Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising

Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ

The expansion pack to Dawn of War 2 picks up where the previous game left off, the Blood Ravens saved Aurelia sector from the invading Tyranids but now find themselves sieged by the Chaos Space Marines' Black Legion.

If you finished the original Dawn of War 2 you can import your saved game, allowing you to start off with better gear and at a slightly higher level, it's a nice feature but it's not mandatory as your old gear quickly becomes outdated due to power creep.

At first not a lot has changed in the campaign's gameplay as you're only given a few new locales as well as a new unit to control, the Psyker Jonah whose role is similar to that of a spellcaster. As the story progresses you learn of missions and combat gear that can either corrupt or purify your squads. Depending on how these are played out, the plot will branch somewhat and can even result in one of your officers betraying you.

Unfortunately this corruption/purity mechanic is severely underplayed, even while playing on the hardest difficulty I never felt pressured to follow either side. Considering how one of the characters keeps warning you how the forces are chaos can easily corrupt any man I was expecting missions with catch-22 type objectives, difficult moral choices or really, anything that would 'force' the player to become corrupted, but those never occurred. 

Even worse is the fact this campaign is painfully short, the original Dawn of War 2 took me two to three time longer to finish and while the different endings and slight branching paths bring some replay value, I'd sooner recommend you just watch these on YouTube.

I also didn't really like how most of your missions are relegated to you fighting Chaos Space Marines, the Orks, Eldar and Tyranids barely make an appearance and when they do it often comes with a really flimsy excuse plot-wise. Despite all this, the developers did try to mix it up a bit, one of the new areas has you doing missions in a Space Hulk! Sure it played just like every mission, but as a fan of the old Space Hulk videogame (I never played the boardgame) I loved walking around in terminator armor gunning down genestealers.

Multiplayer-wise very little has changed other than the addition of the Chaos faction and a new unit or two for every army, though none of it matters considering Games For Windows Live will shut down next year, ending any possible multiplayer interaction with it.

Overall, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising is a nice enough expansion, it had great ideas and its heart is in the right place, but the campaign is too short, the corruption mechanic is underdeveloped and while I appreciate the different endings, they're not really enough to warrant a second playthrough. Still it is a nice addition to original game, if you enjoyed Dawn of War 2 chances are you'll enjoy this one, if you didn't care for it or were on the fence, I doubt there's anything here that will sway you.

Pros:

- Same tactical gameplay, albeit somewhat improved
- Slight branching paths and different endings encourage replay value
- Corruption/Purity mechanic can be interesting at times...

Cons:

- ...but it's underdeveloped

- Short campaign
- Orks, Eldar and Tyranids are mostly forgotten in the campaign

Final Grade: B-

Packaging review to come soon

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Developer: Relic Entertainment

Publisher: THQ

Played on: Dawn of War 2 Complete Collection

The original Dawn of War was a fun game though a bit low on content, but, once all three expansion packs were installed, the sheer ammount of content coupled with the perfectly balanced gameplay turned into one of my favorite games in the genre.

Now, rather than making yet another expansion (which I'd be perfectly fine with) they decided to launch a full-fledged sequel... which I'm also perfectly fine with.

The story is completely unrelated to the previous Dawn of War games, here, you assume the role of a silent character commanding a different chapter of the Blood Ravens who must battle an invasion from Orks, Eldar and for the first time ever in the series, the Tyranids. I didn't care much for the plot itself, but I definitely enjoyed the character interactions as your squad leaders didn't always see eye to eye with their comrades or other outside forces.

Plot isn't the only aspect where Dawn of War 2 breaks away from the prequel as the gameplay is now radically different, especially in the single player campaign. For starters, there's absolutely no resource collecting or unit production in the campaign mode, they are however available in the multiplayer modes, but even then there's still no base building. instead, when tackling the campaign, you will control a limited number of squads in a gameplay mix of RTS with dungeon crawler. This means each squad acts as a different 'class' as they level up, are assigned stats and equipped with better gear. 

You can assume a total of 6 squadrons though you can only take four with you, this army size limitation forces you to think tactically as you try to complete each objective and I was very surprised at how flexible your teams were. Depending on the gear, teams and stats chosen, I could easily shift between a heavy attack force capable of dealing high damage to most enemy types, or change to a nimble and stealthy approach. Should one of your squads be destroyed you can easily revive its sergeant, though you'll have to capture specific points if you want to recover any other lost soldiers.

