Retro Review: Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow

Today's game I would like to review is "Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow" for the SNES system. A game created by Disney Interactive and stars Donald Duck as the leading protagonist in this platformer.

• The story starts off with the "Medium-boiled" detective Maui Mallard investigating the whereabouts of a missing idol that belongs to the local tribe of the island. If he doesn't find the idol in time, the island explodes. The first level involves exploring a mansion full of spiders, ghosts, and creepy butlers. The only weapon at your disposal is a gun that shoots different variety of bugs. While you run through the stage, you collect any gold and jewelry you find laying around; they help you get to the bonus round and unlock your password. Four or five stages later, you meet up with a giant mechanical spider. You'd think after all that, it would be over. No, that's only the beginning.

• Shooting things with a buggun can be fun, but that would get old rather fast. So how do you spice it up? Turn yourself into a ninja of course! When the second level comes about, you are given the ability to turn from a Hawaiian shirt-wearing detective into a badass blindfolded ninja with a staff thanks to the Yin/yang power tokens. Abilities include close-range combat, narrow tunnel climbing, hiding yourself in your staff by ducking, and swinging. As soon as you turn into a ninja, however, you also meet up with the witch doctor who stole the idol. He, I assume, takes major portions of your ninja coolness and sends them all over the island to hamper with your progress. After the second level, you will be given the ability to switch from your ninja self, aka Cold Shadow, to your normal self at will. Which is a good thing since some level will require you to be Maui Mallard in order to progress.

• Graphic for the game were surprisingly high-grade compared to most SNES games. Little details like feathers being scattered after getting sucked into a bookcase and awesome background images made the difference compared to games like paperboy or Batman Forever. Not to mention the animation and style of art what gave this game life of it's own. Plus the music played in the game is simply made of awesome. If I could, I'd make it my ringtone.

There had been talk in the past that Disney once thought of making the game into a TV series. I am unable to confirm if this is right or not, but it would have been a colossal series to watch.

• If you ever get the chance, I recommend playing this game. It's not often a game like this comes about.

Retro Review: ESWAT: City Under Siege

This was one good game, it reminds me the first time I ever played games and kept on going. It's probably reason I play action games like this. It was definitely a game to remember like Sonic or Earthworm Jim. I can still remember the last time I played it, it was a time to remember and beating it was also good. It gave me the satisfaction I wanted when I finally beat it. Games are made to forget your world around you and become part of the action you forget over the years. That's one of the reasons why I play this game.

The game is a sidescrolling platformer where the player controls a police officer in the future who over a series of levels turns into the cyborg ESWAT. As a member of the Cyber Police force in the city of Liberty, your job is to clear the streets of crime, terminate the criminals and put them behind bars. In the first and second levels of the game, the player can only utilize a single shot weapon. After getting the suit in the third level, the player can use Super Shot, Plasma Rifle, Rockets, and a Fire Attack that destroys anything on screen. ESWAT also could use a jet pack with limited fuel that replenishes over time.