Jump to content

The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread


patiirc

Recommended Posts

I'm not sure which jump you can't make, but have you got the running/jumping shoes? You might need to use a merry man for a puzzle depending on where you are. It's certainly not an unforgivingly difficult game, I'm guessing it's a "lack of instructions" thing for you, I dunno?

 

Level one, up the ladder and jump across ever time hit the roof, bar none

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

If you mean the very first ladder, right after you collect the key, you need to hold the fire button to jump across (number 5 on the keypad if that's how you're playing it), not by pressing up (8 on the keypad), and make sure you hold the button down during the jump.

 

This way he'll do a diving flip jump which clears more space than a normal jump.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you mean the very first ladder, right after you collect the key, you need to hold the fire button to jump across (number 5 on the keypad if that's how you're playing it), not by pressing up (8 on the keypad), and make sure you hold the button down during the jump.

 

This way he'll do a diving flip jump which clears more space than a normal jump.

 

Ill give it a bash but not holding out much hope as will always hit his head on the roof

 

Will add Simon the Sorcerer 2.. Do you want Chuck Rock II removing as you have one nominated already? Played the 1st one aeons ago. should be fun I take it you want the Amiga version? The PC version has got dumps on the net but at nearly 100 Meg because of the speech and then having to spoof an Iso to load could be a bit choresome. However will go with prevalent view here.

 

Edit: Next weeks inspection may start a day or two late, depends how Iam after R3play

Edited by patdfb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Nah, keep Chuck Rock II. I don't think there's a big deal with people having two games nominated at a time, and poor Chuck Rock has been waiting around for ages to be played. The versions on each format of Simon The Sorcerer II are pretty similar, bar the speech so I think any version would be fine. Heck, some people might even want to play the iPhone version, it doesn't really matter as it's the same game anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nah, keep Chuck Rock II. I don't think there's a big deal with people having two games nominated at a time, and poor Chuck Rock has been waiting around for ages to be played. The versions on each format of Simon The Sorcerer II are pretty similar, bar the speech so I think any version would be fine. Heck, some people might even want to play the iPhone version, it doesn't really matter as it's the same game anyway.

 

Cool, I dont want games backing up too far incase some one new jobs ( however unlikely) as they will have to wait weeks for their games to come up under the new system and doubling up could mean it takes even longer.

 

There's an Iphone version... Blimey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Nah, keep Chuck Rock II. I don't think there's a big deal with people having two games nominated at a time, and poor Chuck Rock has been waiting around for ages to be played. The versions on each format of Simon The Sorcerer II are pretty similar, bar the speech so I think any version would be fine. Heck, some people might even want to play the iPhone version, it doesn't really matter as it's the same game anyway.

 

Cool, I dont want games backing up too far incase some one new jobs ( however unlikely) as they will have to wait weeks for their games to come up under the new system and doubling up could mean it takes even longer.

 

There's an Iphone version... Blimey

You could put Simon on the list, but shunt it down as necessary if someone new suggests something, up until Chuck Rock II has been played and reviewed?

 

Anyway, yeah there's an iPhone version - it's actually a great format for retro games, the iPhone, particularly adventure games if that's your cup of tea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

I have mixed feelings about this game. It probably would have been great fun to play at the time. Even now the OTT blood and guts nature of the thing is fun. I absolutely love the fact people react to getting their bodies blown to pieces with a simple "ugh." It made me laugh, and made me want to score the game a full ten out of ten. It made me want to like the game more than I possibly could.

 

The negatives are the slow pace of the game. You're constantly kept busy with people to obliterate, but I felt as though I wanted to sprint on from certain sections and see something new, but I couldn't. I slowly plodded along killing everything in sight, and this got repetetive quite quickly.

 

I enjoyed the music of the game, it was suitably retro and a great throwback to the 90s. It's catchy and buzzes around in your head for a while after you finish the game - in a good way. It gets you pumped up for some fast-paced murderin' fun...but as I said you just don't get that. Well, that's not entirely true - you certainly get the murderin'.

