review
What's it all about?Tweet, tweet, tweet...Contact!Australian release dates
                 
                 
     

POSTED 11/8/15


RARE REPLAY

Rare/Microsoft



But captain, how do you expect me to write about 30 games with this peashooter word count?

OK, Rare should need no introduction, and even if they did we don’t have much space. They started life as the unwieldy named Ultimate Play the Game dropping Speccy games. That’s the loved-by-Brits Sinclair ZX Spectrum, not a mark in AFL...

They’re survivors, progressing to the NES, the SNES (Donkey Kong Country!) and onto Xboxier climes. This release collates 30 games from their history into a neat little package.

While obviously there are no first party Nintendo games, there’s more than enough value here to make dropping 50 bucks – 50 bucks! - for 30 games a total no-brainer.

Spectrum classics like Jet Pac and Atic Atac bump uglies with NES RC Pro Am and renowned prick-bastardly hard Battletoads. Big N64 not-Mario Banjo teams with mate Kazooie and the rather naughty Conker’s Bad Fur Day and on to bigger – literally - adventures in Xbox land such as the Viva Piñata games and Perfect Dark Zero.

But the best thing? Criminally under-loved N64 classic Blast Corps, which is still a genius kick-arse treat some 20 years (well OK, 18) after release.

It’s all held together by a lovely interface full of historical side-tracks, along with more achievements than you could poke a Lisa Simpson at to bestow even more historical revisitation joy. Progress unlocks bulk bonus booty, including videos and looks at games that could’ve been, but weren’t.

21 of the games are in the titular Rare Replay, while nine 360 games install separately and use the Xbone’s secret squirrel backwards compatibility, launching seamlessly from RR’s menu.

While not all of these games hold up in 2015, it’d take a very silly person indeed to deny the historical significance of most of what’s on offer.

A Gamesblip top blip though. At 50GB (before updates), if your internet sucks (hello-o-o-o Optus!) then get up and at them and buy the disc.

take me back to the start...

 



CLICK THIS!



CLICK THIS!



 

 

     
                 
                 
     
ALL WRITTEN CONTENT COPYRIGHT © AMY FLOWER 2008-2018. GAME IMAGES COURTESY OF RESPECTIVE GAMES COMPANIES.