Look familiar? We had a good response last time we ran this bounty, so we're doing it again! The rules are the same: write a review for an old game you love for the chance to earn $20. What makes it a worthwhile experience, how does it hold up today, and ultimately, why do you love it?
We won't be too strict with our definition of "old" - anything from the PS4/Xbox One era and earlier is fine by us - but you'll get bonus points and a greater chance of making the curated article if you pick something that's at least a little obscure. We're looking for long-form submissions, not hot takes, so please submit at least 400 words or three minutes of video!
Additionally, if you entered the previous "review an old game" bounty, you're more than welcome to enter this one as well - just choose a different game!
Description: Write a review for one of your favourite old games
Task: Written (or video if you'd prefer)
How to submit a written entry:
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Share a link to your post in the box that appears, then expand it so we can view the video on Just About.
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Let me please preface this by stating that I am a Graphic Designer. I do not profess to be a gifted pen-smith, nor have I ever even attempted to write a game review before. This may be entirely incomprehensible drivel to most, but this game is near and dear to my heart and I’d love to give a brief rundown, as well as some of my opinions, for those who’ve never played it.
I’ve attempted to keep this as spoiler free as possible , but please proceed with caution if you don’t want to know anything about the game as despite it being a title from 2003, I dare say it might still be on some people’s ‘to play someday’ list.
Intro:
It would be fair to say that The Legend of Zelda franchise encompasses some of the greatest video games of all time. From the dark and moody nature of Majora’s Mask, to the whimsical and carefree world of Link’s Awakening, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’s not fallen in love with at least one of the many ‘Zelda’ games on offer from the video game titan that is Nintendo.
For me, being the unapologetic GameCube enthusiast that I am, ‘The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker’ is, without contest, my favourite game in the entire Legend of Zelda universe. (And I’ve played most of them!)
The Story:
Released in 2003, the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker departs from the traditional setting of Hyrule and places our protagonist, Link, in the middle of a large archipelago many years after the fateful battle between the hero of time and the series’ chief antagonist Ganondorf.
We start by being given a brief history lesson about the events leading up to the game with a particularly pretty scratch-style story book accompanied by the haunting melody of ‘The Legendary Hero’ - An emotive piece of original music composed for the game that I’d highly encourage any gaming fan to listen to.
Once the introduction is finished and everyone’s up-to-speed our story can really begin. We find ourselves waking on Outset island on the day of Link’s thirteenth birthday and we’re given a customary, albeit brief, introduction to a few key characters before we’re allowed to run free on the island. But mystery and intrigue seem to surround our poor link and before the day is out (and unfortunately before any celebrations can occur) his whole world is turned upside down when his younger sister, Aryll, is kidnapped.
Alongside a ragged band of ne'er do well pirates and a really quite endearing talking boat, Link must forge his way across the seas in search of his sister and bring her back home safely to Outset island. However, not all as it seems, people are being snatched left and right from villages across the sea, a dark power is rising and Link must embody the hero of old if he’s to bring everyone back safely and defeat the looming evil.
Gameplay:
Anyone who’s played any of the older games in the Legend of Zelda franchise knows all too well the combat system is a little basic. It’s sad for me to admit, but The Wind Waker is no different in this regard and clearly takes a lot of inspiration from it’s N64 predecessor ‘The Ocarina of Time’ with Nintendo seemingly having taken the ‘if it ain't broke, don’t fix it’ attitude for this title. However for everything The Wind Waker lacks in combat complexity, it definitely makes up with its array of pleasing puzzles, abundance of interesting characters and unique (and tuneful) nautical navigation.
The puzzles and dungeons in the Wind Waker ramp in difficulty quite quickly. From easy early levels, to complex and challenging late game dungeons that require quick thinking and quicker reflexes to clear, players are offered it all. But one thing that every Wind Waker dungeon has in common is its ability to make you sit back at the end with a sense of satisfaction at a job well done. As you progress through the game you’ll find various items to assist you in your dungeon delving exploits from bombs to grappling hooks, with each item shaping how you can interact with the world around you in increasingly interesting ways.
Of all the things you find scattered across the vast oceans in Wind Waker none are perhaps as unique as the sagely named ‘King of Red Lions’. In all honesty it’s a discredit to call the king a ‘thing’, as although he appears to be just a boat at first glance, he is in fact one of Link’s chief companions during the Wind Waker storyline and an integral part of the games unique navigation system. Upon completing a few relatively early quests The King of Red Lions will bestow upon Link an ancient artefact that lets the player quite literally wake the wind and take control of the elements to help sail yourself (and the snarky boat) around the island chains.
As you sail your way around the frankly ENORMOUS set of islands on offer you may find yourself feeling a little underwhelmed. At times I felt the number of dungeons on offer was a little thin on the ground, almost as if Nintendo left a few parts of the game unfinished. However, do not let this put you off. For what it lacks in quantity the title definitely makes up for in quality. There a vast array of ways to solve many of the different obstacles the game hurls at you and if you keep your eyes peeled you may even stumble across one of the minigames that the developers included for those of us who need to take a break occasionally from the toil of slaying electrified goo and angry pig-men!
