Video Game Review #165: The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link

PlayStation

Nostalgia Factor:

I first played this game in 2002 or 2003. I rented it from Blockbuster Video with relatively low expectations. I absolutely loved the show, but I was not sure how it would translate over to a video game. It could either be really fun, or incredibly hokey.

Turns out, I liked the game a lot. I played it a ton with my girlfriend at the time, and her friends. We would play the multiplayer version of the game where depending on how many people there were, we each got to play as two or three characters. If there was an odd number of characters, the computer would control the final character, and we'd all agree to vote it out first.

Not only was the game a ton of fun to play given its format, it also got really intense too. Getting voted out in a game like this feels personal! Feels really good when you win, though. We played the heck out of this game, but eventually I had to return it to Blockbuster. It was sad to see it go, but I had gotten way more fun out of it than I ever thought would be possible.

I found The Weakest Link at a used video game store several years later. Remembering my fond memories of the game, I decided to buy it. It was only two or three bucks, too, so it was a great bargain. The game has brought me many hours of entertainment over the years. I've played it with several friends, old girlfriends, my wife, and even my late friend Jeff, the guy who wrote several guest reviews for this blog before his 2018 passing. It has never failed to be an amazing and fun experience with everyone I have played it with.

This is a game I have played a lot over the years. Seems only natural to review it for this blog. I picked it up today and decided to give single player a go. Would my opinion change, or would I still find this game to be a lot of fun?

Story:

There really isn't a story here, as this is based on a game show. I guess if there are any story related elements, they would be from the characters and their back stories. The characters are really varied and diverse. Hover the cursor over each character, and they all have little things that they say about themselves. You'll develop your own personal favorites the more you play. In particular, I am fond of Ravi, Eddie, and Gary.

Gameplay:

The game follows the format of the TV show surprisingly well. Each round, contestants are asked questions one by one. If they answer correctly, they earn a certain dollar amount for the team. The goal of the team is to string together several correct answers in a row, earning more and more money with each correct answer. For the money to count towards the game's winnings, however, players have to "bank" it. Here is what this means. If a player does not "bank", and answers incorrectly, all the money they have earned drops back down to zero. Banking the money saves it so it can not be lost, but at the same time it drops the earning ladder back down to the bottom again, meaning the players have to start another correct answer chain in order to earn more money. Each round is timed, and at the end of the timer, the round ends. All money that was banked is carried over to the next round.

I feel like I described that very poorly, but it is sort of hard to put into words. It is easy to get the hang of once you start playing it. After the end of each round of questions, the players must vote for who they believe to be the weakest link. Really, they can vote using whatever criteria they like. The player with the most votes is then cruelly evicted from the show. This goes on until there are only two players left in the game. These two players face off in a best of five question and answer battle. The winner takes home all the money banked over the course of the game. The loser gets nothing!

The game is really easy to control, even if you are not a veteran video game player. You are asked a question, and two to four possible answers are displayed on the screen. You move up or down to select an answer, and press x to lock it in. If your turn comes and there is money you wish to bank, press the square button to do so. To vote people off, simply pick the character's name and the corresponding button to cast the vote. Really, anyone can pick this game up and play it, which adds to its appeal. You could play this game with your grandma and still have a fun time.

If you like trivia or  question and answer games, you should have fun with this. Anne Robinson and her hilarious insults only make the game even more fun. I find it hard to picture anyone playing this game with friends and not having a good time. If you are only looking at the single player experience, the game can be a bit lacking. It's still fun, but it isn't the same, and it gets old after a while.

Graphics:

You don't really play a game like this for its graphics. All you see is what is happening on-stage and the audience in the background. The characters all look decent by PS1 standards. They aren't anything special, but they are just enough to give each character their own distinct look and personality.

In between game rounds, the game cuts over to FMV scenes of Anne Robinson exploring the rules of the game, as well as throwing insults at its contestants. The presentation of the game show graphics on-screen gives it a very authentic feel, and the game faithfully recreates the look and feel of the television show.

Sound:

Tying into the game's visual presentation, its music and sound effects help make this a believable Weakest Link experience. All the music is pulled directly from the television show. Anne Robinson lends not only her physical likeness, but her voice to the game as well.

One area the game shines is in its character banter. I've been playing this game for years, with nearly every combination of every character in the game, and I still to this day hear insults from Anne and character speeches that I have never heard before. Seems like a lot of work was put into making each game experience unique as far as where its conversations turn. A seemingly small detail, but something that gives the game a lot of depth.

Overall:

If you are a fan of the Weakest Link TV show, you will find that the video game faithfully recreates everything you love about the show. The game's presentation, music, and voice acting is spot-on. The makers of the game did a very good job creating such an authentic experience 

Played with friends, the game is an absolute riot. It is very addicting and hard to put down. The game not only forces you to use your brain to answer some hard questions, it also makes you react quickly when it comes to deciding whether or not to bank. Play this game with a group of pals, and it almost always results in a good time.

