Bionic Commando: Rearmed
Bionic Commando was a decent enough arcade action game, when it debuted in 1987. Cartoonish, tricky, demanding, full of genuinely vexing little obstacles here and there. Its NES port, technically a sequel to the arcade game, remains the gold standard “home version that clobbered its arcade counterpart” in my book, adding many more stages, many more enemies and obstacles, and some genuinely hair-bristling cruel and unforgiving claw-swinging physics challenges that made you feel really accomplished when you finally cleared them. Bionic Commando was the first NES game I finished, partly due to being a very late arrival to the NES world, but partly also because it was the first game I owned to seem, frankly, as though its unfolding story justified the work involved. I felt like I’d really accomplished something, the day I finally arrived at that endscreen with Joe’s signature.
– Real player with 48.0 hrs in game
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Easily one of the best games of the PS3/360 era and from back when Capcom was willing to experiment both with new IPs and with their wide library of existing IPs to the point of reviving old forgotten franchises such as Bionic Commando and Dark Void (With varying results overall) and also from a time where they outsourced a lot of their projects to North American and European companies (In this case, the game was developed by GRIN. A company which eventually transformed into OVERKILL and went on to develop PAYDAY: The Heist on the same engine as this game).
– Real player with 35.2 hrs in game
Wild Guns Reloaded
A major & faithful remaster of a steampunk, wild west themed SNES shooter.
The graphics & sounds have been updated, two new characters & stages have been added, the play area has been widened for modern monitors, and more added features. The only things they removed are the Bonus Stages and the VS. mode, which were both just bare-bones shooting gallery mini-games anyway.
Comparing the graphics and such to the SNES, it’s a vast improvement, or at the very least, more detailed. The music has been rearranged. If you prefer the classic sounds & music of the SNES version, you can unlock that option when you beat the game on any difficulty without using continues. The game plays well on both a controller and keyboard due to how minimal the controls were even on the original.
– Real player with 34.9 hrs in game
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Absolutely great version of a great game.
It’s the original game but with widescreen resolution, up to 4 players co-op instead of 2, 2 new characters who play radically differently but still preserve the spirit of the game, and 2 new stages; but also leaderboards and achievements. The leaderboard really makes sense for a game like this where scoring is king, and the achievements are actually challenging and push the player into improving himself also.
There are some other changes to the gameplay as well. With widescreen, you’ll find more enemies on screen at once and scattered more all over, but the pacing is slower than in the original game, and stages last longer. Bosses also behave slightly differently, a couple of them even have a missing pattern. The bonus stages are gone also, but that’s not a big loss.
– Real player with 29.7 hrs in game
Black Mesa
After spending 30-some hours with Black Mesa I have to say I’m honestly impressed with the work Crowbar Collective did. Together with Mafia this is a shining example of how remasters should be made.
I am also honestly impressed how well Half Life has aged. Most games I played (and loved) in the 90ies would probably disappoint me today, even if they were given new graphics, so much has changed since then, but this old timer keeps me on the edge of my seat again, as if it was 1998 again, and please note that single playthrough takes more than 30h - it’s not an RPG game, it’s a single player shooter! They don’t make them that way any more….
– Real player with 43.5 hrs in game
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I’ve been playing the original Half Life on and off since 1998 and it’s fair to say it’s one of my favourite games of all time. I remember manically talking about it to pretty much anyone who would listen when it came out. To me HL2 never felt as good as the original but Black Mesa does a fantastic job of bridging that gap and it actually helps me appreciate HL2 a little more.
I’ve just finished Black Mesa and the highest praise I can give it is that it does the original game justice and does an amazing job on building on top of what Valve achieved. It has some phenomenal set pieces and the levels are well designed, giving subtle clues as to what you are supposed to be doing without holding your hand. I think I only got stuck once during the game.
– Real player with 32.7 hrs in game
Death Rally
Death Rally is a top-down combat racing game. Arrested for a series of crime and illegal racing, you avoid jail by participating in the Death Rally tournament where you must attract the attention of a murderous driver known as The Adversary.
