Nascar Rumble on the PS1- A Review From A Nobody | Mario Kart Meets NASC...

    I know it's strange to say, but at one time, EA actually excelled at Racing games. Long before they became a beacon of mediocrity and loot crates, EA was capable of making some incredibly fun and creative titles like Nascar Rumble. Nascar Rumble is what you would get if you took Mario Kart, combined it with EA's yearly released NASCAR racing games, and added the shortcut-ridden tracks of Need for Speed III: Hot pursuit. Nascar rumble is a nascar take on the Kart racing formula. This game isn't a Kart racer, it's a stock-kart racer.

    The Mario Kart influence is obvious in Nascar Rumble. While racing you can hit powerup icons which give you offensive weapons to fling at your foes; ranging from the freeze which freezes your steering in whatever position you were holding when it hit you for some truly nasty results; the typical oil slicks which make your stearing slippery; the Joker Icon which will either give you a random powerup to help you, or usually just give you bad gas or an oil slick (in fact you have a better chance of getting something good out of an EA loot crate than getting something good out of the joker powerup); to things like the hammer and the shock-wave where upon landing a hit send your opponents flying through the air; to a storm that blocks your view and messes with your steering capabilities; and variety of others to be used against your unsuspecting foes including the most epic, and iconic powerup that is, rightfully, the most fondly remembered, the tornado powerup which allows you or your foes to send a devastating tornado up the track which sends everyone flying and tumbling through the air. Add in unlockables like new vehicles and tracks, tracks chock full of hidden shortcuts to find, and a great sense of speed onto all the satisfying powerups and you have the formula for one of the PS1's most fondly remembered alternative racers. This game is just a blast to play.

    The name of the game in Nascar Rumble is fast, fun, mayhem where the kart-racing powerup racing and sense of speed lead to some truly thrilling racing where you are battling your foes while trying to hit all the shortcuts in each track. It's chaotic fun where some races bog down into cars flying everywhere around you, as you navigate through, sometimes being caught into some spectacular crashes yourself. The triangle button is the reset button to put you back on the track, and you'll be pressing it a lot in this game. There's nothing quite like narrowly avoiding a tornado that is chasing behind you by ducking into a shortcut just off the main track. This game can be truly exhilarating in it's racing. It can also get extremely crazy if you set the powerups to mayhem, meaning there are extra, extra pickups in each map for maximum amount of chaos possible. Powerups can also be turned lower, or off altogether.

    As in Mario Kart, you progress by beating six racing cups of three tracks, with the option to play the wildcard cup which has random tracks, and the EA cup which requires you play through six races. One you beat the main cups in the rookie class, you onlock the Pro class where the cars are faster, and your AI opponents are tougher. Upon beating the same six in the pro class, you unlock the Elite class where the cars are even faster, and the AI opponents hit every shortcut, hit you with every powerup possible, and definitely cheat to beat you.

    The difficulty curve is gradual with each cup, but the elite class opponents are totally cheaters, able to catch up to you very quickly. There's nothing quite like getting hit with tree storms in a row, then two tornadoes, a freeze, and then two opponents with hammers that catch up to you quickly. When this game cheats, it cheats good. You don't have to go it alone, because the game lets you play the cups either by yourself, or in a racing team with one other teammate who is either controlled by a second player, or an AI friend which is a cool idea.

    There is a lot of racing to be had if you plan on unlocking everything in the game. Not only do you have to play through the racing cups three times for each difficulty. There are three extra tracks to unlock, like circus minimus which is best played with Mayhem level powerups for one of the most hectic racing experiences you'll ever have. One top of three extra tracks to unlock, there are hidden areas in various maps that contain wrenches, collecting which unlocks a special vehicle like an RV, a golf cart, a rocket car, and etc. So not only are the maps honeycombed with hidden shortcuts, but those shortcuts have even more hidden areas to unlock new vehicles. This game has secrets within it's secrets. There is a lot of racing and unlockables in this game. I guess you could always just put in a cheat code to unlock everything, but it's more satisfying to hunt down each secret on it's own.

    Graphically, the game looks great by PS1 standards. It may not look like much on a modern display, but what looks like weird dithering on a modern display is actually blended on a CRT TV to give each car a glossy, freshly polished look. You can still see it a little on a modern display, but it makes the cars have a glossy look on a crt which looked great for the time.

    Nascar Rumble also has a great sense of speed, even for a console as old as the PS1. Whether playing on the PS3 like I am here, or on the PS2 like I am here, the game moves fast which helps add to the feeling of chaos in the game. The game runs well, but the extra sense of speed does make the controls feel a bit slippery, and jittery overall, granted, I do play this game with the D-pad, because it just feels natrual to me, not owning a proper dual shock till I got a PS2.

    This is this is far from a sim racing game that punishes you for rubbing on the side of the wall, and you feel less like you are turning than sliding around the corners the whole time making the oil slick power up a lot less impactful. I generally found myself rubbing the wall in most turns, but without the normal punishment to my speed for doing so. There are times where clipping a wall can stop you in place, or even knock you backwards. Luckily, the fast reset button has, wisely, been mapped to the triangle butting, because you'll be using it a lot in this game. Overall the controls are responsive, if not a little slippery feeling overall.

    The engine sounds in the game sound great, as do the effects. The game does have an annoying, pointless announcer who's dialog does get old pretty fast, but you can go into the options and mute him. The music consists of generic sounding southern rock style tracks, and is by default set too low to hear under the sounds of the engines. You can also turn the music volume up. I usually just leave it at the default setting myself, but the option is there if you want to hear the tunes in the game. The sound design is OK overall. Some people may find the announcer to be incredibly annoying, I've just learned to tolerate him, because I'm always too busy focusing on the racing. I will say, one cool aspect of the sound design is that when you are going through a tunnel, even the announcer sounds like he's in a tunnel, it's a small thing, but it's a really neat touch.

    The bottom line: Even if you hate Nascar, Nascar Rumble is still a must-play alternative racing game on the PS1. Part nascar, part Mario kart, all fun. The racing is chaotic, and fun, the powerups are inventive, the tracks are well designed, and reward exploration with shortcuts. This game is just full, chaotic, tornado full of fun. The PS1 has some great cart racing games like Crash Team Racing, but if you want to play the PS1's best Stock-kart racing game, look into Nascar Rumble.

    And if Nascar Rumble interests you, EA did develop a PS2 sequel without the Nascar license called Rumble racing, which improved upon the original in a number of ways like improving the powerups, improving the handling and controls, which are still a little slippery, but not nearly as much; and the best addition: borrowing the stunt ability from rush 2049, where you could spin your car around and do some cool mid-air flips, and giving the player a turbo boost for successfully landing said tricks. Rumble racing is still one of the best alternative racing games on the PS2. If you're looking for great PS2 racing games to play, look into Rumble racing.

Lair on the PS3- A Review From A Nobody | It's not as bad as it was made...