 

The game obviously takes inspiration from Contra, except the programmers ramped up the violence and slowed down the fun. And for a modern day gamer that's problematic. I can quite happily pick up the original Contra and enjoy it to this day. And while I can completely accept that Robocop Vs. Terminator would have been a blast back in the day, I just don't think it is anymore. After the initial giggle at the silly deaths I found myself getting bored, and swearing under my breath at Robocop to get on, as though he were a fat person blocking up a hallway and I was in a rush.

 

Overall I'd give the game 5/10.

 

There's probably fun to be had for someone in this game, unfortunately I wasn't that person.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'Well I never, a game with blood and violence on the Sega Megadrive'. 'In my day... Oh wait, this was my day'. Whoops

 

 

Robocop vs Terminator(RVT), ey? Just to say it out loud or even see it written down conjures up images to two of cinemas most iconic heroes and villains, so this was surely a game that was going to match all expectations and bring something new to the table, right? Right?

 

Unfortunately Robocop and Terminator had had something of a bum rep on in terms of games on consoles and computers when (RVT) was released. T2: the Arcade Game, flattered to deceive because it was insanely hard (infact some of it was entirely reliant on luck) and didnt let you get in to the bones of the game as a light gun game you are always away from the action. T2: The Movie was a joke of a game on most formats, only really the C64 Cart version (mini game city) really doing anything of note and even then it wasnt fantastic. The Terminator movie faired better, with a criminally underated, but stupidly short Megadrive game (can be done in c.15 mins see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjAp0axNHSg) and a pretty decent, but brick Snes version iirc. The zenith however is the Mega CD version which is absolutely superb

.

 

Robocop had its hey day with the early Coin-op conversions of the Data East Arcade game and thereof, Robocop 2 remained unconverted despite being a pretty good beat em up, the home games based on the movie were hit and miss to say the least and Robocop 3 on the Amiga/Atari ST was a fantastic romp, yet Robocop 3 on Snes/megadrive was well, shit for want of a better word. To say that fortunes were mixed for both protagonists was a bit of an understatement.

 

RVT was pumped in the press for months prior to release as being the solution to all these problems. It couldnt fail could it? Developed by Virgin who had done the Megadrive tie-ins of Terminator, but not made by proto-Shiny and Dave Perry's team. The game had a good lineage in terms of good/bad Terminator games and should therefore come out with a good game?

 

The introduction to the game itself is a fairly sparse affair with a huge Sega logo and Robocop self proclaiming the title to be excellent and then a title screen with some bullet noises as the word Terminator appears on screen followed by an ED-209 grunt. You are given the usual start or options schtick and can messabout with levels of play such as 'wimpy' and so on to how you want to play the game. In an effort to show some kind of continuity,despite being develped no by Bestheda, the sound test, mirrors those of Dave Perry, giving the impression at least that this will continue to be a good game.

 

On to the game itself and the first level. The game is set in a fictional universe created by Dark Horse's 6 issue mini comic series of the same name. Right from the get go, other than the core idea, the game is clearly ignoring what took place and so the game begins on a trainer level, which I assume should be the Streets of Old Detroit, if we are at least following cannon. The first thing that is apparent is that RVT is a colourful game, especially in the early levels where there are a mix of many different colours and is very bright and breezy, its only later when you get to the future where things get a bit well dull. The sprites themselves are huge, and well animated and you play through the game as a literal interpretation of RVT if you wanted to play as the T then, unfortunately you were to be disappointed.

