General Chaos (Genesis) (Electronic Arts, Inc.) (1993)

Another game I liked when I was younger was General Chaos.


It's a game about two rival generals (named Chaos & Havoc,hence the title) who wants to see who's better at commanding and the only way to decide who's the better general is to fight it over the battlefield.

The battlefield


What's cool about the map part is that you can choose your war front. You can choose to go north, south or up the gut and this is a unique mechanic in the game because you can actually lose a battle and the game doesn't end. You see the only way to win the game is to capture the capital city of your enemy. So basically, in General Chaos you can having turning points of the war, you can push forwards 2 land pieces after 2 consecutive battles then get pushed back 1 after a loss.

Changing the tides of war

Another cool thing is that you can choose one of 4 different teams of soldiers to play as on the battlefield. Each soldier carries their own weapon. The 5 soldier weapons is a rocket(best), flame thrower, machine gun, grenade, dynamite(useless).

choose your squad

Now that we are finally on the battlefield you'll notice the game is an action game with RTS controls. Yes, the one bad thing you can say about this game is that the controls take some getting used to. I admit I've used to beat the hell out of this game when I was younger and just played it now to take these screens and I was getting my ass handed to me at first. I eventually got the hang of it and started to win some battles, so yeah this game has a small learning curve to get a hang of the controls. You'd also be better off getting a second player to join your team. That's right General Chaos has team co-op up to 4 players(if you can find that many retro gamer enthusiasts in your vicinity who happen to like unpraised games with complicated controls)

Anyway, in conclusion this game has a lot going for it. Fistfights, blowing open safes,Medics, scorching humans to a crisp, blowing up enemies with a rocket, watching as your enemies flamethrower guy pops out of water only to shoot water bubbles from his gun, mission objectives(protect or destroy trucks,etc.) varying battle locales(ex. deserts, swamps). Sure war is hell, but this game proves it can be humorous too.
Reality Check (some of the humor to be found in the game)

Those Other Gaming related topics

In this blog of mine, I would also like to address issues in the gaming world that most places don't seem to touch upon. Everyone in the blogosphere (shudders at word) wrote about Gamespot being bought by corporate sponsors( google Gertsmanngate for those out of the loop) but no one really talks about the shittiness of gamefaqs messageboards. Well, hopefully I can address some of my feelings on some issues which are usually ignored or that catch my interest and seem to be under the radar.

On a second note, I would also like to introduce blog reviews of games that seem to get battered by critics (for humor purposes or not) and show that maybe there not as bad as you've been misled to believe(liked that little play on words eh? no, oh well :). Stay refreshed. Later.

Jackal (NES) (Konami) (1988)

Now growing up as a kid, (what else are you going to be when growing up -ed) one of my favorite NES games was Jackal.



The storyline has you in your army jeep going behind enemy lines to rescue captured POW soldiers. You get a birds eye view of the action as you tear up enemy squadrons of tanks and gun emplacements(turrets) with grenades which you can eventually power up to 4 way missiles. What's cool in this game is that you can actually squash foot soldiers. It's got to be the most gratifying feeling on the earth to smoosh one of those little bastards. (Okay, maybe not 1st, but a close third after getting pussy and revenge - 2pac)

i think i hit a pothole, fuck it keep going!

Actually, I lied about the point of the game It seems that you can choose to either pick up or abandon the POWs in their bamboo prisons. So it seems you can beat the game without actually completing your original focus of your missions. Now if that isn't bad ass I don't know what is.

what do think this is a taxi service?

I don't know what else there is to say. I mean destructible enviroments, memorable boss encounters(anyone who has played this always remembers the missile shooting statue heads), running over people, 2 player co-op, and most importantly this game is actually realistically beatable in one sitting. (I'm looking at you Kid Chameleon) So in conclusion, play this game.

yeah, you remember this.

What this blog is about.

Have you ever heard of Mario? Sonic? Zelda? Halo? Unless you've been hiding out with Osama Bin Laden you've most likely heard of these titles/series. But, have you ever heard of Jackal, Gain Ground, or Top Shop? Maybe, if you're into under rated games like me or you got it as a present from your aunt who knows you like those "Nintendo games" while handing you a disc of Roscoe McQueen Firefighter Extreme that she found at Walmart on clearance but I digress, the answer for most people would be no. You see these are those other games. The ones who are worth playing but for some reason are usually under the radar, swept under the rug, put away in your basement to collect dust and to be forgotten forever. Well, I hope this blog will help dust some cobwebs of these lesser known gems.