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 ...
Oct 25, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 73
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...
Oct 11, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 72
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 ...
Sep 27, 2021•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 71
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...
Sep 13, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 70
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 l...
Aug 29, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 69
We return once more to the strange and esoteric world of console RTS games with Pikmin! First released for the Gamecube in 2001, it combines strategy, resource management and puzzle solving into a truly unique game. You play as Captain Olimar, peacefully vacationing in space until an asteroid collides with his spaceship. He crashes to the ground, pieces of his ship scattering across the land, and no apparent way to get them back to repair his ship. Luckily for him the Pikmin are more than willin...
Aug 16, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 68
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 ...
Aug 02, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 67
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 ...
Jul 19, 2021•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 66
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...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 65
Ys: The Oath in Felghana is a remake of a beloved NES title - Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. Oath takes the essential story beats of the original, but the gameplay has received a radical transformation, in almost every way. The original 2D sidescrolling has been expanded into the realm of 3D, and even swaps to a full-on isometric view in parts of the dungeons and most boss fights. Healing items drop from enemies instead of being inventory items, attacks combo and stunlock enemies, and platforming is...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 64
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 ...
Jun 07, 2021•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 63
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. Bu...
May 24, 2021•1 hr 54 min•Ep. 62
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 fi...
May 10, 2021•2 hr 38 min•Ep. 61
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 o...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 60
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 expa...
Apr 12, 2021•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 59
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 t...
Mar 29, 2021•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 58
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 ...
Mar 15, 2021•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 57
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...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 56
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 c...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 55
The Burnout series is famous for one thing: combining racing with carnage. Less focused on customisation than Need for Speed , but with more traditional racing structure than Carmageddon , Burnout 3 seeks to elevate car-on-car battles to be equally important to navigating around its tracks skillfully. Rewards for taking out other racers come thick and fast, and it even has an entire mode dedicated to crashing into intersections. But does it all add up to a compelling video game? Does the focus o...
Feb 01, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 54
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...
Jan 18, 2021•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 53
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 ar...
Jan 04, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 52
It's time for part 1 of the Season 2 wrapup: The Mailbag! Year 2 of Retro Spectives saw many new users join our discord server , and even more in depth discussions. We argued about whether Super Metroid’s storytelling was too light a touch, whether System Shock’s UI was the worst in existence, and if all JRPGS were literally created by the devil . In all these instances, though, it was us who was leading the discussion. The mailbag episode gives our listeners a chance to flip this dynamic on its...
Dec 21, 2020•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 51
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 tha...
Dec 07, 2020•2 hr 26 min•Ep. 50
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 t...
Nov 23, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 49
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 ...
Nov 09, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 48
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 automato...
Oct 26, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 47
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 idea...
Oct 12, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 46
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 ro...
Sep 28, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 45
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders is a difficult game to explain. It was first released for the original Xbox in 2004 by the Korean Studio Phantagram, and tries to fuse real-time strategy with action RPG brawling. All controlled with a gamepad. You take control of two fantastical factions engaged in a religious war, trying to outmatch your opponents with both skilful tactical maneuvers and Dynasty Warriors-esque button mashing across four campaigns. But just how well do all these separate elemen...
Sep 14, 2020•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 44
