Everything that's been built inside of this experience makes it the perfect introduction for anyone looking to get into the survival horror genre. It takes the many virtues of the classics and strings it together with such a strong sense of identity that given enough time, I think this could be seen as one of the best indie survival horrors in terms of its aesthetics. It’s a love letter to the fans of these games but also a great way to start for any new players.

So, what about specifics? Well, talking about the inspirations, this game is clearly BATHED in a variety of mechanics that makes the Resident Evil / Silent Hill franchises work so well. Resource management, environmental traps, puzzle solving, save rooms, it’s all here and all of it works fantastically. There's never really a section of the game that feels dragged out and throughout its short run-time it does a good job at giving you little pieces to the broader mystery that surrounds the abandoned ‘Crow Country’.

But why are we at Crow Country? It’s your goal, Mara Forest, to find the owner, Edward Crow, after the well known theme park shut down 2 years ago, for unknown reasons. But why is she tasked to look for him? It’s these questions that arise the further you explore the abandoned theme park, looking for any sense of clues that might tell you what happened, that keeps you hooked the most. You’ll also encounter other characters throughout the park, which not only add more questions to how deep this mystery goes but also how many are involved. Some don’t let off more information than they want to tell, hiding in secrecy, and if you connect the pieces yourself, you’ll realise what's going on before the twist, and I think that's what makes it all the more enjoyable! I also liked playing Mara as a protagonist (women protags in survival horrors my beloved), she's equally deadpan quippy as she is serious and the way she interacts with the world is so cute.

And let me tell you, they nailed the exploration. Each area looks like they put so much thought and care into making sure each one distinctively stands out so as you don’t forget where something was. Even if it's just a hallway, there's little secrets to be found everywhere, whether it be extra ammo, first aid kits or even story notes to read. It’s also great to finally see a theme park setting for this genre, which I think helps the memorability of each area, from haunted crypts to rusted aquariums. Once a couple hours have passed, I already knew the place like the back of my hand, but it was always nice to revisit an area and see what secrets I may have missed the first time entering or what puzzle I couldn’t complete at first, there's some aspects I’d even compare to metroidvanias.

The atmosphere is helped immensely with the soundtrack by Ockeroid. Distant crows cawing, the wiring of machines, all whilst a distant piano melody echoes. Just like the many survival horror soundtracks before, it's equally pretty and eerie, but also knows when to play it silly to lean into the nature of where you are, being at a theme park.

This is even further improved upon by the visuals, going for this PS1/Final Fantasy VII rubber model look, which I’ve never seen achieved before, sure a general PSX look but not this specific style. If you slapped this on a 4:3 CRT you could’ve possibly convinced me it was released in the late 90s, though granted there are some areas that have been modernised, such as the options for analogue controls instead of the tank controls of old. And I think the top down camera placement is perfect as well, it makes you want to turn and scan every room to see if there might’ve been any cubby holes or items you might’ve missed.

Weapons are mostly just the standard survival horror tropes, however mixed in with the environmental traps it can make for some interesting scenarios where, let's say for example there's an explosive barrel and you could just shoot to kill a tougher enemy in the area, but you might want to save it for when you come back later and there's more enemies so you save more resources. The creativity of the puzzles can’t also be understated. For the most part they’re quite easy to solve, but I don’t think that ruins the experience for me personally, and I still admire the ways they make it work inside different rooms, like having to shoot certain marine animals in a submarine to unlock a new weapon, or having to get certain scores in an arcade so you have to play various mini-games, they’re all fun and unique in their own way! There's also some optional secrets you can decide to do which grant you upgrades to your weapon or healing items, which is a nice addition considering how often you re-run through areas and something changes.

That being said, I do think this game can be a little too lenient when it comes to how many resources it gives to the player, at least in terms of when I played it on the standard "Survival Horror" difficulty. I’m sure this was most likely done so that maybe players don’t get stuck with running out of ammo, but I always had a ton of everything throughout my first playthrough, and even more-so when I replayed it for the higher rank. Though this is remedied by the inclusion of a hard mode (Murder of Crows) added just recently which does give you less to work with and makes enemies more volatile, so maybe one day I’ll try it out. I also like the option of adding a exploration mode that removes all enemies and makes it more about the puzzles themselves which, if somebody just wanted to dabble in the genre but doesn’t like the spooks then they can also enjoy it that way, I really like how open that is to newcomers who may find these games daunting.

