Last Retro Game You Played? What Retro Game Are You Currently Playing?

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Art Style: light trax is worth a go too, I think Jimbob knows more about that one..

He is right - do it! It's half a challenging racing game, half a chill cruise around the "M25 but Tron also".

Wild Wild Racing (2000)

Realising I could actually play a PS2 emulator with my DualShock 4 led me down the deepest, darkest corners of the year 2000. This was a launch title and I checked out a few reviews before diving into Wild Wild Racing, one of the laziest game names in history. Apparently it was commended for being pretty, yet playing it now I do wonder what class A drugs reviewers were on back then.

What we have is a straightforward buggy racer, with you driving through lengthy courses (usually about five minutes long) against three competitors. You've got a Championship mode where you win trophies, a Time Attack mode for the sadistic and a Challenge mode which is a mix of Tony Hawk and Outrun 2. You can do a S-K-A-T-E style challenge where you collect letters, to unlock a car. There is also a mode where you drive into a ball and bounce through the level. It's not exactly wild but I can see what the intention was. Aside from that, any comparison to Tony Hawk or OutRun ends there because this is mediocrity personified.

Screenshot:

As a racer you would not think this is on the same console as Burnout 3. It's a beefed-up PS1 game and as you can see from the screenshot I took, looks about as wild as an episode of Heartbeat. It's visually bland and empty, taking place on mountainous terrain that somehow punishes you for doing jumps. You have less control when airborne than you do on the ground - it's a weird one. The vehicle's brake does nothing whilst the handbrake will stop you dead immediately - you have to tap the handbrake to navigate corners. My biggest gripe with Wild Wild Racing is that you've got a combination of aggressive AI and scenery that will stop you dead. Remember when games would let you fly around them at 150mph and then you'll clip a signpost or a tree and it will stop you quicker than a lamppost in GTA. It's a major problem because I found myself carefully creeping around the courses avoiding opponents when the whole premise should encourage collisions and "wild" behaviour.

There are probably a bunch of games that haven't aged well from this era, particularly racing titles and Wild Wild Racing is a fine distraction for an hour but I'd have been pretty peeved to have gone home with this in October 2000.

4/10

That's a coincidence - I'm on a bit of an early PS2 binge myself, playing through some of the games from it's first few months. I'd ordered a few more yesterday too, but Wild Wild Racing never even crossed my mind. I had it back in the day, when it was unsurprisingly one of the first PS2 games to get put into a sale. You're absolutely right, it's "mediocrity personified". I remember it being so workmanlike and lacking any kind of pizzazz at all. The scenery was a pain in the arse too - I've got the same memories as you about having to crawl around the track and avoid any race-scuppering collisions. 

I might be wrong, but I think the demo disk that came packaged with the launch day PS2s came with a two-game demo for ISS and Wild Wild Racing. What a poor showcase for your system, two beefed-up PS1 games if I ever saw them.

Silent Scope (2000)

I had no idea how much of a kick in the teeth this game is. Having enjoyed Silent Scope in the arcades what must be two decades ago now, I expected a solid conversion. To be fair, this is a solid conversion. But the appeal of the arcade machine is lost in translation because there's no giant sniper rifle to hold. Turns out there's NO lightgun support for this on PS2 (there is on the Xbox port) which is properly cheeky, considering this retailed at £40.

I don't actually have a PS2 lightgun so it would have been lost on me anyway - so how does it play with a controller? I mean... it plays but the game is borderline broken. You slowly drag your giant, magnified reticle across the screen but I found myself often missing my shots, or the target would move. Navigation is a lot less precise.

You do get the full arcade game but the timer is now more deadly than any nameless goon as you inevitably run out of time because Konami didn't consider how the arcade version is designed (which is to eat quarters) doesn't apply to the home console version. That being said, the sniper (a slow, methodical profession) probably isn't the best suited style for an arcade title. But if you have a responsive lightgun, the premise works. It's worth noting that Silent Scope 1, 2 and 3 were individually released in this format on PS2, but Xbox owners got them in one package. They also could purchase a sniper rifle peripheral so it's difficult to recommend any of these titles when they play like this.

