The Video Game Critic's
Playstation Reviews N

This is hands-down one of the most fun and addictive sports game I've ever played. Why? Because there are no rules or lulls in the action! Leveling other players before they can make a catch is part of the game, and it's a blast! When the play's over, you can drop a knee (or elbow) on the down player for good measure. This game is a trip! The controls are simple and responsive, and the crisp arcade graphics are outstanding. The wacky announcer tosses out hilarious lines like "That was totally uncalled for ...but alot of fun to watch!" The game's torrid pacing is key. A single contest takes less than ten minutes to play, but those are ten minutes of non-stop action!! NFL Blitz is to football what NBA Jam was to basketball, effectively emphasizing the best aspects of the sport. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

Considering it was the very first football game for the Playstation, NFL GameDay has held up surprisingly well. In 1995, its small sprites didn't quite measure up to those in 3DO Madden, but they were certainly a step up from the 16-bit football games. Ironically, what makes NFL Gameday so cool today is its antiquated 2D sprite graphics. The mid-90's ushered in a transition to 3D sports games, but for the first few years those polygon-based games were slow and ugly. GameDay took the tried and true gameplay of 16-bit Madden and elevated it to the next level. The extra buttons on the Playstation controller are effectively used to implement directional stiff arms and jukes, adding a new dimension to the running game. Passes can be tipped, and I was amazed when I saw a defender dive after a tipped pass and pick it off! Thanks to a fast clock and minimal pauses in the action, a game can be played in under a half hour. On the downside, GameDay's graphics are pixilated and somewhat choppy. The players move relatively slow, and it's hard to tell what's happening when they get bunched up. In addition, the kicking meter moves way too fast and will frustrate beginners. There are a few slick bells and whistles, including a halftime show with cheerleaders and helmet-shaped cars. The developers of this game made such a good impression that they soon branched off to become their own division called 989 Studios. NFL GameDay does show its age, but its fast action and sophisticated controls make it fun to revisit. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

This sequel to Sony's first GameDay is effectively the same game, albeit with some minor new additions like team management and improved AI. Gameday 97's pixilated 2D graphics look pretty outdated by today's standards, but its straightforward style of play is remarkably fun. The running controls are solid, and kicking field goals is always a challenge. Gameday 97 is bittersweet, as it was the last in the series to use sprite graphics, before switching over to 3D polygons. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

As usual, GameDay delivers fast, arcade-style football action, sometimes at the expense of realism. The blocky players look way too thick, but they are animated nicely and I love their elaborate celebrations. Gameday 2000 is easy to play and fun, but the referees are wack. The ball is often spotted short even when it clearly broke the ten-yard marker (where's a coach's challenge when you need it?). Apparently forward progress doesn't count for much in this game! But even more annoying is the music that blares during critical drives and after scores. These familiar tunes include Wooly Bully, Taking Care of Business, Respect, That's The Way I Like It, Shout, and Right Now, but it won't be long until you're just sick and tired of them. The Dick Enberg/Phil Simms commentary team has nice chemistry, providing interesting insight into the action. But what really rocked my world was their use of the "telestrator" during instant replays. It's so awesome that I wondered why it wasn't in Madden, considering Madden pioneered the thing. I also appreciate Gameday's first-down chain measurements, which are inexplicably missing from most football games. The audio is less impressive however. The crowd tends to have an uncoordinated cadence whichh is annoying, and when the home team's quarterback calls for quiet, the stadium turns dead silent! You can hear a pin drop! GameDay 2000 features a lot of nice bells and whistles, like trivia on the load screen and players that shake hands after the game. It has its quirks, but this football game is never boring. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Once again 989 has delivered pigskin action done right! NFL Gameday 99 is an excellent arcade-style football game. Its 3D graphics are relatively smooth and the sound effects are bone-crunching. The play-by-play and color commentary are interesting and occasionally hilarious. How does Gameday compare to Madden? It's a tough call. Madden is a bit more realistic, but GameDay has the edge when it comes to fast, hard-hitting gameplay. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

