Infamous Review

Inspired by superhero comics, Infamous was released in 2009 for the PlayStation 3 after developer Sucker Punch Productions and publisher Sony Computer Entertainment teamed up. Infamous would introduce us to Cole MacGrath and leave his fate up to the player on whether they turned him evil or good in this third-person adventure as Cole begins to take control of Empire City. Would Cole and his new powers wow me, or would Infamous be a dud?

Infamous Plot:

Our hero, or villain, depending on the way you play the game, is Cole McGrath, a regular dude just trying to survive as a bike messenger in Empire City. He receives a job to deliver a package with instructions to open it. The package explodes destroying many blocks of the city and crumbling buildings. Cole is barely alive when he is rescued by his friend Zeke and his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Trish.

Soon, Cole discovers that he has gained mysterious powers mainly in the form of electricity from the blast. It is up to you how you proceed, but the story remains mostly the same with a few exceptions depending on if you turn Cole evil or if you act with morals. With the explosion crippling much of the city, looters, rioters, and thugs start to overtake the place forming gangs.

Cole has been accused of triggering the explosion, (he did, but he didn’t know what he was doing) so much of the city has turned against him as he’s a wanted man. Throughout the game, Cole meets numerous people who convince him to work with them to take back the city from all the thugs. One of those characters is a man named Alden, who plans to activate the sphere, which Cole originally carried in the package that exploded. Cole jumps in and stops Alden from activating the sphere, which would suck the life force out of thousands of people and give that energy to a single person. Alden’s boss is revealed to be a man named Kessler who kidnaps Trish and hangs her from a building. He challenges Cole to either save Trish before she falls to her death or save five of the top doctors in the city who are hanging from a separate building. No matter who you choose to save, Trish dies making Cole enraged and set on defeating Kessler.

Kessler invites Cole to a showdown where the explosion of the sphere occurs. The two battle as Kessler shows similar powers to Cole. Eventually, Cole defeats Kessler and as he is dying he transmits a message to Cole’s mind. It is revealed that Kessler is actually Cole from the future. The future Cole traveled back in time to kill Trish as it is revealed that an entity named the Beast kills everyone in the future including Trish and Cole’s children. Realizing that the only way to defeat the Beast is to have Cole focused on destroying it without distractions, Cole becomes Kessler and sets out to prepare his former self. If you play the game as a hero, the city is restored with Cole becoming a hero. If you played as evil, Cole continues to let Empire City fall into ruins as gangs run wild and ignores Kessler’s warning about the Beast.

Infamous Gameplay:

The story and plot of Infamous are presented in comic book panels and drawings with voiceovers. The illustrations are fine, but I was disappointed when I first played this. The PS3 was still new in 2009, and I was looking forward to great graphics and details which Infamous didn’t provide with the comic book style of story-telling. I thought it looked cheap. However, the voice acting is better than average.

Infamous follows the gameplay of many open sandbox games where you clear out a section of the map until the map is fully available. In Infamous, you clear out sections by killing all the gang members in the area. Usually, there will be a mass battle but once you take them all out that section is generally safer.

Most actions in Infamous will affect your karma and whether you turn good or evil. Killing innocent people, police, and even gang members will result in becoming evil. You can pin them down for the police to collect later in a non-lethal way to earn good karma. The citizens of Empire City will react differently to you depending on your karma. If you’re evil they will cower and throw rocks at you and if you’re good they will clap and cheer.

Cole will develop many powers through the course of the game. You’ll earn experience points to spend on new powers and depending on what path you take (good or evil) will open up new powers. Cole can do just about anything with his electric powers including hovering, sliding on rails or powerlines, shooting enemies, healing, and causing explosions. It’s fun to learn new powers and play around with them and almost all of them become useful.

Infamous had an interesting plot, but the gameplay is very repetitive. I enjoyed the karma meter and made sure to stay on the good side of it while learning new powers. Cole isn’t very likable, as he is more of the anti-hero trope than the typical “good guy that wears a cape”. I wanted to like him but to be frank, I didn’t connect with any of the characters from Infamous.

Memories:
My friend that I worked with at the hospital had Infamous before I did and he was really into it. It was one of the first digital games I ever purchased and I can’t remember why I bought it digitally but I did. I remember enjoying my playthrough the first time but not thinking the game warranted as much excitement as my coworker thought. Whenever you can play as a good or evil character my morals always make me play as a good character and I mean full-tilt angel boy.

Infamous Review Score:

When you think of games that are in the 7/10 range, they typically are fun to play but you wouldn’t replay them or think much of them once you beat them. Infamous fits perfectly into this category. It’s above average, but nothing special. I didn’t care for the comic book scenes, but the powers that he earns throughout the game are unique. Unfortunately, the repetitive nature of clearing out section by section of the map makes Infamous a chore sometimes. It’s still a solid game and one that you should definitely check out if you like adventure games or sandbox games.

Infamous scores a 7.4 out of 10.

Do you remember when Infamous first came out? What did you think of the plot? Did you choose to become evil or good? What was your favorite power to use? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Juju Review

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Developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Nordic Games, “Juju” was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2014. The family-friendly platformer was a free game for Xbox Gold members which is why I randomly chose to review it after downloading it recently. You’ll take control of Juju, a pink panda bear on his quest to rescue his father who has been captured by an evil purple bat. Is this game worth playing as an adult or is it better left for the kids?

Juju Plot:

Juju has zero dialogue in the game and there’s not much of a plot. The game opens with a cut scene of Juju and his lizard friend, Peyo playing together as Juju’s father leaves to start a ritual atop a mountain. As a shaman, Juju’s father starts mixing magic before leaving the area briefly. Juju and Peyo can’t help themselves and start messing around with the magic accidentally releasing evil spirits including a large purple bat that attacks Juju’s father. The bat grabs ahold of Juju’s father and takes him away but before disappearing, Juju’s father throws Juju his wooden shaman mask. Now, Juju and his sidekick must travel through four worlds to rescue Juju’s father from the evil bat.

Juju Gameplay:

Okay, well the first thing you’ll notice from the cover is that this is probably not a game made for adults. In a way, you’re right, but in some aspects you’re wrong. I know I immediately thought this game was for kids. Everything about the game Juju is tailored to children. The bright colors, the non-verbal dialogue, and the lack of text. There’s no text in the game, even on the menu. It’s just symbols and buttons making it a universal game for anybody due to the lack of any language both verbal or written.

