Rare Replay Review

"30 Years"

Campaign

Once more I've been presented with a games collection of which many are older than me. I love looking back at old titles as I do appreciate the simpler times of games and how important many of these are to the history of gaming.

When it comes to Rare, many love this company and every aspect of the games they've released over this long history. Looking back at their early years I'm more puzzled at some of the games, although they're all neat in their own way whether that being a space man or hitting the slopes of Slalom. In my opinion their later titles shine better or at least seem to have a more charming quality to them.

With that I'm talking Conker; Perfect Dark, Viva Pinata, Banjo, Kameo and Killer Instinct. This is also only referring to the collection so don't go complaining that I didn't mention some off collection game. I will say on that note I'm a fan of their Kinect Sports game, I stand by that statement as well.

With this collection there are thirty games included (I'll list those below) with more to perhaps be added in the future as mentioned by Rare themselves. It's a sample of their history since many titles are excluded though this package does seem to favor nostalgia versus getting new people involved.

It might have been nice to see maybe one game or two given some touch ups and then built the rest of the package around that. This collection is almost all in original form except a couple Xbox 360 updated titles and it really shows in games. I suppose it really comes down to what you're looking at this package for, there's great history along with it being a cheap deal though it's all old games.

In further discussion of the package I've had time with each of the games and this package will allow you to sink hours into the various titles. It's also got a bit of everything in there from pixel dungeon crawling games, to platformers and even first person shooters.

You could waste an entire day just shifting through the games library and testing out the various titles to find something you really like. With the regular library it's great to have all the games listed in a venue to pick through, yet I was incredibly annoyed with the Xbox 360 games.

Each of them is included within the package though it makes you leave the collection to play them. I also noticed if you just boot the Xbox 360 games from your library the information doesn't connect to Rare Replay as I wasn't unlocking the play Banjo games achievement so I don't know how that'll affect stats.

Aside from that annoyance Rare has added in snapshots and snapshot playlists as a side menu. For this area small portions from some of the games have been changed to give you minor challenges. The playlist version of this strings together a few from various titles in a list.

Another great addition is the bonus film areas talking about behind the scenes or un-released games. The only issue I had with that area is that it's restricted until you get stamps from playing areas which was lame, I just wanted to learn more about the games and Rare themselves yet it's locked for no good reason.

The Rare Replay Games List

Battletoads
Battletoads: Arcade
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts
Perfect Dark
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Kameo: Elements of Power
Killer Instinct Gold
Jet Force Gemini
Blast Corps
Viva Pinata
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Atic Atac
Jet Pac
Jet Pac: Refueled
Grabbed by the Goulies
Perfect Dark Zero
Sabre Wulf
Cobra Triangle
Knight Lore
Gunfright
Slalom
RC Pro-Am
RC Pro-Am 2
Digger T.Rock
SnakeRattle N Roll
Lunar Jetman
Solar Jetman and Underwurlde

Gameplay

There's so many titles available so obviously I can't go into that much detail for gameplay of each. In general the package runs smoothly though it could be faster when moving through the menus to get where I want. I also might have appreciated some of the titles getting some upgrades as they both run and look exactly how they did upon launch.

I'll also mention as far as changes it seems arcade games have been made so you can just keep playing without quarters and an auto-save feature is available in all the games to just keep playing.

The Conclusion

Rare Replay is a sound collection with some of the best games from one of the best studios in the business. Thirty years is impressive and this package came at just the right time to drum up interest in all these titles. If you love nostalgia or are aiming to vastly grow your Xbox one library then this is a cheap and perfect way for you to do so.

I'll mention once more that many of these games don't run in HD at all and one (Jet Force Gemini) even had a widescreen feature which was hilarious to me. Some of these games are great; others are alright, but by the end of this I sort of crave new titles which I believe is the hope with this package. I'm looking at you Banjo, Perfect Dark, Conker, Battletoads, Viva Pinata and Kameo.

Rare Replay Review on Xbox One
Review Code Provided by Microsoft

Rating Overall: 8.0