Pros: This is a remake of a DOS game by the same name. You race against six opponents (always including one champion) through desert canyons, frozen strips and urban centers. Maps are pretty varied, and some races will drive the track in inverse, other times you’ll have specific challenges or handicaps that keep each race fresh. The money you make is spent on upgrading your car’s speed, handling and armor, while additional car models, weapons and equipment are unlocked by finding loot drops from other drivers' wreckage during races. Each car has a different acceleration and upgrade cap, while each weapon has a different attack pattern, damage rating and ammo capacity. The game looks great, only some textures and occasional close-up will show this was ported from iOS. As for the control, it is smooth and spot-on (at least with a keyboard, which is what I used 20 years ago with the original Death Rally ). In true tradition of the original game, it has multiple cameos from other games.
– Real player with 162.4 hrs in game
The original 1996 DR was one of my favorite games that I played on my first ever PC (bought with my own money :-). Obviously it got me very excited to see that a remake was available for free back in 2012. After installation I just couldn’t stop playing, even after I had finished upgrading all my cars I kept on driving online until I got to number one in the online kills category. Then I’d realized that this game was dangerously addictive for me and I suddenly stopped playing it after 3 intense months.
– Real player with 89.7 hrs in game
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD
After playing through a string of story heavy games, I wanted to take a break from the immense amount of dialogue and play something more purely gameplay focused. While nominating games for the 2020 Steam Awards, reading the most innovative gameplay category made Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD pop into my head (which I ended up nominating for that category). Turns out this was exactly the type of game I was looking for.
While there are some platformer elements, Super Monkey Ball has the unique twist of giving the player control of tilting the stage, as opposed to moving the character on it. The resulting gameplay is unlike any other game and offers a refreshing set of challenges, even to players who have conquered numerous other genres. Being purely skill based, nothing is left to chance, no equipment will make the game easier, and the only leveling up is the skill gained from practicing, failing, and learning. Gameplay is quick to hop into and the perfect amount of time between failing a stage and respawning is enough to think about what can be improved, but not so much that failing becomes an annoyance. There is an assortment of playable characters each offering different stats and the stages themselves are tuned to this, with various intricacies that may make the stage easier or harder depending on the character played.
– Real player with 35.9 hrs in game
Kinda posting this review a tad late. I don’t think I’ve made my thoughts clear on this game just yet, but I know some people are taking newfound interest in the Monkey Ball series with the release of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania on the horizon, so I want to express my thoughts on this game now.
I’ll just get this out of the way: Banana Blitz is not a fun Monkey Ball game . To many, this game is seen as a pretty good platformer, and I can get by that thought, but the way this game is structured does not fall in line with what makes a Monkey Ball game work, and it’s all because of one fatal flaw in this game’s design: jumping.
– Real player with 27.6 hrs in game
The Ship: Remasted
The Ship is an overlooked gem! The remastered version introduces some nice polish to the original an with a few more tweaks it will be an even more enjoyable. I have been a gamer for about 25 years an this game really hits the sweet spot for me.
It has:
Strategy:
*Micro-managing your characters needs. Think of yourself as a murderous sim. It adds a layer of depth to the gameplay an forces the player to interact with the env. if you want to keep your character functioning. It provides hunters oppurtunities to take out their prey in a moment of weakness (like sleeping, socializng, showering, eating).
– Real player with 38.0 hrs in game
I was in the closed beta for this game before it was released onto Steam, and I’ve left it a good many months before making sure I leave a review to keep things fair. So far, the game is in Early Access - so you MUST definitely, absolutely, clearly understand that the game is going to have bugs at this time. Too many people seem to misunderstand this with many games that are in Early Access.
But onto my review - as a huge fan of The Ship ever since the first free HL1 mod, it’s been fantastic to see how well the game has been developed throughout the years with all the new changes, new gamemodes, and now - a whole new engine! Whilst the game has had its ownership transferred through multiple companies (along with some developers joining said transfer) the game still has its incredible style you would come to expect from the game’s series.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Destroy All Humans!