You’ll take control of Juju through four different worlds, each with about eight levels of platforming. This isn’t so much of a survival platformer where enemies are actively attacking you but more of an exploring platformer where you’ll have to avoid enemies while finding secrets throughout the level. There are hidden passages and small trap doors that lead to “butterflies” which are collectible items throughout the game. (Think Mario Coins or Crash Bandicoot Wampa Fruit) There’s no reason to collect the butterflies as “lives” don’t exist in Juju. There is a checkpoint every 30 seconds so if you somehow die you’ll restart just a few steps away.

The game is very easy for the most part. You’re granted two hearts but you can gain a third by finding one throughout the level. Things like falling into water won’t kill you, instead, you’ll swim back to the land and try again. There are pits and you can die from being hit too much but as I said earlier the enemies are just there, they aren’t trying to attack you. You can take care of them in a few various ways. Jumping on them usually works, but you can do a dash that knocks them away, and later throw candy balls at them. Platforming isn’t very hard, as most platforms are easy to land on. There are a few that will move or flip but if you are an adult you’ll do just fine. Once I stopped collecting the butterflies, each level was around three minutes long. If you try and collect everything as I did for the first 75 percent of the game, then levels can last up to ten minutes as there are tons to explore and find. Each level will have three mini-games hidden in the form of warp doors that will transport you to an area where you collect butterflies in the wind.

Where Juju escalates a bit is the boss fights. These are considerably more difficult than the actual levels where you lollygag around. These fights are well-designed and are a rare bright spot in Juju. The first boss was a giant frog who launched his tongue at you. You had to avoid it and trap it in a device or get him to eat bees. The second boss was a robot who swung his arms, shot lasers, and stomped on you. The key to him was hitting his hard drive and taking the batteries out on his back. In the third stage, there’s a huge octopus that will thrash at you, send waves of deadly fish, and throw bombs. You’ll need to hit caps off of drains to disrupt the water. Eventually, he’ll close in on you with spiked barnacles and you’ll have to hit his tentacles when they land, you’ll need to be perfect or else the barnacles will crush you. This boss was a bit tough and it took me a few times to get his pattern down. With the fourth world being candy land you’ll have to run away from a candy monster as he eats everything in the path. He was pretty easy to defeat after shooting some exploding candy in your mouth. The final boss is the purple bat, he is a challenge and will take some skill. My point is the bosses are far tougher than the actual gameplay for the levels. This game is clearly for kids so I imagine they probably need help from an older brother or parent to defeat the bosses.

There’s no music or none that I remember from Juju which was disappointing. This game gives vibes of Little Big Planet with all the “cute” enemies and levels but more directed at children. Also, Juju has to be a pink Care Bear. I mean, he is designed just like them.

Memories:
I remember people complaining about this game for the Xbox Gold games of the month. They didn’t want “kiddy” games, and I now understand why.

Juju Review Score:

Juju is a game for kids probably ages 8-13. There’s no text, voices, or even much of a plot. It’s an easy platformer that won’t require much skill to beat the levels, but the difficulty ramps up with boss fights so that adds some challenge. Unless you want to spend a day killing time with no stress from a video game, Juju is best left to kids who seek a family-friendly experience away from the guns, violence, and cursing that creep into most games. Juju has solid graphics and if I was a lot younger I might enjoy it more but I’m an adult and this just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Juju scores a 5.8 out of 10.

Do you remember when Juju first came out? Did you play it with a friend or by yourself? Was it challenging at all or were you like me, and yawned at the gameplay? Was the boss fights difficult? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Giga Wing Review

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Shooters were starting to lose their steam in the late 90s and early 2000s, but that didn’t stop developer Takumi Corporation teaming up with Capcom to release “Giga Wing” in 2000 for the Sega Dreamcast. Giga Wing offers four different pilots to choose from, each with their own storyline and weapons in this steam-punk-inspired vertical shooter. Would Giga Wing become a hidden treasure on the Dreamcast or would it go down in flames?

Giga Wing Plot:

Giga Wing revolves around a mysterious medallion that gives great powers to whoever possesses it. There are four characters to play as and each of them offers a separate story for their journey to the medallion. The story plays out in small text cut scenes of the characters talking to themselves and revealing their history.

From the manual:

“Numerous wars have been fought since ancient times – many civilizations have emerged and disappeared. The cause of the wars is Medallion, a divine stone that brings both prosperity and destruction to humankind. Uncounted civilizations have sought it, fought for it, and vanished. What they gained in their struggle for power was nothing short of annihilation!

Now, in the year 2050…

Civilizations of the world have again resumed fighting for Medallion with powerful weapons developed with advanced technology. This has become the most explosive war in history. Four airfighters take off into the sky. Each pilot carries a stone that holds mysterious power, said to be the only way to destroy Medallion. A new chapter is about to open in the never-ending saga of the fight for Medallion.

The future will soon answer the question: will this battle be the last?”

Here are the characters and their bios:

Sinnosuke:
Sinnosuke is descended from a tribe that guards a powerful stone possessing the ability to summon thunder and lightning. He is on a mission to destroy the Medallion, which has caused his people to wage war among themselves. The only way to stop this madness is to disintegrate the Medallion once and for all.

Isha:
Isha has trained as a pilot all of her life. At one time, she was a famous ace fighter pilot, but she quit the Air Force to pursue peace. Since that time, Isha has lived in a spiritual community, nursing the sick and injured. Upon learning that the Medallion is causing her people to fight, she takes to the air once again in an all-out effort to destroy the powerful stone.

Ruby:
Hailing from the southern continent, Ruby used to be an aerial pirate. Ashamed of her past, she foreswore her life of plunder and founded on orphanage to help children in need. This time, she’s joining the air war to protect the future of all children.

Stuck:
Now a retired doctor, Stuck lost his eye in an air accident, and through his own kill replaced it with a cybernetic orb. When his wife was stricken with a terminal disease, Stuck tried to use the power of a magic stone to save her. Instead, the stone transformed her into a golden statue. Now Stuck fights to find a way to reverse his wife’s condition.

