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Review – Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

May 12th, 2000
by Ramen Junkie.
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1 Player

Once again Solid Snake must battle evil terrorists to stop them from using the Nuclear Warhead launching walking battle tank called Metal Gear.  An intense, involving story, and fantastic visual effects await ahead.

Graphics 9/10

While they occasionally seem pixilated when up close, you can’t really blame the programmers for limitation of the system they were using.  The camera angles are almost never wrong, the characters look great and varied, the cut scenes are very nice, and the character movement looks good.  One thing you could complain about is the lack of mouth movement during the 3D parts (the mouths move during comlink scenes), but once again, it’s probably more because of system limitations.

Music and Sound 10/10

This same has a great soundtrack.  The music always fits the mood and doesn’t get old. The sound effects are right on too.  There are footsteps, different gun shot sounds, background sounds, ect.  The voices are very good as well.  all of them sound believable for each character, which is usually the problem with dubbed voices.

Game Play 9/10

While the game may seem a little short after playing through a few times, there are two endings to find, plus some bonuses after completing the game that give it more life.  Though it doesn’t really need that much boost, the game is fun no matter how many times you replay it.  The different objectives are also varied enough that they don’t get too boring.  The bosses all play different and require different strategies. 

Overall 9.7/10

One more for the top games ever in my list.  This is a fabulous game that I would recommend to anyone who likes action games, or even RPGs, or games at all.  The story is complex and full of twists, and very good.  Plus it’s fairly cheap most places now, so you should have no reason not to own this game.

Tip: To beat Psyco mantis the easy way, switch the controller tot he second port at the beginning of the battle so he can’t “Read you mind”.  It IS possible to beat him otherwise though, I did the first time through, I recommend just staying low and punching him when
you can.  If you’re lucky you’ll get in a hit.

Review – Snake Rattle and Roll (NES)

May 7th, 2000
by Ramen Junkie.
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1-2 Players

The snakes Rattle and Roll must battle their way through a 3/4 overhead 2D world to uh..
I’m not sure what.  Battle giant feet, toilet seats and chomp Nibbly Pibblys.

Graphics: 7/10
Well he graphics are kind of nice, though it does suffer some from “What is that supposed
to be?” syndrome.  Mostly on the (seemingly) toilet seats you battle.  You also seem to
fight bells, drills, and giant feet.  The feet seem to be the bosses.  The game is set
in a sort of 3/4 overhead 3D aspect, which can be very confusing on controls.  You will
probably find your snake plummeting to his doom due to missing a platform you were sure
you hit.

Music and Sound: 8/10
The music and sound is pretty good in this game.  There are different songs for each stage
(I believe), and the sound effects are fairly numerous.  A lot of the enemies are silent
but on the other side, when your snake spits to bits of Ninbbly Pibbly after eating one
it makes a spitting sort of sound.  Probably part of the problem arises from hardware
limiting the number of effects that can be played at once.

Game Play: 7/10
This game is only so so on one player.  It’s real fun is the two player game, which is
the same as single player except you play simultaneously.  It just seems more fun to have
someone to compete against.  It also starts out easy but gets pretty hard near the later
levels.  I only recall ever beating this game once, and I think that was with the
assistance of a second player (and possibly a Game Genies level warp).

Overall: 7.7
A reasonably fun game for two players, I probably played this game as much as Bubble
Bobble with my brother way back when.  Nothing to go to lengths to find really though.

Tip: There are lots of hidden manhole cover warps.  They are usually unmarked (you can’t
see the manhole cover but it’s there) and usually in hard to reach places.

Review – Ghost in the Shell (PS1)

May 6th, 2000
by Ramen Junkie.
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1 Player

Based on the Manga and Anime of the same name, you must pilot a Fujikoma Tank, along side
the other members of Division 6, to stop terrorist attacks and uncover a secret plot.

Graphics: 8/10
The Anime cut scenes are great.  They look like they were taken from the movie.  The only
thing that could have been better about them is if they had been more numerous.  The into
movie is one of the best intros to any game I’ve ever seen.  As for the game, the enemies
seems kind of boring, which is what really brings this score down.  The Fukikoma looks
pretty nice though, and the animations are all smooth even when you transfer your axis and
start walking on the wall or ceiling.  However this can also lead ot confusion of direction
because the wall textures are not always clear enough to distinguish which way you need to
head.  There are some neat effects though with the changing camera axis, mostly when
fighting bosses.

