Retro Spectives (rspodcast.net)

Power fantasies are the norm for video games.  We play them to blow off steam, to escape into another world where we can let our worries drop away.  But Pulse Entertainment wanted to do things a little differently when they developed Bad Mojo in 1996.  They wanted to put the player in the little brown shell of a cockroach.  

 You play as Roger Samms, who, on the verge of embezzling a million dollars, gets transformed into a roach.  You crawl around the disgusting tenancy where you live, feebly pushing small objects in an attempt to get back to your real self.  Your options are limited, and the world is a very scary place with spiders, cats and deadly poison everywhere you go.

Does Bad Mojo, with its undeniably gross aesthetic and limited perspective bring it all together into a cohesive video game?  Or is this just a buggy mess?

On this episode, we discuss:

Aesthetics.

Bad Mojo has a very unique look and feel, thanks in large part to its 3D scanning of dead animals.  Has its visual design held up to this day?

Story.

This game comes from the glory days of the FMV sequence, long before professional actors had become commonplace in the gaming world.  Does the amateurish acting here hurt the immersiveness of Bad Mojo, or does it just give it a different feel?

Controls.

Bad Mojo has an extremely simple control scheme, with you only controlling the roach with the directional arrow keys.  Does this limit the possible depth of puzzle design, or is this a case of simpler being better?

We answer all these questions and many more on the 108th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Bad Mojo OST: Xorcist

Have you played any other games where you’re absolutely tiny in a regular world?  Are there any other games out there which share something similar to Bad Mojo’s aesthetic?  Is this the worst voice acting you’ve ever heard?  Let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me A Coffee page!

Before Todd Howard’s promises about the climbability of mountains was Peter Molyneux and Fable, a game which promised a level of interactivity never seen before in an RPG.  Have children (that could continue your legacy when you died), plant a tree and see it grow, and dynamic rivalries with other heroes - Fable was going to have it all.

Instead we got something far simpler in scope and ambition.  There were hints or shadows of something more grandiose, properties could be bought, reputation existed, and you could fart in people’s faces.  But for all that it seemed to miss on its promises, Fable was still a widely beloved title when it released in 2004.  People loved its childlike sense of charm and wonder, and the freedom with which you could customise your character.

So where, then, does the truth lie?  Is Fable a game that’s fantastic precisely because of its limited scope, letting it focus down on the fun?  Or is it’s mish-mash of seemingly novel mechanics at odds with how shallow they are, both in and of themselves and how they interact with others?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story.

Fable’s story is a lighthearted and at times comedic retelling of a generic hero’s journey.  To what degree is this a sincere attempt to tell a story, and do its satirical elements clash with its rather menacing villains?

Systems.

Fable lets you immediately put skill points into anything from the very beginning of your journey.  Is this flat levelling structure better or worse than the far more common skill trees common to action RPGS?

Fluff.

Fable 1 has many different mechanical systems that are wrapped around the core gameplay - marriage, property ownership, reputation and gestures (to name a few).  Do these systems integrate well together and add to the depth of the worldbuilding, or are they simply funny and ultimately irrelevant novelties?

We answer these questions and many more on the 101st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Fable OST: Russel Shaw, Danny Elfman

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Thanks once again to everyone who has taken the time to listen to us discuss these great games.

If you haven’t already, come say hi on our Discord Server’s text chat and let us know if there are any great titles you think we should play. Anything 15 years or older and under 20 Hours long is always seriously considered :)

And if you would like to support the show then you can do so on our 
Buy Me a Coffee page.

The Super Mario franchise is what many would label as the dawn of videogames. While it wasn't the first, its impact on the infant medium of gaming was certainly the biggest and to this day the franchise is held in high-regard. 

But even in a franchise filled to the brim with historic titles, there are some that shine brighter than others. Released in 1990 alongside the launch of the SNES, Super Mario World is often argued to be one of the greatest 2D platformers ever made. Filled with unique ideas, zany power-ups and a gorgeous aesthetic, Super Mario World has won the hearts of many.

But just how well does this classic game hold up against modern platforming gems like Celeste and Super Meat Boy?

To answer this, we discuss:

• Super Mario World is a much looser experience compared to  many modern platformers. Is this a bad thing or can playground-esque level design still keep up with the precision platformers of the present?
• Platformers live or die by their controls; does Mario steer like a truck or is there something to be said for commiting to your actions?
• In the past Patrick has had a low opinion of cartoony graphics, but can Super Mario World's sheer charm win him over in the end? 

Find out on the 46th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Super Mario World Soundtrack -  Koji Kondo

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Is Super Mario World just as good as people say? Or is it simply overrated? You can suggest new games for us to play or tell us exactly why we’re wrong on our text based community discord server!

Killer7 is one weird game.  Developed in tandem by Grasshopper Manufacture and Capcom and first released in 2005, its very existence as a game defies description.  Within moments of starting, you’re placed into a world with talking bondage ghosts, a TV channel that drains your blood, and abstract puzzles that would fit right into Resident Evil.  Combine this with a cinematic third person slow rail shooter and you might have just a taste of what Killer7 is all about, but the truth is that you’re just scratching the surface of this enigma of a video game.

Killer7 has a diehard cult following, not just for its presentation and aesthetic, but for its incredibly deep and confusing story.  But for all its fans, what is the experience of playing Killer7 actually like?  Is there an enjoyable game underneath all of its layers?  Or are they merely disguising something that's all flash and no sizzle?

On this episode, we discuss:

Presentation and Style

Killer7 is absolutely dripping in style.  From the broader minimalistic cell shaded environments to something as simple as the way characters reload their weapons, there’s a unique vibe to this game that is hard to describe.  Does the glamour eventually wear off, or does its presentation remain compelling for the full game runtime?

Combat and Pacing

Killer7’s combat is most reminiscent of something like House of the Dead, with zombie-like enemies and a first person static shooting style.  Does it match the frantic pace and tension of a light gun game, or does giving the player total control of the rail movement lead to something more plodding?

Story

What exactly is Killer7 trying to say?  There are layers and layers of story here, from identity issues, to geopolitics, to conspiracy and control.  Is this a compelling and understandable story?  Does it make sense?  Does it even need to make sense?

We answer these questions and many more on the 121st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

We are joined by special guest Dave Jackson of the Tales from the Backlog Podcast!  He reviews interesting games that would otherwise sit on your shelf, with a focus on having spoiler free discussion initially for people who are on the fence.  He also hosts A Top 3 Podcast, where he and friends rank the top 3 of a given thing each episode.  Check it out!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Killer7 OST: Masafumi Takada

Did you find that Killer7 was all that it was cracked up to be?  Do you have any idea what’s going on with the story?  Are there other Suda51 games that are worth playing?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.

When Banjo-Kazooie came out, it bucked the trend of 3d platformers. It had no interest in really testing your platforming chops, honed from hundreds of hours of playing Super Mario 64. It didn’t want to put you through a gauntlet of combat challenges. It simply presented a series of beautiful and detailed worlds for you to explore to your hearts content.

On this week’s episode, Pat and James ask:

• Do Banjo Kazooie’s controls still hold up today? They were made in the early eras of 3d platforming, after all.
• Exactly how much fun is it to pick up hundreds of collectables?
• Is Patrick a bad guy for not listening to the music?

Join us as we figure out if Banjo-Kazooie has stood the test of time!
 

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Originally released in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Crystalis was not a smash hit upon release.  It was considered just another action rpg, another zelda-clone. But in the years that followed, it slowly developed a cult following, many of who now believe it to be one of the strongest titles that was ever released for the NES.

Join Pat and James as they travel further back in time than ever before in their quest to separate the all time classics from titles that have aged like milk. Does Crystalis still have what it takes 30 years later or has modern game design left it in the dust?

In order to answer this question, Pat and James dive deep on the following topics:

• Does Crystalis’ story hold up to the hype? Post-apocalyptic settings have evolved greatly since its release and videogame writing even moreso.
• Can a strong sense of progression fill the void of fun left by the simplistic and repetitive gameplay of the NES era?
• Grinding: The good, the bad and the extremely ugly. Just how much is too much?

We discuss these topics, and many more, on the 30th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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If you enjoyed the episode then come and join us on our discord server! Whether you want to hang out, suggest a new game for us to play, or simply call us idiots for our terrible opinions, we’d love for you to drop by!

Luigi’s Mansion was the cornerstone of the Nintendo Gamecube’s launch in 2001.  It sold more copies than any other launch title, received positive critical acclaim, and occupied prime place in every promo gaming machine in gaming and electronic shops everywhere.  The game promised a charming take on a haunted mansion, quite unlike Resident Evil that had come before it.

You take control of Luigi, searching for Mario after he goes missing when he supposedly wins a free mansion.  You don’t have much to help you in your quest to find Mario in this haunted mansion - a flashlight and a vacuum cleaner and what little wits you can gather are all Luigi has to arm himself against the many ghosts that occupy its walls.  It's a tried and true blend of action, adventure, and puzzle solving, but wrapped up in a very unique way.

But is Luigi’s Mansion still a compelling title to play all these years later?  Does the simplicity of the formulae grow stale even with its short run time?  And can we really do a G-rated take on ghosts and still find it interesting?

On this episode, we discuss:

Controls.

• Luigi’s mansion has a fixed camera in the tradition of survival horror games, but gives us a weird blend of regular and tank controls.  Does this control scheme work in a game where the action can be far more frantic than slowly shooting zombies in the head?

Puzzles.

• Luigi’s Mansion’s ghosts are not willing to be compressed into paintings without putting up a bit of resistance first.  How enjoyable is it to solve the puzzle of what these gallery ghosts require?

Atmosphere.

• Is Luigi’s Mansion, by its refusal to engage with the more horrifying elements of ghosts, shooting itself in the foot?  Was there a lack of narrative punch to the identities and personalities of the ghosts because of the G rated theme?

We answer these questions and many more on the 107th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Luigi’s Mansion OST: Kazumi Totaka

Do the later Luigi’s Mansion games build on the gameplay of the first to produce a deeper and more compelling experience?  Did you enjoy catching the 50 Boos more than we did?  Is there an R rated take on this genre, and if so, where can we play it? 
 Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you’d like to support the show, please check out our Buy me a Coffee page!

When Fallout first released in 1997 it bucked the trend of what people came to expect from an RPG.  There were no swords or bows, no magic or elves - Fallout wanted to give people something different.  It fused the grim and unforgiving world of Mad Max with a retro-futuristic alternative history of Earth, where humanity ascended to dazzling heights before being blown to pieces by nuclear weapons.  

You play as the Vault Dweller, born and raised in a community fallout shelter.  Everything was going fine and dandy until the chip controlling the purification of water broke - and with no engineers alive who helped design it, that’s a serious problem.  You get told to go out into the world to get another functioning water chip...but the world isn’t a friendly place, and you may run into one or two problems along the way.

We’re joined by special guest Chris Worthington of the Retro Asylum Podcast to discuss and argue whether Fallout has truly stood the test of time!  Fallout dazzled the world with its innovations and storytelling - an open ended narrative, a turn based tactics system with guns, and a world so bleak and unforgiving that even The Walking Dead is envious.  But do we now take these things for granted with all the evolutions in the RPG space?  Is Fallout just a primitive and barely functional shell of a video game, or does it still have something valuable to offer?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What kind of impact do the RPG systems of Fallout have on your experience?  How much room do you have to define your character as they level up and grow stronger?
• How engaging is the storytelling of Fallout?  Does it connect with you through its characters, dialogue or worldbuilding, and are there emotional hooks to keep you invested?
• How does the combat work in Fallout, and does it give you meaningful decisions throughout a combat encounter? 

We answer these questions and many more on the 61st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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It was our absolute pleasure to be joined by fellow podcaster Chris Worthington for our discussion on Fallout.  He’s the host of two podcasts, both of which you should check out!

Retro Asylum - The UK’s No. 1 Retro Gaming Podcast (circa 2013).  Chris and pals discuss classic video games and consoles of the 80’s and 90’s, with the occasional dabble into pop culture and interviews with industry figures.  It's a celebration of retro gaming, with episodes doing deep dives into what makes a game or console special.  You can join their discord server here!

Playthrough - A community play along podcast that explores new and ‘middle aged’ games.  Each episode the hosts play through a chunk of a game, and then do a blow by blow breakdown of their experience.  There are a fantastic selection of games already in their backlog, including Metroid Prime and Disco Elysium.  Join their discord server and play along!

Chris has kindly asked us to continue our Fallout journey with Fallout 2 on the Retro Asylum podcast later this year, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Fallout OST: Mark Morgan, The Inkspots

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When you play Fallout 1, make sure you install Fallout Fixt.  It includes a full restoration patch, but we recommend the purist download for your first playthrough and somebody, anybody - please play UnderRail.  Pat is begging you.  

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Are there hidden aspects of the dialogue system that we never stumbled upon?  Does the combat have hidden depths to it that we were too dumb to understand?  Is a 1 AGI run even possible?  Let us know what you think on the Retro Spectives community discord server!  We love discussing (and arguing about) games, both old and new, and would love to have you join us.

Vagrant Story is one of the dark horses of the JRPG genre.  Its exposition-light storytelling is rooted in Shakespearean dialogue rather than adolescent chosen ones.  Its RPG systems are complex, but you have essentially zero control over character customisation. A rhythm mini-game forms the heart of its combat, but you’ll spend the majority of your time playing sorting through menus.  This is Vagrant Story, a mish-mash of genres and ideas, another game that defies easy explanation.

But does this all come together into an enjoyable whole?  Are Vagrant Story’s individual parts strong, and do they complement one another?  Has Vagrant Story stood the test of time, or was it a botched experiment, best left in the dungeons of the city of Lea Monde?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Vagrant Story’s plot is confusing and poorly explained.  Its characters rarely give useful exposition dumps to the player.  But is this a bad thing? Is the story more sophisticated and interesting when told in this way, or does it just lead to plot holes?
• The gameplay on display here is enormously complex.  There are many different damage systems that require deep analysis to even begin to understand.  You spend most of your time in menus trying to figure out what the most effective way to proceed is.  But doe complexity equal depth? Is Vagrant story a deep and interesting experience, or just a hard to understand one?
• Can James trick Pat into admitting that his dislike of Vagrant Story’s box puzzles means that Stephen’s Sausage Roll (the greatest game ever made - Pat) also sucks?

Find out the answers to these questions and many more on Episode 22 of Retro Spectives!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Mario Kart has long been king of the Kart Racer.  Ever since it debuted back in 1992 on the SNES, it seems that every other entry has lived in its long shadow.  But back in 1997 we saw a challenger emerge to contest its throne: Diddy Kong Racing.

Both developed and published by Rare, Diddy Kong Racing was critically acclaimed at the time of its release.  It had a hub world to drive around in and select races from, a different take on powerups, and most dramatically of all had 3 different vehicles to race in.  It was loaded to the gills with content yet unseen in the kart racing genre - boss battles, minigames and its famous silver coin challenges.  With a list of features this long, how could it not be better than Mario Kart?

Well, we’ve learned through experience that just because something is a feature, doesn’t make it an additive one.  And while Diddy Kong Racing does things differently to Mario Kart, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it's better.  Does Diddy Kong Racing deserve its reputation as being ever better than Mario Kart?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What is it like to actually control your kart, plane and hovercraft around the tracks?  In what way do the different drift and sharp turns affect the racing experience?
• How good is the level design of Diddy Kong racing?  Does the challenge and enjoyment come from the fundamental course design, or from the placement of powerups and boost tracks?  
• Are the silver coin challenges everything they’re cracked up to be?  Do they redefine the entire racing experience, or are they just annoying roadblocks to overcome in trying to finish the rest of the game?

We answer these questions and many more on the 86th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Diddy Kong Racing OST: David Wise

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Is Diddy Kong Racing the best kart racer ever made?  If we were to cover a Mario Kart game, is there one that stands heads and shoulders above the rest?  Did you struggle as much as we did with the Wizpig boss battle?  Come join the conversation and let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Gamefreak, on the rarest of occasions, takes a break from toiling away in the Pokemon mines.  And when they do, sometimes they strike gold.  Such was the case with Drill Dozer, first released in 2005 to mostly favourable reviews.  As time ticked on, however, many began to look back on it with increasing fondness, and it's not hard to find those who consider it one of the best games ever released for the Gameboy Advance.

You play as Jill, pilot of the Drilldozer: a short and squat mech that harnesses the power of its drill arms to destroy and unravel any and all obstacles in its path.  It's a game that commits to it’s concept to a fault, with the world and everything around it shaped by those drills and what your mech is capable of.  In a world where 2D platformers are a dime a dozen, Drill Dozer can’t help but stand out - even if its box art was doing it no favours.

But does this all come together holistically to be an enjoyable game to play today?  And can a single-concept platformer avoid the dirge of repetitiveness that curses so many titles?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Drill Dozer uses an elaborate UI to help the player time the shifting of their gears.  Does this deliver the information to the player in a helpful way, or could more have been done with a subtler implementation?
• Does Drill Dozer try to dazzle the player with new concepts and novelty, or is this more an experience about refining your understanding of its core mechanics?  Is it, impossibly, both?
• Drill Dozer features a flying level, a water level, and a stealth level.  Which of these were our favourites? (the answer may surprise you…)

We answer these questions and many more on the 96th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Drill Dozer OST: Go Ichinose Satoshi Nohara

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Thanks to Electric Maestro from our discord server for suggesting Drill Dozer!  If you have any feedback to give, recommendations for us to play, or simply want to join the conversation, don’t hesitate to drop by and join our community discord server!

Certain games defy easy description or understanding. They unite so many disparate ideas, many of which feed into one another, that explaining it in one sentence is both a simplification and completely obtuse. And this is Megaman Battle Network 3. Its a card game - but it's also an action game. Its like pokemon - except you have no overarching goal or objective at the start of the game. Its an RPG - but you can beat the game barely touching that stuff if you’re good enough at rhythm games!

So, what exactly is Megaman Battle Network 3, and do all these elements come together into a complete package?

In this episode, we explore:

• How well do the RPG, action, and deck building parts of the gameplay work together? Do they feed into one another to create a better whole, or simply feed off one another?
• What sorts of things can you do with the customisation options available to you? Are they all damage upgrades and variants, or more diverse, allowing for creativity?
• Is the story actually decent or is James completely insane?

Find out the answers to these questions (particularly the last one) in the 10th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!  

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

When Another World was first released in 1991, it blew everyone’s minds.  The lengthy cutscene that introduced the game and the cinematic quality of its presentation was close to unheard of.  It fused dynamic and lethal laser combat with the rotoscoped platforming that was seen in Prince of Persia.  And it did it all in a time and place utterly unlike Earth, bringing to life a setting that truly felt like Another World.

