55 reviews · showing 21–40
Reader Genesis
It’s not every day we see a movie-licensed game that’s actually any good. Traditionally, they’re manifests of cash-in mediocrity when developers are contracted to (quickly) produce a title on every console available and hope it will sell…
bigcj34 · June 14, 2009
Reader Sega Master System
Why another Sonic release on the antiquated Master System? The 16-bit Sonic series was selling the Mega Drive faster than you can say “Nintendon’t”, and the SMS barely tapped the dominating NES. However its strong user base in Europe and…
bigcj34 · June 8, 2009
Reader PlayStation
Tony Hawk’s is probably one of the most ubiquitous franchises of the last decade. It’s appeared on every format made since ollie-ing into the PlayStation park in 1999, and when each game is designed to be built better than the last…
bigcj34 · June 3, 2009
Reader Sega Master System
Back in 1992 the Mega Drive had superseded Master System for quite some time. The “made for blast-processing” Sonic the Hedgehog shifted units like hot pancakes and it’s 8-bit predecessor looked long sent into obscurity after being…
bigcj34 · May 25, 2009
Reader Game Boy Advance
After Insomniac stepped down from the Spyro series after an epic trilogy on PSone, this was the first of the series not developed by them, beginning the fall from grace from a signature franchise. Season of Ice picks up from Spyro’s last…
bigcj34 · May 18, 2009
Reader DS
Developing football games on the DS used to be like playing both Gerrard and Lampard on the same pitch, never quite worked, and the amount of titles made shows. Gameloft's acclaimed Real Football series stands as its only competitor; the…
bigcj34 · December 30, 2008
Reader Genesis HG exclusive
Pushing a games console to its limits can be risky business for developers. Try too hard and the game will get panned for looking ugly and having choppy frame-rates, but games are expected to make some use of the systems potential…
bigcj34 · December 6, 2008
Reader PlayStation HG exclusive
There was a time when Spyro games were good. Out of absolutely pure coincidence, this was the same time when Spyro was made by Insomniac, who since moved on to Ratchet and Clank. The original Spyro the Dragon was the start of what would…
bigcj34 · December 6, 2008
Reader Game Boy HG exclusive
I remember the days when Pokemon was all the rage in my primary school years. Trading card swapping was everywhere, rushing from school to catch the program on TV and eventually most schools banned any merchandise being brought in because…
bigcj34 · December 6, 2008
Reader PlayStation 2 HG exclusive
Oh Spyro. How unfortunate such a franchise suffered a fate that parallels with the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Crash Bandicoot. Once good on its console of origin, but a step up on to following platforms and he’s lost his sense of what…
bigcj34 · December 6, 2008
Reader PC
1998’s Half-life was seen by many as revolutionary to the FPS genre from its atmospheric feel, the first person presentation of the story and it’s astounding gameplay. Since then, dozens of mods spawned from its engine such as…
bigcj34 · December 6, 2008
Reader PC
Chris Sawyer has been no stranger to management games in the 90’s, single-handedly programming Transport Tycoon before his White Knuckle project, eventually renamed Rollercoaster Tycoon. Various expansions and sequels followed, the third…
bigcj34 · December 6, 2008
Reader DS
What a surprise. With another portable console by Nintendo come more excuses for them to remake Mario games released on their home consoles with similar hardware specs. With the DS effectively being the portable equivalent of the N64, it’s…
bigcj34 · December 1, 2008
Reader DS
Creating a game multiplatform is one way for a publisher to sit on the fence by selling as many titles as possible without taking the risk of developing for the losing console. When multiplatform games appear on every active format…
bigcj34 · November 25, 2008
Reader PC
Following on from the well-received Transport and Railroad Tycoon, Chris Sawyer’sRollercoaster Tycoon in 1999 helped paved the way to the many tycoon games we see today, even if it is now a highly-milked genre. The unanticipated success of…
bigcj34 · August 10, 2008
Reader PlayStation
I don’t think Boo was lying when he told me there were review scores below 5/10. After years of only reviewing games I actually liked, delving into rubbish games territory wasn't the smoothest of transitions. I greatly credit reviewers who…
bigcj34 · July 28, 2008
Reader PC
Even though Lemmings was one of my long-time obsessions as a kid, I recently concluded it was now actually a bit boring. The learning curve is far too gentle, there’s an unnecessary abundance of lengthy unchallenging levels, and there’s…
bigcj34 · June 27, 2008
Reader PC
It’s quite hard to appreciate retro classics these days without actually being there at the time, especially when coming to grips with torrid graphics and dubious bleeps claiming to be music. But in this case, it’s ironic that a game I…
bigcj34 · June 18, 2008
Reader Sega Master System
The fact that Sega managed a fully respectable release of the Mega Drive’s lynchpin franchise on the Master System that had long since lost to the NES sometimes leaves you to wonder why Sega couldn’t have thought of this game sooner. This…
bigcj34 · June 1, 2008
Reader Wii
Super Mario is such forgiving fellow. In one game he may be trying to take Bowser and his henchmen off the throne, and in others he’s playing a gentlemanly game of golf or tennis with him. But Mario games that involve pounding on top of…
bigcj34 · May 24, 2008
