Retro Game Friday: BattleTanx

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game that I have been meaning to cover for a long time. It’s BattleTanx!

Plot: The plot of BattleTanx is pretty much nonsense, a plague kills 99.99 of all the women in the world and the rest are held up as feudal ladies that are the leaders of all the various gangs that come after the world went to crap. If you are looking for a really deep story, this isn’t going to satisify you.

Gameplay: Thankfully that wasn’t the point, and the gameplay was. The gameplay is purely Tank vs Tank combat in various locales across the US, such as Chicago, and New York. It was pretty fast paced and fun to play, especially with a friend or two. This also included destructible enviroments, though you could say that took up much of the power that was used in the game. Still it was fun to play as a kid, even if it was a bit violent. Still what kid doesn’t like explosions?

Art: The art has aged incredibly poorly since it was first released, but given that this was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 that isn’t too surprising.

Music: I honestly don’t remember much of it. I was too busy talking with my friends while we played.

Overall: A fun game, and if you get the chance to play it with a friend or two it’ll entertain you for a bit, but not too long since games have improved greatly since this was released.

For those who like: Tanks, Explosions, Action, Drama.

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

Retro Game Friday: Vigilante 8 2nd Offense

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a sequel to one of a lesser known series I covered ages back. It’s Vigilante 8 2nd Offense!

Plot: This sequel has a decent plot, but it’s nothing spectacular either. That isn’t to say it’s bad, just that it’s not amazing.

Gameplay: This plays a lot like the original, which is to be expected. However the newly added two player co-op mode made this game lots of fun to play with my friend when I was younger.

Art: The game has aged poorly, but that’s to be expected from a game that was near the end of the Nintendo 64 era.

Music: I don’t remember much of it other than that it fit the game, I was too busy laughing with my friend.

Overall:  A fun game, but it has aged poorly.

For those who like: Vehicular Combat, Action, Adventure.

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

Retro Game Friday: Pokemon Stadium

Hey all I’m back with a game that has no story for this week’s Retro Game Friday. It’s Pokemon Stadium!

Gameplay: It’s standard Pokemon gameplay, you battle with six ‘Mon from the first Generation and can either battle against another player or you can take on the “Stadium Mode” where you battle AIs. Beating them got you a Pokemon you could transfer to the Gameboy games. Really it’s not that amazing a game, though it was useful for those friendless or isolated people who didn’t get the chance to trade ‘Mon with said people to complete their Pokedex in the Gameboy games.

Art: The art has aged really poorly, but back in the day it was pretty cool.

Music: Standard Pokemon music, that’s all that really needs to be said.

Overall: Not a game to play just for itself, it only was worth playing when you had an accompanying Gameboy game to go with it.

For those who like: Pokemon.

Not for those who don’t like: Pokemon.

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: Rainbow Six

This week I’m back with an oldie for Retro Game Friday. It’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six!

Plot: The plot is okay, but pretty standard Clancy fare. If you’ve read any of his other books you’ll get the basic picture, US government agents and/or spec ops agent(s) go against foreign antagonists to save the day. Pretty cut and dry.

Gameplay: This is a tactical shooter, which means that you are given limited assets and you can’t go in guns blazing to win. You have to use your head in order to make it through each level and plan ahead if you want to win. Most levels are actually really short in terms of actual gameplay, but the planning of each mission takes much more time and if you do it poorly you’ll most likely fail. This did a fairly decent job at pulling off this concept and set the stage for many future games in the Rainbox Six series.

Art: The art is pretty terrible now, but back then it was fairly awesome. Still it’s nothing great looking at it now.

Music: I don’t remember much of the music, but I remember it feeling appropriate it for the game.

Overall: A fairly decent game, but later entries do a better job and look better as well.

For those who like: Tactical Shooters, Planning, Forethought, Tom Clancy.

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