 

    To anyone versed in the epic fanboy flame wars of the seventh generation, it only takes two names to send a shudder down their spine. Two abysmal abominations released in the era where Sony was in desperate need of killer apps to justify the steep asking price of the Playstation 3. Two games that upon release gave Xbox 360 fanboys ammunition against PS3 fanboys for years to come thanks to the abysmal scores these over-hyped would-be killer apps received. Those two games in question are Lair and Haze. Two games that, quite frankly, despite both being flawed games were a lot better than their review scores made them out to be.

    Like Haze, Lair received a lot of per-release hype, again, both Sony, and PS3 owners were hungry for big games to fill the gap between launch, and forum fanboys needed ammunition to fling at their Gears of War playing and Halo 3 playing opponents. Lair hit before Halo 3, and despite the epic hype, and huge anticipation by fans, came out to horrible review scores thanks to the poor design idea (either forced by Sony, or chosen entirely by Factor 5 depending on who you ask) to make the game motion-control only, without the option to use the analog stick to aim in the game.

    The results of this ill-fated design decision lead to abysmal review scores in the mainstream outlets. Ign gave this game a 4.9 out of 10 in a poorly written review where upon reading it, the only conclusion I could come to is that, in full Dean Takahashi fashion, it sounds like the reviewer, Greg Miller wrote his entire review after he couldn't beat the fifth level of the game. The review literally only mentions that level and none of the later much harder levels. He complains about the targeting system in the game, which I agree with, and then touched on the story a bit while complaining about the controls the whole time. I guess he gave the game one point for every level he was able to actually beat.

    Ign wasn't alone in destroying this game. Most magazine publications, and websites completely panned the game with a few average to good scores thrown in there. The forced motion controls scheme was too much for most gamers, and reviewers at the time. When Factor 5 later released a patch to allow players to use the analog sticks to aim, the damage was already done, and Lair had already became an infamous bad game in the gaming zeitgeist of the day.

    The analog patch is still available on the PS3's playstation store, and if you have any interest in ever playing Lair, I suggest you download it as soon as possible, because we all know time is ticking before Sony shuts the PS3's Playstation store down. I also suggest getting the Titan Map pack for Unreal Tournament III if you want to take advantage of Unreal Tournament 3's mod support which is the coolest, nearly forgotten feature on the PS3. I guess the reason I decided to review Lair first on this channel was to remind people that time is of the essence when it comes to getting the map packs, and patches for PS3 games. It's time to start downloading as many of these as you can before they are gone.

    For my first playthrough of Lair, I decided to play the entire game through using only the original motion control setup just to see what the original experience was like. After that, I went back and played random levels with the analog stick aiming enabled, and the analog aiming patch definitely improves the gameplay a lot. Without question, it was a mistake on Sony and Factor 5's fault not to include it day one.

    Lair had a rough development cycle. At first there were a lot of good ideas Factor 5 was going to add, and the game wasn't even going to resemble the final product. Long story short, in order to get something in ship-able form, they hunkered down and went with a trustworthy formula that had worked for them in the past.

    When it comes down to it, Lair is basically Rogue Leader with dragons. Learning the motion controls didn't take long, and the only time they became frustrating to use was in those bouts of slowdown that effected the aim. The game, in general doesn't run the best when played in 1080p. The slowdown doesn't effect the aiming all the time, but there were occasional periods where the aiming became almost impossible with the motion controls. Lair was meant to be a visual spectacle for the PS3, and as such the developers prioritized graphical fidelity over playability.

    I managed to play through the game in 1080p, and most of this footage is in 1080p because I was focused on trying to make the game look as good as possible for this video. However, it runs better at 720p which is what I suggest those looking for a more playable experience to play it at. In order to run it in 720p, you have to go into your system settings and turn off 1080p, and 1080i as options as there is no option to change it in game.

    Once I learned the controls I actually started to really enjoy my time with Lair. It really does follow a solid formula established in The Rogue Squadron/Rogue Leader series. The missions are objective heavy, and some have very strict time limits leading to constant failures, but also that made me want to give a failed mission just one more try. It really does hearken back to Factor 5's previous work. Some of the later missions in particular feel twice as long as they should be, and dying or failing right before the end of these missions can demotivate you from wanting to give it another try. I definitely shut this game off a couple of times after nearly beating the Deadmans Basin level only to die or fail at the end, but I found myself coming back within an hour to give it another try finally beating it with a huge, satisfying sigh of relief and a pretty good shoulder workout from shaking the controller up and down as fast as I can.

    I did get better at playing each level as time went on, learning the patterns, and seeing which objectives were more imperative to do first. The game will constantly pull you out of the action to show you a cut-scene of a new objective, or to show you how you are failing at the objectives. While I can understand this was done to add tot he cinematic flair of the game, what it really amounts to is the feeling that every couple of seconds you are pulled out of the gameplay, and when you return to controlling your dragon, you have to quickly regain your bearings. This can be especially annoying if you are in the middle of lining up a shot an enemy outpost that's destroying your ships, losing too many of which will lead to a mission over. Often times, the interruption lead to me overshooting the enemy outpost, and having to turn around while feeling excessive time pressure. The cinematic nature of the game can sometimes break the flow of the gameplay.

    I was also a little let down by the fact that most of the missions in the game were escort and protect missions, and there weren't any straight up dog-fighting missions, well dragon fighting missions. Escort missions are some of my least favorite, and some of the most frustrating mission types in any game. They even threw in a stealth mission for good measure, and even a strange story mission where you hunt for water, and fight a giant bug to get it. However, I was yearning for more dog fighting missions, and more missions that made use of transferring to the ground to take out hordes of enemy soldiers.

    The ground fighting feature is a really fun mechanic that I wish they had expanded on. It's a cool idea, and it's fun to land an kill hundreds of enemy peons. Eventually new combos to use can be unlocked to unleash on the enemy hordes. The dragon disarms are also pretty cool to see. When engaged, players are prompted into a quick time event to kill the enemy dragon, and it's rider. These are mildly entertaining, and add that cinematic flair the game was going for. You can disarm enemy dragons, or fighting them in a fighting-game mini-game which almost has a rock-paper-scissors feel to it.

    There are some ideas at play that seem cool on paper and are mildly entertaining the first time, but probably should have been trimmed out of the game because they disrupt the gameplay flow. An example of this is how your dragon can pick up and fling an enemy foot soldier as the game pauses to watch the poor soul rag-dolling across the map. The first time it's amusing, but after a while, it becomes yet another thing to interrupt the game. The ability to pick up an enemy footsoldier also interrupts the targeting system, and, as the Ign reviewer complained about becomes a source of frustration when instead of targeting a mission objective, like a large rhino, your dragon swoops down to pick up a foot soldier instead and the camera takes a disorienting position that makes it hard to even realize what just happened.

    Even after mastering the motion controls, or playing with analog controls, the game has a few technical issues that aren't game breaking by any means, but had they been ironed out would have improved the experience quite a bit more. The framerate is an obvious issue, as is the targeting system which, when you get it to work properly, can lead to some thrilling circling while firing on enemies. I wish they would have had time to rework the whole targeting system to a more workable form where the camera cooperates better. There are plenty of examples of prior games that got this function right for some truly excellent results. You definitely feel like you are fighting with the targeting system in Lair to get it to work right. A little bit of tweaking would have went a long way.