Graphics:
Being that this game was originally released for a console that this year celebrates it’s 22nd birthday the graphics are obviously nothing to write home about by modern standards. However for it’s time, The Wind Waker's graphics were, in my eyes, a cut above the rest. The charming art style that Nintendo does so well is complemented well by the use of bright saturated colour and the UX is comprehensive enough that even seven year old me was able to navigate it with ease.
The game was let down only slightly by intermittent clipping issues. Most notably when at one point I recall my boat clipping through the water so badly that I looked a touch like Jack Sparrow in the opening sequence of Pirate of the Caribbean. This is of course to be expected in games from the late nineties and early noughties and subsequently I’ve not let this effect my scoring too harshly.
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Music:
The music for this game is, as mentioned earlier, exceptional. I won’t say too much about it as ’m not a composer and can only really appreciate music for the scene it sets rather than from any technical standpoint, however, what the music in Wind Waker does offer is comfort. The musical score for this game provides the perfect balance of intrigue, trepidation, whimsy and joy and ties together the stunning visuals and engaging gameplay perfectly.
For those of you who’ve not listened (or played) The Wind Waker but are curious as to it’s music, I’ve listed two of my favourites below that you may google at your leisure.
The Legendary hero
Dragon Roost Island
Closing Thoughts:
With the Nintendo Switch recently gaining access to a range of titles from old games via it’s Nintendo Switch Online membership I’m really hoping that we see GameCube added to the list of consoles available so that maybe, just maybe, I can relive a very small portion of my youth by playing through this frankly glorious game once more.
This game will definitely not be at the top of the list for everyone and with twenty-seventeen game of the year winner ‘Breath of the Wild’ and recently released ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ in the same franchise it’s hard to argue otherwise, but for me and my nostalgia bias it’s definitely number one.
If anyone's played this game and loves it as much as me, let me know below what your favourite islands, dungeons, items, characters or music was from the game!
Me again, talking about Final Fantasy… It’s hard to think about a still running and successful game as ‘old’, but since it was release in the PS3 era and celebrating its 10 years anniversary, I assume it counts as old. Spoiler free 😊
Welcome to Eorzea and the world of Final Fantasy XIV!
Story
The current base game Final Fantasy XIV – A Realm Reborn (2.0) is actually a reboot of the original Final Fantasy XIV which has been shut down after failing badly. But one of the things which I still find fascinating about this game is the ending of the original one. The cutscene of a world ending in a calamity is referenced to many times in the current game and it’s absolutely breath taking, with one of my favourite music from Nobuo Uematsu.
The current game picks up the story 5 years later, and the player is a new adventurer starting off in one of the 3 city-states Limsa Lominsa (if you have the heart of a pirate), Gridania (if you prefer the forest) or Ul’dah (if you don’t mind the sand and greedy merchants). Your starting city will be determined by the job you choose to start as. As in every MMORPG you can choose from tanks, healers and melee, ranged or magical dps jobs. Or there is a limited job, Blue Mage which can learn skill from enemies and do some pretty fun things, but because being so strong can only join certain content in pre-made parties. But it's great fun.
All together you can choose from 7 different races and 20 fighting jobs 3 gatherers and 8 crafting jobs.
I don’t want to go into details on the story as I know there are people here who are just getting started with the game, but what I can say spoiler free is that this story is one of the most detailed stories I’ve seen in an MMORPG and believe me, I’ve played a few. There is a conclusion to the story at the end of each big expansion and the next one introduces new locations, enemies and further events, they are all still part of the big picture, the saga of Hydaelyn and Zodiark, the eternal fight of light and dark. After 10 years this saga now came to an end in the latest expansion, Endwalker (6.0).
But the game has still a lot to give, so here’s to the next 10 years. The new story arc will start next summer in Dawntrail (7.0)
Gameplay
One of the big things which sets FFXIV aside from other MMORPGs is that you can open all jobs on one character, let them be fighting, crafter or gatherer. The game gives you plenty of different content both open world and instanced dungeons where you can level up all jobs without getting bored. The game has improved a lot in the past 10 years, making it a strong
competition to modern games and keeping it appealing to new players while not forgetting
about its veterans. We have now a duty support system for the entire main story (MSQ) questline, so if you prefer to play alone or struggle to find a party in the middle of the night, you can complete all dungeons with NPCs.
Dungeons require 4 players, but there are also trials and raids for 8 people, 24-man alliance raids, and even large-scale encounters for 48 and 56 players and different PVP battles ranging from 5 player matches to large-scale field operations. There are also different difficulty levels so hopefully everyone can find something to their liking be you a casual play or a hard-core
raider.
There are daily and weekly duties to do to get some nice rewards such as mounts, minions, gear or glamour items. And as we know glamour is the true endgame even for a hard-core raider, so you might find yourself clearing all ultimate raid many times to get these shiny weapons for all your jobs.
There are also seasonal events, in which even low-level players can easily participate and get various rewards. If you missed out on any, you can buy previous event rewards in the cash-shop.