But 30 years have passed since Another World’s debut.  The features that were once revolutionary wouldn’t even make a footnote on the back of the game box.  Instant death and trial and error are now dirty words, and action and puzzles very rarely combine well together.  Has Another World, the vision of a single person, kept up with all the innovations and modernisations of adventure platformers?  Or is it outdated and frustrating, making a mockery of its once forward thinking design?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does Another World set a sense of place?  Did we truly believe we were on an alien planet as we ran through its weathered halls?
• Is there any place for guesswork and trial and error in a video game?  Or is it a fundamentally flawed concept, one that we should be glad rarely sees the light of day?
• How well does Another World control, and how do the controls impact the overall experience?  Are there situations in which clunky control schemes are justifiable?

We answer these questions and many more on the 60th Episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Another World OST: Jean-François Freitas

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Are we heretics for criticising this sacred cow of video game history?  Does the Caves/Palace sections make more sense than we’re giving it credit for?  Does the spiritual sequel Flashback solve the problems we had with Another World?  Let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Tyrian 2000 is, to this day, regarded as one of the greatest shmups ever made.  It boasts a continuous campaign that goes for 5 episodes and 50 levels, a ludicrous array of guns to dock your ship out with, and a varied and creative enemy roster.  The game is stuffed to the cracks with bonus content - secret levels, unlocks, minigames - even fighting game special moves tied to each ship!

It's not hard to see why it has garnered so much praise.  And compared to its bullet hell brethren, it's a far more forgiving game, with no limited lives system and a hull capable of withstanding more than a few shots.  But is variety and spicy secrets really the key to a great video game?  Does what dazzled back in 1999 still add up to an enjoyable and deep experience today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does the economy of Tyrian 2000 work?  Does tying credits to score achieved make Tyrian more about power gaming than your intrinsic skill at piloting your ship?
• Tyrian 2000 allows you to freely swap out pieces of kit with no penalty to your credits.  Is this an instance where free re-specs should be celebrated, or is there a cost to allowing such freedom?
• What is the focus of the moment to moment gameplay of Tyrian 2000?  Is this a game about avoiding damage, or maximising your damage output?

We answer these questions and many more on the 88th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Tyrian 2000 OST: Alexander Bradon

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Do the hidden difficulties prevent the game from being so much of a power snowball, or do they make it even more important?  Is Pat a heretic that should be burned at the stake for using mouse controls?  What shmup should we play next?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

But can it run Crysis?  This was the motto that surrounded every single PC build for literal years after the release of the game in 2007.  Crytek were not satisfied with what they had achieved with Far Cry in 2004, and decided to push graphical hardware to its absolute limits with their brand new and shiny game.  And boy, did they succeed, with a poorly optimised but breathtakingly gorgeous game.  Even better, there was an entire video game attached to this graphical showcase, promising open ended tactical engagements over massive levels, far removed from corridor brawling.

You have cool suit powers that switch between modes, on the fly weapon modification, and a wide array of guns (and vehicles) to wreak havoc on those pesky North Koreans.  And if there are aliens, well, the United States of kick ass will just have to murder them as well.  It seems like an incredible game on paper, even today when we have more open world games than you can shake a stick at.

But for all that Crysis is vaunted for its massive leap forward in graphical technology, just how good a game is it to actually play?  Are the suit powers really that interesting in the face of the many RPG systems that tend to overlap FPS games today?  And is fighting those aliens all its cracked up to be?  Is Crysis worth your time to play today, or is it better remembered?

On this episode, we discuss:

The Suit.

Crysis’s key feature is a powerful exoskeleton that lets you switch between 4 modes - Strength, Armor, Speed and Stealth.  Just how well does the game push these suit modes in terms of engaging gameplay?  Are they balanced, and more importantly, are they fun to use?

The Guns.

How fun is the gunplay in Crysis?  The game features a fairly typical roster of assault rifles, submachine guns and shotguns, but has weapon modification on the fly with a simple menu.  Does this do enough to spice up the gunplay and keep things interesting?

The level design.

Crysis features (mostly) semi-open world level design, with bespoke objectives.  Does this give you the freedom to approach them in the way you want, and does it maintain this philosophy for the entire run time of the game?

We answer these questions and many more on the 124th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!
 

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Crysis OST: Inon Zur

The original version of the game, available on GOG, will fail to start on modern operating systems (Windows 10+). 

This can be fixed using the below link, which James used for this 

https://github.com/ccomrade/c1-launcher

Do you know what the gameplay differences are between Crysis 1 and the remastered version?  Do you think that Crysis is better than the Far Cry games that came afterwards?  When are we going to play Far Cry 2?  

Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you would like to support the show monetarily, you can buy us a coffee here!

Space Sims used to be a vibrant and well populated genre.  Back in the 90s they command shelf real estate, right next to the latest and greatest RTS and Point and Click Adventure games.  Coming at the tail end of this era was Tachyon: The Fringe, released in 2000 by Novalogic games, well known for their regular flight sims and the Delta Force series. 

You play as Jake Logan, a freelancing mercenary, who quickly gets caught up in the midst of a fight for independence.  A megacorporation has been given the legal rights to mine on the Fringe, and you have to decide whether to help them invade and conquer this space for profits, or defend the native population.  And you do this all by flying your spaceship round and blowing shit up, as freelancers tend to do.  

Do its gameplay and story combine into a compelling experience?  Has Tachyon the Fringe stood the test of time, and is it worth strapping in to play a space sim?  Or did this genre die for a reason?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story

• The initial presentation of the corporation Galspan and the defending natives, the Bora, seems to lack any kind of nuance.  Galspan is fairly obviously evil and the natives are fighting the good fight.  Does the dual split narrative reveal a deeper and more compelling story where both sides have a point, or is this a simple tale of good versus evil?

Level Design

• The level design of Tachyon is a series of arenas connected by fast travel portals, not a big empty space.  This allows you to quickly get to where you need to go, but is there a cost for giving the player such rapid convenience?  How immersive does space feel if you barely move through it?

Combat

• Tachyon spices up the usual space arcade fighter by adding a strafe/slide function and giving you the ability to shift energy around between your systems.  Is this enough to elevate the action combat to brilliant fun, or is it just an endless series of repetitive battles?
   

We answer these questions and many more on the 126th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Tachyon: The Fringe OST: Tom Hays 

How well did Tachyon: The Fringe’s multiplayer work back in its heyday?  Does Freelancer really do what Tachyon was trying to do but better? Are there any other space sims that you think are genuinely better than both?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.

Puzzles are like crack cocaine for their very special audience.  Whether it be a crossword, a logic problem, or even a riddle, unravelling them shoots a heavy dose of endorphins directly to the brain.  It is therefore no surprise that Professor Layton and the Curious Village was such a resounding success upon release, taking advantage of the portability of the 3DS before smartphones were a given for the general populace.

Combining a charming and relaxed atmosphere with an onslaught of different puzzle types, it was so successful that not only did it have many, many sequels, it even had a spinoff with Ace Attorney.  People fell in love with everything the game had to offer, right down to its devious trickery.

But has this formula of puzzles with a light story attached truly stood the test of time?  Is this better or worse than the point and click adventure games that defined the puzzle genre in the 90s?  Or is Professor Layton just a dull and repetitive ripoff of Sherlock Holmes?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story.

• How compelling is the story that exists in the webbing in between all of the puzzles?  Does its light and charming tone suit the seemingly dark mysteries that surround the curious village?

Puzzles.

• What did we think of the puzzles in the game?  Is there enough variety in puzzle types?  Can you logically push through most puzzles?  Are the ‘gotcha’ puzzles that require lateral thinking unfair, or an essential part of the Layton experience?

Hints.

• Is it possible to get stuck and unable to progress when things get too hard?  Are the hints that are available to the player reasonable without giving too much away?

We answer these questions and many more on the 103rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Professor Layton OST: Tomohito Nishiura 

Is there more to the story of Professor Layton and the Curious Village than we thought?  Is there another game in the series that is an absolute must play?  Which was your favourite puzzle?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on our Buy Me a Coffee Page!

Eternal Darkness is a game that holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts.  You play as Alexandra Roivos, called to her father’s mansion to confirm his identity after he is found dead and horrifically mangled.  Annoyed by the police’s incompetence at solving this murder, Alex begins to explore the mansion in the hope that it will reveal some clues as to how he died.  Before too long she discovers the first pages of the Book of Eternal Darkness, detailing the first encounter of a Roman legion named Augustus with an Eldritch Abomination.  As she continues to explore, she learns more and more about these cosmic horrors and ordinary people’s encounters with them, and how it all ties into her father and her family history.

The game was released to insane critical acclaim, and on paper it's easy to see why.  Spell crafting, full body dismemberment, a terrifying story about lovecraftian horrors and a story spanning 12 characters and 2000 years.  But do these aspects all add to a compelling narrative and gameplay experience, or is it more shallow than initially appears?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What does it mean for something to belong to the cosmic horror genre?  Is Eternal Darkness truly lovecraftian, or is that just a disguise it wears over the top of something far more banal?
• How does the spellcrafting, and spellcasting of Eternal Darkness work?  Does it provide you options in combat both offensively and defensively?  Are you given enough rope to truly craft your own spells?
• How challenging is Eternal Darkness?  Are you limited in terms of resources, and are the horrors of the story reflected in its mechanical identity?

We answer these questions and many more on the 82nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Eternal Darkness OST: Steve Henifin

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Is there more depth to the spellcrafting than there initially appears?  Was there a particular vignette that stood out to you as well done?  What are you hoping to see in a sequel?  Let us know what you think on our community discord server!

The release of Goldeneye in 1995 was one of the most successful reboots in cinematic history.  Pierce Brosnan’s take on Bond was suave and sophisticated, with just a touch of melancholy, which was the perfect fit for a more grounded and serious Bond film.  It had its fair share of silly moments, but there was something special about Goldeneye that made it memorable.

So it was no surprise to anyone when just two years later, we got a game based off the movie - Goldeneye 007, released for the Nintendo 64.  The big FPS games at this time were still a long way off mimicking reality, whether it was the brown eldritch hallways of Quake or the satirical and colourful streets of Duke 3D.  Goldeneye 007 strove to hit those realistic notes, being one of the early adopters of headshots, AI behaviour and objective based gameplay instead of just murdering everyone on sight.  And every mission has at least a referential link to an event in the movie, truly putting you in the role of James Bond.

But does this all add up to an enjoyable experience today?  While Goldeneye may have been a forerunner of the console FPS, does that necessarily mean it does everything right?  What was once revolutionary back in 1997 might just be quaint and outdated today - and was its approach genuinely better than its PC contemporaries?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does Goldeneye 007 tell its story?  Do you remain emotionally invested in its characters and plot just like you were when watching the movie, or does it fall flat?
• How does the structure of objective based gameplay influence the overall pacing compared to just murdering enemies?  Is the game better for having this structure, and does it execute it well?
• How enjoyable is the moment to moment gameplay of Goldeneye?  Does running around at lightning speeds and hip firing at goons actually add up to anything substantial?

We answer these questions and many more on the 81st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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We played Goldeneye 007 on 1964, a custom built emulator specifically created for Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark.  It's bloody amazing, and has support for a mouse and keyboard control scheme as well as a bunch of fantastic visual options including FOV and fps.  Highly recommend getting this if you want to give the game a spin.

—

Are the objectives in Goldeneye really that obtuse, or are we just being dense?  Which console FPS should we try next - Perfect Dark or Timesplitters?  Is Xena Onatopp the best Bond girl?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Metal Gear Solid 2 was easily the most hotly anticipated game for the Playstation 2.  The first game had blown everyone away, and the jaw-dropping graphics of previews combined with the quality of the animation in cutscenes seemed almost too good to be true.  

Luckily for fans everywhere, MGS 2 appeared to live up to its wild expectations, getting almost universally glowing reviews.  It seemed that MGS 2 had expanded upon the first game in every single way, including having an even more convoluted story.  But for all its praise, there were hints of critique and backlash around the edges if you looked hard enough.  The change of protagonist definitely pissed a lot of people off, and opinion was divided over whether the ending was brilliant or just a self indulgent mess of ideas awkwardly stapled together.

So is Metal Gear Solid 2 still a game worth playing today?  Or are there flaws in this acclaimed classic that have been long forgotten?

On this episode we discuss:

Gameplay.

In what ways has the core mechanics of sneaking around a complex changed from Metal Gear Solid 1 to 2?  Are these differences meaningful in changing how you engage with the game, or are they just surface level changes with murdering enemies at range with a silenced pistol still being the best approach?

Characterisation.

One of the most memorable parts of the original Metal Gear Solid was its wacky roster of villains, all with their own questionably fantastical super powers.  Does MGS 2 continue this proud tradition, or are the enemy bosses in the game lacklustre in comparison?

Story.

To call Metal Gear Solid 2’s story complicated is a massive understatement.  To what degree does it manage to hold together its threads of conspiracy, philosophy and free will?  Does it all come together in a cohesive whole, or is it just a load of nonsense?

We answer these questions and many more on the 112th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Metal Gear Solid 2 OST: Harry Gregson-Williams, Norihiko Hibino

What was your favourite part of Metal Gear Solid 2?  Does Fortune get as much hate as she deserves, or should she get even more?  Which stealth game should we play next?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee Page!

Diablo 2 is one of the most influential games ever made.  Evolving on the basic formulae created in Diablo 1, it introduced many concepts that are now considered genre staples: skill trees, socketed items, champion packs and the stash.  Not only have countless games just like it come in its wake - every single element of this game has been spun off into other genres.  MMOs take from Diablo 2.  FPS games take from Diablo 2.  Its tendrils writhe deep into the flesh of the gaming landscape, even today.

But for all of its influence, is it still worth playing the original?  If every aspect of what makes this game has been evolved upon, not just in its own genre, but in others, can the humble original still be worth playing over everything that has come out since?

We are joined by special guest Shane Koski of the Retro Hangover Podcast to delve deep into exactly what it is that makes Diablo 2 tick - and whether, at the end of it, it is worth playing an ARPG that is over 20 years old.

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well has the action component of Diablo 2 held up?  Is running, evading enemy fire, using abilities and potion chugging still the frantic and fun experience it was back in 2000?
• Do Diablo 2’s skill trees offer a good level of customisation and creativity in its character builds?  To what degree must you rely on external research when forging a character?
• Does Diablo 2’s itemisation hold up in the face of modern takes like Diablo 3 and Path of Exile?  Does a flatter power curve (rune words aside) lead to a more engaging game, or one where power ups are hardly noticeable?

We answer these questions and many more on the 84th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Diablo 2 OST: Matt Uelmen

We had yet another excellent guest on the show - Shane Koski of the Retro Hangover Podcast!  They do deep dive critiques of video games that are at least 10 years old, and they have some fantastic stuff - I highly recommend checking out their Tomb Raider and Parasite Eve episodes.  You can also join their discord community here to join the conversation.

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Our Diablo 1 Episode

The Hidden Cost of Optimisation

Swampletics

Rhykker’s Youtube Channel

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What is it exactly about Diablo 2 that makes people enjoy it more than any other ARPG?  Are Rune Words really as bad as we say, or do they overall add to the experience?  Did you have a similar experience to us on Diablo 3 launch day?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

When Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom was released in 2002, it was not to a fanfare of fervor or excitement.  This was the 6th title in Impression Games’ city builder series, and it was widely viewed as more of the same.  Caesar, Pharoah, Zeus and now Emperor all had the same baseline mechanics, and although they had their own theming and nuanced differences, they still mostly played the same.  Critics were not impressed.

Emperor brought along a couple of refinements in residential walls and roadblocks, but was otherwise a refinement of everything that had come before.  The real question is, is the essential gameplay here still worth experiencing?  Is putting economic supply chains together, and turning your farms on and off a meaningful experience?  Or does it all end up being a boring and repetitive exercise as you build up your city the exact same way every time?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How important is the planning phase in Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom?  What are the consequences of making mistakes in your planning, and how well can you recover from your mistakes?
• How well does Emperor communicate information to the player?  Is this yet another strategy game with a learning cliff instead of a curve, or are you able to identify where exactly problems lie in your city?
• What degree of control do you have over your city?  Are you given all the dials and knobs to tweak to achieve your desired outcome, or is it too hands off?  

We answer these questions and many more on the 75th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom OST: Jeff Van Dyck

We recently guested on the Retro Asylum Podcast where we discussed and reviewed Fallout 2!  We had a great time covering Fallout 1 with Chris on our show - and he was kind enough to return the favour for the sequel.  The episode should be dropping very shortly, so please subscribe to them for some more Fallout goodness.

Does Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom deserve its status as the best of the Impression Games’ titles?  Are there any modern games that exist as genuine spiritual successors to these games?  Was there anything about the economic management that James and Pat drastically misunderstood?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

In this inaugural cast of Retro Spectives, Pat and James seek the truth by breaking down the following questions:

• Just how difficult is Doom? It was hard in the past, but have all our years of popping heads in call of duty made it a cakewalk?
• Are its levels a masterpiece of design or just confusing mazes?
• How many toxic pits will we go diving into for some bullets or in hope of finding a secret?

We answer these questions and more on the very first episode of Retro Spectives!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation then feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Pat and James go back in time further than they’ve ever been before and play the original Castlevania!  First released in 1986, it was the beginning of a legacy that has seen metroidvanias, 3d brawlers and most recently a hit anime series.  You play as Simon Belmont, equipped with his iconic whip, as he battles through horror movie monsters to reach the top of Count Dracula’s castle and slay him like the vampire scum he is.  It was a hit on release and fans loved its hard as nails gameplay and cheesy horror themes.

But how fun is Castlevania to play today?  Platformers have seen more than 30 years of careful refinement.  Boss fights are far more sophisticated  And the NES is hardly the high point of graphical fidelity.  Is Castlevania still an enjoyable experience all these years later, or was it simply a good game at the time of its release?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How important is smooth movement in a 2D platformer?  Castlevania has very restricted jumping, with no air control or height/length variance.  Is this intrinsically flawed, or has the game been designed around these restrictions?
• Castlevania requires a good amount of memorisation to get through it's dangerous levels.  Does this reliance on memorisation versus reaction based systems lead to an equally fun experience?
• Is Castlevania too hard, or are Pat and James filthy casuals?  And will Pat ever shut up about that one boss fight?