I played as Sinnosuke and didn’t do too well with him so I switched to Stuck who was a bit better for my style. In the end, Stuck’s wife is transformed back from the golden statue to her healthy normal self granting Stuck’s wish after the Medallion is destroyed.

Giga Wing Gameplay:

Giga Wing sounds cool but that’s about as far as the game gets to being cool. There’s very little introduction at the beginning of the game with just a brief text message about a powerful medallion. I was taken aback by the graphics and not in a good way. This game easily looks like it belongs on the Super Nintendo which was two generations ago from the Sega Dreamcast. Nothing about the environments, enemies, gameplay, or controls made me think this game belonged on the Dreamcast.

I like that you can select between four different fighters and that each has different stories and weapons. The best part about the game was the character designs, I thought each looked unique with colorfully illustrated portraits bringing the characters to life. I only beat the game with Stuck so I’m not sure how the other characters act but he was full of terrible dialogue. There was a massive explosion at the end of one of the levels and he says “I must have been in a massive explosion” and later when he is in another dimension fighting the Medallion, he remarks to himself “I should have brought a camera.”

Giga Wing is a vertical scrolling shooter and on the Dreamcast, I thought I was in for a treat. I was sadly wrong as it offers a very quick playthrough with about six levels. You can customize the game with difficulty and how many bombs you have which was cool but the actual gameplay was sub-par. It’s a shooter that will fill the screen up with thousands of bullets and one hit kills you. The ship you control isn’t speedy and it doesn’t steer very well so death will occur multiple times throughout each level. That’s okay though because you have unlimited continues making the game beatable within twenty minutes. You can shield yourself briefly by charging your weapon which would come in handy if you needed it but since you just respawn with unlimited lives I didn’t use it. I did use the secondary weapon which was massive bombs that would blow up all enemies on the screen. Your bombs were restocked after each death so sometimes it was beneficial to die. I used the bombs on the bosses taking them down within twenty seconds. The final boss was cool but like the rest of them, the bombs took him down.

Memories:
Never heard of this game until I googled “Dreamcast Shooters” and it came up. I was disappointed, to say the least after playing it.

Giga Wing Review Score:

Giga Wing would rate higher if it was on the Super Nintendo or Genesis because it looks like it belongs on those consoles instead of the Dreamcast that was shoulder-to-shoulder with the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Gamecube. It’s not a difficult or long game but the characters add some replay value. I don’t recommend it unless you are a shooting fanatic. It’s best the leave this forgotten game, well forgotten.

Giga Wing scores a 5.7 out of 10.

Do you remember when Giga Wing first came out? Who did you choose to play as? Did you think highly of this game or am I wrong about my views associated with it? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Golden Axe Review

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Released in 1989 for the Sega Genesis, Golden Axe is a fan-favorite sidescrolling beat ’em up. Developed and published by Sega, Golden Axe gives you or a co-op team the chance at taking down the evil Death Adder after he has kidnapped the King and Princess. It’s up to you to fight your way through his army of minions to rescue your King and return the land to normal.

Golden Axe Plot:

Golden Axe takes place in the fictional land of Yuria. From the manual:

“Yuria is a strange land, with evil oppressors. Death Adder’s soldiers have invaded every village. And Death Adder himself has massacred thousands.

Finally, he’s kidnapped the King and his daughter, the Princess, and seized the Golden Axe. Only the strongest and craftiest warriors now have any chance of defeating him.

Three warriors appear to challenge Death Adder. Ax-Battler, the terrible Barbarian, arrives from the far plains. His mighty strength and courage are a match for any enemy.

Tyris-Flare, the Amazon, appears from the deep jungles to overcome the oppressors. With sword-skill and Lightning Magic, she vows to save the Kingdom.

Gilius-Thunderhead, the Dwarf, swings a deadly axe. His tricks and speed in battle can outwit even the most brutal giant.

These three, like many others, have lost cherished loved ones in the war against the reptile fiend, Death Adder. Now they swear to defeat him – even at the cost of their lives.

The challenge is overwhelming: defeat all of Death Adder’s soldiers and beasts, travel the treacherous route to his castle, demolish Death Adder Jr., and then face their most powerful enemy, Death Adder himself.

The reward: saving the lives of the King and Princess and returning peace to the Kingdom.

That’s the plan. But there could be a surprise ending!”

Heavy Sigh a “surprise ending” What fun that sounds.

Golden Axe Gameplay:

You and your friend, or if you’re like me and have no friends will be able to select from three different characters with various weapons and magic spells. I stuck with the typical over-muscled Fabio hair warrior that you see in 90 percent of romance novels for old ladies. He had a sword and I know the dwarf has an axe, but I’m not sure what the Amazon Woman has for a weapon. Each character has a special magic that you can cast at any point during the game but in order to cast the spell, you’ll have to have the mana potions which can be collected by kicking midgets into dropping them. I’m not joking, there are literally midgets running around on the screen with a sack that you must kick to restore your mana. The power of the magic attack depends on how many mana potions you have.

You’ll be able to swing your weapon, jump, use the magic spell, and run as you make your way from left to right on the screen. Golden Axe is mainly a button-masher where you continue to attack. The developers did a good job with the continued attack as your character will do different things like bashing enemies over the head with a shield, kicking them, and throwing them. It’s a nice fluid attack but even with the variations, it gets a bit old.

I didn’t find the difficulty of Golden Axe too challenging. In my first playthrough, I made it to stage three without knowing what I was doing. Some enemies are tougher than others, you’ll know right away who they are as they tower over everyone else. This is when it’s best to use your magic attack. Death Adder like the manual suggests, is not the final boss. He was somewhat tough, but after defeating him you are told by the King to enter the castle and take out Death Adder’s boss who is behind the whole mastermind. His name is Death Bringer and he’s a real pain in your butt. He was difficult to defeat because not only does two skeleton warriors that to my knowledge are invincible, he has an unlimited magic attack that he uses every five seconds. Most times I was hit by his floor magic and then destroyed by this giant dragon head that would pop in from the right side of the screen and blow fire. It was annoying because it was overpowered but each time I was hit my body was fall to the floor and then again after the second attack making the game slow down. Death Bringer was a tough S.O.B. but the jump attack seemed to work against him. I used that tactic on most bosses.

