Metal Storm [NES]

There are many games out there that play with gravity. Strider and Strider 2 have you walking on the ceiling and flinging all over the place at times. Metal Warriors has an item that lets you put yourself up there as well. Even the more recent Prey has you walking on walls and ceilings like so much Fred Astaire. However, usually you have no say in the matter when gravity manipulation is present, or, when you do, the choice isn't that long lived.

And then there's Metal Storm. Metal Storm is an obscure title from Irem featuring a mech going through some base shooting up stuff in a futuristic platformer environment. Stuff we've all seen before. However! There is something that Metal Storm has that sets it apart from all the rest (and I'm sure you've already figured it out from the article's lead-in. I'm not exactly the master of literary deception.); gravity control. At any time you can choose to jump up or down to the ceiling or floor. And many times you have to; to get out of the way of obstacles, to get past spiked surfaces, to open doors that orient themselves accordingly to how you have yourself oriented, and to take care of enemies that you wouldn't be able to head on. You're constantly moving yourself up and down and it never becomes gimmicky. It's both a joy and a challenge, and refreshing to see it used so well. It sets what would otherwise be an average game above all the rest.

T&C Surf Designs [NES]

*vomit*

Fuck you even more, LJN. Fuck you even more. Jesus. Go play California Games instead.

Tetris Attack [GB]

A pretty faithful port. The only only problem is the same as another Gameboy port: slowdown. However, while it does make pulling off some chains harder, it's still serviceable, unlike the aforementioned title. The only real difference is the story mode, which, instead of having two characters both trying to keep their screen clear is more like the Bowser boss in the stage clear mode of the original; the enemy has a bar of HP and will regularly drop garbage blocks on your screen. It's still pretty good and will do for taking the Attack on the go.

Lack of Updates [Meta]

I apologize for the recent grievous lack of posts. I've mostly been playing Orange Box titles lately. I don't know what the other two's excuses are, though. Hopefully you'll be seeing more regular posts here soon.

Our schedule:

Various gameshow games [NES]

Gametek, your games were bad and you hopefully felt bad!

Kickle Cubicle [NES]

A somewhat rarish puzzle game. Control Kickle, who can freeze enemies and create unpassable pillars of ice. The enemies, when frozen, can either be kicked to create more land or just simply shattered. The ones that are to be shattered are out to mess you up by either kicking the frozen blocks of enemies before you can or running you over or shooting you or freezing you or just otherwise menace you. Do all this to collect three dream bags per stage before the time runs out. Yeah, dream bags. Did I mention this game is for kids? Not only does it have bags of dreams, it has princesses and talking fruits, vegetables, cakes, and toys. All the graphics, enemies (except for some spike balls that run around the edges of the field trying to run you and everything else over), sounds, and music are all cutesy. At least for the NES. Even the challenge level is set for kids. While I kinda struggled when I was younger, I can clear the story in about an hour or thereabouts with some minor frustration. Except after you clear the story, you're given a bunch of bonus levels, and let me tell you that the difficulty is ratcheted up on them. The thing is that it's all done very well so it's still enjoyable even if you're past the age where it can offer any real challenge. If you like puzzlers, it's a fun game no matter how old you are.

World In Conflict [PC]

This game is fun. It's an RTS at heart, but it has no resource management or buildings or almost anything from any standard RTS. The game follows the story of the "what-if" scenario that the Cold War went hot. Russia invades the US, hell ensues. The story in the Campaign is actually pretty well told featuring great voice actors. If the story doesn't get you, the graphics certainly will. Of course, that is if your computer can handle it.

Units are not made, resources are not gathered. In the campaign, you get a set number of points to spend on infantry, vehicle, air, or support troops. Once you have used up those points, you cannot get anymore troops until yours are gone. This means you control smaller batallions of units instead of an entire army, but when the conflict to the left and right of you is a rocket barrage and infantry charge in the downtown Seattle area, WIC does a great job of making you feel like you're right in the middle of a real war, so the small unit cap actually works with the game. Destroy enough units to call in special support, such as precision artillery strikes, carpet bombs, or everyone's favorite, the Nuke. Fully destructible environments are reduced to rubble and the atmosphere is tarnished with the smoke of the giant explosion for the rest of the match. Nuking a US city has never been more fun!

For multiplayer, it's even more narrow chaos. You can only choose to play one of the 4 roles the entire match. This means it is a MUST to play as a team. If your entire team chooses helicopters, one opposing support player can take you all out with anti-air. This makes for entirely hectic multiplayer matches, which are played as an "attack/defend the points" gametype. Very, very addicting.

So if your computer can handle it (again, it's really more of a system hog than you'd think) then get this game if you are a fan of RTS's.