Latest Reviews
Review Crash Team Racing - Naughty Dog Created the Best Kart Racer on PSone
Bandicoot power slide
Start your engines, and fasten your seatbelts for another Naughty Dog creation. In this case it's CTR: Crash Team Racing from 1999, which also happens to be the greatest kart racing game on the PSone. Released in the same year as Speed Freaks, and colourful mascot racers like Bomberman Fantasy Race on PSone, Crash Team Racing...
Review Ridge Racer Type 4 - The Pinnacle of PSone Ridge Racer Games
I want to be R4-ever young
Push Square has pondered the infancy of 3D console graphics during the 32-bit era, and reflected that the ageing process was not always visually kind, especially to PSone launch games. Some early titles like Jumping Flash! hide their pixelated wrinkles behind bright colours and plain models, while others like Battle Arena...
Review Intelligent Qube - The Most PSone Game Ever
Blockstar
You run around on a floating platform in the middle of a void, swallowing cubes into the ground one-by-one as they menacingly roll towards you. Every time you survive one wave, a disembodied, booming voice shouts “PERFECT!” before more cubes are sent your way. The process goes on for what seems like forever until the cubes eventually...
Review Rayman - An 'Armless PSone Platforming Treat
Ray-manifestation of UbiArt
Even twenty years ago, any love felt towards PSone Rayman's luscious art style could quickly turn into hate due to its spikily relentless difficulty barrier, but a cathartic sense of satisfaction could also be found by perseverant gamers who endured to conquer all eighteen of its levels. As a December 1995 EU launch...
Review Battle Arena Toshinden - Significant But Not Special
Not quite a load of old Tosh-inden
"Play History. Make History." The marketing tagline for the 2018 release of the PlayStation Classic highlights an added attribute of the miniature console in the sense that all 20 games included may not actually be classic PSone games, yet even the less worthy inclusions provide gamers with a snapshot of playing...
Review Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Not a PS Classic, But Interesting Nonetheless
Back to basics
Believe it or not, but there was a time when the Tom Clancy game franchise that haemorrhaged titles in the 2000s was actually less popular than the legendary novelist himself. Even by the late 90s, only a handful of games based on his books had come out – most of them Hunt for the Red October submarine sims. That all changed in...
Review Resident Evil: Director's Cut - Iconic Survival Horror
Jill sandwich, please, petrified with mixed herbs
Spencer Mansion, set deep in Raccoon Forest, looming loftily in the Arklay Mountains, is the true star of Resident Evil. The colossal and creepy house setting of the game was inherited from Capcom's 1989 Famicom title Sweet Home, but it was Resident Evil on PSone that popularised the survival horror...
Review Metal Gear Solid - An All-Time Classic
Liquid gold
You’ve just infiltrated a highly secure enemy base using only your cunning and the scant equipment that you happened to find on your way. After rendezvousing with your hostage, you’re showered with a stirring speech on the importance of global nuclear disarmament, as well as the horrific impact of an increasingly militarised world...
Review Spyro the Dragon - The Classic Collectathon That Put Insomniac on the Map
Don't Gnorc it
While Insomniac Games has become one of PlayStation's most recognised developers, it cut its teeth with the little known PSone first-person shooter Disruptor, which launched in 1996. It was a DOOM clone among many others that populated the gaming landscape at the time, but there were aspects to it that made it stand out among the...
Review Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - Dark, Bizarre, and Packed with Personality
Slimy, yet satisfying
True to its name, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is one of the oddest games ever created, with a unique look and feel, bizarre visuals, and an enjoyably dark wit. Now known as the first of a franchise, the original classic wowed players back in 1997 with impressive graphics and full voice acting. This was a game that reminded...
Review Jumping Flash! - Unique 90s Platforming from a First-Person Perspective
Buy it, don't Robbit
The 16-bit console wars were merciless. During the early concept stage of the PlayStation console, Sony took part in an ill-fated collaboration with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES. In September 1995, Jumping Flash! was a PSone launch title, and it's the type of game that makes you wonder what would have happened...
I want to be your canary
Republished on Tuesday 19th September 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the game's remastered release on PlayStation 4. The original text follows. As far as Final Fantasy games go, Final Fantasy IX is one of the most cohesive, charming entries in Square Enix's beloved series. It marked the...
A pair of 2.5Determined magical hoppers
How could a developer solve a problem like a desire to build a side-scrolling platformer in a 1996 3D graphics obsessed world? The answer was to find a middle ground, which we affectionately refer to as 2.5D today. Published by Crystal Dynamics and created by Toys for Bob in Novato, California close to the...
GEX-sticulates yelling '90s pop culture quips
A game can be an interesting representation of its generation without being beautiful, timeless, and artistically ageless. Released on the EU's PSone in April 1996, GEX was loud, brash, and in-your-face, but so were films like Point Break and ska-punk bands such as Assorted Jelly Beans during the 1990s...
Review Mickey's Wild Adventure
Traveller's tenaciously timeless theatrical tales
Every gaming generation has a few genre styles that are dominant, and in the early 1990s scrolling shmups, brawlers, and cutesy mascot platformers were the most prevalent titles on a game shop's shelves. Julian 'Jaz' Rignall was prophetic in his editorial for the February 1991 issue five of Mean...
FEISARis, not Surfaris
Republished on Tuesday, 29th September 2015: We're bringing this review back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary in Europe today. The original text follows. Originally published on Saturday, 12th October 2013: When the magazine reviews of WipEout landed a month after its September 1995 release,...
You need more practice
If you were into Mobile Suit Gundam Wing back when it aired in the 1990s, then you may have heard of or even played Gundam: Battle Assault on the PSone. In an attempt to capitalise on the aforementioned anime's popularity, publisher Bandai decided to localise the 2D fighter, which was called Gundam: The Battle Master 2 in its...
Dan, Dan, you’re decomposing, man
Republished on Thursday, 4th December 2014: We're bringing this review back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary this week. The original text follows. Originally published on Saturday, 19th October 2013: It can be a tough life being a PSone retro game. After all, you were fresh and...
The pig-eating caveboy gets a second chance
Republished on Wednesday, 3rd December 2014: We're bringing this review back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary this week. The original text follows. Originally published on Monday, 12th November 2012: While many retro enthusiasts will grumble endlessly about how digital...
Marsupial madness
At one time, Crash Bandicoot was the face of the PlayStation brand, but through licensing headaches and the creation of other characters, the spunky star hasn’t quite gone on to fill the role of Nintendo’s Mario or Microsoft’s Master Chief. However, the hero’s titular game remains a signature PlayStation classic that served...
Reflections in your rear-view mirror
Before Driver rolled onto the PSone in 1999, developer Reflections Interactive had already delivered two enjoyable driving experiences, in the form of the Destruction Derby games on Sony’s first console. With a physics engine that delivered a fun drive, and destructible vehicles that had debris flying off their...
Killer Carrots and Crazy Cats
Back in the nineties, the eventually unreleased Amiga version of Putty Squad was praised by the press for its varied level shapes, consistent game logic, and “masterful” animation. Jump forward 15 years, and we no longer get excited by shapes (unless they’re naughty shapes and you’re a member of Reddit), or game...
