It’s only appropriate on Mother’s Day to post this article. Why ? Well back in the day having seen this following piece of kit shown off in all the magazines and through adverts on the TV, you would have been pestering your Mum to get this for you. And boy you’d be in for a crushing disappointment. It’s the Sega Mega CD….

This should have been the next great technological leap, but ended up being a big step backwards

When a console reaches the end of it’s life cycle in these technologically advanced days, companies will look to the future and bring out a new improved machine to replace it. Granted, this could take a few years of development and testing but once a console’s time has come, it has come and the end is not far off. Back in the day, companies would look to add-ons and expansions to their existing machines to squeeze as much life out of it as possible.

Take the Super Nintendo – not only was there the Super Scope (a rocket launcher light gun type thing) and the Super Game Boy (which allowed you to play Game Boy games on the SNES) – but there were also certain other “adaptors” of a dubious third party nature that would let you play NES games too. The Mega Drive was also no stranger to having bits bolted on, and in this series of articles we shall briefly highlight some of those addons. First up, The Mega CD…..

Released late in 1991, the Mega CD was designed to take gaming to higher levels and provide better graphics and sounds to enhance the gaming experience. This was the first console ever to deliver data on an optical disk. The use of FMV, or Full Motion Video, was very much taken on board and used as much as possible. Also by putting games onto CD’s more and more data would be able to be used and, as such, games should have been a whole lot better. Chuck in a fully functional CD player and you have a pretty dynamic piece of kit.

As always Sega did a grand job in promoting the heck out of the Meag CD but the public simply weren't buying it

However whilst all this sounded mind blowingly awesome back in 1991 when it was launched, the actuality of it all was something of a Mega disappointment. Developers were somewhat surprised by the capacity of the CD’s and after spending so long programming for cartridges, simply did not make enough use of the extra storage available. The decision to incorporate as much FMV as possible was also an error, whilst this might have looked impressive it was very limited in function and most of the games which used a lot of FMV were generally panned.

That’s not to say the system was a total loss. Like the versions of Sonic that appeared on the Master System and Game Gear that were different from the Mega Drive original. Different Mega CD versions of Earthworm Jim and Spiderman Vs The Kingpin saw extra levels and scenes slotted in, and Sonic CD was for many probably the best Sonic game ever (which incidentally has been re-released on XBOX Live and Playstation Network to rave reviews).

At least current gen fans will get to enjoy the beauty and brilliance of Sonic CD after it's release on the PSN and XBOX Live

The Mega CD never realised it’s potential and for many games owners shelling out for a console and expensive games, it was a fad too far. The technology in place was perhaps at the wrong end of the life cycle and found itself struggling to compete with the very markets it was looking to push into, namely competing with PC games. Although initially sales were good, Sega had already turned their attention to other add-ons and had one eye on the next generation of consoles, with the Sega Saturn becoming their next disk based machine to be released a few years later.

Next time we will take a look at the 32X……

This might have looked extreme but if you plugged in all the Sega add ons it would have looked exactly like that

Is it too much to ask for something a little different ? After all if everything is the same over and over again it all becomes a bit safe and predictable. After casting an eye over some of 2012’s big game releases, RetroBear sharpens his claws once again for another attack on modern gaming….

Now wouldn't that be something ?

I did something rather naughty over Christmas and as such I am here to repent my sins. Yes, for one of the very few times in recent memory, I purchased games that were not of the retro variety. Shock ! Horror ! Gasp ! I should be paraded through the local village and pelted with fruit for committing such a crime. However there was indeed method to my madness. Firstly one was a game I had developed a rather unhealthy fetish for and the other seemed to be very appealing and as such seemed worth a go at the price it was offered at.

