MY TOP TEN VIDEO GAMES

I always wanted to do a top list of my favourite games, they don't exactly mean they are the best games out there and others might question my list, but hey, its my blog and I do whatever I want, and this is my list till this date. I might add that maybe some games I just forgot and were left out of the list for the moment being, but if I remember them I will add them later on,in a broader list, at least these are the ones that came into my mind.

TOP TEN

These are games I consider that must be played because of their overall experience, fun gameplay, longevity, and that just give me a nostalgic moments. I consider them the best.

Not in order.

1- Twisted Metal 2 (PSone)

The 2D comic style artwork and animations, the stories, the characters, the simple yet amazing gameplay, the secrets, the 2 player mode, everything. This makes it the best Twisted metal yet. Even thou Black and Head on Extra twisted ec. for PS2 are amazing, Twisted Metal 2 is still on another level.

2- Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis)

Maybe it was the timing when it came out, but the music, 16-bit glorious sprites, the characters, the scenenary, and the straight to the point beat em up; makes this game the best on its category.

3- Mortal Kombat 2 (SNES)

Yeah arcade the arcade version is better audiovisuallly, but this 16-bit home console port is the closes as it gets plus extra features and secrets, and yes the infamous glitches, makes this THE Mortal KOmbat; the (how it supposed to be) digitized photo graphics, the characters, the backgrounds and multiple finishing moves makes it unforgettable.

4- Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)

With many good Castlevania games like Portrait of Ruin and Aria of Sorrow, this was a hard one, but I needed to make a choice, and this one is the winner by far. This game is a best buy, not only you are playing a remake of one of the best castlevanias, but the original, Dracula X, is unlocked within this game, and the other best castlevania Symphony of the nights is unlockeable too. The different paths, the soundtrack (might be the best on a video game), the hidden elements, the secrets, the character design and artwork is classic Castlevania enhanced at its peak. The only game that could top this is a remake of Castlevania 3 (but it has to include SOTN again, which won't).

5- Super Mario Brothers 3 (NES)

It was almost a tie with Super Mario World, but I had to pick one so this is the winner. Everything in this game was a big hop from its 2 previous games, the level design, power ups, enemies and stories plus it secrets made it the most played super mario when I was a kid. When I was a kid early Saturday mornings were spent playing this game, before eating some hungry jacks pancakes.

6- Gradius V (PS2)

Gradius is a great game and this one is like the ultimate Gradius, borrowing elements from all its previous versions and modernizing the graphics to 3D but yet on a 2D gameplay, remixing the sound this game is a must for Gradius or 2D Side scrolling shoot em ups. The game is hard but yet easy to progress (eventually), I just can't stop playing, very intense. Konami and Treasure one of the best in classic shooting action joined forces for this; extra 1,0000 points for that.


7- Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)

Even though Contra 4 for Nintendo DS and Contra Shattered Solider from PS2 borrow
elements from this game and Hard Corps from Genesis, I still think they it couldn't
surpass this one; Contra III: The Alien Wars. The story was straight to the point, the gameplay simple run and shoot, the graphics one of the best in the SNES days, the intense action, boss and level design makes this game THE Contra at its peak. When I was a teenager I spent many summer days playing this game before going skating.

8- Ikaruga (Gamecube)

I see this game as an arcade at home, simple press start and play, music score,
direction, design, subliminal story, gameplay concept (in which you switch colors to
absorb bullets), everything in this game makes it perfect. I could spend hours just
replaying the first level alone, trying to have a perfect score. Also this has one of the most dramatic endings on a video game. For me, this is the best shoot em up game out there. Treasure did an amazing job.

9- Super Bomberman (SNES)

When the term multiplayer is discussed, this game is the first to pop on my head. I
rented this game so much from Blockbuster years ago that I might have as well bought it.Back on those glory days the 4 player connector that came along with it made it the best game for a sleep over with friends and house parties. The gameplay was simple and fun; blast your opponent away (which meant the computer or your friend). I still prefer this game over the Saturn version still.

10- God of War (PS2)

This is THE game for greek mythology lovers. The audiovisuals might be the best in the PS2 generation, the story direction mixed with animated comic style and amazing rendered 3D movies is just amazing. The puzzles and some in game elements makes this game stand above others, even its sequel. Its one of those games you jsut can't stop playing until its over. And still you will want to play it again because of the challenges and unlockables.

