Retro - Timeline
Saturday1st Dec 2018
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...
Thursday29th Nov 2018
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...
Saturday17th Nov 2018
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...
Saturday10th Nov 2018
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...
Thursday20th Sep 2018
News PlayStation Classic Games Lineup Will Differ Between Japanese and Western Versions
Apart from the five announced
So far, we only know about a quarter of the titles that are set to feature on Sony's PlayStation Classic mini console, but depending on where you buy it, the rest of the lineup could be quite different. The five currently announced will feature on the machine in Japan and the West, but the other titles will vary by...
Wednesday19th Sep 2018
Guide The Best PSone Games We Want on a PlayStation Classic Mini
The king's classics
Update, 19th September 2018, 8am BST: This article has been republished following Sony's announcement of the PlayStation Classic. There’s no doubting that the PSone is one of the greatest video game consoles of all time. The plethora of brand new IP, quality RPGs, and game-changing releases that landed on Sony’s debut...
Sunday15th Jul 2018
Feature Spider-Man 2 - Does It Still Hold Up Today?
"I lost my balloon!"
Insomniac's imminent superhero blockbuster, Spider-Man, has looked increasingly promising since its announcement all the way back at E3 2016. We've yet to try the game out for ourselves, but based on what...
Tuesday19th Sep 2017
Review Final Fantasy IX (PSone)
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...
Wednesday28th Jun 2017
Review Tokyo Jungle (PlayStation 3)
Primal rage
Republished on Wednesday, 28th June 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of July 2017's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. In an industry which is seemingly obsessed with burly soldiers packing massive machine guns and other associated heavy ordinance, it’s...
Monday5th Jun 2017
Review Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS4 / PS2)
The last hope?
You know you’re playing an older game when you’re forced to use the shoulder buttons to turn the camera. There’s no option to change it to the right analogue stick, either, presumably because that would have meant extra work. It’s a sure-fire sign that Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is just an emulated upscale of the...
Tuesday14th Mar 2017
Review Journey (PlayStation 3)
The road less travelled
Update (14th March, 2017): To celebrate the five year anniversary of Journey's release, we're bringing our original review back from the archives for one day only. A seminal moment in PlayStation history. Enjoy! Originally published (1st March, 2017): Journey is a seminal release; the kind of title that comes once in a...
Monday24th Oct 2016
News We Got Up Close and Personal with the Nintendo PlayStation
Alternate universe
On display at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this weekend was a real treasure: the Nintendo PlayStation. The disc-based edition of the Super Nintendo system was produced by Sony in collaboration with the House of Mario, but never saw the light of day after the two Japanese giants had a difference of opinion. A prototype unit did,...
Thursday21st Jul 2016
Video We Unboxed a Brand New PocketStation
Because why not?
With our attempts at creating meaningful YouTube content either drawing indifference or ire, we figured that we'd do something really dumb today – like, unbox a brand new Sony PocketStation dumb. Your humble host snagged this on eBay a few years ago, and it's been sitting in its packet ever since. Why? Because… Well, that...
Tuesday19th Jul 2016
Feature The Making of Cancelled PS2 Sci-Fi Shooter EXO
The story of Sheffield's most ambitious undertaking
Scheduled 60 years in the future where a ruthless corporation and its cyber terrorists hold a city to ransom, EXO pushed the creativity and technological innovation of a Sheffield company to the limit and promised to be a blockbusting, game-changer for the PlayStation 2. Creative supremo Glyn...
Monday22nd Feb 2016
News Watch Five Seconds of Every PSone Game Released in the US
Are you sitting comfortably?
How's this for a trip down memory lane? To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of PlayStation – a celebration that we must stress seems to be lasting a decade – Game Rave TV has compiled five seconds of footage from every PSone game released at US retail. It's a gigantic hunk of a video weighing in at over two hours, so...
Thursday18th Feb 2016
Long time coming
The Summon Night series has a bit of a niche following in the strategy role-playing game genre. To the surprise of many, it was announced that a localized version of Summon Night 5 would not only get to launch on the PlayStation Network, but would also nab a physical release here in the West. So, is it worth dusting off the ol'...
Tuesday16th Feb 2016
Feature A Brief History of Virtual Reality
Alex Boz tours the '90s VR graveyard
With the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR well and truly on the way to our living rooms, virtual reality (VR) is the biggest news in gaming right now. But let's rewind the clock some two and a half decades, back when Sony was working on the Nintendo Play Station and the inventor of the Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey,...
Wednesday16th Dec 2015
Gangster's paradise
Should the long awaited Yakuza 5 prove to be the PlayStation 3's swan song, there couldn't be a more fitting release. Like the last-gen system itself, the latest instalment in SEGA's seedy soap opera is occasionally convoluted and slow to get started, but it's deeply entertaining all the same. It may have taken series protagonist...
Thursday19th Nov 2015
Review Eiyuu Senki - The World Conquest (PS3)
Girl fight
Eiyuu Senki - The World Conquest started life as an "adult game" for PC, before being cleaned up and ported to the PlayStation 3. You only need to look at a screenshot to see evidence of this, but beyond all of the fan service, is this a game worth playing? The premise is relatively simple: you control a nameless protagonist, who is...
Sunday1st Nov 2015
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...
Sunday18th Oct 2015
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...
Tuesday13th Oct 2015
Review Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (PS3)
Anticlimax
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax has made the leap West. Released for the Vita and PlayStation 3 eleven months ago in Japan, the assist-based 2D fighter brings together characters from the Dengeki Bunko portfolio in a Sega-themed world to battle against a mysterious, evil force. Featuring 14 playable characters and 23 more cameo...
Sunday11th Oct 2015
Review Mickey's Wild Adventure (PSone)
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...
Tuesday29th Sep 2015
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,...
Feature The Making of the Sony PlayStation
Investigating the birth of a legend
Republished on Tuesday, 29th September 2015: We're bringing this article back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary in Europe today. The original text follows. Originally published on Thursday, 9th August 2012: It's almost impossible to conceive it now but prior to the 32-bit...
Tuesday14th Apr 2015
Review Gundam: Battle Assault 2 (PSone)
Gundam fight!
Not many Japanese developed games are released only in the West, but this was the case with Gundam: Battle Assault 2 – at least before it was re-released as two separate budget titles in its homeland. Much like its predecessor, Gundam: Battle Assault, the follow-up was launched in an attempt to capitalise on the franchise's overseas...
Wednesday8th Apr 2015
Review Gundam: Battle Assault (PSone)
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...
Monday23rd Mar 2015
Review 5 Star Wrestling (PlayStation 3)
Lie, cheat, steal
After the latest disappointment in the colossal WWE series, wrestling game fans may have found solace in the knowledge that a fresh contender was on the way to challenge for the genre's crown. Pitched as the wrestling equivalent of Pro Evolution Soccer, Serious Parody's 5 Star Wrestling intended to offer a fun alternative to...
Wednesday18th Mar 2015
Review Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters (PlayStation 3)
Scooby Doo, my waifu
One of the really great things about visual novels as a format is the utter lack of effort that you have to exert in order to make the most of them. While games packed full of stressful situations and an immersive, highly tactile experience are brilliant, sometimes that's just a little too much. You want to relax,...
