Clockwork Knight - Sega Saturn

Clockwork Knight is one of those games that I've owned for well over a decade and have probably never played, or if I have played it it's for maybe a couple of minutes. Want to know how I know this? Because you can beat this game in about an hour. Maybe a little bit longer if you play it on a harder level.

I'm going to get this out of the way: I'm not a huge fan of platformers. Sure, there are quite a few that I really like but for the most part I don't really enjoy them. For every Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog there's about 100 platformers that don't control well, are difficult because they're way too short or just because of gameplay problems, or have a level that involves ice and moving platforms... you get the idea. I guess the thing is, when platformers are done well I don't mind them, but for the most part? They're just not done very well. They seem like the kind of games that are made to be made. Want a movie tie in? Platformer. Want to make some kind of shovelware game? Platformer. Want to make a kids game? Platformer. I don't think it's the genres fault that it has a lot of bad games to its name. It really just seems like developers tend to use the genre to occasionally make a quick buck.

So what category does Clockwork Knight fall into? Kind of in the middle. It's controls were okay, but not great. They felt kind of stiff. You would look at a jump you needed to make and wonder if you could because Pepper the Knight just doesn't control really how you want him to. Clockwork Knight was okay, but completely forgettable. About the only thing it had going for it was it's somewhat unique atmosphere as well as some pretty good cutscenes with some decent original songs.

One thing Clockwork Knight had against it was that it was incredibly short. I started playing it late the other night figuring I would get a couple levels in before bed. The first problem with this plan was that there are no save games, passwords, anything to save your progress. Annoying, but it didn't really matter because there was a cheat that would allow you to warp to any level. The next day I boot up Clockwork Knight, input the code, and that's when I realize that the level I stopped playing at the night before was in fact the last level of the game. If I had continued on for about fifteen minutes I would have beat the game. I would say that you could easily beat the game in under an hour if you were even somewhat decent at it.

Here's the problem, I don't know if I should dock points for that. I really enjoy Contra but I can easily beat that in under a half hour. The original Super Mario Brothers is a pretty short game... on the other hand Super Mario World is actually a pretty long game, so are a bunch of other platformers. There doesn't seem to be a set length when it comes to the platformer genre. If I bought an RPG and could beat it in an hour I'd think it's too short, hell even five hours might irk me... but platformers seem to be able to get away with it. Either way, here's letting you know that if you do play Clockwork Knight, don't expect a lot of time or replayability out of it.

Clockwork Knight just comes off as a mediocre kind of game. Nothing really stands out about it, and the few things that aren't too bad are kind of deflated by it's length and control issues. Maybe I did play this game when I first got it, maybe Clockwork Knight is just that forgettable. It's not a horrible game by any means, but it's also not what I would consider good. Clockwork Knight sits in the middle, somewhere between good and bad... and sadly, that's the best thing I can think to say about the game.

Squid.

Myst - Review

I mentioned that I think the reason that I had never finished Myst is because I played it when I was too young. Having now beat Myst I can say that I was 100% correct in thinking that.

I'm split on how I should feel about Myst. On one hand I thought it was a fun game that made me think and was also very interesting. On the other hand I had a hard time with the pacing and I felt that the game was extremely counter intuitive.

Myst is different than any game you've probably ever played before. There are no bad guys, there are not time limits, there really are no rules, no one tells you where to go, no one tells you what to do, and there's a total of three characters in the entire game. You're pretty much just plopped down into a world and you decide what you do next. Which I greatly enjoyed, I like non-linear games. Though with Myst I really wish it had given me at least a little direction. For the first 30 minutes I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I basically wandered around the island wondering what the hell I was supposed to be doing, which can get frustrating at times.

It took a while to finally figure out what I needed to do, but than I ran into a problem when I tried to do it. Myst is full of puzzles. Throughout the game you're going to be solving all sorts of puzzles. Which is okay, puzzles in games that should have puzzles are great. Except with Myst I felt like I was missing about 20% of the information I needed to solve most the puzzles. Don't get me wrong not every puzzle had me stumped, but there were quite a few that I had to give up on and go check a walkthrough to see how to finish them... and even once I knew that answer a lot of the time I still wasn't sure how they arrived at it. It's things like that which got on my nerves. Myst puzzles occasionally feel like a connect the dots only half the dots are missing and you're just not sure how to complete it.

Let me give an example: In one puzzle you're supposed to put exactly 59 volts of power into a rocket, you do this by clicking on ten different buttons. Each button will add X amount of volts to power the rocket. There's two screens, one that shows the amount of volts currently and one that shows the amount of volts going to the rocket, well if you go over 59 volts all of the sudden the screen telling you the amount of volts going to rocket goes blank. I had no idea how to fix it, finally I checked a walkthrough and apparently I tripped a circuit breaker and I had to go fix it. Not only did I not know that, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to know that.

Despite the fact that occasionally I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do and was often somewhat confused by the puzzles I still enjoyed playing Myst. It does a good job immersing you in it's story and the visuals and sound/music are all very interesting (even though the visuals are dated). I had a good time playing it, and can understand why it's as popular as it is. It was interesting to play a video game that I don't think I could actually compare to any other video game I have ever played. If you haven't played it before I would suggest giving it a shot some time even if it's just with a walkthrough in hand.

Squid.

How to Replace a Sega Saturn Battery

Recently I went to play my Sega Saturn only to realize that the battery was dead. How do you know if you're battery is dead? Well if every time you start it you have to enter in your language and set the time, you have yourself a dead battery. What exactly does that mean? It means you can't save your games. You can still play them, but the instant you turn off your console all yous saves are erased. Luckily to replace your Sega Saturn battery is very easy and cheap fix. First thing you need to do is unplug your Sega Saturn and turn it around so you're looking at the backside of it.



So now you're looking at the back of the Saturn. There's a little panel that you can remove it says open and has a little arrow.



Now you open that up and you'll see a battery.



So now you need to remove this battery, it's actually pretty simple. Just pry it up with your fingernail and little bit of pressure. Now that you've popped the battery out you're ready to put in a new one. What you need is a 2032 3V battery. Don't worry, these aren't hard to find. Just hop on down to Target or Walmart and find their batteries in the electronics department. Buy something that looks like this, doesn't have to be this brand just as long as it's a 2032 3V battery:



I bought a two pack for $6 at Target. Take it home and replace the battery you took out and your Saturn should be as good as new. Simple and cheap fix.

Squid.

Myst - Sega Saturn

Originally I was going to play something on Sega Genesis but as it's currently out of commission I decided to plug in the ol' Sega Saturn.

Myst was a game that I think I got when I was too young, it didn't have explosions or fast pacing and I think I was just too young to appreciate it. I've played Myst before but never for any amount of time. I figure it's about time that I sit down and beat the game that was the best selling PC game for almost a decade before The Sims took it's throne. Follow me on twitter for more updates as I play through Myst.

Squid.