TEN to 20

These are games I consider highly re-playable, with interesting graphics or character designs, simple but innovative concepts (at its time), great gameplay experience or just plain fun.

11- World of Warcraft (PC)
12- Super Gunstar Heroes (GBA)
13- Battlefield 1942 (PC)
14- Tenchu: Stealth Assassin (PSone)
15- LOADED (PSone)
16- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
17- Odin Sphere (PS2)
18- Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)
19- Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War
20- Road Rash 32bit (PSone)

Contrast nights of total opposites.

This post will vary and not be about video games... at leat for now. It will be about an experience I had and made me see (again) the contrast of 2 different lifestyles, and how they criticize each other. So I will just give my opinion about it and start with this:

WTF?

Seriously, ok this picture (which my girlfriend took) was at the ladies room from a night club, won't same the name because its relevant, its the same as others from around here; big space, big screens, small tables, bars, plenty of birthdays, bad food (for real), and a cliché cover bands included. And of course.... the crowd.

Night Club (friday)

Anyways, I am going to talk about the picture for a second... just look at it, its a fucking iron.. to make the ladies hair straight.. I mean, its like... you pay $2 and you start fixing your hair there.. because of what... because is not straight enough or you might look bad to the sex craving guys outside? I mean I am not against woman fixing their hair... but the point of putting it on the bathroom just completed the superficial essence of that place altogether. The company that did that, they really know how to exploit some situations and trends. I've seen condoms machines in the gentlemen restroom and made me realize the following... in the ladies room the ladies get pretty so they could attract the males that are buying the condoms in the other restroom to fuck their brains out. Genius! Fuck you.

Am I against that? No, is just things that give away the idea of those places and how superficial is everything, like the people... "having a good time", how can we have a good time if we can't speak to each other because of the loud total mainstream club music pumping out of the speakers. Its all fake to me, everyone is just standing around, (with beer or drink in hand of course, check), looking all glamorous, talking (if its possible) about who knows what and then dancing to the stupidiest music on my music taste spectrum. Just hate it. Here is a picture of me:

Fuck your bloodline.

Yeah, thats me saying hello to the people overthere, and thats Josue the husband (HUSBAND!) of my girlfriend's 1st best friend (woman always have more than 1 best friend), he didn't wanted to be there either, even thou he likes drinking and party, he told me that place... was just not for him anymore, and I understand, he is married he works hard everyday, and he appreciates rest more than a fantasy room for alcoholics and sex maniacs. This place is not for me, but still I went because of a birthday party of my girlfriends 2nd best friend (told ya), did I have fun? Yeah, because I was looking around and all my points and theories were proving upon my eyes.. all the cliché and predictable situations were coming true, I felt happy because this was never part of my lifestyle, I wont talk about all those things that usualy happen in that kind of palces because I will never end.. but I do want to mention the classic OH YOU MADE IT! HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN A WHILE, YOU LOOK GOOD MMM...fuck you. Thats the classic then a girl is talking in a group, then they see someone they know arrive, then they put their arms up then start walking faster not lifting their high heel shoes (yeah high heels or platform is a must on those places...fucking stupid) making short fast paces with a whore smile on the face and wiggling the head sideways with the ironed straight hair moving, and then the classic kiss and whore hug, and of course the guy takes adtanvage as a dog. And yes I predicted that weeks before (I told my girl about it) and it happend, rest my case.


That happend on a friday night, in a way it was cool since my girlfriend urged to do something different and go to her kind of places (actually not anymore but still likes it), and we shared with her friends, so wasnt that bad, and I am happy for her friend she turned 25, so good for her. Now, on Saturday is a whole different story.

