Good evening everyone and welcome to another blog post. Today's post is split into two parts. This is because today I attended a games show called PLAY Expo in London. This show was dedicated to everything gaming. They had everything from pinball machines to arcade cabs to retro consoles. The next part is going over the merch that I bought at the show.
So let's dive into it! When I went in, we (myself and my dad) went straight to the pinball machines. I love pinball, so I spent most of my time on the machines and attempting to beat the high scores. The first machine we went on was one called Attack on Mars.
Our next pinball game which we played was the Star Wars pinball edition.
The next pinball machine that I tackled was a Batman themed one.
After tackling some pinball machines, my dad and I decided to go and venture into the depths of the arcade cabs. The first cab that we came across was one for Pac-Mania. Unfortunately, this cab was not working but I took a photo anyway because I thought it looked cool.
I love it how all of the ghosts have names! My favourite is Inky (on the left in the middle).
The first machine that I decided to play was called Pac and Paint. I loved this game. The aim of the game was to paint all of the maze without being caught by the enemies. I never got past the first level, but it was fun enough to play.
The next machine that I played was called Mappy. This was one weird game, I must admit, but it was fun to play. You controlled a mouse who had to recover certain items within the level. To get to the different floors, you used a trampoline to bounce up to reach them. I also, had never reached past the first level of the game.
After playing Mappy for a bit, my dad introduced me to one of his favourite games from when he was younger. I now present to you Rally-X. The aim of this game is to drive a rally car around the track and to collect flags. You also have to avoid other rally drivers, as you do lose lives if they collide with you. This game was extremely fun and addictive to play.
(Picture credit to my dad)
Before we went to lunch, we played one more pinball machine and it was called White Water.
This machine was also an awesome design, as it reminded me of River Rapids rides that you find at theme parks. I didn't do as well as my dad, but I still had fun playing it.
After tiring ourselves in the late morning/early afternoon with pinball and arcade machines, we went for lunch in the food courts that the site had. I had a very nice Chicken Burrito for my lunch, as did my dad. We continued our adventure with our full stomachs and our next stop was Space Invaders.
Space Invaders has always been a favourite in my family, so when I saw the cab, I just had to play it. What I like about this game is that you can do 2 players, which meant that myself and my dad could play together. I didn't go further than the 1st level, but my dad got to the 2nd level.
After shooting some aliens, I decided to keep to the space theming and play some Zaxxon.
This game was fun, as we had to pilot a ship and blow up the enemy's weapons. I found this game extremely addictive as I wanted to see if I could get past the first level, which I couldn't. Nevertheless, it was really fun to play.
After tiring ourselves out with arcade cabs, we decided to go and hit the retro consoles. This was the part I was most looking forward to and I was not disappointed. The first game that we played was on the Sega Mega Drive and it was called Alien Storm.
This game was fun to play as you had to defend your city from an alien invasion. I played as the character Karla (or Karen as she's known in some versions, take your pick on the name you prefer) and you have to play your way through the missions. I got to mission 4 before I died.
The next game that I decided to play was Soul Blade on the PlayStation.
This game is your generic beat 'em up which you can find anywhere. In this game, myself and my dad played battle mode where we did the best of three. I won the first round, but my dad beat me in the other two rounds. I played as the character Siegfried. He looked cool.
I then proceeded to become distracted when my dad had attempted to show me a point and click game. The cause of the distraction was Theme Park on the PC!
This game has always been one of my favourites. I love the creation side to these sort of games and I love creating my own park. The only downside is that I only had the DS version which is a bit different to the PC version. However, I soon gained the hang of it and built a ride for my park, a haunted house.
The next area that we had a look around was the indie area. This is where all of the small developers come together and showcase their games. One game that I am going to give a special mention to is The Mystery of Woolly Mountain. This game brings back the point and click genre to the modern day and you are playing as an Explorer who is trying to find the Witch of the Mountain. I only got to play the demo version, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The game is due for release in the New Year at the moment.
We then proceeded to have a look at the traders and buy lots of cool items, which I'll cover in my next blog post, so stay tuned!
After shopping for lots of bits, we went back to the arcade section where I decided to play some racing cabs. The first racing cab that I played was Enduro Racer.
This cab was basically a motocross racing game. The player has to race their bike to the finish avoiding logs in the process. This game was hard to complete, as I couldn't get the hang of turning on the game. But I did discover one thing, I could do wheelies :D.
The next racing game that I tackled was Power Drift.
This game was fun as you had to race other drivers around a circuit, but your car did power drifts around the corner. The only downside to this game is that in order to advance through the levels you had to be in a certain position when finishing, i.e. 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
Next, we went back over to the pinball machines to play some more games.
The machines that we played were The Machine Bride of Pin-Bot and The Phantom of The Opera. We played both of these machines on multiplayer where both myself and my dad got competitive on who would win and beat the high score.
Next, I played a game called Vanguard.
In this game we had to shoot enemies, using four buttons which sent lasers in different directions. We were also controlling a ship, so we had to avoid the enemies shots. I nearly got to the second level of the game, but I died last minute, so I couldn't complete any more missions.
Feeling in a spacey mood, I decided to play the arcade version of Star Wars
This game was awesome as you had to control an x-wing and destroy tie-fighters as well as the death star. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and I also loved the joystick as it was modelled like the x-wing controller from the movies.
After playing this machine, I decided to play some of the Simpsons pinball, as there was no queue. I loved this game as the theming inside the case was awesome and the machine kept on blasting out quotes from the TV show. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the machine.
Before we left the show we played on three last pinball machines.
These machines were Twilight Zone, Goldeneye 007 and Scared Stiff. I loved all of the machines, the Scared Stiff one for the dead fingers as flippers, the Goldeneye 007 one for the Gun plunger, and the Twilight Zone one for just being awesome!
So at the end of a long day, the show had ended, which gave me the opportunity to snap a quick picture of the pinball machines when all of the lights had been switched back on.
I loved this show, as it was an enjoyable atmosphere with something to do for everyone of all ages. It's a shame I couldn't play all of the systems, but maybe next year I'll get a weekend ticket so I can do everything.
So that does it for today's blog post. Stay tuned for part 2 of my PLAY Expo adventure, which will cover my haul of goods that I got.
So until next time,
Peace Out - Geekette
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