We answer these questions and many more on the 37th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Is Castlevania really as difficult as Pat and James claim?  Are the graphics better than we give them credit for?  Is there a particular song on the soundtrack we should have paid more attention to?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

When Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers first released in 1993, it was not a crack commercial hit.  It did however instantly earn itself widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its dark and disturbing story, foreboding atmosphere, and incredible voice acting.  The game brought the setting of 90’s Louisiana to life, with all the colonial baggage and real life voodoo history integrated into every little crevice of its world.

But can Gabriel Knight truly get over the ultimate sin of being a point and click adventure game?  Can voodoo be taken seriously after Monkey Island spent so much time satirising the concept?  Is this game as scary or intense all these years later?  Or has the passage of time left the narrative of Gabriel Knight without any bite?

On this episode, we discuss:

Aesthetics.

We played two different versions of Gabriel Knight - the original, and the 2014 remake.  Is one of these clearly better than the other, or do they each have their strengths and weaknesses?

Story.

How does the narrative unravel in Gabriel Knight?  Is having a slow burn story a good way to keep the player invested?  How does structuring the game into days affect how the story is told?

Gameplay.

How logical are Gabriel Knight’s puzzles?  Does having the game split into days affect the clarity of what you’re meant to accomplish each day?  Does the game avoid the fundamental issues that Pat and James have with the genre?

We answer these questions and many more on the 105th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

GK 1993 OST: Robert Holmes

GK 2014 OST: Robert Holmes

Are our critiques of the point and click adventure game puzzles valid?  What do the sequels change or improve from the original?  Is there a different adventure game out there that we should try?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show on our Buy me a Coffee page!

For all of our complaints, we did enjoy Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.  While it failed to maximise its different elements into a creative challenge, its core gameplay is just as good as it was in the first title.  So when we remembered that an entire coherent Co-op campaign was released alongside the main game, it seemed like an excellent opportunity for us to suit up and demonstrate our brilliant stealth chops to one another.  We were hoping we would breeze through it in a few hours, particularly after we had complained so profusely about how easy the original game was.

Things didn’t go quite as we expected.

Grab a cup of hot chocolate and get comfy as we laugh and curse our way through the trials and tribulations of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Co-op.

On this episode, we discuss:

• The Co-op mode introduces a suite of special ‘partner’ moves that can only be executed in tandem.  Did these change our strategic approach to stealthing, or were they just elaborate keys?
• How well does the level design facilitate a second player?  Were there substantial changes to the single player level design to reflect the additional set of goggles, lockpicks and guns?
• What shenanigans can you get up to in Co-op to make your teammate mad?  Does a level of jankiness and confusion enhance the Co-op experience?

We answer these questions and many more on this special bonus episode of Retro Spectives!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

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Rakuzo’s guide on reddit to get Chaos Theory Co-op working

Pat’s article on Halo 2 Co-op

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What was your experience like playing the Co-op of this game?  Did you find the end of mission 4 as frustrating as we did?  What other Co-op games should we play?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Diablo 1 laid the groundwork for the action-RPG genre way back in 1996. We have Diablo to thank for genre staples like colour-coded loot, elite mobs and town-portal scrolls. But since then, ARPGS have evolved into incredibly complex beasts, with sprawling skill trees, crafting systems and character customisation that makes Diablo 1 look quaint in comparison.

But is high-complexity necessarily better than a game which is simple and refined? Are more realistic graphics with their anti-aliasing and 3D Graphics better than basic yet haunting hallways? Has Diablo 1 stood the test of time, or is it better left forgotten as a relic of the ARPG genre?

In this episode, we discuss:

• What creates good atmosphere? How well does Diablo 1 immerse you in its experience, and how does it compare to modern ARPGS like Diablo 3 and Path to Exile?
• The amount and types of loot available to you while playing through Diablo is quite limited - does this make loot feel more meaningful, or does it just make the game less interesting?
• Pat and James continue their classic argument about respecs. Are respecs something every game should have, or is something essential lost when you can change the nature of your character with ease?

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 19th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Lunar: The Silver Star is a tale of love and adventure which has been remade more than most games in history.  First released in 1992 for the SEGA CD, it has existed in one form or another on different consoles, handhelds and even phones.  Most agree that the definitive version is the original PlayStation’s Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, the version we played for the podcast this fortnight.

Alex dreams of becoming the next Dragon Master, one of the storied heroes of legend, but he has a long way to go before attaining those dreams. For now, Alex is simply content with exploring a forgotten dragon’s cave in search of treasure.
But what begins as a simple adventure with his friends quickly spirals into a series of events far more dangerous than Alex could ever have imagined. 

Join Pat and James as they put Lunar to the test, finding out if it truly stood the test of time.
Is a whimsical adventure filled with simple romance and turn-based combat a recipe for the ages?  Or have we moved beyond this style of storytelling, leaving Lunar in the dust?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What exactly constitutes grinding?  Can a game which scales to your level even have it?
  Pat and James disagree.
• Have stories about a bunch of teens going on an adventure worn out their welcome, or can charming characters save an otherwise simple narrative?
• How enjoyable is managing health and mana throughout extended engagements?  Are turn based battles better with a fully healed party?

We answer these questions and many more on the 38th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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We guested over on Will and Drew’s Gaming Retrospective!  Each week Will and Drew talk video games and the game industry, or they interview idiots like us!  Listen in to part 1 and part 2 of our interview where we talk Dark Souls, Fighting Games and the games that defined us and our gaming philosophies!

Will and Drew’s website can be found here!

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Enjoy the show?  Did you find Pat’s take a little..controversial?  Or even stupid?  Take the argument to us directly on our community discord server!  We’ll be sure to respond in kind!

From the very moment Jet Set Radio released, it wowed its audience.  It blew people away with its at the time revolutionary cell shaded graphics, and boasts an undeniably funky soundtrack, with bangers like Yellow Bream and Recipe for the Perfect Afro.  Adding graffiti tagging to the gameplay of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater?  It seemed like a match made in heaven, and all done in incredible style.

But have the sands of time been kind to Jet Set Radio, or just the opposite?  We have seen endless iteration in the skating genre, and today we tend to demand tighter control.  Does Jet Set Radio provide a gameplay experience that matches its swagger, or is it simply a case of style over substance?

On this episode, we discuss:

• In what ways does Jet Set Radio establish its identity as a 90’s punk themed graffiti skater?  Is it consistent in tone and execution, or is it just skin deep?
• How fun is it to skate around the streets of Neo-Tokyo?  Does it provide a fast and fluid experience like Tony Hawk’s, or does it play more like a stop and start platformer?
• How enjoyable is it to battle and skirt around the foes in your way?  Do the police, military and rival gangs add to the fun of skating and tagging, or are they just annoying nuisances?

We answer these questions and many more on the 74th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Jet Set Radio OST: Hideki Naganuma, Various Artists

Is Jet Set Radio Future (or Sunset Overdrive) worth playing, or is the original the best?  Are the controls something that takes time to master, or are they intrinsically flawed?  And are these truly the worst half pipes in the history of gaming?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Pat and James are joined by special guest Drew Koscelek of the WDGR Podcast to discuss and argue whether Streets of Rage 2 has truly stood the test of time.  When it was first released in 1992 for the Sega Genesis, it blew everyone away with its gorgeous graphics, vibrant soundtrack, and its fast and fluid gameplay.  Even today, many consider it to be one of the best in its genre.

Beat ‘em ups were hugely popular in the late 80s and early 90s, a fixture of the arcade scene and dominating the home console market in the early 90s.  But as time went by, they began to fade from view into total obscurity, only appearing here and there as curios like Scott Pilgrim.  The release of Streets of Rage 4 to widespread critical acclaim reminded everyone that the genre still has a lot to offer.

But for all the success of Streets of Rage 4, is Streets of Rage 2 still worth playing today?  Have the 28 years in between the two games made the original titles redundant, a shadow of what the modern titles offer?  Or does Streets of Rage 2 still have what it takes to be fun to play?  Is it a classic that has truly stood the test of time?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does it feel to control Streets of Rage 2?  Are special moves that require finicky inputs better than the simplicity of one button per action?
• What is it like to learn to play Streets of Rage 2 with little to no experience with the genre?  How hard is the game, and what kind of challenge does it present to the player?
• Is Streets of Rage 2 a satisfying co-op experience?  Or does friendly fire with your punches, kicks and grabs lead to an intensely frustrating experience?

We answer these questions and many more on the 58th Episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Streets of Rage 2 OST: Yuzo Koshiro, Motohiro Kawashima

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Our special guest for the episode was Drew Koscelek of the WDGR Podcast!  Each and every episode they discuss video games as two people who have no time to play video games.  They’re currently running a March Madness video game franchise draft that you can participate in, so please do go check them out!  You can also join their discord server to join the conversation.  

WDGR Website

WDGR Twitter

WDGR Discord Server

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Is Streets of Rage 2 really the best in the series, or is the remake of 1 even better?  Did we misunderstand something about how you’re meant to play the game co-op?  What are brawlers from other franchises worth playing now that we’ve got our feet wet?  Come let us know what you think on our 

community discord server!

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a game that served as direct inspiration for titles like Dark Souls and Hollow Knight despite being released in 1997. Its influence can be seen not only in these games, but in the entire genre of metroidvania. Has Symphony of the Night stood the test of time or does it wallow in the shadow of those it inspired? On today’s episode, we answer this question by examining the following:

• Is having deviously hidden features a reward for the investigative
  gamer, or just cryptic nonsense?
• Can the aesthetics of a 22 year old game stand up to modern
  offerings?
• Is Castlevania’s soundtrack truly a symphony, or just nails on a
  chalkboard?

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

It feels like Metal Gear Solid barely needs an introduction.  First released in 1998 for the playstation, it launched Hideo Kojima into the western spotlight and has been credited as a foundational game in the stealth genre.  It combined a cinematic presentation with a larger than life cast of villains that somehow never broke through how seriously the game seemed to take itself.  There was an attention to detail here that blew people’s minds upon release, not only in the level of interactivity but also the many easter eggs and secrets scattered throughout the game.

But for all its critical acclaim, and its renowned legacy, is Metal Gear Solid still a fun game to play today?  Every single entry in the series innovated in a big way, and Metal Gear Solid was the first 3D title to come out.  Were pundits at the time just wowed by what was essentially a glorified tech demo, or is Metal Gear Solid still a worthy title to play to this day?

On this episode we discuss:

Stealth

Metal Gear Solid is credited for the revitalisation and popularization of the stealth genre.  But just how good is the stealth gameplay here really?  Is it as good as the later games in the series, and how does it hold up in comparison to its contemporaries like Thief?

Story

The Metal Gear Solid series is famous for its batshit insane storytelling, wacky villains and twists and turns.  How well does the first game execute on its story, and how does it use cutscenes and codec calls to reveal character’s personalities and philosophies?

Action

Metal Gear Solid isn’t just a stealth game, and features a heavy dose of action particularly towards the end of the game.  How well realised are the action setpieces compared to the stealth?

We answer these questions and many more on the 110th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Metal Gear Solid OST: Maki Kirioka, Kazuki Muraoka, Togo Project

Which Metal Gear game is your favourite?  Are the original Metal Gear 1 and 2 worth playing today?  Do you prefer to play the game with or without the radar?  Come let us know what you think, and recommend us games to play on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee page.

First released in the year 2000 for windows, The Operative: No One Lives Forever (NOLF) was widely praised as the best FPS released since Half Life.  The game openly celebrates the Spy genre, feeling like a bizarre amalgamation of James Bond, Get Smart and Austin Powers.  Monolith Productions was struggling with giving the game a unique identity until they struck on the idea of making the lead character a woman.  Enter Cate Archer, dryly sarcastic, witty and deadly, but surrounded by the blatant sexism of the 60s, with everyone questioning her abilities and blaming her emotions whenever things go wrong.

Cate Archer tackles the obstacles in front of her with aplomb, sneaking around enemy bases and shooting anyone who happens to stop her.  But can the gameplay of this mostly forgotten relic hold up all these years later?  Is the story really that fascinating or just a glorified homage?

On this episode we discuss:

• Can you have a story that features both ridiculous satire and a serious threat to the world?  How does NOLF balance these two seemingly opposed tones?
• Do you need to have a wide variety of tools at your disposal to make stealth gameplay engaging?  Or is a silenced gun all you need if the other elements work?
• Will we ever get tired of pressing hidden switches to unveil secret passages and world domination maps?

We answer these questions and many more on the 43rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

NOLF OST: Guy Whitmore

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To play NOLF on a modern PC, completely free:

First, download NOLF GOTY edition at this link.  Remember to activate the included widescreen fix.

Then, download and install the NOLF Moderniser patch at this link!  Enjoy your varied menu options and 60 FPS!

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Are there any hilarious conversations between guards that we missed?  Is this a better stealth game than we give it credit for?  Doe NOLF 2 do the original proud?  Let us know what you think on our text based community discord server!

Rez, first released in 2001 for the Dreamcast and PS2, is many things.  It's a rail shooter, heralded as one of the greats of a now mostly dead genre.  It's a visual assault on the senses, with its pulsating neon wireframes and insanely animated boss fights.  It's an audio hallucinatory trip, with musical beats emanating from every killed enemy, and every shot fired rapping like a snare drum.  It is, in short, an experience unlike any other.

But for all its uniqueness, is Rez a game worth your time to play today?  Or does it only survive in our memories on novelty alone?

On this episode, we discuss:

• In what ways does Rez deliver its audio-visual experience?  Is there something special about its fusion of audio and animation, or is it just another bland rendition of cyberspace?
• How good is the music of Rez, and how much control do you as the player have over the music?  Is the player in sync with the melody, or does the game not give enough tools to the player to immerse themselves wholly in the soundtrack?
• What is the gameplay actually like in Rez?  Is it fun to actually shoot down the enemies on screen?  Or does its simplicity undermine the experience by becoming tedious?

We answer these questions and many more on the 91st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Rez OST: Various Artists

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Wassily Kandinsky’s Wikipedia Page 

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Is the VR version of Rez worth playing through?  What Rail shooter should we play next?  Is track 3 really the worst of the bunch?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 was a staple of many people’s PC desktop screens back in the early 2000s.  Nestled in between the big hitters like Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2 you would find this odd game that straddled the line between simulation and video game.  Developed by Infogrames Interactive, it saw Chris Sawyer continue the work he put into the first game, with more rides and tools to tweak your park to whatever specifications you desired.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 features over a hundred attractions, a plethora of themes and a roller coaster physics system that is completely ludicrous in terms of detail.  But in the pursuit of building a sandbox sim, did Chris Sawyer forget to add a compelling video game to the mix?  Or is this just ultimately an empty and lifeless recreation of rides going round in circles for all eternity?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Intrinsic Rewards.
  Does Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 do enough to incentivise the player with extrinsic gameplay rewards?  Are the intrinsic rewards of seeing your park grow and come together enough to make the game a worthwhile use of your time?
• UI/UX.
  How good is the UI for managing your park and specifically for building roller coasters?  How well does the game teach the player how best to run their park?
• Visuals.
  How good does the game look?  Is there more to the low pixel graphics that meets the eye, and what’s the difference between a new untouched park and one that has grown to completion?

We answer these questions and many more on the 111lth episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 OST: Allister Brimble

Do you know how to build the mighty roller coasters that we struggled so much with?  Are there actually that many differences between the first three games, or are they all essentially identical?  What other management style games would you like to see us play?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server

If you’d like to support the show monetarily, please check out our Buy me a Coffee Page!

From Software is amongst the most critically acclaimed software developers of all time. Since 2009’s Demon’s Souls, they’ve released nothing but incredible titles and Dark Souls 2. But long before Hidtaka Miyazaki joined the company, From was mainly known for a completely different series: Armored Core.

First released in 1997 for the Playstation 1, Armored Core was an immediate hit, letting players fly around and destroy other enormous robots in short and intense bursts. But is it still a joy to play, with the advent of better control schemes and more refined graphics? Does Armored Core do its descendants proud in being a brilliant title?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Are you the bad guy? You work for a mercenary group called the Ravens, who accept contracts from all sides. Is any of the work you accept morally...dubious in nature?
• How well implemented is the customisation? Can you construct your mech in whatever fashion you choose, or are you railroaded into certain builds?
• Who designed this control scheme, and what's the easiest way to shoot them in the head? Spoiler: It ain’t in a mech!

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 25th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

The Chronicles of Riddick, when it first released in 2004, was the definition of mediocre sci-fi schlock.  Riddick, played by Vin Diesel, came across as a generic edgelord, and it seemed to lean into special effects and spectacle over anything more substantial.  It's a direction that didn’t play well with critics, nor with the fans of the previous entry, Pitch Black. 

So it was to everyone’s surprise when a videogame set in this same world was released to widespread critical acclaim.  Vin Diesel, under his macho exterior, was secretly a bit of a geek, and was heavily involved in the development.  Critics praised just about every aspect of this short and tightly-made prison-escape, from the visuals, to the stealth, to the characterisation.

But were those critics simply wowed by the glossiness of a cinematic FPS?  Are the individual gameplay mechanics in Riddick actually fun in their own right?  Or is this just another mid-2000’s hybrid FPS game that is better off forgotten?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Structure. 
  To this day, Escape from Butcher Bay’s non-conventional structure continues to impress modern audiences. Did it impress us?
   
• Stealth, shooting and investigation. 
  Individually, these are sub-par. So what’s Riddick’s secret that brings these together into something special.
   
• Characterisation. 
  Is Vin Diesel’s beloved character simply a generic action hero, or is there more to him than meets the eye? As a prequel, does Butcher Bay limit Riddick’s potential for development? Or does it set up Pitch Black’s captivating final moments.

We answer all these questions and more on the 97th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Riddick OST: Gustaf Grefburg

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Is it worth watching the third Riddick movie, or is it just more of the same?  Are there any other obvious influences we forgot to mention outside of repeatedly calling out Half Life?  Is Dark Athena as bad as the reviews suggest?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Celeste is not your average platformer.  When it was released in 2018, it took the world by storm, delighting casual players and speedrunners alike.  Its levels were divided into screens reminiscent of Super Meat Boy, featuring fast and frequent death with extremely frequent checkpoints.  It had a simple, but warming and competently written story, a rarity for the platforming genre.  And while it might appear simple at first glance, the mechanics at play here unfold deeper and deeper the more you seek to master what the game has to offer.

