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Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic Advance 2 (Game Boy Advance)

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Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Released: 19 December 2002
Developer: Dimps / Sonic Team
Also Available For: Nintendo Wii U (Virtual Console, Japan only)

The Background:
After a lengthy development process and a conscious effort to create a mascot iconic enough to challenge Super Mario, SEGA’s initial success with Sonic the Hedgehog exploded into mainstream popularity with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992). This was followed by the spectacular Sonic 3 & Knuckles (ibid, 1994) a game too big for one cartridge, but, oddly, one of the best Sonic games led only to many disappointing spin-offs. Following Sonic’s well received jump to 3D, numerous delays, blunders, and costly decisions saw SEGA withdraw from the “Console War”. Alongside ports of their games for other manufacturers, SEGA teamed with Dimps for Sonic Advance (2001), 2D throwback to the classic games that became a best-seller for the Game Boy Advance renowned for its visuals and gameplay. Having solidified SEGA ’s new relationship with Nintendo, development of a sequel was said to have started immediately following the first game. Sonic Advance 2 built upon the existing engine and sought to make a more action-orientated, faster title. The game saw the debut of a brand new character, Cream the Rabbit, who was specifically designed for younger players, and it also went a long way to popularising the “Boost” mechanics of later games. A commercial success, Sonic Advance 2 was praised for its cartoonish sprites, catchy soundtrack, and replay value. While its difficulty deterred some players, Sonic Advance 2 is largely regarded as one of the best Sonic titles and it was followed by a third game just two years later.

The Plot:
When Doctor Eggman vies for the legendary Chaos Emeralds and tricks Knuckles the Echidna into helping him, Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends – Miles “Tails” Prower, Amy Rose, and newcomer Cream the Rabbit – race to end his latest scheme for world domination.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Sonic Advance 2 takes the basic engine and core mechanics of the first game, which was already an interesting mash-up of the 2D and 3D gameplay, and expands upon them to create a high-octane, action-packed 2D sidescroller that puts a great deal of emphasis on blasting along at high speeds while holding right on the directional pad. The controls, already heavily borrowed from the 2D games, thus remain relatively unchanged: you can still jump with A, performing a Spin Attack in the process to bust Badniks and power-up pods, perform your character’s signature moves with B, and execute various mid-air “tricks” by pressing B or the Right trigger in mid-air off springs and ramps. Pressing up or down scrolls the screen vertically and pressing down and A charges a Spin Dash, allowing you to blast ahead (even as Amy this time). Although there are five playable characters to pick, each with their own special moves to slightly alter their gameplay, only Sonic is available at the start. The others are unlocked by playing the story mode and, in Amy’s case, by collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds with the four main characters. You play through seven main levels (referred to as “Zones”), each with two stages (or “Acts”) and a dedicated “Boss Attack” stage, with two additional Zones unlocked when certain criteria are met. As ever, Golden Rings are your lifeline; as long as you have at least one, you’ll survive enemy attacks. Every Act is played against a ten-minute time limit, with you losing a life once this expires, though you can disable this from the “Options” menu. You can also switch between “Easy” or “Normal” mode from this menu, though this simply reduces the hits that bosses take to defeat, and select different language options, something far more relevant this time since there are more cutscenes and text dialogue than before. As you might expect, you can also grab various power-ups as you play: you’ll get a 1-up (also from collecting 100 Rings), 5, 10, or a random number of Rings, a shield (and a magnetic variant to attract Rings), a temporary invincibility, and a new power-up that instantly puts you at maximum speed (though is, essentially, a variation on the classic speed up power-up).

Cream lends her game-breaking cuteness to the increased emphasis on speed and tricks.

Much of this is carried over from Sonic Advance and the same is true of your character’s abilities. Each one plays a little differently, which can alter how difficult the game is. Tails and Cream, for example, can fly, easily avoiding the many pits that spell Sonic’s doom. Every returning character sports the same special moves as in Sonic Advance, with Sonic performing his Insta-Shield by pressing A twice, sliding ahead with B, and executing a fairly useless mid-air dash and Homing Attack when in mid-air. Sonic can also now bounce to the ground by pressing B in mid-air, similar to his bounce ability from Sonic Adventure 2 (Sonic Team USA, 2001) and almost as a precursor to the Drop Dash. Tails flies, as normal, and takes out enemies with a tail swipe with B, Knuckles glides and climbs walls and executes a three-punch combo with B and also now drills downwards when you press B in mid-air. Previously the most unique and difficult character to use, Amy now has a Spin Attack and Spin Dash just like her friends, meaning she’s a far more viable character this time (if you can unlock her!) She still swings her Piko-Piko Hammer with B, dives ahead, and uses it to attack aerial enemies. Every character can also grind on various rails, grab overhead poles, swing from vines and such, and blast ahead at break-neck speeds after building momentum. Flying off ramps sees you pull off mid-air tricks, which are essential to clear bottomless pits and reach higher areas and can spell your doom if you fail them. Since every character essentially adopts Sonic’s super-fast gameplay, there are far less opportunities to use their unique special moves beyond flying and gliding and each one loses a lot of their appeal as a result. There is a mild saving grace in newcomer Cream, however. Essentially the “Easy” mode character, Cream can fly like Tails (though seemingly for less time) and, crucially, fire her Chao companion, Cheese, like a homing shot with B. This absolutely decimates bosses and even surrounds her with a protective barrier when used on the ground, making Cheese the go-to choice for the game’s tougher Zones and bosses.

The fast-paced, action-orientated gameplay means bottomless pits and cheap deaths and commonplace.

Sonic Advance 2 structures its Zones like high-speed races and obstacle courses; the “rollercoaster” aesthetic has never been truer than in this game as rails, ramps, loops, springs, and boost pads litter every environment. There is still the occasional instance of water, putting you at risk of drowning, though you’re far more likely to run across the water than sink into it. Moving and temporary platforms also still appear, often placed at the end of solid ground to screw up your jumps, as do slopes, poles, destructible elements, and bouncy surfaces. This latter gimmick is most prevalent in Music Plant, which has you bouncing around on keyboards and cymbals, while Hot Crater is more about overhead rails and annoying spikes. While things start familiar enough in Leaf Forest (functionally an amalgamation of the classic Green Hill Zone and Green Forest) and Ice Paradise is like a fancy do-over of the previous game’s Ice Mountain, things take a turn for the worst in Sky Canyon. Bottomless pits, poor hazard placement, and tricky jumps appear before this point, but Sky Canyon really ramps them up, hiding ramps and springs and platforms behind clouds and forcing you to make split-second decisions at high-speeds that will quickly drain your pathetic stock of lives. It’s very easy to miss jumps or overshoot your landing, or to plummet to your death since you often drop through rails rather than landing on them. This continues in Techno Base and Egg Utopia, which borrows gimmicks like the light-based bridges and topsy-turvy gravity from Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ Death Egg Zone and marries them with rails and pits, pits, pits! Sonic Advance 2 quickly conditions you to “hold right to win” with its emphasis on speed; Badniks are few and far between and everything is geared towards propelling you ahead at incredible speeds. It’s thus incredibly frustrating to settle into this mindless gameplay loop and fall down an endless chasm, get skewered by spikes, or miss a ramp or a rail and drop to your death.

Presentation:
If there’s one area where Sonic Advance 2 truly excels, it’s the visuals. Again, there’s a reason I used these sprites and backgrounds when made sprite comics; they’re so vivid and detailed and really bring the characters to life like never before in 2D. While Sonic Advance 2 features some recycled animations from the last game, every character has loads more frames of animation either in their poses, tricks, or when performing basic functions. Every main Act starts with your character taking their marks and getting ready to race ahead as a countdown ticks place, they’re followed by shadowy afterimages when at top speed, and their run cycles are vastly improved as the game ditches the classic “rubber band legs” animation to more closely emulate the 3D games of the time. This racing aesthetic continues when you finish an Act as you’re no longer passing a signpost or reaching a Goal Ring; instead, you run through a finish line and your character poses while running and your score is tallied. While the introductory cutscene is nothing special (and is actually worse than in Sonic Advance since it just focuses on the island, Sonic Advance 2 utilises a map screen for its stage select that’s almost an exact copy of Sonic Adventure 2’s, and includes bigger, more detailed and cartoonish sprite art for its cutscenes. As you clear Zones, Sonic rescues his friends, chatting with them and unlocking them to be played, though these cutscenes only appear when playing as Sonic and only once. Once you’ve cleared the game, you can’t view them again and the game is irrevocably changed. Cream is no longer held hostage when you fight the EggHammerTankII and Dr. Eggman pilots the Egg Saucer on subsequent playthroughs, as opposed to Knuckles. While the Game Boy Advance sound system is still grating, Sonic Advance 2 features far catchier tunes and more musical variety than its predecessor. Bosses and Acts have differing tracks and game’s more frustrating moments are somewhat alleviated by the jaunty music, with Ice Paradise being a particular highlight.

More story and detailed animations contrast with some garish environments.

Although Sonic Advance 2 doesn’t exactly break the mould with its Zone aesthetics, the presentation is far better than its predecessor. Sonic Advance had a rather blurry, pixelated, bland look that’s been completely overhauled into a smooth, sleek, almost plasticine-like aesthetic. Admittedly, this can make some of the foregrounds more generic and the Zones do suffer from being far more linear, with ramps and long raceways being predominant, but there’s no denying the graphical upgrade. Sonic Advance 2 also borrows more from Sonic Adventure 2 for its overall presentation, especially in Zones like Leaf Forest and Sky Canyon, with the latter basically being a 2D version of Rail Canyon. Given the game’s emphasis on speed, ramps, springs, loops, and boost pads are common gimmicks in each Zone, somewhat robbing them of their individuality, though unique gimmicks can still be found (however sporadically) amidst the cheap-ass pits and hazards. Hot Crater, a mechanical base built into a volcano, features overhead rails, a heat effect to the background, and hooks to fling yourself upwards. Music Plant is a garish slice of ridiculousness that looks like it’d fit right in in Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension (Gremlin Graphics, 1992) and begins an annoying trend in Sonic games of this era of featuring an overly kiddified level. Ice Paradise has a Christmas theme to its soundtrack, features a bustling city in the background, flurries of snow, and big neon signs, giving the impression of a ski slope. Sky Canyon is a mess of pits and vertical columns, featuring windmills, those fans from Starlight Zone, and balloons to carry you up. Techno Base is a mess of hexagons, lights, lines, and vulgar colours; it’s essentially a new version of Cosmic Angel Zone from Sonic Advance, though with digitized spikes and some pinball mechanics. Egg Utopia is essentially a 2D version of Final Rush/Final Chase mixed with the Death Egg Zone, featuring rails between different areas of the space station set against the background of space, a gravity gimmick that has you running on the ceiling, cannons, and spiked balls. This aesthetic is carried over to XX, which is simply an autorunner (like all the game’s bosses) gauntlet before the final showdown, while True Area 53 takes place in the void of space with the Earth in the background.

Enemies and Bosses:
No doubt due to the game’s focus on fast-paced action, Badniks are few and far between in Sonic Advance 2. The game would rather surprise you with spikes or bottomless pits than have you free critters from robotic shells, something further emphasised by the lack of capsules at the end of each Act. When Badniks do appear, they’re generally awfully placed to screw up your jumps or tricks and send you plummeting to your death, and they’re largely recycled throughout each Zone. Some of their designs may be familiar to long-time Sonic fans, though: the Geji-Geji aren’t too dissimilar from Caterkillers, the Circues are reminiscent of the monkey-like Kikis, Flickey is literally a robotic version of Flicky, and the Buzzers return wholesale from Sonic Advance. Kikis hide in trees and toss coconuts like in the 3D games and like their predecessor, Coconuts; Spinners return from the 3D games and can be bounced on to cross gaps; and little robot mice scurry about on the ground. Mechanical penguins launch themselves across the snow like Penguinators, clown-like robots swing their own Piko-Piko hammers, and large robotic hammerheads await in the waters at times. Each one releases a woodland critter and adds to your score tally, but they’re mainly there to get in your way and are such a non-factor that it’s easy to be blindsided by them. The E-100 “ZERO”-like Robot Guard also appears, relentlessly pursuing you in Special Stages, sapping your Rings and kicking you out of the stage if it touches you. Having somehow been tricked by Dr. Eggman, Knuckles is battles you in your first playthrough, piloting the Egg Saucer at the end of Sky Canyon, though his presence doesn’t change anything except the cockpit sprite.

The autorunning mechanic used in boss battles makes them needlessly annoying at times.

Therefore, you’ll be battling Dr. Eggman’s newest machines at the end of each Zone. Unlike in Sonic Advance, every single boss battle is an autoscroller that sees you constantly running on an endless loop, snagging Rings and timing attacks and compensating for the knockback and the tougher “pinch” mode, which can get so aggravating that it’s often easier just to cheese the bosses with Cream. Things start off familiar enough with the EggHammerTankII, an upgrade from Sonic Advance that also attacks with a giant hammer but this time it can extend its reach. While the hammer is a large hazard to avoid, this isn’t too tricky. The Egg Bomber Tank is a bit trickier as you can only attack its cannon in the first phase; the main body can only be attacked in the second phase, and both see you avoiding bouncing, explosive cannonballs. Though functionally simple, the autoscrolling gimmick makes the Egg Totem a bit difficult since it’s hard to get up to speed and hop to its spiked platforms to hit the cockpit. Each platform sprouts turrets that must be destroyed to clear the field of projectiles and they also move quiet erratically to screw up your jumps. The Aero Egg also causes problems as its bombs have wide splash damage and you can only attack it by bouncing off its tail platform (unless you just aggressively fire Cheese). Things can get very frustrating against the Egg Saucer as the laser cannon has a wide range and the robotic hand can instantly kill you with its slap attack! Your best bet is to take out the cannon and hang back, way back, running in whenever the cockpit spins into view.

You’ll need to overcome all the bosses again and get the Chaos Emeralds to fight the true final boss.

The Egg-Go-Round was much easier in comparison. This machine flies along on a rail and is protected by four platforms, two that sprout spikes and two that fire projectiles. It can be tricky avoiding these but it’s a hell of a lot easier to ram the cockpit than the Egg Saucer. The Egg Frog is a different matter entirely, though. This boss incorporates the Egg Utopia’s gravity gimmick, hopping to the floor and ceiling and dropping carpet bombs that are very difficult to avoid. While you can switch to the floor and ceiling by holding up and down, the Egg Frog’s hit box is so large and the window of opportunity so small to hit it that it’s better to just give up and use Cheese to decimate it. Similar to the last game, XX features a boss rush…but this time its against all the bosses you previously fought! Though they take less hits to defeat, the only checkpoint occurs after defeating the EggHammerTankII and this gruelling prospect means you’ll likely be low on lives and/or Rings by the time you reach the Super Eggrobo Z, a modified version of Sonic Advance’s true final boss. This giant mech takes up the entire right-side of the screen and fires its claw arms (which can be destroyed) and a sweeping laser from its eyes. Platforms will raise, allowing you to attack its main weak spot (the head) but also putting you at risk of being skewered or crushed against the ceiling spikes. After a few hits, the mech’s attacks increase but, again, you can make a joke of it by using Cream, destroying Dr. Eggman’s newest space station and treating you to a character-specific ending. However, this isn’t the true final boss. Collect all seven Chaos Emeralds with the four main characters and you’ll be taken to true Area 53 where, as Super Sonic, you battle perhaps Dr. Eggman’s most visually disappointing final mech ever, an unnamed, worm-like cannon. I’ve never battled this boss, but you’re limited, as ever, by your Ring count and must bash its missiles back at it, watching for the mech’s freeze ray and suck attack while also avoiding projectiles and dealing with its invisibility gimmick.

Additional Features:
Just like in the classic games, you can challenge Special Stages to collect the seven legendary Chaos Emeralds, which unlocks the game’s true final boss and ending. Unfortunately, if you thought Sonic Advance’s hidden springs were a pain in the ass, let me introduce you to the “Special Rings”. Seven of these are hidden in each of the main Acts and all seven must be collected to enter the Special Stage. If you lose a life in the Act, you’ll lose all the Special Rings you collected and you probably won’t be able to backtrack to get them, especially as Sonic, since many are hidden in hard-to-reach areas. If you somehow find them all, you’re taken to a large, pseudo-3D checkerboard arena and must race around collecting Rings, gaining multipliers and utilising boost pads, all while the Robot Guard chases after you. Because of how difficult the Special Rings are, I’ve never entered a single Special Stage and have therefore never collected even one Chaos Emerald, which is extremely frustrating as a life-long Sonic player. To make matters worse, you must beat every Special Stage with the four main characters to unlock Amy Rose, a needlessly obtuse criteria for a character who was available by default in the last game. Sonic Advance 2 also includes a time attack mode and a Tiny Chao Garden, where you raise and play with Chao and even transfer them to and from the 3D games, though you’ll only unlock this after collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds with a single character. Similarly, you can unlock a boss rush by beating the game with three characters and all seven Chaos Emeralds, which you’d think would invite replayability but instead makes me want to tear my hair out since entering the Special Stages is so ridiculously difficult. You can also play a single- or multi-pack multiplayer mode, racing to the finish or collecting Rings against other players and utilising the additional Attack, Brake, Confusion, and Warp power-ups to gain an advantage.

The Summary:
The visual upgrade between Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2 is as startling as the differences between the first two Sonic games. Where one was colourful and fun but handicapped by a slow, meandering pace, the sequel is both brighter, slicker, and much faster and more action-packed in its design. Sonic Advance 2 brings its characters to life like never before with some truly incredible, amusing, and charming sprite work. The animations are great, making the game resemble its 3D counterparts and a cartoon, and the upgrade to the environments makes everything pop so much more. Things are a little tame at times and the Zones can be annoyingly linear, but this ties into the focus on high-speed gameplay. Unfortunately, this approach does hamper the gameplay somewhat since everyone blasts ahead at full speed like Sonic, meaning their individual playstyles fall further to the wayside. This wouldn’t be so bad if the game didn’t throw bottomless pits, annoyingly placed enemies and hazards, and cheap deaths at you in a paper-thin attempt at increasing the game’s challenge. Pits definitely should appear in Sky Canyon and difficult sections should definitely appear by the end, but scattering them throughout every Zone really stunts my enjoyment as you must either memorise the Act layouts or have split-second reactions to make unfair jumps. While I enjoyed the bosses, the autoscrolling mechanic got old fast and I didn’t appreciate the boss gantlet in XX. I think the autoscrollers would’ve worked better if it had only be used, say, three times. I did like the emphasis on story and how the bosses changed because of it, but not that these changes were undone upon beating the game. It’s also maddening that the Special Stages, Amy Rose, and true final boss are all-but inaccessible thanks to the irritating Special Ring mechanic and the fact you need to get the Chaos Emeralds with every character. I liked Cream, she was cute and fun and made the bosses a joke, and the visuals still blow me away, but the difficulty curve is a nightmare. Because of all this, I can’t rate Sonic Advance 2 higher than the original, even if it is technically and visually a better game since my enjoyment is constantly soured by my inability to experience everything it has to offer.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Sonic Advance 2? How do think it compares to the original and the third game? What did you think to Cream and her boss-breaking powers? Were you a fan of the increased emphasis on speed? What did you think to the reliance on bottomless pits and boost pads? Did you ever collect the Chaos Emeralds and unlock Amy…and, if so, how? Which of Sonic’s Game Boy Advance titles is your favourite and how are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary this year? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic Advance 2, leave a comment below and go check out my other Sonic content!

Mini Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball (Mega Drive)

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Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.

Released: 23 November 1993
Developer: SEGA Technical Institute
Also Available For: Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Game Gear, Master System, Nintendo Switch Online, PC, Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X

A Brief Background:
At the beginning of the 1990s, SEGA sought to create a videogame mascot iconic enough to knock Super Mario from his perch at the top of the videogame industry, kicking off the “Console Wars” of the era when Sonic the Hedgehog proved a big success. This evolved into mainstream popularity with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992); soon, Sonic was everywhere (including comics and cartoons) and SEGA was quick to capitalise with a slew of spin-off titles. SEGA put everything into crafting a massive third outing for their super-fast mascot, a game so large that it ended up being split into two parts. Realising the highly anticipated title wouldn’t be ready for the 1993 holiday season, SEGA commissioned another Sonic title to fill the void, one developed entirely in the United States. Loosely tying into the popular Sonic the Hedgehog (1993 to 1994) cartoon, Sonic Spinball expanded upon the celebrated pinball-based mechanics seen in the first two games and was hastily put together within a tight deadline. Sonic Spinball was largely well received, with reviews praising the visuals and soundtrack, though many criticised the slowdown and clunky gameplay. Still, Sonic Spinball lived on not just through multiple ports over the years but also a slew of adaptations, with the game providing the basis for not just the cartoons and comics but also a real-world theme park.

