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60 |
Starcraft 64 |  |
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| Take Command and Conquer, build on it with more options, better graphics, a higher emphasis on story, and more tactical polish with three very different, very balanced factions to choose from, and you get Starcraft. The game is a real time strategy where you have to mine minerals for cash and then use it to build up your base and army, with the ultimate goal of defeating your opponents. Starcraft was a highly respected, beloved title on the PC. This N64 port (the only console version the game received) is good, but like most RTS console ports suffers from the lack of mouse and keyboard controls. It does however include a pretty cool 2-player split screen mode, and the additional Brood War Expansion. If the game was cheaper I'd wholeheartedly recommend it for all strategy fans, but unfortunately this sells for quite a bit so to be honest its probably one for die-hard N64 fans only. | |||||
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59 |
NBA Courtside 2 |  |
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| This is a Nintendo published Basketball game that was known back at the time for its advanced computer AI and high resolution graphics. The game is fun, polished, has a lot of moves and options, and looks great. A worthy addition to any sports fan's library. | |||||
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58 |
Mario Party |  |
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| Multiplayer focused collection of mini-games held together by a board-game styled map. The aim here is to navigate the map trying to collect stars, other stars are awarded at the end of the game for players who win the most mini-games, or fulfill other various objectives. With a bunch of friends joining in the Mario Party series is a lot of fun, and good for wasting inordinate amounts of time. The mini-games are varied and entertaining, and there are a lot of other quirks to keep the competition fierce and close. Single-player is a dire borefest so only grab the game if you think you can get multiple players together, each of the games in the series are barely any different to the last (even to this day) so pick up whichever you find that's cheapest. | |||||
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57 |
Quake II |  |
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| Fast, action packed first person shooter sequel to the original Quake. Big guns, gore, and grotesque monsters are the order of the day here, with you blasting your way across alien worlds, bases, and space stations. Quake II on the N64 is not actually strictly a port of the PC game, like Forsaken 64 its more of a new game made by re-mixing stages of the original, so there's a lot of familiar content here but the area layouts are different (and are now distinct, separate levels), on top of that GoldenEye-style level objectives had been added in. Overall the game is admittedly a little dated, with the aiming feeling a little imprecise at times, but there's a lot of good stuff here, and the 4-player deathmatch is also of a high quality. | |||||
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56 |
Worms Armageddon |  |
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| Turn-based strategy game where the aim is to use your team of worms to wipe out all the other teams on the map using a variety of wacky weapons. The game is on just about every system out there, and is quite rightly considered a multiplayer classic. This is a good version that's well worth picking up, but I can't really fully recommend the game to US fans unless its found cheap, as its simply not worth the ludicrous prices it sadly sells for these days. | |||||
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55 |
Top Gear Rally 2 |  |
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| This is only a sequel to the first game in name only, its actually made by a completely different company and has a very different gameplay style and atmosphere, focusing more on realistic graphics and effects, and damage & repair elements. Its an excellent sim(ish) rally racing game with good controls, a great feel, a lot of content, and some fun and fluid sliding action. | |||||
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54 |
Operation Winback |  |
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| Operation Winback is a 3rd person shooting game similar in some respects to Syphon Filter, but with a lot of stealthy Metal Gear Solid style elements that give it more of an espionage feel (going out all guns blazing like you would in something like Syphon Filter will get you killed, fast). The game actually introduced some fundamental gameplay mechanics to the genre, such as the ability to take cover behind any object (which has become a staple of 3rd person shooters), and is somewhat un-appreciated, but its not without its flaws (mainly its difficulty curve). Still, it provides an excellent adventure, with an above average plot, lots of action, and some well-ahead-of-their-time controls. | |||||
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53 |
Mystical Ninja 64 |  |
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| An awesome 3D action adventure game starring one of Konami's fan favourite characters, Goemon. Mystical Ninja has you exploring Goemon's world, navigating its overworld, and beating its dungeons to pick up new abilities required to proceed in your quest. Its the sort of thing you expect from a 3D action adventure game really, except with tons of surreal, wacky humour (the main antagonist's evil plan is to turn everyone in Japan into dancers!), and the odd stage here and there where you jump into a huge mech (which has its own introductory song!). The gameplay here has a lot of focus on platforming and melee combat, so its a little more action oriented than, say, the Zelda games. Overall its a totally mad, fun, and accessible adventure outing, and those who love wacky nonsensical Japanese humour should definitely check the game out. | |||||
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52 |
Roadsters |  |
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| This is a very nice arcade style racer with a well judged difficulty curve, and nice colourful environments with jaw-dropping visuals filled with lots of detail and small touches. The game gives you good, arcade style control, memorable courses, and other features such as differing weather conditions, pit stops, and tuning options. Its generally a sunny, lightweight, enjoyable game which looks great and is fun to play. This is by far the best version of the game out there, even the Dreamcast version managed to be inferior! with many bugs, graphical tradeoffs, and a general unfinished feeling bringing that particular version down a lot. | |||||
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51 |
Turok: Rage Wars |  |
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| Rage Wars is basically a mixture of Turok 2 and the then popular arena based fps games of the time such as Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. There's no real story mode involved here, the game is completely focused on deathmatch play whether its being experienced in singleplayer or multi, with the aim simply being to navigate the maps killing everything in sight. There are a lot of advantages to doing it this way, the main of which is the fact that the framerate and graphics here are polished to perfection on multiplayer mode, and that the developers were given the time to focus on crafting interesting levels filled with places to hide and take people by surprise. Outside of the two main modes there are some co-op options, and a nice variety of extra game types. As a multiplayer FPS this is easily the main competition for Rareware's incredible releases on the N64, with Rage Wars admirably managing to hold its own. | |||||
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