inDeveloped and published by Ocean in 1991 Follow me on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/Al82_Retro Get Great Retro Scene News @ http://www.vintageisthenewold.com Starting with the good stuff, presentation is great. The graphics, for the most part, are excellent, and the between-level vignettes presenting key moments of the film are very nicely drawn. Jonathan Dunn is on point with a title screen tune which, despite not being the actual movie score, certainly sounds appropriate. So, everything looks great, but how does it actually play? This is, after all, still a game, and a particularly expensive one, should you have been flush enough to have afforded the cartridge version; you'd definitely want a good slice of gameplay to justify the £20 price tag. Ocean stuck to the tried-and-tested formula for their movie tie-ins, creating a series of mini-games to represent key moments throughout the course of the film. There are one-on-one fighting sequences between the T-800 and T-1000, overhead driving sections, plus a couple of horizontal scrolling levels with Sarah Connor escaping the Pescadero mental institute, and the T-800 shooting its way through a legion of SWAT officers in the Cyberdyne Systems facility. The problem is, all these sections are just rather dull and mostly feel like padding. Once you learn the trick to beating them, most can be finished in a couple of minutes. Some of Ocean's licensed games, such as Platoon, turned out pretty well, but I just can't say the same about T2. It looks good, but, much like the T-1000, it all feels soulless. Credits Coding: Bobby Earl Graphics: Martin McDonald, Don McDermott Music: Jonathan Dunn Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:13 Level 1 03:07 Level 2 05:23 Level 3 06:01 Level 4 08:07 Level 5 08:43 Level 6 10:49 Level 7 12:05 Level 8 13:00 Level 9 13:47 Ending #terminator2 #commodore64 #retrogaming ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bSon9rUmkE

Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: Video System Publisher: Video System Year of Release: 1987 Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- Known as Rabbit Punch is Western territories, Rabio Lepus is quite an enigmatic shooter. It looks and feels like a hybrid of R-Type and Gradius, albeit one starring a weird rabbit-shaped droid that can fly and shoots plasma bolts. As shooters go, this is pretty formulaic, although it's approach to power-ups and weapons is quite novel. Tapping the fire button close to enemies will initiate a proximity attack, biffing the enemy with pneumatic-powered fist. This is more powerful than your default blaster, but you run the risk of taking damage, or losing a life, if you mis-time the attack. The most powerful -- and useful -- weapon by far is the smart missile launcher. These home in on enemies and are great for getting out of tight spots, but with only a limited amount of ammunition on hand, these should be used sparingly. More missiles can be found by shooting the rotating tin cans littering each of the levels, but you can never hold so many that you can afford to relax. If you're in the mood for a shooter that's quirky and a little bit different, Rabio Lepus is worth a look. Chapters --------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Attract mode 1:35 Stage 1 3:12 Stage 2 4:40 Stage 3 6:16 Stage 4 7:04 Stage 5 8:41 Stage 6 10:19 Stage 7 11:53 Stage 8 12:54 Stage 9 14:38 Stage 10 16:29 Stage 11 18:31 Stage 12 18:53 Ending #arcade #retrogaming #longplay ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7n3AnxGUsw

Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: Data East Publisher: Data East Year of Release: 1986 Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- Earlier arcade title from Data East, which is as simple as drive to the right, shoot stuff and jump over obstacles. I wasn't expecting much, but it's actually quite cool. The art style is pretty cool, and despite some issues with working out the collision with sprites due to the perspective, I had fun with this. Chapters --------------------------------------------------- TBC ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-tuswellS4

Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: SNK Playmore Publisher: SNK Playmore Year of Release: 2002 Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- Continuing my run of Metal Slug-related games, I played through the fourth game in the series. Having undergone bankruptcy proceedings and re-emerging as SNK Playmore, Metal Slug 4 was released for the Neo Geo (and other platforms) in 2002. It sticks to the tried-and-tested formula of its predecessors, introducing a smattering of new features, just to keep things fresh. Following the extra-terrestrial shenanigans in Metal Slug 3, General Morden is is still up to his old tricks, this time allying himself and his army with the shadowy forces of a wealthy criminal syndicate. The aliens from the previous game have been jettisoned, resulting a game that feels more grounded, although there's still the occasional silliness with zombies, Egyptian curses and yetis thrown in for good measure. Aside from new levels, the main addition to this release is the "Metallish" system which, in relatively simple terms, requires players to inflict as much damage and blow as much stuff up in as short a time as possible. Certain enemies will drop an emblem that will trigger the event when collected, and you're rewarded with up to four medals of differing colour, depending on how well you do. Achieving four white/silver medals is the ultimate achievement, although it's really difficult to achieve this, and you're more likely to get green or red medals. This isn't a bad thing, though, with more medals earning you massive bonus points at the end of the stage. In addition to the Metallish system, Metal Slug 4 introduces a new weapon in the form of dual machine guns, plus a new vehicle, if you can call a scrambling ride-on ape with a red light on its head a vehicle. There are also a couple of new characters to play, but these are really just window dressing - they're all pretty similar. Overall, Metal Slug 4 is really just more of the same, although, if I'm honest, lacking some of the polish from previous entries. The end-of-level bosses, normally guaranteed to turn heads with their gargantuan size and beautifully rendered pixel art, don't feel as impressive this time around. The zeppelin boss from the opening level is a good example - there's not an awful lot of detail, and the minigun strapped to the under-carriage is clearly taken from General Morden's gunship in Metal Slug 1, yet pasted crudely onto the sprite. I wonder whether, with a shrinking market, the developers could afford to spend as much time on the overall presentation as they had done previously; it still looks fantastic, but not up to the lofty standards of the 1996 original. Chapters --------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Attract mode 02:54 Mission 1 07:25 Mission 2 14:42 Mission 3 18:22 Mission 4 23:54 Mission 5 29:46 Final Mission 37:17 Final boss 42:02 Ending #metalslug4 #retrogaming #longplay ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtzwDesxBVc