Oldies but Goodies – Jetpack

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  PC

Oh my gosh I loved this game.  It was freeware, so I grabbed it up early.  This is another DOS-game, so I guess I’m really showing my age in this blog.  No matter.  All of you youngin’s  today missed out on a great generation of games!  You can get it here:  http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/jetpack/.  To play the old DOS games now, though, you will likely need the program DOSBox.  You can get that here:  https://www.dosbox.com/.  It’s a little bit complicated, but the site has some good resources to help.

Anyway, back to Jetpack.  This game had a ton of levels, and you could create your own or get them from other players.  Your goal was to get all of the orbs from platforms throughout the level and go through the door.  As the name suggests, you got a jet pack to help.  However, your fuel is limited.  More fuel packs may pop up on the screen as well as money.  There are also bad guys that are trying to keep you from the goal.

This was a challenging, but fun, game.  My 6th-grade self enjoyed it a lot on our Windows 3.1 computer.  I never beat the game, but that wasn’t my goal.  I was just having fun.

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E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) is the biggest event of the year for gamers.  It’s where all of the big players – Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony – and the not-so-big indie players are allowed space on the same floor in Los Angeles to tease us with some of their upcoming products.  It is not open to the general public, but for the week, we are bombarded with the best new thing.

I’ve always taken this week with a grain of salt.  Some of what’s shown there may never come to fruition as it’s still early in the development phase.  There are a couple of things that I’m keeping my eye on, such as Nintendo’s new project (to replace the Wii U and possibly the 3DS?) and the newer versions of the PS4 and XBone coming out.  I haven’t heard much about games yet other than your standard – new Zelda, new Mario, blah blah blah.  Hopefully, something awesome will come along and pique my interest.

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Hidden Gems – Pinball Quest

Genre:  Arcade/Pinball
Platform:  NES

My parents bought this game for me for Christmas one year.  I loved every new game that I got, but I really loved this one.  It wasn’t until much later that I realized how unique this game was.  Since this is my second post about a pinball game, you could assume, correctly, that I really like pinball.  I’d love to have my own real table one day.

Anyway, this game has three traditional tables – Pop!  Pop!, bowling/pool table; Viva! Golf, a golf table; and Circus, a circus-themed table.  Each had unique elements to them and had some bonus games, which was rare for the time.  All three were very fun and I spent plenty of time on each.

This game really became unique when you played in RPG mode.  This took you to a table that was really a story mode.  When you hit certain characters, text boxes would pop up.  As you played through, you went to new and more difficult tables.  It was a very unique way to present a pinball game and I’ve rarely heard anyone talk about this one.  This is why it’s a hidden gem.  Check it out if you can!

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Chey’s Top 25 – #19 – Word Whomp

Genre:  Word
Platform:  PC

Let’s discuss “casual” gaming for a bit.  It’s a term that has always held negative connotations in the gaming community.  These are quick, easy games that are usually played in a browser or on a mobile device.  People who play these games are often thought of as non-gamers.  Screw that.  I’m a gamer and I love casual games.  These games are great for the times when you just want something light which doesn’t involve a lot of thought.

The web site www.pogo.com has tons of these games, and this is my favorite of them.  I talked about using replayability and time spent playing as a criteria for my list, and this game definitely fits that.  I’m actually including three games in this post – Word Whomp, Word Whomp Whackdown and Word Whomp Underground.  My mom started my love of word games pretty much from the time I could talk and I’ve never looked back.  We always make time for a game of Scrabble every time I go back home.  She also enjoys these games a lot, so it’s a rare gaming moment that we can share.

The games themselves are quite simple.  Word Whomp is a standard anagrams game.  Find all of the words hidden in the letters listed and you win.  Whackdown arranges them differently and is a bit tougher.  It has a bonus round.  Underground is original Word Whomp with a slight story behind it.  Once you start playing, I dare you to stop!  The “one more game…” monster will definitely get you with these.

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Oldies but Goodies – Combat

Genre – Shoot ’em Up
Platform – Atari 2600

We’re going way back today, folks.  Most everyone who had an Atari 2600 played Combat at some point because it was the game that came with it.  It is a collection of 27 “different” games, although it’s really only different versions of two main modes – tanks and planes.  As expected from such an early console game – it was simple, but this one was a lot of fun.  Let’s call it World of Tanks 1.0.