If you are looking for a solid single player experience, you could do better than the Weakest Link. There is some decent replay value here, as the game's bank of questions is massive, and you rarely see the same question used twice (although I am sure you will see more and more repeats if you are playing for long periods at a time). The computer is extremely good, though, and is pretty hard to beat. Usually what I do is just pick multiplayer mode and make half of the players my players, and the other half computer players. Then I make sure I do just enough to always stay on the right side of the vote!

This is a good, solid game that I attach a lot of strong memories to. It is not something I can sit down and play by myself for hours on end, but it is something I like to pull out when I have friends over. It has been a solid member of my game rotation for years now, and I like to pop it out every once in a while for shits and giggles. Fun game, don't dismiss it as just some crappy video game based on a game show, like I almost did. I imagine the game may be hard to find nowadays but if you happen to see this little gem for sale at your local used game store, pick it up. You won't regret it.

Final Score:

B+

If you liked my review of the Weakest Link, check out my review of:

Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Second Edition

Video Game Review #164: Primal Rage

Primal Rage

Sega Genesis

Nostalgia Factor:

Back when I was 13 or 14 years old, I was a big fan of games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. When I first caught wind of this game, Primal Rage, it immediately worked its way onto my radar of games to check out. A fighting game where you took control of monsters and dinosaurs? Sounded awesome!

I ended up renting Primal Rage from Blockbuster Video. I got home, popped the game in my Genesis, and was immediately underwhelmed. This was near the end of the lifespan of the Sega Genesis, and I expected a lot better. The graphics were ugly, the character animations were choppy, I didn't like the game's controls. I couldn't even figure out how to do any of the game's special moves, as my rented copy of the game didn't come with an instruction manual of any kind. No typical Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter button combinations seemed to do anything, so I was relegated to using run of the mill punch and kick attacks. Obviously, I couldn't figure out how to do any of the game's fatalities. Back in 1995 or 1996, we didn't have the internet in our house, so I couldn't even look to that for help.

Primal Rage gave me a serious case of renter's remorse. I could have used my six bucks to rent something, anything I would have enjoyed more than this.

Let's move forward in time to the year 2018. This is about 23 years after the game first hit store shelves. I have this box of Sega Genesis games that my cousin Ryan loaned to me. If you have been loyally reading this blog, this is the same mythical box of Genesis games that I have been mentioning off and on for a few years now. I was looking for something quick and easy to play and review, so I picked Primal Rage. I hadn't played the game in 20 plus years. I turned it on, and was once again immediately turned off by the game. I played it for about ten minutes, got my butt kicked, and turned the game back off again. I hated the game for all the same reasons I did the first time I played it back when it first came out.

I didn't beat the game, so I didn't write a review. I kept telling myself I would come back to it and play it again and get it out of the way, but I never did. This was seven months ago. Just now, today, I came back to finish off Primal Rage once and for all. I got sick of looking at it sitting there next to my TV. Would I still hate Primal Rage, or would I finally begin to see what all of my friends who love the game see? Read on and find out.

Story:

There is really nothing to report here. I still don't have an instruction manual for the game, so I don't know what it says in there. There is literally NOTHING in-game that explains what is going on. If you don't press any buttons after turning on most fighting games, it will show you little story scenes before you actually start playing the game. Primal Rage does not. When you do decide to press start and begin playing the game, there are no introductory story sequences. When you beat the game, it is just like "okay congrats you conquered the world byeeeeeeeeeee". That's it.

When I look at the Primal Rage Wikipedia page, there is a synopsis of the game's storyline. Something about humanity nearly going extinct, and the beasts rising up from underneath the planet's surface. The remaining humans worship these beasts as gods. I don't know. It is nice to know that the game does have a storyline, but at the same time I wonder why it isn't even in the game at all. If I have to look it up on Wikipedia, does it even count?

Gameplay:

Clearly, the game's controls are styled after Mortal Kombat. You move left and right. You hold back to block. Up makes you jump. You have a high and low punch attack (or head snap if your character has no arms or short arms), and a high and low kick attack. Those are the only buttons you use.

Single player mode has you fighting through each character in the game. There is a game map after each fight that shows which areas you have conquered. Conquer all the areas and you beat the game. Simple stuff. A playthrough of the game lasts about 20 minutes. I am extremely glad I didn't buy this as a kid, or I would have been so upset. With no proper storyline to speak of, there is little to no replay value to be found here.

Controls are clunky. Hit detection is terrible. Now that it is 2019 and I have internet access, I was able to look up how to do each character's special moves and fatalities. The special moves helped a bit. I am glad I was able to look online, because I never in a million years would have figured out how to do any of these moves. Most of them involve holding down multiple buttons at once, and then inputting directional combinations into the D-pad. It is a pain in the butt. Why couldn't they have just had simple "down, right, punch" button combos like every other fighting game?