The Review:
Sonic Spinball, unlike the mainline games, is a 2D pinball-based action title in which players control Sonic the Hedgehog and bounce around inside Doctor Ivo Robotnik’s ominous Veg-O-Fortress, a volcano-based robot factory. Players can customise the game’s controls to operate different flippers with either A, B, or C or do the smart thing, like me, and map both the left and right bumpers to the A button for convenience. If you’ve played Spring Yard Zone and/or Casino Night Zone from the first two games, or any of those old pinball-based videogames, Sonic Spinball will be mildly familiar to you as you control flippers to send Sonic flying across a vaguely pinball-themed environment, bouncing off bumpers and hitting targets to score points. The difference comes from the awkward incorporation of some Sonic’s more traditional moves. In the rare moments where you’re not bouncing about like a madhog, you can run about and use Sonic’s Spin Dash to blast ahead. Unfortunately, Sonic’s controls are very clunky when he’s on the ground. He feels very heavy, shambling about with none of the grace or speed that you’d expect, the Spin Dash is weak and stunted, and Sonic’s jump is very short and awkward. When you do have to jump over walls, the jump tends to glitch and cause Sonic to fail or judder about on the environment, though thankfully these moments are few and far between. Sonic is also missing all his power-ups – there are no monitors to smash here – and Golden Rings are collected merely for points and to score yourself an “extra ball”. Sonic Spinball is also the only Sonic title that directly ties into SatAM; Sonic’s design heavily evokes the cartoon (though, oddly, Dr. Robotnik’s doesn’t) and his Freedom Fighter pals make cameos in the game’s bonus stages. The link is tenuous at best, however, with the game primarily serving as a pinball-based spin-off whose canonicity can be debated. Finally, unfortunately, Sonic is the only playable character here. Up to four plays can play at any one time, but in a classic turn-based format, which is pretty lame.

Bounce around a pinball nightmare to snag the many Chaos Emeralds.

On paper, Sonic Spinball is a very short game without much happening in it (hence this shorter review). There are only five stages to play through, though each stage is quite large and has multiple paths accessed via teleporters, narrow tubes, or by clearing the way of obstacles. This might mean smashing a door a few times, or pulling switches, or powering up generators. Either way, you’ll be repeating these actions a few times to open new paths or collect one of the many Chaos Emeralds powering the Veg-O-Fortress. Each stage has either three or five Chaos Emeralds to collect and finding them can be a bit of a headache. Not only do you have to factor in alternative paths and these tricky puzzle elements but directing Sonic’s momentum is crucial to obtaining the gems. This is easier said than done as Sonic seems to fly off like he has a mind of his own most of the time, though you can direct his momentum in mid-air. Every stage features instant death hazards at the bottom, though you’re given some leeway in Toxic Caves, and you’ll occasionally be spared by a burst of steam to stay in the fight. Badniks modelled after those seen in SatAM patrol every stage but are mainly used to score points or bounce to higher areas. You’ll be pushed along on jets of steam, ride mine carts, pinball about on balloons and cages, and ride flippers up vertical shafts, often dropping to the first screen and fighting your way back up to reach the boss. Targets, lights, and plugs can all be bounced into or past to score points. The neon billboard overhead constantly updates you on what’s happening, though it’s not always clear if it’s relevant to you getting a Chaos Emerald or not. Lava Powerhouse is easily the most maze-like stage, forcing you to time your steam-boosted attacks on Cluckbirds to enter pressure dial tubes and be blasted further up. The Machine is probably the most dangerous stage, with its grinding gears, collapsible gantries, and being the heart of Dr. Robotnik’s Badnik processing plant. Showdown, meanwhile, is the most open and vertical stage, with you hitting balloons, pulling hooks, blasting about using windsocks, and hopping to bombs to reach Dr. Robotnik’s ship. Once there, there’s a greater risk of plummeting all the way down thanks to the holes and destructible windows, something you want to avoid given how aggravating it is to get Sonic’s lead-filled ass moving in this game.

Rack up a high score and battle Dr. Robotnik’s gigantic mechanical monsters.

Graphically, Sonic Spinball is a mixed bag. The environments look good; every stage is large and detailed and pops with 16-bit goodness. The SatAM-style sprites are serviceable enough but Sonic looks really weird; he’s very squat and out of proportion when not curled into a ball. Things get pretty impressive in the bonus stages, where you see Sonic’s reflection as he controls a real pinball across a giant table, smashing Scratch’s and the Badnik processors to free his furry friends. The game mostly impresses with its music, with memorable tunes punctuating the frustrating and chaotic action. It may lack all the traditional Sonic tunes, but that Toxic Caves theme is an earworm, for sure. Every stage culminates in a boss battle at the very top where your biggest threat is screwing up your momentum and dropping out of the arena. Sonic can’t be hurt or killed by the bosses, but you must aim your shots to deal damage, which gets trickier with each boss. Things start [pretty simple with Scorpius; simply avoid the sewer warp tube and the acidic gloop it spits and flip Sonic into the sweet spot between its tail and its back to clobber it. The Robo-Boiler is a little trickier as you must flip up to a temporary platform on either side and time your jump to avoid the steam vents and smash the Robotnik faces floating inside, though it’s very easy just to fly all over the place. The Veg-O-Machine was another tricky one since it constantly spews Badniks and you must target the tubes on either side to halt their production before finishing it off from the inside. You finally confront Dr. Robontik aboard his ship as he flees the crumbling Veg-O-Fortress. This is the most aggravating fight of the game as Dr. Robotnik is shielded by claw arms and windsocks, which must be deactivated by hitting the button beneath his cockpit. Fail and you could be dropped to the beginning of the stage! However, even when you do deactivate the obstacles, you have only a short window to land hits, making this a tedious final fight. Despite all those Chaos Emeralds, beating the game only earns you a high score for the table and there’s nothing else to come back for. You can use cheat codes to skip ahead or the rewind and save state functions of other ports to make the game easier, however.

The Summary:
There’s always been something about Sonic Spinball. I remember getting my copy as a kid and I have a strange amount of nostalgia for it, despite barely clearing the first stage in my youth. Even now, I’m only able to finish the game through persistence or more modern means and I can’t say I’ve ever enjoyed my time when playing it. It is fun at times, don’t get me wrong. Visually, it’s quite striking and I like little quirks like the alarm and Sonic’s shocked face when he falls, him landing in a little bucket in the Toxic Caves, and the radical nineties slang displayed in the neon bar. It can be fun bouncing around searching for Chaos Emeralds and it’s quite rewarding figuring out how to obtain them and flipping Sonic just right to snag them, and the tie-in to the cartoons is a nice touch (if half-assed) but it’s a very barebones and frustrating experience. There are a lot of bonus stages and a lot of variety in the main stages, but it quickly becomes repetitive as you repeat the same tasks (or variations of them) multiple times to progress. It doesn’t help that Sonic looks and controls like ass; you basically need to be bouncing around all the time or else you’re controlling this sluggish, ungainly hedgehog meandering to the next spring. Sonic’s controls when bouncing aren’t much better; I found it very difficult to properly aim him and his momentum seems to have a mind of its own. It’s also not immediately clear where you need to go and what you need to do to get the Chaos Emeralds, leading to constant falls, warps, and deaths if you’re not careful. The bosses were large and enjoyable, if paradoxically both irritating and simple, and I really dig the music, but there’s just so little to come back to here. I think it might’ve been better to have smaller stages and divide some of the gimmicks between, say, eight distinct areas, with a boss battle after every second one. The pinball mechanics wear out their welcome very quickly thanks to the awful controls and madcap nature of the game, which ruins a lot of the fun and makes Sonic Spinball little more than a visually interesting, quirky little cash grab that fails to engage as powerfully as its mainline cousins.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy Sonic Spinball? Were you a fan of the pinball mechanics or did they aggravate you after a while? What did you think to the visual style and the inclusion of elements from the cartoons? Which of the stages and bosses was your favourite? Do you agree that the controls and replay value are lacklustre? Which Sonic spin-off is your favourite and how are you celebrating SEGA’s mascot this month? Let me know your thoughts on Sonic Spinball in the comments and go check out my other Sonic content.

Game Corner: Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues (Xbox Series X)

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Released: 22 November 2023
Originally Released: November 1994 (SNES), February 1995 (Game Boy)
Developer: Carbon Engine
Original Developers Ocean Software
Also Available For: Game Boy, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Xbox One, Xbox Series S

The Plot:
When BioSyn (or a power outage) cause trouble on Isla Nubar, the island site of Jurassic Park, palaeontologist Doctor Alan Grant either goes it alone or teams up with tactical sergeant Michael Wolfskin to subdue the genetically engineered dinosaurs and escape alive.

The Background:
Michael Crichton’s bestselling 1993 cautionary tale about a chaotic dinosaur theme became a blockbuster critical and commercial hit that spearheaded many now-standard CGI techniques. Alongside an aggressive merchandising campaign, Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993) was accompanied by toys, comics, and multiple videogame adaptations released on different consoles. While BlueSky Software developed the Mega Drive adaptations, Ocean Software handled Nintendo’s efforts after securing the license for an undisclosed six-figure sum. Their three releases received widespread praise and, while readers and audiences had to wait two years for Crichton and Spielberg to produce a sequel, gamers got a far faster turnaround when Ocean produced a standalone sequel just one year later. The Game Boy and SNES titles had slightly different stories and mechanics, and both received mixed reviews. While the SNES obviously had better graphics and sound, the simplicity of the Game Boy version was praised, especially compared to the high difficulty and awkward controls of the SNES version. Both games were basically lost media for decades until they were included in a modern re-release to celebrate the movie’s 30th anniversary, alongside modern quality of life features, to largely thankful and positive reviews.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues is a sidescrolling shoot-‘em-up that acts as a non-canon continuation of the original movie and its videogame adaptations. While the SNES version is more obviously framed as a return to Isla Nubar thanks to the presence of Biosyn, both can be seen as re-dos of the movie and its videogames since they don’t stray too far from the gameplay mechanics previously seen. While only the SNES version offers different difficulty modes, both see you jumping with A (defying gravity with a higher jump the longer you press the button in the Game Boy version) and shooting with X. Y and B also shoot in the Game Boy version and both versions allow you to rapid fire by holding the button, though this will charge your cattle prod in the SNES version and deplete most of your ammo here, too, save for your weakest lethal weapon and cattle prod. In the Game Boy version, you can switch to grenades by pressing the ‘View’ button; you can’t move and throw them but you have an unlimited supply. You switch weapons with the Left and Right Bumpers in the SNES version, LB cycles through lethal ammo types (such as a machine gun and shotgun spread) while RB cycles through non-lethal options, like tranquilizer darts. All enemies disappear regardless of which ammo you use but there’s a counter that ticks down when you kill any dinosaur that’s not a Velociraptor or what could loosely be described as a boss. Kill too many dinosaurs and your game ends, so be sure to cycle back and forth between lethal and non-lethal options. This crutch isn’t present in the Game Boy version; it’s an all-out platform shooter as Dr. Grant blasts dinosaurs with his unlimited shotgun! Both games also allow you to crouch and shoot, shoot while jumping, and shoot upwards and diagonally, though you must collect ammo in the SNES version by pressing down on the ammo item. This is also how you’ll collect the rare first-aid kits lying about Isla Nublar. These, and the odd 1-up, are automatically collected in the Game Boy version, which also incorporates a scoring system, though only the SNES version allows for a two-player co-op mode.

Blast your way past dinosaurs, grabbing vines, racing a timer, and collecting key cards to progress.

While the Game Boy version uses a lives system, you only get one shot to beat the SNES version. If you’re killed, you restart the mission from the beginning, with no checkpoints or continues or passwords to help. Although the Game Boy version follows a linear narrative, tasking players with guiding Dr. Grant through four stages (called “Zones”) with two levels and a boss battle each, the SNES version lets you freely pick a mission. Each mission has two screens of action and ends in an “Emergency” mission, where you must run around the maze-like environment disarming bombs, tracking down a spy, powering up a generator, and similar tasks against a very tight time limit. The labyrinthine nature of the levels doesn’t help with this. You’ll climb up ladders and jump between them, desperately pressing up and down (when you can even see the arrows!) to enter doors or change screens, with no idea of where you’re going or where you’ve been. These timed missions were some of the worst parts of the SNES version as the enemies respawn when you switch screens and the human enemies can be particularly aggravating, meaning it’s very easy to get lost and then be pummelled to death by grenades. While some of the Game Boy version’s Zones have multiple paths, reached by either hopping up branches or platforms or taking moving platforms, the levels are understandably much smaller and far more linear. Sometimes, you’ll venture underwater, tapping A to swim and attacking prehistoric fish with your harpoon; others, you’ll jump between conveyor belts or over spiked pits. Thankfully, these and other pits aren’t typically insta-death hazards in either version, though your character takes fall damage in 16-bit and must deal with a rather large hit box in monochrome. While you use overhead vines and poles to cross gaps in the SNES version, you can’t move and shoot when up there. Conversely, the Game Boy version requires you to search for a set number of JP Magnetic Cards. The exit will only open when you find them all, as indicated on the heads-up display, so you may need to backtrack to find them. Most of them are just out in the open; others fall from the sky. Zone 3-2 has you searching for 54 cards, but they’re helpfully collected in groups so it’s not as intimidating as it first seems.

Don’t be fooled by the decent visuals: both games are tough and aggravating in different ways.

Stage hazards are also a concern in both versions. Flame bursts, loose electrical wires, steam vents, miniature exploding volcanoes, and falling boulders can sap your health if you’re not careful. Platforming is more of a priority in the Game Boy version and much simpler thanks to the chunky sprites and Dr. Grant’s floaty jump. On the SNES, it’s easy to fall through the environment, miss ladders, and drop into lava thanks to the annoying enemy hoards. You must navigate a volcanic maze to place a bomb then out-run the explosion, locate a wounded ally, shoot switches, and defend Gallimimus in the SNES version. When faced with a time limit, you’re better off eschewing non-lethal ammo and avoiding enemies wherever possible, especially if you’re not consulting a guide to navigate the looping mazes. The Game Boy version offers two bonus areas where you’re pursued by a Tyrannosaurs rex. It’s instant death if the T. rex touches you, so you must waddle away from her, hopping to platforms and structures and collecting the JP Magnetic Cards for an extra life. You’ll also be back on the rapids in the Game Boy version, where the water instantly kills you if you fall while jumping to wooden bridges but is no concern when you’re on a raft and blasting prehistoric fish. While you do race away from a T. rex at one point in the SNES version and the game also culminates in a vehicle section, this latter mechanic only appears if you’re playing on “Medium” or higher. This means that you’re stuck in a continuous loop of run-and-gun action and frantic races against the clock, desperately hoping the poisonous gas doesn’t sap your remaining health or you don’t miss any power supplies. At one point, you’re destroying giant fans to avoid being skewered; in another mission, you’re scaling a cliffside to repair an antenna. Other times, the ground crumbles beneath your feet, mines explode when you least expect it, or you must destroy boulders to progress, all while frantically hoping you haven’t doubled-back on yourself!

Presentation:
It’ll be no secret that the SNES version wins in this regard. However, the Game Boy version is pretty impressive considering the hardware, especially compared to the previous Jurassic Park game on the system. It begins with a nice pixel-art recreation of the big gates, the first Zone features Dr. Grant’s vehicle in the background, and there’s some decent sprite art introducing each Zone. Dr. Grant is a big, surprisingly animated sprite. While this means he has a large hit box, I enjoyed seeing him pump his shotgun with every shot and look around warily when left idle. Sadly, only the bosses match Dr. Grant’s quality in the Game Boy version, with regular enemies appearing disappointingly gaunt and basic. While the Game Boy version’s backgrounds and environments are obviously much more basic, they do a decent job of recreating the visuals from the film. I recognised the electrical fences, towers, and dinosaur paddocks and it was at least easy to see where I was and what I was doing. The SNES version nicely trumps the Mega Drive’s two sidescrolling run-and-gun efforts, featuring dense jungles, a touch of parallax scrolling in the valley, and more appealing sprite work. While the art direction does make Dr. Grant completely unrecognisable and I’m not sure what the purpose of mapping a dramatic pose to the Y button was, he has a lot of fun animations, particularly when climbing ladders or crossing vines. The dinosaurs also fare a lot better, making it even more of a shame that there isn’t a large variety of them and we simply get palette swaps of ‘raptors for the most part. While neither game uses the iconic Jurassic Park score, the Game Boy version includes some awesome arcade-style music and the SNES incorporates the dinosaur’s roars and noises from the movie. The bigger ones, like the T. rex and Triceratops, are also beautifully detailed (if off colour). The Game Boy version does okay when bringing to life larger dinosaurs for its boss battles, but its T. rex is incredibly ugly and its ‘raptors are strangely stretched.

While the SNES’s visuals are impressive, the Game Boy does pretty well despite its limitations.

While larger dinosaurs simply blink out of existence or explode in the SNES version, they feature defeated poses in the Game Boy version, which is a fun touch, alongside a health bar so you can actually tell that you’re hitting them, which is a real issue on the SNES. Unfortunately, both games suffer when it comes to their environments. Sticking very close to the same ideas as the previous 8- and 16-bit games, both versions see you exploring the jungle (with various parts of the park, such as the gigantic electric fences, in the background), caves, a valley, and various InGen facilities. These are painfully generic in both games but even more so in the Game Boy version, where the hardware can’t do much beyond render some giant trees. There are some unique aspects to this game, such as algae-infested waters and the aforementioned rapids, but even this latter inclusion is similar to what we saw in the previous games (including hungry Brachiosaurs). While the SNES obviously benefits from greater processing power, sporting none of the admittedly rare sprite flickering seen in its handheld counterpart, it does force you to venture through the same jungle environment again and again. The interior locations are also recycled far too often, becoming indistinguishable from each other no matter how many pipes and vats and generators the developers sneak in. I like the incubators and Jurassic Park signage seen in the backgrounds, and that we get to revisit the Gallimimus valley. However, this is a strictly on-foot section and lacks the fast-paced action of the same area in Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (BlueSky Software, 1994). I’m not sure why every Jurassic Park game has to feature a volcano, but this might be the worse one yet. The lava seems very disconnected, and it lacks the detail of the misty jungle. The cliffsides were okay, especially when they sported snow and you could see into the horizon, but they were very samey, just like the interiors, with little indication of where you need to go. The SNES version is bolstered by an animated introduction that also features voice acting, though this detail is strangely missing from the ending.

Enemies and Bosses:
As I mentioned above, neither version of Jurassic Park 2 impresses with its dinosaur selection. Dilophosaurus returns as a common enemy, standing stationary and spitting in all directions, while giant wasps, Pterodactylus, Dimorphodon, and Pteranodon fill the skies across each game. The Pteranodons are particularly aggravating on the SNES, endlessly spawning around the cliffsides, while their larger mothers simply flap around near their nests posing little threat. While you can take out the Gallimimus on the SNES, you’re meant to avoid them and off BioSyn’s soldiers to save the creatures. While Compsognathus are a constant headache on the SNES, you’ll find weird-looking Archaeopteryx, Hypsilophodon, and Parasaurolophus on the Game Boy, with the former jumping at you for extra annoyance. The underwater sections see you blasting prehistoric fish, trilobites, and anemone while baby Triceratops occasionally appear on land. On the SNES, you’re primarily faced with Velociraptors and Oviraptors, which leap at you and often attack in groups. Coming in different colours and proving quite durable, the ‘raptors fiercely defend their nest, but I found it best to jump over them and keep the fire button held down. The SNES version features exclusive human enemies to contend with. Not only will workers toss wrenches at you, scientists whip out pistols, and suited BioSyn executives dog your progress, their soldiers will be a greater threat than the dinosaurs most times. While the basic grunts just run about or stand in place, others can shoot in all directions or toss grenades, which are a bitch to avoid! Their bazooka soldiers are easily dispatched by crouching and shooting, a tactic that will serve you well against their flamethrower units. However, these bastards have a long reach and can roast you when you’re on ladders or hanging from pipes, meaning it’s always a pain in the ass when humans show up.

Sadly, the SNES version favours human boss battles over dinosaur threats.

