The Neo Geo console was an infamous one back in the day for me. It was an expensive console that was capable of playing real arcade games in your home, but if the console itself was out of reach for most gamers of school age, the games certainly were with most over £100 from the start. I was luckily enough to have had a friend l who just happened to have a pretty well off Uncle who bought him one, and outside of fighting games, the one game we got the most action out of was Windjammers. Now 20 years after its original release, this instant classic is back and with online play for the first time and boy has it only gotten better with age!

Known as ‘Flying Power Disc’ in Japan, the best way to describe Windjammers is that it is basically Frisbee throwing meets Street Fighter II meets tennis on super strength Red Bull. This game is nuts on paper but when it is all put together, you have one of the best sports games ever that even twenty years after the original release, kicks ass now as much as it did then and what is even more impression is just how the gameplay has aged beautifully. Playing it now really feels no different to playing it two decades ago, something that most re-released titles fail to do such as Dino Dini’s Kick Off which did not age well…at all!

Another strength is that the original visuals have been kept, not remastered or changed to make them look more modern but kept just as they were and the art style is such a huge factor in how this game and the generation of gaming all those years ago was like. The nostalgia force is strong with this game, the music and visuals put me right back to that time without strangely enough making me feel old and instead just reminding me that it was a time when gaming was probably in its purest form with gameplay being at the very core and wrapped up in over the top visuals and sounds.

So from the trailer you get a great sense of what Windjammers is about. Two players face off in a small tennis court style arena with the aim of throwing a Frisbee or flying disc passed your opponent goal line. Doing so will score points with scoring zones marked out as either 3 or 5 points for the disc landing there with 2 points scored if a player fails to catch the disc and it falls on the ground. Each mach is a best of three sets or games, with the first player to win two games declared the winner. To win a game the player first to score 12 or more points will win. The disc can be thrown against the walls to give the shot a ricochet effect to try and make the other player miss and just like in tennis, you can move up to the half way line where the net would normally be to try and power shot a score for which your opponent can either bounce the disc off the wall around you or even just go for a cheeky lob and throw a slow high disc to catch you off guard.

Now describing the gameplay in words really does not do it justice so above is a video showing my complete run through of the arcade mode. The arcade mode puts you against all the AI controlled characters, each representing a different county like UK, Germany, Japan, Italy and USA. These characters are over the top but amazing to see on screen and each has their own balance between speed and power. As you can see, the speed of the game is fast with furious action with the flow of each game changing on a dime as players score three and five pointers. Then you get the Street Fighter II influence with mini games after every two victories with one where you toss a Frisbee and then control a dog having to chase it to catch it but having to jump over sunbathing beauties and avoid obstacles. The next is ten pin bowling but using the Frisbee as the bowling ball. It is all just crazy over the top fun even in just solo play, but like any game of FIFA or Pro Evolution, comes even more alive when playing with friends in local play. This is very addictive when playing with friends and harkens back to when sofa shared play was how most people played their video games with or against friends and Windjammers is just perfect for this.

But it is 2017, and so for the first time Online battling has been added to Windjammers which brings online leaderboards and leagues as you take on people all over the world online. Now at this time of writing, it is just a few days since the game released and the online element sadly is the only downside to the game right now. Poor connections lead to laggy matches depending on who you are matched up with which can cause disruption and disconnections. Hopefully in time and some title updates the online side will improve adding even more competitive action to this game but the solo and local play alone still makes Windjammers a great title to have in your library.

Windjammers was amazing when it released 20 years ago and now in 2017, it stands toe to toe with modern sports titles and stands its ground well. The action is fun and fast with crazy moments enhanced when shared with friends on the sofa. Though the additions of online play modes is rather hit and miss right now, but the low price tag of £11.99 absolutely makes this an essential game to have in your collection for PlayStation 4 or PS Vita. It serves as a reminder of how great gaming was back in the day but also in that strong gameplay and excellent execution are as important now as they have always been in generations of video games going back decades.

First time I came across Sundered was in announcement trailer which captivated me with its art style right from the start. The gameplay had a real metroidvania style but the visuals were just rich with their hand drawn styling and the story looked inviting and mysterious. It was time to see if the game itself could live up to the promise it showed in the trailer.

