Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder’s Revenge Review

Back in 1984 Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird struck gold when their comic about four turtles saving the world became a minor hit, and then a major one. Three years later Mirage Studios would have a cartoon based upon the book out and Playmates would have an action figure line that coincided with it. As the end of the decade approached Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would become a major franchise that seeped into all facets of pop culture. Video games would be inevitable. Konami would get the video game rights, and proceeded to create some of the best licensed games ever made. Based upon the 1987 cartoon show, these would start out with an adventure game on computer platforms and the NES. But most memorably would be the several beat ’em up titles that spanned across the Arcades, NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy. Flash forward to today, and it’s an entirely new landscape. But now Tribute has entered the fray with a new TMNT brawler. But does it hold a candle to those old Konami games?

PROS: Terrific pixel art, animation, gameplay, music, and more. 6-player co-op!

CONS: Some minor but annoying bugs. Technical hitches in some versions.

TURTLE POWER: There’s an obvious amount of love for the glory days here.

In a word; yes. Shredder’s Revenge is fantastic. However, I’d be remiss if I told you to expect a carbon copy of the vintage Konami experience. Because while there are plenty of callbacks to the old games, it doesn’t play identically. If you’re coming into this game expecting another Turtles In Time, you’re not going to get that. That’s because Tribute has implemented its own entirely new set of mechanics. Yes, you’ll be mashing the attack and jump buttons. But not in the exact same way you did in the arcade or on your Super Nintendo.

You’ll have an attack button, a jump button, a button for supers (More on that in a bit), and a button for dodges. There is also a button for helping up a friend when they get knocked out when you’re playing multiplayer. You can also do taunts. Beyond that, there is a whole set of underlying mechanics. The biggest of these is a robust combo system that could fit well in a fighting game. You have your typical attacks, but you’ll get auto combos, juggles, air juggles, and more. Beyond that you can get some light tech elements too, allowing you to get up quickly upon falling down.

The combo system is important too. Because throughout the game you’ll need to use super moves to get waves of enemies off of you when they surround you. They’re also very useful in boss fights as they make quick work of many of their health bars. Combos can also have a challenging element in trying to keep your hit counter as high as possible. Every time you get hit by an enemy the counter will reset. If your counter gets reset before your super meter gets filled, you’ll also drain your meter before you can use it, and you’ll have to fill it again before you can use it again. You can also use taunts to try to fill the meter, though if your taunt is interrupted it will be for naught. That said, on lower difficulties you can essentially cheese your way to supers by taunting in between waves of baddies.

There are two main ways to play Shredder’s Revenge. The primary mode is the story mode. This mode plays each of the game’s 16 stages across a map made in the vein of the overworld section in the initial TMNT game on the NES. Playing through each of the stages unlocks a path to the next one, and within each of the stages, classic secondary characters from the original cartoon series can be found. Finding these characters will then place them on their own specific points on the map. Going to these has the characters telling you to find a certain number of items across the campaign. For example one of the characters may want you to find diary entries or another may want VHS tapes. These items then get hidden within the stages so over the course of a few play-throughs you’ll be breaking every conceivable crate, or other destructible pieces of scenery to find them all. If you do, you then drive back to deliver the items to the corresponding character. Find every item and there are little surprises waiting for you at the end of the game.

The story mode also takes a page from the NES version of Double Dragon, where you’ll unlock some moves over time. You can also level up your super meter to three bars, allowing you to have a little bit of an easier time with some of the later levels. Because some of the later stages throw a lot more enemies at you at once. Having the ability to do three supers helps immensely near the end game too.

The other way is the arcade mode. This eschews the map and its character-driven fetch quests. In turn, leaving you with a cut-and-dry experience. You’ll start at stage 1 and power through to stage 16. Playing this way also does away with the story mode’s leveling-up system. So you’ll have to be more selective when deciding when to use a super. The arcade mode also limits the number of continues you can use. To supplement these continues, you can earn 1-Ups throughout the game by earning enough points. At roughly 200 points or so, you’ll earn one. The thing is, each enemy only nets you one or two points. While playing solo this isn’t a big hindrance. But if you’re playing this mode with a group, you’re going to want to divide the workload evenly if you don’t want one player walking away with the lion’s share of lives. Fortunately, the game’s aforementioned help-up function is going to mitigate that.

Over the course of the game, you’ll see it’s very clear the team at Tribute really love the classic cartoon, Playmates action figure line, and vintage Konami brawlers. The pixel art is absolutely fantastic. The characters are very detailed, with expressive facial animations and a slew of frames for each of the many moves. Enemies have that same amount of time and care packed into each and every frame. There are many nods to all of that classic TMNT pop culture too. Many of the vehicles and figures from the classic toyline are represented here. A lot of the 1987 cartoon series is constantly referenced with even minor characters showing up. The Neutrinos, Punk Frogs, Erma, and other part-time players are here alongside your major protagonists and antagonists. Each of the characters controls very well, and the collision detection is mostly very good. There are even a lot of nods to the Konami games of old. For example, when you do the grapple moves, they’re similar animations to the ones you saw in Turtles In Time.

The audio follows that same trend. The chiptunes on display are clearly inspired by Konami’s old classics but it doesn’t end there. There’s a lot of variety with Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, and Metal tracks. There’s even a track by Mega Ran in the game. Beyond that, they somehow managed to get the budget to bring in some of the original actors from the classic cartoon including Rob Paulsen and Cam Clarke. As such, the cutscenes can get a lot closer to the old arcade experience between stages as you’ll get to hear the fab four (The turtles, not the Beatles) sound off with the supervillains of Dimension X. Beyond that you’ll get to hear some classic voice quips during the combat. The punches, kicks, clangs, and explosions all sound top-notch too.

Again, Tribute has absolutely crushed it when it comes to presentation. Coupled with the excellent gameplay, there’s not too much to complain about here. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of things that can stand to be improved upon. The game’s online gameplay is one of the major areas. Depending on which version of the game you’re playing your mileage may vary. I bought the game on both PC (via Steam) as well as the Nintendo Switch (via the Nintendo e-shop). While I didn’t run into any major issues, I did notice the Switch version suffered some slowdown when certain sections of the game got particularly busy. It was also on the Switch I once found myself stuck against a backdrop item when in the middle of a jump kick for a couple of seconds.

