Rare Review: Viva Pinata
Note: I played this on my 360 when it originally came out. I booted it up to remind myself of some things. As the sequel is also on Rare Replay, I have opted to focus on that one instead, as I have not…
Rare Review: Perfect Dark Zero
Perfect Dark Zero has a feeling that it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. It’s a prequel to the much loved Perfect Dark on N64, but also wants to be more like Halo. But at the same time it wants to…
Rare Review: Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge
The criminally overlooked Banjo game – even by myself. Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie are loved by many, Nuts & Bolts get unfair hate (it’s a brilliant game) but at least it gets some attention. Banjo’s outing on the Game Boy Advance however, barely gets…
Rare Review: Kameo: Elements of Power
Rare’s take on an epic fantasy, Kameo: Elements of Power gives us a story of Elves and trolls, although interestingly, there are no humans in this world. I also quite like their take on Trolls. While they’re still brutish and strong, they’re not…
Rare Review: Perfect Dark
The spiritual successor to GoldenEye. Without the Bond license, Rare made their own spy thriller, set in the near-future with the kick-ass Joanna Dark. Then on the Xbox 360, the game was improved with better controls, widescreen, HD and nicer graphics that still…
Rare Review: Banjo-Tooie
Banjo-Tooie is much bigger than Banjo-Kazooie, with vast, interconnected levels, more variety in terms of minigames, new transformations and worlds with some more amazing music from Grant Kirkhope. But is it a better game? For me personally? No. I still love Banjo-Tooie, and…
Rare Review: Conker Live & Reloaded
A remake of Conker’s Bad Fur Day, I was curious to see how different they feel. In terms of the crazy plot, rude dialogue and all that, it feels the same. This version does have more censored words, but I didn’t find it…
Rare Review: Grabbed by the Ghoulies
The only thing I really knew about Grabbed by the Ghoulies before going into it is that even Rare themselves mock the game, making fun of it (and it’s poor sales) in later games. The plot is fairly simple: two teenagers go into…
Rare Review: GoldenEye 007
GoldenEye 007 Note: this is a bit of a “what if” review. In 2008, Rare were working on a remastered version of GoldenEye on Xbox 360, and was nearly finished before license negotiations had gone through. This version was leaked earlier this year,…
Rare Review: Conker’s Bad Fur Day
When Rare first showed off Conker 64, it was criticised for being too close to Banjo-Kazooie: a cutesy and cuddly platformer. Rare took this on board and went the complete opposite direction: a violent and rude adventure filled with swearing. It starts off…