Battleship: The Classic Naval Combat Game (Sega Game Gear review)

Developer: NGM Productions
Publisher: Mindscape
Released: 1993

Battleship: The Classic Naval Combat Game is a turn-based strategy game that was also released on the Nintendo NES (1993).

+ New ships and weapons are added as you move up the ranks, which is a great way to spice up the combat.

+ Seeing the CPU waste one of its special weapons is gratifying and engages you further into demolishing its fleet.

+ An easy to remember password system is available so you can continue your progress at a later date. 

- Transition from a board game to a video game is dry and there's a distinct lack of personality on display.

- Could have used some additional grid sizes or hazards to keep players invested and to push the core concept forward.

- Strangely, there's no two-player Link Cable option, and playing against the CPU is rather lifeless in the long run.

- Music is downbeat and sombre, which is the polar opposite of what you'd expect in an intense, strategic battle.

Dropzone (NES review)

Developer: Eurocom Entertainment Software

Publisher: Mindscape, Inc.

Released: 1992

Dropzone is a European exclusive shooter that was first released in the Arcades in 1984.

It's clearly inspired by Defender (1981, Arcades) and the objective is to wipe out waves of aliens while rescuing humans and delivering them to the landing pad. A handy map at the bottom shows you the location of all enemies and once they've been eliminated you move onto the next level. To attack you can either use a Laser gun or a limited amount of Strata Bombs to wipe out everything on screen. The aliens have individual characteristics as some blow up into smaller lasers when hit, while others home in on your direction. Gameplay-wise, the action is intense and you truly feel like you're alone, fighting for survival against a never-ending swarm of foes. The constant multi-tasking is what makes things so enjoyable, as you're always strategising and making decisions about whether to quickly pick up a stranded, at-risk human or destroy enemies in your path. The ability to rapid-fire shoot is great too, as you can unleash a barrage of bullets around the play-area by continually hitting Button 1. Speedy and powerful Nmeyes aliens appear if you take too long and their impending arrival makes you rush around in a similar fashion to Evil Otto from Berzerk (1980, Arcades). The controls are okay but they're a little too sensitive for my liking, as tapping Up on the d-pad once can see you soaring from the floor to the top of the screen. The action is incredibly fast and challenging as the CPU shows no mercy (even from the outset) and some difficulty options would have been beneficial. The main problem though is the lack of options, as despite this being an eight-year-old game there's only a single mode on offer.

While Dropzone isn't the most original title, it successfully packages bits and pieces from other Arcade games to create a fast and frenetic shooter that's worthy of your time. Its unfortunate downfall is the miniscule amount of content that's included and it's tough to shake the feeling that this was a bit of a lazy cash-in by Mindscape.

 

Random trivia: A port was also released on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992.

Days of Thunder (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software

Publisher: Mindscape

Released: 1990

 

Days of Thunder is a NASCAR racing game that's loosely based on the 1990 film of the same name.

 

You play as Cole Trickle, a rookie driver attempting to win the eight-race Series Cup. The objective is to rack up points in each race by beating 15 other drivers; extra points are awarded for placing first in a lap, or for leading the most laps throughout a race. The polygon, 3D graphics look impressive and while races only take place in a small window it's a good trade-off for the smooth frame-rate. There's also a few interesting ideas here, especially the Slipstreaming where you gain more speed by tailing a car in front of you. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't up to snuff and the difficulty is extreme from the outset. Turning corners and judging your spatial distance in relation to the barriers is tough, mainly because your vehicle is positioned far away from your viewpoint. This is problematic, as clipping the side of the track on just a handful of occasions results in you needing to pit for repairs; while this is realistic I found the unforgiving gameplay to be off-putting. Even trying to pit is a pain as you must be at a certain speed while positioning yourself perfectly in the assigned area; failing to meet these exact requirements sees you briefly entering the pit before being kicked back onto the track. This is infuriating when you're low on fuel or your car is damaged, as you'll need to complete another lap while trying to avoid complete immobilisation. If you do reach the pits you control each member of your team and position them to repair the necessary parts of your car. It's fiddly cycling between them but once you get the hang of it it's a decent diversion and I love that you can multitask to speed up the process.

  

Days of Thunder is an interesting attempt at a NASCAR style simulation but the action is too unforgiving and demands extreme precision at all times. Unless you have some serious patience it's likely to 'drive' you up the wall due to its infuriating gameplay that's devoid of any real fun.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The game was also released on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992.

Alfred Chicken (NES review)

Developer: Twilight Games

Publisher: Mindscape Inc.

Released: 1993

Alfred Chicken is an action-platformer that was also released on the Amiga, Amiga CD32 and Game Boy.

You play as Alfred who's attempting to rescue his friends and stop the evil Meka-Chickens from using them in their cloning experiments. There's five levels and the objective in each is to peck all the balloons that are scattered around. There's also diamonds and other items to collect that can earn you extra lives as well as a Can O Worms (destroys monsters by circling around you) and a Present (makes you temporarily invincible). Your main method of attack is a dive bomb which is performed by jumping and then pressing Down; when pressed alone the latter pecks balloons, the A button jumps and makes you float, while the B button is used for any weapons you collect such as bombs and bullets. Apart from hunting for balloons the gameplay involves jumping on moving platforms, bouncing off springs to reach higher ledges and swimming underwater. The level design is atrocious with mundane environments covered in children's toy blocks, or a mishmash of wood pieces held together with nails! There's nothing interesting about the puzzles either as they usually involve pushing a button in one room to activate platform blocks in another. There's also three Meka-Chicken boss battles where you hop into a Meka-Buster Ship for some shooting action! In theory it sounds awesome but every boss is the same and they all have boring, predictable patterns. The game is insultingly easy and poses little challenge; it's also far too short and can be completed in around 30 minutes. There's only one music track which sounds like an irritating TV theme-tune and it quickly gets on your nerves!