One of the elements of the game that made Golden Axe famous was the ability to ride creatures on screen and attack your enemy. You can whip the creature’s tail around to knock down enemies or if you have a dragon you can make it blow fire. This was fun and useful but as soon as you get on a creature everyone runs to try and knock you off it. After you get knocked down a few times the creature will run off-screen.

For an early release on the Genesis, the graphics aren’t too bad but the colors are a bit dull. I did enjoy the small cutscene of the map being plotted as you make your way to the next level with a small journal entry. There’s a fantasy element to the game, as you cross the sea on the back of a turtle that is home to a small village as well as fly to the castle on the back of an eagle. It may sound silly but it was kind of cool to see it and brought some more unique elements to the game.

Memories:
I knew of the Golden Axe series but I hadn’t played any of them until now.

Golden Axe Review Score:

Golden Axe would probably score much better with someone who loved it from their childhood but I’m playing it for the first time now. It’s an average beat ’em up with some fun components to it with the ridable creatures and midget-kicking mini-game. If you want to experience an early Genesis classic Golden Axe is a solid experience but if you want addicting gameplay look elsewhere.

Golden Axe scores a 6.9 out of 10.

Do you remember when Golden Axe first came out? Who did you choose to play as? Did you play the game alone or with a friend? Were you able to beat Death Bringer? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Review

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My first PSP review! After purchasing a PSP almost a year ago and collecting a few games for it, I finally took the time to beat one. After the massive success of Star Wars Battlefront I and II on the PlayStation 2, it was only a matter of time before the popular series was made on the PlayStation Portable. In 2007, developer Rebellion teamed up with publisher Lucas Arts and released Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. How would the mobile version differ from the previous two entries in the series?

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Plot:

The first Star Wars Battlefront didn’t have a story, but the second one did following the 501st Clone Trooper Legion as they transformed from defenders of the Republic to the army of the Emperor. Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron uses a similar idea sticking you in the shoes of a “renegade squadron” set during the original trilogy timeline. Your squadmates are the Han Solo types, the dirtbags, the mercenaries, and hardened galaxy scum that wants to take down the Empire. Speaking of Han Solo, he also plays a role in the direction of the squad as he often commands you throughout your missions. From the manual:

“It has been many years since the Battle of Endor.

The New Republic is sweeping away the vestiges of the Empire and returning democracy to the galaxy.

With the demise of Emperor Palpatine, the Jedi Archives on Coruscant have been restored. The archivist Tionne is compiling a history of the rebellion for her records. Her research has uncovered a previously unknown Rebel force created after the battle of Yavin 4 known as Renegade Squadron. This is their story.

You are a member of this Renegade Squadron, a secret fighting force under the leadership and guidance of Han Solo. With the aid of his friend Col Serra and at the request of General Dodonna, Commander Solo has gathered the most seasoned battle-hardened fighters to protest the Rebellion and its interests.”

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron Gameplay

I think Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron is a great game and I want to get that out there before I start to criticize it. I’ll talk about what I found enjoyable from the game but there were some sore spots. Particularly, the graphics are pretty bad. I know that graphics aren’t everything but they were ugly. Textures were not smooth and characters like Darth Vader looked…unique.

Tutorials took over the first few missions and when I just wanted to play the game a message would pop up every two seconds explaining how to complete an action or how to shift my weapons around. I appreciate some help but other times the game just needs to let me figure it out without holding my hand like a child.

The main campaign is also very short. I started playing the game around 6 PM and beat it by 1 AM with plenty of breaks in between. The first Star Wars Battlefront didn’t have a story so I’m just happy they included one with the PSP version. It’s also not very challenging, there was only one mission I failed and it was an escort mission. The rest was a breeze.

Now that the negatives are out of the way, let’s take a look at what I enjoyed. The in-mission graphics were terrible but the cutscenes were beautiful. The story was told through a narrator who spoke over artwork detailing the characters and environments. They were so good they could have been sold in a collection book or comic book. I was very pleased with them.

Customization is a big factor in Renegade Squadron. You don’t cycle through soldier classes as you do in the other Battlefronts. Instead, you have your soldier who can change his weapons, secondary weapons, bonuses, and perks at command posts. I liked this, and it gave me an opportunity to change equipment whenever I had a new objective during a mission. I didn’t know what to expect with flight missions but was rather surprised at how intuitive the battles felt. You’ll be able to lock onto a target and then select auto-pilot to track the targeted ship making the dog fights much easier than previous games.

The story was fun the learn too with familiar Star Wars figures intertwined. Of course, there was Han Solo and Darth Vader, but you also battled against Boba Fett and beside Admiral Ackbar. One of my favorite missions was a space battle where I had to battle some Tie fighters before landing my ship inside a Star Destroyer and break Admiral Ackbar out. It was cool and these missions were believable that they actually happened between movies.

While I was not able to play the online functions on my PSP, I imagine back in the day it was quite fun to experience online play. If you don’t feel like playing the campaign, there is still the Galatic Conquest to play and Instant Action which should satisfy gamers who just want to play for a short period or are on the run.

Memories:
I purchased Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron at Disc Traders on a whim. It was a great purchase and I enjoyed my playthrough of it. I’ll be searching for the second Battlefront game on the PSP to complete the collection after having a fun time with Renegade Squadron.

Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron Review Score:

Star Wars is dead. Well, the franchise is for the foreseeable future after Disney bought it. It’s terrible now and it pains me to see such bad taste in the series after I loved it so dearly as a kid. Holding on to the era before Disney, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron shows some promise and provides some quick fun for original Star Wars fans and gives them a small taste of the galaxy in which we all loved so much. It’s not a good-looking game but it will keep you entertained in the car with a solid experience.

Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron scores an 8.3 out of 10.

Do you remember when Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron first came out? What was your first PSP game? Did you like the new gameplay they introduced with the customization? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Tetris Review

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Nintendo launched the original Game Boy in 1989 and it launched with five games in North America. One of those games was “Tetris” a puzzle game created by Alexey Pajitnov that took the world by storm with over 35 million copies sold on the Game Boy alone. It was the “must-have” game for the portable system and it made video games “cool” to play for adults. Gamers of all ages were playing Tetris from your next-door neighbor, your Grandma, to the CEO of the business you worked for, to your little sister. Everyone played Tetris. Now, over 30 years old, I finally play the game for the first time. Will this Tetris Review be from Russia with fun?