Shooting is still snappy in that Virtua Cop manner and there's a certain charm to the graphical style: chunky but not too simple. Where the arcade title succeeded was it made you feel like a master marksman, picking off enemies as you manoeuvred your rifle quickly across the screen. The console port makes you feel like you're lying in treacle as you take an eye test - it doesn't feel fun or rewarding at all. This isn't necessarily the game's fault; it's the execution. Considering this game is all about the perfect execution - it, unfortunately, misses the target.

4/10

Aww! I quite like Silent Scope's console ports! I only had the chance to play Silent Scope in the arcade just once or twice, and I thought they adapted it well enough to the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. 

That's another funny coincidence though. I was thinking about playing through Silent Scope again a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't find my copy. Likewise, my copy of Silent Scope 2 has a fucked disc that my PS2 won't read. That XBox trilogy you'd mentioned isn't compatible with my 360, so I instead went here for my Silent Scope kicks:

Spoiler:

You may have seen I bought Haunting Ground for PS2, which may have guessed cost a pretty penny for a PS2 game, that unlike some other recent PS2 games wanted to give a good play.

I did play some other PS2 game as well though:

Devil May Cry 3 SE. Thought this may have looked better than it did as I found the first mission was really dark, maybe just isn't good-looking on a modern TV, I'm curious of the Switch port which is a port not HD Remaster like on other systems. I would like to maybe play DMC3 on something part from PS2 if it is going to look a tad meh, to see if rose-tinted glasses why I think DMC3 is the best DMC or if it is DMC5 now.

Unlimited Saga. This seemed more of a FFX-2 advert with the demo disc, sticker on the box and US having a trailer for FFX-2 on the menu as well, then anything else. I will say it looked nice and the girl I picked a tad like Dart, but I had no idea what I was doing, I was just in a menu where kept coming up can't do that this turn. Least FFX-2 looked good, people are going to love that.

Lumines+. gJones asked about this one elsewhere and umm yeah play on PSP as it has a few modes, but really it's about playing a quick round setting a high score and moving on, where on a portable that works well look at Tetris.

Tokobots. A weird platformer game where you control some robots, this was the one I played the least off but could maybe see Cappa liking it, might be too anime though.

God of War II. I have only played bits of the God of War series mainly as take GOWII for example come out in 2007 after the PS3, I had moved on from my PS2 years ago with my 360. I do want to play more of the series in general and did also pick up Ascension for PS3 recently and really want to get the two HD collections for PS3 (VITA would be cool, as well) then go through them all. GOWII, which I played upto the first save point looks fantastic like this looks better than a PS2 game should do, I don't know how they managed it, also seems like it be a fun time.

Haunting Ground. This is playable from the outset in 480p which is very neat and because of the whole fixed cameras etc being a survival horror game it looks great especially the character models part from maybe Hewie the dog. Oddly the few CGI cutscenes, I've seen look terrible compared to the in game stuff. I played HG for about 1.5hrs, and I'm really enjoying it, as HG does a few different things such as the combat looks to be mainly around using Hewie to your advantage with the right stick with a few other things like using a doll to distract an enemy, then you fighting them directly.

Fiona who you play as also reacts to things, like I found a pool of blood, then she panics, so the screen starts to shake that sort of thing compared to a Resident Evil where the horror is Zombies etc I can certainly see why HG has become a bit of cult classic and I certainly want to play more.

From these games I want to play more Haunting Ground and look at playing GOW series & DMC3 but likely on new hardware.

masofdas wrote:

Lumines+. gJones asked about this one elsewhere and umm yeah play on PSP as it has a few modes, but really it's about playing a quick round setting a high score and moving on, where on a portable that works well look at Tetris.

Hmm you're not selling it to me. I hear a lot of great things about Lumines but I'm not sure it warrants purchasing a PSP.

I've also been working my way through a couple of early PS2 releases.

