Bringing Past To Present
Posts tagged Review
RetroReview : Top Gear Top Retro
Aug 30th
Sunday nights are not the same without spending an hour in the company of Clarkson, May and Hammond. No they aren’t my solicitors but the presenters of BBC car-fest Top Gear. The series is once again off air but they recently posted to their website 10 retro driving games that they felt were the best. Retrobear loves a challenge and in true Top Gear fashion he picks 10 other games worth taking round the test track….
Vroooooooooooooooom
If you’re a fan, like me, of Top Gear then you might be pleased to see a list appear on their website. Finally after years of not discussing the notion of driving games against real driving (other than to say it doesn’t compare), this week a Top Gear Retro Computer Driving Game list appeared. Now you can see for yourselves what Clarkson, Hammond and May rate as the best games ever made for retro computers, although it might not actually be them and may be one of the website staff writers. Anyway if you are interested here is the link : http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/retro-games-2011-08-09
RetroReview : Views From The Dugout
Jul 30th
No amount of shouting, gesticulation, pointing, waving arms around and wearing a 3/4 length sheepskin coat has any affect on the outcomes of a football management game. Just don’t tell RetroBear that, especially as he wears a suit when playing……yes, it’s the wacky world of PC footie management games.
You. The stadium. The fans. The players. And the balls - you definately need balls
Way, way back when I was still making my way through the educational minefield (College) I happened to stumble across a game which through one form or another would stay with me for the next 13 years. Other things I have picked up and either dropped or gone back to and wished I hadn’t, but there was something about this one game. I just couldn’t get enough of it no matter how hard I tried. It would come back to batter me senseless at university where it was a toss up between “extra reading” or playing this game. My degree (3rd Class) indicates what won my heart.
RetroReview : Plug N Play
Jul 29th
RetroBear loves his handhelds so what better way to further enhance those gaming memories by having a look at some easy to obtain and easy to use Plug N Play devices. They’re a darn sight cheaper than a 3DS that’s for sure…..
Plenty of choice for all gamers of all tastes, shapes and sizes...
As you’ll know from my scribblings here at RetroSection I am what you would class as a retro traditionalist. That is I don’t like anyone messing around with how things were. I don’t have anything against the silver version of the Atari 2600, I just prefer the original woody model. I love the Gameboy Pocket but I also like the chunky feel of the grey, 4 AA battery original. So it is with interest that over the last few weeks I have been tentatively dipping my retro toe into the world of Plug N Play.
Retro Reviews : Odds, Sods, Bits and Bobs
Jul 2nd
You can almost smell the retro in the air. The insane on screen action of an arcade classic, another crappy film tie in and the return of the Blue Blur. RetroBear trips the light fantastic and goes on a well timed rummage through some of the games in his collection…..
You'll never know what you'll uncover - possibly a lost classic, possibly not
Commodorathon : Games 19-24
May 16th
After a longer than expected hiatus but still managing to beat the Playstation Network in restarting, RetroBear goes back to mid April with the next 6 C64 games on his list. It starts badly but slowly gets better and takes in a couple of classics to ease the pain inflicted so far…..
PS Videos to follow
Load dammit !
Monday 18th April 2011
Outside the sun is shining. It’s another beautiful day but dammit I have Commodore 64 games to play. No rest for the wicked and these games will not play themselves…..
Everyone loves a Royal Wedding…..well not everyone
Apr 28th
Everyone's a winner baby....
Given the sheer amount of holidays and days off we are all experiencing at the moment it’s probably a good time to pack up the old Game Boy collection and head off for a few days myself. So posting and updates will be back to normal next week with the following :
- Games 19-30 in the Commodorathon
- Retro reviews including the games I have been picking up at car boots and charity shops in the last month
- Reviews of some of the arcade originals via MAME that I have been playing on the C64 to see how they compare
Until then put your feet up, settle down with some retro goodies and normal service will be resumed shortly……
One day......
Commodorathon – Games 13-18
Apr 18th
For the next six games RetroBear takes on the role of a soldier wanting revenge, a large ape, some kind of space warrior, a large headed boy in a nappy and the Last Slapfighter. Sounds like a cheese induced nightmare but it isn’t….
How I might look when the remaining 405 games have been played.....
Saturday 16th April 2011
Six more games, six more ranges of emotion. The task is proving very tough indeed if only for the failure of games to load. There are still hundreds of games to get through so let us waste no time and crack on with the next batch of games to see what joy/despair they bring.
Commodorathon – Games 7-12
Apr 15th
Up next for RetroBear are more technical problems, an ancient arcade conversion, one of the most popular board games in the world turned into a computer game and two of the most notoriously bad C64 arcade conversions. Cover your eyes and ears as this will not be pretty…..
Oh no - not WEC Le Mans AND Enduro Racer !!!
Thursday 14th April 2011
I am not looking forward to the next batch of games considering that it contains two absolute all time C64 nightmares. At least that is what legend says, after all my opinion may differ from those who have gone before me. We shall see as Day 2 of the Commodorathon commences….
The Commodorathon – First Games Reviewed…..
Apr 13th
So the moment finally arrives. RetroBear reviews the first games in the C64 collection and encounters a dodgy coin-op conversion, two crappy film tie ins (and we all know how much he loves those) and a few technical problems….
Rumble In The Jungle
Ridding the streets of scum
Jungle Fever
Tuesday April 12th 2011
The Commodorathon begins. Armed with little more than a pint of orange squash and having surveyed the task ahead this show is officially on the road. This does mean starting with a lot of film tie ins which from previous columns you will notice are not my favourite genre. However they were first out of the drawer…..
GAME 1 : RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART II (1986, OCEAN SOFTWARE)
You are Rambo armed to the teeth with weapons and your tasks are simple – rescue the POW’s without engaging the enemy. That is easier said than done as the enemy are quite happy to engage you. Escaping the first task in a helicopter, you then return to the camp you just visited to rescue some more POW’s before then taking on an enemy helicopter. Beyond that, well it’s difficult to say because that is as far as I got.
At the time of release it went head to head with Elite’s conversion of the arcade smash Commando. The two games are very similar except with Rambo you go up the screen, then back down it and then back up it. I’ll get to Commando at some point in the future but having played it a few months ago I do prefer it, though it is far from a good game.
Call Me Ishmael – RetroBear tackles his Moby Dick
Apr 6th
One man. One machine. Over 400 games. Retrobear is on a quest to play every single Commodore 64 game in his collection, without prejudice. That is not going to be an easy task.
The only rules are as follows :
- All games in the collection must be played – no exceptions no matter how bad a game’s reputation
- A minimum of 3 games per post will be reviewed
- Where possible the games will be compared to the coin-op original
- I must keep the faith
C64 Goodness
This week got me thinking as to what to do next with the site. Whilst posting comments on various systems and bits of gaming history is all well and good, what I feel is lacking most is actually playing the damn games and reviewing them. The problem with that is where to start ? I mean it’s not as if I have a small amount of games to be going along with that would take a short period of time to cover.