Even with a list of how to do each fatality right in front of me, I still never managed to pull off a single fatality. Not even one. Insult me and say I suck. I don't care. I have no idea what I was doing wrong. To me, this is a flaw in the game design. Seeing as how I don't enjoy this game very much, I wasn't going to spend a whole lot of time trying to figure it out. I ended up watching a YouTube video of all of them instead.

Graphics:

This is not a pretty game. As I alluded to earlier in the review, this game came out relatively late in the lifespan of the Sega Genesis. I expected so much better. It's sloppy, it's pixelated, it's grainy. The character animations are choppy, and their movement is not smooth in any way, shape, or form. If I had to say anything positive about the game's graphics, it would have to be that the stage backgrounds are... decent?

I should add that I have never played the arcade version of the game. In fact, I have been to many arcades in my life, and I have never even seen this unit anywhere. When I was looking on YouTube to see the game's fatalities, I stumbled upon a video with footage from the arcade version of the game, as opposed to the Genesis one. The graphics for the arcade game are SO MUCH better than the graphics here. It is unrealistic to expect a home console port to look as good as the arcade version, but this is just unacceptable. I know the Genesis can do so much better. No way around it, this is simply a bad, sloppy port.

Sound:

You know a game is not very good when I would say that its music and sound effects are the highlight of the game. The sound effects are relatively unremarkable, but nothing stood out to me as annoying or out of place. I liked the burp and fart noises Chaos made when performing his special attacks.

None of the game's musical tracks stand out too much, but they do the job pretty well. I did like the music when they showed the game map in between fights. It had kind of an Ecco the Dolphin vibe to it that I thought was pretty cool.

Overall, I would say that this is the area where the game excels the most. Which really isn't saying a whole lot.

Overall:

In case you can't tell from my comments so far, I didn't enjoy Primal Rage. I didn't enjoy it back in the mid 90's, and I don't enjoy it now.

Playing it again was certainly an interesting trip down memory lane, but that is about as far as I would go. I am never going to play this game again. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone else. I know there are people out there that love this game, but it is what it is. I tried to give it a shot, but Primal Rage is just not for me.

Final Score:

D-

If you liked my review of Primal Rage, check out some of my other game reviews:

Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat II

Batman Forever

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition

Side note:
Kind of funny, the only two other fighting games I have reviewed, Mortal Kombat I and II, got a D and a D- respectively. Now this game gets a D-. Can you tell this is not my favorite genre?

Video Game Review #163: Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

Resident Evil 2 for the original PlayStation is a game that I spent a LOT of time with. There was just so much to see and do in that game, particularly when you factor in that you could play through four different variations of the main story. I knew the game inside and out, and to this day I consider it one of my favorite video games of all time. When I heard that they were remaking the game with present day graphics, I understandably got very excited. Before I knew it, the release date was upon us. Everywhere I went on Facebook, people were talking about this game. Reviews kept popping up on Youtube. I saw people on my PS4 friends list playing it online. I couldn’t escape the RE2 fever.

Normally I am not a person who rushes out and buys a game brand-new. I like to wait for it to go down in price first. But seeing this game pop up everywhere I turned was starting to really get to me. I wanted to play the game, and I wanted it bad. As luck would have it, I had received a 50 dollar gift card for Christmas. I figured that if I put the 50 dollars towards Resident Evil 2, I could pay the rest out of pocket. Ten bucks wasn’t too much to pay for a brand new video game that I really, really wanted, was it?

So that’s what I did! And here we are now.

Story:

If you played the original Resident Evil 2, you should know what to expect here. When the game starts out, you are given the choice of selecting either Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield as your playable character. Whoever you end up picking, the game starts out with your character arriving in Raccoon City. Claire is looking for her brother Chris, who has been missing since the events of the original Resident Evil game. Leon is arriving because he has been hired by the Raccoon Police Department, and this is his first day on the job. You quickly discover that things aren’t exactly right here. Zombies, dead bodies, that kind of thing. A zombie attack at a gas station brings the two very confused main characters together. They hop into a police car, looking to head to safety, when a violent crash with a semi-truck separates the two.

After a tense opening sequence where you have to dodge zombies on the carnage filled streets, your character arrives at the police station, only to discover that it has been overrun by the undead. The game heads the same direction regardless of which character you select, but the path to get to that destination is different. Leon encounters a mysterious woman named Ada, who seems to know a lot about what has happened in Raccoon City. Claire meets a young girl named Sherry, whose father is one of the scientists responsible for the outbreak.

Just like in the original RE2, this game also contains “B” scenarios for each character. For example, if you beat the game with Claire, you unlock Leon’s B scenario. This tells the story of what Leon was doing at the same time you were playing through the game the first time as Claire. Because each character has both an A and a B scenario, this makes Resident Evil 2 basically four games in one.