    The camera can also freak out, and be very disorienting at times, but not always. Generally, it follows the action well, but it can be very wonky at other times. The physics system in the game also has it's own peculiarity to it where if your dragon comes close to an object, or an enemy dragon flies too close to your dragon, it bounces your dragon up and out of the way from it. It's almost like there is a physics force field around the objects in the game that can bounce you aim away in the other direction. This can be frustrating when you are trying to aim at a specific target, and you aim is shot upwards in a completely different direction because an enemy flew too close to you.

    This can also lead to some jank when you are locked on to something like a war beast, and your dragon is stuck flying along the sides of a ridge, and can't seem to just fly up and over it. There are times where I was trying with all my might while locked on to turn left, while my dragon, being stuck following the side of the ridge, was going right instead. The glitchy physics can also knock you out of a dragon duel because you ran into a wall, so the game canceled it, throwing you back into the game without notice.

    Another thing that at first seemed janky to me until I realized it was done on purpose, but is never explained to you, is in those scenes where your dragon latches onto, say a generator to shake your controller rapidly up and down in order to destroy the generator or dam, getting shot by an enemy will knock you off the object you are attached to. At first I thought the game would just let the object go at random, when in reality, an enemy dragon or boat shot my off of it. At first I thought the game would just inconsistently let the object go, when in actuality, I was taking shots by the surrounding foes.

    I have also, though I didn't get footage of it, thrown footsoldiers through the map into the abyss the that exists outside the game world. I also found that sometimes it helped to switch to a faster dragon in missions where you had a distinct time crunch. The game has a stables option where you can swap to a different dragon if your current one is too slow, or too weak. The only problem is, the game doesn't display their stats for you, so it's hard to distinguish which dragon does what. I guess the best thing to do is experiment with each one in order to figure out the best dragon to use.

    All that being said, despite quite a list of technical issues, and glitches, I still really enjoyed my time in Lair overall. I wasn't a fan of the overwhelming amount of escorts missions, but the more I played them, the better I got at them. It has that same difficulty curve as Rogue leader which is still one of my favorite Gamecube games. The game can be tough, and yet, still very satisfying when you succeed, and not even the escort missions, and sometimes unfair time limits kept me from enjoying the game despite it's flaws.

    As I said, the formula Lair is based on is a sound one, and if you are a fan of Factor 5's Star Wars games, then you will probably find some enjoyment in Lair. It's definitely a more flawed version of the formula when compared to what came before, but I still found the game to be engaging enough to play through it. It pulled me into it's gameplay, and I enjoyed myself overall. The game is not without it's share of frustrations and flaws, but I enjoyed Lair, even when using motion controls for my first playthrough. If you can get past the controls (or just download the analog aiming patch from PSN), and get past the glitches, you might find some enjoyment out of this infamously, quote unquote bad game.

    It is a shame that the game did so poorly in the reviews thanks mostly to the controls. It's also a shame that some of the technical issues weren't ironed out before release, but Factor 5 definitely put a lot of effort into this game, and however imperfect it is, this isn't a bad game. Out of the two “terrible twins” of early PS3 games, I would say that Lair is definitely better than Haze, even if I still don't think Haze is that bad either. It was another game that had a lot of good ideas that just never quite came together before release. Free Radical should also have trimmed a lot of good ideas on paper out, and polished the gameplay more, cutting down on the large, but empty feeling levels, and getting the gunplay an AI better. Haze still has some fun bot deathmatches though, and the online was decent back in the day.

    Graphically, Lair definitely nailed the epic scale and scope they were aiming for in the game. The only thing they didn't nail was the framerate. Aiming for 1080p was a bit much for the PS3, but in early games, developers certainly didn't know the console's limits. It plays a little smoother at a lower resolution for sure. The art direction is unique, and the graphics were excellent for a first generation PS3 game. They also put a lot of effort into the story cutscenes. The story itself is pretty good, if predictable. No complaints with the voice acting either. If you are a story-based gamer, as opposed to being a gameplay-based gamer like myself, there is something here for you.

    The orchestral musical score is amazing and fits the epic feel of the game perfectly. You can tell they spared no expense when it came to the game's soundtrack. The sound effects from the cries of enemy soldiers, to the snarles of your dragon are also well done. There was a lot of care and effort put into the sound design of this game, and it shines through.

    The bottom line: Lair is definitely a flawed game that hit with a polarizing control scheme, and various other technical glitches. However, this game is definitely a lot better than the reviews made it out to be. I don't give review scores, but this is a 7/10 kind of game give or take a point or half a point. The hype for the game was huge before it hit, filling a void in time where Sony desperately needed more killer apps for the PS3 to justify the system's price, and to convince more people to buy the system. Which made it's low review scores even more embarrassing for Sony at a time where they couldn't even buy good press if they wanted to.

    Lair was never going to be a killer app. Even if it released day one with analog stick control, and all the technical glitches had been ironed out before release. Gaming had changed, and the days where a game like rogue leader could be a killer app for the Gamecube were long past.

    At the time mainstream tastes had changed, and the dawn of the online, and digital era was upon us. Games had also jumped up from a $50 asking price to $60, and we thought the future of strictly single player games was in question, outside of something like Gta, or Oblivion that is. Lair could be beaten in a couple of hours, and it's only online connectivity was leaderboards which are still up to this day.

    People wanted Gears of War, Halo 3, and eventually Modern Warfare. Most traditional single-player games were all but ignored by the vast majority of gamers in the PSWii60 era. First person shooters (predominantly modern shooters) and duck and cover third person shooters with a heavy emphasis on online play dominated the generation, and unless it was a big name franchise, most other traditional genres were put aside by gamers and developers. Whole genres, and sub genres of games more or less died, even if they had a strong showing on the PS2 from the previous generation.

    3D platformers are only just now starting to recover from the seventh generation where we were pretty much down just to Ratchet and Clank, and Mario. 3D space, or airplane flight games pretty much died outside of Ace Combat, and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X . This genre hasn't recovered from the seventh gen either. Even once strong names like Unreal Tournament 3 failed to do well enough to keep Midway Games from going out of business, despite selling a million copies.

    Development costs went through the roof, and developers had to go with whatever popular tastes were at the time just to survive. Tons of great traditional style single player games were ignored by the mainstream gamers, outside of maybe weekend rentals, and Lair, being a single player game with a single-player focus, even had it released in perfect form wasn't going to sell systems. Not even better games that hit like uncharted, and Heavenly Sword which came out later were console sellers. GTA4, and Metal Gear Solid 4 were console selling games with a predominantly single player focus, but the tone for the seventh generation was already set before Lair even shipped. Plenty of new single player IPs would eventually come it, but at the first couple of years of the Xbox 360, and PS3's life weren't kind to most traditional style games.