Tetris Plot:

Tetris doesn’t have a story for the actual game, but boy does it have a story. I HIGHLY recommend watching the YouTube documentary “The Story of Tetris” that was produced by the Gaming Historian. It’s fantastic and extremely informative about how the game was made and the bizarre development.

I’ll do my best to recap it a bit but please do yourself a favor and watch the video.

The fact that Tetris was made in Russian during the 1980s and became a huge hit worldwide during the Cold War is already an unbelievable feat, but there’s much more to it. Developed and programmed by Russian engineer Alexey Pajitnov during his time at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Tetris was a passion project. Alexey wasn’t allowed to work on it during company time but when he completed Tetris it was a massive hit to anyone who tested it out for Alexey. Eventually, he had offers coming in for the rights to the game, and after some shady dealings that involved the KGI, Russia gave its blessing for Alexey to publish the game.

I’m doing a terrible job of how great of the story the making of Tetris is so again watch the video that I embedded in this review.

Tetris Gameplay:

Tetris is a simple puzzle game but it gets intense quick. You’ll have shapes composed of four square blocks that fall from the top of the screen one at a time. The goal is to turn the shapes around to make a complete row across the screen. Once the blocks make a line across the screen, that row will disappear and you’ll earn points. The shapes that fall have different patterns on them but as I learned rather embarrassingly that I’ll go into more detail later, it doesn’t affect the overall gameplay. The goal is always to complete the row to make it disappear.

If the blocks continue to fall and you aren’t able to complete a row, then the blocks will pile up until they reach the top of the ceiling on your screen. When this happens, it’s game over. On the right-hand side of the screen, you’ll have your score, as well as the level you are on and how many lines you’ve completed. There’s also a preview box on the bottom right corner that will show you what shape of blocks is coming next. This lets you strategize a bit but the more lines you complete and the higher the level, the faster the blocks fall. When you reach level nine, the blocks fall rapidly quicker than they were on level one.

You can choose Type-A or Type-B for gameplay but to my uneducated knowledge, I don’t think it changes anything besides the bonus scenes that you’ll see when you reach a certain level. Speaking of those bonus scenes, it was a real treat for people playing on the Game Boy to see the quirky little sequences of Russian culture. When you complete higher levels you’ll be treated to a quick scene of a rocket launching into space or Russian dancers doing jigs on top of buildings.

Tetris certainly is a perfect puzzle game for a mobile game system and Nintendo capitalized on it massively. Everyone played Tetris and it became a smashing success. Everyone loved the simple gameplay, the cute scenes of Russian culture, and the music that happily chimed along. The fact that Tetris came from Russia probably intrigued even more people to give the game a shot as the Cold War between Russia and the U.S. was still ongoing.

Memories:
One of the most embarrassing things that I’ll admit is that I didn’t know how Tetris worked until I reviewed it for this. I knew that the blocks had different patterns on them and believed that you had to match the patterns. I know, how stupid am I? Well, once I learned that’s not the case and that you just need to insert the blocks to make a full row, the game became a lot easier. It wasn’t that easy as I struggled to reach any bonus scenes that occur when you reach certain levels.

I’ve always been interested in Tetris because of how much I heard of what a legendary video game it was but, to be honest, I missed the boat on this. The game is too old for me to get into and I didn’t get addicted to the gameplay. I’m sure it was ground-breaking back in 1989, and I can appreciate the legacy as well as respect it but I simply wasn’t playing it during its magical run.

Tetris Review Score:

I wish I loved Tetris as others do but the game didn’t hold my attention. I tried playing it on various levels and while I could manage to clear nine or ten lines on the highest level, I still felt like I sucked as my game was over in just a few minutes. Tetris is a simple game with a simple objective but with the launch of the Game Boy, it was a perfect storm. That storm is long gone, but if you love puzzle games, you can’t miss this. I’m glad I experienced it but I prefer puzzle games like BoxBoy! with a bit more sophistication. Go ahead and chastise me and my taste now.

Tetris scores a 7.9 out of 10.

Do you remember when Tetris first came out? Was it one of the games that you got with your Game Boy? Where does it rank in your puzzle gaming library? Were you aware of the crazy story that comes with the development and distribution rights to Tetris? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Watch Dogs Review

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Hackers were all the rage in the early and mid-2010s with technology becoming more and more part of human life as each month went by. In 2014, Ubisoft Montreal developed while Ubisoft published Watch Dogs for the PlayStation 3, 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U. The game promised users that they’d be able to hack just about anything in the game from ATMs, computers, cell phones, traffic lights, and more. Did the game come through or did Watch Dogs leave gamers with broken promises? 

Watch Dogs Plot:

You are Aiden Pearce, a hotshot hacker who robs banks and companies electronically with your partner Damien Brenks. One electronic bank heist goes wrong and Aiden fears for the life of him and his loved ones. He quickly whisks them away to the country where a hitman crashes into his car killing Pearce’s niece. Now set on revenge, Pearce searches high and low throughout Chicago to find the killers of his niece. 

Pearce finds the hitman and squeezes out any info on who he was working for before leaving him with another partner of his, Jordi Chin. Brenks comes back into the picture with a request for Pearce to find info on another hacker from the failed bank job. With Pearce having his hands full already trying to track down the men responsible for his niece’s death, he refuses which makes Brenks kidnap Pearce’s sister and hold her hostage until he completes the quest. 

This sends Pearce on a journey completing numerous tasks in exchange for info and introductions to other powerful hackers throughout Chicago. Pearce discovers that the other hacker from the bank job is a man named Wade and raids his compound of cryptic info before killing him. Before the info is used, another hacker steals the info back and deletes it from Pearce’s servers. This leads to numerous hackers betraying each other including Brenks giving Pearce’s identity to the police. 