I did get to play a bit of the campaign through co-op, but I didn't much care for this mode. I was expecting the second player to bring in squad reinforcements, but instead, all it does is halve the available units for each. Needless to say, if you're not perfectly in tune with your co-op buddy chances are the game just got a lot more difficult.

At first I found the game quite boring, but the campaign really picked up in intensity as you're given sets of story based missions coupled with randomly generated side-missions that need to be completed in a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, there aren't there aren't a lot of maps or objectives to accomplish so repetition does set in quite quickly as you find yourself running through the same locations killing the same enemies over and over.

Over on the multiplayer side of things the game changes to a more somewhat typical RTS style. While there is still no base building, you can capture various points throughout the map that automatically collect resources which can in turn be used to purchase or upgrade units. Despite this gameplay change, you have a population cap of a mere 10 squads per player, and considering there are no modes featuring more than 3 on 3 skirmishes, the battles will always at a small/medium scale. 

Dawn of War 2's most dire issue isn't in the game though. Instead it's in the online services it uses, namely Games For Windows Live which will be shut down in July of 2014 and with it goes any chance of online interaction with other players.

Overall I quite enjoyed Dawn of War 2, though the game is far from perfect. The campaign is fun but it becomes a bit repetitive, you can play it in co-op if you want but I'd really advise against it. The competitive online portions on the other hand are very fun but feel like an entirely different game altogether. Unfortunately as stated before, Games For Windows Live will shut down next year and with it, any chance of online play, so yes, I'm making the decision of including the end of GFWL as a con in the review.

Pros:

- Fun and enticing tactical gameplay that's easy to learn and hard to master
- Campaign is a nice mix of RTS and Diablo style gameplay
- Competitive Online modes feel entirely different, but are still very fun

Cons:

- Campaign gets repetitive after a while

- Co-op mode isn't very fun
- When Games for Windows Live shuts down all multiplayer mode will be gone forever

Final Grade: B

Packaging review to come soon

Manx TT Superbike

Developer: Sega AM3/Sega-AM4/Tantalus Interactive
Publisher: Sega

If there’s one genre where Sega dominated back in the mid 90s that would have to be the 3D arcade racer and Manx TT Superbike was no exception.

I’m just going to say it: The arcade feel and gameplay of Manx TT Superbike is perfect! The speed, the flow, the racing it’s extremely fun and addicting with that “one more race” factor. 

Adding to the wonderful gameplay are the colorful graphics, these are not all that great on a technical level due to low polygon models and 2D trees and buildings, but are still very pretty to look at thanks to mix of colors and general summer/spring feel of the game, however, I did notice some slight frame rate hiccups now and again, though nothing too serious.

The soundtrack is mostly composed of rock tunes which do a good job at getting you pumped and ready to go, though when I reached speeds of upwards of 190MPH my bike starting sounding more like a vacuum cleaner… that was kind of weird.

Unfortunately for all the praise I just gave the game I have one major issue, there’s only two tracks! Oh sure there’s also a mirrored version of said tracks and I admit, it’s kinda neat seeing these from a reversed perspective, but really, once you master the regular version it’ll likely only take you one or two tries to dominate its mirrored counterpart.

There are a few other modes like the superbike challenge or the time trial modes, but really these add very little in the way of replay value, so far the best the biggest drive I get to replay it (other than the gameplay that is) is to beat the dreaded superbike, an NPC player with an overpowered bike, that’s faster and handles better than anyone else’s.

Overall, I freaking love the gameplay here, but really, there’s only enough content here to last you two days if that. With that said, this is my default Saturn game, it’s the perfect title for when you have 5 minutes to kill, but anything over that and you’ll likely get tired of the same two tracks over and over. A shame too, there was potential for an A+ here.

Pros:

- Attractive, colorful graphics
- Fast and addicting gameplay
- While a bit limited, the Soundtrack is pretty nice

Cons:

- Only two tracks (four if you count the mirrored tracks)

- Very little replay value once you finish in first place
- Bike models are very low poly

Final Grade: B-

I generally don't like mid 90s CGI covers, but on the other hand I am a sucker for pleasing vibrant colors and this one is chock full of them!