And while I didn’t run into any bugs when playing online, my good buddy and fellow Twitch streamer 1UpJohn ran into several major issues when playing the Xbox Series version on Livestream. Players would be invisible. Other times an enemy or boss would be stuck in a grounded frame of animation which in turn would essentially soft-lock the group from being able to progress. These bugs strangely enough only happened to him when playing online multiplayer. Not frequently enough to ruin the game by any means. But they did occur often enough that he had to replay a couple of stages a number of times.

These are some issues to be aware of at the time of this writing. And while in my circle of friends the Microsoft Xbox family had the highest number of occurrences, it doesn’t mean that these problems will never show up on Switch, Playstation, or computer versions. Beyond that, there is also the fact that the aforementioned taunt function abuse can cheese the game. To the point where those who play online with random players, may feel frustrated if they’re not looking to blow through the game with an exploit. Supers in the game do a lot of damage to bosses in particular. Fortunately, playing the game on the hardest setting can mitigate this somewhat.

Hopefully, Tribute will be given the resources to patch out some of these bugs, and possibly rebalance the game so those looking for a little bit more of a challenge can get one. Overall, though this is a fantastic beat ’em up. If you’ve been starved for more belt scrollers this is a solid buy. If you’re a child of the 80s or 90s who grew up with the vintage cartoons and action figures there’s a very good chance you’re going to love this. The amount of care and detail displayed throughout the game shows that the developers had a lot of reverence for that era of the TMNT IP. Nickelodeon could have easily slapped the Turtles on any fly-by-night project for another nostalgic cash grab. Thankfully, that was not the case here. If you’re a TMNT mega-fan there’s a lot to love here. And if you were looking for a 1:1 recreation of the Konami model, you’re not going to find that. This is still very much its own thing. But you should still check it out. There’s enough love of those old games here blended in with everything else you’d be hard-pressed to come away unsated. The gameplay isn’t better or worse than what those old games had on offer, it’s just a bit different.

Sadly, the problems hold it back from being as great as it could be. But it’s still a very enjoyable experience. Perhaps if this game does well enough for Tribute and DotEmu they’ll be able to make equivalent brawlers for some of our other favorite Saturday morning cartoons of a bygone era. Perhaps He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe?

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon 2 Review

Well, last time we looked at Wallachia, a Castlevania inspired game that plays nothing like a Castlevania game. And today we’re back with a sequel to a game that does. Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon was a rather fantastic sendup of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. One that celebrated the use of multiple characters and branching paths. Unsurprisingly, a lot of fans wanted more. But surprisingly, out of nowhere a sequel dropped on all of the digital console storefronts and Steam.

PROS: More of what you loved from COTM. 2-player co-op.

CONS: 2-player co-op. Checkpoints could be better balanced.

OLD CREW: The characters you loved are nowhere to be seen. Or are they?

As in the previous game, this is another love-letter to Castlevania III. If you’ve played the previous game, you’ll know exactly what to expect here. Zangetsu returns to slay demons as a new threat begins to emerge. So you’ll be doing exactly that. Things kick into high gear right away as the NES style is markedly improved with even more detail in the sprite work. If you thought the last game had good use of the NES’ aesthetic, you’ll really like this one in terms of the style. The animations are brilliant too. When you get to the end of the very first stage, you can see some background details in the boss introduction the NES could never do. So you can expect some flashy things that weren’t common until the Super Nintendo or even Playstation, just done with this 8-bit era look.

Anyway, within each of the game’s stages there are many branching paths. Most of which cannot be reached on your initial run of the stage. As in the original game, you’ll meet new characters in-between stages who will aid you on your quest. There are three of them. Dominique (Who comes from Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night. She was that game’s shopkeeper role.) who fights with a spear, has a higher jump, and can use healing items. Later on, you’ll meet Robert, the weakest of the group. He’s an ornery old man with a shotgun. He can also go prone, allowing you to reach some rooms the others cannot. And because he has a shotgun, he’s perfect for situations where enemies are blocking crucial jumps. Finally, there’s Hachi a Pembroke Welsh Corgi who pilots a Steampunk Gundam. Yes, really. He’s got the ability to hover for short distances and destroy some structures.

Each of the stages goes on through three areas with a couple of checkpoints. And within those areas the branching paths I mentioned come into play. One path might require Robert to crawl through a crawlspace. Or Dominique to use her Scrooge McDuck pogo jump on. Or the dog to smash through a floor. Sometimes these paths are a more difficult route to take. Sometimes they’re easier. And sometimes, either way, they’re necessary. One of the few issues I had in my playthrough was the placement of checkpoints. Most of the time it’s fine and breaks up the action mostly pretty evenly. But there are other times when it doesn’t and losing your party means redoing a very long gauntlet again. Again, this is a minor complaint. But it’s something that will inconvenience you. Near the end of your run, there’s one placement that actually makes things maybe a little too convenient as it will start you right near a bunch of items that make it difficult to actually game over in spite of how difficult the section is.

Throughout it all, though you’ll notice there were still a lot of routes you couldn’t take before even though you had all of the characters at your command. That’s because you didn’t. The little secret the game holds is that you cannot see everything on an initial run. So those of you out there who are completionist players will need to beat this game no less than three times to see it all. After you beat the game, you’ll be told you can play Episode Two, which is exactly like Episode One except now you start with Robert and Hachi already at your stead. You’ll now be able to take routes they could do that you couldn’t do before. The checkpoints and bosses are the same except now they’ve gotten a bit more difficult than before. Over time you’ll meet more characters who you can take other paths with. So Curse Of The Moon 2 does go out of its way to give you replay value.

New to the series is a co-op mode where two people can play through the game together at the same time. It does work for the most part. You can strategize, find situations where one player uses one character, while the other switches to something different, and utilize strategies in tandem. The problem is that much like in the days of the Commodore 64 and NES if two players with a wide skill gap play together it’s going to lead to a lot of deaths. As both players really need to stay near the center of the action. Go too far ahead, and the other player will impede you by being too far behind. You can help a weaker player by playing the game on the casual setting which takes away the Castlevania style knock-back you suffer when hitting a bad guy. But that only goes so far. It’s a nice inclusion but if you tend to get really angry when a friend or sibling costs you a victory, you’ll probably just want to play it alone.