    Lair, for those who can look past it's flaws is still worth playing. It definitely plays a lot better with the analog sticks, so, again, make sure, if you have any interest in playing, or replaying this game to get your PS3 online to the playstation store and download the patch while it's still available, and the titan map pack for Unreal Tournament 3 while you're at it. This game is far from a 4 or 5 out of ten kind of game. Looking back on what we know now, I doubt most of the reviewers ever beat the game before they reviewed it. It it's lowest, Lair is a 6, because it's still playable. If you're a Rogue Squadron fan, there's still enough of that classic formula here to find some enjoyment out Lair. It's really not that bad of a game, and certainly isn't worthy of the cannon-fodder it was used as in online arguments. Haze? I can understand, but if Lair is the worst game you're ever played, you should probably play some more games.

 

The surprisingly interesting tale of the canceled Madden NFL '96 on the Playstation, and the Gameday verses Madden, Madden vs 2K feud

The surprisingly interesting tale of the canceled Madden NFL '96 on the Playstation, and the Gameday verses Madden feud.

Still busy at the time making Madden for the 16-bit consoles, EA contracted out the first Madden game that was to be a launch game for Sony's console to Visual Concepts.

It didn't take long before EA figured out that things weren't coming along as expected. According to this article [EGM, Issue 137, pg. 164]: "They tried to render each team individually," "Instead of rendering a player, then applying different uniform textures, they painstakingly rendered the 49ers, Cowboys, Etc.” What this meant was, the engine was chuggy, and would even take 5-10 seconds to load in defensive players after a change of possession.

As you may imagine, this meant the game was in rough shape. Imagine having to wait for a Madden game to load in offensive, and defensive players seperately. Apparently, they did send some early preview versions of the game to some gaming outlets at the time, saying it was still work in progress (I wonder if any of those preview disks are still floating around out there), and EA still maintained that the game would come out. They even put a screenshot of Madden '96 on the demo disk that came with launch PS1 systems.

However, there was one big thing that made EA stop the production of Madden. They saw Sony's own NFL Gameday on the Playstation. By comparison, they knew that Madden '96 wasn't up to snuff, so they canceled Madden '96 thanks to NFL Gameday. Gameday was already showing Madden up. EA, apparently barely got Madden '97 out in time by the next year. Madden was off to a rough start on Sony's system.

A lot of this had to do with the bitter rivalry of one-upmanship between NFL Gameday, and Madden. In 1998, Madden '98 came out, and while Madden fans vehemently praised it for it's sim elements, Gameday completely embarrassed Madden that year with Gameday '98 being a completely polygonal football game, something they said couldn't be done on the PS1. By comparison, Madden's two-dimensional sprite-based character graphics looked incredibly outdated. Gameday showed Madden up with a fully 3D football game that used motion capture technology to make the players move in a lifelike manner, and, at the time,  had detailed graphics that could immerse football fans even deeper into it's gameplay.

EA had Produced a fully polygonal Madden on the N64 the same year, but stuck with the 2D spirte graphics for the PS1 version. On the N64, it was Quarterback Club verses Madden, and Quarterback Club definitely won the graphics battle. However, nothing beats the complete humiliation of a fully polygonal NFL Gameday '98 verses a 2D Madden 98. EA had egg in their face.

Madden '99 was EA's first foray into polygonal graphics on the PS1, and the rivalry between Gameday that year was still deadlocked. Gameday was more arcadey, and had more detailed graphics, but Madden had the more sim feel, a franchise mode, and even a play editor. Some magazines gave Madden the edge, some gave it to Gameday.

For Madden 2000, the reviews for Madden saw it finally pull ahead of Gameday. Gameday still reviewed well, but Madden was the king again. EA had finally pulled themselves out of a rut, and put out, according to the reviews, the best Playstation and N64 football game that year.

Madden NFL 2001 was a premiere launch title for the PS2. It showcased fantastic next-gen graphics, amazing animations, and TV-style presentation. As silly as it is to gush over a football game for a launch title, Madden 2001 was a special next generation step up for the series, and really showed off the power of the console. Gameday 2001, however, was a complete mess. Glitchy, ugly, unfinished. 989 should have had the wisdom to cancel Gameday 2001, because the finished product was an unfinished product. The series, which did start to improve a lot before EA bought the NFL license, never recovered. By then, there was another epic football game rivalry in full swing.

In the year 1999, when EA was finally pulling ahead of Gameday with Madden 2000, Visual Concepts, the same team who fumbled Madden '96 released NFL 2K on the Sega Dreamcast. EA, who refused to support the Dreamcast never put a Madden game on the system. DC gamers got, by many counts, and superior franchise to Madden on the DC thanks to NFK 2K. I don't play sports games, but even I like the NFL 2K games, whereas I don't play Madden.

In 2001, Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast, and became a 3rd party developer for the three major consoles. This was a surreal time to be a gamer. We never thought we would see the day Sega games went to Nintendo or Sony consoles. Since, at the time, Sega owned the 2K franchise, this meant NFL 2K2 was released on the PS2 and Xbox, and for the first time went head to head against Madden.

Madden always won in the sales department, but a lot of gamers still maintain that NFL 2K was the best football franchise ever. This rivalry between Madden and 2K was the last great football game rivalry, because, as we all know, in 2005 EA bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license, thus killing all other NFL football franchises. Dirty pool EA.

It is still fun to look back on the rivalry between Gameday, and Madden, and then NFL 2K verses Madden. It's just one of those interesting rivalries from gaming history. I don't care about sports games. I almost never play them unless it's something like NBA Jam. However, for sports gamers, it would have been awesome see at the time, because you got to see each company put their best efforts into their games just to top the competition. Competition is good. It brings out the best in developers who's efforts would eventually stagnate without it. Whether you were a Madden fan, a Gameday fan, a 2K fan, or are like me, and never played sports game, it's still fun to look back on these old rivalries that force developers to put out the best games possible in their day.

Again, sports games aren't my personal interest, but you've gotta give credit to Gameday, and 2K for giving Madden a run for it's money. They came, their died, but they fought well. You've gotta admire their effort.

Doom 3 (PC) Review

 

    In 2006, I took my 2005 tax return money, and headed to Alienware's website with one goal in mind. I know buying a prebuilt is a big no-no among the PC gaming elite, but at the time I had no idea how to build my own. This was when Alienware was the real Alienware, and when it was a lot more common to buy prebuilt Machines. I did skimp on a few things when I ordered it, knowing I would upgrade eventually, so ended up paying just over a grand for the system in it's entirety.

    What was it that drove me to buy a brand new PC you might ask, for me, that time frame was the last great era in PC gaming. I'm not saying that PC gaming is dead, or isn't going incredibly strong nowadays, but in that era of gaming when the consoles were jumping from the 6^th generation, to the 7^th, PC gamers saw the release of Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Quake 4, FEAR, Swat 4, and so many other epic game releases that came with a huge jump in graphical technology with the Source engine, id Tech 4, and Unreal 3 just around the corner.