Inside you'll find a pretty barebones manual, it starts off by telling you something about Norse kings gutting their defeated foes to please Odin and I'm really not sure how any of this is related to bikes. Outside of that weird introduction it explains you how to play the game and what each mode does, though it doesn't tell you too much, likely because there's not that much to talk about to begin with. It also doesn't really help the manual is in black and white with extremely minimal decorative art on the bottom right and left corners.

I did like the "coming soon" section as it showed off the box art for Torico, Mass Destruction, Saturn Bomber Man and Fighters Megamix, though a few screenshots would've been nice

Overall the manual is a bit disappointing, but the cover is pleasing and it does come in a sturdy late-life plastic Saturn casing, so it's not all bad.

Packaging Grade: C+

Yakuza

Developer: Sega
Publisher:  Sega

I remember reading a magazine preview of Yakuza back in the day labeling it as “Sega’s GTA”. Now considering how I stopped caring for Rockstar’s flagship franchise once the series evolved to 3D I ended up ignoring Yakuza, expecting it to be more of the same, much to my detriment.

You play as Kazuma Kyriu, once the most feared yakuza member in the entire Tojo clan, but fell into disgrace after being wrongfully accused of murdering his own boss and spending 10 years in prison. When he’s finally, Kazuma discovers the Tokyo clans are on the brink of civil war due to the disappearance of 20 billion yen from their hidden stash.

As the game begins you’re prompted to explore Tokyo’s fictional Kamurocho district, which is a series of neighborhoods filled with bars, strip clubs, stores, thugs, gangs, yakuza and just about everything else you can imagine. While the general area is relatively small when compared to other sandbox games or even RPGs it makes up for it by being so damn interesting and detailed. Every neighborhood feels different from the last, you can read magazines, watch commercials and have a few drinks, all of which are from real products and brands though most of them are exclusive to Japan. Still, I recognized a few western products like Jack Daniels whisky. You can’t really interact with random NPCs though, nor can you steal or even drive a car, as when exploring Kamurocho, most of the action is relegated to select areas with specific tasks or NPCs to talk to.

There are a ton of shops you can visit, many of them with their own mini-games which can range from baseball batting cages, gambling or even hostess bars where you pay for the time and opportunity to court a woman (wait, what?). These are pretty fun at first, but a lot of them quickly become stale or the rewards are simply not worth the time/money investment especially in regards to the hostesses. I ended up spending nearly 100K on one of them with the ultimate reward being a small animation implying Kazuma slept with her… big whoop.

When you’re not exploring the town it’s likely you’re engaged in combat, this can happen as part of a story/side mission or by random thugs accosting you, which happens way too often. The combat is really fun, playing like a 3D Streets of Rage, you can perform combos, grab your enemies or even use weapons which can be bought or found lying around on the floor and as you beat thug after thug you gain experience points which can be spent on learning new moves or just generally improving your stats. 

Unfortunately as fun as the combat is, it happens way too often to the point of it almost feeling series of random encounters. In one instance I was attacked by three groups in the same street! To make matters worse there’s a loading screen between battles, streets and shops, slowing down the pacing quite a bit. Combat isn’t perfect either as I often ran into camera issues where I couldn’t see myself and/or the enemies, also, it could’ve benefited from a lock-on feature as I often found myself punching the air simply because I was facing the at the wrong angle. 

The story for the most part is pretty good, even if it hinges quite a bit on the soap-opera side. It features plenty of interesting and unique characters, but many of them, as well as the situations themselves are often so over-exaggerated that it feels like I’m watching a Naruto anime (e.g. at one point your character punches someone through the floor). My real gripe with its story however lies with the complete lack of self-restraint towards the later chapters, it throws you a bunch of plot twists and everything just keeps escalating to point where it simply becomes a bit too ludicrous for my taste, though I did enjoy the relationship between Kazuma and his friends, especially detective Date.

