NES Review #16: The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer is based on the 1991 Disney movie of the same name.

Nazis are trying to steal an experimental jet pack that will give them an edge in modern warfare for the purpose of world domination.

It is up to the hero to don the jet pack and the helmet to stop the Nazis and keep the world safe!

The Rocketeer is a side-scrolling, run-and-jump and sometimes fly game. About halfway through the first stage, the Rocketeer is able to scavenge jet fuel power-ups, in addition to health and ammo power-ups.

The fuel power-ups allow him to use his namesake power and fly for short distances.

The Rocketeer is one of the coolest ideas ever put on film, at least to me. The video game version of it is only an extension of a great idea!

NES Review #15: Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! is a game which needs no introduction.

Enjoyed by decades, and linking generations, the premise of Jeopardy is pretty simple. Alex Trebek, the lovable Canadian fires answers at the three willing contestants, looking for the proper question.

Jeopardy! has been on the air since 1964. Originally hosted by Merv Griffin and presented in the daytime, the keys were eventually handed over to Alex Trebek and it is now a staple of the Afternoon to Prime Time Lineup.

Jeopardy is one of the few TV shows or movies that is extremely conducive to making a video game. Since Jeopardy consists of watching a screen give you clues anyway, this is just a natural progression of it. The main difference being that instead of just shouting out the answer at the TV, you can gain points for answering correctly.

The one wrinkle is that since the game was made in 1987, the questions that dealt with current events no longer are as easy as it was originally intended. Still a worthy buy for anyone interested.

NES Review #14: The Untouchables

The Untouchables is based on the 1987 film by Brian De Palma and works to correspond to the movie's plot outline. In 1920s Chicago, Eliot Ness and his crew of law enforcement professionals are determined to bring down Al Capone and his boys.

The game features 7 levels of action named The Street, The Warehouse, The Bridge, The Alleys, The Train station, The Hostage, and The Rooftop.

If you want to get an idea of how the game plays, think of the recent Godfather game, but without all the fancy graphics and corporate tie-ins.

Let's put it this way...if they can make a video game out of the movie Juno, then one for the Untouchables isn't so far fetched.

NES Review #13: Werewolf:The Last Warrior

Werewolf: The Last Warrior is the story of an evil leader and his gang of bio-engineered monsters has taken over the land and only one man stands in their way.

Only he's not a man, he is a lycanthrope, a person able to transform into a terrible werewolf to let loose his anger.

This game brings to mind the series of very popular 1980's movies, Teen Wolf. The first movie starred Michael J. Fox, while the second, which was a considerable drop-off in both plot and acting, starred one Jason Bateman.

You start the game in human form. The human can punch, jump, move and shoot a powered up shot which moves horizontally across the screen. By finding a red icon, the human is able to transform into a mighty werewolf creature.

However, if you accidentally grab a blue icon or lose too much energy, you will change you back into a mere human being. The werewolf form offers higher jumps, quicker speed, greater strength, a shockwave attack and the ability to climb walls.

Additionally the werewolf form has an anger meter that is augmented by collecting orbs. After 5 such orbs, the werewolf will transform yet again into a Super Werewolf with even greater strength, speed and partial invincibility.

There are 5 stages in all. Each stage has a boss who moves in a distinct pattern.

Although my favorite Wolf paraphernalia is both a wolf shirt and the song Werewolves of London, this makes a run for the title.

NES Review #12: Skate or Die

Word on the street is that people who are vegans enjoy playing Skate or Die.

Skate or Die was released in 1988 and can be thought of as a precursor to the Tony Hawk games.

Skate or Die incorporates five distinct styles of skating, which can be attempted individually or in turn. You skate around a menu room to choose which one to attempt.

Just like in Virtua Tennis, you must visit a shop before playing, in this case, Rodney's skate shop, so you can buy equipment.

The first event is freestyle, in which your aim is to score as many points as possible in 10 attempts. Judges determine how much style and skill you have shown.

The High Jump uses the same equipment, only this time your task is to jump as high as possible at the end of the ramp.

The downhill events are overhead-view races. In the Downhill Race you simply try to complete the course within 90 seconds.

In the Downhill Jam you try to outperform a human or computer opponent whilst dodging or jumping hazards. You can use attacking moves to either remove hazards or knock your opponent over.

The pool joust is more of a one-on-one beat em up using a stick, set within a pit to skate around.

If you like Tony Hawk and his series of games, then give this one a try. If not, well give it a try anyway.

NES Review #11: Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf

When Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf came out in the late 1980's, it was the best golf simulation available for the NES.

Despite it's name, there was no fighting involved. In fact, the game is a straight-forward representation of what a golf game would actually be. That is, BORING!