GRAF fucking ORLOCK

Hardcore show (saturday)
My band was an opening act for Graf Orlock a cinema grind core band from California, and yes they are brutal, fast and heavy, pretty much the music I listen too, nothing too special even thou many people labeled them as the best band ever heard... its like waht? what you listen to? Korn? Atreyu? its fucking grind core, its all the same and good. Anywyas yeah I think they were pretty good, but they aren't the best if such thing really exist.
Well this show took place on a small venue kind of close to where I work, so it was a nice drive overthere, and yes I went alone, I didn't want to exposure my girlfriend to that atmosphere which I love, but I know she woudl freak out... why?
In those shows, you don't stand around like a asshole, you are part of the action when the band is playing, people start to bounce, slam agaisnt each other very hard, throw punches in the air, kicks, getting hurt, jumping from stages etc.. its all good, I mean if you are not into it you will think is crazy and stupid...yeah in a way it is, but people are having real fun and having real adrenaline rush without the excess alcohol or sex tension as a night club. People can really talk between bands, see other bands merchandise, help each other carry the equipment, ets its a good atmosphere of really sharing. The girls in those places, they don't bother using revealing dresses, or stupid high heels or platforms, they are happy as they are and they even look prettier than fake woman on night club, because they look real, not from a THE HILLS Mtv crap. I will not deny that is really a violent place sometimes, there are fights and hitting etc, at least they don't shoot each other. I htink the fights come about, becuase of hte hard dancing I mean, I am against violent dancing because one thing is dancing and bouncing against each other, but hitting directly to another person thats a fucking assault. But if you aren't related to those type of shoes and someone bounces against you really hard and fall, DO NOT get up and assault the person, he didnt did it in purpose or a personal way he was jsut dancing his anger out and happen to stumble against you. So the thing is if you assault someone becuase he accidentally hit you, you might get your ass kick back to a fucking night club. Its a place of adrenaline, you never get bored watching the band and pretecting your nuts at the same time...its really brutal.
And that is my kind of place, thats the type of music I listened to since I was a kid, and I am damn proud about it. In this show like I said my band LA VIRGEN DEL POZO was the opening act, and people danced to us, so its pretty cool, they liked it a lot, I even broke a bass string (yes jolge I can brake bass strings reather easily) and kept palying, they even let me borrow another bass but I kept mine the the last remainig strings re-tuned to fit the missing one, it was crazy here is a pic:

VIRGEN ROCK!

See, 3 strings, and guess what...I was happy, enraged and happy at the same time, crazy right? But yeah, in this palce I can talk to anyone about bands and zines or records, and not about my job, and other nonsense as a night club crowd.
I want to mention that in that show, I jsut saw a guy get his nose busted by a really fat guy. The fat guy just turned and threw a punch in the air, but this kid happen to be on the perimeter of the punch and got hit. Blood started to flow, the other guy didnt even realize about it. I was like, man are you ok? And he was like its all right he is lucky he is my friend. I was like BRUTAL ... that was a friendly assault.

THE VEREDICT:
In the night club which was kind of boring I did felt I did something different with my girlfriend and I know she likes that style, not mine at all. But yeah I think it was allright, even thou I had to spend more than $40 in enrance fee, food and drinks (for her). While in the Hardcore show the entrance fee was free because I was in a band, and only spent like $11.50 in which $8 was from a 10" vinyl record of Graf Orlcok, $2 was from a fanzine that comes with a cd, and $1.50 for a bottle of water. And yes It was the best fun I had in a while, because it was a real experience and not a sueprficial one. Can't wait till this friday were I play again. Rock out with your cock out. PEACE.

Back from fantasy.

Its been over a month since my last post.. and I kind of miss it. But then again not enough time. During chirstmas..and after it... I am really busy, last week was my son's third birthday it had a knights theme! It was awesome, also that same week I went with him and his mother to see couple private schoold in the area so he could assist this up coming school year. RIght now I am catching up after an awesome holiday vacation, I went to Florida with my girlfriend and her family and we had a good time overthere... I fucking miss being overthere, but at the same time while overthere I missed being here. Fucked up uh? Anyways.. I think it was a nice christmas vacation, as gifts I got BULLY and the Guitar Hero Dual Pack for PS2... it was awesome, this is me shredding that chirstmas eve night around 3 o'clock in the morning:



It is a fun game... and I had to admit that I talked trash about this game..as being a game for guitar players wanna be, but instead is a reflex game decorated with a rock n roll theme (which I dig) using a guitar as controller. The thing I love about this game (besides my girl likes it too) is that is easy to get and the interface is awesome, its very well done, the store, the extras, most of the songs are cool to play, props for songs like Mother from Danzig, Thunderhorse from DethKlok, Sweet child o mine from Guns n Roses, Institutionalized (mispelled probably) from Suicidal Tendencies..and so on. Its just fun, I actually play this before exercise cause it helps me to alert and awake. All I had to say is the ending gives you a true feeling of heroism, (which is the point) and the last encore song... Freebird is awesome I wont be lying if I say I was playing the guitar on my knees and rocking while I was playing this song in the game... Metal. I dont reallly care about the other Guitar Heros which are the third one and Encore to the 80's or even ROck Band... because they seem more commercial to me... these 2 Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 are the best bet maintaning an underground feelin to it.