It even features a pretty impressive cast of well-established voice actors such as Mark Hamill (Batman: TAS) and John DiMaggio (Futurama) but you wouldn’t have guessed it by the performances we got, with the exception of Mark Hamill’s Majima everyone sounds so bored and lifeless. If I had to guess I’d say all of the actors were given zero voice direction, but hey, that’s just my opinion.

Graphically I was pretty impressed with Yakuza, the city is beautiful to look at both artistically and on a technical level with tons of Neon lights, billboards and dozens of NPCs leading their daily lives though at times I did notice some light texture warping and a seaming issues. I’m surprised to see the latter is still an issue considering this is a late PS2 release.

On the sound department is certainly doesn’t win any prizes, apart from the previously mentioned voice acting there are only a handful of songs and I got tired of the battle music way too fast. I also noticed a few ambient sounds looping every 3 seconds or so especially when visiting K-mart, but these were in the minority as almost every other place did a good job at disguising this.

Overall I feel Yakuza is a much better game than I originally thought. While it can be seen as a GTA-style game I would argue this is a shallow comparison at best. The story, combat and exploration are fun, but they’re all poorly balanced, with too much combat, a plot that goes overboard towards the end and an abundance of mini-games where the rewards are hardly ever worth the time invested.

Trivia: Did you know many of the brands and even some of the shops we see in Yakuza exist in real life? Due to the game's expensive development process Sega secured several tie-in campaigns ranging from the Don Quijote discount stores to Jack Daniels adds.

Pros:

- Fun combat
- The city is small but interesting and very detailed
- The story is pretty good for the most part
- Plenty of mini-games to keep you entertained

Cons:

- Gameplay becomes repetitive after a while

- You'll encounter loading screens a bit too often for my taste
- Towards the latter chapters the story jumps the shark
- With so few worthwhile rewards, the mini-games feel meaningless

Final Grade: B-

The box shows our main character with his back turned to the viewer and displaying his Yakuzatattoo. While the idea itself is a bit on the boring side the nice use of color in the tattoo makes up for this turning it into a pretty eye-catchy box art.

When reading the manual I was surprised at the lack of backstory information or character backgrounds, all you get is a short paragraph that sounds more like a tagline than it does an actual backstory. 

On the flip-side the booklet goes into great detail on how to play the game. It gives you a ton of information, screenshots, tips and NPCs to talk to. On the rim of each of each even numbered page is a different Yakuza styled tattoo, while the designs end up repeating themselves they do a good job at making the manual feel unique and part of the experience, unfortunately the entire booklet is in black and white though, so while it makes for a nice read the eye candy is a bit muffled.

Overall this is a pretty nice package, I liked the cover image and while it doesn't come with any extras a lot of effort was put into the manual, a shame that it comes in black and white and lacks backstory information.

Packaging Grade: B+

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist

Developer: Konami
Publisher:  Konami

As a kid I used to love the Ninja Turtles (the 80s-90s cartoon, in case you’re wondering), I remember a friend of mine had Turtles in Time for the SNES and we were hooked. Much to my surprise, I only discovered its Genesis/Mega Drive counterpart well into the 00’s.

So with that said, how does it compare to the mythical turtles in time and how does it stand on its own? It’s okay I guess.

The game opens up with an awesome cheesy intro, the Shredder who has attained a powerful artifact called the Hyperstone, using its power he magically shrinks Manhattan Island and announces his plan to take over the world (what else?).

You then take control of one of four turtles and face off against Shredder, Krang and their hordes of robotic food soldiers in a very by-the-numbers beat’em up. I don’t really like how there’s no in-game prompt for each of the character’s stats, sure I’d likely still end up playing as Rafael, but I’d at least know his strengths. 

On the gameplay side I’ve always found the turtles games too simple for their own good and this one is no exception, for starters there are absolutely no weapon pickups, to make matters worse, your moves are also rather limited, you have the basic moves, a throwing technique and a special short ranged attack that consumes health. Considering Final Fight and Streets of Rage were old news by the time this came out, you would think Konami would’ve added something to stand out from the crowd. The boss fights are pretty fun though, they provide a pretty good challenge and demand a bit of pattern memorization, though it has an odd boss selection, you get Rocksteady but no Bebop. You also get to fight Tatsu, remember him from the movies? He’s something of a novelty, though personally I’d pick Bebop over him any day.

