Head Over Heels is the first game I remember really loving. Not just liking, but, as the title itself implies, completely falling in love with. Back in the late Eighties and early Nineties, my dad would occasionally give me a couple of quid and take me into a little games shop in Wakefield where I could choose any game I wanted. This early in life, I didn’t really have games magazines with which to make informed decisions and there wasn’t much word of mouth either. So choices were almost entirely made based on the packaging alone, and in the case of Head Over Heels it was the packaging that called out to me.
Tag Archives: 2003
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne – Treat me mean…
I first encountered the Shin Megami Tensei series with the release of the fourth entry, on Nintendo 3DS, in 2014 and while it’s far from my favourite JRPG series, I did discover some distinct charms that seem to be ever present in the series now that I play the HD remaster of Shin Megami Tensei III. While this revered game boasts many of the standard tropes and features of the genre, it really stands out because of its cast of recruitable monsters or, more specifically, those monsters’ aggressive, downright abusive personalities.
R-Type Final – Finally finished. Kind of.
Having excitedly backed the Kickstarter for R-Type Final 2 in 2019, I can’t quite believe the finished product is now just a day away as I type this! In anticipation of the release I’ve done two things… I’ve booked a day off work – New Pokémon Snap and Returnal are out the same week so it’s going to be a big one! – and I decided it was high time to revisit the original R-Type Final on PlayStation 2.
Dolphin Blue – Metal Slug takes to the seas
The opening segment of Dolphin Blue feels like a real statement. As our heroes, Erio and Anne, storm across the surface of an aircraft carrier, a ship dramatically explodes and splits in two behind them, while an even bigger battleship closes in from the distance, firing its cannons as it nears. The princess you’re charged with rescuing, fearfully clings to a helicopter as it takes off and flees the scene, leaving you to charge on through an impressive group of sprites – foot soldiers hell bent on stopping your progress while your injured allies huddle broken, treated by medics. As you fire your way to the front of the ship, a small one-man tank trundles into view. If this were a Metal Slug game, you’d jump into that tank and improbably hop and fire your way to the end of the stage. But instead, our heroes blow the tank to bits, sprint through the wreckage and leap into the sea. Before landing the water, two dolphins glide through the air, catching them mid jump, and swim away. Metal Slug this ain’t!
Games From The Black Hole 