We round out our second Xmas special with a detailed breakdown of everything that makes Celeste tick - the music, the story, the gameplay mechanics and much more.  Is Celeste really the new high watermark for 2D platformers, overthrowing the old guard like Mario and Sonic?  Or have we just been bewitched by something new and unusual?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Is Celeste a difficult game, and is there a distinction between how punishing a game is versus how difficult it appears?  What is the difficulty curve like, from the A sides all the way to Chapter 9?
• How does Madeline feel to control, and what does Celeste do to finetune this experience?  Can a simple moveset of jumping, climbing and dashing inform a deeply satisfying mechanical experience compared to a more complicated moveset?
• Is it fair to classify Celeste as a precision platformer?  In what ways does the main game and the different cassette tapes emphasise precision, technique and puzzle solving?

We answer these questions and many more on the 78th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Celeste OST; Farewell OST: Lena Raine

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Maddy’s Article on Madeline being canonically trans

Game Maker's Toolkit on why Celeste feels good to play

Twitter thread detailing a lot of hidden game feel design choices

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Enjoy the show?  Are we right to claim that Celeste is the greatest platformer of all time?  Got any games that you’d like to see us review?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Ape Escape was a defining platformer of the Playstation 1 era, notably being the very first to require a dualshock controller to play. It truly pushed the limits of that controller, incorporating the joysticks in a way no game has done since. You journey through each level, trying to capture apes and send them back to the zoo where they belong - no-one tell PETA about the game. Do the innovative controls and basic gameplay loop of capturing monkeys hold up to this day, or is it just plain monkey-ing around?

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

• Are the joystick controls for activating gadgets a revolutionary and unique twist, or just bloody annoying?
• How fun is it to hunt, subdue and capture the evil, escaped monkeys? Do the gadgets give us enough options to do so?
• How is it possible that James hates the music so much when he’s so in love with Banjo Kazooie’s soundtrack?

Find out the answers to these questions, and many more, in this week’s episode of Retro Spectives!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Doom II came hot on the coattails of Doom, releasing just 10 months after the first game took the world by storm.  Billed as a sequel, it resembled an expansion pack far more, introducing only a handful of enemies and one new weapon.  Despite this, Doom II was massively successful at launch, and introduced all the pieces for the enormous Doom modding community that continues to thrive to this day.

But is it enough to introduce so little and still expect the gameplay experience to be fresh?  Could a game only in development for such a short time deliver consistently good level design?  Or will Doom II end up being remembered more for what it introduced than the substantial experience of actually playing it?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What does the addition of the Super Shotgun do to change the essential Doom experience?  Can a weapon that's fundamentally overpowered actually be a good thing?
• What is it exactly that makes a good Doom level?  We talk about teleporters, verticality and the scale of the encounters you have to face.
• How do the new monsters change how you play the game?  Do all the monsters in Doom II have a role to play, or are some more interesting than others?

We answer these questions and many more on the 63rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Doom II OST: Bobby Prince

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Did you enjoy Doom II more than Doom I?  Are we over rating The Plutonia Experiment?  Do you have any custom WADS to suggest?  Come and join the discussion on our community discord server!

The Metroid games are certified classics for a reason.  Super Metroid, in particular, is responsible for inventing an entire genre, with a shockingly tight design that puts all other games of its era to shame.  The 90s came and went without seeing a 3D metroid game, but in 2002 we finally saw the release of Metroid Prime.  Could it possibly capture the magic of what made the 2D games great?

Well, according to the reviews of the time, it did that, and more.  Metroid Prime received close to universal acclaim, with everything from its graphical presentation to its enemy design to its power ups being declared worthy of its predecessor; a resoundingly successful conversion and evolution of the concept of a Metroidvania.

But 20 years have passed since the release of Metroid Prime.  And while the genre of 3D metroidvanias remains mostly barren, there have been other fantastic games to come in its wake - Supraland, Antichamber and Outerwilds, Prey and of course, Dark Souls.  Does Metroid Prime, with its focus on exploration and platforming, still hold up today?  Or are its mechanics and world outdated, primitive and undercooked?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Metroid Prime tells its minimalist story entirely through text you read while scanning logs and objects in the environment.  Not a single line of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire game.  Does this constant breaking of action to scan and read lines of text immersion-breaking, or does it suck you into its world even deeper?
• Metroid Prime, as an “action-adventure” title, touches on many types of gameplay - combat, puzzles, platforming and exploration.  Is this a balanced package, or does it do some of these things better than others?
• What did we think of Metroid Prime’s level design, both on a micro and macro level?  How well does this level design facilitate both the moment to moment gameplay and the broader cohesive worldbuilding?

We answer these questions and many more on the 99th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

First released in 1999, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is widely considered to be one of the best turn based strategy games ever made.  To this day it has a fanatical online following who strive to understand all the intricacies of the title. There are layers upon layers of complexity on display here, from the economic management to troop compositions and how you manage your various heroes.

But is it still fun to play today?  The strategy genre has had 20 years to refine itself into something a lot more sophisticated.  There are millions of different takes on 4x strategy games, from Endless Space to Civilization.  And that’s to say nothing of the other 4 Heroes titles that have come out since then. Has this third entry in the series, more than 20 years later, actually stood the test of time?

In this episode, we discuss:

• How does the economy of the game actually work?  Heroes 3 has a different set of economic chokepoints than typical strategy games.  Do they create interesting decision points, or do you just slam your econom production into overdrive?
• Does Heroes 3 have diversity in general gameplay experiences?  The game boasts an impressive 8 factions, 16 hero types, a diverse skill tree and hundreds of spells and artifacts, but does translate more significant strategic divergence than a 3 faction approach like in Starcraft?
• Is the lack of balance in the game a problem?  Heroes 3 features some absolutely off the wall insane magical spells and abilities that break the game in half.  Is this a problem, or does the random chance of going off add to the experience as a whole?

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 29th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast! 

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Silent Hill 2 holds a special place in many people’s hearts. Its held up as a poster child for both its oppressive atmosphere and the multi-layered and surreal tale it tells, of the town and the people that have been drawn to it. It tried to tell a story quite different from the conspiracy driven Resident Evil or the demon invasion of Doom 3. Is Silent Hill 2’s psychological horror as scary as ever? Does the gameplay of collecting keys and solving puzzles contribute to the atmosphere?

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• How important is the gameplay in what is primarily regarded as a narrative driven game? Can you tell a horrifying story if you’re spending most of your time solving puzzles?
• Just what is it that’s so special about the town of Silent Hill? How important is a sense of place in establishing atmosphere and immersion?
• How can we reconcile the terrible events of the game with the fact that a Shizu was controlling all of our fates from the very beginning?

Find out what we really think on the 8th, and longest so far, episode of Retro Spectives!
 

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

The original Pathologic has long been regarded as a cult classic.  Obtuse, frustrating, boring and unfriendly, it nonetheless captured people’s imaginations with its densely woven storytelling and mystical dialogue.  It was a game that came at the art form from a completely different direction from what everyone else was doing, but was ultimately limited by its fairly simple gameplay.

Pathologic 2 aimed to solve the gameplay problem.  Ice Pick Lodge, with a wagon full of kickstarter money, wanted to refine the spirit of the first game and realise their dream of death and suffering.  Combat, looting, infection, trading, potion making, the UI and much much more have all been expanded upon dramatically to give the player too much to do, and not enough time to do it.

But did all these radical changes to the gameplay come at the cost of the story?  Is only having the Haruspex playthrough instead of all 3 characters still a meaningful experience?  Has Pathologic 2 achieved everything that the first game was striving for?

Join us on our special 100th episode of Retro Spectives Podcast as we discuss a game that refused to bend to progress, and instead carved its own path through the gaming landscape

On this episode, we discuss:

• Story.
  How has the story of Pathologic 2 changed, and is it for the better?  
  The dialogue is more grounded and the politics de-emphasised in favour of more intimate character moments.  
  Does this make the game more immersive, or has something ephemeral been lost along the way?
• Gameplay.
  How does the gameplay of Pathologic 2 actually work?  
  We dig deep to wrap our minds around every part of this game's complex web of systems.
• Suffering.
  Is there meaning to be found in humanity's struggles for survival?
  Or does this game's portrayal of suffering  pale in comparison to the agony of looting those same park bins once again?

We answer these questions and many more on th1 100th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Pathologic 2 OST: Vasily Kashnikov, Theodor Bastard

A big thank you to everyone who has stuck with us through 100 episodes of reviewing and discussing classic games.  The whole reason doing this podcast is fun is because you’re there listening, and both Pat and James deeply appreciate you for it.  If you haven’t done so already, we’d love it if you'd swing by and say hi on our community discord server.

Once upon a time there was a genre known as the Rail Shooter.  Before developers had mastered free traversal in 3D spaces, they instead popped players on a fixed rail and took them through a series of linear shootouts.  Many consider Star Fox 64 to be one of the highpoints of the genre, seeming to set the stage for many more to come.  As time went on they started to disappear entirely though, only occasionally rearing up with titles like Panzer Dragoon and Kid Icarus.

The question is, did the genre deserve to die?  Can a rail shooter possibly be as fun as a fully 3D one, or is it just a relic to be appreciated with nostalgia?  Star Fox 64 has an incredible legacy of meme history, but is it still fun to play today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does the structure of Star Fox 64 impact its pacing and storytelling?  How do the short runs and branching pathways compare to a more traditional linear campaign where you experience all the content in one playthrough?
• How do the linear rail shooting sections of Start Fox compare to the more open ‘All Range Mode’ where you can actually turn left and right?  
• What did we think about the boss design?  How fun are they to fight mechanically, and how does the visual design factor into the experience of shooting them to pieces?

We answer these questions and many more on the 72nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Star Fox 64 OST: Hajime Wakai, Koji Kondo 

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What was your least favourite level of Star Fox 64, and why was it that stupid underwater level?  Are there any other rail shooters we should play?  Is Star Fox 64 the best Star Fox game?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!  

In Space Channel 5, you take the role of space journalist Ulala as she uses interpretative dances to fight aliens, rescue hostages and defeat her fellow colleagues.  If that sounds absurd, that’s because it's yet another weird game that James has chosen.

The game was first released in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast, and took a while to find success, but eventually developed a cult following.  Its retro futuristic presentation delighted the senses, and lurking underneath it was a surprisingly hardcore rhythm game.  With virtually no visual indicators of what to do, and no feedback for failing to hit notes, its difficulty even forced many people away.

But does this all add up to a delightful experience all these years later?  With rhythm games now a mainstream genre, can the quaint stylings of Space Channel 5 still possibly hold up?  Or is Ulala yet another journalist who deserves to go the way of the Radio Star?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does Space Channel 5 use its presentation to immerse you in its world?  Does it feel like you’re a character moving through locations, or is it simply a movie that plays in the background?
• Does Space Channel 5’s music suit the rhythmic gameplay?  It draws on heavy melodic music, but so much of the gameplay is focused on the beat.  Is this a problem, or just part of its charm?
• Should memorisation be an important part of rhythm games, or should you be able to just react to what's coming next?  Pat and James disagree on this one, but James has the gall to bust out a literal psychology paper to attempt to prove his point.

We answer these questions and many more on the 70th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Space Channel 5 OST: Naofumi Hataya

Space Channel 5 OST with lyrics

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Emulator that we both used to play Space Channel 5

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Are you an expert at rhythm games?  Does Part 2 change anything significant gameplay wise, or does it just expand on what was present in the first?  Are there any other rhythm games that we should try?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

The Ace Attorney franchise adds a twist to visual novels that has rarely been replicated.  Instead of having you as a passive participant in the story, or making decisions through dialogue trees, you instead gather clues and cross examine witnesses to get to the truth.  Its eclectic cast of characters all have some deeper truth to hide, and it's up to you to get to the bottom of it as you defend your client from the rapid passage of justice.  

But just how well crafted are the murder mysteries that you unravel?  Do you really feel like a defence lawyer as you gradually crack the case?  And just how well does the gameplay of investigating and cross examining match up with the format of a visual novel?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is zany, exciting and at times, rather silly.  How does this affect the enjoyment of the humour, and the gravitas of its more dramatic moments?
• As the game continues, meta plot elements arise, and the individual cases you pursue start to become part of a larger picture.  Does this add a deeper and more enjoyable layer to the story, or does it detract from the strength of the individual cases?
• Are the limited key frames that depict the characters in Ace Attorney (and visual novels in general) fundamentally poor, or stylistically dashing?  Pat and James strongly disagree.

We answer these questions and many more on the 66th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright OST: Masakazu Sugimori & Akemi Kimura

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Next episode, we’ll be joined by Chris Durston, author and host of the Philosophiraga Podcast to play Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time!  Each episode Chris takes a philosophical concept and breaks it down using video games as examples.  It's a fantastic show if you’ve got an interest in philosophy but have always been put off by how complicated it all seems to be.

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Do the later Ace Attorney games dramatically change or evolve on the formulae of the first?  What other games (apart from Paradise Killer) have taken inspiration from the series?  Do you prefer the meta heavy later cases, or the more isolated self contained ones?  Come let us know what you think on our community Discord Server!

When you hear the term ‘survival horror’, you can’t help but think of Resident Evil.  Back in 1996, Resident Evil blew everyone’s minds, combining traditional point and click adventure puzzles with tense and strategic zombie combat.  Six years later, in 2002, the game received a remake for the GameCube that many consider to be one of the best ever.  The pre-rendered visuals of the Spencer Mansion elevated the atmosphere to a truly horrifying place, even as you collected gems for jewellery boxes.

But for all that it changed, in terms of level layout, item distribution and graphical fidelity, this is one remake that kept the essential gameplay the same.  It kept the fixed camera angles, the tank controls and even the absurdly limited inventory.  It doubled down on the essential design choices of the original, instead of making it more convenient to control and play.  Did this decision lead to the best way to experience Resident Evil 1, or does its design seem clunky and outdated, a relic of another age?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Is there any merit to having fixed camera angles and tank controls in any video game, or is it just unnecessarily frustrating and annoying?
• In what ways does Resident Evil put pressure on the player?  Do restricted saves, safe rooms and limited inventory slots create a tense and immersive experience, or simply annoy the player with tedious micromanagement?
• How believable in the story and sense of place in the Spencer Mansion (and surrounding areas)?  How scary is it compared to other survival horror games like Silent Hill 2?

We answer these questions and many more on the 62nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

REmake OST: Shusaku Uchiyama

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Is the REmake the best version of Resident Evil 1, or should we have played a different one?  If we play another Resi game, which one should we play?  Does the story get cheesier or more grounded as the series progresses?  Let us know what you think on our community discord server!

In 2004, Relic brought the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 to life with its real time strategy game Dawn of War.  Fans of the franchise adored it, and it brought in entire legions of new zealots ready to die for the glory of the Emperor.  Dawn of War went on to feature three expansion packs, one superb sequel, and another sequel probably best left forgotten.  With so many games and fans around the world, the success of this bold experiment is unquestionable.

But how fun an experiment is it to play today?  Is it really possible to fully capture the spirit of the models, the lore, and the gameplay in an entirely different genre?  Is Dawn of War’s campaign still fun to play today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does Dawn of War’s story gel with the broader lore of the Warhammer 40k universe?  How interesting is that lore, and are there any problems with a story based around unending military conflict?
• Does the focus on controlling strategic points around the map actually lead to a difference in macro strategy and economics?  Or is it just a different flavour of mineral patches?
• How well does the game implement squad customisation?  Does the game incentivise different kinds of modularity to overcome specific enemy compositions and challenges?

We answer these questions and many more on the 49th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Looking to play Dawn of War? Find a widescreen fix here

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Dawn of War OST: Jeremy Soule

Is Warhammer 40k Dawn of War’s gameplay more sophisticated than we give it credit for?  Is there a particular expansion we should try that will blow our minds?  Have we completely butchered and misunderstood the lore?  Let us know on our community text based discord server!

When we started this podcast nearly 4 years ago, we did so with a clear goal in mind.  We wanted to play, review and critique games of the past from a perspective free of nostalgia.  As the gaming industry grew, games changed, for both better and worse - and it is worthwhile to examine all those creaky and dust covered titles to see what has been forgotten.  Sometimes mechanics truly are outdated, sometimes modern games have done it better - but not always.  And discovering when an old game offers something unique because of what they supposedly lack has been an incredible experience.

Over these 4 years we have slowly gathered a community of listeners that has similar feelings, or can at least appreciate this perspective.  We are forever grateful for you listening to our show, for sending us tweets and for conversing on our discord server.  The least we can do is give back to you with an opportunity to ask questions of us once a year, not just about old games but about anything.

So welcome one and all to our reprisal of the Mailbag episode, with M4ILB4G.  Grab a beverage and settle in as we answer our discord listener’s burning questions.  And while you’re at it, make sure to drop by and join our discord server if you haven’t already.  There’s no Retro Spectives without you, and we appreciate you all deeply.

On this episode, we discuss:

• Remakes and remasters.
  Are they an exciting way to re-experience classics of the past?  Do they provide a way for new players to get into old games they wouldn’t have otherwise?  Or are they soulless cash grabs, stifling creativity and pushing the original games out of the spotlight?
• Re-living games for the first time.
  If we had the opportunity to play any game or series blind again, which one would it be?  What kind of experience is best suited to experiencing something fresh for the first time?
• Making a game of our own.
  If we could develop or write our own video game, what would we do and how would we do it?  Are there any lessons you’ve learned from doing the pod that you would be eager to integrate into the game?

We answer these questions and many, many more on the 99.5th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Medivo from Jazz Jackrabbit: 

River of Despair  from The Binding of Isaac: Jonathan Evans, Matthias Nicol Bossi, Ridiculon

2020 saw Pat and James play through another 23 retro games, ranging from the delightful insanity of Katamari Damacy to the far more lukewarm Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  We played a lot of stealth games, had our fair share of mental breakdowns over what each of us saw as terrible games (Pat and James, respectively), and even got to finally talk about none other than Dark Souls.

Within the margins of our game reviews, however, were many potential conversations ended prematurely, many argumentative tangents unaired.  Sometimes an interesting discussion won’t fit in the constraints of a single episode, and sometimes we get too mad in the moment to actually express ourselves coherently.  Here then, are the bits and pieces that wouldn’t fit; a revisiting of what we consider the most interesting threads of discussion that we weren’t able to get into during the episode.  

On this episode, we discuss:

• Are games enhanced by having the protagonist be fundamentally vulnerable in some way?  Can a power fantasy be genuinely enjoyable for very long, or is it unsustainable?
• What does it mean for a game to have its quality of life features improved upon?  Is it possible for these things to constitute ‘side-grades’ rather than being all upside?
• Do controllers have basically zero upside over a mouse and keyboard setup?  Pat doesn’t think so, and must defend himself using insane reasoning in the face of James’ sound logic.