About as un-Disney a game as you can get

The first game was Epic Mickey for the Wii. The old white wonder has gradually been turning grey due to all the dust it has been gathering since we were kindly gifted it 2 years ago, and I felt it deserved a new game (not that I play any of the ones I already have for it). Ever since I saw the trailer last year for Epic Mickey I was intrigued by the dark approach to a Disney game, and as the price had plummeted it was worth the gamble. All I need now are some batteries for the controllers……

The second game was L A Noire on the PS3, which is essentially Grand Theft Auto but with more trilby hats. This detective romp had caught my eye when it came out and was recommended to me as an essential purchase. I stood 40 minutes in the queue to buy the game 2^nd hand, and then found out it had all the DLC with it as well. Unfortunately an ear infection and limited hearing has meant I have spent more time saying “Eh” and a lot and less time beating confessions out of dodgy looking 1940’s gangsters.

Can't wait to slap on a trilby and get interrogating

The big question I have been asking myself over Christmas though is where is the originality in the games market at the moment ? Casting an eye over the new releases due this year, the answer is a pretty resounding “Not to be seen”. It was whilst playing Sonic Generations that I found myself wondering if this constant regurgitation and repetition is coming to an end. Sonic Generations is a fine game, but it is essentially bog standard Sonic with a twist. Having said that, at least Sega have tried (and failed miserably) in recent years to move Sonic away from ring collecting.

So looking ahead to 2012 here are some of the things that you can look forward to :

RESIDENT EVIL : REVELATIONS – Resident Evil in 3D ? That might be new if we hadn’t had all those first person games from the PS1 onwards. Resident Evil on a handheld however ? Hmmm no it’s been done before on the Game Boy Color, so I am afraid not many marks for originality there.

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 – Oh joy another FF game to add to the multitudes I have already not played. This is a direct sequel to FFXIII which makes you wonder why it’s not called FFXIV. Now if they made a FF curling simulator that might be a bit different. After all it would be a sort of turn-based-combat…..

SOUL CALIBUR V – Now featuring the dude from Assassin’s Creed, which means no place for Darth Vader or Yoda this time around. It also doesn’t sound a whole lot different either.

THE DARKNESS II – I thought they had split up ? Anyway, no marks for originality as it is a sequel with the added bonus of a 4 player co-op option. So maybe a little different, but not much.

SSX – The snowboarding series gets the next gen makeover. Will it be any good ? I quite enjoyed the old SSX games so it will be interesting to see how this turns out, but where all else fails dust off an old classic, tart it up and watch the wonga roll in i.e. not very original.

Now those are just 5 games I have picked from a list I found on Digital Spy, but aside from SSX they all appear to be sequels. Now unless these are packed with radical new improvements, they are likely to be the same thing aren’t they ? Soul Calibur is going to rely on you kicking the shit out of your opponent unless they have included a supermarket trolley dash as a hidden level. Resident Evil is going to be about gunning down zombies as opposed to forming a close harmony choir and getting a date booked at the Proms.

I haven’t even mentioned the planned update of Amiga classic Syndicate, another installment of Mass Effect, a further volume in the Grand Theft Auto and Mario finally kicking the 3DS into shape with his first 3D true adventure and Mario Kart 7. Yes there is no denying there is public appetite for these games and they will all sell well (Mario is breaking all kinds of records if reports are to be believed). It just makes me sad that the best the industry can do right now is make easy money with sequels.

That'll wipe the silly grin of that plumber's face

It makes me long for the days of original games like Head Over Heels, Saboteur and Wizball, games that were totally different from anything you had seen or played before. Is it because all the good ideas have been done ? Is it because no one wants to take the risk with a bold new title ? I guess the only way we will see any changes is if any of these, and the other major titles, tank on release. If they don’t, expect Mario Kart 35 sometime in the near future.

Never has a truer word been spoken - although I would have had the violence as the biggest share from experience

Better late than never, RetroBear takes you on a journey by train to “That London” as he attends the first ever London Gaming Convention and has a thoroughly enjoyable time of it….

You may recall towards the end of November I mentioned I had been invited to the first London Gaming Convention not far from Arsenal Football Club. Well the good news is I did manage to attend. The bad news is it took me so long to write an article about it. However I can report that, despite a few teething problems, and those I can’t really comment on as I did not take take part, I found the whole thing to be really rather good.

