I am of a certain age that when it comes to remastered game,I can remember pretty much each original version so the level of nostalgia can be very high even if the game was not quite the classic the marketing would claim it to be. But every now and then, someone takes a game to remaster that is so old that it even tests my ancient memory. Harking back to my Amiga days and this particular title I do remember but admittedly came as a real surprise and so my first reaction to it was simply ‘why’. It was time to revisit a very old-school platformer in GODS Remastered.
GODs Remastered is about as random as you can get in terms of taking a game from a bygone era and giving it a modern refresh and as above, was very unexpected indeed to find out that GODs had been selected. I do remember this being quite a tough old school platformer but that could well be due to the old school joystick I used when playing on my Amiga back in the day. GODS was very different to the more colourful platformers I was fond of back then for the AMIGA such as ‘The New Zealand Story’ and ‘Rainbow Islands’ and stood out because it was full of Greek mythology and monsters and you got to play as Hercules himself, who accepts the challenge of the Gods of Olympus to clear out their citadel of Four invading Guardians but only because the Gods have offered whichever hero defeats them, anything they want so of course Hercules being smarter than your average bear, simply asks to have a seat beside the Gods in Olympus.
First thing with any Remastered game you will notice are the visuals and to be perfectly honest, they do look far better now then they did all the way back in 1991 on the games original release, but not by that much.They have been cleaned up and happily they have kept to the same Bitmap Brothers iconic art style but it has certainly just been cleaned up rather than a complete overhaul. You can switch back to the original art style as well with a button press and whilst it is chalk and cheese between the original and this remastered version, it wouldn’t be my first reason to pick this up if honest. What I was really smiling about though was the work done to clean up and improve the original musical score and audio effects in the game which for me is where the nostalgia really came from and hit home
What has been kept the same is the gameplay, and whilst itfeels a little clumsy in 2018 to be running and jumping in a 2D environment, itfeels exactly as it did back then which is helped a little by using a modern controller over the clunky old school joystick. Screens are filled with enemies and traps to avoid and you can shoot with various weapon types but in the end ,it really is just about hitting the fire button constantly as you move around which is a very 90s platforming style of fighting. The jumping is still clumsy as it was back in the day and enemies follow the same standard pattern making them easy to identify and react to. When you look at modern 2D action platformers like Dead Cells and Sundered for example, this kind of game play does feel incredibly dated which will make this a very niche title.
It is the little things though which still stand out today and it is because this is a 1990s original game that made them such a treat to rediscover such as finding the secrets and hidden switches in the levels as you search for the key to open the exit to that level. In 2018 such things would all be fully expected to find but it is fascinating to see that these mechanics from almost 30 years ago are still being used today in gaming, and being able to trace such mechanics to games almost 30 years ago on very different platforms is why I love this hobby we know as video games.
So, whilst GODs Remastered does not break the internet in terms of being the best remastered out there right now, in terms of revisiting a long-gone era of AMIGA gaming was fun for me especially as both an AMIGA user and fan of Bitmap Brothers games from the 90s. Gameplay is very hit and miss but is faithful to the original game that those like me who do remember the original GODs will recognise it instantly. But that is probably where the appeal for this remaster will end, it is a novelty at best and at £16 asking price for it, is a little hard to recommend but it would be a perfect title to be included in the Xbox Games Pass as it is worth playing if for nothing more than to showcase how much platform games have evolved since the 90s giving modern 2D platformers a new appreciation.
A nostalgia purchase at best and something to show a younger gamer if like me, you know people who missed the 90s gaming scene altogether.It left me reflecting on fond memories of my Amiga days and slightly tempted to grab my old Amiga 1200 from storage to play some old games, but this is a difficult one to recommend you rush out and buy now but instead wait to the sales to see if it appears should you want to revisit or just experience some very classic gameplay which has been given a fresh coat of visual paint.
