Hi everybody!

Hi Dr. Nick!

Welcome to a new series of blogs I'll be doing, Retro Roundup. Each week, I'll go through some retro games from N64 backward, giving short little reviews and impressions on each one. I know a lot of people are getting into retro games again (or some who've never moved on wootex) so I figured it might be an interesting blog series to run through a few old games and tell you if they're worth buying or not. With any luck, this will be a weekly series, coming to you (lucky you) each Friday, since I have Fridays off of school from now on. This will depend largely on the feedback I get, though, so let me know if you likey :D

So here's how each review will go:

Name of game

Quick summary

Fun factor

Fun factor will be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 mullets, 1 mullet means the game is as terrible as this guy's mullet:

While five mullets means the game is as rad as this guy:

Length of Game

This will be given a rating of either "Longer that GabuEx's hair" or "Pick up and play"

Visuals

Will be rated as "Charming," "still hold up decently," and "bleed mah eyez!"

Yay or Nay?

Should you buy this game? Takes price into consideration.

Each week will also have a different guest, adding color commentary when needed.

Ok, lets shut up and rock. It is now my honor to present to you, Retro Roundup Number 1 Starring Karl Malone

Rayman 2: The Great Escape

Platforms: PC, N64, PS, DC, DS and PS2 remake

Summary: Robot pirates from outerspace invade your world. You must collect 1000 Lums (basically little fairy thingys) in order to reunite four magical masks, which in turn will awaken Polokus, the worlds spirit.

Fun Factor: Rayman 2 takes conventional platformer controls and greatly simplifies them, leaving pure platforming goodness concentrate. The controls may be simple, but Rayman shows that you can still have great, deep platforming without a million different types of jumps. You have your standard jump/double jump, grab on to vines, jump up between two rock walls, and a not so standard ear-copter glide thingy. The levels are great and ooze with well thought out platforming. There are also enemies that must be defeated, which is accomplished by locking on to your target and mashing on the fire button. This is definitely the weakest point of the game, but thankfully doesn't play a very large role at all. The game is also very varied in it's mission structure. One mission may have you doing standard run and jump platforming, but in the next you'll be jet skiiing through a swamp, hanging on to the bowtie of a Loch Ness type monster. I should note that the DS version plays significantly worse, and is definitely the version to avoid. 5/5 mullets

Length: Rayman 2 should take you anywhere from 15 to 20 hours to complete, which seems just about right for a platformer. "Longer than GabuEx's hair"

Visuals: Depending on what platform you're playing on, the graphics in this game can be amazing. The DC, PC, PS2, and N64 versions all use amazing colors and art direction to leave us with one outstanding looking platformer. The PS version is a tad more blocky and jaggy, but still looks decent. The DS version is definitely the worst. Jaggy visuals, low res environments, and muddy, faded colors make this the version to stay away from. "Still hold up well today" and "Charming"

Yay or Nay: Definitely Yay, as long as you don't buy the DS version. You should be able to get this for around $10 on any platform, so it's most definitely worth picking up. "Yay"

Karl Malone verdict: This game is like myself, Karl "The Mailman" Malone, it always delivers.

That's it for this week. If you guys enjoyed this and would like to see future installments, leave a comment or PM me. If it's successful, I'll post again next week, but I'll feature more than one game at a time next time.

Thanks for reading

-zelda450