It was held at the London Metropole University Rocket bar, which seemed to be a rather small venue for what this will hopefully branch out and become. There were various areas where you could go and experience gaming – a modern area for PS3, 360 and Wii fanatics, a LAN area for all the PC gamers, if 10 man Bomberman on the Sega Saturn was your thing then you could join in with that too, and finally a rather well stocked Retro area with more CRT TV’s than I have seen in a long time.

The well stocked retro area

Upstairs, there was a big stage where invited guests such as Guru Larry, Ashens and BrentalFloss all appeared, doing some Q&A sessions for the gathered masses. Elsewhere more modern gaming areas could be found and alongside that, an all out Super Smash Bros Brawl area with again up to 10 players at a time involved. It was also good to see a smattering of traders at the event, though one had to be careful with the wallet as the retro stuff was priced highly but all in rather good nick.

A smattering of traders meant those who brought enough cash with them could leave with a bagful of goodies

The event also ran alongside their usual Anime convention, with the games part being used for the first time. Whilst there is a certain amount of crossover between the two this was definitely more games orientated and the upcoming event in February 2012 plans to focus more heavily on Anime. All in all there was plenty to do and see and have a go on. I managed to revisit my love affair with Point Blank on the PS1 and, whilst some of the retro stuff broke down, there was still plenty of choice to sit down and sample.

The Q&A and audience participation stuff was good fun, but was marred by a lot of technical issues

The only criticism of the event which has been prominent is the organisation. A lot of events were cancelled or pulled at the last minute and upon arriving at the start time of 11am it was at least a further hour before the event managed to kick off. I spent a rather long hour waiting for everything to start while people ran round looking for cables. The bar was well stocked and very busy, and whilst the food on site looked and smelled great I think more thought needs to be given to the catering. There was very little to choose from and a long queue, so unfortunately like many others I preferred to wonder 250 yards down the road to McDonalds instead.

It was a long hour but at least the company was good

So all in all, with any new event starting up there are going to be a few teething issues and so this was not a bad event to go and see. The next event is planned for (to confirm) and if you are in the area it is definitely worth a look. I would once again like to extend my thanks to the team for their kind offer of an invitation and look forward to seeing them again soon. Meanwhile have a look at the images below for some of the goodies that were on general public play !

Atari Jaguar running Tempest 2000

More CRT TV's than you can throw sticks at - remember retro looks a lot better on one of these

You can't have a retro event without Sonic

The small arcade cabinet had literally hundreds of classic arcade games loaded in and was incredibly busy

The old foe stands opposite Retrobear – the move tie in. However on this occasion he is more than pleasantly surprised as this one is really rather good. In fact not just rather good but stupendously good. So grab your silencer and your tuxedo as RetroBear goes all Bond on us….

You can tell the quality that went into this game and that is why its a gaming classic

There comes along once in a while a game which defines a system. Everyone will mention Manic Miner or Monty Mole when you talk about 8 bit home computers. They will say Mario for Nintendo and Sonic for Sega. Those games were all groundbreaking titles when they came out for one reason or another : Manic Miner for its platform originality, Monty Mole because of the insane difficulty, Mario for being the world’s most immense platformer and Sonic for its speed and big, bold graphics.

When Nintendo nabbed the rights to Goldeneye more than a few eyebrows were raised. Firstly, there hadn’t been a decent James Bond game, ever. Secondly, how would it be transferred to the console. Thirdly, would it be one of those godawful formulaic platform games that all film tie ins become. And Fourthly would it be any good ?

The first thing Nintendo did was give the game to Rare Software to develop, so a new pair of eyes would be behind the development. Next they ensured the likenesses of then-Bond Pierce Brosnan and co-stars from the film would be included. All very good so far. The game, when it came about, was such a refreshing change from anything that we had seen for Bond before. All the action was viewed from first person, with only Bond’s hand and gun visible on the screen. There was the odd driving section as well. They had tried to cram as much of the film into the game as possible, including the abseil down the dam at the beginning of the film.

Yes that is an N64 version of Sean Bean.

