A video review of the Sega SG-1000 II

Classic Game Room HD - Reviews The Master System

E-SWAT: City Under Seige

This is one of those games, like Golden Axe, that for some reason never received a really faithful home conversion, so praise be for MAME. Having thus finally played the arcade and the (much-reviled) SMS versions thoroughly, side by side, I find myself inclined to be a little more lenient on this not-quite-a-conversion than has been the tradition ...

Graphics:

The lack of faithfulness to the arcade version hits you as soon as level 1 begins, and that huge discrepancy has perhaps made people judge these graphics more harshly than they might have done, had this been a stand-alone SMS title without anything to live up to. Having said that, they are hardly a masterpiece of 8-bit design (though certainly better, if less true to the arcade, than the lurching, blocky mess that is C64 E-SWAT). The sprites are tiny compared to the arcade, with little resemblance. The animation is fairly stiff, and the colour use questionable to say the least, with garish tones that undermine the grim, dystopian theme of futuristic urban anarchy and ultra-violence. The detail level isn't bad, however, there is some decent parallax scrolling on a couple of levels (absent, for some reason, even on the Amiga), and some additional foreground scenery - not parallaxed, unfortunately, but it does add some sense of depth.

Presentation is also good, with some nice mugshots of the boss criminals, a brief cutscene for acquiring your power-up armour, and a pretty good end sequence.

65%

(Average, but I have seen a lot worse, and at least they move well. Had the programmers attempted to replicate the size of the arcade sprites on the SMS, that probably would not have been the case. Cf. Altered Beast if in doubt ...)

Sound:

Some recognisable (but tinny) arcade tunes, and poor SFX: especially the mouse-like squeaking of the hostage in level 2, which inclines me to wonder why the programmers seem to have forgotten that the SMS can in fact handle little bits of digitised sound. The guns and explosions are all you will generally hear, and they are not particularly great, tending to sound more like crunching than combustion.

45%

(Weak, even by SMS standards.)

Gameplay:

I get the impression that this game was deliberately re-structured to work better on an 8-bit system, eliminating some of the larger and more complex bosses and replacing them with smaller opponents that could move and fight better on weaker hardware (though some omissions seem excessive, such as the entire third level and its not very big or complex chain-swinging boss). While that seems fair enough in principle, it isn't a total excuse, as Shinobi - a very similar arcade game - had a far more accurate SMS conversion, including the large boss creatures.

On the subject of Shinobi, E-SWAT's gameplay mechanics have also been simplified on the SMS, eliminating the Shinobi-style upper level. This reduces most of the game to relentlessly walking forwards, shooting enemies out of your path, occasionally shooting the enemies sneaking up behind you, and pretty much ignoring any enemies in the upper screen (You can shoot upwards, but it's generally not worth the bother, as the ground enemies will just swarm you). This would get incredibly boring, were the actual levels not so short.

The boss stages, which (thankfully) make up a significant amount of the gameplay, are rather better, with fairly well thought out attack patterns. Most of the bosses are original to the SMS, though a few are taken from the arcade. They vary in difficulty. Some can be frustrating at first, but the infinite continues allow you to learn their patterns, and special weapons can be used effectively against them.

One definite improvement over the arcade (and every other version) is that your armour actually counts for protection. Take enough hits, however, and you lose it a la Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, and have to fight on in your level 1 state (street clothes rather than boxer shorts, but just as useless against enemy fire), and without your big machine gun. Ammo is also more plentiful in this version, reducing the frequency of cheap deaths which tended to occur in the arcade game from running out of bullets in the heat of battle.

50%

(Some vague improvements and sensible omissions from the arcade game, but also a lot of unnecessary omissions, including - most egregiously - the two-player mode. What is left is, in general, fairly uninspiring, though livened up somewhat by some decent boss battles.)

Overall:

Not the worst SMS title or even the worst coin-up conversion (Not while we have Strider, certainly ...). However, I could imagine being seriously disappointed had I, in its day, paid thirty pounds for this expecting a faithful conversion, as opposed to having played it for free on MEKA having just read a scathing review of it. Which was not altogtether unjustified ...

55%

Golden Axe Warrior: A video review

I must admit I haven't really played Golden Axe Warrior, Sega's 8-bit action-RPG, that much, but from what I've seen it's a nice little Zelda-esque game set in the Golden Axe universe. Happily, the lovely people from RetrowareTV have been nice enough to thoroughly play the game and video review it. Have a look:

Review - F1 (by Domark)

I said in my last review that games from 1993 - one of the last years of the SMS - tended to show great development in design and programming from the basic games of earlier years. This is the major exception to the rule ...

The Master System does colour and detail very well, but its major stumbling block is processing speed, which meant that even technically inferior 8-bit systems such as the C64 and NES had the edge over it in driving games. Its best efforts are the respectable (but very simplified) version of "Out Run" and the surprisingly impressive 8-bit version of "Road Rash", which both manage to squeeze some interesting track layouts and fair speed out of the hardware. By and large, however, driving games on the SMS tend to be very compromised affairs. "World Grand Prix", "Chase HQ", and "Hang On" all have flat, rather featureless tracks with limited scenery and no topography, while "Out Run Europa" has plenty of scenery but a poor frame rate and an unrealistic control system, with the car not being centred on the screen, so all sense of a driving simulator is lost.

Domark's "F1" also compromises, and then some .... It has the limited scenery, the flat tracks (with very occasionally a poorly-depicted hill or bridge), and the unrealistic uncentred control system, which makes it feel far less convincing a driving experience than the far earlier games I mentioned. The fact that it markets itself as a serious F1 driving simulator is ludicrous: it seems more like a belated attempt for the Master System to emulate "Pitstop 2" for the C64, though this had already been done by 1993, with the Master System version of "Super Monaco GP". Playing it without looking at the date of production, it would seem more like a contemporary of "Pole Position" than "Virtua Racing" ... though even "Pole Position" had a much better control and sense of motion, and was, in any case, far more competently emulated on the SMS by "World Grand Prix".