 

The game itself is a run and gun affair, Robocop has been made into this agile sort who can jump climb and hop about with relative ease which isnt really Robocop, but is if you consider say the end of Robocop 2 where he bounces around like Yoda in the Star Wars Prequels, fighting Cain/Robocop 2 and there are a variety of weapons that can be used to defeat the enemies on screen. You start with an approximation of Robocop's famous automatic pistol that fits in his leg with appropriate sound effects, and later during the game you can pick up homing missiles, a shot gun, a crappy, and I do mean crappy, flame thrower, a completely useless grenade launcher, a small laser, a game changing super laser (more on this later) and stuff like ED- 209's gun. These weapons fit in two weapon slots at the top of the screen and would usually be lost when you die. There is however a quirk to the game that of you quickly swap weapons before you die, during the 'Arggh' sound you can keep your favoured weapon all the way through the game should you wish. This is particularly helpful with the super laser as, the gun cuts through mostly everything in seconds and really does make the game somewhat easier.

 

The main selling point of the game seems to be its gore. If you kill a flesh based enemy they explode/disntergrate into a pool of red and mush in a style not to dissimilar to Death Wish III. It's okay the first few times that you see it, but after that it does get rather tedious. The programmers seemed to have noticed this and quickly move on to letting you destroy terminators and other assorted robots in later levels, though these are quickly vaporised by the super laser, yet take ages to kill with anything else. The game is also quite easy ( only about 2 levels provide even a mild challenge), even on normal settings. I hadnt played it properly for about a decade, yet I was soon up to about 20 lifes , with several scattered over the first few levels and one awarded every 10k its soon easy to have loads of lives to carry on. The only thing that is difficult is the end of level bosses which are impossibly hard when compared to the rest of the game. Trying to kill them with just Robocop's automatic pistol/flamethrower/homing device is like using a pea shooter and some bosses will take in excess of 10 minutes to kill using this method. With the super laser, its shorter, but not as much as you think: seeing as it cuts through other enemies like a knife through butter there is something of a problem with the game mechanic in this instance as it goes from super gun, to er well not so super.

 

And thats about it, after the first few levels you have seen pretty much all the game has to offer. With little in the way of explanation given the levels roll on one to another Streets, Construction Site, OCP offices, Future Wastes, Skynet and so forth, with only the enemy pallets changing and some admittedly well done background re-shells, you defeat the flying Terminator T-800 head that spews out Robocop bonuses for some strange reason and that's the whole kit and caboodle' or is it? The game seems clipped and there is a reason for that, mainly because it is clipped. With secret levels and some gore characters and story left out it seems that not everything was able to get past the censors despite the blood. This leaves the game feeling very stilted and dare I say it rushed.. Its a shame as I think Sega's censorship issues has curtailed some of the game, but it was something of standard practice at the time.

 

The violence against women issue has been raised many times on the Megadrive, what with Poison in Final Fight being made male on the Mega CD version, and some of the more effiminate , female and boundary pushing bad guys from Streets of Rage III being removed/covered also because of censorship issues

RVT is no different and despite the blood and guts some female enemies and 'flame' deaths have been cut along with the back story and a few other things. between beta and retail release. There is a code that restores some of it, but it's bloody annoying that you are not getting the whole game, out of the pack, Some things never change do they? There are several versions of the Game floating around on the net so, if you look hard enough you can find all the differences including a re jigged intro which helps explains things better and provides the game with some context after all/

 

Back to the game itself, the music is annoying and repetative and loud to the extent it over powers the sound effects and action and is best turned off in the options and playing along to your favourite RAWK tunes as they will provide a better impetus to complete the game, because of the sprite size and nature of the game it is only a single player experience as well. The option to play as a 2nd player even if only alternatively made have added to the games appeal.

 

Overall, much like its compatriots RVT tries to do the grand concept and it very nearly works, however despite me adoring the game when it came out, it now is something of a shallow beast, with not alot going for it. The graphics are still good and there are some interesting themes, but its no where near as good as it was supposed to be or was reviewed as eiher. There is too much repetition, no storyline whatsoever and criminally in parts its deathly dull. This is not how a great game is made. I suspect at the time if I went back to it with these aged eyes Id probably give it 8 or 9/10, but looking back now, I cant give it a good score as not much style over not much substance, really isnt enough. Much like the rest of the series' games middling.

