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endings
10-17-14 11:17 PM
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FaithFighter
02-08-15 12:55 PM
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Arcade classic - Rolling in the deep

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
9.3
8
8
8
6
5
9
endings's Score
8.8
8
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8
6
5
9

10-17-14 11:17 PM
endings is Offline
| ID: 1092949 | 1283 Words

endings
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Rollling Thunder is a great arcade game. It was ported to various other systems, but due to limitations of technology at the time, some versions were grossly inferior. I chose to review the original. But this 80's classic hasn't seen the love it should get. Why didn't this become a franchise? The framerate is quick, the pace often bit frantic, and the penalties for error often your life. In this game that is!

The premise is a rescue mission, with a James Bond feel. A female agent of your group has been caught infiltrating Geldra, a shadowy group doing bizarre experiments. This agent is one of your best, and you are going in to rescue her, which unfortunately for you, means less stealth and more kill all the creepy hooded guys in the stages. The many floors of the Geldra building don't feature things like windows, but tons and tons of doors. These doors do not lead to other screens. None of them do. The concept sounds crazy, I admit. You can go in the doors to temporarily hide from enemies, or more common, go in marked doors for more bullets or upgrades for a machine pistol. The enemies often also come out of these doors, so the very things that provide you a layer of defense also bring your attackers.

Geldra's experiments might be on the human body, as you run into some really strange foes during Rolling Thunder. The common enemies are dressed head to toe in colored outfits with a conical hood - the color of the outfit tells you their tactics and weapons. Yet they may not be human, as they walk like men, but melt into nothing when dead. What are these guys - you can't see exposed bit under their outfits? Other enemies stretch into science gone wrong - such as yellow mutant men who die in a quick flash of blue smoke. Shadow figures that blend perfectly in with the background, its a tall order to fight so many opponents at once Fortunately, the benefit the foe gets is their sheer numbers, they die quickly, in one or two shots.

And what of our hero? While he is doing the job all by himself, his limitations are present. Despite a life bar, he will usually die in two hits (if an enemy bumps into you) , a single shot will kill him. He is a champion jumper, able to reach second stories in a level quickly and effortlessly. He can only shoot ducking and standing, not straight up, or while he's jumping. His ability to trascend to a second horizontal level is again a form of defense and offense, as some enemies will cluster on the bottom, and some enemies on the top floor will throw boms down at you. Alternating between upper and lower floor combat is a key to winning, as is well timed jumps and taking advantage of terrian like tires and pillars to make sniping shots from. While his gun doesn't completely run out of ammo, the more bullets you can spray, the better off of course you will be.


Graphics: 8
The characters are large, their movements are fluid. Its some of the best early animation I've seen. Namco did a great job with this. The bad guys even have small twitch movements they will perform sometimes, looking around, moving their hands, it makes them seem more lifelike - before you see them melt into nothing like the creepy clones they (probably) are!
The stages are diverse, but not particularly impressive in their emptiness. Rows of wooden doors; metal doors, some large obstacles like boxes, stacks of tires, some construction looking areas, caves (in a building??), some factory type levels. I really wanted to see some evil mastermind training rooms or dangerous labs or something to really give it that enemy lair, superspy feel.

Sound: 8
The soundtrack sounds like spy music, and fits the game perfectly. The beginning stage's 6 key bass intro is almost sounds influenced by the first notes to Peter Gunn (private eye tv show). Retro games might be familiar with Spy Hunter (another famous arcade game with a good sountrack) but its hard to describe in any more detail how this OST meets this game so well. The sound effects, on the other hand, are not so great. The gun firing sound is fairly canned and weak sounding, the "NYAH" of the enemy deaths is pretty funny the first dozen times, then it gets a bit distracting. There is only one footstep sound when our hero lands a jump, and that seems pretty unrealistic. What is he doing a perfect gymnastics routine too?

Gameplay: 9
Solid, tight control. You jump, you duck and you shoot fast, just like your enemies. What would seem to be a disadvantage, hopping between floors, is done within a second, super quick, up or down, many times as you like. there are quite a few situations where you need to stand over ledges and hit enemies ahead, or move back a few steps before performing a jump onto close platforms over deadly lava or the like, and will take a bit to master.