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 52nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Katamari Damacy OST: Asuka Sakai - Que Sera Sera

Super Mario World OST: Koji Kondo - Athletic

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Celeste Twitter Thread

Day Z or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Thief Is Just A Stealth Game

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Have a game suggestion for us to play in 2021?  Did we give the games this year enough credit for their soundtracks?  Are you one of those filthy defenders of removing skill based matchmaking?  Whoever you are, and whatever degenerate gaming beliefs you hold, we would be delighted if you stopped by our discord server to continue the discussion in a somewhat civil manner!

Back in 2005, a Russian studio called Ice Pick Lodge decided to continue the fine tradition of dark and dreary slavic storytelling with Pathologic, a survival horror game quite like any other.  It received critical acclaim in Russia, but was largely unknown in the West, at least until a series of articles on Rock Paper Shotgun shone a spotlight on its existence. 

It is one of the most divisive games ever made.  People praise it, people despise it, and many more seem to love and hate it at the same time.  More confusing is the fact that the very things that some cite as problems are the exact reason others adore it.  It's even a difficult game to describe or pin down, leaving its very nature something of a whispered mystery, even in the face of the many survival games that came in its wake.

Well, no more shall the game remain inscrutable.  We break down and discuss the gameplay, storytelling and atmosphere of Pathologic in excruciating detail, as newcomers to the game.  Can it possibly still stand up in the face of a modern cross examination, or is its status hugely overblown?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does Pathologic use its interweaved narrative to create a sense of mystery, and were we right to pick different characters to experience different parts of a greater whole?
• What is the brick and mortar gameplay of Pathologic like?  Is it harrowing, bleak and punishing?  Or simply tedious and uninspired?
• How do the characters in Pathologic manipulate you to their own ends?  Is there any room to manipulate them back, or are you destined to only be a pawn?

We answer these questions and many more on the 71st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Pathologic OST: Andriesh Gandrabur

Is the gameplay of Pathologic really quite that bad?  What hidden aspects of the story completely slipped our notice (I’m sure there were many).  Does Pathologic 2 improve upon the things we perceived as flaws, or is it just more of the same?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Blood, first released in 1997 by Monolith Studios, was the middle child of the big three Build Engine games, sandwiched in between Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior.  Its combination of gory horror-inspired visuals combined with action filled FPS gameplay was a huge hit at the time of release, but has slowly faded in many people’s memories.  Both Quake and Half Life loom larger in most people’s memories than Blood, and the question must be asked: why?

Is there a good reason that Blood has become one of the dark horses of the boomer FPS genre, known mainly to connoisseurs of the genre?  Or has the quality of 2.5D shooters been massively overstated?

On this episode, we discuss:

Weapons

• Blood has a quirky roster of weapons, including a flare gun as pistol, an aerosol can with a lighter, and a voodoo doll sniper.  Are these weapons just silly gimmicks, or do they all serve their purpose as part of your arsenal?

Level Design

• Bloods level design is, for the most part, compact and filled with secrets joining levels together.  Does this create a coherent sense of place, or does the abundance of tunnels just turn the level into an awkward mess?

Aesthetics and Presentation

• Blood’s story is very barebones, but is filled to the brim with references to 80s and early 90s horror films.  Can a reverence for a genre of film carry an aesthetic, or is this just a case of Borderlands syndrome where its all references and no substance?

We answer these questions and many more on the 113th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Blood OST: Daniel Bernstein, Guy Whitmore

Retro Hangover Duke 3D podcast featuring Pat!

Does Blood truly have the best shotgun in any video game?  
Are there any boomer shooters which you think are better than Blood?  
What modern game best captures what Blood is all about?  
Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

To support the show monetarily, check out our Buy me a Coffee Page!

The Metroidvania genre has a long and complicated history, but the game that invented the modern model is without a doubt Super Metroid.  Released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo, it blew critics away with its smooth gameplay, open level design and incredible boss battles.  While previous metroid games had similar open ended level structure, it was Super Metroid that refined it into the smooth progression and pacing that we take for granted today.

But does Super Metroid still hold up today in the face of the many advancements made in the genre over the past 25 years?  The genre has seen a renaissance in the last 5-10 years, particularly in the indie sphere, headlined by Hollow Knight and Ori.  Can the original possibly hope to stand strong when compared side by side to these masterpieces?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does Samus control?  Is her awkward, vertical inclined jumping a dealbreaker, or can you adapt to her moveset with time and practice?
• How linear is Super Metroid?  Are metroidvanias really as open as they appear, and if not, is this even a problem?
• What’s in a secret?  How does Super Metroid incentivise secret hunting, and is the process of uncovering them really all that enjoyable?

We answer these questions and many more on the 48th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Super Metroid OST: Minako Hamano

Is there another Metroid game we should play?  Were there more diverse routes to explore the world than we gave Super Metroid credit for?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

The first Thief game was widely beloved, and critically acclaimed, but not entirely free of criticism.  The gawking masses loved sneaking around the mansions of the wealthy, but were not too hot on the descending into caves filled with Zombies and Burricks.  For the 2000 release of Thief 2, Looking Glass Studios decided to make some changes.

Thief 2 takes place in the metal age, a steampunk inspired transformation that sees The City covered in factories, security cameras and ever vigilant automatons, patrolling back and forth.  Gone are the monsters, pushed to the outskirts of society or hunted to extinction.  Gone are the long and confusing tomb robbing missions, replaced with more mansions and other more mundane locations where nobility dwell.  The world has changed.

But is it ultimately for the better?  Or has Thief 2 lost the magic that made Thief 1 so special?

On our very first sequel episode, we discuss:

• How does Thief 2’s level design compare to Thief 1’s?  Do it's more grounded and realistic locations lead to more enjoyable sneaking?
• How does Thief 2 tell its story?  Can small pieces of incidental story telling add up to something just as meaningful as a central thread?
• Does the game ever sink into repetitiveness?  Are there enough tools at your disposal as a Thief to keep the game interesting?  Or is the level design doing all the heavy lifting?

We answer these questions and many more on the 47th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Thief 2 OST: Eric Brosius

We highly recommend you listen to our episode on Thief Gold here before listening to our episode on Thief 2!  We draw a lot of comparisons and assume that you know the basics of what the game is like!

When you play Thief 2 should you install t2fix, which you can find here.  This fixes a lot of bug and scripting issues while keeping the fundamental gameplay intact.

Did you enjoy Thief 1 more than Thief 2?  Should we play Deadly Shadows or The Dark Mod?  Are there any other secret stealth gems that we’ve neglected and should check out?  Come let us know on our text based community discord server!

Blade Runner is one of the most exceptional and influential works of science fiction to ever grace the silver screen.  It brought the works of Phillip K Dick to life from its opening shots of geysers of flame erupting in the shadow of the Tyrell Corporation’s Egyptian skyscrapers.  The technology might be fantastical and the world transformed, but the people of the city were the same, and Blade Runner knows it.  To this day it is considered one of the best explorations and examinations of humanity, even if its slow pacing and flat characters might be off putting for some.

15 years after the release of the movie saw the release of the point and click adventure game of the same name.  Blade Runner (1997) follows the journey of Ray Mcoy in a parallel side story to Deckard, as he investigates bombings, hunts down replicants, and otherwise gets tangled up in something far beyond his simple job.  It was released to widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers both praising both its detailed environments and dynamic gameplay.

But 25 years later, point and click adventure games are a dead artform, cursed and largely forgotten.  Blade Runner itself got a shot in the arm with its sequel, and for many that’s the only exposure they have to this world.  Is it possible, all these years later, that this game could possibly still hold up today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does Blade Runner capture the atmosphere of the movie?  In what way does it use sound, audio and animation to convert high resolution film to a low resolution, voxel based video game?
• Blade Runner’s story is extremely dynamic, with clues, identities and even entire scenes playing out completely differently for each playthrough.  Does this come across as confusing and incoherent, or is this a brilliant type of storytelling that should never have been retired?
• Blade Runner is a point and click adventure game that barely features puzzles.  Does stripping this feature fix what makes this genre rotten to the core, or has it been replaced with something far worse?

We answer these questions and many more on the 93rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Blade Runner OST: Frank Klepacki

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Which piece of Blade Runner media do you think is best - the book, one of the first movie cuts, or the sequel?  Is the gameplay of Blade Runner more sophisticated and clever than we gave it credit for?  Is there another modern game that uses the systems present here?  Come let us know what you think and join the conversation on our 

community discord server

!

Final Fantasy VII is a landmark title not only for the JRPG genre, but for all video games.  First released in 1997 and developed by Square, it took the format of the previous games and brought them to life with 3D models and environments.  Featuring an ambitious and creative setting, a complicated plot with intrigue and a seemingly deep and engaging combat system, the game seemed to be firing on all    cylinders.  Critics and fans alike adored the game to pieces, and even today there are legion's of players who will cite Final Fantasy VII as their favourite game of all time.

But how has time truly treated this once overwhelmingly impressive title?  Our ability to construct graphical setpieces goes far beyond what was possible in 1997.  Combat systems have come a long way, developed into something far more sophisticated.  And are the characteristics and story really as impressive as they were when the game first released? 
Has Final Fantasy VII truly stood the test of time?

On this week’s episode, we discuss:

• Final Fantasy VII’s cinematic set pieces fuse and random battles, cutscenes, in-game cutscenes, exploration, minigames and music in a continuous flow.  Is this a compelling way to do story telling, or does it just come across as quaint?
• The characters of Final Fantasy VII are notoriously underwritten, with their dialogue being just flat out bad and uninteresting, or is there something special lurking underneath?
• The combat present is a complicated mix of summons, magic, materia, mazes and random encounters. How does it all stack up when you put it all together?

We answer these questions and many, many more on the 117th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Musicc: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Final Fantasy VII OST: Nobuo Uematsu

How did our thoughts on FF7 stack up to your own personal experience?  Is FF7 the best final fantasy game, or does it rank middle of the road?  What JRPG should we tackle next?  

Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee Page!

Freelancer was meant to be the chosen one.  Announced in 1999 by Chris Roberts (of star citizen fame), it seemed to promise complex factional interactions, a cinematic storyline and engaging dogfighting all in one accessible package.  But as time went on, and Chris Roberts moved into more of a consultancy role, the exact nature of Freelancer was revealed as something not quite as ambitious as what was previewed.

So what is it like to play Freelancer today?  Can a reduced version of what was envisioned still produce a meaningful and fun gameplay experience?  Or is it just a hollow shell of a game, best left forgotten in the wake of modern titles like Star Citizen?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Does Freenlancer’s mysterious and intriguing story of factional conflict get the payoff it sorely deserves?
• How much freelancing do you actually do as a freelancer, and is it as enjoyable to pursue as the main questline?
• Do long travels doing nothing through space bring the star system to life, or is it just wasting our precious time?-

We answer these questions and many more on the 36th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Does Freelancer have places worth exploring that we didn’t find?  Are there any essential mods that drastically change the experience for the better, or did we nail it?  Let us know what you think, and what exactly we got wrong on right, on our community discord server!

When Sonic the Hedgehog was first released in 1991 it blew everyone's minds.  Featuring gorgeous graphics, fast paced gameplay and an iconic mascot, Sega finally had a title that could compete with Mario.  Sonic the Hedgehog was the reason to own a Sega Genesis, on a console that had otherwise failed to impress.

But how well has the original Sonic held up by today’s standards?  We’ve made vast strides in refining 2D platformers in the past 30 years, not only in the Sonic franchise, but across the board.  Can the original really stand up to the test of time? Is Sonic The Hedgehog still a game worth playing today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Just how fast do you actually go in this game?  While it’s theoretically possible to reach ludicrous speeds, levels are filled with trolls and traps.  Can a new player have any reasonable expectation of going fast?
• Which is the more enjoyable platforming experience?  Using memorisation to perfectly navigate a level? Or relying on reaction speeds to deftly thread the needle?
• Sonic was originally designed to be played from start to finish with no checkpoints or saving.  Modern iterations and ports, however, have both. Is having saving a strict improvement, or is there some merit to the iron mode of original Sonic?

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 31st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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If you enjoyed the episode and are in need of more Retro Spectives, then head on over to our website for more episodes and articles, or you can tell  us directly what you think of Sonic on our text based community discord server!

Back in 2004, the Indie gaming scene as we understand it today was non-existent. If you were an independent game developer you were more likely to be at home on ad-infested websites like Newgrounds than on the shelf at your local game store. Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya changed all that with Cave Story. He showed the world that a one person project (entirely free!) could stand alongside the best games out there and paved the way for countless independent studios.

But how fun is it to play today, all these years later? Modern indie titles have access to funding through kickstarter and a wealth of experience to draw upon from successful indie studios. Just how well does Cave Story compare to modern offerings?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How good is Cave Story’s story? Is a sense of charm and fun more important than plot or character logistics?
• Does the ‘weapon level up’ mechanic provide a positive experience for the player? How does it affect the pacing of the game’s platforming and shooting?
• Cave Story+ features several ways to experience the game's visuals and music, but which one is better? Pat and James strongly disagree.

We answer these questions, and many more on the 18th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory comes with a weighty legacy.  Many consider this 2005 game to be the best stealth game of all time, edging out even games like Metal Gear Solid and Thief.  Chaos Theory builds on the first two games in the series, introducing smarter AI, slightly more open level design and a unique hacking tool built to fit the cyber themed story that the game tries to tell.

When we played Splinter Cell 1, we both really enjoyed the experience.  And on paper, Chaos Theory does everything that the first does and much more.  Does this all add up to a game that improves on the basic, yet refined gameplay experience that Splinter Cell 1 gave us?  Or is it just a bunch of different features that look good on a box (or in a review)?

On this episode, we discuss:

• What did we think of the story of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory?  Does its take on cyber warfare and espionage come across as thrilling and realistic, or is it just a quaint misunderstanding on how technology of the future would function?
• Does giving the player more choices in how they approach stealth necessarily improve the experience?  Or does the level design need to evolve to reflect those options?
• What did we think of the non-critical side objectives in Chaos Theory?  Do they provide a meaningful challenge, or are they just busywork?

We answer these questions and many more on the 79th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory OST - Amon Tobin

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Make sure you check out our episode on Splinter Cell 1 for more stealth gaming goodness!

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Are we on to something with our opinions on Chaos Theory, or are we completely mad?  Are there any other major stealth games we haven’t covered that you’d like to see us explore?  Is Chaos Theory really the best in the series, or was it just the best at the time it was released?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Star Wars: Republic Commando received good press when it first released back in 2005.  Instead of playing as a Jedi, you play as a stormtrooper, albeit a gifted and specially trained one.  You lead missions with your 4 troop squad set during the height of the Clone Wars, taking down enemy artillery, investigating derelict spacecraft and doing reconnaissance on contested worlds.  It was considered a fresh and well executed fusion of the broader fantastical world of Star Wars with the more frontline perspective more common to Call Of Duty.

But can a tactical first person shooter built to run on the original Xbox still be enjoyable to play today?  Do the character and story moments feel boring and generic in the face of the hundreds of military shooters that have come out since?  Is Star Wars: Republic Commando a hidden gem, or does it deserve the moniker of being yet another 7/10 game?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Just how ‘tactical’ is this tactical first person shooter?  Are context sensitive commands a seamless and user friendly way to do tactics, or does this rob the game of any potential tactical complexity?
• What did we think about the sharper focus of Republic Commando’s storytelling?  Is this a memorable story and cast of characters, or would it have been more interesting to not just get dropped in the role of a generic trooper?
• How well does the level design facilitate your tactics and movement through each environment?  Are they large enough to allow you to properly make use of your 4 man unit?

We answer these questions and many more on the 85th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Star Wars: Republic Commando OST: Jesse Harlin

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Star Wars: Republic Commando fix mod.

ThaBeasts Diddy Kong Racing Video.

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Is Star Wars: Republic Commando the diamond in the rough that everyone says it is?  How do you think it compares to the Jedi Knight series?  Which Star Wars game should we play next?  Join the conversation and let us know what you think on our community discord server!

When Resident Evil first came out in 1996, it wrote the book on what 3D survival horror was meant to be.  Fixed camera angles, a creepy atmosphere, tank controls and bizarrely themed puzzles - these were now synonymous with the genre, whether you liked it or not.  And for the most part, people liked it very much indeed, with its mainline sequels (and a couple of the spinoffs) sticking to and refining what made the original so compelling.

It's no surprise then that Resident Evil 4 was released to some degree of controversy.  It takes elements of the originals that many might view as sacred and throws them out the window.  It introduced (we don’t talk about Dead Aim) the third person camera angle, adjusted the tank controls to something a lot more smooth, and was more interested in throwing 20 enemies at you at once than tightly restricting your bullet count.  The story gave up any pretence of being anything scary, and Leon Kennedy returns as a badass action hero instead of a vulnerable rookie.

But for all its radical changes, the game received astoundingly good reviews on release, and is still a fan favourite all these years later.  Does Resident Evil 4 deserve the praise of being a kickass action game that in many ways has never been topped?  Or has everyone been wowed by the move away from the classic controls and camera in favour of the new hotness?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Resident Evil 4 features many, many different kinds of cinematic set pieces as you traverse from village, to castle and finally military outpost.  Does this constant focus on setpieces get boring in favour of focusing on the more essential moment to moment combat?
• How well does Resi 4 execute on its vision of a more tactical and involved take on third person combat?  Does its control scheme, camera angles and enemy AI work in harmony, or is there tension between all three preventing it from coming together?
• Resident Evil 4 has a different take on level structure, with strictly linear macro level design and far more expansive tactical spaces on each level.  Is there a problem with linear level design, and to what degree are you encouraged to make the most of its larger spaces?

We answer all these questions and more on the 98th level of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Resident Evil 4 OST: Shusaku Uchiyama

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Our Resident Evil REmake Episode

Resident Evil 4 HD Project

Resident Evil 4 Remake Trailer

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Is there a spinoff to the main Resi games that is secretly better than the two we’ve already played?  Is there another survival horror series in its entirety that we’ve been neglecting?  What did you think of the adaptive difficulty of Resi 4?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Stealth games have a long and varied history.  Amongst others exist the purist Thief, the story driven Metal Gear, and the slick secret agent stylings of Splinter Cell.  But in the year 2000, Hitman: Codename 47 challenged stealth conventions by letting players freely walk around in hostile territory...provided they had the right disguise. With a heavy emphasis on puzzle-solving, the game wanted players to think laterally and come up with a plan to achieve the perfect assassination.

