Choplifter HD is a remake of the classic bullet hell game. Taking control of an up and coming rookie pilot, you are tasked with getting civilians to safety under hellacious conditions. You’ll have to take on enemies both on the ground and in the air as you take civilians to safety. You’ll also have to deal with dwindling fuel and munitions, as you’ll have to restock frequently. Doing well in each mission earns you stars for each mission, and eventually upgrades for your copter. The game starts out easy, but gets challenging as you progress. Regardless of if you played the classic Choplifter, or this is your first introduction to the franchise, Choplifter HD is a fun and challenging update of a classic.

The early days of this past console generation saw something that we would rather forget about (but secretly loved): Burger King made it’s debut in video games. Not content with simply having it’s creepy-looking mascot appear as a trainer in Fight Night Round 3, the franchise released a series of games centered around its fast food products. You could pick them up for $3.99 with any value meal. It was admittedly a cool promotion, even if the games were crap. Of course, this isn’t the first time fast food has partnered with video games. The unholy alliance of french fries and digital gaming first manifested itself back in 1988, with the Japan-only Donald Land, a Famicom game in which players controlled McDonald’s mascot Ronald McDonald in a side-scrolling Mario rip-off. 4 years later, Virgin Interactive would release M.C Kids, also based on the fast food franchise. This game was released in North America, and it was actually a pretty decent platformer. You play as one of two kids named Mick and Mack. The Hamburgular has stolen Ronald McDonald’s magic bag, and the kids have to retrieve it. You’ll explore several different worlds, finding hidden secrets, and throwing blocks at enemies to defeat them. Despite the McDonalds license, the game features none of the fast food chain’s products, so unlike the Burger King games, you get the feeling of this being a semi-polished platformer rather than a glorified ad for McDonalds.

Sonic and Knuckles was the last good Sonic game for the Sega Genesis, and it was released at the height of the 16-bit era. It was basically an expansion pack for Sonic 3, although it could be played by itself. Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles were originally intended to be one game (as a matter of fact, if you do the level select code in Sonic 3, you can hear music from the stages in Sonic and Knuckles, and McDonalds featured a promo based on Sonic 3 that mentioned the Flying Battery Zone, a level which wasn’t seen in the game). However, time constrains reared their ugly head, and Sonic 3 was cut down to 6 zones. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we got 2 awesome Sonic games in the same year, and S&K utilized a pretty cool feature.
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This past week saw the release of the critically panned Aliens: Colonial Marines. The low rankings this game received have led many to believe that it’s next to impossible to make a good Alien game. However, if one looks to the past, there was a near perfect Alien game for Super Nintendo which was based upon the third film in the franchise. Playing as heroine Ellen Ripley, you make your way through the halls of a prison planet completing various objectives in a nonlinear format. Rather than producing a straightforward adaptation of Alien 3, LJN instead presents a nonlinear platforming game in which Ripley can use a different variety of weapons to defeat the Xenomorphs. The graphics are dark and dreary, perfectly suited for the horror franchise, and the soundtrack does a good job of making the already creepy atmosphere even more tense. This is one of those carts you’ll have to do some searching for, but if you’re a fan of the franchise, or if you like Metroid style sci-fi exploration, you’ll want to check out this classic.

Final Fantasy was the last of the ‘old school’ Final Fantasy games, and it would be the last numbered entry on a Nintendo system (barring the remakes). When it was released over here, it was re-titled Final Fantasy 3 as it was the third FF game to be released in North America. It’s graphics, characters, and story stand out as one of the greatest RPG epics even to this day.
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You know what was great about old school action games? You didn’t need upgradable stats, cinematics, a-list voice talent, or any other bells and whistles. No sir, all you needed was a bunch of enemies to shoot as you ran to the right of the screen and a bunch of weapons to shoot them with. Intrusion 2, the sequel to a 2008 flash game brings back this action. Developer Aleksey Abramenko spent three years on this title, and it was worth every minute. Playing as some guy, you set out to stop a bunch of bad guys for whatever reason, but did you ever play these types of games for the plot? Ninja please. If you want story, go play some Final Fantasy. All you need to know is that there a shitload of bad guys who need to be murdered to death. Got it?
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From the people who bought you R-type, prepare to go on the hunt in In The Hunt! I know, that was a horrible pun.
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Earth 2140 is an old-school RTS in the vein of Command and Conquer. Strangely, it had more of a following in Turkey than in American and Europe. It told the story of two warring factions: The Eurasian Dynasty and the United Civilized States. This is your typical dystopian future, where Earth has been bombed into a nuclear wasteland and rival factions are at war for the world’s remaining resources. This is pure 4X strategy gameplay (expand, exploit, explore, and exterminate). Gather resources, build bases, and construct units. The soundtrack is a strange blend of jazz and adult contemporary, and the plot is light compared to the sequels. However, this is still a fun classic RTS. You can buy it from GOG.com for $5.99, and teh game includes the DOS version, and both expansion packs.