Retrogaming Review of The Year 2022

Retrogaming Review of The Year 2022

 In the third Year of The Virus... well, it wasn't really that as everything went back to normal, the masks came off, the screens went down, but it made no difference to my interest in replaying old games or trying some new old games. It was interesting to see plug and play versions of the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500, and while I was initially tempted, many of the games weren't well known (to me at least), and more importantly required HDMI in order to connect, which was no good to me. And were very expensive: £120! Sadly, I once again failed to get around to excavating the Amiga 1500 from the loft, but that's not to say I didn't have a good year, with many very happy memories of finishing 'Twilight Princess,' returning to both 'Goldeneye' and 'TWINE,' and surprisingly quite enjoying the remake of 'Goldeneye' on the Wii, despite it bearing little resemblance. In all, a good gaming year that I can't expect to repeat as strongly in 2023.

Awards:

Surprise of The Year: TWINE

Disappointment of The Year: Wii Sports Resort

[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.] 

January: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006, GameCube) - Very happy memories of this game, be it the week of the Masters Snooker where I would play it into the night, or the search for all the last Poes. Maybe it wasn't one of the best in the series, at least compared to the N64 versions, but for sheer nostalgia (that is, looking back this Christmas to last Christmas!), this is one of several great gaming memories for 2022, which is impressive in itself when the other standouts were two versions of 'Goldeneye,' and 'TWINE,' to the extent I feel bad for only giving it three stars and maybe it's deserving of four. Perhaps, if I'm fortunate I'll replay it in another ten Christmases time and bump up the score... In fact, no, in light of 'Skyward Sword' and my happy memories I will bump it up. Right now! ****

January - December: WSC Real 08 (2008, Wii) - I'm still not Number One in my career! That's my main takeaway from this stalwart that has kept popping in and out of my Wii as it's that game you can play for half an hour or spend many hours on if you want to, plus it's a fun two-player experience, too. In 2023 I expect to finally supercede Ronnie O'Sullivan's domination, and maybe then I'll take on the Pool Career mode. And with news John Virgo (my favourite), may well be retiring from commentary in the coming months this could soon be the only way to hear his honeyed tones! ****

January: Wii Sports Resort (2009, Wii) - I 'awarded' this the biggest disappointment, but that's because I didn't play any truly disappointing games. It just didn't fit as my new exercise game of choice, not energetic enough so I quickly went back to stalwart 'Wii Sports,' though I can see myself playing some of those games again. It's been so long that I can barely remember what games there were, but throwing the frisby for the dog was quite fun and unique (my first time using the Motion Plus sensor was with this game), and guiding a plane around using the Remote to change pitch and yaw (I think are the technical terms!), wasn't bad, though. Perhaps a little gimmicky, which is the Wii's main flaw, but I'd certainly have another go in future, this time only for the games, not for exercise. ***

January - December: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - February marked twenty years of continuous regular play, with this specific game file begun on 5th January 2005, seventeen years ago! Continues to be a reassuring presence - if I ever get the 1500 down from the loft I'd like to see how it fares on the older machine. Do I ever think about giving it up by taking a trip to Mars? Sometimes, but maybe I should keep it running until I hit twenty years for this file? *****

February - March: The Lord of The Rings: The Third Age (2004, GameCube) - Not quite the game I expected, it was quite linear with constant random battles, so perhaps it was typical for the genre. Not being an RPG-er I wasn't really into careful upgrading of weapons and stats, I just whipped through all that as quick as I could, but it looked quite nice, the figures were well modelled and it did have something of an addictive quality in the sense you wanted to get to the next bit, beat this current battle, etc. This could have been up there as Biggest Disappointment except I did play it through to completion, something I couldn't say for 'Sports Resort.' It was a fairly good experience over all and one I'd picked for the dark months, so it suited its purpose, but isn't one I'd likely go back to again. The trouble was I could imagine the old Amiga game, 'War in Middle-Earth,' except translated into 3D, and this wasn't it. ***

February - December: Wii Sports (2006, Wii) - It's not quite as much fun as it's harder and harder to beat my own records and I'm not really seeing any improvement so it can be a bit demoralising, especially when I so regularly do the Boxing and all it takes is one knockdown from my opponent, not even losing the match, to be knocked down by seventy-plus points, which then take many wins to recoup, so it has become tough and a touch unfair when you break the 2000 points mark. It's also annoying that the medals aren't visible from the screen where you choose, as it would be useful to see which disciplines need to be improved and what medals are still to be won. But still fun in moderation, and all the games are worth playing. ***

