A is for....

Action Fighter

Master System

This game certainly took me by surprise. I was just expecting an imitation of Spy Hunter when what I seemed to get was a cross between Spy Hunter and Swiv.

The plot for the first level consists of a screen showing that the President wants for you to destroy three submarines. With that knowledge we head straight into the game were the first vehicle in use is a motorbike with the power to shoot other bikes and cars.

As the level progresses letters of the alphabet appear on screen to be collected. It’s these letters that upgrade your vehicle to a car. Once A-F has been collected bits of car come flying across the screen and your weapon is also upgraded. Collect G-H and you now have the ability to fly where the game turns into a Shmup, well the first level at least.

Within the 15 minutes: I managed to get to the boss of the first level.

Will I play it again? Yes, an interesting little title that will definitely get a second chance.

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

Megadrive

My only time spent playing an Alex Kidd game was Miracle World which was built into the Master System II. I have very fond memories of that game but for some reason this one just didn’t seem to grab me within the 15 minutes.

Maybe it’s because apart from having to fight a Mummy and a car within the same game there was nothing in the game that was wholly original. Levels were pretty standard fare and were just jump and punch, though the water level was good as normally I hate water levels.

On the back of the box there is a screenshot of Alex Kidd riding a motorbike which does make me want to continue through the game at some point but I don’t feel inclined to at this present moment in time.

Within the 15 minutes: Got all the way to the seventh level.

Will I play it again? I will but am in no rush unfortunately.

Alien Vs Predator: The Last of His Clan

Game Boy

Film franchise alert....... Luckily this game was released many years before the abysmal films were and as such have no tie-in into them. Saying that just like the films, of what I played of this I wasn’t impressed at all.

The game starts off impressively enough with you controlling the Predator to fight those nasty Aliens. The Aliens are well spread out and are a mixture of the full grown Aliens, the chest burster Aliens and the Face Huggers. The Predator also has a nice array of arsenal which can be selected and swapped at any point of the game.

The main problem that I found was that I kept dying for what I could see was no reason at all. The energy for the Predator counts down like a timer but can be topped up with capsules collected around the level, every time I died I had energy and so therefore could not for the life of me figure out why I kept dying. Maybe someone could please shed some light on this.

Within the 15 minutes: Was still wandering around the first level wondering why I kept dying whilst still having energy.

Will I play it again? When I’ve ran out of other games to play.

Army Men

Game Boy Colour

This is possibly the most frustrating 15 minutes that I have ever played in my life. Ok, maybe the game isn’t that frustrating but the controls certainly are. It could just be me but I found using the D-Pad incredibly horrendous to use to move the little Army man. It’s not simply a case of walking up, down, left, right but having to move the sight line of the weapon to be able to move the figure.

At one point in the game I was trying to walk between a fence and a building in a straight line, could not do it due to the controls and ended up somehow getting stuck! Another minus is that the game informed me that I was low on health and needed a health pack. Off I went and managed to find one, walked over it and was told that I couldn’t pick it up due to my health being full when it was clearly not. Whilst arguing with the GBC I got shot.

All in all I can never see me ever playing this again and unfortunately I also have the sequel. Both getting sold I think.

Within the 15 minutes: Somehow managed to get to the third mission.

Will I play it again? Never, do not have the time and patience for the control scheme.

Asterix

SNES

In the short time I played this game it reminded me of so many other platformers of the time it was unbelievable. Within the first couple of levels elements of three games popped into my head, Mario, Sonic and Super Star Wars.

Anyone playing the game will spot the Mario and Sonic elements straight away but the Super Star Wars elements are pretty much a direct copy of the game. At certain points Asterix has to jump onto clouds which are pretty much aligned the same as SSW whilst at other points has to make death defying leaps over the screen to places that cannot be seen. Anyone who has played SSW will know these points exactly.

Whilst there does not seem to be anything original at all, except maybe a bit where you can get a dog to run on and attack the enemy, the game does seem to hold some charm to it which does make me want to play it again.

Within the 15 minutes: Had reached Act 2.1 which is effectively level 6.

Will I play it again? Yes I will. Whilst not at the moment looking to be a great game there is something that makes me want to play it.