Retrogaming Review of The Year 2017

Retrogaming Review of The Year 2017

The most monumental event of the year in terms of retrogaming was getting a scandoubler so I could play my Amiga through a VGA connection, and what a relief it was to be able to go back to the old computer. The item itself wasn't too expensive, about £60 with postage, and it worked very well. There was a minor setback only a couple of months into its use when the cheap power adapter failed, the ebay seller I bought it from very unhelpful, offering to sell me a new one instead of replacing it, despite it lasting such a short time. But once I managed to find a suitable replacement elsewhere and got up and running again, it was freedom to once again be able to continue my decades long game of 'UFO,' and complete another game from the nineties I'd got stuck on back then, to add to my tally of recent years (such as 'Alien Breed II' and 'Elf' actually on the Amiga, or 'Curse of Enchantia' and 'Future Wars' via DOSBox). I'd award the scandoubler ****, because it does give excellent picture and sound, but my experience with the seller wasn't the best (I should have asked about a warranty before buying - instead I asked after I'd paid the money and had no response at all!). That was the highlight in a year of generally underwhelming gaming time spent on too many average games, proving yet again how important it is to commit to the best games and avoid the others if possible.

[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.]


January: Starfox Adventures (2002, GameCube) - The first month of the year is traditionally finishing off time for whatever game I played over Christmas. As I said in my review, it was a nice-looking game, but not very deep, yet had enough of the 'Zelda' clone about it that it was reasonably involving, and as Rare's final game for a Nintendo home console, held a special place of nostalgia, though that was thanks to the legacy of games before it more than its own merits. Added interest came from its original development being on the N64, so it had some heritage, it's just a shame that it shows the falling from grace Rare went through, and as far as I know, have never fully recovered from, creatively. ***

January - March: Armorines: Project SWARM (1999, N64) - My first game proper of the year, and I chose to go back to the N64 era for this FPS which I'd never played, but had a long association with, thanks to the closest N64 Magazine to when I got my console featuring it, staying in mind as something worth exploring in future. It only took eighteen years to get there, but it was another reasonably enjoyable game in the same genre as 'Turok,' for which I have fond memories. It was also brilliant to find its resolution was high enough that I could plug the N64 directly into my LCD monitor (the Dell FP2007), instead of having to make do with a convertor as most N64 games require with the screen, which must be played through a VGA connection, upsetting the contrast and making the visuals inferior and the setup process more fiddly. That accessibility helped endear the experience to me, and creeping around in dark tunnels was ideal in the waning winter months. ***

March - December: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - I finally got around to continuing my longest single gaming experience, almost a year after it had been curtailed thanks to the loss of my trusty old Amiga monitor! And it was a joy to return to the familiar disk-swapping, precise pixel graphics, and slow, but reassuring gameplay I've stuck with for so long. In July I passed the milestone of my 1700th UFO and I have no intention of slowing down or of finishing the game naturally by taking the trip to Cydonia, as long as the scandoubler holds out. *****

March - April: Dune (1992, DOSBox) - A game I never played on the Amiga, but knew of, this precursor to the superior 'Dune II' was hard to get into, but once I had its measure became fairly enjoyable and challenging, and most importantly encouraged me to play the sequel not long after. It's really the Grandfather of RTS games, though rather basic and fiddly, with the sequel better known as the true originator of the genre for the more recognisable setup and improvements, but it wouldn't have existed except for this. Games history, for sure. ***

April: Watchtower (1995, Amiga) - Never a keen shoot-'em-up-er I got this out of the loft when I was going through a box of games and fancied trying some mindless blasting. It's pretty basic, a step back for the A1200, something the original A500 could have coped easily enough with, but that's what was happening towards the end of the Amiga's life: small companies releasing the dregs of gaming, only better than nothing to a starved and dying platform. This wasn't too bad, except for being rock hard - no saves or passwords, complete all levels in one sitting! Those were the days, the bad old days - I never appreciated that kind of gaming much, not being great at it, but was determined to complete at least the first level, and on the standard difficulty of double trouble, not wimping out on the easier option. Controls weren't bad with the CD32 pad I used, much better than many of the joysticks of that time, but it still made hands ache after a while - ergonomics hadn't been invented then, maybe! Two hits and you're dead, unless you can find a medi-pack to boost you up after one hit, and there was strategy to it, but mostly being careful. It's not ugly, but the kind of thing you'd see in mobile gaming now, and a hundred older shoot-'em-ups from the 80s and early 90s. Never tried the two-player, and if it had been password save for each level I'd have persevered, but I never liked those games which had to be finished in one sitting and through a process of trial and error, slowly pushing further each time. Too much of a chore. **