Sound is nothing to write home about at all. There is a typical engine hum and undistinguished sound effects during the race, and music on the presentation screens, but nothing to rival the excellent soundtracks for contemporary SMS racers such as "Out Run Europa" and "Road Rash", or, come to that, the music tracks for "Out Run".

Gameplay is seriously harmed by the dull-looking tracks and detached, third-person control system, which I could accept in a spy-themed arcade racer like "Out Run Europa", but seems hopelessly out of place in a supposed F1 sim. However, some points should be awarded for the head-to-head two player option, although "Super Monaco" had shown that this could be achieved with a more realistic control system. There are also a good number of options to choose from: difficulty levels, two modes of play (arcade and grand prix), car configurations, and qualifying stages. If these were attached to a less antiquated-looking game, however, they would be worthy of more credit.

50%

Conclusion - Good presentation, but the game itself would have looked dated in 1986 never mind in 1993, and completely fails to capture any of the atmosphere, excitement, or realism of motorsport racing. A better experience along those lines could be had by taking out the cartridge, turning on your Master System without it, and by just playing "Hang On" ... unless you have the MK2, of course, in which case I would suggest buying (or downloading) "Out Run" or "Road Rash".

Review: Chuck Rock II – Son of Chuck

This is my first new purchase for my faithful old SMS for a long time. Given that the last new game I played was the execrable “Batman Returns” (as reviewed and slated earlier on these pages), my expectations were distinctly guarded, though thankfully the experience was much pleasanter …

I should say at once that I have never, shock and horror, played the first “Chuck Rock game” on any system, so I shan’t be judging this game’s value as a sequel. I am coming at it solely on its worth as an SMS platform game.

Graphics:

This game dates from 1993, which was pretty much the final year of mainstream commercial game production for the SMS. Though it was not always the case, late SMS games tended to show a good deal of flair in the visual department, and this game in particular makes it hard to believe that we are looking at the same system that produced “Ghost House” and “F16 Fighter” (shudders). The detail, shading, and animation on the sprites approaches cartoon levels of quality, and there is an excellent variety of enemies and environments. But for the lack of parallax scrolling, this could easily be mistaken for a 16-bit game. The only other telling limitations are the techniques used to make up the guardians: as in many SMS games, they are mainly made up of background chars, with just a few moving sprites (and even those are subject to a small amount of flicker, though nothing that detracts seriously from the gameplay). This memory-saving tactic works just as well here as it did in “Ghouls ‘n’ Ghosts”, allowing for some huge guardians with superior levels of graphical detail, including a dinosaur with a background body and a swaying, multi-sprite head and neck; and a H P Lovecraft-style sea demon with sprite hands and a static but superbly drawn body.

The environments are fairly standard fare: jungles, snowfields, water levels, lava levels etc, but all rendered with astonishing levels of detail and organic designs that really minimise the building-block look of many 8-bit platform games. There are also plenty of animated touches, such as waterfalls, birds, and random eyes peering out of holes.

The one letdown is the end sequence: an adequate presentation, but sadly lacking in animation for a game that has been so graphically lavish during gameplay. Since it is safe to assume the programmers were saving the graphics memory for the game, that is easily forgivable, though the lack of an impressive closure always feels like a missed opportunity.

90%

Sound:

A few tunes alternate throughout this game, and do eventually become somewhat repetitive, though given the large number of levels it would be asking a bit much to have a new composition for each stage. There is also a boss tune, which is pleasingly tense and atmospheric. The SFX, as in most Master System games, serve their purpose without being especially notable, and the tunes are at any rate well composed. Not a classic SMS soundtrack, but there are far worse.

70%

Gameplay:

This game will be instantly familiar to fans of “Castle of Illusion”, “Asterix”, “Psycho Fox” … Perhaps, if anything, rather too familiar. The mix of platform-jumping, club-swinging, and bonus-collecting is very easy to get into, but could never be accused of innovation. On the plus side, the level environments change frequently, and the action is varied at regular intervals with boss battles and a bonus “river race” stage, which works in a “Track and Field” button-mashing fashion.

Also, lest I seem too negative about the generic platform style, it is certainly a style that had been developed and refined over the years, and this late game shows the benefit of experience and play-testing. You have a choice between speeding through the levels and avoiding the more dangerous areas, or taking risks to collect bonuses (which you may well be grateful for in the boss stages). The attack waves are simple to begin with, but trickier enemies soon come along. There are small puzzles, generally related to getting past dangerous areas of the background by moving rocks, flicking switches, or offering bananas to monkeys (?). On the con side, there are no power-ups to speak of (apart from extra energy and lives), and in its easiest mode the game is almost ridiculously easy (although one must remember it was targeted at children rather than nerdy thirty-something reviewers …).

All in all, pleasantly varied and constructed, if not quite in the top grade of SMS platformers.

75%

Overall:

A visual, cartoon-esque feast of a game, with some excellent boss battles and beautifully detailed levels. They look somewhat better than they play, but they don’t play at all badly. This game is not dissimilar to “Rastan”, only a lot better-looking and with more of a feeling of control. Core Design certainly did not skimp on the programming of this title, and it’s only a pity they didn’t put a shade more imagination into the design. However, if your SMS collection can bear another rock-smashing, rope-swinging, arcade platformer (with occasional trampolining and competitive rowing), this is one well worth considering. I definitely recommend playing on the harder settings, though, or the replay value is seriously low …

80%