Crazy Cars III

The first thing I thought when I started playing Crazy Cars III, was that the main menu was a lot like the one in Gran Turismo. Maybe even Burnout. But now, as I write this, I figure out maybe it's just me trying to assign some random influence from an old game to more recent ones, and I'll always be wondering now, unable to sleep at night, whether they actually based off their menu off of this one.

I digress.

I'm sure, absolutely sure.

Crazy Cars III, released in 1992 by Titus Interactive, is a nice little street racing simulator: you can pay fees to enter races and make bets against other racers. Betting's a nice way to keep you focused before you rage off into traffic, most times at daytime, because screw everything.

This game is an earlier version to Lamborghini American Challenge, a game that came out the next year which presented with a couple more features. The only reason I'm glad this happened is not because of the new features, but because they didn't use the name crazy cars anymore. What is this? The nineties?

These roads ain't ready for my rubber.

While you have only one car, it does get damaged. It's best to repair your car before every race, because game overs are easy to get and the police, which can actually be very insisting, will be trying to nail you down for racing at such fast speeds in these peaceful neighborhoods.

Don't fret, here's a gameplay video:
                      

Wasteland

It’s the year 2087 and you’re thrown off in the middle of the wasteland. Your job as a ranger is to investigate, explore, kill, avoid getting shot, avoid dehydration, murder mutated creatures without getting radiation poisoning, not getting your hands cut off; well, you get the point.
 

Wasteland is one of the greatest games to ever come out in the 80s. It was the precursor to the Fallout series and is responsible for a completely new look on gameplay and style. 

As you lose your cool through the wastelands, you figure out that this game is not easy to figure out: you have little clues on what to do next. One of the main reasons for that is that you barely need or need at all to follow any sort of storyline. The game is very non-linear, and as long as you don’t get killed earlier, you’re free to roam almost wherever your heart tells you to. Still, if you want to advance in the game, let’s just say that there are a couple of things you need to do in order to trigger certain events.

If you venture into the desert, make sure you don't get into a mescaline trip, aye?

This being said, I wouldn’t call this an easy game. Not only many times you have no clue what you’re on about, you really have to explore and go through a lot of trial and error. Another curious feature is an instance of auto-save which might get you into more trouble than blessing. It auto-saves when you enter an area different than the one you're in or whenever you use the radio (needed for assigning stats at level up). Considering death is permanent, and that healing conditions is not that easy at times, you have to be mindful of your characters well-being. Nevertheless, with a decent skill level of Medic you can usually keep your characters a-ok.

Libraries are, by far, the best kept places in a post-apocalyptic world.

As far as conditions go, enemies can leave you unconscious, seriously wounded or mortally wounded. When you get wounded, do not venture into the wastelands as that will most likely finish you off. The state of unconsciousness leaves your character as useful as ketchup on pizza, but the good news is you only need to pace a bit and it’ll recover. Health points can be recovered with walking or resting. Call it a fat man’s cardio. You can also go to a doctor and waste away your money, but there’s little point to that.

If you see any early signs of becoming a desert dweller, contact your prescribed doctor or pharmacist.

Everything else is just living the dream. Don’t get killed in the desert and avoid radiation poisoning. Also avoid other sorts of possible poisoning that are hard to describe without a medical degree. You’re able to hire several NPCs throughout the game, which not only may give you more fighting power, it might enable you to get a really good looking mule to carry around all that extra ammunition you find and don’t feel like selling. Another thing that I love is the fact that you have out-of-gameplay paragraphs to read; bits of texts related to plot and/or that are too big to appear on screen, won’t appear in game. Instead, you get a message to “Read paragraph 10” and off you go, explore the wonders of creative writing.

You'll figure out pretty early that you're not supposed to face robots while wearing leather jackets.

To sum it up, it’s one of the old school post-apocalyptic pearls and a must for any fan of the genre.

Oh, and Wasteland 2 is presumably coming out late 2013. It's being developed by inXile and Obsidian Entertainment and it's going to have an alternative plot to the first one. You can already watch gameplay videos, which shoves up your nostrils how great this game is going to be.

Don’t get killed.

Bumpy's Arcade Adventure

Did you ever think that there are a couple of things that maybe, just maybe, you cannot impersonate in videogames? Whatever your choices were, you can leave a bouncy ball behind.

I present to you Bumpy. That's the name. Because, you know, you're a ball.

 

I bet you were expecting something that looked a wee bit less horrendous, am I right?

The gameplay is simple: you have to avoid anything that could ever, possibly harm a fragile plastic object with air inside (ig: spikes).

As you go from level to level, you have completely new stages to which you can access by passwords.

Here goes a gameplay video, so you know just how much you are missing:

                     

Ivan ‘Ironman’ Steward’s Super Off Road

It was a cold winter night, all the windows shut tight. The lights were down but they still shone bright. Well, mostly because you had the computer on all the time while playing this awesome racing pearl.

It was 1989 and racing games took many forms, but off road racing was pretty much fresh. This game was actually endorsed by off road racer Ivan Steward. I think that’s a great way to get a game with your name on it - endorsing it. Nevertheless, despite its simple nature, I have nothing but great things to say about this game. It’s highly addicting and has a lot of replayability.

 
Press away the title screen and possible demos that might resurge, and you’re ready. Ready to choose your birthdate and nationality. What did you expect? A racing game where you can’t fully personify yourself and introduce completely useless details about yourself as far as gameplay is concerned? Nah, I kid. I think it’s a nice touch. That’s all videogaming is about, actually putting yourself in the shoes of a racer and still pretending it’s you. Healthy. So, skip forward: you choose your three lettered name, birthdate, and nationality (from among about 7 or 8 possible choices). No, you can’t choose Vanuatu. Now, you’re ready to race.

These trucks conquer land, water, and fire. A lot more than that, actually.

You have the possibility to play up to three players, this, of course, assuming you don’t mind three people sweating for the win very next to you just mashing the keyboard away. If you decide to go solo, you’ll have three opponents.

Your opponent’s AI is a fun happening, to say the least. Supposing you’re playing solo, the intricacies of other drivers will stun you. For one thing always be careful not to be too close to them, as it can get messy sometimes, even more considering the bumps and jumps existent on  the tracks which can make racing a dangerously silly endeavor.

You must be aware that one of the supposed drivers (the grey car, to be more exact), is Ivan himself. For some reason, the remaining two opponents would have done better if they dedicated themselves to other things. Videogaming, for instance. These are the kind of opponents that you can be making all sorts of bad planning and mistakes, and you will still be a good few seconds after them. Should you drive a bit better, you may be able to easily give them one, or two laps in advance.

Now, Ivan, is a different story.

Think you can beat me and my iron set of wheels? Think again. Several times.

In short, you’ll be racing him. The whole time. You won’t be worrying about anything else but to beat him and not lose track. While the game is not overly complex and you should be able to win most races, keep in mind that you have to keep winning in order to keep playing. So, prepare your nitro button ‘cause you’ll be needing it. Also, other opponents don’t seem to use nitro, which gives you clear advantage. A little abuse can go a long way.

You get money after each race, the which you can also get on track, alongside with nitro items. With this money you’re able to buy, of course, nitro. But that’s not all; this game was pioneer in car upgrades, so you can upgrade your engine, tires, top speed, and shocks. Swell.

You’re able to proceed from track to track. There’s a decent selection of tracks, although some of them are just the same tracks reversed with little else added.

Here’s a short gameplay video to get your engine pumped: