JE Funhouse Podcast Episode 3 - More Zelda, more NES

JE Funhouse Podcast Episode 3 - More Zelda, more NES

We have been on quite the kick with our retro games lately.  In this episode we talk about Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Vice Project Doom, Where’s My Water?, and share some news stories including: 

How “exergames” don’t make you healthy *shocker* http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/business/active-video-games-dont-make-youths-more-active.html  

And how the new 3DS has a big screen http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/22/us-nintendo-ds-screen-idUSBRE85L05E20120622 

And finally about an anti Semitic Elmo roaming the streets of Times Square http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/nyregion/beneath-elmos-mask-a-man-with-a-disturbing-past.html 

Listen to the episode on BlogTalkRadio or subscribe to us on iTunes by searching for “JE Funhouse”

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/je-funhouse-we-are-what-you-play/2012/06/29/ep-3--prepare-to-be-charmed

Vice: Project Doom Game Review

Now that my NES collection is steadily building, I'm finally finding the time to knock out a few games. A couple weeks ago, I successfully beat the Capcom title The Little Mermaid, which is a fairly solid game. This week, I decided to dedicate a little time to the game Vice: Project Doom. This game is pretty fantastic. 

This cover is stupid. These people look like hypnotized mannequins. 

The plot is incredibly silly, and I genuinely had a hard time understanding everything that was going on. There are some pretty funny plot twists and some pretty cheesy dialogue, both are which are par for the course for 1991.

Graphically, the game is fairly impressive by NES standards. You can tell that a great deal of effort went into this title, as it pushes the system farther than most other titles. The gameplay is divided into three segments: a Ninja Gaiden-like 2D action platformer with Spy Hunter-esque driving sequences and an on-rails shooter that is similar to Operation Wolf.



Honestly, I like the side scrolling segments better than Ninja Gaiden, as they are not cheap! In the future, I'll review Ninja Gaiden, but for now, I'll just go ahead and mention that Ninja Gaiden has some of the cheapest video game deaths out there. In this game, there is platforming and also "knock back" from enemies, but you actually have the opportunity to correct yourself after being knocked back from some of the hits you take mid-air. There are a few times in this game where the platforming is kind of a hassle, but it is much, much nicer than the overwhelming majority of NES titles where taking a single hit means death.

The control in this game is excellent. There are small, yet important touches to the gameplay that make the game really solid. You have the ability to run as you duck, and although that may sound silly, just think back to the number of games where you can easily duck and run around; there are very few. Also, you can attack while on a ladder with multiple weapons and in more than one direction.

Yeah, this pretty much looks like Spy Hunter.

The on-rails shooting stages are pretty fun.

Before I started playing the game over the weekend, I probably Gonly played it for around five minutes. It took me only a couple hours to beat, and I'll admit that it could have gone faster if I had figured out some boss patterns a little faster. After beating it once, I'm fairly positive that I could beat the game in half that time, as it is not long. Continues are unlimited, and you likely won't feel any real challenge until the final level of the game.

I give this game a very solid 8 out of 10 stars. It is a very common game and can be found at a very low price, so check it out!

In Japan, the game is known as Gun Dec. This cover art is way more intense and would have likely been to scary for the US!

No Zombies Allowed Mini Review

Remember when I mentioned Tiny Tower a couple posts ago? Well, No Zombies Allowed definitely takes some inspiration from that game, but it takes the gameplay elements to a much different direction.

Grr! This man solves his problems with violence!

The game is set in a post apocalyptic zombie-infested world. You start out with just one survivor, and your task is to build a society. This society is created by making a community with housing and businesses. To create a business, you need supplies and money. Supplies are gained by killing zombies and also going on supply runs. In the very front of your town, you have a sniper who can kill zombies that try to get in (I don't think zombies can actually breach your town, they are really just sitting ducks) and the supply runs surround you with zombies to kill before you are able to return home with some nice boxes of goods. A very cool aspect of this game is that you can choose to insert local businesses into the game (I have inserted my local library and church as two places where my characters can pick up supplies).