As the game wraps up a ton of crazy things are happening. Pearce confronts “Lucky” a boss in the Irish Mob who played a role in the hit put on Pearce and kills him by hacking his pacemaker. He then learns that Lucky was actually working for the Mayor who thought he was being blackmailed by Pearce after accidentally killing his secretary. Pearce uploads the video evidence of the Mayor across the city which leads to the Mayor committing suicide. An angry Pearce finally finds Brenks and kills him before the player decides the fate of the original hitman who killed Pearce’s niece. 

Watch Dogs Gameplay:

Watch Dogs plays very similarly to a Grand Theft Auto clone but with an emphasis on hacking and technology. You’ll be able to drive around Chicago in any car you see fit and cause as much chaos as you want when you aren’t doing missions. This is always a ton of fun and helps relieve any stress from particularly difficult missions. Driving however can be a bit touchy and it took me some time before getting the controls down for cars. 

Now let’s get down to the criticism of the game from the majority of players. They wanted to hack anything at any time! A lot of the marketing for this game was presented in that direction so when it was released and players could hack only a handful of things I think they were disappointed. The way you hack is also on the easier side. I don’t know how to hack things but if it’s anything like it is in Watch Dogs, I’d be a pretty good hacker. Some things like cameras and gates you’ll just hit the square button to hack while other more complicated systems like security systems in buildings require a bit more work. My favorite thing to “hack” was steam pipes under the roads that caused massive damage to any cars that were chasing me. There’s plenty of hacking in Watch Dogs at least for me. Any hardcore nerds or hackers out there might disagree but I liked what I saw from Watch Dogs. 

Combat is tons of fun and there are many ways you can kill an enemy. Aside from the typical putting a bullet in their head, you can hack their own weapons. If someone is carrying a grenade, why not hack it to set it to explode? It’s great fun and always amusing on the various ways you can kill people in Watch Dogs. You’ll also have a skill tree that you can expand your hacking or various skills through. Stopping crimes earns you a good reputation with the citizens while committing crimes makes them fearful of you. 

I think Watch Dogs came with a lot of promises and some serious bugs that turned people off but once it got patched up Watch Dogs became a very solid game that offers a unique version of “Grand Theft Auto”. 

Memories:

I didn’t play Watch Dogs for a few years after it was out. I know a lot of people ripped it for not being what they thought it was so I had little expectations for playing the game. I’m glad I gave it a shot because I thought it was a solid experience. I remember the action was tons of fun with the gunfights and car explosions. It was the first game that I saved a clip of me playing it because I felt like such an unstoppable killing machine during a sequence that saw me hunting down some people. The minigames within Watch Dogs are worthy of your time too. You can play as a giant mechanical spider that causes massive damage in the city and I had fun running through the streets in that a few times. 

Games that are released incomplete or broken like Borderlands 3 cause instant buyer’s remorse. Luckily for me, I rarely play games when they are released instead opting to play them 2-3 years down the line when the developers have released enough patches to fix them. Watch Dogs worked great for me and I enjoyed my time with it. Now…Watch Dogs 2 is a different story, but I’ll save that for another review. 

Watch Dogs Review Score:

With Watch Dogs being patched up, it’s a solid game that offers fun missions, unique hacking opportunities, and tons of vehicles to drive throughout Chicago. The story is solid and there are creative and fun bonus games to play within the story. Give Watch Dogs a go purely for the fun you can have while hacking other NPCs. 

Watch Dogs scores an 8.1 out of 10. 

Do you remember when Watch Dogs first came out? Did you play it on the first day of its release and were disappointed or did you wait as I did? What was your favorite technology to hack? What did you think of the story? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!  

Donkey Kong Country Review

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Developer Rare teamed up with Nintendo and released one of the best platformers to ever grace the Super Nintendo in 1994 when “Donkey Kong Country” debuted. Paired with a massive marketing campaign, unique 3D sprites, and an iconic soundtrack, Donkey Kong Country became the third-bestselling game for the Super Nintendo. So how do our favorite gorilla and his monkey pal hold up over 25 years later?

Donkey Kong Country Plot:

I wasn’t sure if Cranky Kong was the original Donkey Kong from the 1981 game starring Mario but after further research, it turns out it is him! He’s grown old and rightfully so has become quite cranky. He lives on Donkey Kong island with his grandson “Donkey Kong” and their hoard of bananas.

One night a large crocodile named King K. Rool and his army of kremlings take over Donkey Kong Island and steal the hoard of bananas. Donkey Kong is a massive brute with large gorilla arms, he has a nephew named Diddy Kong who is more speedy and nimble but not as strong. The pair set forward on an adventure to reclaim the Kong Bananas and kick the kremlings off their island.

With some advice from Cranky Kong, and some help from Funky Kong who can shoot them from a barrel to different parts of the island and Donkey Kong’s girlfriend, Candy Kong who saves their progress, D.K. and Diddy make their way to King K. Rool’s pirate ship off the coast of their island. After defeating him, the Kongs take back their banana hoard and return home after a job well done.

Donkey Kong Country Gameplay:

I instantly am taken back to my childhood when I hear the soundtrack to Donkey Kong Country. It’s very iconic and well-done from the opening music when starting the game up to my favorite track of the first water stage. The music is superb. The sound effects aren’t too far behind as I can picture a barrel breaking, a snake hissing, or snagging a banana if you play the effects from the game. In most games, I don’t appreciate the sound enough but in Donkey Kong Country, I fully appreciate the effort that the composers made.

The next thing I appreciate is the sprites of the characters in Donkey Kong. I’ve heard that some people aren’t fans, but I love the design. I think it looks great and shows off what the Super Nintendo is capable of. The gameplay is near perfect with the way the programmers introduce challenges and new elements into the platforming levels. Throughout the game, the challenge and difficulty will progress and once you’re near the end, most levels will challenge your reflexes. You can switch between D.K. and Diddy at any time during the level and if one of them gets hit, they’ll disappear but don’t fret, you can earn them back with a barrel with the initials “D.K.” on it. If both apes are killed or if you miss a jump it’s back to the world map or back to the midway point of the level. You’ll die numerous times throughout the game but by collecting 100 bananas, or collecting letters in each level that spell out “Kong”, and even grabbing red balloons, these tricks all earn you an extra life. So while you’ll die often, you’ll be restocked with plenty of lives.

