Retrosearch – Worth playing again: PlayStation 1 (part 02)

Welcome stranger! We are back with the second part of the glorious PlayStation 1 games that deserve a remake, remaster or port. We will continue the list with five more pearls of the Play.

Here you can see the first part of the article.

WARCRAFT II

Those who played it, when talking about this game already remember the peons saying “Work, work!”, “yes, m’lord” and iconic phrases of the genre, which we heard for hours and hours over the years. It is a landmark of the franchise that has not stopped to this day.

Warcraft II is a top-quality RTS made for several platforms, but it was on the PlayStation 1 that I got to know this title. It was one of the few RTS on the platform (Hi, Command and Conquer!) that made the experience on the controller satisfying.

The story revolves around the confrontation between the Alliance of humans and the Horde of orcs, and you can lead either the Alliance campaign or the Horde campaign to victory. With battles and management across various terrains and climates, with naval and air units, the possible strategies for winning this confrontation are diverse.

With the wait for the franchise’s second movie, it would be A LOT of fun to have a Warcraft 2 remake to pass the time (hint, Blizzard).

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SYPHON FILTER

Anyone who has never fried a henchman with a taser doesn’t know the fun in the PlayStation generation. Syphon Filter, a game released in 1999 by the now-defunct Eidetic with 989 Studios, had a plot involving betrayals, espionage and deadly viruses. Let’s face it, not an original story, but burning thugs with a taser was quite original for the time.

The third-person action game is one of the console’s pearls, because its construction of screens, scenery and programming was very well done, with almost no bugs; besides its variety of weapons and equipment to save the day (I miss the Sniper with night vision scope).

The game has a cliché story, only very well crafted as a game; memorable scenes, such as the chase on the train tracks, the burning station and the cathedral, all screens very well tied together and using the game’s gameplay to the fullest while pushing the Play’s potential. A game that would deserve a remake made with great care… Who knows, maybe Sony will think of it after releasing the umpteenth Uncharted.

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LEGEND OF LEGAIA

Legend of Legaia, an RPG with a very light and zen soundtrack, a very interesting story about the Seru: beings that started promoting chaos on the planet, and some young people who could reverse that, bringing back the classic balance and living happily ever after (again). Okay, another cliché story? Maybe, but the story is very well tied together, with very good work by the developer.

A conventional turn-based RPG, like so many that grew up in the 32-bit era, but the icing on the cake of Legend of Legaia was its battle system, the moves and skills. Every character on their turn, when attacking, opens their move bar, made of kicks and punches, and with the right combination the moves come out (a really cool system for use in Naruto games).

The game was made entirely with 3D polygonal graphics, which gained a unique aesthetic that was very well used in creating the characters. A world that is always worth saving again, or saved by those who like great RPGs.

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FINAL FANTASY VIII

Okay, FF7 is better, everyone says, but it already has a Remake in the oven (although nobody knows what stage that project is at). Judge me, but FFVIII is a masterpiece in all its excellence (not that 7 isn’t). The story is a differentiator, the gameplay is innovative, graphics… I won’t even talk about the graphics, watch the opening.

The game’s story involves a lot of conspiracy, betrayal and politics. A mature story for the time and still memorable today, so much so that it is voted one of the best FFs in history. Its gameplay is complex and has a steep learning curve, but not impossible for newcomers.

Some changes at the time made more conservative fans turn up their noses (no Summons but Guardian Forces), besides the classic card mini game, an extra factor in the game that can still interfere with gameplay. A complex game, but accessible to the most varied nostalgic players.

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Did you like the games? Did we miss a classic? Leave it in the comments. In the next edition we will pick another console. Which one would you like?