Pokemon Snap
What Is It?
Pokemon Snap? Are you kidding me?? Okay, there's one thing you should know about me, I don't do Pokemon games. I can appreciate that Nintendo has a huge hit on their hands and can understand why so many people (mostly kids) are into this money making scheme, but I've never been bitten by the Pokemon bug (is there even a Pokemon bug?). Pokemon Snap is a bizarre game that defies all classification. Is it an action game? No, not really. And it's not really a combat game, either. Heck, I'm not sure what category I would put it in. The best way to describe Pokemon Snap is to say that it's a cross between Panzer Dragoon and one of those African Safari tours. Basically you ride around on rails and look for pokemons (pokemen?) hanging out in their normal habitat. The object of the game is to use your camera to take impressive shots of these wild Pokemon characters and then take them back to Professor Oak who will rate them. This surprisingly simple concept does have its charm and over time it evolves into something a little more entertaining, but it's not exactly the deepest game of the week (which is saying something when it's put up against Ghost 'n Goblins and Baseball Stars 2). Fans of Pokemon will probably find something to like about this game, but I got bored of the concept quickly.
Does It Still Hold Up?
The concept is sound and the controls are solid, even if the game itself is a little too wacky for my own tastes. Unfortunately the game is short lived and there's almost no reason to come back to it once you're done. While this isn't the game for me, I don't see why fans of the series would be turned off by this eight year old game. The graphics are good and it's still fun to play, so I would definitely say it holds up well.
Is It Worth The Money?
Unless you're a huge Pokemon fan and really must catch them all (on film) I would say skip this one. That's not to say that this is a bad game, but the game's pace and simple objectives will turn a lot of gamers off. This is a solid concept, but I'm not sure how much of a real game there is here. All in all, this is a release for the Pokemon fans, and there are definitely enough of those to make this upload worthwhile. The good news, I suppose, is that this Virtual Console game does something no other Virtual Console game does, it allows you to actually send pictures you've taken in-game to your Wii friends. Let's hope that more (and better) games get cool little additions like this in the future.
This Week in GameTap
Every week I plan on taking a look at the classic games being uploaded on the
GameTap service. Regardless of whether it's part of their free or premium service,
GameTap offers a wide variety of old school games that is worth checking out. Here are the most recent games uploaded to their server, keep in mind that all of these games are free to play unless otherwise stated:
Motocross (Commodore 64) -
On the surface Motorcross looks easy enough, but this deceptively difficult action game isn't as much fun as it could have been. The game is simple, you play a guy on an uncontrollable motocross bike. It's your job to jump over objects in your way and straighten out your bike so that you don't crash. All this would be great if the game was actually fun. The problem is that it's entirely too easy to crash in this game, so easy that you probably won't want to play once you've exhausted your five lives. This game is too much of a chore to be considered fun.
Pro Boxing Simulator (Commodore 64) -
There is nothing "pro" about Pro Boxing Simulator. In this ancient sports game you play a boxy little character that must go up against increasingly harder opponents. This is a 2D button masher, the kind of game you will probably forget about only seconds after playing it. With a terrible control scheme and ugly graphics, it's hard to recommend Pro Boxing Simulator ... even as a free download.
Pro Skateboarding Simulator (Commodore 64) -
After seeing what a disaster Pro Boxing Simulator was I was worried about this skateboarding game. Is this game any better than its boxing counterpart? Nope. In fact, Pro Skateboarding Simulator is even worse than Pro Boxing Simulator. Imagine a game that combines Marble Madness and 720 Degrees and you would be close to describing the painful experience you're about to have with this skateboarding game. This game's problem has more to do with the crummy controls; this game is just not fun to play. Worst yet, it's way too easy to accidentally run over something you can't skate on. This game is both frustrating and pointless. Don't download this game!
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