While BioSyn’s armoured troops only pack a pistol, they can move, fire in all directions, and crouch and shoot, which can be annoying. You’ll also have to battle a larger enemy commander twice; this muscle-bound boss packs a flamethrower/machine gun combo and tanks even your best shots. Your best bet is to lure him in, blast him with your strongest shots, and back away, chasing him when he retreats. BioSyn’s attack chopper carpet bombs the Gallimimus valley, eventually swinging a dinosaur cage at you and peppering the screen with bullets and bombs. If you’re playing on “Medium” or higher, you’ll attack BioSyn’s bomber from an Ingen helicopter, firing in different directions with the face buttons and targeting the plane’s mini gun and launchers. True to its name, the bomber drops bombs but also fires homing shots, two projectiles that are extremely hard to avoid since your chopper is such a large, unwieldy target. The SNES version mainly throws bigger or more aggressive regular dinosaurs at you as pseudo-bosses, such as the Triceratops that guards the final explosive and must be lured in to charge and fend off, preferably with your shotgun. The T. rex chases you at one point, with you only able to force her back with your shots and jump to safety at the end. If you play on at least “Medium”, you’ll battle the T. rex in a fight to the death. Though big and slow and limited to a simple bite, it takes a shit load of your strongest shots to put her down. She chases you to a precipice, which will sap your health if you drop, and you’re also battling a tight timer. You must switch to your strongest shot and target her head, either by jumping or shooting diagonally, forcing her back to create space and jumping away to avoid being eaten. Since the T. rex doesn’t register damage, you’ll only know you’ve won when she explodes (naturally), which took me a fair few tries.

The Game Boy version’s bosses may be simple, but they’re big and at least they’re there!

The Game Boy version features far more traditional boss battles, with you battling a larger dinosaur at the end of each Zone. The first boss you face is a mummy Triceratops that stomps back and forth across the screen. You must dive into one of the nearby holes, duck down, and toss grenades at her. When the platform in the hole rises, you must dash to the other one to continue the assault, easily avoiding damage for the most part if you keep your head down. The Pteranodon is a bit more of a threat. This giant, bat-like dinosaur swoops down from either side of the top of the screen, dropping a boulder that’s a pain to avoid unless you race to the opposite side of the screen. Her smaller minions will attack after, though they’re easily taken out as you’ve been blasting them since Zone 1-1. The Game Boy version does offer one unique boss battle, one that takes place underwater and sees you attacked by a “Cephalosaure”. This giant, spike-headed squid darts in like an arrow from each corner of the screen, proving a large target that can be difficult to avoid because of the awkward swimming controls. Smaller, snail-like enemies will swim down after each pass but this is quite easy to hit, especially if you stay away from the centre of the screen. Oddly, the Velociraptor is fought between Zone 4-1 and 4-2, charging, hopping, or prancing in from either side of the screen. You can use the small block platforms to jump over them and they’ll try and bite you up close, but they’re not too difficult to avoid. On two occasions, you’ll be pursued by the T. rex, which cannot be killed and will instantly kill you if you so much as graze her. You must run from her, hopping between wooden scaffolding and taking out Compys, but you get to face her one-on-one in a painfully bland final battle. The T. rex stomps back and forth, occasionally charging, and takes a bite out of you up close. Dimorphodon come in to distract you, but this is actually your opening to pummel away at the T. rex’s head until she collapses in defeat.

Additional Features:
While the Game Boy version is the only one with a score system and final score, there is no high score table and the SNES version is the only one with a two-player mode and different difficulty options. Both games end with lacklustre congratulatory text, but you’ll only battle the T. rex and BioSyn’s bomber by playing the SNES version of at least “Medium”. The Jurassic Park: Classic Game Collection includes fun extras like each game’s soundtrack, different filters and borders, and the life-saving rewind and save state feature that greatly eases the pain of the SNES version’s difficulty. This version of the collection also has fourteen Achievements for you to earn, with two earned for these games, specifically. You’ll get an Achievement for beating the SNES version on any difficulty, and another for being it on “Hard”, so I advise just playing on “Hard” to snag them both. You got one Achievement on the Game Boy version for defeating the Velociraptors and another for clearing the game, which is a touch disappointing as there’s no incentive to shoot every enemy or play with a friend.

The Summary:
I was optimistic about Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues, especially the SNES version, as it was developed after five other videogame adaptations of the movie so surely the developers would’ve learned a few things about what works and what doesn’t. Technically, that is true as the game focuses much more on run-and-gun action, allowing you to blast dinosaurs and humans to your heart’s content while also encouraging you to merely stun most dinosaurs to maintain some semblance of preservation for the resurrected creatures. Visually, the game may be the best looking of the 16-bit Jurassic Park titles, but for some of the lacklustre backgrounds and the lack of originality in the locations. The gameplay loop does get frustrating very quickly, however. Even before mentioning the aggravating timed sections, including looping doors and paths without a map or any clear indication of where you need to go was a baffling and frustrating decision. Combined with the timed sections and you only getting one chance to beat the mission, this makes for a shameless handicap to force kids obsessed with the blockbuster movie to rent the game again and again. While the Game Boy version is more basic, smaller, and very less visually impressive, the music is fantastic and the simpler shoot-’em-up gameplay was far more appealing. I quite enjoyed searching for the JP Magnetic Cards and blasting the butt-ugly dinosaurs, though the hit boxes and mediocre levels did let it down, especially as the sprite work on the boss was pretty impressive. While there is a lot to like in each game, and some technical improvements that make them better than their predecessors, I think Jurassic Park 2 still misses the mark no matter which version you play. Neither offer anything new, especially compared to their predecessors or other similar games, and again just make me wish we’d had one ultimate 16-bit Jurassic Park release that had combined all the best elements from each game instead of leaving us with average tie-in games where we have to cherry pick the best parts.

Game Boy Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

SNES Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to the Nintendo-exclusive Jurassic Park sequels? How do you think they compare to each other, and the previous Jurassic Park titles? Which of the two was your favourite and were you glad that they were ported to modern consoles? Were you also annoyed by the SNES version’s maze-like environments and the large hit boxes in the Game Boy version? What did you think to the Game Boy version’s bosses and the timed missions of the SNES version? Which Jurassic-inspired videogame is your favourite? How are you celebrating Dinosaur Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on these Jurassic Park videogame sequels, or dinosaurs in general, leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other dinosaur content!

Game Corner: Jurassic Park / Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (Xbox Series X)

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Released: 22 November 2023
Originally Released: 10 August 1993 (Jurassic Park), 28 September 1994 (Rampage Edition)
Developer: Carbon Engine
Original Developers BlueSky Software
Also Available For: Mega Drive, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S

The Plot:
After sabotage releases the genetically engineered dinosaurs of the Jurassic Park theme park, palaeontologist Doctor Alan Grant and an opportunistic Velociraptor battle to escape the island.

The Background:
In 1993, Michael Crichton’s bestselling cautionary tale about a dinosaur theme park turned into a hazardous environment was adapted into a critical and commercial blockbuster that spearheaded many CGI techniques we still see in Hollywood. Bolstered by an aggressive merchandising campaign, Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1993) was accompanied by numerous toys, comics, and multiple videogame adaptations released on different consoles. While Ocean Software developed games for Nintendo’s consoles, SEGA partnered with BlueSky Software for their Mega Drive adaptation, consulting palaeontologist Robert Bakker and museums to bring the dinosaurs to life. The developers used Silicon Graphics computers, stop-motion techniques, and materials used to make the film to create the sprites and environments, as well as pulling elements from Crichton’s novel for additional levels. Jurassic Park sold 250,000 copies in its first week and impressed with its visuals and gameplay. Bolstered by this success, and the strength of the film’s merchandising, SEGA commissioned a revamped version for the following year, one that received mixed reviews for, while it improved many elements, it was also seen as a bit of a rehash. Both games were essentially lost media for decades until they (and five others) were finally re-released on modern consoles to celebrate the movie’s 30th anniversary, alongside modern quality of life features, to largely thankful and positive reviews.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Unlike the games of the same name released for Nintendo’s hardware, the two Jurassic Park adaptations released for the Mega Drive are sidescrolling platformers almost akin to a run-and-gun. Although the Rampage Edition is technically a very different game, to me it’s more of a do-over than a sequel so I’m lumping these two together as many of the features and gameplay are the same in both. Both titles see players picking between three difficulty settings (“Easy”, “Normal”, and “Hard”) and selecting a playable character. Yes, while Nintendo’s games stuck you with Dr. Grant and his surprising arsenal of weapons, SEGA let you play as the unexpectedly athletic palaeologist or a Velociraptor. Both characters explore the same locations, though the ‘raptor has less stages in Jurassic Park and must also contend with park security trying to stop her in both games. The controls for both are the same between versions: Dr. Grant fires his current weapon with A (able to fire upwards and diagonally in both), jumps with B, and switches weapons with X. Unlike in Nintendo’s games, Dr. Grant’s weapons all consume ammunition in Jurassic Park, even his taser shot (which increases in power the longer you hold X). In the Rampage Edition, Dr. Grant has an infinite supply of weak tranquilizer darts, though these permanently put down every regular enemy. Dr. Grant can also sprint to clear gaps, clamber up ledges, climb ladders, ropes, vines, and chains, and monkey his way across overheard wires and handholds (when you can spot them). The ‘raptor is geared more towards melee and fast-paced running and controls a little differently between versions. In both, she bites with X, kicks with her taloned foot with A, leaps high with B, and dashes ahead if you hold up on the directional pad. Pressing down an X in Jurassic Park lets her eat Procompsognathus to regain health (a necessary mechanic as she’ll constantly lose health as you play), down and A launches a flying kick, and up and B sees her leap even higher! In the Rampage Edition, you still eat Compys but this doesn’t seem to restore health, holding X sees the ‘raptor continuously bite, a tail swipe had been added to her melee attack, and she performs a ludicrous spin jump by double pressing B.

Run, jump (and gun) as the strangely athletic Dr. Grant or consume everything in sight as the ‘raptor.

Both games see you start with three lives and incorporate a password system and rudimentary island map before stages to show you where you are on Isla Nubar. While you thankfully don’t need dinosaur eggs in either game, Jurassic Park closely mirrors the Nintendo titles and the movie in its locations and players collect eggs, test tubes, and other items for points in the Rampage Edition. Dr. Grant acquires similar weapons to the Nintendo titles in both games: in Jurassic Park, you mainly fire different coloured tranquilizer darts, but you can also grab gas grenades, flashbangs, concussion grenades, and rockets. It’s worth noting, however, that none of these weapons, even the rockets, kill the dinosaurs; instead, they’re rendered unconscious for a short time. This isn’t the case in the Rampage Edition, where Dr. Grant cuts down dinosaurs with a shotgun, submachine gun, grenades, a flamethrower, and a rocket launcher! Dr. Grant can also ride certain dinosaurs, such as the stampeding Gallimimus to rush through the savannah and the hulking Triceratops, normally a docile creature unless provoked, to crash through walls. The ‘raptor kicks these walls down and also opens doors, just like Dr. Grant, though she gains a special power-up in the Rampage Edition. Consume three lysine crates and the ‘raptor enters a brief “Raptor Rage”, becoming invincible and killing enemies with a touch. Like some of the Nintendo titles, Dr. Grant also uses a motorboat, a mechanic far more enjoyable in the Rampage Edition. In Jurassic Park, you collect fuel cannisters to keep the boat moving (though there’s no gauge showing your fuel level) and must either speed up or slow down to avoid being killed when going over the waterfalls. In the Rampage Edition, there’s no need for fuel and no fear of falling to your death. Similarly, the hypersensitive fall damage handicap has been removed from Dr. Grant in this game and your health is restored with each new stage.

Dr. Grant must fight dinos and gravity to survive, while the ‘raptor can go on an unstoppable tear.

While Jurassic Park is a fairly standard platformer, requiring little more of Dr. Grant than to hop to platforms, subdue dinosaurs, and avoid falling to his death or getting skewered on spikes, things get very troublesome very quickly. You’ll be moving crates to reach higher areas, climbing electrified cables, crawling through vents, and dodging falling boulders. By far the hardest thing about this game is the fall damage, which chips away at Dr. Grant’s health from small drops and even slides, and that Dr. Grant instantly dies if he falls into even shallow water. This is rectified in the Rampage Edition, though you must still avoid electrified water (hopping to crates to avoid being fried) and quickly clamber up ladders to avoid drowning when the cargo ship floods. When in Jurassic Park’s pumping station, players must press up to activate switches and open or close passages and turn valves to shut off steam, while the ‘raptor pounces between tunnels to avoid drowning. Dr. Grant must also attack swimming Brachiosaurus’ to cross gaps in Jurassic Park and watch for crumbling and temporary ground in both games, as well as contend with aggressive Pteranodon’s carrying him to their nest in the Rampage Edition. Stages like this and the Raptor Rapids are technically easier for the Velociraptor but are deceptively difficult in different ways. It’s frustratingly easy to get lost in both stages, which are a maze of foliage and rushing water, respectively. While the checkpoint signs point you in the right direction, it’s not always clear which way you need to go, especially as Dr. Grant doesn’t act as your end goal like in Jurassic Park. Similarly, the Velociraptor has less stages in Jurassic Park and traverses environments a little differently. When in the visitor’s centre, for example, the ‘raptor doesn’t need to enter the ceiling vents until later in the stage. The Rampage Edition allows players to pick which stage they wish to challenge and allows Dr. Grant to fly about on zip wires, while both characters hop to weighted and moving platforms in this version and engage in far faster, more arcade-style gameplay.

Presentation:
Both games have very similar presentation and a few things in common. Like the Nintendo games, neither uses the classic Jurassic Park theme and each stage is accompanied by generic-ass music, with the Rampage Edition leaning more towards rock and Jurassic Park featuring more recognisable dinosaur sounds. Both feature more detailed title screens, with the Rampage Edition adding more animation and background effects, and the Jurassic Park font is used for the menus and pause text. No other characters from the movie appear in either game, not even Lex and Tim Murphy, and both games utilise a combination of text and still or partially animated sprite art to advance the story between stages and relate the ending. Dr. Grant is a relatively detailed and lively sprite in both; he has an idle animation where he looks around anxiously and whips out his gun and he hops and climbs about with more vigour than Sam Neill showed in the film. Like in Nintendo’s games, all that’s left of him is his hat when he’s eaten and you see his skeleton when he’s zapped, which is a nice touch. The Velociraptor is a larger sprite, meaning she’s a much bigger target, and is suitably unwieldy despite how fast she is and the strange amount of platforming she does. She snaps and grooms herself and echoes her rivals in the way she eats her prey. I did like spotting enemy ‘raptor eating carcasses, Compys popping from eggs, and the odd blood splatter throughout the Jurassic Park facilities. Jurassic Park closely replicates locations from the films and follows a similar stage pattern to the Nintendo games, taking players through the park, a river, a volcanic region, and ending up at the visitor’s centre. Unfortunately, Jurassic Park’s graphics are really unsightly a lot of the time and the game performs poorly when there’s a lot onscreen, leading to annoying slowdown and garish visuals as the oddly prerendered backgrounds glare at you.

While Jurassic Park has more recognisable locations, the Rampage Edition looks and plays better.

The Rampage Edition corrects this, featuring far more detailed and lively backgrounds. Sure, we see a volcano erupting in Jurassic Park and some rudimentary smoke effects, but the Rampage Edition has far more depth and detail to its backgrounds. The sprites, which have been slightly redesigned, also stand out a lot better thanks to a black outline, though this effect also made them appear more amateurish to me. Stages are much longer in the Rampage Edition and often feature a maze-like structure, especially for the Velociraptor, and destructible elements, such as walls, pipes, and floors. You don’t get to revisit the visitor’s centre or any of the bunkers in the Rampage Edition, but there is a long stage dedicated to the cargo ship, which features a rudimentary rain and lightning effect on deck and far better water effects than in Jurassic Park. While I preferred the waterfalls and rapids in Jurassic Park, the Rampage Edition impressed with its Aztec-inspired ruins, which see players hopping up blocks and sliding down pyramids, and dense aviary, with its Pteranodon nest and obscuring foliage. While the volcano and odd colour palette applied to Jurassic Park’s rapids were off-putting, the visitor’s centre made up for it. Like in the film, it’s partially under construction and you must head up into the vents to bypass dinosaurs, pass through the incubator room, and end up in the main foyer, with giant banners and dinosaur skeletons on display. Similar bones appear in other stages, such as Triceratops skeletons and even human remains, which was a surprise, and there was an interesting curve effect applied to the pumping station stage. While Jurassic Park features a large Tyrannosaurus rex sprite, it recycles the same animations over and over and, though the T. rex is only seen once in the Rampage Edition, this game performs far better than its predecessor. There’s no slowdown, no sprite flicker, and more enemies and obstacles onscreen at any one time. While this can be chaotic and hazardous for the Velociraptor and cause some of Dr. Grant’s stages to feel endless, the performance upgrade, better visuals, and more action-orientated focus makes it an easier title to pick up and play.

Enemies and Bosses:
Like their Nintendo cousins, these SEGA titles include only a handful of dinosaurs but the majority of them are ripped directly from the movie. This means you’ll be fending off tiny, voracious Compys (gobbling them as the ‘raptor to keep her health up in Jurassic Park), blasting spitting Dilophosaurus’, and tangling with aggressive Velociraptors, who pounce, clamber up ledges, and often attack in packs (in Jurassic Park’s canyon stage, I even saw one “play dead”!) Triceratops also appear, though they’re docile unless provoked; Dr. Grant can even climb over and ride them. These beasts can trample the ‘raptor and whittle her health down in streams but can be killed just like anything else she encounters. While human opposition is unique to the ‘raptor in Jurassic Park (and they wield similar weapons as Dr. Grant, including a taser and grenades), both characters contend with them in the Rampage Edition. Poachers, mercenaries, and park staff dog your progress, tossing grenades, blasting along in their own motorboats, camping out up high, and easily overwhelming even the ravenous Velociraptor when she’s caught between numerous enemies and projectiles. Pteranodons also appear in both games, swooping from the skies and annoyingly carrying Dr. Grant away in the Rampage Edition, and Triceratops will wander about at times, but that’s about it for enemies, unfortunately. There are, of course, other hazards to worry about. The explosive boxes and crates from the 8-bit Nintendo games return to mess up your day and you must be quick to avoid sliding into spikes, drowning in water, or being immolated by boiling lava. While the Velociraptor must worry about bottomless pits, Dr. Grant must be careful not to drop from almost any height as he’ll take damage or die, something made more aggravating by platforms having unreliable hit detection and the graphics not making it clear which platforms are solid or not.

Sadly, both games continue the trend of having only a couple of mediocre bosses.

Like the Nintendo games, both titles are sadly light on bosses. There are technically only four boss battles between the two games, and one of those is pushing it. When playing Jurassic Park as Dr. Grant, the T. rex will crash through or appear as a hazard in a couple of stages. When she does, she’ll bite a chunk off your health or eat you whole if you get too close, so you must carefully navigate around her or stun her with your more powerful shots to slip past, which can be tricky when the environment gets in the way. Sadly, that’s it for the T. rex in the first game as she doesn’t appear in the final stage or as a big boss battle. Instead, Dr. Grant is faced with two invincible Velociraptor at the finale. Instead of wasting your time and ammo trying to kill them, target the pins holding up the dinosaur skeletons to make them collapse on the two dinosaurs, like at the end of the movie. Similarly, the Velociraptor only has one boss in Jurassic Park (though one aggravating guard in the visitor’s centre ceiling vent was a close second) as she faces Dr. Grant in the same area. Players must avoid Dr. Grant’s smoke grenades and taser and attack the boulder on the right, which again causes the dinosaur bones to collapse, scaring Dr. Grant off and allowing the ‘raptor to escape to the mainland. In the Rampage Edition, Dr. Grant doesn’t encounter the T. rex until the final stage; this time, you’re in a motorboat, racing through a flooded cavern. The T. rex chases from the mid-background, snapping her jaws and trying to eat you, so fend her off with your shotgun or other weapons until the stage abruptly ends and Dr. Grant escapes. The Velociraptor battles a lazy red hued palette swap in the cargo hold of the docked ship. This ‘raptor has all the same abilities as you but primarily attacks with its spin jump. While it’s difficult to gauge if you’re doing any damage, just stay back and strike whenever you see an opening, eventually putting the red ‘raptor down and again allowing your ravenous dinosaur to escape to civilisation.

Additional Features:
Though you collect items for points in the Rampage Edition, there is no high score table and nothing to gain from finding all the items in each stage. Both games allow you to alter the difficulty for an added or lesser challenge and toggle the music (and sound effects in the Rampage Edition) but, sadly, there are no two-player options here. This is disappointing as it would’ve been cool to at least feature a one-on-one duel mode to pit Dr. Grant against the Velociraptor. You also don’t get anything for beating the games on their hardest difficulty and there are still no options to play as other characters, something that could’ve at least been addressed in the Rampage Edition since it improved so many other aspects. As you’d expect, the Jurassic Park: Classic Game Collection includes each game’s soundtrack, various borders and filters, and the life-saving rewind and save state features that make both games a breeze. It also includes fourteen total Achievements, with two earned for each of these games. Sadly, the criteria are the same for both: simply beat each game twice, once as Dr. Grant and once as the Velociraptor, and you’ve done it.

The Summary:
I was hesitant about playing these two games. I picked up Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition for my Mega Drive library some time ago but never sat down with it beyond a quick mess about in the aviary, a confusing and cluttered stage that told me I’d need to put more time and effort into the game. Thankfully, playing them is far less intimidating with the quality-of-life features included in the Jurassic Park: Classic Game Collection, easily allowing me to rewind past mistakes and power through tricky sections. Still, the difficulty curve is readily apparent in both games. These are obviously games designed to cash-in on the movie’s popularity and encourage repeated rentals. Unlike the Nintendo games, however, these two are much more user friendly and adopt a far simpler gameplay style. This is further refined in the Rampage Edition, which is a full-on run-and-gun at times and focuses almost entirely on fast-paced, action-orientated, arcade action. I much preferred this pace and found the Rampage Edition the better experience overall, but I think a mash-up of the two would be the perfect compromise as Jurassic Park features far more recognisable locations from the movie. Adding the Velociraptor as a playable character was a fun and interesting way for SEGA’s games to stand out, but I did find her to be clunky and awkward at times. It’s weird how much focus is placed on platforming as the ‘raptor, even in the Rampage Edition, where you’re also blasting through as an untouchable predator. I’m glad I didn’t have to search all around for eggs, but a little more depth would’ve been nice; many stages just seem to randomly end and the lack of boss battles was very disappointing. Still, I liked a lot of the visuals (even if Jurassic Park’s were painfully garish and unsightly at times) and the light puzzle elements. Ultimately, I’d say the Rampage Edition is the better of the two but, really, we needed one game that combined all the best elements of both (and the Nintendo titles) to create the definitive old-school Jurassic Park adaptation.

Jurassic Park Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Rampage Edition Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to the Jurassic Park videogames released on the Mega Drive? How do you think they compare to each other, and Nintendo’s releases? Which of the two was your favourite and were you glad that they were ported to modern consoles? Did you enjoy playing as the Velociraptor? Were you a fan of the Rampage Edition’s faster pace? What is your favourite Jurassic-inspired videogame? How are you celebrating Dinosaur Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on SEGA’s Jurassic Park videogames, and dinosaurs in general, leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other dinosaur content!

Game Corner: Jurassic Park (Xbox Series X)

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Released: 22 November 2023
Originally Released: June 1993 (NES), August 1993 (Game Boy), October 1993 (SNES)
Developer: Carbon Engine
Original Developers: Ocean Software (Game Boy / NES); Ocean of America (SNES)
Also Available For: Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Xbox One, Xbox Series S

The Plot:
When an act of sabotage releases the genetically engineered dinosaurs of theme park Jurassic Park, palaeontologist Doctor Alan Grant must fight to curb the outbreak and escape the island.

The Background:
In 1993, director Steven Spielberg took Michael Crichton’s bestselling cautionary tale about a dinosaur theme park thrown into chaos and gave us Jurassic Park, a critical and commercial blockbuster that pioneered many of the CGI techniques we still see in Hollywood. Bolstered by an aggressive merchandising campaign, Jurassic Park inspired a wave of toys, comics, and numerous videogames, with multiple adaptations releasing alongside the film. Although games were also published for SEGA’s consoles, having made a name for themselves with their arcade tie-ins to other film releases, Ocean Software made the Jurassic Park games for Nintendo’s consoles after securing the license for an undisclosed six-figure sum. The developers were provided with numerous resources from Universal Pictures to recreate the visuals and likenesses of the film, utilising the Super Nintendo’s “Super FX” chip and ambitious texture mapping techniques to create first-person sequences on the 16-bit console. All three versions received widespread praise for their graphics, with the SNES version impressing with its large scope, though its first-person sections were criticised and the Game Boy’s more simplistic nature was noted. After decades of being essentially lost media, these three games (and four others) finally came to modern gamers in celebration of the movie’s 30th anniversary, courtesy of Limited Run Games, alongside modern quality of life features, to largely thankful and positive reviews.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
These three Jurassic Park adaptations have a lot in common. They’re all top-down adventures set on Isla Nublar during the events of the film; they all have you control Dr. Grant; and they all centre around a mad search for numerous Velociraptor eggs. The only thing that really separates them, on paper, is the hardware they’re on, hence why I’m lumping all three into one review. Unlike in the movie, where Dr. Grant can only run and use his dinosaur expertise to outthink the reborn creatures, players are armed in these games. Dr. Grant carries a firearm that fires an electrical taser shot to stun smaller dinosaurs in the Game Boy and NES titles but is largely ineffective against bigger dinosaurs. In the SNES version, this weapon pushes back and eventually subdues the Dilophosaurus but it’s far too weak against the hyper-aggressive Velociraptors. However, you must also use it to power-up gears to create bridges and open the park’s electrified fences. Dr. Grant can also jump but he’s hardly an athlete. He can barely hop over Compsognathus’, brambles, and electrified flooring but you won’t be jumping to platforms or anything. The controls change between games, but all three see you switching your shot with the Xbox’s ‘View’ button. Dr. Grant can pick up more formidable, but limited, ammunition strewn around the park, including a bola shot, near useless smoke grenades, a shotgun, and a grenade launcher. In the SNES version, you can carry two of these shots at once alongside your taser shot, and the ammo respawns when you enter the park’s  buildings. Search hard enough and you’ll also find health kits and extra lives and, exclusive to the NES version, a temporary invincibility. Be cautious when collecting items in the Game Boy and NES versions, however, as many of them are boobytrapped to blow up in your face. Players get points for every dinosaur they dispatch and earn extra lives with enough points, and you’re also given a handful of continues should you lose all your lives, though each game must be beaten in one sitting.

Remember when Dr. Grant collected eggs and shot grenades at dinosaurs? It’s all recreated here!

Dr. Grant’s goal is to search the island for numerous ‘raptor eggs. These are essential in the Game Boy and NES versions, to the point where you can’t access buildings or progress until you’ve found all in each area. Collecting them all in these versions spawns a key card, though it’s not always clear which door you need to take so you’ll need to experiment a bit, which is tricky as the enemies respawn in these versions. Enemies don’t respawn in the SNES version, but the map is far bigger and you’ll be backtracking more. The only consolation is that you don’t need the eggs to access buildings, but you will be hunting high and low for identification cards to access computer terminals and locked doors. These terminals appear in each version but they’re far more detailed and prominent on the SNES, where you need the correct access to reboot the park’s security systems, unlock specific gates, radio the boat and the mainland, and access the ‘raptor pen and infested nest. Each game tasks you with destroying this nest using a nerve gas bomb; there are three bombs and three nests in the Game Boy and NES version and one aggravating labyrinth and one bomb on the SNES, found on the lowest level of the docked ship. When playing on the Game Boy and NES, players also control a life raft, dodging Dilophosaurus spit and swimming Brachiosaurus, while SNES players must dodge stampeding Gallimimus and dash into alcoves to avoid being trampled by a gigantic Triceratops. The Game Boy and NES versions also task you with rescuing Lex and Tim Murphy from a herd of Triceratops and a voracious Tyrannosaurus rex, with the Lizard King popping up on the main map on the SNES and the kids reduced to mere cameos as just two of many annoying pop-ups that completely obscure the screen. If you lose a life, you thankfully respawn right where you fell with all your ammo and inventory intact, which is useful, though the lack of passwords makes me wonder how anyone beat the SNES version without save states.

Each version has mildly unique sections, but the FPS parts are the worst of them all.

While the Game Boy and NES versions are essentially mission-based games that task you with collecting eggs and key cards and surviving each location, they also include some maze-like elements. The buildings and caves loop and turn you about, throwing miniature volcanoes and electrical pylons in your way and timing your escape from the ‘raptor nests before your bomb takes you out. Though the SNES version encourages you to exit the nest as quickly as possible, you appear to have unlimited time to escape, which is good as the nest is easily the most confusing area in the game. And that’s saying a lot considering all the interior locations are frustrating mazes that, surprisingly, switch the game to a first-person shooter (FPS). Clearly designed to showcase the SNES’s Mode 7 feature, these sections are slow, tedious slogs around repetitive locations with no clear indication where you need to go. You’ll be hunting for batteries to power your night vision goggles, grabbing ID cards to open doors and access terminals, powering up a generator and fiddling with the park’s systems, and taking elevators to sub-levels to explore further. Eventually, you’ll activate the park’s motion sensors, finally giving that obnoxious circular sprite on the heads-up display a purpose, and gain additional security clearance. This means you go back and forth between utility sheds, the visitor’s centre, the ship, and the ‘raptor pen desperately trying to remember where you couldn’t access the first time around. One mission sees you either wiping out the Velociraptors or blocking their entry with a wooden box, while another tasks you with destroying all the dinosaurs that’ve infested the ship. You must clear each mission in the SNES version to proceed; even if you have the right ID card, the game blocks you if you haven’t finished a mission. Of course, there’s no way to track your progress; the computer terminals help to a degree, but it’s limited to listing your ID card inventory and security clearance level.

Presentation:
Obviously, we’re working on a sliding scale between these three games. The SNES version is going to look the best, the NES version is passable, and the Game Boy version is…let’s say “quaint”. The NES version doesn’t make the best first impression; you can argue that the large T. rex sprite art is ambitious, but it just looks ugly. Ironically, it fares better on the Game Boy, where my expectations are much lower, though only the SNES version includes a detailed title screen of the film’s logo. In the Game Boy and NES versions, Mr. D.N.A. gives you an overview of your objectives. This is absent in the SNES version, but large, annoying text boxes regularly pop up to give you hints and the game’s bookended by Mode 7 effects applied to the island. The Game Boy and NES versions have extremely jaunty and fun chip tune soundtracks that remind me of Ocean’s arcade efforts. The SNES version opts for more subdued, ambient tunes, the ominous sounds of dinosaurs, and a handful of sound bites, though none of the games use the film’s iconic soundtrack or dinosaur roars. The SNES also performs far better; unlike its inferior cousins, I saw no instances of screen tearing, sprite flickering, or slowdown. These issues were rife on the NES version and also cropped up on the Game Boy version when too much was happening at once, though all three have a problem with the sprites having large hit boxes.

Each game faithfully recreates the movie, but the SNES version is the obvious standout.

Isla Nubar is represented on a reduced scale in all three games but is still surprisingly recognisable in the Game Boy and NES versions. You’ll start outside the iconic park gates in all three and explore the lush grasslands and forests surrounding the visitor’s centre, venture into the ‘raptor pen, and explore the nearby caves. Unlike its cousins, the SNES version portrays Isla Nubar as one big world map, with forests, streams, buildings, and recognisable locations all on one big, interconnected map rather being separated by missions as in the other two games. On the NES, the landscape changes colour and layout with each mission, introducing different buildings, forests you can pass through, containment fences, and rugged, hazardous mountain peaks. On the SNES, you venture up a cliffside many times as you revisit the docked ship again and again, will drown if you fall in the water, and must power up gears to progress. The helipad is your goal in all three games, though it’s only a separate region on the SNES and this version is the only game to accurately recreate the visuals of the film. Without a doubt, the overworld graphics are the best part of this version, featuring lush vegetation and detailed and colourful sprites, though the Game Boy version does boast surprisingly detailed sprite art recreating events from the movie. The SNES banks heavily on its FPS sections which, in my opinion, was a mistake as the game slows to a crawl and the visuals look pixelated, ugly, and repetitive. While the game recreates recognisable interiors from the film, every corridor looks the same. Some are ugly and grey, some are bronze and have nautical trappings, some are a light blue, and others are pitch-black, but everything looks the same so it’s easy to get lost. The sub-levels of the ‘raptor pen were the best parts, though, as you can see foliage through the windows, but these sections were a chore to play through. I really wish the developers had limited themselves to two or three FPS sections and used a traditional sidescrolling platformer perspective, like the Mega Drive titles, for the others, just for some variety.

Enemies and Bosses:
Jurassic Park is as disappointingly light on dinosaurs, though most of the creatures showcased in the movie make an appearance in all three games and you can even view an encyclopaedia of the creatures on the Game Boy. As you collect eggs, you’ll be relentlessly attacked by tiny Compsognathus. These aren’t much of a threat, but they do get annoying, so it was satisfying turning them into puffs of smoke with the cattle prod in the SNES version. Meganeura, prehistoric dragonflies, also appear in the SNES version alongside the easily spooked Gallimimus, who stampede and whittle your health to nothing if you’re not careful. Pachycephalosaurus also appear exclusively in the SNES version, attacking with an annoying headbutt if you get too close, though you’ll only see the gigantic, swimming Brachiosaurus, wandering Dimetrodon, and leaping Ichthyosaurus in the Game Boy and NES versions. One of the most common enemies you’ll face across all three games is the Dilophosaurus, rancid creatures who spit from afar and lurk in the game’s butt-ugly FPS sections (where they, like the ‘raptors, explode when shot, no matter what ammo you use). Equally, you’ll battle more than a few Velociraptors in all three games. Incredibly aggressive and often striking in twos, these creatures burst from trees and bushes and stalk the corridors of the SNES’s FPS sections. While enemies respawn seemingly endlessly in the Game Boy and NES versions, they’ll be down for the count on the SNES, especially in the FPS sections, except for the Velociraptors. You must also be wary of brambles, rushing streams, electrical bolts, falling boulders, and erupting volcanos. Those annoying explosive boxes will be your biggest enemy in the Game Boy and NES versions, though, and really got to be a pain in the ass after the first few caught me off-guard.

The Game Boy and NES versions may have dull bosses, but at least they have boss battles.

Oddly, considering the Super Nintendo’s greater processing power and the impressive nature of its sprite work, bosses only appear in the Game Boy and NES versions and, even then, they’re not that impressive. You must rescue Tim from the stampeding Triceratops in both versions, weaving between the gigantic beasts and trying to avoid their huge hit boxes in sections that I have no idea how anyone beat back in the day. You must endure this section twice in both versions, with Tim’s lagging speed often costing you and the creatures appearing in specific, much more manageable sections on the SNES. When the T. rex appears here, your only option is to run or momentarily stun her with tranquilizer darts, though you’re more likely to be left squirming in her jaws if you try and fight her. In the NES version, you battle the T. rex directly twice. The first time, you must rescue Lex from her, and the second time you must rescue Lex and Tim, with both being rooted to the spot by fear and easily chomped by the Lizard King if you don’t catch her attention. The T. rex is impervious to damage unless her head is lowered, but you must be quick as she’ll stomp over and eat you (or one of the kids) whole otherwise, and her hit box is predicably large, so you’ll have a hard to avoiding being hit. In the Game Boy version, this fight is turned into a desperate dash to the left-side of the screen, though thankfully there’s no risk of being trampled and her bite is easy to avoid. You must push the T. rex back with some shots and then usher Lex towards the exit, desperately trying to not get caught on the boulders scattered across the path. There is no final battle against the T. rex in the Game Boy version, making the finale disappointingly anti-climactic compared to the NES version, and no bosses at all in the SNES version. The closest you get are the many encounters with the Velociraptors, who pounce from the bushes and prowl around the corridors of the game’s interiors, which is a shame as I would’ve loved to see a proper rendition of the T. rex fight.

Additional Features:
The NES version is the only one of the three to offer a two-player option (presumably with players taking it in turns between lives), though all three offer a high score table for you to try and get your name on. Each game ends in the most lacklustre way possible, with simple text congratulating you, though you get to wander around the credits in the lesser versions. The Jurassic Park: Classic Game Collection offers a few fun extras, such as each game’s soundtrack, various filters and borders, and a rewind and save state feature that makes each game, but especially the SNES game, much easier. Each game also comes with a map, which is super helpful until you play the SNES version, where the developers didn’t include maps for the FPS sections! The collection naturally has some Achievements for you to earn; fourteen in total, with two earned for each game included. While you obviously get an Achievement for beating each game, an additional Achievement is assigned to each and tied to different objectives. You get an Achievement for starting the generator in the Game Boy version, saving Lex from the T. Rex in the NES version, and finding all eighteen ‘raptor eggs in the SNES version.

The Summary:
I’ve long admired the SNES version of Jurassic Park. I believe I played a port of it on the Amiga as a kid and I’ve always been captivated by the overworld graphics. Truly, the game is gorgeous to behold, and the 16-bit recreation of the film’s visuals is incredibly impressive. The foliage, the buildings, and the dinosaur sprites, especially, are all visually appealing, let down only by the lack of John Williams’ iconic score. Well, that and the awful FPS sequences. Believe me, I get the appeal of showcasing the Super Nintendo’s processing power, but these sections are slow, ugly, and a chore to play. It might not’ve been so bad if you didn’t have to keep backtracking to these areas again and again, each time getting more confused about where you’ve been and where you’re going. The Game Boy and NES titles are much simpler in this regard, being simple mission-based games rather than an odd mixture of action and adventure like their SNES counterpart. Yet, while the NES version tries, the Game Boy struggles to replicate its cousins. Sprite flickering and screen tearing are real problems in both, but this genre didn’t translate well to the Game Boy. Perhaps switching to a sidescroller would’ve been better, though I did like the subtle differences in the T. rex boss fight and the sprite art between missions. The tedious collecting wore out its welcome very quickly in both versions and is only marginally better on the SNES, where you still need to find them all but have a bigger map to explore. The SNES version is let down by those annoying pop-up boxes, a lack of boss battles, and no password feature, meaning the sprawling adventure must be beaten in one sitting. This is a laborious task even with the Classic Game Collection’s save state feature, so I have no idea how players managed it back in the day. In the end, I’d say the only one worth playing is the SNES version based on the overworld’s eye-catching visuals but, realistically, the NES version is probably the easiest for repeat playthroughs. What we really needed was one version that incorporated the best of all three games but, as is, there’s some fun and frustration to be had regardless son which game you play.

Game Boy Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

NES Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

SNES Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to the Jurassic Park videogames released for Nintendo’s consoles? How do you think they compare to SEGA’s releases, and to each other? Which of the three was your favourite to play and were you pleased to see them made available for modern consoles? What did you think to the FPS sections and the tedious egg hunting? Did you ever beat the SNES version back in the day and, if so, how? Which Jurassic-adjacent videogame is your favourite? How are you celebrating Dinosaur Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Nintendo’s Jurassic Park videogames, and dinosaurs in general, leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other dinosaur content!

Game Corner: RoboCop: Rogue City (Xbox Series X)

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Released: 02 November 2023
Developer: Teyon
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S

The Background:
Although RoboCop’s (Verhoeven, 1987) surprising success saw it followed by big screen sequels, a cartoon, and a live-action television show, these were largely met with mixed to negative reviews. While the R-rated franchise all-but flopped as a kids’ cartoon, RoboCop did fairly well in arcades back in the day. Unfortunately, the videogame adaptation of RoboCop 3 (Dekker, 1993) performed about as well as its source material. RoboCop fared better when battling another iconic cyborg, something only further evidenced when an attempt to reinvigorate the cyborg cop on then-modern consoles flopped hard back in 2003. The near universal negative reception for Titus Interactive Studio’s RoboCop meant players had to wait twenty years for another first-person shooter (FPS) adaptation of the franchise, one courtesy of Teyon, the developers behind Terminator: Resistance (2019), the first halfway decent Terminator videogame in ten years (at the time). For RoboCop: Rogue City, Teyon worked closely with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and publisher Nacon to ensure the game was faithful to the original film and captured the dark satire of the franchise, even bringing back Peter Weller to reprise his iconic role. In contrast to fast-paced FPS titles, director Piotr Latocha lobbied to recreate Weller’s robotic, methodical movements and emphasise RoboCop’s “Prime Directives” as much as action-packed shooting. Reaching 435,000 players in its first two weeks, RoboCop: Rogue City received mostly positive reviews that praised the fidelity to the movies and layered gameplay mechanics, while criticising the pacing and noticeable glitches.

