Hero Wars - The Advertising Continues

See something, say something, right? I'm just saying! Now it's borderline harassment... okay, of a giant statue, but STILL!

A Bunch of Netflix (C)(TM)(R) Games

That's right. Not only is Netflix (TM)(R)(C) flooding the movie marketplace with its own movies and TV shows, but now they've moved on to video games! Not a whole lot for now, sure, but... ten years from now? Who knows? Well, I've played a couple of 'em on my dusty old desktop computer. I don't have a SmartPhone (TM)(C)(R) yet, so I don't have a suitable game controller for the TV. Anyway, let's just dive right in to what I've looked at so far.

Underwatermelon - I do appreciate the fact that you can't play it forever. Let's bring finiteness back to the world of video games! You know, like Bejeweled (C)(TM)(R) and Bejeweled Blitz (TM)(C)(R)!

Oxenfree - ...so, which is it? A movie or a game?

Too Hot To Handle 3 - ...which joke should I go with? Should I go with "It's too much like my own life"? Or "I'd feel lost"... you know, because I haven't played Too Hot to Handle 1 or 2

The Almost Gone - ...strange! I was able to skip it. Seriously though, I think it's too mellow for me. I don't have that kind of patience anymore. I mean, if I can't find the thing I'm supposed to find... that's it? Do I lose the game yet?

Centipede Recharged - An almost instant classic. I even like the green grid; reminds me of Gridrunner. The spiders are a lot slower this time, and... SPOILER ALERT... they leave behind special powerups to collect. Every game's got powerups now!

Caverns of Mars Recharged - Another instant classic. I think this is the first game I've played where shooting slows your ship down! If only a little. Clearly I need to learn to take advantage of that, if I ever want to see if the game ever ends.

Rocket - You know... I don't mind a good maze game at all, but somehow I was expecting more from a rocket game. You know, flying through space and what not! Evidently, you spend the entire time stuck on a series of planets. I feel just a little bit cheated.

Infernax - For those of you who miss that old video game font, and the old MS-Dos-style action, this one's for you! It's fun and all that, but I will say that the arsenal of weaponry you get is ... a tad limited. I'm trying to recall a similar game I once played about 34 years ago on a Windows 3.1 computer at a friend's house... nope. Ain't coming back to me.

Reflections on Games Past --> Marvin's Maze

Not to be confused with Falken's Maze.
God bless the Internet! I never thought I'd be able to remember this in a million years, as the expression goes. But even before I became a middle-aged old fart, I seem to be blessed with the occasional memory-related nagging... what was that game that I played at an arcade once? I actually did! Old-timer bonafides... or maybe it was that little mini-arcade next to the gas station. I think I only played it once, and somehow it didn't enchant me at the time. Not like Bubble Bobble or even Ms. Pac-Man. But I did remember the pneumatic tubes that take you from the bottom level to the top level, and vice versa. Kinda hard to get one of the search engines to make that distinction. It is more than a little bit like Pac-Man (TM)(C)(R), but you don't have to eat as many dots. They must've figured out in beta-testing that it was a little too difficult for players to play one of the mazes when it was completely covered in dots. Sadly, poor ol' Marvin didn't spawn a sequel, or even an animated Saturday morning cartoon series, the ultimate level of a video game's impact on the culture.

Marvin's Maze entry at Wikipedia... dang, Wikipedia. No pictures?

Marvin's Maze entry at something called the Killer List of Video Games

Marvin's Maze walkthrough on YouTube (TM)(C)(R)... hmm! Seems to be in Invincible Mode. Niiiiice...

Atari Emulator ---> Pathfinder

Now, THIS is what I've needed! Brainless action! Horizontal and vertical scrolling! A ten-digit score! Thank God and Randy Jongens for the 1982 classic Pathfinder. Some guys only got one game in 'em; they can't all be Sid Meier, right? For a second I thought it might be Pastfinder in disguise, but no such luck. I really shouldn't be going back, anyway.
Maybe I'm getting superstitious in my old age, but one feature I don't like about this game is that your lives are included in the list of bad guys you've got to get. Sympathy for those devils? Hey, if it weren't for me, they'd have nothing to do! I will confess that I did have to consult the manual on this one. As much as I like to go in to these games a blank slate, I still need help every now and again. Must be why I miss the old days with my Atari 1200XL in particular... and my childhood in general. Old age's not so different, really; just more pain pills to take. Also, you have less time for video games, and more time to focus on getting your affairs in order before the big final check out. Must be why I like Level 15, because you get 99 lives. On the other hand, you end up spending all your time and energy fighting fires. Not so fun... oopsie! Spoiler Alert. This game reminded me of that other Gebelli classic, Andromeda. That one seems a little more fun... maybe just more whimsical. Maybe it's just the opening music, who knows. I was also reminded of Citadel Warrior, but less sleek and more forgiving.
(later on) Okay, on Level 15 I was finally able to destroy ... I believe it's called a "nuke." Strange, they seem so timid on the easier levels. It took me 20 lives to destroy one, so... 1,980 more to go!

Pathfinder at Atarimania.com

Gebelli Software in general at Atarimania.com

Pathfinder on Mushca Disk 135

Bolo Again!

The infamous tank game lives on! Play online for free here at the Internet Archive. And of course, learn more about the game here on Wikipedia.

(a few days later) Success!  And yet... where's the followup Dinochrome Brigade game?  (searching on internet)  Should have known!

Okay, so level 1 is down.  But what about levels 2-9?  I hate to say it... okay, I don't hate it that much, but to me it feels like Gridrunner all over again.  I use Gridrunner as the example because I saw an ad about 40 years ago for it that declared something about how it's an unbeatable game.  Well, yeah!... if there's way too many enemies and you have a gun that's just not that powerful... oh!  There's the ad right there at the bottom of the Atarimania (TM)(R)(C) page!  Okay, I'll try level 9 with a maze density of 9... 5.

Mystery Game

Well, I GOTTA post this. This was on my Facebook (C)(TM)(R) feed. I'm thinking... Wizard of Wor (TM)(R)(C)? Of course, it's a game that's not exactly known for its booty... EASY! God's sake... hmm! I don't remember skulls either. Oh, I guess it's not. Never mind.

Oh... I'm Biting My Tongue

I should know better by now. Really, it's all about what you grew up with. Intellivision (TM)(R)(C), Atari (C)(TM)(R), Colecovision (R)(C)(TM)... that one with games on tape. But I tell you this... if that crippled Bugs Bunny is supposed to be an insult to Atari (TM)(R)(C) gamers, it's not. ANY gamer worth their weight in pixels is eventually going to look more like the maniac Bugs Bunny than his tea-sipping counterpart! I mean, take the farting spaceship of 2600 Space Invaders fame. Is there any Intellivision (C)(TM)(R) game that's half that good? I rest my case. I mean, besides the Activision (TM)(C)(R) games and the Imagic (R)(TM)(C) games. Personally, I think I'd get tired of that Intellivision (TM)(R)(C) number font. You know, the zero with a dot in it. Variety, damn it! That's what the gamer wants!