My grandma actually had an Atari 2600 and we would play this game together when I would spend the weekend there.  I had a cool grandma.  We would laugh for minutes on end while we played the tank mode where the bullets ricocheted off the walls and made funny noises.  We didn’t care about actually shooting each other, it was more about the funny noise and I guess a time and place thing.  I will forever have fond memories of this game because of that.

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Stinkers – Kabuki Warriors

Genre – Fighting
Platform – XBox

There was no other game that I could put as my first Stinkers post.  This. game. is. just. awful.  So true story.  A friend and I were in Best Buy one day, back when Best Buy was still cool and had a lot of video games and not full of stupid phone accessories, shortly after I had gotten the original XBox (launch day!).  We were looking at games and were looking for another fighting game.  I already had Dead or Alive 3, so why we weren’t content with that, I’ll never know.  This game was in a bargain bin (hint #1) and he picked it up and said “Get this!  It looks like Mortal Kombat but Japanese!”.  I am a fan of MK, so I bought it.

We took it back to my place and played it for about 10 minutes before we put it away.  I then assumed we missed something and played the single-player campaign.  I played it most of the way through.  I guess I was a glutton for punishment back then.

Let me sum up this game – you start out as an almost shapeless clay figure and fight with a curtain rod.  This isn’t what the game thinks you are doing, but that’s EXACTLY what it looks like.  Seriously, these beginning minions look like the developers just didn’t have time to render them and left them as-is.    You kill other generic grey things for several levels until you meet the one interesting guy in town, who happens to be a cross-dressing weirdo fighting with something as exciting as an umbrella.  To get money, you have to stop in the middle of your fighting and pose.  Your spectators then throw money on the stage.   Wait.  Guys in drag posing on a stage and having money thrown at them.  OMG it’s a game about strippers and must be a joke, right?  Wrong.  This game isn’t even close to being humorous, outside of its horribleness.

The graphics are ok and a few of the stages look pretty good.  There is also one immediately annoying sound effect through the entire game – EEEEOOOOOO – which will have you ready to shoot your TV.  The game play is as terrible as the characters.  My two-year old nephew would be able to get through this game simply by pressing the A button for a while.  That’s right, you have one button to press to fight and there doesn’t seem to be any need for strategy – or even thinking, for that matter.  This game is so bad that I would recommend playing it just so you can experience it and put it on your own Stinkers list.

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Mugshot

In the gaming community, I am what is known as an achievement whore.  This sounds worse than it is.  This just means that I like to collect as many achievements as I can in each game.

Every developer for the XBox 360 and XBone is required, by Microsoft, to put achievements in their games.  Steam also has achievements now, but I don’t think developers are required to have them as not all games do.

What are they?  Things of great joy!  Many gamers will say that they are a waste of time, but I see them as little guides from the developers to help you find parts of the game that you might not otherwise.  The achievements themselves are just little badges that pop up on your screen when you complete certain criteria.  Each achievement has a score attached to it.  As you play more games and get more achievements, your “gamer score” goes up.  It’s kind of a status thing for all to see.

Some achievements also have new accessories and gear for your avatar.  This was a bigger deal in XBox 360 and isn’t used near as much in XBone.  I thought it was cool when I unlocked a Portal hat for my little toon to wear after unlocking a big achievement in the game.

There’s a third-party website, www.trueachievements.com, which let you create an account for free and compare yourself to other achievement whores.  They put some weight on the achievements as well and make the more challenging achievements worth more points.  So yeah, call me what you will, but I love my achievements.

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Today is Tetris’ 32nd birthday.  Oh, the hours and hours I’ve spent on you.  I’ve watched you grow and develop through the years, but the simpler you are, the better.  I love Tetris so much that Matt made me shelves made of Tetriminos !  I also have a Tetris board game, given to me as a gift.  I’ve also long though about getting a Tetris tattoo.

And happy 32nd birthday to my sister-in-law, Barb, as well!

Tetris birthday

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