April - May: Dyna Blaster (1991-1992, DOSBox) - The fun little origin of 'Bomberman.' I played 'Bomberman 64' on N64, and it was a moderately enjoyable, if basic platform adventure, but it was the multiplayer that really made it worth playing, and that classic gameplay is what this original is all about, blowing up the opposition while avoiding the same fate yourself. At the opposite end of the spectrum to 'Watchtower,' this was extremely forgiving, allowing you infinite continues via a password system. You lose the power-ups you've collected, but otherwise it's a free ride. It says something that I wanted to get to the end, because it didn't have that much challenge, but was satisfying, especially stringing bombs together. The real test would be to complete the game in one sitting without using more than the two continues before you have to resort to passwords, but I wouldn't have the patience for that. It was a nice little thing, looked pretty, cutesy graphics and basic, jaunty tune, not to mention job satisfaction, but nothing more. **

June: Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis (1992, DOSBox) - The only question with this game was whether to play it on my newly restored Amiga or go for the more accessible, but less nostalgically appealing version via DOSBox. Still early in my use of the scandoubler, and concerned about how long the power adaptor would last, I decided to keep the Amiga mainly for 'UFO,' so although this wasn't strictly the version I played years ago, it was less hassle and practically identical (with the enhancement of actual speech in the cutscenes). The retrogaming purist in me baulks, but it was still a top game, even in this version, and remains one of my all-time favourites for the revelatory gameplay and sense of involvement. Many things would improve about the genre, you're constantly in a state of repairing individual buildings one at a time, or moving one unit here, and one there, so it's not an easy game on the mouse or the wrist holding it, but it was the first of its kind, building so much on the first game, stripping away the entirety of the RPG elements to concentrate on the action and satisfaction of building bases, massing an army and taking out the forces of the opposition. Along with 'Settlers' and 'UFO' it was one of the big three strategy games I played on the Amiga, and while always in mind as something to go back to (I'd already won the game with all three Houses, so this time I returned to Ordos, the House I began with when playing originally), it was only a question of when, not if I'd get to this. *****

June - July: Pac-Man World 2 (2002, GameCube) - The best thing about this game was selling it for more than I paid! Sure, it looked pretty good after the basic graphics of N64 and DOSBox that had dominated the year's play, and any chance to find another good 3D platform world was one to be seized, but sadly, as with most of the genre on the 'Cube, it didn't impress, failing in the control department, and being largely linear. It also lessened its appeal with an insistence on precise jumping. There was little to no joy of exploration, or freedom to express yourself through the character, and while there were collectables, they paled in comparison to the N64 greats from Nintendo and Rare. It seems you just can't beat 'Banjo-Kazooie,' 'Super Mario 64,' and 'Donkey Kong,' and having any expectations even close to those makes for an instant fail. Hence why I sold it: I knew I wasn't going to spend any more time on it once it was beaten, and not even the prospect of unlocking more classic 'Pac-Man' games could persuade me. Ultimately it was another example of being too much of a chore and not enough freedom to explore. **

July - August: Jurassic Park (1993, Amiga) - While I was saving the Amiga for the ongoing 'UFO,' I did manage to complete this game which had remained in limbo ever since the late-nineties (I got stuck on the Stegosaurus paddock), providing some satisfaction by its defeat, though as a game it was another to stick on the homework list rather than fun time. It wasn't easy, but an adult brain proved more able to cope with the puzzles, and endurance to see it through, and again, the graphical beauty was the main draw, just a shame I didn't get to play more games this year I fully enjoyed. That's the trouble with my system: I mostly play just one game at a time, so if it's not much good, then it's hard to remain motivated, drawing out the experience before I can start a new, and hopefully better game. I'm not above abandoning a game, as happened with 'Watchtower,' but when you can save or use passwords there's not really an excuse for it, and this year I made too many poor choices, miring myself in average software and losing the will for it all. At least this one was a challenge I could overcome, and was pleasing to finish and see the end at long last after about twenty years! **