The Plot:
Transformed into a cybernetic police officer after being murdered on the job, Alex Murphy/RoboCop finds his efforts to police the increasingly lawless streets of Detroit compounded by a plot by megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to mass produce cyborg cops.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
RoboCop: Rogue City is an FPS title in which players assume the role of the titular cyborg police officer and play through a mission-based narrative that includes gunfights, a smidgen of detective work, and a dash of role-playing elements. There are four difficulty settings to pick from the outset and a fifth unlocked once you clear the game, with enemies being tougher and dishing out more damage on the higher difficulties. Players can also pick between two control schemes, but I stuck with the default settings that saw me aiming with the Left Trigger, shooting with the Right Trigger, and punching thugs in the face with the Right Bumper. X reloads your weapon and is used to interact with the environment, with players holding X to open doors and OCP supply crates and pressing it to talk to non-playable characters (NPCs) or pick up ammo, various incriminating evidence, and supplies like OCP Recovery Charges. You hold B to restore your health with these, storing three at the start and eventually carrying up to five once you’ve upgraded RoboCop’s skill tree. Similarly, you can interact with fuse boxes to restore RoboCop’s health. Also, once you’ve unlocked the correct upgrade, you can dash at enemies with A and engage a temporary shield to reduce incoming damage with B. X also grabs and throws objects at enemies; everything from computer monitors to chairs, tables, motorbikes, and sledgehammers can be grabbed and tossed, which is a lot of fun. Naturally, you can grab and toss scumbags as well! RoboCop is armed with his signature Auto 9 (which has infinite ammo), can pick up one additional weapon, and you switch between the two with Y. You can press in the left stick to change RoboCop’s clunky walk to an ungainly trot and the right stick to activate a night vision filter, though I found this wasn’t utilised much and an infrared mode would’ve been far better. The directional pad changes the firing mode of your weapon with up, activates a disabling shockwave (with the right upgrade) with down, and brings up either your “Skills” or inventory menu with left and right, respectively.

Blow away street scrum with RoboCop’s array of weapons and upgrade his Skills for more options.

A great deal of RoboCop: Rogue City focuses on shooting, with players blasting punks in the face (or crotch) and splattering their brains across the walls or dismembering their limbs. RoboCop can grab a handful of largely generic additional weapons to help with this, liberating them from enemies or grabbing them from nearby caches. You can grab another pistol and a high-impact .50 Cal that would make Dirty Harry smirk, two combat shotguns that are awesome for close-quarters combat, a couple of submachine guns and assault rifles that can fire a bit wildly, and heavy-duty machine guns lifted from turrets. RoboCop also gets a sniper rifle, the Cobra Assault Cannon from the first film, a rocket launcher, and a grenade launcher, with these latter four being some of the most powerful weapons. That power comes with a trade-off, though, such as low ammunition and long reload times. RoboCop always has his trusty Auto 9, however, which can eventually be upgraded with computer chips. These come in different configurations and can even be spliced together to create newer, more powerful chips. When applied to the Auto 9 motherboard, they increase the gun’s ammo capacity, reload speed, damage, spread, and armour piercing ability to make the Auto 9 even more formidable. RoboCop’s dash ability allows him to charge into enemies and his shockwave can be upgraded to cause damage rather than just stun. You can also shoot explosive barrels, mines, gas cannisters, motorbikes, and vehicles to take out large groups of enemies with explosions and many of these can be thrown for the same effect (though be careful as you’ll also take damage from the explosion, especially if your barrel is shot when you’re carrying it!) Sometimes, you can shoot parts of the environment to get an edge in gun fights, such as dropping scrap metal onto enemies, and RoboCop will occasionally be backed up by fellow police officers. Anne Lewis, rookie Ulysses Washington, and even an Enforcement Droid-209 (ED-209) will provide cover fire in certain missions. When fighting alongside the ED-209 or the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, you’ll engage in an “Efficiency Test” and be challenged to get more kills that your rivals to gain more XP in your post-mission evaluation.

Rescue hostage, scan clues, and choose responses wisely to earn XP and improve your reputation.

Many times in your adventure, you’ll be asked to “breach” doors or walls, causing RoboCop to burst through and take out any enemies on the other side in a slow-motion sequence. These sections often involve hostages, who’ll be executed if you’re not quick enough, which will cost you in your post-mission evaluation. Despite being bulletproof and an unstoppable cyborg cop, RoboCop isn’t invincible and his health drops as he sustains gunfire or is hit by grenades and rockets. Thankfully, there are many checkpoints in RoboCop: Rogue City and, as you gun down punks, collect evidence (documents, drugs, stolen items, and such), and enforce the law throughout Detroit, you’ll earn experience points (XP). When you get enough XP (or find OCP Skill Disks), you’ll gain a “Skill Point” to upgrade RoboCop’s eight skills. This not only unlocks the dash, shockwave, and shield abilities but also allows RoboCop to enter a “bullet time” mode by holding the Left Bumper, hack enemy turrets, decrease the damage he receives, automatically reload upon connecting with a punch, ricochet shots off specific panels, and automatically regenerate health over time. RoboCop must also solve crimes and you must thus upgrade his “Scanning” and “Deduction” skills to help with this. By holding LT, RoboCop scans the environment for clues and these upgrades make this easier and faster. They also increase the XP you gain and mark important locations and items on your map, a generally useful overview of the immediate area that’s largely superfluous since there’s a helpful onscreen compass on the heads-up display (HUD) and an objective list in the pause screen. Upgrading RoboCop’s “Engineering” skill allows him to open locked safes and better scan the environment to complete optional objectives. However, this isn’t a requirement and you can often find alternative means, such as picking up a manual, to accomplish the same task. Players are also given dialogue options when talking with certain NPCs and picking different answers changes RoboCop’s relationships with these characters, altering the ending depending on his political stance, his leniency towards informants, his conduct towards Washington, and the answers he gives psychologist Doctor Olivia Blanche. Upgrading your “Psychology” skill helps with these moments, allowing you to earn more XP, though there’s little benefit to picking the “right” answer beyond seeing different reactions.

RoboCop’s primary objectives are accompanied by secondary and menial tasks.

It’s actually comical how many menial tasks the cops stationed at Metro West give RoboCop to do. When Lewis is shot, RoboCop’s asked to gather signatures for a get-well card; when the line of civilians coming in to complain gets unwieldy, RoboCop is asked to help with their problems; and, when a fellow cop is found dead, RoboCop helps Officer Cecil place a memorial photo on the wall. RoboCop can choose to aid or scupper Washington’s career, assist or derail reporter Samantha Ortiz, has regular briefings with the cantankerous Sergeant Warren Reed, and will be clearing out lockers, testing weapons at the shooting range, and fixing power outages throughout the station. When on the streets, RoboCop has a primary objective tied to that mission (investigating an arcade that sells drugs on the side, checking out a familiar steel mill, confronting OCP executive Max Becker regarding his cyborgs, and more) alongside numerous secondary objectives. You can issue tickets to cars illegally parked and to graffiti artists (who’ll spraypaint colourful anti-RoboCop graffiti in retaliation), and help solve a murder tied to a seemingly faulty MagnaVolt car security system. RoboCop visits apartment buildings to deliver bad news and goes to see Lewis when she’s in her coma, works with Washington to locate a missing cat, investigates a potentially shady garage, begrudgingly assists Nuke addict “Pickles” in a video store, defuses in a hostage situation at the courthouse that’s eerily reminiscent of the first movie, and delves into a malicious “Afterlife” facility to uncover OCP’s latest crazy scheme. All throughout the game, RoboCop experiences glitches courtesy of main bad Wendell Antonowsky, who screws up RoboCop’s programming with a chip. This sees the environment change around you; enemies appear and disappear and you’ll flashback to Murphy’s death and his family home as RoboCop struggles to get his shit together. All these disparate plot threads come together in the game’s final missions, where Detroit descends into all-out chaos and you must revisit every location and NPC you’ve encountered previously to help save them from fires or from the gangs running rampant in the streets.

Presentation:
Without a doubt, RoboCop: Rogue City is the best looking RoboCop game we’ve ever had (so far, anyway). It shouldn’t be surprising given Teyon’s attention to detail in Terminator: Resistance, but the game recreates the visuals and atmosphere of the first two movies with an impressive fidelity. The game is bookended by Media Break segments hosted by Casey Wong (who also appears on various radios found throughout the game) that recapture the dark satire of the first film and the likenesses of Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Robert DoQui, and Dan O’Herlihy bring returning characters to life. The game reminds me of Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Terminal Reality, 2009) in that it primarily evokes the first movie while acting as a follow-up to RoboCop 2 (Kershner, 1990) and a prelude to RoboCop 3. Thus, Metro West is ripped straight from the first movie (including the check-in desk, locker room, RoboCop’s maintenance area, the shooting range, and the garage) and the cops all wear the same uniforms featured in that movie. RoboCop is also modelled after his chrome silver look rather than his glistening steel blue and the game revisits key locations from the first movie, including the steel mill where Murphy was executed and the OCP headquarters, which includes the cylindrical lifts and an exact recreation of the board room. References to RoboCop 2 are included, however: players collect Nuke for XP, a standee of RoboCop 2 appears during Becker’s presentation, and the Urban Enforcement Droids (UEDs) are modelled after one of OCP’s failed RoboCop 2 experiments. This all gives the game a great deal of legitimacy as an official continuation of the original movies, something only bolstered by Weller reprising his role and little touches, such as RoboCop occasionally twirling his gun and incorporating Basil Poledouris’ iconic RoboCop theme throughout the action. While it’s great to have Weller back, though, I was a little disappointed by how…robotic…his performance was, even more than usual, as though he phoned it in a bit during the recordings.

Despite some visual hiccups, the game recreates many recognisable elements in impressive detail.

When out on a mission, RoboCop finds himself on the mean streets of Detroit, a restricted sandbox-like environment with a few locations you can enter and elements you can interact with. You’ll revisit the same area multiple times, but it does change as you progress, shown in day, at night, and in the midst of a full-scale riot that sees the streets filled with punks, fires raging, and chaos everywhere. You’ll pop into a few buildings to talk to NPCs, solve crimes, or gather evidence, occasionally engaging in a violent shoot out, though most of this takes place either away from the city centre or in specific buildings, such as a hidden drug lab in the arcade. RoboCop ventures into the Channel 9 building when the “Torch Heads” hijack their broadcast, investigates the steel mill where he died (recreating the area where Murphy was gunned down and the pool where he confronted Clarence Boddicker), glitches out in an abandoned shopping mall (causing mannequins to disturbingly shift about), and assists prison guards during a chaotic riot at the city prison. When the action kicks in, you’ll find much of the environment is destructible. Glass shatters, monitors explode, and walls break apart from bullets and explosions. You can use the environment for cover (though high-calibre weapons will quickly destroy these) and blood, bodies, and evidence are scattered everywhere. Unfortunately, there are some negatives to the presentation: RoboCop has no reflection or physical model, textures tend to warp or struggle to load, and there are obvious parts where the game drags out elevator rides or dialogue exchanges to load the next part. Paradoxically, RoboCop: Rogue City impresses in the endgame when every enemy you’ve encountered (including an ED-209) roams the anarchic city streets causing chaos with no visible slowdown or performance issues.

Enemies and Bosses:
There are two main gangs in RoboCop: Rogue City: The Torch Heads and the “Street Vultures”. You’ll encounter both in different missions and gun down many of their disposable members, all of whom scream in agony when you blast off their limbs and yet never hesitate to engage RoboCop when he appears. They wield various weapons, from pistols to machine guns, which you can acquire after putting them down, and often attack in large groups in restrictive corridors. Enemies will take cover and run about, certain variants will call for backup, and many toss grenades. Luckily, you can shoot these as they’re being prepped or are in mid-air to take out large groups, but you must aim for the legs when rushed by goons in body armour and carrying sledgehammers. The Street Vultures tend to ride around on motorcycles, crashing into you and shooting at you, though you can explode their rides to thin out their numbers. The goons get a new coat of paint during the prison riot, arming themselves with shotguns and more powerful weapons, and they’ll often take hostages or assume sniping positions on rooftops. You must also watch for suicidal punks who rush you with lit gas cannisters and, as you progress, you’ll clash with Antonowsky’s more formidable mercenaries. These guys are more heavily armoured, shielding themselves from headshots and carrying stronger assault rifles, sniper rifles, and even the Cobra Assault Cannon. Bolstered by tougher commanders, these mercs can be tough to deal with in large groups as they’ll shrug off your punch and even explosions, though all the enemies you encounter are surprisingly resilient when shot. RoboCop also tangles with Becker’s UEDs, relentless cyborgs cobbled together from stolen bodies that constantly shoot out you, pour from doors, and even try to skewer you with a charge! If you blow off their heads, they’ll become confused and attack their allies, which is helpful. It’s also advisable to upgrade RoboCop’s “Engineering” skill to hack enemy turrets as they’ll catch you in a crossfire and cut you down.

After destroying a bunch of ED-209s, players ultimately (and surprisingly) re-enact the finale of RoboCop 2.

You’ll often fend off waves of enemies, sometimes combinations of them, forcing you to think more strategically, take cover, and utilise RoboCop’s abilities to survive. Becker tests his UEDs against RoboCop, forcing you to battle waves of the inferior cyborgs in an enclosed space. You’ll also take on a legion of them when they go rogue during Becker’s EXPO presentation, with their forces bolstered by an ED-209! Later, heavily armed mercenaries and UEDs block your path to apprehending Antonowsky, and every enemy you’ve faced takes to the streets for a riot in the endgame. However, there are a handful of more traditional boss battles, with you battling ED-209 on multiple occasions. Each fight takes place in different locations but the strategy remains the same: stay on the move, grab nearby weapons and explosives to use against the machine, and take advantage of any like OCP Recovery Charges you find. ED-209 is slow and a big target but incredible powerful; it fires a machine gun arm and rockets, which you can anticipate by the laser sight, and is only vulnerable by targeting the “mouth” on its “head”. When battling ED-209 at the EXPO and on the streets, you can make short work of them with the rocket launcher and, especially, the Cobra Assault Cannon. While Antonowsky is disappointingly taken care of in a cutscene, the game ends with a surprising recreation of RoboCop 2’s finale as RoboCop battles the “Old Man”, who died earlier in the game but has his brain/consciousness implanted into RoboCop 2! RoboCop 2 is a multi-stage boss with no checkpoints between phases and is a massive difficulty spike. The only way to damage it is by targeting the Nuke cover on its chest; there are very few OCP Recovery Charges and additional weapons to aid you and the cyborg is heavily armed. It fires its machine gun attachment (smacking you clear across the room with a punch from it), fires rockets that drop the fight to lower floors, charges at you, grabs you and shoves a taser attachment in your face, and represents the game’s toughest challenge, not least because it can only be damaged in the final phase when the Old Man’s face pops out from its head.

Additional Features:
Players can snag twenty-seven Achievements in RoboCop: Rogue City, earning nine simply by completing the game as they pop when you finish each mission (and the entire game). You also get Achievements for shooting an enemy in the groin, hacking a turret, adding a chip to the Auto 9, and fully upgrading one (but not all) of RoboCop’s Skills. You must search around a bit for a couple of Achievements, which are tied to hidden rooms or require you to find a manual (or upgrade RoboCop’s “Engineering” skill) to access hidden areas. You get another Achievement for receiving an A grade, one for blowing up a moving motorbike, and another for solving a murder. Despite the game having multiple difficulty settings, there are no Achievements for clearing the game on the harder settings, so just play on “Easy” and enjoy the ride. The hardest Achievements, for me, are scoring 250 points on the shooting range (I barely hit the 200 mark) and clearing out Becker’s UEDs in under ten minutes, a mission you should be able to retry at your leisure if you can find the right save file. Clearing the game unlocks “New Game Plus”, where all your upgrades and such carry over, and “There Will be Trouble” mode that makes enemies tougher. Another playthrough is advised if you want to see the different ways the game can turn out in the end, such as who gets voted as mayor, what happens to Washington, and RoboCop’s quest for basic human rights. Otherwise, there are the nine Skills to upgrade (which probably will require multiple playthroughs) and numerous optional objectives to complete, though the only reward for this is XP to boost those same Skills.

The Summary:
Without a doubt, RoboCop: Rogue City is the best RoboCop game I’ve ever played. The first-person shooter genre is a perfect fit for RoboCop, a traditionally clunky character who doesn’t fit into the traditional action/platformer genre. Despite some struggles with loading textures and everyone resembling lifeless puppets at times, the game looks and performs really well, something only bolstered by its visual fidelity to the movies, especially the first one. I was glad to see RoboCop 2 referenced during the game as well, though I do feel the balance between the two could’ve been better, and even the teaser for RoboCop 3 as the game leads right into the start of that movie. While I would’ve liked to see better variety in RoboCop’s weapons and the ability to use his data spike as an attack, the Auto 9 was satisfying to use. Heads pop off, blood splatters everywhere, and the shooting action is fun and engaging as the environment and bosses take battle damage and you cause carnage in the pursuit of justice. Speaking of which, I enjoyed patrolling the streets and enforcing the law; though it was a bit weird seeing RoboCop’s peers as him to help with menial tasks, it tied into the overarching idea that he’s accepted as a human and fellow officer by his peers. While Wendell Antonowsky was a bit of a weak main villain and the RoboCop 2 fight came out of nowhere, I enjoyed the further exploration of RoboCop’s humanity and the different missions, both big and small, presented to the player. It’s a bit shallow at times, lacking a lot of replay value and bonus content, but RoboCop: Rogue City is a very enjoyable celebration of the first film, and the franchise overall, that finally allows players to experience what it means to be the cyborg law enforcer.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy RoboCop: Rogue City? Were you disappointed by the lack of boss battles or did you enjoy tackling the many ED-209s? What did you think to the different tasks RoboCop was asked to help with? Did you every fully upgrade RoboCop’s Skills? What did you think to the visual fidelity to the first movie? Which RoboCop movie and/or videogame is your favourite? Drop your thoughts the comments and go check out my other RoboCop reviews across the site!

Mini Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled (PlayStation 3)

Dr. K3 Comments

The first issue of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) was published in May 1984. Since then, the TMNT achieved worldwide success thanks not only to their original comics run but also influential cartoons, videogames, and wave-upon-wave of action figures.

Released: 10 September 2009
Developer: Ubisoft Singapore
Also Available For: Xbox 360

A Brief Background:
Back in the late-eighties and early-nineties, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for us Brits) took kids by storm long before Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (1993 to 1996) and Pokémon (1997 to present) dominated playgrounds. Kids were as transfixed by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 to 1996) cartoon (a toned down version of the far darker Mirage Comics) as they were by all the toys and videogames. While Konami’s original TMNT arcade game set the standard for some of the franchise’s most influential gaming ventures, the equally beloved sequel, Turtles in Time (Konami, 1991), wowed gamers both in the arcades and at home. So beloved was Turtles in Time that license holders Ubisoft decided to atone for the mediocre reception of their TMNT (Munroe, 2007) tie-in game (Ubisoft Montreal, 2007) with a digital-only, cel-shaded Turtles in Time remaster for home consoles. Sadly, despite impressing with its new coat of paint, Re-Shelled was met with mixed reviews. Critics praised the online functionality and multiplayer but were left disappointed by the difficulty and lack of replay value, and the game was sadly delisted when Ubisoft lost the TMNT license in 2011, never to be seen again.

The Review:
I’ve reviewed the original arcade release of Turtles in Time before, including its Super Nintendo port and the heavily altered version that came to the Mega Drive, so this review will be a bit shorter and focus on what’s similar and different rather than being massively in-depth as, fundamentally, Re-Shelled is the same game as Turtles in Time but with a new coat of paint. Turtles in Time Re-Shelled is a 2.5D arcade-style beat-‘em-up, just like the original, in which up to four players battle across nine stages, from the streets of New York City to the prehistoric past and the far future, bashing seven kinds of shit out of waves of robotic and rainbow-coloured Foot Soldiers and taking on some of their most recognisable enemies in a bid to recover the Statue of Liberty from their archenemies, Krang and Oroku Saki/The Shredder. After selecting your difficulty level and altering some of the usual in-game settings, you pick your character. Each Turtle has different attributes, though perhaps not in the way you’d expect (Raphael is strangely the fastest while Donatello is the toughest, for example), and different weapons that change their special moves and their reach in combat. While Re-Shelled now allows you to attack in eight directions rather than the original’s two, the TMNT’s abilities aren’t that varied. You attack with Square, pulling off simple combos with subsequent button presses, jump with X (executing a jump attack when in the air), press X while running for a dash attack, and pull off an energy-draining special attack with Triangle. This ranges from a lacklustre spin kick for Raph, a wide sword swipe for Leonardo, and a screen-crossing pole vault for Don, with Raph and Michelangelo really drawing the short straw in this aspect. Health is replenished by pizzas scattered throughout each level and you can temporarily enter an invincible spin mode when you grab some pizza power to clear out any enemies, though I never played this game with a friend so I can’t say if there are any team attacks.

