Altered Beast (1988) - Video Game Review

Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils

I don't remember all of them, and to be honest with you, I have not bought all of the video game systems that are out there, but one of the things that video game companies have done since pretty much at the very least the, 'NES', is that video game companies have been adding in a game or 2 to the system itself when you buy it as incentive to keep people motivated when they buy their systems...

A couple of examples of this are:

1. The XBox 360 package that I got came with Halo Reach and Fable 3.

2. For the NES, it was (at least for a while anyway,) 'Super Mario Bros.'

Well for the Sega Genesis I heard that at least at one point that Sega was offering, 'Altered Beast' (1988) as part of their package!

A game definitely worth trying!

Initially developed and produced by: Sega and released as an Aracade game, this game told the story of a Greek Centurion who was resurrected by Zeus in an effort so that the centurion could rescue his daughter, 'Athena' from a demon god by the name of, 'Neff', who lives in the, 'Underworld'...

A fun Arcade/Home Console game that is worth playing!

This game was released during the days of the popular, 'side scrolling' fighting games that were still extremely popular, but this one I remember had a little bit of a twist with it... You see, in this game the character is given the ability to become various beasts when you got, 'power-ups'...

Also the basic graphics of the game could be said to be the direct ancestor of the type of graphics in video games that we see today... What I mean by that is the fact that where as older games... Being graphically fun, still had the strongly pixelated look that was the standard for a lot of the video games of the 1980s... In Altered Beast, it was significantly less pixelated, and starting to seriously come together...

Ultimately this game is not hard to figure out, and it is fun, if you have a chance to play it, I would say give it a try, it is well worth it, and you might find that to be the case as well... I know I did!

Ghouls N Ghosts (1988) - Video Game Review

Official Score = 3 Devils

The Nintendo... What can I say about this system that hasn't already been said? I mean I would say that this game console is to the world of video games, what the, 'VCR' was to movies! A truly memorable system that produced some truly amazing games that even by today are still truly awesome, and I would even say are on par with some of the more modern games!

I mean rather you are playing a horror game, or a science fiction game, I have found that there are just a ton of these really fun games that were created for the Nintendo! And you know what? Ghouls 'N Ghosts' (1988) Is definitely one of them!

A fun classic!

Developed & Published by: Capcom initially for the Arcade, but eventually for a ton of home consoles... In this game you play as a knight that has to go through a host of, 'scary' levels and you have to fight a whole host of undead baddies in an effort  to restore the souls that had been stolen by Lucifer!

Is that, 'Game Of Thrones'? Nah... But it is still fun!

Well the truth is, is if you are in to these fun side scrolling games, I think that you might really like it, I mean as far as game play goes, it is not hard to figure out... the music in this game is also a lot of fun as well!

As a matter of fact, I would say that the only real problem with this game is that it is just hard enough that if you get in to one of those runs where you keep dying, then you might get pissed and turn off the game (which is a problem because you can't save your progress!)

Ultimately guys, this game is fun, I recently picked it up for the mobile phone, and it is just as much fun as it was all those years ago! So if you get a chance to try it, I highly recommend doing so, it is well worth it!

Galaga (1981) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_330" align="alignright" width="220"] Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]

In the 70s the world of video gamming saw one of the most famous video games of all times with the release of the classic science fiction video game, 'Galaxian' (1979)! Why was this game (which was developed by, 'Namco' and Published by: 'Namco' and 'Midway') so great? Well simply speaking this game was not a particularly hard game, I mean the arcade game was extremely easy to control... Yet it is harder, the longer you play!

Well in 1981, we saw the next level for that game when Namco & Midway would go on to release the epic sequel, 'Galaga' (1981)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="417"] A true classic![/caption]

A lot of the concepts from Galaxian followed through to Galaga, including the fact that you are essentially a spaceship which had to go around and destroy as many aliens as possible and get as many points as you can, and the more levels you go up, the harder it gets!

There was also a lot of differences as well including among these are the ability to fire more than one shot at a time, a count of the player's "hit/miss ratio" at the end of the game, and a bonus "Challenging Stage" that occurs every few stages, in which a series of enemies fly onto and off the screen in set patterns without firing at the player's ship or trying to crash into it. These stages award a 10,000-point bonus if the player manages to destroy every enemy, but otherwise 100 bonus points for every enemy destroyed.

Their is only one problem that I have found with this game, that is that it is dated, and if you are not a fan of older video games, then you might not like it, but if you do, then you might enjoy this one!

http://youtu.be/hyo88Iy7n9g

Gradius 3: From Legend To Myth (1989) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_415" align="alignright" width="350"] Official Score = 4 Devils[/caption]

Most people at this point have played some sort of video game in their life... I mean even my Dad beat the original, 'Final Fantasy' for the NES, before I even had a chance to play it... And as the years go on more and people are sort of born in to the concept of playing video games as a regular thing!

And well, every true gamer has that one game, or that one game series that they truly love, that game that in some way you could say in some capacity ended up defining what games they would end up playing in the future... For me, that game was, 'Gradius 3: From Legend To Myth (1989)'!

This game started off as a 2D side shooter game in 1989 when it was released by Konami in Japan as an Arcade game... This game would later be released for the, Super Famicom in 1990, (for those of you who don't know this the, 'Famicom', or 'Family Computer' is the name that was given for the Japanese equivalent of the, 'Nintendo Entertainment System' and the, 'Super Famicom' was the name given to the Japanese equivalent of the, 'Super Nintendo' etc...)

But, 1991 is when I, and the rest of North America would be able to finally get our grubby little mits on it, when it was re-released for the Super Nintendo as simply, 'Gradius 3'!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Gradius 3... A truly awesome fun time![/caption]

Now this game freaking rocked! And is still one of my favorite games of all time (As a matter of fact, I was recently playing the first, 'Gradius' game and I got to say that this game was truly amazing as well!)

You might be wondering why this game is so awesome... Well the truth is, is everything! The music was awesome, for a 2D side scrolling game from 1991... The graphics were truly above board, and frankly with the story, and the fact that the way this game was made, made it that much harder in the end truly made this a spectacularly fun time that I just spent literally hours on!

In the end I still think this game is a lot of fun... It can get extremely frustrating at times, but even the frustrating times are fun as well! And well, where as I can't vouch for the fact that this game will be your favorite game of all time, I can honestly vouch for the fact that if you try it, you might really, in the end enjoy it!

http://youtu.be/XQfNkjEF5f4