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The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread


patiirc

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Well It's Christmas 2010 ( in the game!) What better things to do than fight fires? Clearly some one at Human thought this was a great idea for a game, so they made it. Then,what shall we call our protagonists? Pete and Danny. With that in mind, lets have a fire, why not?

 

So this fire it's in a building, and its a big building, with a maze of walk ways, nooks crannies and short cuts to confuse and bemuse and you have to put out this fire, with only 2 of you, Pete and Danny against the world.

 

Pete is an old duffer with a handlebar moustache and Danny is a young kid who is just learning his trade and together they will be WYLD STALLIONS!

 

Er, not quite.

 

Anyways, this two firefighters are first on the scene and its their job to put this 'mother' out. Starting on level one the fires are small and can easily be put out,You play as Pete and he has an inexhaustable supply of water stuck to his back, Pressing on but creates a fine mist for floor fires and another produces a long stream for bigger blazes. Danny has an axe to bash out fires and for an AI player he is pretty good, he will intelligently put out fires that cause danger and will get your back if you are surrounded, he is also invincible!

 

The main aim is clearly to extinguish the fire and in order to do that you have to face a number of perils, whether be exploding canisters ala Backdraft and indeed, Backdraft's themselves, there are a variety of things to test the player. There are also a number of people strewn about, over come by fire who require rescuing.

 

So far so good, and once you get over fire having attack patterns! Fire Bosses! and 'Mad' Fire Robots! the game play is really good. The graphics are amazingly detailed with the fire remaining moving and then the background left scorched where its been for example, Pete and Danny are well animated and detailed and the game has lots of little bits that make it a class above. Those who have played the Fire Pro series will recognise some of the musical refrains shown in the music, which is understandable given its by Human as well.

 

Remembering that this game was made in 1994 its imperative not to judge it against modern games, by that I mean the lack of save states and passwords. The game is a start to finish affair with no dropping in on level 5 or whatever. It would make no sense with a building on fire and would severely mess up the game play. That's not to say it is perfect though. Putting out the fires can get repetitive and though the game is short (75-80 mins play time) start to finish, it can still be a chore pressing a button to put out a fire over and over again. As the game progresses the game gets insanely difficult in terms of putting out fires and its worth taking the hit and using the continue to see the finish as you will get a replenish of three water bombs to use vs the boss or indeed just ignoring them where you can to get to the end of the game.

 

Other than that the lack of a 2 player option and and a well worked out time limit which means if you stay in the heat too long your health drops to near zero, then thats pretty much it.

 

Good game well worth the addition to anyone's Snes collection. Not perfect but a pleasant surprise

 

8.5/10

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First of all I'll nominate a well known but (I believe) underrated and overlooked game: Final Fantasy V for the SNES.

 

Now, Sonic Triple Trouble...

 

Ahhhh Dr Robotnik. Chasing after those Chaos Emeralds again. Given the mass of technology at his disposal he'd probably be better served from actively killing Sonic rather than creating elaborate levels of Robots for him to race through, but what have you?

 

Sonic Triple Trouble is easily the strongest Sonic game on the system, but for some reason or other it's kind of been forgotten in time. People always talk about the Mega Drive Sonic games, but you rarely hear the equally brilliant Master System and Game Gear games getting credit. Sure they're not as slick musically, but the gameplay is pretty superb.

 

Particularly in this game. That said, I'm going to start off the review by talking about the bad stuff. It has to be mentioned. Firstly, the music is predominantly terrible. There are one or two exceptions, but even those are "only just" exceptions. If the game was remade with better graphics and music (like Super Mario Bros 3 on the GBA, for example) you know that manny of the horribly bleepy tunes would actually translate to something quite fantastic. But unfortunately that hasn't happened, and you have to endure the migraine inducer that is 8 bit music. It also doesn't quite "feel" like a Mega Drive Sonic game. Just because of the way Sonic handles, nothing more. That's a minor fault, but a fault nonetheless.