Whilst it all looked a bit grey to start with, the use of colours was excellent. The music was fantastic with a mix of the Bond theme as well as other original tracks. Even Sean Bean is in it, and Robbie Coltrane too. It was amazing, it blew gamers away because not only did it look and sound good, it played brilliantly as well. To top it all off there was a multiplayer game thrown in where you and 3 mates ran round a complex shooting each other. The most deaths you caused, the more chance you had of winning and thus deathmatch multiplayer was brought to the masses.

Its hard to work out which is the best part of Goldeneye – the main game or the multiplayer. I have spoken to people who have never played the main game, just gone shooting with their chums. I spent many long and frustrating hours round friends houses getting my ass kicked on this game. Its only when I got an N64 for myself in 2009 that I was able to play the main game and experience how much fun it actually is.

Goldeneye has dated, there is no doubt. Some of the FPS sections are quite ropey and there is a lot of slowdown when things get a bit busy. However there is no denying this is a killer app for the N64. You know a game is good when there had been rumours of an update for years and years since its release. The Wii and newly released PS3/360 versions tart things up a bit and include the online multiplayer, but to true fans of the game they aren’t quite as good.

Its always a bonus in a game if you can mow down a few communists along the way

Truly and simply, Goldeneye is a gaming classic you cannot be without. If you have an N64 then you should have this.

VERDICT : 00-Amazing. One of the best games of its generation and a must play for fans of FPS but also fans of gaming history.

NOTES : Cartridge only on Amazon will set you back around £5.00. On eBay you can get loose and complete versions from 99p – just don’t expect them to stay there as picking up this game for less than a fiver is pretty good going.

TBC : Bring out the bongos – Donkey Konga on the Nintendo Gamecube

Time constraints ahoy so Retrobear condenses 2 games reviews into one entry. First up the ice flow hopping antics of Frostbite on the wooden wonder Atari 2600, and then slipping on a pair of red shorts and some big mouse ears as he tackles Castle of Illusion on the Sega Mega Drive….

Building igloos has never been so much fun.

Man or mouse ? Only your gaming skills can determine which you are.

The best games are the simplest and most straightforward to pick up and play. Take the ancient arcade game Tapper where your aim is to keep firing pints of beer at your customers whilst collecting the empties and the tips. What about Operation Wolf where all you have to do is blast anything that moves ? These were games that required little thinking, not like some games now where you feel the need for an extra pair of hands or perhaps hands with an extra couple of fingers each.

That is why so many games on the early systems such as ColecoVision, Intellivision, Odyssey and the Atari 2600 stand the test of time. Not all of them mind because a lot of them were shit 30 years ago and are beyond comprehension now. As we get further on from the late 1970’s and 1980’s so it seems we leave this fledgling era of video games behind. The newer generation of gamers now view the original Sonic game as I myself would look back to Pitfall. Years from now the latest Call Of`Duty game will be viewed with the same pair of glasses.

Sir David Attenborough's quest for the Frozen Planet continues

One game I shall always look back on and regard as a classic is Frostbite on the 2600. It’s premise is simple : jump on the ice flow to collect bricks to make your igloo. Once it is built, hop inside and its on to the next screen. Along the way avoid seabirds, crabs, clams and a polar bear while picking up fish for bonus points. Keep going until your reflexes have had enough, as the game speeds up the further in you get, or your wrists begin to ache.

I loved Frostbite as a kid and I still love it. It can be incredibly frantic and annoying as you put in extra jumps by mistake and cause yourself another unnecessary death. The core game though is what appeals so much. Back in the day if you scored 40,000 points you could send off for a badge. Try scoring that number of points because I guarantee that is one heck of a challenge. For a 2600 game the graphics are fab and the sound sparse but effective.

Moving from that to Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion on the Mega Drive might be moving from the simple to the superlative. At the time of release, and this was one of the original games to come out in Europe when the console came out, this was a quite stunning game to look at. In true Disney fashion it was gorgeous to look at with the colourful cartoon graphics throughout. The music was nothing special but felt as if it had come from a cartoon.

