Retro Games Review

Developer of the ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection, Elite Systems, has been hard at work coding a new retro compilation as well as arranging relevant licenses with the original owners of the games. This has all come together to form the simply titled Retro Games - an app that starts out with 10 old 8-bit classics and promises to offer many, many more in the future.

Initially bundled with the 99c asking price are Bruce Lee, Archon, Tales of the Unknown, Infiltrator, Black Magic, Alternate Reality: The City, Alternate Reality: The Dungeon, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer, Monty on the Run and Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior. They might not be all instantly familiar but they provide a reasonable cross section of the 8-bit era. Elite Systems promises regular updates to eventually include 30 separate packs of games comprising of 100 games. These will involve an in-app purchase but each pack of 3 games will cost $0.99, with the promise of a massively discounted price for all 100.

The 10 games already supplied are, admittedly, dated. I think any game over 25 years old is going to look pretty old fashioned for those who have never played them before. This is a package aimed at those who have played them before. These people will enjoy the experience of returning back to the old days of gaming.

Each game is an authentic conversion, right down to offering the original box art and old school sounds. Controls are iDaptive, meaning they can be defined and adjusted by the user with all relevant keys for each title offered. There's also iCade support for arcade gaming fans. These are all games that originally required players to complete in one sitting so the auto save support is a blessing for the portable nature of iOS devices.

There's not a huge amount that can be said about the titles, purely because of their age. The enjoyment factor definitely comes from reliving memories. I had fun messing about with Monty on the Run and Emlyn Hughes International Soccer, reliving my youth but they are historical pieces rather than games that would ever rival anything recent. For $0.99 though, Retro Games is a bit of a bargain.