Illarterate.co.uk » Video games

Replay Expo 2011, Blackpool: An illuminating experience [Vlog]

Illarterate — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:57:56 +0000

Harry Yack takes a trip to the home of donkeys, expensive lighting and billions of bed and breakfasts. No time for sausage ‘n’ chips or walks along the promenade, however, as the 2011 Replay retro video game type thingy was also taking place just down the road at Norbreck Castle.

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Super Mario Bros. [NES] video game review

Illarterate — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:52:14 +0000

Well, this isn’t a proper ‘review’ as such, but an exercise in taking video games far too seriously.

Critical piece discussing the fungus fancier’s first console outing, chronicling the conception, controversies and downright LSD-fuelled insanity of Brooklyn’s most prominent pudgy pipe plunger. Nah, not really. I just reiterate the really obvious, half-humorous observations of other people.

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Who Wants to be a Millionaire? UK [PSX] video game review

Illarterate — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 11:00:12 +0000

Harry Yack takes a look back at a game so culturally significant it hardly matters.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire stood proudly atop the video games sales charts for weeks, nay months, after its release. This delivers false promise, for due to the unbelievable popularity of the TV show, every other parent who got their kid a Playstation for Christmas went out to Dixons and bought a copy. For 35 quid. In actuality, all you get is a bog-standard question and answer affair, and you know how fantastically those types of games translate to the Playstation. Exactly, they don’t.

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The Super Mario Challenge [TCC, 1991] TV show review

Illarterate — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:34:42 +0000

Hey, would you look at that. It’s the Yak’s first TV show review, and pretty pants it is too! Well, I had some fun making it so I suppose that’s all that matters. Erm, I mean, it’s awesome and should be watched right away!

Footage mainly grabbed from The Children’s Channel. More info can be found here.

PGA Tour ’96 [Mega Drive] video game review

Illarterate — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:55:43 +0000

I’m constantly trying out new styles of review, mostly to see if I can do them but also because I like to experiment. This particular foray into the mid-90s is a relatively serious retrospective of a rather serious game: PGA Tour 96 for the Mega Drive. Would you have been happy to pay 20 quid from Game for this? Well surprisingly, at the time I was. I know different now, though, having played PGA European Tour.

Fifa 98: Road to the World Cup [Mega Drive] video game review

Illarterate — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:52:49 +0000

Earlier in the year, I planned to do a whole ‘season’ of video reviews on football games I used to quite enjoy, you know, with the World Cup fast approaching. That series didn’t transpire as I would have liked it to, but I did produce two reviews which I suppose constitutes a mini-series. The first of these dates back to the end of May and was recorded, edited and uploaded within the same day –I don’t think I’ve done that again until just yesterday, actually– so expect the odd factual inaccuracy here and there.

Download: FLV

Hindleyak Blip channel

Roland on the Ropes [Amstrad CPC] video game review

Illarterate — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 19:57:52 +0000

This ‘Roland’ person, also a flea and a rat(?) in later outings, takes on the role of Indiana Jones in an attempt to raid the tombs of Tooticarmoon [sic]. Will he succeed? Well, with me as his guide, he has absolutely no chance. Might still be fun to watch this video, though.

From October 2008.

Download this video: FLV

Super Hang On [Mega Drive] video game review

Illarterate — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 11:56:16 +0000

Right, time to catch up with some of the game reviews I’ve been producing and/or uploading of late.

This particular video was recorded when I had time to load up my Mega Drive again, but evidently not enough to play through the game. Thank goodness for cheating, or should I say the Internet, from which I pinched a simple final level code. Yup, I lost the little bit of paper I wrote passwords on – you know, the one you always put in the box with the manual.

From the second half of last year — couldn’t tell you when exactly, but it explains the ’2009′ note at the end of the video for you.

Commentary is a bit cardboard, so forgive me for that. In fact, don’t: call me a rip-off hack with no skills or talent whatsoever.

Xanagrams [Amstrad CPC] video game review

Illarterate — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:49:54 +0000

This project is quite significant in that it was my first ever attempt at fashioning some sort of video game critique in the form of a video. It didn’t really take long, just a few days – in my opinion the perfect length for such a review, anything longer and you start reading into things too much. Besides, this is a very simple game I played a lot when I was younger, so it wasn’t that hard to pick up and get into again.

The reason it wasn’t ever uploaded until this week is because I couldn’t quite get the audio right. In the end I decided to go with a take from 2008, one recorded with a horrible microphone. However, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the hissy bits have been removed and it doesn’t sound quite as bad! Having said that, I still had to paste a bit of music over the top to plug the awkward silence left since the background noise departed.

More info at Hindleyak’s Retro Yakkage.
See more video game vlogging at The Yak’s Blip channel

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [PS2] video game review

Illarterate — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:35:28 +0000

This is a ten minute cut of a much longer review come commentary that started life as just another explosion compilation. In it, The Yak offers his opinions on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PS2. What’s in this version can be considered more of a review, with actual commentary on gameplay and fun things to do in the game… namely blowing stuff up.

More info at Hindleyak’s Retro Yakkage.
See more video game vlogging at The Yak’s Blip channel