Post by Phil on Feb 20, 2018 20:16:35 GMT
Hi guys, after a bit of a think I've come up with the rather good Parlour Games as February's Game Club Choice.
As a kid I was obsessed with getting this game as I always wanted a snooker/pool game on one of my computers.
Parlour Games offers 3 main games: Billiards (Pool), Darts and er World Bingo (I always favoured Latvian Bingo!)
Turning on the Sega, you get a cheesy little musical number and a scantily clad woman on the screen. If you're extra lucky play the Japanese version 'Family Games' where the woman is wearing additional Playboy style bunny ears.
So after pressing Start you get to choose your game. Press start again and it goes back to the title screen! This always bugged me, it should be button 1 to select and 2 to cancel, but anyway Pressing button 2 to select, I thought let's have a game of Pool, I mean Billiards!
Billiards offers a few different games including Nine Ball where you need to pot the numbered balls in sequence (1-9) and Rotation where you sink the balls in sequence up to a selected number of points. Every time you sink a ball, you're awarded that ball's value as points.
Each game is played on the same green clothed table with up to 4 human players or a computer opponent of mixed ability. The game is very simply designed where you select the power of the cue and where you hit the ball causing it to roll or not move after you strike a ball.
Moving the 'image line' which is how you line up your shot is a bit of getting used to by using the D-Pad. I recommend you select a 1 player basic game to get used to making shots. After a while though you should be confident enough to try some trick shots and pot the ball by hitting the cue ball onto several cushions!
Music is annoying and cheesy, so recommend you mute the sound or have it low.
The computer isn't a bad opponent I guess, it can be a bit stupid when it's aiming for a ball and lines up the shot, totally ignoring the fact there is another ball in its way causing a foul shot!
The most fun if you play against a friend. Some games offer up to 4 players, but are you going to find 3 other people on the planet who wants to play this with you, I'm not so sure...
Probably the best out of the 3 games on the cartridge though...
The second offering Darts offers again a variety of games including the familiar '301' and 'Round The Clock'. You also have the option to select 3 different 'weights' of dart and against the computer and up to 3 human players.
Don't be put off by the awful multi coloured dart board. This ones plays better than it looks. Again best with the sound down. Once you get used to keeping your finger on button 2 for the power gauge and when to release the dart, this is quite a good little game. I found it was easy to score 20, but aiming for a double I just kept hitting outside the board! Practice makes perfect I guess.
Ok for 1 or two games, but rather a limited game.
That brings me to the final game 'World Bingo'.
To me the whole point of bingo is to win a prize or money, this Sega version surprisingly offers neither!! Select your game card, place your bets including trying to score 3 up to 5 in a row and off you go. The use of a little slot machine is used to display each drawn number and a smiley or frowny face lets you know if you have that number on your score card. You even get the option to move the numbers around on the score card to try to get a line of numbers in a row. (Isn't that cheating?) After a few spins you win (no actual money) or lose (no actual money) and the game ends.
Anyway this is the best presented game of all the 3 and I quite like the music on this one, but as this is just down to luck and involves pressing a few buttons this has rather limited appeal and again gets a bit dull after a couple of games. Playing Bingo by yourself may be deemed a little sad by some, so grab 3 chums and you can annoy the neighbours by shouting 'BINGO' all night!!!
In conclusion Parlour Games offers a quick distraction between bouts of Sonic or Pit Fighter(!) and offers 3 unique Master System games on one cartridge. You're not going to play this offering for hours, but for 20 minutes now and again it's worth popping in your Sega.
That people was my review. Thank you and goodnight!!!
As a kid I was obsessed with getting this game as I always wanted a snooker/pool game on one of my computers.
Parlour Games offers 3 main games: Billiards (Pool), Darts and er World Bingo (I always favoured Latvian Bingo!)
Turning on the Sega, you get a cheesy little musical number and a scantily clad woman on the screen. If you're extra lucky play the Japanese version 'Family Games' where the woman is wearing additional Playboy style bunny ears.
So after pressing Start you get to choose your game. Press start again and it goes back to the title screen! This always bugged me, it should be button 1 to select and 2 to cancel, but anyway Pressing button 2 to select, I thought let's have a game of Pool, I mean Billiards!
Billiards offers a few different games including Nine Ball where you need to pot the numbered balls in sequence (1-9) and Rotation where you sink the balls in sequence up to a selected number of points. Every time you sink a ball, you're awarded that ball's value as points.
Each game is played on the same green clothed table with up to 4 human players or a computer opponent of mixed ability. The game is very simply designed where you select the power of the cue and where you hit the ball causing it to roll or not move after you strike a ball.
Moving the 'image line' which is how you line up your shot is a bit of getting used to by using the D-Pad. I recommend you select a 1 player basic game to get used to making shots. After a while though you should be confident enough to try some trick shots and pot the ball by hitting the cue ball onto several cushions!
Music is annoying and cheesy, so recommend you mute the sound or have it low.
The computer isn't a bad opponent I guess, it can be a bit stupid when it's aiming for a ball and lines up the shot, totally ignoring the fact there is another ball in its way causing a foul shot!
The most fun if you play against a friend. Some games offer up to 4 players, but are you going to find 3 other people on the planet who wants to play this with you, I'm not so sure...
Probably the best out of the 3 games on the cartridge though...
The second offering Darts offers again a variety of games including the familiar '301' and 'Round The Clock'. You also have the option to select 3 different 'weights' of dart and against the computer and up to 3 human players.
Don't be put off by the awful multi coloured dart board. This ones plays better than it looks. Again best with the sound down. Once you get used to keeping your finger on button 2 for the power gauge and when to release the dart, this is quite a good little game. I found it was easy to score 20, but aiming for a double I just kept hitting outside the board! Practice makes perfect I guess.
Ok for 1 or two games, but rather a limited game.
That brings me to the final game 'World Bingo'.
To me the whole point of bingo is to win a prize or money, this Sega version surprisingly offers neither!! Select your game card, place your bets including trying to score 3 up to 5 in a row and off you go. The use of a little slot machine is used to display each drawn number and a smiley or frowny face lets you know if you have that number on your score card. You even get the option to move the numbers around on the score card to try to get a line of numbers in a row. (Isn't that cheating?) After a few spins you win (no actual money) or lose (no actual money) and the game ends.
Anyway this is the best presented game of all the 3 and I quite like the music on this one, but as this is just down to luck and involves pressing a few buttons this has rather limited appeal and again gets a bit dull after a couple of games. Playing Bingo by yourself may be deemed a little sad by some, so grab 3 chums and you can annoy the neighbours by shouting 'BINGO' all night!!!
In conclusion Parlour Games offers a quick distraction between bouts of Sonic or Pit Fighter(!) and offers 3 unique Master System games on one cartridge. You're not going to play this offering for hours, but for 20 minutes now and again it's worth popping in your Sega.
That people was my review. Thank you and goodnight!!!
