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.

Available Reviews
	R-Type DX review (GBC) Reviewed on November 28, 2003 Irem managed to shrink down almost everything and present their flagship's first two strikes intact. It's amazing to hear the music so true to the arcade, to feel that the control is as tight as it is in its console big brothers, and to see that everything is so well represented graphically to boot. Whoever made the decisions on what details to forego, and what to retain, earned their salary. The well outlined characters and backgrounds makes things easy to see on the small screen.
	Insector X review (GEN) Reviewed on November 26, 2003 This isn't the Insector X, from the arcade, that also made the trip to the NES. Gone are the stupidly cutesy characters, replaced by a more serious bunch. The game is still a lame horizontal shooter though - that much hasn't changed.
	Image Fight review (NES) Reviewed on November 26, 2003 Image Fight is a vertical arcade shooter that saw life on the P.C. Engine as well. Common to both installments is the title's obscurity, but only the PC Engine version is actually fun to play. It's hard enough, looks and sounds good enough, and plays tight enough to merit a recommendation. By no means is the Nintendo Image Fight a horrible game - it simply lacks the glorious shooter pain and panache to be worth your time.
	Mario Kart: Double Dash!! review (GCN) Reviewed on November 20, 2003 There's never a moment while playing Mario Kart: Double Dash where you'll pause the game to catch your breath and question how you can be experiencing such a masterpiece. However, early reports of the game being a major disappointment are greatly exaggerated. The truth is that Mario's latest outing may not be racing perfection, but it's certainly worth your time. I can't think of a better purchase for the holidays.
	Vigilante review (TG16) Reviewed on November 16, 2003 While it's often compared to Double Dragon, Vigilante is really more of an update to the kitsch classic, Kung Fu, for the NES. It's similar in that some of the burly toughs are limited to holding you in some kind of vitality-draining bear hug to hurt you - they can't punch or kick, like video game versions of Royce Gracie.
	World Class Baseball review (TG16) Reviewed on November 16, 2003 Orange Juice Style: Sweet gameplay keeps squeezing out OR Beats the competition to a pulp
	Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi review (SMS) Reviewed on November 15, 2003 Dance Gandolf, dance! Dance for me in the shadows!
	The Cyber Shinobi review (SMS) Reviewed on November 15, 2003 If you listen carefully, you can almost hear old man Musashi rolling in his grave.
	Strider review (SMS) Reviewed on November 15, 2003 When you do a number 2, do you ever look down?
	Pac-Man (Tengen) review (NES) Reviewed on November 02, 2003 If the preceding statement is true, there's only one thing more I need to tell you about, the game's conversion. This is because while the NES saw its fare share of ports, most of them sucked, or at the very least paled in comparison to their arcade counterparts. Not so here. Pac-Man from the arcades makes the trip to the home console quite nicely. All that's missing is the joystick, and if you have the NES Advantage, even that's in place.
	Karate Champ review (NES) Reviewed on November 02, 2003 When you see the title screen, you might have reason to be optimistic. It shows that two people can play (though I later learned that even a single person wasting time with the game is a small miracle), and the letters that make up the logo don't look half bad. Not only that, but the background music is some of the best I've heard from the system. It really is. Unfortunately, I've just described almost everything positive there is to say about the game.
	Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival review (NES) Reviewed on November 02, 2003 Each level is distinctly different from the next, meaning there are basically four little mini-games you must pass on your way to the grand finale. The first of these is a kayaking trip down a little river. Kermit is the guy in charge, and he must steer his little vessel around rocks, floating logs, whirlpools, and the dangerous riverbanks.
	Super Sprint review (NES) Reviewed on November 01, 2003 A typical race is going to involve flooring the accelerator, dashing to the first corner, then swinging wildly about it like a drunken ballerina and hopefully aligning with the rails on the next turn so as to avoid smashing into a barrier and exploding (if going at high speeds) or becoming stuck for a few seconds while your opponents take the lead by about half a track and you curse at the television screen.
	Tony Hawk's Underground review (GCN) Reviewed on November 01, 2003 At first I thought this new feature might be a lame addition compared to the revert, the invert, and the manual. Then I had a chance to get used to it and decided it might not be so bad after all. Unfortunately, by the 'end' of the game I realized I was right the first time. Though it's cool to be able to climb up ladders, or Rambo your way along telephone wires extending over the streets below, the process through which you do so is so clunky that it ends up being more a curse than a blessing.
	Robotech: The Macross Saga review (GBA) Reviewed on October 30, 2003 Scouring the libraries of the original GameBoy, Sega’s Game Gear, Atari’s Lynx and the NeoGeo Pocket yields precious little. Finding a portable shooter has always been akin to a diehard gamer finding a girlfriend. And finding an exceptional portable shooter… well, that’s like that diehard gamer having a girlfriend and knowing what to do with her. Sadly, while somewhat enjoyable, in the end, Robotech: The Macross Saga leaves us with blue balls once again.
	Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth review (N64) Reviewed on October 30, 2003 This game’s existence will surprise many people, on many levels. One, it’s an N64 shooter available in North America. When I informed a handful of fellow gamers that I was engaged in shoot-em-up action for the big N’s ill-supported console, they exclaimed, “A shooter for the N64?” almost in unison, unable to hide their incredulity. Secondly, once that shock had subsided, another filled the air. Because what many don't realize is that the game is the final installment of a series that spans four systems and over ten years.
	Deep Blue review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 This game has gotten a lot of bad press. Surprisingly though, that bad press is rarely quite as bad as it should be. I enjoy a good 2-D shooter, probably even more than the next guy. But there is almost nothing good about Deep Blue. I will start by telling you what is good about the game, which won’t take long. The game's bosses are quite large, it’s a shooter about fish other than Darius, and occasionally the colours in the background are eye-catching—sometimes even pretty. Done.
	Cyber-Core review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 An opening ‘cinema’ educates us on the state of the world. Hyper-insects (where is your Ritalin cannon when called upon?) have taken over the Earth, and it is your responsibility to repel them. And what better way than to merge your repulsive character Rad Ralph with the equally repulsive Chimera super life form?
	China Warrior review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 Remember Kung Fu for your old NES? Think hard and it will all come rushing back to you. It was a punch, kick and jump side-scroller, and it featured amateur martial artists who would rush at you so they could hug you to death. Occasionally, one of them had the wherewithal to wield a stick, or toss a knife at you. Well! With the advent of 16-bit power back in 1989, things only got worse. Witness China Warrior.
	Bloody Wolf review (TG16) Reviewed on October 27, 2003 When I was younger, I loved war games. You name it, and it was sure to have a special place in my cold, iron, war-lovin’ heart. From the classic Contra, to the underrated Cabal, to the mostly silly Guerilla War, to the two-faced Bloody Wolf… what was so irresistible about waging a one man campaign against armies of gun and grenade toting insurgents? Reflecting, I have come to realize that the shoot-em-up fan in me was gradually making the transition from platformer cuteness to cosmic dogfights. War games, what with their platformer-esque heroes, and their shooter themes of inexorable projectile slipping, provided a seamless segue.

