Centipede: Infestation (3DS) – Review
May 14, 2012
This reboot of a classic arcade game is less than stellar.
In the interest of making money, some companies resort to rebooting their classic franchises and the results are usually less than stellar. This is a common practice for Atari and its stable of classics from the 70s and 80s. Since the era of the Atari 2600 and the golden age of arcades, Atari has struggled and been in the hands of many. In the late 90s when Hasbro owned Atari, Pong, Missile Command, and Centipede were rebooted. They’ve once again fallen back on their classic lineup and last year’s Centipede: Infestation from respected developer WayForward Technologies is one of their newest reboots.
With a strong Saturday morning cartoon vibe, Centipede: Infestation is definitely skewed towards a younger audience. In between stages, stills of animation and goofy voice-acting propel the budding relationship of Max and Maisy. The young gun-for-hire and gardener live in a post-apocalyptic world devastated by giant, radiated bugs and surviving is their day-to-day goal.
Centipede: Infestation cribs from another early 80s classic: Robotron: 2084. In that game, stages were very quick and players were tasked with destroying enemies, rescuing innocents, and surviving. The common element between them is the control scheme and arena-style stages. Robotron: 2084 spawned the dual-joystick shooter that has been oh-so popular in the past handful of years.
Harking back to the original, a giant centipede caps off each stage, telegraphing its movements.
The analog moves Max while the face buttons shoot. Shooting in four directions isn’t very fluid and it caused me to try and shoot in one direction the entire time and “walk” my weapon fire into enemies. To be fair, you can shoot diagonally as well, but it didn’t make me change my strategy.
Stages in Centipede: Infestation take place in small arenas and players help Max survive by killing enemy bugs with his gun, powerful stomp, and power-ups. Capping off stages are fateful battles with a centipede whose movements call to mind the original Centipede. Stages are short and sweet and although the shooting isn’t perfect, the dual-joystick genre is still easy enough to get into and most importantly, fun.
The game does support co-operative play, but both people need a copy.
Reboots of classics usually aren’t successful but there are always exceptions – Pac Man Championship Edition (DX too!) comes to mind and I’ll include Galaga Legions because I like it. Centipede: Infestation isn’t the Centipede game people will remember and, while enjoyable, it’s not for me.
By the way, a dozen or so classic Atari 2600 games are available to play for free on Atari’s website.
In Between Posts, May 13, 2012
May 13, 2012
Well, last week was a lot different from the week before. Last week was jam-packed with posts, like a nerd’s three-ring binder full of Magic cards! I’ve been wanting to do a feature on Tiger’s Game.com for a while and with school done I finally got the opportunity. It’s not totally complete though as I’m missing twelve games from the system’s collection, but hey, that’s something to look forward to huh?
I saw The Avengers Thursday and I was surprised by how much I liked it. The movie’s chock-full of superheros and it’s awesome to see them bicker and banter amongst themselves, but come together when they absolutely have to. Their personalities are profoundly different, often causing confrontation, but they do work well together by utilizing their respective strengths. I never saw The Incredible Hulk, Thor, or Captain America: The First Avenger so I’ll need to visit those at some point. That means I have seen Iron Man and it’s sequel so I’m familiar with Tony Stark’s relative humor, ubt I was blown away by how many times I was laughing during genuinely funny parts in The Avengers. I was very satisfied with the movie.
One more note. My friend has begun a project on Kickstarter and everyone should at least check it out. Him and a few buddies are aiming to do an internet comedy series and they thought of trying their hand on the funding website. From what they’ve told me, it’ll involve cardboard cutouts mixed with live-action actors and they’re inspired by Adult Swim style shows. I don’t have a very large soapbox to stand on, but I still thought I’d show support for my friend because I know he’d do the same for me.
Lastly, happy Mother’s Day! Celebrate them!
Tiger Game.com – Outro
May 12, 2012
What a bummer! After eight games, nearly half of the Game.com’s library, my impressions of it dropped. There’s still a game or two I’d really like to play on the system like Duke Nukem 3D, Resident Evil 2, and Sonic Jam, but I’m sure they’re not great.
The Game.com feels cheap, it’s ugly, and it’s not ergonomic. As I said in my initial post, it feels like nothing more than an upscale toy, something you’d find on a hanger in a Toys “R” Us. The design of the system lacks passion. It’s very basic and bland, which is fine, but it doesn’t knock my socks off and its rectangular shape doesn’t prohibit long play sessions. Of course, neither does the awful screen the system has or the rotten selection of games.
Tiger’s Game.com is a fun conversation piece, but a horrible video game platform.
Williams Arcade Classics (Game.com) – Review
May 12, 2012
These games are classics!
As with the last Game.com game I discussed, Williams Arcade Classics is a collection of multiple games. Unlike just about every other game I’ve played on the system, this one isn’t half bad.
Collecting together Joust, Defender, Robotron, Stargate (Defender II), and Sinistar it’s not a collection to scoff at – these games are arcade classics. Because these games are so old, they’re emulated fairly accurately on the system. Now they’re not perfect, but they’re close enough to still appreciate that special something that made these games so great in the first place. Still, these games are easily available on many, many other platforms, emulated much better, and usually in larger collections of games.
Revisiting these classics reminds how instantly fun and challenging they are. They’re not perfect on the system and they suffer from the system’s motion blurring effect, but these games are still worth playing, but on a different system.