The classic TMNT arcade game got a cel-shaded glow up that retains much of the original mechanics.

As before, you can also grab and slam Foot Soldiers or hurl them at the screen, which is always fun, and hit barricades, traffic cones, explosive items, and fire hydrants to help with crowd control. Some onscreen hazards like wrecking balls can also damage enemies, but you must watch out for loose planks, spiked mines, crushing gates, and freezing panels as they’ll all hurt you and momentarily slow you. The TMNT’s recovery time is a bit of a joke; if you get knocked down, it takes a while to get back up, which caused me to get pummelled when fighting Leatherhead. You’re given nine lives on “Easy” mode and the game autosaves as you play, allowing you to continue where you left off or jump to any completed stage in “Quick Play” mode. If you’re feeling extremely sadistic, you can take on the “Survival” mode, which challenges you to finish the entire game with just one life, something I wouldn’t recommend. The TMNT battle an assortment of colourful Foot Soldiers, including blue variants with swords and axes, green ones who fire arrows, and yellow ones who carry bombs. They swarm the screen, occasionally jumping from the background and comically struggling with their hoverboards, but are easy cannon fodder. The Technodrome’s robotic forces are a bit more annoying, teleporting in and stunning you with energy blasts, as are the various hulking Rock Soldiers who stomp around with massive cannons or girders. You’ll visit all the same locations from the original game, with a familiar enough remixed soundtrack and the enjoyable voices of the 2003 to 2009 voice cast keeping you entertained, though cutscenes are limited to simple motion comic-like sequences with a sprinkling of text and voice acting.

The new visuals work, for the most part, but the game is distinctly barebones at times.

Graphically, the game looks pretty decent. It uses a cel-shaded art style somewhat akin to a mixture of the classic cartoon, the aforementioned 2003 revival, and the original comics, but a lot of the colour and vibrancy is lost in some levels. When things are brighter and more open, like in Alleycat Blues or Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee, the game pops quite admirably. While the TMNT have only limited idle poses, they celebrate with vigour when clearing a stage and show a lot of personality when hurt by stage hazards, and I really liked the comic book-style sound effects that appeared with every attack. Stages have a decent amount of detail and depth, including graffiti, Krang’s giant robot body, a bubbling lava pit within a dark cave, a neon-drenched futuristic city, and a speeding Old West train carrying crates and circus supplies. It’s basically everything from the original game, but with a 2.5D twist. Very little has been added to each environment and there’s been no attempt to add new elements like additional power-ups or even bosses from the Super Nintendo version. At times, the gameplay feels very sluggish and unresponsive. The TMNT are both slippery and very heavy, awkwardly performing dive attacks and lumbering around and then breaking into a sprint, which can mess up your attacks. As before, it’s not all mindless button mashing; two stages are autoscrollers where you race around on surf- and hoverboards. This can be fun as long as you avoid the hazards and don’t try to jump attack the hovering Foot Soldiers, respectively (just use your regular attacks, it’s oddly much more accurate). Additionally, this is a bit of a barebones package as, while you can earn Trophies and tackle harder difficulties, there are no new skins, characters, or features to unlock, which actually puts it a step behind the Super Nintendo version.

Bosses are largely unchanged and simple, until you reach the formidable Shredder.

For me, the highlight of the game are the titular foursome and the bosses they encounter at the end of each stage. These are the same as in the arcade version, unfortunately (so you won’t see Slash in Prehistoric Turtlesaurus, for example), and can be beaten fairly easily on “Easy” if you stay on the move and land quick combos. Doctor Baxter Stockman battles you in his fly form in Big Apple, 3.A.M. flying overhead and firing an uzi or his weird goo gun. Again, it’s better to just use your ground combos than to try and land jumping attacks, especially when he’s on the ground. Metalhead comes crashing in at the end of Alleycat Blues, sporting extendable arms and a rocket kick, but he’s quite slow and clunky so you can easily overwhelm him. Sewer Surfin’ sadly retains the gauntlet against the Xenomorph-like Pizza Monsters rather than the more impressive Rat King; simply jump-kick them when they pop from the water and you’ll soon be warped to the past by the Shredder. Cement Man is where the boss difficulty ramped up a bit for me; he turns to goo and slimes about the place, which can quickly whittle down your health. Similarly, the duo of Tokka and Rahzar can be troublesome, especially alone, as they can charge, swipe, and grind at you with a spinning shell attack. As mentioned, Leatherhead was a bit of a pain for me; not only does he toss and stab with daggers but he spams this scuttle move that can stun lock you if you don’t jump over him fast enough. In comparison, the fights against Krang are much easier. His robot body is easily attacked in Neon Night Riders, despite his rocket kick and double-hand slap, and his regular form is simple enough to combo to death in Star Base, though his teleport is annoying and I did struggle to avoid being smashed into a pancake by his slam. You’ll face the Shredder in the finale; armed with a sword and some mystical energy, he can seemingly regenerate his health, kick and swipe at you, levitate and fire projectiles, and unleashes an energy burst if you get too close. He’s by far the toughest boss, tanking damage like a brick wall, but you can get into a good routine of jumping in, landing a quick combo, and jumping away without too much trouble.

The Summary:
I was genuinely upset when I finally said goodbye to my PlayStation 3 as it had my copy of Turtles in Time Re-Shelled installed on it. When the game first released, it was the only affordable way to experience the arcade classic and I had a lot of fun playing it then, and for this review. I’m a big fan of the TMNT and arcade beat-‘em-ups so there’s a lot to like in Re-Shelled in that regard as it plays just like an arcade beat-‘em-up, warts and all, and nicely updates the original to then-modern times in a way that I think works pretty well. Sadly, it is a bit of a barebones experience and there’s barely anything new added to the game beyond its cel-shaded glow up. It’s lacking additional features, unlockables, and gameplay modes, and I was disappointed not to see elements from the Super Nintendo version incorporated to further expand on the original game. While it’s perfectly fine to play, the gameplay is clunky and chaotic at times, especially the controls. It’s hard to judge where your attacks will land and how fast you’ll move, meaning I couldn’t decide if it was better to use the directional pad or the analogue stick, and it’s easy to get caught by attacks and hazards because of how haphazard the controls can be. Ultimately, this was a great alternative for players at the time; Turtles in Time wasn’t readily available to play so this was a decent compromise. Since then, Turtles in Time has been re-released and I’d definitely recommend picking up the Cowabunga Collection (Digital Eclipse, 202) for the definitive Turtles in Time experience (although, honestly, I would’ve liked to see this included in that collection as well, just for the sake of game preservation).

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you ever play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled? How do you think it compares to other TMNT videogames and the original versions? What did you think to the new graphics and voices? Which of the characters was your go-to and which of the game’s bosses was your favourite? Would you like to see this game re-released? Which of the four Turtles is your favourite (and why is it Raphael?) Whatever your thoughts, I’d love to see your memories of Turtles in Time down in the comments!

Game Corner [Revenge of the 5th]: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Nintendo 64)

Dr. K1 Comment

Although May 4th is known the world over as Star Wars Day, many also choose to celebrate the popular, generation-spanning science-fiction saga on May 5th as a play on the word “Sith”. This can extend Star Wars Day into three day celebration of the influential science-fiction series and, as a result, is another great excuse for Star Wars fans to celebrate the beloved franchise in a variety of ways.

Released: 2 December 1996
Developer: LucasArts
Also Available For: PC

The Background:
Now known as a nigh-unstoppable multimedia juggernaut that encompasses movies, toys, cartoons, books, videogames, and comics, the original Star Wars trilogy was initially continued in the “Legends” novels. Accordingly, Lucasfilm’s publishing director, Lucy Autrey Wilson, tapped Bantam editor Lou Aronica and author Steve Perry to develop a Star Wars crossover multimedia event in 1994. The project wouldn’t include a movie but would involve all the media and marketing of a film release, all to coincide with the upcoming release of the 1997 Special Editions of the Original Trilogy. Shadows of the Empire took place between Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980) and Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) and was comprised of Perry’s novel, a comic book, an extensive toy line, and this divisive videogame. The game focused on Han Solo-proxy Dash Rendar and was built on a modified version of the Star Wars: Dark Forces (LucasArts, 1995) engine. The decision to focus on Nintendo 64 development led to some issues in properly coding for the system, Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto weighed in on the camera and Dash’s characterisation, and all the animations had to be redone manually after Industrial Light & Magic’s motion capture work proved unusable. As mentioned, Shadows of the Empire garnered mixed reviews that noted a strong start let down by subsequent levels. The dodgy camera, clunky controls, and tedious gameplay were also criticised, though it developed a cult following over the years and the PC version was said to iron out some of the kinks. Unfortunately, Shadows of the Empire was de-canonised after Disney purchased the franchise, though Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy once stated that characters like Dash Rendar have come up during discussions about Star Wars projects.

The Plot:
Hired to protect troubled Jedi Luke Skywalker and assist in rescuing Han Solo, rogue mercenary Dash Rendar finds himself embroiled in pitched battles with not only the Galactic Empire, but a criminal organisation looking to usurp the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is primarily an action/platformer videogame that released early into the Nintendo 64’s lifecycle and takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. After picking and naming one of four save files (with no need for a memory pak) and selecting their level of difficulty, players assume the role of mercenary for hire and Han Solo-proxy Dash Rendar and journey across ten levels to defend the Rebel Alliance from the evil Galactic Empire, safeguard young Jedi Luke Skywalker, and oppose the mischievous ambitions of the Black Sun criminal empire. Once you’ve chosen a difficulty level, you can’t change it so you’ll need to start a new save file if, say, “Medium” is too difficult for you. You can enter the “Options” menu to customise the heads-up display (HUD), which displays your current health and weapon energy or ammo, as well as toggle the option to switch to following your heat-seeking missiles and customise the game’s controls. Shadows of the Empire maps different buttons to different functions depending on the level you’re playing; while six levels see you control Dash on foot, two take place in space, one sees you controlling a Snowspeeder, and another has you racing around on a swoop bike. When on foot, you can change your viewpoint with the Left trigger, directional pad (D-pad), or C-right, switching between a standard third-person view, a first-person perspective, a top-down view, and a dynamic “movie” angle that hampers the already cumbersome controls. The Right trigger opens doors and activates consoles and you can hold it to strafe which, when used alongside the Z trigger, gives you better aiming accuracy. You jump with A and, when you have a jetpack, can burn rocket fuel by holding this button. B fires your weapon, with Dash’s standard blaster automatically recharging but growing weaker the more you use it. You switch weapons with C-up, crouch to take cover or avoid incoming hazards with C-down, and hold C-right to activate the “Leebo Scanner” (if you collect enough “Challenge Points”), which essentially functions as a map.

Press switches, uncontrollably fly across gaps, and wrestle with Dash’s jetpack to clear levels.

While Dash’s default blaster and jetpack automatically refill if given time, you must blast crates and search around the environment for additional ammo. You get a useful heat-seeking shot that are good for taking out groups of enemies at mid-range, a flamethrower for close encounters, a quick-fire pulse cannon that’s annoyingly erratic, a stun shot to freeze enemies, and a powerful disruptor blast that’ll damage you if you’re not careful! Health packs of different sizes can be found if you open nooks and crannies, search around, or blow open crates. You’ll also find the odd extra life and invincibility if you look hard enough, and you’ll earn additional extra lives for every Challenge Point you find. Much of your time in Shadows of the Empire is spent running around narrow corridors, samey environments, or the odd slightly more open areas. Every time you control Dash on foot, you’re charged with exploring, gunning down enemies, and activating a butt-load of switches. These open doors, release Wampas to attack enemies (and you!), allow you to take elevators to other floors, and lower barriers so you can progress. Dash is ridiculously awkward to control, lumbering about as though you were using tank controls, and easily slipping off ledges. His jump is unnecessarily floaty and carries his momentum forward, meaning it’s easy to miss platforms and overshoot your jumps and be sent plummeting to your doom. This is especially aggravating in the Ord Mantell Junkyard, where players must jump between trains and duck under hazards, switching tracks and hoping they don’t overshoot their landing. It’s equally tough controlling Dash with his jetpack, not just because he flies around as if covered in grease, but you must constantly land to recharge your thrusters and the game doesn’t make it clear which way you need to go, meaning it’s easy to get turned around. Although the jetpack doesn’t run out underwater, you’ll drown if you stay submerged for too long. Dash also takes fall damage, must use floating and/or spinning platforms to progress, and must avoid hazards like icequakes, wall and ceiling turrets, spinning blades, and rotating cogs.

While vehicle sections are a nice change of pace, they’re too short or aggravating to be that enjoyable.

Things aren’t much easier when you’re playing the game’s handful of vehicle sections. You start off recreating the battle of Hoth in a Snowspeeder, using L or R to decrease your speed, A to speed up, B to fire upon Imperial Probe Droids and All-Terrain Scout Transports (AT-STs), and snagging All-Terrain Armoured Transports (AT-ATs) with your tow cable with Z. Though you can switch perspectives with C-right and the D-pad, it’s best to stay in third-person mode here as the Snowspeeder is surprisingly heavy and unresponsive. It’s hard to make tight turns and easy to accidentally plough into enemies or catch yourself on an AT-AT’s legs as you circle them to bring them down. Dash escapes Hoth in the Millennium Falcon Outrider, getting caught in an asteroid field just like in The Empire Strikes Back. This level is more like a bonus round where you blast waves of Twin-Ion Engine (TIE) Fighters and TIE Bombers with A or B, take out asteroids for Challenge Points, and waiting for your stock of missiles to recharge so you can blow up groups of TIEs with C-down, C-left, R, or Z. Using C-right or L to switch to the cockpit view can be advantageous here, though you can’t replenish the Outrider’s shields so don’t dawdle too long. In the final stage, you repeat this section in the first half and then race away from the exploding Skyhook, using A to accelerate and tilt your craft to avoid obstacles and R to decelerate. Finally, when on Tatooine, Dash must race against and take out a swoop bike gang looking to assassinate Luke, a task easier said than done since the swoop bike is a nightmare to control! You blast off at break-neck speed at the mere touch of A or C-left, crashing into anything and everything in your way and awkwardly reversing with B when you inevitably get caught on environment. You can switch viewpoints with C-right or the D-pad and must use L or R (or Z) to ram into the other bikers to keep them away from Luke. Even if you take them out in Mos Eisley, it’s easy to crash and burn in Beggar’s Cannon thanks to the high-speed action and narrow passages.

Dash’s simple objectives are compounded by clunky controls and frustrating gameplay.

Each level has a specific mission, related by Luke or Dash’s robot partner, Leebo, though gameplay mainly amounts to blasting enemies and activating switches. In the first and final stages, Rogue Squadron fight beside you and you must be careful not to hit them, or the shield generator on Hoth, or you’ll be penalised. An onscreen radar helps guide you in the flying and chase sections but, by default, you have no such help when on foot so it’s best to follow the bodies you leave behind if you get lost. Dash must take lifts and cross bridges, watching his step to reach new areas and activate switches, often while being forced to complete platforming challenges that look easy but are made far too frustrating thanks to his janky jump. As if this wasn’t bad enough in the Ord Mantell Junkyard, you also have to blast targets to lower barriers and hop onto carriage roofs to progress, and you’ll often be flying blind in Gall Spaceport thanks to the awful fog effects. This level is where ethe gameplay loop really starts to become tiresome and claustrophobic, maze-like locations like the Imperial Freighter Suprosa and Xizor’s Palace don’t make this any easier. You’ll find Stormtroopers and tough-as-nail robots lurking around every corner, shootouts in narrow corridors, switches that open alternating doors, forked paths, spinning turbines, and a labyrinth of cargo bays. This even carries through to the dank sewers of the Imperial City, where spiral chasms lead to murky sewage water that hides Dianogas and yet more switches! You must navigate this ugly-ass brick and filth maze to acquire an access key and force field deactivator, shooting targets in spinning tunnel to progress and dodging spinning spokes in narrow pipe to reach the end. Bottomless pits dog you throughout Hoth and the Gall Spaceport, but also return in Xizor’s Palace as a cheap way to up the difficulty of the end game. While you get infinite lives on “Easy” mode, “Medium” or higher limit your lives to make the game even tougher, though it’s a challenge and a half even on “Easy due to the clunky controls, Dash’s overly enthusiastic jump, and his struggles to aim upwards!

Presentation:
As Shadows of the Empire was an early Nintendo 64 title, your mileage may very regarding the presentation. There’s no question that the PC version had better, crisper graphics, especially for the game’s cutscenes, however I do like the artwork used for these cutscenes in the Nintendo 64 version. They’re incredible basic, barely having any animation and relying entirely on text to convey the story, but they’re beautifully rendered and capture the likenesses of familiar characters like Luke and Han really well. As the main character, Dash gets more time to shine here than in the comic book, showcasing an arrogant bravado and his commitment to aiding the Rebellion (for the right price). The game is divided into “parts”, which each part using the traditional Star Wars scroll to give an overview of the story, and is bolstered by samples of John Williams’ many Star Wars compositions. The “Imperial March” is mixed into the boss theme, for example, and “The Asteroid Field!” blares during the Outrider segments, but original compositions such as “Xizor’s Palace” also impressed despite some getting repetitive. While Shadows of the Empire does use some limited sound bites (Dash grunts and Stormtroopers yell basic demands), Dash is an awful polygonal model with little character beyond occasionally firing his blaster like a six-shooter. Many of the enemies don’t fare much better, being a mess of childish polygons from even mid-view and proving why the game relies so heavily on obscuring fog. This is at its worst in the Gall Spaceport and when navigating the murky sewer waters, where visibility is near zero, though the game doesn’t exactly make up for it in the Outrider sections, opting to use a plain black void or a distinctly blurry asteroid skybox. Yet, the game performs fairly well (save for some instances where you get a peak outside of the game map), with enemy bodies remaining visible, the HUD changing colour as you take damage, and some fun Easter Eggs.

Despite being visually faithful to the films, the game’s visuals struggle, even on the PC.

These are mainly seen in familiar locations. Echo Base, for example, sports the shield generator, sees the Millennium Falcon flee for the asteroid belt, and even includes the captive Wampas from a deleted scene. You’ll spot Imperial shuttles waiting in shuttle bays, Star Destroyers loom in the background in space (though they pose no threat), Mos Eisley spaceport and market rushes past in impressive detail, and Imperial locations like the Suprosa and their multiple outposts recreate the aesthetic of the various Star Destroyers and the Death Stars with an impressive fidelity. There are some fun moments, like exploring inside the Outrider (which echoes the interior of the Falcon) and being sent away by Leebo, and opportunities to find goodies if you explore a little bit. You’ll also see the same walkways, lifts, doors, control panels, and switches as in the movies, and visit locations previously only spoken about, like Ord Mantell. Sadly, Ord Mantell is one of the weaker levels; it’s a mess of brown and junk, with rivers of sludgy water and numerous walkways to avoid. Star Fox 64 / Lylat Wars (Nintendo EAD, 1997) did a similar level far better and the same is true when comparing the space sections. The Outrider is too limited and clunky to be all that manoeuvrable and is nothing compared to the slick controls of the Arwing, with Star Fox 64 even doing Shadows’ finale far better and it didn’t release that long after this game! Unfortunately, while Shadows of the Empire goes to great lengths to recreate and build upon the visuals of the movies, everything is painfully generic at times. If you’ve seen one claustrophobic, toxic sewer full of crud, you’ve seen them all…and you can barely see this one because of the fog! I liked the sense of scale in Xizor’s Palace, however, which was very grandiose and gothic, and that the game’s performance wasn’t affected by slowdown even when large polygonal models were onscreen.

