Genesis Reviews H-I

This wonderfully imaginative game lets you do the spooking instead of being spooked! Haunting Starring Polterguy places you in the role of a mischievous ghost exacting revenge on the family responsible for his demise. Each stage presents a spacious new house for you to frighten all four family members out of. Scaring is done by setting "traps" that cause all sorts of supernatural phenomena. You roam around unseen by the family, but your goofy green appearance calls to mind the Mask, especially when you break into dance or spike your head like a football. The family members are easy to scare, as they tend to take notice of the furniture and fixtures you've rigged. Traps initiate brief but amusing "scare" animations such as knives flying out of a drawer, a head busting through a television, or a levitating rocking chair. Considering the limited resolution of the Genesis, the visuals are extremely well done and some are surprisingly gory. Certain sequences are more elaborate than others. In the shower, a hot babe in a towel does a little dance before revealing her body to be a rotting corpse! In the game room, a basketball player shoots his head through a hoop, only to have it fall into the fish tank below, turning the water blood red. Some animations are more weird than scary, like the stereo that transforms into a robot, or the plant that spawns a swarm of bees. Sometimes you have the opportunity to control an object like a levitating skull or chainsaw, and these are useful for preventing your victim from leaving the room. Toying with the family is very amusing thanks to the sheer number of trap animations. Your victims react in a number of ways, including peeing themselves! Unfortunately, a few times per stage you'll find yourself running low on "ectoplasm", and this is where Haunting's gameplay takes a turn for the worse. You're then dumped into an underground dungeon maze loaded with pits, flying objects, and grabbing arms. Here you must collect a number of green blobs before you can return to the house, and it's painfully repetitive. Haunting Starring Polterguy offers no continues and has no password feature. My buddy Steve and I played this game for what seemed like hours, but by the time it was over, we were absolutely sick of it! I enjoy the minor-key music that plays throughout the game, but the scream effects are rough. I love the concept behind Haunting, but it's long on novelty value and short on replay value. © Copyright 2007 The Video Game Critic.

For the love of God man! This may be the worst Genesis game of all time! Heavy Nova is so utterly revolting that it made me want to go play Bubsy! Yes, I realize that qualifies as "crazy talk", but Heavy Nova is the video game equivalent of throwing up in your mouth. I should have been tipped off by the back of the box, which describes the game as "Amazinly Exciting!" It opens with a stylish, cinematic intro depicting ominous approaching space vessels, followed by some nice close-ups of your terminator-inspired robot. At this point, I was actually getting a bit psyched up, but little did I know the degree of wretchedness I was about to inflict upon myself. Heavy Nova puts you in "control" (in theory at least) of a large robot that looks like something out of Cyborg Justice (Sega, 1993). Each stage challenges you traverse a brief, unimaginative obstacle course of lasers, falling rocks, and small droids before facing off against the obligatory mech "boss" (inexplicably referred to as a "Doll"). Your robot is one seriously uncontrollable hunk of metal. While it's possible to kick, punch, and fire your jetpack, the controls are less responsive than a cable TV customer service department. The lag time with the controls is so reprehensible that you'll swear you're playing over a 300-baud dial-up modem (vintage 1982). During boss sequences, the game attempts to be a one-on-one fighter, but don't ditch that Street Fighter 2 cartridge just yet. As the boss pounds your sorry ass into oblivion, you'll struggle in vain just to land a single blow! Heck, half of the time your robot is facing the wrong direction! Controls are especially problematic because you need to use one hand to hold your nose the whole time. Only by using the stage select feature (on the options menu) did I realize that subsequent stages are just as pointless. Even the soundtrack is offensive - it's nothing more than a disjointed series of random notes! Heavy Nova lowers the bar for all Genesis titles, making games I previously thought utterly deplorable seem perfectly respectable. From here on out, everything else gets an A. © Copyright 2006 The Video Game Critic.

On the surface, Hellfire looks like your standard side-scrolling shooter, but it's really one of the hidden gems of the Genesis library. It dishes out everything you want in a shooter: fast action, crisp controls, varying stages, and a relentless enemy onslaught that keeps you coming back for more. In terms of graphics however, Hellfire is average at best. You'll fly through well-fortified space stations, red planets with pyramids, and caves overgrown with weird organic life. The forgettable enemies include flying mech robots, floating stone heads, and the orbs of all colors and styles. The gold missiles they unleash are large and slow moving, so don't blame the game when you screw up! Oh, you will anyway? Whatever. Some destroyed structures reveal funny little dancing people, for reasons I have yet to determine. The options menu lets you turn on rapid-fire mode, and why in the hell wouldn't you? It's better than pounding the "A" button. The "B" button reconfigures you cannons on-the-fly to fire forward, backward, up/down, or diagonally. Diagonally covers the most ground, but you'll find yourself cycling through the configurations as your situation changes. The bosses tend to be large, mechanical blocks, but in order to reach their "weak spots" you'll usually need to aim your shots at a specific angle. The "C" button unleashes a devastating "hellfire" blast, but if you're like me, you'll forget to use it half the time! Hellfire compensates for its marginal graphics with an incredible soundtrack that melds perfectly with the action. Stage one's edgy electronic theme is hands-down sensational. Can you name a game released in the past ten years with music this good? I'm waiting. No? I didn't think so. Chalk another one up to classic games! Also notable is the game's relentless difficulty. When you enter the space station of stage one, you'll immediately find yourself is a seriously intense crossfire situation. After surviving the extremely long and challenging first stage, I felt like I needed a cigarette! Even so, Hellfire never feels cheap or frustrating, and a generous number of continues are available. An intense shooter that's a joy to play, this is an absolute must-have for Genesis shooter fans. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

