I have been waiting for this series to be made into a video game since it first aired. Now it is here for the Game Boy. I happen to love the hit series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar on the WB Network. I never miss a single episode. Unfortunately, a hit series does not always translate well into a hit game.
You play as Buffy in a side scrolling Double Dragon type game. Unfortunately, you only fight one vampire at a time in a boring, one button smashing, unexciting adventure through Sunnydale. Each level is the same as the last. There is nothing new to look forward to, and the game is really simplistic. Some jumps were hard to make, but that is the extent to the difficulty in this game.
The sad thing about this game is that it could have been so much better. The graphics are excellent, with the one little exception being, that none of the characters look like they should. Still, the game looks rather nice and contains the same witty banter (sans voices) of the series. They even mention past episodes while involving surprise appearances from Cordelia and Angel from the spin off series, Angel. But game play is what makes a game, and this game just doesn't have it.
BBadseed's Bottomline: 1 out of 5. It was a real good idea, but this could have been a whole lot better-A whole lot. I heard THQ is making a version for the Playstation and Dreamcast. I hope they learn from their mistakes and make a better game. Until then, if I want to play as a girl from a hit series, I'll just stick to Danger Girl.
Ever since the day Tony Hawk premiered, extreme games featuring tricks, funky moves and extreme sports stars showcasing a bike, skateboard or surfboard have been all the rage. Just like Tony Hawk, THQ's latest Championship Motocross 2001 features a celebrity star from the Motocross circuit to help increase sales. Ricky Carmichael's name was licensed for the game, but his fame was not needed to carry this game. Championship Motocross 2001 can rely on its fundamentals alone to rake in the cash.
This game is for Nintendo's Game Boy. This is one of the nicest games to look at for the hand held system. The graphics are excellent. It is nice to have a graphically superior game also have superior game play. This game is a whole lot of fun. You can choose from 30 bikers and compete in over ten tracks on your way to the championship or the US Open. You can even change weather conditions to wet, dry or regular, and if you'd like, you can also change the number of laps necessary to complete a race.
Once you begin, the game is a lot of fun, as you compete in the Motocross circuit in hopes of being number one. The controls are easy and all that stands between you and championship glory are stupid mistakes, long twists and turns and other bikers.
Some problems arise when you do crash. You can never seem to catch up to your opponents if you crash just once. It's like they are perfect or something. So, once you mess up, you too have to be virtually perfect to do yourself justice in the race.
Still, this game is a lot of fun to play and pretty exciting as well. Jumping hills is nice, as long as you don't crash. The game even keeps records for the longest jumps. I've gone pretty far on those hills. I can only imagine what it's like on the real thing! I'll just stick to the game.
Badseed's Bottomline: 3.5 out of 5. This game is the Pole Position for bikes. I loved that game and this game brought back those memories. Championship Motocross 2001 Featuring Ricky Carmichael is a game that I would normally never think of playing, but I'm glad I did. It's game I'll continue playing until I beat it.
Remember when you would watch a game show and the loser would get the home game edition of the show? Like the loser would really ever want to play the home game after screwing is all up on national television. But that's another story.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has hit the Playstation; you can get a PC version with a box of cereal and now the 2nd edition of the hit game has hit the Game Boy. Finally, a chance to prove to myself that I really am a loser. Being a loser isn't so bad. While I couldn't even get to the $3,200 question, I sure enjoyed picking the wrong answer all the time. I will never forget some of those answers ever again. How's that for educational games?
Besides educational, this game is a whole lot of fun. It feels exactly like the show except without all the unwanted witty banter from guests. You won't hear Jim Bob stuck at the question, "What is the symbol for gold?" say, "Well, Rege, I used to work with cows, so I should know this?" Not having to hear that makes this game even better than the one on television. All the other aspects remain.
Yep, everything from the intensity between questions, to the phone calls to your good buddy Ted in Wisconsin. The game even has the pull away camera shots between rounds, as you get closer to the big money. This little cartridge has it all. Right from the beginning as I witnessed the money ladder, I almost felt like I was in it to win the large sum of cash. The graphics are stunning, bringing the entire studio into your home through the tiny Gameboy screen. The game play is just as good. Questions get harder and harder as you move up the ladder. But only 600 questions make up this game, so eventually, I'll get repeats and my memory will help me win the big dough. When that happens, I will let you know how real this game is. Ha! Ha!
Now, the lack of questions is the only negative aspect of this game. That, and the fact that Regis speaks just once, saying, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" He should say more like, "Who in the hell would buy that new Kathie Lee Gifford CD?" That would have been cool! Still, this game plays like a million bucks. It is fun, harder than you would think, and very addictive. Expect many a day on your Game Boy.
Badseed's Bottomline: is definitely a keeper. While I don't like the amount of time it takes between losing and playing the next game, I enjoyed everything else about it. Try the multiplayer function for even more of a true experience. Whoever wins fastest gets the hot seat with Regis. Also, enjoy the entire Millionaire experience from the three help lines, to even receiving a check for your winnings. Buy Who Wants to Be a Millionaire 2nd Edition, and get into training. As far as game shows go, this gets a 5 out of 5, and Regis, that's my final score.
