This is from the old-school of video game magazines, and featured a healthy mix of hard game news and reviewing, back before the internet kind of took over the way game journalism was done. The book was a laugh riot for me as a kid, and still mostly holds up today (some of the "Moogoo" goofiness runs on too long, but the "Create Your Own Game" sections are full of bizarre hilarity).
Many of their reviews are quite good, and I love their overall scale of scoring, though they could get as wrapped up in a game's hype and newness as anyone- Toshinden scoring a 98% seems hilarious today given how much better various 3-D Fighters turned out to be, but at the time it did seem very good, and the staff admitted the whole crew was playing it constantly, so it's not like they just made stuff up — the legitimately thought the game was that good.
Ultra Game Players sucked, and it's no surprise it ultimately killed the mag — I had a bit of a falling-out with the video game business around the same time I got out of it, oddly, and never really turned back into gaming. I certainly enjoyed it more than the "bigger" but more boring Game Pro, the bottom-tier and "indie" Video Games, the too-serious Electronic Gaming Monthly or the too-snobbish Diehard Gamefan.
My favourite gaming mag ever
This is from the old-school of video game magazines, and featured a healthy mix of hard game news and reviewing, back before the internet kind of took over the way game journalism was done. The book was a laugh riot for me as a kid, and still mostly holds up today (some of the "Moogoo" goofiness runs on too long, but the "Create Your Own Game" sections are full of bizarre hilarity).
Many of their reviews are quite good, and I love their overall scale of scoring, though they could get as wrapped up in a game's hype and newness as anyone- Toshinden scoring a 98% seems hilarious today given how much better various 3-D Fighters turned out to be, but at the time it did seem very good, and the staff admitted the whole crew was playing it constantly, so it's not like they just made stuff up — the legitimately thought the game was that good.
Ultra Game Players sucked, and it's no surprise it ultimately killed the mag — I had a bit of a falling-out with the video game business around the same time I got out of it, oddly, and never really turned back into gaming. I certainly enjoyed it more than the "bigger" but more boring Game Pro, the bottom-tier and "indie" Video Games, the too-serious Electronic Gaming Monthly or the too-snobbish Diehard Gamefan.