As D.K. and Diddy travel throughout the land they’ll face different environments from jungles, caves, water, forests, snow, and treetops, each environment offers different challenges. Some levels are very unique and if you’ve played Donkey Kong Country, you’ll remember the mine cart levels which are tons of fun as they are fast-paced and tricky. There are also levels where you need to turn lights on/off, a switch for “stop/go” for clay monsters that come to life, and a platform that needs to be refueled every five seconds to progress. There are tons of challenges in Donkey Kong but they are all fair and it never gets old or too overwhelming. This is about as good as platforming gets on the Super Nintendo.

The animation is fantastic and the sprites will react differently to their environment. If D.K. is on the edge of a platform his eyes will pop out as he looks below while trying not to fall. Diddy can do cartwheels, and D.K. can pound the ground. If you leave them idle for a while, D.K. starts beating his chest and howling while Diddy flips his hat in the air. These small details add a lot to the game. Secrets are littered throughout the entire playthrough. There will be tons of hidden caves, secret barrels that blast you to new areas, and even a few animals to ride around on like frogs, rhinos, swordfish, and ostriches that make the level easier to navigate or plow through enemies. All of this makes Donkey Kong Country a game with high replayability as there’s always a new secret to discover.

Boss fights are fairly easy, but I still appreciate them in the game. Typically, you’ll face an enemy much larger than D.K. with their doom coming by bouncing on their head. You’ll fight gophers, vultures, drum barrels, queen bees, and of course King K. Rool. When you face him, he’ll pretend to be defeated and fake credits will roll. I admit that they got me at first when I played this game but after playing a second time for the review, I knew what was coming. It’s another little feature that makes this game great.

Memories:
Okay, if you’ve been reading my reviews since day one, you’ll know that I had a friend who I used to go over to his house after school in elementary as his mom babysat me. This is the kid that had Driver, Medal of Honor, Blackthorne, and Donkey Kong. All of them made huge impressions on me but I don’t think he had any other games that I loved to play or at least that I can remember. I can picture his PlayStation and Super Nintendo perfectly in his basement. He actually didn’t care for video games much but they certainly left an impression on me.

Donkey Kong Country Review Score:

A massive marketing campaign made everyone aware of Donkey Kong Country but the tremendous platforming, masterpiece soundtrack, and vivid sprites and environments made Donkey Kong Country a must-own if you had a Super Nintendo. I have yet to play Super Mario World so I can’t say if Donkey Kong Country is a better platformer but I love this game.

Donkey Kong Country scores a 9.6 out of 10.

Do you remember when Donkey Kong Country first came out? Were you blown away by the sprites or music? Who did you like to play as more D.K. or Diddy? Did you have a favorite level or favorite boss? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Gears of War Review

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Microsoft had already established “Halo” as a must-own franchise for Xbox gamers but after that, there weren’t many exclusive franchises. It wasn’t until 2006 when developer Epic Games and publisher Microsoft Game Studios teamed up and released “Gears of War” for the Xbox 360. The third-person shooter would feature a mature theme while creating a new franchise that is still alive today.

Gears of War Plot:

Gears of War focuses on a group of four soldiers as they battle their way against the “Locust” a species of humanoid monsters that lived underground until “Emergence Day”. Taking place 14 years after that fateful day that the Locust came from the ground, the plot revolves around Marcus Fenix a hardened soldier who has recently been released from prison for the crime of abandoning his post to try and save his family.

Marcus and his pal Dom take on the mission of finding the “resonator” which is a mapping device that will map out the caverns underground where the Locust dwells. The mission isn’t easy as they continually run into resistance from the Locust army who are just as equipped with armor and guns as humans are. Eventually, Marcus and Dom find the resonator and set it off under the tunnels but the device fails to create useable data. The duo then heads to Marcus’ old family compound where it is discovered that Marcus’ father had already successfully mapped out the caverns in his hidden lab.

With the data in hand, Marcus and Dom are sent to activate a “Lightmass Bomb” to blow up all the underground caverns that house the Locust army. The pair hop on a train carrying the bomb and activate it while uploading the data of the caverns. They are met with heavy fire from one of the top Generals in the Locust army, General Raam who killed a few of their squadmates previously. Marcus and Dom kill Raam and set the Lightmass Bomb off in the tunnels destroying most of the Locust. After the dust settles, the Locust Queen is seen riding off on a creature and promising a retaliation.

Gears of War Gameplay:

One thing that is always a plus in video games is the ability to play local co-op or split-screen. Gears of War offers this so my wife and I played together. I’m heavy on story elements so I was disappointed that there wasn’t an opening or explanation into what the heck was going on. We were thrown into the fire and I didn’t know if we were fighting an alien race or monsters.

Gears of War is a slow game, not in the pace of the action, but the actual movement of Marcus and Dom. Each soldier is very bulky and slow to move. There’s no sprint button which was badly needed. I’m used to playing quick shooters where I can run around and be elusive. There was an adjusting period but after a while, we learned to make the slowness work.

Another element that I disliked was the reloading mechanic. When you reload you will have a split-second to hit the trigger button for a smooth reload. If you miss it or ignore it then Marcus or Dom will take a few seconds longer to reload. This caused several deaths and was frustrating but after an hour or two, it became second nature.

During the game, you occasionally will have help from two other squad members. I enjoyed the camaraderie with them but the AI was quite stupid as they continued to run out in front of danger resulting in deaths. When you or an AI “dies” you have time to rescue them by running up to their body and reviving them. Unfortunately, I was never saved by the AI and it was a one-way street. It would have been great if they could rescue me.

You can take cover behind almost anything and it works well but when you have to run out and heal stupid AI it’s almost useless to stay behind anything. Sometimes I’d die because the healing mechanic was finicky. I’d be right next to their body and push the revive button but nothing would happen and then I’d take a bullet in the head. It became very frustrating and I hate to admit it but my wife and I turned the game on “casual” at some point during the third act. We tried to get past this part where Marcus and Dom fall down into a basement where a bunch of Locust swarms you. We tried it about 20 times before quitting for almost two months. My wife has very little patience in losing in video games… well she has very little patience in general so when she dies more than once she always wants to quit. It was good to take a break because after the two-month break, we beat it on our first try. Funny how things like that work.