The biggest challenges faced were Sand Traps, Water Hazards, Trees and the like. There were no bells and whistles like most of the sports games you will find today.

There are four characters to choose from, with one of them being a fictionalized version of Lee Trevino, in the game as "Super Mex." Once the game is finished, you are shown a photo of the country club setting that the game has taken place in. That's it.

An episode of The Simpsons spoofs "Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf" when Marge buys "Lee Carvallo's Putting Golf," and gives it to a less than excited Bart for Christmas. I sometimes wonder if Lee Carvallo's Putting Golf would have been more interesting than Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf. One can only wonder.

NES Review #10: Tetris

Tetris. It's the best game ever.

Seriously though, Tetris has had a long lasting effect on the human race.

Have you ever been loading your car with grocery or whatnot and you think to yourself, how can I position this stuff better?

Then your teenage mind kicks back in and you realize...I've faced this situation before, with some snazzy music in the background.

The greatest thing about Tetris? It's math based, so you're learning while you're having fun.

Tetris has stood the test of time, originally starting on the PC and is now even featured as a game on IPod's.

NES Review #8: Punch-Out!!

Few NES games are shrouded in mystery as much as Punch-Out!! is. So many rumors as to the reason that Mike Tyson was originally tapped, then replaced and so on and so forth.
Originally an arcade game that eventually came out for the home console, it was at one point a vehicle for Mike Tyson and his budding (at the time) career.
Originally titled "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!" the game later did not include Tyson, as he ran into legal troubles.
It featured plenty of in-jokes, such as Donkey Kong as one of the spectators, and the producers of the game made no qualms about the fact that they were simply re-using characters, just rendering them different colors.
When Tyson's contract was not renewed, he was replaced with "Mr. Dream." The game didn't drop off in quality because of the change, but the game lost it's cache and became harder and harder to find.
It was an entertaining game, one that has recently been remade for the Wii. If only they could find a way to get Iron Mike back in the game, it would really take it to another level.

NES Review #7: The Adventures of Bayou Billy

The Adventures of Bayou Billy brings to mind Crocodile Dundee. Although Crocodile Dundee was from Down Under, the character was said to have been based on Dundee, portrayed by Paul Hogan in three movies.
It is known as a "beat-em up" game, although the storyline is just a little muddled.
Billy West, or "Bayou Billy" must fight save his girlfriend Annabelle Lane from the gang of Godfather Gordon.
There are ten stages in total, with six of them being of the "beat-em up" variety, and two levels each of "shoot-em up" and two driving stages.
There isn't much to set apart Bayou Billy from any of the other similar games. Although there is the southern gimmick, and the familiarity with the Crocodile Dundee storyline, the game is a dime a dozen.
Surprisingly, a comic was made with Bayou Billy as the titular character. The comic didn't last very long, and is as forgettable as the game was.

NES Review #6:The Simpsons Bart vs. the Space Mutants

The Simpsons are one of the most bankable franchises in the history of TV.
They even lampoon their status as Cash Cows on many occasions, usually joking that Krusty the Klown will endorse anything, even products that are clearly not used by him or even in his target audience.
When a series such as the Simpsons constantly churns out T-Shirt after T-Shirt and Video Game after Video Game, there are going to be some clunkers.
Bart vs. The Space Mutants is one of those clunkers.
The objective of the game is to stop Space Mutants from taking over the world. Conveniently, the only one who knows about the hostile takeover is Bart Simpson.
Bart has to complete a certain number of tasks, picking up items before meeting up with a "boss" at the end of the level. The boss was always someone who was well-known to Simpsons fans. In fact, much of the jokes are familiar to Simpsons fans, most notably that Bart prank calls Moe, time after time.
Each level takes place in a place that will also be familiar to Simpsons fans. The first level is Springfield, which even the most pedestrian fan will notice. Subsequent levels are better known to the hardcore fans, especially the level that takes place at Krustyland, the site of one of the best Simpsons episode ever (in my opinion, of course.)
The main drawback for the game is that Kang and Kodos do not appear, despite the fact that they are the only space invaders to ever appear in an episode of the Simpsons. It would kind of be like having a Simpsons episode that didn't feature Homer. It could be good, but there will always be something missing.
This was the first in what has now reached 20 games in the Simpsons series. While this game is good for nostalgia sake, it's probably better to avoid this early one and seek out a game with a little more umph to it.