Hyperstone Heist is also short… really short, it has a paltry 5 levels, one of which is a glorified boss rush mode. Oddly enough some of the levels run a little too long for their own good, repeating the same scenery over and over. It probably would’ve been better if the game featured 7 medium sized levels instead. I also don’t really get the progression, one moment you’re in New York and the next you’re in a pirate ghost ship (huh?). 

Graphically the game is quite pleasant, the characters are well animated and the mix of colors for the enemies and backgrounds is a bit dark, but works really well, you can also select whether you want the turtles to resemble the cartoon or their comic book selves, which is a pretty nice touch.

The soundtrack does a good job at complementing the graphical style, it uses a lot of the same tunes from Turtles in Time making for a pretty interesting comparison of the Genesis and the Snes’ sound chips. Unfortunately the voice effects are pretty high pitched and scratchy, but that’s my only complaint in this department.

Overall I can’t help but feel Hyperstone Heist doesn’t live up to its potential, it looks good, sound good and it has a perfect hit detection, but by the time this was out the genre had already evolved and I feel Konami didn’t get memo.

Pros:

- Engaging boss fights
- Graphically it looks pretty good
- Some nice tunes

Cons:

- Very few character moves, no weapon pick ups

- Only 5 levels and one of them is really just a boss rush mode
- Even by beat'em up standards the gameplay becomes a bit repetitive when compared to other games of its time

Final Grade: C+

Unfortunately, this is one of those rare cases where I only own a loose cartridge so I can't really review the packaging.

I will say I like the cartridge art, it has a nice use of colors and the turtles look just like their cartoon counterparts.


Packaging Grade: N/A

Contra: Hardcorps

Developer: Konami
Publisher:  Konami

Holy cow this game is amazing! I had heard some people saying it wasn't quite as good as previous Contra games, mostly due to an unbalanced difficulty and there being simply too much stuff on the screen. Well, I wholeheartedly disagree! This is in my opinion the best classic contra game I have ever played!

It's like the developers deconstructed Contra 3: The Alien Wars, took out what didn't work like the overhead mode 7 stages (yes, I know the Genesis wasn't technically capable of doing those anyway), kept what DID to add everything else they could think of! 

You can now choose between four characters, but these aren't just skins, each character has a different arsenal, you'll also run across branching paths, these will change the levels you play, the ending and even the final boss with a total of six endings! That's just a ton of content for a 16 bit Contra game, hell, it's a ton of content for any Contra game but the craziness doesn't stop there, there's a secret area on level 3 where you get to fight a robotic alien version of Simon Belmont from Castlevania and if you beat him along with two extra bosses you're propelled into pre-historic times and become the king of the apes with your very own ape queen! I swear I did not make this up. Hell if you do this as Sheena she STILL marries a female ape (could she be the first lesbian character in gaming?). 

You also get a storyline as told by either briefings before each mission or a short cutscene at the beginning/end of each mission. I understand these were needed for the branching paths feature, but I wish they gave you an option to skip the dialog.

I've talked so much about the game already but I haven't even gotten into the gameplay itself, which is in a word: a-freaking-mazing! It's like Contra 3 on steroids, no matter where you are there's always a ton of enemies trying to kill you, but luckily they all die with one hit, when you do get stronger foes the game is kind enough to keep them at a manageable amount. 

Much like Contra 3, you can switch between your weapons at any time, but instead of two weapon slots you now get 4. This time however, you can't jump and use two of them at the same time like you could in its SNES counterpart, you do however get a slide move, which makes you invulnerable for the second or two it takes to finish the move. Lastly, the title is chalk full with bosses and mini bosses so it's generally a good idea to stockpile as many weapons and bombs as you can for these.

Whereas Contra 3 went for a more realistic art-style, Harcorps adopts a more cartoony (or should I say anime?) style. Everything is very colorful and exaggerated, the enemies are often very goofy looking, in this regard it doesn't actually feel like a Contra game. Despite that the art-style works very well. I especially love the explosions, they just keep going, in other games, when you kill a big baddy you see random ball of fire popping up, here it's like they dance around the enemy circling it, stretching and compressing, it's crazy. 

You're also treated to some very impressive 3D effects, my favorite being the bike boss fight where you're running down a quasi-3D road. The only issue I had with the graphics were the relatively small character sprites with very little detail on them. Heck, Sheena doesn't even have a face!

The music will likely be hit or miss for most, it's all very techno with a few "silly" tunes thrown in. At first I didn't much care for these but eventually they grew on me and now the first level song always gets me pumped. I loved the techno remix of the classic Castlevania theme, that was a nice touch. 

Sound effects are also a bit hit and miss, the explosions sound loud and distorted but it works really well, the gun effects however sound kind of weak, though the absolute worst are the voice overs, all of them are scratch, distorted and sound sped up, it's just weird to listen to.

Overall Contra: Hardcorps is an amazing game, it's fast, furious, full of content and replay value, it's Contra on steroids and it's the best run and gun game on the Genesis.

Trivia: Did you know the PAL version of Contra: Hardcorps is simply called Probotector and replaces all of the characters with robots? It also removes at least one of the endings. Now you know why I imported this version.

Pros:

- The action is fast and extremely addicting
- A lot of gameplay variety
- Tons of content and replay value with 4 characters and 6 endings
- While I didn't care for it at first, the soundtrack really grew on me
- Nice colorful graphics with some very impressive 3D effects
- Great weapon control

Cons:

- Character sprites are small and could've used more detail

- Some of the sound effects are pretty weak, voices sound really scratchy
- The music and overall graphical style is a big departure from earlier Contra games

Final Grade: A

For the most part I like the boxart here, you see one of the characters firing an exaggerated gun at giant robot, the colors and detail on the characters and backgrounds are quite nice but what is going on with his legs? They're bent in an impossible position, how is he even standing? It's like he's made of a soft rubber.

The manual is definitely above average by Genesis standards, it tells you a bit of the backstory, teaches you how to play the game and even has a few character profiles. All of this is supplemented with either screenshots or character art, unfortunately they're all in black and white. I also have to wonder how Sheena's design got past the censors, I've seen bikinis that cover more than what she's wearing.

Overall not a bad a packaging at all, I'm glad it came in a plastic box rather instead of those cheap and flimsy late Genesis cardboard boxes

Packaging Grade: B

Tiny Toons Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure

Developer: Konami

Publisher: Konami

I was never that big of a Tiny Toons fan, I remember I'd just rather watch the old classic cartoons, though I did love Animaniacs though, as well as the Pinky and the Brain spin-off. Now with that said, is this 16 bit interpretation of the cartoon any good? In a word: meh.

The game has you control Buster (and only Buster) who looks like a younger blue haired Bugs Bunny, he controls like a mix of Mario and Sonic, basically, his jumps and enemy types are similar to Nintendo's plumber, but his speed and momentum work very similarly to Sega's Mascot.

Now, I have no problem with a game "ripping off" another title, but Tiny Toons doesn't seem to understand WHY certain features are fun or how they're supposed to be implemented. Yes, you can run like Sonic, but placing instant death spikes as soon as you reach top speeds or placing hard to see cans on the ground that make you trip and lose momentum are not good level design, they grind the game's pacing to a halt. Buster can jump like Mario, but there are no power ups, making the platforming sections rather basic, our rabbit can however wall-jump, but this rarely comes into play.

Another idea brought over from Nintendo was the overworld, which serves as a flashy elaborate level select screen, but once again, Konami seemed to have missed the point on WHY this feature worked so well for Mario. For starters, there are no secret levels (at least not to my knowledge), also, you can't pause the game to quit a level and go back to the level select screen, so I tried to kill myself but that only brought me back to last checkpoint I crossed, meaning if you want to return to world map, you have to completely waste all of your lives/reset the game and then punch in a password (there's no save feature).

Oh and speaking of passwords, if you want to view it, you'll also have to waste all of your lives, at one point I had to kill myself 7 times just so I could save my progress, what kind of bull*censored* is that?

Graphically the game has some nice spots here and there, I like the cartoony animation and some backgrounds look really good, I especially loved the sonic-inspired stages with the nice, lush forests and lakes, but then you have certain levels which feature boring, static backgrounds.

