Retro Game Friday: Cruis’n USA

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a rather old classic game. It’s Cruis’n USA!

Gameplay: This is a fairly typical racing game, the only real attraction of the game was the ability to play in various locales around the US. The gameplay itself is pretty boring and not all that great. Sure you could play with others, but it was still not that great a game even with a friend playing by your side in the arcade. Don’t even get me started on the N64 version….

Art: The art has aged incredibly poorly. That is completely expected however though given that it was during the start of the 3D Era of games in the early 90’s.

Music: The music was okay, not that you could really hear it in an Arcade.

Overall: Skip this game, it’s completely boring compared to any good racing game, and doesn’t even come close to something like Mario Kart.

For those who like: Arcade Games, Racing.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Super Monkey Ball

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a game that is often overlooked. It’s Super Monkey Ball!

Gameplay: There is no story so I’m not surprised that it took me this long to remember about this game. The gameplay itself is pretty solid but very repetitive and really the only saving grace for me was the multiplayer games. The Monkey Fight one in particular was fun for me to play with friends and my brother. This was definitely a rental game, and yeah there were such things as video rental stores back then, because I couldn’t really fathom bothering to pay for what amounts to a game you’ll enjoy for an afternoon or two at max.

Art: The art has aged fairly poorly, but that is no surprise given that it’s in 3D.

Music: I don’t remember much of it, but it fit the simian theme of the game pretty well.

Overall: A fairly skippable game, and not that special overall though it does have solid gameplay it wasn’t worth it to me to purchase outright instead of just renting it for a weekend.

For those who like: Physics, Repetitive Gameplay, Puzzle Gameplay.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Virtua Cop

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m Covering a really retro game some of us who remember Arcades played. It’s Virtua Cop!

Plot: The plot is non existent, and if you played in an Arcade, you certainly weren’t going to be understanding the story.

Gameplay: That being said it was fairly fun for those played it since it really revolutionized the FPS genre, and was a major influence on games such as Goldeneye. By today’s standards, it’s nothing major at all, but it was quite a leap forward for that time period. It was a rail shooter, so you had no exploration and you were encouraged to act with precision and quickness to earn the highest score possible.

Art: The art is really outdated now, and honestly is ugly as all hell by todays standards, but it was quite amazing back then. Now though it’d be just a laughing stock.

Music: I don’t remember any of the music, mostly because it was in an Arcade. Maybe it was okay, but I couldn’t tell you.

Overall: A fun game, but quickly becomes repetitive if you could memorize the enemies positions.

For those who like: Arcade Games, Old School Rail Shooters.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above, or terrible graphics by today’s standards.

 

Retro game Friday: R-Type

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with another classic. It’s R-Type!

Gameplay: This is one of those games that is infamous for it’s incredible difficulty, but it’s also one of the first side scrolling Shoot Em Up bullet-hells that was wildly successful. The gameplay was simple at first look, but had some depth with the ability to change the “Force” item from being attached to your ship for added firepower to being detached and floating to fire secondary weapons and act as a shield. In addition you could charge shots, something that was pretty innovative for the day, and the fact that you had to learn by failing repeatedly is something that is pretty foreign by today’s game design standards.

Art: The art is okay, not super amazing, but given that it’s over 30 years old that shouldn’t be a surprise. Thankfully being pretty much fully 2D it has aged really well.

Overall: A fun game, if highly difficult. If you enjoy hard games and have never played R-Type, you ought to give a try.

For those who like: Shoot Em Ups, Bullet Hells, Sci-Fi, Difficult Gameplay.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Retro Game Friday: Crazy Taxi

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game I swore I had already covered, but apparently I never have. It’s Crazy Taxi!

Gameplay: The gameplay is quite fun with you controlling your taxi through a busy and hilly city as you ferry customers to and from their destinations. It could really get hectic, especially if you played on the lower time limitation settings. The main goal of the game was to be as fast as you could getting to the destination while performing “tricks” like barely missing cars by going on the wrong side of the street to earn you even more points. Honestly if this happened in real life, no one would ever take a cab, which might not be a bad thing? The only problem I had with the game was the time limitations seeming to be too short, but that’s just me.

Art: The art is very dated, but was awesome for the time.

Music: It was just as frenetic as the gameplay, which was kind of the point.

Overall: if you’ve never played or at least watched someone play Crazy Taxi you ought to give a shot.

For those who like: Driving Games, Crazy Drivers, Time Limitations.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.