    If you weren't there at the time, think back to the first time you saw ray tracing, and look at how coveted modern GPU's are that can do ray tracing. It was one of those periods where there was a drastic jump in technology for all platforms including the PC. It's the difference between 2003's chaser, and 2004's Doom 3. It was drastic, and was also incredibly exciting to see at the time. I enthusiastically jumped into modern PC gaming at that time, and never regretted it.

    For me, this was the last truly exciting time in PC gaming as far as the games coming out. The seventh console gen hit, and most of the big developers focused on console-first, then PC development, taking formerly exclusive PC franchises, and shifting development to a console-first focus. When PC gamers complain that console technology is holding PC game technology back, this really kicked off full steam during the 7^th gen when developers decided to push PC gaming aside for the consoles.

    Doom 3 is a game that I see a lot of misunderstanding about in the modern era. There was some controversy over the flashlight mechanic in it's day, however, in light of the direction modern Doom games have taken, and in comparison to the original Doom series, Doom 3 is probably the most misunderstood, because people are either unaware of what era of first person shooters it came out in, or just kind of forgot.

    The original Doom was revolutionary for it's time, it changed gaming forever. In 1996, Quake hit, and like Doom before it, it changed gaming forever. In 1997 Quake II hit, and while not as revolutionary as the original, was a fantastic specimen of it's era. It's hub-world design was looking forward to something different. Something that had not quite been achieved, but it's design showed hints of looking forward to something new in first person shooters. However, as much as I love Quake II, it did not achieve it, but it was close.

    In 1998, Epic Megagames, and Digital Eclipse released Unreal which is another top-tier specimen of it's era and was another game that was also hinting at how FPS games could be more than just level to level shooting. Unreal was a little closer to it than Quake II in it's designs. The end of 1998 came, and what both Quake II and Unreal were hinting at but didn't quite achieve happened, and first person shooters were forever changed. I'm obviously talking about Shogo of course....OK, I'm joking, but here's what really happened that forever changed FPS games:

 

     Doom 3 is Doom in a post-Half-Life era. While there were other big first person shooters that came out in the time between Half Life and Doom 3, and other games that created their own sub-genres in the genre, I think it's safe to say the three largest leaps in first person shooters were Doom, Quake, and Half-Life. Of course you have games that came out between 1998 and 2004 like Rainbow Six, Tribes, Deus Ex, and of course, Halo, but Doom 3 ignored all of those, and it's design was very much Half-Life inspired.

    Simply put, at the time of Doom 3's release, had id Software brought out a prettier version of the original series, it would have been a critical, and commercial flop. You've gotta remember, Half-Life changed things, and at the time, we thought forever changed things. There was no going back. At least not yet.

    The idea of the throwback shooter was only present in two games I can think of at this time, Serious Sam, which started out as an indie game that came out at a $20 asking price, and Painkiller. Both were and still are very enjoyable games, but if id was going to go with bleeding edge graphical technologies, it makes more sense that they would make a game that was trying to top Half-Life, which was the bleeding edge of design philosophy of it's day. That they would aim to not make a throwback shooter, but a modern shooter with few homages to the original.

    It's sort of like the jump from 2D games to 3D games where the challenge was taking Doom and translating it into the new, and at the time, revolutionary style of the day. Half Life was a big deal, and to take Doom strictly back to it's roots would have been seen as a giant leap backward. id was always that company trying to leap forward, setting new standards in design and tech.

    The end result is Doom 3 and resurrection of Evil stand by themselves as the most uniquely their own Doom games, standing in that time period between Half-Life, and when Call of Duty would come in and become the new thing everyone had to copy, add nauseam. In fact, this whole era of FPS games, still has such a unique flavor, because coming out of the 7^th console generation, FPS games had changed so much with the NEW new style, that there really haven't been a lot of shooters like the ones from this era since, outside of sequels.

    Games like Doom 3, Half-Life 2, FEAR, Crysis, Farcry, the original Prey, Quake 4, and even early 7^th gen console games like Resistance Fall of Man still have such a unique flavor, and their own individual identities. This was a great era in first person shooters, and, arguably, one of the last great eras at least for traditional fps single player campaigns. Online is a different beast altogether as are games like Fallout, and the other open world variety styles. I'm talking traditional campaigns in tradition style shooters here.

    Doom 3 starts out very much mirroring Half-Life. Your marine just landed on Mars for his first day, and quickly gets a seemingly simple assignment of finding and escorting a scientist back to HQ when all hell breaks loose, literally. Basically, it's the same story premise as Half-Life. Secret research facility running unethical scientific experiments, but instead of opening a portal to an alien dimension, they open the portal to hell.

    From the story premise, to the levels and story designs, to NPCs that help you along the way, to the health system, and even portions of the game that directly copy Half-Life, Doom 3 was mostly inspired by exploits of Gordon Freemon. Or, as I said, this is Doom in the Half-Life era.

    Doom 3 borrows heavily from Half-Life, but so did most FPS games at the time. However, aside from borrowing design elements, and health system, id put their own spin on the formula. The gunplay and atmosphere were completely different for one. Doom 3 went for a horror atmophere, and nailed it.

    Not only are the monsters, most of which get an epic intro in the game, detailed in horrific ways, using all the technology of the day (bump mapping, normal mapping, etc) to give them some truly disturbing-looking details, but id tech 4's dynamic per-pixel lighting system capabilities are on full display, taking them, and making them an actual gameplay mechanic through the use of the flashlight. Using the flashlight in the game becomes just as integral gameplay mechanic as the in-your-face gunplay.

    Was the flashlight a gimmick to show off the lighting capabilities of the engine? Yeah probably, but having to choose between holding the flashlight or holding your firearm added to the incredibly tense horror atmosphere of the game. I know this mechanic divided fans of the game, but I love the flashlight mechanic in the game.

    The Duct tape mod, and BFG edition just don't feel right for the pacing and horror atmosphere of the game. I like BFG edition due to the fact that it has a ton of content, and still has a good version of Doom 3, however, I really wish they would have just given players the option to play it in either mode instead of ruining the experience by forcing the change.

    BFG edition is OK, but isn't the right way to play this game. I would like to thank everyone who whined about the flashlight mechanic for tainting the experience in BFG Edition for the rest of us. It's like taking Super Mario 64, and adding an auto jump to it because people can't be bothered to press a button themselves. It would still technically be the same game from a design standpoint, but it still wouldn't be the same game.

   BFG edition does have a lot of content, and is still worth a purchase, but it's not the same experience. It does improve the weapon sounds from the original, and the change in the flashlight does make it seem a little more action-focused, so it's good for more action oriented types who don't want to feel the vulnerability of having to choose between flashlight or gun, However one of my favorite things about the original is thumping zombies with the flashlight to save ammo, or thumping corpses to make sure they won't spring to life on you which is something you can't do in BFG edition. I'll eventually play all the way through BFG edition, and if I decide I was wrong to hate the changes, I'll let you know someday.

