Superior [ Epic ] Legendary
Rockstar Games might mean “hookers, killing sprees, and Hot Coffee” to Jack Thompson, but back when they were DMA Design they were better known for a quirky puzzle-solver called Lemmings. A slightly lesser-known but equally goofy and enjoyable game, Uniracers (Unirally in PAL regions), is the subject of this week’s ROMiniscing.
[ Superior ] Epic Legendary
The genre-bending epics of contemporary games certainly have their place, but the success of Viewtiful Joe and similar games shows that side-scrolling action isn’t dead. Indeed, there’s something special about a side-scrolling, mook-stomping, “story irrelevant” adventure. This week’s ROMiniscing hearkens back to the earlier days of the genre: Rare(ware)’s Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team.
Superior Epic [ Legendary ]
We might be used to the idea that SquareSoft can take something like the Disney universe and make a full-fledged role-playing experience out of it, but Kingdom Hearts does not come without precedent. Before Paper Mario, before Kingdom Hearts, and before Rare unhitched its wagon from Nintendo, there was today’s ROMiniscing feature: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
[ Superior ] Epic Legendary
Any SNES\Genesis\TG-16\Neo Geo gamer can opine about the long list of games that never made it to the North American and PAL region markets, but how many can name one that never made it into the Japanese? And with Action RPGs having their origins in Japan, wouldn’t you be surprised if this game fit that bill too? Well then get surprised, because today we ROMinisce about exactly that: Secret of Evermore.
Superior [ Epic ] Legendary
Being a creative medium, a fresh idea like Spore is well-received in the game industry (even if it’s tantamount to a five-part minigame). Long before YouTube was flooded with “Creature Creator” penis-monsters, evolution was the focus of a now obscure 1993 title published by Enix known as E.V.O.: Search for Eden. Combining Platforming with Role-Playing, creationism with evolution, and science with mythology, this classic game remains distinct and downright fun.
Superior Epic [ Legendary ]
As the spiritual predecessor to the future Horror sub-genre and the first reported game to receive a parental advisory warning (and you thought it was Mortal Kombat!), Splatterhouse is a significant point in video game history. By today’s standards, fighting crucifixes and zombies as a Jason Voorhees-esque maniac might seem tame, but this marked a step towards opening darker-themed mature content to players. Ultimately, we have Splatterhouse to thank for letting video games become more than a teenager’s delight.
Civony has taken a page from AIG’s playbook and rebranded; perhaps to dodge the bad press, or perhaps to make it less obvious that they’re hijacking elements of popular games to piece together a money scheme. Either way, it’s clear their marketing people haven’t changed.
Note their use of “half a million players.” They can’t say it in advertising if it isn’t true, right?
You may have seen these Google ads on sites like… well, everywhere. While I can’t find screencaps of the original “Your queen is waiting” ads, they were what got my attention because I’d always wanted my own sexy fairy queen. A few nights ago, I finally gave Civony a try - hell, the worst case scenario was that I’d unearth some blog fodder!
In Dominus, you control the ruler of a small province, which consists of a castle, outlying towns, city walls, forests, and the like. It’s divided up into about thirty different area maps. Your goal is to defend the province against eight invading tribes, which have randomized personalities. You combat these tribes using your own armies of monsters, traps, and spells. Additionally, you have four generals at your disposal, which you can use to automate setting up area defenses and other attacks. You win the game when all of the invading tribes have been eliminated, either through warfare or diplomacy.
One of my hobbies is collecting old PC games. Over the years, however, I’ve amassed a large number of games that I’ve never gotten around to playing. I would like to play all of these eventually, but I don’t have a lot of time to invest into playing them all to completion. Therefore, I’m going to play them all for an hour or two and discuss my preliminary findings. I’ve chosen to start with strategy and war games.
Home of the Underdogs calls Silicon Knight’s 1993 D&D-licensed title Fantasy Empires as “one of the best fantasy games ever made.” I was not as impressed.