Other content
I’m already over 400 words and feel like I’ve barely said anything yet, but I could write the same amount just to talk about all the other things you can do which doesn’t involve fighting. You can have your own house, deserted island, there’s a casino to spend your hard-earned coins in various mini games, or you can help with restoration works in the nations you have freed from Imperial rule.
Conclusion
Should you play FFXIV? Absolutely. The base game might be considered old, but it’s still one of the most successful MMORPGs to this day, with and active and welcoming player base. The friendly community is one of the main things which kept me playing even if I already had all the rewards I wanted to earn in that patch.
And speaking of patches the game is not designed to be played 24/7. All the content is adjusted so a casual player won’t feel like they don’t have a chance to catch up, and the developers openly encourage players to take a break time to time, play other games or go touch grass. But
if you do want this to be the only game you play, it will give you many things to do. Even after playing for years I still wish I had more time to play as there’s so many things I haven’t completed yet.
I'm reviewing Five Night's at Freddy's. The game brings me a sense of nostalgia. I remember being in class as a middle school kid & playing it on my computer alongside some friends. During free-time of course :) but let's get into the review!
It's a horror game with simple mechanics & interesting storyline. You play as a security guard recently informed that you'll be watching over multiple creepy animatrionics, who are out to get you, while attempting to conserve enough power to survive until early morning.
The game is mostly still images, but that nearly constant stillness makes the player even more terrified when a sudden jumpscare or sting of music happens!
The atmosphere is an arcade/pizzeria that hosts childrens birthdays. Party hats, checkered floors, and decorations are seen throughout the building via security cameras. You (the security guard) remain in a room equipped with monitors, a clock, and battery-powered steel doors that you open & close to fend off animatronics.
Surviving until 6 a.m is the primary objective to continue to the next level, where our creepy antagonists become more and more aggressive.
Playing all the F.N.A.F games to piece together the lore of the possessed animatronics, the story of who our security guard really is, and creating your own interpretation of the story points is what makes this collection of games a true gem in the horror game genre.
Now in 2023, with an official movie being released due to the sheer popularity (new and pre-existing) the fanbase has created, i'd say it's holding up very well over the years & im happy to see where it goes in the long run. Rumor has it that multiple movies are in the works with the first movie being one of three.
This is one of my favorite games. I still watch lore timelines on Youtube to hear how someone else puts together the details in the game, not to mention all the awesome fan-made games!
Most of the fan-games are created as free-roam, you're able to walk around the pizzeria instead of being suspended in one room (like the original), this gives the game realism, you can now see the gang of possessed animatronics up close and personal (yikes!)
All in all, I'd recommend it to anyone that's interested after hearing what it's about. This was fun to type out for you all. Thanks for reading ~
An old game to me was the very first destiny game that came out in 2017. Destiny is an rpg game which you can get into and get lost and realize time has flown by. I remeber watching the trailer and being excited to play it. It was a mix of being able to play not only on earth but also other planets. You get to fight a variety of creatures. You get to also pick your own character whether it be a warlock or titan or even a hunter which each has a different abilities. The best part was the fact you could have 3 characters so you could try all 3. The best thing was doing a mission called the raid which had different stages to beat before getting to the main boss to see if you would get the best guns in the game to brag about.
Today I want to share with all of you the wonderful result of freedom and extreme individualism under the sea, we're talking about none other than BioShock.
Welcome to Rapture:
BioShock is a first-person game where our mission will be to make our way through Rapture, a city under the sea, which aimed to be the epitome of freedom, free from government regulations and restrictions, basically the American dream without anything to hold you back. Sounds great, right? Well, the reality is that not everything is as perfect as it sounds.
After surviving a plane crash, our protagonist comes across the entrance to the city, set in a spectacular way, full of details that will gradually tell us the story of the city, from its birth, through its heyday, to its inevitable decline.
The gameplay is straightforward, it's a role-playing game in which you must gather weapons, ammunition, and it adds an interesting element such as plasmids, mutations that modify the DNA of our protagonist to give him exceptional abilities, like shooting lightning from his hands (every Sith's dream).
The storytelling aspect is undoubtedly what I can highlight the most about this work of art. While you can play through the game without paying much attention, I advise you to explore every little corner, as the environments are enriched with recordings that gradually tell us fragments of the stories of the city's inhabitants. The setting also shows us details of what the city was like in its heyday, and of course, it illustrates how it descended into madness and decay. Every sign, every newspaper, every journal, absolutely the entire city is filled with information waiting to be discovered.
Considering the era, I believe its graphics are quite good. The game's art is simply incredible, the setting and the music achieve a perfect immersive effect, every little detail is very well-crafted (carefully crafted but not without flaws), its environments are somewhat short, although it really makes you feel like you're in a city under the sea, with all the limitations that such an idea can have.
So kind ran out of time. Nose is stuffy. Editing is mediocre at best. I'm not happy with it but this is the only way to get better. If I learn something from every bad video I will be happy. Also want to learn as much as I can so all criticism is massively appreciated. https://youtu.be/b9vyOKszSZ0