There's also some replayability to be had as, depending on your final rank, for future playthroughs you’ll unlock extra gear like the crowbar, a crow rocket launcher (I'm not kidding) and some wings which help you fast travel between save rooms. I’ll always respect shorter games putting in ways to get you to try the journey with a fresh coat of paint, and whilst nothing here is substantial, it's a decent inclusion nevertheless.

As you can see, I had a great time with this game! it really does showcase how much indie games are carrying this industry in terms of new concepts being mixed with old. I can see how potentially somebody could come out of this being underwhelmed due to the inspirations it does wear on it sleeve, the difficulty and the story not being as psychological and intensive as what games like Signalis and Silent Hill 2 did respectively, but I’m very much pleased with the overall package this offers and how well made everything feels. I really hope the devs end up returning to this again in the future, because they really understand what makes the genre good.

I’d recommend you to maybe take a trip to Crow Country one day, if you so please…

I’ve recently gained a platformer addiction over the past month, to be more specific, with PS1 platformers. I’ve played the Spyro & Crash remakes multiple times but I thought it might be worth playing through the originals, seeing how much they got right and what changes were made in the future re-releases. And beginning with the one that started it all, Crash Bandicoot is a fun time, but not a well polished one in terms of its collecting, difficulty & movement.

At its core, Crash is a very simple game. You go through the course, hit as many boxes as you can, finish the level, rinse & repeat until you get to the end. To mention the goods, I think the original has a lot more charm which you don’t really see in the remake; the limitations of the hardware works in its favour and environments have beautiful colours and vibrancy alongside a catchy soundtrack and crunchy sound effects (that live in my head rent free). I also enjoy how it tries to create some sort of journey between each level, rather than what the series became known for afterwards, the hub worlds, which feels more disjointed. I think the Jungle/Tech/Castle themes all fit really well and the designs of each of the characters are just as goofy as Crash!

Crash himself feels okay to control, though maybe having the option to play with joysticks on later controllers would’ve been a nice touch as sometimes on the harder courses the d-pad only movement makes it all the much worse. To coincide this, the lack of movement options does make him feel very rigid. Compared to 2 & 3, there's no slide kick, ground pound or unlockable powerups, just a simple walk, jump, hit & Aku-Aku for extra defence. This setup paired with some of the awkward depth perception issues results in stressful gameplay, especially if you’re trying to get all the boxes on say the bridge levels. I’d say the level design and environments themselves are great! But It’s that camera and movement that turns it into a nightmare for completionists.

Speaking of a nightmare, the difficulty spikes. The base game wasn’t too bad to get through, even with the problems with the perspective, but OH LORD trying to 100% this is an entirely new beast. So, not only do you have to hit all the boxes without dying (which is a big ask considering how long the harder levels are), but then some require a coloured gem to unlock secret paths which you get through specific bonus stages in levels. There's also extra levels you need to unlock by getting keys… and none of this is ever properly explained to you, you’re just meant to figure out where they are. It’s a fun challenge to add for replayability, but some levels can be downright grating to finish, and once you finally collect everything the secret ending doesn’t add much value, so it's not really worth it. I also found the boss stages to be easier than any of the platforming levels, even Cortex, so the balancing is really mismatched, you’ll never know when the next hardest challenge is.

This does start to show a general lack of polish throughout the game. It’s like how you can only save when you’ve completed a level for the first time or doing a bonus area in a level, but once you’ve used that bonus it doesn’t return so you have to find another to go to??... or how lives reset every time you boot the game back up… or how enemies can sometimes be hidden until the last second, ruining the principles of planning where you want to go (this was extremely noticeable in the ‘Fumbling In The Dark’ level). There's just a certain threshold it passes when it's more annoying than difficult.

I’d say that if you were to check out this game yourself, then probably just play the remake version as it does add more QoL improvements that make 100%ing the game much more enjoyable and the definitive way to play. The controls feel better, you can die in a stage and still get standard gems (just not coloured ones), you can save at any point & there's even a box counter so you can see how many you have left to get instead of having to guess and hope that you’ve gotten everything. There's also the addition of time relics too that weren't in the base game however, so take that how you will as me personally, im terrible at them.

I think the only things I’ve ended up preferring in the original is the style & music. Crash Bandicoot is still a good platformer, but it hasn’t aged as well as say Spyro. It shines best with its design, story & general silliness and less-so its controls and progression. Anyone CAN pick up and play it, but depending on how your experience goes with platformers you might just end up pulling your hair out trying to fully complete it if you don’t get along with it well.