One game that caught my eye and it involves more physical dedication instead of seating wiht a control pad, was in Disney Quest, it was called The Pirates of the Caribbean.. treasure something. The game was an almost virtual reality experience.
After a line of almost half hour in Disney Quest, we didnt know what was waiting for us... we only knew it was from the Pirates of the Caribbean, but when we got in a nice asain staff member gave us some glass to emulate 3d and sent us inside a room with the front part of a ship, with cannons and a navigational wheel... we where surrounded by a screen projecting the sea.. here you can have a better view:



Thats My girlgfriend and I, along with her brother and niece. The ide was to navigate around a virtual sea and shoots at the other ships that actually were other people in other rooms, and at the same time fight sea monsters and finally a pirate ghost ship. As soon we started they designated me as a Captain... due to the cliche..bandana and dreadlocks..then u are Captain Jack Sparrow, fuck it.. I didnt compalint I wanted to be the Captain anyways. When we started playing..it was a really amazing thing, the sound effects and visuals were convincing enough and with the added 3D effect it felt as you were in battle. I started yelling orders to which side shoot, we nailed every ship we saw, actually the whole time I was smiling maniacally... and navigating straight forward against enemy ships for a hit then turning side views for full cannon blasts... fuck I am excited right now. Also the sea mosnters got us by surprise, intead of running away I left the wheel and started shooting the sea monster by myself since my shipmates were annihilating a ship on the other side... when the finished... they assumed the shooting on the other side and I went back to navigating around the monster. When we killed it we got to fight a ghost ship on a surreal sea full of pillars which was an intense fight of avoiding pilalrs at full speed and shooting at the ghots ship before it got the chance to destroy us... and yes we won. It was an exciting game... if you go to disney quest... geta crew of 5 motivated people and play it.

Well many more things happend in the trip like the rides at Island of Adventure and Busch Gardens which made me sick couple of times...And the cahnce to go to magiv kingdom on a nice afternoon..it was priceless.. yes.. I saw the PIurates of the Caribbean ride again. It was all perfect..cant wait to go back again but with my son..so he can experience waht I did years ago..I lie,, because I still have the same experience even as an adult. well thats it for now.. need to go back to work..

Coming Soon a review of Castlevania Portrait of RUin.

Back to Azeroth

Everything started around 2004 or 2005, can't quite remember... but I do remember that it was a great experience passed on to me. World of Warcraft, nowadays it sounds really cliché, mainstream and a commercial household MMO RPG game, but that doesn't take away that is a good game indeed, I don't care what other people say, that is what I think so shove it beeatches.

I quit Warcraft last year, I think the last time I played Warcraft was near the Burning Crusade expansion release or a little bit afterwards, I was going through so much stuff in my life that I just didn't have the time to play, in addition that I had a 56k modem connectivity so the game play was always a laggy experience. Because of that and other reasons I had to return the account to the original owner, who eventually got hooked up again and leveled up his old character to level 70 on the expansion.

After quitting Warcraft I started collecting video game consoles (I started with a PS2, then a Genesis and so on) and its something I am still obssessed with I already got most of the consoles I wanted and many fo the games.. they are still a few I want but DAMN those collectors prices. With these video game consoles I never get bored but.... do I get totally satisfied? See, that I loved from Warcraft is that there were now rules, you just entered the world and do whatever you want, that could be either terrorrize other opposed faction towns (I recommend a couple of high levels to go with), farm some instances for money, dedicate yourself to your profession and look for the materials to execute it, play in battlegrounds, help people level up, dance for money, get drunk, manage a guild, everything! That is waht I loved from the world of Azeroth, you could do everything and many of your actions could be remembered through time..because other peopel are playing in the same world and they are witness of your actions.