I enjoyed Curse Of The Moon 2. It’s a very tough game, but mostly pretty fair. Nitpicking over the checkpoint distances aside. You don’t have to have played any of the previous games in the franchise to enjoy it, though it does help you understand a little bit more of the story, and helps as an addendum to Ritual Of The Night as the first Curse Of The Moon did.

If you’re a big fan of Castlevaniaesque games or NES hard games of yesteryear, this is a release worth checking out. If you enjoyed the first one already it might not wow you as much. But it’s more of a good thing. Dedicated fans will want to play through it multiple times to see all that it has to offer. And if you’re slow to frustration this is something different to play with a friend these days than the genres you’re normally used to.

Final Score: 9 out of 10.

Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula Review

Castlevania is one of the most popular IPs in Konami’s arsenal. Along with Contra, it’s one of the series that made the company a household name in the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Over the last few years, a few independent studios have made games clearly inspired by Castlevania. Like the Bloodstained which were actually made in part with Koji Igarashi. The person who helmed many of Castlevania’s entries. Many of these Castlevania inspired games took their influences from either the earlier action platformers or the later adventure style games.

But today’s game is much different. The focus on Dracula, monsters, and other environments Castlevania is known for is here. However, the story, execution, and gameplay elements have some influences that are clearly from entirely different places. And while that might make some looking for a Castlevania-like take pause, this is something you really might want to check out.

PROS: Character design. Soundtrack. Play control. Visuals. A different take on Dracula.

CONS: At the end of the day the story is a bit basic. Minor bugs. Can’t adjust audio.

BLOODSTAINED: The Castlevania-like series does have a small link here.

Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula is a seven stage campaign with some of the best 2D assets and gameplay you’ve seen in a game of its nature. You play as a woman named Elcin. She’s trained to be a top archer, marksman, and swordfighter. One day, in a scene straight out of Star Wars, she comes home to find her family’s home destroyed and her relatives’ charred remains. Upon learning that Vlad The Impaler was the one behind it as well as the subjugation of the inhabitants of Wallachia she sets out to find her missing sibling and get revenge on the bloodthirsty Dracula.

The game’s narrative takes a slightly more historic approach here going with some of the Romanian histories around Vlad The Impaler. As such the game downplays some of the more fantastical elements Castlevania and Bloodstained celebrate. You don’t see flying medusa heads, reanimated skeletons, or movie monsters. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be seeing any horror elements or strange enemies. There are a few moments where you do indeed see some pretty crazy stuff. But the characters do try to downplay some of it with their dialogue.

The voice work in the game is very good too. Two big names are here: Kira Buckland and  Robert Belgrade. You may not know the names but you know some of the work they’ve done. Nier: Automata and Castlevania Symphony Of The Night were pretty big games they respectively appeared in. I was also surprised to learn well after I’d bought the game, my buddy Mike Levy of Dude You Haven’t Played This Game and XVGM Radio had a small part in the game.

All of the voice work is performed exceptionally well, which is why it’s a bit of a disappointment the story breaks down to a simple revenge arc. There’s nothing wrong with that mind you. The gameplay doesn’t really need something that requires analysis or interpretation. But it would have been nice to see the story go a little further with the historical context it dips its toes into. Still, it keeps you entertained, you’ll like the characters presented here, and the sketched and inked cinema screens do a good job of moving things along between stages.

So what do you do in this game? You kick people’s asses in a matter that perhaps only Teela could rival. Elcin is armed with a bow and a sword. You can jam on the arrow button to rapidly shoot off arrows, or you can hold it down for charge shots. You can attack at melee distance with your sword button and once you’ve collected enough orbs you can have an NPC jump in with an assist. Some of them give you temporary invincibility, others beef up your attacks for a short time. The coolest one is probably summoning Minvu, your pet wolf who can clear a medium-sized villain or wave of enemies with a dash. You can cycle between which helper you want to come to your aid with a shoulder button press (assuming you’re on a controller). The other shoulder button lets you cycle between alternate arrows you can pick up. Some are more powerful, some are spread shots as well as others still. All of which can be charged. If that wasn’t enough the NPC helpers do different things if you collect even more orbs and you hold the UP button while selecting them.

You can also find general power-ups that make your arrows and sword stronger or let you charge shots faster. Each of the locales takes two or more forms. You’ll find every two areas or so the environments will have a mild change until you get to a boss before moving onto the next stage. This does a great job of conveying that each of these stages is a journey. Most of the stages do not play like the typical Castlevania game though. While there are still war-torn castles, areas of wilderness, and abandoned villages, you’re not going to be taking sluggish walks up flights of stairs or feeling heavy jumping between blocks. Instead, the game moves along at the pace of games like Revenge Of Shinobi and Rolling Thunder. You’ll have to carefully traverse each stage, memorizing enemy types and placements while using your arrows to dispatch them. Some of course you’ll cut down with your sword when they get too close. Sometimes you can find alternative ways through a section but in general, it’s a linear experience. One that will require some trial and error. This is where the Rolling Thunder influence comes to play a bit as there are soldiers of different color schemes that will attack you with their own specific attacks. They can often come from the background to attack you like in Namco’s classic.

All of these influences make Wallachia stand out because it isn’t just trying to be a Castlevania NES trilogy-like or a Symphony of The Night sendup like some of the other games have been. On top of that, there are some autoscrolling sections and other additions that keep mixing things up. Boss fights are especially fun as at first, they will seem insurmountable. But eventually, you’ll figure out the patterns and be able to move onto the next challenge.

As great as the gameplay, performances, and the soundtrack truly are, there are a couple of small things I had some problems with. The first problem is the audio. Yes, I just praised the soundtrack and sound files. But this is one of a few examples of a game I’ve reviewed where you can’t change the volume level. That’s going to make it something streamers will have to tinker with on PC to try to make it so their audiences can hear them and the game audio at the same time.

The second problem I ran into was on the level select screen. The game has one small bug. When I chose the level 0 bonus stage before going on to the first stage for the first time, the game crashed. After I played through a couple of levels, it notified me I’d “Unlocked” the bonus stage, and then it worked fine. Hopefully, a future patch will fix this and add a volume option. That said, I like that it had an option to map your controller buttons. So at least you can make things comfortable in that regard.