Danger Girl is a hot comic book series that was asking to be a game for the Playstation. This game blows Lara Croft right out the water. I totally enjoyed Danger Girl and by the end of this review, you will too.
I was expecting a game that played like Tomb Raider, but I was surprised to see that this game played more like the hot Syphon Filter. You have objectives to pull off, and radio contact is a must in this game. Your radio contacts provide you with much needed help and clues for your mission. You have to do everything from finding fuel in one area to filling up a generator to get the electricity going. Once the electricity is up, you have to get the surveillance systems running and then you must blow up a weapons cache before it can be used on America. All this in the first level! How is that for comic book excitement?
The game is even more fun to play because of the excellent graphics. This is where the T for Teen rating comes in. There are three girls with some very girly figures. I mean puppies! Whoohoo!! Sorry for my sexism, but they utilize this aspect rather well in the game and often. The game mentions suggestive material, so parents, make sure you know this before allowing your child to play. As for the rest of the graphics, this game has that comic book feel, but also supplies us with some wonderful backgrounds, character designs and vehicular designs as well. It was truly a pleasure to roam through the levels, going from one objective to the next. It seemed like I was constantly discovering something new in places I had been just five seconds earlier.
But nothing is perfect, the game play is not the greatest in the world. I had trouble maneuvering and got stuck in certain places. I couldn't open things up without struggling, and that is never fun. I also didn't like the auto aim feature in this game. If you have auto aim, you should be able to aim right. I had to fire off six shots before I killed someone, and I only had 12 bullets to shoot with. That got annoying. Thankfully, there are plenty of ammo refills lying around to pick up and use.
Still, the fun factor is very high and the storyline is good enough to keep you wanting to play on until you finish it. While Tomb Raider has become a dying breed, Danger Girl adds some excitement to this genre. I can't wait for the sequel!
Badseed's Bottomline: 4 out of 5. It could have been perfect, but this game is not Syphon Filter. It just plays like it. Other than that, this game is fantastic. If there is a sequel, some game play tweaking is in order. Everything else should stay the same or be improved even further. Everything from some excellent cinematic scenes, to the incredible graphics are what makes this game so much fun to play. The many different objectives and the beautiful, powerful girls should have every man drooling, and every woman ready to play. Lara Croft's career could be in DANGER.
Last issue, I totally ripped on MTV's venture into skateboarding. This issue, I set out to totally praise their venture into the world of snowboarding. Wow! This is a field I thought no one could get right and I am so happy to be proven wrong. Pure Ride is pure excitement.
Players pick from a selection of characters and equipment, each having their own strengths and weaknesses depending on the various courses. Then it is off to the slopes where you get to show your stuff in a variety of cool modes to keep you busy. You can go freestyle and just roam through the slopes fine tuning your skills for the championship mode, or you can go right to the stunt mode and show them what you got. You can even go into head to head competition and let a rival know you mean business. Basically, once you have chosen your method of extreme madness, the game really begins to fly.
Backed by a phat soundtrack featuring songs from Bender, Gray Area, Project 86 (which I review in the next issue), and Incubus, you take your snowboarder all over the course, zipping at ultra fast speeds. This game may not kick ass in the graphics department, but it sure makes up for it in game play. I mean, everything is smooth, fast and exhilarating. I totally enjoyed how easy everything was to control. My boy was doing some hot jumps, twists and turns and he actually landed perfectly.
I hate when a game makes it hard to land your skater. This game does not encounter this problem. My boarder took some falls, but they were understandable. I mean I cracked right into a big box. If I didn't fall, I would be complaining how bad the crash detection was. This game is fluid. I totally enjoyed when I jumped a hill and then landed on a rail, and skated right across it. Totally cool!
Here are some of the problems that arise with this game. I do not like the load times at all for this game. In between runs on the same exact track, I have to wait a minute or two just to start the next attempt. And it gets to be quite tedious at times. Luckily for Pure Ride, this game is worth the wait.
&nbsopNext on the list are the graphics. This game's graphics are not the best, but they are good. They could be tweaked to look better, but that would have been a bigger deal had the game play not been so good. The only other complaint I have is that there could be some more tricks. I felt like the amount of tricks I was allowed to pull off were not plentiful. Still, you have to play this game, it is probably the best snowboarding game on the market.
Badseed's Bottomline: 4 out of 5. This game totally kicks ass. Great music, phat moves, and exciting game play. Pure Ride is a pure adrenaline rush.
You know, I'll admit it too-at one time I was intrigued with the idea of the Power Rangers. When they first came out, I had this urge to watch it. The show reminded me of a live action Voltron combined with Godzilla's cheesiness. Then I saw it, and I hated it. Too cheesy. Too strange. Not worth it.