Enemies and Bosses:
There isn’t much enemy variety in Shadows of the Empire, which plays things very safe for the most part. Every enemy has a % life meter that gets tougher to whittle down the bigger they are and the more you progress, and they fall into four camps: ground troops, automatons, robots, and ships. Ground troops include Stormtroopers (and their Snowtrooper variants), Imperial Commandos, and Train Guards. The Storm- and Snowtroopers blast at you haphazardly, plummeting to their deaths with a familiar scream if you shoot them just right and occasionally manning turrets to dish out greater damage. Imperial Commandos are more heavily armoured and more likely to take cover, while Train Guards are far less formidable and simply stab you with their lances. Automatons include Imperial Probe Droids, Seeker Droids, and Interrogator Droids. These float about, often rising from chasms, and blast at you, with some being harder to hit and tougher to destroy than others. You’ll also get blasted by turrets and IG Drones, which are always on hand to chip away at your health. While the Empire employs Sentry Droids (essentially killer versions of R2-D2), IG-88 and Xizor love to dog your progress with some tough-ass humanoid robots. Not only can these fire very rapidly but they can tank your basic blaster, meaning you may have to expend your better ammo to down them, ammo best saved for the game’s bosses. As for craft, you’ll blast at AT-STs in your Snowspeeder and bring down AT-ATs with your tow cable and shoot countless TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers from the void in the Outrider. These attack in groups, firing lasers or bombs, but are mere cannon fodder compared to Xizor’s more nimble Space Vipers. These are far harder to track and hit and charge up bombs that lock onto you, easily reducing the Outrider to scrap metal thanks to their seemingly endless numbers.

Some recognisable crafts and characters appear as troublesome boss encounters.

Every level but the vehicle stages ends in a boss battle (and, even then, you could classify the AT-ATs as bosses) that Dash must face on foot and with the heat-seeking function of his seeker shot disabled. The first boss you fight is an AT-ST that’s entered Echo Base. It stomps about firing its forward guns and absorbing your shots unless you target its “head”. You can use the crates and upper walkways to take the high ground and grab some resources, but your best bet is to run underneath it, aim upwards, and unload. Another AT-ST awaits in the Gall Spaceport, though this time there are no upper walkways to flee to, no resources nearby, and the jetpack is barely an advantage as it’s so slippery to control. If you manage to make it past the aggravating train section in Ord Mantell, you’ll battle the mechanical bounty hunter IG-88 in a literal scrapheap. IG-88 leaps about the place, rapidly firing his pulse cannon and being difficult to track since he disappears behind and blends into the environment. Your best bet is to stay on the move, corner him, and unload with seekers but you must watch your step or else you’ll fall into a furnace! At the end of the Gall Spaceport, you enter into a two-phase battle with Boba Fett, who flies about using his own jetpack, firing from his blaster and sending out a seeking missile. You can try chasing him, but you risk running out of jetpack thrust and taking fall damage so it’s better to take cover and wait for him to stay still. After enough hits, Boba Fett hops into Slave 1 and rotates in the centre of the arena firing his main cannons. Like with the AT-ST, you can just camp underneath him and fire upwards for an easy win. The Suprosa’s super computer is guarded by a Loader Droid that seems intimidating due to its size and the big shuttle bay devoid of resources, however it’s a bit of a joke. It’s very slow, meaning you can easily run circles around it and avoid its extendable arms, and unload with your seekers.

If you’re not playing on at least “Medium”, all your battles are seemingly pointless.

Upon reaching the end of the sewers, Dash is attacked by a giant Dianoga. This titanic, octopus-like creature is fought in the murky sewer water, so it’s very difficult to see and target its tentacles. Thankfully, its only attack is to bash you with its spiked appendages, which you can destroy with a few shots, and its main eye is an easy target. However, because you’re forced to manoeuvre with the clunky jetpack and mainly underwater, your greatest hazards will be the controls and reaching the surface to take a breath. After battling through Xizor’s Palace, you’ll face off against his mighty Gladiator Droid in a three-phase battle that can be a troublesome encounter. While the first phase is ridiculously easy (simply run around the cumbersome droid, avoiding its eye lasers and missile barrage and blasting it to 0% health), the second phase ups the ante. Here, the droid’s torso separates, and you’re dropped into a maze full of a handful of resources and dead ends. The Gladiator Droid hovers overhead firing eye lasers, missiles, and a rapid-fire pulse cannon but, again, you can avoid most of its barrage by staying beneath it and unloading with any seekers you have. In phase three, the boss’s head tries to finish you off and you must stay away from it (utilising your jetpack when allowed since it starts to malfunction) and fire any remaining disrupter blasts you have to finish it. This is the last on-foot section so don’t be shy and just go for it! Finally, Dash takes to the Outrider to join the assault upon Prince Xizor’s Skyhook. In this final stage, you must ignore the Star Vipers and TIE Fighters and destroy the Skyhook’s turrets, flying in and blasting them before they can shred you. Take them all out and you must carefully get the Outrider into the Skyhook itself, dodging obstacles to land shots on the main core. Make a few passes and hit it enough times and the Skyhook will burst into flames, forcing you to retreat before you’re caught in the explosion.

Additional Features:
There are four difficulty levels on offer in Shadows of the Empire, with each one offering a different stock of lives (from infinite to three) and changing the challenge offered by the enemies. It’s recommended that you play on at least “Medium”, however, as that’s the only way to see the true ending and learn that Dash survived the finale. Every level contains an assortment of “Challenge Points” to either find or earn. These are either out in the open, hidden behind certain doors, down certain paths, or in hidden cervices, or earned by defeating AT-ATS or destroying special red asteroids. Collecting them all on each difficulty level unlocks some fun additional extras, such as the Leebo Scanner, invincibility, and the ability to pilot an X-Wing or TIE Fighter in the final battle. If you’d rather take the quick and easy path, however, you can give your save file a specific name and activate some useful cheats, such as skipping any sections that aren’t on-foot missions, viewing the credits, accessing every level, and an extremely useful debug mode that grants a host of cheeky abilities. You can also use these same cheats to play as enemy characters, from Stormtroopers to Wampas and even an AT-ST! Finally, your completion time is recorded for each level, so speedrunners or those seeking an extra challenge can try to beat their best times if they like.

The Summary:
When I was a kid, everyone who had a Nintendo 64 had Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. It was one of the most common games in our libraries and this is the third time I’ve owned it, though not the first I’ve beaten it. I was also a huge fan of the book, the Shadows of the Empire concept, and the comic book. Does that mean the videogame is any good, though? Well…no. Shadows of the Empire is an incredibly basic and clunky experience, even for an early-days Nintendo 64 title. Everything it does was done better in other games, even ones that released not long after it, with Star Fox 64 being the far better alternative. As much as I like Dash Rendar, he’s a painfully redundant and awkward character, floating through the air and slipping to his death with the slightest twitch of the control stick. It seems the developers didn’t know how best to use the Nintendo 64 control pad and insisted on mapping useless functions to every button but neglected to inject anything interesting into the gameplay beyond dodgy platforming and switch pressing. The vehicle sections were okay, but more akin to bonus stages, and I enjoyed some of the bosses, though the difficulty spike is all over the place. Tightening the focus onto gunplay, simple puzzle solving, and some shoot-‘em-up sections would’ve definitely made this a more enjoyable experience as the platforming and exploration is arduous and aggravating. There are some fun Easter Eggs and additional features here, and the story is a decent accompaniment to the books and comic, but Shadows of the Empire is only going to appeal to die-hard Star Wars fans…and even then it comes with a lot of caveats. You’re better off playing Star Fox 64 or one of Factor 5’s excellent Star Wars shoot-‘em-ups if you need a 64-bit Star Wars fix.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Was Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire in your Nintendo 64 library back in the day? If so, did you enjoy it? Which of the different gameplay modes was your favourite? What did you think to Dash Rendar and his clunky-ass controls? Which of the boss battles was your favourite? Did you ever see the true ending and collect all the Challenge Points? Which Star Wars videogame is your favourite? How are you celebrating Star Wars this May? Whatever your thought and memories of Shadows of the Empire, feel free to leave a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Star Wars content across the site.

Game Corner: Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation 2)

Dr. K2 Comments

Released: 26 January 2006
Developer: Square Enix

The Background:
I think it’s fair to say that most gamers are aware of Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997). The game won numerous awards and sold over ten million copies on the PlayStation, after all. Square Enix expanded upon Final Fantasy VII’s lore in 2003 with Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, a multimedia venture that included Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Nomura, 2005), a fantastic computer-generated movie, and multiple spin-off titles. Dirge of Cerberus, a PlayStation 2-exclusive follow-up to Advent Children, was one of these titles. Dirge of Cerberus represented a rare departure from the role-playing mechanics of the franchise, with producer Yoshinori Kitase conceiving an action/shooter revolving around fan favourite optional character, Vincent Valentine. Tetsuya Nomura returned to the franchise to help develop the game’s new villains and characters, with Japanese singer and actor Gackt lending his voice and likeness to the cast. When the game was localised outside of Japan, the developers took the time to address numerous issues with the original release; they focused on the single-player action, removed online functionality, and even omitted the “Easy” mode from the options. Unfortunately, despite selling well, Dirge of Cerberus was met with mixed reviews; critics were unimpressed by the gameplay, narrative, and level design and the game was knocked for being a poor imitation of similar hack-and-slash action/shooter hybrids like Devil May Cry (Capcom Production Studio 4, 2001).

The Plot:
After the events of Advent Children, the mysterious Vincent Valentine is drawn into a plot by terrorist organisation Deepground and their leaders, the Tsviets, to summon the most powerful WEAPON of all, Omega, and annihilate all life on the Planet.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII is a third-person, action/adventure game with a heavy emphasis on third-person shooting and which includes some very light role-playing mechanics. The game places you in the role of everyone’s favourite melancholy, wannabe vampire, Vincent Valentine. The story is divided into thirteen chapters that can be played on either “Normal” or “Hard” difficulty, with a third, even harder option unlocked after finishing the game on any difficulty. Unlike Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus is much more akin to Devil May Cry than a traditional role-playing game and focuses solely on Vincent save for a brief section where you control Cait Sith. Consequently, Vincent’s abilities are very different from those he had in Final Fantasy VII and have been expanded upon almost as much as his backstory, which was largely marginalised since he was an optional character in his debut. You’ll use X to talk to non-playable characters (NPCs) and interact with the environment for some very light puzzle solving (literally just pressing switches to activate lifts or open doors) and also to jump, pressing it twice for a double jump. Unfortunately, Vincent’s movement is often restricted by the environment; rubble and impassable debris will block your path and platforming is basically non-existent, limiting the jump’s usefulness. Circle is for your melee attacks; Vincent attacks with swipes of his gauntlet and some fancy kicks, but is often left attacking the air since you can’t lock-on to enemies with this attack. Circle also lowers your currently equipped weapon, allowing you to move faster depending on your loadout. Square sees Vincent crouch, which is occasionally useful when taking cover and in the handful of instances where you creep through small gaps or vents, and also performs a near useless dash. Triangle opens the main menu, giving you access to a semi-useful map (a mini map would’ve been better), the item menu (where you manually refill Vincent’s health and magic meters), and customisation options for your guns. If you have one of the three elemental Materia equipped to your weapon, you can fire it with L1, though this depletes Magic Points (MP). You use L2 to toggle between your three weapon loadouts, R1 to shoot, and R2 to reload. Finally, you can press the directional pad up to bring up the map, left or right to use your assigned item, and use the left stick in conjunction with Square to roll out of harm’s way.

Vincent’s various firearms and monstrous Limit Break are surprisingly dull to utilise.

While the melee attacks are good for close quarters combat and to conserve ammo, your primary attack is Vincent’s various firearms. As you explore, opening chests and picking up attaché cases, you’ll find different barrels and accessories that you can use to create up to three loadouts. Vincent can fire a standard pistol, a sniper rifle, and a machine gun, with different barrels available to strengthen their stats. One stat to keep in mind is the weight of your gun; I built a sniper rifle for Vincent to pick enemies off from afar, but it was heavy and slowed his movement considerably. You can lighten weapons with other attachments, or increase their power and reload speed, but these slots are far more likely to be taken up by one of the three Materia. Fire impacts with an explosive effect to damage multiple enemies, Thunder fires straight ahead, and Blizzard has a homing element. These Materia can be levelled- and powered-up with other accessories and can be very handy against groups of enemies, enemies using Barrier to resist your shots, or bosses, but it’s weird that there’s no Cure Materia to equip. Instead, you’ll rely on the odd Mako Point to refill some MP and restorative items like Potions, Ethers, and Elixirs to fill some or all your MP and Health Points (HP). One item returning Final Fantasy players will recognise is the Phoenix Down, which resurrects Vincent upon defeat (but only if you manually activate it from the menu first). Vincent also has a powered-up form (or “Limit Break”) like in Final Fantasy VII, but this must also be manually activated. When active, Vincent transforms into a monstrous beast for a short time, firing homing fireballs with R1 and battering enemies with claw swipes with X. This is very handy against bigger, armoured enemies and bosses but leaves Vincent a large, cumbersome target (though activating the Limit Break does fully replenish HP). The Limit Break can be manually deactivated with L1 and R1, but it’s not like you get the Limit Breaker item back for doing this so I can’t see the benefit of ending it early. Finally, Vincent can man various turrets with X or while riding in an attack chopper. These sections don’t happen often, which is a shame as it’s fun mowing down waves of enemies and blasting attack planes out of the sky with a powerful mini gun that never overheats or needs to reload.

Turret sections, side missions, and stealth gameplay briefly breakup the tedious action.

Defeated enemies drop various items or Gil, the currency of the Final Fantasy franchise. Gil is spent at jukeboxes or at the conclusion of each chapter, allowing you to purchase a limited quantity of items, Materia, ammo, and other resources. Completing each chapter (or being defeated mid-chapter) brings up the ranking screen, where you’re awarded points for your accuracy, kill chains, times defeated, and completing various optional missions. These equate to a letter ranking and award points that can be exchanged for Gil or experience Points (EXP). I chose EXP every time as this is the only way to make Vincent stronger and level him up. Each chapter has a primary goal (essentially to get to end and defeat a boss) but also throws secondary, optional objectives at you. Sometimes these carry a time limit or task you with completing them as quickly as possible; other times you’re searching for items with no idea of how many there are to find. Sometimes you’ll be assisting or escorting Vincent’s World Regenesis Organization (WRO) allies, other times you’ll be destroying certain enemies or deactivating mines. The more you do or complete, the better your ranking and the more Gil/EXP you’ll receive. Alongside one section where you’re blasting Guard Hounds from Reeve Tuesti’s attack chopper, you’ll also pick off pursuers on a high-speed train track and use explosive barrels to thin out enemy hordes. As mentioned, there’s one all-too-brief section where you sneak Cait Sith past enemies since his attack and defence are shit. Sadly, though Vincent’s other AVALANCHE allies show up in cutscenes, you won’t be controlling or fighting alongside any of Final Fantasy VII’s recognisable cast beyond this moment. Although things start out simple enough in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, the game quickly becomes quite challenging. Environments are painfully linear for the most part, rendering the map almost useless for most of the game, but there are times when you’ll be running around in circles trying to figure out where to go.

Vincent’s handicapped by clunky gameplay and is surprisingly weak at times.

The Shinra Manor, desolate trainyard, and Shinra headquarters are great examples of this. Since the map only shows where you’ve come from and not your objective, it can be difficult heading in the right direction sometimes. This is compounded by how claustrophobic and restrictive levels are, so you’re not used to exploring all that much. Not that exploration really leads to much; locked doors and dead ends are plentiful and you rarely get rewarded for looking around. Mostly, you’ll be smashing crates, defeating enemies, and searching for key cards to lower energy barriers, which are often guarded by waves of enemies. Sometimes, WRO agents provide support or offer resources; other times, you’ll be rescuing civilians or exploring Mako Reactors to track down Deepground. Although you can temporarily save the game from the pause menu, your game won’t save until you reach specific points in each chapter. These checkpoints are serviceable but you’re sometimes stuck repeating long stretches because you died before a save point so it’s worth using your potions liberally since you should have enough Gil to buy more. While Vincent controls well for the most part, he seems very “heavy” and clunky. He doesn’t have much versatility in the air, has few defence options, and his melee attacks are more like the wild swings of a drunk boxer than the swift attacks of a super soldier. Vincent is also surprisingly weak; snipers and enemy groups quickly sap HP and it’s very frustrating being juggled by rocket-firing brutes since Vincent’s recovery options aren’t very good. This could’ve easily been solved with a proper lock-on feature (something that’d been around since 1997), restorative and defensive Materia like Cure and Barrier, and expanding Vincent’s melee abilities. It’s also far too easy to run out of ammo at times; some of the later bosses require many hits so you can easily end up running out of bullets, with no way to get more, and there’s no way to improve your shot power beyond levelling-up and attaching different barrels.

Presentation:
Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII is a bit of a mixed bag in this regard. On the one hand, the pre-rendered, CG sequences look amazing and are largely on par with the visual effects of Advent Children. All returning characters sport the same looks and basically all the cast reprise their roles, with Steve Blum bringing his trademark melancholy gruffness to the perpetually sullen Vincent. While the in-game models and graphics obviously aren’t on par with the CG sequences, they are really good. Vincent, especially, looks amazing; his tattered cloak flows nicely and his gothic visage always stands out against the environments. Enemies are, largely, painfully bland, comprised mostly of Deepground soldiers and a handful of beasts and the WRO, though useful when they appear, are poor substitutes for the more recognisable members of AVALANCHE. Environments, while familiar, are painfully bland, muddy, and indistinct at times. Dirge of Cerberus doesn’t offer any brightness or contrast options, so I was left struggling to see in a lot of dull, murky, and repetitive environments. While some are recognisable, including Mako Reactors, the ruins of Midgar, Edge, and wandering around Cid Highwind’s latest Airship, others are just generic locations that don’t inspire the imagination. This means you’ll be wading through sewers, running around the grey corridors of the Shinra headquarters, and stumbling about in the steampunk blandness of Deepground’s lair. One standout location, however, was the Shinra Manor, which includes Vincent’s coffin room and an extensive cave network. It’s just a shame there are few rewards for exploring all these rooms and little to interact with beyond the usual pick-ups.

Despite some fun references and great CG scenes, the game is dark and painful to look at.

Although the in-game music is largely forgettable, comprised mostly of generic rock stylings and few remixes of traditional Final Fantasy jingles, Dirge of Cerberus saves its best for the end by bolstering the finale and the end credits with rockin’ efforts from Japanese rock star Gackt. The game does perform very well; I had no instances of glitching or slowdown during my playthrough, and you can even skip cutscenes by pressing Start and X during them. The action is frequently interrupted with numerous cutscenes as Dirge of Cerberus explores Vincent’s troubled past with the Turks, his relationship with Lucrecia Crescent, and the experiments performed on him by Professor Hojo. These are juxtaposed by the present day events, which see the ridiculously overdesigned members of Deepground slaughtering countless lives to summon Omega, the most powerful of the ancient WEAPON, to destroy the Planet. Vincent makes new allies in this quest, such as the disabled but determined Shalua Rui and her brainwashed, socially maladjusted little sister, Shelke, and all his old friends pop up to aid him in the many cutscenes. Honestly, the story sort of lost me mid-way through. I had trouble recognising this as the same world as Final Fantasy VII and the alterations made to the lore seemed forced. Vincent’s Limit Breaks, for example, are now due to the “Protomateria” within him and his final form, Chaos, is an uncontrollable state that acts as a natural counterbalance to Omega WEAPON. Or…something. There are sacrifices and revelations along the way, mostly involving Shelke and Vincent’s past, and it’s interesting to see that these characters continued fighting to save the Planet past Sephiroth’s threat, but it’s a very convoluted and, dare I say it, “Japanese” plot, with lots of existentialism and long winded exposition. As the first high-definition reimagining of Final Fantasy VII (in videogame form, anyway), Dirge of Cerberus does a decent job when it’s using recognisable environments and landmarks but the new elements are largely disconnected from the established world.

Enemies and Bosses:
Considering Final Fantasy VII was stuffed with bizarre and visually distinct enemies, from various monsters to bog-standard soldiers and ancient beasts, Dirge of Cerberus is painfully generic with its enemy selection. Mostly, you mow down Deepground’s soldiers, who fire machine guns from afar and smack you with their weapons up close. The Commander and Sergeant variants are tougher and a bit smarter, taking cover to avoid your shots, and snipers will occasionally appear on rooftops or in windows. Soldiers are often accompanied by Beast Soldiers, bipedal mutants who attack like dogs; these are similar to the Red XIII-like Guard Hounds that charge at you, jaws snapping. Deepground’s forces are bolstered by larger, brutish enemies wielding rocket launchers, Buster Sword-like blades, or manning rapid-fire turrets. You’ll also encounter various mechanical enemies, such as spider-like bots that stun you with electrical blasts and lumbering Sweepers, and a handful of monsters, such as the skittering Bizarre Bugs and the trident-wielding lizard men known as Sahagin. Some of these enemies act as mini bosses, especially the larger ones, while variants act as actual bosses. Deepgrounds troops swarm around you on hoverbikes at one point, for example, bashing into you and forcing you to pick them off one at a time. The Guard Hounds are bolstered by the larger Crimson Hound, jetpack-using Shrikes dart around in the skies and are as difficult to target as the teleporting, winged Gargoyles, and you’ll also battle SOLDIER troopers and elite operatives of Deepground who shield themselves with Barrier. Your tactic against most of these is simply to fire at them until they die, switching to your sniper rifle to pick them off from afar or mowing them down with the machine gun, but the elemental Materia can be very handy at wiping out large groups at once and I often had better luck with the melee attacks (when I had the targets in view, of course).

