If you’re reading this then you have enough gaming experience to realize that there are many genres of video game.  Driving, shooting, first person shooters, dreaded platformers.  There’s a different type of game for every player, and indeed every mood.  Before discussing this game we should look a little closer at the genre to make sure we’re all clear on what this game is and what it is not.  Fallout3 is a hardcore, traditional Role Playing Game (RPG).  Many games have been released claiming to be an RPG.  A couple of good examples would be the Fables, Crackdown, or Mass Effect.  All great games i played until my fingers bled, but none a true RPG.  These games are all dumbed down versions of a true RPG, to a point that it was more about the combat systems, fighting, and cool graphics than character improvement and strategy.  Again, nothing against what I have titled the Action RPG genre… but make no mistake,  Fallout3 is a Role Playing Game.  Vast open maps with truely intelligent AI that make you wonder if they looking to harm or help you.  A leveling system that requires you to pick a specialty and live (or die) by those choices.  Endless dialogue trees and consequences for every action.  This game even makes you think about what items you carry!  Carry too many items and you become over-encumbered… every gamers true nightmare.  So all that said, if you aren’t interested in a game that makes you think, just stop reading now.  This is no shooter, no running or gunning, and thank heaven… you can only jump a foot or two at a time.  On to the game…

Fallout3 starts differently than any other game you’ve ever played.  It’s an experience unlike any other.  I’ll refrain from spoiling the wonderful surprise that is the beginning of your life in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, but suffice it to say it’s memorable.  You spend the first three hours of this game developing the basics of your character.  The developer, Bethesda, does a very good job of making this creation cycle natural and even a little comical.  When you’re done you’re spit out in to a world of hulking brutes that want to tear you to shreds, giant animals desperate to eat your face, and yes… the obligatory zombie that is so jealous of your smooth skin that it is determined to take it from you.  Oh, and did I mention your only weapon will be a small pistol?  Needless to say, you better be ready.  Once you are jettisoned from your safe, comfortable home into the big wide world all bets are off.  There are no rails, there are no mandatory quests.  There is nothing but a big empty map and the feeling of total inadequacy.  You’re free to follow the quest that is presented to you in the very well designed Inventory/Menu system, or you can literally wander the world looking for a fight to pick.

Now the fun begins.   Every enemy conquered, every conversation done well, every lock picked provides you with precious experience points.  Just like any other RPG, when you get enough points you level up.  HERE is where one of the differences between this game and other similar games comes up.  Firstly, the game FORCES you to level.  You can’t put it off until later, you can’t wait until it’s convenient.  Once you’re not in active battle the screen pops up and POOF, you’re leveling.  The second difference is that this game has a leveling limit.  You cannot surpass level 20.  That’s right, you have a limited number of times that you can improve your character.  There is no level 21.  You can’t out think the game, there are no cheats… there’s 20.  Period.  Why is this important?  Because it means you can’t be all things.  Unlike other games, where you can max out every ability, you have to be smart about how you want to play the game.  Do you want to be the stealthy ninja, or do you want to be a mauler that walks about with his trusty missile launcher?  Or maybe you want to be a charismatic charmer.  You can be any of those things, but you can’t be all of those things.  Make your character however you want them to be.  Take them wherever you want to go.  It’s the ultimate open world (sandbox) game.  Surprises are all over the place, rewards in every tunnel (also known as dungeon).

Just like any RPG this game starts out TOUGH.  You’ll spend the first few levels picking your fights wisely and using the time tested “RUN LIKE HELL” strategy from time to time.  After several levels up you’ll start to notice that things are getting easier.   The world will start making sense.  You may even have an ally or two.  Eventually you stop worrying about money or health packs, you figure out what you can carry without exceeding the limit on how much weight you can bare, and you find your place in this desolate… often depressing… little world.

Oh yeah, the technical stuff.  Graphics are great, though it does suffer from the occasional pop-in problem.  Once rendered the graphics are down right stunning.  Music is good.  Voice acting is standard.  Storyline is compelling (thus far).  All in all it’s a great game.   I recommend it to anyone that can commit to serious hours of mutant fighting, fire ant slaying, dungeon crawling fun.