My character name is Unbroken (a interesing fact is that couple Months after I quit Warcraft a novel related to the game was published named Unbroken, brutal!) and when I started I was a member of couple of guilds along with some friends until I decided to make my own THE OATH, and in that guild is where I had the best experiences, friends tell me that to this day, they still see members of the guild roaming around, and I think that is amazing because that guild is over 2 or 3 years old and I do remember that I passed my leadership some weeks before quitting and I remember I told them... "'till the end".. I guess they took it seriously. In that guild we were a fucking family I can still recall many of the members,Broken (my ingame brother and real life friend Rodrigo) Varsen (who I met after one year of me not playing), Noemi, Loughlin, Jaderis, Zamuck, Kistel (from costa rica!), Bluekiller, Kongar, Meangreen, and my closests friends Chivo (Jolge) and Cruroar (Carli) who both later on became members of the best Horde Guild in Gilneas RAID INC. In fact I found and old address of the guild's website... look for yourself:
http://www.pnxmedia.com/theoath/

I could write a book about all the experiences we had on the guild, like helping each other out, escorting a low level friend friend from the oppossed faction across the world without being killed, (I had guild members meet him at different check points around the world then we would rotate by using friendly transports in sea and air since he couldn't use them), it was amazing, eventually when that character leveled became our enemy and I remember I planned and ambush on his group on a trench in the Shimmering Flats near Tanaris... total destruction, its funny the same people that helped him...destroyed him..I dont regret it.

I really had my fun in warcraft, until people started to get greedy farming for items and leaving for other end level guilds, and I started to have less time to paly and couldn't keep up... so that was it for me.

Until couple weeks ago... In last years Christmas gift exchange at my work place Moira gave me a World of Warcarft game. In hte mean time I was using the borrowed account in which my character was leveled up, so I ddn't ahd to use the game she game, I even tried to sell it on a Flea Market... but no success, so last week I decided to open it and install it, started leveling up a character..but its like wow... it took me 9 months to level mine at my own pace... so I think I am not up for that again. But guess what? The account where my original cahrater was wasnt activated so I asked for it back and..wallah! Unbroken lives again.

The game changed a lot, I needed help from Chivo (who is making a comeback too) to get use to some of the new stuff, and wow..it really changed.. now people go through level 60 as if nothing till to level 70, so they miss all the fun stuff a 60 could get. So now when people see me or Chivo (who agreed to stay 60 for life...who knows thou) tell us we are old school, because we have gears and items 60 get a year ago. We have old school moves and gear and attitude in the battlegrounds... here I can prove it... a converstation that happend when I rescued a post on an old fashioned reckless warrior way (also using a viking helmet from the Lost vikings in which charged and stunned the first opponent only availbe through farming an instance people ignore nowadays). Here it goes:






I know to other people its stupid..but it is cool when people recognize you, it means that they remember my actions...so my game play gets immortalized for the moment hehehe.. oh fuck it was jsut cool.

I dont regret getting back to this game, it is jsut fun and I get satisfied in a way other games that cant even thou taht they can be really good games it jsut doesnt trigger that geek/nerd inside of me who always wanted to be a hero...
Merry Christmas

Christmas update

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a week since the last time I wrote in this blog, so many things happend thou. So I will put everything in themes... so here is the first one:

FINALLY MOVED

:
Yes I am officially living with my girlfriend, I even paid the first part of the rent. Do I like it? Yeah, I mean, I liked living with my mom stepdad and uncle, but fuck, I am old enough to be living with them, so my girlfriend offered me live with her..so I took it. Hell, I lived with my ex and she had 2 children (who I miss, they are cool kids) in a big house with pool and everything, so I am used to live with people. Now I live on a "walk-up" I htink is pretty cool, first experience, and yeas I like it, the first week was sepnt getting everything foir the apartment, table, entertainment center, etc. Its cool, its like a reality check...you are an adult... you are not a kid or teenager anymore... so its time for responsabilities. Still, I got a room for my self (for now), so I have all my video game and consoles set up already, my desk with the computer, My record player and records, my guitar and bass, my amp, my weights, my toys, everything..its like a room I had back in high school... I never get bored in there.. NEVER. And yes since it is christmas, I already bought the tree on a stormy night... Ill talk about it later on in this post.

RAD SQUAD

:
The same day I bought the entertainment center for the tv and stereo Ih ad some extra bucks on the bank and took the opportunity to buy a skateboard. Yeah... a skateboard. I always loved skateboarding and in line skating... but for now I think I can enjoy more skateboarding and since my friend Jolge bought it couldn't be a better choice so we can skate together and vandalize. Because of that we formed the: RAD SQUAD. It s all about old school skateboarding tribute group..compose of well 3 people, Jolge, LuisFe and Me. So yeah, I bought a skatebaord, the people at the store called Chatarra... can be translated to Junk. They are pretty cool, they are into skatebaording and their clients too... they asked of us pictures (Since the Rad Squad bought 3 skateboards from their store), its like if they are our sponsors (which is not true at all) and want to see our progress in getting back into skating...well we have them some news; last week Jolge fractured his elbow.

