The Video Game Critic

I posted my original Summer review special in 2008, thinking I'd be updating it on a yearly basis, or perhaps posting a new summer page every year. Well, I was going to update it today by adding a few reviews, but there are so SO MANY games that embody the summer, the list was too long. So I made a sequel:

https://videogamecritic.com/extras/themes/summer2.htm

I loved the look of the original page, so I basically reused the format. It's pretty much the same graphics, but the colors are reversed. Let me know what you think.

I think I felt a summer breeze in my face just scrolling through it! Haha. Definitely reminds me of summer and I like that you kept the format. Oddly enough, Paperboy probably reminds me of summer more than all the beach games on that list. Probably because we had an actually paperboy in my neighborhood as a kid... as a young kid (say 7 or 8 yrs old), I always thought it was cool that some older kid (maybe 13 years old) got to go around the neighborhood taking newspaper orders and then delivering them on his bike all summer. Seemed like a dream job!

I also saw that Skuljagger game at a convention a few months back and bought it based on your review. I had never heard of it before then. I haven't gotten to play it yet though.

I really enjoyed the summer review, but you still need to review the best summer game ever: California Games for the Sega Master System! It is the best version of this game. The graphics, the presentation, the soundtrack, the gameplay ... everything perfect for the summer.

Are you implying the SMS version is different/better than the Genesis?

Can’t speak for the SMS or Genesis versions, but I liked the NES version of California Games as a kid. Had a lot of fun playing it with siblings. I haven’t played it since then. While I had fun with it back then, it was never the most technically sound game. Plenty to complain about with it in the gameplay department. My guess is you’d score it similar to the Genesis version, which you gave a D. The Genesis version just looks like an updated version to the NES/SMS. But hey, if the 8-bit versions are better than the 16-bit versions, it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.

Just got the SMS version of California Games, and it looks like it's better than the Genesis. More events for one thing. Stay tuned for full review.

Just played through all the events, and I'm impressed. The controls aren't immediately intuitive, but that just adds challenge. It's clear the developers put a lot of TLC into this, with a lot of cool little details. Great summer title.