Friday 30 November 2012

The Operative: No One Lives Forever (PC)

No One Lives Forever title screen
At last I'm finally taking a look at much loved critically acclaimed first person shooter spy spoof No One Lives Forever, voted Game of the Year 2000 by several PC magazines.

Console magazines on the other hand ignored the game entirely that year, mostly because it wasn't released on any yet. It eventually got a PS2 port two years later, but it was apparently a bit ass. I hear the Mac port was good though!

(Click the pictures to view them at an incredible 1280x960 resolution.)

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight (Amiga)

Moonstone title screenMoonstone title screen
Here's another title I can finally cross off my game requests list: Moonstone, released for Amiga and PC way back at the dawn of the 90s. I'm positive I must have played this one before, I remember people pestering me to give it a try as it's a bit of a cult classic, but I can't remember a thing about it. I'd even forgotten about the dumb Beatles pun in the title.

Monday 26 November 2012

Biker Mice From Mars (SNES)

Today I'm going to find out what this Biker Mice from Mars Super Nintendo game is. Seems more like 'Insect Robot Teddybears From Mars' looking at the logo.

I'm sure I must have seen an episode of the cartoon this is based on at some point, but I remember next to nothing about it. And anything I do remember probably actually came from that Avenger Penguins cartoon. But I'm sure all the crucial info I need to know is included in the game's title.

Saturday 24 November 2012

They Bleed Pixels (PC)

They Bleed Pixels logoThey Bleed Pixels logo
Here's another game requested by the internet: cute Lovecraftian horror platformer They Bleed Pixels, available exclusively on Steam I believe. Sorry if you were hoping I was going to play another obscure retro game, but hey this looks a bit retro at least. Plus it only uses two buttons, just like a NES game! Kind of.

(Click the pictures to see them at the original resolution.)

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (PS2)

Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake Playstation 2 title screenMetal Gear 2 Solid Snake Playstation 2 title screen
Today I'm having a look at Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, the second attempt at making a sequel to Metal Gear, this time by the original creator Hideo Kojima. This one is considered to be the true follow up though, kicking poor Snake's Revenge out of the franchise.

Monday 19 November 2012

Magical Pop'n (SNES)

Magical Pop'n title sceen animated gifMagical Pop'n title sceen animated gif
I've been meaning to take a proper look at Magical Pop'n for a while now, but I keep getting distracted five minutes in and turning it off. This time though I'm determined to at least get up to a boss fight or two.

The title screen makes it look sweet enough to dissolve tooth enamel, but it'll have to try harder than that to scare me off.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC)

Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition title screen PC
Dark Souls scares me. All the hype I've been hearing about the extreme difficulty has set it up in my imagination to be something as challenging as Super Ghouls'N Ghosts, except with loading times, and honestly that combination doesn't much appeal to me. But I was asked to play it, so I'll just have to man up and give it a fair shot. Or at least play long enough to give myself something to whine about.

I'm using DSfix to push the internal resolution (slightly) past the default 1024x720, so hopefully the screenshots won't look like ass if you click the pics for a better view.

Thursday 15 November 2012

Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Jō (NES)

Wai Wai World 2 title screen famicomWai Wai World 2 title screen famicom
I played the first Wai Wai World game a few months back, and while it was alright, it had massive room for improvement. Getting all the most famous Konami characters together in one crossover platformer is a great idea, and I hope this sequel comes closer to doing the concept justice.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Super Godzilla (SNES) - Guest Post

I'm gonna preface this one by saying I know absolutely nothing about Godzilla, except that it involves a giant dinosaur rampaging through Japan or something.

Now that I've angered the entire fanbase, lets check out Super Godzilla. That's some really cool pixel art behind the title. This has to be a great game... right?

Friday 9 November 2012

007 Games Part 13: Nightfire (PC)

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Finale

This is the last Bond game post for a long while, I promise you. Just two more Nightfire games and then we're done. Normal service will resume shortly.

Game 25 - Nightfire (2002)
Formats: PC, Macintosh.

nightfire pc title screen
Finally another Bond game for computers, after 10 years of total console domination. This probably follows the same storyline as Eurocom's console version of Nightfire, but it's definitely not a straight port. This is a separate game created by Borderlands developer Gearbox Software, who should hopefully know a bit about making a first person shooter.

Click the pics to view them at a slightly more civilised resolution.

Thursday 8 November 2012

007 Games Part 12: Nightfire (PS2)

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 12

Game 24 - Nightfire (2002)
Formats: Game Cube, PlayStation 2, Xbox.