August - October: Age of Empires II: The Conquerors campaigns (2001, MacBook Pro) - My quest to play through all the 'Age of Empires II' campaigns on the hardest difficulty continued this year with two more ticked off the list (Attila The Hun and El Cid). The good thing about this game is that I know I'll enjoy it, it has a definite challenge, and is as involving and engrossing as they come, so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. It still took me a while, so I was happy to leave the final two campaigns for 2018, eking out the pleasure into another year because it's one of those rare games I don't want to finish too soon because I want to look forward to it, and playing it in summer seemed to be a good fit. *****

October - December: Starshot: Space Circus Fever (1998, N64) - The low point of the retrogaming year, because even the attractive graphics of other games weren't in evidence as solace from the poor gameplay and control. The music wasn't too bad, and that's about the most positive I can be about the game. Yes, it's from the early N64 era, but it came out the same year as 'Banjo-Kazooie' and couldn't be more different. In one way I was annoyed that I didn't get to play one of the levels, because I visited Earth as soon as I could, not knowing I couldn't go back to the other planets once I'd gone there, but on the other hand it did mercifully shorten the experience. A struggle to get through, not so much because of the difficulty (although it did have its share of challenges to surpass, just mainly in the irritant category - I was stuck on the outside of the ship in the final level for far too long!), but the annoyance of bad controls and cluttered visuals, not helped by the necessity of playing through a VGA convertor. It was certainly the worst experience in a year where too many games were merely average, and didn't cap it well: its score may reflect the cumulative effect of so much mediocrity across the months, so I was only too pleased to get it done and sell it to some poor customer whom I hope gets more out of it than I did! *

December: Beyond Good & Evil (2004, GameCube) - This should probably belong in the honourable mentions section as I only played a few hours around Christmas so it remains too early to judge (though at time of writing in January 2018 I'm just starting to get into it). It was supposed to be my big Christmas game this year, but I didn't have the focus to be able to concentrate on gaming this Christmas, so it suffered. I also found it too full of stuff, places to go, people to see and not enough focus, so it was hard to get motivated. Ironically, it's been one of the top three games I've been after on ebay for a few years (along with 'Animal Crossing' and 'Starfox Adventures,' the former of which I have yet to win), one that looked like it could be my cup of tea, and I finally won it at auction in May. Perhaps it's the gloomy graphics that didn't warm me to it, as well as the multiple, but samey items and story to keep track of, but despite any reservations, and that it hasn't grabbed me from the start, being a little too simplistic in terms of overly context-sensitive controls, it was always going to be a big improvement on the previous game, 'Starshot,' it just remains to be seen whether it can reach the heady heights of above average! Provisionally I'd give it **, but it's fairly engaging so I could see it go to ***.

Honourable mentions go to 'Colonisation' on the Amiga, one of the games I tried out in my joy at having the machine back to life again, but found it ultra-heavy on the disk-swappage, not to mention one of the disks immediately developed a problem, and while I'm sure we've got another copy somewhere, I didn't have the inclination to track it down - nice music, though! '1080º Snowboarding' and 'Snowboard Kids' both had some play when I celebrated my N64's 18th 'birthday' (when I first got it on the 12th October 1999), snowy games seeming the obvious choice for winter. And 'Mario Kart: Double Dash' had its moment at Christmas in honour of past Christmases when it used to be a highlight of the family season.


Next Year - I kept up the tradition for playing games from as many of my various machines as I could, NGC Magazine continuing to be a source of potential new gaming suggestions, and I came close to buying either a Nintendo Switch or a Wii, but in the end couldn't justify either, really, since I have so many games still to play. At least I was successful in completing several of the tasks I set the previous year, with 'Age of Empires,' 'Dune' and the Amiga all figuring strongly, but too often I was let down, so in 2018 I need to:

- Make better choices on the games I play!

- Get back to some Game Boy games, whether that's 'Advance Wars' or 'Return of The Jedi,' I still feel drawn to the old machine, the first I owned.

- Play more DOSBox, though I don't know specifically what out of the large selection - again, careful choice is required!

- I will certainly finish the last of the 'Age of Empires II' campaigns from 'The Conquerors Expansion.'

- Other than that, it's GameCube all the way, as I have a number of games I've never played, most of which I'm sure I'll enjoy, with the next 'Need For Speed' at the top of my list after 'Beyond Good & Evil' is conquered.

- I really don't know if I'll buy a new console, the price of the Switch would need to drop to make it justifiable, and I'd only get a Wii if I could get one that plays 'Cube games, and came bundled with some of the top titles on that system.

Happy New Year!