Reviews by aschultz

Reader Arcade HG exclusive

Make Trax review

It's not fair, but somehow it's still fun

aschultz · August 16, 2016

Reader Arcade HG exclusive Feedback welcome

Pengo review

Squarish penguins are always cute, even in tough games!

aschultz · August 7, 2016

Reader PC HG exclusive

Jones isn't perfect but offers revealing rat-race insights beyond the densely-packed jokes that never get cynical or fluffy. I found myself calculating how to cram in quick cheap education before week's end, or even working way more than I…

aschultz · August 14, 2013

Reader NES HG exclusive

Bikkuriman World: Gekitou Sei Senshi review

It showed me that, yes, RPGs can transcend language. Maybe none can as well as your average puzzle game. But BW has lots more fun trying and getting far closer than expected.

aschultz · July 29, 2013

Reader NES HG exclusive

Circus Caper review

I felt little guilt replaying through it with cheats on, and I recommend anyone who wants to check it out do the same...But fortunately the cheap deaths will fade away much sooner than the bears on unicycles and such instead.

aschultz · April 28, 2012

Reader Arcade HG exclusive

Journey review

Your idle band members mug and smile cluelessly even when your current guy gets hit. Then he falls and pouts and bangs his fists on the ground to the chorus of "Who's Crying Now." This is my favorite musical gaming pun by a long shot.

aschultz · April 20, 2012

Reader Colecovision HG exclusive

Fortune Builder review

It's more fun to watch the little dot-cars that multiply and move between businesses and residences as your town grows--or even turn away from the long dead-end road you forgot to industrialize. Single pixels were never so cute.

aschultz · April 14, 2012

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

Miner 2049er review

I figured once I became a big college student or even an adult, I'd be able to breeze through a game like this with my life smarts. That'd I'd be stronger and quicker and more mature and--well, I did realize stuff. Like how grossly unfair…

aschultz · April 7, 2012

Reader WonderSwan HG exclusive

Lode Runner review

That couldn't disguise the exact same levels made by kids pulled off the street long ago back in 1980...when so many Lode Runner games come with level editors (also part of the original) that the developers themselves never seem to use…

aschultz · March 26, 2012

Reader Arcade

Q*bert review

Q*Bert is one of the first arcade games I feel I really solved. I don't mean that I figured how to beat the hardest level until I got bored of it, like you would in Asteroids or something. I also don't mean reaching the end like when you…

aschultz · March 26, 2012

Reader Game Boy HG exclusive

Mole Mania review

After getting frustrated with one level where I made a dumb mistake, I walked around to take my mind off the game. I started whistling a tune, and I realized it was one from the game itself. I sat back down and got it right.

aschultz · March 10, 2012

Reader NES HG exclusive

Banana review

Imagine Boulderdash, but instead of collecting goodies and shooting enemies, your character is hoarding for the winter and finding his wife and, occasionally, a new son.

aschultz · March 2, 2012

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

Dragon Wars review

Bard's Tale IV never came--in name, anyway. It took a couple times through Dragon Wars (DW) for me to see I'd found something as good.

aschultz · February 6, 2012

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

Eternal Dagger review

The too-short Wizard's Crown series from Strategic Simulations, Inc. had a simple solution: quick combat where the computer ran everything and flashed text of your party's health every second. It left time for the actual story and…

aschultz · January 21, 2012

Reader NES Review of the Week HG exclusive

Othello review

I was able to game early chess computers pretty easily by locking up the pawns and then watching them flail. That made me feel smart. Othello was the computer's revenge.

aschultz · January 9, 2012

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny review

Sequels usually promise a bigger world, more spells, more detailed combat, and so forth, but when it comes to the previous game's narrative faults, they don't say much. Ultima V (U5) isn't just shinier; it makes a complaint about its…

aschultz · November 15, 2010

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar review

Before Ultima IV (U4,) people took being the good guy on faith. Maybe you'd get your butt kicked if you robbed a shopkeeper or attacked a townsman, but generally it was you against skeletons and goblins and the like. It was great fun, but…

aschultz · November 14, 2010

Reader Arcade HG exclusive

Q*Bert's Qubes review

Q*Bert's Qubes(QQ) certainly has a niche market--people who figured how to tread water in the toughest levels of Q*Bert. It's the arcade equivalent of a Rubik's Cube, and it's certainly one every action puzzler fan should see, even if it…

aschultz · November 13, 2010

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

Superstar Ice Hockey review

For a month or two, Superstar Ice Hockey (SIH) pushed my buttons perfectly. I could win regularly--two seasons in an afternoon--but it'd never be too obvious I had it in the bag. Game time was a relative concept that went quicker when…

aschultz · November 4, 2010

Reader Apple II HG exclusive

GBA Basketball Two on Two review

Shortly after my friend Aric pasted me in GBA Basketball Two-on-Two on his Apple IIgs--retribution for all the RPGs I'd solved--I found the IIe version cheap at Babbage's. I felt frugal--it probably didn't have all the extras, like the…

aschultz · November 2, 2010