When this was first released the cartoon graphics caused jaws to drop - they are still impressive today

In terms of gameplay it’s the classic side scrolling, jumping, squashing enemies, collect the tokens and the power ups and avoid death at all cost kind of game. So often in cases like this too much attention can be paid to how the actual game looks and sounds to how it plays. In this case every effort has been made to ensure that the title is a success. Yes, like all platform games it has it’s moments of frustration, but it keeps bringing you back allowing you to see the next colourful level that an otherwise fit of temper would not have allowed you to see.

VERDICT : Frostbite – fun, frantic and flippin’ good nearly 30 years after it came out. It’s gaming at its most simple and basic but has an amazing charm that will keep you coming back to it again and again.

VERDICT : Castle of Illusion – beautiful to look at and a real charm to play. Some moments will frustrate you but the positives far outweigh the smallest negatives.

NOTES : Frostbite – Carts only on Amazon from £2.49. No loose ones on eBay but a couple for sale with the original packaging. Be warned as they’ll set you back at least £15.00

NOTES : Castle Of Illusion : Most of the copies for sale on Amazon are complete with box and manual and start at £8.99. Over on eBay plenty of complete copies knocking about at around £5.00

UP NEXT : No idea ! I’ll think of something though…..

Squinting at a small screen isn’t much fun but when a game is a s good as this you can’t go wrong at all. Growing a Village People style moustache RetroBear hops, skips and jumps his way through WarioLand 2…..

Some dozy twonk has left the tap running and that's why the castle is flooded

I’ve never been a big fan of watering down a concept or introducing new characters to support existing ones, designed simply to “freshen things up”. This usually means that the creators have run out of ideas and are grasping at straws to find new ideas to keep the cash rolling in. Cynical as it may sound, poor old Sonic has suffered from this in recent years. We could accept the introduction of Tails, but once you start doing that you end up adding Knuckles, Shadow etc and before you know it you’ve got more cameos than in the new Ben Stiller film.

Mario started life with his own cast of characters – the rotund plumber himself, Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Bowser. I can forgive the inclusion of Yoshi because he’s rather cute, but when I first heard about Wario I was distinctly underwhelmed. It just seems LAZY, turning the M upside down. The less said about WaLuigi (which is just pathetic) the better.

This game was released in both normal Game Boy mode and a special Game Boy Color version - one of the few games to do that

This though is where Nintendo start to show they know what to do with new characters and not reduce them to bit parts or crappy games of their own (see Shadow The Hedgehog). They gave Wario his own game and he hasn’t looked back. I was lucky enough to pick up a loose copy of WarioLand II around 12 months ago and was instantly hooked by just how playable and fun the game is.

As with all Mario-esque platform games, Wario has had a bad day. His castle has been flooded, his treasure stolen and someone has let the chickens out. The game involves you going outside of his castle to track down the villains and restore order once more. In true Mario fashion you collect coins along the way, but unlike Mario you can’t die. Wario is invincible meaning that you can keep ploughing through the game without having to worry about save points or being sent back to the start of the game when you die.

What is incredibly wonderful about WarioLand 2 is you can set your own destiny. All roads will lead to the end of level bosses, but how you get there is up to you. There is no one set pattern to follow meaning you may take the long way or the short way to level end. You’ll need a bit of the old grey matter was well, as progress will be stopped by puzzles needing to be solved. However these shouldn’t prove too tricky for most gamers. Once you get to the end and defeat Captain Syrup (I swear I didn’t make that up) order can once again be restored.

There ain't no place like Super Wario Land

Everything about WarioLand 2 screams quality ; the graphics are big and bold which for a Game Boy game is quite something, the tunes are fittingly plinky-plonky and add charm, whilst the game play is pretty sensational. Some puzzles need some thinking but once the penny drops you’ll progress quite easily enough. It’s actually quite hard to fault this game at all !

Quite frankly one of the best hand held platform games there was. These types of games are ten-a-penny on the Game Boy but this is one of the top titles you should have.

VERDICT : A game I prefer to the Super Mario Land series, and a supreme title in every department.

NOTES : Dirt cheap to find – less than £2.00 on Amazon and round the same on eBay – so one game you really have no excuse for not owning.

