger it is on to collect it. This is fine when the hanger is right beside the target. It's less alright when you are required to fire your legs at two seperate targets and have to get across the level before you get them back, mainly because with no legs you bounce everywhere. This makes what would have been a very easy area into one of the hardest in the game.

 

As a whole, Plok is one of those games I can come back to again and again, and while there are a few levels that tend to grate on me, the majority are fun and lively, plus with how unique the game is (I'm yet to see one that does what it did) it always makes it an enjoyable play.

 

8/10

 

Not perfect by any stretch, but exceptionally underated (or even totally unknown) by so many, it deserves to be played and fully enjoyed by all.

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But with the game being so hard to get through, the designers were kind enough to include secret bonus levels that, if you complete them fast enough, will warp you further forward (For an idea of one of them, just go to the first level and jump to the left into the water and keep going, you will land on an island with a fruit there, shoot the fruit three times, when it would normally explode (shoot these fruit twice to get maximum health gain from them).

See, I don't like that. I buy a game to play it, not to complete it. So the whole "level skipping" thing doesn't appeal to me. I want to be able to enjoy every level rather than to warp past them. However, I wasn't doing that anyway so I guess it's a moot point.

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Another 'nother review

 

Well I've given Plok some welly now and either 'Iam too old for this shit or Iam dead inside'.

 

I dont get the Plok love at all its okay, but its not great.

 

The graphics are big and bold and beautiful, but they arent massively different to say Rocket Knight Adventures or Pop and Twin Bee Rainbow Bell Adventures or similar.

 

It's all oh so very simplistic.

 

The main character Plok is pissed because of flags missing and then goes on a quest to retrieve them like he has nothing better to do or for his Granpappy's honour or some such other pigswill. At the end of each level he hoists a flag with some comedic value like a pair of pants and proceeds to get pissed off with it not being his flag. I know games have the most flimsy of plots on occasions, but this is ridiculous. set out on a Super Mario like quest among islands and bosses to find out what is good and what is isnt to find flags.. Fucking hell. Iam sick of all the shit flag jokes already. They got boring after the first few stages and the game became really chore like.

 

The whole package is well done, professional and workman like. I just cant feel the love. Quirks like really stupid logs which are annoying and seem to make the game overly hard and the 'system' of firing that is the games USP just dont connect. Its okay but nothing more than that. The repeat of same or similar levels over and over and over and over really reminds me of Bubsy The Bobcat, which gets identikit after a while. Puggsy, High Seas Havoc and plenty of others address this and at least have lil differences. Plok.. Brightly coloured , nearly impossibleness and this is for kids. Okay.

 

The game this most reminds me off is Zool.. nothing great or particularly outstanding, just solid..

 

The music by Tim Follin is pretty good and there are some neat touches graphically

 

This is solid 6/10 fair and no more

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pat, did you ever get beyond the first set of bosses? I will admit the first few levels get a bit samey, but after that it really does pick up when you're dealing with the fleas and such like.

 

and Ron, the bonus levels I find good purely because if you play the game a few times, they're great to use to skip through the first few levels and get into the meat and veg of the game, when I was playing it on a SNES and was trying to complete the game (which was pretty hard once you get beyond the first few flea levels) there was obviously no saving or password system, so the level warps made it great in that you didn't spend ages getting to where you were before. But also posed somewhat of a challenge to actually do said skipping.

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