Back again for our regular Sunday roundup of quick-fire reviews and impressions of everything under the spotlight at Retro Arcadia this week, old and new and a bit of both…

As well as being an old-school fan of the Atari 2600 (or VCS as we knew it back then), I’m pretty well-read on World War I naval history too, so when I heard about Jutland Skies a couple of months ago, it seemed to tick all my boxes! It’s another excellent modern homebrew for the system by the always-reliable Mirsad Sarajlic, was first released in 2023, and is a pseudo-3D shoot ‘em up based on the Battle of Jutland, which took place off the coast of Denmark in 1916, and wasn’t only the largest of the war, but was pivotal in keeping the German navy at bay for the duration too. The surprisingly deep manual that accompanies this unbelievably free download tells us the game is actually set right before the battle, when a reconnaissance pilot went down over German-occupied territory, nicked one of their biplanes, and is now fighting his way out of there! You’ve got multiple levels of both enemy planes and zeppelins, as well as ships, submarines and tanks to take on from a behind-the-plane view, with both regular gunfire and bombs at your disposal, with the latter cleverly delivered on a single button by pulling back and pressing fire to bring up a targetting reticule. As well as offering varying points, shooting enemies will top up your energy bar, and survive enough of them and you’ll be confronted by one of two bosses – a big armoured vehicle and the legendary Red Baron in his triplane, and once you’ve seen them both off, you’ll start again. This game is without doubt one of the best Atari 2600 homebrew I’ve ever come across! The minimal art style is perfectly set, complemented by the little propeller animation and flock of birds crossing the distant sky, while the simple engine sound and gunfire are just as perfectly atmospheric. All moves great too, without a hint of flicker or slowdown. Not that it’s massively frantic, but the challenge is just right, and it nails that timelessly addictive arcade gameplay loop. Forget commercial quality – this is just quality period! And you can grab it for yourself right here: https://kiki2600.com/jutlandskies.html

The original World of Goo couldn’t have been a better showcase for my very first iPad when it arrived on there in 2010 – perfect for big-screen touch controls and a fantastically creative physics puzzler to boot! The sequel it was never going to get back then finally arrived in 2024, but I had absolutely no idea until a few weeks ago, when I saw it going cheap on PC, and obviously couldn’t resist! Once again, you’re guiding as many balls of goo as possible into exit pipes at the end of each of sixty levels, set over five uniquely themed, very nice-looking and crazily creative cartoon chapters, using their various gooey abilities to build them into towers and bridges, eliminate hazards, fuel wacky machines and a whole lot more. Think stretchy, sticky Lemmings-ish puzzles, with all-new Jelly Goo, Liquid Launchers, Growing Goo, Shrinking Goo and Explosive Goo to manipulate into something structurally sound enough to get you where you need to go, but not too elaborate that you won’t have enough goo left to meet the level completion criteria when you do. This restriction makes things fiendish fast but it works better than ever, and with so much variety (especially a few chapters in ), will keep your brain far more occupied than the pleasant-enough but somewhat superfluous cutscene-driven narrative. Excellent puzzler though, and better late than never in all respects!

I’ve been meaning to go back to Until Dawn for ages – probably since last year’s remake was announced, which I did just have to check actually got a release because I don’t think I ever heard any more about it! Anyway, this year’s movie adaptation definitely got a release a couple of weeks ago finally did the trick, although having now completed it again, my previously fond memories were possibly better left as they were… It’s a very scripted, horror-by-numbers walking simulator, punctuated by prompted button presses and QuickTime events, and as such had far more going for it when it first came out on PlayStation 4 back in 2015 than it does returning to it ten years later. Bunch of rich kids meet up at this snowy mountain retreat a year after two of their gang died there following a prank gone very wrong… Descents into madness, mysterious happenings, masked psychos and gory, Saw-style shenanigans soon spoil their quickly-grating soap opera, with a branching narrative dictating what I imagine is a ton of eventual outcomes, assuming your button-fingers can keep up. Outdated gaming trends (and hair physics) aside, my main problem with this was that I really didn’t remember the gang of teenagers you switch between playing and hanging out with being quite so obnoxious, and the tension the game is built on then really suffers when every single one of them annoys you so much you really don’t care if they live or die! Weirdly, I was less irritated the late-game switch from gratuitous torture-porn to ridiculous supernatural folk tale this time around though, and it’s still well-paced, looks and sounds good enough, is well acted for what it is by a few big names, and holds up as as a clever experiment in interactive b-movies or TV shows or whatever. Just isn’t what it used to be…

And don’t I know that feeling! I’ve still got the new Doom (see last week) on the go, and I also started Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which isn’t quite the end to the series I was expecting so far, but I’m really enjoying what I got all the same. I do think I need a bit longer with it to form any kind of meaningful opinion though, not to mention try and work out what the hell is going on, so we’ll call it a day for this week and return to Snake and friends next time! In case you missed it last Wednesday though, do check out my latest countdown feature, which has been well over forty years in the making, as we look at my Top Ten Favourite Pinball Video Games! Then next Wednesday, we’ll be heading for the end of May, so it’s time our regular delve into everything I shouldn’t have been spending money on over the last three months in the Retro Arcadia Gaming Pickups Spring 2025 Recap. Hopefully see you then! 

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