Set in a seemingly, players take the role of a wanderer named Eshe who stumbles across a large facility in a post-apocalyptic ruin where upon meting a strange and mysterious entity then convinces Eshe to explore further in order to gain more power to help Eshe escape. The world has different areas and environments filled with enemies and hazards which Eshe will have to fight his way through and overcome to open new areas on his mission to learn new skills and abilities. Some areas will be locked off to start off with until Eshe has acquired the skill needed to open them up giving the game the element of returning to previous areas later in the game.

So let me start with the visuals as this was my attraction to Sundered to begin, and they are truly stunning. The animation and hand drawn art style are so fluid and striking on screen that the world Sundered is set in. They bring the world to life and create an almost sinister atmosphere to it especially when you explore deeper into the world around Eshe and start to unlock the different areas. The music and sound scheme both compliment and then enhance the world even more as the musical score and background sound effects especially when you unlock the more otherworldly areas. Love the animation as well as Eshe runs, jumps and fights his way in this world with such fluidity which becomes almost a dance in the combat.

The combat is a combination of melee and projectile attacks whilst Eshe can dodge and wall jump which can also be used really well in traversing the area and reacing higher platforms. Now it is fair to say that nothing here is really new or refreshing and they are pretty much standard movement and fighting techniques used in this genre with the animation quality being so smooth, once Eshe begins to move around exploring or when engaged in combat, as before it does feel like a dance thanks to the animation instead of blocky jumping and weapon swinging. Eshe can upgrade his health, shield level and stamina along the way by returning to the Entity and spending upgrade points to increase Eshe powers and ability. These are further enhanced by gaining new perks for Eshe and tend to compliment the addition of a new weapon for example.

The combat is relatively easy to get to grips with which is vital because Sundered has a particular way in which it tests Eshe along his journey by quite simply throwing hordes of enemies at him with each encounter. Once combat starts, enemies will appear in numbers to attack you and whilst some are easy to take down, the sheer amount of them will be a threat as Eshe is attacked from multiple directions. Awareness of the environments is also key to stop Eshe from being swarmed or trapped in a tight area where he cannot jump or dodge his way to a more open space to fight in. I did find these both distracting and a little annoying after a while, especially right at the start where you need to start exploring this world only to be attacked multiple times by gangs of enemies. This horde style of enemy grouping does make the combat stand out but it can slow the progress down a little if on every screen you move to you are having to fend off multiple low level enemies at a time and then they will also chase you and can follow you no matter how high you jump. Once the fight has engaged it won’t stop really until you have killed that group but then if you are being chased and run into a new set of enemies, the fight will then feature the chasers and new guys till you wipe them out. It gives you the genuine feeling of being hunted but again, when you need to explore the world, having to constantly stop to fight these guys hinders the pacing just a little too much for me.

Then there is the exploration which can become a little confusing at the opening to the game as you constantly find areas that are locked off leaving you moving from screen to screen almost aimlessly having to contend with hordes of enemies. I do appreciate the lack of hand holding but the first two hours can feel a little hit and miss. The constant battling does allow for Eshe to level up and should he fall in the fight, will simply respawn at a location that he can spend his upgrade points in order to be stronger the next time the player ventures out. Using the map and remembering key points is the formula for success in Sundered.

Sundered has a lot going for it and the elements it has taken from the Metroidvania genre on the whole work really well. The visuals and music are strong selling points and it successfully creates a world full of atmosphere which will keep the player on their toes throughout with the constant threat of enemy attacks and exploring to push further into the world. Thought the constant fighting can slow the pace down a bit too much for me personally, the fact enemies are everywhere feels a natural part of this world, a world where our main hero Eshe is completely unwelcome to be in and is treated as such. As an action platformer is certainly ticks a lot of boxes that it has to and the story when it starts to unfold is enjoyable. But the slog of the continuous battling can feel just that, a slog and a grind which I had not expected which for some will be the reason to play this and for others may be a deal breaker if it stifles progession.

But this is certainly worth taking a look at if you are a fan of the genre even if just for the art style alone. There is plenty of game here but will take some time to settle into which is worth it in the long run.