So, bottom line time.  Who should or should not buy this game.  The number one factor in that decision is time.  This is not a 12 hour play through.  This isn’t a 24 hour play through.  I have well exceeded the $1/hour mark on this game, logging 100+ hours to date, and have barely scratched the surface of the main story line.  IF you let it, this game will reach out from your television and absorb the very essence of your being.  You will sleep, eat, and poop Fallout.  It will be the end of you.  UNLESS…. you are an adrenaline junky.  What’s commonly referred to as a twitch gamer.  If all you play is FPS, uh… don’t try this game.  Don’t get me wrong, the combat in this game will blow your mind.  But it’s not the high paced run and gun style of a Halo or Gears of War.  This is a thinking mans game punctuated with moments of INTENSE action.  This game will probably win a load of Game of the Year awards, but it’s not for every bullet hose toting zombie shooting hormone pumping gamerhead.

Interested?  Buy it now or Trade for it on Goozex

–David Hayes

[Repost of an older review I did for NESCentral.com]

Posted by Ben Mazhary-Clark on Monday Nov 28th 2005 @ 3:25PM

River City Ransom, one of the best RPG fighting games for the NES and most likely the least heard of. RCR was released around the same time as Double Dragon (both developed and released by Technos) thus stealing the spotlight from this great game.

The storyline is simple: a gang member is holding a girl(friend) and several other students hostage in the local high school and it is up to you to beat through all the gangs on the streets, including several bosses, to free your friends being held.

You can play in single player or cooperative mode to beat down the street gangs. In either mode the game play is of average difficulty, button mashing is encouraged. Even with the button mashing the game still provides lots of fun with its RPG elements. Once you grind a gang member into the concrete with your method of choice a bouncing coin appears where their body was. Pick these up within a few seconds or they disappear. With money in hand you can go to many stores along the way and buy food to boost health and fighting stats, as well as pure upgrades like the Stone Hands book (fast fists), Acro Circus (flips and tricks), Dragon Feet (fast kicking) and many more. These upgrades, along with other forms of stat boosting, are critical in order to finish off some of the bosses.

In game dialogue from the gang members is enjoyable, with sayings like “BARF!!!” and “That guy’s a freak!” you can stay entertained for hours. The background music is interesting enough to captivate your interest and get you into the groove of walking around the city, beating gang members up for their lunch money.

Another wonderful element of the fighting aspect of the gameplay is the weapon selection. Use chains, pipes, wood sticks, brass knuckles, tires, boxes and garbage cans to beat your opponents down. These items can be found around the maps or dropped by gang members when they are stuck.

This game is highly recommended for players that always liked the Double Dragon or other side scrolling fighting games. RCR takes Double Dragon one step further with the RPG elements and the playful dialogue. This is a must have for any classic NES fan.

Buy River City Ransom or Trade for it on Goozex

As a side note, RCR was re-released for Gameboy Advance. Some upgrades were included but overall the gameplay was left intact for the classic fans.

Buy River City Ransom for GBA or Trade for it on Goozex

–Ben Mazhary-Clark

[Repost of an older review I did for NESCentral.com]

Posted by Ben Mazhary-Clark on Wednesday Oct 5th 2005 @ 2:45PM

When trying out new games that were never popular in the mass market, and in this case even rare, the first impressions of the game will either interest you enough to keep playing or make you toss it out and try something else. The unique design and concepts provided to your senses in Alfred Chicken have the tendency to make you want to see where the storyline takes you…

Alfred Chicken was certainly late in the NES timeline with a release year of 1993. Games in this era were usually put out hastily and a bit rough. Even given all of that, the game play and graphics are quite good and the sound quality is decent. The music is soft enough to not be annoying, and even though it is purposely off key, it helps carry the game along without making you want to turn the sound all the way off.

The storyline consists of evil Meka Chickens want to take over the world…Alfred is the only one who can stop them and with help from Mr. Pekles (a potted plant), Alfred must make it through 5 stages of madness to foil the Meka Chickens and save the world.

The game is a typical platformer, but you may forget that with the less than normal hero and cast of enemies. You will start off the game as a plump little chicken, in a world of cheese with mechanical mice patrolling the area. Your chicken doesn’t have any super powers, can’t shoot lasers out of its eyes, he just needs to survive. In order to get through the levels you need to jump over and press down to dive-bomb the mice with your beak; collect as many jewels as possible; flip switches to activate doors and platforms elsewhere in the level; and use springs to work your way up the platforms since chickens don’t fly well. You also must peck all the balloons on each level in order to leave. The base of your most recent balloon becomes your respawn point if you get turned into KFC.

Overall the game plays well. The controls are easy to pick up and there isn’t a point in the game in which you are left wondering where to go next. Highly recommended for someone wanting a game off the beaten path in console gaming.

Buy Alfred Chicken or  Trade for it on Goozex

–Ben Mazhary-Clark