Rare Replay Review

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen you first boot up game anthology Rare Replay, the first game you will encounter is the 1983 title Jetpac, originally released on the ZX Spectrum. By today’s standards, the game is very simple. You play as an 8-bit spaceman who has to collect fuel for his rocket ship and shoot aliens in a 2D environment which consists of three platforms. There is no accompanying background music, ongoing narrative or ending point- just a never-ending mission to shoot aliens and collect fuel which gets boring very quickly.
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By contrast, Rare’s most recent game in the collection- Xbox 360 platformer Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts– provides several huge 3D landscapes to explore and dozens of hours of gameplay . The difference between the two games highlights why Rare Replay is such an interesting title. Aside from offering a wealth of fun and imaginative games, it also offers the opportunity to chart the development of a particular video game developer, from the 8-bit era of simplicity to modern day.

Around half of the 30 games available to play in Rare Replay are retro titles from the 80s and early 90s – a time when Nintendo’s main competitors in the console market were Atari and Sega. At this point in their history, Rare was a new company producing games for the ZX Spectrum and later the NES. For Rare Replay then, Rare have cherry-picked a selection of varied retro titles that showcase the high quality, creativity and humour of their early titles – qualities that would define the company in later years.

Such titles include the aforementioned Jetpac and its sequels; racing game R.C. Pro-Am; platformer Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll; skiing game Slalom and wild-west themed title Gunfright, alongside many others. Many of these games were very well received at release – Jetpac even won Game of the Year at the 1983 Golden Joystick Awards. However, as good as those games were back in the day, most have not aged well.

It’s hardly surprising, considering these games were made for consoles with extremely limited hardware. The fact remains, however, that games such as Slalom and Gunfright can be frustrating to play and a little bit boring due to their poor controls and simplicity. If you’re anything like me, you will play most of the retro games for a couple of minutes and then never touch them again. The retro titles should be viewed as an added bonus alongside the bigger titles, such as the three Banjo Kazooie games, Viva Piñata and Perfect Dark.

Many of Rare Replay’s games were very well received at the time, but as good as those games were back in the day, most have not aged well.

It’s worth noting that the presentation of these retro games in Rare Replay is very well done and that they also come with a number of features that make them easier to play. For example, games in the collection from before 1996 have an option to rewind progress in the game by pressing the left trigger- a feature that makes the sometimes difficult and confusing gameplay of the older titles a lot more bearable (even if it is technically cheating…).

That’s not to say the retro games are all outright terrible-  R.C Pro-Am for instance is fun and addictive. The one game that stands out the most however is Battletoads Arcade, a side-scrolling beat ‘em up featuring a trio of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle rip-offs. It’s crude, violent and slightly ridiculous but also a lot of fun, and boasts a humour and personality that is seen in later Rare games such as Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

The next period of Rare’s history is showcased through the collection’s several N64 games, produced in an era when Nintendo had a 49% stake in the company. At this point in their history, Rare made a real name for themselves by making several critically acclaimed games on the N64, such as Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and Goldeneye 007. However due to licensing issues, games featuring Nintendo’s franchises (such as Donkey Kong) and Goldeneye 007 do not appear in Rare Replay, which means the game anthology misses out on some of Rare’s most important games and therefore feels a tad incomplete.

Despite this, you are still spoilt for choice when it comes to Rare Replay’s selection of N64 games. By far the best titles on offer are 3D platformers Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel Banjo-Tooie, which still remain memorable, creative and hugely enjoyable. There’s also Perfect Dark, a critically acclaimed spiritual successor to Goldeneye and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, a fun platformer which stars a crude, heavy drinking squirrel as its protagonist. These games represent Rare’s golden era and therefore offer very unique and enjoyable experiences with plenty of heart and humour.

Due to licensing issue, games featuring Nintendo’s franchises do not appear in Rare Replay, which means the anthology misses out on some of Rare’s most important titles.

Following their era on the N64, Rare were bought by Microsoft in 2002. Since then, Rare have released games exclusively to Xbox consoles to mixed success, many of which can be found in Rare Replay. Perhaps the best of these are the two Viva Piñata games; odd but addictive titles in which you have to maintain a garden in order to attract different species of piñata.

Then there’s prequel Perfect Dark Zero; remake Jetpac Refuelled and platform-adventure games such as Kameo: Elements of Power and the latest Banjo game- Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Whilst they don’t quite capture the magic of earlier Rare games, they are still very much worth playing and several hours of engaging gameplay can be had here. For example Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, whilst quite different from its predecessors, is a vibrant, colourful and fun platformer with an interesting focus on creating your own vehicles- although the low frame rate found in Nuts and Bolts can be a bit jarring at times.

Aside from the games themselves, Rare Replay also offers hours of entertainment in the form of behind-the-scenes content (such as concept art and video clips about the company’s history) and Snapshots, which are set challenges within the first 16 games of the collection. These additions, alongside the abundance of enjoyable and high quality games, make Rare Replay a hugely satisfying anthology- one that also serves as a fascinating glimpse into how a particular game developer has evolved over the decades.
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