The businesses and housing work exactly in the same way as Tiny Tower: you hire three people for each business, you try to match the right personality for the right job, and you restock items when they run out. You can choose to speed up restocking and building by using a special currency, but I imagine that most people save this feature for when they are well into the game and building speeds are ridiculously slow. Similar to Tiny Tower, you can earn the game's special currency without actually spending real money, which is always a nice touch.

The businesses and housing are exactly the same as in Tiny Tower, but the interface is a little different. I do prefer the larger buttons in this game, as they are easier to press than the Tiny Tower ones.

I'm currently a little over a week into playing this game, and it is still a great deal of fun. In addition to a variety of housing styles and types of businesses, there are upgradable weapons to add to replayability. The graphics in the game are quite adorable, as your people are deformed and big headed. I haven't noticed any slowdown, even when there are multiple characters on screen; everything always seems to animate quite nicely.

Give No Zombies Allowed a try. If you don't like it, feel free to leave me a negative comment about my personal taste.

JE funhouse talk radio podcast!

Hey, we now have a talk radio podcast, and we've got a couple episodes under our belt at this point. Give us a listen! We discuss various nerdy topics, mainly video games, but also pop culture in general.

If you wanna check it out, here's the link to it:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/je-funhouse-we-are-what-you-play.rss

Just plug the link above into your player and you'll be able to listen. If you prefer, you can find us on Itunes, but search for "je funhouse" and not "jefunhouse." Subscribe!

Give us your feedback on the show. If you have any suggestions, please tell us! As of right now, we're scheduled for Thursdays at 11:30pm. This show is live and is lots of fun.

If you like the show, please rate us on Itunes and leave comments. If you've got any questions, please post them on here and we may address them on the show!

Thanks for listening!

AVENGERS!… a little late to the party, but still… ASSEMBLE!

Today's post is brought to you by our guest blogger Raven!

So I finally just saw the Avengers movie.  I have been wanting to see it since opening weekend, but you know… stuff happens.  Let me just say from top to bottom that I loved it.  My favorite thing about the whole film were these flawed heroes who have been cursed and blessed with these amazing abilities and ultimately the rest of us are in their hands to hopefully work their stuff out and save us.  I love the portrayal of Bruce Banner/The Hulk.  Ultimately, I think it is the best portrayal of this classic Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde character that I have ever seen in popular culture outside of the books themselves.  He is a man tortured by his inner beast, an obvious allegory for the id we all keep at bay but lurks inside us just below the surface.  And honestly, I found the first time he really Hulks out to be genuinely terrifying.  I also really enjoyed Captain America.  Captain America is easy to see as this perfect soldier and hero who does nothing but love this country and follow orders with a blindness and naivety to the fact that there is no pure black and white, good and evil.  But the Captain is also a man lost in time, confused by this new world and by his place in it and haunted by his past.  The movie does justice to the depth of this character.  Other characters - Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye- are unfortunately shallow in my opinion.  Hawkeye I can forgive, because the movie’s plot does not lend itself to telling his backstory, as you know if you have seen it.  

Is Tom Hiddleston vegan?  I thought I heard he was

Aside from the portrayal of the heroes, the movie was just good, clean testosterone and fun.  There are even a number of very funny moments and lines.  If you have seen the movie - Galaga.  Was it just me, or did the alien army look kind of like the Locust from the Gears of War series?  I am curious if anyone else thought this.  My inner geek trilled at the teaser after the credits.  I wonder how many people who saw the movie really appreciate its meaning.  Finally, it made me smile seeing Robin from HIMYM.  I really wanted her to stop talking to Nick Fury and start singing about going to the mall.  All in all, great super hero movie.  I know I am gushing, and I don’t really care.  I straight up loved it.

Let’s go to the SHIELD Headquarters