But how successful was it at achieving this goal?  In modern times, titles such as Dishonored, Metal Gear Solid V and even Hitman’s reboot provide varied platforms for dynamic stealth gameplay.  Does Codename 47’s take on an action/stealth/puzzle hybrid hold up today, or does it just feel like a confused and clunky mess?

On this week’s episode, we ask ourselves:

• Is Hitman’s narrative deftly woven into the experience or does it feel shoehorned into a series of unrelated escapades?
• Does it pay dividends to take a focus on perfection to its logical extreme? Or is Hitman too unforgiving for the average player.
• How much joy is there to have in the exploration, puzzle solving and execution stages of Hitman’s missions?  Are some parts more enjoyable than others?

We answer these questions and many more on the 39th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Playing Hitman in its vanilla state is not recommended!
If you wish to give the game a go then  take a look at these easy fixes to vastly improve the experience!

• Link to the steam community guide
• Link to the PC Gaming Wiki

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Are there solutions to some assassinations we were too dumb to solve?  Which Hitman game should we play next?  Are the Jungle levels really as bad as we think?  Let us know over on our text-based community discord server
 

On the 15th of November, 2001, the Xbox launched with a tremendous bang.  Not since Super Mario World for the SNES had a launch title been so well regarded.  Halo invented, and went on to define how console FPS games should be made - limited weapons, regenerating health, slight auto-aim - Halo made these the industry standard.  Halo was seen as a masterpiece - not just for its single player campaign, but for its fun couch co-op mode and competitive multiplayer.

But has Halo actually stood the test of time, 18 years later?  With a million sequels to its name, and the Masterchief Collection delivering a remaster of the games, is it just a nostalgic trip to visit the grandfather of console FPS?  Or does it stand up strong alongside its peers, and show the world that Halo is a true classic?  

On this episode, Patrick, James and special guest Cameron Boozarjomehri of the Sweating the Small Stuff Podcast discuss:

• How well implemented is the two-weapon system in Halo?  Is it needlessly restrictive and punishing? Or does it add to the strategic depth and tactical approaches available to you?
• How good is Halo’s level design?  Are it's inside areas just as strong as its outdoor ones?  Is its use of backtracking and reuse of assets a novel twist, or just boring and lazy?
• Will Patrick ever admit the benefits of a controller for an FPS, or will he continue to obnoxiously proclaim the superiority of mouse and keyboard?

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 23rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!  

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Hitman: Blood Money, first released in 2006 by Eidos, is considered by many to be the best Hitman game ever made.  After the first few games played around with novel ideas and concepts to mixed success, Blood Money honed in on the formulae of specific, small and dense environments filled with ‘accidental’ scripted opportunities to murder your target.  Gone are the long and slow walking through the linear levels of Silent Assassin.  You no longer have the weird and confusing systems of Codename: 47, where you only sometimes had to think outside the box.  What we get here is a more focused experience - 12 playgrounds puzzle murders.

But in focusing on these specifics, has Blood Money left behind something meaningful from the previous games?  And while it built the groundwork for what the modern games would become, does it execute on it with the same finesse?  Has Hitman: Blood Money truly stood the test of time, or does it just play like an awkward middle child?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story

• Hitman: Blood Money is ostensibly a more gritty game than the first two - but is this actually the case?  Does the gameplay end up pushing the overall tone towards something less serious and slightly more goofy, or does the darker story portrayed in cutscenes keep it grounded?

Level Design

• How does the level design of Blood Money craft and guide the overall experience?  How does it use visual direction to create a sense of place, and does it compare favourably to the levels earlier in the series?

Execution(s)

• How enjoyable is it to discover and execute the various scripted deaths on every level?  Are these fun puzzles to figure out through trial and error, or does this lead to a sense of frustration as you wait around with no idea what to do?

We answer these questions and many more on the 118th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Hitman: Blood Money OST - Jesper Kyd

Is Hitman: Blood Money truly the best Hitman game?  Just how good are the modern hitman  games, should we play them?  What’s your favourite level?  

Come let us know what you think or recommend us a new game on our community discord server!

If you would like to support the show monetarily, you can buy us a coffee here!

Megaman 2, first released way back in 1988, quickly became one of the series’ most beloved entries.  The game featured a radical new style of progression, letting you tackle any of its eight stages in any order that you please.  Players around the world got stuck in, figuring out their own crazy paths through the game and its eight robot masters. 

But is an innovative progression system enough to make a game enjoyable?  Is it possible to balance nine special weapons, and should you even try?  Megaman 2 crams a lot of ideas together, but does it still add up to a fun game to play today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How open ended is Megaman 2’s level progression really?  Are some routes more encouraged than others, and is there true creativity to be found here?
• How well designed are the bosses of Megaman 2?  Does a boss need to be complex to be enjoyable?  How well equipped is the player to deal with these challenges?
• Are older games improved through the use of savestates? Or is Megaman 2 better played the way the creators intended?

We answer these questions and many more on the 65th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Megaman 2 OST: Takasi Tateishi

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Have you beaten Megaman 2 without save states?  Do you have a recommended ‘most fun’ pathway through the game that you stick to, or do you improvise for every playthrough?  What Megaman game should we play next?  Come let us know what you think, and join the discussion on our community discord server!

It's that time of year again!  For most of our episodes, our format is identical - we play a game, then discuss and review it.  Once a year, however, we take a break from the format at christmas time for our Mailbag episodes.  These are some of our favourite episodes to do - we take a break from the norm for some offbeat discussion about games both old and new.

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions on our discord server.  As always, having you all to listen is exactly what makes the show worthwhile and we’re very grateful for your support.  

So please, grab a cup of cocoa and relax as we answer those burning questions that are on everyone’s minds!

On this episode, we discuss:

• What are Pat and James’ top 5 favourite games of all time?
• What is an opinion on video games that you have always wanted to defend but that nobody has ever asked about?
• Has doing the podcast changed your opinions in any significant way?

We answer these questions and many more on the 115th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

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If you have any more questions or have suggestions for games for us to play, please swing by our community discord server!

If you would like to support the show monetarily, we have a Buy Me a Coffee page!

Patrick and James have a problem.  Almost every single episode, they’ve brought up Dark Souls.  Level design?  Not as good as Dark Souls.  Combat System?  Not as good as Dark Souls.  Even when they’re playing racing games like F-Zero GX or 2D platformers like Cave Story, the comparisons still come thick and fast.

So, for this very special 50th episode of the podcast, we’ve decided to review and discuss Dark Souls, the yardstick by which we’ve praised and criticised so many other games.  The impact that Dark Souls had on the video game industry as a whole cannot be questioned.  From Software went from the weird Armored Core guys to one of the most prominent video game companies today.  But is Dark Souls still fun to play today?  Or has it’s darksign been eclipsed by the many Souls-likes that have come in its wake?

On this episode, we discuss:

• In what way does Dark Souls tell its story?  Does Dark Souls even have a substantive story to engage with?  Or is it all just a mess of vague ancient myths and legends?
• What’s so special about Dark Souls’ level design?  Are a few shortcuts really that special, or has the value of helix level design been blown out of proportion?
• Dark Souls is supposedly an action-rpg.  But where on the line between those two disparate ideas does it truly lie?  Is Dark Souls a mechanical, action filled experience?  Or a methodical and deep role-playing game?

We answer these questions and many more on the 50th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Dark Souls OST: Motoi Sakuraba

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Was there a part of Dark Souls that we didn’t praise enough?  Are you one of those dirty Dark Souls 2 apologists that we keep ragging on?  Are you secretly hoping we never talk about this game ever again?  We would love to hear what you have to say on our 

community text based discord server!

Back in 1996, Archimedean Dynasty (AD) took the concept of a space sim and moved it underwater.  It built a complex geopolitical dystopian world, thrust you in the cockpit of a complex machine and tasked you with discovering and solving a mystery that threatened all of humanity.  

Aquanox picks up 5 years after the events of AD, where the fragile peace and cooperation between factions is on the brink of falling to pieces.  Genetic manipulation runs wild, tensions are high, and the Western government is meddling in scientific experiments that have the potential to threaten the whole world.  You once again play as Emerald ‘Deadeye’ Flint, making credits and maybe even saving the world along the way.

Aquanox streamlines a lot of the unintuitive and complex aspects of AD.  The scope of the world is dramatically reduced, exclusively focusing on the Pirate and Western factions.  The UI is simpler to understand, draw distance has been improved, and the spaces you fight in simplified.  Even the presentation has been changed, with talking heads appearing on your radio instead of clicking around locations on the station map.

Does this all add up to a modern and more enjoyable submersible fighter?  Or has something been lost in its attempts at modernising AD?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does Aquanox do world building in comparison to AD?  Are hard sci-fi info dumps on the technologies of Aqua enough to bring a world to life, or do you need a more personal connection to what inhabits the world?
• How intelligible and well paced is the main storyline of Aquanox?  Do the actions of the characters and factions make sense, and is it clear who is on what side?
• How fun is the more arcade-like gameplay of Aquanox compared to AD?  Is better draw distance really an upside?  Is piloting in first person instead of from a cockpit really that big of a change?

We answer these questions and many more on the 56th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Aquanox OST: Kai Rosencranz

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Link to Aquanox Mouse Fix 

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Have we been blinded by our love of Archimedean Dynasty?  Does Aquanox 2 solve the issues we’ve listed, or is it more of the same?  Is Aquanox: Deep Descent really as bad as everyone says?  Let us know what you think on our text based community discord server!

Relic Entertainment has a long history of innovating in the RTS space.  Both Company of Heroes and Dawn of War are much beloved and respected titles that could hold their heads high even when compared to other goliaths like Warcraft, Red Alert or Age of Empires.  But in many ways it was their very first game as a company that pushed the conventions in a weirder direction than anything else.  This debut title was called Homeworld.

Homeworld is an RTS set in true three dimensional space, with fleets of ships able to attack from any direction.  It features a unique yet bizarrely suited control scheme and UI to fit this space, with orientation being determined around units rather than a fixed camera.  Its broader gameplay structure has you keep resources and ships between missions, rather than resetting to base building with each new map.  And while its story has a simple premise, it has a lot more dedicated lore around the edges than most games released at the time.

But does strange and bizarre and innovative necessarily translate to an enjoyable experience today?  RTS games are close to dead nowadays as is - does throwing all these conventions out the window even make sense?  Is Homeworld a unique and underappreciated classic, or has it been forgotten for a reason?

On this episode, we discuss:

Story.

• The Kushan fleet is a professional military force.  They speak in clipped tones, don’t disobey orders, and keep their emotions in check.  Does Homeworld suffer from its lack of characterisation and cultural identity, or are they simply acting like a sophisticated navy should?

Macro Strategy.

• Homeworld’s strategic imperatives are driven by the decision to have the campaign be a single continuous journey, with resources and ships carrying over from mission to mission.  Does this create a tense and immersive experience as you closely monitor your losses?  Does this force you down a narrower strategic path?

Fleet Composition.

• To what degree do you need to balance the various ship types in order to create a balanced and effective fleet?  Is there a meaningful difference between different ship classes?  How important is it to micromanage your forces?

We answer these questions and many more on the 102nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Homeworld OST: Paul Ruskay

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We played with the Homeworld Splendor Mod.  Highly recommended, since the game probably won’t even work without it!

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Is using salvage drones as much as we did truly the optimal strategy?  Did you get more use out of cloaking and mine laying?  Does Homeworld 2 do anything to address our criticisms of the first game?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you’d like to support the show, please check out our Buy Me a Coffee page!

Stealth games trade away much of the action in action games in order to achieve a much greater feeling of suspense. From hiding in the shadows to observing a patrolling guard, mastery is obtained through the art of patient planning. Back in 1998, Looking Glass Studios released Thief: The Dark Project , a game where you were terrible at killing but great at hiding and well, being a thief. Released to critical acclaim, Thief quickly rose to prominence and forever cemented the stealth genre’s place in the market. But can Thief hold up to the spotlight over two decades later, or has it been overshadowed by more modern takes on the genre?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well put together is Thief’s level design? Does maze-like = good, or is it a lot more complicated than that?
• How does Thief approach its different difficulty levels, and what can modern stealth (or all) games learn from it?
• Is this opera singer the worst character in any game ever? Somehow, Pat and James disagree on this one...

We answer these questions, and many, many more (seriously, it's a super long episode) on the 15th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

Link to the Windows 10 Thief Fix here!

Earthworm Jim hit the Sega Genesis with an almighty impact when it smashed into release in 1994.  Inspired by the success of Sonic The Hedgehog, Shiny Entertainment wanted to bring their own anthropomorphic mascot into the forefront - a humble earthworm.  Struck by a falling alien super suit, Jim somehow grows and occupies it rather than being crushed to dust.  Now he has to go on an adventure to beat the bad guys, kill the evil queen with the big but, and rescue Princess Whats-Her-Name.

The game dazzles with naturalistic illustrations that you platform off.  It revels in its offbeat tone, with each level wackier than the last.  Novelty is worn with pride on both of its sleeves, and it refuses to dwell on any concept for longer than needed.  But does all of this add up to a fun and engaging experience for its 3 hour run time?  Or does it just feel like a disconnected mess?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Can the lack of a coherent theme or identity be a theme in and of itself?  Is zaniness and weirdness worth celebrating or is it just inconsistent nonsense?
• How good are the essential platforming mechanics of Earthworm Jim?  Is having strong fundamentals more important than the many new ideas that are thrown your way?
• How hard is Earthworm Jim?  Does a high level of difficulty mesh well with a constant string of new mechanics?  Should you use save states?

We answer these questions and many more on the 40th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Is Earthworm Jim the greatest platformer ever?  Is it overrated garbage?  Is a coherent identity irrelevant in the face of groovy style?  Let us know what you think on our text based community discord server!

Before we had Resident Evil and Silent Hill, we had Ecstatica.  First released in 1994 for MS DOS, Ecstatica blew critics away at the time of its release with its stunning ellipsoid based character models and realistic environments.  You play as a simple traveller stopping in town to water their horse - which turns out to be the worst decision they could have made.  Within seconds of setting foot inside this village you are immediately beset by horrors and demons, witness scenes of sadism and torture, and must struggle to even stay alive.

But while at the time of release the graphics were stunning, the gameplay innovative, and the atmosphere chilling, can we truly say that’s the case today?  Do Ellipsoids really stand up to scratch close to 30 years later?  And can the primitive gameplay possibly hold a candle to all the innovations in resource and inventory management that define survival horror today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Ecstatica sees you attacked and chased by monsters within seconds of you starting the game.  Is this a good gameplay experience, or should there have been a more gradual ramp up of horror?
• How deep are the combat and puzzle mechanics in Ecstatica?  Are they enjoyable, terrible, or functionally non-existent?
• Do the graphics of Ecstatica hold up today?  Do the fixed camera angles detract or add to the immersion of the experience?

We answer these questions and many more on the 87th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Ecstatica OST: Andrew Spencer

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Does Ecstatica have any more hidden interactions that we missed?  Is the sequel any better, or is it more of the same?  Are there any other survival horror games that we should check out?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

When Panzer General first released in 1994, it revolutionised the war gaming genre.  It was more accessible, easier to understand and more cleanly illustrated than any other war game to come before it.  Portraying many historical battles of World War 2 (while also indulging in a few ‘what if’ scenarios), it was an instant hit amongst grizzled veterans and newcomers to the genre alike.

But is what was approachable and revolutionary in 1994 possibly still strike the right chords more than 25 years later?  Can a game with no characters and no real storytelling draw us in?  Can the relatively inexperienced Pat and James possibly get into and dominate the battlefields of a war game they’ve barely played?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How meaningful is it that the battles of Panzer General are historical battles instead of fantasy battles?  Can historical context provide a meaningful hook of engagement in the absence of characters or story beats?
• How does the strategic layer of Panzer General actually function?  What degree of decision making do you have on a macroscale to affect the outcome of a battle?  Are these decisions enjoyable and varied?
• How does the more zoomed in tactical layer of Panzer General work?  How easy is it to read and understand unit attack and defence values?  What tactical configurations brought us the most success?

We answer these questions and many more on the 69th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Panzer General OST: Doug Brandon

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Panzer General is abandonware, which means its the excellent price of zero dollars. There are a few different ways to access it, but I recommend using a DOS version since early Windows builds can be complete nightmares to get working. 

First step is to download DOSBOX. It's a DOS emulator that runs Panzer General with no issues. You can download it here.

Second step is to download Panzer General. Just use the top link on this page.  To run the game, all you need to do is drag the Panzer General.bat onto the emulator icon. You can also launch it manually within DOSBOX, but it's far easier just to click and drag. 

Finally, make sure you download and read the manual located here. IIt explains most of the mechanics in the game, but I’m sure there’s one or two things missing. Most importantly, it has a detailed breakdown on exactly what to do in the tutorial, down to explaining how to split up your units to take multiple objectives and the order of attack.

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How does Panzer General compare to the many war games that came after it?  Which war game should we play next?  Are there strategic or tactical depths to this game that we missed?  Come let us know on our community discord server!  Whether you’ve got a game to suggest, an opinion to share, or simply want to play alongside us each fortnight we’d love if you’d drop by!

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines’ launch was almost doomed to failure.  Sandwiched in between Halo 2, Half Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3 and World of Warcraft (amongst others), the weird vampire first person rpg was left out in the cold, selling a mere 80,000 copies during its initial release.  The poor sales and mixed critical reception spelled doom for Troika Games, and Bloodlines ended up being the last game the studio ever made.

But as time went on, more and more people continued to revisit the dark and seedy world of Bloodlines.  It developed a cult following, garnering praise for its atmosphere, quests, characterisation and dialogue.  Many considered it a masterpiece, deeply unappreciated and ignored by happenstance.  It was considered endlessly re-playable, and every time it was mentioned online, someone would open up their library and reinstall it.

So is Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines a world worth visiting and spending time in?  Or are its followers blinded by their love of the game to the point where they ignore its flaws?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does Bloodlines use its characters as focal points for its storytelling?  Can the characters of its world do enough heavy lifting to bring definition to this twisted take on early 2000s Los Angeles?
• How well implemented are the factions, and conflict between those factions?  Is the player character ever really given an opportunity to go beyond a mere pawn, or is their fate sealed from the beginning?
• How enjoyable is it to actually play the video game and engage with the mechanics of Bloodlines?  Is there a deep and interesting game underlying the storytelling, or is it just a flashy narrative holding everything together?

We answer these questions and many more on the 58th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines OST: Rik Schaffer

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If you play with the GOG version, the light install of the unofficial patch is already included.

If you play on the Steam version, make sure you download and install the unofficial patch after purchase.  You will have the option to install either the light bux fix or the full restoration mod. 