Deepground’s mechs as as much a thorn in your side as their operatives are.

Vincent contends with Deepground’s heavily armoured vehicles at the end of each chapter, with the Dragonfly attack plane and Black Widow mech walker cropping up multiple times throughout the game. When you first face the Dragonfly, it fires with a machine gun and unloads with homing missiles, despotising soldiers into the arena and being felled by Fire without much difficulty. It then reappears as the damaged Dragonfly GL, which also charges at you from the sky, though I made short work of it with the Limit Breaker. It reappears a third and final time in Chapter 11 for the most tedious fight of all. Now joined by Gargoyles and little robots, which must be defeated to farm for resources, the Dragonfly PT constantly stays far out of reach and fires homing shots at you, sweeping around the central building to make for a frustrating target. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble dealing decent damage in this fight. Mako Points pop up as the fight goes on and you absolutely need them to pepper it with Fire and do better damage, but this was a slog of a fight made all the more annoying by the Gargoyles diving at me and the robots zapping me. The Black Widow first appears at the end of Chapter 5, bursting into the Shinra Manor and scuttling across the walls and ceilings. It charges at you, spits bombs, and fires a big laser that’s tough to avoid and is heavily armoured so it can take a while to put it down. Its second variant cannot climb walls as the encounter takes place outside the ransacked WRO headquarters, but it’s supported by Deepground’s forces and now fires missiles from a distance. Two Black Widow TWs are fought in the Shinra building, with one on the floor and one and the ceiling, though they lack their dash attack and are noticeably weaker this time around. Deepground’s elite squad, the Tsviets, are also fought numerous times during the game. The first you’ll battle is Shelke the Transparent, a young girl who attacks with lightsaber-like laser batons. She’s a fast, nimble fighter fought in a claustrophobic location, meaning it can be tricky landing hits and the Limit Breaker is of minimal use since Vincent loses a lot of speed in this form.

Each of the Tsviets has a secondary, often more monstrous form to contend with.

The hulking Azul the Cerulean is fought three times, with the first encounter coming right after your fight with Shelke and being comparatively easy. Though he wields a gigantic cannon, kicks you up close, and causes shockwaves, Azul is painfully slow, a huge target, and the arena is littered with explosive barrels that can whittle his health bar down. When fought in Chapter 9, “Neo Azul” isn’t much different except you’re fighting on an elevator and can use the central pillar for cover. Fire worked well against him here, though you should avoid taking direct hits from his cannon. Defeating him sees him transform into the far more formidable, Behemoth-like “Arch Azul”, a massive beast that charges you, whips with its tail, attacks with its claws, and fires out crystals. Arch Azul is invulnerable to your bullets, meaning you must trick it into smashing pedestals to reveal Mako Points or carry a healthy supply of MP restoring items to stand a chance. Rosso the Crimson is an overall more challenging boss since she’s far faster, the arena you fight her in is much larger, and she can land devastating combos with her lance-like blade. Luckily, a jukebox is on hand for you to replenish your resources and you’ll need them when she gets powered up into “Bloodburst Rosso” and adds a projectile attack to her arsenal, to say nothing of her annoying melee attacks. Though he cuts an intimidating figure, Nero the Sable was actually a bit easier in his first encounter. He flies about using his mechanical wings and fires dual pistols, chopping at your HP with a twirling blade attack and spawning duplicates. Another jukebox turns the tide in your favour and there’s plenty of cover to use to your advantage, and both Fire and the Limit Breaker made this a long but not too difficult fight. The same can’t be said of his horrific transformation into “Arachnero”; in this spider-like form, he’s shielded and fires devastating lasers from four crystals. These must be destroyed to make his shield vulnerable, but you must watch for flaming meteors and a fireball flurry than can basically one-shot you. There’s also no jukebox or resources here so you must stock up on ammo beforehand as you burn through a lot of it just making him vulnerable.

After besting Deepground’s heads, Vincent embraces his darkness and saves the world once more.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the battles continues right after, with Nero becoming “Gorgonero” and teleporting about the floating rocks of the surreal landscape. You’re stuck in one position, have a small window of opportunity to fire at Nero when he appears, and can only land one hit at a time. Be quick as then you can avoid being shot or being sliced with his spinning blade attack, making for a fight that isn’t as hard as Arachnero but can be troublesome if you’re low on ammo (which you probably will be). Upon reaching the finale, you’ll finally battle Deepground’s head honcho, Weiss the Immaculate (who’s actually Professor Hojo in a super-soldier body…or something…) At first, Weiss is totally invulnerable and the fight must be lost, so don’t bother wasting your resources. In the second, Weiss is fast and sports some powerful sword combos, and he is invulnerable when moving. Luckily, there’s a jukebox nearby and it’s not too hard to avoid him and whittle his health down, just tedious and long-winded. Despite Vincent’s best efforts, Omega WEAPON appears and the Planet is placed in mortal peril, forcing Vincent to combine with Chaos and attack the creature (which fuses with Weiss and Nero) head-on. These final sections see Chaos Vincent floating about a devastated landscape, blasting crystalline drones with his Death Penalty before flying through Omega’s innards, avoiding lasers and taking out more crystals. Eventually, you end up in a serene, surreal, water-like landscape where you must dodge transparent barriers and gun down crystalline drones, attacking the Omega Cocoon, which is simple enough. Finally, you’ll face Omega Weiss, a large, floating mess of stone limbs and appendages. Luckily, this fight is ridiculously easy. Simply fire at Omega Weiss, staying far back and avoiding its fists and gunning down its projectiles. Omega Weiss protects itself with a crystalline barrier that it fires at you, but you can simply dash behind it to continue your assault. Weiss even attacks in a ghostly form, but just ignore him and pour it on. Even Omega’s devastating Omega Meteor can be survived without too much trouble, making this a surprisingly anti-climactic final boss topped only by the abrupt ending.

Additional Features:
There are three “G” reports scattered throughout Dirge of Cerberus’ missions. They’re pretty well hidden, too, as I didn’t find a single one and couldn’t be bothered to follow a guide, mainly because all you get is a slightly extended ending where Genesis Rhapsodos appears for an unresolved cliffhanger. Aside from that, there are additional accessories and barrels for your weapons to be found that can change the way you play, and you’ll also unlock both “Extra Hard” mode after clearing the game and a mission select screen from the main menu. Playing through the game also unlocks the cinematics in the theatre mode, a character viewer, sound test, and art gallery. There’s also a tutorial mode to play through (recommended for first-time players) and additional timed missions to unlock (presumably by getting decent grades in the game’s main missions). These recycle the game’s environments and enemies and stick you with a pre-set loadout, which can make even simple missions tough when you’re used to playing with a more capable Vincent. You also get a final overall grade and the Japanese version includes an online multiplayer component, though I’ve no idea how this worked. Sadly, that’s about it. There aren’t any collectibles to find and there’s little incentive to replay missions unless you want to S-rank everything and earn a grand total of nothing for your efforts.

The Summary:
I’ve played Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII before, back when I had a backwards compatible PlayStation 3, and I remember it taking me a long time to get through it and finding it visually engaging but a bit confusing and frustrating at times. These criticisms still ring true today, and it’s a shame as I am a big fan of Vincent Valentine and this genre of videogame. Unfortunately, the third-person elements aren’t implemented very well; the gunplay is weak and unsatisfying and Vincent’s melee attacks are wild and reckless. The game lacks the polish of a Devil May Cry, which was enjoyable to play largely because the combat was so slick and entertaining to engage with. Vincent is surprisingly ungainly, struggling to navigate his environments and handicapped by barriers and obstacles. The gunplay is subpar, for the most part, and made frustrating by the lack of ammo and reliance upon earning Gil to restock. The RPG elements are poorly implemented, too, with Vincent never really feeling that much stronger and the focus on weighing down weapons reducing your options considerably in stressful situations. While it’s great to see the Final Fantasy VII crew back in action, the story is absolutely bonkers. It seems simple enough but then you look at the Tsviets and hear them talk and every cutscene just gets further and further away from what made Final Fantasy VII so memorable. I enjoyed seeing flashbacks to Vincent’s past, though, and wonder if the game might’ve been better if you’d alternated between controlled Turk-Vincent and present day Vincent, scaling back the Tsviets and Deepground guys to focus on battling more familiar Shinra enemies. The game looks great when you can actually see what’s happening (an old school television may help with this) and Gackt’s offerings are great, but I think it was a mistake not to include more sections where you play as Vincent’s friends. Like, why not control Barret Wallace for the gunship section? I really wanted to enjoy Dirge of Cerberus more than I did but it was a bit of a chore to play. The moment-to-moment gameplay gets repetitive, enemies quickly become frustrating, and the manual nature of the mechanics gets tiresome, resulting in an experience that’s confusing, at best, and forgettable at worst.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII? Is Vincent Valentine one of your favourite Final Fantasy VII characters? How do you think the game compares to the likes of Devil May Cry? Were you able to follow the story and what did you think to the Deepground newcomers? Did you beat the game on Extra Hard mode and unlock all the Extra Missions? Would you have liked to see the other Final Fantasy VII characters be playable here? Which game in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII was your favourite? Whatever you thought to Dirge of Cerberus and Final Fantasy VII in general, comment below and then check out my other Final Fantasy content.

Mini Game Corner: Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (PlayStation 4)

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Released: 11 January 2018
Originally Released: 26 November 2015
Developer: Team Ninja
Also Available For: Arcade, PC, and PlayStation 5

A Brief Background:
With over seventeen mainline games, the Final Fantasy franchise has been a staple of the role-playing genre since its 1987 debut, popularising and largely defining role-playing games (RPGs) for generations of players. Not only has the franchise dabbled in more action/adventure mechanics, the Final Fantasy series has also produced a wide array of spin-off titles, including real-time strategies, mini games, and their characters featured in obscure polygonal fighter Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring (DreamFactory, 1998). In 2008, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise, Square Enix officially brought Final Fantasy into the fighting genre with Dissidia Final Fantasy, an RPG-inspired action fighter that gathered the franchise’s most recognisable heroes and villains and became a critical and commercial success for Sony’s oft-forgotten handheld, the PlayStation Portable (PSP). This release was expanded upon three years later with the release of Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, a combination prequel, sequel, and enhanced version of the original game. Reviews largely praised the expanded mechanics and additional fan service, and it was later followed by a three-on-three arcade spin-off. Developed by Team Ninja and including characters from the franchise’s latest releases. Dissidia NT’s arcade success led to an enhanced home console port, one that included all previous fighters and was equally praised, despite its chaotic combat.

My Progression:
I had a great time playing the two Dissidia games back when I had a PSP so I jumped at the chance to experience this high-definition version of the game. While far removed from the traditional turn-based gameplay of the series (and even its more modern, action-orientated slant), the Dissidia series has always been a great tribute to the franchise, bringing together some of its more iconic characters and locations in a suitably convoluted battle between the forces of good and evil. Dissidia NT is similar in this respect, featuring champions of light and dark battling for cosmic entities Materia and Spiritus and retaining some of the same gameplay mechanics, but with a very different presentation. The most noticeable difference is that the game is a three-on-three fighter, which immediately brings it down a notch in my eyes. I’ve never liked this sub-genre of fighting games and it really annoys me how many titles have succumbed to this formula. In Dissidia NT, it seems to have been implemented towards online play; you’re supposed to battle online with and against friends, earning clout and points and such and communicating using text/chat features. However, single player components are present, though there’s no way to have a simple one-on-one experience as in the previous games. This impacts the game’s mechanics and difficulty, especially as arenas are large and occasionally troublesome to navigate. You must beat each member of the opposing team (or destroy their “core” in what’s essentially a capture the flag mode) to achieve victory. You do this by targeting either an opponent or their team’s core with L2 or R2, dashing towards them by holding R1 (which lasts as long as your stamina bar), and attacking with either Circle, Square, or Triangle in conjunction with movements of the left stick. Circle unleashes one of three “Bravery” attacks that deplete your foe’s Bravery points and will eventually “break” them, which is your time to strike with Square. Square attacks deplete your opponent’s Health Point (HP) and you can hold Circle or Square to charge these and make your attacks more powerful, but you can only have one HP attack equipped at a time. Triangle gives you access to your two “EX Skills”, which provides buffs to you and your teammates or lays traps for your foes.

Engage in chaotic battles against some of Final Fantasy‘s most iconic characters.

You also have a few defensive options. L1 lets you guard, side step, and parry attacks, you can jump (and double jump) with X, and run up trees and walls. You can use Circle to revive a teammate if you’re fast enough, refill HP and boost Bravery with certain EX Skills, perform “cancels” and air and ground recoveries, and attack “Summon” stones to build a meter. Once full, you’ll unleash a Summon, a powerful creature from Final Fantasy lore that impacts the entire battlefield, unleashing powerful attacks, obscuring the screen, draining Bravery, and applying other buffs. Your enemies can do the same, but it’s often not too difficult to stay out of the Summon’s attack range. What is difficult, though, is chasing down and attacking your foes. The camera swings around wildly, you must often hop up obstacles, and your opponent’s either dash away at high speed, seem to fly or hover above you indefinitely, and you’ll get blasted from behind and all angles without warning. Every battle is contested within a time limit, which adds to the pressure, and carries a difficulty rating ranging from Bronze to Gold and above. Winning harder battles awards more Gil to spend in the shop, more experience points to level-up and become stronger, and other treasures (usually player icons and chat messages but also character skins). Each character has a “type”, such as “Assassin” or “Marksman”, and favours certain attacks. Rinoa Heartilly, for example, attacks with her canine companion, Kefka Palazzo favours ranged magic attacks, and Shantotto is small and agile. Many characters utilise swords or blades, but even then their attacks and styles are vastly different: Cloud Strife, for example, attacks slower than Zidane Tribal, while Squall Leonhart utilises explosive sword swings and the Warrior of Light attacks with a more traditional sword and shield. As you level-up, your characters learn new attacks, adding ranged or close quarters abilities to their repertoire, as well as making them tougher and faster. Unfortunately, battles quickly become a noisy mess of visuals, notifications, and distractions. I found a decent rhythm targeting one enemy, dealing damage, and then switching to another and cycling between them, attacking cores as needed, and even then I’d be battered about like a ragdoll from offscreen attacks and unexpected Summons.

You’ll need to grind for hours in repetitive battles just to unlock the Story Mode’s cutscenes!

Dissidia NT comes with a comprehensive tutorial in which a helpful Moogle walks you through every aspect of the game and you can also review attacks and stats from the pause menu and before each battle. Summons are gifted seemingly at random and can be picked before a battle; you can customise your player card and profile; and you can purchase music, icons, and various bits and pieces from the shop. The game does boast a story mode but it’s sadly a massive step back compared to the last two games, which were very story driven and mixed up different characters in fun ways in seemingly never-ending battles against “puppet” copies of the cast. In Dissidia NT, story mode is handicapped by the “memoria” system. You can only earn memoria by levelling-up, so you must participate in numerous online or offline battles to gain levels and progress in the story mode. Looking at the story map in this mode, there are at least thirty “nodes” to unlock, so you’ll need to level-up at least that much to experience it, and many of these nodes simply unlock nonsensical cutscenes where the characters wander about and ruminate on their cycle of conflict. When you finally unlock a “Battle Trial”, you’ll have to pick from three pre-set characters to fight and will unlock this for the “Gauntlet” mode. This is where you’ll waste spend most of your time winning successive battles to gain levels and treasures, basically meaning you need to grind away for hours just to unlock a cutscene and see the Onion Knight (why he’s not called Luneth is beyond me) striking out with the likes of Y’shtola Rhul. This is extremely tiresome and killed my excitement for the game; I just wanted to blast through the story mode, expecting it to be a chapter-based affair told from the perspective of the heroes and villains. Instead, I was forced to grind away in tiresome battles to level-up, only to limp my way towards two story-based battles where I couldn’t even play as my go-to characters, Cloud and Leon.

Continue?
I was so disappointed to find that Dissidia NT is geared more towards online play and monotonous grinding than providing a compelling fighting experience. It’s doubly disappointing after completing the first two games and expecting more of the same, only to be met by a chaotic three-on-three brawler that restricts you with its arcade sensibilities. The game is a mess of tutorials, messages, mechanics, and instructions, with your allies and Moogle helper constantly banging on. Battlefields become difficult to navigate thanks to obstacles, destructible elements, and being far too big at times. It makes sense given the expanded roster but it makes it very difficult to chase after your target when your stamina drains so quickly and they just stay up in the air for ages. It’s a shame as the game does look great, characters are all represented faithfully, sporting unique EX Skill animations (Zidane and Kuja enter “Trance”, Cloud and Sephiroth have “Limit Breaks”, etc) and skins (Jecht goes shirtless, Cloud sports his Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Nomua, 2005) attire, and Cloud of Darkness takes a more monstrous form), and fun characterisations (Shantotto is always rhyming, Kefka is bat-shit crazy, Squall relies on his internal monologue, and Noctis Lucis Caelum is perpetually confused). The game’s arenas and music are pulled from each of the mainline titles but, this time, even Final Fantasy Tactics (Square, 1997) and Final Fantasy Type-O (Square Enix 1st Production Department, 2011) are represented. You’ll battle in the plains of Cornelia, the purple throne room of Pandaemonium, within the crystalline Interdimensional Rift, on the streets of Midgar, and outside the Royal City of Rabanastre, amongst others. Some stages have destructible or interactable elements; others have little Easter Eggs in the background. Each battle is preceded with some banter between the two teams and ends with either a victory pose (and the traditional fanfare) or your crushing defeat. Rewards are bestowed even in defeat and you’ll unlock new characters and Summons as your progress (or part with your hard-earned cash).

Bigger battles and customisation options are available…if you put in the time or money.

Looking ahead, it seems there are fifty-seven panels to unlock in Story Mode, with most of them being cutscenes. Despite Spiritus being prominent to the story, clashing with Materia and desiring the same level of the destruction as the demonic Chaos, he’s not fought in this mode. Instead, your final battle is against the ancient dragon god Shinryu, a gigantic creature that sports two intimidating forms. You’ll also take part in battles against the game’s Summons, meaning your team will go head-to-head with the likes of Bahamut, Ifrit, and Shiva, which all looks thrilling, but I can’t see myself bothering to grind up the nearly sixty levels to unlock all these battles. While some characters are unlockable, Materia and Spiritus aren’t among them and you must part with your real-world money to add to the roster (though, again, there’s little incentive as the game’s so shallow and repetitive). I’m sure the online and multiplayer functions are fun, but I wasn’t impressed enough by the single player modes to test them out. There are also fifty-six Trophies to unlock here, granting you rewards for spending memoria, claiming treasure, completing Story Trials, and winning ranked matches. Unfortunately, as good as the game looks and as smooth as most of the gameplay is, Dissidia NT just doesn’t live up to the standards of its predecessors. There was a real opportunity here to present the gameplay of the portable games in a high-def, arcade-style, all-action brawler. Throw in three-on-three battles as a side mechanic, if you must, but focus on one-on-one gameplay as a priority. Similarly, I get wanting to be an online experience but…is it really too much to ask for a simple ten to twelve-fight tournament mode? Fighting games have been doing that since at least 1991 and I don’t think it’s too much to ask to have that thrown in here. Hell, the developers could’ve made things easier for themselves by just using basic cutscenes for intros and endings rather than the middling, muddled up cinematics you work so hard to unlock here.

But maybe I’m missing the point. Maybe Dissidia NT is a thrilling online experience. Perhaps the battles get easier and more enjoyable once you’re gotten past Level 20. Maybe the Summon battles are worth all that effort. Perhaps you enjoyed the three-on-three experience? If that’s the case, let me know in the comments and go check out my other Final Fantasy content.