If you wondered why I haven't posted the last few days after doing one review a day this year, I'm currently on holiday, driving and tent camping in the Southern United States.
I've been posting daily updates on my trip at my Mastodon, if you're interested.
Mortal Kombat was an influential arcade fighting video game by Midway Games that took elements of previous fighting games and put its own spin on things to create something uniquely its own.
Like most arcade fighting games, the plot of the game was simple. Many fighters compete to become the champion of the Mortal Kombat tournament. The playable characters included the sunglasses-wearing Johnny Cage, ninjas Scorpion and Sub-Zero, the cyborg Kano, the lightning god Raiden, the spandex-clad Sonya, and the Bruce Lee-inspired Liu Kang. Once all of these fighters are defeated, two boss fights await. Goro is a four-armed behemoth, and Shang Tsung can take on the form of any and all of the fighters in the tournament.
Mortal Kombat set itself apart from the competition by having realistically depicted backgrounds and characters for the time. The characters were created using live-action actors who performed the various fighting moves which were then digitized into the game. The one exception is Goro, who had a monster-like appearance that was accomplished via stop-motion animation. The game was also famous for its over-the-top gore, as hits would spill copious amounts of blood, some stages contained elements that would impale fighters, and special codes could be entered to finish fighters with a gory finishing move. This game, along with other games from the time such as Night Trap, were the subjects of congressional hearings in the United States that led to voluntary video game ratings which still appear, albeit from a different rating board, on video game boxes today.
The voices are iconic, from the deep tones of the announcer to the grunts and screams of the various fighters. They are a big part of what made the game memorable. The music is also fantastic, and the remixed dance-style track from the Sega CD version is still used today, especially as memes on streaming sites.
Mortal Kombat is a great game that is still fun to play today. While its small amount of characters makes it not as re-playable as Mortal Kombat II and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, it is still a blast to play. The voiceovers, music, and over-the-top violence that looks rather tame today are a big part of what shaped the culture of the 1990s in the United States. It's worth playing at least once, to see where many of today's fighters got their inspiration.
Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5
Sonic the Hedgehog appeared on the Sega Master System and Game Gear in a pared-down 8-bit version of the 16-bit platform game classic.
The size of the sprites is smaller, the resolution is lower, and the colors are muted due to the differences in hardware. However, despite the necessary downgrades, Sega still managed to make Sonic the Hedgehog still look close to its bigger sibling.
Sega may have never advertised that the Sega Master System had blast processing, but the console still offers quite a bit of speed, especially compared to its mustached competition. All of the hallmarks of a Sonic game are here too, from Sonic rushing through levels to rescue animals from the mad roboticist Dr. Eggman Robotnik to collecting chaos emeralds. This time though, the emeralds are hidden within stages rather than sealed off in bonus rounds.
The music is vastly different than the 16-bit game, but it still remains fantastic. The Sonic the Hedgehog 3 music might have had its similarity to Michael Jackson's songs but the music in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear bears a similarity to the songs of his sister Janet. It's very 1990s, and very good.
Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Master System and Game Gear is well worth playing. It's quite different from the Sega Genesis game but is recognizable enough to feel like a Sonic game. The stages are designed well, the music is fantastic, and the graphics manage to do a great job of representing the 16-bit style of Sonic the Hedgehog on an 8-bit system. Sonic Origins Plus includes the 8-bit Sonic alongside its 16-bit brother, so it is now easy to get a hold of this game to give it a try.
Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5
The game is in the traditional two-dimensional style of the first two Broken Sword games, as well as the fifth. It has voice acting by fans which works well and sounds similar to those in the series proper. George and Nico are the most important, and the voice actors in these roles hit all the right notes. George Stobbart's customary voice-over reciting the events in the past tense is here and is handled excellently.
The game uses a lot of the assets from the official games, with permission, so they look like the first two games in the series. The original assets are a bit of a mixed bag. They all contain great artwork, but some, especially that of the tramp, don't quite fit in with the high quality of the other assets. The game also has three-dimensional cutscenes, akin to those in Broken Sword 3, which is a shame. The hand-drawn quality of the first two games was a big draw for those titles, so it does take away somewhat from the classic feeling the rest of the game evokes.
