The Video Game Critic

Here is my review of Brett Weiss' latest opus which arrived in my mailbox about two weeks ago.
Gamers like to receive books like this for the holidays. Check it out and feel free to comment.

https://videogamecritic.com/extras/book ... mnibus.htm

Some thoughts on a few of the ones that you haven't played.

I'm surprised that you haven't heard of Captain Novolin; it's a pretty infamously bad game. Ardy Lightfoot sometimes gets a bum rap for being yet another mascot game, but the tail and penguin (???) mechanics are fun, and there's some good level design (including one of the better mine levels I've seen). It's certainly more interesting than something like High Seas Havoc. Dragon View is basically a French take on Zelda II with a 3D overworld. It's a much more polished sequel to the intriguing but barely playable mess Drakkhen, which was also on the SNES but was originally developed as a computer game. Recommended if you really like Zelda II.

Hey Critic,

I liked this review. Short and to the point and made me want to order these handbooks.

Actually...

I did buy the first volume off of amazon. Thanks for including the links, I bought right after your review, lol.

this will be perfect for my game room.

I like it when you review a book - although finding the review on the main page on mobile eluded me until I switched to full site to see the news window.

The book style reminded me of the SNES era magazine sized books, with nice glossy pages. It sounds like there is no rating system at all, which is odd. Back then, you'd see a rsting in a few categories like graphics and playability.

Nice review; interesting read and sounds like a good book -- I've added it to my Amazon wish list for a future purchase down the road. I own a few of Brett's books and they're always great reference books. This book looks like it takes that to the next level, especially with all the color photos.

Two quick notes. First, the Amazon link took me to the preorder page for Vol. 2 of this book rather than Vol. 1 - just a heads up. Second, you mention an interest in Biker Mice from Mars -- pretty fun game, definitely worth playing. The game is based on a cartoon from the early 1990s, with "mice with attitude", basically stealing from the Ninja Turtles craze. I have no clue how I acquired the SNES game, but I pulled it off my shelf one day, popped it in, and discovered a really fun overhead racing game on motorcycles. I notice you tend to like that style of racing game, so I think this one is worth a shot. It is a bit pricey though, as loose copies sell for around $35.

I'm not enough of a collector to really want a gaming book, but this short and sweet review makes me kind of want this!

Mine came in on Amazon. While this is definitely not a page turner, I really like having something like this to introduce me to games that I hadn't even heard of before. the only downside to the book is the screenshots are pretty fuzzy on certain pages. Looks like the author perhaps scanned them from an old magazine or something?

Might pick up the sequel... maybe when next month's Amazon points load, lol. Anyway, thanks for the heads up on this. I like it a lot.