Rare Replay Review

Compilations are nothing new in video games, with bundled remakes of multiple games being the norm last gen, and seemingly going into this gen also, with one of Microsoft biggest releases of last year being the pretty broken master chief collection. So it looks like they might have pulled their shit together and released Rare Replay, probably the best deal you’re going to get in a video game for a long time. Remember those Capcom/Midway classics you used to get in the PS2era? Well imagine those, but with almost every game being fantastic….ish.

For the low price of £20, as a digital release, possibly one of the few times a digital game has actually been of equal price to its disc based counter parts, Microsoft keep this up please. So yeah, you get 30 games from RARE’s past, including Sinclair games back when they were known as ULTIMATE, Rare ware and finally Rare, the full list of games can be seen here;

• Jetpac
• Atic Atac
• Lunar Jetman
• Sabre Wulf
• Underwurlde
• Knight Lore
• Gunfright
• Slalom
• R.C. Pro-Am
• Battletoads (NES)
• Cobra Triangle
• Snake Rattle N Roll
• Digger T. Rock
• Solar Jetman
• R.C. Pro-Am II
• Battletoads Arcade
• Killer Instinct Gold
• Blast Corps
• Banjo-Kazooie
• Jet Force Gemini
• Perfect Dark
• Banjo-Tooie
• Conker’s Bad Fur Day
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies
• Perfect Dark Zero
• Kameo: Elements of Power
• Viva Piñata
• Jetpac Refuelled
• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise

Now to some older gamers out there, who was active in the 80’s and still play to this day, this pack is a phenomenal nostalgia value, though even to those who wasn’t it still shows some of RARE’s greatest hits.

Though it isn’t without its faults, for example it’s a bit odd they chose to put in conkers bad fur day the N64 version, as the controls feel awkward and you get some awful slowdown in some areas making platforming less than ideal. I don’t know why they didn’t also add the Xbox remake, as it would of worked better for the Xbox one controller being almost identical, and also not having to work with the emulation of the N64. Jet force Gemini was also off, some of the weirdest controls ever used, Flick the right stick up and down to jump and crouch? What, A and B are not even used, and you chose not to use these buttons? Okay then. Conker is also a bit of an oddity, as the camera is forced Inverted, no option to change this, which made it a little difficult for me to get used too, again, it’s a shame they didn’t think of these small things to make the usability a little more enjoyable. 0

The N64 emulation is also not perfect, it isn’t on top spec PC’s, so again, there is some slow down on the N64 titles. Apart from Banjo & Kazooie, which use the Arcade titles from the 360 here, same as Banjo Tooie and Jetpac Refuelled.

Now, there are other problems, the older Sinclair games run….well they run like they did mostly on original hardware, but there is slow down, slowdown which makes it difficult in some areas, Jetpac when there are too many enemies are on the screen slows down pretty significantly, it’s disappointing.
Also Rare seems to of gone through all the old games to edit Logos and companies, so no Nintendo or N64 buttons on the Conker games, you will see some edited logos and button commands in cut scenes. It’s pretty odd seeing the bumper buttons or trigger buttons in low res on conker, or a really odd Rare logo on Jetpack.

One game that I’m really disappointed not to see here is Golden eye 64, I feel like if Microsoft could of acquired the rights to Bond for this one title, it would of pushed its popularity up significantly, add in some Xbox live and it would be a must have, but these are just dreams of a fan boy.You also get some great 360 titles from last gen, Perfect Dark and Kameo, two great launch titles are here, including two Viva piñata, not my kind of games, as I suck terribly at them, but great games to add none the less.

Compilations like this are not rare, and seem like remasters like this seem to be the big thing in this generation so far (Gears of war/Halo/Last of us/ ect) and sometimes it works well, and in this pack, you get a massive pack of games for a very low price which is fantastic. For those players who hold a lot of memories for fans of these series, and will have some fun for new players too who want to play some fantastic games from a great company? Even though there are some odd choices and weird decisions here and there, overall it is a fantastic pack of solid games, plus there is that 10k worth of Gamerscore up for grabs, 4/5.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.