Gameplay:

This game does not feature tank controls like the original game. Instead, Resident Evil 2 takes place from a behind the back perspective, similar to what we’ve seen in games like Resident Evils 4, 5, and 6.

The goal of the game is to explore the police station and find a way out of the city. Resident Evil 2 differs from its behind-the-back predecessors in its style of gameplay. Rather than being focused mainly on action, the tone of the game shifts back to survival horror. You are going to be taking your time in this game. There are many poorly lit areas that you have to explore with your flashlight out. You'll slowly walk through corridors, fearing zombies that could be lurking and jump out and attack you at any moment.

The left analog stick controls your character. The left shoulder button pulls out your weapon. The right analog stick aims your weapon, and the right shoulder button fires it. You run around, you examine things, you pick things up, you open doors. The game is very easy to get a hang of, in particular if you are familiar with classic Resident Evil. You've got the square inventory grid, you've got the red and green herbs you can mix, first aid sprays, you save at a typewriter, you shoot zombies, you find keys shaped like spades and diamonds and hearts, you unlock doors, you solve puzzles. The game is a remake, but aside from a few familiar sights, they changed a LOT of stuff around from the original game. As familiar as I was with the '98 version of the game, most of what you see here is all new territory. You could consider this to be a brand new Resident Evil game, simply inspired by the original 1998 hit. This is less of a remake and more of a re-imagining of the original game.

The main enemy type in the game is the zombie. Zombies are much tougher to take down than they were in the original version of the game. In that version, you could take down zombies with a minimal amount of ammunition, and once you took them down they stayed down. In this one, the zombies are much harder to hit. You have to line up head shots in order to kill them completely, but the zombies are always staggering around and bobbing their heads. Expect to miss a LOT. Sometimes it takes several clips of ammunition just to take down one zombie. This makes it very difficult, and sometimes frustrating, to kill them.

You won't just be fighting zombies, however. Many different enemy types from the original RE2 make an appearance here. Dogs, lickers, those plant creatures in the laboratory. This game introduces a new, completely disgusting enemy type located in the sewers that likes to vomit all over your character, repeatedly. I don't like these things.

One of my favorite baddies from the old version of the game makes a comeback here: Mr. X. What I remember most fondly about him in the original game is how he scared the ever living crap out of me the first time I encountered him. I had already beaten the game once, and hadn't encountered him. Then I started up a B scenario, and OMG this guy drops out of the sky and the music changes and he's stalking you around, and it is very terrifying and intimidating. You couldn't kill him, and you never knew when he was going to just burst through a wall and attack you. To me, this made the B scenarios more tense and terrifying than the A ones. I feel as if they missed the mark in this game with Mr. X, however.

First of all, he appears in every scenario in this game, both the As and the Bs. That is all four scenarios. He stalks you around for long periods of time, following you from room to room. You can run from him, but when you think you are clear of him, you can still hear his footsteps echoing loudly throughout the police station all around you. He is very persistent and doesn't give up looking for you. The game does do a good job at inciting panic and terror whenever you encounter Mr. X. The feeling of being stalked is quite unsettling. What I find wrong with the way he was handled, however, is that he is utilized too often.

In the original game, you only encountered him in the B scenarios, and even then your encounters with Mr. X were few and far between. That made them more unpredictable and thus, more terrifying when they'd take place. In this game, you encounter him a LOT. He becomes less and less terrifying, and more of just a general nuisance the more you play. I think the way he was used more sparingly in the original game was the way to go. He was a lot more terrifying when he wasn't being shoved down your throat all the time.

Graphics/Sound:

This game looks phenomenal. Words can't describe the level of detail that was put into bringing the police station and the entire world of this game to life. All the environments look like real, practical spaces that could actually exist out there somewhere. Just look at the desks in the police station, all the books, crime scene photos, papers printed out everywhere. Coffee mugs, family photos. The game is littered with small personal touches galore. As a fan of the original RE2, it fascinated me to see the environments of the old game re-imagined with present day technology. It looks better than I could have ever imagined.

The character models are fantastic. I like Claire, Leon, and Ada's new looks. Particularly Claire, she's a fox. The zombies look fantastic too. It is the small touches that count, like how they all look different and aren't just clones of one another. Different heights, weights, races, genders, different outfits, different screams. There is no lack of representation among zombie characters. Mr. X and all the bosses look terrific too.

Where the game's graphical style excels is in the atmosphere it creates. I have to give the game's sound credit here too. Play this in the dark with headphones in, and you will find yourself transported into the world of the game. When you are sneaking through dark, creaky hallways with a storm raging outside the windows, the game really sells it. When you are tip-toeing through a flooded basement, flashlight out and handgun at the ready, and you see the licker hanging on the wall just a few feet away, slowly breathing in and out, the game overrides your senses. You see and hear everything, and it is a thing of beauty.