There are a lot of things to love about the game though. The gameplay is terrific as I said earlier. The soundtrack is great. Graphically it looks like it could be on the Amiga 1000 which is pretty much an instant win. And there are even a couple of neat things to do when you beat the game. There are more bonus stages you can unlock when you beat it based on the difficulty you choose at the beginning. But you can also unlock a special costume and that’s Miriam’s gown from Bloodstained!

Overall, I really enjoyed Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula. It’s a tough, but fair action game with elements from several genres and retro games. I can highly recommend checking it out whether you’re a hardcore Castlevania fan or just someone looking for something different. The slightly more historical look at Vlad The Impaler and his possible inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula character is also a nice change from the often fantastical, Hollywood horror version of the character we’re all used to. This is still very much a video game version of the character, but one that stands out.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

Super NES Classic Edition Review

Well, although I’m up, and around again I still haven’t been medically cleared to leave the home on my own, or return to employment yet. So what to do? What to do? Well, when you’re shut in between the rainy weather, and waiting to go in for your follow-up, there’s little you can do. So why not take inspiration from my good friend Peter, and open something some people wouldn’t?

PROS: Respectable build quality. Play Star Fox 2 legitimately!

CONS: Light on extra features. Cannot play Star Fox 2 right away.

SAVINGS: The unit has a number of games that cost a lot on the aftermarket.

To be fair I actually opened up this system a few weeks ago. I won mine at RetroWorld Expo 2018 thanks to the raffle held by the always great Super Retro Throwback Podcast. So do give them a listen, they do some terrific interviews, and discussion with a nice radio morning show feel. In any event, now that I’ve spent some more quality time with it, I figured I would give my impressions.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Deviot, you’re so late to the party on this one. We know it’s pretty damned cool.” But that discounts the plethora of people who still don’t have one, as they were on the fence, or wanted to wait until they saw how the scalper phase went. (It went pretty fast. You can find these things everywhere now.) For those who were on the fence, you’re probably wondering about things like input lag, filters, or simply how well are these games emulated. All of which I’ll get to in due time.

For the five people who don’t already know about the device, it’s the second of Nintendo’s all-in-one plug, and play consoles. Atari’s Flashback, and AtGames’ continuation of the series led to a slew of players in the market. And while AtGames hasn’t done so well with their emulated take on Sega consoles, their takeover of the Atari Flashback line went fairly well. From there they did an Intellivision plug, and play, a Colecovision plug, and play, along with others. Other companies jumped in, and so Nintendo capitalized on the craze by introducing the NES Classic. Which was infamously short-packed, and under-produced leading to the majority of them being scooped up by scalpers. Many thought the Super NES Classic would follow suit, but thankfully it hasn’t, and Nintendo re-released the NES version too. So you can pick either of these up now.

The mini console comes in a box that is very reminiscent of the one the original Super NES came in, with a black background, and grey striping along with stylized lettering. The company did an excellent job of making geezers like me, remember what it was like when we finally got our hands on one back in 1991. Upon opening the kit, you’ll find a poster, and documentation packet. Obviously the mini Super NES control deck, a HDMI cable, a USB cable, a USB Power adapter, and two Super NES controller replicas.

I have to say, I was really impressed with the build quality of the device. Granted, I know there isn’t much to it, as it’s mostly one resin plastic shell in the shape of a Super NES. Still, considering how the company could have opted to go with a flimsy, or brittle plastic to cut costs, they didn’t. It feels very much like the same build as an actual Super Nintendo Entertainment System. So kudos on the presentation. Note that when you actually want to use the thing, the front of the unit is actually a face plate that comes off. It’s tethered to a plastic ribbon so it doesn’t get lost. Behind the faceplate are your controller ports. These are the same ports that you’ll find on the Wiimote controllers for the Nintendo Wii. Which means that if you should ever lose, or break one of these Super NES replica controllers, you can use a Wii Classic controller. It also means that if you have a Wii, or a Wii U with Super NES games you’ve purchased on it, you can use the Super NES Classic’s controllers with those as well. With this in mind you might just want to get the spare controllers for the mini just to use on your Wii U if you find you own most of the included games on it on your Wii U already.

As for the controllers, they feel exactly the same as the ones made for the Super NES back in the 1990’s. The same textured surface. The same glossy buttons. The attention to detail here is wonderful. If you sold or gave away your Super NES years ago, this will feel very familiar to you if you pick one up. It even has the same rubberized Select, and Start buttons. Some have derided the length of the cables, and, I’m not going to lie. They really could stand to be a bit longer. You can buy extension cables, but realistically most of us will have to sit closer to the TV like we did as teenagers.

As for the interface it’s simplistic, but nice. There’s a brief setup where you pick your language, and then your thrust into the home screen. If you go poking around though, you will find an options menu. Here you can choose display options like the aspect ratio, filters, and borders. Really the sole filter is a CRT filter which emulates scan lines, and color bleeding. It’s okay if you really prefer the look of an old TV. There’s also the standard 4:3 that doesn’t have the filter, and then there’s pixel perfect, which basically makes the games 4:3, and crisper. But that also means you’ll see every last square that makes up every character, and background. It’s interesting because some games look completely fine, while others like Super Castlevania IV have a bit of inconsistency. My Brother who isn’t nearly as into game collecting as I am noticed this when visiting. There’s nothing wrong with the game, but you can see the backgrounds, and enemies have more details in this display mode, than Simon Belmont appears to. Of course the bigger the TV the more noticeable it is. Still, if this level of crispness turns you off, you can always opt to play the game with the CRT filter on. It really will come down to personal preference.

As for the game selection, it’s a really good one. There are some games I personally may have chosen instead, had I been a Nintendo decision maker. But on the whole, there is a nice variety of games here, covering almost every genre. Final Fantasy III (6), Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, Secret Of Mana, and The Legend of Zelda III: A Link To The Past are here for your JRPG/Action RPG/Adventure fix. You also get a lot of classic platformers. Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, Kirby Superstar are all here. Covering your action platforming you have Mega Man X, Super Castlevania IV, and Super Ghouls N’ Ghosts. You’ve got F-Zero, and Super Mario Kart for some arcade racing. Star Fox, and the previously unreleased Star Fox 2 are on the device for rail shooting. Kirby’s Dream Course is the lone puzzle outing, although Superstar does have some puzzle modes. Super Punch-Out!! is an underrated inclusion here, and of course Super Metroid is one of the best exploration games of all time. So naturally that is on here. Street Fighter II’s popularity hit its fevered pitch on the 16-bit consoles, so naturally one of the iterations would have to be included here. Street Fighter II Turbo is the iteration chosen to appear here, and it is definitely one of the fan favorites in the series. Fans who preferred the larger roster in Super Street Fighter II might be disappointed, but there are other inexpensive ways to play the Super NES port of that game elsewhere. Finally, fans of the run n’ gun genre get Contra III: The Alien Wars.