This game generated some incredibly favorable reviews in its time, including some of the highest ratings ever awarded to a sports title. In retrospect, it's hard to argue. NHL 2000 has a polished, arcade style that anybody can pick up and enjoy. Its motion-captured animation appears smooth and natural, and the action moves at a break-neck pace. This may be the fastest hockey game I've ever played! The analog controls are responsive, but you can't pass the puck through a crowd as you can in other hockey games, which limits your one-timer opportunities. The "world famous" wrap-around-the-goal shot seems especially effective though. NHL 2000 has a few special features that make it more exciting that your garden-variety hockey game. The highlighted puck is easy to follow, and hard shots leave dramatic streaks behind them. When holding down the shoot button, a nifty "power meter" appears under your player. You can deliver some serious blows on defense, and it's even possible to knock an opponent through the glass! The play-by-play commentator has got to be the most enthusiastic I've ever heard ("Great save!") This guy gets so worked up that he sounds like he's going to have a heart attack! It's pretty hilarious. The color commentator, on the other hand, is so quiet you might not even notice him. The energetic music soundtrack features the hit "Push It" by Garbage. NHL 2000 is definitely a good time, but some may find it too chaotic. Also, the rink is wider than most hockey games, and your limited view makes it hard to keep track of your teammates. The instant replay system is awfully choppy, which is surprising considering how smooth the game moves at normal speed. You'll want to turn the fighting off, because these idiotic brawls consist of both players simply throwing lightning-fast jabs at each other with exaggerated sound effects. It's like a bad martial arts flick! The loading screen takes a while, but at least you get to view a photo of the arena you'll be playing in. It's easy to nit-pick, but pound for pound NHL 2000 is probably the best hockey game you'll find for the Playstation. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

Despite its age, NHL FaceOff delivers some seriously intense arcade-style hockey action. Much like NFL Gameday (Sony, 1995), FaceOff dishes out the sports action the old-fashioned way - with beautiful, pixilated 2D sprites. Okay, maybe it's not the best-looking hockey game for the Playstation, but it plays as good as any with fast, non-stop action. In terms of pure fun, this even compares favorably to those stellar NHL titles for the Genesis. The players are not very distinct and the animation is a bit choppy, but a smooth frame-rate makes it easy to follow the puck (although the action can get muddled in front of the net). FaceOff's use of sprites was once considered a liability, yet now it's part of the game's charm. There's no analog stick support, but you can still make pinpoint passes and quickly switch defenders. The CPU opponent is remarkably aggressive and even skillfully executes one-timers. Despite what the title would suggest, there are minimal faceoffs, thanks to CPU-controlled goalies that kick out the puck right away. There's no audio commentary, but the organ music, grunts, expressive crowd, and sound of scraping ice are very clear. The rich option menu includes a season mode, a create-a-player feature, and player "cards" with photos and statistics. As the very first hockey game for the Playstation, NHL Face is a remarkably strong effort that should not be overlooked by hockey fans. Some may even prefer this to the highly acclaimed NHL 2000 (Electronic Arts, 1999). © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

Nagano Winter Olympics plays like a winter version of International Track and Field, and that is a very good thing. The events include Skiing, Speed skating, Short Track, Bobsled, Luge, Ski Jumping, Curling, and Free Style. While fun with four players, this game does have some glaring issues. First and foremost, the difficulty between events is wildly uneven. Qualifying for the ski events is an exercise in frustration, and it's worse in the multiplayer mode, since the runs are long and only one player can ski at a time. In fact, the only event that supports two-player simultaneous play is Speed Skating. The most oddball event here is curling (similar to bowling), but it's strategic quality provides a nice change of pace. I love the variety and winter scenery, but Nagano plods along too slowly and lacks the excitement of International Track and Field. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

This fine collection of old arcade favorites includes Pac-man, Galaga, Pole Position, Bosconian, Rally-X, New Rally-X, and Toy Pop. Yes, these are exactly the same as the arcade versions. Pac-man and Galaga are true classics with endless replay value. Pole Position is fun, but the control is lacking without the steering wheel. Rally-X is an underrated maze game, and Bosconian is a generic space shooter. Toy Pop is a bit of a dud. The virtual museum feature is interesting at first, but the actual content is disappointing, consisting mainly of instructions, tips, and Japanese ads. Even so, this is one of the better editions of the Namco Museum series. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

The second Namco collection is seriously lacking in big-name titles. It includes Xevious, Gaplus, Super Pac-Man, Mappy, Grobda, and Dragon Buster. Xevious is by far the best title here, but it's still a "semi-classic" at best. Mappy is a mildy entertaining, cutesy platform game with a trampline-jumping mouse in a police uniform. Grobda is a fair third-person tank shooter with laughable voice synthesis. Gaplus, the alleged sequel to Galaga, is entirely too hard to be any fun. Super Pac-Man is probably the least fun Pac-Man game of all time, and Dragon Buster is an interesting but hard-to-control early D&D-style game. There's not much to get excited about here, but completists will still want this in their collection. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