Short and sweet. Unlike crypto, who’s short angry and not green.
The attention to detail is pretty incredible in some areas.
They fixed all the issues i had on launch other than a couple situations where frames tank. I hope they do them all and do them at least this well
! Even Big Willy.
– Real player with 33.0 hrs in game
I have loads of memories playing DaH as a kid on the PS2, this remaster keeps what made the original so fun whilst also modernising aspects that wouldn’t have held up today. Looking forward to DaH 2.
– Real player with 21.5 hrs in game
Karateka
1.) If you didn’t play this 30 years ago.
2.) Do not understand Martial Arts.
You’ll HATE IT. ~ Don’t even waste your time… Go play Something else.
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OG. ~ Loved the Apple IIe version. Orange or Green.
Total Cult program.
Had to Bow. Couldn’t RUN.
Had to plan each attack meticulously.
And it was the coolest thing ever…
Baap, Baaap, Bap, Bap, Baaap, POW! …
You had to move in and out. It was a total
Martial Arts Dance. ~ True to the Core at the most
– Real player with 21.6 hrs in game
Karateka is a 2012 tribute to 1984 game of the same name, made for Apple II and Atari. The premise is simple: evil shogun imprisoned a girl and you need to save it by a series of honor melee fights one-on-one with shogun’s minions.
The game is really short, the run from the start to end takes for about 25-50 minutes usually. And if you want to compare the tribute with the original, well, it’s 50/50%: some say the original is still top-notch and the remake is so-so, and some think that even the original was mediocre, and the remake is only made the concept worse, ‘cause times had changed for 30 years, and you can’t enter the same river as it was before. And you shouldn’t, some would add. Not me, though.
– Real player with 7.9 hrs in game
Panzer Dragoon: Remake
I discover Panzer Dragoon in 2003, when Orta, the fourth episode launched on the original X-Box. Back then I was amazed by the level of creativity of this game in terms of esthetism, soundtrack, lore, and gameplay. This title offered to the players who completed it in the Pandora’s Box the first opus released on the Sega Saturn in 1995. Of course, I tried it, if only to know what were the roots of one of my favorite title on the first Microsoft system. Sure, it already had aged quite a bit at the time, but It hadn’t take me long to fully realize the magic was already there.
– Real player with 8.2 hrs in game
When Panzer Dragoon: Remake launched on Nintendo Switch over a year ago, the game wasn’t in the best shape. Numerous technical issues plagued the game, along with missing features, leading to Forever Entertainment releasing a series of patches throughout 2020. Now that the game has stabilised, we’re in a better position to look at how Panzer Dragoon: Remake holds up as a finished game.
Graphics
MegaPixel Studio, who developed the game, is a relatively small studio and used the Unity engine to develop the game. The result is a game that looks good, but isn’t AAA quality, it’s something between an AAA and indie game. But if you keep your expectations with the mindset that this is smaller budget game, you can expect to play and be impressed by a modern looking version of the original Panzer Dragoon.
– Real player with 6.4 hrs in game
R-Type Dimensions EX
Teominious’s Gaming Greats Part 1: R-Type Dimensions EX
While I cannot speak as to how common it is for one to remember things that happened at age-just-above-two, I can say with 100% confidence that this series has been with me for as long as I can remember. Specifically, I walked into the living room of our small, Flagstaff Arizonan apartment, roving about as toddlers do. That day, though, something different, and new caught my eye; sitting on the sofa was a new game, a PSOne jewel case with uniquely-fonted letters on a black background simply reading “R-Types”.
– Real player with 28.5 hrs in game
What is it?
A faithful conversion (and optional audiovisual remaster) of the classic R-Type and R-Type II arcade horizontal SHMUP games. You may have played conversions of these games on home consoles in the past, which may have varied in their content or difficulty depending on the versions you played. These are the arcade originals, with an optional remaster mode that can be switched to and from on the fly at the touch of a button.
Pros
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Excellent, faithful ports.
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Optional audiovisual remaster that you can switch to or from at the touch of a button.
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game