Now people may think that someone like me with a fairly large classic collection would not say things like this. However the term 'Retro' is a crap label that make it sound trendy and the 'in' thing.
Now people do wear rose tinted glasses when playing old games and try and wallpaper over the cracks that show in the games gameplay and state that it's a good game when really it's not. Games DO (and that's DO in big capital letters) date and some date REALLY BADLY (see the pattern here?), as an example see most of the Commodore 64 and Spectrum back library. However there are still games which are still playable now and are worth playing.
For example Jet Set Willy 2 on the Spectrum looks rubbish by todays standards but it's a good example of an unforgiving game, you make one mistake and that's it your game is over before you can say 'Fecking rubber keys', and what's that? Oh yes and it's still playable after all these years if mainly because the fun aspect of gaming is still there, the basic aim is to jump platforms and collect flashing things whilst avoiding monsters. However the multiple screens, leaps of faith and fecking hard pixel perfect gameplay means that if you have the patience (which is sadly lacking in todays game players) then you will play this game until you get sick of it.
However lets take another example, I-Robot, yes it's one of the earliest examples of 3D, and for 1983 it looks amazing, however today it does look a tad on the blocky and basic side. The gameplay well you have a robot and he has to move across some platforms and turn them red whilst avoiding the gaze of the 'Eye', oh and there are some birds you must avoid too. Put it this way the game is a more basic version of Konamis Amidar and not as good, yes it was technically amazing but the gameplay sucks.
Two magazines that don't help are Retro Gamer and GamesTM, both of these should come with pairs of ultra rose coloured sunglasses so you can forget how bad these games really are and pretend they are really good even today. Sadly as they need to sell magazines they aren't going to annoy the geeks who still claim that the Commodore 64 or Spectrum or Sord M5 really was the end and be all of video gaming....
Now in the I-Robot review in the last edition of GamesTM they gave I-Robot an overall mark of 93%, which back in 1983 would be a fair mark but today? Oh please it's a poor game, which no one in there right mind would give more then an average mark on (or less....). Even the features on machines do feel like they are full of games that are there just because they are running out of really good games to put in there. Most machines of the 80s ilk probably have less then 10 or 20 games that would seriously stand up to games today.
If your going to re-review a game then take it in todays context, ignore the graphics and sound, they are fairly irrelevent anyway. Basically would you sit and play this game for at least an hour non stop? Or would you hunger for something better? Deathchase on the Spectrum is a good game, and it's fun for 20 minutes but after that you would think okay, what's next? Where as Head over Heels you would probably play for a long time before realising hey is that the time.
Also remember that if there are better examples of that game then ignore the conversion completely, Chase HQ on the Spectrum is an excellent conversion, sadly it is a fairly rubbish game by todays standards, aging badly but your not going to play it on the Spectrum you would play the arcade or Saturn version of it as that was the best version.
As an example here are 10 classic games, Play them and give them a mark out of 10. The mark should be on how playable it is, not how you remember it 10 or 20 years ago.
1 - Jet Set Willy 2 - Spectrum - Software Projects
2 - Armalyte - Commodore 64 - Thalamus
3 - Deathchase 3D - Spectrum - Micromega
4 - Pac-Man - Arcade - Namco
5 - Elite - BBC Micro - Acornsoft
6 - I-Robot - Arcade - Atari
7 - Pong - Anything with two bats and a ball - Various
8 - Head over Heels - Spectrum - Ocean
9 - Amidar - Arcade - Konami
10 - Summer Games - Commodore 64 - Epyx
Probably should reread this before I submit it but I won't... ^_^;
Now people do wear rose tinted glasses when playing old games and try and wallpaper over the cracks that show in the games gameplay and state that it's a good game when really it's not. Games DO (and that's DO in big capital letters) date and some date REALLY BADLY (see the pattern here?), as an example see most of the Commodore 64 and Spectrum back library. However there are still games which are still playable now and are worth playing.
For example Jet Set Willy 2 on the Spectrum looks rubbish by todays standards but it's a good example of an unforgiving game, you make one mistake and that's it your game is over before you can say 'Fecking rubber keys', and what's that? Oh yes and it's still playable after all these years if mainly because the fun aspect of gaming is still there, the basic aim is to jump platforms and collect flashing things whilst avoiding monsters. However the multiple screens, leaps of faith and fecking hard pixel perfect gameplay means that if you have the patience (which is sadly lacking in todays game players) then you will play this game until you get sick of it.
However lets take another example, I-Robot, yes it's one of the earliest examples of 3D, and for 1983 it looks amazing, however today it does look a tad on the blocky and basic side. The gameplay well you have a robot and he has to move across some platforms and turn them red whilst avoiding the gaze of the 'Eye', oh and there are some birds you must avoid too. Put it this way the game is a more basic version of Konamis Amidar and not as good, yes it was technically amazing but the gameplay sucks.
Two magazines that don't help are Retro Gamer and GamesTM, both of these should come with pairs of ultra rose coloured sunglasses so you can forget how bad these games really are and pretend they are really good even today. Sadly as they need to sell magazines they aren't going to annoy the geeks who still claim that the Commodore 64 or Spectrum or Sord M5 really was the end and be all of video gaming....
Now in the I-Robot review in the last edition of GamesTM they gave I-Robot an overall mark of 93%, which back in 1983 would be a fair mark but today? Oh please it's a poor game, which no one in there right mind would give more then an average mark on (or less....). Even the features on machines do feel like they are full of games that are there just because they are running out of really good games to put in there. Most machines of the 80s ilk probably have less then 10 or 20 games that would seriously stand up to games today.
If your going to re-review a game then take it in todays context, ignore the graphics and sound, they are fairly irrelevent anyway. Basically would you sit and play this game for at least an hour non stop? Or would you hunger for something better? Deathchase on the Spectrum is a good game, and it's fun for 20 minutes but after that you would think okay, what's next? Where as Head over Heels you would probably play for a long time before realising hey is that the time.
Also remember that if there are better examples of that game then ignore the conversion completely, Chase HQ on the Spectrum is an excellent conversion, sadly it is a fairly rubbish game by todays standards, aging badly but your not going to play it on the Spectrum you would play the arcade or Saturn version of it as that was the best version.
As an example here are 10 classic games, Play them and give them a mark out of 10. The mark should be on how playable it is, not how you remember it 10 or 20 years ago.
1 - Jet Set Willy 2 - Spectrum - Software Projects
2 - Armalyte - Commodore 64 - Thalamus
3 - Deathchase 3D - Spectrum - Micromega
4 - Pac-Man - Arcade - Namco
5 - Elite - BBC Micro - Acornsoft
6 - I-Robot - Arcade - Atari
7 - Pong - Anything with two bats and a ball - Various
8 - Head over Heels - Spectrum - Ocean
9 - Amidar - Arcade - Konami
10 - Summer Games - Commodore 64 - Epyx
Probably should reread this before I submit it but I won't... ^_^;
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