It was the same night LuisFe bought his skateboard...so we met at the mall then decided to run in my apartment parking lot but becuase of the noise we needed to go some place else... here is a pic of that night:


Here you can see the basketball court and LuisFe... resting I guess and me..I jsut did the Rip and Shred signature move.. its interesing you speed up at a moderate speed then you Shred doing a turn form the insde out on my right grabbing the skateboard as a surf board...then quickly I put both hand on the floor and do a inside turn to my left which is the RIP.. then I stand up and do a floor 180 to go back to my goofy riding stance.

Rip and shred motherfucker.

Well how Jolge fucked his elbow up? To start with saying that it happend on my skateboard and not his..since he didn't wanted to run that night..I insisted that he should've. It happend as easy as this.. I let my skate roll to where he was and isntead of stopping it he decided to jump in while it rolled...and well not a bright move..he fell on hiss elbow and ass. I thought he fucked his ass or something, but then he said it was his elbow that hurt, and he talked about how much it sucked to have a hand broken and how he should be more careful etc. To make the story short, after he left me at my apartment with some ocmpalints that his elbow was hurting... I got a call form his mother next day telling me that he was on the hospital cause his elbow got swollen and had a miniature fracture. Fuck yeah. Now that hi is injured and LuisFe is I dont know where.. I am the only RAD SQUAD active member for the moment! Brutal.

Christmas Tree Surgery

:


My girlfriend took this picture (I say this before she freaks out about she not being credited, seriously I will get my own camera).

Now we can start, the tree house I bought is some how crooked and doenst fit right on the stand... so it was a pain in the ass making it stand right. I had to take it off and chop a little more than an inch on the bottom to make it more steady and allow it to absorb water better, and that ladies and gentlemen it was a hard procedure. First we tried with a knife... no success what so ever, then I asked for a Machete...too messy no success, then we had to go to my girlfriend's parents house to geta Saw... it worked a lilttle bit but we needed an extra help from a screwdriver and a hammer to open the gap, it worked but to make it even better I used my drill. It was a total mess but it worked. That same night the tree fell, but the next morning I did some adjkustments and its still standing... hopefully will be like that when I come home from work.


And yes thats us... celebrating after we completed the surgery.

EDIT #1: I am writting this after I posted this entry... yes this picture is also from my girlfriend..it was a timed shot, she used a chair as stand. Just in case she freaks out, ;) .

Well I am still at work so I can't continnue talking about the other stuff that happend... but stay tuned cause it will be my: Return to World of Warcraft... and I'll explain why I did suck thing... Fuck you Gaby.

LOADED!

I realized today that I really like reviewing games. But reviewing games that I really had the opportunity to live them thru, not just a new game that I just played like 2 or 3 levels the most... and just talk baout its hype...(fuck halo). I wanna talk about games that are considered old or obselete or whatever. Games that people will be like.. "Yeah, I heard of that game years ago, wow I didn't know it was that cool." Many hardcore gamers right now, are people that were born on the 90's, or many of them were just kindergarden kids when the 16 bit consoles were at their peak, and the 32bit consoles were entering the market and probably most of them might see 8 bit consoles as prehistoric sytems that somehow it games are only availble thorugh Xbox Live Arcade, Virtual Console or emulators. Having that in mind I want to wirte reviews from a technical way and personal way combined, bringing forth the positive and negative sides and how can both be balanced, and take those points and compare them to current generation games and how at certain points old console games are more fun to play than today's.

Here is a review of the Playstation's game Loaded, the game is one of my favorites and I was glad that I had the opportunity to review it on Ebay... here is the review:
------------------------


Search and Destroy Gore Fest

I think LOADED was a game that was ahead of its time back in 1996 (at least its theme). It is a game which gameplay is borrowed from GAUNTLET (top view moving characters blasting their way out of the level) but with some twist and mature content that is special nowadays on first person shooter games. With this elements LOADED is a pretty fun game to play, you got 6 (psycopath) characters with unique abilites and special attacks which adds to the gameplay specially if you are playing on a cooperative two player mode, which I thinks is were everything turns out to mayhem (good of course). The game was pretty violent and bloody (your shooting path looked like a slaughter house afterwards) and had adult content deep within.