Voice acting is good. The music of the game is very good. I have no complaints about the game's audio or visual style whatsoever. This may be one of the most well polished games I have played in my life.

Overall:

I had faith that this game would not let me down, and it did not! Great graphics, great presentation, a really immersive world. The game controls like a dream and stays true to the survival horror roots of the series. Capcom did a tremendous job with this game, and if other developers would follow suit, the possibilities are endless for classic games being rebooted with today's technology. The Resident Evil 2 remake is a great game by any era of gaming's standards. The audio and visuals are some of the best we've ever seen, and the game also appeals to nostalgia with all of the re-imagined characters and environments from the old game.

If you ask me which of the two games I prefer, I would still have to say the original version. I think this is a great game, but it has lost some of the charm of the old game in its transition to modern times. Maybe this is nostalgia speaking; it is hard for me to tell most of the time. But as good as this game is, I just didn't find it quite as fun as the original. Sure, the graphics and presentation of the remake are far superior. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the game at its core is any better. Mr. X is a big time pain. You backtrack quite a bit. The enemies are more tedious to take down, and they often come back long after you've given them up for dead. Don't even get me started on the laboratory section of the game with the plants. Ugh. The underground part, too, with the chess pieces is very annoying. Too often this game feels like a chore to play. I can't say the first game ever felt like a chore at any point.

If I have to nitpick, I would further add that I don't think that the differences in the A and B scenarios are very pronounced in this version of the game. Resident Evil 2 truly felt like four games in one on the original PlayStation. This version feels like four slightly different variations of the exact same game. I think that hurts the game's replayability factor.

But just because I don't think this game is as good as the original, doesn't mean I don't think this isn't a good game. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is a great game. I imagine someday twenty years in the future when Resident Evil: Nemesis and Code Veronica have been rebooted in the fashion of Resident Evil 2. 60 year old Dan is going to have a marathon session playing the old versions of the game. Then he is going to marathon the new versions of the game as well. Two completely separate versions of the same basic story line, both amazing in their own, separate ways. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Is this game as good as the original Resident Evil 2? In many ways, it is much better. But in my heart, it will always play second fiddle to the original. Other people may beg to differ, and there is nothing wrong with that either. When you get a chance to play a game, heck, a series this amazing, it doesn't matter which games we think are better and which are worse. The real winner is us, the gamers, for getting to play and enjoy the series to begin with.

Final Score:

A

If you liked my review of Resident Evil 2, please read some of my other reviews:
Resident Evil: Director's Cut
Resident Evil 2 (PS1 original)
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil: Revelations
Resident Evil (Gamecube remake)

Video Game Review #162: Blaster Master

Blaster Master

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nostalgia Factor:

This game and I go back a long time together. The year: 1989. The month: July. My brother and I both had our birthdays in the month of July. We had just gotten a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas about seven months ago. We absolutely loved our Nintendo, but we didn't have very many games to play on it. As a result, my mom took us both to the store to pick out new games for our birthdays.

I had heard friends at school talking about a game called Castlevania, so I had already made up my mind that that was the game I was going to select. My brother initially argued with me because he wanted Castlevania, but then he backed off when he saw the game Blaster Master on display. Neither of us had ever heard of Blaster Master, but my brother suddenly shifted gears and decided to get this game rather than argue with me about Castlevania. I don't know what changed his mind. I think he just liked the name Blaster Master.

Anyway, we returned home and we each took turns playing our new games. Naturally, we ended up trying out each other's games at some point in the near future. I remember exploring the early stages of Blaster Master with my brother, and being absolutely awed at how the game progressed. This wasn't your typical 2D side-scroller. You didn't just move your character from the left side of the screen to the right. You explored. There were big open areas in front of you. You had to explore every inch of each stage, fight bosses, and gather the artifacts you needed in order to backtrack and unlock the next area of the game. People refer to these types of games as "Metroidvania" these days. Well, I played Blaster Master before I ever touched Metroid, and before Castlevania became known for its exploration rather than its straight up level based gameplay. I still, to this day, think of this type of game as "like Blaster Master" rather than "Metroidvania".

I was more into video games than my brother, so I ended up playing Blaster Master probably more than he ever did, even though it was technically his game. I got pretty good at it, but I was never able to beat it. Not only was the game very difficult, it was also very long. We're talking four, five, maybe even six hours long. This game does not have save points, plus it was rare that I ever got to play for that many hours in a row. My brother would always want to play at some point, or my parents would need me for something, or I would be forced to turn off "that Nintendo" and go outside, or it would get too late and I would have to go to bed. Or, heck, I would run out of lives and continues or I would get lost and give up out of frustration. This game was tough for a seven year old!