    I really enjoy the gunplay in Doom 3, even though it's certainly not as intense as the gunplay in the original Doom series, or even the Quake series that preceded it. It has it's own, slower, but still methodical pace to it. They finally added ammo magazines, and reloading which adds to the more methodical pace. I know, who reloads in Doom? This was also a standard feature of FPS games of it's era.

    The game eases you into the action. It doesn't throw nearly as many enemies your way as retro Doom, but since the engine was chunky and cutting edge, this was obviously to save system resources. The slain enemies also disappear into thin air which deprives players of going back and admiring the carnage they have carved in their path throughout the course of each level. This, no doubt, was also to save resources, and not chug down the chunky engine more.

    By the end of the game, it does throw a gauntlet of enemies your way, feeling a lot more like retro doom. There is a buildup of story and arsenal before things get too crazy, however. I am, also, a fan of how they decided to go about monster placement. Sometimes they come out of nowhere, other times, the developers make them just warp in through portals.

    I can understand this can seem pretty cheap, constantly having monsters warp in and shoot you from behind, but it really does add to the uneasy feeling where you rarely feel safe in the game, because you never know when another enemy will just pop in. Sometimes you can predict it, but other times, you make the wrong prediction only to be surprised by a monster popping out of the place you didn't expect.

    Having enemies just pop in can get annoying at times, but it was an obvious way to save system resources, and it adds to the atmosphere by keeping you on your toes. Between the dark areas, unnerving atmosphere thanks to the gruesome visual and excellent sound design, mixed with the constant harassment by enemies that come seemingly out of nowhere, Doom 3 gets incredibly intense. If you have ever had someone knock on your door while playing this game, you know just how intensely this game can pull you into, because I jumped out of my chair.

    Combine the solid gunplay, half-life inspired levels designs where the game takes you on a journey, and the unnerving atmosphere, and you have one of my favorite shooters of that legendary era of PC shooters. On top of the previously mentioned gameplay and design features, id also gave the game probably the coolest UI systems in any first person shooter ever. Instead of just pressing a button to activate something on the computer, your cross-hair becomes a mouse, allowing you to click individual items on the computer screen, which adds a really cool level of interactivity that I haven't seen duplicated much since.

    Another cool addition that adds tot he game is the way your marine collects new PDA's throughout the game. These PDA's belonged to various staff members of the mars facility, and not only do they open doors, but they contain various audio logs, and emails you can listen to or read to find codes to supply cabinets, or doors. They are also there if you want to delve deeper into the story and lore of the game.

    There even used to be a website mentioned in emails in the game called martianbuddy.com that at one time was a legitimate website id software setup which contained a secret cabinet code to use in the game. Remember when Metal Gear Solid asked you to look on the back of the game box to find Meryl's codec frequency, Doom 3 had it's own website you could look up to find the code for a cabinet in the game. I always found that to be a really cool touch. Unfortunately, the actual URL just takes you to Bethesda.net now, but you can find it with the wayback machine.

    I don't fully remember how long the game is, as I haven't played all the way through it since I captured this footage almost two years ago. It's a game that I occasionally play through enough to not fully remember everything in the game, so I still get surprised by enemies popping in when I don't remember them. I had to look up full longplays on Youtube, and it looks to be anywhere between 6 to 10 hours for the single player. By today's standards, that's a pretty lengthy single player mode. At the time it would have been around the average length of a first person shooter single player give or take. It will definitely take you longer your first time through, or your first time in a while.

    As much as I love the single player mode, I think I have only played this game once or twice online ever. It's kind of the Quake issue where I am weary to jump on in a game I know I'll do terrible at. I can jump into Quake II with confidence, but Quake, and Quake III, not so much. I am the same way with Doom 3's deathmatch. Plus, the first time I ever played it online, I didn't know you had to hit F1 to ready up for the match, so they yelled at me, well, texted aggressively that is.

    However, if you're not the weary type, and don't mind getting destroyed online until you learn the game, there are still a few servers up for this game to this day, and people still play it online sometimes. You won't find a ton of people online, but that's the beauty of old PC games, there always seems to be people playing them decades later.

    Graphically, for it's time, this was bleeding edge, and the lighting effects were out of this world. I had never experienced anything like it. This was the game people used to benchmark their rig. Until Crisis came out, your rig was only as good as it could play Doom 3. I still think Id Tech 4 is a beautiful engine, and it has such a unique look about it, without knowing for sure, when I was playing Prey on the Xbox 360 later, I could tell it was the Doom 3 engine it was using, and not just because of the UI.

    By today's standards, the Doom 3 engine obviously looks dated, and you can run it on a potato with little problem. I still thing the lighting effects are awesome, and still worth seeing, even in the era of Ray Tracing. It's pretty cool to see how developers found ways to improve lighting techniques in the days of single core processors, and the Radeon 9800XT, or the Geforce 6600.

    Granted, and next gen as the tech was, Vicarious Visions did manage to port the game for the original Xbox, which was an excellent port. They obviously had to make some cuts to the levels, and rework some things to get it to run, but it's plays and feels as good as the PC version. Xbox GPU was a variant of the Geforce 3 which was a 64 MB card, the minimum required GPU to run Doom.

    It was nice to see the Xbox flex it's muscles without worrying about PS2 ports which according to the fanboys were holding the Xbox back. Doom 3 with Farcry, both of which have unskippable cuteness to hide an incredibly long loading boot sequence, combined with Butcher Bay are, for my money, the three best looking original Xbox Games. Halo 2, not in the same tier. That being said, does anyone else remember the joke people used to repeat on forums: “What do you get when you take the word Graphics out of an Xbox fanboy's vocabulary?....silence”

    On top of being a great port, the Collectors Edition of the Xbox version also had an awesome port of the original Doom with four-payer coop play. That's a pretty awesome deal in case you are collecting for the Xbox, keep an eye out for the collectors edition.

    The controls, well, not to sound like the PC elitists, but nothing to report, it's keyboard and mouse, need you anything else. The only thing to get used to is the flashlight mechanic, assuming you aren't one of those weenies who needs a duct tape mod. Also a bit different for shooters of this era, is there is a sprint button in this game. Sure, retro Doom had one, but the always run option took over in early 3D shooters. Doom 3's sprint is handeld a lot more like modern FPS games where there is a sprint meter at the bottom of the screen, so you have to use it more sparingly.

    The sound design is excellent, and adds to the spooky atmosphere. At first, Id Software was going to bring Trent Reznor back to help with the sound design, but that fell through, but Chris Vrenna, who previously played drums in Nine Inch Nails, and his band Tweeker took up the reigns on the sound design which outside of the epic intro theme, features only ambient, and creepy sounds in the background, adding to the atmosphere. I do agree that the weapon sounds in the game are a bit paltry depending on the weapon, but the rest of the sound design is excellent. It helps pull you into the game.

    The Bottom Line: I think people are coming around to Doom 3, but in light of the new Doom series, I find that a lot of people look back wondering why the game is how it is. Honestly, I love this game, and the vanilla version with the flashlight mechanic and all.