March - May: Goldeneye 007 (1997, N64) - I said plenty about this in my full review, but the key is it really brought the memory machine to life and I'll always remember being chased by Jaws, and the terrible tension of that Aztec level. Among many other things about it, of course! Absolute classic, one of the highlights of the best console ever made and a real joy to get back into. Now I just miss the multiplayer with others who knew the weapons and arenas... The greatest gaming times. ***** May: Top Gear Overdrive (1998, N64) - Good, nothing special, but good, like most racing games, and as with 'Need For Speed Nitro' you can't go too far wrong as long as there are wheels and speed, racers to beat and courses to zip round. Not one of the memorable games, I'd actually forgotten I played it, but then it was new to me so no nostalgic connection. ***

May - June: The World Is Not Enough (2000, N64) - This, on the other hand, I had great nostalgic connection to, and both the main game and multiplayer will be with me as one of the most important and enjoyable memories of the year, much like 'Body Harvest' in the same early Summer slot in 2021. I loved getting back into it, but even more when I went through and beat every single one of my previous best times which I'd fortunately written down since the game has to be saved on Memory Pak and the ones I used to have always failed (never use any that aren't official Nintendo, kids!), but that also meant I had no qualms about overwriting precious game files of yore, which I don't like to do. The sense of accomplishment and addictive encouragement to knock off even one second meant this got an extra star from the four I conceived it was worth. Underrated, I'm sure, but in many ways this means as much to me as 'Goldeneye' and 'Perfect Dark.' *****

June: Command & Conquer (1995, DOSBox) - This was basically 'Dune III' after Westwood Studios had so successfully brought us the first proper RTS game in 'Dune II,' just without the licence so they could do their own thing. Pretty much the same, with graphics I found less appealing (muddy green and brown in the GDI section, more like 'Dune' deserts in the NOD campaign), and the units are largely repeats. The big innovation is the time (and wrist!)-saving addition of drag select over multiple units instead of clicking on each individually, but there are still niggles of having to send soldiers into troop transports one at a time, and not allowing queuing of builds. This version doesn't have the cut-scenes or music either, so you don't get a good sense of narrative, and it takes a while to get going as you have to play a number of easy missions that introduce the concepts of different structures and units. But once you get to the 'proper' levels it's good fun, if, as I say, derivative, although it is basically a formula of fighting off enemy attacks until you have a big enough force to strike at the Construction Centre so they can't rebuild. There's also the surprising oversight of being able to build as close to enemy bases as you want by chaining cheap sandbag walls along and then constructing guard towers, a tactic I used often. The fact you can box in the enemy and they don't seem to mind, not attacking any walls you make, means it's easier - in 'Dune' you could only build on rock so you were much more restricted. But I always wondered what this famous game was like so I was glad to finally get around to playing it, even if it does seem a backward step in some regards (only two organisations making it a less complex setup). Enjoyable all the same. Only downside was my computer dying a little way into the NOD campaign and it's a bit glitchy on my new one. Even so, at some point I'd like to complete NOD. ***

July - September: Goldeneye 007 (2010, Wii) - Almost sad to finish it all in the end! This could have been the biggest surprise as I really did not expect to like it at all: you can't steal the famous name, redo it all as a Daniel Craig-era story and expect people like me to be happy! But it proved me wrong, for while it was the same, or very similar story, it was also very different in gameplay and once you got used to the more awkward controls (on the 'Cube pad as opposed to the N64 one), ignoring the Wii controls entirely, and immersed into the levels, it was a good challenge, to the extent I went back and did all the time trials, too, which again were very different to the original, being a countdown, upping the tension. It ties into some pleasant memories of a hot Summer and though it wasn't necessarily the best game to play at that time of year (one of my biggest complaints was how dark the visuals so often were), it proved a worthwhile time investment. ***

July - August: The Settlers (1993, Amiga) - Can't really say any more about this, it's simply my favourite game of all time. I think it was due to enjoying 'Command & Conquer' and then not being able to play it for a while that made me turn to this for my strategy needs. I remember one game in particular where I was basically replaying the same few minutes for about a week before I finally was able to fight towards some kind of survival (I was playing it the toughest way where I have no resources and the computer players have maximum), and before that I'd had to restart the whole game again at least twice on the same land, so it was a real relief when I finally won through that particular conquest! *****

