Game Reviews by Apogee IV

Prisoner of Ice (Windows)

Decent mid-90s adventure game, but not without faults...

The Good
For its time, "Prisoner of Ice" offered a slightly darker adventure game experience compared to other available titles. The premise is pretty simple: You are Ryan, a British intelligence officer who, during a mission to the South Pole, gets entangled in a Nazi plot to set the nefarious "Prisoners of Ice," the Great Old Ones, free. Although the story uses many elements from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, including the Necromonicon, the game mostly finds its inspiration from the Chaosium roleplaying games. Anyone looking for an authentic Lovecraft gaming experience will probably be disappointed.

The game is structured as any other 90s adventure game, absolutely no surprise there. The puzzles are fairly average, and even novice adventure gamers shouldn't have too hard a time. The times I got seriously stuck was mostly because you had to retrieve an item which was only a pixel wide and which are impossible to spot without examining every inch of the screen with the cursor.

One of the game's strengths is the music, a fairly decent orchestral score which was above average for its time and fit well in with the game's sort of dark, menacing setting. The art is overall pretty decent as well. Especially the images in the cutscenes are good, they are lavish and do a good job in capturing the Lovecraftian mood. Definitely one of the highlights.

The Bad
While the voice-acting is tolerable, it is by no means great. Some of the characters have unbelievably annoying voices, such as Driscoll... the voice actor sounds incredibly uninspired and bored, I wonder what his problem was.

A major fault is the fact that many of the puzzles are pretty generic and uninspired. Luckily "pixel hunting" puzzles (as described above) are few, but you get the feeling that they are deliberately planted in segments where the developers had run out of ideas. Throughout the game there are also a few combination puzzles, the kind where you have to arrange things in the right order. Again, these seem to be placed in a manner so you feel as if the developers were running out of ideas (or maybe time). Either way, it sort of takes away the motivation to complete the game.

Overall, I also felt that the game's story seemed a bit too ambitious. It tried to tell too much, but had way too little room to develop. Many of the characters brought in, such as a woman named Diane who accompanies you for a while, serve little function. What's the point of characters unless they add to the story? The fact that the story also tries to build upon the previous Infogrames Cthulhu Mythos based adventure game, "Shadow of the Comet" from 1993, only serves to make matters worse. All this adds up to a confusing story that once you finish the game feels incomplete and unresolved.

The Bottom Line
A decent, though fairly standard, mid-90s adventure game that has interesting Lovecraftian elements, but which ultimately short story-wise.

By Apogee IV on December 31st, 2007

Ninja Gaiden Shadow (Game Boy)

A Great Classic-era Game Boy Title

The Good
At its core Shadow Warriors is a fairly standard side-scrolling action game. The difference between it and so many others like it, is the simple fact that it's done right. I especially think that the game manages to be entertaining and but still remain challenging. That is to say you don't have to concentrate fully while playing, you can also relax a bit. There's no point in the game where you will suffer from the typical developer scenario: "Oh, this game's gettin' too easy, we better throw in a ridiculously hard passage now." Instead, the difficulty has a logic progression to it, one that doesn't annoy the hell out of you, but rather pushes you on to progress. Likewise, the level design keeps you focused by changing the scenery with small sequences. It also adds up the cool factor! There's stuff that will make you feel as if you're in a ninja movie, like grabbing a hold of a crane and being lifted up.

I don't really any complaints about the graphics, except for the fact that Ryu is perhaps not as strikingly distinct as say, Mario or Kirby -- and then there's his running animation. Likewise, the bosses are not really that original or memorable either, but it's not really anything I care that much about. Then there's the excellent music! Since this game was originally suppose to be a stand alone title, but was then picked up and launched as a part of the Ninja Gaiden series, the music is basically a selection of various ported songs from the NES series. But it's all the good ones! And they've certainly not lost any of their catchiness or rock'n'destroy feel.

I gotta say I absolutely dig the ninja theme! It's early 90s in a great, nostalgic way...for me at least. Watch the intro and you'll see what I mean!

Finally, "There's despair in the skyscraper" is one hell of a line!

The Bad
I guess the major gripe I have is that there's no level password screen or some such. The first 2 levels (and subsequent bosses) are especially easy to get down, and may become a bit labourous to complete in order to reach the harder levels. It's a common problem for many Game Boy games.

The Bottom Line
Shadow Warriors is a great example of how a classic-era Game Boy game should be.

By Apogee IV on February 11th, 2006

Half-Life 2 (Windows)

By Apogee IV on January 8th, 2006

Shatterhand (NES)

Forgotten Classic

The Good
For some reason, Shatterhand is barely remembered today, which is a pity since it really is an excellent side-scrolling action game.

What I really like about Shatterhand is the certain kind of flow that the game has. There's something about it that drives you forward; it makes you want to progress and beat the crap out of everything that stands in your way. One of the contributing factors is without doubt the music. Seriously one of the best NES soundtracks I have ever heard. The tunes are fast paced, but totally memorable and catchy, and they the game perfectly.

The level design also plays a large role into making Shatterhand such as satisfying game to play. There's always a sense of reward when you get past obstacles and sub-bosses. Also, it never gets stale or predictable. There's plenty of surprises in the game that will keep you focused. While the game is sort of simple it nonetheless has some cool features, such as the satellite droids, which makes it stand a part from other games in the genre.

I also really like the fact that once you complete the first stage you can select which stages you want to play.

The Bad
One the things that bugs me a bit about Shatterhand is the fact that you sometimes can't get a sense of how far into a level you have progressed.

Perhaps it is also a bit short, but the skill level is fairly high, so it's not like you can just waltz through the game.

The Bottom Line
While not groundbreaking or particularly innovating, Shatterhand is a superb, addictive and extremely well made game. Definitely a cult game for those in the know.

By Apogee IV on December 5th, 2005