The game's soundtrack is quite nice if a bit repetitive, I liked its rendition of the Tiny Toons theme and while the other tunes aren't quite as memorable they are good enough.

Overall, Tiny Toons: Buster's Hidden Treasure isn't a bad game, but it's also not what I'd call good, I picked it up for cheap having no expectations for it and what I got was an "average" game, it can be fun in short bursts but any  more than that and it becomes too derivative for its own good. It tried to mix and match several gameplay aspects from both Sonic and Mario but it seemed to have missed the point of what made them fun. Oh Well, it's a decent game, but I wouldn't pay too much for it.

Pros:

- Graphics are quite pleasant in places
- Fun in short bursts
- The music isn't bad

Cons:

- Level design could have used some tweaking

- Takes a lot of features from Mario and Sonic but implements them poorly
- Could have used more power ups
- Becomes quite repetitive before long

Final Grade: C

For a game based on a TV show with as much imagination as Tiny Toons you'd think they'd put a little more effort into the cover, I mean look at it, it's the Tiny Toons logo between two palms trees and a patch of sand! Come on now! Are you telling me you couldn't think of a better cover?

The manual as a few short paragraphs detailing the game's backstory, it's not really needed for a game like this, but it is a nice touch nonetheless. Other than that it's the standard fare for game manuals of this time, you get a few instructions on how to play with a few black and white screenshots to serve as visual aid. Some of the pages feature simple colorless drawings of the main characters, all of them pretty lacking in detail save for Gogo Dodo, he looks pretty darn good and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Overall the packaging isn't the best, the cover is boring and while the manual has a few extras here and there, for the most part not a lot of effort was put into them.

Packaging Grade: D+

Gears of War

Developer: Epic Games/People Can Fly

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War was without a doubt the Xbox 360's first killer app so it makes sense Microsoft would want to publish its finest console game onto the PC as a means to promote the unpopular service Games for Windows Live, so with that said, is the PC version any good? Yes it is... but I honestly think someone intentionally sabotaged this release, why do I say that? Oh where do I begin.

After installing the game I was faced with a DRM issue that prevented me from playing it even though I have a legitimate copy. Turns out I had to set the Windows clock to June 2008 to get it to run (wut?). After that, I discovered the game would stop responding at random intervals, sometimes it would play for hours without any issues while other times I couldn't even play it for five minutes, I tried several methods to fix it, but none worked. But enough about technical difficulties, how is the game itself?

Well, for starters, it doesn't have much of a story to tell other than you're on some planet or other with a very 1950's art-deco style which is being overrun by a horde of underground creatures known as the Locust. These hulking, lumbering creatures of teeth, bone and pale skin seem to sprout up from the ground and random and now it's up to you and Delta Squad to deliver a latch ditch blow to your enemies.

Yeah the story is pretty lame and the characters are for the most part uninteresting, though I did like Baird, the guy is snarky as hell and he seems to be the only character who's good at something other than shooting.

Speaking of shooting, how is the gunplay? In a word: Awesome! All of the weapons feel worn and rusted out while still packing quite a punch, which is a good thing considering how much your average locust can bleed without being killed, my favorite weapon has to be the chainsaw Bayonet, it gives you the option to either shoot your enemies or slice them to pieces, you also have other awesome weapons like explosive crossbows and a laser satellite homing beacon.

Gears of War does give you a good enemy variety, though you wouldn't have guessed it from the first two chapters where it seems like you're fighting the same guys over and over again, luckily the rest of the game REALLY picks up, made even better by the fact the PC port has some extra levels not found in the Xbox 360 version so overall the campaign will likely last you 8 hours, depending on your play style.

On the multiplayer side of things, you'd expect the fact that the online is free would mean you'd find at least someone to play with, but alas, no such luck, whether it's co-op or competitive online play, the servers are all empty, the PC port also doesn't have split-screen co-op so if you want to play locally you'll need to set up a lan connection...lame.

Graphically the game is pretty good by 2007 standards, the characters models still look pretty by 2013 standards, but the animations and environments definitely look dated, I also noticed the game introduced too much blur and field depth for my taste, but there was no way to turn it off in the options, instead I had to hunt down the game's .ini file and turn it off from there, again... lame.