On paper, picking this mini system is worth it for these games alone. Consider that (at the time of this writing) the original physical Game Paks of many of these titles are expensive. Super Metroid goes between $30, and $40 loose, alone. Earthbound is prohibitively expensive for many people often going for well over $100 by itself. For anybody who simply wants to buy one of these games legitimately, and play it, the Super NES Classic Edition is a pretty good value proposition. As for the emulation of the games, they’re very good. All but the most astute fan can go back, and play these without noticing much of a difference. If you go through the extra work of hooking up the original Super NES on a TV, and standing it next to your new HDTV & Super NES Classic setup, you can notice slight differences. Differences in color that might matter to an absolute purist who will insist on playing the original Super Ghouls N’ Ghosts Game Pak. If you absolutely require a 1:1 experience without exception you’ll want to empty your bank account. For everyone else a .98:1 experience is still pretty impressive.

As far as input lag goes, I honestly haven’t noticed much of any, and I’ve played my unit on three modern TVs. A 50″ 4K unit by Samsung, a 20″ 1080p Insignia (Best Buy), and my trusty 32″ 720p Element I keep because it has legacy ports. In every case, the games played fine. Any input lag that is there will be noted by only the most scrupulous players. Top-tier speed runners, and tournament level players may want to spend on the original console, and games for those purposes. But again, for those who want to buy these titles legitimately, the Super NES Classic Edition is a wonderful option.

Even some of those collectors who normally might pass on it may consider giving it a go as it is presently the only way to buy Star Fox 2. And while it won’t wow you the way the original did, or the way Star Fox 64 did on the Nintendo 64, it is still an interesting one. It includes features that weren’t seen until later games in the series. If you’re a big fan of Nintendo’s long running franchise, you may just want one of these for that game. Although it is strangely locked behind the first game’s first stage. You aren’t allowed to actually play it, until you defeat the first boss in the original game. Weird.

Overall, I quite like the Super NES Classic Edition. While I feel it could use some more visual options for those who don’t like how old games look on new displays, and it could have used a more convenient way to create saves (You have to press RESET.), I do find the build quality quite nice. I also found that they added a cool fast forward, and rewind function to the save state software. So you can pinpoint the moment you want to start from. I also like that they put some of the harder to acquire titles on it, and it is nice that Star Fox 2 finally sees the light of day. The controllers are also versatile for Wii, and Wii U owners, as you can use them with games purchased digitally. It’s also a great proposition for those who want to experience what they weren’t around for without having to invest in a 20-year-old or more console, and cartridge technology. Newcomers can get their feet wet here, and see what the fuss over the 16-bit era is all about. Interestingly, Nintendo has put up PDF scans of the Super NES manuals for all of the games included here.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

Time Pilot Review

Time Travel. It is a widely used theme in fiction, and video games have been no exception. It was a plot device in Chrono Trigger. It was used it Timesplitters. It was used in Time Slip. It has even been used in multiple Final Fantasy games, including the first one. So it should be no surprise that even in the golden age of arcade machines, developers would take a crack at the idea. Today’s game was one of Konami’s efforts. Before Contra, and Castlevania there was Frogger. Somewhere in between these franchises came Time Pilot.

PROS: Tight controls. Nice visual details.

CONS: Cheap A.I.. Home versions missing features.

GREAT SCOTT: There are no DeLorean cars, but there are space ships.

Released in 1982, with ports following a year later, Time Pilot is both original, and derivative. It came at a time when many games were about blowing up ships, for big points, and the high score. However it is also a game where the enemies change vastly between waves. Something that, while simple, seems to add some variety.

So what do you do in Time Pilot? You destroy enemies for points. But there are some nuances about it. Each wave of enemies takes place in a different era. When you first begin the game, you’ll be in the year 1910. So you’ll be smack dab in the middle of early biplanes. Upon seeing you, they’ll swarm you, and do their best to shoot you down. So you’ll go along, blowing up planes. Once you’ve destroyed enough of them, a boss will appear. The first boss is a giant zeppelin. If you can manage to take it down, your ship will flash, and warp ahead in time.

Wave two takes place in the year 1940. So you’ll be taking down biplanes in the midst of World War II dogfights. These planes also drop bombs in addition to shooting bullets at you. So the game’s difficulty inches upward as a result. If you can survive long enough, and destroy enough planes you’ll be attacked by the boss: a bomber. Manage to shoot it down, and you’ll again warp ahead.

Wave three gets you to 1970, and you’ll be going up against a ton of helicopters. These have much wilder flight patterns than the planes you were going up against, and so you can again expect things to get a bit tougher. You’ll face an even bigger helicopter in a boss fight. If you can defeat the boss you jump ahead again.

Wave four jumps ahead twelve years to 1982, and so the enemies change to what was contemporary. Fighter jets. The jets are faster than anything you’ve faced at this point, and like the helicopters, have heat seeking missiles! If somehow you can take down enough of these you’ll go up against a B-52 bomber. If by some miracle you survive all of this, you’ll jump ahead.

The final wave takes you to 2001. So naturally you’ll be going up against extraterrestrial U.F.O.s. This stage has so much random craziness in its attack patterns. You’ll fight a mothership of course, and taking it down is quite the challenge. If you manage to do so the game starts over, and each wave the difficulty amps up even more. You can also get big points by rescuing other pilots in each era who can be found parachuting. Just fly over them, and nab the bonuses.

Time Pilot had a few official ports although there were unofficial clones on home computers like the Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. As far as the officially licensed ones go, they appeared on the MSX computer in Japan, and in North America on the Atari 2600, and Colecovision. The 2600, and Colecovision versions were published by Coleco. The game has been included in several compilations, and services for the PlayStation, Xbox 360, Gameboy Advance, and Nintendo DS.