    I think nostalgia will eventually come back around to this amazing era in PC First Person Shooters. The current crop of Throwback shooters are cool, but I think over saturation and fatigue is starting to set in to 90's throwbacks. While not as fast, and furious as the quakes, or the Duke 3D's, the post Half-Life era of shooters was amazing in it's own right.

    Doom Eternal is awesome, and will no-doubt, be the premiere throwback shooter franchise for years to come with any future sequels. Other recent throwback shooters I have found have some really great gameplay and mechanics as well, but the mainstream FPS of today have all been watered down in gameplay and design.

    I think we will eventually start seeing throwbacks to the post Half-Life, pre, whatever garbage they call modern first person shooters (call of Duty), soon. Games that slowed it down over the twitch elements of their 90's brethren, but made up for it with more thoughtful designs that took the player on a journey from start-to finish. The more story-focused, more scripted (but not as heavily scripted as the incredible linearity of modern first person shooters) shooters that push the player through a larger story overall.

    If you are too young to remember this era, go back and play some of these games just to see how different their style stands out even now. You may find yourself becoming as big a fan of this era of shooters as I have always been.

Katamari Damacy REROLL Review

Katamari Damacy is an evergreen game experience that brings a sort of blissful childhood glee to all those who play it. Coming from the imagination of Keita Takahashi, Katamari can best be described as a game that hits on that sense of childhood imagination where as a kid, you may have said, hey what if I could roll up the whole world into a ball. Not only is this game imaginative, it's simple concept makes for some incredibly addictive fun to boot.

Every now and again a game so zanny comes out of nowhere and carves it's own niche, Becoming both memorable, and profitable enough in the mainstream to warrant sequels. Katamari Damacy is a decidedly Japanese-style game that normally would never see the light of day in North America. Luckily for us, Namco decided to localize it anyway. It seems, however, Europe missed the original, but did get it's followup We Love Katamari.

I also missed picking up the first two on PS2 back in the day, but did win a free copy of Beautiful Katamari on the 360 from a Gamepro.com offshoot site, so while I wasn't completely Katamari-less in my day, seeing Katamari Damacy REROLL available on Steam for a $15 sale price finally netted me a copy of the original. And since I've had most of this footage on my external hard drive since may of last year when I was planning on reviewing this game, I have also since gone back and picked up both PS2 Katamari games which were more reasonably priced than I expected them to be.

When the king of the Kosmos accidentally destroys all the stars in the sky, he orders his pint-sized Princely son to help him restore the cosmos by rolling anything and everything into clumps he will then use to turn back into the stars and constellations in the sky.

The concept of Katamari Damacy is simple, you roll things up with your Katamari to increase the size until you can roll up larger objects to increase the size to roll up larger objects, rinse and repeat until you reach the required size for the level within the time allowed. The growth-gameplay design makes it incredibly addictive with the time limits giving it a sense of urgency.

On top of the growth-gameplay, the zany, eclectic list of items and areas you are rolling up are the star of the show. A strange collection of childhood toys, cards, to even a Sega SG 1000 Mark II lead to eventually rolling up, dogs, cats, and humans themselves who's comical screams and reactions to being rolled up always put a big smile on my face.

That is a very basic, maybe even poor description of the items you collect in this game. There are so many wacky yet humorous sights to see in the game, like why is a guy riding a panda, and why are sumo wrestlers twirling each other around. In fact, the best part of the game is that nothing makes sense, yet it still makes sense in the strange childhood imagination world presented in Katamari.

Eventually your Katamari grows big enough to roll up houses, skyscrapers, and even huge chunks of land in later levels. The game has a deep sense of humor, with a lighthearted atmosphere, and some addictive gameplay. The comical game concept mixed with the comical objects to roll means game definitely doesn't take itself too seriously, despite it's seriously fun gameplay. This game is a timeless classic that is fun in all generations.

When I first booted Reroll on my PC, it was, strangely, windowed, and while there is a way to play it with keyboard and mouse, I decided to pick up an Xbox One controller I found on clearance at my local Walmart, because the way the game controls using both analog sticks to move, turn, and even dash doesn't translate well on the PC without a controller.

The game is also available on the Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, and Series X, but having not bought a new console since the Wii I bought over a decade ago, Steam was the only option I had to play it. For the Steam version, you'll want to get a controller to play it.

REROLL makes some changes to the original. For example extra time has been added to some of the constellation levels, making ReRoll a little easier than the PS2 original. However, the visuals are the most obvious upgrade, adding a widescreen perspective to see more, and higher resolutions. This is, however, a remaster, and not a remake, so not a whole lot has been changed graphically outside of higher resolutions, and some of the character art. This is a good thing, because REROLL retains mostly the same unique art direction as the original, along with the cheerfully bright color pallet.

Not just the interesting art direction, but also the brightness makes this a game you can tell is meant to be a happy experience. This is a game that has an uplifting air about it. The entire visual design from the Flamboyant King of the Kosmos, the story cutscenes featuring a family that bear witness to the goings on, to the art direction and the uplifting, bright look of the game are a throwback to the days when games didn't take themselves so freaking serious. Having a bad day, play some Katamari for a happy place.

The tracks that play in certain levels in the game have also been shuffled a little in REROLL, and there are some other minute changes, but playing almost entirely through the PS2 version while writing this review, and then also playing REROLLalong side it, it turns out, I was too busy just playing the game to notice any changes. Look, I'm not addicted. I can quit at any time, I swear. I don't really need it, I just don't wanna quit.

My only disclaimer with this game comes with listening to Katamari on the Rocks, the main theme. Once you hear the theme, it attaches itself to your soul, and it will never leave you. At random you will find yourself La, la, lala, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, lala, la, laing it out for the rest of your life.

OK, I can't lie, I love the title theme in particular, and the rest of the songs, while not my usual taste in music is also fitting for the game. The sounds are well done, and some of the sound bytes, like the screams of people when you roll them in are hilarious. REROLL also changes the story scenes back to Japanese voice over with English subtitles, whereas the PS2 was English dubbed.

The game controls great once you learn their idiosyncrasies, so long as you have a controller to use. There were supposedly some control changes according to the game's wiki page, but jumping from the PS2 version to REROLL, I can tell you I haven't really noticed much difference. Again, I was too absorbed in the gameplay to notice.

If I have any complaints with Katamari, it's that the game is rather short. I completely beat it in about 5 hours on my first try. That being said, I obviously found replay value in coming back to the game every now and again, but your mileage may vary. My only other complaint I could think of has to do with the constellation levels where instead of rolling up as much stuff as you can, you have to roll up a bunch of one type of thing to create a constellation, or other similar type objectives.

I did these missions just to complete the game, but never found them to be as enjoyable to the main levels. I understand they were added for variety sake, but honestly, this is one of those games where the main concept is so fun, that any side missions distract more than improve.

Beautiful Katamari on the Xbox 360 would later add these kinds of objectives to the main level objectives. Though I still enjoy that game, the straight simplicity of the original just makes for a more fun experience without further unneeded convolution to the formula. Adding further, pointless objective on top of the formula, focussing on DLC, and online play are also probably why Beautiful Katamari is one of the least favorite games in the series. That and Keita Takahashi's not being involved in the development. I still think it's a fun game, but, yes, not the best in the series now that I have played the first two. Still worth a look, and it is backwards compatible to the One, and Series X.

The Ba, ba ,ba ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, bottom Line: Katamari Damcy will always be fun, and always be engaging. This is a game that still stands out as one of the most imaginative, unique experiences in gaming history, and it's an uplifting ode to how bright the world can be in the imagination of a child. If you're having a bad day, play some Katamari. If you're feeling down, play some katamari. If you're having a great day, play some Katamari. If you've never played Katamari, just play this game. REROLL is available on every platform under the sun, or you can find it on the PS2. This is one of those forever fun games that every gamer should experience at least once.

And if you are a Wii owner who likes the growth gameplay deisgn of Katamari, look into Elibits, and Namco's own The Munchables for similar experiences. Just don't play The Munchables on an empty stomach.

Donkey Kong Country Review (Snes)

Here's a game that needs no introduction. Unless you were living under a rock, or a Sega Fanboy, there's a very good chance that if you didn't own this game, you definitely rented it, or played it at a friend's house back in the day. Donkey Kong country set new visual standards we could never imagine were possible on the 16-bit consoles thanks to Rare's ingenious idea to take 3D models created on silicon Graphics workstations, and digitize them into two dimensional sprites for the Super Nintendo to handle. Thus creating graphics that looked light-years above anything we had seen on any of the 16-bit consoles. If everything else in the fourth generation was 16-bit, this game had to be at least 17-bit.

Donkey Kong Country was more than just pretty graphics. On top of it's shiny visuals the game showcases fantastic level designs putting Rare's development talents on full display. Sure, you've got your underwater levels, your barrel levels that require fast reflexes and perfect timing, and your mine-cart levels of dread. However, the core experience features levels permeated with hidden areas and objects to find, giving it a ton of depth for those who care search for it.

Like any great 2D platformer, DKC leaves the choice in the player's hands as how to play the game. Player's can simply run from start to finish just to beat the level, or choose to explore the levels a little more carefully, trying to find all the hidden areas that are skillfully honeycombed throughout the levels, find and collect KONG for an extra life, and even collect three animal tokens to play an extra mini-game where every 100 tokens you collect equals an extra life after the timer runs out.

The levels aren't as complex in design as the levels in a Sonic game where there are ten different paths to get to the end, Donkey Kong Country has a more simple and straightforward design structure like Mario. One main path from left to right, but with tons of hidden items and areas to find along the way. The secret areas usually contain mini games where you collect golden bananas to gain extra lives. Like the coins in Mario, 100 bananas equals an extra life.

There are also other kinds of levels besides the traditional platoformer kind thrown in for good measure. These are some of the toughest levels in the game, for example, moving platforms, and mine carts that require memorization, and trial an error. Most of these are the toughest levels in the game, and require precision, and lots of restarts. These levels are tough, inventive, and some of the most remembered levels in the game, because they probably tormented a lot of gamers in cildhood, but man, that feeling of accomplishment when you finally beat one.

I didn't play a lot of platformers during the 16-bit era, personally. My Genesis came with Sonic 2, but being a late Snes adopter, we chose the Snes that had Link to the past as the pack-in by choice. That was the game that finally convinced my brother and I that we finally needed a Snes. Once we got the Snes, we played mostly RPGs, and in general, the whole era, we played beat 'em ups, fighting games, and various other genres. I did play quite a bit of Super Mario world as friend's houses, because everyone owned that.

I didn't get Donkey Kong country until almost a decade after it's release. I bought it for 10 dollars from a friend, who later sold me the rest of his Snes games for $20, which also scored me both of it's sequels, and a few other less interesting games. This means that I got to finally play through it years removed from the hype, and even after the graphical luster had faded. Ten years removed from it's highest height of popularity, when I was already enjoying PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox games, I still came away from Donkey Kong Country saying, “Man, this is a great game.”

By default, Sonic 2 will always be my favorite 2D platformer of that entire generation, however, I can honestly say that Donkey Kong Country is probably my second favorite 16-bit platformer of all time. No disrespect to Super Mario World, or other top tier platformers of that generation, Donkey Kong Country just hit better 10 years later. From it's exceptional level designs, to it's wells designed gameplay mechanics, and it's amazing sound, I came away loving this game.

The controls are smooth, and spot on, yes, even in the mine-cart levels, and the other various maneuvers are easy to pull off as well. The mechanic where you can swap between diddy and donkey at anytime to take advantage of their different abilities is also a great design choice that becomes an integral part of fully exploring the levels, and is seamless with the responsive controls, as are all the tough barrel levels which require split-second timing. Rare perfected the controls in this game.

The music is another high spot in the game. The soundtrack is so good, they even released, and sold it separately. If you have an extra two to seven hundred dollars, you can pick up the American version of the soundtrack on CD. You can even pick up a three pack of the Japanese CD versions for all three Donkey Kong country games for the super cheap price of 5,382 dollars. Smoking deal folks, smoking deal.

The sound effects in this game are also an incredible part of the sound designs. I don't know what it is, but they have always had almost and ASMR effect for me. They are actually pleasing to my ears.

I remember when the Game Boy Advance version came out, seeing a terrible review in Electronic Gaming Monthly tearing into the game saying the game was always overrated, and one it the big reasons was look at the graphics. I would show you the review if I could find the magazine it was in, but all may gaming mags are buried in storage at the moment, however, it was a terrible review where it was obvious, just by the screenshots, the GBA version had some issues. It's not a terrible playing port, but all you can say is, well, they tried, bless their little hearts.

There was also later backlash against Rare from Nintendo fans after Microsoft bought them where they suddenly came to the realization that, “All of Rare's games are overrated. I never liked them.”

I think that phase has passed, but for a while there, there was a bit of a consensus floating around that Donkey Kong Country was overrated, pushed by gaming publications, and disgruntled Nintendo fanboys. So, was this game way overhyped because of the graphics at it's release, yeah probably, but looking from a gameplay and design standpoint, this is still one of the best-playing, best-designed platformers of the fourth generation, periot.

The bottom Line: Nothing against Super Mario World, it's a great game with masterful design, however, with the rise of Sonic, the 16-bit era brought a new crop of 2D platformers that were fresher than your mix tape. I'm not sure what generation of 2D platformers the fourth console generation was in, but the genre, arguably, reached it's highest peak in both popularity, and design, leading to the creation of so many timeless classics in the genre, and Donkey Kong Country is one of the best to come out of that generation, hands down. It's sequels were also cut from the same cloth, and are on the top tier in quality as well. Even if you are in the class that now considers the game to be overhyped, and overrated, you still can't deny the quality the game presents. Donkey Kong Country wasn't just the game that helped the Snes pull far ahead of the Genesis in sales, it was also one of the best platformers, and one of the best games in general for that whole generation, just as worthy to join the likes of Marion, and Sonic in that classification.

Bujingai: The Forsaken City (PS2) Gameplay Sample