Blog Archives
Donkey Kong Country (Video Game Review)
Video Game Review
Donkey Kong Country
Super Nintendo
1994
Developed by: Rare
Published by: Nintendo
Donkey Kong isn’t exactly the crown prince of Nintendo’s large cast of mascots. In fact, it’s almost as if he’s the black sheep; the first nemesis of the beloved Mario that was relegated in the 80s to teaching kids about math. When Nintendo enlisted Rare to create a new type of platformer during the mature age of the Super Nintendo’s life cycle, it was curious to see what would be the result. Donkey Kong Country ended up being a renaissance f or the primate character that helped revitalize the I.P. and became, for a while, a solid number two behind Mario in Nintendo’s roster of franchises. Donkey Kong Country is the game that started it all again and despite its age is still one of the best platformers ever.
Weekly Video Game Post–January 8, 2011
Weekly Video Game Podcast – January 8, 2012 <14 mins (9.5 MB)>
^ right click to save
- Due to technical difficulties, this is a shorter than normal podcast; just sales and game release information
- Continue reading for sales figures from the week of December 24th and other stuff (all sales figures come from www.vgchartz.com)
Decimation X (Video Game Review)
Video Game Review
Decimation X
Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Indie Games)
2010
Developed by: Xona Games
Published by: Xona Games
Space Invaders clones are a dime-a-dozen in the gaming sphere although they’re less prevalent in today’s age than during the golden age of the arcades. To simply dismiss Xona Games’s Decimation X as a clone of one of the originators of the shoot-em-up genre is selling the game short. That being said, it’s not much different from Space Invaders. The graphics are not much better and the action is very similar (think of the original game but as if it were on steroids). Decimation X is a pretty good game at a great price that will easily suck away much of your spare time.
Centipede (Video Game Review)
Video Game Review
Centipede
Arcade
1980
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
During the golden age of the arcades, you couldn’t throw a stone in an arcade and not hit at least a dozen shoot-em-up games. Centipede was one of the top games of its generation and still holds up reasonably well despite not being all that flashy. For those who like classic arcade action, Centipede is a solid bet. However, for those who have grown up with games that have things like a background and a decent soundtrack, it might be a bit problematic.
Space Invaders (Video Game Review)
Video Game Review
Space Invaders
Arcade
1978
Developed by: Taito
Published by: Midway (North America)
It’s hard to evaluate a game that was published in 1978 by today’s standards (and it will probably be even more so for people in the future). When Space Invaders came out, it was seen as a revolutionary game that dominated the video game industry. It was so popular yet so simple a game that when the sequel came out a year later, the only thing Taito/Midway did was include colour; and that was more a trick than actual software/hardware engineering as they simply put colour filters over certain parts of the screen. Still, playing Space Invaders today is still quite a bit of fun. Graphically and technically it has been surpassed by modern games but, due to a strong foundation, it is still provides for a good time.
Weekly Video Game Post–January 3, 2012
Weekly Video Game Podcast – January 2, 2012 <69 mins (47.5 MB)>
^ right click to save
- Jamie Gore and John Teodoro
- The Top 10 Games of 2011 Podcast
- Sorry, Just Dance 3 did not make the list
- Continue reading for sales figures from the week of December 24th and other stuff (all sales figures come from www.vgchartz.com)
Adventure Island (Video Game Review)
Video Game Review
Adventure Island
Nintendo Entertainment System
1988
Developed by: Escape/Hudson Soft
Published by: Hudson Soft
Despite Super Mario Bros. creating a renaissance for games after the Video Game Crash of 1983, it made it almost impossible for good platformers to get their moment in the sun. Why play anything else when there’s Super Mario Bros. available. While Hudson’s Adventure Island isn’t anywhere as good as Mario’s first platformer, it still provides as decent experience in the genre. It does have a few problems such as its difficulty level, the weird continue system, and it’s uninspiring level design. Still, the quest of Master Higgins still provides from some decent platforming entertainment that is good for those who like this type of game to give a try.
Special Edition Video Game Podcast–December 29, 2011
Weekly Video Game Podcast – December 29, 2011 <56 mins (38.4 MB)>
^ right click to save
- Jamie Gore and John Teodoro
- We finish off our end of year discussion about the console manufacturers with a fireside chat about Microsoft (chat may not actually include fire)
- We both laugh at the fact that my 20-year-old Super Nintendo still works great but John is on his FIFTH Xbox 360
- If Kinect could order pizza, I would buy three
Weekly Video Game Newsletter–Issue 6
^Right click to download the latest issue^
The latest edition of the Weekly Video Game Newsletter is finally up.
In this Issue:
-
Video Game Sales Recap for December 17th, 2011
-
Year in Review: Q1 Recap
-
Review of Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony for 2011
-
Adventure Island (NES) Review
-
Centipede (Arcade) Review
-
Decimation X (Xbox Live Indie Game) Review
-
Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Review
-
Space Invaders (Arcade) Review
From now on, game reviews will appear in the newsletters first and then eventually be published on the website. Reviews will start appearing on the site again starting on New Year’s Day.
The next issue will be published on Saturday, December 31st, 2011. In that issue, this site’s games of the year list will be published. That list will appear on the site on Sunday, January 1st, 2012 (as per tradition).
PLEASE NOTE: There was an error with the review score for Donkey Kong Country. As much as I love the game, I cannot give the game the full five-star treatment for some of the issues associated with the game (the biggest one being that trying to complete the game 102% is next to impossible unless you get help from an outside source or have hours to kill to test every pit and make blind leap-of-faith jumps). The score should have been four stars. I’m sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused. Don’t worry though, there is a five-star video game review coming up soon. Because of linking issues, I will not be making a change in the newsletter during the short term but when I eventually make a page on the site just for the newsletters, I’ll change the review score in the newsletter when I archive the newsletter there.
Weekly Video Game Post–December 18, 2011
Weekly Video Game Podcast – December 18, 2011 <67 mins (46.0 MB)>
^ right click to save
- Jamie Gore and John Teodoro
- First podcast in a long time. Let’s hope this starts to be a regular thing again instead of a special edition.
- Sales are up big time due to the holiday season
- How is the PlayStation 3 sitting atop worldwide sales for 2011? John and I talk about Sony’s 2011 in this week’s podcast
- It’s about time people bought the 3DS. It only took a Zelda game and two Mario titles to make people want to buy the machine.
- Continue reading for sales figures from the week of June 25th and other stuff (all sales figures come from www.vgchartz.com)