Timesplitters (2000)



Given the recent interest in Timesplitters 2 (owing to its discovery in a five year old PS4 game) I revisited this FPS darling. I was massively into the first Timesplitters as a pal had a PS2 at launch whilst I sat there smugly as a Dreamcast owner - this was the one game he had that was actually great. That said, this game has aged like Dolly Parton: the thing I'm interested in has held up well but it's everything around it that's looking pretty creaky.

The game has two modes: Story and Arcade. Story is pushing it, because there is no story. And by that I mean there's no actual cut-scenes like the latter two titles have. You just pick a level and run through them taking out goons for no reason at all. The first levels are simply "collect a key" or "collect files", and once you do this you make your way through the rest of the largely linear level to an atmosphere-destroying red circle on the ground. But that's not all! Once you have got the thing you suddenly have monsters appearing from portals firing green shite at you. It's all very random, looking back at it.

Plot has never been a reason to play Timesplitters - this is a glorified tech demo for FPS titles of its era and in that sense, it succeeds. The Dreamcast got a few PC FPS titles (like Quake and Unreal Tournament) but this was the first real console FPS after Goldeneye and Perfect Dark and it's from many of the same developers. Where Goldeneye flourished through its license and Perfect Dark managed to blend spy thrillers with sci-fi, Timesplitters is a bit of a mess thematically. It looks ugly and has ugly characters. The shooting is decent, but you can see your bullets fly through the air. It's the movement of everything that won me over two decades ago, and that's what still holds up. It's like halfway between normal Goldeneye and Goldeneye on Turbo mode. It glides.

This game isn't one I'll be finishing however. It suffers from some dated mechanics like health bars, health paks and worst of all, auto-switching to a different gun you picked up. It kept changing to a shotgun when I'd walk over ammo even though I'm happily shooting with a machine gun - very frustrating. The levels are fairly short so if you die, you have to start from the beginning which is mildly irritating. Saying that, it loads immediately. Loading times are what I remember most actually, because going from menus into the shooting sees the game freeze and simply state LOADING for at least a minute. You think the game has crashed, but it hasn't.

Arcade mode is where the longevity lies. Not only is there a fantastic multiplayer mode and a goddamned level editor (which I loved in the sequel), there's a Challenge mode which sets, well, challenges on the maps. It's an unlockable mode but one I enjoyed back in the day, particularly one that involved throwing bricks at windows.

The first Timesplitters is an interesting videogame that has been largely overshadowed by its younger model and to be honest, for good reason. This is a bit like Burnout in that it started the template, but the sequel did it so much better. But as far as early PS2 games go, this was a banger that has its moments. It's just a shame that they are best experienced in multiplayer.

6/10

I also had an hour on Super Bust-a-Move.



Bust-a-Move was always a title I admired but thought "Why would I buy it? I have Beehive Bedlam on my Sky remote." And I was right. It's a shame I peaked at 14. Truth be told, Super Bust-a-Move isn't much different from non-Super Bust-a-Move. It just looks a bit prettier. You get some different shaped levels that require aiming (whatever it is you're firing) a bit more accurately, but it's still the same game.

I've always preferred Match-3 puzzlers like Columns, Bejeweled or Puyo Puyo to Bust-a-Move. It's like a shite version of Breakout but things stick when you don't want them to. I dunno, it just never grabbed me. And this PS2 version is mobile phone fodder these days - I doubt I'll revisit.

4/10

Ha! Sky Remote! Those were the days. That Monkey Business/Life game where you played as Seamus the chimp was ace*.


*Not really remotely ace at all, but relative to everything else

Lots of great games on the PSP but Lumines feels like a handheld game, I feel it's on Switch.

Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

I already own the ACA version of this on Switch but I was browsing the psn store the other day and it was on sale for £3.59 (until the 12th May) so had to snap it up again considering it has added online multiplayer.

The_Jaster wrote:

Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

I already own the ACA version of this on Switch but I was browsing the psn store the other day and it was on sale for £3.59 (until the 12th May) so had to snap it up again considering it has added online multiplayer.

Is Garou as great as it's made out to be? I remember seeing this in lists of Best Fighting Games and Best Dreamcast Games, but the Street Fighter/King of Fighters wave passed me by (although I did enjoy Capcom vs. SNK). What makes it special?

Gjones is right about the first Timesplitters. I played the Story Mode a few years back, and if memory serves it’s still fun and interesting, but largely overshadowed by it’s sequel. At the time it was new, I thought it was pretty good, but not close to being the Goldeneye beater that some of the PlayStation magazines were making it out to be. That might have been the general consensus – I don’t remember seeing so many pre-owned copies of a game in Electronics Boutique as a I did the first Timesplitters.

Bust-A-Move (whichever version you choose) definitely grabbed me. While it’s absolutely mobile phone fodder these days, even an ordinary and unspectacular Bust-A-Move game would get at least a 6/10 from me.

The things that set Garou: Mark of the Wolves apart for me are it’s beautiful animation and it’s finely-tuned balance. It’s a game that literally shouts “never give up!” at you. It’s not like Mortal Kombat or anything, which is quite happy to utterly destroy you. Garou is always competitive and always fun to play. I don’t think it’s as quality as the best Street Fighter games, but it’s very close.

I just personally like how snappy Garou: MotW feels & even though I'm sure there's a tonne of combo depth it's very easy to get the basics down but still be able to throw out some cool looking moves.

I started Dead Space. It's starting to look a bit weary given it released in 2008 but it still has a great sense of place and style. I've started it a couple of times now and this time I plan to actually get through it, but it's been a while since I played a spooky game. The opening, while not as brutal as the sequel, is really well-paced, offering tons of save stations and health to gently ease one into, what I've heard, is a grisly simulation of a bloke methodically pulling a spider's legs off. I cannae wait!

After watching the Friends Reunion, I booted up Friends: The One With All The Trivia. This is just a quiz title that was on the PS2 shortly after Friends finished its final season. There's nothing to it aside from the questions and a 3D render of the apartment block. You have to answer questions to light up windows in the block - first to six wins and if you get one wrong, you go back a window. There are some nice touches that will have any fan smiling - they have the actors who play Janice, Gunther and the Gellar parents voicing the menus and reading out the questions. There's even some video clip rounds where you're hit with "What colour were Phoebe's shoes?" from out of nowhere. That's the main problem with Friends: The One With All The Trivia, it's pretty tough. I've watched a lot of Friends over the years, or thought I had. But stuff like "What did Ross say to Mike?" and there are four quotes presented with none of them feeling familiar - it will certainly separate the Richards from the Bens.

I will play it again with some fellow Friends fans I know, over some drinks, which is where this type of game thrives. Even if you like Friends though, I can't recommend this because it's aimed at a certain hardcore Friends fan that knows all the lines, characters and episodes back to front. The people who you'd think have no friends.

4/10

Jings, I'd forgotten about that Friends game. My mates and I all watched it and we regularly played all the PlayStation quiz games, but I don't actually think we ever gave this a go. Having to "know all the lines, characters and episodes back to front" doesn't sound much fun though, sounds more like a cross-examination than a quiz. Or, worse, like a Mega Man game.

Neo Turf Masters



Or "Arcade Classics Archive NEO GEO Big Tournament Golf" to give it its full name. I was craving some golf goodness with Mario Golf releasing recently and thought plonking five notes on this Neo Geo digital download was a better (and cheaper) option. Pretty sure somebody else on the forum played this, but I couldn't find the post. Regardless, Neo Turf Masters is a really enjoyable little golf title. Beautifully animated and with a variation on the Mario Golf control system, you're getting a charming arcade golf game that has no shame in mocking your terrible technique. "Player 1 had a baaaad day" is a regular put-down that's now etched into my memory.

The arcade roots ensure that you'll constantly be pumping credits in - this game is tough and you lose the equivalent of a life if you get a bogey. One bad round and you're screwed. Considering there's little room for error with mostly fairway, small bits of rough, and acres of Out of Bounds, it takes some getting used to. I say you have lives, it's a "score" and you start on "3". Get a Par, it stays the same. Get a Bogey, it drops to "2". Get a Birdie, it increases to "4" and so on. It's a neat idea, but it's pointless on consoles - I just press L1 and I get a credit. As I do with Metal Slug, I hammer it so I have 20+ credits.