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Which was your favourite character in Bloodlines?  Is the gameplay more sophisticated and varied than we experienced?  Is it worth replaying the game for those insane Malkavian dialogue lines or to sneak around the sewers as a Nosferatu?  Let us know what you think on our community discord server, and we’ll be delighted to argue with you about it!

Over the past year, the Retro Spectives Podcast has started to see a small community of gamers join up to our discord server.  We talk old video-games, new video games, and tend to get into a lot of arguments over exactly which ARPGS suck and why.

As we end this year, we thought it would be fun to open up our mailbag for questions from these users.  And they all delivered with some fantastic questions! We got to talk in depth about games and their mechanics, both from the show and 2019.  We got to revisit old arguments and even got into entirely new ones! Thanks to everyone who submitted questions, keep ‘em coming!

On this episode, we discuss:

• What are the worst opinions of both James and Pat according to the other person?  It took hours to narrow down from the available possibilities, but we got there in the end.
• Is there anything that games of the past used to do that new games no longer feature?  Were they changed for the better, or has something been lost in the process?
• How many times can Patrick mention Dark Souls in an hour and 40 minutes?  The estimated over/under is 10.

We answer these questions from our listeners, and many more on the 26th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!  We’ll see you in a fortnight to conclude our 2019 wrap up with our GOTY episode!

If you enjoyed the episode or wanted to submit questions for future episodes, then come and hang out with us over on discord  and for everything else, checkout our website at rsPodcast.net for all sorts of articles about the games we love and hate!

The Tribes series has always delivered a unique and high octane multiplayer experience, with players zipping along at breakneck speed across massive maps.  The combination of jetpacking, skiing, and terrible weapons led to a fast paced kind of fun that you can have nowhere else. In 2004 Irrational Games, of System Shock 2 fame, decided to change things up and delivered a full fledged single-player campaign alongside its multiplayer offerings in the form of Tribes Vengeance.

But can Tribes Vengeance hang with its multiplayer brethren?  Is transposing the mechanics of a multiplayer shooter into a single player experience really the recipe for a good campaign?  Or is it simply another multiplayer shooter with a fancy tutorial?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How good is the much lauded story of Tribes: Vengeance?  Is it as good as all those journalists said, a horrific mess, or something in between?
• To what degree does the single player capture the essential fun of the multiplayer experience?
• Just how much variety is there throughout the game?  Does broader context lead to varied combat encounters, or is the lack of enemy variety and dynamism inherently repetitive?

We answer these questions and many more on the 33rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!
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Tribes Revengeance Download Page

Official links to Tribes: Vengeance are unfortunately dead.  The 100% FREE unofficial fan repack works great though!

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If you enjoyed the episode then come and join us on our discord server! Whether you want to hang out, suggest a new game for us to play, or simply call us idiots for our terrible opinions, we’d love for you to drop by!

System Shock 2 is considered by many to be the finest immersive sim ever made.  Released in 1999 in a coventure by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, it sought to combine the classic 3D dungeon crawling of the original with pen and paper inspired RPG systems.  While resource management and exploration were still a key part of the experience, you were now restricted in what you could initially do by those RPG stats - and it was only towards the end game that your character would feel truly strong.  Perhaps most obvious were the changes from the more abstract environments to something that felt real - this was a real place that had a disaster befall it, not just a series of rooms and corridors stapled together.

But are those things that were so revolutionary back in 1999 actually that impressive today?  Nowadays we have semi-spiritual successors like Bioshock which mimicked environmental storytelling.  We have Prey and Deus Ex with far more expansive RPG systems.  Has System Shock 2 stood the test of time, or does it even offer something unique, when compared to the games of the present?

On this episode we discuss:

Storytelling

How does System Shock 2 tell its story to the player?  Do its many audio logs combine into a complete and understandable narrative, or is it just a lot of standing still and being bored while a voice actor spouts nonsense at you?

Level Design

Does System Shock 2’s systems complement its level design, or get in its way?  Does the non-linearity of the levels represent the apex of the game, or are they just confusing messes?

RPG Systems

How well designed are the RPG aspects of System Shock 2?  Do they allow the player the creative expression to make a unique character that tackles problems in their own way?  How well do they work over the full runtime of the game?

We answer these questions and many more on the 120th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

System Shock 2 OST: Eric Brosius, Ramin Djawadi 

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RSD Mods for System Shock 2

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Is System Shock 2 still the best and brightest immersive sim, or has it been eclipsed by new games?  Should we finally play Deus Ex?  What other games in the genre are we yet to play and need to?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me a Coffee Page.

Released in 2002, Syberia saw critical acclaim on release for its wistful and surrealist atmosphere.  You play as Kate Walker, an American lawyer sent to finalise the purchase of a clockwork toy factory.  But things are never quite that simple, and you end up having to journey across Europe via windup train, following in the footsteps of mechanical genius Hans and interacting with the brilliant devices he has created.  Along the way you meet a strange bunch of people, and do a lot of pointing and clicking to solve puzzles and otherwise overcome obstacles in your way.

But can Syberia still possibly hold up all these years later?  Is the point and click genre dead and buried for a reason, or can Syberia’s charming and atmospheric world prove otherwise?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does Syberia build its world and make you believe in it?  Can a world so similar to our own with just a minor twist really capture our imaginations?
• What is Syberia trying to say thematically?  Are there inconsistencies across its main thread and the one you follow from the past, or does it coherently resonate across the entire game?
• Is the point and click adventure genre fundamentally flawed, a relic of the past?  Or does it still have something significant and meaningful to offer?  And how good is Syberia as a case study for what the genre represents?

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 55th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Guide showing how to get French language with English subtitles

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Syberia OST: Nicholas Varley, Dimitri Bodiansky and Inon Zur

In 2004, an insane man named Keita Takahashi was given an enormous bucket of money and was told he could make a video-game with it. He decided to make a game about God getting drunk and destroying each and every star. The obvious fix for this silly mistake was for his son to roll up objects on Earth into a sticky ball using something called a Katamari, which he could then turn into stars...somehow.

And that's the entire game of Katamari Damacy. You roll things up into your Katamari, allowing it to grow and roll up increasingly larger objects. You go from hoovering up paperclips and thumbtacks, to soda cans and dog bowls and eventually even chairs and fence posts! After that, well...it starts to get a little out of hand. But for all its novelty and weirdness, is Katamari Damacy actually a fun game to play?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Should Katamari Damacy’s levels have a time limit? Is this best enjoyed as a purely zen experience, or does an element of anxiety add to the experience?
• What’s the deal with the control scheme? Why does up go left and down go right? Is this a controller nightmare or does this weird setup have its advantages?
• Speaking of weird, this is the one of the most bizzare games we’ve ever played. Is it off putting and random, or thematically cohesive and charming?

We answer these questions and many more on the 28th Episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the episode then come and join us on our discord server! Whether you want to hang out, suggest a new game for us to play, or simply call us idiots for our terrible opinions, we’d love for you to drop by!

Hitman: Codename 47 was a bold experiment.  It sought to create a stealth game like any other, where you could hide in plain sight.  It wanted to make planning a perfect murder to function like a puzzle, instead of having the player rely on lightning fast reflexes.  And for the most part, it was a dismal failure.  It was a fascinating curio, but a miserable trial to endure, one that Pat and James complained about at length.

Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, released two years later in 2002, massively expands on everything in the first game.  There are saves, a real time map, a revamped shooting system, a new suspicion meter, crouching, increased draw distance and a first person mode, just to name a few of its new features.  It immediately feels like a completely different kind of experience from the first.

But can the expansion really fix the fundamental flaws that seem to lie at the heart of the Hitman experience?  Can you actually have assassinations work as a puzzle game without it being frustrating?  Or were the early entries in the series more of a miss than a hit?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Does Silent Assassin do stealth well?  Different entries into the franchise sit somewhere at the genre intersection of stealth, puzzle and immersive sim.  When Hitman leans more heavily into its stealth is it still fun to play?
• What did we think of the map?  Silent Assassin introduces a real time map, with points of interest, weapon drops, and live positions of all NPCS.  Is having the map ultimately for the better, or does it go too far in revealing information to the player?
• How functional is the suspicion system?  Does it go a long way to add tension and immersion, or is it just inconsistent and clunky to avoid detection?

We answer these questions and many more on the 59th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Hitman 2 SA OST: Jesper Kyd

Link to black screen and widescreen fix for Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. 

Are there more secret ways to go about assassinations that we were not able to figure out?  Is Blood Money the best in the entire early game series?  Is At The Gates really as bad as everyone seems to think?  Come let us know our our community discord server!

Star Wars: Podracer launched with a bang.  It wasn’t the first Star Wars game, but it promised something that the world had been waiting for 16 years: a new movie.  With only a few short segments of the film at their disposal, the in-house LucasArts Team designed a racing game - aiming to not only replicate the environments, but even the imaginary physics of the vehicles.  The fact that they produced something uncannily similar to the pod racing scene from the movie is worthy of celebration in and of itself.

But can it hold up all these years later?  While it was released to fairly spectacular praise, there were some that damned it as just another F-Zero knockoff.  And while there were many F-Zero titles released throughout the years, there’s only one Podracer.  Does Star Wars: Podracer still provide an entertaining, lightning in a bottle racing experience today?  Or are you better off spending your time shitposting over on r/prequelmemes?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does the meta-structure of earning credits to spend on upgrading your vehicle influence the challenge of trying to beat races?  Is it better to have non-mechanical ways to succeed, or does this rob you of a sense of accomplishment?
• Is it better to have a track structure that feels like it blends into the environment, or are races more enjoyable on sterile and purpose built tracks?
• How do the boosting and repair mechanics add to the tension of Podracer?  Is an internal cooldown on a boost more or less enjoyable than tying a boost metre to a recharge item or length of track?

We answer these questions and many more on the 73rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Star Wars Episode 1 OST: John Williams

Are there any other high speed racing games that can hold a torch to F-Zero or Podracer?  Are there any cool shortcuts or crazy mechanics we missed?  Are you mad about our opinions on the Star Wars movies?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

The Lord Of The Rings is unquestionably the most impactful fantasy work ever written.  And in 2001, Peter Jackson did what many thought was impossible, bringing Tolkien’s vision to the big screen in an enormously successful way.  The movies were cultural phenomenons, praised by critics and fans alike, and for many is the definitive adaptation of the works of Tolkien.

With the success of the movie game companies were galvanised to create a video game based on it.  Tolkien heavily inspired fantasy role playing games, of course, but this was an opportunity to capture the imagination of thousands of movie watchers.  In fact, the game we played this fortnight - The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers - was released several weeks before the movie, filled with footage and interviews that was only available from the game itself.  Many people have fond childhood memories of this third person action rpg brawler.

But was Two Towers actually a well crafted video game that really complimented the movies, and made you feel like Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli?  Or was it a cheap and nasty job, cashing in on fans and their hype for one of the best movie series ever made?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does The Two Towers capture the spirit of the movie's story?  Is it important for the  story to get fully fleshed out in an action video game?
• What does it mean for a video game’s combat to be ‘clunky’?  Are fixed camera angles, low mobility options and delayed input combos intrinsically unfun, or do they have their merits?
• How important are concepts like poise and hyper armor when designing and playing a third person brawler?

We answer these questions and many more on the 45th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

LOTR: The Two Towers Soundtrack -  Howard Shore

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Is Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King a worthy sequel to this game?  Are we wrong in our criticisms?  You can suggest new games for us to play or tell us exactly why we’re wrong on our text based community discord server!

The Civilization series is one of the most consistently successful 4x titles throughout video game history.  It saw its first entry way back in 1991, and would continue to refine its history spanning empire building over the years.  Perhaps the most well regarded of them was Civilization IV: Beyond The Sword, a standalone expansion pack for Civ IV that promised the deepest and most complex strategy up to that date.

Civilisation V, however, seemed to break from a lot of what defined the main series up to that point.  Unit stacking, global happiness and the removal/replacement of the civics system saw fans outraged.  But with time (and more expansion packs) the love for Civ V’s systems grew, and it quickly became the most popular Civ game ever.  

But were all the changes that were made actually improvements over the systems present in Civilization IV?  Was the game changed for the better?  Were they sidegrades, or even worse, downgrades?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How does the existence of combat stacking affect both the tactical skirmishes and strategic positioning of your forces?  How does it compare to a one unit per tile system?
• How well does Civ IV communicate the details of your empire to the player?  How easy is it to read the broader landscape of all out war in a glance?
• How much shit will Patrick get for pronouncing 4x as ‘four times’?  I’ve only ever read it online before, please forgive me!

We answer these questions and many more on the 53rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Civ IV OST: Various Composers (see under each video in playlist)

Civilization IV BUG mod (recommended)

Did we misunderstand anything fundamental about how the combat system works?  Does one unit per tile lead to more sophisticated combat encounters than we gave it credit for?  What 4x title should we tackle next?  Come let us know our our community discord server!

In 2019 we played a lot of games. Some of them were brilliant classics that easily stood the test of time. Others were mediocre and outdated, and deservedly forgotten. Most of them, however, fall somewhere in between - excelling in certain areas while failing in others.

On this episode, we seek to highlight the absolute best aspects of these games...but also the worst, most soul crushing parts. Which game had the best graphics? Which game had the worst music? What was the most soul crushing individual moment? These are the highs and lows of Season 1 of the Retro Spectives Podcast.

On this episode, we discuss:

• What is it that makes a good story? Good characters, plot, theming, or just plain old fun?
• What is it that constitutes gameplay? Something purely mechanical, or something far more holistic?
• Is there any topic that we can respectfully disagree on, or do we always insist that a given opinion is superior to another? (of course we do, duh)

We answer these questions and many more on the 27th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the episode then come and join us on our discord server! Whether you want to hang out, suggest a new game for us to play, or simply call us idiots for our terrible opinions, we’d love for you to drop by!

When Street Fighter 2 first released in arcades in 1991, it single handedly revolutionised the fighting game genre.  It introduced shocking concepts like letting you select more than one character!  And for the very first time combinations of attacks could be strung together while the enemy player was still stunned (which, hilariously, was a bug).  Its characters essentially defined the archetypes and set the baseline for how characters should be designed.  This was the Mario or the Doom of the fighting genre.

A few years, and many revisions later, we got the final version of Street Fighter 2 - Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.  It doubled the character roster, introduced supers, added extra moves, and included many different balance changes to keep its competitive spirit alive.  To this day, there is still a small community that enjoys throwing down using Fightcade.  

But we’re now more than 25 years from the release of this iconic title.  What once was incredible is now assumed.  This is a game with no training mode and a single player mode that may as well not exist.  This is a game with a paucity of mechanics compared to any number of modern titles.  This is a game which has 3 more entries in the series, let alone considering other contenders like Guilty Gear or Tekken.  Can it be possible that its worth playing today?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Is Street Fighter 2 better or worse for having specials?  Should moves essential to a character’s build be barred behind having to enter commands in a precise sequential way, or is it an arbitrary imposition?
• Does Street Fighter 2’s neutral heavy game and more limited focus on combos lead to a more fun and engaging experience than other combo-centric fighters like Dragon Ball Fighter Z?
• Does the character variety present here still hold up when compared to its modern brethren, many of which have 3-4x the number of characters?

We answer these questions and many more on the 76th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo OST: Isao Abe Syun Nishigaki

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Special thanks to everyone who played some Street Fighter 2 with us this week!  It was a lot of fun talking about and complaining about Street Fighter with you all.  If you’d like to play in future community games, or simply want to join the discussion, you can find our discord server here!

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time took a beloved 2D platformer and transformed it into something spectacular.  Building on the Prince’s athletic jumps, the Prince could now wallrun, leap between ropes and swing with the best of them.  Most brilliant of all was the ability to rewind time, undoing mistakes that would have spelled instant death in any of the previous titles.  Combined with his acrobatic combat, the Prince became an instant hit, and it served as the foundation for 3 more sequels and yet another reboot.

We’re joined by special guest Chris Durston of the Philosophiraga Podcast to discuss and argue whether this take on platforming and combat is still enjoyable today.  Is running sideways on a wall and climbing ledges anywhere near as fancy and fun as it used to be?    Or has the Prince simply failed to stand the test of the Sands of Time?

On this episode, we discuss: 

• How does Prince of Persia tell its story?  Does it have significant story beats, or is all the heavy lifting done through its characters and their interactions?
• What is it that makes the platforming of the Prince of Persia games special?  How does it compare to more traditional 3D platforming like in Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie?
• What did we think about the combat system?  Is it better or worse than the far more complicated one found in Warrior Within?

We answer these questions and many more on the 67th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Chris Durston is an author, and host of the Philosophiraga Podcast.  His podcast takes complicated philosophical ideas, and breaks them down using video games as a medium.  Intimidating concepts like Immaterialism and Empiricism are explained through the lens of Final Fantasy and Ace Attorney - and all of a sudden it stops being so hard to understand.  We highly recommend you check out an episode, and we of course would like to point to the one all about Rationalism and Dark Souls.

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

POP: The Sands of Time OST: Stuart Chatwood

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Are you higher on the combat in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time than we were?  Should we check out the PSP title in the series, The Forgotten Sands?  Are there other modern games that have properly built on and improved on the platforming in this game, or is it really as unique as we claim?  Let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Over the years, we’ve played games from pretty much every genre under the sun, but there is one that is notably missing - the racing sim.  We’ve dabbled with arcade racers like Burnout 3, and have played several kart racers - Diddy Kong and F-Zero GX to name a couple.  But this is the first time we’re trying to learn how to actually drive a racing card under somewhat realistic conditions.

And what better game to start with than the highly lauded Gran Turismo 4?  It boasts hundreds of hours of gameplay, and you’d be hard pressed to find a racing sim fan who hasn’t at least heard of it.  There are an endless number of cars, tracks and conditions, and it's the kind of racing game that requires you to do tutorials on how to brake and turn simple corners before you get to the actual racing part.

So with all that in mind, just how good a video game is Gran Turismo 4?  What does it offer to someone who knows nothing about cars, and wants to go round a track really fast?  Is this a fun and engaging time, or is it a bland and dry simulator, for the ultra-enthusiasts only?

On this episode, we discuss:

Tutorials

• In what ways does GT4 attempt to teach the player the basics of learning to drive your car on the race track?  Does it do enough to explain the why or does it just focus on the how? 

Mechanics

• Just how fun is it to race around the tracks?  Does the difficulty of taking corners and controlling steering end up being frustrating and repetitive, or is there a kind of satisfaction to be found here?

