The ‘replay challenge’ is how I have been planning to implement the first of my new year’s resolutions, which was basically to revisit and review some old favourites and see how they hold up several years on.
As far as the reader is concerned, these are essentially no different to a regular review – and many of my reviews are for old favourite games anyway, which was always my goal for this website – but the point of the challenge is to motivate me to get playing and get writing.
Often it’s hard to find the time to actually go back and play something you’ve already played, with so many new games every month and so many games altogether from the history of gaming that you want to experience. It may seem like a waste of time, but I find a great game can evoke strong memories – and also thrill again the way it first did.
So I’ve knocked together a list of 15 games I would like to replay as part of this, and I’ll aim to do one per month with a full review.
They aren’t in any order, I’ll just pick them out as I feel so inclined that month – we’re keeping things pretty informal. If I can do more than one in a month I’ll not hold back, and obviously I’ll carry on with reviews for games that are new to me and other content.
I will share my progress on social media with the hashtag #replaychallenge2018 and who knows, perhaps others will feel inspired to join in and revisit some of their old favourites from days gone by!
- JANUARY: Sonic Adventure: [read]
“What I’ve come to realise about Sonic Adventure, is that it’s a game that wasn’t afraid to trip itself up trying to impress the player.”
- FEBRUARY: Crazy Taxi: [read]
“Crazy Taxi’s appeal was instantaneous: it looked like, sounded like and indeed just was a fun game to play, with a blindingly original formula that put an uber fresh spin on driving games.”
- MARCH: Vanquish: [read]
“It’s hard at first to abandon the stop-and-pop tactics typically associated with this kind of game and adopt a more aggressive mindset but honestly, Vanquish is a different beast and demands to be played on the brink.”
- APRIL: Home Alone: [read]
“The burglars are not very bright and I’ve always found it funny messing around with them, blasting them with different weapons and forcing them to endlessly chase me before escaping with ease.”
- MAY: Alan Wake: [read]
“For a game as infamously long in development as Alan Wake it’s curious that it has such an incomplete feeling to it, with no extra element to back up the sturdy but slightly plain shooting.”
- JUNE: Super Thunder Blade: [read]
“It’s a tough game to tackle but if like me you become a bit obsessed with strategising ways to beat it, you’ll find doing so fairly rewarding.”
- JULY: Super Mario Galaxy: [read]
“I was really glad to find myself enjoying it just as much the second time round, almost 10 years to the day since it first blew my mind.”
- AUGUST: Jet Set Radio Future: [read]
“A slower and less chaotic experience that you enjoy at your leisure, soaking up the cell-shaded sights of Tokyo-to while grinding around on handrails and power cables, and basking in one of the best soundtracks ever to grace an Xbox disc.”
- SEPTEMBER: Child of Eden: [read]
“Child of Eden meshes sound and action together to create a remarkably emotive audio-visual experience.”
- OCTOBER: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn: [read]
“It chugs along slowly and by the end really does become quite tedious, eroding much of the goodwill garnered by its willingness to try its hand at a wide range of game styles, or from the fact that wow, it’s a Tintin game!”
- NOVEMBER: Binary Domain: [read]
“Binary Domain sells itself short – while it may look like another forgettable and mediocre third person shooter among many, it is in fact brimming with quality.”
- DECEMBER: Gears of War: [read]
“While most of the best formulas in gaming are perfected over several years and many iterations, a rare few nail it in one.”
GAMES LIST:
Sonic AdventureGears of WarAlan WakeSuper Thunder BladeChild of EdenCrazy TaxiThe Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn- Comix Zone
- The Gunstringer
Binary DomainSuper Mario Galaxy- Pokémon Snap
Jet Set Radio FutureHome AloneVanquish
FURTHER READING:
Zeexlash 