Namco really got back on track with its third collection, which features a number of bonafide classic arcade hits. Galaxian, Ms. Pac-man, and Dig Dug need no introduction - these games are incredibly fun and madly addicting. Pole Position II is a decent sequel to the venerable racing game, and it features multiple tracks. The last two games however are extremely lame. Phozon features strange build-an-atom gameplay that's not the least bit compelling. Tower of Druaga is a slow Dungeons and Dragons maze game that will make you want to play Wizard of Wor instead. On the strength of the first four games however, this is a disk worth owning. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

Namco appeared to be running out of titles with the release of this fourth compilation, containing Assault, Pac-Land, Ordyne, The Return of Ishtar, and The Genji and The Heike Clans. To be honest, I've never even heardof most of these games! Out of the five, only Assault stands out. Supporting dual-analog sticks, this tank game is an absolute blast! With scaling graphics and challenging gameplay, this amazing shooter practically justifies the whole disk! Pac-Land is a departure from the previous Pac-Man games, playing like a second-rate Mario Brothers. Ordyne is a side-scrolling shooter with excellent cartoonish graphics and multiple weapons to choose from. The final two titles try to combine arcade action with RPG strategy, but fall flat. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

For completists only, this fifth Namco collection contains five little-known games: Metro-Cross, Baraduke, Dragon Spirit, Pac-Mania, and the Legend of Valkyrie. In fairness, none of these are particularly bad, but none are particularly good either! Metro-Cross is a decent skateboarding-thru-obstacles type game, and Baraduke is a bad maze shooter with corny, low-quality voice synthesis ("I'm your friend!"). Dragon Spirit is an extremely difficult vertical shooter with small, pixilated objects. Pac-Mania is a 3-D version of the original Pac-Man, and the only thing the new graphics add is the ability to jump over ghosts. The Legend of Valkyrie is a arcade/RPG game which didn't hold my interest. For this fifth edition of Museum, Namco was clearly running on fumes. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

In this third-person space shooter, you guide your ship around the inside or outside of a giant tube, firing at cannons and enemy vessels while dodging and jumping over barriers. Naturally you can pick up power-ups and new weapons along the way. Nanotek boasts great 3D visuals, with a smooth frame-rate and outstanding explosions. You'd think that someone who grew up with Tempest would appreciate the old-school nature of this game, but I'm really not too crazy about it. Maybe it's the complex controls that turn me off. You can fire in three directions, bank, strafe, jump, climb, dive, accelerate, brake, and fire a special weapon. That's too much for an arcade-style game. The challenge is immense and you really have to stay alert. Another issue is the monotonous stages. Flying in or around tubes is a rush for the first few minutes, but wears thin in a hurry. Nanotek's sound effects are impressive, and its pulsating soundtrack will get your adrenaline flowing. It didn't win me over, but for shooter fans looking for a real challenge, Nanotek may be just the thing. © Copyright 2002 The Video Game Critic.

To be honest, I didn't expect the original Need For Speed (NFS) to age nearly as well as it has. When first released, NFS set a new standard for realism in a driving game. Granted, this was before Gran Turismo came along! NFS incorporates eight real-life "super cars", including the Lamborghini Diablo, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, Ferrari 512TR, Acura NSX, Porche 911 Carrera, and Toyota Supra Turbo. The game emulates the cars' performance characteristics (allegedly) and there's an interesting "showcase" for each car, composed of narrated slides and stylish videos. I've never been a car nut, but a few of my friends were absolutely enthralled with all of this. Need For Speed earns an "A" for presentation. The attractive menu screens are well organized, and crystal clear photos of the cars are displayed during loads. One dead giveaway that NFS is an "older" game is the fact that almost all of the tracks are unlocked from the start (yes!). In most modern racers, you begin with only one lousy track and have to painstakingly unlock the rest! Need For Speed's locales range from a desert road, to snowy mountains, to my personal favorite, a gorgeous coastal highway. The races are exciting, and even the two-player split-screen mode is respectable. There are no CPU racers in the split screen mode, but at least there's oncoming traffic to spice things up. For the solo player there's a challenging tournament mode, and unlike modern racers with their "rubber band AI", if you fall too far behind the CPU cars you're not likely to catch up! The CPU drivers are aggressive too, running you off the road at every opportunity. One area where Need For Speed suffers is its stiff control, and it doesn't help that the analog stick is not supported. The frame-rate is fair, but in terms of sheer velocity, the game falls short of its title. Also, the boxy cars and seams in the scenery never let you forget you're playing a 1996 game. The audio consists of generic beats and guitar jams - nothing to get excited about, but still preferable to the "extreme" soundtracks of more recent games. In the end, Need For Speed isn't the showpiece it once was, but it's still worth pulling off the shelf every now and then. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

