Genesis Reviews Sa-Sm

Caution: This game may cause sexual confusion. Although the sword-wielding warrior on the box cover is definitely a dude, on the screen it looks like you're controlling a chick! What the hell? Saint Sword is an androgynous hack-n-slash platformer with colorful dungeons and impressively detailed, oversized characters. You explore mountains, dark forests, graveyards, and castles, each with a network of subterranean areas. A diverse set of adversaries includes crawling trolls, skeletons, golems, and baby dragons. You can slash upward as well as forward, and that's good because pesky flames tend to fall from overhead. Hitting switches causes walls to slide open, revealing new areas. The most interesting aspect of Saint Sword is your ability to transform into a half-animal creature. As a centaur you can leap great distances and execute a deadly rear-kick. As the birdman you can fly freely, allowing you to bypass a lot of tedious platform jumping. As a fishman you can swim like Michael Phelps. By strategically changing forms, you'll learn how to complete each stage a lot faster. Saint Sword's fighting action is a little irritating at first, since you tend to be weak and most enemies require multiple hits. The skeletons especially are a major pain in the ass. Thanks to the haphazard collision detection, making contact is more like a suggestion than a requirement. Once you acquire the spiffy gold armor however, you can slice through the baddies much easier. The stages have multiple paths, and while some are annoyingly maze-like, at least they tend to be reasonable in size. You'll encounter some seriously grotesque bosses that look like an unholy amalgamation of hideous creatures lumped together. Saint Sword probably looks better than it plays, but if you can embrace its quirks you're in for a good time. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

Scooby-Doo Mystery is a throwback to the point-and-click adventures that were once popular on the PC. You can play two separate mysteries - one set in a snowy hotel and the other at a carnival by the sea. Each begins with a scene of the van cruising down a road to the sound of that familiar Scooby Doo theme song. A conversation in the van sets up the premise, and for the first time in video game history the text dialogue is displayed at perfect reading speed. Amazing! It also nicely reflects the personalities (and speech impediments) of the characters. Once you arrive at your destination the gang splits up and you assume control of Shaggy and Scooby. You can move freely between areas but interaction requires you to point with the cursor after selecting a command at the bottom of the screen like "look" or "use". The user interface is pretty clunky, and I got tired of dragging that slow-ass cursor around the screen. The illustrated scenery in Scooby Doo Mystery is terrific, but key items and entrances tend to blend in. There are only a few animations but they are amusing. To solve a mystery you'll converse with people, move obstacles, search for clues, and even piece items together. The game would have been a winner if the puzzles made sense, but more often that not, they defy logic! In the hotel you'll need to open every door in a long hallway before the one at the end magically becomes unlocked. In the carnival you'll use taffy to start an electric generator. Nonsense like that forces you into trial-and-error mode (or better yet, FAQ mode). I was glad to see a save function until I realized it required writing down a 30-character sequence - with special characters no less! Scooby-Doo Mystery had the potential for spooky fun, but its poorly-constructed puzzles are unforgivable. © Copyright 2010 The Video Game Critic.

This side-scroller takes place in a city of crumbling ruins, exploding potholes, and rampant crime presided over by a reptilian overlord. Present-day Baltimore? Nope - no reptilian overlord! It's actually New York City circa 1997! The future isn't what it used to be, that's for sure. Shadow Dancer is an arcade-style ninja side-scroller with thoughtful strategic elements. To save the five hostages in each level every move must be calculated and deliberate. You're armed with unlimited throwing stars but can slash enemies at close range. Your ace in the hole is a loyal attack dog who can't harm enemies but will struggle with them as you can move in for the kill. Certain baddies are protected by shields so you'll need to sic your pooch at exactly the right moment. Taking cover behind crates allows you to study their patterns. As a last resort you can unleash you ninja magic which bombards the screen with fireballs or tornadoes. In an amazing stroke of luck you are completely immune to this display of deadly destruction! The post-apocalyptic stages are short and sweet with dynamic elements like exploding manholes and giant crevasses ripping up the road. I love the subtle animations like hostages struggling in their bindings. Bosses include a towering samurai giant and a rock creature that materializes out of a brick wall. At the top of the Statue of Liberty you'll battle a chick who hurls spinning blades. During bonus stages you free-fall from a skyscraper and throw stars at ninjas already on the way down! If you enjoy spectacular skylines Shadow Dancer will not disappoint. The game also has its share of memorable tunes that will instantly transport you back to the early 90's. The cover art is amusing, showing our ninja hero harassing some old couple in an alleyway. Shinobi hates old people! A fine blend of action, strategy, and wholesome dog-mauling fun, Shadow Dancer is an underrated entry in the Shinobi saga. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