The puzzles are pretty good. Thankfully there are no goat-on-a-tether puzzles here. The storyline mostly works as a story in-between the first and the third games, with the exception of the inexplicable addition of a character with a very final end in a previous title.
Broken Sword 2.5 is a well-made fan game that uses a mix of original artwork, with permission granted from Revolution Software, mixed with new fanmade artwork. The artwork new fits in with the original for the most part, with the exception of a character or two as well as three-dimensional cutscenes. It has a story that works for the most part as well, with the exception of a baffling inclusion of a character from the past. All in all, it's worth trying out if you're a fan of the Broken Sword series. It's available to download free from and to play through with ScummVM.
Final Verdict: 3½ out of 5
Most gamers know Punch-Out!! as the story of a small boxer named Little Mac who rises up the ranks against boxers way out of his weight range in order to become the champion.
However, Punch-Out!! didn't begin on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It originated in the arcades with a third-person boxing game with an unnamed boxer. The goofy boxers from different countries originated here, However, it only has one circuit with only six boxers, most of whom returned in the NES classic. These boxers are Glass Joe, the French boxer who lives up to his name, Japan's Piston Hurricane, Turkey's Bald Bull, America's Kid Quick, Italy's Pizza Pasta, and the American champion, Mr. Sandman.
The original Famicom Punch-Out!! lacked the Mike Tyson, or Mr. Dream, fight just like the arcade original. It also began with Glass Joe and ended with Mr. Sandman. Piston Hurricane and Bald Bull also returned. However, Italy didn't get representation in the NES game and the United States of America had to settle with just Mr. Sandman.
The game is a bit hard to get into for fans of the NES game and the Wii game since the third-person view that looks through the body of the unnamed boxer is a very different gameplay representation. The boxer is also the same height as his opponents, making the boxing mechanics vastly different. Once you get used to the different gameplay styles, the goofiness of the game still shines through. There are no Doc Louis intermissions, however. He originated in the NES game and added some extra goofiness to the franchise.
Punch-Out!! for arcades is an important milestone as the start of the well-regarded Punch-Out!! series. However, it is very different from the more well-known NES game. So, if you began your Punch-Out!! gaming with that title, or the Wii sequel, then it will take a while to get used to the differences. When you do, however, it is a fun boxing game with the unique goofiness for which the Punch-Out!! series is known. The arcade version is now available through Hamster's Arcade Archives series on Nintendo Switch, so it has never been easier to play.
Final Verdict:
Steven Universe: Attack the Light is a mobile role-playing game adaptation of Cartoon Network's Steven Universe television series.
Even though it is a mobile game, it is a capable turn-based role-playing game in its own right. It has all the hallmarks of the genres, including leveling up, finding items in chests and purchasing them from stores, and tough boss battles. Steven Universe actually works perfectly as an RPG, as Steven himself points out in the game. The series, especially in the early seasons, is all about the Crystal Gems traveling to dungeons and defeating monsters.
The main Crystal Gems, including Steven Universe and his adoptive parents Garnet, Pearl, and Amythyst, are all playable. Steven is the assist character, which fans of the series will attest is perfect since Steven Universe is all about healing people and helping people with their problems.
The story finds the Crystal Gems traveling across the world to areas to familiar areas such as the strawberry battlefield as well as then-new areas such as the desert. They are chasing after a creature known as a light prism. Their search brings them face-to-face with a new Gem threat.
The music fits the game, but don't expect anything on the scale of the memorable music numbers seen in the series. The graphics are a departure from the series, with a unique water-painted look that somewhat resembles the later Dove shorts. It works well for this universe as the general spirit of the characters still shines through.
Steven Universe: Attack the Light is a great example of how to do a video game adaptation of a popular animated television series right. The gameplay is a lot of fun, and the music fits the game well. The story is just like those you would see on the show, which is helped by the fact that it was written by the series creator, Rebecca Sugar.
Final Verdict:
4½ out of 5