Game.com? Game.crap?

[Atarinvader]

I've just aquired a Game.com this morning and I've been looking about for stuff about it. I've noticed that there are some stunning titles: Sonic Jam, Resident Evil 2, Fighters Megamix, Duke Nukem....bla bla bla. I had no idea.

 

But, I've also read reviews that the game.com is a crock of shite, I know you should never take everything you read as gosple - look at the crap we put on atarinvader.com - so is this platform worth me investing cash on? Surely RE2 and Sonic Jam can't be bad games...can they? and what about the modem?

[ubersaurus]

Sonic Jam blows much ass. Resident Evil is decent though.

[ubersaurus]

Sonic Jam blows much ass. Resident Evil is decent though.

[Rhindle The Red]

As the proud (?)), I can tell you there are a few gems amongst the pile of coal that spewed forth from Tiger.

 

Must Haves

Frogger

Scrabble

 

OK

Duke Nukem 3D

Lights Out

Monopoly

Resident Evil 2

Wheel of Fortune 1/2

 

Not Horrid (but not really good, either)

Centipede

Henry

Jeopardy!

Quiz Wiz

Tiger Casino

 

Crap (avoid like the plague, unless you're a completist

Batman & Robin

Fighters Megamix

Indy 500

Lost World: Jurassic Park

Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Sonic Jam

Williams Arcade Classics

 

 

The main problem with the game.com is its horrible refresh rate and slow processing speed. It makes games that could otherwise be good unplayable.

 

This is why it excels at puzzle and board games. These are not critical issues in those instances.

 

Also, I hope you got one with a built in light. Without one the screen is harder to see than any other handheld.

 

I'm not blind. I can see he's not here. But when he does get here, send him in here.

[Atarinvader]

I don't have the back lit version, just the standard one.

 

BTW Wheel of Fortune 2 is on eBay.co.uk right now, or rather as a lot.

 

So how does RE2 work? A bit like RE: Gaiden for GBC?

[Rhindle The Red]

I don't have the back lit version, just the standard one.

The Pocket Pro, or the original two-cartridge-slot one? I always liked the two-slotter, but the light sold me on the Pocket Pro. The light, btw, isn't really a backlight, it's kind of like the Afterburner for GBA: strips of lights down the side that illuminate the screen. Not a backlight, but it does help.

 

BTW Wheel of Fortune 2 is on eBay.co.uk right now, or rather as a lot.

Yeah, there are a lot of places I could get it from if I was really nuts about completing the collection. It's just one of those things I always mean to get to, but never seem to.

 

So how does RE2 work? A bit like RE: Gaiden for GBC?

I'll just give you this link: http://pocket.ign.com/articles/161/161169p1.html. It's IGNpocket's review. I'd score it a bit higher, but the issues addressed are ones I agree with.

 

If you've got the game.com already, I'd get this game, if only for the novelty.

 

Sheila, youre a fool. I'm the one that creates ghosts around here.

[Atarinvader]

The pocket pro never got a release here unfortunately so I have the two slot version. I think I'm going to try and hunt down Resident Evil 2 and Sonic Jam for novelty value, and maybe Williams Arcade Classics. You don't have any spare do you Rhindle?

 

Oh and is this thing discontinued completely? I know Tiger do still sell them, but are there anyone making games for the platform still?

[davidbrit2]

I've never figured out the frame rate problems with the Game.com. Most games run at about 4 or 5 fps at most, but some, like Mortal Kombat, have no problem refreshing the screen at a reasonable speed. I guess Tiger threw together a sloppy, poorly optimized development kit that focused more on ease of use than quality of output.

 

And only one PCM sound channel? I wonder if Tiger noticed that most modern video game systems are capable of playing background music and sound effects simultaneously.

 

I'm surprised Tiger didn't get themselves screwed in class action lawsuits over the Game.com. There were TONS of promises that fell through after the release. The Internet kit was pathetic. It was basically a cartridge based terminal emulator that required using a shell account to browse the web. Assuming you could even find an ISP that will give you a shell account, I can't imagine anyone that would want to use Lynx on a tiny LCD screen using a control pad and buttons for text entry. Tiger was also notorious for faking screenshots and leveraging them for market hype. Preliminary screen shots from Sonic Jam distinctly showed pictures of Sonic 3D Blast. There were plenty of "screen shots" of games that were just flat out never released, too: Turok, Command and Conquer Red Alert, Castlevania Symphony of the Night... I highly doubt these games had even begun being developed. I know games get cancelled occasionally, but this almost seems more like it borders on consumer fraud.

[Adrian M]

They used to have these set up as demo display units when they were first released and about the only game I ever played was the built-in solitaire. Even on a simple game like solitaire, there was evidence of MAJOR screen blurring. I knew right away that all games would be affected by this problem and I stayed far away from game.com.