007 nightfire title screen
Hey, Brosnan's back. Well, his likeness anyway. He'd been replaced the year earlier in Agent Under Fire by an overly smug Bond impersonator, but we're back with the real deal now.

Nightfire nightfire was released days before Die Another Day hit cinemas, but doesn't actually have anything to do with the movie. Instead it's a brand new story following on from Agent Under Fire. Poor Die Another Day never actually got a game, perhaps because the film was already basically a video game adaptation of a Bond movie.

Like the last game, this was released exclusively for the three sixth-gen consoles left standing at the time (poor Dreamcast never got a Bond game), and I'm playing the PS2 version.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

007 Games Part 11: Agent Under Fire (PS2)

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 11

Game 23 - Agent Under Fire (2001)
Formats: Game Cube, PlayStation 2, Xbox.

James Bond Agent Under Fire title screen
Today's Bond game is Agent Under Fire, (aka. James Bond 007 in... Agent Under Fire™, according to the side of my game box), the first game by future Dead Space developers Visceral Games. This was the first Bond game to hit the sixth generation consoles, (computers had to sit this one out again) and I'm going to be playing it on the PlayStation 2.

There was no Bond film to tie in with the year this was released, but instead of adapting one of many untapped classics like Dr No, You Only Live Twice, or Octopussy, they decided to just make up their own story instead. Probably one with lots of gun fights.

Tuesday 6 November 2012

007 Games Part 10: The World is Not Enough (GBC)

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 10 

Game 22 - The World is Not Enough (2001)
Formats: Game Boy Color.

The World is Not Enough Game Boy Color title screenThe World is Not Enough Game Boy Color title screen
Only one Bond game today, the Game Boy Color adaptation of The World is Not Enough, released a year after the PlayStation and N64 games. I can only hope that the rest of the game matches the... quality of its title screen.

Monday 5 November 2012

007 Games Part 9: The World is Not Enough

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 9

Two more Bond games today, one for the PlayStation, one for the Nintendo 64, and both based on the film The World is Not Enough, which came out the year before. Again computers have been completely left out, as the PC version of the game was cancelled.

Game 20 - The World is Not Enough (2000)
Formats: PlayStation.

The World is Not Enough PlayStation title screen
This one's by Black Ops Entertainment, the same folks who made the less than amazing Tomorrow Never Dies, but I'm hoping they've learned from that game's mistakes. Hey it's got a better title screen at least. Still no multiplayer though.

Sunday 4 November 2012

007 Games Part 8: Tomorrow Never Dies, 007 Racing

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 8

Two more Bond games today, each released only for the Sony PlayStation, which probably annoyed a lot of N64 owning GoldenEye 007 fans. Poor Nintendo was left out this time for whatever reason. Though they did end up getting GoldenEye's spiritual sequel, Perfect Dark, so I guess they had the last laugh.

Game 18 - Tomorrow Never Dies (1999)
Formats: PlayStation.

Tomorrow Never Dies Playstation title screen
So much black.

Despite being made to tie-in with the 1997 film, this game actually came out two years later. Around time that the next movie, The World is Not Enough, hit cinemas in fact.

Saturday 3 November 2012

007 Games Part 7: GoldenEye 007, James Bond 007

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 7

It's another Super Adventures James Bond special event! I've already played through the first 10 years of 007 games (click the Game Series button then scroll down a bit to find them), and this week I'll be playing through the second decade after James Bond: The Duel brought the 16-bit era to an end, from GoldenEye to Nightfire. Well, to be honest it's more like 6 years actually (there was a bit of a gap).

Game 16 - GoldenEye 007 (1997)
Formats: Nintendo 64.

It was four long years after The Duel before James Bond finally made a return to video games with an adaptation of the seventeenth Bond film, GoldenEye. Though the game actually came out the same year as the next Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies.

I've actually already played this one, and I have no idea what else I can say about it. But I suppose I should give it another look anyway, to save leaving the most important Bond game off the Bond game list.

Friday 2 November 2012

The Terminator 2029 (MS-DOS) - Guest Post

Welcome back! It's time for the second FPS based off The Terminator.

The Terminator 2029 title screen MS DOS
I'm being super fancy and playing the slightly enhanced CD version that came with the Operation Scour expansion pack.

Unlike the first The Terminator, this game takes place in the war against the machines. It's going to be chocka with Terminators, hovering H-Ks and laser tanks crushing mountains of skulls. Sounds pretty cool!

Quite a few animated GIFs in this post! Let the page load and read it slowly. :)

Semi-Random Game Box