Games that deserve more appreciation

[JazzFunk]

I was playing Truxton 2 the other day -- and the graphics are still really impressive. The sprite work is excellent.

I remember wanting an 'FM Towns Marty' just for this game. The screenshots looked...

Truxton is pure Toaplan. Chunky, solid, fun at a cool, cool pace. Rubberised sonics, again chunky. It's a chunky, chunky monkey, a big, fat gaming nugget. A fatberg of a game.

The only time I've played 2 was on a modded OGXB I got in November 2013 off a bloke in Huddersfield. It was (obviously) another brilliant game.

Sadly, only about six days later I managed to delete Osman by accident and somehow this fuct the firmware, eventually bricking it after a couple of bootups.

Gutted, I was. Absolutely, stinkingly gutted. That Xbox had EVERYTHING on it, even Mars Matrix.

[Leon Retro]

Truxton is pure Toaplan. Chunky, solid, fun at a cool, cool pace. Rubberised sonics, again chunky. It's a chunky, chunky monkey, a big, fat gaming nugget. A fatberg of a game.

I love your appraisals. The sort of enthusiasm that makes me want to buy/play games. Much better than the sterile bollocks most modern journos spout. I stopped reading EDGE last decade because it made me feel.....

Gutted, I was. Absolutely, stinkingly gutted. That Xbox had EVERYTHING on it, even Mars Matrix.

That's such a shame. Especially now that fully loaded Xbox machines go for over £50, when they were £20 a few years ago. You should look out for a bargain, because the Xbox is really good at running loads of retro stuff.

[QualityChimp]

Agreed!

I want to check if it's on my Xbox now!

[Zaki]

I was playing Truxton 2 the other day -- and the graphics are still really impressive. The sprite work is excellent.

I remember wanting an 'FM Towns Marty' just for this game. The screenshots looked...

I can barely get to stage 3 on Truxton 2! This game is brutal! The music always makes me come back for a second beating though.

[Leon Retro]

The music always makes me come back for a second beating though.

Excellent tunes.

[Hirst]

I haven't played Truxton 2, but I very much like the original!

Anyway, in accordance with The Tatsujin/Truxton Skull Bomb Thing Act (1988), we've mentioned the game so we're legally obliged to post up a photo of skull thing from when you use your bomb.



It's the law.

[Atticus]

Not very retro but Dead Rising 3 deserves a mention. To me it's still the Xbox One's best exclusive. And it's a game I always go back to because it's so much fun. Dark yet light-hearted ... hardcore play modes or casual, or somewhere in between. The city looked amazing, the characters were memorable. I love it.

It was also my one and only dabble with the Smart Glass app too ... which well and truly amazed me when my real-life phone rang during a game and it was some angry sheriff or something ... brilliant touch.

Back when the Xbox One and PS4 were newly out a mate asked me which one he should buy and I recommended the Xbox based purely on this game.

[QualityChimp]

I loved DR1 and playing DR2:OTR with [MENTION=4877]k0pp0[/MENTION] had me crying with laughter, but not having a One at launch means I missed DR3 and I've stopped following the series.

[Dogg Thang]

Is it me or does Truxton sound like some very grey area of some forgotten UK city? A few flats. A couple of bus stops. A bunch of closed shops with one Indian and a newsagents being the only things still open. That's Truxton, right?

[vanpeebles]

My main memory of DR is driving the car in a loop underground to farm kills.

[vanpeebles]

Is it me or does Truxton sound like some very grey area of some forgotten UK city? A few flats. A couple of bus stops. A bunch of closed shops with one Indian and a newsagents being the only things still open. That's Truxton, right?

Thruxton

[Hirst]

I've thought of a few to add!

Mass Destruction (NMS Software) PC/Saturn/PS1
I know a few of us gave this some respect back in the day. Basically, you control a tank and go round a map following objectives (usually blow things up). It feels a little bit like Desert Strike etc. Far more action-orientated and exaggerated though, with huge explosions and screen-filling weapons. The flamethrower in particular looks great, especially on the Saturn version where weapons reflect over rivers. Top music too. Just a whole lot of fun, but rarely mentioned today.

Blast Chamber (Attention To Detail) Saturn/PS1
Hard to describe - it's kind of an action puzzler where you're in a rotating maze controlling a man with a time bomb attached to him. This is good in its own right, but multiplayer is where the meat of the game is - it becomes a 4-person game of reverse tig, sort of. You all have bombs counting down but there's a crystal you can hold to halt the timer. You have to hold onto this while everyone else wants to grab it off you. Really frantic!

Tech Romancer (Capcom) Dreamcast
I say Dreamcast but it's an arcade port of a fighting game, however it has been considerably fleshed-out with an enormous amount of content - branching storylines, stuff to unlock, even VMU games. It's basically a one-on-one 3D fighter with giant mechs done as a loving homage to many old TV shows, with the stories varying from goofy to serious. The fighting isn't enormously technical so it's not really Street Fighter with robots, but it's such a brilliantly over-the-top experience. I sunk loads of time into this back in the day and I'm not even a huge fighting game fan. Probably overlooked due to daft name and Friday afternoon PAL boxart.

I'll have to think up a few more.

[QualityChimp]

Thruxton

->Open Spoiler<-

[vanpeebles]

I was thinking more of the race track

[samanosuke]

I was thinking more of the race track

It always made me think of the Triumph Thruxton. I didn’t even know there was a race track :/