There are four courses and six characters to choose from, each with varying statistics. Music is a lot like Metal Slug's, but more whimsical and while the visuals are all 2D, it looks nice and chunky. Properly satisfying sound design too.

My main criticism is that you don't have a view (or grid) showing where your shot will end up. You have to judge the distance using the power meter, the wind, and the golf club you're using. Which when I put it like that, makes a whole lot of sense. I do often get caught out by trees still, as while there is a hook/slice ability to arc your shots, you don't actually see the arc. Another problem is the putting, which is simply unclear which way the grass is deviating. It's like SNK wanted to leave an element of realism in there to separate the pros from the casuals, which could be aimed at most Neo Geo games. You can get really good at this with enough time, which I think even in Everybody's Golf, I never felt like I was getting better; I was just hitting longer drives with more powerful characters.

What's great about Neo Turf Masters is how addictive it is. Once you learn the courses and master the controls, you can birdie each hole, and chip-ins and pin shots are fairly frequent. There are obviously no career modes here, but there are score attacks and the hilariously titled Caravan mode that just says "You have five minutes - do your best". Despite being fairly barebones, I can see myself putting a lot of time into Neo Turf Masters whether it be five-minute bursts or hours trying to perfect a course. I just wish there were some achievements/trophies that encouraged trying different things.

9/10

Loved every word of that. It was probably me that you'd thought had played it, I know I've typed about Neo Turf Masters in the past. For me, it's the most well-rounded, enjoyable and just-plain-best golf game ever.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Loved every word of that. It was probably me that you'd thought had played it, I know I've typed about Neo Turf Masters in the past. For me, it's the most well-rounded, enjoyable and just-plain-best golf game ever.

I keep returning and I still can't work out the putting. The game is a tad too difficult for my liking but generally speaking, yeah, it may be the second best golf game I've played aside from Everybody's Golf (PS4).

18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker (PS2)



I remember playing this in the arcades and it was a novel distraction but little more. Not the type of game you're itching to chuck 50ps into, let alone £1s.

The console port was rightfully panned at the time because it's bordering on the offensive. £40 for this may as well have come with a slap from the cashier too. For the uninitiated, 18 Wheeler is a checkpoint racer, except you're in a huge lorry. That basic concept is already flawed because lorries are slow and cumbersome. So you're trying to get to the checkpoint before the timer runs out, but you're in this semi-realistic version of a lorry that is no fun at all to drive. You have to shift gears and it takes about 20 seconds to get up to speed, which leaves you about a minute to get to your destination. There is a rival driver that weaves around the road like a maniac but largely stays away from your trailer, which you have to avoid damaging (as its value decreases, which contributes to your score). There are random cars dotted about that provide time bonuses and some parking challenges in between levels to try and break up the samey levels, but ultimately you're left with a weird alternative to Daytona or Outrun without any of the charm or rewarding gameplay those titles possess.

Imagine a barebones Euro Truck Simulator with a strict time limitation and you're left with a pretty average game that clearly relied on its extravagant cabinet in the arcades to mask its shortcomings. It may have been popular twenty years ago but this is one arcade series I'm glad we saw the back of - it just wasn't much fun!

5/10

Bollocks to that, 18 Wheeler is class! I've always really enjoyed it, although to be fair there's no depth to speak of. Still, I was itching to chuck £1s into this, whether that was back when it was brand new or when I'd see it at nearby seaside arcades as recently as five years ago. It might have only been £40 for a very short while too - I know I got my PS2 copy in a Boxing Day sale, and later got my GameCube copy for because it was the cheapest thing around launch.

I think it's a superb retro game for how fun it is and for how little it costs!

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I think it's a superb retro game for how fun it is and for how little it costs!

