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Gamefaqs Link
Last Topic's Ratings:
Bassmasters 2000 - ABAA - 38% (4)
Chameleon Twist - BBAABAAG - 38% (8)
Extreme-G - AGGGBAAGAGGA - 71% (12) (1 SR)
Mia Hamm 64 Soccer - ABBB - 13% (4)
Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1 - AAAAA - 50% (5)
WWF War Zone - AAGGGAAAG - 72% (9)
Unlike last week's PS1 topic, I guessed this topic almost completely wrong. I still can't believe I was the only G for Chameleon Twist. The fact that you never know what to expect always keeps GAB interesting.
Games for this topic:
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes
F-1 World Grand Prix
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
Kobe Bryant's NBA Courtside
Star Fox 64
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
At one point, there was another big name game on this list, but this topic was so strong that I just had to swap it out. I wonder if you can guess which game got swapped in?
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes - A
ReplyDeleteF-1 World Grand Prix - A
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - B
Kobe Bryant's NBA Courtside - G
Star Fox 64 - G (SR)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - A
You might recall when we covered Army Men: Sarge's Heroes for PS1, I mentioned being surprised and impressed by how much personality and charm the game had, but noted that it suffered from some technical issues, most notably a lack of draw distance. The N64 version is basically the opposite. The draw distance is much better, but the cutscenes and voice acting and basically all of the character have been cut out in the transition to cartridge. It does play somewhat better, though IMO, the gameplay alone is not quite enough to carry this title, particularly because there are still a few technical issues, most particularly occasional frame rate issues, which prevent this port of the game from being perfect. I'd definitely stick with the PS1 version here.
F-1 World Grand Prix is decent, at least after I found and disabled the brake assist (it's buried under driver selection). When compared to F-1 Pole Position 64, this is a much more "serious" F-1 game, where you'll have to pay attention to your vehicle's tuning and condition in order to win (though I do appreciate that some tuning presets are available for those who just want to get into a race). I do feel that the presentation is a bit on the barebones side, with no in-race music and very minimal commentary, but I guess most F-1 games are that way. Wouldn't rank among my top racing games on the system, but it's probably a decent option for F-1 fans.
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is basically Tomb Raider but worse in every possible way. For starters, there's the controls. The controls in Tomb Raider are maybe a bit "stiff" but are still precise and well-tuned for what they need to do, performing running jumps in Tomb Raider feels intuitive and thus the platforming just kind of works. Not so here. Indy is very finnicky about climbing ledges, often choosing to neutral jump instead of climbing up a small incline (sometimes coming at an angle helps?) and making running jumps is almost always a crapshoot. Movement and camera control are also fairly lousy, which makes combat a chore, and the level design is also vastly less interesting than Tomb Raider, with levels often feeling overly linear and lacking in secrets. I also just generally feel that this style of gameplay isn't a good fit for Indiana Jones, the movies were always full of fast-paced action, this kind of slow and methodical gameplay doesn't feel like an Indiana Jones experience. Definitely not one I'd recommend.
When we reviewed NBA Jam 99, one of my major complaints was that despite the switch to 5-on-5, it didn't even attempt to retain the spirit of NBA Jam. Kobe Bryant's NBA Courtside is basically the game I wanted NBA Jam 99 to be. It's kind of an interesting hybrid between simulation and arcade-style basketball, despite having the 5-on-5 style and sort of general sim feel, it's still very fast-paced, has a turbo button, energetic commentary, and some nice camera work for dunks. I'm not sure how much else I can say besides the fact that the game is fun and I wish there were more games in this style.
DeleteI feel like there's really not too much I can say about Star Fox 64 that hasn't already been said. It's kind of obvious that the game is a masterpiece and even 20 years later it doesn't feel like it has aged. Presentation was incredible for its time and still looks decent even now, particularly the voice acting, which is a total riot, and the gameplay is great too, with the branching paths offering a ton of variety and the medal challenges adding a ton of depth to the gameplay. My only two complaints would be that the barrel roll is overpowered (you can spam it near constantly to be almost invincible) and that the multiplayer mode really isn't particularly exciting, but this is still an incredible package and easily worthy of the SR.
As has been noted by others, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on N64 is clearly a bit of a downgrade from the PS1 version. The core content is all still there and is all pretty good, but the soundtrack has taken a hit and they made some odd choices with the controls, limiting you to only using the C Buttons (later games in the series more sensibly use A and B as you would expect). I feel like you could make the case that this game is still good enough for G, but THPS2 is so much better that I always felt the first game was a little borderline even on PS1, and with the little downgrades on N64 it's probably enough to push it into A territory.