Sound: 10/10
I LOVE the music for this game.  The whole thing is set to a heavy techno soundtrack that
really fits the fast paced action of this game.  If I ever ran into a soundtrack for this
game to buy I would most certainly pick it up.  Of course if you dislike Techno music it
could be a turn off I suppose.  The sound effects are nice as well, lots of explosions
mostly.  Plus as a great bonus they used the dame voices to dub the cut scenes that they
did for the movie.  At first I feared it would be someone different and it wouldn’t be as
good.

Gameplay: 8/10
There is a large variety of missions for the different levels 3whcih really helps to break
things up.  There are some missions where you just seek and destroy, others where you
navigate underground tunnels, some where you have to travel over buildings to disarm bombs,
and still more others where you are involved in high speed chases.  The Fujikoma Tank and
it’s “Go anywhere” navigation is incredibly cool.  There are only ten levels but each is
multipart and fairly lengthy and quite difficult at times.  There are some down sides
though.  Some of the levels are insanely hard.  Also you can easily navigate most areas by
standing out of range of the enemy and locking on your missiles (of which you have
unlimited).

Overall: 8.7/10
Overall I’d say it’s a great 3D action game.  Certainly more fast paced than a lot of the
ones I’ve played and most worthy of the name Ghost in the Shell.  Don’t expect a movie
adaptation though.  This seems to have an original story, which is an added plus.

Tip: At the main menu press R2, R1, Square, Square, Up, Down, Square, Square, R2, R2.  If
you hear a sound you did it right.  You should now have all levels unlocked and all movies
unlocked.

Review – Mega Man 3 (NES)

Apr 28th, 2000
by Ramen Junkie.
No comments yet

1 Player

The Mega Man series, the greatest series ever.

You must control the Blue Bomber to once again defeat Dr. Wiley.

Graphics 9/10

Nice crisp Mega Man graphics.  Plus this game has one of the coolest looking sets of robot masters.  I suppose that I like this game makes me somewhat biased to the scores.  There is some slowdown though when there is more then like 2 enemies on the screen.

Music and Sound 9/10

Very good music.  While I was replaying it my brother commented on how cool the music in this game was just out of the blue.  It fits the theme and sounds nice for uh, NES music. The sounds are good as well.  Lots of little sound effects.

Gameplay 9/10

Lots of variety.  Some new things are introduced in this game, namely Proto Man and Rush.  Since this is the first MM game with these two elements it gets some bonus points.  It’s a very fun game too.  The Robot masters give a lot of variety.

Overall 9/10

This is definitely my favorite Mega Man game.  I think the only one coming close is MMX1. I would recommend this game definitely if you like Mega Man games and how could you not?

Tip

Hold Right and A on controller two for a super jump.  Now hold it and try jumping in a pit.

Review – Super Mario 64 (N64)

Apr 22nd, 2000
by Ramen Junkie.
No comments yet

1 Player

Graphics: 9/10
For being one of the first is not THE first N64 game it still has some pretty nice graphics.
The character movement is very nice and dynamic.  Pario is quite fun to watch as he runs
all over.  All the old 2 dimensional enemies make the transition to 3D very well.  The
effects are also very cool.  My one complain is the camera.  It can often move in wierd
angles making it difficult to navigate the world.  This happens the most when you are
underwater.

Music and Sound: 8/10
The music is pretty good.  Some of the old familiar tunes show up in new formats. The
sound effects are pretty nice too, You can usually hear the sound of enemies approaching,
though it can sometimes be hard to find exactly where they are approaching from.  Mario
yells a lot of stuff as he jumps around but it’s not repetitive or bad enough to get
annoying.  There are only two voices in the game, Mario and Princess Toadstool.  They
are OK I suppose, it’s more that the dialogue is kind of crappy.

Gameplay: 10/10
The great thing about this is that I think almost anyone could play this game.  Also it’s
a lot of fun.  I replayed this game for this review and I had forgotten how fun it was.
Mario has so many moves and combinations you may find yourself just running around jumping
on things for the sake of running around jumping on things.  The early levels are also
easy enough that the game keeps your attention early on.  The later levels get a bit more
difficult and do tent to sort of repeat the earlier levels only more difficult.  Also it’s
easy enough that you shouldn’t get stuck anywhere for long and if you do then chances are
there are a dozen other levels you could play instead.  The controls are pretty nice but
tend to seem a bit too loose for tight situations that require precision movements.

Overall: 9/10
This game was released to sell the N64 and it does a good job of it.  It shows off a lot
of the abilities of the system.  It’s probably one of the better N64 games and it’s one
that anyone could play and have fun.  I would recommend this game if you have an N64.

Tip: There are 120 stars all together.  Then you collect them all look for a new cannon
and head to the top of the castle for a meeting with an old friend.

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