Overall, the PC version SHOULD have been the definitive version, but honestly between DRM issues, crashes and the lack of a proper graphical setting option I have to say I was somewhat disappointed, especially because at its core the game is a very fun romp, a slow starting romp, but a fun one.

Pros:

- Gunplay is awesome
- Campaign is very fun
- Nice Enemy variety
- Character models still hold surprisingly well

Cons:

- DRM issues, crashing issues and poor graphical options

- The first two chapters are pretty boring
- Multiplayer servers are empty
- Characters and story are pretty forgetful.

Final Grade: B-

I am not a fan of the cover, the color balance is fine and quite attractive, but how come Marcus is squatting out in the open with his back turned to the action? Is he trying to get himself killed? Even if we ignore his team mates on the background who are facing the opposite direction and clearly hiding behind walls, what is the point in showing us a close-up of a character who is just not the least bit interesting?

Inside you'll find two cards one is an ad for Microsoft Sidewinder gear and the other is a free month of GFWL (hahaha!) silliness aside, I do feel the color balance works even better in these small cards, but again, why is Marcus staring at us?

The game's manual is... surprisingly good it gives you some backstory, weapon descriptions, concept art for said weapons and they go into great detail on how to play the game and its multiplayer modes, supporting the text with either screenshots or more concept art. Kudos to the developers for crafting a good manual in this day and age.

Packaging Grade: B+

Thunder Blade

Developer: Sega
Publisher:  Sega

Thunder Blade was a helicopter SHMUP originally launched for the arcades, it boasted some very impressive sprite scaling effects giving it a pseudo-3D effect. Porting it to an 8-bit consoles seems like an odd choice, but despite limitations, the developers clearly gave it their best shot.

The game is separated into two segments, the first being a typical 2D shmup with all of the previously mentioned pseudo-3D effects removed. This mode is fairly standard for the genre, boasting some near perfect collision detection though I'd argue the player's hit box is a bit too big for my taste. It does add a twist though, you can only shoot ground units with missile, whereas air units are only hit by bullets. This style seems reminiscent of titles like Xevious ensuring the player is constantly shifting between air and ground based attacks. These vertical overhead levels are extremely hard as enemies keep coming at you from all directions and often sneak in a cheap hit or two. This is made even by worse by the fact that there are no power ups throughout the experience.

Upon reaching the halfway point of each stage, the perspective shifts to a Pseudo 3D style (as seen in the image). Here we are graced with some impressive graphical effects considering this is running on a Master System. Unfortunately, is also moves at low framerate ensuring players are given little reaction time to dodge incoming fire. Upon reaching level two, players are also expected to dodge environmental hazards, but these pop up at such an intense rate that soon Thunder Blade becomes a frustrating experience. The lack of a proper depth perception means you'll be crashing into objects and bullets that you thought you'd be able to easily to dodge.

Graphically the 2D style is pretty standard for a Master System console, with the real eye candy being reserved for these 3D segments. Some might feel these haven't aged well and to a certain degree they would be correct, but from a technical standpoint, Thunder Blade is nothing short of impressive considering it's running on a Master System! The PSG music ranges from forgettable to annoying, the issue being further exacerbated by unsatisfying sound effects. 

You can tell the developers gave it their best shot, but this is a case of the Master System simply biting off more than it could chew. Yes the 3D looks impressive but it's not very playable whereas the 2D sections look drab and boring without the Arcade's scaling effects. I suppose they could have added power ups, but then there would hardly be any similarities with the original Thunder Blade.

Trivia: Did you know this game is compatible with the Master System FM-Synthesizer? Of course, in order to take advantage of it, you need either a Japanese Master System or to install a sound chip mod on your western console.

Pros:

- 3D graphics look pretty cool
- 2D sections can still be fun and challenging

Cons:

- Although cool looking, the 3D segments suffer from poor depth perception and low framerate making them nearly unplayable

- Could have used power ups in the 2D sections
- The game is simply too hard

Final Grade: D

 (Excuse the glue residue folks)

I have to say, the boxart looks awesome, it's the sort of cover that you'd expect from some 80's action flick while browsing a videostore, definitely eye catching.

Unfortunately though, I don't own the manual so I can't compile a full packaging review.

Packaging score: N/A