Sound concept but has limited replay appeal due to lack of any scoring or stats of any kind, so there is no incentive to improve or beat you previous number of rounds, structures built etc since there is no record of anything you achieved in previous games. It's also mildly annoying that it shows you which elements of the story you've completed at the end of every game even if you completed the story 10/20 attempts ago. Ideally another mode should be added (eg story/arcade mode). This would improve the value of the game by a significant amount in my view.
This is a pretty basic city builder. The only real trick to it is placing items in the correct place so they combine. It's easy to meet budget requirements after not long. The main issue I have is there are way too few levels and you will finish it after a day or so. Replay value is almost zero. Could only recommend it if it is on special for around $3-4.
I have this game on disc but wanted the GOG version as well as it was on sale. It doesn't work properly. I tried on 2 different machines and constantly receive a low memory warning in the game which eventually causes it to shut down. One machine has 32 gigs of memory, the other 4 gigs, the disc version I used on the 4 gig machine for years and never experienced this issue. Eventually it got so bad the game would crash after 10 minutes or so of play. Reinstalling, compatibility mode etc made no difference. So I would advise against getting the GOG version, buy it from somewhere else.
This game would be great fun but the poorly laid out controls just ruined it for me. Given this is a remake they should have allowed you to remap them. Instead of focussing on game play you need to concentrate on which keys to press in sequence in order to perform a really basic move. Not sure if I can persevere beyond the first few screens as the controls are just too frustrating.
I had Theme Park World which was made for Windows, I thought this would be similar but the interface which is designed for DOS is very clumsy and hard to figure out compared to that title. As a first time player I found this pretty frustrating, couldn't even figure out how to save the game or return to the main menu, couldn't pause the game or adjust the speed and didn't feel like I was in control of what was happening at all really. Not recommended for those who didn't have the game back when it was new, doubt I'll play this more than once. Only upside is I only paid $2.80 for it but wouldn't have even paid that for the few minutes I spent on it.
I was glad to find this game on GOG as I had played JK2 back in the day and in it's current form on GOG so was looking forward to more of the same. Maybe I just have different expectations these days but this game felt a bit less polished than JK2 to me, a bit rushed, story less engaging, characters less developed and voice acting not so good, level design not as good, and shorter overall. Still worth having but don't expect the same experience as JK2 IMO.
The main issue with JK2 is the difficulty settings. I find that the first levels can be incredibly frustrating at the higher settings, but once you get your lightsaber and forcepowers you can just run around slaughtering your enemies without a care (especially since you have the ability to heal yourself at will). A more balanced difficulty would have been a big improvement. Still worth getting for the fun bits though, which are really fun.
Was excited for this, particularly about the included original. I had BD2 on the Atari back in the 80's and played for years. However this version does not live up to the original. The physics are different to its' detriment; eg if you kill one butterfly (or whatever creature turns into diamonds depending on theme) all the nearby butterfly's also explode, which completely eliminates the challenge on some levels. You just kill one butterfly and the level is over. Falling diamonds do not kill Rockford, nor does it kill you if you are caught in the death explosion of an enemy. These seemingly minor changes alter the gameplay and strategy significantly. I also found the level design in the new levels tedious, too often relying on you making exactly the right move at the right time (even when there is no way to judge exactly when that is) meaning you have to repeat that bit of the level over and over to pass it. Either that or they are way too easy (the first 2 worlds can easily be passed on the first try). Finally the game lacks the format of the original which had several iterations of every cave (eg cave A level 1, 2, 3 etc) which greatly extended playability. I would prefer just having the original version to this, the new graphics don't do anything for me and the bonus stuff seems unnecessary, but it's better than nothing I suppose, if you get it for a low price.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time with Doom 2 back in the 90's. Once I was done with the standard levels I got into the mods and user made levels which seemed to be endless (I wonder if you can still get the Simpsons mod which turned all the monsters into Simpsons characters, changed all the sounds etc...). Loved playing with the superweapons mod with the enemies in respawn mode and just seeing how long I could last. Of course for any of that to work you need a decent foundation, lots of variation in the level design, varied and interesting enemies... you can tell the people who made this had fun doing it. I especially liked getting the monsters to fight each other and apparently the designers did too (there's a level I remember which is specifically designed for a Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind to battle it out while you wait and watch). Some of the textures are near psychedelic in their colours and design and make many of the more modern 3D shooters look incredibly drab and repetitive. Why wouldn't you get it at this price.
For those of us that remember playing this back in the day, it's worth playing for the memories. I'm not sure anyone else would get much out of it. Obviously the graphics are very basic, as is the interface and the gameplay is unforgiving and sometimes just random (eg killing you if you buy the wrong spaceship or walk the wrong onto the wrong screen). I definitely wouldn't pay full price for this, wait 'til it's on special and enjoy a step back in time (or remember why you got so annoyed by it the first time).
