Review Archives (Staff Reviews)
You are currently looking through staff reviews for games that are available on every platform the site currently covers. Below, you will find reviews written by all eligible authors and sorted according to date of submission, with the newest content displaying first. As many as 20 results will display per page. If you would like to try a search with different parameters, specify them below and submit a new search.
Paperboy 2 review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #If Paperboy was John Candy, then its sequel is Chris Farley. The colors are gaudy, they clash ridiculously with even themselves, and yet somehow they look bland and unremarkable unless they're throwing themselves in your face. The cartoony look from the first title is mostly gone, yet the NES can't really handle the new visual direction. As a result, it's almost depressing. |
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Mega Man 5 review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #The eight stages may not seem all that original (many of them just seem like variations of some of the less memorable stages from past games), but their actual construction is still proficient. Gamers will guide Mega Man along the top of a train, and inside its engine. They'll ride bubbles toward a spike-lined ceiling, hop aboard a watercraft for some shooting fun on the river. |
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Mega Man 4 review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Another thing I like here is that the robots fit their stages so much better. By the time you reach the end of the sewers that make up Toad Man's home, the confrontation with the robot master will seem perfectly natural. Though the same could be said of some of the stages in Mega Man 3, the techniques this time around don't make me think Capcom got lazy. |
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Mega Man 3 review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #So the whole 'more of a good thing' aspect of Mega Man 3 isn't what disappoints me. Rather, it was a lack of heart. Where Mega Man 2 had absolutely genius level design and totally cool environments, Mega Man 3 takes a more sterile approach. There are lots of wide, open spaces where not much of anything is happening. The polish isn't there in quite the same evidence, and some of the game's size is derived from repetition. |
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Mega Man 2 review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Is this knowledge necessary to complete the game? For the most part, no. It's just good fun. Little tricks like that do quite a bit to add to the experience. More importantly, they present a player with new ways to play. Even if you've gone through the game once using one strategy, it's always fun to try again by defeating the robots in a different order. |
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Legendary Wings review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #These stages actually seem much simpler than the overhead-perspective ones, though I would not call them easy. You dodge around ledges and push your way forward past the hordes of enemies. Later areas have ceiling crawlers and such, but even the early ones challenge you with monsters the send out projectiles or try and ram into you. Make your way to the end and there's a boss encounter of sorts. |
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Legend of the Ghost Lion review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Throughout the game, rather than recruiting new party members, the game's heroine will secure the aid of powerful spirits. These may be called upon to aid her in battle. A typical battle thus begins with Maria summoning the best spirits she has in her possession, then letting them go crazy with special attacks. |
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Final Fantasy review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Looking at the game with modern eyes, it's easy to see a number of flaws in almost every aspect. The world map is too small. The graphics are bland at times, gaudy at others. There isn't enough diversity in the soundtrack. Monsters are too easily defeated in some instances, too challenging in others. There isn't enough variety. These are all flaws that can't be ignored. But here's the good news: they mostly don't matter. |
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Dragon Warrior II review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #And so it is that the first few hours of the game are spent growing accustomed to the battle system made famous in the original Dragon Warrior (sans the beautiful backdrop), then getting used to the change as a second warrior joins your party, then adapting yet again when you find the third. It’s a fetch quest of the oddest sort. It’s hard to question the validity of finding others to strengthen your group, yet the game throws curveballs in your face with the frequency of a Yankees pitcher. |
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Dragon Warrior III review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Dragon Warrior III is easily one of the greatest triumphs on the Nintendo Entertainment System, a gem that sparkles even in an age where all the other games on the block have larger assets. Not so much a game as an experience, this is one RPG that you owe it to yourself if the term 'role-playing' excites you even a little. |
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure review (NES)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Because of the way things are organized, most of the game is spent fetching items and dodging the hazards that get in your way. Suppose you're after that salad dressing I mentioned. When you first enter a stage, you'll have no idea where it is located. If you talk to the locals, they might give you general clues about its location, but even then you have to do a lot of searching because the prize is never on the roadway. |
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Pikmin review (GCN)Reviewed by Zack M on Date Unknown - #In your search to find the ship parts, you must, of course, rely on the Pikmin to help you through your tasks. Up to 100 may be in the field at any time, either following (or fighting with) Olimar, laying idle, breaking down gates, or carrying objects back to their... |
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Onimusha: Warlords review (PS2)Reviewed by James Gordon on Date Unknown - #If you're familiar with Capcom's own Resident Evil series, you'll probably have a good idea of how Onimusha plays. The simplest way to think of it is Resident Evil, in ancient China, with a few RPG elements. But that's only the simple explanation. It also has many other aspects which are reminiscent of a variety of genres. There will be |
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Max Payne review (PC)Reviewed by James Gordon on Date Unknown - #Max Payne's developers were able to take a simple formula for a third-person shooter, and spice it up with slick controls, big guns, and a really cool controllable slow-motion feature (aka Bullet Time.) While most of the game revolves around running around killing things, the ability to toggle on your limited bullet-time makes the game all the more fun. Bullet-time slows the game down, allowing you to aim |
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Super Smash Bros. Melee review (GCN)Reviewed by Zack M on Date Unknown - #Of course, Super Smash Brothers was all about multiplayer, and that hasn't changed in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Nothing beats a well-fought match against four of your best friends, pulverizing eachother, taunting eachother with your elite skills. |
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Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty review (PS2)Reviewed by James Gordon on Date Unknown - #Right from the opening cuscene, set on a rainy Manhatten bridge, you'll notice the wonderful lighting and weather effects. Never before have I seen such a realistic impression of rainfall shown during in-game graphics. |
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Wild Arms review (PSX)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Hills aren't covered in lush grass; they're sandy peaks with dying brush and scraggly reminders of what might have been a forest at one time. You won't find false-fronted general stores, either, or a stagecoach line. Instead, there are castles and towering fortresses, oceans and wastelands that dwarf the last remnants of civilization. It's a world where magic isn't lost entirely, where demons and wizards still roam the land, and where an ancient people's technology still breaks to the surface at unexpected moments. |
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The Need for Speed review (PSX)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #With six tracks to choose from and a selection of authentic sports cars, The Need for Speed was the obvious choice for the gamer who wanted something else (or something more). You can choose from time trial, head to head, single race and tournament modes, and you can play with a friend by way of split screen or the little-used Playstation link cable. You can customize sound and controls to your liking. There are almost more options than you know what to do with. Unfortunately, most of the good news ends right there. |
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Parasite Eve review (PSX)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #The whole time Aya scours a given area, she'll need to be on her guard because... well, scratch that. Even if she's on her guard, she'll still discover the joy of random encounters. Now, don't get me wrong. I like unexpected opportunities to shoot down creatures of the night as much as the next guy (or blast them with my special attacks), but here the whole process just feels odd. |
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Legend of Mana review (PSX)Reviewed by Jason Venter on Date Unknown - #Your reward is a new item to place on the map. You’re almost scared to use it by now. Is it going to be another stupid town? Is the game going to ask you to stare at a sunset while birds twitter in the background? Not quite. When you enter the new destination, you’ll find you’ve stepped inside a cave. Limestone walls paint the foreground, while silhouettes of stalactites scroll behind you. A few steps in, monsters suddenly pop into view, and just like that you got the fight you’ve been craving for the last ten minutes. |
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