Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped – Sony Playstation
The third title in Sony’s popular Crash Bandicoot series, Crash Bandicoot 3 is the first to feature Coco as a playable character, and uses the “tunnel” 3D popularized in the earlier Crash games.
As in Crash Bandicoot 2 you have to collect 25 crystals that are scattered across time before your enemy Dr. Neo Cortex does. But this time the evil witch doctor Uka Uka is with Cortex to find the crystals and take over the world. With help from N. Tropy they build a Time Twister Machine to travel through time with. Crash and Coco must also use the Time Twister for gathering crystals, as usual with the help from the good witch doctor Aku Aku.
But there are also 42 gems scattered across time, just like in Crash 2. You must find them as well in order to complete the game. When you have collected all of the 25 crystals, then you can take on Cortex and Uka Uka.
Rating – Boxed With Manual (No Front Or Back Cover)
Price Paid – £8 (Cash Converters)
Ninja Gaiden – Microsoft Xbox
When the Vigoor Empire attacks Ryu Hayabusa’s village and steals the Dark Dragon Blade, the ninja vows to seek revenge with his Dragon Sword. Gifted with an impressive sets of moves, combining both melee and projectile weapons, you will need to defeat hordes of ninjas and monsters. During your journey, you acquire new moves and abilities such as the Art of the Inferno (fire), Ice Storm and Inazuma (thunder-like). Other moves include running over water, wall-based combos and ultimate techniques. You have to search or shop for special items, armlets, weapons and scrolls that enhance your abilities.
This fast-paced game is known for its hard difficulty (true to the series) and smart enemy AI that hardly relies on patterns. The Live! features allow for participating in the Master Ninja Tournament, a nationwide competition with prizes.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £2.80 (Cash Converters)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
This GBA conversion brings together elements of both Super Mario Kart (the original SNES classic) and the N64 sequel, Mario Kart 64. Much like the SNES title, you can collect coins lying on the tracks to boost the speed of your kart. All of the characters from MK64 are included (Mario, Luigi, Toad, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Wario, Peach, and Yoshi) No Kart game is complete without a multiplayer mode. In this case, four can play classic and battle modes using either one cartridge and four GBA’s or four cartridges and four GBA’s for the full list of characters to choose from. Weapons include the classic green and red shells and the purple spiked shell. 20 new tracks, using elements from both past titles.
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £17.60 (Cash Converters)
Streets Of Rage – Sega Game Gear
Streets of Rage, Sega’s answer to Final Fight, follows the story of three young police officers (Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding) in a city controlled by a criminal syndicate led by a “Mr. X” where crime is rampant, which leads the three heroes to make a pact to leave the force and topple the syndicate by themselves.
Gameplay is straightforward and simple. Three buttons are used, one to jump, other to attack and another to perform a range attack from a support police car. Each character has a limited set of moves that include punching and kicking or performing a back attack (if in the open), two grapple moves (depending if holding the opponent in front or by the back), a flying attack, and if playing with another player two additional tag attacks, and different abilities: Adam is slow, but a good jumper and a hard hitter, Axel fast and also a hard hitter, but a lousy jumper and Blaze fast and a good jumper, but weak hitter. Levels are in typical arcade side-scroller fashion: move from left to right (with two exceptions), clearing screens from enemies one after another as fast as possible while avoid taking damage with a boss in the end. Some levels feature “death drops” where the player must avoid falling, while throwing enemies there at the same time, including a typical elevator level. Several items are scattered on the ground, from melee weapons and bonus points (and lives or additional police cars) to apples and turkeys (to restore health).
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £24 (Cash Converters)
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