Visually, Time Pilot is pretty nice, and the 8-bit sprites hold up pretty well. the clouds , planes, and bosses all scroll around smoothly, and the performance is pretty good. Every version looks pretty good, with the Colecovision running neck, and neck with the MSX version. The Colecovision includes most of the features found in the arcade version albeit with less detailed sprites, and animation. The paratroopers are there, the erratic patterns of enemy waves, and all of the firepower. However, it is missing the 2001 UFO wave which seems to be a glaring oversight.

The 2600 version looks better than you might expect, however there aren’t multiple flight paths for the enemies. So every enemy wave member flies in the same pattern. The enemies also don’t have any secondary weapons, and the bosses can be taken out in a single hit, making this the easiest of the home versions. It also doesn’t have the paratroopers. It’s still a pretty solid effort though, and even includes the 2001 wave the Colecovision version omits. It’s also an uncommon game on the Atari 2600 so it’s one of a handful of VCS games you’ll pay more than the usual $5 for.

The compilation on the PlayStation, and the Xbox 360 probably have the best way to play the original game, as the arcade ROM displays nicely on a TV. The Gameboy Advance port on the Konami Collector’s Series: Arcade Advanced , is also worth looking into though. Because although it switches around the orientation for its smaller screen, it also includes a prehistoric stage not seen in any other version of Time Pilot. If you have a way to play it on a TV through a Gamecube GBA player or the Retrobit GBA Adapter cartridge console for the Super NES, you may just want to track it down. The DS Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits compilation is also a nice option if you like to play old school games on the go. The 3DS family also plays the DS games so it’s another option if you have the newer handheld.

All in all, this is a wonderful game that often gets overlooked in the realm of classics. It’s arguably deeper than other Konami classics like Scramble, or Super Cobra, and yet it doesn’t seem as fondly remembered as either of those classic games. It’s a shame because Time Pilot really is an addictive action game that will please anyone who enjoys high-score challenges, or any form of shoot ’em ups. Whether you play the original arcade version or any of the ports, Time Pilot shouldn’t be missed. It can be short, and one could argue repetitive. But the change in time periods, enemies, and strategies go a long way in keeping things fun, and interesting. Which is probably why the idea was revisited in Time Ace.

Final Score: 8 out of 10.

Super Cyborg Review

Man, I have been finding a number of spiritual successors lately. Last time around we saw an excellent Metroid clone with a number of cool tweaks, and spins on the idea. This time I’m reviewing a really good Contra clone. With elements of Probotector. Because that game is the same game as Contra, just with the human characters replaced with robots.

In this game you play as a robot. Well, at first. More on that later. Super Cyborg nails down everything about the NES version of Contra, its sequels, and the rest of the series with pinpoint accuracy. If you’ve been stewing because of how Konami has been letting all of their franchises lie dormant, this is a game you’re going to adore.

PROS: Feels exactly like NES Contra. Added customization.

CONS: Limited number of controllers supported. May feel too derivative to some.

KONAMI CODE: Not here. Bur there is a NOT KONAMI code most of you will NEED.

I’m glad I found Super Cyborg. I stumbled upon it during the recent Steam Summer Sale. I had no prior knowledge of its existence. No buzz. No info on a board. Nothing. At least for me, this was a diamond in the rough. Upon looking at the quick little trailer, I thought it looked like an interesting Contra inspired game. I picked it up.

Well it isn’t just interesting. It’s phenomenal. In terms of how close the game play is to NES Contra it’s almost 1:1. You play a robot out to save the world from an alien invasion. Like the game it is cribbing from. You get three lives, and sent on an overwhelming seven stage mission of mayhem. The first stage has a few visual nods to Contra. It starts in the jungle, and though the stage layout is completely different the theme is there. It ends at a fortress as well. But with a completely different, and original boss.

From there, the game goes through different themed areas, and this is where it makes an attempt to differentiate itself from its inspiration. The inside of the base has its own distinct style. The third stage has more of a late game Ninja Gaiden look. There is a spider filled cavern stage. Throughout the campaign, the game does try to retain its own identity. In spite of just how much it feels like Contra. Of course, even some of that goes out the window when you get to the Super C inspired top down stage, and the final stage.

It really does feel like Contra too. As I said before, it feels almost 1:1. The movement is almost identical. The somersault jumping is almost identical. The shooting feels nearly identical. You can fire up. You can fire ahead, or at a diagonal slant. You can fire straight down so long as you’re in the air. One key difference is there is a “Lock” feature, where you can press a button to disable walking. In theory, some sections may be more manageable with it enabled. You can stay just outside the hit box of a projectile spewed out by a boss. Or you can keep yourself from walking off of a ledge. In practice, you’ll almost never use it because of just how much stuff is hitting you at any given moment. Super Cyborg also adds a secondary charge shot to every gun in the game. It does more damage. But because it’s so slow; again you’ll rarely use it with all of the chaos.

Because just like Contra, the attackers never cease. They keep re-spawning, charging, and coming from all directions. Sit in one place too long, they’ll appear from behind. Or jump from above. Or crop up from the background scenery when you least expect it. Even Contra’s weapons are heavily referenced here. Barrels float through the sky in weird patterns. Shooting them drops a letter. Each letter is a different weapon. The letters may be different in some cases, but the projectiles have the same properties. The machine gun bullets are here. The laser gun is here. The coveted spread gun is here. The clear screen is here. Even the rapid fire is here.

And like Probotector, you’ll play as a robot. At first. You see, once you complete the game you’ll be able to play as a Rambo knock off, giving the game an even closer resemblance to Contra. One cool thing here is you can customize the colors on your character sprites when you start the game. The enemies are pretty varied throughout the campaign with all sorts of aliens, mutants, and strange creatures. All of them share attack patterns with Contra’s many soldiers, and creatures.

Boss characters are original creations, and yet they could probably fit into a Contra game. There are some standouts here like the giant heart boss, the mechanical bee, and the game’s final boss. This thing has seven forms, and only gets more difficult as each form is introduced. Frankly, it goes from being a very difficult Run n’ Gun to a very difficult Bullet Hell. Think Toaplan difficult.