NES Review #5: Q*Bert

Q*Bert is one of those games that sounds ridiculous until you actually play it. Then you see how ridiculous it is.
Q*Bert was originally an Arcade game and a popular one at that. It was originally conceived as a shooting game but was toned down to make it more fan friendly.
The idea of the game was to jump on cubes to try to reach the top of the pyramid. While jumping on the different cubes of the pyramid, color changes occured.
Q*Bert was impeded by several enemies: Coily, a purple snake that chases after Q*bert; Ugg and Wrong-Way, purple creatures that run along the sides of the cubes; and Slick and Sam, green, non-lethal gremlins.Contact with purple enemies and red balls results in Q*Bert swearing and dying, although the swearing was actually replaced with nonsensical phrases.
The game was popular enough that it spawned two sequels, neither as popular as the original.
For me, the everlasting legacy of Q*Bert was the time Family Guy did one of it's famous cut-aways, with Stewie as a roommate of Q*Bert who was annoyed that there were so many lights on in the pyramid.

NES Review #4: Back to the Future

"Where we're going...We don't need roads"
-Emmett "Doc" Brown

I'm not going to lie, I am a huge fan of the Back to the Future series of movies. I've written about it on the blog before, I talk about it all the time and I'm basically just a big ol' Back to the Future nerd.
The Back to the Future series spawned rides at amusement parks, tons of merchandise and of course, video games based on the movies.
All of that being said, the game was not one of the best. It was so loosely based on the film that you periodically had to check that you were actually playing Back to the Future. Even the famous DeLorean looked like some weird blue hovercraft.
The idea of the game is to navigate through streets and pick up loose clocks that are scattered around. Once you get through five levels, you can move on to games like throwing milkshakes at bullies and avoiding kisses from your mother.
You can even show off your sick guitar moves, and maybe even influence Chuck (or even Marvin) Berry in the process.
It's a shame that for such a great trilogy, the game based on the first installment was so subpar.
I feel that if there was a Back to the Future game for one of the newer generation systems, it would be very successful. I know I would buy it.

NES Review #3: Magic Johnson's Fast Break

Magic Johnson's Fast Break, despite some minor flaws, was one of the better Sports games for the NES.
Fast Break really set the tone for a generation of Sports games, such as NBA Live, because it simulated basketball games in a way that you could normally not see them.
Although the same basic rules of Basketball were present, they were slightly modified so it would be more user-friendly.
Rather than a normal 5 on 5 matchup, the teams consisted of only two players, which really allowed the action to open up.
The game is somewhat corny and obviously, at this point, hackneyed. The court was crudely drawn and the baskets are crooked, but other than that, for an NES game, it at least resembled a real game.

NES Review #2: Where's Waldo?

To start, I'd just like to point out that in other countries, Where's Waldo is know as Where's Wally. That's the good news.
Moving on, there are few games that are as historically bad as Wheres Waldo? for the NES. It's no surprise that the game has not been made for newer generation systems.
I would have loved to have been in the production meeting at THQ when someone suggested making one of the most boring books ever into an interactive Video Game.
The thing I would have liked even more was the favorable reaction that suggestion must have received, because the game was eventually greenlit and found it's way into homes nationwide.
And when I say nationwide, I mean the 4 people that bought it.
I don't think I have to go into what a Where's Waldo video game entailed, but I will.
The focus of Where's Waldo is to find "Waldo," who no matter the weather, always wore his trusty striped Turtleneck and matching ski hat. Whether he's on a beach, or in the middle of a snowstorm, Wally is always there, smiling and waiting to be found.
Like most video games, there were varying levels of difficulty, with a time limit to match. In this case, you had your choice of 10 minutes, seven minutes and five minutes.
Basically, the only reward from Finding Waldo is being able to tell your friends: I just wasted 10, seven or five minutes of my life.
As far as I know, there was no light at the end of the tunnel when he was found. No grand prize, nothing.
If you must play this game, I suggest doing it alone and not telling anyone what you did. It's just safer that way.

NES Review #1: Paperboy

Paperboy.
That word alone brings back memories of how quaint video games once were.
The object of the game was very simple. You were a paperboy and you're mission was to deliver papers to one of three streets for a full week. The streets were based on how difficult the level was.
If you fall of the bike, you lost a life. Losing all lives results in being fired, with a fun graphic and a gruff voice, just like Don Brodka from the Simpsons episode "Marge Be Not Proud."
You know, the guy who says capisce, but Bart hears Catfish? Leaves messages that sound like he's carrying on a conversation? No? Bueller? Ok, moving on..
Of course, as there is in any video game, there were obstacles. Life isn't easy and neither was Paperboy.
As the Paperboy, you had to dodge certain things on your route, such as skateboarders, bees and even breakdancers, because apparently in the 1980's people liked to breakdance in the street.
I'm pretty sure no one ever completed Paperboy, so I can't tell you what happens at the end. I bet it's awesome, though.
Just thinking of this game makes me wanna break out my old Gameboy and try to save the neighborhood from the world of TV journalism.