PS1

Die Hard Trilogy (PS1) Review

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After completing the reviews for the original Die Hard trilogy of films, I thought there wouldn’t be a better time than now to also review the game “Die Hard Trilogy”! It was the big game I wanted for Christmas 1996 and boy I wasn’t disappointed; the game is split into three game types, one for each film, and I LOVED the Die Hard 3rd Person shooter, liked the Die Hard 2 light gun game (especially as I actually had a PS1 light gun at the time) and was… indifferent to the driving game for “with a Vengeance”. Having these three games on one disc was crazy at the time and a great Christmas was had, but what it’s like to play now? The answer may surprise you! … Or probably not.

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Dragon Ball: Final Bout (PS1) Review

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I know what you’re thinking, “Didn’t you just say how much you hated Ultimate Battle 22 and you waited until the PS2 games came out?” Why yes, and that’s still true, but what I did do was at some point in between Budokai 1 and 2 I found Final Bout in a second-hand games shop for a couple of pounds and thought “why not?”, assuming it was a poorer man’s Tekken or Street Fighter EX, not knowing of course that it was literally UB22 but with 3D graphics instead. *sigh*. Still, by covering this now it means whenever I get to the first chunk of Z films I can review the Budokai trilogy one after another, so that’s nice, plus there’s something fitting about review a GT-heavy game while reviewing the Dragon Ball film that was released while GT was airing and featured GT elements… It sort of matches! Let’s take a look!

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Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 (PS1) Review

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Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 was the first Dragon Ball game I played, being released here at the start of the newly emerging but quickly expanding English speaking Dragon Ball explosion but way after the game was in any way relevant. Hell, the PS2 was already out and well established by that point! I brought it cheap thinking it would “tide me over” until the PS2 DBZ games came along (which they thankfully did quite quickly!) but I barely played it because it was so… SO bad. Even my newly minted DBZ hype couldn’t cover the slow, clunky gameplay. Guess what? It’s not any better now! Let’s get this out of the way, shall we?

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GTA2 (PS1) Review

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I always like taking a look back at GTA2 (which it’s always referred to as on the cover and in the game, though obviously it stands for Grand Theft Auto 2…) as it still has the original top down view and gameplay but adds in a bunch of stuff that will become staples of future titles and a really fun gang reputation system that has never reappeared. Its setting is also unique, being set in an unspecific time period with a “retrofuturistic” aesthetic. Intrigued? I was back in 99! Let’s have a closer look…

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Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 (PS1) Review

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The announcement of the “definitive edition” of the PS2 GTA trilogy made me look forward to plugging back through those games and eventually reviewing them for this site, so since I reviewed the original GTA back in 2016 (right at the start of my blog!) I thought I’d cap off the PS1 era of GTA before getting stuck into the remastered PS2 games. Before we get to GTA2 however we have the side-step (or “Expansion Pack”) from the original game: GTA London 1969, the only GTA game set outside of the states. Full of a humour, crime and a groovy 60s soundtrack I always enjoy my time with this game… for a while. Let’s take a look!

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WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role (PS1) Review

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When Smackdown! 2 came out, all I was interested in was the impending release of No Mercy on the N64, so even though I played it once or twice around a friend’s house, it was “quick and arcade-y” and just “not as good”. While that’s still true, the following year (or two… possibly longer) I brought it cheap and had a good laugh with a friend doing the endless career mode together. Turns out having a quick and simple control style and a bit of a weird and funny career mode can do wonders to cover any flaw… for a while. Let’s take a look!

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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1) Review

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So I finally gave up on the third GBA game and/or the DS games getting a digital re-release for now, so before I look into sneaky and murky emulation there is still one “Metroidvania” style Castlevania game I officially own and that’s the out-right classic Symphony of the Night. As mentioned in my reviews of the first two GBA games (which were a while ago now, thanks to the Scrolling Sundays marathon…), I had somehow never played SOTN until just now, but you’ll not be surprised to find out that it lives up to its lofty reputation. Let’s take a look!

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WCW Backstage Assault (PS1) Review

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You know what I really hate about wrestling games? The wrestling ring! THANK YOU BACKSTAGE ASSAULT. Seriously though, when is a wrestling game not a wrestling game but instead a vs. fighting game with wrestlers? It might be WrestleMania: The Arcade Game and its sequel, but even those games had a ring in it… Oh well, let’s take a look at Backstage Assault, both the first game to feature only backstage environments and the last game released with the WCW logo on it. Yep, this is how WCW’s gaming legacy ended…

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Crisis Beat (PS1) Review

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Ah, Crisis Beat… A game I had no idea existed until one day I found it in a local second hand shop, read the back of the box and thought “A new scrolling beat ‘em up? I thought I knew all of the most recent ones!” and brought it for … less than £10, can’t remember the exact amount. Turns out, of course, that I hadn’t heard of it because it was a tiny, off-the-radar release that wasn’t well received by those who had to review it. The important thing though is this: did I enjoy it, and do I enjoy it now?! Let’s find out!

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Fighting Force (PS1) Review

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Fighting Force is one of those games I have a fond memory of, but the experience has gotten a bit worse every time I’ve got back to it. STILL, I will say that at the time I saw reviewers complain that it was “just like the old school 2D beat ‘em ups” and give it a low score and go “Wait, just like the old ones?! Great!” I was worried at the time that the scrolling beat ‘em up was pretty much dead, and to be fair it was, but this was a nice ray of hope. Playing it in 2020? Well…

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