Well, the start of a loong journey begins. Ratchet & Clank is a game series that really needs no introduction, and the first game was always something I used to play as a child but never fully finished. For some reason I always used to get to Quark’s Fortress and stop, but (15 years or so later) I’ve finally been able to complete it! So, here are my thoughts:

With this being the first Ratchet & Clank game, it's key to see Ratchet’s development. He initially starts out as very self centred, quite cocky & uncaring towards Clank, giving a certain edge to him that isn’t seen in later titles. Clank sadly doesn't have much of an arc with his character, minus one scene that was pretty touching, but he still has a lot of charm! The story isn’t something that hasn’t been done before, but it's the personalities of all of the characters you interact with that help flesh out the story that's being told, which is mostly trying to show how corporate & greedy most of the inhabitants are. This is what makes Chairman Drek an enticing villain to the storyline as he’s basically the epitome of said greed, and this is all told through great storytelling that doesn't treat kids that would’ve been playing this like idiots.

I can imagine being in LOVE with something this ambitious back in 2002, as I still am now. The scope of this game is no small feat, and they did an amazing job at making unique worlds that vary enough from one another that really sells that idea of exploring a galaxy of planets, even having multiple paths you could take in each level. Even the backtracking to previous worlds when you possibly didn’t have the gear yet never felt annoying either because it always opened up a new path that wasn’t explorable before. This great design paired with the gunplay and platforming, it feels like it opened up the genre to more experimentation than what was previously tried with Crash, Spyro & Jak & Daxter up to this point.

And ooo boy the game's soundtrack is a chef's futuristic kiss, it really does feel like every loop was built around trying to fit the atmosphere each world was going for. There are genuinely haunting soundscapes for Planet Orxon & the Gemlik Base but when going to Planet Kerwan I'm surprised at how well it fits the bustling city of Metropolis, EVERY world has their own distinct sound that compliments so so well. I also loved how separate paths sometimes included a deviation of the original song depending on what you were doing. David Bergeaud knocked it out the park with these tracks, and it's a shame that the modern Ratchet & Clank OST’s don’t have that same level of specialty he brought to the table.

So I think looking at the good, it’s clear R&C does a fantastic job at unique level designs, solid writing, & great exploration, but there are definitely some mechanics that could’ve been tweaked to be smoother or, well, maybe haven’t aged the greatest personally.

Speaking of the gear, it’s decent, but isn’t Insomniac's most creative collection like you see in the more modern titles. You have your typical machine gun, rocket launcher, bombs, etc etc, which whilst fun to use, especially weapons like the Visibomb, aren’t very distinctive. Some even feel pretty useless compared to others as well, I’m pretty sure in my whole playthrough I never used the decoy glove or the mine glove once, so whilst there are various ways you can tackle something, some lack the punch others do. But overall, it's a pretty solid collection to start things off alongside the gadgets (even though I wish they were on their own separate wheel).

I think depending on how much I enjoy the weapons also has something to do with how this game’s controls. For starters, the aiming can be awkward depending on what you’re trying to use, and whilst I give respect to Ratchet & Clank for being the first to merge shooter mechanics with platforming, it doesn’t feel as smooth as what I’d like it to sometimes, especially getting into the later worlds where it can start to push these mechanics to their limits, which can even start to hinder the platforming and make you realise how floaty it all feels. I also wish selecting items on the weapon wheel was a little faster as sometimes I try to switch weapons mid-fight and since the game doesn’t pause or slow down I end up taking damage in the process which always got on my nerves.

Another annoyance, grinding for bolts! Now I know the RYNO is meant to be obtained through multiple playthroughs, but that aside there were still a considerable amount needed for the more expensive weapons/upgrades like the tesla claw and the improved health, so I ended up doing grinding the giant clank fight for the most bolts which was definitely the most tiring part of this game.

Honestly though, whilst these complaints did dampen my experience they’re very minimal when looking at the entire journey which I'm very impressed by for a first outing. I can definitely understand why people were underwhelmed with the 2016 remake as whilst it might feel better to control and have better weapon progression, I think it lost the charm and style that made the original what it was (especially on the writing side where they made some very weird changes to the story) and doesn’t stand out near as much as what it did 20 years ago.

Overall, I highly recommend checking this out if you can, I think out of all the PS2 platformer mascots Ratchet & Clank to me had the strongest first entry from what I can gather, even with some bumps it has along the way. I’m very excited to continue playing through the series and seeing how the others stack up as I’ve only heard greater things!