Retro Game Friday: Ape Escape 2

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a sequel to a classic game. It’s Ape Escape 2!

Plot: The plot is just as ridiculous as the first game, which is saying something as the first was rather slapstick at times.

Gameplay: The gameplay is much like the first game, with the player using various gadgets via the right analog stick and controlling Hikaru via the left stick and the shoulder buttons. In addition the game has new gadgets you can use which add to the wackiness, like a Bananarang to lure monkeys with it’s scent.

Characters: Kakeru, the first game’s protagonist isn’t really in the game, though you can play as him in the New Game Plus mode. Hikaru is our new main character, with Natsumi taking over for the Professor for the most part.

Art: The art of the original game has aged poorly, although there was a PlayStation 4 port with enhanced graphics that was released four years ago.

Music: It fits the game, nothing more really needs to be said.\

Overall: A fun game, and a classic that is often overlooked.

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: Gex Enter the Gecko

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with the sequel to Gex. It’s Gex Enter the Gecko!

Plot: The plot is just as nonsensical as the first one, with Gex being tasked once more to save the world. It’s not an amazing story, but it was fun as a kid and it’s not the worst plot in a platformer I’ve ever played.

Gameplay: This was the first entry in the Gex series that was in 3D and it did pretty well in making the transition. It kept the feel of the original game fairly well, but was different enough to draw in newcomers. That being said both the GameBoy Color and Nintendo 64 versions were much worse versions, so play the PC or PlayStation versions if you’ve never played this before. The constant pop culture references were great and pretty funny.

Art: Sadly this portion of the game has aged incredibly poorly, but back in the day it was pretty awesome.

Music: The music was okay from what I can remember, but I don’t remember much of it.

Overall: Give this a spin if you love Platformers, as it was a fun game for the younger crowd.

Retro Game Friday: De Blob

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a cult classic. It’s De Blob!

Plot Synopsis: Initially a lively and colorful city populated by its equally colorful and diverse citizens, the Raydians, Chroma City is suddenly invaded by the INKT Corporation. A corporate military dictatorship, INKT is led by the villainous Comrade Black and dedicated to the eradication of color through its “War on Color”. Chroma City quickly falls to the invading army of Inkies and color-draining Leechbots, leaving its landscape barren, its flora withered and its fauna in hiding. The citizens are rounded up and turned into “Graydians”, encased in homogeneous gray prison suits distinguished only by a bar code on the back of each shell. The Graydians are forced to serve as both menial labor and as a living resource of ink, the latter of which is mined literally from their sadness…

Plot: The plot is nothing amazing, and it fits the family game setting that De Blob has. So nothing amazing, but nothing super bad either.

Gameplay: The gameplay is pretty simple, you get paint of the three primary colors and paint the world to restore it. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s pretty fun for a while. That being said it’s a bit a one trick pony as the gameplay doesn’t really ever change all that much.

Art: The art is okay, but is dated. Thankfully there are ports with updated graphics to the current generation of consoles including the Switch.

Music: The coolest part of the game, at least to me as a person who knows game design from coding to artwork, is the fact that the music changes as you play. As you continue painting objects the music becomes more and more active, and Blob’s current color determines the instrumental being soloed. It’s pretty interesting, and a brilliant piece of game design.

Overall: If you get the chance, you might want to check this out if it’s on sale.

For those who like: Platforming, Fun Gameplay, Great Musical Score.

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

 

 

 

 

Retro Game Friday: Wario Land

Hey all I’m back with a Mario Spinoff that’s grown rather obscure in the past decade and a half. It’s Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3!

Plot Synopsis: After being ejected from Mario’s castle in the previous game, Wario resolves to get his own castle, one even bigger and more impressive than Mario’s. To fund this extravagant dream, he travels to Kitchen Island, where the Brown Sugar Pirates have hidden many treasures and coins, including a golden statue of Princess Toadstool, stolen from the Mushroom Kingdom. Wario intends to retrieve this statue and sell it back to Mario for the price of a castle.

Plot: The plot is rather ridiculous, but that’s where the next part comes in.

Gameplay:  Wario Land was fun to play and is one of the few Game Boy games I can remember having multiple endings based on player actions. In addition it’s a markedly different type of game from previous Mario games. Coins weren’t used to get additional lives, but to improve your final ending. It was also fairly tough to play from what I remember, although admittedly I was quite young at the time.

Art: The art has aged really well, but that’s to be expected of pixel art.

Music: I don’t remember it because I probably never listened to it due to it being a portable and me using my GameBoy pretty much only on plane flights when I was younger.

Overall: A fun game, and while not a must play, it’s not far from being one.

For those who like: Platformers, Portable Games, Mario Games, Hard Gameplay.

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