But then something happened. Kids loved the show no matter what I thought. It kept evolving, movies were being made, toys were being sold, and even pictures of Power Rangers' characters were being placed on cakes. Yet, I didn't see much in the way of video games. At least, not until now. All of a sudden, the Power Rangers are getting pushed back down my throat again. So many years after they were "cool," the Power Rangers are still here and they have invaded the Playstation, Nintendo 64 and Gameboy. In our first issue, I reviewed the Gameboy version, a game I actually enjoyed. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the console versions.
Nintendo 64's version is absolutely lame, the graphics are supposed to be superior but there is something retarded about them. The characters move around rather slowly, following an equally cheesy comic book adventure through the streets, saving civilians and shooting slime off the block. The other villains move rather lethargically and are relatively easy to beat, and the effort it takes to get to them is boring and tiring.
About the only funny aspect of this game are the scenes where you drive around in your light speed rescue vehicle, saving those in dire circumstances. I laughed at the fact that I was able to smash other cars off the road to save distressed citizens, without any repercussions. I could even smash cars right into civilians and save them. Even funnier was when I drove past them. They would scream, "I'm over here." I had to laugh as I ignored them. Ha! Ha!
Badseed's Bottomline: 1 out of 5. I give it a one because it did make me laugh and that's cool, but other than that, this game is not worth buying. Nintendo 64 games are expensive and I don't own many for that reason. Just seems disappointing that despite the limited number of games in my library, Power Rangers will not receive much game play.
The Playstation version is a little better. The graphics weren't that great, but the gameplay was a little more enjoyable because of the Double Dragon style environment (Read this month's review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for similiar game play). This is not a game I would seek out to buy, but it is a game I would definitely attempt to beat. I enjoyed Double Dragon so much that any game that follows the side scrolling, fist slinging action, is a game that I enjoy trying to get through.
This veris is the same as the N64 and Gameboy versions, in the fact that you have to save people from certain doom, while at the same time grappling with bad guys, and using your Megazords to battle big bosses. Still, this is the Power Rangers and it is hard to get into a game where the characters aren't desirable.
Badseed's Bottomline: 3 out of 5. Here is how I judge games. I pop them in and if I can't wait to just finish the game, I give it a low score. I mean, if I just want to shut the power off and never want to touch it again, the score is not going to be pretty. In this case, I got semi-involved in the game, had a desire to try again when I died and in comparison to the N64 version, I totally enjoyed this one more. However, the Power Rangers franchise is a dying franchise and it is going to be nearly impossible to get this game off the shelves without superior gameplay, something this game doesn't really have. "Hey, why are the Power Rangers ignoring me when I need help? I'm over here!! Ah, maybe something better will come along.
So, we went from the bad to the dangerous, to the awfully cute in this issue. Little Mermaid 2 is a kid's game if I ever saw one, but older people can enjoy this type of game too. Way back when, there was an incredible movie from Disney called The Little Mermaid. This guy even enjoyed it. How could you not? Anyway, to accompany this movie, Nintendo came out with a game for its' original 8-bit system. My sister wanted it, and I couldn't resist playing the graphically superior game, and I managed to beat it in the first day. I then found myself playing it the next day, doing it again.
Today, there is a sequel to the hit from Disney and this time THQ has brought the video game sequel to the Playstation. The Little Mermaid 2 is a beautiful game to play. The graphics are wonderful. They are truly Disney inspired! I can't say enough about the graphics except that they really make you feel like you are part of the movie. Add this to the fact that every voice sounds like an exact replica from the movie, and you have a real exciting license to play. It is not often that you get a good game to go with a good movie, but this totally succeeds in that department.
You start out playing the game as if you are in the first movie. You save Prince Eric from drowning and confront, Ursula and then the game goes on to Ariel's daughter, Melody. At first game play is hard to get used to, of some controls are freaky. Water is hard to maneuver in. Still, once you figure them out and everything becomes easy.
Now that the controls are out of the way, let's talk about the game. This game is harder than the previous game for the Nintendo system, in a good way. You won't beat it in a day unless you totally devote your whole day to this video game.
This game plays smooth, fast and it is not hard to get into. Maneuver Ariel through the waters, collecting stars and other trophies as she achieves such objectives as finding her father's ring and searching for Ursula. Then take the crew in an adventure against Ursula's sister, Morgana. Each level is met with scenes right from the movies. And if you didn't buy the second film, you'll probably decide to pick it up after playing the game. Now, I haven't beaten it yet, so I am unsure of the ending, but I am sure it is a happy one just like the movies. Still, I am looking forward to beating it.
Badseed's Bottomline: 5 out of 5. This is the kind of game parents should be buying for their children. I hope they do. If you loved the movie, you will love the game. The graphics are superior to many games on the market, the game is well done, and the music is Disney, so what else could you want?
Many parents complain about the violent content of games for their children. Well, here is a game that is the exact opposite of Resident Evil or Mortal Kombat. I look forward to seeing the sales of this game to go up. If you don't like slaying, and you can't stand the danger, then this Disney game is for you.