Tiger Casino – Review
May 12, 2012
Don’t believe Tiger Casino gas six games! It counts two different slot machines as individual games.
Tiger Casino collects five casino-style games for the less than adequate handheld game system. The variety is appreciated although I have qualms with the slow pace of the game, not to mention the negatives associated with the system itself.
Included in Tiger Casino are poker, blackjack, hi-low (I know it as war), roulette, and slot machines. Winning it big is the objective and betting a lot is the way to do it, but max bets are 5 and with a beginning balance of 500, players will never go bust.
The touch screen is the sole method of input and it works well for selecting the cards to hold or fold, placing bets, and navigating menus. My main beef with the game is the stilted flow of animations. These slow down the pace of the game whereas I’m looking for something that I can quickly place bets and make moves.
Of the games Tiger Casino collects together, I do like four of the five, but because of the betting restrictions and the slow pace of the game, it’s not recommendable.
I don’t know what’s up with the portable video game t-rex lettering in the bottom-right corner of the game’s box.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park is probably the worst game. With the Game.com’s piss poor screen, any game that involves motion is pretty much an eye sore to begin with. Unfortunately, this game involves a lot of motion. What burned me about The Lost World was the awful platforming in which I controlled a character who moved like stagnant water pitted against a busy background that blended with the foreground as soon as I pressed forward. Because of the terrible blurring effect of the Game.com, I couldn’t see the dinosaurs I was supposed to shoot or dodge. Playing The Lost World: Jurassic Park was an unsettling experience.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Game.com) – Review
May 11, 2012
I wonder if Ed Boon ever played this version?
Fighters Megamix for the Game.com wasn’t a good game. The other fighting game on the system, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, fares no better in my eyes.
Both games resemble their “big brother” versions, but playing them on the system just isn’t worth it. Whereas Fighters Megamix’s combat felt slower and more precise, Mortal Kombat Trilogy’s played more fast and loose. I button mashed my way through fights and managed to pull of some combos; I couldn’t tell you if they looked cool or not because of the system’s poor screen quality though.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy had a large character roster, fatalities, and gameplay that’s more suited to jumping in and having fun, but it’s still on the Game.com and it’s not very good.
Lights Out – Review
May 11, 2012
As it was a pack-in, I decided this review’s main photo would be of the game’s manual.
Released as a pack-in for Tiger’s Game.com, Lights Out is one of the only games worth playing on the system, not that it’s so great that it’s worth tracking a Game.com down.
The objective of Lights Out is to rid a 5×5 grid of any panels that are lit utilizing the Game.com’s touch screen. The game has two modes although they’re not really that different. The difference stems from the method grids are completed. Players can choose to solve puzzles by only turning lights off, or by flipping any of the panels.
It’s simple to understand and it’s pretty fun. Lights Out is the type of game I could imagine playing for a few minutes before bed for many nights. It’s not worth tacking down a Game.com to play, but Lights Out is the probably most fun you’ll have on the system.
Jeopardy! (Game.com) – Review
May 10, 2012
Jeopardy! is one of the better games on Tiger’s Game.com.
Four games into this feature and I may have found another decent title for the Game.com. I initially believed that Lights Out would be the only worthwhile game on the system, especially after realizing anything with motion would be heavily disadvantaged. It’s an oldie, but it’s a goodie, it’s Jeopardy!
Based off of the television game show, Jeopardy! the game is a fun test of random knowledge. The questions present weren’t skewed towards a younger crowd and I appreciated that. They covered a range of topics and in the few rounds I played, I didn’t encounter duplicates, although I’m sure the library of questions is small.
Thanks to the Game.com’s touch screen, inputting answers wasn’t as difficult as it’d be on a rival system like the Game Boy. Still, the poor image quality of the screen coupled with its small size and lack of backlighting made it a chore to read questions and type in answers.
I had peculiar trouble getting it to play when another cartridge was inserted into the system. In this situation the game would hang on the start screen until I acted like I was going to back out to the system menu and cancel, at which point it’d operate just fine.
I got the most fun from reading the hilarious wrong answers the computer would give occasionally, but all things considered, it still represents the game show accurately and it’s not terrible.
Indy 500 (Game.com) – Review
May 10, 2012
Another Sega title appearing on the Game.com, Indy 500 is barely like it’s “big brother” version.
Indy 500 is the sole racing title on Tiger’s Game.com. Like Fighters Megamix and many other Game.com games, Indy 500 is based off of a “big brother” title. Also like Fighters Megamix, Indy 500 is based off of a Sega game.
It seems that every game on the Game.com that has on-screen movement will suffer from horrible blurring. It’s not game-ending in Indy 500 though because the car I drove remained mostly stationary while the background and fellow racers passed me by. Racing around the seemingly infinite circle track grew old fast thanks to the poor handling of my car.
Turning to the left was an ordeal in Indy 500. If I went too fast in a corner, the game would halt so it could show my car spinning out of control as I collided with the wall. I learned to feather my car around corners until they weren’t a problem. Next on my agenda was passing. This I never quite got the hang of. If I so much as looked another car wrong, the game would halt so it could my car spinning out of control as I collided with another driver. The animation of my car spinning out of control probably had more animations to it than the rest of the game! The visibility was terrible too. Thinking back, I don’t remember being able to see the nose of my car! Kidding aside, visibility was an issue as I got closer to cars ahead of me. Fortunately, upcoming turns were indicated by arrows. Needless to say, I never got a pole position in this awful excuse of a racing game.