UP NEXT : From the sublime to the frantic – Frostbite on the Atari 2600

You'll never know what you'll uncover - possibly a lost classic, possibly not

So here’s a rundown of what I have been playing in my hiatus that I have erroneously (and much to the frustration of Mrs Bear) forgotten to write articles about :

• Outrun 2 on the XBOX – Wow now this is a quality title and far, far better
  

  Revising an true arcade classic and making it as good as the original

  than it deserves to be. You know when sequels to classic games come out and everyone thinks there are a bit “meh” – well not this one. The only thing missing is the sitdown hydraulic cab and the wind blowing through your hair. It has the original arcade version of Outrun 2 as well as challenge stage games, where you perform challenges in order to unlock the next stage. There are over 100 of these to complete so it will take some doing. It’s tremendous fun and definitely worth your time to dig out and play.

• Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg on Gamecube – Created by Sonic Team
  

  This is the result of a games designer on a cheese induced dream

  and looking every inch a Sonic game (minus the hedgehog), this is a stunning looking and playable platform game that has you coming back for more. The fact you are dressed as a giant chicken and can roll eggs at your enemies, and the whole thing looking and sounding beautiful, this is one great game of it’s genre. I play a lot of platform games but this is one of the best, so track it down and give it a crack.

• PGA Tour Golf II on GameGear – Well I like golf games and I don’t give the GameGear enough love. I played the original series a lot on the Amiga and
  

  Taking minature golf to a new level

  MegaDrive and this is a surprisingly accurate conversion of those games. It takes a while to load each screen but the playability is still there. It proves that the PGA series was (and still is under the Tiger Woods banner) the best golf game around, which is tough on Leaderboard but the difference between these two series is massive.

• The 2D Adventures Of Rotating Octopus on PS3 – OK so it’s not a retro
  

  It's awesomely good fun

  game but this doesn’t mean it can’t be included here. A real cute colourful puzzler and right up my street in terms of the quirkiness and “one more go” factor that you need. The fact it’s available as a PS3 Mini goes to show that great games can be found and downloaded for very little cash. Seek this one out and I’ll guarantee you’ll be hooked.

• Smash TV on MAME – If anyone played this insane shoot em up back in the 1980’s then you’ll have fond memories of trying to stay alive. Given the
  

  Unfair ? Yes. Unforgiving ? Yes. Awesome ? Very.

  amount of enemies on screen at any one time it’s not easy. In fact it’s insanely difficult. That doesn’t stop it from being a real trip down memory lane, with it’s digitised speech, rotating firing system and distinct resemblance to The Running Man. Play this one and see how hard games were back then.

• Sonic Generations Demo on PS3 – It looks like Sonic with better graphics,
  

  Sadly the jury is still very much out....

  it sounds like Sonic with it’s Green Hill theme from the original game and it plays like Sonic (collect the rings, jump on the enemies, get to the end of the level as quickly as possible), and I know it’s a demo, but something isn’t right. The framerate is choppy so everything seems blurred and you can’t just bomb through a level. There is more strategy involved and that’s not really in the Sonic tradition. Hopefully the finished article will address this but it seems to have divided gamers already meaning Sega have their hands full in sorting out the wrinkles before release. File this under intrigued but not that impressed. Stay tuned for a RetroBear Retrospective !

• WCW Mayhem on PS1 – The slowest wrestling game of all time. God it’s
  

  Love wrestling ? You won't love this

  bad, it’s no wonder they went under in the end.

• Batman & Robin on PS1 – Probably the worst film licence game I have ever
  

  The film was bad enough - this however is worse.

  played. Well at least the music is OK as it’s lifted right from the film, but the rest of it ? Unspeakably awful in every respect (still it was only 20p from the car boot – yes I may be a self-righteous prick but I’ll leave it to you to work out who got the best deal from that transaction)

• Streets Of Rage 2 on PS3 – An awesomely good beat em up available on
  

  Two of my favourite things - Streets of Rage 2 and the PS3

  PSN for a short while (thanks hackers). I still prefer the original though but as a button bashing trawl through the mean streets it’s a good way to while away a couple of hours whilst thumping the shit out of everything that comes at you.