 

6/10

Edited by patdfb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

I remember there was quite a buzz around a Terminator vs Robocop game. This got the rumour mill going about a possible film, which would have been great for the youngest amongst us with wild imaginations. The game itself was decent I thought. I could be wrong, but wasnt Robocop the babyface in it? My memory's all fuzzy about it, but I used to play it up my mates all the time. Never owned it though. I can vividly remember me about my mate saying "IT'S STING" in our Tony Shaivone voices when he'd jump off buildings and stuff.

Edited by Ian_hitmanhart
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

This game is better than the film it's based on.

 

Though that's not really a bold statement, as drinking cat piss is better than the film it's based on.

 

If Robocop Vs. Terminator was a poor mans Contra, this is a poor man's Street's of Rage. One plus point for this game is the fact its characters are less annoying than SOR's. The sprites are probably better looking, and they would quite probably have created a very unsettling and creepy atmosphere seventeen years ago, when the game was first released. As it stands they still look pretty good, and the game has a suitably dark feel to it, even if you do fight a giant duck robot at the end.

 

The problem I have with the game world is the same that I had with the film. It's Tim Burton's vision of Batman, and as with Tim Burton's vision of anything there are several recurring themes. The most noticable in the game is the fact they try to replicate Danny Elfman's soundtrack. Elfman could only produce something that fit what Burton wanted to project, and in the game they capture that projection well. The occasionally "wacky" tunes don't really float my boat, but I'd imagine some people getting a kick out of them. It's faithful to the film, make of that what you will.

 

As for the gameplay...it doesn't really translate well to me for the modern day. It's slow paced and repetitive. It's perfectly OK for a quick (well, slow, given the pace Batman walks at) blast, but I didn't feel inclined to play it at length. There are plenty of older games that play perfectly well to this day. I don't think that this kind of game does. It's not a bad game as such, it's just a dull and repetitive one and that's not really how you want to occupy an afternoon.

 

Plus points: It's as faithful a film adaptation as you could expect of a game of that age, the sprites are well drawn, the mechanics are sound

 

Negatives: It's slow paced, repetitive, the music is occasionally annoying (though is composed perfectly well)

 

Score: 4/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This game is better than the film it's based on.

 

Though that's not really a bold statement, as drinking cat piss is better than the film it's based on.

 

If Robocop Vs. Terminator was a poor mans Contra, this is a poor man's Street's of Rage. One plus point for this game is the fact its characters are less annoying than SOR's. The sprites are probably better looking, and they would quite probably have created a very unsettling and creepy atmosphere seventeen years ago, when the game was first released. As it stands they still look pretty good, and the game has a suitably dark feel to it, even if you do fight a giant duck robot at the end.

 

The problem I have with the game world is the same that I had with the film. It's Tim Burton's vision of Batman, and as with Tim Burton's vision of anything there are several recurring themes. The most noticable in the game is the fact they try to replicate Danny Elfman's soundtrack. Elfman could only produce something that fit what Burton wanted to project, and in the game they capture that projection well. The occasionally "wacky" tunes don't really float my boat, but I'd imagine some people getting a kick out of them. It's faithful to the film, make of that what you will.

 

As for the gameplay...it doesn't really translate well to me for the modern day. It's slow paced and repetitive. It's perfectly OK for a quick (well, slow, given the pace Batman walks at) blast, but I didn't feel inclined to play it at length. There are plenty of older games that play perfectly well to this day. I don't think that this kind of game does. It's not a bad game as such, it's just a dull and repetitive one and that's not really how you want to occupy an afternoon.

 

Plus points: It's as faithful a film adaptation as you could expect of a game of that age, the sprites are well drawn, the mechanics are sound

 

Negatives: It's slow paced, repetitive, the music is occasionally annoying (though is composed perfectly well)

 

Score: 4/10

 

Coo! Ive never played this, but nominated it because its held up as being a good un. Im a bit behind after still trying to write up some R3play stuff. but should get sorted playing it soonish

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...