Playstation Reviews I

I almost had an incredible crisis when I realized I had spent my hard-earned cash on this train-wreck-of-a-game. Incredible Crisis is actually a set of 24 mini-games, mostly involving button tapping or timing meters. One video game magazine referred to this as "old-school", which is an affront to all classic gamers. Old-school is characterized by simple graphics but fun gameplay. There's nothing "fun" about these games.

All variations feature simple 3D graphics with varying camera angles, poor control, and confusing instructions. You'll need to play the games in order, although once you complete a game it becomes available from a mini-game menu. Sadly, these are not the kind of games you'll want to play twice (or even once, for that matter). Adding insult to injury, you can only save after every four games, and it's quite likely you'll get stuck on one of them. Incredible Crisis is an incredible piece of garbage. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

If there's one game I view through rose-tinted glasses, it's International Track and Field. This game was solid gold in the late 90's. Nothing brought out the competitive spirit in the guys like this game and a six-pack. It was all cheers, jeers, and laughs. This was our go-to game before heading out to watch the Monday Night Football game at the local cantina.

I hadn't played this one in a while, and was surprised to see the default user was "BOBBY". I haven't seen that guy in ages! International Track and Field is a port of an arcade game, so it lacks the annoying padding of modern games. The intros are short, the instructions succinct, and the loading is minimal.

The eleven events are short, easy to play, and more importantly, fun. You get 100m dash, long jump, shot put, freestyle swimming, hurdles, high jump, hammer, triple jump, javelin, pole vault, and discuss. Note the lack of any tiresome ordeals like a 1500m run!

The game makes good use of 3D polygon athletes which were cutting-edge back in the day. The swinging camera angles are dramatic and the replays can be fun to watch. The athletes are smoothly animated although some of the celebrations look a bit awkward. It's also pretty funny when you screw up and throw the discus in the wrong direction.

The instructions are simple. Tap square and circle to run; press triangle or X to perform an action like jump or throw. The events are generally easy to figure out, but a few can be confusing. In the case of the high jump, it's hard to tell where you're supposed to initiate your jump! It's the same situation for the pole vault; I recall my friends Brendan and Steve getting so frustrated over this!

In some ways the arcade element works against the game. The simple controls may seem a bit shallow to some. When you fail to achieve a "qualifying" score for an event, you're kicked out to the user set-up screen. Fortunately the game remembers your progress and continues are unlimited. You can play the events in any order, skipping the ones you don't like.

How well has International Track and Field held up? Better than average I'd say. I love how the game just cuts to the chase without all the unnecessary filler that plagues the Mario and Sonic Olympic games. If you're got a few guys together who want to compete, this game is as good as any, provided you've got a few cold ones in the fridge. © Copyright 2024 The Video Game Critic.

I really hated the movie "Mars Attacks!" and this video game induced flashbacks of that awful movie. The whole time I was playing this game I was thinking, "What the hell is going on?!?". Invasion From Beyond's controls are atrocious, and its graphics are terribly confusing. There are a series of missions that require you to hover your spacecraft over a small town while blasting flying saucers and relocating objects on the ground.

The nightmare of a control scheme places the fire and thrust buttons right next to each other, making it difficult to do both at once. When firing into a group of flying saucers, it's hard to tell if you're inflicting any damage, especially since they tend to regenerate. On the bright side, the town below looks nice with its rolling hills and detailed landmarks. The cheesy music also suits the game well. But ultimately Invasion From Mars is a total bust due to its extremely dull gameplay. It only cost me a few bucks, but in retrospect a nice sandwich would have been a better investment. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

In the mid-90's polygon fighters were the "new hotness" and a TSR Dungeon and Dragons-licensed brawler sounded appealing. I remember my friends Steve and Brendan being totally stoked about Iron & Blood, at least until they played its demo on my Playstation Underground disc. The obligatory CGI intro is impressive as hell, depicting a band of warriors marching toward an ominous dark tower. The diverse cast of 16 playable characters includes a masked executioner, werewolf, goblin, knight, archer, one-armed dwarf, and floating wizard. But the visual style of the game is a real turn-off. The character models look kind of goofy and their voices are really annoying.

Iron and Blood comes across as a shallow button-masher but it does have some depth. There are two dodge buttons, two block buttons, and you can even attack foes on the ground. It's a shame the game's ambitions are undermined by its clumsy controls and jerky animation. Whenever your opponent dodges or runs, you must wait for your fighter to slowly rotate to face the right direction! Blocked attacks pass harmlessly through your opponent's body, and sometimes you can strike your opponent while facing the opposite direction. The camerawork is so poor you often can't see what's going on.

The small battlefield is surrounded by a force field. It's easy to inadvertently lunge into this force field, causing your character to get thrown to the ground unconscious. The digitized backdrops ooze atmosphere but lack interesting detail. The sound effects lack punch and the voice samples are loaded with sniveling comments like "I'm just too fast for you!" Torches that gradually extinguish are a poor substitute for life bars. The single-player campaign spices up battles with magical artifacts, but the D&D license feels squandered. Promising much but delivering little, Iron & Blood is a really unlikeable fighting game. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

This late-arriving Playstation title should appeal to Atari Jaguar fans, considering the first two Iron Soldiers were among the best games for the Jaguar system. Iron Soldier 3 delivers the same brand of 3D destructive mayhem, but its slow, methodical style hasn't aged well. A first-person shooter, Iron Soldier 3 places you in control of an enormous "mech", which is actually a giant robot.

Your mech is equipped with a number of weapons including an assault rifle, gatling gun, grenades, and even a giant chainsaw. Twenty-five challenging missions await you, but if you're the impatient type, you can just dive right into the arcade mode where the object is to simply destroy everything. You'll meet fierce resistance from tanks, cannons, helicopters, and other mechs, but a handy scanner lets you track them all.

The virtual city is loaded with skyscrapers, explosive gas tanks, and warehouses that hold power-ups and ammunition. As you would expect, these graphics are more detailed that the Jaguar games, but still maintain the same style. I like how the levels aren't completely flat - the hills and valleys add strategic value. The controls take time to learn, and it's too easy to get caught up on a piece of scenery. You can't always tell when you're under fire, so it's possible to incur a good deal of damage without even realizing it.

Finally, the vagueness of the mission objectives can be really annoying. Otherwise Iron Soldier 3 has its bases covered, with a pulsating soundtrack and even a split-screen two-player cooperative mode. Be sure to check out the amazing cinematic intro, which features some amazing special effects. Jaguar veterans will appreciate Iron Soldier 3, but its deliberate pace and steep learning curve may deter novice gamers. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

Finally - a game that lives up to its name! This oddity is based on a Japanese game show, and I find it remarkable that it ever made it to the shores of America. Without a doubt, Irritating Stick has the worst title ever conceived for a video game. It sounds more like a bad porno film! And if you think the title is bad, wait until you play the game! Basically it involves moving a dot through an electric maze without touching the sides, and your time is limited. It's stupid, repetitive, and... well...okay... irritating! The only thing worse than running out of time after working your way through a lengthy maze is having to start over! I don't think I've ever played anything so aggravating. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.