Addictiveness: 8
This game is so fun. Even when you lose. You die, you come back fast, often at the start or middle of a level, and you learn from your mistakes. Its pure twitch play, you're moving along at such a brisk pace when you die, its nothing to get right back into this game. Theres almost no downtime, and if you need a breather, the doors are there.


Story: 5
I am almost tempted to give it less. There are, however, cut scenes between levels that show you the heroine being abducted, then tortured. Its all rather trashy, and I feel sorry the female character is represented so poorly. However, it does advance that time is passing, and you best get your hurry on. You don't quite find out what Geldra really was up to, but at least you get to take on their boss at the end. So there is closure.

Depth: 6
The fast gun play and jumping make this game one about hitting and moving. You will have to learn where enemies come out, especially the more difficult, jumping ones like the panthers. It plays simple, shoot, duck, jump. But it does it so well, and without unnecessary frills. I love it.

Difficulty : 9
Rolling Thunder is hard. Old-school hard. Some enemies re-spawn, and it just throws everything at you sometimes. Arcade games were designed to take your money, and to beat it you have to master fast reflexes, jump timing, and memorization of where your enemies will come out. After so many deaths on a level, you might fire a shot or two and start walking, knowing any moment an enemy will appear from the right edge and take those bullets. Sometimes the platforming involves people attacking you, and when one hit can mean life or death, theres no room for error, or pausing. Its best not to hesitate, as the enemies will gang up on you if you dawdle.

Final Score: 8.8
I would love to see Rolling Thunder make a comeback. Even for the 80's the framerate was so smooth, the characters were large and looked good, they moved fast, acted fast, and the spy music set the tone of this game. The core game is easy to pick up and play being simple in concept, the twitch game play is absolutely perfect at risk and reward style moves, and wicked difficulty that never makes the game seem unfun would make this a cult classic even in today's games.
Rollling Thunder is a great arcade game. It was ported to various other systems, but due to limitations of technology at the time, some versions were grossly inferior. I chose to review the original. But this 80's classic hasn't seen the love it should get. Why didn't this become a franchise? The framerate is quick, the pace often bit frantic, and the penalties for error often your life. In this game that is!

The premise is a rescue mission, with a James Bond feel. A female agent of your group has been caught infiltrating Geldra, a shadowy group doing bizarre experiments. This agent is one of your best, and you are going in to rescue her, which unfortunately for you, means less stealth and more kill all the creepy hooded guys in the stages. The many floors of the Geldra building don't feature things like windows, but tons and tons of doors. These doors do not lead to other screens. None of them do. The concept sounds crazy, I admit. You can go in the doors to temporarily hide from enemies, or more common, go in marked doors for more bullets or upgrades for a machine pistol. The enemies often also come out of these doors, so the very things that provide you a layer of defense also bring your attackers.

Geldra's experiments might be on the human body, as you run into some really strange foes during Rolling Thunder. The common enemies are dressed head to toe in colored outfits with a conical hood - the color of the outfit tells you their tactics and weapons. Yet they may not be human, as they walk like men, but melt into nothing when dead. What are these guys - you can't see exposed bit under their outfits? Other enemies stretch into science gone wrong - such as yellow mutant men who die in a quick flash of blue smoke. Shadow figures that blend perfectly in with the background, its a tall order to fight so many opponents at once Fortunately, the benefit the foe gets is their sheer numbers, they die quickly, in one or two shots.

And what of our hero? While he is doing the job all by himself, his limitations are present. Despite a life bar, he will usually die in two hits (if an enemy bumps into you) , a single shot will kill him. He is a champion jumper, able to reach second stories in a level quickly and effortlessly. He can only shoot ducking and standing, not straight up, or while he's jumping. His ability to trascend to a second horizontal level is again a form of defense and offense, as some enemies will cluster on the bottom, and some enemies on the top floor will throw boms down at you. Alternating between upper and lower floor combat is a key to winning, as is well timed jumps and taking advantage of terrian like tires and pillars to make sniping shots from. While his gun doesn't completely run out of ammo, the more bullets you can spray, the better off of course you will be.


