Jon Gracey's

Archive for the ‘DS’ Category

, , , , , ,

Games That Rocked…Benita de Wit’s World – #53: Theme Park

In Amiga, DS, Mac, Mega Drive, PC, PlayStation, PS3, Saturn, SNES on January 24, 2014 at 1:12 pm

Title: Theme Park

Format: Amiga, Mega Drive, PlayStation, Saturn, SNES, Mac, PC, DS, PS3

Released: 1994

Theme Park Box Art

Hello Internet.

I’d like to tell you a story. A story about a child who spent a lot of time alone on the computer. A story about creativity.

As a kid I loved building games (that is to say, games where you build. I didn’t build games, great as that would’ve been). I loved to spend hours making something original, whether from paper or pixels.

I grew up in a bit of a gaming family and enjoyed a thorough videogame education. SimTower, Age of Empires and World of Warcraft were favourites of mine as they all had wonderful elements of customisation, where you could play the game in your own weird way. Being an odd child I took the most joy in making odd things happen. I loved allowing a 100-storey building to become roach-infested, building a civilisation of monks who converted entire enemy armies to a peaceful way of life or riding my frostsaber across the plains as a male night elf in a wedding dress. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

Games That Rocked…Benny Davis’ World – Musical Interlude

In 3DS, DS, Game Boy, Gamecube, N64, NES, SNES, Virtual Console, Wii, Wii U on September 26, 2013 at 10:14 am

Today’s post is by musician Benny Davis, of comedy rock gods The Axis Of Awesome.

—

Title: Anything with Mario in it

Format: Anything with Nintendo on it

Released: Anytime after July 9th, 1981

Mario Through The Ages

I played Mario as a kid. I wasn’t a huge gamer, I played Nintendo a lot, but mostly Mario. If Mario wasn’t in it, then I probably wasn’t interested. Countless hours of trying to save the Princess made for a singular approach. With many Nintendo games of an era gone by, save points were rare, so in order to beat a level you had to go from the start to the finish in one go. One slip and you’re dead, back to the start. Maybe 3 slips, depending on what your life bar is like. Of course fall down a hole and you’re toast; you could be fit as a fiddle but no level of strength will help you survive a plunge into a bottomless pit. Or maybe it will, but you’re still stuck down there, descending ad infinitum. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , , ,

Games That Rocked…Matthew Highton’s World – #41: Resident Evil

In DS, PC, PlayStation, PSN, Saturn on June 28, 2013 at 2:47 pm

Today’s post is by Matthew Highton.

——

Title: Resident Evil

Format: PlayStation, PC, Saturn, DS, PSN

Released: 22nd March, 1996

Resi Box Art

In 1997 I go to a small shop at the back of Oldham town centre and purchase a second hand copy of a game I’ve heard so much about: Resident Evil. I take it to my friend’s house and five minutes later I’m killed by a dog. The game resets and I ask: how the hell do you save on this thing?

From the moment the PlayStation fires up I already know this is everything I’ve ever wanted in a game. I don’t even know the term survival horror yet, all I know is that it appeals to everything I have ever loved: horror films and computer games. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , , ,

Games That Rocked…Bex Lindsay’s World – #40: Peggle

In DS, iOS, Mac, PC, PS3, PSN, Xbox 360 on June 21, 2013 at 11:26 am

Today’s post is by Bex Lindsay.

—-

Title: Peggle

Format: PC, Mac, iOS, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PSN

Released: Feb 27th, 2007

Peggle Logo

Let me tell you a love story.

A few years ago, I met a boy. He was handsome, clever, funny…and I was totally smitten. By a stroke of good luck we ended up living together, and I was convinced this was my chance to get to know him better.

I only had one rival for his affections – his absolute fascination with computer games. I tried hard but I just couldn’t distract him from whatever bright and shiny game he was playing, no matter how much my conversation sparkled. Eventually I decided to see what all the fuss was about, and asked to try it out for myself. Immediately, and much to The Boy’s chagrin, I was both hooked and better at it than he was. When he was out I’d open his laptop and not only play the game but also beat his high-scores, then put it back and leave him baffled as to why his settings had changed. It was the ultimate clandestine affair. Read the rest of this entry »

, , , ,

Games That Rocked…Tom Clarke’s World – #34: Advance Wars: Dual Strike

In DS on May 10, 2013 at 8:44 am

Today’s post is by Tom Clarke.

——-

Title: Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Format: Nintendo DS

Released: 30th September, 2005 (UK)

Advance Wars DS Box Art

War is adorable. At least, Advance Wars: Dual Strike is.

I often think about the numbers I’ve killed. The dozens of Timesplitters, the hundreds of Stormtroopers, the thounds of ethnic Serb- I mean Zergs. Sometimes, I’m haunted by the faces of the trusting soldiers from Red Alert, who would follow my every deranged command with absolute loyalty. They believed in me, even when I decided to tell them to attack a Tesla coil one at a time rather than as a group, just because I was bored. Read the rest of this entry »

%d bloggers like this: