Pocketbike Racer

Alongside Big Bumpin’ and Sneak King, Pocketbike Racer is one of three advergames for Xbox and Xbox 360 that were once offered as an extra with the purchase of a Burger King Value Meal, though I would not actually play any of them until I found them for cheap secondhand. When I first played Pocketbike Racer, I didn’t spend very much time on it due to what seemed like a lack of content, though I recently decided to take a look back on it to see if I had missed anything. Upon closer inspection, there is a little more to it than I remembered, however it didn’t change the fact that it was a mildly ambitious racing game on paper, though a bit unpolished in practice.

Big Bumpin'

Even for a fast food company, Burger King has had its fair share of rather bizarre marketing campaigns, most infamously their on-and-off King mascot. In late 2006, one of these campaigns involved selling a series of three Xbox and Xbox 360 compatible games as $3.99 add-ons to a value meal, those being Big Bumpin’, Pocketbike Racer and Sneak King. While I didn’t get any of these games during the campaign’s initial run, in part because I didn’t own either of Microsoft’s home consoles at the time, I did go out of my way to find them for cheap around the time I actually got an Xbox system. While I did briefly play them then, I recently decided to revisit them to see if I had actually seen everything in those games, beginning with Big Bumpin’. Even after some time had passed, it was just as unremarkable as I remembered.

Stubs - No Questions Asked

 

No Questions Asked (1951) Starring: Barry Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, George Murphy, Jean Hagen Directed by Harold F. Kress Screenplay by Sidney Sheldon. Produced by Nicholas Nayfack USA Run time: 82 minutes. Black and White. Film Noir, Police, Drama, Crime

In 1948, Dore Schary left RKO studios where he was Head of Production, choosing to return to MGM and a contemptuous relationship with Louis B. Mayer, rather than work for RKO’s new owner, Howard Hughes. With Schary as Vice-President in charge of Production, MGM began make grittier films, including Tension (1949), SideStreet (1950), Caught (1949), Border Incident (1949), Act of Violence (1949), TheAsphalt Jungle (1950), and No Questions Asked (1951).

AVICII Invector Encore Edition (Switch)

Following the release of AVICII Invector in 2019, a pair of DLC packs had since been announced, the Tim Song Pack and Magma Song Pack, each containing five additional songs from across Avicii’s short-lived career. Around this time, I learned about a physical re-release of the game for Nintendo Switch that includes said DLC already on it, titled AVICII Invector Encore Edition. While this version of the game was available at retail, I opted instead to pre-order the game through Limited Run and somehow managed to receive it in a fairly timely fashion, about a month off from its release date. After playing it shortly upon receiving it, I found the Encore re-release to be a good package.

Top Ten Boss Battle Themes (Redux)

Note: This article contains spoilers.

Back in 2014, we made an article called “Top Ten Boss Battle Themes” in collaboration with a third party. As the years and the 1000 review milestone went by, we’ve looked back on this list and wondered how we could improve it with tracks that we’ve come across since then. We decided then to write up a new list while still taking our previous criteria into account:

• Must be from a boss fight (includes licensed music)
• Must be memorable
• Only one song per game

So, without further ado, here’s our revised list of boss battle themes (in no particular order).

Stubs - Revenge of the Creature

Revenge of the Creature (1955) Starring: John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield Directed by Jack Arnold Screenplay by Martin Berkeley, William Alland. Produced by William Alland. Black and White Run time: 82 minutes USA Horror, Science Fiction, 3-D

As with any successful film, Hollywood is only too happy to make a sequel. Given that The Creature from the Black Lagoon made a whopping $1.3 million at the box office, Universal was willing to make another two, as it turns out. (Given the times, the genre and the original budget $1.3 million was a lot of money.)

Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams (Xbox)

Silent Hill 2’s reputation for having one of the best video game narratives ever got me intrigued to play it, but for whatever reason I could never find an original PS2 copy. I did, however, happen upon an enhanced Xbox copy of the game and went for it, but still didn’t get around to it. With P.T. as my only frame of reference for Silent Hill, however, I felt more curious about Team Silent’s original take on the series and finally gave it a try. As it turns out, its narrative truly is one of the strongest I’ve ever seen in a video game, but it feels strange saying that the actual gameplay didn’t age very well.