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louvre
11 10 03

Henshin-a-Go-Go, baby!

And off I went to do the things I shouldn’t be doing: buying new games!

First off, a Dreamcast is finally in my hands. Or, technically, on my floor. Got Shenmue along with it, and while it’s regarded by many as an essential Dreamcast title, the little time that I did spend with it has failed to captivate me. Nonetheless, now that I have that console, I can begin my search for my essential titles: Bangai-O; Mars Matrix; and Border Down, amongst others. The latter of which, an import title, was just released. The console might be all but dead, but there’s still some limited support out there — particularly in Japan.

Then came Bombastic, the spiritual sequel to one of the Playstation’s best puzzle games, Devil Dice. The sequel makes the old game completely obsolete. While the original “Classic” gameplay is still there, the new Bombastic mode is like Classic on crack. The same dice matching strategy applies, but now there’s an emphasis on keeping a combo going during the more frentic — and dangerous, as the die now explode — gameplay. The almost-budget price of 39.99 CDN is an extra perk. Great little game.

My only beef with it is the fact that they replaced the “Puzzle” mode with a “Quest” mode. A story is something a game like this does not need.

Then there is Viewtiful Joe.

It’s been praised and gushed over by others already. Many times. All of it justified. It’s got great, intuitive controls; slick look and design; inventive puzzles and layouts; challenging difficulty; deep and stylish action; and a fun, irreverent story that is not meant to be taken seriously. As they say on ebay, A++++++++.

Or, in this case, V+++++++.

Don’t ask where the money for these games came from. While it certainly could have gone to better, more critical things, I can not escape this “hobby” that I have grown fond of. The bright side is that I get to play three really solid games on three seperate systems. The other side of the story, the more irritating side, is that I’m essentially stalling on my credit card dues. Minimum payments are wonderful things when you’re strapped for cash, but they mean that, at this rate, my credit card bills won’t be paid off until sometime in 2014.

Comments (2)

Alien from the North writes (October 12th, 2003 at 09:10):

Heyy!

I think you liked our last ASTEROID HOPPER -video couple of years ago…

heres new odd and weird retro video games inspired electronic “b -class sci-fi” -video.
I think this is a good comment to your Dreamcast -post :)

Walter Kim writes (October 16th, 2003 at 04:10):

To be sure, Shenmue is a slow game, and certainly the voice acting and dialogue will do very little to captivate you. You have to be able to appreciate Shenmue for what it is: a story of revenge set in an 80’s Japanese community. The game is, if nothing else, remarkable for the fact that it captures the feel of a recent historical era, ethnically situated, in the context of a game.

Not saying you’ll like it, of course (to be honest, Shenmue II finally frustrated me to the point of no return), but I’m sure you’ll be able to understand what a lot of us appreciate about it.

I have a copy of Bangai-O, by the way. Neat mechanics, but the game itself seems to be very low on incentive to push forward. Or maybe it’s more like a puzzle-shooter, like Ikaruga? Hmm….

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Henshin-a-Go-Go, baby! posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2003 (02:10)
and labeled under: Gaming.
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