The game theme is dark and morbid/fun and you can tell by looking at the inspirational characters illustrations and reading their profiles. The graphics is all what you expect from a first generation Playstation game so expect some pixelation, slowdowns etc.. but its all good and all becomes part of the game...as a historical technological check point Also some premature 32bit compressed FMV are included.

The music fits the game perfectly, I just cant describe what type it is, but its something that you can tag the 90's electronica or industrial theme on it (maybe I am wrong). Artist involved is: Pop Will Eat Itself.

My own experience with LOADED:
The first time I got in touch with LOADED was from a demo disk that came with my Playstation back in 1996.. from all the games that were included WARHAWK and LOADED were my favorites, constantly playing it even thou it was one level and one character available. So years later on a PAWN SHOP / COLLLECTORS STORE in Fort Lauderdale Florida I found the game on a shelf for around $10. The store owner told me it was a really wanted game sought after by collectors, and that everytime it came to the store it was sold as hot bread, and this was back in 2001. That same game copy I bought I accidentally broke it 2 years ago... and now I got a copy recently purchased from Ebay(just bought the disk only since I still had the original box), and still play the game, over 10 years later and still love this game. It is just fun to play.. pick up and shoot, blast everything that moves or that stands in your way.

FINAL WORDS:
If you buy this game, do not expect current generation graphics or gameplay (its an early 32-bit era title!), think of it as a classic top view shooter game with enhanced graphics and sound, and of course with awesome characters and their unique special attacks. I gave the game a "Good" review instead of "Excellent" because it might get too repeatative further into the gameplay, but that is how it is. If you are into shooters, violence, psychopaths, deatailed characters illustrations, Gauntlet, Contra, adrenlaine rush and all that cool stuff... then what are you waiting for? For the rest this game is a MUST for a 32bit Playstation or Saturn console. "Body bag not included"
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Ill try to do more reviews whenever I can, maybe I will try to get a post on the local newspaper talking about it..instead of sucking on ad hype supported games that really suck. And yes I finally moved in with my girlfriend, its all coming out great even better than I thought.

Super Contra III: The Alien Wars

I wanted to write this post once I had played Contra 4... but since I do not have a Nintendo DS and neither the game... I rather write about the best Contra game ever, Super Contra III: The Alien Wars.

Last night I was moving into my girlfriend's apartment with the help of her and Jolge, after we finished moving the sutff, (I carried a computer desk by myself from the parking to the room in the third floor thru the stairs) I turned in the Super Nintendo in the living room and popped in Super Contra (Jolge bought it for me couple weeks ago in Play n Trade). Well, I felt like it was the summer of 1992 all over again, since this was the first time I played the game...over and over again.

What I always liked of the game is just the pick up and play/destroy intensity. Endless ammo, screen full of enemies and explosions, glorified military soundtrack. It is excellent, this game first level is an perfect example of what I am talking about here is a speed run of the first level:



Intense.

The game just gets more pumped up through out the levels, with more enemies, giant mini bosses and bosses and the level designs only are full of action. I always thought of this game is a game made out of RAMBO (Sylvester Stallone) and COMMANDO (Arnold Shwarze.. whatever you know), they even used pictures of them for the first Contra game, here is the original cover and a tribute version I did:

Original box cover art for Nintendo:


My version jsu because..:


There is similarities on the pose, that element alone makes it a great game.

When I played the game last night, I forgot how much fun it was as a 2 player cooperative mode. The gameplay was faster and more chaotic, but we had to stop because it was already late, but we were kicking ass I guess, but sure it was fun man. Can't wait for another play.

This game is one my top 10 games of all time, one day Ill psot my list, it will be hard to make the order but I will do it... some day.

There is a version of these game in Gameboy Advance... but is not the same, but still is a good play, also there are other Contra games that are among my favorites and is Contra: Shattered Solider and the first Contra. I should collect Contra: Hard Corps from the Sega Genesis and Neo Contra for PS2... but some day when I get extra money. ... For now.. get this game, if you don't have a Super NES, get it emulated (warn you..is not the smae has some graphical issues), you won't regret it. Now, Ill just wait for the day Ill get to play CONTRA 4:



Hope Santa gives me a Nintendo DS with this game (Contra 4)...along with Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin....got it? "Santa"?