All the kids at my grade school ended up getting this game, and we would compare notes on how far we'd been able to make it, and what to do if we got stuck. I have a lot of fun memories talking about this game with my pals. I remember everyone furiously trying to beat it in order to impress the other kids, but no one ever could!

Life went on, as it tends to do. I moved to a new school and made new friends who had never played Blaster Master before. I got new Nintendo games for birthdays and Christmases. Blaster Master became a distant memory. After a couple years, my mom ended up getting my brother and I both Sega Genesis consoles for Christmas. But in order to fund that purchase, she traded in our Nintendo and all of our games for it. Blaster Master disappeared completely from my life.

Let's skip ahead to my mid-20s. I was living with my girlfriend Jessica at the time. We had a Nintendo Entertainment System, and we often went to used video game stores looking to find games for it. Slowly but surely, I started to build back up the video game collection that I once had for the NES over ten years ago. One of the titles that I purchased and added to my collection was Blaster Master. I popped it in and played it for a while for old times sake, but once again I was not able to beat it. I noticed how time consuming the game was, and I told myself I would come back to it and beat it later. But for some reason I never did... until now, probably a good ten years since that time I last played it.

Why the sudden urge to play it now, after so many years? I started thinking about death, and it suddenly came to me how terrible it would be if I died before ever getting the chance to finish Blaster Master. That made my mind up, right then and there. I was going to play Blaster Master, I was going to beat it, and I was going to review it. This game has haunted me since I was seven years old. This sounds silly, but beating Blaster Master would give me some kind of closure on a chapter of my life that had been open since 1989. Would I do it? Could I do it? Read on and find out.

Story:

The game's story line manages to be both ridiculous and charming at the same time. You play as a young boy named Jason. Jason is at home chilling with his pet frog when it manages to escape, jumping out the window and hopping out across the backyard. Unfortunately, the frog leaps up onto a container of radioactive sludge that is for some reason hanging out in Jason's yard. The frog mutates into an enormous size and jumps down a nearby sinkhole, also in Jason's backyard. Seriously, what is going on in this kid's yard?

Jason chases after the frog, falling down the hole and landing at the foot of a giant battle tank. Jason suits up for battle, hops in the tank, and blasts off in pursuit of his pet frog. Now that is a dedicated pet owner right there.

The story is silly, no doubt about it. But back in the 80's, I didn't care. As a kid, it made perfect sense to me. It is okay to look back and laugh about it now. It is a ridiculous story, but charming in its own way.

Gameplay:

Blaster Master excels in nearly every category, most noticeably in its gameplay. This game is very easy to pick up and play. You control the tank, using the directional pad to move, and the A and B buttons to jump and shoot. Using the select button, you can jump out of the tank and control Jason on foot. Jason can enter buildings on foot, where the game switches to an over the top or 3/4 overhead view. There, you can look for power-ups and fight bosses. In this view, you control Jason using the D-pad, and you can move him up, down, left, right, and diagonally. The A and B buttons fire your main gun and a short range grenade gun. The main goal when controlling Jason is to hunt down the game's bosses, but when I was not doing this I was spending time looking for weapon power-ups. These power-ups improve the range and effectiveness of Jason's main gun. When fully maxed out, it becomes a highly powerful spread-type gun with a damage range that covers almost the entire screen in front of you. Fully maxing out your weapon before facing off against a boss character greatly increases your odds of success in battle.

Defeating each boss unlocks a special power for your tank. Each power you unlock for your tank helps you access areas of the game that you could not previously reach. If you insist on using the term Metroidvania to describe this game, you wouldn't be wrong in doing so. It fits the formula to a T. Explore area, kill boss, unlock power, use power to access new area, explore area, kill boss, use power to access new area, etc. But like a good Metroidvania title, you often have to backtrack to old areas with your new powers in order to gain access to the next section of the game. It is very easy to get lost in Blaster Master. So you definitely have to pay attention to where you are going. See that area up in the corner you can't reach? Make a mental note of it to come back and check out once you get the hover ability.

Blaster Master is one giant maze, and it is a joy to unravel this maze and put everything together. The game is difficult and will probably take you multiple attempts before you've memorized where it is you need to go. It is a rewarding experience, and due to the fact that is so long and there are no save games files or password options, it can be a bit frustrating if you die and have to start from the beginning again. 

Graphics:

Blaster Master was ahead of its time graphically for the NES, and maybe this is just the nostalgia speaking but I still think the game looks fantastic. The world of the game is big and colorful and vibrant. Each stage has its own unique atmosphere. Some of these stages can be quite beautiful to look at, in particular the underwater stage.

There is a nice variety of enemies to fight. A lot of them are very unique in design, and can only be found in certain levels. Many of these enemies, the bosses in particular, are iconic to me and evoke strong memories when I look at them. It is a shame Blaster Master never took off in a way like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid did. One thing Blaster Master is guilty of: re-skinning. The game does change the color of a couple of basic enemies from black or dark blue to red later in the game to indicate that they are more difficult.