Additional Results (20 per page)

[001] [002] [003] [004] [005] [006] [007] [008] [009] [010] [011] [012] [013] [014] [015] [016] [017] [018] [019] [020] [021] [022] [023] [024] [025] [026] [027] [028] [029] [030] [031] [032] [033] [034] [035] [036] [037] [038] [039] [040] [041] [042] [043] [044] [045] [046] [047] [048] [049] [050] [051] [052] [053] [054] [055] [056] [057] [058] [059] [060] [061] [062] [063] [064] [065] [066] [067] [068] [069] [070] [071] [072] [073] [074] [075] [076] [077] [078] [079] [080] [081] [082] [083] [084] [085] [086] [087] [088] [089] [090] [091] [092] [093] [094] [095] [096] [097] [098] [099] [100] [101] [102] [103] [104] [105] [106] [107] [108] [109] [110] [111] [112] [113] [114] [115] [116] [117] [118] [119] [120] [121] [122] [123] [124] [125] [126] [127] [128] [129] [130] [131] [132] [133] [134] [135] [136] [137] [138] [139] [140] [141] [142] [143] [144] [145] [146] [147] [148] [149] [150] [151] [152] [153] [154] [155] [156] [157] [158] [159] [160] [161] [162] [163] [164] [165] [166] [167] [168] [169] [170] [171] [172] [173] [174] [175] [176] [177] [178] [179] [180] [181] [182] [183] [184] [185] [186] [187] [188] [189] [190] [191] [192] [193] [194] [195] [196] [197] [198] [199] [200] [201] [202] [203] [204] [205] [206] [207] [208] [209] [210] [211] [212] [213] [214] [215] [216] [217] [218] [219] [220] [221] [222] [223] [224] [225] [226] [227] [228] [229] [230] [231] [232] [233] [234]

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links