 

Alfred Chicken is a lacklustre title with tedious level design, little variety and sub-standard boss battles. In reality it's full of half-baked ideas and the fact that there's only five short levels screams of lazy game development.

 

 

Random trivia: A sequel called Super Alfred Chicken was released on the Super Nintendo in 1994.

Bad Street Brawler (NES review)

Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: Mindscape Inc.
Released: 1987

Bad Street Brawler is a side-scrolling beat-em-up and one of only two games to officially support the Power Glove.

You play the role of Duke Davis and your mission is to protect the city streets from lawbreaking thugs. There's 15 Force Move attacks in the game but only three are randomly assigned to you before each stage. Examples include a Pile Driver and an Aeroplane Spin and they can be activated with the A and B buttons pressed separately or simultaneously. The range of enemies is varied and includes Punk Rockers, Spies and even Gorillas! Although you never gain weapon abilities the bad guys carry items such as bats, knives and guns; if you defeat them and collect these weapons you'll gain bonus points at the end of each stage. The gameplay is unbelievably repetitive with nothing to break up the action and getting through all 15 stages is a test of endurance. The time limit in each level is very short so you'll find yourself rushing through rather than enjoying the beat-em-up action. Using the Power Glove is very unresponsive and your character moves too fast so you can't really pull off precise attacks. It's pretty unusable but thankfully you can plug in a standard controller and things work much better. The attack moves are decent but I would have preferred to pick which ones to use in each stage rather than having them randomised; this would have added more strategy and increase replayability. It would have also stopped the frustration that sets in when you're given useless attacks (i.e. Arm Spin) or moves that take too long to wind-up (i.e. Roundhouse Kick). The music is painfully generic with standard blues riffs and the tracks soon get repetitive and irritating.

Bad Street Brawler is a poor game with little variety and not enough freedom in the attacks. It's a bad first showcase for the Power Glove and while you'll be forced to reach for a standard controller just to make it playable you still find yourself getting bored very quickly.

Random trivia: The game was also released on the Amiga, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS.

Paperboy 2 (NES review)

Developer: Tengen
Publisher: Mindscape
Released: 1992

Paperboy 2 was released four year's after the NES original and never arrived in the Arcades.

The objective is to deliver newspapers to houses that have a letterbox on their property; miss one or accidentally break their windows and they'll unsubscribe. You only have five lives and once you've lost them all you'll be fired. You can now choose your gender type and there's three different routes (Easy Street, Middle Road, Hard Way). The environment is very interactive and ditches regular Suburbia for a twisted fantasy world with cannons, gargoyles and sewer monsters! Some moments are genuinely funny such as when you splash water over the sunbather or when you hit the hog roast and it springs back to life! I also liked that your actions in each round are represented in the news headlines. Compared to the original it's much easier to reach your desired location with a newspaper as the hit box seems larger and the addition of a shadow below your character helps to gauge exactly where you are in relation to the environment. Halfway through each round the perspective changes to a top-down view; here you need to monitor both sides of the street and hit would-be robbers with papers; not only is this fun it's immensely satisfying foiling a criminal in the act! The camera then shifts again and you'll now be delivering papers to the left side of the street; it's a nice change and gives the world a 3D, expansive feel. At the end of each round there's a short obstacle course where you're tasked with hitting as many targets as possible; the course design is bad though and objects are placed in random areas with little thought. There is a bit of slowdown in the game but the graphics are much improved from the original.

Paperboy 2 isn't the deepest game in the world but the additions are welcome (especially the three different routes) as they enhance replayability. The challenge is much fairer and overall it's simply a more fun experience with good gameplay, a brilliant sense-of-humour and many laugh-out-loud moments.

Random trivia: The game was released on a number of other systems including the Amiga, Game Boy, Mega Drive and ZX Spectrum.

Paperboy (NES review)

Developer: Tengen
Publisher: Mindscape
Released: 1988

Paperboy is an action game that was first released in the Arcades in 1985.

Your objective is to survive a full week on your paper round without losing all four lives. To do this you need to throw newspapers at white, yellow and blue houses without breaking windows; doing so will lose you a customer. Your surplus of papers can be used to smash the windows of non-customers or to hit objects such as garbage cans for bonus points. Extra papers can be picked up but to access these you'll usually have to navigate your way around enemies which include skateboarders, maintenance workers and even the Grim Reaper! The isometric viewpoint makes it difficult to judge spatial distance between yourself and an obstacle or enemy. Most times you lose a life it's because you incorrectly thought you were lined up perfectly. You also can't see very far ahead and enemies have a tendency to zoom into view at high speeds giving you little time to react. On many occasions you'll clearly see your newspapers land on the customer's porch yet the game won't recognise it; it's infuriating when this happens as you'll lose a subscriber despite doing nothing wrong. If you manage to reach the end of the round there's an obstacle course where you have to reach the end in one life while hitting as many targets as possible. It's a decent diversion although the layout is always the same and you can quickly work out the best route and always stick to it. Overall, replay value is low as there's no difficulty settings and only one route so you'll see the same things each day of your round. The graphics look like a budget C64 game with poor animation and there's only one music track.

Paperboy is certainly a unique and highly memorable game but it's also massively overrated in my book. The thin gameplay mechanics grow tired after a few minutes and the unconventional viewpoint leads to many cheap deaths that will quickly frustrate players.

Random trivia: This version of Paperboy is famous for being the first NES game that was fully developed in the United States.