(Chrono Cross is still awful.)

Thanks! That's exactly why I stuck around - some of these reviews read like time capsules. Been going through the PS1 RPG section and the spread in tone between reviewers is half the fun.

And I believe the spaceship noises. This place has that energy.

Welcome and hope you enjoy reading all the retro reviews!

The community is not as bustling as it used to be, but you'll get an idea of their personalities, former and current, through their reviews submitted over the years and decades. Sometimes you'll get a really in-depth detailed review, sometimes you'll get something more personal, and other times you'll discover something weird and quirky.

Hey all,

Found this place while digging around for communities that still take written reviews seriously. The retro review archives here are something else.

Bit about me: I got into freestyle rap a few months ago, kept freezing whenever a beat dropped, and ended up building a little browser game to practice with. Words fall bar by bar in time with the beat and you have to land the rhyme. It is free and runs in the browser, if anyone wants to laugh at my taste in beats.

Gaming-wise I am mostly retro. SNES and PS1 stuff. Looking forward to reading more reviews here.

Cheers,
MC

Title: Tron 2.0
Platform: PC (Steam)
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/327740/TRON_20/

Overdue review for an underrated (?) title.

Added.

Title: Aperture Desk Job
Platform: PC
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902490/Aperture_Desk_Job/

Thank you kindly!

Wow, no addition requests so far this year? That's... something.

Anyway:
Title: Heartlight
Platform: PC (Atari 8-bit, Amiga, mobile and browser versions also exist)
Release date: 1992 (original DOS, Polish) / 1994 (US / English DOS) / Jun 25 (?), 2006 (freeware / CC DOS) / Apr 30, 2026 (Windows / GOG.com)
Developer: xLand
Not quite sure what the publisher should be listed as. GOG lists xLand too, but the freeware version was published by one of the authors personally: https://miasik-net.translate.goog/blog/archive/2006/06/moje-gry-dla-kazdego/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Other links: https://www.mobygames.com/game/753/ or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartlight_(video_game)
Looking at the Mobygames screenshots, the levels in this version are quite different from those posted under DOS there, sometimes in details, sometimes entirely. And the GOG.com version has a custom level added at the end. But ah well. If you want a single PC release date, might just go with 1992 and leave it at that.
Square cover: https://imgur.com/a/3ALR9N6

[Game data and terrifying cover art up now - https://www.honestgamers.com/74305/pc/heartlight/game.html]

Sorry for the late reply!

Was in the mood to review another SMS game, but I didn't want to stumble into a possibly bad one, so I went with a classic! Still engaging to play after all this time.

Thanks for the reading and the comments.

I liked this review a lot. It did a great job of leaning into the wonderful absurdity that this game provides.

Yeah, that would have been on accident. Been something like 20 years since I played Zero Wing and my brain's not fundamentally sound enough to recall the tortured attempt at English the intro to that one possessed. That stuff was like cosmic horror in that too much exposure to it will drive a person insane and have them see things that should remain unseen.

Except for how the bad guy was named "CATS". Now that, I won't forget!

"Describing anything in this game is impossible without sounding like a deranged person."

The best description of my beloved Fantasy Zone I've ever heard.

I was leaning more towards the "Zig set us up the bomb" meme. Guess you did do it on accident. I am disappoint.

I don't think of Zig-friend as gone. I like to image him skulking around the edges, quietly fuming I can finally play all the Utawarerumonos.

So do I. Reason #1 I played this game to review it: the fact the secondary villain was named Zig. Might not be reviewing anymore, but I won't let the legacy die!

"Zig sets him up"

I see what you did there.

I refuse to believe it was an accident.

I was kinda-sorta in the same boat with my first few Sega Saturn games. I was happy to get a Sega Saturn for Christmas... but my local electronics store had a very-lacking and small selection of Saturn titles. It got so bad that I had to resort to renting Saturn games to experience some of the better games in its library.

There's a lot of details I'm leaving out, since that would end up being at least five more paragraphs, but that's the basic gist of it.

Thanks for reading. I almost didn't get this review out in time because of other stuff, so this was a major crunch to play, screenshot, review, and proofread just to get it out on the 4th.

I got this game for my birthday one year, from my Mom. She tried. But the local video store only had a few games, apparently, and this was one of them. She thought it would probably be pretty cool. The year after that, she got me San Francisco Rush for the PlayStation, which had 1-minute load times and extremely bland visuals between them. It was not a great few birthdays, for sure, but it was the thought that counted. Those disappointments just hit harder because I was lucky to get 2 new games in a single year. One of them being a stinker caused trauma.

It's clear you have a lot of passion for Deltarune, which has a much larger following than I realized until this very week. Apparently, despite all those other big games getting announced, a lot of people were still eager for more information about Deltarune, which is pretty impressive for Mr. Fox.

While your passion came through just fine and you did give me a better idea what the game is about than I had when I started reading, there are things you might do to make your review more convincing. You like the story, for instance, but you might have told us more about things like themes that resonate for you, possibly with one example that won't spoil much. And you might have discussed how those themes are communicated through more than just the dialog. Does the game's graphical approach work in support of the theme? Does it allow the game to tell its story in ways you find innovative? That's the sort of thing readers often like to know about a game they haven't played, particularly one that was awarded five stars.

Personally, I'm not huge on games that ask me to love them because they have a great story. I care about the gameplay first, which is one area where Undertale sometimes left me feeling disappointed. But it also had a lot of neat components, and I suspect Deltarune does also. How does it feel to play, when it's not feeding you more of its awesome story?

Definitely don't let go of the passion you clearly have for Deltarune and other games you might enjoy. I hope the chapters that are yet to follow meet or exceed your high expectations.

Thank you so much for writing this, just played this game and holy fuck its shit.

IT is indeed a gorgeous full of charm piece of shit, but shit regardless.

I am truly convinced no one really played this, it is truly unplayable in the most literal sense, moving around the world feels aimless and brainless at the same time.

Thank you folks for shedding a "ray of light" on the subject!

I don't remember most people giving a crap about "ray tracing" until Nvidia made it THE thing your graphics had to have in order to be taken seriously by tech bros. The tech dates back to the 80s, but broadly, people didn't care. So, I think it's as noted. There were other "Ray" games, and "Ray Tracers" sounded cool for another "Ray" game. I don't think it's any deeper than that, honestly.