Cruis'n USA (N64 review)

Developer: Williams
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1996

Cruis'n USA is a racing game that was originally released in the Arcades in 1994.

Supporting 1-2 players, the objective is to race across America and place first in each of the game's 14 courses. The notion of racing from coast-to-coast is a terrific idea and gives your mission a grander feel than focusing on singular races. Courses such as Beverly Hills and Golden Gate Park offer plenty of visual stimulation due to the many famous landmarks on display, and the wide open spaces give you plenty of room to jockey for position. However, others such as Death Valley and Redwood Forest offer ridiculously narrow lanes where it's almost impossible not to crash every few seconds due to the amount of traffic. This is no more apparent then when swerving around a bend, as you're almost 100% guaranteed to be greeted with unforeseeable vehicles lining up to ruin your day. Weirdly, non-racer cars have a habit of veering onto the wrong side of the road which is both annoying and unfair considering you're not even competing against them! What also irritates is the fluctuating frame-rate and peculiar opponent A.I. that's seemingly unbeatable on your first course attempt, only to become a pushover on the next go. Still, despite these technical flaws, I do like how the controls are simple for anyone to quickly master (e.g. only two buttons are really needed so you can accelerate and brake, the latter rarely being required due to your car's extreme turn radius). The unlimited continues are also great, as is the fact that each course is short to ease some frustration. There's no positives regarding the graphics though, as the blurry textures, low-poly car models and poor draw distance resemble a PS1 title.

Cruis'n USA is a flawed game that can be incredibly cheap at times due to its technical deficiencies that often rely on good fortune favouring driving prowess in order to succeed. However, with its decent course design and simple controls, those looking for some mindless racing action can certainly do a lot worse than this.

Random trivia: While planned as an N64 launch title, this port was delayed by three months due to Nintendo requesting various changes.

Joust (Atari Lynx review)

Developer: Shadowsoft
Publisher: Williams
Released: 1992

Joust is an action game that was first released in the Arcades in 1982 before being ported to the Atari Lynx a decade later.

The main objective is to fly your bird upwards and then bounce on enemies from above to defeat them. If you're lower than your opponent when making contact you'll lose one of your five lives. When you win a joust your enemy turns into an egg which you can collect for points. Fallen eggs can't be left unattended for too long; if you don't collect them they'll hatch and a stronger, more powerful bird will emerge! After each enemy has been defeated and their eggs picked up you move onto the next wave with tougher A.I. The premise is simple but there is a small amount of variety. For example, the second round is a Survival Wave where you earn 3,000 bonus points for clearing the screen without losing a life. The third wave sees the removal of the safety barrier at the bottom of the screen and it exposes lava with Trolls that grab your bird if you get too close. Round 5 is an Egg Wave where you must quickly collect all the eggs before they hatch and Round 8 is a Pterodactyl Wave with much faster enemies. The control scheme is slippery making it tricky to make precise movements and your bird has a tendency to wander off under its own accord. The action is solid with some fast-paced gameplay but it does get rather mundane after a while as you're basically doing the same thing repeatedly with minor tweaks. After two minutes you've pretty much seen everything it has to offer and the only reason to continue playing is to replay levels for a high score. In my opinion, this was acceptable in the early 1980s but not in a 1992 release as nothing has been added. The game can be extremely unfair in later levels as on one occasion I respawned right on top of an enemy and quickly lost my remaining three lives!

Lots of people seem to enjoy Joust and although the gameplay is decent I just didn't think it was anything special and boredom set in after 10-15 minutes. It's certainly a good arcade title and perfect for high score chasers but I expected more enhancements rather than a straight port of a ten-year-old game.

Random trivia: The Arcade game was so popular upon its release that a pinball version of Joust was made and distributed in 1983!