Retrogaming Review of The Year 2012

Retrogaming Review of The Year 2012

This year I've had less time for gaming than ever before, so it's no surprise that I haven't dabbled much. I didn't get near following my own suggestions for what to play in last year's Retrogaming Review, but I certainly haven't lost interest - it's just a question of time, more than effort. The few games I did play were a mixed bag and while I dipped back into the classics for odd days here and there, it was a year for doing other things… This time round the ratings do reflect the games as a whole, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them.


January - October: Age of Empires II (2001, MacBook Pro/Powerbook) - On my gaming agenda at the end of last year, two 'Age of Empires' games were front and centre, this being one of them. Having got it to work on my MacBook Pro I was looking forward to going through some of the old campaigns on the hardest difficulty level. Well, I never did play a single campaign, but that's not to say I didn't get some enjoyment out of it. I probably had more multiplayer sessions than single, so for odd days in January, April, August and October I had some middling fun with it, though a problem cropped up with the quality of the AI: either it was too easy to beat computer players (on Standard difficulty), or it was almost impossible (on Moderate), meaning one or both of the human players would be wiped out, or the computer would pretty much give in, reducing it to a battle between humans. This could lead to one of the humans becoming bored and giving up in either eventuality, so the hour or two of setup was somewhat wasted. Even so, little can beat one of these multiplayer games when things are going well, so I'd still rate it highly. *****

January - April: BoXiKoN (2003, Macbook Pro) - The puzzle game was back on the list again, sporadically played in the early months of the year, but never seriously, as I'm unlikely to ever beat my high score (1301, reaching Level 7), at least not on this trial version which I never got around to upgrading. I'd still like to play the full version, but as I said, this was a year of declining games-playing time. Still good fun, though. ***

January - February: Dakar 2 (2003, GameCube) - My first 'proper' game of the year (read: newly bought), and one which I reviewed on this very blog. I like to begin the year with a new racing game, and this filled the spot, provided a challenge and made for a suitable accompaniment to podcast listening. Hardly one I'd recommend, but seeing as few racers made it onto the system, you soon come to the end of your options. **

January - December: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - My previous retrogaming review had me wondering if my monitor would fail, and while it's still going, it needs adjustment every time you put a disk in the drive, as that wiggles the pins at the back slightly and messes up the colours. As long as I'm careful I still have some life left in the old screen and I'll keep plugging away at this old faithful. 2012 saw the release of a new version of the title, but you can't beat the tight, pleasing, visual style and basic sound effects/music of the original. I think it was 2005 I began this particular mission, so it's been seven years in the playing. I could have reached Cydonia years back, but I wanted to see how far I could push game time and money - in 2011 I discovered it could only take so much, and getting funds over 2 billion, 100 thousand dollars turned it into a minus number. So now I just play to see how far in time I can get (the end of 2006 so far, so I'm now in realtime for when I started playing the mission!). The latest glitch is that some of my best Psionic soldiers have suddenly lost their powers and reverted to incredibly low Psionic Skill/Strength, an asset I depend on most of the time, so I need to be careful in future to have enough Psionically competent trainees or I'll be in trouble… ***

January - March: Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993, Game Boy) - It had been a while since I last bought an original Game Boy game (or even games for any other iteration of the machine), but for some reason, being on the lookout for Trek games I discovered this one on eBay and made the purchase. The first copy I received didn't work on my SP, Game Boy Advance or even the original, but I won another copy the following month and finally got down to playing it. Another game I reviewed on this blog, so I won't go on about it, but it was functional, while not being anything special in today's world, and still had the power to surprise: when a Borg ship showed up and I had to battle it, it was the equivalent of having the Death Star suddenly appear in a 'Star Wars' game, and was quite a shock. A rank structure informed you of your progression, but after reaching Captain, missions just seemed to come unceasingly, without any idea whether Admiral was possible to achieve. So I considered it complete once I'd beaten the Borg, as playing on without a clear idea if there was a definite end became tiresome after a while. **

