In light of Iraq, Katrina, and the Blackwater controversies, it may seem strange to do a feature on a game about mercenaries. However, the gameplay, backdrop, and atmosphere help this title avoid similarities to real-world events. It doesn’t hurt that this game’s strategy RPG gameplay and team management are solid as well. Although this title never gained commercial success, it achieved a healthy cult following amongst its fans. If you give this game a shot and bear through its old school graphics and interface, then it isn’t hard to see why.
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Whenever a lot of people often talk about how cool the old-school Ninja Turtles games were, they usually talk about the first arcade game and Turtles in Time. How come no one hardly ever mentions this game though? It’s just as cool as its arcade counterparts, even if its graphics aren’t as nice as they are. TMNT 3 was the third NES game based on the TMNT franchise (with the first being a horrid platforming game and the second being an NES port of the arcade game). Although it wasn’t based on any arcade game, it took it’s basic gameplay from the arcade titles while presenting all-new bosses and areas. Like the arcade games, the game did a good job of showcasing what people loved about the franchise at the time while providing fun cooperative gameplay.
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Like football? Hate how overcomplicated it can be? Then Midway has the game for you: NFL Blitz. Blitz did for football what their previous ‘extreme sports’ series, NBA Jam did for basketball: strip out all of the grunt work and concentrate on the big hits, big passes, and over-the-top action fans love about the game. No stats to fudge through, no back-office politics to worry about, no contract negotiations to wade through, you just pick your team, hit the field, and play through 4 quarters of smash-mouth football, just the way God intended.
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Earlier this week, I featured a compilation of the PC Delta Force games. So to that end, this week’s Lost Classic features a Playstation side entry of the series. This game is special as it was one of the last (if not the last) first person shooter games for the original Playstation. While Novalogic could have easily phoned this end, they instead chose to go all out with it, creating one last engaging military-style FPS experience, putting this game head and shoulders above other PS1 shooters, and even giving a few then current-gen shooters a run for their money.
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This past week saw the legendary mutant superhero Wolverine return to movie theaters by way of the film X-men origins: Wolverine. Of course, the logical tie-in game hit store shelves as well. Word on the street is that this new game isn’t half bad. That’s a good thing too, as Wolverine’s solo history in video gaming has been less than encouraging. This special maximum letdown takes a look at one of his previous solo endeavors. As an added bonus, this week’s lost classic , included in this article, takes a look at one of his many team up adventures.
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In the mid 90s, it became clear that video games weren’t just for kids anymore. If Mortal Kombat and Wolfeinstein 3-D made that statement, then games like Doom and Eternal Champions placed an exclamation point at the end of that statement. Politicians, right-wing talking heads, talk show hosts, and lazy parents soon discovered that (read: scapegoated) video games, along with gangsta rap were the same satanic evils that comic books and rock ‘n’ roll were during the 50s and 60s. To temporarily ward them off if nothing else, a rating system was established. With that in place, developers were given a free pass to test the limits of what’s appropriate for a video game, although it was clear that some lazier developers were simply putting blood and guts into video games for their own sakes. Thus, for every Duke Nukem and Samurai Showdown, we got a dozen more Time Killers. In 1997, one game, more than any other signified the worst fears of every parent/teacher group, congressman, and clergyman: Running With Scissors’ shooting game, Postal. What makes this game even more disturbing is how eerily close it is to certain real-life events that tragically still go on today.

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1985 saw the release of one of the most influential arcade games of the past few decades. It was quite popular for its time. Matter of fact, you might have even heard about it, or if you’re old enough, you may have even played it. In the game, you (and a few friends) teamed up to smash a never-ending (well, at least until you destroyed the generators) stream of orcs, goblins, and other monsters in a fantasy setting. Your character’s health constantly ticked down, so grabbing food was a must. Also, there were several items spread around that could enhance your player. Players could either choose to cooperate with each other, or could work against each other to get the food and the high scores. This game was made by Atari and was known as Gauntlet. Though it’s simple by today’s standards, Gauntlet’s influence helped shape many other action RPG games, from Square’s Secret of Mana to Blizzard’s Diablo. However, a year after the release of Gauntlet, Konami released this game, Dark Adventure. While it had many similarities to Gauntlet, its high quality graphics, large sprites, and quirkiness made this game even better than Atari’s classic. Sadly, it wasn’t nearly as popular as it should have been.
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If there was one band whose name was synonymous with Rock ‘n ‘ Roll, it’s Aerosmith. The Boston quintet’s music has been around for decades, and they have even broken down musical barriers with their collaboration with Run DMC, Walk this Way. For me, they hold a special place in my heart as their greatest hits album, Big Ones, was the very first full length music album I got. Last year, Neversoft and Activision have honored the rock legends with a Guitar Hero game centered around them. However, old school gamers know that that disc wasn’t the first time the rockers have been included in a video game. This goofy Midway shoot-em up put the band in digital form well over a decade earlier.
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