Back again for my 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. Away from gaming, I went to see E.M.F. (of Unbelievable fame) in my favourite hometown venue, Bedford Esquires, the other day. I think the last time I saw them live was at the Astoria in London in the very early nineties, when we just couldn’t get enough of going to every gig we could – well, that’s my excuse for spending all that money and effort going to see a band I wasn’t really that fussed about at the time! As a nostalgia act now though, I loved it, especially in such a familiar and relatively intimate venue. They always had a slightly more chaotic and therefore energetic edge live, even with the overplayed stuff, and that’s still there, albeit somewhat compensated nowadays by a few more years to hone their craft. Good times! And now I’ve got a few games I’ve been playing for you, including a couple more additions to the collection…

Most of the stuff I buy on PlayStation Portable nowadays has been sitting on a carefully curated (and exponentially more difficult to tick off) shopping list, but in this case, I didn’t even realise it existed and just bought it very cheap on a whim! Sid Meier’s Pirates! is familiar territory all the same though, having spent many a happy hour up to no good on the high seas with it on my Atari ST when it first came out in the late eighties. I do actually have the 2004 remake this one (from three years later again) is more closely based on in my Steam library on PC too, but like so much stuff in there, it was bought for next to nothing a very long time ago and I haven’t touched it since! Whatever, this is a full reimagining of the groundbreaking original with brighter visuals, more accessible systems and a few minigames bolted on to both modernise and fill out the experience. No change to the core swashbuckling game loop though, with you flouncing around the Caribbean as a free‑roaming privateer, hunting treasure, sinking ships, duelling rivals and generally causing trouble! It’s just a bit more colourful, and things like the dancing sequences, more elaborate swordfighting and a reputation system give your exploits a bit more structure. I’m not sure the PSP is the best way to play it all the same – some of the menus are cramped and some of the locations a bit cluttered on the small screen, and the controls can be stiff, fiddly or both. The original didn’t really need padding out either, but honestly you’ll soon forget all of these things as you get totally sucked in all over again! 

I’ve had 2021’s Aliens: Fireteam Elite sitting there on Game Pass for ages, but not for the first time of late, it took a typically enthusiastic but honest Cane and Rinse deep-dive podcast (here) to finally push me into giving it a go, and as someone who’s been right into the films since not long after the outset, it’s been way more enjoyable than I expected. Set after Alien 3 (I think), we’re talking Colonial Marines timeline and its more action-heavy side of the franchise over the creeping dread of the original, with a straightforward story about responding to a distress call that soon reveals the usual Weyland‑Yutani meddling on a newly-discovered planet. I’m playing it solo with AI teammates as co‑op has never really been my thing, and it works perfectly well that way, maintaining the intended tactical feel as you desperately try to manage the often overwhelming menagerie of xenomorphs, synths and more besides. Presentation is fine – the pulse rifles sound exactly right, the soundtrack nails the vibe, environments look suitably forbidding, corridors have that over-lit industrial look from Aliens, and the xenos move with a speed and aggression that’s true to Cameron rather than the slow, stalking menace of Scott. And it plays like a very decent if on the surface unremarkable third-person survival shooter (with more than a hint of Destiny in the MMO-lite classes, loadouts and progression), with controlled arenas, noise, chaos, constant pressure and a a real sense of needing to stand your ground rather than dash through it. And for something I only booted up because I was reminded it was there, it’s turned into something I literally can’t keep away from – play-through three in little more than a week! I guess it’s a mix of subject matter, Destiny-adjacent execution, my own lack of depth and a lot of time just being total mindless fun. Such a lot to keep going back for too. I really love it! 

While the original 1981 arcade classic and its various early ports were always things I liked rather than loved, Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar is something else entirely, as you can see from my Top Ten Favourite 3D Shoot ‘Em Ups countdown right here! In that feature, I do mention a similar like-not-love feeling for Tempest X3 on the original PlayStation as well, which never quite clicked for me at the time, undoubtedly in no small part because who wanted a rehash of some stuffy old arcade game on there in 1996??? Well, thirty years later, I decided I did after all, so I’ve been on the lookout for a copy for ages, not so much waiting for a decent price (although it’s not the cheapest of PS1 games to pick up nowadays) but waiting for a copy to appear full-stop… They always turn up in the end though! It’s maybe a more accessible and console‑friendly experience than previous entries but still nails that hypnotic pulse that defines the series, together with colourfully patterned, dynamic geometries, smooth rotational movement and a barrage of enemies and power‑ups that steadily escalate into this wonderful, totally absorbing state of controlled chaos! The soundtrack’s techno tendencies were never my thing but – not unlike Wipeout – I don’t think you’d change it, as it keeps time perfectly behind all the explosions of colour, the cascading particle effects and the giant floating words of, er, encouragement constantly jumping out of the screen at you. Very cool two-player split-screen duel and traditional old-school arcade modes on top of the main new one too. As frantic and fun as it is though – and definitely worth every penny I spent on it – it’s still not the psychedelic, primal, in your face Jaguar game, playing things cleaner and safer and a bit more structured, maybe more akin to the panic-based purity of the original. Which was probably the point! Still not my favourite Tempest then, but there’s never been a better time to appreciate it regardless!

I have played a couple of hours of Denshattack! as well, which arrived on Xbox Game Pass and elsewhere last week, but I’d actually been looking forward to since I trieď the demo in a Steam Next Fest at the start of the year. Unfortunately, the full game just hasn’t done it for me like I expected it to, and I’ve really given it a decent chance to do so, but as wild and exhilarating as the Tony Hawk’s on a train concept can be, the train just got too busy for my liking, both on the tracks and off them. Real shame because it’s well put together, and is so eye-wateringly vibrant – like an old Sega arcade game. Too much going on for its own good just stopped it ever getting into what should be an almost endless runner-like zone though, and unnecessarily inhibited the fun. Oh well… Right, that’s it for this time, but in case you missed it last Wednesday, we were rediscovering the truly iconic Tomy Atomic Pinball tabletop electronic game from the eighties, and also finding out how much of a pinball game it really was! Do check that out if you haven’t already, and otherwise, I’ll hopefully see you here again next Sunday. Have a good one!

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