I'll never forget how disgusted I was upon purchasing Need For Speed 2 (NFS2) in 1997. I was especially bitter because I had just sold the first one back! The original game took its racing seriously and tried to be as authentic as possible, but NFS2 totally compromised those principles. Instead of realistic tracks, you get fanciful wonderlands with castles and psychedelic tunnels. Not only are these courses annoyingly unrealistic, but most are butt-ugly to boot! The gratuitous scenery also takes its toll of the frame-rate, which only rates as fair in the single-player mode and unacceptably poor in the choppy split-screen mode. Case in point is that pathetic bridge on the "Outback" track, where you can see the arches being rendered as you're driving over the freakin' thing! Even back in 1997, my friends mocked this game to no end. Adding insult to injury, NFS2 tried to overcompensate for its stiff controls with an "arcade mode" which has the cars sliding all over the road! At least the car showcases still kick ass, featuring cool videos of the cars cruising around town to pulse-pounding beats. NFS2 was apparently trying to appeal to both the car purists and arcade crowd, but fell short on both counts. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

Redeeming itself after the disappointing Need For Speed 2, Electronic Arts has managed to deliver a racing game that's both fun and graphically impressive. Need For Speed 3 (NFS3) features attractive tracks that are attractive but not too far "out there". The analog control is tight, and the game has an arcade feel which I like. The two-player split screen mode is compelling, at least until someone pulls too far ahead. NFS3 has a load of options including varying weather conditions and police cars which make the races a lot more interesting. The pumping background music is outstanding. If I had one reservation, it would be with the so-so framerate. Even so, Need For Speed 3 did a fine job of rejuvenating the series. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

I really enjoyed Nightmare Creatures, if only on the strength of its creepy atmosphere. This game is right up there with Resident Evil when it comes to creating a tense atmosphere straight out of an old horror movie. Its stages tend to be dark and foggy with old, decrepit buildings. Zombies rise from their graves and werewolves leap out of the darkness. There's plenty of fun to be had as you battle weird creatures and large bosses. Unfortunately, the frantic action is marred by an overly-complex control scheme which is condusive to mindless button pushing. Nightmare Creatures is no classic, but it's a certainly good Halloween game. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

It's true - you can't stop Mr. Domino - that little bastard just keeps going and going! This game stirred quite a few emotions in me, from confusion, to frustration, to obsession. When first released in 1998, Mr. Domino was overrated by game magazines who were desperately searching for something original. Mr. Domino is certainly one of a kind, but it's also gratuitously difficult and frustrating. It's a puzzle game in constant motion. You guide a running domino man around a "track" strewn with obstacles and targets, leaving other dominos in your wake. The idea is to situate your dominos strategically so during the next lap you can knock them down onto target squares, triggering amusing (and often bizarre) animations. The problem is, if you don't set a domino in front of a target during one lap, you know it'll take at least two more laps to hit it, and that's demoralizing. Mr. Domino turns gray in color over time, and he'll eventually die unless you can refresh him by moving over a health square. If it sounds complicated so far, you also have to factor in a demanding obstacle course of barriers and moving hazards that spell cheap hits galore. But by far the worst part of the game is those "reset" squares that completely wipe out all of the progress you've made. It's very easy to accidentally run over these things, especially after hitting a speed boost. The control is responsive, but there's little room for error. The stages are interesting in a Micro Machines kind of way, and highlights include a convenience store and an amusement park. The electronic music is nothing short of amazing, and the game saves your current stage and high score. As tedious and maddening as Mr. Domino can be, I can't deny that I was intrigued enough to play for several hours straight. Once you "get it", it's an absorbing experience. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.