Shadowplay (198X) - PS4
9198X gives you a handful of short gaming experiences wrapped around a simple coming of age story based about a kid growing up in 80’s suburbia and the escape from modern life that the discovery of an arcade in the city offers him. I saw a trailer for it awhile back and the combination of very nice looking 2D classic homages to certain arcade games combined with the synth heavy, pixel art, neon-aesthetic piqued my curiosity enough to buy the full game.
198X features five fake 80s arcade games to play through. They're not quite minigames but more like the first few levels of five full game experiences, interspersed with short story sequences. It’s a nice idea, and the five faux 80’s arcade titles are very nicely presented, but the kid character’s narrative just didn’t engage me at all. In fact the narrator’s dreary monotone monologue, droning on about how ‘edgy’ the people in the arcades were and the ‘escape’ they offered started doing my head in. Cheer up fer Christ sake kid, these places were supposed to be fun! I grew up in the 80’s and far from being these ‘mystical escapes’ from the real world, the local arcades were normally smokey dens of iniquity with sticky carpets. The edgiest thing about them was normally a pimply, 6ft tall, bum-fluff moustachioed 14 year old called Wayne from the local comprehensive, who smoked 40 B&H a day and may or may not own a flick knife, who would never let you ever get a go on the Street Fighter 2 cabinet (actually those older kids were pretty terrifying back then when you were 12 and a short arse like me…)
So yeah, this is a nice idea for a game, but with rather middling execution. The games themselves are beautifully presented, but far too short. When I first bought 198X I was expecting the 5 arcade games to be actual full games rather than 5 little vignettes. The driving game is fun, visually very reminiscent in fact of Taito's Chase HQ and Special Criminal Investigations, but could’ve done with being a bit faster IMHO. The shoot-em-up, Out of the Void, is very nice looking and sounding. Very reminiscent of R-Type in fact, particularly with the wave cannon-esque weapon that requires you to hold your finger on the fire button to build up its power. It could’ve done with some more interesting power ups weapons though (and more of them!), you get a slight shot increase in the first level and some additional angled weapons in the second. The Ninja game, Shadowplay, has been the standout for me so far. I noticed in the game’s credits that Yuzo Koshiro was listed as one of the game’s musical producers and I’m guessing this is where he did his work; Shadowplay has an outstanding soundtrack that’s incredibly evocative of the Shinobi games. The boss shadow monster thing that starts chasing you in the final level is pure nighmare fuel (I’m sure I’ve seen it before in an animated film… Edit: figured it out, it's 'No-Face' from Spirited Away). The Final Fight inspired beat-em-up at the start of the game, Beating Heart, is one of the weaker efforts in my opinion, based solely on the fact that you’ve only really got 2 moves and a throw and the enemies are a bit dull (makes me all the more excited for the forthcoming Streets of Rage 4 though...) I haven’t tried the RPG game yet.
So yeah, nice idea, but I personally would’ve much preferred 5 proper full length retro games without all the teen-y, existential, angsty bollocks in-between.
#198X #Shadowplay #YuzoKoshiro