Fallout 2 (PC)

Hello, I'm Ray Hardgrit and you've somehow found yourself reading Super Adventures in Gaming, the site where I play a game from my backlog for a couple of hours while taking screenshots and whining that it's too hard.

Today I'm having a quick go of classic PC RPG Fallout 2 by Black Isle Studios, the sequel to Interplay's Fallout. Though Black Isle was actually just a division of Interplay (and still is actually, although it's really an entirely different Black Isle now as the original Black Isle died back in 2003 and was reborn as an entirely new company called Obsidian Entertainment... kind of. Not that Interplay or this new division known as Black Isle have anything to do with the Fallout franchise anymore as the rights were sold to Bethesda during 2007 who then released Fallout 3 and tasked Obsidian (the original Black Isle staff) with making a sequel called Fallout: New Vegas..

My copy of the original Fallout from GOG.com ran like a dream on Windows 7 with no messing around, but I got this one from Steam instead and my attempts to get it to run haven't been entirely plain sailing. Fortunately a quick ini file edit was enough to fix the screwed up colours and get the gameplay working fine... though that then ended up breaking all the videos. But with the fan base the game has I'm sure there's an amazing mod out there that fixes everything!

Doom (MS-DOS)

The Doom franchise is 20 years old this year so I thought it'd be a good time to take a brief look at the original Doom, id software's fifth first person shooter (but their first to have four letters in its title and end with 'm'). The anniversary is actually 10 days into December but I'm impatient so you're getting this early.

I'll admit right now that I'm not going into this one even slightly blind and I doubt I'll be able to think of anything worthwhile to say about the game that you haven't heard a thousand times already, but it's not like I've ever let that stop me before. There's a Doom shaped hole in my website and that needs fixing.

To be accurate I'll actually be playing Ultimate Doom, not the ORIGINAL version of original Doom, despite the fact I've used the original title screen here. I apologise for the unnecessary confusion. Basically Ultimate Doom is Doom with the latest patch installed and a fourth episode bolted on, but there's at least one sneaky change to an earlier level.

James Pond: Underwater Agent (Amiga)

Because you requested it, today I'm taking a look at the first of the James Pond games.

You know, for a one joke character (he's the fish version of James Bond!), the F.I.5.H. agent didn't actually do so badly for himself. Most of the 90s platformer creatures faded away before they even got a sequel, but this guy managed to make it all the way up to the sports game spin-off part of the vg mascot lifecycle before disappearing without a trace.

Though I did hear rumours that he resurfaced in a rubbish iPhone game a year or so ago, this time with a Harry Potter pun in the title (Deathly Shallows). He isn't a wizard in it though, so they kinda missed the point there.

The Ooze (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Eww, glowing skull.

The picture of the slime monster isn't bad at all, but that colour cycling effect and the blocky text looks really amateurish. Not a good sign.

Mega Man (MS-DOS)

I couldn't play NES Mega Man without playing the DOS game too. It's an important piece of video game history.

Apparently this was pretty much entirely made by one guy and is a completely different game to the NES version, but hey it might be good.

Shadowrun (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Welcome to the latest episode of 'Ray Hardgrit is Easily Confused by Old School RPGs'. This week starring Shadowrun (the Genesis/Mega Drive game).

This is apparently a very different rpg to the SNES Shadowrun that guest poster Kraed played a few weeks ago. I've heard it sticks closer to the source material in content and gameplay.

Blaster Master (NES)

I played one of the sequels to this a while back on the Mega Drive, and it didn't really win me over. I hear this is better though.

SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron (SNES)

Whoa, this was a cartoon? I've never heard of it.

Captain Planet and the Planeteers (Amiga)

I know you're all dying to see to see this one, so I shall selflessly play it. For you.