Graphics: 8
The characters are large, their movements are fluid. Its some of the best early animation I've seen. Namco did a great job with this. The bad guys even have small twitch movements they will perform sometimes, looking around, moving their hands, it makes them seem more lifelike - before you see them melt into nothing like the creepy clones they (probably) are!
The stages are diverse, but not particularly impressive in their emptiness. Rows of wooden doors; metal doors, some large obstacles like boxes, stacks of tires, some construction looking areas, caves (in a building??), some factory type levels. I really wanted to see some evil mastermind training rooms or dangerous labs or something to really give it that enemy lair, superspy feel.

Sound: 8
The soundtrack sounds like spy music, and fits the game perfectly. The beginning stage's 6 key bass intro is almost sounds influenced by the first notes to Peter Gunn (private eye tv show). Retro games might be familiar with Spy Hunter (another famous arcade game with a good sountrack) but its hard to describe in any more detail how this OST meets this game so well. The sound effects, on the other hand, are not so great. The gun firing sound is fairly canned and weak sounding, the "NYAH" of the enemy deaths is pretty funny the first dozen times, then it gets a bit distracting. There is only one footstep sound when our hero lands a jump, and that seems pretty unrealistic. What is he doing a perfect gymnastics routine too?

Gameplay: 9
Solid, tight control. You jump, you duck and you shoot fast, just like your enemies. What would seem to be a disadvantage, hopping between floors, is done within a second, super quick, up or down, many times as you like. there are quite a few situations where you need to stand over ledges and hit enemies ahead, or move back a few steps before performing a jump onto close platforms over deadly lava or the like, and will take a bit to master.

Addictiveness: 8
This game is so fun. Even when you lose. You die, you come back fast, often at the start or middle of a level, and you learn from your mistakes. Its pure twitch play, you're moving along at such a brisk pace when you die, its nothing to get right back into this game. Theres almost no downtime, and if you need a breather, the doors are there.


Story: 5
I am almost tempted to give it less. There are, however, cut scenes between levels that show you the heroine being abducted, then tortured. Its all rather trashy, and I feel sorry the female character is represented so poorly. However, it does advance that time is passing, and you best get your hurry on. You don't quite find out what Geldra really was up to, but at least you get to take on their boss at the end. So there is closure.

Depth: 6
The fast gun play and jumping make this game one about hitting and moving. You will have to learn where enemies come out, especially the more difficult, jumping ones like the panthers. It plays simple, shoot, duck, jump. But it does it so well, and without unnecessary frills. I love it.

Difficulty : 9
Rolling Thunder is hard. Old-school hard. Some enemies re-spawn, and it just throws everything at you sometimes. Arcade games were designed to take your money, and to beat it you have to master fast reflexes, jump timing, and memorization of where your enemies will come out. After so many deaths on a level, you might fire a shot or two and start walking, knowing any moment an enemy will appear from the right edge and take those bullets. Sometimes the platforming involves people attacking you, and when one hit can mean life or death, theres no room for error, or pausing. Its best not to hesitate, as the enemies will gang up on you if you dawdle.

Final Score: 8.8
I would love to see Rolling Thunder make a comeback. Even for the 80's the framerate was so smooth, the characters were large and looked good, they moved fast, acted fast, and the spy music set the tone of this game. The core game is easy to pick up and play being simple in concept, the twitch game play is absolutely perfect at risk and reward style moves, and wicked difficulty that never makes the game seem unfun would make this a cult classic even in today's games.
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02-08-15 12:55 PM
FaithFighter is Offline
| ID: 1135407 | 37 Words

FaithFighter
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POSTS: 651/1208
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LVL EXP: 2508839
CP: 10750.4
VIZ: 26175

Likes: 0  Dislikes: 0
endings : I liked your review. Never saw such a long review for an arcade game. Great detail! I played this game before but never really got into it. I guess I only like shooting creatures and robots!
endings : I liked your review. Never saw such a long review for an arcade game. Great detail! I played this game before but never really got into it. I guess I only like shooting creatures and robots!
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I am the FaithFighter. I stand. I fight. I live. By the Grace of GOD, I live.


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