Tuning and Upgrading

• GT4 features an incredible number of different cars to choose from, upgrade options for them, and a bevy of ways to tune them to perform in different ways.  How good is the game at delivering this information to the player so that they make informed choices?

We answer these questions and many more on the 119th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Gran Turismo 4 OST: Various Artists

Is Gran Turismo 4 the best racing sim of its era, or is there a better retro equivalent?  How have modern racing sims changed from the formulae of the original?  Are there any racing sims with a gentler learning curve when it comes to tuning your car?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support us monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee page

In Splinter Cell  you play as Sam Fisher, an ex Navy Seal brought out of retirement by the NSA to combat the growing threat of cyber terrorism.  Unlike your typical gung-ho hero,  Sam operates stealthily, silently and entirely by himself on the field - He is the splinter supported by an extensive cell of a support team.

To be successful in this game you must gather intelligence, operating entirely in the shadows, because if a gunfight breaks out you’re in huge trouble.  Splinter Cell took its cues from titles like Deus Ex, Metal Gear Solid and Thief but still managed to create its own flavour of stealth.  But in the wake of modern stealth games like Dishonored, can this title from 2002 still be considered a strong contender?  Or does it come across as quaint and outdated?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Splinter Cell has extremely linear level design, even more so than something like MGS 3.  Can a stealth game still effectively function when the level design is so structurally straight-forward?
• What’s the best way to control your characters in stealth games?  A mouse and keyboard, or a game-pad, and why?
• The story of Splinter Cell features a complicated multi-factional struggle for control of Georgia.  Does its story still hold up, or does it come across as inaccurate in the face of modern geopolitics, where cyber-terrorism is a very real threat today?

We answer these questions and many more on the 41st episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Splinter Cell OST: Amon Tobin

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To fix spotlights/enemy torches not showing up:

1. Right click on splinter cell

2. Click properties

3. Click "set launch options..."

4. Enter "-shadowmode=projector" in the text field

5. Click OK

6. Click Close

7. Start the game

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Does Splinter Cell get even better, or is the first entry in the series the best?  Is the story quietly brilliant and there’s something that we missed?  Do you prefer M+K or a game pad for your stealth games?  Come let us know what you think on our text based community discord server!

Pokémon Snap was released at the height of pokémania in 1999. It offered to people’s imaginations a way to see Pokemon in full 3d in their natural environments, instead of poorly rendered sprites on the screen. It also offered a gentler, more exploratory experience - here, ‘capturing’ a pokémon means getting a great photograph, not enslaving it to use in pit fights. Does Pokémon Snap’s on-rails and slow paced gameplay get to the core of the Pokémon experience, or is it a boring snoozefest?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Should there always be logical underpinnings to your interactions with the world of Pokémon Snap, or is it better to have a sense of wonder and surprise?
• How enjoyable is the fundamental gameplay? Are the mechanics of photography well implemented in how well shots are graded?
• Is it animal cruelty to push pokémon into lakes of lava in the hope that something cool will happen?

Find out if Pokémon Snap is still fun to play all these years later on the 12th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

In 1998 Bioware changed the gaming landscape with Baldur’s Gate, a Dungeons and Dragons inspired adventure.  Taking cues from second edition D&D and the many stories written about it, Bioware wrote a low level adventure that jammed everything they could find inside it.  They attempted to copy mage spells directly from the manual, and even added in famous characters like Drizzt. 

It was exactly what the fans had been waiting for.  Not only were they able to see everything come to life, the game used the radical real time with pause system, allowing combat to flow far more freely than other turn- based games before it.  Fights were fast and frequently deadly, adding a thrill to RPG combat, even if it came at the cost of precision and control.

But CRPGs are now a dime a dozen.  Not only are there later games in the series, Baldur’s Gate now has to compete against Pathfinder, Warhammer and Divinity, to name a few.  With all the advancements in tech, in UIs, in skill systems, can the original Baldur’s Gate really compete?  Has it stood the test of time, or has it been made obsolete by the wave of modern RPGS that came in its wake?

On this episode, we discuss:

Exploration

• Much of the early-mid game of Baldur’s Gate 1 is spent exploring the environment around the towns and keeps that are dotted around the Sword’s Coast.  Is this exploration enjoyable to engage with intrinsically, and does it provide enough extrinsic rewards to motivate you to continue?

Combat

• Baldur’s Gate’s combat is scrappy, disorganised and messy.  There is a high level of vulnerability on both sides, spells have unclear areas of effect, and high rolls can produce instant-death in many circumstances.  Does this combat system lead to  dynamic and novel encounters that allow for tactical depth, or does it just encourage reloading until you get the outcome that you want?

Character Customisation

• Baldur’s Gate is a very complex game under the hood, but those calculations, and level up decisions are mostly hidden from the player.  Does the game give sufficient options to the player to customise their character with skill choices and gear, or is it all predetermined the moment you first select your character?
   

We answer these questions and many more on the 128th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast?

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Baldurs Gate OST - Michael Hoenig

Are you meant to eventually multiclass everyone to a mage in DND?  Is Sanctuary really as overpowered as it seems?  When will you play Baldur’s Gate 2, you pair of sniveling cowards?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee Page!

Long before PlatinumGames was revolutionising the 3D brawler space with titles like Devil May Cry 3, Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, they worked on a title called Viewtiful Joe.  Taking cues from comic books, power rangers and superhero films, it's a cel shaded stylistic beat ‘em up that makes an average Joe the hero of its tale. Joe must use his movie inspired superpowers to kick ass, defeat evil and save the girl!

But how fun is it to play all these years later?  Has the 2D beat ‘em up genre been entirely eclipsed by its 3D brethren?  Is Viewtiful Joe still a Viewtiful game, or does it hide poor gameplay behind is panache?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does Viewtiful Joe implement its visual inspirations?  Is it a slapdash coat of paint to make it stand out, or does it go far deeper?
• Does the game have  a regular and enjoyable fighting 'rhythm’, or does the constantly replenishing power bar lead to a more stilted and unsatisfying experience?
• Does Viewtiful Joe deserve an Oscar for acting AND scriptwriting for fantastic scenes like this one?

We answer these questions, and many more, on the 24th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

If you enjoyed the show and would like to continue the conversation, feel free to head on over to our Discord which you can  find here or on our website. Thanks for listening!

It's Mailbag time!  In this episode, Pat and James continue the Christmas tradition of answering listener questions in their third annual Mailbag episode.  

We want to say a special thank you to everyone in our discord community, both for the questions and just being with us over the years.  When we started the podcast we always hoped that something like this would happen, but realising it is something else all together.  You are all the reason we continue to record episode after episode - it makes it all worthwhile.

So grab a cocoa, snuggle up and listen in as we ramble, philosophise, and criticise our way through the mailbag!

On this episode, we discuss:

• Why exactly is Dark Souls 2 a bad video game?  We’ve both slagged off the dark sheep of the From Software catalogue in multiple episodes - and now you’re finally going to find out why.
• Which genre has stood the test of time the best so far?  What genres have evolved into something fundamentally better, and which ones have either stayed the same or even gotten worse?
• What are your favourite books and why?  Luckily we constrained ourselves to 2 books each otherwise this episode might never have ended.

We answer these questions and many more on the 77th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Storvki Main: Andriesh Gandrabur

Be Careful: Mieko Ishikawa

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If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you'd rate us, drop a review, or join up to our community discord server!  We take listener suggestions for games, host game nights for our multiplayer titles, and we love criticising and discussing all video games, old or new. 

In 1994 the immersive sim genre was born with the release of System Shock.  Developed by Looking Glass Technologies, it set the standard for gameplay and story structures for future games in the genre such as Thief, Deus Ex, Bioshock or Prey.  
As an unnamed hacker, you awake on a space station after a long cryosleep only to find the halls littered with bodies and the walls smeared with blood.

So begins your journey on board the Citadel Space Station, as you try to thwart the evil Shodan and piece together what exactly happened in the 6 months that you were asleep.

But for all its innovation more than 25 years ago, is System Shock still a fun game to play today?  Its User Interface has more in common with a flight sim than a first person shooter.  Enemy hitboxes are literal rectangular boxes that extend far beyond their model.  And while the game is in first person, it requires you to constantly switch into point and click adventure mode to interact with the world.  
Does System Shock do the immersive sim genre proud, or does the experience come across as outdated and clunky?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well does System Shock handle worldbuilding?  Do its terse audio logs add to the gameworld, or do they leave it feeling lifeless and gamey?
• How enjoyable are its shooting mechanics? Is it wrong to compare System Shock to a game like Doom?
• Is the user interface hot garbage that deserves to be burned to the ground, or does it secretly give the player greater control over its economy of information?

In order to answer these questions, Pat and James are joined by special guest Nick from the Salt City Gamescast who was very excited to come along to argue, discuss and complain about the game!

Has System Shock stood the test of time? Tune in to find out!

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Is System Shock your favourite game in the immersive sim genre?  Do you unironically like the music?  Is the UI really that bad?  We’d love to hear what you think, good or bad, and maybe even get into a deeper discussion with you - let us know your thoughts on our community discord server!

Unreal was the Crysis of its time.  It pushed PCs to their absolute limits, with its advanced shader effects and enormous levels.  It featured AI that was far beyond the stilted and simplistic enemies that people were used to.  It built an alien world that managed to straddle the line between the more abstract early era shooter and what the build engine games were doing.  And it was all wrapped up in a succinct 10 hour campaign, that eschewed genre staples like door keys and fodder enemies.  Unreal seemed to represent a true evolution of the FPS genre.

But unfortunately for Unreal, there was another FPS that was released in 1998.  And that was Half Life.  Half Life went on to become the dominant FPS in a way not seen since Doom, and Unreal’s legacy would lie more in its ongoing arena multiplayer than its initial single player efforts.

But does Unreal actually deserve to be forgotten?  Was there something magical and unique about its design that elevated it above its boomer shooter peers?  Or was it instead ultimately just a shallow tech showcase, with no real substance beneath all of its glitter?

On this episode, we discuss:

Aesthetics.

• On the surface, from a modern perspective, Unreal looks kind of ugly, with its low-res stretched textures.  But it combines this with a haunting OST, varied level design and a color palette that brings its scenes to life.  Is the famed atmosphere of Unreal as alien and immersive as it is claimed to be?

Level Design.

• Unreal has a curious blend of massive open ended architecture fused with ultimately linear level design.  Does getting rid of key doors in favour of switches lead to the player getting lost in the maze, or is there something deeper and more clever at work here?

Combat.

• Unreal boasts some very advanced AI for its primary enemy combatant: The Skaarj.  They dodge roll your rocket blasts, maintain distance against close range weapons, and are generally a massive nuisance to deal with.  But the number of enemies you actually fight at once is low, and the game is even lower on enemy variety.  Just how fun is the combat gameplay of Unreal?

We answer these questions and many more on the 106th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Unreal OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8hkDjVYXQY&t

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Is there more to the combat of Unreal than we’re giving it credit for?  Are there any mods which improve the fundamental Unreal experience?  What is it about the level design that’s so special, and are there any other games that have built upon it?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

If you’re enjoying the show, you can support us on our Buy me a Coffee Page!

The Ace Attorney games were an insane success, far beyond what Capcom could have predicted.  After 4 mainline games in the series though, it was time for something new, and creator Shu Takumi refused to do anything normal.  With a desire to explore characters in a far deeper way than was possible with Ace Attorney, he decided the only way to go about this was to have the main character be a ghost.  

Whether that made sense or not, in 2010 we finally saw the release of Ghost Trick, a game that is so wrapped up in mystery that it's almost impossible to spoil all of its revelations.  The quirky characters, pacing and comedy of Ace Attorney was preserved, but it was replaced with entirely new gameplay mechanics with you manipulating the environment in subtle ways to change the outcome of deadly events.  It was an undeniably unique and beautiful game, and one that had even better critical acclaim than even Ace Attorney.

But with the Indie revolution churning out puzzle games like crazy, does Ghost Trick still stand out as an amazing game today?  Do its characters still thrill and excite?  Or is this style of storytelling and gameplay bloated and obsolete?

On this episode, we discuss:

Presentation

• How does the music, characters and animation come together to create the feeling and atmosphere of Ghost Trick?  Is this just another Ace Attorney game, or is it something fundamentally different?

Story

• Ghost Trick goes to great lengths to ensure the player is following the story, with reiteration and flashbacks being core parts of its narrative.  Is this too much, or is the story so complex that it needs this to keep people engaged?  Is Ghost Trick meant to be played chapter by chapter, or binged for longer sessions?

Gameplay

• Ghost Trick’s objects are all manipulated and affected in unique ways, instead of being reused and acting consistently.  How does this affect the puzzle design?  Is is better to have unique objects that need to be understood, or repeated objects to better understand a broader puzzle solution?

We answer these questions and many more on the 127th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Ghost Trick OST: Masakazu Sugimori

Is Ghost Trick just another Ace Attorney Game?  Is it just another Hitman game?  Or is it truly unique?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

You can support the show monetarily on our Buy Me A Coffee Page!

Sly 2: Band Of Thieves released at a special time in 3D platforming history: the GTA era.  In much the same way that Ubisoft would eventually set the (dismal) standard for open worlds, Grand Theft Auto 3 went on to define how 3d action games should be made.  The three big platforming names of the PS2 - Jax and Daxter, Ratchett and Clank, and of course, Sly Cooper, all radically shifted their macro level design in the wake of GTA’s popularity.

What does that mean?  It means we’ve got an open world, instead of the more linear levels of Sly 1.  It means that we’ve now got 3 playable characters to spice things up instead of just playing as Sly.  And it means that we’re moving the focus away from platforming to instead give players a hundred different things to do - minigames galore!

But does this wide and splashy approach to a platformer yield a more compelling experience than the more focused and restrained platformers that came before it?  Or did GTA make Sly 2 take a turn for the worse?

On this episode, we discuss:

• In what ways does Sly 2 utilise its open world, both narratively and mechanically?  Is it there just for the sake of it, or does it more than justify its existence?
• Has the storytelling and atmosphere of Sly 2 improved over Sly 1?  Does the move away from a more abstracted type of platforming actually matter?
• Does Sly 2 delight with its focus on novel minigames, or does this come at the cost of deeper and more engaging mechanical gameplay?

We answer these questions and many more on the 90th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Sly 2 OST: Peter McConnel

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Listen to Pat’s appearance on the Retro Hangover Podcast for Duke 3D here!

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Use Bobtff under interlacing settings in your emulator for the cleanest visuals

Ensemble Studios blew the world away with Age of Empires way back in 1997.  It took a different approach to the RTS formulae than Westwood or Blizzard, and was rewarded heavily for it.  Being able to advance your entire civilization's technology level was a heady drug, and balancing the varied needs of your economy with a well rounded army was strategically engaging.  After releasing a sequel and pumping out a couple of expansions they decided to try to add something genuinely new to the formulae.

So just a few years later, in 2002, we got the spinoff Age of Mythology.  It was extremely well received on release - while the teching to later ages was still there, Age of Mythology expanded the role of heroes, added more factional diversity, had a wide range of mythical units to complement your army, and even added god powers that could make or break the tide of battle.  It seemed to just be Age of Empires++, a more fun and flavoured take on what made everything in the original great.

But does adding mythical units with no active abilities compare to the caster units in Starcraft?  Does the extreme focus on macroing an economy up with its slower pace combat make the game tedious?  Does Age of Mythology truly stand side by side with the other RTS giants, or is it fated to become a forgotten spinoff, just one game to litter the RTS graveyard?

On this episode, we discuss:

• Age of Mythology doubles down on the economic focus of Ensemble Studio games, adding faith as an additional resource alongside food, wood and gold.  Is it fun trying to optimise your economy, or does this come at the cost of more high octane battles?
• Many RTS campaigns suffer the issue of every mission boiling down to building a max population army, then attack moving into the enemy, destroying everything in your wake.  Does Age of Mythology succumb to this problem, or does it have a solution?
• How enjoyable is the combat of Age of Myhology?  Do the autocasting abilities of myth units and heroes allow for your to micro them effectively?  Does the relatively low lethality of units make fights exciting?

We answer these questions and many more on the 114th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Age of Mythology OST: Stephen Rippy, Kevin Mcmullan

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Pat guested on the Nostalgia Goggles Podcast to review and discuss Starcraft!

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Is Age of Mythology better than Age of Empires 2, or just different?  Are there modern RTS games that you have played that have eclipsed Starcraft 2 or Warcraft 3?  Which RTS game should we play next?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

Next episode we’re doing our annual mailbag, so if you have any questions we’d love if you’d drop by!

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If you enjoy the show and want to support us monetarily, please check out our Buy me a Coffee Page!

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, as the ninth game in the series, did not radically alter the formula that made the series what it is.  Take one pinch of tactics, mix liberally with some RPG mechanics and bake together into a cohesive fantasy world, and at the end of it you’ll have a Fire Emblem game.  It did, however, introduce some new features and changes that did make it stand out.

Released for the Gamecube in 2005 and developed by Intelligent Systems, Path of Radiance was the first 3D Fire Emblem game.  It changed the magic system, introduced a new species (the Laguz), and perhaps most importantly of all had a ‘Base’ where you could regroup and make conversations happen between your different soldiers.  Bonus Experience was introduced, where completing chapters quickly or pursuing additional objectives could give you a nice bump towards levelling up.  It's easy to see why Path of Radiance is so well regarded - it introduced many mechanics that have since become genre staples.

But for all that it introduced, exactly how enjoyable and well developed are the RPG/Tactics systems in the game?  Does the story actually hold up as a well told military fantasy story?  Or is this just yet another iteration of an outdated and tired concept, with nothing to offer over modern tactics/rpg titles?

On this episode, we discuss:

• How well structured and realistic is the structural world building in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance?  Is this a believable fantasy world with realistic factional conflict, or a nonsensical grab bag of moustache twirling villains and monotone heroes?
• How well developed are the RPG systems in Fire Emblem?  To what degree can you customise the units under your command, and how emotionally invested does the storytelling allow when your character roster is so large?
• Is Path of Radiance a good tactics game at its core?  Does the game provide deep tactical decision making and tossing up opportunity cost, or do the RPG systems override and restrict the possibilities open to the player?

We answer these questions and many more on the 92nd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance OST: Yoshito Hirano, Saki Haruyama, Naoko Mitome, Atsushi Yoshida, Kanako Teramae

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Are we wrong about the vulnerability of certain units warping the strategy?  Is the concept of the Fire Emblem better embedded than we thought?  Which Fire Emblem game do you think would suit us best, that we should play next?  Come let us know what you think, recommend us a game, or simply be part of the conversation on our community discord server!