Retro Spectives

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 thr…

Kirby’s Nightmare in Dreamland is a remake of the 1993 NES classic Kirby’s Adventure. It features updated graphics, a new set of minigames and an even easier difficulty than the original. You float a…

Max Payne’s story was incredibly fresh on its release in 2001. Taking its cues from neo-noir cinema, it pitted you against the real life monsters of our world instead of demons or aliens. It liberall…

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 …

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater blew everyone away in 1999 with its take on skating - the environments seemed crisp, the physics were unreal and it had a wonderful trick system tying it all together. But just…

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 complete…

Quake is one of the most influential shooters ever made. While its contemporaries like Duke Nukem and Blood were dabbling in the illusion heavy 2.5D, Quake chose instead to feature fully 3D models an…

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 peop…

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…

F-Zero GX is a Gamecube classic that sought to turn the challenge of the racing genre all the way to 11. It's a game where braking is actively discouraged, and if your speed ever drops below 1000km/h…

Red Alert 2 proposes a question that every military nut wants answered: What would happen if the Soviet Union invaded the United States of America? Except the Soviet Union has mind control technology…

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…

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within was a stark departure from its prequel in terms of aesthetic. What was originally a whimsical adventure turned into a dark and edgy romp. But it also gained a far mor…

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…

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…