Sound:

Blaster Master has absolutely brilliant music and sound effects. Last week when I first started the game up, I immediately felt warm and fuzzy childhood memories come back to me because of the music during the game's introduction scene. I was overcome with excitement and started dancing around like a fool with the controller in my hand. People who know me in real life know that I don't get normally get excited like that, so this was a big deal. I couldn't help it! The game's opening music is flawless and it perfectly sets the scene for the adventure you are about to undertake.

The music for the rest of the game is sensational as well. Again, it is a bloody shame that Blaster Master never took off in popularity like Metroid or Zelda. This by all rights should be one of the most iconic NES soundtracks out there, but I get the feeling that most people wouldn't be able to identify it if it was played for them.

Because sharing is caring, here is a Youtube link to the game's entire soundtrack. Hopefully it doesn't get taken down and I look like a fool for posting a link to a busted video.

Overall:

In case you can't tell by what I have already posted, I really love Blaster Master. It was one of the first NES games I ever owned (although technically it was my brother's). It was a game I spent a TON of time on as a kid. It's also a game that challenged me in a way that few games have ever challenged me before. I was able to beat nearly every single video game in my NES collection, and the fact that I was never able to beat Blaster Master should tell you just how challenging it is.

It is not just nostalgic memories carrying the game for me either. I can pop it in and play it now in 2019 - 30 years after the game initially came out - and still have a great time. The graphics, the gameplay, and the music all withstand the test of time. A save system would have been great, as the game is very challenging and also very long. If you want to beat Blaster Master, you better set aside your whole day for it. That would be my main complaint about the game. Oh, and the fact that during the overhead view Jason levels, the game always assumed I was pushing diagonals whenever I wanted to move straight up and down or straight left and right. This caused several cheap deaths with me accidentally walking over the edge of an insta-death pit many, many more times than I care to admit.

If you have fond memories of Blaster Master from your childhood, I can't imagine that you wouldn't like the game if you were to revisit it in the present day. If you have never played Blaster Master before, I think that if you like Metroidvania style games, you would love this. Not only does it follow the Metroidvania formula to perfection, you can argue that it helped to create the formula to begin with. It is a very influential title that I don't think gets the credit it deserves. Let's change that. Spread the love, tell your friends! Everyone get out there and play Blaster Master!

Oh, and in case you were wondering: yes, I did finally manage to beat the game. Ah, sweet, sweet closure. Seven year old Dan would be so very proud of me.

Final Score:

A+

If you liked my review of Blaster Master, please check out some of my other game reviews:
Metroid
Castlevania
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Ducktales: Remastered

Video Game Review #161: DuckTales: Remastered

DuckTales: Remastered

PlayStation 3

Nostalgia Factor:

I had played the original NES version of DuckTales when I was a kid, so when I first caught wind of the modern day HD remaster I took notice. I never actually owned this game for the NES - instead I believe I only rented it for one weekend.

I don't remember a whole lot about my time with the original DuckTales, other than that I beat it pretty quickly, despite everyone telling me how difficult they'd heard it was. I don't think I spent a whole lot of time playing the game once I beat it. Seeing as how this was just a rental, and not a game that I ever physically owned a copy of, I forgot about it pretty quickly.

DuckTales' popularity has risen over the years, and many people now herald it as one of the best NES titles of all time. Since I didn't own a copy of the game and had only played it just that one weekend of my life as a kid, reading all those great reviews made me want to go back and revisit it again. In a world class stroke of great timing, this was right around the time that the HD remaster came out. Rather than bust my butt trying to find an old, rare version of the 8-bit classic, I decided to opt for the new version instead.

Story:

Scrooge McDuck is on the hunt to uncover five lost artifacts. Reportedly, these five artifacts will lead the way to a treasure so vast, it will forever secure Scrooge's position as the richest duck on the face of the planet.

That's... pretty much it. Each stage has its own self-contained story elements to it, making each one feel like a mini episode of the show. For example, the African Mine stage has you not only looking for the lost treasure, it also has you investigating a species of underground creatures who are competing in athletic competitions that are so intense they are causing devastating earthquakes. The Himalayas level has you scavenging for parts after your plane crashes, so you have to fix the plane in addition to looking for the treasure. The moon stage has you teaming up with Gizmoduck as you race to save the cosmic green cheese from a giant rat creature.

I don't remember the NES version of the game having a story, so I was surprised by all the dialogue when I started playing this. There are some, at times, rather lengthy conversation sequences. I appreciate that the makers of the game tried to incorporate more elements from the show into the game, rather than just giving us a straight up HD recreation of the original title. But at the same time, I don't play 2D platformers for their story. Does anyone care about the story when they are playing a 2D Sonic or Mario title? No. The game gets a bit too bogged down at times trying to be funny and clever when really I just want to PLAY.