That image. Superb is certainly pushing it but I'm going to give its sequel a bash too as it looks like there's a bit more to it. I just wish I could be driving the rival's rig as it looks a lot more fun!

So I spent a couple of hours in Namco's Ridge Racer V and the time just flew by. I don't think I've ever played a Ridge Racer title before, so this took some getting used to. What we have here is an arcade racer that is initially punishing, but after each race, I'd get better and better before winning (there are 13 other racers) and there is a great sense of satisfaction when you finally do. There's no actual "Arcade" mode - it's Grand Prix or VS. and because I don't know anyone willing to sit in front of a PC emulating launch-era PS2 games during working hours, I opted for the Grand Prix.

I named my driver (Grant Urismo) and my team (Burning AssFault), and it was time to pick a car. I first went for the fastest vehicle but I was all over the place, trying to navigate the drifting mechanics. So I went for a slower car with better grip and was more successful. The drifting is (presumably) how it always works in Ridge Racer - ease off the gas when you turn and you turn sharply. Almost TOO sharply. You pretty much need to be in the corner as you make the drift, rather than in most racers where you drift into the corner. It took a bit of practice, but it's a key mechanic and the main way you'll make progress on racers. Saying that, screw it up and you'll be saying goodbye to first place. That's something I admire about Ridge Racer V; if you want to win the race then you need to race the perfect race. It makes sense. And it's immensely rewarding.

The AI is brutal, even on Normal difficulty. Clip their car and you'll slow right down as they speed off, and never ram into them, as they'll fly forward at impossible speeds. Basically, stay away from them and stay away from the walls, as they pretty much halve your speed. The Grand Prix mode lets you unlock cars, although the designs are all fairly similar riffs on your Honda Civics or Toyota Celicas. Graphically, this is an odd game, as the tracks are fine, but the cars are pixellated and look like PS1 graphics. Usually, it's the car that is the best-looking part of a racing title so that was slightly disappointing, and something reviews at the time noted. The music is all a bit WipeOut for my liking - techno that isn't really my thing although there are some tracks that become catchy from the number of times you repeat races. The commentator can absolutely do one though - he makes the Burnout DJ sound like David Attenborough. Every time you overtake or get overtaken there's a "That's tiiiight" or "What's he doing??" which I know is a part of Mario Kart too with character sound effects, but it's cringe-worthy here. I'd prefer racers to lean out their windows and hurl abuse. Add to that the bloke can't pronounce some words correctly, it threatens to intrude on what is a pretty nice alternate version of Tokyo street racing.

So yeah, I like this and will work my way through the rest of the Grand Prix competitions. It's very much of its time and rewards memorisation of tracks, so can be tougher to get into than say, a Burnout game, but well worth revisiting.

8/10

I remember that Ridge Racer V was regarded as a disappointment at the time, but I think it’s a pretty good game. I don’t think it’s nearly as technical or demanding as you make out though, but then I’ve been playing these Ridge Racer games across PlayStations, XBoxs and Nintendos for over twenty years now so I’m well used to how they play.

FYI, Ridge Racer 2 on the PSP is basically a greatest hits version of the first six games, and Ridge Racer Unbounded is like a grittier and darker Burnout Revenge. Ridge Racer Type 4 is not just the best game in the series, but one of the best games ever.

I played some Ridge Racer Unbounded, which seems more Need for Speed with the opening crossed with Burnout with takedowns fragging the other cars and boosting. For £3 it's fine, but if I can get Blur that's what I'll be playing.

Also played about 2hrs of Legend of Dragoon, which is certainly showing its age which makes sense as it's a PS1 game, but then I compare to the likes of FFIX, and it's not even close. Do like the turn based combat with combos mixed in and if we got a simple port ala FFIX on PS4, Switch etc with some modern improvements then I might have continued on.

I dug out my copy of Blur a couple of months back, intending on playing it through. Other stuff got in the way, but I’ve tried it a few times in the past. It didn’t really grab me though. Apart from power-ups, what it makes Blur stand out above stuff like Ridge Racer Unbounded and Split/Second?