Honestly, the whole game is pretty difficult for many of the reasons outlined earlier. But again, so was Contra. It also has the simultaneous two player mode you know, and love. The game is fun, and hectic enough with one player. Two player mode makes this even more fun. On top of that, Super Cyborg includes Peer to Peer internet play. You can host a game, and let a friend or stranger connect through Steam, and away you go. Basically, it’s the same thing as the standard two player campaign. But now you don’t have to worry about your friend actually driving to your house.

Of course no NES Contra experience would be complete without the Konami code. Because, for the majority of us, getting through the game was almost impossible on three lives. Super Cyborg doesn’t have the Konami code, but it does have its own extra lives code that you’ll also have to input quickly on the title screen. It will give you 40 lives, and because the game has user files, you can actually save your progress between levels. Which is nice in case you find yourself getting too frustrated in your attempt to win. You can come back to where you left off. Moreover, Super Cyborg has three difficulty levels; Easy, Normal, and Hard which is unlocked after you complete the game once. Easy is about as hard as NES Contra. Until the last boss where it gets pretty difficult. Normal adds more enemies, and projectiles. The final boss gets much more health here. Hard difficulty is so over the top, it’s really recommended for those who love an almost masochistic challenge.

Super Cyborg isn’t terribly long, and it needn’t be. It isn’t very original. But that isn’t what it was going for. It’s a game trying to fill a void Konami left, by letting its franchise lie dormant. As a spiritual successor to that franchise Super Cyborg truly succeeds. It is a great game for anybody who loves Contra, as the entire game is a love letter to Contra. It’s also a pretty fun action game in its own right.  Super Cyborg might not look quite as good as Contra. Some of the sprites can look a little rough around the edges. But it still manages to get a pretty good NES inspired look all around. You can also toggle a CRT blur effect, and sprite transparency effects on or off depending on how you like your retro-inspired games to look. The music is pretty great. Stage three’s up tempo chip tunes really stand out. But overall the music, and sound is really good.

Where the game falls short is in the options menu, and controller settings. First off, the options navigation takes some getting used to, as it isn’t mouse driven. It has a weird lay out, with pull-down menus. It isn’t difficult to use, but it isn’t very intuitive. But the biggest problem is that it doesn’t support a very large variety of controllers. You can play with the keyboard. You can play with the Xbox 360, or Xbox One controllers pretty seamlessly. Even third-party versions, as they use the same driver in Windows. But beyond that, it’s tough to say. My Steam controller didn’t work right away. After a day or two, it miraculously decided to. So I don’t know if that was just an issue with my configuration, or if it was a Steam client issue an update fixed. Chances are if you’re using a Steam controller you’re probably going to be able to play the game just fine.

But for some of the other controllers out there you’ll have to use a third-party program like Xpadder if you want to get them working with the game. Other than that speed bump though, it’s a pretty great game I can still highly recommend. It can be pretty difficult, and it might tread a little too closely to Contra for some. But it is also a lot of fun. I know I’ve repeated myself a lot in this review. But if you’ve longed for a proper Contra game for a while, you just might want to check this one out.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Ninja Five-O Review

Remember a time when Konami was lauded? Throughout the 80’s, and 90’s the company put out not only heavy hitters, but some lesser known gems as well. This wasn’t only true of the console end of things. Handhelds saw some really great efforts from the company over the years. Including this game. Ninja Five-O will wow you with its combination of two of your favorite things. It’s the peanut butter, and jelly of action games.

PROS: Crisp graphics. Smooth game play.

CONS: High difficulty. Light on story.

RIBBIT: One of the bosses rides a giant frog like a horse.

Ninja Five-O doesn’t have a particularly deep story. You play a Ninja, who is also a police detective. (The European version was actually titled Ninja Cop.)You end up having to travel all over the world to sneak in, free hostages, and defeat terrorists. Basically, the campaign’s story is a combination of Die-Hard, and American Ninja 2.  It will lead you through a bank heist, a warehouse, an airport, an airplane, caverns, and a military installation. Each of them filled with a plethora of traps, obstacles, and criminals. There isn’t much in the way of character development, or plot here. The most you’ll see is some text narration, and cinema screens before each stage. These don’t give you the movie feeling that the NES Ninja Gaiden games do. The game barely tells you any of the names. Generally they give you a brief overview of your objective in the area, and little else. But much like the aforementioned movies, the audience is going to come away entertained by the action even if the narrative is lacking.

As for the actual game, the combination of the aforementioned movies seems fair. Because the game play marries Shinobi’s platforming, and hostage rescuing, with Bionic Commando’s grappling, and Metal Gear’s stealth. The end result is nothing short of spectacular. Each stage is broken up into three sections, before a boss encounter. The object of each of the stages is two-fold. First, you have to get a red key to unlock the stage exit door. In order to get the red key, you’ll have to find a few other keys because you’ll need to enter other rooms, defeat particular enemies, or break open a certain crate to find them. Each key is color coded, and corresponds with a different door. But finding the keys isn’t enough. Because the second goal is to rescue as many hostages as possible. Freeing the hostages isn’t an easy task. Most of them are being held by enemies who will use them as human shields if you try to attack them. This leads into an awful lot of stealth game play.

Thankfully that stealth game play is very satisfying. The game makes very good use of its grappling hook mechanics. You can grapple onto most walls, and surfaces. There are also giant rivets in backgrounds you can grab onto. Once you’ve grappled onto a surface, you can swing back, forth, even in circles. Admittedly, this can be hard to get the hang of when you first start playing. Once you’ve gotten the basics down, you can even swing from surface to surface! This allows you to get the drop on a lot of the terrorists, attack them from behind, and free the hostages. You also have a number of attacks. The first is your sword. You can swing it at enemies, swing it while jumping to do a somersault attack, and break open crates. The second is the ability to throw a shuriken. These can be handy for bad guys that take a few hits to die, or for freeing a hostage from afar. The shuriken can be powered up too. Throughout levels are little lightning bolt icons that can be picked up. Each one you pick up upgrades you one level. You can pick up to three. With the power ups, you can toss lasers, and fireballs. You’ll need these to beat most of the game’s bosses. Getting hit after picking up a lighting bolt causes you to lose one, and downgrades you back a level. This makes the game even more challenging. Because not having these power ups puts you at a bigger disadvantage.