March - September: Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties (2008, MacBook Pro) - While I'd have to award this the least enjoyable 'Age of Empires' crown, I resolved to finish it, after beginning it back in 2011 and never going back, and as most games do (that aren't broken or mind-numbingly boring), it grew on me, so I can say I did get some enjoyment out of it, but I won't be reminiscing in ten years time about the evenings I spent beating the three 'Asian Dynasties' campaigns, it was just a relief to have reached completion. **

May - December: Burnout 2 (2003, GameCube) - This old 'Cube game is one of the most exhilarating racers ever, and certainly the best serious car game on the system. As a one-player experience it's a reasonable challenge, but get a two-player game going and it's one to come back to many times, as it was again in 2012, on days here and there - I remember one Bank Holiday afternoon in June especially fondly... ****

September - December: X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005, GameCube) - The only other 'new' game I started, this was one of a bundle a friend of mine gave me back in 2009, most of which I've worked through to some degree, but I'd had a few still to play. Having completed and enjoyed the first 'X-Men Legends,' back in 2010, I'd long planned to dig into the sequel, but never got around to it, waiting for the 'right moment.' Of course that moment never came, so I made the time, and found it another acceptably diverting role-playing game where you control a team of four mutants, the action consisting mainly of smashing through your enemies and the scenery until you got to the end of a level. There was more to it than that, a proper story with voice actors and everything (including Patrick Stewart reprising his film role of Professor Charles Xavier!), but it was also annoyingly glitchy - not in a visual way you could dismiss, but in a game-crashing at certain points, way. Eventually, and after getting all the way to the Ancient Labyrinth (Normal difficulty), practically smelling the end, my save file crashed and refused to reload, so 24 and a half hours of play was wasted. I at first decided to abandon all attempts to finish the game, but over Christmas I restarted, aiming to rush through, quick as possible. For that reason I take off a star for what was otherwise a qualified entertainment. **


As you can tell, I really didn't spend a great deal of time on gaming in 2012, with few 'new' games started and finished, but there were a few other old favourites I went back to for a day here or there, such as 'Smugglers Run,' 'Conflict: Desert Storm II' and 'MarioKart: Double Dash'; 'Mario Tennis,' 'WWF Wrestlemania,' 'Diddy Kong Racing,' 'Snowboard Kids' and 'Goldeneye' in May, but only for multiplayer pleasure, not to get back into the main game. I even played 'Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III - Rebel Strike' and 'Spiderman 2' briefly in June just for the sake of playing something which I didn't have to start or continue. It was telling though, that in May, for the first time in thirteen years, when I first got my Nintendo 64, I packed it away permanently! It wasn't all that permanent after all, when I got it out for the Christmas period and had the pleasure of multiplayer gaming in the classics, 'MarioKart:DD,' 'Snowboard Kids,' 'WCW Vs. NWO' and 'MarioKart 64' once again. You can't keep a good classic down!


Next Year - Looking back at my agenda at the end of last year's retrogaming review I had mixed success: I did indeed finish 'Asian Dynasties,' but I didn't get into 'Age of Empires II.' I never slid the 'Advance Wars' cartridge into my Game Boy Advance SP, or loaded up 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' or 'Sonic Mega Collection,' but I did get far into 'X-Men Legends II.' I bought 'Dakar 2' and finished that, and I generally enjoyed the moments I did spare for gaming. With all this in mind I have more moderate goals for 2013:

- Clearly 'X-Men Legends II' must be completed.

- Obviously a new racing game must be found.

- Definitely have to find out if the new X-COM game of 'UFO: Enemy Unknown' will work on my MacBook.

- Other than that, I'd like to think I could spare some time for 'Age of Empires II' campaigns as I planned to last year, but I won't hold my breath.

- Buy the full version of 'BoXiKoN'?

Happy (belated) New Year!