Gameplay:

From what I remember, the gameplay seems like it is faithful to its source material. The control scheme is very simple. You only use the directional pad, the jump button, and the stick button. What makes the game unique is in Scrooge's pogo stick attack. Hold down the stick button when you are in mid-air, and Scrooge pulls out his pogo stick and will bounce on it when he he hits the ground. You can use this bounce move to reach areas that you can't reach with regular jumping. If you land on an enemy with your pogo stick out, you will kill or damage it. Not only does the pogo stick help you bounce higher and attack enemies, it also allows you to get past obstacles such as spike pits. Can't find a way to get past it? Just bounce across with your stick!

Another thing that makes DuckTales unique is its non-linear nature. The first stage of the game is as linear as can be, but after that things really start to open up. You have to collect five artifacts, each one hiding out in its own stage. The game lets you select the order in which you want to tackle these stages. Each stage is also somewhat non-linear in nature, as there are usually things scattered about each stage that you have to collect or unlock before you can move on to the end of it. You can't just race from the stage's starting point to its finish. No, no. The way the game is set up, it really makes you explore every inch of each level's map. It is pretty genius game design, I must say.

Graphics:

DuckTales looks really nice. The art, the animation, everything looks as crisp as can be. The makers of the game didn't simply take the easy way out with this. They could have gone with a more classic, 8-bit look, like a lot of the indie games you see out there nowadays. But no, they started from the bottom up. Each stage is a rich, fully detailed cartoon marvel. The game is beautiful, and parts of it look like they could have been ripped directly from the old cartoon. Forget that, the game looks BETTER than the old cartoon.

My wife doesn't even like video games very much, but even she had to comment on how fantastic this game looked when she saw me playing it.

Sound:

Ducktales shines in its music and sound effects as well. Each stage has its own enjoyable, hum-along-with tune to it. The sound effects fit the action perfectly. What impressed me was the voice acting. It's been AGES since I have seen Ducktales, but a lot of the game's voices brought me back in time. I didn't even realize that I had forgotten so many of these characters until I heard them speak. I was 8 years old all over again as I played this. I don't know if these are all the same voice actors or not, but you could have fooled me. Really, really great voice acting. I just wish there wasn't so much pointless and sometimes boring character banter in the game. But hey, at least if I had to sit through it, it was well-voiced boring banter.

I can't make it through this review without mentioning the classic Ducktales theme song. Is there a more iconic 80's cartoon theme song out there? I'm not sure. At first I was disappointed that the game didn't play the song immediately when I fired it up, like I was expecting it to. In fact, you don't even hear the song at all until you have beaten the game. But when you do, oooh it is so majestic. I look at it as a well-earned reward for finishing the game.

Overall:

Aside from the long, boring character conversations, I have almost nothing bad to say about this game. It looks great, it sounds great, it handles well, it's creative, it's fun. I barely remember the original NES game, but I can't imagine that they didn't do it justice. In fact, they may have even improved it.

The game is short, I won't deny that. You can easily beat the whole thing in two to three hours. If you were buying this game full price for 30 or 40 bucks, I don't know if I can say that it would be worth it. If you're a diehard fan of the original, then sure. But if you are a casual fan or a guy like me who only has passing memories of the old game, you may want to see if you can get it at a discounted price. I am pretty sure I got it for either 10 bucks or less than 10 bucks. And that was several years ago, so I am positive you can get it for dirt cheap now.

Once you beat the game, there are unlockables to collect with the money you earned in the game. If you find yourself short some cash, you can go back and replay old levels to collect more money. The game's unlockables include things like character art and music. I kept playing after I completed the game, if only to unlock everything and collect 100% of the game's trophies. I know that digital accomplishments are pretty much useless, but they do add some replay value to the game. Without them, I probably would have just beat the game in 2 or 3 hours and been done with it. Instead, I ended up playing for well over 10 hours, collecting everything there was to collect and beating the game multiple times, even on its highest difficulty.

This is a really fun game, but unfortunately nostalgia bias works a little bit against it this time around. I didn't own DuckTales as a kid. I didn't spend countless days, weeks, and hours playing it like I did everything else on the NES. It doesn't carry the same kind of emotional clout that a game like, say, Mario does. If they did an HD remaster of Mario 3 in the same vein as this game, I would be falling all over myself to get a copy. I'd be putting it on a pedestal and proclaiming it a game for the ages.

Instead, all I can say is that DuckTales is a fun game. I certainly appreciate how well done its visuals and its audio are. I played it, I liked it, I enjoyed my brief time with it. But I've played a countless number of 2D platformers in my life and I can't say that this is going to leave a big impact on me as a gamer.

Final Score:

B

If you liked my review of Ducktales, please check out some of my following reviews:

Castlevania

Mega Man 2

Metroid

Ninja Gaiden

Super Mario Bros. 3