One thing that I did like was the generous checkpoints that happen about every five minutes. It was nice that if we died, we didn’t have to start too far away. Weapons in Gears of War are decent but not as good as the Halo inventory. The best gun is the “chainsaw” gun because it comes with a cool option of sawing the enemy in half if they get too close to you. I did like the sniper rifle too as it was very powerful and just about a guaranteed kill if you hit them in the head.

The game didn’t feel very climatic and killing General Raam was a piece of cake. I think Gears of War built a decent foundation and I’m looking forward to playing the others to see how they improved. It reminds me a little of the first Uncharted game as it was rough around the edges but good enough to earn sequels that blew it out of the water. Hopefully, Gears of War will follow suit.

Memories:
I was first introduced to Gears of War by my wife who loves playing the horde mode. It’s pretty fun but I wanted to play the story mode so we started doing that. I do remember commercials of Gears of War 2 or 3 when I was in high school. It was a tremendous trailer but I kind of forgot about the series after that.

Any game that I get to play with my wife is a bonus so even though we didn’t enjoy Gears of War like I thought we would, it was nice to spend time with her. Although she was a huge ammo hog.

Gears of War Review Score:

Gears of War is rough around the edges like the characters that inhabit the game. It will take some time to get used to the slow mechanics and the reloading but it’s a solid experience that you can share with a friend. If you like blood, swearing, and big men in bigger armor then give Gears of War a shot. Just don’t expect much help from the AI.

Gears of War scores a 7.1 out of 10.

Do you remember when Gears Of War first came out? Who was your favorite squad member? What was your favorite gun? Mine was the Hammer of Dawn. Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Scramble Spirits Review

Sega developed and published Scramble Spirits first for the arcade and then ported it to the Sega Master System in 1989. It’s too bad they decided to port it because Scramble Spirits is a scrambled mess. The vertical shooter suffers from poor graphics, 30-second levels, repetitive enemies, and a wealth of other poor decisions. Thankfully, it was never released in North America but my poor friends in PAL regions, unfortunately, saw this game on their shelves.

Scramble Spirits Plot:

Like most shoot ’em ups from the 80s and early 90s, there’s almost no thought put into the story. Just stick aliens in the plot and players will be satisfied or at least that’s what most developers thought. In Scramble Spirits, the world has just survived World War III after man obliterated each other in a massive war. That massive war has led to world peace with all humans working together and living in a utopia until enemies from outer space invade. Believe me, I’m making the story cooler than how it was explained in the game but that’s the gist of it. So it’s up to you to take out the aliens and return the world to peace.

From the manual:

“You are Group One’s top pilot. You wear the Distinguished Air Cross for bravery in aerial combat. Besides guts and determination, you have the most advanced, high-performance air fighter ever created. You will launch from a secret base on a series of missions against the enemy. If you so choose, another fighter of equal strength will be placed at your disposal for the pilot of your choice. You can fly your missions alone or with a friend. (If you want to keep that friendship, you’ll take mercy on your friend and not make them play with you)

Successfully complete your missions and you will drive the alien invaders from Earth’s soil. Fail and they will take over the planet. Good luck with your missions. Earth’s fate depends on your skill!”

Oh brother, give me a break.

Scramble Spirits Gameplay:

Scrambled Spirits lets you know what you are in for right away with the menu screen. The background is a brown gravy color that looks freshly squeezed from the anus of patient of the popular show “My 600-lb life”. If you are brave enough to proceed, you’ll be greeted with hideous still graphics of a “city ablaze” that is barely distinguishable. I had to squint just to see what they were trying to depict and only when I saw the outline of the buildings did I realize what I was looking at.

Before each mission, a black screen will appear with some white text that outlines the very simple and unimaginative goal. You’ll be tasked with things like “Breakthrough the defense force”, “Breach the main base”, “Destroy supply line”, you know very detailed and descriptive missions.

Once your plane is in the air and believe me the old bird looks like she’s seen better days so if this is the best that humans could come up with against the aliens, we’re all dead, but thankfully you can barely make out the action on the screen. The game can’t handle much of the action on the screen so enemies flicker constantly making it both hard to know what you just destroyed and what’s actually on the screen. Some backgrounds make enemy bullets impossible to see like the desert level that had a sandy desert that paired orange bullets from enemies to make a camouflaged attack for the opposition. Only blind luck will get you out of that level but the good thing is that most levels last 30 seconds. That’s right, if you can just survive the horrible horde of enemies you’ll be rewarded with a black screen and a boss fight that you can beat in your sleep.

So what were the bosses? The first boss was a giant plane that once defeated broke away to three medium planes that spun around the screen firing at you. These fights last just as long as the entire level which is about 30 seconds. Sadly, these fights were the best things about the game as they showed some type of creativity. A few other bosses included four tanks connected by chains, a plane that shot green balloons that exploded with screws, three blimps that took up the screen, and the final boss that shot puffs of clouds at you. All of these bosses were simple, ugly, and easy to defeat. A few times I found the “safe spot” on the screen and parked my plane where I could fire at the boss without being hit.

Scrambled Spirits feature a whopping two or three notes of music so I really hope you like those notes are you’re deaf. The game is super easy so the developer probably didn’t feel like giving you power-ups. You’ll always have the same bullets, the same speed, and no power-ups. You will get two mimic planes but they quickly are blown away when you hit something with them. The entire game feels like very little passion, effort, and thought went into Scramble Spirits as it barely passes any checkmarks for “fun”. It’s not glitchy, it’s just not a fun game and one that can be beaten within 15 minutes.

Memories:
Thank the Lord that I don’t have any memories of this game as a child that would put some type of nostalgic twist on my review. This game is bad and I will remember it that way after my playthrough of it.

Scramble Spirits Review Score:

Unless you are a Sega Master System collector or out to play every shoot ’em up from the 80s and 90s, there’s no reason to pick up Scramble Spirits as the repetitive enemies, short levels, eye-bleeding graphics, and unimaginative story make for a below-average outing and black eye for Sega.

Scramble Spirits scores a 4.8 out of 10.

Do you remember when Scramble Spirits first came out? Did you beat the game in under 20 minutes? Was there a boss that gave you a challenge? Did you actually like this game, if so why? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!