We’ve been taking advantage of the free stuff that Sony have allowed us access to thanks to the hacking issues they had a few months ago. I do hope PS3 users took the time to explore their machines it more detail – Blu Ray, video streaming etc – to see what a marvellous bit of kit it really is. Sadly in this day and age and with technology moving at such a great speed something like this was inevitably going to happen. I don’t think any of us were so blissfully unaware at how lax Sony and their security systems were to let it happen though. Let’s hope lessons can be learned and it doesn’t happen again – in the meantime though enjoy the freebies !

As you can see, a wide and varied selection of games. Do give the Octopus a go if you have a PS3 – in these days where you are being asked to pay £40 notes a game you could do any worse than throwing a couple of quid at that one.

Good old Sony.

In response to the release of Sonic Adventure on XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3, the Retro Bear looks back at the original on the much maligned Sega Dreamcast and asks “Was it really worth it?”

Originally Posted to GameFancier.com on September 26th 2010

Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)

I have made it clear before that I am not a massive fan of older games being updated for the next generation of gamers. Quite frankly, if something ain’t broke, why the hell would you try to fix it? I understand we are now in an age where the likes of After Burner can be given that treatment, but they end up look like a Next-Gen game more than the original game they were based on. Then again, you might play the original and try to understand what all the fuss was about in the first place.

We therefore come to Sonic Adventure, now available to download from XBOX 360 Live and the PlayStation Network and reviewed by our very own editor on this humble site a few days ago. He actually dropped me an email to find out what I remembered about the game. I’ll be honest – although I own Sonic Adventure in it’s original form on the Dreamcast I hadn’t actually played it (you know when you collect stuff and don’t actually get round to doing anything with it? Well, welcome to my world)

It was only fair to give it a spin in light of this, though I am far too stingy (and principled) to actually fork out extra spondoolicks for the updated version of the game. Reading the Ed’s review though it is totally apparent that the faults with the update are faults of the original game as follows :

Poor camera – Honestly for a game which moves as fast as this one does (and it does crack on at a fair lick) you would have thought better camera control to prevent unnecessary deaths would have been implemented. Not so. Rack up those extra lives RetroManiacs, because you will most definitely need them.

Poor voice acting – I think Resident Evil holds the record for Most Ludicrous Voice Acting In A Video Game, but this would run it a pretty close second. Sonic was very much like Tom & Jerry – characters like that shouldn’t talk. When Mario talks, it works because Mario looks Italian and therefore has to sound Italian. What accent do hedgehogs have ? Welsh ? Somerset ? Geordie ? Surely not the whiny, teeny tone they have given the Blue Blur in this game.

All that running around – What, no map ? No guidance ? No helpful arrows pointing the way ? Well you do get a red orb which gives you a brief idea of what you need to do but that’s it. You can spend precious time running around like a headless hedgehog getting nowhere fast, which then leads to….

Boredom – I played it for about 3 hours the other night, got about 4 levels in and gradually found myself getting a bit tired of it. Especially the casino bit, where you can play Sonic Pinball and a special Nights Into Dreams Pinball as well. This enables you to build up your ring collection and every 100 rings you collect gives you an extra life.

The Sega Dreamcast

I entered the casino (eventually – that was a chore and a half) with 4 lives and left the casino with 11 lives. Hmmmmmm.

I’m not saying it’s a bad game. On the plus side it has fab graphics (the bit with killer whale early on is still impressive as Sonic runs towards the screen), good music (as with all Sonic games) and it keeps the thing that sets Sonic apart from Mario – the speed of the original games. Sometimes that’s great, other times it moves too fast and Sonic therefore becomes totally uncontrollable. However, it’s no more than a score of either *** out of ***** or a percentage score of 70-75% at best and therefore well over-hyped when it came out in 2000.

There you go – in it’s original form or the new update (and I am taking the Editor’s word here), Sonic Adventure is a good game, but originally flawed – which makes you wonder why they didn’t try a little harder with the update. Unless of course Sega are smelling “cash cow”, in which case this could be the start of some rather inferior Next-Gen “updates”.