Fez

Oh yes, this exists.

There was once a time where Fez was fresh. That was five years ago. But fear not, for recently Polytron's party piece has finally been made available on Xbox Live Arcade. But the question is, do we still care?

Jaki Crush

"I wonder what Squirrel will post next..."

Surprise! It's an obsolete pinball game from twenty years ago! Jaki Crush, for the Super Famicom, built by Naxat Soft. We're living it large, friends.

Ninku Gaiden: Hiroyuki Daikatsugeki

Ugh. Yes, I know, illegible Japanese tat, get it off this blog, etc., and I agree - I don't like littering posts with words I can't pronounce. But I do like Pengo, and if I don't highlight this one, nobody will.

Gears of War

Despite working on a review since mid-January I can't seem to formulate paragraphs about this one. It's Gears of War, etc. Click the link.

Sonic 2 HD

A Sonic the Hedgehog game which completely fills my screen, yet doesn't make me wish it didn't. Yep it's the alpha version of the fan-created Sonic 2 HD - what joy.

King & Balloon

Man the space cannons - Richard Branson is attacking the monarchy. This is King & Balloon, released in 1980 by Namco. Remind me why we don't care.

Half-Life 2

I've been busy.

It's Half-Life 2, delivered to you by Blog Squirrel nearly eight years after PC Gamer said it was cool. Gordon Freeman is here to show us how to grow a goatee... and there's aliens or something, idk.

Donald no Magical World

A video game sponsored by the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain? Well Christ I don't think I can cope with such a new and innovative concept - certainly haven't seen that before! And for the Sega Game Gear too? It's as if my prayers have finally been answered.

This is the poorly titled "Donald no Magical World", otherwise known as "Ronald in the Magical World", because it stars everyone's favourite clown, Ronald McDonald and he's in the... "Magical World". I'm guessing the executives in charge were hanging out there too.

Halo 3

Smoking in the workplace in the year 2552. This is one of many interesting questions that are raised when confronting Halo 3, 2007 Xbox 360 top-selling sequel to Halos 1 and 2. Much like how all serious Wii owners are obliged to own an edition of Zelda, everyone on team Xbox are conscripted into the Halo 3 brigade. And so now it's my turn to give it a go, four and a half years after it was cool.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

I can churn these out faster when there's less to talk about.

Hey it's 2007 smash hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The stuff dreams are made of... if you have really low aspirations in life. You've collectively given Activision billions in exchange for this one, so how does it fare just a few years down the line?

Perfect Dark Zero

Dated Xbox 360 first person shooters. It's what gets me through the day.

Here's one for the two remaining Rare(ware) fans. Perfect Dark Zero, Xbox 360 launch title from late 2005. So classic, it would make the most classic car feel a little bit sad.

And humanity as a whole.

Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen

Joy of joys, it's some words I can't pronounce.

Blog Squirrel 2012 game of the year alert! It's Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen for the MSX2. I can feel the  excitement resonating through the telephone lines.

But before you move on in your internet adventures, something must be pointed out - this game has former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, single handedly create a water network for people of the USSR. Yep, it's political. And amazing.

Tetris: A Blog Squirrel Mini Special

Here's the situation. I killed The Obscure Research Project a few months ago. I regret nothing. But the problem is that as long as I choose not to maintain it, it will be sitting there, telling lies, and I don't like that. So I'm going to rectify this situation by covering not the one, not the two, but the three (and a half) Tetris games for the NES. And the 1988 Arcade version. And god knows what else.

It's 2012 Squirrel correcting 2008 Squirrel in what I like to call a "mini special". Much like the days when I went through tons of games, except here there's only a half dozen, and I can't be bothered to take it out of blog format.

The A-Team

It's a new year, and what better way to spend it then by looking at Commodore 64 tat from 1985. It's The A-Team, apparently.

Call of Duty 3

Guess what I got for Christmas.

2011 is almost up, and provided the world doesn't end half way through it, 2012 will be the year of Squirrel's great video game catch-up, where I'll be sitting down to review the games I should have played half a decade ago. Because that's the sort of zany bloke I am.

To start, Call of Duty 3. Nope, not modern warfare 3 - a long way to go before I get to that - just 3. A game from simpler times from Treyarch and Activision.

Sonic CD

Shoobedy boo bap.

Another Sonic the Hedgehog game showing up on Blog Squirrel? It's as if I like the series or something. "So much for the obscure", you may say, but in its defence, Sonic CD lives further afield and so doesn't come to visit very often.

More importantly it's been released recently for Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, Android and iOS stores, and unlike every other re-release from Sega in recent times, this one is actually worth caring for.

Oil's Well

There's nothing I hate more than crazed trade unionists disrupting my Friday night TV viewing schedule. I spy an opportunity to return the favour.

It's Oil's Well, a 1983 computer game by Sierra On-Line, demonstrating how complex machinery and robotics can replace the working man. Where's the GMB now?! Though... I guess you could be part of the team who builds the machines... and I guess you don't tend to send humans underground to extract oil anyway, so this complex and poorly thought-through political reference is a bit redundant. Still, no reason to postpone that episode of QI, and maybe if he watched it, Chuka Umunna would develop a sense of humour.

I'm Sorry

For the last couple of years, it's been my dream to bring political satire into video games. Regardless of your views on the state's role in society, I think UK citizens will come far and wide to watch a virtual Nick Clegg hurl Ford Escorts at giant mutant rabbits. It'll get the younger generation interested in the governance of this fine country, and more importantly, will train the populace for when the evil space rodents inevitably invade. You won't get that by diverting union membership fees to the parliamentary Labour party.

But for now, you'll have to make do with an apology. Or rather, "I'm Sorry", an arcade game released by Coreland (now Banpresto) and Sega in 1985. No Sheffield MPs or reliable motors in this one, but you do get to control the late Kakuei Tanaka, 64th and 65th Prime Minster ("Sori") of Japan. It's every man's dream.

Battletoads

RareWare Central strikes again by releasing another unfinished Game Boy Advance game to the general public.

It's Battletoads, once set to be a remake of the 1991 classic. It's an extremely early and almost unplayable prototype, with much of its content being inaccessible during normal play. The project was scrapped before the team had a concrete idea of what they were actually making so as you'd expect, there's very little to see here. But it'll surely interest somebody, and it's a great way to make yourself deaf.

In other news, I'm a very busy man at the moment, forced to produce broken programs in my free time. You might have to wait a while between blog posts (i.e. more than a week). Don't blame me, blame a wacky higher education system!

Dropzone

I need to conserve brain cells, so time for a short break from the Game.com.

For now, Dropzone, a 1984 Atari 800 game published by U.S. Gold. It's yet another thing that caught my eye during my rounds at Sega Retro, and another opportunity to commend the work of the British video game industry twenty-seven years too late. Woo.