There have been a few sublime console gaming collections. Valve united Portal, Team Fortress 2 and Half Life 2, alongside its two expansions, in one full-priced retail box. And only last year Microsoft gave Halo fans the ultimate treat with an Xbox One collection of all four games – two of which having been completely rebuilt – along with every single multiplayer map ever made and then, six months later, as an apology, threw in ODST for free!
There have been others, of course, but all pale in comparison to the quality, quantity and price of Rare Replay. 30 games from Rare’s 30 year history bundled together for £19.99 – it’s one of gaming’s greatest bargains. Rare Replay sets the bar at an almost unreachable level for any future gaming bundles, try charging full price for 3 HD remasters now.
It’s not 30 games all singing the same tune either: you’ve got shoot-em-ups such as Perfect Dark and it’s inferior successor; platformers such as the Banjo-Kazooie trilogy and Conkers: Bad Fur Day; racers such as Pro AM 1 and 2; the mind-meltingly difficult Battletoads and Battletoads arcade; classic 80s 8 and 16 bit games such as Slalom, Jetpac and Knightlore; the colourful Pokemon-esque Viva Pinata gardening simulators and many, many more. I can’t think of any other studio which can rival the sheer variety, or consistent quality, of the games on show here.
Sure, not every game is a classic. The ZX Spectrum era’s are more miss than hit whilst Perfect Dark Zero and Grabbed by Ghoulies act as more modern missteps. You’re not going to love everything here but you’re bound to find lots you will. Still, what Rare Replay is is the most open and honest look at the creation, making and troubles of a studio. Even if you end up sampling the collection you’ll be able to see what the studio learnt from one title from the next, regardless of the genre they were dabbling in.
Personally I’ve only played some of Rare’s more recent titles – the first Viva Pinata and Nuts and Bolts – so it was a joy to play through the original Banjo-Kazooie. I even had fun trying to play some very early games – I really enjoyed the simplicity of Jetpac, the first game in the collection. There’s so much here I can see myself coming back to when the glut of high-octane modern games becomes too overbearing. I remember how calming it was to create a garden in Viva Pinata and I can’t wait to finally play its sequel.
The thing about Rare is because of how varied its history is people will have different choices about which is the best game. A child of the 80s might say Pro-Am or Battletoads, a child of the 90s might choose Banjo-Kazooie or Killer Instinct, one from the 00s might pick Conkers or Viva Pinata. There really is something in here for everyone. It’s also great to finally have some platformers on a modern console, even if they are a decade old.
The design of the collection itself is worth noting. It opens with an orchestral number which, if you leave your controller alone, becomes a sing-along version. Once inside the presentation remains as entertaining – games are ordered (though you can change this) in age, from Jetpac to Nuts and Bolts, and each has their own title screen lovingly designed with animations, art and music from the game. Rare has put a lot of effort into making it look nice.
Each game is presented as originally intended, none have been upgraded significantly. The earlier games are enclosed with an artfully designed screen border, which can be easily turned off, and you can even click R3 to turn on a simulated CRT television to really take you back to the 80s.
Rare though does realise though that gaming has changed. To make sure modern audiences can still get enjoyment out of pre-N64 titles they’ve implemented a few neat features. The first is the ability to rewind for up to 10 seconds, so even a game as notoriously difficult as Battletoads can be conquered by the average gamer. Some games even allow you to click a button and receive unlimited lives.
Secondly, if you don’t fancy playing through one of these games in its entirety – or fancy a new challenge – you can play one of five snapshots each game has. Snapshots change the dynamics of these titles getting you to complete objectives in a certain time, or collect x amount of objects, or get x amount of points. In truth they’re fun time killers that range wildly in difficulty and scenario. Also, there’s 80 in total, spread equally amongst Rare’s first 16 titles.
On top of this Rare has produced a number of videos which cover everything from the songs behind the games, to unproduced titles, to how iconic characters came about, and even included some teases about the future of the company. I was constantly surprised by how honest, interesting and refreshing these videos were. None pandered to the ‘back-patting’ nature developer videos tend to.
I just wish these videos weren’t locked away behind Rare Replay’s in-game ‘stamps’, which are tied to the frankly incredible 10,000 achievements up for grabs. Whilst some stamps only require you to sample a game most require you to complete them, or complete snapshots. If you want to see everything, you’ll have to find the majority of the 330 stamps on offer.
Rare Replay has a few other faults as well. Any game previously released on Xbox 360 takes you into an emulator to boot up, which takes around 10-15 seconds to enter and exit. The collection also comes in at an understandable, but whopping, 50GBs. Although, thankfully, you are able to uninstall any Xbox 360 game without breaking the collection.
You might also notice a few classic Rare games were omitted, mainly due to licensing restrictions. Goldeneye 007 and Donkey Kong Country are missing, although the inclusion of the original Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie certainly make up for this, alongside dozens of others from Rare’s history. On the plus side though there’s none of their Kinect games in sight.
Rare Replay is so good, so well presented that even if it was full retail price it would be worth every penny. For the £20 actually charged, it’s a must buy. It’s so easy to forgive the collection’s minor faults in light of how much it does gets right. It’s a sheer torrent of video games and behind the scenes videos that will delight any gamer, whether they have always loved Rare or have never heard the name before. Rare Replay is sublime. There has never been a more perfect video game collection.
10/10
JJ Morris Blog 