 

If you can get past these faults - well, maybe "problems" is a better word to use - you'll find a fantastic Sonic game. The difficulty is just right. No frustrating special stages like in the MD Sonic 2, and the idea of "speed" isn't wasted either. If you want to rush through the levels as fast as you can, that's all OK too.

 

The game introduces a new character who I quite like. I don't know why Nack the Weasel hasn't appeared again, he was a creepy little bastard who made a pretty good side villain to Robotnik. Knuckles is another obstacle in the game, and is at his bastardly best trying to hinder you at every given opportunity.

 

The zone design is a little familiar in places, but that's kind of what you want in Sonic games, a mix of the familiar and the new, which you certainly get with some fun original moments (such as the traintop chase sequence) the familiar aspects to the game make it an identifiable Sonic game, rather than just a platformer with a fast protagonist.

 

I'm going to highly recommend this game, and I hope that at some point Sega produce a remade collection of Sonic's Master System/Game Gear hits. Don't make them "3D", Sega, just treat them as if they were making a move to the Mega Drive...

 

8/10

Edited by Ron Simmons
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  • 2 weeks later...

SAY-GA!

 

Or rather it isnt, it really, really isnt.

 

Now, I'll hold me hands up here and say I didnt really rate the first two Sonic games on the Master System, but I like Sonic Chao, of what I've played of it (which isnt loads). This however is something else (eep)

 

Allowing you to play as Sonic or Tails you begin your quest to.. Oh jeez like anyone hasnt played a Sonic game, Its Robotnik/Dr Eggman! Okay! He has snitched the Chaos Emeralds, Transmogrified bunnies in to robots and so on. Your job, if you can be arsed, is to save the world ah-gain with little or no thanks. Why they dont just battle to the death is beyond me: Hedgehog vs Fat pasty mad scientist, has ratings all over it.

 

Anyway, Sonic TT (as I will call it) starts of as a jolly affair, it's fast and jaunty and plays well, or so you'd think. I play mainly as Tails. I like him. He is animated well, and has lots of detailing graphically. All is not well though and he controls as well as an oil tanker. You have to plan your moves 7 years in advance and if you are lucky, then you may stop, change direction or whatever before you die, get spiked and so on

 

The graphics are nice, lots of detail and variety and the back ground is static though so no parallax or illusions of here.. no no no just like someone is playing against a painting. The levels have lots of glitches though and hit one of the 17 billion springs and you will get stuck in the scenery at some point and it makes the game a rather large chore. There are also too many springs as well. This is Sonic the 'Bastard' Hedgehog, not Springy the 'Fucking' Kangaroo or something. It is like the developers got the spring kit add on for their dev kit and went ment, Springs everywhere and anywhere, joy! You want destructable scenery? You got it. Oh yeah,one small thing, it looks just like normal scenery so you have no choice of seeing it whatsoever. Fun, fun, fun, huh? Maybe not

 

Then we have the bosses , for example boss 2 is a train, a moving train, which is impressive it takes you two minutes ish from the start of the boss to reach its end. It is only a poxy gun though and then should you die, which is likely first time, you then have to repeat the whole two minutes again to get to the boss. Why it couldnt just throw you in near to where the boss starts is beyond me. All of the bosses are like this, horribly convoluted and trying to be cleverer than they actually are. See the Jungle boss, its a dinosaur thing. bash its head and then kill it. Job done? Wrong you then have to dodge a rain of fire as bits of the falling dinosaur fall to peices. Ive killed the boss, Im not being caught out by that crap. Grrr

 

Knuckles is a mofo. There Ive said it and Im happy, the reason for this, well he incinerates everything at the end of most levels. Yet, at the end of these levels Sonic/Tails dont die, in a normal level, however, they would. Hmm super fire or something maybe I dunno

 

Back to the graphics and the game in general this has loops and tricks a plenty which should be impressive but they arent, the main sprites are at least 2 to 3 pixels off the floor when going round them and it shatters the illusion that you are there. It's a shame as it is quite a neat thing to see on an 8-bit, but wth the shit controls you will end up not taking a left at Alberquerque and then some before you can stop.