However one attack you have at your disposal is the proverbial smart bomb. If you fill a meter by knocking off enemies, you can fire off a screen wide animation that takes out every enemy on the screen. You’ll want to use this a lot in situations where freeing a hostage seems impossible. Be it because there are too many enemies, or because of hazards. You get a slide move to help you through some of these, but that only helps so much. There are exposed electrical wires, torches, spiked pits, spiked walls, and more to deal with. Sometimes the game hides a hostage, power up, or key in these areas.

Bosses are highly reminiscent of early 90’s NES bosses. These characters evoke memories of boss encounters in games like Vice: Project Doom, and Shatterhand. They’re grand, over the top, and can only be defeated once you memorize an intricate pattern of movement. Unless of course, you come into them with all three power ups. But even then taking down that last shred of damage will prove difficult. But the difficulty of the bosses, like the levels leaves you a sense of satisfaction when you finally beat them. Which is good. Because the only way you get to play all of the stages is if you choose higher difficulty levels. You can also play the first three levels in whichever order you choose.

Visually, the game holds up very well all of these years later. Sprites, are crisp, very detailed. as are the tile sets. The game has a very nice use of parallax scrolling, and the animation is top notch. The GBA, and DS run the Game Pak briskly, with little to no slowdown, save for one or two boss fights where a lot is going on. But even those are brief moments, that don’t ruin the game play. The chip tunes, and sound effects are really cool, with melodies you may find yourself humming a few hours after you put the game down.

Some may be turned off by the high difficulty, but overall this is a highly recommended title assuming you can still find a copy. The game came out at the tail end of the Game Boy Advance’s lifespan. Like most games released at the end of a platform’s run, there weren’t a lot of copies made. At least not in comparison to the print runs of most games. As such Ninja Five-O is pretty rare now, and is also pretty expensive. A loose copy goes for as much as a new release on a modern console, where complete or unopened copies fetch far more. That said, if you can afford a copy, or find a really good deal at a yard sale, pick this one up. It’s fun, challenging, and it’s one of the best Game Paks ever put out on the Game Boy Advance.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Review

Metal Gear. A series that became insanely popular with Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation. It actually has its roots on the Japanese MSX computer. Suffice it to say, it has been around a long, long time. Filled with geopolitical intrigue, and action movie influences, it’s no wonder why so many people love it so much. But not everyone who plays Ground Zeroes is going to have the same level of loyalty, and admiration.

PROS: Stunning graphics. Stunning voice acting. Amazing controls.

CONS: Far too short.

WHAT? THAT’S IT?: Is what you will shout at the screen when you beat it.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has already gotten flack. But if you aren’t gaming on consoles at all, whatsoever, you may not have heard about it. Ground Zeros was recently re-released on PC’s through Steam, with some minor improvements.  The game looks amazing. It really does. The amount of detail in the character models, texture work, and overall presentation is simply stunning. Konami really outdid itself here, and the PC port allows you to max the game out even further, so long as your hardware is up to snuff.

To give even more credit where credit is due, the game has a very good voice acting cast. Kiefer Sutherland, Tara Strong, Troy Baker, and James Horan lend their talents to create some really compelling moments. The cut scenes are even rendered in real-time within the game’s engine. Konami calls this the FOX engine, and it does deliver on its next generation promises. Simply watching the opening cut scenes will be a testament to that fact.

The story is told through a combination of prologue screens, and the beautiful cut scenes. Snake infiltrates a Black Site in Cuba to break out two prisoners, only to find one of the two is even deeper in the secret prison site. This is where you’ll actually start playing the game. Let’s get this part out of the way. What you are given here is a lot of fun. It’s an open, prison compound that you will be infiltrating. Gone are the linear levels of the old MGS stages, where you had only a handful of ways to sneak around. Ground Zeros pretty much lets you go wherever you want. There are some locked doors, or stone walls to keep you from doing anything too cheap. But for the most part you can tackle the game how you want. Although going in guns blazing, is going to prove far more difficult.

The game carries over all of the stealth mechanics of the older games. You can slowly creep through the shadows, sneak up on guards, and interrogate them for info. You have access to silencers to keep your shots from being heard. These can also wear out after so many shots, so you’ll also want to conserve their use. You can even use a tranquilizer gun to make guards fall asleep at their posts, or shoot out lights, and cameras to keep from being seen.  As always, you also have the ability to pick up, and hide dead bodies. The enemy A.I. in this game is actually really good. They can see you through their periphery, hear noises, and notice when you’ve opened a door, or turned out a light. They will actively run toward any suspicious activity. They’ll often times spot you even when you think you’re impossible to find. It all comes together very, very well.

You can even hijack vehicles on the prison grounds, like tanks, and jeeps if you don’t mind everyone taking notice, and descending upon you. Gun play is also a lot of fun. Aiming isn’t a chore, you can mark threats with your binoculars, and all of the weapons feel like they have good weight with realistic recoil.

When you do finally get to the prisoners, you’ll have to summon your helicopter to pick them up. Here is where you can pull up your map, along with audio, and data logs the game hands you for each mission. You’ll then have to carry them to the pickup site, hopefully without getting detected. The enemies have no reservations about killing you or the prisoners. If a prisoner dies you’ll lose the game, and have to restart at the last checkpoint. Checkpoints seem to be almost arbitrarily chosen by the game. Sometimes it might generate one after a cut scene. But other times it will seemingly be when you get near a certain place on the map.

When you do complete the mission, you’ll be treated to some more amazing cut scenes. Beautifully rendered in the FOX engine. All of which are to set up the next game in the series.  It’s a beautiful, and entertaining game, that will leave you asking”Wait, that’s it?” Because it will take most players one hour to beat the game. That’s right, one hour. This game is tremendously short.  It basically, ends up feeling like a demo for the next game, rather than a prologue. The game does have side missions you can play once you’re done with the short campaign, but these aren’t all that different in how they play. Some involve killing specific people, or specific targets. There is one that is slightly different in that it has an on-rails segment. But all of the missions take place in the same level.

It’s unfortunate that the game is so disappointingly short, because what you do get is a lot of fun. If you’re a dedicated fan, you can try to speed run it, play through the side missions, or try to get all of the achievements. Many players certainly have. But for everyone else the short length really makes this difficult to recommend. It truly feels like a demo in every sense of the word. The alternate, optional missions may add a couple of hours of play time, but for most players that probably isn’t going to be enough. Unless you simply have to have every game in the Metal Gear series in your game collection, skip this one.

Final Score: 5 out of 10