This ludicrous fighter has become a bit of a running joke over the years. For the benefit of non-basketball fans, Shaquille O'Neal was a superstar center who played for the Orlando Magic in the early 1990's before going on to win several championships with the Lakers. His larger-than-life persona spilled over into movies, rap albums, and even video games. Shaq-Fu is a one-on-one fighter released when the genre was becoming quite crowded. The story mode pits Shaq against a series of "interdimensional martial artists" including a horned guy in the desert, a knife-throwing dude on a bridge, and a hot black chick in the jungle. The gameplay is an incoherent mess. The characters are small and hop around like fleas. The hit detection is suspect and the physics employs mid-air "corrections" to reposition players. You're practically required to jump around to avoid the onslaught of projectiles. There's also a lot of magic in this game and it's pretty cheap when Shaq keels over just because a woman stuck a needle into a doll. Shaq Fu supports the six-button controller but it's not required. Since Shaq is so much taller than everybody else his punches don't do much good. He does has a metal-pizza-tossing move, but it takes far too long for him to "wind up" for it. Special moves are more trouble than they're worth but you can make a living off of his long leg sweeps. Another effective strategy is to corner an opponent and continuously kick the living [expletive] out of them. Some of the scenery looks vaguely interesting, particularly those hulking guards in the Gargoyle's Peak stage. Why can't I fight them? I guess the story mode isn't so bad. Much like the man himself, Shaq-Fu has an endearing quality. Whenever I look back at this cheesy fighter I can't help but smile. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

Contributed by RPG correspondent Jonathan Hawk.
Amazingly, Shining Force was the first turn-based strategy RPG that I played the entire way through, and it has turned me on to the genre! This was the second entry in a long-running line of "Shining" titles, many of which have seen U.S. releases. The main plot involves "the Hero" and his allies (the Shining Force) as the last hope in a fight against an ancient evil (Dark Dragon) and his minions. The Hero battles his way through several chapters of the game, picking up additional party members along the way including a robot, dragon, werewolf, centaurs, elves, and birdmen. When not in battle, the game suffers from "too many buttons" syndrome. Instead of hitting a button to perform an action, you must call up a menu and select "Search" or "Talk". Each character has four item slots, and it's interesting how you never buy armor for your units - only weapon upgrades. The combat system is where the game truly... er... "Shines". Battles either take place on over-land maps between cities, or within the towns and dungeons. You can have up to twelve units in your party with several others waiting back at "headquarters". True to tactical RPG's, each unit can move a certain amount of squares, which is often limited by the terrain. After moving, your unit can attack or cast a spell (if it has the ability). Archers can shoot from afar, but melee fighters can only attack adjacent squares. Victory depends largely on your ability to effectively coordinate the movement and attacks of your units. Your units can accumulate experience points and gain levels, as well as earn "promotions" to improve their classes. When a unit dies in battle, you can't bring them back during the fight, but you can have it revived at a church. If the Hero is killed, the battle ends and you find yourself back at your last save point - with half the gold. The background music and sound effects are pretty enjoyable and the graphics (which included some simple illustrations of the characters) are relatively good-looking all things considered. A few of its elements are a little inconvenient, but on the whole Shining Force is pretty darn fun to play. Favorite Character: Zylo. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.