 

Sonic TT is an ambitious game, and shows off many of the Game Gear's skills and graphical trickery. It is however basically a glorified tech demo and the music will want to make you rip your ears off and bury them in tar. Something of a curious and get over its faults there is a passible platformer, its just not anything special and has way too may faults to make it playable for any length of time.

 

4.5/10

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Clock Tower o Snes

 

I'll be honest, Ive not really played this, because of a variety of factors that if listed would cause the world to implode. Mainly though despite my efforts to find a translation that patched and worked I have been thus far stumped which is bloody annoying because this is a great looking game.

 

Afaik its based on a movie by Argento, Phenomena? and involves a girl in a haunted mansion ala Alone in the Dark, Yumemi Mystery Mansion and a host of others. Why is it always women? Goes back to traditional horror cliches girl in danger is infinitely more perilous than a man in the same situation? Who knows.

 

So I watched it on you tube! Yes, that#s right sports fans, I was defeated so I 'watched' it instead. This isnt a review per se more of an over view

 

What can I tell you, Jennifer the main character is so slow moving its ridiculous, occasionally she sparks into life ducking for cover from the 'Ill Kill You' Bird but generally despite being in mortal danger she ambles everywhere like a slack jawed local and looks as gormless. Her wardrobe seems to come straight out of Cruise for a Corpse. Which tbf frank looks a lot better than this. That doesnt mean all is lost however

 

The sound effects are good and crisp the footsteps remind me of the Cluedo Quiz Machine, and the graphics for a Snes game are at times amazing. You would be hard pressed to tell this was coming off a cart and not off a CD, part of me thinks this was developed for the Aborted SNES CD, which is why it was so 'easy' to port to the Playstation. Im probably wrong, but a similar fate befell Secret of Mana 2, in so much was developed for the new machine but iltimately had to be squished to cart (That didnt get a PS Port though). The plot and the general atmosphere are good and smooth, in terms of it being a typical B Movie style and It does provide some genuine shocks along the way, playing this in a darkened room on a massive TV in 1995 could have be proper scary.

 

So far so good? Well yes and no, many people seem to herald this as the first survivalist game, and thus rate it massively. I dont think it is, its good dont get me wrong and only flaws such as the protagonists speed and some iffy translation seem to distract from it. its just not as good as it thinks it is. Games like Murder, Cruise for a Corpse and Alone in the Dark and even games like Sweet Home are all progenitors of a sort, So its claim doesnt sit right with me. Yes Capcom first used the term 'Survival Horror' but it doesnt always means it the first type of that game. And Resident Evil certainly wasnt.

 

Back to Clocktower, if I can get the patch sorted I will give it a proper go. some scary deaths, and an intriguing plot mean that it looks like it could definitely be worth a go.

 

An overview rating of 7/10

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I love Adventure games - even the bad ones - so obviously something like Clock Tower is going to be right up my street.

 

However, Clock Tower ISN'T a "bad one" - it's crushingly hard, full of frustration and, at times, unfair puzzles. But as with any adventure game it's about more than that - it's about a well told story.

 

It's genuinely atmospheric and at times quite jumpy. Had I played it when it first came out I'm certain I'd have found it genuinely scary. It's a brilliantly constructed game, and the fact it's on a console as opposed to a PC-type-system makes it all the more impressive. There have been attempts at Adventure games on consoles before, but honestly none of them really impressed me. They're generally either bad ports, or half-hearted efforts that bung in platform elements to appease the console crowd. This is a really good, really brave effort and as a result ends up a great game. I don't like to consider this "survival horror" but I guess it essentially is, just not in the convention we know of today.

 

Maybe one day it'll make the virtual console and then gain some sort of reputation in this country. I'd certainly never heard of it pre-nomination. And that's a great shame.

 

7/10

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Bugger, I thought the game picked was Desert Strike. I've only gone and bought the wrong friggin' game :(

 

:omg:

 

Well erm that is a bugger...

 

What about a review of that then plus get hold of the rom or a sight review of Desert Fighter/ASP?

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