Readers have long requested I review this one, as many regard it as a legitimate classic. Herzog Zwei is a real-time strategy title - a genre usually reserved for PC enthusiasts. The main menu provides various set-up options including a two-player split-screen configuration. The game has a steep learning curve and you'll need to heavily rely on the manual. There are two armies, red and blue. You control a ship that can fly freely around a map. You can fire at your opponent or transform into a robot to battle ground forces. You begin at your main base but can establish other bases by stocking neutral sites with your troops. The music is pretty good but the grainy landscapes are hard to make sense out of. Certain areas appear to be gaping chasms yet you can walk right over them. You manufacture vehicles and weapons from your bases, first selecting the model type and then a command mode. Unfortunately the game employs cryptic codes to describe things like boats (ST-57U), stationary cannons (GMR-34A), and motorcycles (FWA). Likewise it's not readily apparent what commands like BDF-1SD and AF-001A do. What the [expletive] is the PW command? Oh, that's to supply troops. Would it have been too much trouble to just spell that out? Once you initiate a build operation a little wrench appears and blinks for a few seconds until the weapon or troop is complete. You then deploy it and the unit behaves autonomously. It sounds great on paper but it's hard to get any traction in this game. I would methodically build and deploy hardware which would be summarily wiped out by my opponent. When your main ship is destroyed it respawns with no apparent penalty. I watched two friends play to a stalemate. Is there some kind of special strategy we're missing? Herzog Zwei is a sophisticated but inscrutable strategy title. I'm sure there's a good game in here somewhere and I wish you luck finding it. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

Not sure how I missed this, but High Seas Havoc is a Sonic clone with a swashbuckling theme! I don't know what kind of creature you're supposed to be, but he's clearly a pirate. Why? Because he's wearing a red bandana for crying out loud! The lush, green opening stage has Sonic written all over it, with grassy platforms, angular soil formations, and a shimmering water backdrop. There are spikes, spinning checkpoints, springs... the whole nine yards. Unlike Sonic however your furry little fellow isn't blessed with the gift of speed. At first that doesn't seem to be a problem, as it lets you take your time to gather all the floating diamonds (not rings!) for points. The problem is, a lot of hills are inexplicably lined with explosive charges. This forces you to keep moving and it's hard to judge what's coming up! The second stage takes place on pirate ships with cannons, barrels, and swooping birds. The next is supposed to take place underwater, but you can barely tell you're submerged! I feel like I should be moving a lot slower! Advanced stages tend to deviate from the pirate theme, including a holiday-themed snow stage. I'm glad the controls are good because the game requires you to hop between some seriously narrow ledges. Creatures you'll face include sword-wielding tigers, rats schooling in martial arts, and chomping sharks. You can pounce on enemies to defeat them but there's little room for error. You also have a jump kick move but its range is very short. One area where High Seas falters badly is the audio department. The sound is so scratchy I had to make sure my Genesis was hooked up correctly. The audio effects are so dreadful they will make you cringe. High Seas Havoc would never give Sonic a run for the money, but it's still an entertaining little romp in its own right. © Copyright 2017 The Video Game Critic.

My hopes for Home Alone were extremely low - we're talking subterranean here. Movie-based games have a dubious track record, and a cute comedy like Home Alone hardly seems like video game material. At first glance it seems awfully complicated. You play the role of the little boy named Kevin trying to subvert the efforts of two burglars. You freely roam your snow-covered neighborhood on a motorized sled, and can explore each of its five houses. An elaborate weapons screen lets you construct weapons from household items like glue, rubberbands, and a hair dryer. In addition, each house has a "blue print" screen that lets you strategically place traps like marbles, tacks, and blow torches. Home Alone requires some patience, but the pay-off is worth it. Each game runs exactly 18 minutes, and in that time you must make the crooks' lives as miserable as possible. The game gets credit for originality. Far from the generic platformer I was expecting, this seems to have been designed from the ground-up with the film in mind. Sledding around the neighborhood is fun, and I love blasting through snowmen to reveal items. The white scenery is inviting, the trees are decorated with bulbs, and the music sounds very Christmassy. Few video games capture the spirit of the season as well as this one. There's no map screen but you can track the thugs by following their blue van. Each house has a distinctive theme including an elegant mansion, a dilapidated house, and an ultramodern house with robots. It's fun to snoop around and collect items, but I wish you could interact with the scenery more - turning on the television for example. When in the same house as the crooks, you can shoot them with imaginative weapons like a snowball bazooka and pepper launcher. Combining random items on the weapons screen can be tedious, but fortunately the beginner skill level has a handy auto-build feature. Still, the screen is far more complicated than it should be. You'll also want to lure the bad guys into traps, and by maxing out their "pain meter" you'll save the house. If caught, you'll just be hung on the wall where you can escape after a few seconds. Home Alone is challenging, fun, and remarkably faithful to the movie. The characters are dead-ringers for the actors, even down to some of their mannerisms. Home Alone is probably too ambitious for its own good, but that added complexity will have you playing this game a lot longer than you expected. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

The first Home Alone game turned out to be a pleasant surprise, so I figured this sequel had some potential. Sadly, Home Alone 2 is one of the most difficult and obnoxious platform games I've ever played. You reprise the role of the little boy Kevin McCallister, and this time you're running loose and causing havoc in New York City. The first stage is set in an airport where you use a slingshot to shoot businessmen and security guards. The characters are nicely illustrated and Kevin's running motion looks digitized. I like how passengers are sitting around the terminal and you can see the airplanes through the windows. Snagging hard-to-reach presents earns you bonus points, and items from the vending machines restore your health. By gathering blinking gadgets you can upgrade to more powerful weapons like a carrot launcher. The first stage is playable, but trying to escape the clutches of Joe Pesci at the end of the stage can be frustrating. The second stage is where the fun factor takes a serious dip. You'll find yourself in a luggage transport facility with hazards everywhere you turn. Baggage is falling on your head and mechanical devices push you off narrow elevators. Baggage handlers toss luggage at you and conveyer belts drop you into holes that set you back further in the stage. All the while you're being pursued by those two pesky bandits. It's a nightmare, and I couldn't even complete the stage. Playing for score isn't really an option, because with so many bonus lives given, you can play pretty much indefinitely without making any real progress. After struggling for a while it dawned on me that this game just isn't worth the effort. I couldn't find any walk-throughs or codes to help me out, so I can only assume that everybody else came to the same conclusion. © Copyright 2011 The Video Game Critic.

Reviewing video games can be tricky. Sometimes a game will seem awful at first, but improve as you progress. The Incredible Hulk is one of those games that doesn't convey a positive first impression. After playing the first stage I had already compiled a long list of glitches and design problems. But despite these, repeated plays revealed a game that requires more technique and strategy than your standard side-scroller. Your ability to transform into David Banner to access hidden areas is one of the keys to beating the game. Despite its vast potential, the game falters in terms of execution. First off, Hulk often finds himself directly on top of an enemy, making it impossible to punch or grab the foe - very frustrating. When you do make contact, your first few hits seem to have no effect, until the final blow shatters the target to pieces. Hulk can jump around to avoid projectiles in outdoor areas, but in close quarters (like sewers) you're forced to take an inordinate number of cheap hits. The first stage, set at a construction site, contains numerous manholes Hulk must crawl into. Unfortunately, trying to squeeze down these can be aggravating, especially while being fired upon. Despite these fundamental problems, there are a few bright spots. The Hulk looks great and can perform a surprising number of moves, including a ceiling throw, pile driver, and foot stomp. I love how enemies struggle in vain as Hulk applies his lethal bear hug attack. The instruction manual is awful, and doesn't even mention some of the moves. The Hulk's five stages are not particularly interesting, but they do contain plenty of secret areas to discover. Oddly enough, what's most appealing about the Incredible Hulk may be its spunky electronic music. It has that distinctive Genesis sound that took me back a good fifteen years. Summing up, the Incredible Hulk is not for the faint of heart. Its extreme difficulty, flaky controls, and lack of continues and passwords will turn off most casual gamers. Only the most dedicated players will come to appreciate everything this cart has to offer. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

I like games where you can just turn off your brain and engage your animal instincts. Shooters tend to be like that. I just recently discovered Insector X, and playing it for the first time transported me back to the 1990's. Its cool title screen depicts a freaky "fly's eye" view. Insector X is a side-scrolling bug shooter. You control a flying insect-man unleashing rapid-fire on flies, bees, moths, and centipedes wearing metal belts. The opening Egyptian level offers majestic pyramid views followed by some exquisitely-detailed temple interiors. The game seems awfully slow at first, lulling you into a false sense of security. Incoming projectiles move slowly, but the fact that they linger on the screen makes them like floating land mines. After a few speed power-ups the pace picks up. Sometimes a little fly will zip in and deposit a missile right in your lap! There are a lot of things to like about Insector X. First, you can't die by brushing against a wall or touching water (one of my pet peeves). You can hold down a button to initiate rapid-fire, and there's no penalty for using both your normal cannon and special weapon at the same time. When fighting bosses they blink to make it obvious you're doing damage. Earning a free life for every 60K is very old-school, and the continue system lets you pick up right where you left off. Unfortunately the scenery is less impressive in later stages. Stage two looks suspiciously like my backyard. The polluted city level is so bleak and depressing it's almost a relief when you fly into a sewer. The difficulty is so tough that the manual actually walks you through each stage and boss, describing weak points and safe spaces. The weird but upbeat music gradually won me over. Insector X is my kind of game. It's intense enough to have you screaming expletives but enjoyable enough to keep you coming back. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.