Category: Classic

There is something wonderfully odd about a game in which the hero turns into a bee and takes to the skies to save his poisoned wife, but Apidya’ Special has always embraced that peculiar premise rather than trying to hide it. Originally released on the Amiga in 1992, the shoot ’em up returns on PlayStation 5 in a version rebuilt from the ground up by Team Apidya, preserving the basic structure of the original while giving its presentation and accessibility options a considerable overhaul. The story remains little more than a reason to send Ikuro through a miniature world filled with insects, creatures and increasingly strange obstacles, but that is hardly a problem for a genre where the action has traditionally mattered far more than the narrative. The opening and ending presentation does add some personality, however, and the wonderfully bizarre setup fits the game’s distinctly early-’90s character rather well. Continue reading “Apidya’ Special review (PS5)”

Kaboomania is the kind of game that immediately knows which audience it is trying to reach. Developed for the Amiga but making its way to modern platforms as well, Fancy Factory’s maze bomber is proudly built around old-school design principles, colorful pixel art and the simple but enduring appeal of placing explosives in carefully chosen locations. On PlayStation 5, it doesn’t attempt to disguise those roots with unnecessary modern systems or a more elaborate narrative. Instead, players take control of Scott Whiskers, who finds himself trapped inside the game and needs to blast his way through its enormous collection of stages. It is a deliberately lightweight premise, but one that fits the arcade-like structure well and gets out of the way quickly. Continue reading “Kaboomania review (PS5)”

There is something interesting about returning to a game from the PlayStation 3 era and discovering that, beneath all the rough edges, its basic ideas still work. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North was never one of the most celebrated games based on Tolkien’s universe, and its return as the Legacy Edition certainly does not attempt to rewrite that history. Originally released in 2011, this is still very much an action RPG from that period, complete with straightforward combat, linear environments, loot-filled levels and plenty of roughness around the edges. What has changed is that it is now considerably easier to play on modern hardware, with smoother performance and a handful of quality-of-life improvements that make the old formula more approachable. The result is not a spectacular remaster, but rather an opportunity to rediscover a surprisingly enjoyable Middle-earth adventure that spent far too long unavailable. Continue reading “The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition review (PS5)”

One of the pleasures of retro gaming is seeing long-lost releases finally receive the attention they always deserved, and 70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X (yes, that’s actually the title) is exactly that kind of rediscovery. Originally confined to Japan on the original PlayStation, this unusual blend of side-scrolling shooter and interactive anime has finally made its international debut in a remaster that preserves its distinctive identity while smoothing over many of the rough edges that come with a decades-old release. Rather than simply updating a forgotten shooter, Bliss Brain has brought back a fascinating slice of gaming history that still feels refreshingly different today. Continue reading “70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X review (PS5)”