September - December: Need For Speed Nitro (2009, Wii) - About as good as the other entries in the 'NFS' series that I enjoyed on 'Cube, though with its own flaws. This was the first to be Wii-specific, and where the first flaw comes in: control. The Wiimote simply isn't suited to driving games compared with the superior response of an analogue stick and as with so many of the system's games it's novelty value only. Fortunately the 'Cube pad is available as an alternative, though even there the configuration isn't customisable so you're stuck with uncomfortable choices like R Shoulder for accelerate! Not only that but L is brake while B is boost, completely counterintuitive to normal control schemes. Worse, you only get an outside view of the car so you can find yourself peering over or around your own vehicle in order to see the road ahead which is most off-putting if you prefer an in-car view! It's also a much simplified version as if Wii gamers couldn't 'cope' with a 'full-scale' edition - gone is the city, and while all the usual race types are present (Circuit, Knockout, Drag, Drift, Speed Trap, Time Trial), it's all just selected from the menu as was the case with 'Underground.' Not necessarily a bad thing, it's easy to see what you have to do and there's a nice system where you earn stars from coming in 1st-3rd, beating a certain lap time and scoring above a points target, but it has the effect of making the game seem small even with five different tracks across three car classes, A-C. Plenty of cars to collect or purchase, though the Garage section's another area where things are stripped down. Again, not necessarily bad, I'm not into the tinkering, and there is a new feature where your tag and chosen colours blanket the trackside if you're in front, earning extra points. Also there's a different tactical side to the game with collectable spanners for fixing damage and police badges to set them on an opponent or reduce your own heat with the law, so there is some experimentation with the formula, but nothing can disguise it is a stripped down game, even with pretty good opposition - I didn't realise at first that you don't have to achieve all stars in a race in the same go, nor the ability to restart a track in GP mode, which makes things a lot easier (I didn't!). Some specific track modes took hours to win, so there was longevity, but its qualities are merely what you'd expect from a competent racing game rather than pushing a new machine to the heights of 'Most Wanted' levels of innovation and quality. Still fun. ***

December: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011, Wii) - So far, so... okay. Good. Fine. Nothing spectacular, which is what you might hope for from a 'Zelda' on a new console, especially one that had been around a few years by the time this was released. But of course it's hamstrung by the outlandish controls. It is 'Zelda,' so they're going to do a good job, but it is one that was designed to fit with an uncomfortable gaming style (who really wants the trouble of having to slash in the right direction rather than simply pressing a button). Out of all the games that have forced Wii controls, this is undoubtedly the best implemented, but it's still a bit annoying, for all that. Early impressions (I'm up to the water dragon's dungeon so far), are that environments are quite limited when you compare the vastness of its predecessor, 'Twilight Princess.' And in the light of the pleasure I had from that game this doesn't measure up nearly so well to the extent it's almost like I have to go off to work to play it, get myself up for it. There seems less incentive to search for things, too, with bugs and bits being infinite and just a case of going back to somewhere if you need them, rather than a specific item that can only be found in one place, like the bug hunt in 'TP.' Flying is a bit too much like traversing 'Wind Waker's ocean and it all feels a little more Mario platformer. I can also mention the increase in dodgy supernatural themes, characters and actions, which I can't support - it's like they didn't feel there was enough of that stuff in previous games so they've gone overboard this time. It remains to be seen whether I'll still like the game by the end, but it has the expected brain-stretching and action, so I probably will. ***

Honourable mentions: 'BoXiKoN' on Mac (Apr, ***), 'Star Wars' on Game Boy (Jun, **), the latter I just didn't have patience with, just a brief muck-about, though I do remember it as a good challenge in the past, and 'Burnout 2' for traditional Christmas multiplayer (*****, Dec).

Next Year - The choices are narrowing, there aren't that many top games left to return to, so in 2023 I'd like to:

- Bring out Perfect Dark: in the year the story is set it has to be replayed and I've been looking forward to it for several years. This will be the big early-Summer N64 spectacular for me!

- Another replay is required for the first 'Metroid Prime' since 'MP3' made me wish there was a fourth in the series, perhaps late in the year?

- 'Cube's 'Splinter Cell' is a very visually dark title so I might have to tackle that post-'Skyward Sword' while it's still Winter

- I'd quite like to play 'Pirates' on the Wii, 'Blast Corps' on N64, and maybe another 'Need For Speed'

- Didn't happen last year so maybe this will be the Amiga 1500's long-awaited comeback?

- The Christmas 'Zelda' tradition of the last few years must go on, even if it is the weak 'Oracle of Ages' since there isn't much choice as it's almost the only entry I haven't revisited, other than 'Link's Awakening' or 'Ocarina of Time' and I'm leery of deleting old game files on that, it seems like sacrilege...

Happy New Year!