#retro
3 article(s)
Jedi Academy 23 Years Later: The Lightsaber Masterpiece No One Forgot
Released in 2003, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy remains one of the rare licensed games that achieved what dozens of attempts failed to do: make lightsaber combat viscerally satisfying. Twenty-three years later, the Dark Forces lineage deserves recognition, flaws and all. Between catastrophic AI and inspired level design, Raven Software's game holds a place that nothing has truly filled since.
Bionic Commando 2009: 17 Years Later, The Grappling Hook Still Works
Seventeen years after its US PC release, the 2009 Bionic Commando deserves a second look. Not out of nostalgia, but because this reboot captures a precise moment in action game design—when vertical mobility was still radical, not standard. A game the market failed to sell that time has quietly vindicated.
Ys: The Oath in Felghana, the Remake That Saved Ys III
Ys III was originally a misstep: a lateral entry rushed into production, its side-scrolling format betraying the saga's core DNA. When Falcom revisited the project with The Oath in Felghana in the early 2000s, the result transcended mere polish. It's one of the rare cases where a remake not only fixes the original's flaws but redefines what the franchise can do. A look back at a transformation that shaped Ys' entire trajectory.